Posted: 8/22/03

Texas Baptist Forum:
Anger instead of love

You write about showing love toward the homosexual (Aug. 11), but I don't know any.

I'm angry, though, when it is flaunted in my face by the media. It is not right, and I don't like it being presented as completely all right.

If a person is struggling with a sin for deliverance, I can empathize and sympathize, for I, too, have wrestled. If, however, they are going to threaten me and tell me I have to accept what they are doing, then I do not have love but anger.

How dare they do that to me!

Kent Matthews

Lafayette, Ind.

Lousy examples

Having just read your editorial on homosexuality (Aug. 11), I hasten to write to express my appreciation for the clarity with which you discuss the issue. This is one of the very best statements I have seen on the topic. And living in the Twin Cities area, where the Episcopal Church just held its controversial general meeting at which it approved the appointment of a homosexual bishop, believe me, I've seen recently a lot of really bad editorial statements on the subject.

I particularly appreciated the way you addressed the common, yet inadequate, ways most Christians approach the issue. Your observation, “We say more than we realize when we speak of 'hating' before 'loving'” is insightful.

If I have anything to add to your observations, it would be that we as Christians have done a lousy job of living out a biblical view of marriage. Some of us have been so busy making noise about the so-called “homosexual agenda” that we have neglected to live out, and not just talk about, a truly biblical understanding of marriage. No wonder so many non-Christians reject or are unimpressed by what Christians say about marriage. Far too often, our behavior is no different than the surrounding culture. Look at the divorce statistics for Christians and non-Christians.

Mike Holmes

St. Paul, Minn.

Ticking time bomb

I agree we need to speak the truth in love, but I believe you left some important considerations out of your editorial about homosexuality (Aug.11).

A person doesn't have “homosexual tendencies” as opposed to heterosexual ones. If you've ever observed a homosexual rights rally up close (I have), you will discover that a homosexual's sexual preference is always a part of his identity.

This is why dealing with these people in love is difficult. Their first point is that their sexual preference–homosexuality–must be accepted as part of the person's identity. This is not negotiable.

God “gave them up to uncleanness especially the lusts of their own hearts” (Romans 1:24). The Greek word translated “lust” is the same word used in Matthew 5:28, in which Jesus warns us that if we look on a woman with lust we have already committed adultery in our hearts. Notice, this fellow in Jesus' example didn't act yet. But in God's eyes, he's already guilty.

This is where sin originates–in the heart.

God loves the homosexual. But we cannot tell the homosexual that he can be a pastor, deacon or some other church leader so long as he follows the “don't ask, don't tell” policy. Let's face it. The Bible wasn't written to be politically correct.

A homosexual as a church leader is a ticking time bomb. And our job is not to isolate or destroy–it is to disarm in love and allow the redemptive power of God to do its work.

Mike Sheeran

Houston

Spectacular love

My pastor has a 30-year-old daughter who was retarded from birth. The parents did not reject their daughter, who is nearly blind today. They accepted the situation and loved her, even when questioning God's will.

My daughter was rejected by her mother and me for many years because she was a lesbian. We had very little communication with each other and no family relations.

The Bible is clear regarding homosexuality, yet it is also clear regarding the love of money, an unforgiving spirit and multitudes of sinful attitudes.

After an intensive spiritual study over many weeks, God led me to stop negative criticism of others in sin, including my own daughter, who has become a best friend. The Lord showed me that Jesus did not agree with the adulterous woman, or Peter's denial at the crucifixion and other sinners within the four Gospels.

Yet Jesus accepted them as being a part of the real world. He demonstrated his spectacular love for those who had unlovable actions. These are very definitely those for whom he died.

A few church members will not accept gays, inmates, motorcyclists, homeless people. They appear to have no Christ-like love for others.

Without “acceptance” and “unconditional love,” it is no surprise they/we are unable to introduce lost persons to Jesus.

Gilbert Thornton

Longview

Repeat partners

We were surprised mission volunteers were advised to avoid returning over and over to the same location in Mexico (Aug. 11).

After years of a scattered approach, our church is partnering with one border church, and we hope to continue that partnership until the Lord comes. We decided to do so after bringing in seminary graduates from Mexico as ministry consultants. They understood both cultures, and they felt we Americans needed a more relational, servant-minded approach.

Now, nearly one-fourth of our people have been to visit our sister church. They pray for and give to people they know and love. And next summer, our sister church from Mexico plans to send a team up to help us do Vacation Bible School and outreach to the Latino community in Dallas.

We also were advised to stop calling our trips “mission trips.” Rather, these are ministry trips, where both churches join together for the furtherance of the gospel.

Another surprise: Our spring break is the worst time for them to host us. And nine days is too long.

The ideal time for them? Three or four days before Christmas, when extra food is on the table, and their relatives are visiting and interested in whatever events the church is hosting.

There are also lines at the border full of bored people ready to read whatever literature we hand out. Yes, this is the worst time for many of us, but we are called to serve, not to be served.

Gary and Sandra Glahn

Rowlett

Penchant for sinning

Murder, stealing, greed and adultery run rampant in our American culture. Does anyone really believe that posting the Ten Commandments everywhere will help curtail our penchant for sinning?

Will God bless America more if the Ten Commandments are posted in every school and significant public place? Will their posting lessen the source of most wrongdoing–the love of money, or greed?

If they had been on display at Enron's corporate headquarters, could a scandal have been averted?

Public display of the Ten Commandments to show America's religiosity does not honor God. To be effective, the Commandments must be engraved on a person's heart, soul and conscience. Emanating out of such a soul will come an outward manifestation of what really pleases God–a pure and genuine religion that puts God first, others second and self last.

Many people are misguided by politicians' attempts to make religion a political issue, but God is not fooled.

Paul L. Whiteley Sr.

Louisville, Ky.

Moses & Land

Will someone please tell Richard Land not to make us Baptists look so stupid by his support of the government on the Ten Commandments issue!

After all, if Moses would have obeyed the “law of the land” of Egypt, we would not even have the Ten Commandments!

Kerry J. Hodgkinson

Orange

Lawless actions

A retired Alabama judge told me former Gov. George Wallace set the state back 100 years. More recently, Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., said Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has set the state back 40 years.

Interesting: One hundred forty years ago, the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg were fought and the outcome of the Civil War was determined.

Moore's case isn't an Alabama issue. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to support Moore as he defies the U.S. Constitution and the teachings of the Bible by prohibiting U.S. marshals from removing Moore's rock from public property.

All over the country, people are being urged to show their disrespect for the law by coming to Alabama and interfering with the enforcement of the law.

I heard Don Wildmon of the American Family Association say if Moore is forced to comply with the law, it will “be the end of civilization as we know it,”

It's difficult to believe so many people who call themselves “Christians” are willing to commit these lawless acts in support of an arrogant politician who has no respect for the Constitution or the Bible.

Carl L. Hess

Ozark, Ala.

No equality

Melissa Crawford really stumbled onto something (Aug. 11): Where the Apostle Paul doesn't specifically say, “Thus saith the Lord,” we can just ignore it!

How sad that some are so blinded by worldly ideals that they would undercut the authority of the apostles.

The Bible says the apostles, prophets and Jesus Christ are the very foundation upon which the church is built (Ephesians 2:20). In Revelation, the wall of the city has 12 foundations upon which are written the names of the 12 apostles (Revelation 21:14).

Thirty years ago, black Christians and white Christians couldn't worship together because the church of that day accepted the world's racist value system.

Today, we are doing the same thing with equality.

Since adopting this belief in the 1960s, we have seen the divorce rate skyrocket, and this is the root cause of almost every social problem we have in America.

Evidently, no Baptist preachers or theologians have the courage to say it, so I'll say it for them: Christ does not teach equality! The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. The two are not equal.

It is only the sinful, Christ-rejecting world who demands that everyone be equal.

Jimmy Stanfield

Texas City

Silent canary

While the Bible warns of the danger of pride, the ancient Greeks told us of the tragedy of hubris, exaggerated pride with presumption.

Baylor University leaders would do well to learn from both Scripture and classical literature.

Imagine the presumptuous folly of simultaneously reaching toward the ambitious goals of becoming a Tier One research university, and maintaining excellence in undergraduate education, and staying true to a historic Christian mission, and becoming a competitive force in the major sports of the Big 12 Conference.

The exaggerated pride in this equation of hubris is that Baylor officials believe they could actually accomplish this merely because they are Baylor. The inherent presumption is that these mutually opposing goals could actually be reconciled into some kind of gravity-defying synergy that would take the university where no other university has gone before, except, perhaps, Notre Dame.

This unfortunate and heartbreaking basketball scandal is the canary in the mineshaft. The bird is no longer singing, but Baylor University administrators and regents are still whistling in the dark.

James Mims

Dallas

Personal view

Recently, a brochure concerning Proposition 12, which will appear on the Sept. 13 ballot in Texas, was mailed to the electorate in which my quote, identifying me by my title as the dean of Baylor Law School, appeared, along with other quotes from former Texas Supreme Court Justices Deborah Hankinson and James Baker, as well as Darrell Jordan, a former president of the State Bar of Texas.

The quote represents my personal opinion on a public policy issue and neither was intended, nor should be construed, as an opinion on, or endorsement of, any position on the issues involved in Proposition 12 by Baylor University.

Brad Toben

Waco

Crucifixion date

“Astronomers pinpoint crucifixion time” (Aug. 11) told how two astronomers concluded that Jesus died on Friday, April 3, 33 A.D. Their reasoning is that this was a year in which a solar eclipse was observed in Jerusalem, and the eclipse caused the darkness recorded in Mark 15:33.

This cannot be correct.

Jesus was crucified during the Passover, which always occurs on a full moon. Solar eclipses occur only with a new moon–the moon must be between the sun and Earth. During Passover, the moon is on the side of the Earth away from the sun.

April 3, 33 A.D., may be the correct date for the crucifixion, but the darkness requires some explanation other than an eclipse.

Craig Davis

Houston

What do you think? Submit letters for Texas Baptist Forum via e-mail to marvknox@baptiststandard.com or regular mail at Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267. Letters must be no longer than 250 words.

Posted: 8/22/03

Mary Hill Davis gifts help set 'bad girls' straight

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

AMARILLO–Participants in the Amarillo Christian Women's Job Corps enjoy a class where they study “Bad Girls of the Bible.”

“They can relate,” said Janie Braddock-Gafford, a graduate of the program who now helps coordinate ministries at the Amarillo site.

It's not that she thinks they're bad. But she knows that some have made bad choices in life, and some were trapped in bad relationships. And they all want to see examples of imperfect women of faith who overcame past problems by God's grace.

That's where Braddock-Gafford comes in.

“I let them get to know me before I talk about it,” she explained. “They think I'm a churchy lady. Then when we're in Bible study, they learn about my past. That's when they say: 'Wow! She's just like me. If she can do it, I can, too.'”

Braddock-Gafford's father abused her physically when she was a child, she said. At age 12, she attended a Girls in Action summer camp where she made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

“My life changed drastically after that. I went home and told my father he could not hurt me anymore because I belonged to God, and through divine grace, he didn't,” she said.

But that childhood experience with Christ did not prevent her from making unfortunate choices as a young adult. She married, divorced and then became involved in fraud in an attempt to secure medical attention and food for her four children. Later, when she became engaged again, she said her fiancée violently abused her.

Even so, Braddock-Gafford believed God never stopped loving her. As far as she was concerned, he continued to send what she called “earth angels” into her life to help her.

“The Lord put people in my path every day,” she said.

She believes God also directed her attention to a flier she saw posted at a laundromat. It advertised computer classes at the Amarillo Christian Women's Job Corps.

She was out of work since health problems prevented her from continuing the heavy lifting required of a home health-care provider. A combination of arthritis and two hip-replacement operations left her temporarily confined to a wheelchair.

“I went to Christian Women's Job Corps to acquire the computer skills I needed to change professions,” she said. “I came out uplifted and self-assured.”

Christian Women's Job Corps, a ministry of Woman's Missionary Union, teaches job skills and life skills in a Christian context to low-income women. Texas Baptists help to support 26 Christian Women's Job Corps sites around the state through gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions.

Braddock-Gafford considered the daily Bible studies at Christian Women's Job Corps “wonderful” and the computer classes invaluable. But she said the most significant part of the program for her was the relationships she established with classmates.

“I made lifelong friends,” she said. “There's a real bonding that takes place, and we benefit from the encouragement we give each other.”

When she completed the program, she felt a strong sense that God was leading her to “give back” to the ministry. She received that opportunity when she was invited to join the Christian Women's Job Corps staff.

Now she shares the responsibilities of site coordinator with Sylvia Jordan, enlisting teachers, matching mentors with students and promoting the ministry in churches throughout the area.

She particularly enjoys interacting with students and rejoicing in their personal victories. To date, 60 women have completed the program at the Amarillo site, and three are attending college.

“I try to be an inspiration to all of the ladies who come through our doors. I tell them, 'If I can do it and come from where I came from, you can do it too.'”

In Braddock-Gafford's self-estimation, she's gone from “bad girl” to “earth angel.”

Posted: 8/22/03

Ten Commandments judge
told again, 'Thou shall not'

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) –Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was overruled by his colleagues, who ordered Moore's monument to the Ten Commandments removed from public areas of the Alabama judicial building in Montgomery Aug. 21.

After a special conference that day, the court's eight associate justices, without dissent, ordered the building manager to remove a two-ton monument to the Protestant King James translation of the commandments. Moore had placed the monument in the center of the building's rotunda during the summer of 2001–without the associate justices' consent or knowledge.

Last fall, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson declared the display in violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on government endorsement of religion. After being upheld unanimously by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Thompson ordered the monument removed by Aug. 20, threatening to levy fines against the state if Moore did not comply with his injunction. Moore refused, saying to do so would violate the state constitution. Moore claims that document allows the state to “acknowledge God” as the source of law.

But the eight associate justices–seven of them, like Moore, Republicans–invoked a little-used Alabama law that allowed them to overrule an administrative decision of the chief justice. The building manager erected partitions Aug. 21 to block the monument from public view.

Moore's supporters had been gathering outside the courthouse in recent days. About 500 people filled the plaza for a rally Aug. 20, the deadline for the monument's removal. Inside, 22 people who locked arms around the monument were arrested after they refused to leave when the building closed, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

Moore, in another part of the state, reportedly cut his trip short to return to Montgomery upon hearing the justices' decision. According to the New York Times, he ordered the partitions removed and threatened to jail his fellow justices.

But in their order, his peers issued a stern rebuke to Moore. “The justices of this court are bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it,” they said. Moore's continued failure to comply with a higher court's order “would impair the authority and ability of all the courts of this state to enforce their judgments,” they added.

In a statement released through a spokesman, Moore said of the move to hide the monument from view, “This is an example of what is happening in this country: the acknowledgment of God as the moral foundation of law in this nation is being hidden from us.”

Moore's supporters reacted angrily to the associate justices' decision. “What they did was against the Lord,” said Rusty Thomas, a Waco minister quoted in a New York Times online story. “They betrayed a righteous man,” said Thomas, who called the other justices “Judases.”

Moore is a Southern Baptist. At least one of his fellow justices is as well, and all others except one list memberships in Episcopal or Methodist churches in their biographies on the state court's website. Senior Associate Justice Gorman Houston is a Methodist Sunday School teacher and the father of a minister.

Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, himself a Republican, a Catholic and a previous defender of Moore's action, endorsed the associate justices' decision after it was announced. “The taxpayers of this state should not be punished for the refusal of the chief justice to follow a federal court order,” he said.

The state could incur fines to exceed $1 billion in four months if the monument is not removed, said Gov. Bob Riley.

Riley, also a Southern Baptist, released an Aug. 21 statement saying, “Although I fundamentally disagree with what the federal courts have ordered, the state Supreme Court was correct in unanimously voting to uphold the rule of law.” He added, “Because we are a society of laws, the Alabama Supreme Court has a duty to comply with the federal court order, whether they agree with it or not.”

However, Riley also said he would be willing to file a friend-of-the-court brief in Moore's behalf asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling. Moore ran out of legal options for keeping the monument in place for the immediate future late on the afternoon of Aug. 20 when that court declined to delay implementation of Thompson's order pending Moore's appeal.

The U.S. Supreme Court never has ruled directly on a case about the display of the Ten Commandments in a public building. But lower federal courts have ruled consistently that such displays may be permissible as long as they would not, to a reasonable viewer, convey an endorsement of Christianity over other religions and as long as they appear as part of a larger display with other historic legal documents. Such a display of tablets depicting commandments appears on a frieze at the Supreme Court building itself.

Posted: 8/22/03

Patterson brings six from Southeastern

FORT WORTH–When Paige Patterson moved from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this summer, he brought six staff members with him.

The North Carolina-to-Texas transplants are in addition to Patterson's wife, Dorothy, who was elected a full professor but will not draw a salary, and Patterson's faithful black Labrador Retriever, Noche, who accompanies him to the office.

Seminary spokesman Greg Tomlin said the Pattersons “invited six individuals from Southeastern to come to Southwestern with them.” They are:

Jason Duesing, a doctor of philosophy student, is Patterson's personal aide. At Southwestern, he assumed a position previously held by Barbara Walker, who was administrative assistant to President Ken Hemphill. Walker has moved to a role in the Leadership Development Complex.

Chris Thompson, also a doctor of philosophy student, is Mrs. Patterson's personal aide. He will be writing his dissertation under Paige Patterson's tutelage. Norita Drake, who was secretary to Paula Hemphill, has become secretary for Provost Craig Blaising.

Danny Moosbruger has joined the Institutional Advancement team.

Bobbi Moosbruger, who is married to Danny, will assist Mrs. Patterson as hostess for the president's home.

Candi Finch and Maurice Ahern, student interns, will work on a part-time basis. Their duties were not enumerated.

Also as part of the transition, trustees have authorized an addition to the seminary president's home to accommodate Patterson's personal library. Those plans have not been finalized, however, Tomlin said.

Posted: 8/22/03

Plainview man helps bring better health to Iraq

By Jonathan Petty

Wayland Baptist University

CAMP BABYLON, Iraq–Lt. Col. Michael Keller sets foot outside his temporary home in a former presidential palace in Iraq. What meets his eyes isn't pretty. All the windows and doors in the building were broken out or destroyed during the looting and riots that followed in the wake of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

All around him lies destruction from the war and from years of neglect by those previously in charge of Iraq.

But that's not the worst of it. As Keller looks out across the desert, he knows he stands within walking distance of two mass graves–both the result of Saddam Hussein's 30 years of tyranny.

Keller stands in front of an arch on Eisthar Street in the ancient city of Babylon. The lower portion of the brick wall behind him is part of the original walls of Babylon. In the background is the presidential palace that the troops call home while living at Camp Babylon.

Visiting that gravesite made an impression on the Army Reserves officer who is married to an art professor at Wayland Baptist University, his alma mater.

“Realizing that where I stood lay thousands of bodies of men, women and children was a horrible sense,” Keller said. “As I stood there, I could see their bones, some with bullet holes in the skull. Men, women, children, entire families lay in this common mass grave. Within these two mass graves lay the remains of approximately 20,000 Iraqis that Saddam executed after the Gulf War. They were executed because they wanted to be free of Saddam's regime.

“It convinced me that Saddam was Iraq's most potent weapon of mass destruction,” he said. “If that alone does not justify the war and the loss of American and coalition soldiers, I do not know what would.”

Hussein's reign has been earmarked by stories of unbelievable cruelty and brutality to his own people. But when a statue of his likeness was toppled by American soldiers in the center of Baghdad, what remained was a country staggering from years of neglect.

“Saddam was a criminal tyrant of a magnitude not seen in the world since Adolph Hitler,” Keller said in an e-mail interview.

Keller has served in the U.S. Army Reserves 16 years, working as full-time military for the past year. He lives in Plainview with his wife, Candace, an art professor at Wayland, where he received his master of business administration degree in 1987.

Keller has no timeline for his return home, but he knows what he is doing is important and necessary. He serves in Iraq as public health chief for the 358th Civil Affairs Brigade in Camp Babylon on the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon.

While the war is officially over, Keller knows there is a long road ahead for the coalition forces and the people of Iraq. Every day, soldiers face the danger of retaliation from Iraqi troops and Saddam supporters. As of July 27, Keller had been through more than 24 scud missile attacks and has had several shots fired in his immediate vicinity.

On several occasions, Keller has had his own weapon locked, loaded and aimed, ready to fire if necessary.

Most people never will know the feeling that comes over a soldier as he prepares to squeeze the trigger, Keller said. “During these times, I find that I often have tunnel vision due to extreme focus and concentration on the situation, yet I'm very calm. It is really all about training and implementing what you have been trained on.”

To date, Keller has not fired a shot, a statistic for which he thanks God.

“I credit the power of prayer for that,” he said.

Even though the conditions have been less than ideal, Keller maintains a positive attitude and said his stay in Iraq hasn't been too bad. While the weather is extremely hot and dry (more than 100 degrees at sunset), and the troops must drink approximately two gallons of water a day to stay hydrated, Keller has yet to spend a night sleeping on the ground thanks to a cot he carries with him.

“Living conditions for me have been good. It is a lot like an extended camping trip where you move sites from time to time,” he said. “I live in Saddam's Babylon Palace, which was looted after coalition forces moved north in the war effort. I guess you could say that I live in the finest house in the Babyl Governate.”

The palace is built on a man-made knoll standing 300 feet high. It doesn't quite have all the comforts of home, however. There is no running water. Drinking water is purified by reverse osmosis and served to the troops by tank trailers known as “water buffalos.” The soldiers bathe with the aid of a solar shower. A generator supplies electricity for the troops, but there is no air conditioning.

“During the looting of the palace, every window was broken out and all the doors were stolen,” Keller said. The result is a mosquito net blanket for protection as he sleeps and a mouthful of sand when it is time to rise.

Still, Keller said the troops' morale is generally good. He has seen the power of the human spirit as people pull together, working toward a common goal.

“The medical community of Iraq worked tirelessly during the initial combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, providing care to the many patients that came through their doors each day, along with the added burden of those who were injured by the war activities,” Keller said. “During this time, virtually all the doctors and nurses worked 24/7 with diminishing supplies and no relief of manpower or supplies in sight.

“Yet those I have talked to worked tirelessly and looked forward to being free of Saddam Hussein's regime and the rampant corruption associated with the Ba'ath Party.”

Since then, U.S. aid has provided millions of doses of vaccines for measles, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio. Regular immunizations have been established for children. A system has been established to monitor cholera outbreaks. Iraqis have been educated on hygiene and health. Medical clinics have been restored, training has been implemented and essential medical supplies have been restocked.

But the list of things to do far outweighs the list of accomplishments and no one knows for sure how long the rebuilding process will take, Keller said.

“A lot depends on the Iraqi people and their ability to adapt to systems and organizational structures of self governance,” he explained. “Iraq, as a nation, has recently made some great strides in this area, but I believe it will take four to six years for Iraqis to be up and running the country on their own.”

Posted: 8/22/03

Reyes to be nominated for BGCT's
first vice presidency in Lubbock

By Marv Knox

Editor

SAN ANTONIO — Albert Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School, will be nominated for first vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas when it meets Nov. 10-11.

Charlie Johnson, Reyes' pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, announced he will make the nomination at the BGCT annual session in Lubbock.

“Albert is the best of our breed. He's got the right vision and the right sensibility for Baptists' mission in Texas and beyond,” Johnson said.

“Albert is a guide and a model and a real instructor about how to minister the gospel in a multi-cultural context. He's a gifted administrator with a pastoral heart. He's a gifted preacher. As a Christian strategist, this guy is unparalleled.”

Under Reyes' leadership, HBTS received authority to grant bachelor's degrees from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The San Antonio school also is in the final stages of gaining accreditation from the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges.

If messengers to the BGCT annual session approve, the school will change its name to Baptist University of the Americas. Numerous denominational leaders have noted the school's pivotal role in preparing church leaders as Texas' population becomes increasingly Hispanic.

Reyes confirmed his willingness to accept the vice presidency.

“Texas Baptists are in a unique time of history,” he said. “We have tremendous opportunities in our state, and our identity as a missions people is getting stronger and beginning to emerge with a number of things that have come into place.”

Among those opportunities is formation of a missions network, which will enable congregations to more fully participate in missions around the world, he said. Reyes serves as vice chairman of that network.

“I see the changes that are happening in our world and how Texas Baptists have an opportunity to impact their communities and the world through the work of our institutions and churches. I present myself as someone who's willing to serve, because I have a responsibility not only as an institutional leader but also a Texas Baptist to serve the churches in the future of missions that we share.”

HBTS is an integral part of that future, Reyes noted. “Our state is changing, and demographic changes are coming, so we want to be available to serve the churches of our state.”

For example, half of all Texans will be Hispanic by 2015, he said, adding that Hispanics became the largest minority group in the United States early this year.

These changes provide implications for mission work not only in Texas but far beyond, Reyes stressed.

God seems to be telling Hispanic Texas Baptists: “OK, this is your turn. You're up to bat. Now, take a swing,” Reyes said. “I'm willing to sacrifice time to enter into our missionary heritage that we've had all these years.”

With Johnson's announcement, Reyes becomes the second BGCT agency leader who will be a candidate for convention office this fall.

Ken Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences, will be nominated for president by his pastor, Jim Denison of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

“In Buckner Baptist Benevolences and Hispanic Baptist School, you have two dynamic institutions that incarnate the soul of the Baptist General Convention of Texas,” Johnson said. “We're reaching out to children and the elderly, and we're also crossing cultures, training ministers in a multicultural context to go into the world.”

Before becoming president of HBTS in 1999, Reyes was founding pastor of Pueblo Nuevo Community Church in El Paso. He also has been pastor of Love Field Church/North Temple Baptist Church in Dallas and Iglesia Bautista Alfa/Home Gardens in Dallas.

Reyes received an undergraduate degree from Angelo State University. He earned master's and doctor's degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he is working on another doctorate from Andrews University.

Reyes is chair of the Hispanic Outreach Task Force of the White House Initiative for Hispanic Academic Excellence.

He is a board member of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs and Texas Baptists Committed and was a trustee of Valley Baptist Academy.

Reyes and his wife, Belinda, are the parents of three sons, Joshua, David and Thomas.

Posted: 8/22/03

BGCT schools ranked in
annual U.S. News survey

By Marv Knox

Editor

Twenty-eight schools stand between Baylor University and its goal of ranking among the 50 finest schools in the country.

Baylor tied for 78th in U.S. News & World Report's 2003 assessment of the best colleges in America.

Baylor competes in the “national universities-doctoral” category with the most recognized major schools in the nation. Harvard and Princeton universities tied for first place on this year's list.

Tier One status–a U.S. News & World Report ranking among America's top 50 universities–is a major goal of Baylor 2012, the Baptist General Convention of Texas university's 10-year plan.

That goal has created a storm of controversy among the “Baylor family.”

Supporters stress it will allow Baylor to demonstrate a university can be world-class and still champion Christian principles. They say it will push Baylor to provide the highest-quality education and national leadership in both faith and learning.

Opponents contend the effort will destroy the essential nature of the university, which consistently has delivered high-quality education in a Christian environment where relationships are valued. They warn escalating tuition costs will price Baylor out of many Texas Baptist family budgets, indebtedness will imperil the Waco school's financial future, and an emphasis on research will devalue classroom teaching.

To reach Tier One status, Baylor would have to supplant such schools as Penn State, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Florida, which tied for the 48th-50th slots this year.

Baylor also would have to surpass three Texas schools that ranked higher in the second tier–the University of Texas, tied for 53rd; Texas A&M, tied for 67th; and SMU, tied for 73rd.

Meanwhile, Baylor's seven sister schools in the BGCT competed in two categories of smaller schools in the west region.

Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene achieved the lone Tier One status, tied for 32nd in the West in the “universities-master's” category.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton and Dallas Baptist University received second tier ranking in that category, in which Houston Baptist University and Wayland Baptist University in Plainview ranked in the third tier.

East Texas Baptist University in Marshall and Howard Payne University in Brownwood gained second tier status in the West region of the “comprehensive colleges-bachelor's” category.

Posted: 8/22/03

Shepherd's Inn keeper knows her flock well

By George Henson

Staff Writer

PORT ARTHUR–Toni Damian's life is a testament that God can use both the good and the bad in a person's life, given the opportunity.

In Port Arthur, she leads the Shepherd's Inn hospitality house, a place families can stay while visiting loved ones in the federal prison nearby. Damian understands their needs because her husband, Fidel, also is incarcerated there.

Her road to ministry was a long and bumpy one, beginning in the remote Mexican village of Guerrero, between Mexico City and Acapulco.

Her unmarried mother later moved to Mexico City to find work to support her four children, then to California, leaving the children with their grandmother. Her mother worked hard in California, sending back enough money to build her family a brick house and obtain a cow.

In 1985, when Damian was 11, she and her siblings moved to San Diego to live with their mother. “I had no idea what was in front of me,” Damian said.

A good student, she graduated from high school in 1992 but could not attend college because her mother could not afford it. Since she was not a U.S. citizen, she did not qualify for financial aid.

On June 7, 1993, she ran away with her boyfriend, Fidel.

“I knew I was into heavy things, but I didn't care–there were so many pressures at home,” Damian said.

One month later, on July 9, 1993, Fidel was arrested on drug conspiracy charges.

“My mother told me, 'It's summertime; it's only been a month; just come home; no one will know.' But I told her, 'I'm not the same anymore.' I had been with a man. How could I just go home?”

Fidel Damian was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison and sent to Texas, to a prison outside Three Rivers.

Although they were not married, she followed him there. They started reading the Catholic Bible together from time to time.

While she knew the Ten Commandments from her catechism, she was particularly struck in her readings by the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.”

“Now I know that it was the Lord speaking to me, but then I didn't know,” she said. “Now I can put together the pieces.”

She soon forgot about the impression that commandment made on her, however.

“It came back to me a couple of months later, though. I went back to Mexico and went to church with a cousin. This church was known for its virgin,” she recalled.

The virgin, a three-foot-high doll dressed in a richly ornamented robe, was ascribed almost magical powers. Parishioners placed money on the robe, or took a handkerchief to rub in on the doll's face and then keep as a kind of talisman.

That reminded Damian of God's prohibition against idols.

She got in the processional line leading to the doll but didn't participate in the ritual.

“When it came my turn, I looked at her with emptiness. My cousin told me that if I didn't do something I would have a curse, but I just turned and left without giving reverence to the virgin or any of the saints,” she said.

Damian returned home to Texas and kept reading the Bible, but she still was “not living a good life,” she said. She knew just enough of God to be afraid of him.

“I knew I was doing wrong things. I thought God would do something bad, devilish to me–put scary faces or something on a tree,” she recounted. “I always said: 'God, not yet. I'm not ready.' I called him 'God' because that is what you call him when you don't know him. When you come to know him, you call him 'Jesus,' 'Lord' and 'Father.'”

She found herself in this remote town between San Antonio and Corpus Christi without friends or family, and she was lonely and afraid.

“When you don't know the Lord, the enemy has you frightened all the time,” she said.

Fidel, still not her husband, was transferred to Port Arthur. He asked around until he found a place she could stay with another inmate's wife in Houston.

There, many of her fears were relieved, but nights were filled with remembrances of the few times she had attended Sunday School at an evangelical church with cousins in California.

“We went only a couple of times, but I remember my cousin crying in church. That wasn't something I was used to seeing. What could be making my cousin cry, I wondered. I said 'God, I want to know why they are doing that, what they were feeling.'”

A few days later–May 3, 1997–a local pastor visited the family she was living with. “He asked me, 'Toni, do you want to accept Jesus into your life?' I said 'yes' without even thinking. It was like asking a kid if he wants candy. I was so excited.

“I was so happy, but I really didn't know what I had done,” she said.

She didn't tell Fidel about her conversion, but he found out from the husband of the woman she was living with, so she started sending Fidel Christian tracts.

Shortly after, she became pregnant while still not married. “I was so ashamed. I said: 'Lord, look at what I've done. You scrubbed me clean, and now I have this big red spot on this white dress you gave me.'”

She continued to go to church and study the Bible.

“I was able to grow,” she recalled. “I was coming to church, studying my Bible, praying, watching preachers on TV. I was eating, eating, eating–just feeding my Spirit all the time. I felt so ashamed about my sin, but I knew I could count on the Lord.”

She prayed God would give her a son so she could have a companion, which she needed since she had moved into an apartment by herself.

God answered her prayer, she said, giving her a son, born with no labor pains whatsoever.

“I was so excited that it was a boy. It was at that time that I felt God had forgiven me. During those nine months, I had been so face down. I had been so depressed, but now I was the old Toni that the Lord had saved 10 months ago. It was almost like I had been saved a second time.”

She taught her son, Isaias, about God as she had promised God she would. One day when they were visiting the prison, Fidel was feeding Isaias while Toni was out of the room. When she came back, Fidel explained that the 2-year-old had refused to eat without praying first.

That started a journey toward Fidel professing faith in Jesus Christ as Savior as well.

“The Lord used Isaias to lead his daddy to the Lord Jesus,” she recalled. On May 8, 2002, she and Fidel finally were married.

She and Isaias moved back to Three Rivers for a while, however.

“I prayed, 'Lord, take me to a church where your word is preached, and where they have a good Sunday School for my son and me,'” she recalled.

That church was First Baptist in Three Rivers, the first Baptist church Damian ever had attended.

“They welcomed me like they would the Lord,” she said.

Feeling a need to be closer to her husband, last December she was a guest at the Shepherd's Inn, a ministry of Golden Triangle Baptist Association, for a week. While there, she overheard a conversation that the missionary serving as resident manager was leaving for another mission endeavor.

“I had been telling the Lord that I wanted to serve him and really had been doing this in Three Rivers–sharing my apartment and meals with people who needed some place to stay. My doors were always open on the weekends to inmate families.”

She was a bit unsure of herself, though. “I thought, this is a ministry; this is not something I'm going to play around with. They need a mature Christian. This is the Lord's ministry, so it would be like working in the boss' office.”

Later, Dion Ainsworth, associate director of missions for the association, brought her an application to fill out. “It wasn't a job history,” she recalled. “It was, 'How long have you known the Lord? Tell us about your Christian walk.'”

She soon had the job of resident manager and has with the help of local churches in the area renovated much of the house in the last six months.

“When I came here as a servant of the Lord, I said, 'Lord, show me what you want me to do.'”

One of the first things her eyes fell upon were the pillows and linens that had become worn, stained and threadbare with use. Damian brought the need to the awareness of women in the local churches. Since then, Woman's Missionary Union groups have made the beds there as nice as their own.

Damian cooks for the 15 to 20 people who stay at the house each weekend as well as the lesser number who are there during the week. They are almost exclusively women and children, and she can identify well.

“Just like people don't want to be around inmates, they don't want to be around inmates' families,” she explained. “But here they can come and be loved.”

Local church members play a key role in expressing that love, she said. “We go through so much as inmate families that we think no one loves us. They ask who buys this–the sofas, the beds, the food, the milk for the babies–and I get to tell them it is the people in the churches.”

Families travel from all over the United States and Mexico to visit inmates in the federal prison. Some have only gas money and stay and eat at Shepherd's Inn at no cost. Others don't even have a car, so they ride a bus to Port Arthur, where Damian becomes their chauffer.

At the Shepherd's Inn, however, the women have a confidant in Damian, who knows their trials as the wives of inmates. She also knows the difference Christ can make in a life.

“I tell them: 'The Lord will be your husband. Put your faith in him; he will supply all your needs,” she said.

Posted: 8/22/03

Enlist 'special' volunteers for music

By Sara Horn

LifeWay Christian Resources

RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)–By all accounts, little David was a holy terror at church. He didn't sit still, didn't listen and distracted other children.

By the time he turned 5, his behavior problems were causing teachers to take a year off from teaching before David came into their classes.

Elaine, a busy career woman with grown children of her own, wanted to help with the children's music ministry but had no time for preparation. So she volunteered to become David's “special friend.”

Each week, her job was to be with David during music class and help him stay focused. Through kindergarten, first grade and second grade, she remained committed to her assignment. By the time David reached third grade, he had outgrown most of his problems.

“Special situations sometimes require special volunteers,” said Martha Hicks, a church music professor at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo. “Elaine needed something she could just show up for, and this was her ministry. She not only was a help to David, but she also ministered to his family.”

Volunteers are valuable to any church ministry, but especially so in music ministry, because of the size and scale of planning and activities, Hicks said. The former full-time music minister with more than 20 years of experience was one of the workshop leaders this year at Music Ridgecrest, a weeklong music training conference.

“Motivation is the key for any successful volunteer program to work,” Hicks said. “You have to show how something is important and why.”

Building relationships and observing the strengths and weaknesses of people are vital for a music minister or director looking for help, she explained. Not everyone is cut out to direct handbells or lead a preschool choir.

Hicks advised starting new volunteers slowly.

When she served as minister of music at Central Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga., she worked to develop a stronger children's choir program. She noticed a young woman, Harriet Brawner, and asked if she would help.

“She didn't know anything about it, so she wasn't sure whether she could handle it,” Hicks recalled. “So I asked if she could just sit in a class and watch the helpers. Within a few weeks, she felt comfortable enough and decided she could do it.”

Eventually, Brawner became the church's children's choir coordinator. Two years later, she served in the same capacity for their church's regional association. Now she serves on the staff of another Baptist church.

Volunteering brings eternal rewards as well, Brawner added.

“There may be a child in your class who doesn't have a great home situation, and you're the one person who shares with them how much Jesus loves them each week,” she said. “We may not see the benefits today, but who knows how God will use our seeds for tomorrow.”

Posted: 8/22/03

Non-Aggies find a home with international Aggies

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

COLLEGE STATION–Call them students. Call them summer missionaries. Just don't call them Aggies.

A team of five Baptist General Convention of Texas student missionaries assigned to work this summer at Texas A&M may not have fallen in love with Aggie tradition, but their hearts went out to international students on the campus.

The group encountered a variety of different cultures but tried to treat them all the same–with compassion, as Christ commanded, said Scott Seymour, a senior business administration major at Lamar University in Beaumont.

“We don't deal with different cultures; we deal with individuals,” he added. “We're not here to win cultures; we're here to win individuals.”

Student missions workers helped the international students combat loneliness and language difficulties by becoming their “conversation partners” and speaking with them for several hours a week at the Baptist Student Ministry building.

“It's been harder than what I expected,” said Michelle Standley, a junior industrial technology major at Lamar. “Each person is something new to learn. Each person has different needs. You can't read a book to know how to reach them. You just have to be friends with them.”

The students shared their faith with people who had no prior contact with the gospel, said Jade Anderson, a senior management and marketing double major at Texas Tech.

Internationals were interested in Christianity and responded with questions that expanded the missionaries' faith, Anderson said. The missionaries constantly studied the Bible to have answers to the inquiries.

Several team members said they learned to rely more heavily on God to give them strength in their Christian journey and wisdom to know what to say.

“It's definitely stretched me,” Anderson said. “Any time you spend time in the word, you're going to grow.”

Jenn Blakely, a senior English major at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, wanted to work on foreign soil this summer, but she found the summer experience in Central Texas more fulfilling than she imagined.

“I got to meet lots of different people, whereas if I was in one country, I would meet only that one type of person,” she explained.

But staying close to home is challenging, Blakely added. The temptation to visit friends was stronger than if they had served farther away. But the team stuck together and held to Christ throughout, she affirmed.

“It's not about going to the mall or movies,” she said. “It's about showing the internationals what being a Christian is like.”

Posted: 8/22/03

Student missionaries parade God's
presence in Colorado resort town

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo.–Baptist General Convention of Texas student summer missionaries paraded a Christian presence down the streets of this popular Rocky Mountain resort town.

In addition to directing Vacation Bible School and teaching Sunday School, Lauren Baker, a Stephen F. Austin University senior, and Mandy Ray, a Texas Tech University junior, helped Oh-Be-Joyful Church members put together a float for a summer parade.

The church was the lone spiritual institution represented in a parade that also featured hippies, bikers and research students wearing strategically placed leaves, Baker said. Many of the residents are not familiar with the Bible or Christianity, according to the duo.

The missionaries designed the float to help people connect the scenic surroundings with God's glory, Baker explained. The float depicted clouds and featured the children of the church.

“Here it's been a lot harder because a lot of people worship his creation but do not give God the credit,” Baker said.

As the float went down the street, church members passed out fliers advertising the upcoming Vacation Bible School. Many unchurched children came to VBS this year because their parents heard about it at the parade, Ray said.

The women's impact ran far beyond those who saw them at the parade, Baker and Ray noticed. It seemed everyone knew what they stood for and what they wanted to accomplish.

“Everyone knows why we are here, it's such a small town,” Baker explained. “We may not have gotten to share with everyone, but we were a Christian presence.”

Ray and Baker also encouraged weary church workers and provided a much-needed break for several members. The experience gave Ray a new appreciation for the trials of ministers and leaders, she said.

“I've learned ministry isn't always mountain-top experiences,” she said. “It's helped me to see what church staff go through.”

Jim Kunes, pastor of the church, praised the women's efforts. They comfortably connected with the youth and church leadership and continued the tradition of strong summer missionaries that have come through the church, he added.

“Being a small congregation, summer missionaries bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the Lord that is contagious,” Kunes said.

Posted: 8/22/03

Little sleep, lots of opportunities

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

HAMPSTEAD, N.H.–Robert Nixon loves to sleep. Maybe now that his stint as a summer missionary is over, he'll get some.

Nixon kept moving during his service as a youth intern at Island Baptist Church in Hampstead, N.H., where he served through the Baptist General Convention of Texas student summer missionary program.

He helped with Vacation Bible School, led canoe trips, went on a mission trip to Canada and directed a camp for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders during his nine-week tenure in New England.

The sophomore from Hill College in Hillsboro said he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of hands-on activity he had. Often he served as a de facto youth director and was in charge of activities for about 55 kids during the camp.

The effort cut down on the amount of sleep he got but allowed him to bond with the 35-person youth group he dealt with regularly, he said. He stayed up long into the night speaking with kids about spiritual issues and woke up early to prepare for the day's work.

“Once you take on a leadership role in a group, you have to sacrifice your time,” explained Nixon, a liberal arts major.

The way the youth opened up to him and welcomed him in their lives reaffirmed Nixon's belief that God would direct his ministry, he said. He wanted to do whatever was necessary to spread the gospel where God put him.

“I was willing to go anywhere God has placed me,” he reported. “And through prayer, the people in Texas felt God placed me here.”

Although he was constantly on the move, Nixon said he quickly discovered the importance of daily Bible study. Reading the Bible is like lifting weights, he said. When a person exercises, he becomes stronger. When people read the Bible, they become spiritually stronger and more prepared for the day.

“No matter how busy you get in the ministry, you need to be right with God,” he said.

The summer experience prepared him for a future in ministry, Nixon said. He feels a call to vocational ministry but is not sure where God will lead him. The wide-ranging summer helped him, no matter where his journey goes, he added.

“My goal is that people don't know Robert Nixon but know the God inside of me.”