Posted: 9/5/03

Posted: 9/5/03

Texas Heritage Awards honor
Bishop, Colton, Craft and Leavell

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

Four longtime denominational leaders were honored at the third annual Texas Baptist Heritage Awards banquet, held Aug. 21 at Union Station in Dallas.

The Baptist Distinctives Committee and Texas Baptist Heritage Center of the Baptist General Convention of Texas presented awards to Amelia Bishop of Austin, C.E. Colton of Dallas, Lynn Craft of Athens and Landrum Leavell II of Wichita Falls.

Bishop, who served as president of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas from 1984 to 1988, received the Mary Hill Davis Texas Missions Award for exemplifying the Texas Baptist commitment to missions and ministry to all people in all places.

Bishop worked on the Texas WMU staff in the early 1950s as state young people's secretary and was vice president of Texas WMU from 1980 to 1984. She and her husband, Ivyloy, now deceased, both taught at Wayland Baptist University, and she also taught at the high school in Plainview.

She has served on the BGCT Executive Board and various Texas Baptist committees. She also has been a member of the Truett Seminary advisory board and the Texas Baptist Laity Institute board.

Bishop is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is the author of two devotional books and a biography of Texas WMU leader Eula Mae Henderson.

Colton, longtime pastor, author and former chairman of the religion department at Wayland Baptist University, received the J.B. Gambrell Denominational Service Award for contributing to the understanding and advancement of Baptist distinctives through Texas Baptist denominational service.

Colton was pastor of Royal Haven Baptist Church in Dallas for nearly 30 years before retiring in 1987. He is a former vice president of the BGCT and former chairman of the Baptist Standard board of directors. He also served as a trustee of the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

He holds degrees from Baylor University, Southwestern Seminary and Central Baptist Seminary and is the author of 16 books on a variety of topics.

Craft, president of the Baptist Foundation of Texas, received the Sam Houston Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to Baptist causes and his community as a lay leader in civic and business life.

He has served the Baptist Foundation of Texas more than three decades. He was named executive vice president in 1972, and the foundation's board of directors elected him as president in 1976.

Craft is a certified public accountant who holds an undergraduate accounting degree from Baylor University and a master's degree in banking and finance from Southern Methodist University. He is a deacon and Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Athens.

Leavell, former pastor and seminary president, received the George W. Truett Religious Freedom Award for advocacy of religious liberty and separation of church and state.

Leavell served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls and was president of the BGCT from 1971 to 1973. He served from 1975 to 1994 as president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

He served as a trustee of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, and in 1996 he contributed to a book of sermons prepared by the BGCT Baptist Distinctives Committee.

Posted: 9/5/03

Poll: Americans more concerned about Islam today

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A new poll shows Americans are increasingly worried about Islam.

The poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center shows Americans generally are comfortable with religion playing a role in civic life.

But white evangelical Christians differ sharply from African-Americans on religious views and political commitment, the poll also revealed.

The number of Americans who think Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence increased significantly in the last year.

In a March 2002 Pew survey, only 25 percent of respondents said Islam is more likely to encourage violence. In the new survey, 44 percent said “yes” to that question. The increase of 19 percentage points in one year is considered significant.

White evangelicals, at 51 percent, were the most likely group to answer “yes” to the question, but their figures were statistically the same as white mainline Protestants, of whom 50 percent believed Islam was more violent than other religions.

The figures for evangelicals and mainline Protestants were much higher than those for Catholics, African-Americans and respondents expressing little or no religious commitments.

But respondents still held a generally positive view of Muslim-Americans.

Fifty-one percent expressed a favorable view of Muslim-Americans, and only 24 percent expressed a negative view. That is statistically unchanged from the 2002 survey, which showed a 54-to-22-percent positive-to-negative view of Muslim-Americans.

The survey, conducted from June 24-July 8, involved 2,002 adults.

Posted: 9/5/03

Conference advances Jewish evangelism

HELSINKI, Finland (BP)–Participants in an international conference on Jewish evangelism adopted a statement underscoring Jesus' divinity and, among other items, applauding improved relations between Arab and Jewish believers.

The seventh Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism international conference, held Aug. 7-12 in Helsinki, Finland, drew a record 200 participants from 18 countries. Participants presented reports and heard updates on Jewish evangelism from around the world.

The Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism was born in 1980 at a meeting in Thailand sponsored by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism. Participants with an interest in Jewish evangelism began meeting every three or four years. The committee also has local chapters, including one in North America.

“We call on believers worldwide to share the good news with the Jewish people, making every effort to relate the gospel in culturally appropriate ways, while maintaining that there is salvation in no other name,” the statement says.

Participants said they “observe with concern” that some people “do not consider verbal proclamation of the gospel to Jewish people a necessary part of the Great Commission. While we appreciate all those who care for the material needs of Jewish people, we are saddened when the eternal need of the Jewish people is not directly addressed.”

The statement also praised improved relations between Arab and Jewish followers of Jesus: “We rejoice in the progress towards reconciliation between Jewish and Arab believers which testifies that the bond believers share in Jesus transcends all political and geographic barriers.”

But the statement criticized Christians who place their national identity above “their unity with others in the universal body of believers.”

Addressing the instability in the Middle East, the statement acclaimed Christ “as both the road and map to true shalom with God and one another.”

Posted: 9/5/03

Bible-based discipleship fuels Lake Pointe growth

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

ROCKWALL–Adult Bible Fellowship members at Lake Pointe Church are expected to reach three people for Christ a year and participate in ministry locally, nationally and internationally. With almost 3,500 participants, that's a lot of outreach.

The church uses Adult Bible Fellowships as a “catalytic system” of reproducing 30-member classes to bring people into the congregation and encourage them to grow in their faith, said Carter Shotwell, pastor of education.

Each is designed to implement “four W's”–worship, word, work and world–in each member's life.

Every group, called a “church within a church” by Shotwell, is asked to provide interactive Bible study, fellowship, care ministry involvement and accountability. The groups divide when they grow too large.

Each fellowship includes a “growth group,” a voluntary cell group of no more than five couples or six singles, for more intimate discipleship.

The growth groups are “foundational” to the church's discipleship program, said Greg Kerbel, who teaches a young married class. The units are where members make “deep relationships” that help them realize “we're all in life struggles together,” he said.

Additionally, the church offers three-and-a-half-hour discipleship seminars four times a year to encourage continual growth. New members are required to attend a workshop where they are given an overview of the church and leadership help them plan their first year of involvement.

Bible-based discipleship is one of the 11 characteristics of a healthy church adopted by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The church surveys the congregation in worship during January and tracks fellowship attendance, service and giving. Leadership continuously encourage outreach.

“You cannot measure the evangelism emphasis, but you must keep it before the people at all times,” Shotwell said. “You can tell how it is going by conversions. Every member is asked to recommit to these things every year.”

According to the measurements, the fellowship approach is working. Two-thirds of members are involved in the small groups, and 40 percent of active members participate in the growth groups. The church creates about two new fellowships every month to keep pace with incoming people.

“As disciples are developed, a natural outgrowth is relational evangelism and servant evangelism,” Shotwell said. “It is hard for a church to be producing disciples and not reaching new people.”

About 85 percent of Adult Bible Fellowships are involved in ministry projects. Some classes provide workers for preschool classes, others feed the homeless and others help build homes with Habitat for Humanity. The groups partner with agencies and adopt causes they support on national and international levels.

Posted: 9/5/03

Houston girl's donation helps other by a hair

By Reagan O'Hare

Union Baptist Association

HOUSTON–Eleven-year-old Kristen Johnson did not think twice when it came to a chance to serve another child.

Moments after watching an “Oprah” episode about Locks of Love, a program providing hairpieces for ill children, she made plans to become a donor.

Locks of Love began in 1997 and has helped thousands of children receive hair donations, which may otherwise cost up to $3,000 a hairpiece. The organization accepts hair donations of at least 10 inches long, and about 80 percent of the donations are for young children.

Johnson, a member of Willow Meadows Baptist Church, said being a donor was easy. Having had long hair all her life, she welcomed the change.

And the ambitious sixth-grader wasn't shy about giving up her locks. During the latter part of the school year, she dropped into a local salon and chopped off 14 to 15 inches. Her brown hair now rests near her shoulders.

For Johnson, it was just an opportunity to help another person. Like Jesus, who she says, “did a lot of things for people,” to her it just seemed like the right thing to do.

“It made me feel good,” she explained. “It made me feel better that somebody else was getting something they needed.”

Houston's summer weather was reason enough to donate her long locks, Johnson said, noting she may donate her hair again.

Helping someone makes a person “feel better in your heart, and you feel better about yourself,” she said.

For more information on Locks of Love, call (561) 963-1677 or visit www.locksoflove.org on the Internet.

Posted: 9/5/03

Offering puts agent of blessing in hospital

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

BEAUMONT–A hopeful “agent of blessing” walks in the shadow of death, and he comes back for more each day.

People die every day at hospitals, and Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospitals are no different. About 400 people die annually at the Beaumont facilities, where David Cross serves as chaplaincy director. He witnesses the last moments in many of those people's lives and helps the families in any manner he can.

The work is not all about stereotypically bringing divine understanding and hope to the situation, Cross said. Getting a family member to understand God continues to work may be improbable, especially when the loss is unexpected.

“The cliché is that you hope that God is glorified and they find God is sufficient,” he said. “The reality is sometimes people are angry.”

On one occasion, a woman cursed out Cross shortly after a relative died and screamed that she didn't need him or God. Cross nodded, helped her as much as he could and went about his day.

The woman later apologized for her harshness and now visits him every time she comes to the hospital. She requests that he see every friend or relative she knows receiving treatment in the facility.

People need an avenue to express the heavy emotions they deal with immediately after a death, Cross has found. As a chaplain, he provides that sounding board.

“Sometimes the best thing is to be a visible representation of the God they are so mad at, so they can verbalize those feelings,” he explained.

In other situations, friends and family members are relieved when someone dies after a long battle with a painful condition, the chaplain noted.

No matter what the family is feeling, Cross attempts to step inside their shoes to the point that his “emotional presence would be riddled with that same feeling.”

The skill of knowing what a family is feeling and empathizing with them is what Cross tries to instill in his students in Hands-On Ministry classes, a volunteer chaplain training program funded by the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions.

The offering also funds opportunities for vocational chaplains and pastoral counselors to fellowship, network and obtain continuing education through the Baptist General Convention of Texas chaplaincy relations office.

Cross teaches volunteers to see the subtle changes that indicate how people are feeling, such as slight facial movements or voice inflections. People can sense when chaplains authentically care, and sincere compassion makes all the difference, he said.

Cross works to be an “agent of blessing,” wanting to see God work each time he walks in the room, he said. At the end of each visit, he would like to say his work pleased God and helped others.

“I hope that people would look back and say, 'He really cared,'” Cross explained. “And I hope that looking back on it I would say I pleased God with how I attended to people.

Posted: 9/5/03

Texas directors of missions meet in first annual session

CEDAR HILL–The Texas Associational Directors of Missions Network held its first meeting Aug. 26-27 at Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment, with Everett Anthony as guest speaker.

Anthony, former director of missions in Chicago and a former national leader of association work among Southern Baptists, currently serves as a consultant to associations through Urban Church Leadership.

The network is a new organization open to any active director of missions serving a Texas Baptist association.

Anthony contrasted rural and urban associations, as well as the past and future of associations.

“The association of the future must be purpose-driven, must be on a strategic journey and must be needs-based,” he said. “From its unique position, the association is a relationship builder to develop assistance and mutual support among its member churches.

“The association in the future must create a learning environment for its member churches. This future association lives to serve. It will serve its world through the planning and doing of partnership missions.”

Associations also must build networks, he added. “These networks are built to provide whatever it takes for the association to fulfill its purpose.”

Gary Hearon, director of missions for Dallas Baptist Association, was re-elected president of the group. Other officers include Vice Presidents Gene Pepiton of Wichita/Archer/Clay Association, Larry Johnson of Ellis Association and Gary Loudermilk of Denton Association; Secretary-treasurer Rick Ballard of Collin Association; and committee chairmen Jimmie Auten of Greater Fort Hood Association, finance, and Jerry Redkey of Sabine Neches Area, nominating.

Additional information about the network is available at www.txadom.net.

Posted: 9/5/03

Texas directors of missions meet in first annual session

CEDAR HILL–The Texas Associational Directors of Missions Network held its first meeting Aug. 26-27 at Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment, with Everett Anthony as guest speaker.

Anthony, former director of missions in Chicago and a former national leader of association work among Southern Baptists, currently serves as a consultant to associations through Urban Church Leadership.

The network is a new organization open to any active director of missions serving a Texas Baptist association.

Anthony contrasted rural and urban associations, as well as the past and future of associations.

“The association of the future must be purpose-driven, must be on a strategic journey and must be needs-based,” he said. “From its unique position, the association is a relationship builder to develop assistance and mutual support among its member churches.

“The association in the future must create a learning environment for its member churches. This future association lives to serve. It will serve its world through the planning and doing of partnership missions.”

Associations also must build networks, he added. “These networks are built to provide whatever it takes for the association to fulfill its purpose.”

Gary Hearon, director of missions for Dallas Baptist Association, was re-elected president of the group. Other officers include Vice Presidents Gene Pepiton of Wichita/Archer/Clay Association, Larry Johnson of Ellis Association and Gary Loudermilk of Denton Association; Secretary-treasurer Rick Ballard of Collin Association; and committee chairmen Jimmie Auten of Greater Fort Hood Association, finance, and Jerry Redkey of Sabine Neches Area, nominating.

Additional information about the network is available at www.txadom.net.

Posted: 9/5/03

Mississippi court rules fetus
is a person to be protected

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

JACKSON, Miss. (ABP)–Mississippi's highest court has ruled that a fetus is a “person” worthy of some legal protections under state law.

In a ruling one of the court's justices criticized as an attack on abortion rights, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Aug. 21 that a Bolivar County, Miss., woman had the right to pursue a wrongful-death lawsuit on behalf of her unborn child. The fetus was 19 weeks old at the time the woman miscarried.

The 6-2 ruling means that, under Mississippi's wrongful-death statutes, fetuses can be included under the definition of “person.”

Tracy Tucker sued a car-repossession company, a credit union and a Cleveland, Miss., doctor and hospital after suffering a miscarriage in 1997. She alleged that emotional distress brought about by the repossession of her automobile and misdiagnosis by medical professionals led to the miscarriage. The ruling allows her to proceed with her lawsuit.

Under Mississippi law, women already had the right to sue for the wrongful death of babies born prematurely or late-term fetuses that otherwise would have been expected to live had they been born. However, the new ruling expands that right to mothers with unborn children that have not reached the so-called stage of “viability,” or ability to live outside the womb.

Justice Chuck McRae, in a dissenting opinion, said the act was an assault on the right to abortion established by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision.

Sondra Goldschein, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, echoed McRae's concerns. According to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, she said, “Anytime the fetus is recognizable as a person, it chips away at the foundation of Roe.”

But Justice Jim Smith, writing the majority opinion, said the ruling would not affect the rights of doctors to perform abortions under Mississippi law. “Tucker's interest is to protect and preserve the life of her unborn child, not in the exercise of her right to terminate that life which has been declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court,” he wrote.

Posted: 9/5/03

Christian contemporary music: business or ministry?

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Christian music is big business. The sales numbers show that. But Christian music insiders argue it's a ministry as well.

Although sales figures fell about 10 percent in the first six months of this year, the industry still moved 21 million units, according to the Gospel Music Association. In 2002, retailers sold about 49.66 million albums.

Artists like Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, dc talk and Steven Curtis Chapman each have sold between 5 million and 8 million albums during their respective careers. Kirk Franklin and Sandi Patty each sold 11 million. Amy Grant tops the list of Christian artists at 24 million units sold.

Today, contemporary Christian music is sold nationwide by mainstream retailers as well as in Christian book stores.

Both the companies that produce the music and the artists themselves get more than heavenly rewards for their efforts. The GMA estimates Christian music generates about $900 million in sales annually.

Christian artists typically get between 8 percent and 20 percent of the sales of albums, according to Dan Keen, assistant vice president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Michael W. Smith's “Worship” album, for example, has sold more than 1.2 million units. The suggested retail price is $17.98, although many retailers sell albums for less. Calculated conservatively, assuming an average sales price of $12 and a low-end royalty of 8 percent, that brings the artist's earnings to more than $1 million.

On top of that, artists earn about 4 cents per song that they write on each album sold, Keen said. If they co-write the song, they divide the royalties with the co-authors. However, if the label writes a control clause into the artist's contract, the royalty would be cut to about 3 cents per song.

Additionally, about 12.5 percent of sales of Christian music song books are divided among the writers of the material, Keen reported. That percentage could be as high as 20 percent.

Each of the royalty figures can be negotiated on an individual basis, Keen said.

But touring is where most artists get a significant amount of their income, Keen noted. They earn money from ticket sales, merchandise and the music bought at the shows.

A tour with Michael W. Smith and Third Day ranked as one of the top 100 tours of all musicians in 2002, according to Pollstar magazine. Celebrate Freedom, a Dallas-area Christian concert that featured 17 acts in 14 hours, drew more than 200,000 people.

Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman's “Declaration” album includes a song he wrote about adoption called “When Love Takes You In.” Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, have become advocates for international adoption. They adopted a girl from China.

“Most artists, if they're realistic, look at the record as a promotional piece to get better live gigs,” Keen said.

With the growing success of the industry has come questions about the nature of the business. Artists consistently maintain they are trying to make a difference in lives with their message, but economics constantly remind fans the genre is a business.

John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association, argued it is both ministry and a business.

Kirk Franklin

The labels operate to make money by getting the music out to radio stations and retailers, he said. “I can't excuse the fact that these labels are businesses. But ministry can happen as a result.”

Christian music labels and businesses are like any other business run by Christians, Styll noted. “Lots of Christians make lots of money,” he pointed out. There is “nothing inherently wrong” with making money.

Sales figures are so high and in some cases profits so large because today's Christian music is “some of the best that's ever been made,” he added. Contemporary worship music is connecting with people, Styll said, and they want more.

Jenny Simmons of Addison Road, a Dallas-based band working to get signed to a label, compared Christian artists to church staff members: If ministers get paid, shouldn't Christian artists?

“Musicians, even Christian musicians who feel called to ministry, are entitled to make money, to develop a career and to support themselves off their ministry,” she said. “If that means their CD goes big time like Jars of Clay and they make millions of dollars, good for them.

“There are lots of pastors of huge megachurches who are coming home with six-digit paychecks each year, not to mention all the benefits and gifts they receive from members in their congregations. What makes someone in the music industry any different?”

Many times, God rewards generous givers, Styll said. For example, many of the top acts in Christian music fund ministries that help people.

Michael W. Smith is involved in Compassion International, the Billy Graham crusades and Samaritan's Purse. Steven Curtis Chapman is connected with ministering to orphans.

“What is unbiblical is to hoard your money, … to not give freely and abundantly to those in need, to lust after it,” Simmons said. “Whether you're making millions as a Christian in music or as a Christian who is a lawyer, banker … or stockbroker, it is our obligation to give freely back to God's church on Earth and to give to those in need.”

Top 15 albums sold Jan. 1 to June 29, 2003:

1. “Wonder What's Next,” Chevelle

2. “Worship Together: I Could Sing,” Various artists

3. “Offerings II: All I Have To Give,” Third Day

4. “WoW Gospel 2003,” Various artists

5. “All About Love,” Steven Curtis Chapman

6. “WoW Worship (Yellow),” Various artists

7. “Rise and Shine,” Randy Travis

8. “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Various artists

9. “Worship Again,” Michael W. Smith

10. “Donnie McClurkin … Again,” Donnie McClurkin

11. “I Worship: A Total Worship Experience,” Various artists

12. “WoW Hits 2003,” Various artists

13. “Stacie Orrico,” Stacie Orrico

14. “Almost There,” Mercy Me

15. “Adoration: The Worship Album,” Newsboys

Source: Gospel Music Association

Posted: 9/5/03

Ministers suspected among
best-known music pirates

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Freely downloading songs or copying albums without artists' permission is like stealing a Bible, according to Christian music insiders: Good motives don't excuse illegal acts.

Christian music industry leaders largely blame piracy for the current decline in Christian music sales. And they say ministers may be among the best-known pirates.

John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association, cited anecdotal evidence to support the notion that ministers commonly download material for their programs without permission.

Many ministers try to keep their services and activities up to date with the latest contemporary Christian hits without realizing the example they set for their congregations, according to contemporary Christian artist Shaun Groves, a Tyler native. “It's like saying I have to break the law to do my ministry.”

That sends youth the message that illegal downloading is acceptable, Groves argued. “They're going, 'If my youth minister does it, it must be OK.'”

On another level, downloading music violates ministerial ethics, according to Joe Haag, director of program planning for the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission.

Illegally obtaining music is similar to using someone else's sermons or ideas without permission or accreditation, he argued. “One of the points of ministerial ethics is you don't plagiarize other people's stuff.”

Groves and Styll believe this issue largely is an education problem where ministers, and Christians in general, do not realize downloading songs freely through peer-to-peer Internet sites is illegal unless artists give permission for their material to be shared.

Bill Tillman, ethics professor at Logsdon School of Theology in Abilene, argued the problem is more foundational in American society: People covet what others have.

“In our society, we aren't very well schooled in the notion that someone else's idea is theirs,” he said.

Groves and Todd Agnew, whose initial release from his debut album rose to No. 1 on the Christian pop charts, said they empathize with believers who want to use the music to reach their friends.

“You tell me your story, I'll send you a CD,” Agnew said. “Whatever you need to reach that person.”

But piracy is against a law Christians are called to faithfully uphold, Groves reminded.