Posted: 2/15/08

Love leaves no room for
‘us and them,’ Dallas pastor says

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

ATLANTA—Peace and reconciliation require people to move beyond categories of “us and them” that always become “us versus them,” said George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas.

Mason spoke at a prophetic preaching conference held as a part of the New Baptist Covenant celebration in Atlanta.

“There are two kinds of people in the world—those who view the glass as half-full and those who see it as half-empty. There are two kinds of people—those who suck the life out of every day and the ones who let the day suck the life out of them. …There are two kinds of people in your church—those who agree with you and the bigots,” Mason began.

“OK, we could go on and on with this. But that’s also the problem. Any time you go down that trail of dividing up the world into two kinds of people, it goes on and on.”

Danger of Categorizing

Lumping people into categories of “us and them” leads not only to division, but also to arrogance and antagonism, he said.

“We somehow need to believe that we are the good, and yet doing so requires we believe that others are the bad. But it’s hard to love your neighbor—let alone your enemy—if you spend all your time trying to figure out who’s who or which is which,” Mason said.

Baptists have plenty of practice dividing people into categories, he acknowledged, whether splitting internally over theological and political issues or separating all humanity into easy-to-grasp categories of “lost and saved, counting ourselves among the saved and looking upon the majority of the world as damned to hell.”

Missions and evangelism rightly call people to faith, Mason stressed, but God’s work of salvation does not depend upon human efforts.

“It’s not up to us to account for the standing of others before God,” he said. “It is up to us to stand before God and give account of our witness of good news to the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed. They, too, are included.”

The division of people into clear-cut categories leads far too easily to armed conflict, as in the United States’ occupation of Iraq, Mason asserted.

“We are told over and over that we are the good; they, the bad. We are the righteous; they, the unrighteous. We are the do-gooders; they, the evildoers. We are told that nations are either with us or with our enemies—us against them,” he said. “But isn’t this just a mirror image of the very thinking of those who flew planes into the World Trade Center buildings?

Religions of peace

“Christians question whether Islam is a religion of peace. We ought to be asking whether others can believe by our witness that Christianity is a religion of peace.”

Evil must be acknowledged and confronted, Mason said. The challenge Christians face is to oppose evil without playing by evil’s rules.

“For example, employing the tortured logic of the greater good in order to justify torture only damages us all,” he said. “Never mind the Geneva Conventions. The Golden Rule on which they are based is broken in every torture chamber.”

Mason termed it “presumptuous” for any preacher to label any sermon in advance as prophetic. The prophetic nature and “gospel truth” of any message is determined in the lives of God’s people over time, he insisted.

But, he stressed, the world needs more prophetic preaching if Christians are serious about wanting all people to recognize the gospel’s power.

“But that will not happen by our climbing up on public perches of privileged piety and scolding people for their bad behavior,” he said.

“It will happen by climbing down to join them at the foot of the cross and loving our neighbors—and even our enemies—as Jesus did.”

Posted: 2/15/08

Sexual exploitation alive in
America; churches can end it

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—Many church-goers know human trafficking and sexual exploitation are global issues. But more than 200,000 children in the United States have become “sex commodities” as well, Baptist social workers say.

Ellyn Waller and Brenda Troy led a discussion about exploitive sex at the New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta—a city with the nation’s second-highest rate of human trafficking, they noted.

The seeds of exploitation start early, they said.

“The exploitation of women doesn’t just happen when they become women,” Waller said. “The intent is encouraged starting when they’re young. We also need to be thinking differently about what exploitation really is. It’s not necessarily the thing with sex acts. You can exploit women and children in the mind first.”

Both women lead outreach ministries in their churches to women and men who work as prostitutes. The victims—as do the pimps—come from every race, age, gender, ethnicity and religion, they said.

Most Christians do not understand the variety of circumstances that can push someone into prostitution. The women called on church members to recognize that pimps or sexually exploited women and children may be within their numbers. And they challenged Baptists to take note.

A wake-up call

“This is a wake-up call to any of us—anyone who benefits from the child prostitution is guilty,” Waller, who attends Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, said. “When you go play the lottery, gambling money is all tied up in child prostitution.”

But when Christians work with people who are sexually exploited, “your perception changes about the lifestyle,” said Troy, who attends New Salem Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. “Not all of them were poor. Not all of them were homeless. A lot of them were successful people who just got dealt a bad deck of cards.”

Many of the people first lured into commercial sex acts—prostitution, exotic dancing, stripping and pornography—are children. One out of every three teens living on the street will be lured to prostitute within 48 hours of leaving home, Waller said. In the last eight years, 150,000 minors were lured into prostitution, at an average age of 12.

God loves them no matter what they do

Troy works with New Salem Baptist members on Friday nights, talking with women who they find on the street. They tell them God loves them no matter what they do.

“We tell the young ladies that they can trust us,” Troy said. “Second, we want them to learn the truth, which is in the Bible. We let them know we’re not here to judge you; we’re not here to tear you down—we just want to lend a helping hand. We want to help them break the stronghold of this lifestyle.”

The lifestyle can be a tough habit to break—even though 99.8 percent of the women who live it want out, Waller said. Women and children lured to a life on the street often are promised love and safety, which they desperately lack.

“A lot of things are promised to them,” Troy said. Pimps tell them: “Your family will be taken care of. Your family will never want for anything. Don’t tell anyone, … but I’ll make sure your family is taken care of.”

Warning signs

Churches wanting to reach out to men, women and children who are exploited should take the time to get to know strangers who attend services, earn their trust and be aware of the warning signs of sexual coercion.

Look for physical and psychological control, because victims are trained to lie about pimps, Waller urged.

Many victims are deliberately kept transient and distrust law enforcement officials—more than 90 percent of the arrests in relation to the sex trade are of the victims, not purchasers or pimps.

Many victims have their names changed and are subjected to isolation and physical or emotional abuse. Others have been convinced they will be cut loose from their servitude after they pay off a debt or favor.

Someone who is being exploited may have excessive amounts of cash, hotel room keys, chronic homelessness, signs of branding like tattoos and jewelry, false IDs, a tendency to lie about their age, and the presence of “an overly controlling, possessive and abusive individual,” Waller said.

Overcrowding a problem

One problem Troy and Waller said they face is overcrowding in women’s shelters and a refusal to take in women who work as prostitutes—“they come with a lot of junk,” one shelter leader told Waller. In Philadelphia, only the hospital will take in a woman during the night without an ID.

Besides providing shelter or counseling for the women, churches have multiple options to start a ministry for the sexually exploited. Troy said night evangelism by small groups of church members has proved a strong tool to stop the “epidemic.”

Church leaders also can contact local attorneys, community activists, health-care providers and even postal employees for advice on reaching potential victims.

Troy said her church had to insist something be done to effect change in her community. They work closely with policemen in unmarked cars to monitor the neighborhood for suspicious activity.

“We demanded: ‘You need to help us clean up this community. … We want this cleaned up and now,’” she said. “You’ve got to find someone who is willing to make a difference in your community. Once people begin to see that you’re serious, you’ll begin to make a difference.”

Posted: 2/15/08

Team-based ministry changing church culture

By Jennifer Harris

Word &Way

Organization makes a huge impact on the effectiveness of a church’s ministries, consultants agree. the way leadership groups are organized—in committees or teams—may mean the difference between short-term obligation and long-term service.

Deserved or not, committees often have a negative connotation, said Don Simmons, owner of Creative Potential Consulting and Training.

“The terminology and methodology is borrowed from government and corporate cultures,” Simmons said. “Committees have a reputation for long, boring meetings where little is accomplished and for structures that rarely take a person’s giftedness and passion into account, but rather their availability and inability to say ‘no.’”

While committees focus on tasks and agendas, ministry teams place emphasis on personal development and relationships, he insisted.

“Teams require a very human element—trust—that may not always be operable in committees,” Simmons said.

The team concept allows everyone to bring their ideas to the table, said Jim Dees, director of equipping ministries at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, Calif. Instead of the top-down leadership of committees, teams give the freedom to brainstorm ideas.

Relationships mean longer active life for teams

The personal element generally means teams have a longer active life, as people often choose to serve longer when they have developed relationships.

“At First Baptist Church (Jefferson City, Mo.), committees are nominated by the enlistment committee and then voted on by the church to serve mostly 3-year terms,” said Jeanie McGowan, associate pastor of equipping at the church. “Teams are led by volunteer leaders, and they can enlist anyone they choose, and folks can serve for as long as they choose, making one-year commitments as they go along. You may serve on more than one ministry team, but we try not to have anyone serving on more than one committee at a time.”

At Calvary Presbyterian, mission teams are lay-driven. While a minister or member of the equipping team may come up with an idea, the new team quickly is passed on to a member of the congregation.

Dees said the change to a team-based structure really changed the church’s ministry.

“It changed our church culture. Teams have greatly impacted the mobilization of people,” he said. “We’ve seen an increased number of church members involved in ministry in the community.”

Team-building requires commitment to a clearly defined mission, Simmons added.

“While some committees may function as teams, in order to build and sustain teams, leadership must be intentional and driven by a definitive purpose,” he said. “Teams do not happen accidentally—they are built with time, trust and tenacity.”

It took Calvary nearly two years to get the systems in place to start their equipping ministry, Dees said. The mission teams continue to evolve as new people get involved.

Changing an organizational structure takes time. Committees cannot—and should not—be changed into teams overnight. Simmons recommends changing one team at a time. “Start with the most obvious areas where teams may already exist, and then work to make them models for the rest of the church.”

Youth or student ministries may be a good place to start. Churches also may have worship or mission teams already functioning that can be a model for other changes.

Simmons emphasized that “a committee becomes a team through their behaviors, not just their language.”

The team that plays together, stays together

The next step in building a team is practicing essential relationship functions. “Good teams eat together, drink together, play together and pray together—usually in that order.” Simmons said.

One of the most joyful teams Simmons served on was designed to provide services for a large hospice facility.

“With deep respect for the patients, our team knew that it was important to sing, dance, laugh and joke with one another and with the hospice staff in the face of great pain,” Simmons said. “Our fun was contagious, and we were often asked to train other teams of volunteers about the need to ‘lighten up’ with one another, to encourage long-term service and to prevent burnout.”

The team’s laid-back nature wasn’t accidental, however. “The fun we had was evidence of our care for one another, and was borne out of time with each other outside of our service time,” Simmons said. “We shared meals often and committed enough time to knowing each other to be authentic with our joy.”

Another step Simmons recommends is putting together a team covenant. Covenants are designed by team members to provide relational boundaries and guidelines on how the team will function together. “Some believe that developing a covenant is useless time consumption, and if the covenant is not authentic and practical for the ministry team, then it may become just that,” Simmons said. “If the covenant is developed and written by the team, for the team and used intentionally, then the covenant can be the guidestar for the team’s work.”

Developing a covenant

Simmons gives six guidelines for developing a covenant that supports the work of a ministry team:

• Write the covenant as a team. Use time in the first two team meetings to develop the covenant, based on the “norms” the team needs to function.

• Keep the covenant focused on behaviors that are authentic and practical. Be sure to covenant areas such as attendance, punctuality, fun, contributions, conversations, confidentiality and documentation.

• Review the covenant at each team meeting. Allow for revision if a covenant area is being ignored or bypassed regularly.

• Discuss behaviors as a violation of the covenant, not as sin or personal disappointment.

• Review and re-covenant each time a new member joins the team to ensure ownership is understood and valued by the entire team.

• Write the covenant in everyday, authentic language. Even the Bible was written in the language of the ordinary person; so, church team covenants also should be easily understandable and accessible.

“A team covenant can make the difference between a cordial work group and a highly functioning team if the process of developing the covenant is authentic and realistic,” Simmons said. “The time invested in covenant creation will greatly benefit the team in fluidity and performance.”

Ultimately, Simmons believes teams benefit the church because “people matter. The fun that we have with one another exhibits to people that we are not only willing to share the work and tasks, but willing to share our very lives.”

Posted: 2/15/08

Texas Tidbits

BGCT launches Spanish website. The Baptist General Convention of Texas has launched a Spanish website to provide resources for Spanish-speaking congregations. The site, www.bgct.org/espanol, pulls together the convention’s Spanish resources for churches and makes new materials available to them. Many of the items have been written by Hispanic Texas Baptist leaders.

CERI staffer will shape national policies in Moldova. Jon Meyer of Children’s Emergency Relief International begins a two-year stint Feb. 20 as senior consultant to the newly created Ministry of Social Protection in Moldova. He will help the government develop a national strategy and draft policies related to the care of displaced children. He also will teach social work in the government university. CERI—the international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services—began work in Moldova with summer camps for orphans in 1999. Later efforts included Christmas camps, social work and medical support for orphanages, and a drive to provide winter boots for orphans.

Buckner sponsors Global Missions Conference. Buckner International will sponsor its “Go.Be.Do.” Global Missions Conference from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 12 at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. The conference will feature international Buckner staff and experienced missionaries from eight countries. Participants can learn more about the needs of orphans in each country and discover opportunities available to transform lives through missions during specialized breakout sessions. The $20 per person registration fee includes lunch and snacks. Maximum cost per church is $200, and students can register for $5. To register for the one-day conference, go to www.buckner.org/gobedoconference or call (800) 442-4800 ext. 8061.

Howard Payne meets challenge grant. Howard Payne University met and exceeded the $7,625,000 challenge goal presented by the Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., qualifying the university for a $750,000 grant from the foundation. Howard Payne met the goal two weeks before the challenge deadline and exceeded it by $100,000. Funds will be used to renovate the Faith & Life Leadership Center and the art program facility, add a welcome center to its administration building and increase current gifts for scholarships and increase endowments for scholarships and academic programs.

Baylor regents approve geology research building. Baylor University’s board of regents approved construction of the $1.3 million Carlile Geology Research Building, which will be built adjacent to the Baylor Sciences Building. The new 5,400-square-foot building will include six faculty labs, a small teaching classroom for use with lab sections and storage space for soil, sediment and rocks. The building also will provide a location for the department of geology to process samples and stage field activities. Baylor plans to break ground this spring, with anticipated completion in fall 2008. Regents also approved a new research institute—the multidisciplinary Institute for Ecological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The board also approved two doctoral degree programs—one in ecological, earth and environmental sciences and the other in information systems.

Posted: 2/15/08

CBF council approves budget, reports
revenue shortfalls at February meeting

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship approved a $16.5 million budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year and heard of budget shortfalls during the CBF Coordinating Council’s February meeting in Decatur, Ga.

The council’s finance committee reported that, as of the end of January 2008, CBF’s revenue had reached only 89 percent of its projected 2007-2008 budget. Meanwhile, expenditures by the end of calendar year 2007 reached 91 percent of the projected budget. January expenditures are still being processed, said CBF spokesman Lance Wallace, although the term’s total expenditures will probably parallel last year’s figures.

“Obviously, I think they were hoping for 100 percent, and we’re behind on revenues. But we are containing costs, keeping it down near 90 percent,” Wallace said.

December, January and February tend to be CBF’s most active months for revenue, he added.

“We’ll know better after this three-month period as to where we stand on revenue. It’s hard for us to draw any conclusions until we get past February.”

CBF supporters who attend the group’s General Assembly, scheduled for June in Memphis, Tenn., will give final approval to the budget.

CBF moderator Harriett Harral said that while CBF leaders are “being practical” about spending, they continue to “leverage every resource we have, and that’s dollars of course as well as everything else.”

They’re able to do more work than the dollar figure would seem to imply, she said, especially considering that designated funds for specific projects and money given to regional CBF partners are not included in the 16-million figure.

“There are a lot of different ways to look at the finances, and one of the things that has become clear to me is that we are blessed in some ways that we don’t acknowledge, in a way,” she said.

Harral said that instead of dwelling on the group’s financial situation, she left the meeting thinking about “how wonderful it is to get to be a part of” the fellowship. There was a lot of excitement among council members because of the recent Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant meeting, she added.

Vestal says New Baptist Covenant a gift

In his coordinator’s report, CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal discussed the covenant celebration, held in Atlanta.

“It had more of the feel of a revival,” Vestal said of the celebration. “There were several times when I literally sat in my chair and wept. The New Baptist Covenant was a gift. A gift of the people who gave money to make it happen, the people who gave leadership, the people who gave their gifts of preaching, teaching, music, platform leaders and volunteers. And most of all, God gave us a gift.”

The convocation highlighted efforts to reach across dividing lines to partner with others—and that’s one of the things CBF has done well throughout its history, Harral said.

Mercer University President Bill Underwood addressed the CBF group at lunch and similarly acknowledged the contributions of CBF in the overall success of the meeting.

“The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant could not have been a moving event for thousands of people like it was without the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,” Underwood said.

Former President Jimmy Carter—one of the main organizers behind the historic gathering—has invited leaders of participating organizations to meet at the Carter Center March 12 to discuss possible follow-up ministries. Both Vestal and Harral will attend the March meeting.

Other action

Other items discussed at the Coordinating Council meeting include:

• Emmanuel McCall, CBF’s past moderator, said the nominating committee has selected an individual to serve as the next moderator-elect, but that person has not yet accepted the nomination. The council will vote on the nomination by mail later this spring, he said. The general assembly gives final approval to new officers.

• Jack Glasglow, CBF’s moderator-elect, provided a report on the group’s involvement with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The Coordinating Council endorsed the goals for global poverty reduction at its October meeting, and Glasglow said the U.N. has been notified of the endorsement.

Glasglow has worked with CBF staff to compile an inventory of Fellowship-sponsored ministries around the world that do work to meet the goals. As of Feb. 4, the inventory included 102 projects, representing the ministries of 67 CBF field personnel.

“Being the presence of Christ to the most neglected means being involved in the things the U.N. goals address,” Glasglow said. “We are doing this not because the U.N. is leading us, but because Christ is leading us, and it is important to partner with others in this work.”

• On recommendation of the legal committee, the council formally established the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 403(b) Retirement Plan.

• CBF has begun the partnership-application process for the Micah Challenge, a global campaign to mobilize Christians to end poverty.

Patricia Heys of CBF Communications contributed to this article.

Posted: 2/15/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for February 24

The Worst and Best of Times

• Mark 14:61b-64; 15:9-24, 37-41; 16:1-8

By Andrew Daugherty

Christ Church, Rockwall

Imagine that Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James probably pulled an all-nighter that first Easter eve. Their commitments to keeping Jewish Sabbath kept them from paying their respects to Jesus the day before. So in the pre-dawn darkness they dressed, gathered their purses full of perfumes and crept nervously to the cemetery. Cemeteries tend to have that effect on people. They are places we go to visit. They are not places we go to stay. Cemeteries are places where we whisper if we have something to say not places where we feel comfortable making too much noise.

Hear these women whisper to each other as they bundle up on a chilly spring morning and shuffle their feet along the damp ground through the early morning fog. They will try to keep their voices down, but there’s no guarantee these women will stay silent once they lay their eyes on the empty tomb!

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I’ve never visited a cemetery on Easter Sunday before, but I can imagine what the feeling might be to want to shout, “Alleluia, Christ is risen!” But instead of hearing a whole chorus of voices shouting back, “Christ is risen indeed,” you only hear birds chirping.

These first preachers of the resurrection may have had a similar experience. The women had groundbreaking news to announce: He is not here but has risen! Like the sound in the room after you’ve just told a corny joke, Luke’s Gospel suggests that the disciples considered the women’s words tabloid news; a tall tale and they did not believe them. Only Peter bothered to go and see for himself.

When the women fled from the tomb, they were struck with terror and amazement (16:8). They could hardly believe the Sunday morning news.

Few of us are ready to believe “news too good to be true” without some suspicion. We don’t believe just because people tell us to; or because it’s expected that’s what a good Christian is suppose to believe. We want to draw our own conclusions. Part of our suspicion comes from our sense that good seems to be a perennial underdog to evil. We are so bombarded by the bad news of the latest car bombings and political scandals and rehab meltdowns and hurricanes and homicides, that when good news comes, we can hardly hear it and barely believe it.

Seems suffering and struggle and death are endemic to the human experience more than resurrection. “Good Friday Christians” is an apt characterization of many who hear the hope of resurrection. Yet such persons can become so accustomed to bad news that they end up camping out at the foot of the cross hoping that the next life will be better than this.

Sometimes it’s easier to think of resurrection as a past event that happened to Jesus or as a future event that will one day happen to us after we die. But all the joy and pageantry we relate to resurrection is about something more than just praising God for what will happen when our lives are over. In the meantime, we yearn to know what it is about Jesus’ resurrection that can help us live with God’s power and joy and justice and love now.

Kentucky novelist, farmer, and poet, Wendell Berry once wrote a poem that ends with the phrase, “practice resurrection.” It is a reminder that resurrection is more than just a belief in a past or future event. It is more to do with what we do than what we think. The poem begins “Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery anymore. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something, they will call you. When they want you to die for profit, they will let you know.” For Berry, this describes the consumer news report of our lives—that we are prisoners to profit…dominated by the fear that we never have enough stuff to keep up! But the Jesus of the resurrection insists there is a different way to live.

Fellow Texas pastor Kyle Childress once said that if a hospital practices medicine and a legal firm practices law, the church ought to be a place that practices resurrection. Of course, resurrection is something God does. But it is also something God can keep on doing through us. Resurrection isn’t confined to an empty tomb. We don’t need to spend any more time looking for the living among the dead. Resurrection lives and breathes among us every time we come together for worship; every time we pray for each other; every time we feed a person whose hungry; every time we are gentle and kind to someone who’s angry; each time we offer a good word to somebody else; or ask for forgiveness and offer forgiveness. And as we practice these things together, we are better able to see and know Christ among us.

Resurrection takes practice.

Posted: 2/14/08

Human Rights Watch blasts
U.S. on Kenya violence

By Greg Trotter

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—As blood continues to be spilled on Kenyan streets in fierce protest of the disputed presidential elections in late December, the head of Human Rights Watch demanded that the U.S. government take more responsibility for that violence.

“It’s easy to see why every two-bit tyrant around the world thinks he may qualify as a democrat,” Kenneth Roth said in releasing the group’s annual report on human rights. “Kenya is the latest example of that.”

The dominant theme of the group’s 2008 report is that the United States and other influential Western democracies undermine human rights by allowing countries, such as Kenya and Pakistan, to pose as democracies while holding flawed elections and violating other civil rights.

The yearly report is the culmination of researchers’ opinions based on interviews with citizens and officials in more than 75 countries. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nonprofit organization that started in 1978.

Though the presidential elections sent Kenya into political turmoil, Chris Albin-Lackey, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in Kenya, said the U.S. government could be doing much more to end the violent revolt.

“The U.S. cannot just simply turn away from a crisis like this while still trying to cultivate the relationship (between the U.S. and Kenyan governments) and influence events,” Albin-Lackey said.

The U.S. government has substantial leverage over the Kenyan government because of the amount of aid money it contributes to Kenya, Albin-Lackey said. The two countries also have a close relationship because of shared counterterrorism objectives, he said.

Sean McCormack, spokesman for the State Department, said in a briefing that Washington is monitoring the situation. Though most humanitarian money will continue to be sent to Kenya, he said, there are some counterterrorism funds that are being reviewed and may be withheld.

“It will be an issue that is dealt with down the road,” McCormack said.

Posted: 2/13/08

Bible Studies for Life Series for February 24

The model

• John 4:4-10, 13-18, 24-26

By Steve Dominy

First Baptist Church, Gatesville

If there is any one thing about the Christian life that scares us the most, it is evangelism. Part of the reason for that fear is the fear of rejection—none of us cares for that. Part of the reason is that we fear we won’t know enough, that we won’t have the answers the person we are witnessing to might ask. Or, it might be that we have been immersed in a confrontational style of evangelism that just doesn’t fit.

Whatever the case may be, we are practicing evangelism less and less.

Today’s lesson proposes to help us with that. It makes a point that Jesus “had” to go through Samaria. John makes a point to tell us that. There are numerous reasons offered for why Jesus might have had to go through Samaria, however I think the one that is most likely is that Jesus was obedient to the prompting of the Spirit.

We rarely think of Jesus’ ministry being accomplished by the power of the Spirit, but Luke makes it clear in 3:21-23 that Jesus did not begin his ministry until the descent of the Spirit. It is Jesus’ attentiveness and obedience to the will of the Father that is most distinctive about his ministry. This is the case with the necessity of traveling through Samaria.

Jesus’ obedience also tells us something about our part in salvation as well. Salvation is God’s work. We get to participate in it, but God does the work. Jesus says in Matthew 4:19, “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

The natural result of following Jesus is sharing his good news with those around us. It should not be something we have to contrive, but something that should be a natural part of who we are as followers of Christ. If sharing the good news is not a part of our lives, then the best place to look is not at a formula for evangelism but at our own relationship with Christ. If we have become so confident of our salvation that we are not concerned with the salvation of others, then we need to take an honest look at the work God is yet to do in our own lives.

If salvation is God’s work then we need to make it a priority of prayer. Make a list of five people you know who are not Christians and pray for them each day. If you don’t know whether a person is a Christian or not, then if you know that they do not attend church anywhere, put them on your list. Make it a point to pray that God will open their eyes to all he has done for them in Christ and that God would use you or someone around them to share the gospel with them.

The first thing Jesus did with the woman at the well was make contact with her. Praying for someone makes contact easier. Evidently the woman was surprised Jesus would even recognize her. It is no secret that Jews did not have much to do with the Samaritans, but that Jesus would speak to her is made even less likely by her gender. Evidently she expected Jesus to sit, not speak, and completely ignore her. Jesus refused to accept any societal barriers set between people and consistently challenged those barriers that separate us.

Jesus did more than arouse the interest of the woman at the well, he raised the conversation to a different level. When Jesus began talking about living water the content of the conversation changed. Prior to that, their conversation was no different than one we might have with the wait staff at a restaurant. The conversation was mundane, it centered on daily and immediate need. Jesus raised the conversation to a spiritual level, taking the ordinary and giving it new meaning. It is evident from her response that she had not yet raised her level of conversation, “Give me some of this water so that I won’t have to come here and draw water again.” But Jesus wouldn’t let the conversation reverse so quickly.

There is an old African proverb I have heard, “He whose stomach is empty has no ears to hear.” Meeting physical needs is an important part of evangelism, but it cannot end there. Jesus used the physical needs of the woman to approach the spiritual. Much of our mission work does the same thing, we gain a hearing on spiritual needs by first addressing physical needs. Jesus saw beyond the physical need of the woman at the well to her spiritual condition. More than that, he helped her recognize it as well.

One of the things we believe as Christians is that we have the answer to the world’s problems. All we really need to be able to share is, “Who is Jesus,” and, “What has Jesus done in my life.”

When his neighbors questioned the man born blind, his response was, “Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. I went and washed, and then I could see.” He said the same thing before the Pharisees, “One thing I do know, I once was blind but now I see!” You don’t have to have all the answers to all the questions, just know and share that the answer is Jesus.

Posted: 2/13/08

Explore the Bible Series for February 24

Do you help or exploit?

• Genesis 25:29-34; 27:6-8, 15-19, 34-36

By Donald Raney

First Baptist Church, Petersburg

Perhaps more than anything else (with the possible exception of sporting events) political campaigns spark numerous and often passionate water cooler and coffee shop discussions. One does not have to participate in one of these long before hearing, “they will say anything to get your vote.”

Such a comment clearly reflects the almost universal cynicism concerning the motives and agendas of others. These feelings are directed not only at politicians, but also people who work in retail, banking, insurance and even occasionally the church. Such feelings of distrust or skepticism most often arise from real life experiences or observations of people in positions of influence taking advantage of others for personal gain.

Since the beginning of history, humanity has gotten increasingly adept and creative in the art of exploiting our fellow humans. Within the pages of the Bible, we can see this characteristic most clearly demonstrated in the story of Jacob and Esau. The Bible says even before birth Jacob, whose name means “deceiver,” constantly was seeking to gain an advantage over his twin brother. The story of his life provides every generation living lessons in interpersonal relationships.

Choose to freely help (Genesis 25:29-34)

Although they were twins, Esau was the older son and, within their culture, that entitled him to a double portion of the family estate when the father died. Jacob was deeply jealous of the birthright and constantly looked for opportunities to claim it for himself. One day that opportunity came when Esau returned from hunting hungry and asked Jacob for something to eat.

My mother always told me I should never go grocery shopping hungry because I would leave with twice as much as I needed. Physical hunger is a powerful force which can rob a person of clear reasoning and cause him or her to rationalize almost anything in its drive for satisfaction.

Jacob sensed Esau’s desperation and took full advantage by selling him a pot of stew for his birthright as the first-born.

Many times in life we meet people who have a need which we can meet. At those times, the temptation can be great to offer our help in exchange for some possession or returned favor.

Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus ever ask for something in exchange for helping someone, and Matthew 5:42 calls all believers to do the same. God gives each of us abilities and resources in order that we might selflessly help others, not to use to exploit others.

Rejoice in the good fortune of others (Genesis 27:6-8)

Although he had sold his birthright, Esau still could obtain his father’s blessing which his culture said would secure a prosperous future. The day came when Isaac intended to give Esau his blessing. Apparently Esau was away from home and Rebekah informed Jacob of Isaac’s plan. Rather than finding Esau and sharing in the good news, Rebekah and Jacob conspired to insure that Jacob would receive the blessing.

While we do not like to admit it, we can often find it difficult to truly rejoice in the good fortune of someone else. It is part of our sinful human nature that on some level, we feel envious and question why it could not have happened to us. We may even quietly maneuver our self into position so that it will the next time.

Jacob had the birthright. He did not need the blessing. Yet his hunger for more saw an opportunity to get more, even if it meant deceiving his own father. One sure way to avoid developing a heart that exploits others is to build a habit of genuinely rejoicing with others in their good fortune.

Act with integrity toward others (Genesis 27:15-19)

As mentioned, gaining the family blessing would require Jacob to deceive his own father. Isaac suffered from failing eyesight and could only distinguish between his sons by feel and scent. This means the deception would require considerable secretive planning and effort.

It has been said integrity is how you act when no one else is around. Exploiting others requires much plotting and acting away from the eyes of others. It requires that we lie and deceive. It is precisely a lack of integrity which has led to so much wide-spread cynicism concerning politicians and other leaders.

Yet in Matthew 5:37, Jesus calls us to live lives of integrity towards others. If we desire to follow God’s commands and live lives that value others and offer real help when it is needed, then we must recapture the meaning of integrity.

Avoid harming others (Genesis 27:34-36)

Soon after Jacob’s deception of Isaac had resulted in Isaac giving him the blessing intended for Esau, Esau returned home. It did not take long for him to learn what had happened. Not only had Jacob swindled him out of this birthright as the eldest son, now he had robbed him of his father’s blessing. Esau could only blame himself for the loss of the birthright, but now Jacob had taken advantage of their nearly blind father while Esau was not around to steal this sacred gift from a father to his son.

The loss of Isaac’s blessing hurt Esau deeply and, understandably, that hurt led to anger and destroyed the relationship between the two brothers. For the next several years, Jacob would live on the run from Esau. Though he possessed the birthright and blessing of his father, he would be denied the opportunity to live in his father’s home and would not be there when his father died. This certainly not only hurt Esau, but his parents as well.

In our quest to fulfill our own plans, we often can deliberately or unintentionally do harm to others. Matthew 7:12 instructs us to treat others as we would like to be treated. The story of Jacob and Esau provides us with a concrete example of the results when we fail to be intentional in our efforts to avoid harming others.

Posted: 2/11/08

Bible Studies for Life Series for February 17

The Messenger

• Luke10:1-12,16

By Steve Dominy

First Baptist Church, Gatesville

Christianity is not rocket science, the basics of the faith and the outworking of that faith are not that hard to figure out. Jesus makes it pretty clear that his followers are to continue his work in this world. The hard part comes in the actual doing of his work in his world. It is one thing to know what we need to do, it is another thing entirely to be obedient to who Jesus calls us to be and what Jesus calls us to do. One of the most difficult things that Jesus calls us to do is to “be my witnesses,” but there is no way working ourselves out of it.

This statement may seem overly obvious, but the first step in acting as a witness is to have witnessed something in the first place. John says in 1 John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the word of life.” This is not something that they have made up, but is what they know first hand. The same is true of us, we speak of the one who has saved us and is at work in our lives conforming us to his image.

One of the distinctions that we need to make about the Christian life is that it is personal, not private. What Christ has done in our lives is intensely personal, if it is not then we need to examine our commitment to Christ. Because it is personal, it can be intensely difficult to share what Christ has done publicly. But that is what Christ calls us to do, if we do not bear witness to the work of Christ in our lives and in his world then God’s work in us becomes private, and we give ourselves permission to keep it to ourselves.

If we are ever to witness effectively then we must recognize the need of the world around us. A friend of mine recently said that he had the answer to all the world’s problems. He went on to admit that was a pretty arrogant statement, but it is an accurate statement; in Jesus we have the answer to all the world’s problems. But do we really believe that enough to act on it? Does Jesus really transform us into newness of life? Do we see those around us and recognize their greatest need as Jesus? If we never recognize the need we will never act on it.

As I sat in my office one day I wondered how many lost people there were in our town. One of the difficulties of ministry here is that we have fourteen churches on Main Street alone, you would think that the town was saturated with Christians, but that is not the case. I made a list that day of all the people that I knew were not believers and if I was not sure, then I at least knew that they did not attend church anywhere. Off the top of my head I came up with eighty-five people. I took the top five of the list and began to pray for them each day. After a little while three of them were baptized and the other two became faithful in church again. I tell you all of this to make the point that salvation is God’s work.

I think that is one of the points that Jesus was making here as well. When Jesus told his disciples not to carry a money-bag, traveling bag or sandals he was not allowing them to rely on their own strength but on God’s. If we are incapable of saving ourselves how in the world can we save anyone else? The answer is that we can’t, but we can bear witness to the God who not only can save but desires to save. Salvation is God’s work, it is not all on our shoulders, doing God’s work means relying on God’s power to complete it. Our work is to live faithfully following Christ and bearing witness to the reality of his work.

Even when we realize that we are being faithful and participating in God’s work it is hard to be rejected. After a hunting trip with some friends we decided to have a party to eat doves and play forty-two. I was the only single guy in the group and was informed that if I did not bring a date I could not come. The first girl I asked came up with excuse after excuse, she might as well have told me she had to wash her hair that night for all the validity of her excuses! If I had let all the rejections keep me from asking I would still be single today. That is the case with our witness as well, there are those who will reject us and the message we bring. Jesus lets his disciples know that when they are rejected, he also is rejected. Not only is he rejected, the one who sent him is rejected as well. We are not trying to win the approval of those to whom we witness, we bear witness to the Christ who saves because it pleases him. One of the verses I have relied on recently is Galatians 1:10, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I still trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Will we please Christ with our obedience to him as we bear witness to him?

Posted: 2/08/08

Baptists focus on relief after
deadly storms hit Mid-South

By Hannah Elliott & Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

JACKSON, Tenn. (ABP)—Baptist churches and organizations are both suffering and helping in the wake of deadly tornadoes that devastated the Mid-South Feb. 5-6.

According to initial National Weather Service reports, more than 60 tornadoes struck Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama. The storms killed at least 56, making the event the deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States in more than 20 years.

Among those killed was Fountaine Bayer, a member of First Baptist Church of Clinton, Ark., when a massive tornado laid waste to the Ozark town. Her son and daughter-in-law, John and Brenda Bayer, are International Mission Board missionaries in Mexico.

Another twister slashed through Jackson, Tenn., devastating the campus of Union University. Officials at the Tennessee Baptist Convention-related school said it suffered an estimated $30 million in damages.

Union was struck by another tornado in 2002, causing $2.6 million in damage. But the school’s president, David Dockery, said the most recent storm was “15 times worse.”

It destroyed much of the school’s residential complex. Dockery confirmed that 51 students had been hospitalized immediately following the storm, and nine suffered serious injuries.

Thirteen students were trapped in the rubble of destroyed dormitories, but freed after a five-hour emergency effort, according to a special blog set up to inform students, parents and staff about the situation at Union. The school’s regular website was knocked offline by the storm.

No students were killed, and none of those seriously injured had sustained life-threatening injuries, according to school officials.

Seventeen buildings on the campus were damaged, Dockery said in a letter posted on the site. Roughly 40 percent of the dorms were destroyed, and another 40 percent were severely damaged. Additional damage occurred to other academic and administrative buildings, he said. Classes are canceled at least until Feb. 18.

“‘Amazed’ is not quite even a strong enough word,” he said about the destruction. “I look around here in utter astonishment that dozens of people weren't killed."

Sarah Logan, a student at Union said on NBC’s Today show that God protected her from the storm.

“When you look at the desolation and destruction on our campus and realize there were 1,200 students here and not one single fatality, you can’t help but say that is a miracle and God was here protecting us,” she said.

Tim Ellsworth, a spokesman for the university, told CNN that students are working with the Tennessee National Guard to salvage personal items and retrieve cars. Local churches and university staff and faculty members have offered space to house students, he said.

Several of Union’s peer institutions have also offered their resources to the stricken campus.

Elsewhere in Tennessee, one of the strongest of the tornadoes destroyed Sharon Baptist Church in Savannah and the Christian school it houses. According to the Jackson Sun, rescuers had to dig a pregnant woman and her husband out of the church’s rubble. The couple and their unborn child survived, the paper reported.

Two Arkansas Baptist churches received minor damage. First Baptist Church of Clinton lost its church sign and playground equipment, while two vehicles in the church parking lot were damaged. The storm also knocked three large pine trees onto the roof of Pee Dee Baptist Church in Clinton.

Pee Dee Pastor Kyle Blanton lost his home to the tornado. He and his wife, Amy, and four children were in the house during the storm but did not suffer serious injuries. A tree also fell into the home of Jim Box, director of missions for the North Central Baptist Association in Clinton.

President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff have told officials in the affected states they can count on federal help with the clean-up process.

The Arkansas Baptist State Convention and several other Baptist associations have also deployed feeding and chainsaw units to seven locations that were hit strongly.

Officials from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s disaster-response team said Feb. 7 they are still assessing how best to assist the storm victims. Charles Ray, CBF’s disaster-response coordinator, said no CBF partner churches had been damaged, and it could be a week before he knows how to help in that area.

Current CBF plans are to work alongside American Baptist Association responders, who are coordinating responses from bases at affiliated churches in Atkins, Ark., Ray said. The two groups have previously worked together in disaster-relief projects.

Union has established a relief fund for people wanting to help with the recovery. Donations can be sent to “Union University Disaster Relief Fund” at 1050 Union University Drive, Jackson, TN 38305. The university also is suggesting that people who want to help students consider providing gift cards that can be used in stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe’s or Home Depot.

With additional reporting by Baptist Press

Posted: 2/08/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for February 10

Discipleship in Dangerous Times

• Mark 13:1-13, 32-37

By Andrew Daugherty

Christ Church, Rockwall

Jesus has just told the disciples that the two cents a poor widow put in the offering plates were worth more than all the big checks written by the rich people. He has just given them more than a PhD’s worth of education about financial stewardship, but upon leaving the Temple, the disciples are more mesmerized by the size of the building than they are the sacrifice of the broke widow. They are stricken with an edifice complex over a stone facade that will one day be as negligible as the poor woman. Despite being an architectural phenomenon, the palatial Temple structure will one day lie as a pile of rubble. Jesus spoke matter-of-factly about the demolition of the Temple that would leave only a heap of dust and ashes.

Naturally the disciples want to know exactly when this is going to happen. Even more, they want to know what the events will be leading up to the sure-and-certain demise of this most holy site. Rather than give them a date and time to put in their Blackberries, immediately Jesus warns them about false teachers that will claim to be speaking on Christ’s behalf. He begins to describe what will be happening in the world leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple: wars and rumors of wars, nation rising up against nation, earthquakes and famines (13:7-8). About these circumstances, Jesus is quite candid, including his personal admonition that the disciples would endure difficult times, including torture, because of their association with him (13:9).

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The political and social unrest of the time is evident in Mark’s Gospel. Some believe Mark wrote after the destruction of the Temple and the war against Rome, offering insights about the meaning of its destruction in the aftermath of war. Imagine the poignancy of Mark’s account if his listeners were already witness to their friends being beaten or hauled off due to Nero’s persecution.

No doubt the people of Jesus day and Mark’s listeners would have had a sense of their world coming undone. If the life and times Jesus describes is commensurate with the experience of the people, then Jesus has a word to speak to our life and times, too. After all, his short list of the “signs of the times” is headlined each day in our morning newspapers. The news headlines then were just as bad as they are today.

Some parts of the Christian community have taken these experiences as more universal signs of the coming of the Son of Man as mentioned later in chapter thirteen. More than just a historical moment in Jewish life, the expectations of the “Day of the Lord” has been extended and applied to the contemporary expectation of Jesus’ “second coming.” Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth made him a lot of money many years ago, as he tried to uncover what even Jesus himself confessed he didn’t know: the day and hour when Christ would return. The more recent Left Behind Series suggests that a “rapture” will begin God’s end time events. In this scenario, some people will be snatched away by God while others will be left behind on earth to endure a tribulation period. Though this certainly is not the final word on the end times, it is a popular example of apocalyptic speculation that provokes a panicky sense of the future during turbulent times.

Scripture holds no classified information about the end times. However, whenever global crises arise, apocalyptic conjecture often accompanies it. Series of crises arise that make us question what exactly is going on in our world. Jesus says “keep awake,” meaning at least that our faith must bear through these disorienting episodes of natural disasters, social upheaval, political persecution, and national wars.

Penelope Duckworth, in a message called The Abomination of Desolation, echoes that apocalyptic writings emerge in times of crisis. "These ever-present forces are the well-springs of prophecy, poetry and art. But, in times of great stress, they emerge in bold and raw forms to enact perceived contemporary events on a cosmic scale. While the apocalypse is a strange form, we must not dismiss its power or influence, or even its truth."

Duckworth asks, "How can we understand apocalypse in this last decade of the twentieth century? Does it have meaning for our lives? I think it does. First of all, it speaks to our anxieties about the future. More than historical catastrophes, these passages speak to us of the last things—of the end of the world. They attempt to answer the anxious questions: Toward what end are we heading? Who or what will have the final word?

"The answer is always the same. God is in charge. Trust God through hell and back. Difficult times are to be expected, but the ultimate victory belongs to God…. Those who have trusted in God will be saved. I'm not suggesting that we simply trust and wait. Jesus taught us to live fully—to serve God and no other master; to turn to our neighbors with responsive love; and to trust that our acts of obedience justice and love will be part of God's plan.”

This message is another way of saying “Keep awake.” No matter how or when or where Christ may return, be the salt and light of the world in the meantime.

The story is told that I n colonial New England, state legislators were meeting one day when an eclipse occurred, causing the daytime sky to become very dark. Now when that happened, several of the lawmakers panicked and requested that they adjourn, thinking that the world was about to end. But then one of the legislators stood up and said: "Mr. Speaker, if we adjourn and this is not the end of the world, we will all look like fools. And if it is the end of the world, I would prefer to be found doing my duty. So I move, that candles be brought in and that we continue with our work."