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Team-based ministry changing church culture
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.
Some churches are shifting from "committee" terminology to a "team" concept. “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.’”
02/15/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Tidbits
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.
02/15/2008 - By John Rutledge
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CBF council approves budget, reports revenue shortfalls at February meeting
Posted: 2/15/08
CBF council approves budget, reports
revenue shortfalls at February meetingBy 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.
Connie McNeill, right, the Fellowship’s coordinator of administration, talks with Coordinating Council members Al Butler, center, and Ann Miller, left, about plans for CBF’s new office space at Mercer. 02/15/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Human Rights Watch blasts U.S. on Kenya violence
Posted: 2/14/08
Human Rights Watch blasts
U.S. on Kenya violenceBy 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.”
Mothers hold their children as they wait for distribution of food aid at a church in Nairobi’s Kibera slum. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Kenyans to stop violence that has killed at least 850 people and left more than 300,000 as refugees. (REUTERS/Photo by Zohra Bensemra) 02/14/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Baptists focus on relief after deadly storms hit Mid-South
Posted: 2/08/08
Baptists focus on relief after
deadly storms hit Mid-SouthBy 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.
Union University President David S. Dockery surveys damage to the Jackson, Tenn., campus after a Feb. 5 tornado. (Morris Abernathy Photo) 02/08/2008 - By John Rutledge
