Posted: 10/3/03

Jakes' novel targets spiritual secrets

By Greg Garrison

Birmingham Post Herald

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) –Although he's an old-fashioned, pulpit-pounding preacher who frequently has to wipe the sweat from his brow, evangelist T.D. Jakes brings the biblical message into a modern context.

In his books and sermons, Jakes tackles issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, unhealthy sexual relationships and changing gender roles.

He knows how to reach an audience in a church, a civic center, on TV–or in a book store.

On a recent trip to Birmingham, Jakes signed books for fans at a local book store and talked about the success of his ministry.

He's pastor of the Potter's House, a church in Dallas that draws 8,000 worshippers to each of its two Sunday services. The services are featured in Jakes' weekly TV shows on Black Entertainment TV and Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Jakes was in Birmingham to promote his latest book, “Cover Girls,” about working women with spiritual issues.

“It's my first novel,” Jakes said. “It depicts the life of four women in a workplace. All of them are hiding something. They have problems in their lives they haven't faced. Until they do, they don't find the peace they're looking for.”

It's yet another way Jakes has found to guide Christians–especially women–on their spiritual journey. Most of his 16 books have been self-help guides.

“Woman, Thou Art Loosed!” sold 1.25 million copies and tied into his nationally touring women's conferences of the same name.

Now called “God's Leading Ladies,” Jakes continues his enormously popular road-show conferences for women.

“It teaches women how to grow spiritually, how to manage their finances and careers,” he said.

Jakes also has held men's conferences, such as the 1998 Manpower crusade featuring Dallas Cowboys football players Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith, both of whom he had baptized the year before.

But his conferences and books targeted at women have been his most successful. Most of those waiting in line at his book signing were women.

It's not about dealing with gender issues so much as reaching people where they are hurting, Jakes said. His ministry has focused on motivational messages for people who have survived traumas, helping them turn their pain into spiritual power.

“The gender roles are being redefined,” Jakes said. “The day of women being limited to housewives whose only concern is getting biscuits made and kids off to school is not the reality anymore. Women are balancing careers and family and the pursuit of a spiritual life.”

Jakes talks about women having “soul scars and broken hearts” that no man–only God–can fill.

“Only God can reach into a woman's heart and stitch up the scars,” he said. “He is the foundation from which all other relationships emerge.”

Posted: 10/3/03

KEY CHURCHES:
Missions growth unlocked

By Toby Druin

Editor Emeritus

Since 1980, churches affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas have averaged more than 200 church starts a year–a total of 4,624 congregations in a convention that today has only slightly more than 4,300 churches (not counting the 1,400 missions).

While some of the new congregations have not succeeded, many others have, and some are sponsoring new churches of their own.

The impetus for new churches in 1980 and today is the burgeoning growth that has propelled the Lone Star State to second among the 50 states in total population. More than 10 million of the 21 million people who now call Texas home are unchurched.

Bill Pinson, BGCT executive director from 1982 to 2000, pushed the convention to start churches to reach the unchurched and to ensure that Texas remained a strong base for missions outreach.

But the idea that more than anything helped Texas Baptists begin thousands of congregations was the Key Church concept, born in the missions-starting mind of J.V. Thomas, who headed church starting efforts for the BGCT from 1969 to 1992.

To become a Key Church in Texas, a church had to elevate missions starting to the same priority as its music and education programs, hiring a full-time minister of missions if it had full-time ministers of music and education. The BGCT partnered with the churches in paying the salary of the minister of missions on a declining basis for three years. In return, the Key Church agreed to start at least six missions a year, develop an evangelism strategy and start new ministry activities.

By most observers' calculations, more than half the missions or churches started in Texas during the last 20 years have been the result of the Key Church movement, and Texas has far outdistanced other states in church starts during the period.

The Key Church movement spread from Texas to other states through the Southern Baptist Convention's Home Mission Board, which hired Thomas in 1992. He retired from the HMB in 1996.

In 1995, there were 263 Key Churches in the SBC, most of them in Texas, and the 212 that filed reports started 262 congregations and were sponsoring 887 missions. Total attendance in Bible study in the missions and new churches was 33,807 (an average of 38) and 127,474 in the sponsoring churches. In addition to the new missions and churches, 396 new ministries were started, and Key Churches baptized 6,617 people–more than were baptized in any single state convention except Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.

Tim Ahlen, pastor of Forest Meadow Baptist Church in Dallas, collaborated with Thomas in a book about the strategy, “One Church: Many Congregations.” He quoted church growth expert Lyle Shaller who said Southern Baptists had done a number of things for God's kingdom, but the most important had been developing the Key Church strategy.

In Baptist polity, churches start churches. State and national conventions traditionally have worked through associations in relating to local congregations. The Key Church strategy departed from that tradition.

“For the convention, Key Church is a strategy that allows the denomination to work directly with churches that will make a high commitment to starting new churches,” Thomas explained. “It is the only strategy where the convention works directly with a local church and gives the convention an opportunity to train and equip a church to start other churches.

“For the church, it is a way to reach people outside the church walls on the same basis they do evangelism and Bible study. It turns a church loose to double their attendance in three years, moving to a more indigenous leadership basis and not limited to a particular kind of space in starting new units.”

The concept evolved out of several strategies. Thomas said little was being accomplished in the way of starting churches for several years when in the early 1970s he tried to get every church that started a church to start another one.

“I had looked at many church budgets,” he said, “and saw that most often after a church had started a mission and it had constituted as a church that the sponsoring church put the money that had been going to the mission back into its budget. I wanted them to use the money to start another church.”

About the same time, cell churches were beginning to catch on in other denominations, so he promoted a Southern Baptist version of it that became known as the “indigenous satellite unit” or ISU.

“The idea, again, was to get churches to start several others,” Thomas said.

The best way to get Baptists to do anything, he said, is to show them a successful model. He approached Joel Gregory, then pastor at Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, about using Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary students to start house churches in the areas near the seminary. Soon, a half-dozen house churches were under way with assistance from funds provided by the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions.

“The work done by Gambrell Street Baptist Church was the hub of it,” Thomas said. “The Key Church movement began with that.”

The term “Key Church” was born in discussions in 1983 regarding Mission Texas, one of Pinson's early efforts to boost the number of churches in the state, Thomas recalled.

Many churches began to pick up on the idea, including First Baptist Church of Dallas, which had more than 30 missions; First Baptist Church of Oak Cliff; Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas; First Baptist Church of Houston; Lakeland Baptist Church of Lewisville and others. Many already were involved in missions, but the Key Church concept provided new support.

Charles Wade, who succeeded Pinson as executive director of the BGCT in 2000, said he heard the Key Church concept explained at a meeting where Ben Smith, pastor at Lakeland, detailed how his church was using it.

Wade, then pastor of First Baptist Church of Arlington, liked what he heard and recommended the church use funds that had been going to a radio broadcast of worship services to get it started. Tillie Burgin became director of Mission Arlington, which has spawned hundreds of other missions in Arlington and has been emulated across the state and nation.

“Without a doubt, the Key Church strategy has been the most significant church-starting idea Baptists have ever implemented,” Wade said.

“A Baptist church prioritizes something by putting money into it, staffing it and putting it on the church calendar,” Thomas said. “We worked hard at getting churches to put on a missions staff member.”

However, many dropped the salaried position when the BGCT funds ceased. In many cases, a volunteer stepped in and kept up the excitement of starting churches.

Lakeside Baptist Church in Dallas has been involved in the Key Church program since 1986 and has had three ministers of missions. Jim Burgin, who later headed the Key Church program for the BGCT and now works with Mission Arlington, was the first. Gary Wagener has headed the missions effort the last eight years.

“We started it with the BGCT funding part of the salary and then used funds from the (SBC) North American Mission Board for insurance,” said Pastor James McGlothlin. “But we have been responsible for it since then. It has enabled us to do many things. We now are working with about 24 churches in nine different languages.

“The Key Church strategy has given a traditional church a way to be non-traditional without interrupting the fellowship of the traditional church,” he explained. “We are reaching more people with the gospel than at any time in our history.”

Herb Pedersen, pastor at First Baptist Church of Oak Cliff in Dallas and later director of the BGCT's missions division, is now pastor of Longbranch Baptist Church near Midlothian, the last of the missions started by the Oak Cliff church during his pastorate. He has seen the Key Church strategy from several angles.

A pivotal thing about the strategy, he said, was it elevated church starting to the same level of other church programs and thus received greater significance and financial support.

“But the absolute key,” he said, “was in having the right minister of missions. We brought on Aubrey Patterson to direct our missions program, and it was a great experience. We began to look at unchurched people groups in the community and targeted those nobody else was reaching. At one time, we had 22 mission sites. Eleven were church-type missions that became churches, and some of them now are sponsoring new churches. The others were indigenous satellite units that functioned like a church but we never expected them to become self-supporting.

"I think the Key Church strategy was the prime mover as far as starting churches," Pedersen said. "We are carrying it on at Longbranch and are in the process of starting a new church on land just south of Midlothian. It will be a satellite of our church at first with services on Sunday night in Mountain Peak Elementary School. I will preach, and we will use our church staff, but we have assigned a recent seminary graduate to work in the area.”

Charles Lee Williamson, director of the BGCT missions division from 1968 to 1992, said one of the principal benefits of the Key Church strategy was in raising the awareness of the importance of starting missions, especially in many mid-sized churches that never had seen church starting as a possibility before.

“Even where a church didn't go into the whole Key Church program,” he said, “the fact of them hearing about it and reading the promotional materials that made the case for missions being on the same level as other church programs kicked up the level of awareness and participation. Missions became something other than a periodic offering promotion.”

James Semple, director of the BGCT State Missions Commission from 1989 to 2001, said the strategy helped churches have a new vision.

“Too often, we get set in our ways, and the Key Church strategy opened our eyes to the possibility of starting new congregations, of having a person on the church staff who could help us do it,” he said. “It was a fabulous concept.”

Jim Burgin, who led the Key Church strategy for the BGCT for three years and now works at Mission Arlington, said the strategy “is still the engine that drives mission starting around the country, although I am concerned that I don't hear as much about it these days.”

Under his leadership at the BGCT, Key Church was changed from more than a church starting strategy aimed at larger churches to involve the minister of missions in administering a missions program for the church at all levels–international and national missions involvement, missions ministries and missions organizations.

“We went from the idea that was ingrained that a Key Church was just for large churches to it being for every church, that a layperson could be the minister of missions and that every church could be a Key Church. The current concept that every church should be a 'missional church' is really positive in that it is trying to capture the idea that every church is a church on mission.”

Mildred Minatrea, associate coordinator of missional church strategy, currently directs the Key Church program for the BGCT.

Starting new churches is still a major focus of the program, he said, with 132 of the 264 church starts in the state in 2002 begun by Key Churches.

The program, however, now also includes age level mission education, a focus on penetrating a community through ministry and involving people in missions globally. Key Churches were involved in mission efforts in 29 countries last year, he said.

The 207 Key Churches in Texas last year had 130 full-time ministers of missions and registered 941 professions of faith in churches and more than 3,000 in community ministries. The goal, Minatrea said, is to increase the number of Key Churches from one for 77,000 people in the state to one for 50,000.

For more information about becoming a Key Church, contact Minatrea at (888) 747-7700 or minatrea@bgct.org.

Posted: 10/3/03

Key Churches in Texas

Posted: 10/3/03

Christian men urged to beware of falling into sexual sins

By Terri Lackey

LifeWay Christian Resources

RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)–It should come as no surprise that Catholic priests aren't the only church leaders succumbing to sexual sins.

A former pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Avon, N.Y., was charged in May with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old male in his home. In Milwaukee, an Assemblies of God pastor was sentenced in July to five years in prison for extortion and sexually abusing a church member.

It's an ages-old problem. King David's glance at Bathsheba led first to adultery, then to murder.

Clergy are as vulnerable to sexual sins as those not in the ministry, said Danny Singleton, minister of pastoral care and men's ministry at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga.

“Christian men are being defeated by sexual sins because we overestimate ourselves, we underestimate Satan, we under-evaluate sin and we are unaware of snares,” Singleton told a group attending the men's ministry track during a discipleship and ministry conference at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina.

“What we watch on TV today, we would have run screaming in the streets in the '50s,” Singleton said. “I dare you to find anywhere in the Bible where God lowered the standards.”

Adding to the prevalence of sex on TV and movies is the glut of pornography sites on the Internet, he said.

“Do you know what pornography and spirituality have in common?” he asked. “They are the two most common attractions on the Internet. But spirituality is a distant second to pornography.”

A survey of 1,000 pastors and 1,000 subscribers to Christian magazines found that 12 percent of pastors had been involved in adultery while in the ministry, and 23 percent had acted in sexually inappropriate ways, Singleton said.

Of those who were not pastors, the survey found 23 percent had extramarital affairs, and 45 percent had acted in sexually inappropriate ways.

A separate nationwide survey of Christian men found that 53 percent acknowledged fantasizing about other women, 54 percent felt shame about past sexual experiences and 75 percent have secrets they won't share with anyone, he said.

“Christian men are just as vulnerable as any other men,” Singleton said. “We are just one step away from sin. We live in a sex-saturated society, and we have to be careful what we expose ourselves to.”

About 11 percent of the calls to LifeWay's LeaderCare helpline are related to inappropriate sexual behavior, reported Barney Self, a LeaderCare counselor. The counseling helpline is available for ministers and their families. The number is (888) 789-1911.

Singleton related a story about how he and his wife were on an elevator in Chicago when a beautiful woman stepped in wearing the same style of dress he had bought his wife the year before. He complimented her on her dress and a Christmas brooch she was wearing, telling her his wife would love it.

When the woman left the elevator, Singleton's wife asked him what he would have done if she hadn't been there with him and the woman warmed to his compliments.

“Guys, I wasn't thinking anything like that. But what if that woman had been lonely and my marriage wasn't as strong as it is?” he said. “These are just things you have to watch out for. If you think you are standing firm, be careful you don't fall.”

The first step of adultery is the notion of “exceptionism,” he said. “It's the notion I don't have to follow the rules like everybody else.”

As with David and Bathsheba, one small sin can lead to other larger ones.

“First David looked at Bathsheba and said: 'Dude, she's hot. Who is she?'” he said. “David gave in to his natural inclinations, and the sin of impulsiveness turned into the sin of callousness with the murder of (Bathsheba's husband) Uriah.”

But consequences existed, he said. The baby Bathsheba and David conceived out of wedlock died, Uriah died at the battle front where David sent him and many of David's servants died.

“Every time we sin, the Holy Ghost brings conviction in your life to get you to repent,” Singleton said. “If you don't, if you rebel, then God will chastise and confront you. You are going to get caught, and God is going to make it public. A secret sin on earth is an open scandal in heaven.”

Singleton suggested Christian men who want to avoid sexual impurity find an accountability group of like-minded guys. For those who have already strayed, find someone to confess to.

“Be honest and tell the truth to somebody who can help you walk free,” he said. “Sexual sinners hold the false belief that if people really knew them, they would reject them. But, Bubba, we need to love the guys right where they are and help them get to the blood of the cross.”

Among Singleton's suggestions to men who want to maintain a pure life:

Run away from temptation.

Be on guard.

Accept responsibility.

Be accountable. “Listen to your wife. God made her to nag, whine and complain for a purpose. She can see things you can't.”

Choose your friends carefully.

Determine to live a pure life.

“And if you are confronted with temptation, speak Scripture against it,” he urged. “How many verses do you know by heart? You better learn some.”

Among books Singleton recommends on the topic of sexual sins: “Breaking Free” by Russell Willingham, “Men's Secret War” by Patrick Means, “Every Man's Battle” by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker and “Faithful and True” by Mark Laaser.

Posted: 10/3/03

What's another 500 miles when
you're already traveling on mission?

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

A prayer request led a team of Mission Service Corps volunteers to take a 500-mile trip to a small-town church en route to their assignment. But getting there was only the beginning of their detour.

The team of four couples was assigned to build a mission house near the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists in Alberta, but Jean Holliman found a prayer request for a handicapped ramp that drew them 500 miles away to a small church in British Columbia.

"We work so hard to get people to come to church. And here's a place they want to come, and they can't get in." —Jean Holliman

The prayer request from Salmo Baptist Church detailed a need for a ramp to help older and disabled people more easily enter the church. Several older residents said they wanted to come to the church but were unable to make the climb to get in the door.

“It broke my heart,” Holliman said. “We work so hard to get people to come to church. And here's a place they want to come, and they can't get in.”

The volunteers agreed to answer the call and informed the church they were coming. Shortly after committing to the project, Holliman discovered the church lacked the funds to back the work. But that did not stop the team.

Holliman's home church, First Baptist Church in Sanger, and three other churches donated $4,400 in Canadian currency to the effort. An architect in the church redesigned the ramp to save several thousand dollars. Soon, the project had the green light, and the couples were on their way.

When the building team arrived, they noticed more construction was needed than a ramp. The church, consisting of combined mobile homes, had large cracks on the walls. The interior of the church was dark and in need of decorating.

Undaunted, the Mission Service Corps volunteers went to work. The men constructed the ramp and filled in the gaps in the church walls while the women spruced up the sanctuary, foyer and nursery.

“When we got through, it looked so good,” Holliman said. “It was shining from top to bottom. They couldn't believe it.”

Seeing the results of the volunteer labor encouraged the congregation and opened their minds to new ministry possibilities, said Pastor Gerald Hutchman. “I was excited for the people to see that. They had no idea there were people who would do that.”

As the team was packing up and talking about the project, Hutchman asked them to stay a couple more days and speak to the church's youth group. The youth were largely unchurched kids, and a number of them have parents who are practicing witches in the Wiccan religion.

In the weeks before the workers' arrival, the youth were pressing church leaders to prove to them God was real.

“We were in the process of putting together a youth program because kids in this town got nothing,” Hutchman said. “And a lot of them came. They were the roughest kids in town.”

The volunteers prayed about the invitation and soon accepted the challenge. They shared personal experiences of God's work. Several described their salvation experiences.

The youth were attentive throughout the nearly two-hour presentation, the pastor reported, and one of them led a prayer to close the service.

“When that happened, there's no doubt God was in it,” Hutchman said. “It was awesome to see. That was the first time we saw those kids react to anything we've told them.”

The volunteer team left shortly after the service. Since then, however, six youth have made professions of faith in Christ and are growing spiritually, Hutchman said.

The Mission Service Corps workers drove on to the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary, where they are building a mission house. However, the fruits of a 500-mile detour remain fresh in their minds, Holliman emphasized.

“Sometimes God amazes me,” she said. “You go for one reason, and he uses you for another.”

Posted: 10/3/03

Waxahachie woman chooses
non-traditional path to missions

By Toby Druin

Editor Emeritus

In the next few weeks, maybe by the end of September, Gay Lynn McCrady hopes to be in a new hospital, swapping the uniform of Children's Medical Center of Dallas for the garb of Evangel Hospital in Jos, Nigeria.

McCrady won't be changing roles. She is an occupational therapist and will be doing much the same job in Nigeria as she has been doing in Dallas. But she will have a new title to go with the new address–missionary.

Gay Lynn McCrady

And she will go along with an emerging trend among Texas Baptists who become missionaries–bypassing traditional Baptist missionary-sending agencies in favor of appointment by a para-church ministry.

The 34-year-old will go to Nigeria as a missionary of SIM, a 110-year-old missionary-sending agency with about 1,600 missionaries in 50 countries. SIM, formerly Sudan Interior Mission, but now known as Serving in Ministry, is an interdenominational ministry that focuses on churches and works with about 15,000 congregations with 9 million members. SIM has been active in Nigeria since 1902, working with 30 language groups in 3,000 congregations in the Evangelical Church of West Africa.

It was SIM's involvement in Africa and the opportunity to serve there through occupational therapy that attracted McCrady to the organization, she said.

“I selected SIM but also considered two other organizations, Africa Inland Mission and CB International,” she explained. “I thought about the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, but I already had this route in mind, and at the same time I was concerned about the IMB emphasis on the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 and the uproars about it and the instability there. I looked at the others and saw them as stable.

“I like SIM's team approach to missions,” she said. “You gather your own support and constantly keep in contact with your support team and keep them informed about how their money and prayers are being effective.”

Missions involvement has been a part of McCrady's life. Her parents, Charles “Bud” and Linda McCrady, members of First Baptist Church of Waxahachie, involved her in missions projects early. Her father has been involved in many of the missions begun by the church, and her mother is the church's ministries coordinator.

“A common thread in my life has been the leadership and example of my parents and the churches I have been in,” McCrady said. “I've always enjoyed going and experiencing other cultures and people and being a witness for Christ.”

Her lifelong involvement has pointed her toward missions, she said, but a 1998 mission trip to Uganda, the church's women's retreat in 1999 and another trip to Uganda in 2000 convinced her that her future was in missions.

A native of Dallas, McCrady grew up in Red Oak. She entered Texas Woman's University not knowing what she wanted to do, she said, but as a youth developed a love for handicapped people. One of her best friends had cerebral palsy.

She gravitated to TWU's occupational therapy program, got her degree there in 1992 and for six-and-a-half years worked at Scott & White Hospital in Temple. While living in Temple, she attended Temple Bible Church and learned about SIM there.

Unlike missionaries of the Southern Baptist Convention and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, who are supported by funds given to those agencies, missionaries with SIM have to raise their own support.

“SIM figures up how much you need,” McCrady said. “You meet with the person who handles appointees and who guides you through the process. For me, it is $2,200 monthly for support and ministry, and one-time costs of $4,808 for all that is required to get on the mission field, $4,500 for setting up and equipment, $1,500 for cross-cultural training and $5,000 for a vehicle.”

Getting commitments for her support has involved appeals to friends, family and former churches. “I expected it to be difficult at the beginning, but I was amazed at how many came forward offering help,” she said. “The churches I had been a member of were excited about helping me long-term. Many people said they had just been waiting for me to decide what to do.”

Posted: 10/3/03

WHICH WAY?
Texans take diverse routes to missions

By Toby Druin

Editor Emeritus

Texas Baptist young people–and those not so young–have an almost infinite variety of avenues of service if they want to get involved in overseas missions.

There is the traditional route of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board. Texas Baptists sent the first missionaries to Brazil, the William Bagbys, through the SBC, and thousands of additional Texans have served around the world as appointees of the board.

Susan and Jeremy Taliaferro of Irving receive certificates of appointment from International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin during a Sept. 9 appointment service in Austin. The Taliaferros will serve in Western South America. Many Texas Baptists seeking missionary appointment continue to go through traditional agencies such as the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Many others, however, are choosing a variety of paths to the mission field not known to Texas Baptists in the past. (Bill Bangham/IMB Photo)

In the last decade, some Texans also have gone overseas under appointment of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

But a growing number of Texans, particularly those interested in short terms of service, are bypassing these traditional avenues for other missionary-sending agencies or arranging for service in mission projects sponsored by their own or other churches.

As with other aspects of life, the Internet plays a key role in this changing mindset. An array of missionary-sending agencies lie only an e-mail away from anyone interested.

An increasing number of Baptist students are interested in mission service, especially short-term projects, said Joel Bratcher, director of Baptist Student Ministries at Texas A&M University in College Station. “We are seeing more and more groups all the time.”

The IMB and the CBF have reported increased interest in missions service among young adults today. This interest is fueling growth for both organizations.

But students interested in missions today, Bratcher said, have less of a denominational tie.

“That is not a negative toward the SBC International Mission Board,” he said. “These students don't know about or care about denominational politics. They are more interested in the main agenda of serving Christ and are willing to do it any way they can.”

A popular A&M campus Bible study program led by Greg Matte, a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, provides the catalyst for many students, Bratcher said. Begun 15 years ago by Matte and his roommate, Breakaway Ministries now attracts 4,000 to 5,000 students weekly to Reed Arena.

The ministry's main goal is to plug students into local churches and help them reach non-Christian friends, Bratcher said. But it also sponsors a missions fair each November in which about 30 organizations come to the arena, set up booths and talk to students about ministry opportunities. Many of these are missionary-sending groups.

Many of his BSM students have gone to China through such contacts, Bratcher said, and some are going back to teach English.

Brenda Sanders, who directs the student summer missions program for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, works with all the traditional Baptist agencies in placing students in missions assignments–the IMB, CBF, SBC North American Mission Board, the Baptist World Alliance and inside Texas with churches, associations and various ministries.

But students are as close to a missionary-sending agency as they are to the Internet, she noted, and many make their inquiries far and wide. She gets an occasional call from pastors about various agencies in which their young people are interested.

“We have had several student summer missionaries choosing not to go with the traditional agencies,” Sanders said. “And some have gone with International Schools of China, with whom we also are connected with the IMB, and one went with ChinaTESOL.com.”

Her office recruits student missionaries for such programs as the Texas Baptist River Ministry and for other denominational agencies, she noted, but it's not unusual to get calls from students about other groups. A popular book, “Operation World,” features 365 days of devotionals but also carries a list of missionary-sending agencies, she noted. Another resource popular with students is “Missions Handbook,” which is put together to assist with the selection of missions agencies.

The IMB has opened a variety of ways to make initial inquiries about mission service, including a designated telephone number, website, e-mail, traditional mail and visits by IMB staff members to seminary campuses, said IMB official Jim Riddell.

Missionary appointments and the numbers of people contacting the board about potential service have increased significantly over the last three years, but budget limitations have slowed long-term appointments this year, he reported. However, short-term programs such as International Service Corps, Journeyman and Masters, are growing dramatically, he added, and many short-term personnel return to seek long-term appointment.

The CBF also uses multiple avenues of connecting with people interested in missionary service, said missions co-coordinator Gary Baldridge.

Since the mid-1990s, about 90 to 120 people annually have been in CBF's process for long-term missionary appointment, he said.

Both Riddell and Baldridge said they encourage people to look at opportunities of service with their agencies, but if they can't match the person's desires, they said, they encourage them to look at other agencies.

“In many cases, the individuals already have other agencies in mind that they may consider if we are not able to help them out,” Riddell said.

Despite the expanding opportunities, most missions volunteers at Baylor University's Truett Seminary still are interested in service with either the IMB or the CBF, reported Mike Stroope, associate professor of Christian missions.

“But what I am seeing here, too, is that more than anything the students want to go with people rather than an organization,” he said. “They are finding people (in mission service) and connecting with them and who they are related to.”

That differs from his own experience more than two decades ago when he sought appointment with the IMB. “When I went out, I was going with the board, and I identified with our Baptist organization. Today, I don't know that these students are like that. They will ask me where they can go, meaning, 'Who can I go work with whom I can trust or that you trust?'”

Raising their own funds, rather than depending on a steady salary from a mission board, is not a problem with them, Stroope said.

“Money more and more seems not to be a problem; they see it not as raising money as much as support,” he said. “And if God wants them to go, he will provide the money. They see it as an adventure of faith with God providing. More and more are raising their own money or support, and it doesn't seem to be an issue. And more and more churches and individuals want to give to kids they know; they want to see where their money is going.”

Posted: 10/3/03

Missions network nearing staff leader choice

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–The emerging Texas Baptist missions network is “closing in” on finding a staff leader, according to Albert Reyes, chairman of the network's search committee.

The committee received more than 50 resumes from qualified individuals as candidates for the staff leader, and the committee has continued to narrow the field, Reyes reported to the network's board of directors Sept. 23.

“We have moved from good to better to best. Those we are looking at now are among the best, and we are trying to determine which one is the best,” said Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio.

While he did not rule out the possibility of presenting a candidate to the board at its next meeting in October, Reyes said the committee was more concerned about finding the right person than meeting a self-imposed deadline.

Prayer Committee Chairperson Nina Pinkston from Travis Avenue Baptist Church of Fort Worth led the board into a 20-minute “season of prayer” for the search committee, asking God to direct the selection process.

The network's formal organizational meeting will be Oct. 23 in Dallas. At that time, the board officially will adopt its governing documents, as well as elect officers and a five-member executive committee.

Posted: 10/3/03

David Crowder and his band stay
true to their first love in Waco

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Standard

WACO–The son of an insurance broker, David Crowder planned to run the family business after graduation from Baylor University.

Instead, he has become one of the most sought-after worship band leaders in the nation and a popular recording artist.

The David Crowder Band's new release, “Illuminate,” currently ranks No. 1 on the SoundScan Christian retail chart, selling 13,935 units in its first week on the market. This release more than doubled a record-breaking debut of the band's freshman project, “Can You Hear Us?”

David Crowder

Even in the unique world of Christian music, it's safe to say there's no one quite like Crowder, who lives in Waco with his wife, Toni. In fact, he's been called “the Pied Piper of Christian music.”

The Texarkana native says his desire to connect people to God and his passion for college ministry began while attending Baylor as a music major. However, becoming a worship leader and recording artist came as a surprise even to him.

While at Baylor, he was troubled by a campus survey that showed 8,000 of Baylor's 14,000 students said they never attended a church service while in college.

He discussed ways to reach those students with his friend Chris Seay.

“We just started talking about our peers and how there was a lack of student involvement in churches. Being in Waco, there's not a lack of churches, so that wasn't the problem. And it wasn't like, 'Oh, here's a great idea–let's start another church.'

“But we knew those people (at Baylor) because they were our friends, and we thought we could provide an environment they would feel comfortable in and wouldn't feel threatened by,” he explained.

Armed with a vision and a desire to impact their campus, Crowder and Seay founded University Baptist Church in 1996. It is an innovative congregation with a modern worship style designed for students to safely explore their questions about faith. Today, the church regularly draws 1,000 students, and Seay has moved on to establish another innovative congregation, Ecclesia Church in Houston.

But Crowder remains at University Baptist Church as worship leader.

“We've seen a great response since the beginning,” Crowder noted. “But there's still a lot of work to be done–1,000 students is still a long way from 8,000.”

When Crowder became the church's music and arts pastor, he started writing praise choruses he thought students could relate to. At the time, he didn't realize his songs, such as “You Alone” and “Our Love is Loud,” would be sung in churches across the nation.

“For me, songwriting happens when I'm not trying to write a song,” he explained. “I spend a lot of time reading and listening to music. If you pay attention to those small moments in life that maybe others aren't noticing, then you have a place to write from whenever the inspirational moment hits you.”

Among those inspired by Crowder's lyrics was Louie Giglio, who founded Passion Conferences in 1995 and Sixsteps Records in 2000.

“I met Louie through writing some songs,” Crowder said. “I had written some songs for our church, and they had gotten outside our church and were being sung by other churches. Somehow, Louie got a hold of those songs, and they were put on a couple of the Passion CDs.”

This led to the David Crowder Band being signed to the Sixsteps label–which partners with Sparrow Records for distribution and marketing–and they began performing at Passion Conferences and worship gatherings across the country.

“Passion is uniquely collegiate, but its platform has grown to include a wide range of people,” said Crowder, who currently is participating in the nationwide Passion Experience Tour, which will be in Lubbock Oct. 8, Austin Oct. 9, Dallas Oct. 10 and Houston Oct. 11.

The David Crowder Band is committed to sharing the message of Christ through music. They also have remained dedicated to leading worship at their home church. “All the guys got connected to UBC at some point while they were going to Baylor,” Crowder explained. “They just started helping lead worship on Sunday mornings. These guys that I'm with seem to connect to something that needed to go beyond our church.”

With Crowder on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, the band consists of electric guitarists Jason Solley and Jack Parker, as well as drummer Jeremy Bush, bass player Mike Dodson, and Mike Hogan on electric violin.

Despite touring across the country and performing 251 concerts in 2002, they only missed 11 Sundays at University Baptist Church.

“It's amazing to me how God has used these songs and to find that they are taking root other places. To be really far from home and hear people singing the words to these songs that are so personal and meaningful to a small group of folks in Waco is just incredible.”

Posted: 10/3/03

DBU trains students for the business of music

DALLAS–Most universities have business schools, and many have music schools. Dallas Baptist University has married the two disciplines into a unique new bachelor's degree in music business.

The degree prepares students for work in the commercial music industry. DBU is the only four-year school in the Metroplex to offer such a degree.

Professor Terry Fansler instructs Justin Brooks and Christine Hand on how to use studio equipment.

“I tell my students, music is the product, and business is the process used to drive that product,” said Terry Fansler, DBU director of studies in music business. “To be successful in the music industry, students must clearly understand both the product and the process. This degree offers both–and in the right proportions. A good portion of the courses are in music, but an even larger percentage are in business.”

Students study administration, accounting, marketing, entrepreneurship and law.

“The degree is designed to accommodate a variety of career paths, because there are many different ways to build a career in the commercial music industry,” Fansler added.

For example, a musical concert requires a promotional team, an agent, a manager and a stage crew before the first note is played. Similarly, a single CD represents the work not only of the artist and supporting musicians but also of studio engineers, producers, technicians, visual and graphic artists, photographers, lawyers, marketing strategists, distributors and retailers.

“Traditional business degrees emphasize management skills. Because the music industry is changing so rapidly and will likely downsize dramatically during the coming years, we are preparing students to work for themselves as entrepreneurs,” Fansler said. “They can create their careers and not be financially dependent on salaried jobs with large companies that will likely contract out more and more of their work in the future.”

DBU's location in the heart of the Metroplex adds an advantage as well, he noted. In addition to television production and recording facilities in Las Colinas, numerous recording studios, booking agents, concert promoters, commercial production houses and major performance venues are located in the area. During their senior year, music business majors apply for internships with local businesses that match their areas of interest.

“The music business is a tough industry to break into, but students going through DBU's program have a distinct advantage that puts them ahead of the competition,” Fansler said. “The students must have the talent, but at DBU, we will prepare them for the business.”

Posted: 10/3/03

On the Move

Mark Ashley has resigned as youth director at First Church in Hubbard.

Chad Barnett to First Church in Paint Rock as pastor from Avenue D Church in Brownwood.

Randy Bartley to Slide Church in Lubbock as pastor from First Church in Ralls.

Jason Bishop to Bacon Heights Church in Lubbock as minister to students.

Gregg Bunn to Northside Church in Atlanta as organist/ministry associate from Wilshire Church in Dallas.

Jim Clayman to First Church in Mineral Wells as minister of music.

Bill Dawson to Loving Church in Loving as pastor from Dry Valley Church in Lodiburg, Ky.

Jason Ingram to Broadview Church in Lubbock as minister of education and evangelism.

Joe King to Wilshire Church in Dallas as interim minister of music.

Chad and Kristen Lehrmann to First Church in Seymour as youth ministers.

Matt Martin to Field Street Church in Cleburne as minister of music.

Leon Maxwell has completed an interim pastorate at Highlands Church in La Marque.

Ralph Smith to Bannockburn Church in Austin as interim pastor.

Milton Tyler has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in Paint Rock.

Posted: 10/3/03

A DOG, A GUN & A DAD:
Patterson's advice on boys

LAVACA, Ark. (BP)–The No. 1 problem in America today is a war against boys and the establishment of laws to prevent men from hunting and owning guns, Paige Patterson told a group of 1,300 men and boys at an Arkansas church.

Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, was keynote speaker at a Sportsman's Safari sponsored by First Baptist Church of Lavaca, Ark.

Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, speaks at a Sportsman's Safari event at First Baptist Church of Lavaca, Ark., where he told 1,300 people the greatest problem in America today is a war against boys and the establishment of laws to prevent men from hunting and owning guns. (Matthew Miller/SWBTS Photo)

The goal of the event was “to get guys to see the things at church that they're normally looking for in the woods on Sunday,” said Pastor Grant Ethridge.

After an exhibition of “monster bucks,” archery equipment and firearms, the group heard from Patterson, an African big-game hunter.

Patterson talked about hunting plains game in Zimbabwe and displayed photos of his African trophies. But he said he actually came to tell the hunters about “America's No. 1 problem and what they can do about it.”

A war against boys, hunting and gun ownership has produced a generation of fathers disconnected from their sons, he said.

“Today, there is a war against boys,” Patterson declared. “You've got to make little girls out of your little boys.”

He charged that boys have been prohibited even from portraying superheroes on school playgrounds because the behavior is said by psychologists to illustrate aggressiveness. “Never mind that Batman and Superman were always on the side of right.”

But Patterson said he believes dads still can give boys what they need, and that when fathers provide for their sons the nation is strengthened.

Little boys, he said, need three things–a dog, a gun and a dad.

“Every little boy needs a dog,” Patterson said, “and not a little yip dog, but a big dog that he can be proud of.”

By learning to care for the dog and providing its food, grooming and veterinary needs, Patterson said, the boy will learn responsibility.

Similarly, the boy will learn responsibility and respect for the safety of others if he has a gun.

“Get him a gun,” Patterson urged. “Not a play gun, but a real gun. Play guns are the most dangerous guns in the world.”

He recalled that when he was teaching his son how to shoot his first rifle, he took him out on a West Texas ranch at dusk. “I put a can up on the fence, and he aimed. When he pulled that trigger, fire flew from the end of that gun and lit up the place, and he thought he'd been kicked by a mule.”

The event reinforced in his son the danger of using guns irresponsibly, he explained.

Patterson also said that every boy needs a father, for without a father there “is no image in the house they can relate to. He needs a daddy who doesn't just bring home the bacon, but who develops a relationship with him.”

A son follows after his father, no matter the kind of person the father may be, Patterson said. “No little boy needs a daddy or granddaddy who will take him to hell. He's going where you're going. … When you go to hell, look back over your shoulder; he'll follow you there.”

Patterson asked the men to prepare for the future. By coming to faith in Christ, he said, God would make each one a “real man” and guarantee him eternal life; then, their sons would follow their example.

The same theme was presented again at a second sportsman's banquet at First Baptist Church of Little Rock the following evening. More than 600 men and boys attended the church's second annual outreach.

The church's pastor is Patterson's son-in-law, Mark Howell.

Twenty-seven men made decisions for Christ at the Lavaca banquet. Another 36 made decisions at the Little Rock banquet.

Reported by Gregory Tomlin, Southwestern Seminary