Posted: 5/30/03

Case of state's grant for religious
education goes to Supreme Court

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that may decide whether the government is required to fund religious organizations in some circumstances.

The high court agreed May 19 to hear arguments in Locke vs. Davey, a case that originated in Washington state but could have nationwide consequences for church-state relations.

In the case, Joshua Davey applied under a state program that provides scholarships to disadvantaged Washington students who want to attend in-state colleges. The scholarships may be spent at any accredited school, including religious ones.

Davey, who qualified under the program's rules, elected to spend his scholarship at Northwest College, a Seattle-area Bible school affiliated with the Assemblies of God. However, the state revoked the scholarship when officials found out Davey planned to major in theology and business management.

State officials cited a provision in Washington's constitution that prohibits the state from spending any money on religious instruction. Davey sued the state with the help of the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal-advocacy group founded by Pat Robertson that often opposes a strict interpretation of church-state separation.

Davey won in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, generally considered one of the nation's most liberal federal appeals courts. A three-judge panel of that court ruled 2-1 that the Washington constitutional provision, as well as a similar state statute, violated Davey's freedom of religious expression under the U.S. Constitution. Washington Gov. Gary Locke appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Washington's provision is similar to clauses in several other state constitutions, sometimes collectively referred to as “Blaine amendments” by supporters of public money for religious education.

These amendments were modeled after a 19th-century amendment proposed to the U.S. Constitution by former Maine Sen. James Blaine. While critics of the Blaine amendments say the provisions had their origins in anti-Catholic bias rampant at the time, opponents of government funding for religious instruction say that argument is an oversimplification and that bad motivations don't necessarily make for bad laws.

The state Blaine amendments are seen by both sides as the last major legal obstacle to government funding for religious schools.

“Blaine amendments are the Jim Crow laws of our time,” said Becket Fund President Kevin Hasson in a press release. The Becket Fund is an organization that supports government funding for private religious schools and runs a special website dedicated to opposing Blaine-type amendments. “This case presents an opportunity for the Supreme Court to follow through … and complete the task of banning anti-religious discrimination in education in all its forms.”

But supporters of strict church-state separation decried the attempt.

“People who want to enter the ministry should pay their own way, not hand the bill to the taxpayer,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “For more than 200 years, religion in America has been funded with voluntary contributions. Many states want to keep it that way and should have the right to shield people from paying the equivalent of a church tax.”

The Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, a Washington religious-liberty watchdog group, has opposed school vouchers in the past. BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman said the group has not yet decided to take Washington state's side in the Locke case, but that the suit has the potential to push the school-voucher debate to a significant new level.

“What this case really does is present the issue of whether the free-exercise clause actually requires funding” of religious groups, Hollman said. “So, historically, the establishment clause has prohibited funding, and then in the Zelman case, five members of the Supreme Court were willing to say that the federal constitution at least allows some funding schemes.”

But, Hollman added, “you have to say whether or not it is a substantial burden on an individual's free exercise of religion to have the government refuse to pay for his religious education.”

Hollman said a ruling against Washington in the case could potentially nullify Blaine-type amendments in state constitutions–perhaps in as many as 37 states.

Justices will not get to hear the case in the court's current session, which is scheduled to end in June. Oral arguments in the case will be held next fall, with a decision likely to follow in the late spring or early summer.

The state of Washington revoked a scholarship when officials found out Joshua Davey planned to major in theology and business management.

Posted: 5/30/03

Discovery opens eyes to America and hearts to God

By George Henson

Staff Writer

COLLEGE STATION–For 35 years, women from around the world have found a place to gather, learn skills and gain an introduction to Christianity at a College Station ministry.

Currently, women from every continent except Australia are involved in Discovery, said the ministry's director, Melinda Hallmark.

Meetings are held at First Baptist Church of College Station, but volunteers and financial support also come from First Baptist Church and Central Baptist Church in Bryan, as well as other churches.

The women start each Wednesday with refreshments and conversation, followed by a reading of Scripture. Then they split up into a number of classes designed to help them not only learn a new skill but have a good time as well.

Classes include basic English, conversational Bible study, cooking, gardening and a variety of craft classes such as cross stitch, crochet, quilting, sewing and T-shirt painting. Another class teaches the women how to properly apply make-up.

The ministry has evolved over the decades as the needs of the women have changed, Hallmark said.

When pastors of the two First Baptist churches initially conceived of the idea, the major need was English classes. International women in Central Texas in those days primarily were the wives of students or professors and came from countries where the education of women was not common.

That's not the case anymore.

“It is rare for the women to not speak at least a little bit of English,” Hallmark said. “Now a lot of the women are college educated or have advanced degrees. Those who don't speak English as well are usually the parents of students who have immigrated with their children.”

Hallmark has worked in the ministry for more than 20 years and has been director 18 years.

“I just love being here,” she said. “It's so much fun to meet ladies from different countries and to learn about their cultures.”

In some ways, women are alike, no matter where they come from, Hallmark said. “They love their families. They love learning new things. And they love getting together with friends.”

Running the program requires more than 50 volunteers each week to register participants, teach classes, transport women and care for their children. Some of volunteers have worked in the ministry for more than two decades themselves.

“The women who last as volunteers in Discovery … are very loving, very able and very patient, so they are very able to look past any difficulties that sometimes come with working with women from other cultures,” Hallmark explained.

The number of volunteers needed has expanded over the years as the number of participants has grown. When the ministry began in 1967, it served about 30 international women. Today it serves about 250 each year.

In celebration of Discovery's 35th anniversary, a barbecue recently was held for the women and their families, complete with a bluegrass band and a gospel quartet. A cookbook with recipes from around the world also was compiled.

And, as always, the gospel was shared.

“A lot of women from China and some of the other countries too don't believe in God, but we read Scripture each week, and we see ourselves as planting a lot of seeds,” Hallmark said.

Posted: 5/30/03

James Dobson changes roles

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS)–James Dobson, longtime president of Focus on the Family, will expand his role as chairman of the conservative Christian group but pass on the presidency to a successor.

Don Hodel, former president of the Christian Coalition and a Cabinet member in the Reagan administration, began serving as president and CEO May 15.

“This redefined responsibility will assure Dr. Dobson's continued leadership of the organization but without the burden of day-to-day management,” the ministry announced. “It will allow him to spend more time on ministry objectives that only he can accomplish.”

Dobson, who founded the ministry in 1977, will continue his role as host of the ministry's radio program, also called “Focus on the Family.”

Hodel was the Christian Coalition's president from 1997 to 1999 and was energy secretary and interior secretary during Reagan's presidency. He has served on Focus on the Family's board of directors since 1995.

In another transition in the organization, John Paulk, an outspoken member of the “ex-gay” movement, left the organization May 6. Since 1998, he has managed the ministry's homosexuality and gender department and spoken from personal experience to say homosexuality is a lifestyle that can be left behind.

Paulk is moving with his wife and children to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to extended family.

Posted: 5/30/03

DOWN HOME:
A dog-gone tale and a broken fence

Now I know the cost of our dog, Betsy: 85¢.

That's how much I spent to replace the broken plank in the fence, where she escaped into the wide, wild world.

Betsy got out on Friday night, and I could kick myself for not fixing the fence earlier.

We arrived home from dinner, and I noticed the broken board lying in the driveway. I walked over, picked it up and wedged it into place, hooking it on a nail still embedded into the fence frame. “I need to run over to the hardware store and get another board. I'll do that after I change clothes,” I thought.

Then I went into the house, got busy with other things and promptly forgot all about it.

I remembered in a flash, about 10 that night, when Joanna asked, “Has anybody seen Betsy in awhile?”

We all ran out into the backyard, hollering our 11-year-old dog's name. No answer. Moonlight shown through the hole in our fence.

Lindsay got a flashlight and tracked the alley, hollering, “Betsy … Betsy!” Jo and Molly walked up and down our street, calling for our dog. I jumped in the car and spent an hour and a half driving down every street and up every alley in four subdivisions.

Betsy, who never had strayed more than one house away, left us.

The next morning, I pulled on an old pair of boots and walked the full length of the drainage ditch that snakes behind our house, worried I'd find her body. Later, Jo distributed flyers to every house in our subdivision, and I took them to every home on both sides of the street on the other side of the drainage ditch.

As I walked, I couldn't help but remember great times with our old dog: The little ball of fur we brought home for the girls' 8th and 5th birthdays. How high she could jump when she was younger. The time she learned to ring the bell by the back door to tell us she wanted to go outside. How she loved to cuddle with us on the couch in the evenings.

A couple of times, I started to choke up as I asked people to look out for a small brown-and-black-and-gray Yorkshire terrier/poodle.

Finally, I taped flyers to every lightpost in two other subdivisions. At dinner, through our tears, we prayed Betsy would come home.

Of course, losing a dog isn't a huge tragedy compared to friends fighting cancer, a young friend recuperting from a severe accident, others looking for jobs. A dog is a dog.

But a dog is a blessing, too. I still got a kick out of Betsy greeting me at the garage door in the afternoon. I loved carrying her around the house early in the morning, when she and I were the only ones awake. Many times, I've thanked God for Betsy.

On Sunday afternoon, I thanked God when a woman who lives about a quarter-mile away called to say, “I think we found your dog.”

Betsy's home again. Blessed reunion.

Posted: 5/30/03

EDITORIAL:
Christians must not block path to Middle East peace

Some U.S. Christians have tried to draw detours on the “road map” to peace in the Middle East. They need to step back from the table and allow residents of that region, who actually must follow that map, to negotiate its course with help from advocates of lasting peace.

For many years, Christians who think they have figured out the scenario for the end of time and believe the geography of Israel and Palestine holds a key to that scenario have inserted their influence into Middle Eastern affairs. While they are not the sole cause of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed, their views and their involvement have hindered the peace process. On the one hand, they have given intransigent agents within Israel the sense they can act with impunity, believing strong political forces within the United States will back them, no matter what. On the other hand, they have exacerbated many Palestinians' hopelessness-born anger, feeling they have nothing to lose and will be condemned, no matter what.

People of all faiths, particularly Christians, Jews and Muslims, should be concerned about and strive for peace in the Middle East. The strip of land along the Jordan River is holy ground. More importantly, however, all the people who live there were created in God's image and should be able to live in peace, without fear of suicide bombers or military mortar.

The conflict started thousands of years ago. Jews, Muslims and Christians all look back to Abraham as the first patriarch of their faith. They point to a couple of starry nights in antiquity, when God promised Abraham his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and would dwell in a land God would give to them (Genesis 12, 15). Jews and Christians recognize the fulfillment of that promise in Isaac (Genesis 18, 21), the son of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, and Isaac's descendants, who became the 12 tribes of Israel. Others note Abraham's other son, Ishmael, born of Sarah's Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as the fulfillment of God's promise to produce descendants who became “too many to count” (Genesis 16). At Sarah's urging, Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar into the wilderness, but God looked down on them in mercy and promised to make “a great nation” of Ishmael (Genesis 21). Despite God's blessing on both sides, the offspring of Isaac and Ishmael have fought almost ever since.

Many people today, including millions of conservative evangelical Christians, point to God's promise of land to Abraham and God's fulfillment of a “nation” through Isaac as divine sanction for the modern nation of Israel. Others counter that claim for various reasons. Some note that in Christ, God made a new covenant with God's people, and followers of Christ are the “new Israel,” leaving the Israelis' claim theologically groundless. Others stress the modern nation of Israel is quite secular and carries no special connection to a divine promise of existence. Still others point to the Palestinians' long occupation of the land and conclude Palestinians hold at least as much right to the land as Jews.

Many American Christians have written the modern nation of Israel a political blank check for yet another reason. Their interpretation of the Book of Revelation leads them to believe the pivotal events at the end of time will take place in the Holy Land. Consequently, they believe this end-times scenario can only be completed if the Jews control the region. Inspired by their theological understanding of the apocalypse, they want the region to be controlled by Israel.

Unfortunately, some of the gravest political atrocities of all time have been conducted under the name of Yahweh, Christ and Allah on that sacred but sin-sodden soil. This poses an important question: Does any group have a right to impose its theological understanding of history upon the peace process in Israel and Palestine?

The answer is no, for several reasons:

The theological position of any one group might–and very well may–be wrong. For example, the dispensational premillennialism that drives some Christians to endorse Israeli hardliners without question is not a majority view among conservative, Bible-believing Christians. Fervent Christians hold a variety of views about the end times, all of which leave room for various interpretations of current Middle Eastern political philosophy. And that says nothing of the strongly held theological views of Jews and Muslims.

A rigid eschatological understanding that presumes God can work under only one set of political circumstances borders on–if not crosses over into–idolatry. God is bigger than 21st century political borders. Furthermore, Jesus taught that only God the Father knows the time and place of the Second Coming and the end of the age. Political attempts to engineer history so that God is bound to act in a certain way contradict Jesus' teachings and strike at the sin of Eden–humanity's attempt to take the place of God.

All the people who live in the Holy Land have been made in God's image and are precious in God's sight. Yes, most U.S. Christians feel a close affinity for Israel and wish to see Jews there living free and secure. However, the Palestinians also have a right to safety and security. Children and civilians on both sides have been the victims of violence. As people who worship the Prince of Peace, we should desire to see the peace of the Holy Land secured for all who dwell there.

The Holy Land strains our capacity for hope. The pages of its history are drenched in blood, and the most recent chapter is as stained as any. Yet we who see that land as sacred should pray and advocate for peace upon its peoples.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted 5/30/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
Music and worship

By Berry D. Simpson

I recently attended a Sunday evening service in a Midland-area church, and it was the loudest worship service I ever experienced (unless I count that one Sunday morning in a premier Dallas church when the organist pinned me to the pew, blew my hair straight back and rendered me unable to speak due to the compression waves moving through my windpipe). I've been to a few very loud rock-and-roll concerts, including Rock the Desert here in Midland, but I was expecting the high volume on those occasions. This time in this church, I was caught completely off guard. Maybe the fault was mine for being on the front row of the church very near the speakers.

I must say the praise band was excellent. They were solid musicians and showed long hours of practice. Everyone else in the church was having a great time singing with the band and praising God. It's true that I thought they were singing the same simple chorus over and over, forever and ever, and I longed for a hymn or ballad where the words changed occasionally, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying this powerful experience. I have no reason to doubt that their worship was authentic and true and sincere. They were in the right place doing the right thing; I was the one who didn't belong.

However, in general, I enjoy the guitar-band pop-style of contemporary church music, and given a choice I will almost always chose a guitar song over an organ song.

I do remember one time when I thought an organ was not only the exact worship instrument, but also the only instrument capable of doing justice to a song.

We were in Washington, D.C., on a family vacation, and it was Sunday morning when we went to visit the National Cathedral. As we walked up the sidewalk to the church, I could hear the early service ending and the pipe organ playing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” As soon as I heard those powerful chords, I broke into a trot toward the cathedral. I wanted to feel that huge organ reverberate against those massive cathedral walls, and it was worth the run up the sidewalk and into the narthex in order to hear it. That is a great song, and it reminds me of the majesty and power and timelessness of God, and whenever I sing it, I imagine that I am standing in a long line of Christian brothers and sisters stretching back to Martin Luther and forward to heaven, and together we are all praising God in full voice. It is wonderful, and a guitar and drum kit can't make that song swing.

But those are all my personal reactions to musical styles and have nothing to do with worshiping God. Rick Warren wrote about worship and music: “Frankly, the music style you like best says more about you–your background and personality–than it does about God.”

Music that irritates me and pushes me away from God might do the exact opposite for someone else. God made us all with different tastes with different styles, and he wants us to worship him from the authentic expression of our heart.

Currently, my church is using a song at the close of our Sunday morning services that was recorded by a horn-blowing rock band when I was in high school. The song is “I've Been Searching,” and it is by Chicago, and it is a great song, even if very few people would expect to hear it in church. However, when I hear the lyrics: “I've been searching for so long to find an answer, now I know my life has meaning,” I realize Chicago told the story of my entire life. I don't know the spiritual condition of the composer of that song, and I doubt when it was released they expected it would ever be used in church, but their original intent is not the point. Chicago tapped into an eternal truth with that song, our search for meaning, and the deep meaning of those lyrics can't be understood except in a spiritual context.

Just like Pharaoh didn't understand God's message in his dreams until Joseph explained it to him, Chicago might not know the real meaning of their own song except as God reveals it. Hearing that song in church makes me worship God, and makes me thank him for guiding me in my search.

Berry Simpson, a Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland.

Posted: 6/04/03

COMMENTARY:
Start with a huugg

By Terry Cosby

Dallas has a lot of concrete and asphalt. It has a lot of people, too. I saw a few of them recently.

Going to the oncologist's office is never fun. We took my mother-in-law for a checkup. Sometimes, it's OK when you leave and you've gotten pretty good news, as we did. Other people I worry about.

A family came in, 30-something mom and dad with two girls. One about 8 the other about 5. Which one had cancer? They were all too young and healthy-looking. It was the dad. Mom registered him, and he went on to the lab. What must he be thinking as he looked at two young kids, a pretty wife, and fighting cancer? If I'd seen him in another place, I'd have never known about his fight.

Isn't that the truth about everyone? We just never know what people are carrying, do we?

In the same office, a 40-plus-year-old man shuffled in with several family members. They were not from Dallas. The whole family was dressed in western attire. One lady, either his sister or sister-in-law, was large and in charge with big hair. She looked like someone's fun aunt. The man with the cancer looked ashen, shaky. He had on a nice shirt, blue jeans, boots and a cap to hide the chemo-baldness. She was on a cell phone and was a bit loud: “Hi, we just got him to the doctor's office. He's been practicing walking. He's getting pretty good. …” They called him back to the exam room. He stood shakily and moved haltingly toward the door. He stumbled a bit and hit the door facing with his forehead and eye. I turned away. The family was silent a moment. The brother took his arm to guide him back.

We can think we've learned to dance around our enemy, but just then he trips us up.

We met our boys, Clay and Matt in Dallas. It was good to see them. After a little shopping, Clay said he wanted a shake from Jakes. I found the little joint he knows about and pulled around the building to the drive-through. This building looks like it fits more in Hereford than Dallas. I pull around thinking, “Good. There are no other cars in line. This will be quick.” No cars in line, but a Jazzy, one of those electric wheelchairs, is at the drive-through. The lady was large, very large. I could see her leg dangling off the side of the wheelchair. It was purple and black with sores, some bandaged, some not. She battles diabetes. She has a dog. I could see it in the crook of her arm. It is a Chihuahua. She got her sack of burgers, fries and her drink and drove off.

I thought: “Where are her friends. Where is her family?” Very likely, they were in her arms.

I went to Golfsmith for the first time. I could afford nothing. I don't have a sand wedge. I found the cheapest one in the store. I had a 15-percent-off coupon. The guy at the check-out in front of me bought a $199 three-wood. He had no coupon. The cashier told him, “Good luck with that this weekend.”

I placed my $25 sand wedge on the counter and presented my 15-percent-off coupon. It is now the second most expensive club I own.

He asked, “Is that all?”

“Yes.”

He took my money, handed me the change and wedge and said nothing as I left. I want to practice with my wedge and give new meaning to the term “wedgie.”

Pam was going to make her mother a fresh strawberry pie. We went to the store. Albertson's had strawberries, two baskets for $3. Good deal. We grabbed what she needed and went to the check-out. While I was fumbling with the debit card, the cashier took note of Pam. This lady sounded and looked a lot like Queen Latifa.

She said, “Ma' am, are your all-rrite? (Clay later said she said that like she thought we must be beating her.) You look soo saad. You look like you need a huugg.”

We laughed. I got some extra money. She said, “Y'all goin' to the show?”

“Well, I guess we could. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Go see ‘Bringin' Down the House' with Steve Martin and Queen Latifa. It's funnnie. … I'm goin' back as soon as I get off here.”

The more I thought about it and the folks I saw in Dallas, they all needed a huugg. More than that, whether in Dallas or Hereford, they need Jesus.

You might start with a huugg,

Terry Cosby is pastor of First Baptist Church in Hereford

Posted: 6/06/03

Rick McClatchy to lead CBF Texas

By Mark Wingfield

Managing Editor

Rick McClatchy has been named the first full-time coordinator of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Texas.

The Texas native has spent the last decade in Oklahoma, where since 1995 he has been coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma.

McClatchy, 44, is a graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a doctor of philosophy degree in church history.

He previously served as pastor of University Baptist Church in Shawnee, Okla., Woodcreek Baptist Church in Brownwood, First Baptist Church of Mullin and Rockwood Baptist Church of Rockwood.

“Rick brings a broad knowledge of the cooperative Baptist movement and has had experience as coordinator with CBF Oklahoma,” noted Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston and chairman of the Texas search committee. “He has demonstrated his commitment to CBF and will provide positive leadership in assisting the state coordinating council in building a great future for CBF Texas.”

McClatchy also expressed his commitment to the CBF movement as “a group of progressive, grace-filled Baptists striving to be the presence of Christ in the world.”

Nationally, the CBF formed in 1991 in reaction to what many of its adherents call a “fundamentalist takeover” of the Southern Baptist Convention. State affiliates since have sprung up, working most vigorously in states where existing Baptist conventions have followed the path of the new SBC leadership.

Texas Baptists, while strongly resisting the rightward pull of the SBC, have not to this point fielded a strong state CBF organization.

McClatchy expressed hope that CBF Texas might become “a force for positive leadership among Texas Baptists.” This could happen, he said, if CBF-related churches became role models for the state.

He pledged support for the work of the Baptist General Convention of Texas but also said CBF Texas must expand its witness to help the broader Southwestern region of the United States, including New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California.

“Texas CBF will play a crucial role for the CBF movement in the West and needs to responsibly move forward to accept the challenge,” he said in a statement to the search committee.

McClatchy will create a CBF Texas office in the San Antonio area. Currently, the organization's administrative coordinator, Judy Battles, works from Arlington.

Posted: 6/06/03

ANOTHER VIEW:
Huge farms harvest ethical issues

By Gary Farley

Even while the small textile and electronics plants of rural America have been closing, modern agriculture has become increasingly industrialized.

Traditionally, family farms produced a healthy assortment of row crops, forage and livestock. Presently, they are being replaced with massive operations that specialize in one or two products. De-industrialization in one facet of the rural economy is being accompanied by re-industrialization in the agricultural sector.

Recent tours of the major agricultural operations in my western Alabama county have taken me to pig nurseries where two workers are raising 4,000 piglets inside large, enclosed sheds. Due to careful genetic work, each pig parlor resident looks like every other inhabitant. The ideal is a lean, meaty porker.

After about two months, these pigs are transported to other, similar facilities where they join as many as 6,000 pigs to be fed for several more months until they are ready for slaughter by a major packing company. Typically, these facilities are operated by three men. Huge amounts of waste are generated by these “finishing” plants. It is liquefied and sprayed on hay fields as fertilizer.

We visited one of many farms with as many as 10 buildings in which several thousand baby chicks are fed constantly. In about two months, they become large enough to be taken to processing plants and turned into chicken nuggets, strips and planks. In most instances, one or two families operate these new poultry factories.

This farm also raises cattle. The litter from the chicken houses is cured and fed to the steers as part of their ration. They are sold and shipped to feed lots to be finished on grain. The farmer told us this process helps make it possible for him to stay in business. Several other operations do likewise.

Down the road, we visited a dairyman who, with the help of one employee, feeds and milks 300 cows daily. The cows spend their days on concrete. Their forage and grain is brought to them. Records are kept of how much butter fat each cow produces. When she does not come up to standard, the cow is culled and sent to the slaughterhouse. While this may seem like a huge operation, other dairies handle thousands of cows.

Finally, we visited the 29 catfish ponds of an extended family. They shared with us about the efficiency with which the fish convert feed to protein. Each pond produces thousands of fish each year. The family spokesman complained about how similar fish are raised in cages in a Vietnam river. The stream is highly polluted, so these scavenger fish have a diet of waste and garbage. American growers of catfish are protesting their import to the American markets, where they are sold at a price with which American producers cannot compete.

I have come to know many of the farmers through these tours. I have worshipped with them in their churches. I have eaten with them in their homes. We work together on community projects. They are good and godly people. They are not greedy. They are not getting rich. They have seen many of their neighbors go under financially.

They are committed to being good stewards of God's creation. Farming is their life. Most are doing what they believe they need to do to survive.

They are caught up in the industrialization of American agriculture, where several ethical issues present themselves:

A few giant corporations control the processing and distribution of food in our nation and in much of the world. They have become “vertically integrated,” which means they control enough stages of the production process to control prices generally. Most of the farms I visited are growing or producing under “contracts” with the big agricultural processors. The farmers have made large investments in facilities, and they must keep their contracts or lose the farm. Few have any options as to whom they can sell their products. They work long hours and carry deep debt. It is not an easy life.

Industrialization of agriculture has called for standardization of plants and animals. While this may bring economies in processing, it tends to limit the gene pool, which in turn makes world food supplies vulnerable to the emergence of a disease that current varieties of plants or animals might not be able to resist.

The industrialized farm needs a much smaller work force to produce products. But people need work. When this trend is coupled with the trend to de-industrialize rural communities, many areas are in danger of drying up and dying.

The concentration of large numbers of animals in a confined place raises issues concerning the contamination of the environment.

Americans spend a smaller percentage of their income for food than most any nation. Unfortunately, there are many personal, social and environmental costs that do not appear on the bill when we check out at the grocery store.

Gary Farley is partner in the Center for Rural Church Leadership in Carrollton, Ala. This column is distributed by EthicsDaily.com, the online publication of the Baptist Center for Ethics

Posted: 6/06/03

DOWN HOME:
The kid's home; we adjusted OK

Sometimes, the worst part of any new event is all the “expert” information you get ahead of time.

Take medical procedures, please. If you've ever had surgery and other people knew about it in advance, you probably heard enough worst-case scenarios to fill several episodes of “ER.”

Years ago, I had a hernia repaired, and several of my friends found out in advance. They managed to remember every stitches-ripping malfunction and every gauze-left-in-the-gizzard malpractice known to medical science. Turns out, the operation and recuperation were a walk around the block (just what the doctor ordered) compared to listening to my buddies recite everything that could go wrong.

All that came to mind this spring as we anticipated the return of our oldest daughter, Lindsay, from her first year at college.

“Oh, you'll have a terrible adjustment,” folks with older kids would tell her mother, Joanna, and me. “Once they've been 'on their own,' they have the dickens of a time learning to settle back into the family routine.”

They predicted most of the problems would revolve around curfew, or the lack of it. “When they're at school, they come and go as they please,” veteran parents would say. “They just hate to give up that freedom.”

Well, I have to say I needed about five hours to “adjust” to Lindsay coming home from Hardin-Simmons University this summer. That's about how long it took us to load the rest of her stuff in our cars (she had hers almost fully packed before I arrived), drive home to Lewisville and unpack.

Ta-da! Our girl was home for the summer.

OK, sometimes she's not home when I want to go to bed. But Jo and I learned a couple of things this past school year while she was away: First, we trust this kid to make good decisions. Second, when she was gone, we couldn't sit up waiting for her to get in for the night, because we didn't know when she got in for the night, and we don't have to wait up now. We leave the den light on, and she turns it off when she comes home. We all sleep better.

Now, I must admit, Jo has heard a line (Lindsay hasn't tried it on me yet) that's new this summer: “But I'm almost an adult.”

Sorry, kiddo. “Almost” only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. “Almost” doesn't pay tuition bills or make the car note. As parents, we still have a little clout.

Fortunately, I've noticed the arrangement isn't purely financial. After a school year away, eating cafeteria food, washing her own clothes and taking care of herself, Lindsay seems to appreciate us more than ever.

And you know what? I appreciate her more, too. Man, I missed her when she was gone. Every day, I thank God for Lindsay and her sister, Molly, and one more summer together.

Posted: 6/06/03

EDITORIAL:
Take steps to strengthen, lengthen ministers' tenures

What enables a minister to stay with a church a long time? Two articles in this week's Standard explore that theme, as some of Texas Baptists' longest-tenured pastors and a minister of music discuss their calling and careers. Their stories build a solid case for investing many years of ministry in one church.

Several personal qualities seem to help these ministers remain effective in their churches through many years. They're patient and mature. They focus on preaching and ministry. They work hard to stay current inprofessional disciplines. They handle conflict well. They love their people.

But long, successful tenures are not the domain of the minister alone. Like any other relationship, the bond between ministers and churches thrives on reciprocity. Your church can take several steps to strengthen and lengthen the service of your ministers, whether you only have a pastor or a large staff:

Pray for them. Prayer “works” on at least two levels. One is divine mystery, the way God moves among us when we pray. The other is interior and more personal, the way we ourselves change when we pray. Churches that pray for their ministers and ministers who pray for their churches seem to grow toward each other, understand each other and sublimate their individual wills out of respect for each other.

Love them and their families. If you pray for them, you'll be more likely to love them. Love often is an act of will. Sometimes, this is hard, perhaps because love involves trust and a previous minister has been unloving or broken trust. But most ministers and their families are starved for a loving church and will multiply the love they give in return.

Let them be themselves. So, you think your pastor has a quirky personality. Guess what? So do plenty of people in your church (maybe even you). Too often, churches judge ministers and their families by unfair standards. Yes, ministry is a divine calling, and we have a right to expect upstanding moral and Christlike behavior. But they're people too. They have a right to their own styles and tastes and idiosyncracies, all the things that make people unique and fascinating. Let your ministers down off the pedestal or the shelf and allow them to be authentic people among you. You'll find they're often the kind of folks you like for friends, in your home, down by the lake, out at the ballpark.

Pay them. Lindell Harris, the late Bible professor at Hardin-Simmons University who trained generations of Texas Baptist ministers, was fond of saying, “A pastor who does his job can never be paid enough; a pastor who doesn't do his job almost always is paid too much.” Of course, church finances can be tight, but so are family finances. Ministers don't pay any less for children's braces, groceries or electricity than the rest of us. They can serve more effectively when they see a tangible expression of the church's appreciation and when they don't have to worry about making ends meet.

Take care of them. This is a corollary to fair pay. Too many churches lump benefits, such as medical insurance and annuity, into one sum with salary and force the minister to pick and choose which he gets. So, when insurance goes up 18 percent, he gets a pay cut. When a child enters college, he passes on preparing for retirement. Ministers deserve better, and churches should expect more of themselves.

Let them rest. Burnout is a serious occupational hazard in ministry. Pastors and other ministers who remain effective for many years serve churches that enable them to take care of their natural need for spiritual, emotional and physical rejuvenation. Few churches are able to offer sabbaticals, but churches ought to be sure to give their ministers several weeks of vacation, including weekends, each year. And policies ought to explicitly ensure that they get one weekday off each week. Sure, many laypeople attend church several hours on Sunday and still work five days a week. But Sunday is most ministers' hardest day of the week, and many of them put in 12 or more hours of intense work. They need and deserve rest.

Serve alongside them. We call them “ministers,” but we're all called to ministry. Nothing boosts their spirits like serving alongside laypeople who respond to God's leadership to work and witness for the cause of Christ.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted 6/07/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
Can we keep from singing?

By Brett Younger

The persistent demand throughout the Bible that we sing may at first seem cruel to those of us whose musical gifts do not fill the buckets in which we cannot carry a tune. The cacophonous among us have learned to sing off-key at a volume that doesn't draw attention with a rhythm that only we recognize.

Fortunately for the disharmonious, singing—;at least the kind of singing described in Scripture—;has little to do with quality of voice and everything to do with openness of spirit. The tone deaf in Ephesus were glad to hear the Apostle Paul say their “singing and making melody to God” was to take place “in their hearts.” It's comforting for some of us to know that singing is not about what gets to the ear, so much as it is about what penetrates our souls. Maybe every now and then, just to make that clear, pastors should sing solos. Or maybe not.

We become too sensible to sing. We mistakenly admire efficiency more than spirit. We have a preoccupation with what seems useful. Without a song in our hearts, we become dull people, tempted to baptize our grouchiness and call it maturity. The opposite of singing is not silence, but critical restraint. Hell is the refusal of the heart that will not join in the melody of grace. God, deliver us from being the kind of rigid, clenched-teeth people who try to be more spiritual, more earnest than God. Faith doesn't burden us with the heaviness of the world but gives us a lightness of spirit.

Have you heard how it is that angels fly? G.K. Chesterton said, “Angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly.” Conversely, someone suggested that Satan fell to hell by the sheer weight of gravity. He took himself so seriously. Making melody in our hearts leaves us less pretentious, artificial and scared. Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” Without music, life would be angrier and more selfish.

If there's no music bursting within us, if what's in our heart is not a melody, then we need to open ourselves again to the joy God has offered. The Christian hope is to be sung. We cannot explain the grace of God, and music comes closest to expressing the inexpressible. Music picks up where words fail.

That's why when you open the Bible you hear music: The prophet Miriam, tambourine in hand, singing at the Exodus; King David auditioning musicians to lead in worship; psalmists writing symphonies for harps, lyres, trumpets, timbrels, strings, pipes, and loud clashing cymbals (never a mention of guiet, soothing cellos). The hymns of the early church are sprinkled through the New Testament. At the annunciation, Mary bursts into the “Magnificat.” At Jesus' birth, a choir of angels break into song. Paul and Silas have Favorite Hymn Night in prison. In Revelation, “The Hallelujah Chorus” ushers in the kingdom of God. On virtually every page, there is the music of God above the ordinary, the song of the holy that transcends what is expected.

A theology student went to the philosopher Paul Tillich with some nagging questions about faith. Tillich responded to this young person by playing a recording of “Credo (I Believe)” from Bach's B Minor Mass. “Credo” does not explain the Nicene Creed, but surrounds it with violins, trumpets, flutes, oboes and voices. Tillich realized that the most satisfactory answers to that student's questions were more likely to be found in music than in sharper reasoning.

God loves us enough to invite us to sing. Is there any one of us so sunk into sinful, sullen silence that we cannot, that we will not, praise God for such love?

We have a song that we need to sing. There are people who don't just live but sing life—4-year-olds on their good days, poor people who don't consider themselves poor, truly funny comedians, the best writers, genuine Christians, the ones who sing alleluia for the good they have been given.

In the early 1960s, when racial conflict was first erupting in the Deep South, a Southern white person went to where the trouble was hottest to see for himself what was going on. He watched African-Americans asking for their rights and watched them being beaten back. He returned home, and a friend asked about what he had seen.

He said: “It looks bad. The culture's against them. The laws are against them. The FBI is against them.”

His friend said, “So, you think they're going to lose?”

“No, I think they're going to win.”

“You just said the laws are against them, the FBI is against them, and the whole culture is against them. Why do you think they'll win?”

“They have this song.”

We have a song, a song born within us each time we open our hearts to God's presence. We have 'the song of Gods goodness, the hymn of the Almighty's grace, the melody of the Creator's mercy, the psalm of the Spirit's love. How can we keep from singing?

Brett Younger is pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth

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