palmers_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Jonathan Palmer prepares for a river crossing in Nicaragua.

Visiting family means missions for Mesquite teens

By George Henson

Staff Writer

Some youth spent their summer doing missions, while others visited relatives. Some may have done both. A Mesquite pair, however, accomplished both at the same time.

Jonathan and Katherine Palmer, members of Lakeside Baptist Church in Dallas, spent six weeks in northern Nicaragua assisting their aunt and uncle, International Mission Board missionaries Jim and Viola Palmer, with a variety of mission projects.

The teens are the children of Brenda and Joel Palmer of Mesquite.

The brother and sister took flight from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport June 28 and returned Aug. 9, but the rustic conditions they lived in during the interim kept them well-grounded.

Katherine, 15, was to work at a Bible institute for lay pastors, evaluating their vision and matching them up with used eyeglasses donated by American congregations, but that plan changed rapidly.

Katherine Palmer (left) helped teach English in a Christian academy in Managua.

Her aunt contracted a viral lung infection and had to be transported to Managua on the other side of the country. Katherine accompanied her from the ministry center in Puerto Cabezas, but although her plans changed the overarching goal of ministry did not.

In Managua, she worked at a Christian academy started by her missionary aunt and uncle years before. She taught preschoolers English.

Even after her aunt was able to return to Puerto Cabezas, she still was weak, so Katherine helped out by making pig food, feeding the pigs and caring for a pregnant goat.

Jonathan, 16, meanwhile had been making the living conditions for pigs in a distant village more comfortable. Comfort was not what he was feeling, however.

The 90-mile trip to the village of Ulwas traversed roads so rough that the trip took more than eight hours. While his view of the rainforest may have been good, his seat was not–he made the day-long trip perched high atop the load of materials needed for the project.

Working with a volunteer group from Americus, Ga., he helped build a pig pen and a storage facility for beans and rice. The “Seeds of Hope” program is important because the villagers in the area do not have the means of building structures for storing grain for use as seed. Typically, because any saved grain would be eaten by the many weevils native to the rain forest before the next planting season, everything is sold with nothing kept for seed.

Because no banks exist, all the money typically is used to buy goods until no money is left. Then, when planting times arises, everything must be sold at a lower price so seed can be bought in a vicious downward cycle.

Katherine with a parrot in Nicaragua.

The project also brought sealed wells to the village. Villages in this region typically get drinking water from the river, where washing and bathing also are done, or from an uncovered well that all manner of things fall into, leading to many diseases.

Jim and Viola Palmer work mainly with the Miskito tribe, but they also work with the Sumu people. The Sumu live deep within the rain forest, where no Baptist presence exists. In an effort to rectify this, Jonathan, his uncle and a group from Texas Baptist Men surveyed a number of tribes during a six-day excursion into unspoiled territory.

The first stop for the group was in the village of Sakalwas to meet with the tribal council and gain approval for trekking into tribal lands. More than 90 minutes passed before permission was gained, but they later learned it was time well spent. A Moravian pastor in one of the villages told them a small Pentecostal group entered without permission and was bound by villagers and kept in a small, dark hut until morning, when they were released with instructions never to return.

When the missionaries arrived in the village of Suniwas, they showed the “Jesus” film in the Moskito language, since it has not yet been translated into Sumu.

The villagers were mesmerized by the movie, Palmer said. “These are people who have never seen a car or a light bulb. The 'Jesus' film will impact their lives in ways we can only imagine.”

Each day, the group traveled deeper into the rain forest, sometimes traversing wet and muddy trails and sometimes floating down almost unnavigable rivers. The deeper they went into the jungle, the more excited was their reception.

“The villagers here in Kibnusa can't remember the last time white people came into their village. No one can believe the team would come so far to show the 'Jesus' film and talk about Jesus,” Palmer reported to those praying for the group about the fourth day of the hike.
Jonathan preparing for a rough ride.

The next day, they trekked deeper still into the rain forest. “The canopy was so thick it was dark on the trail,” Palmer wrote.

Jonathan remembers that day vividly. “We heard this loud, strange sound all around us and couldn't figure out what it was. So we just kept walking. After about five minutes, the rain finally began to hit us. We had been hearing the downpour on the canopy of the rain forest, but it was so thick the rain wasn't hitting the ground.”

His last couple of weeks of summer missions work weren't so exotic, however. He helped with two medical missions with the highly exalted position of “grunt worker.”

“We put up tents, hauled water, did whatever else was needed like playing with the kids while their parents were busy and in the evening took down the tents so we could start all over again the next morning.”

Katherine returned to her job of fitting adults with eyeglasses. Using a hand-drawn eye chart using combinations of letters, numbers and symbols, she sought to determine the strength of corrective lenses needed and match it with the eyeglasses on hand.

The job was made much harder, however, because many villagers want eyeglasses with interesting frames rather than the eyeglasses they needed.

Jonathan found working with his aunt and uncle made the mission experience fuller than it might have been otherwise. He enjoyed spending time with a relative he doesn't get to see as often as he would like.

He also gained more insight into the life of a missionary than other volunteers might.

Katherine took home a similar lesson.

“When you think of missionaries, you think, 'They're perfect.' But when it's your aunt and uncle, you know they're not perfect and you realize that real people can be missionaries.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




praise_team_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Everyone's the praise team at this church

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

NEW BRAUNFELS–First Baptist Church may have the largest praise team in the world. At least the music minister thinks that way when planning worship services.

Wally Black views his full 35-person choir as the praise team and the congregation as the choir when planning worship services.

The notion has nothing to do with worship styles. Bringing several members of the choir forward to sing with microphones does not match Black's theology, he said. The sounds of praise are depicted biblically as a multitude of voices pointed toward heaven, not a couple of people singing in front, Black noted.

Praise teams can hurt a choir psychologically, he argued. They can make non-members of the praise team feel they are less important than those at the front. Black works to accomplish the opposite effect.

“I want every one of my choir members to feel important,” he explained. “I want every one of them to feel like leaders of worship.”

His image of a corporation of worship leaders is apparently making a mark on the choir members. Diana Clendenin, a choir member, pictures worship as “people who are so enraptured with God that they forget who they are and give themselves to God.” The choir is key in achieving that at First Baptist Church, she said.

“They believe what they are singing. They believe the words coming out of their mouths,” Clendenin said of the choir members. “They're ministers.”

The worship service is directed toward God, Black said. If God is the only one to hear the voices of the congregation, that is sufficient, he added.

“That's what worship is. It's singing to an audience of one,” he said. “It's us in front of the Lord.”

God-centered worship is one of the 11 characteristics of healthy churches adopted by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

At First Baptist, church leaders use a variety of musical pieces to serve a congregation that runs the age gamut. Black writes or arranges all the music he uses in the services. Music includes a wide range of hymns and praise choruses. Occasionally he weaves a hymn and a chorus into one piece.

While he enjoys newer material, he believes the stories behind hymns add depth to the songs, and the lyrics provide theological information that believers need. Songs remain with people longer than a sermon, he said.

“I'm not one of those guys that's stuck in the past. At the same time, I'm not going to be divorced from the past,” Black said. “You always have to go to lyrics. As worship leader, I have a responsibility that for 20 or 30 minutes people are going to focus on 200 to 300 words of my choice.”

Black ties the music together thematically and connects it to Pastor Regan Miller's sermon when there is a long-term topic schedule.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




purpose_drive_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

'Purpose Drive Life' named
top evangelical book of the year

ORLANDO, Fla. (RNS)–“The Purpose-Driven Life” by Baptist pastor Rick Warren has been named the 2003 Jordon Christian Book of the Year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

Zondervan published the popular book by Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, a megachurch in Lake Forest, Calif. The book offers advice on spiritual transformation and Christian living.

The book was honored during the 26th Annual Gold Medallion Book Awards Banquet at the CBA International Convention.

At the same ceremony, evangelical leader Joni Eareckson Tada was honored with a lifetime achievement award. Tada, who became a quadriplegic as the result of a 1967 diving accident, founded a disability outreach organization called Joni and Friends and has authored more than 30 books.

Gold Medallion winners are:

Bibles: “The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language” by Eugene Peterson.

bluebull Bible Study: “My Heart's Cry” by Anne Graham Lotz.

bluebull Biography/Autobiography: “Let's Roll!” by Lisa Beamer with Ken Abraham.

bluebull Christian Education: “When God Weeps Groupware” by Joni Eareckson Tada and Steve Estes.

bluebull Christian Living: “Authentic Faith” by Gary Thomas.

bluebull Christian Ministry: “Experiencing God Together” by Henry Blackaby and Melvin Blackaby.

bluebull Christianity and Society: “The Next Christendom” by Philip Jenkins.

bluebull Devotional: “Night Light for Parents” by James Dobson and Shirley Dobson.

bluebull Elementary Children: “All Is Well” by Frank Peretti.

bluebull Family and Parenting: “Blessing Your Children” by Jack Hayford.

bluebull Fiction: “Mission Compromised” by Oliver North.

bluebull Gift Book/Poetry: “A Family Christmas” by James Dobson and G. Harvey.

bluebull Inspirational: “My Heart's Desire” by David Jeremiah.

bluebull Marriage: “Divorce-Proof Your Marriage” by Gary Rosberg and Barb Rosberg.

bluebull Missions/Evangelism: “Unveiling Islam” by Ergun Caner and Emir Caner.

bluebull Preschool Children: “The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes” by Ken Taylor.

bluebull Reference Works/Commentaries: “Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary” by Clinton Arnold, general editor.

bluebull Spanish: “Cristo Rey de reyes” by E.L. Carballosa.

bluebull Theology/Doctrine: “The Doctrine of God” by John Frame.

bluebull Youth: "Every Young Man's Battle" by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker with Mike Yorkey.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




reading_lists_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Ministers' reading lists are diverse
but include few women or blacks

By David Briggs

Religion News Service

CHICAGO (RNS)–America's clergy are reading a broad range of theologians, Bible scholars and inspirational writers, at times crossing liberal-conservative and Protestant-Catholic divides to share spiritual writers from different traditions.

What they do not put at the top of their reading lists, according to a national survey, are women and black writers.

A survey of pastoral reading habits conducted for the Pulpit & Pew research project at Duke Divinity School showed Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest known for searing honesty and personal vulnerability, was the favorite author of both Catholic priests and mainline Protestant clergy.

C.S. Lewis, an Anglican layman who thrilled children with his “Chronicles of Narnia” series and generations of Christian thinkers with such works as “Mere Christianity,” was the top writer crossing over the favorite lists of all Christian clergy.

However, not a single woman or black writer made the Top 10 lists of Catholic, mainline Protestant or conservative Protestant clergy.

More than 800 clergy from 80 denominations responded to the 2001 random telephone survey conducted for the Duke research project by the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago. The results are to be part of a book published next year.

Each cleric was asked, “Other than the Bible, what three authors do you read most often in your work as a pastor?”

Nouwen, Pope John Paul II, the biblical scholar Raymond Brown and spiritual writer William Bausch were the top four authors selected by Catholic clergy. Nouwen, United Methodist theologian William Willimon, spiritual writer Frederick Buechner and popular author Max Lucado were the top four of mainline Protestants.

Lucado, leadership author John Maxwell, theologian and devotional writer Charles Swindoll and biblical scholar John MacArthur led the list of those read by conservative clergy. In addition to Lucado, the popular inspirational writer Philip Yancey, Lewis and Maxwell were on the Top 10 lists of both mainline and conservative Protestants. Lewis was No. 11 on the Catholic list.

Overall, the results suggest clergy from the three main Christian groups live in distinct intellectual and cultural worlds, said Jackson Carroll, director of the Duke research project.

Sixteen percent of the clergy surveyed were black; 9 percent were women.

The Episcopal spiritual writer Barbara Brown Taylor was the first woman to show up on any list–No. 12 in the favorite authors of mainline Protestant clergy. The popular black Pentecostal writer T.D. Jakes was No. 11 on the list of writers conservative Protestants turn to in their work as pastors.

Who clergy are reading

More than 800 U.S. clergy were asked, “Other than the Bible, what three authors do you read most often in your work as a pastor?” Here are the Top 10 authors as picked by Catholic, mainline Protestant and conservative Protestant clergy in the 2001 telephone survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
Catholic

Mainline
Protestant
Conservative
Protestant
Henri Nouwen
Pope John Paul II
Raymond Brown
William Bausch
Walter Burghardt
Scott Hahn
Anthony de Mello
William Barclay
Richard McBrien
Karl Rahner
Henri Nouwen
William Willimon
Frederick Buechner
Max Lucado
Eugene Peterson
C.S. Lewis
Marcus Borg
John Maxwell
Lyle Schaller
Philip Yancey
Max Lucado
John Maxwell
Charles Swindoll
John MacArthur
Warren Wiersbe
Philip Yancey
Rick Warren
C.S. Lewis
Matthew Henry
Charles Spurgeon

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




restraint_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

95 missionaries urge restraint in preacher talk

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) –Ninety-five retired Southern Baptist missionaries who served in the Middle East and North Africa recently signed a resolution calling for U.S. Christian leaders to quit making inflammatory statements about the faith of people who live in the region.

They mailed their admonition in a letter to former Southern Baptist Convention President Jerry Vines and Richard Land, executive director of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

In a sermon Vines preached at the 2002 SBC Pastors' Conference, he called Mohammed, the founder of Islam, “a demon-possessed pedophile.” He also implied Allah, the Islamic god, turns people into terrorists.

The missionaries' letter also cited Land's endorsement of President Bush's pro-Israel policies.

Both actions are particularly distressing to missionaries, the resolution said.

“Because of the deep and continued concern for all the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, we, the retired missionaries of this area, urge Christian leaders in America to respect the faith, values and aspirations of all the peoples of the entire area, and to reflect this respect in their public and private statements,” the resolution said.

The retirees represent more than 1,625 years of combined experience with the SBC International Mission Board. A group of current IMB workers in predominantly Muslim countries issued a similar call for restraint last January.

Vines and Land did not respond to requests for comment. Likewise, the International Mission Board declined comment.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




spiritual_journeys_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Book offers peek at pop artists' faith

By Jason White

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Moby praising pornography and Jesus. Johnny Cash singing gospel songs while strung-out on drugs. P. Diddy rapping about guns and God.

These are just a few of the conflicting images at the heart of a new book on religion and music, “Spiritual Journeys: How Faith Has Influenced 12 Music Icons.” The book, which includes contributions from five authors, explores the religious beliefs of some of the biggest stars in pop music today, from Bono to Bob Dylan to Lauryn Hill.

Foundational to the book is a notion that pop stars are like modern day preachers, singing songs with messages more powerful than one hears Sunday mornings. In trying to understand these messages, the book takes pop stars and their religious beliefs seriously.

“We don't trust the guy in the suit reading to us from the Bible, banging the pulpit and shouting about the end times. We do, however, trust the guy in the baggy pants and FUBU jersey telling us what life is like, what relationships are like, where hope can be found,” Jason Boyett writes in the introduction to the book.

Boyett says the goal of the book is to understand the pop stars for who they are in and of themselves, not to cram them into some traditional understanding of what a religious person should look like.

“The purpose is not to pigeonhole them into a certain faith tradition or to 'out' these musicians as believers–we're not stamping 'Christian' on their foreheads. … Rather, the goal is to explore the way their spiritual paths have intersected with their art. What kind of faith is evident? Where is it evident? And what does it mean for the listener?” he writes.

Boyett's comment could be read as a metaphor for the book itself. Just as the authors avoid stamping “Christianity” on the musicians' foreheads, so they avoid calling their own book “Christian.”

Yet the book does appear to have been written from a Christian perspective, and the artists it covers are all connected to Christianity in some way.

“The intention of this book is to shed light on the spiritual journeys of many significant musical pop culture icons that our target audience–Christian twentysomethings–have enjoyed listening to over the years,” said Cara Baker, managing editor of Relevant Media Group, the book's publisher.

Baker stressed the book is not intended to be evangelistic.

“It is not meant to persuade anyone to Christianity. It is meant as an entertaining read, written as a biography-style anthology for those who have enjoyed these artists' music to delve a little deeper behind what influences them,” she said.

One of the stronger essays in the book is about Johnny Cash, the legendary country singer whose career hit a revival before his recent death, even landing a hit song on MTV, a rarity for a gray-haired drawler.

Author Steve Beard describes Cash's faith as a rather straightforward brand of Christianity, with enough hellfire and brimstone references to satisfy a backwoods Baptist preacher.

The catch is that Cash's own life was a rollercoaster affair that saw him swing from highs of singing gospel tunes to the lows of his drug addiction. The two sometimes mixed in the same performance.

Another chapter explores the religious beliefs of Bob Dylan, the mercurial singer-songwriter. Scott Marshall, author of the Dylan chapter, writes that Dylan was born Jewish, but converted to Christianity in 1979.

“In early 1979, Larry Myers and Paul Emond, two pastors from the Vineyard Church, visited Dylan's home in Brentwood, Calif. and shared the gospel. Not long afterward, Dylan came to faith in Jesus, was baptized and enrolled in a discipleship class through the Vineyard,” Marshall writes.

Despite converting, Dylan continues to support Jewish causes and charities. In 1997, for example, Dylan sang a benefit concert for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish charity in Los Angeles.

Later that year, he sang for the pope, leaving Dylan-watchers bemused.

In addition to Cash and Dylan, the book explores the religious beliefs of Sean Puffy Combs (also known as P. Diddy), Lauryn Hill, Moby, Al Green, Wycleaf Jean, Scott Stapp, Destiny's Child, Lenny Kravitz, T-Bone Burnett and Bono.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




stch_swing_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Swing time

Zoe and Marilynn, who live at South Texas Children's Home in Beeville, share a good time on the swingset. They and thousands of other Texas children in need of special care find help through the ministries of Texas Baptists. Gifts to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Cooperative Program budget support child-care ministires in Beeville, San Antonio, Victoria, Luling, Tyler, Dallas, Amarillo, Beaumont, Brenham, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Fort Worth, Harlingen, Laredo, Longview, Lubbock, Lufkin, McAllen, Marshall, Midland, Mission, Rockwall, Orange, Port Arthur, Round Rock, Silsbee, Waco and Woodville.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




tbm_relief_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Texas Baptist Men's disaster
relief fleet expands to 35 vehicles

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

The Texas Baptist disaster relief fleet of emergency response vehicles continues to grow with the addition of a new tool trailer and the prospect of a “rolling bunkhouse.”

The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation helped raise $30,000 from individuals throughout the state to purchase the emergency response tool trailer.

That brings to 35 the number of Texas Baptist disaster relief vehicles, including those owned by churches or associations. They include two 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs, one equipped with a mobile field kitchen and the other used for transporting food; 10 smaller regional food service units; a mobile command post; 18 clean-out units, including shower units, chainsaw trailers and mud-out equipment; a portable generator trailer; a flat-bed trailer for transporting large containers; one child care trailer; and a Victim Relief Ministry unit.

The new equipment trailer is devoted exclusively to rebuilding and repair projects after disasters, according to Leo Smith, interim executive director of Texas Baptist Men.

The additional equipment will allow volunteer builders promptly to repair churches, encampments and other facilities damaged by disasters, while already-scheduled Texas Baptist Men Builder projects proceed as scheduled.

In addition to disaster relief and other ministries, Texas Baptist Men coordinates a major volunteer building effort, mostly involving retirees. This year, the various builder teams have worked on 18 churches, 16 camp projects and three special projects, including My Father's House of Lubbock, and they have built 765 pieces of furniture, 700 cabinets and completed nine brick-laying projects.

In the near future, Texas Baptist Men leaders hope to add a “rolling bunkhouse” to the disaster relief vehicle fleet. The trailer would provide on-site lodging for 16 disaster relief volunteers.

“In past years, our disaster relief volunteers have been sleeping on the floors of churches, gyms, civic centers and other facilities,” said Dick Talley, logistics coordinator for Texas Baptist Men. For older volunteers who have been unable to sleep on the floor, Texas Baptist Men has provided motel rooms.

“When volunteers are housed miles from the kitchen unit, transportation is a difficulty,” Talley added.

On-site housing for disaster relief volunteers would eliminate the cost of motel rooms, alleviate transportation problems and allow volunteers to work in shorter shifts, with rest breaks as needed, he noted.

Estimated total cost for the on-site bunkhouse is $40,000, including a generator to make the unit self-sustaining. The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation is seeking individual donations, as well as applying for grants, to fund the project. For more information, contact the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation at (800) 558-8263.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




together_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

TOGETHER:
Churches & BGCT focus on missions

I love worshipping in our churches, sharing fellowship and experiencing the heart for missions and evangelism that permeates our congregations.

wademug
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board

Recently, I visited First Baptist Church of Nederland. The church reaches out to inmates at a nearby state prison, and the week before I arrived, 300 prisoners had attended a revival service. Pastor David Higgs invited me to accompany him and Sam Maggio, a Sunday School teacher who has ministered to inmates every week for more than 25 years, to baptize some of the men who had made professions of faith in Jesus. We took 10 men into the prison yard, where a large trough had been filled with water. Pastor Higgs baptized several and then asked me to assist.

It was the perfect ending to a day focused on missions, beginning with a marvelous missions emphasis in the church's morning worship service and continuing in an afternoon missions fair. Children of the church had marched in carrying flags from around the world. The pastor had introduced the parade by saying: “People from over 100 countries of the world have come to Texas. These flags represent the incredible challenge that has come to all of us who live in Texas. God has trusted these dear people to our care … to share the good news of Jesus with every one of them.” That day, the church surpassed its Mary Hill Davis Offering goal of $6,000, and more money was still coming in. Additionally, the church had its largest budget offering for the year, and church members gave more than $2,000 for benevolence ministries.

When I preached that morning, I thanked the church for its strong support of all the Baptist General Convention of Texas is doing to help churches and ministries reach out to all segments of our state. And I emphasized the importance of coming to our state convention in Lubbock Nov. 10-11.

This year's convention will be different from anything we have done in the past. The order of business committee and convention officers have worked hard to make this a time of praise, worship, fellowship, inspiration and information. General sessions will be shorter. Participants will be able to choose from among 40 special conferences designed to equip church leaders. And instead of scheduling the missions celebration at the end of the convention on Tuesday evening, it will be on Monday evening when messengers still are in town and the energy still is high.

Of course, important votes will be taken. Texas Baptists want to have a voice in matters that affect them, their churches and our missions vision. But there is much more to this year's convention.

If I still were a pastor, I would look over the list of breakout sessions. Then I would identify church members who are eager to learn and interested in preparing themselves better to help the church do new, creative things. Regardless of the number of messengers allotted to your church, if you have more people in your congregation who could benefit from these sessions, bring them all to Lubbock. We are determined to give real value–ideas and information you can take home to the place where God is using you in being the presence of Christ in the world.

Please make your room reservations and travel arrangements as soon as possible. I hope to see you in Lubbock.

We are loved.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




trooper_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Trooper learns of God's love through crash

TEXARKANA–A tragic accident almost took his life, but now Paul Sigman has a life he considers much richer.

Sigman, 28, had been enjoying a successful, if brief, career as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety. He moved to Texarkana in 2001 after graduating from a police academy and rescued a man from a burning vehicle his first week on the job. That incident, along with his everyday efforts, earned him the title Officer of the Year.

Paul and Amy Sigman, with daughter Annabelle, strengthened their faith in God through Sigman's recovery from a near-fatal automobile accident. The state trooper quotes a favorite author: "You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have."

Last year, Sigman and his wife, Amy, started attending First Baptist Church in Texarkana at the invitation of one of his co-workers.

“I was raised a Catholic, but I had really given up on church,” Sigman confessed. “When Amy got pregnant, we decided that life was good and the Lord was blessing us. We wanted to give our child a church home. We looked for a Baptist church because Amy was raised Baptist.”

The Sigmans became regulars at the church, not only at worship, but also Sunday School, and on Jan. 5 of this year, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

That day was a turning point in the young family's life, but another loomed just ahead on June 17. Sigman and his partner were on patrol near Maud, driving in a torrential downpour. They had decided it was no longer safe to drive even the 20 miles per hour they were traveling and were looking for a place to leave the highway when their car hydroplaned into the path of an oncoming truck.

Both men sustained considerable injuries, but Sigman's partner was able to leave the hospital after a few days. Sigman, who had been driving, was not as fortunate, even though the brunt of the impact was on the passenger side of the vehicle.

“The doctor told me the only thing holding me in the car was my lap belt, so my head was free to move around. The shoulder harness had slipped over my arm and shoulder. In our car, we have a steel console that is bolted into the floor. That console was ripped out of the car from the force of the accident and my head hitting it,” he said.

The remains of Sigman's patrol car.

When the wrecker driver arrived on the scene, he had to return to his vehicle to compose himself after seeing Sigman. From his eyebrows to his nose, his face had been torn open. His sinuses were destroyed and his nose crushed. His eye was ripped in four places. His skull was fractured in so many places his brain was exposed.

Unconscious and unaware, he was taken to Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, where his wife was brought by her boss after learning of the accident.

“When I got there, he was bandaged and bloody and they would not let me talk to him because they were honestly afraid his blood pressure would rise and he was not going to survive,” she said.

Sigman's injuries were such that he needed to be transported to the trauma center at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, but the still-raging storm ruled out air transport. He made the 175-mile trip by ambulance, with his wife traveling in a patrol car right behind.

Sigman stayed in the Intensive Care Unit for several weeks, sedated and on ventilator as his body healed.

During those long days, their church family at First Baptist gave them a great deal of support. Leaving for Dallas, Mrs. Sigman had $20 in her bank account. When they reached Dallas, baby Annabelle was without formula, and her mother worried about how they were going to get by. Friends, family and DPS officers made sure that did not become a problem.

Many came to stay with her at the hospital. Others took care of Annabelle and then returned her to her mother at times to give her something to think about other than her husband's plight.

Associate Pastor Larry Sims “came in with money from the church to help us out. That was such a surprise for Amy and such a relief,” Sigman reported. “Our church family was so wonderful. They took away the financial burden and let Amy worry about me. We could not have done it without the church's help.”

Once Sigman had recovered to a degree, the sedation stopped and the pain began. It was a pain he couldn't describe, but then he realized there was someone who didn't need him to try.

“I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Actually, God carried me through it,” he said. “I tried to explain how bad the pain was, but I knew that a person would have to die to experience this kind of pain.

“Then one day, I thought of the pain Jesus had to go through on that cross. He suffered far worse than I did. He could have asked God to take it away, but he didn't,” Sigman reflected.

On July 9, Sigman underwent 11 hours of reconstructive surgery at Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas. Titanium mesh and plates protect his skull and will eventually harden to bone-like structures. His vision, although light sensitive, is as it was before the accident. His recovery is expected to be complete.

Sigman has returned to light duty at the Department of Public Safety, and he has a message he wants to be heard even louder than his miraculous physical recovery.

“God's grace and love for me are the only reasons I survived,” he said. “My heart is overflowing with God's love. I would do it again tomorrow just to be this close to God. If people knew how much God loves us, there would not be a church big enough to hold everyone.

“One of my favorite quotes is out of a book, 'The Purpose Driven Life,' that Larry gave to me, and I live by these words every day: 'You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have.' I have got to share what God has done in my life. If the accident was the trade off, it works for me,” Sigman said.

Reported by Michelle Oubre, a writer in Texarkana

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




young_dennis_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Young to be nominated for
BGCT second vice president

By Marv Knox

Editor

HOUSTON–Dennis Young, pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church in Missouri City, will be nominated for second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas this fall.

Marvin Delaney, pastor of South Park Baptist Church in Houston, announced he will nominate Young when the state convention holds its annual session in Lubbock Nov. 10-11.

Dennis Young

Young will join two BGCT agency leaders to be nominated for the convention's top offices.

The presidential candidate is Ken Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Dallas. His pastor, Jim Denison of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, will nominate him.

Albert Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio, is the nominee for first vice president. He will be nominated by his pastor, Charlie Johnson of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio.

Young would make a strong BGCT officer because of his depth of commitment to the convention and his involvement in missions, Delaney noted.

“Dennis has for a long time been a really strong supporter of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' work,” Delaney said.

In fact, Young has been on both the receiving and giving ends of the BGCT's missions and ministry programs, he added.

Young was the founding pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church in the early 1990s, and one of the new congregation's most significant supporters was the BGCT's Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions, he explained. During the ensuing decade, the church has grown, and it is a strong supporter of the offering, which now helps other churches get started.

Through the years, Young also has participated in direct missions projects in various parts of the world, Delaney said. Young has served in Jamaica, St. Eustatius, South America and Nigeria.

Young's involvement began while he served on the staff of South Park Baptist Church, Delaney said, noting that involvement persisted while Young led the Missouri City congregation as a mission of South Park and continues now, even as the church is self-supporting.

“Dennis has been serving on the (BGCT) Executive Board, and he has been chosen for a number of committees because of his diligence to his work,” Delaney said. “He's intimately involved with BGCT life.”

Young said he is willing to be nominated for the BGCT vice presidency because he has “a strong sense of urgency for … building God's kingdom.”

“I'm a BGCT man all the way through,” he said, adding the state convention's strategic principles “will assist us in reaching the world for Christ.”

Young particularly resonates with the BGCT's theme, “Being the Presence of Christ,” he noted.

“I could see myself being the presence of God through the BGCT in all areas of work. … I had the privilege of planting a church, and I would want to be an influence for church planting.”

The advances ethnic groups are making in Texas through the BGCT are gratifying, added Young, who is an African-American. He has worked with ethnic Texas Baptists to encourage their involvement in missions. And he is a founding board member of the as-yet-to-be-named BGCT missions network.

Another priority for Young is reaching teenagers with the Christian gospel, he said.

“These are the leaders of tomorrow,” he explained. “In some churches, teenagers haven't been able to shine. But if we're going to reach this world, teenagers have to be a great part of this (missions and evangelism) force.”

Evangelism and discipleship among teens produces a “dual impact,” he said. “We reach them, and they reach their peers. When they get motivated and get the opportunity, they will network … to spread the gospel and build God's kingdom.”

“Family” also should be a priority, he stressed. “As Baptists, we are family. We are children of God. We all have to love each other and treat each other with dignity and respect. This aids in building God's kingdom.”

Young has been pastor of the Missouri City church since 1992. He was on the staff of South Park Baptist Church from 1978 to 1991.

In addition to serving on the BGCT Executive Board and missions network board, he has served on various BGCT and Union Baptist Association committees.

He has been involved in the Fort Bend Independent School District, the Fort Bend Pastors' Association and local civic organizations.

He is a graduate of Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Houston Graduate School of Theology in Houston.

Young and his wife, Fanny, have two children, Fandenia and Dennis II.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




sperry_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

NEIL SPERRY:
Radio Gardener

Since 1978, gardeners in North Central Texas have gleaned their planting, weeding, spraying and harvesting information from the voice of Neil Sperry, first over WFAA radio and since 1980 over KRLD on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He also broadcasts daily statewide over the Texas State Radio Network and will be inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in October. His radio show, "Neil Sperry's Gardens Magazine," and a Texas gardening calendar have been judged the best communications of their kind by the Garden Writer's Association of America, and his book, "Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening," has sold more than half a million copies.

A native Texan, Sperry attended Texas A&M University and has two degrees in horticulture from Ohio State University. He taught horticulture in high school two years and was a horticulture specialist with the Texas Agriculture Extension Service. He and his wife, Lynn, have three children. When he is not gardening, he is involved in a variety of hobbies, such as photography, painting Santa Clause figurines and making pens from historic woods of Texas. Proceeds from the sale of the pens go to the McKinney Education Foundation and Serenity High School. The Sperrys are members of the Lutheran Church.

Neil Sperry displays an assortment of the pens he has made from the historic woods of Texas. Among them are pens made from the Treaty Oak in Austin, a live oak at the Alamo and from a bat used by Rafael Palmeiro.

Q.

You speak of your father often on your radio program. I know he was a major influence in your career choice, but was there an event or events that solidified the decision?

I have always wanted to be a horticulturist. It's inbred into me. I don't think it came from my dad, although being in botany he certainly nurtured it, and he was a very nurturing person, a very patient college professor. I just don't remember ever wanting to do anything else. In fact, I knew so early that in all those aptitude tests they put us through in school, I skewed them to the point that they said something like, “You've rated 108 percent on being outdoors.” It's a lifelong love.

Q.

Why did you choose your particular area of work?

I enjoyed landscaping, nurseries, going to nurseries. The first ones were Dyess Nursery in Bryan, Cornelius Nursery in Houston, Lambert's in Dallas. Mom and Dad would take me to Houston, and I would ask them to take me by Cornelius'. Sterling Cornelius has heard this story. He's one of my heroes. Wonderful man. That's all I've ever wanted to do.

When I started to A&M, I majored in horticulture. I worked in the floriculture department. I had a nursery all the way through high school. I was lucky enough to be student body president during my senior year, and we had major planting campaigns on the campus, and the community center in College Station was my school. Those are my trees out front, up and down what was Jersey Street. I planted live oaks up and down that road. It is now George Bush Boulevard on the way to the presidential boulevard. That's kind of fun to look back on that.

Q.

What is the greatest challenge facing Texas gardeners?

There is no question it is the climate. It is a foreboding climate. So many Texans are transplants, and wherever they are from, the climate was easier where they came from than it is here. It is a relearning thing. When people come to Texas, they have to put away their old plants, their old tools and their old techniques.

Timing is so different. It is different in Texas from Amarillo to the Rio Grande Valley. I do a statewide radio program, and it's tough to tell people in the spring that it's time to plant peas when I may be off by three months in another part of the state.

Q.

What is the most frequently asked question you receive?

How often should I water a given plant? Coincidentally, it is the question to which I somewhat apologetically say, “I don't have an answer.” It depends on temperature, soil type, vigor of growth. If a plant is dormant, it won't need as much water as it would at the same temperature in the growing season. That's a hard one to answer, but it's by far the most common.

Thirty-two percent of the calls I get are turf or lawn driven. I have taken more than 200,000 calls over the 25 years I have done that six hours a weekend, and part of it I have done eight hours. That's a lot of calls, and there is some repetition. Out of the 32 percent, by far the most common is how they should get rid of a weed, Dallas grass, clover or nut sedge, dandelions, etc.

Q.

You exhibit an amazing amount of patience in dealing with your callers. Is that something that comes naturally, or have you had to work at it?

I am not patient, as I always tell people. But apparently the facade is out there that I am patient. I also always tell people I have an off button for the microphone. But I am more patient with callers than I am with myself. I know there are areas I don't understand very well, such as car repair. I am the guy who called the gas company to get help in lighting the pilot light on my water heater when I couldn't get it going and then had the service man tell me: “Mr. Sperry, you have an all-electric home. This is a fuse problem.” I have learned to be patient accordingly.

Q.

Do people stop you on the street to ask you about gardening questions?

Everywhere. I am flattered by that, lucky to have that opportunity. I chose radio but also do a lot of TV, and I can tell the difference if I have been on TV recently and go into a garden center, because I get recognized. What I have always told myself is radio is just fine for me. First of all, I have a face for radio, and I can always be quiet when I go out in public; I can't be invisible.

Q.

How did your pen making get started?

Pen making got started as a give-back for the help our family received. We have a child in recovery now eight years from cocaine addiction at age 16. We are deeply indebted to the organization that identified our child's problem in 20 minutes that psychiatric counseling and even pastoral counseling had not done in two years.

I think if I had one message to give parents, it is how little control we have over children. By my nature, I am somewhat controlling, and I thought I could protect my family from that. We moved to the country to get out of the city life, and the drugs came right here with us. I was so beholden to that organization for helping us, and they were in dire straits, and so I started making pens and giving them the proceeds from the sales.

I love to make and paint Santas and had thought of using them as Santas for Sobriety, but in two hours I sold all I had made in five years. The pen making became a more expedient way of doing it. They have been a real blessing. I have sold a lot of them.

Q.

You often refer to Serenity High School in McKinney and your passion for it. How did that develop, and what is your involvement with the school?

Serenity High was started in 1999. In 1995, after our child was diagnosed as addicted to cocaine, in only a few days we were at a wonderful rehabilitation center called Hazelden in Plymouth, Minn. While we were in Minnesota with our child, we were made familiar with a school, Sobriety High School, in Edina, Minn. Sobriety is private; Serenity High is public, a part of the McKinney school system.

My wife has been on the school board here in McKinney for 20 years and is on the Texas Association of School Boards board of directors, and it was our goal as Serenity got started that it would be a model school. That is beginning to happen, and it is our hope that it will be reinvented in other districts and other cities.

It is so neat to see young men and women who have been to rehab–that is the requirement at Serenity–and be successful there. Serenity High was named by young people in recovery, and the name won by one vote over “Not High School.” It is a very special opportunity.

The most common thing you hear at the two graduations held each year is, “I never thought I would see this day.” It is really an emotional graduation ceremony. Finding out our child at 16 was a cocaine addict was the best thing that ever happened to our family, from the standpoint of bringing us together and bringing me to my knees in humility and thanks to God for the blessings we have been given and the strength to move on to another day. I wouldn't trade where we are for anything.

Q.

How important is religious faith in your life?

Religious faith is very important to me. I find the serenity prayer to be monumentally important: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.” I don't read very well, and so I don't sit and read the Bible. I don't read anything. I have dyslexia and didn't find it out until five years ago. I wondered why I had so much trouble proofreading.

So, from that standpoint I wouldn't want to be set up as someone who is in church every Sunday. I am on the radio every Sunday. People know right where I am. But I pray to say, “Thank you.” I pray to ask for advice, not favors, and I am very conscious of God's presence in my world. There are many things that have happened to me as a father and husband, and I think they have been focused in these last eight years even more. In my 12-step group, there are things called “God things,” and they could not have happened any other way.

Q.

Aside from your pens, do you have other hobbies?

Yes, I am addicted to hobbies. I did a story once about the collections of a life. As a child, I had matchbook covers from my dad's travels. I had an arrowhead collection and learned to hunt and make arrowheads. I had a rock collection and then began collecting woods. My garage is full of woods that predate the pen making. Then there were Santas and chocolate molds. I am making shore birds now. Gardening is the same way; I have collections of day lilies and haworthias or other plants. I am at peace with it. My wife just looks the other way and dismisses it as Neil's latest fetish.

Interview by Toby Druin

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.