Posted: 5/30/03

On the Move

Walter Allen to Simpsonville Church in Pittsburg as pastor.

Jason Edwards to First Church in Waco as youth minister.

Greg Gasaway to Central Church in Pampa as minister of youth/music from Second Church in Levelland, where he was minister of youth/education.

Brad Jurkovich to Southcrest Church in Lubbock as pastor from First Church in Lavaca, Ark.

Larry Lormand to North Orange Church in Orange as minister of education from Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Fla.

Robert McKenzie to Good Shepherd Church in Lubbock as pastor from Bethel Church in McAllen.

Geoffrey Nance to North Orange Church in Orange as minister of youth and recreation from New Beginnings Church in Ponte Verde, Fla.

David Speegle to Colonial Hill Church in Snyder as minister of music from First Church in Mineral Wells.

Roy Taylor to Westview Church in Slaton as pastor.

Posted: 5/30/03

Project frees physicians from debt for missions

By Deann Alford

Religion News Service

TEMPLE (RNS)–Africa needs doctors, and in 1997 Tracy and Patty Goen were Christian physicians ready to respond to the need as medical missionaries. But like most medical school graduates, the couple was saddled with student debt. Together they owed $100,000.

Mission agencies, however, insist that candidates be debt-free before sending them into the field. For the Goens, that would mean a five-year delay to work and repay the money before they could move to Africa.

That is, unless somebody paid their debt.

Enter David Topazian, a missionary and retired oral and maxillofacial surgeon on Yale University's medical school faculty. He knew if doctors such as the Goens had to go into private practice to repay their debts, chances are they would get settled into comfortable lifestyles and never make it to places that desperately need them.

So in 1994, he and Daniel Fountain founded Project MedSend. The next year, MedSend made Nepal-bound missionary physician Martha Carlough its first grant recipient. In 1997, MedSend accepted the Goens.

The deal: Project MedSend would partner with a mission agency–in the Goens' case, the South Carolina-based evangelical SIM International–and take over their monthly student loan payments for as long as they remained in the field–potentially adding years of service to a missionary's career.

MedSend has given grants to 185 other physicians, nurses, dentists, physician assistants and other health professionals, each of whom serves under the authority of one of 49 mission boards that now collaborate with MedSend. These medical missionaries work in more than 55 countries, many of which are “creative access,” or restrictive of missionary activity.

Half the world's people have no access to health care, yet dozens of church and mission hospitals have closed in India and Africa–including one in Egbe, Nigeria, that the Goens have reopened–in part because of a lack of medical professionals to staff them.

Diseases once thought to be virtually eradicated, such as tuberculosis, are on the rise. AIDS has killed 20 million people, and experts note that the worst of its death toll has yet to come.

Topazian, who has served as president of the Christian Medical and Dental Association, said the association's missionary members took note of the crisis in the mission field–the dearth of caregivers.

“We started receiving reports from missionaries in the field who were overworked, who were due for furlough and couldn't come home on home assignment because there was no one to replace them,” Topazian said. The rising costs of health education and the need to pay that off before going into the mission field were shrinking the replacement pool.

The association asked Topazian to look into the issue. He surveyed mission boards with health ministries, hospitals or health-development ministries. From the 33 mission boards that answered the survey, he learned that 49 physicians were partly through the candidate process but had been told to go work off their debt and then return. Meanwhile, 30 clinics and hospitals represented in that group of missions had no health professional in charge. “They were empty and closed,” Topazian said.

Topazian and some CMDA members asked those same mission boards to tell them what type of organization could best help relieve what he terms the “increasing educational debt barrier” for those wanting to be missionaries. What he and the others learned at the meeting laid the groundwork for Project MedSend.

MedSend isn't a sending agency, but rather partners with Christian ministries that send medical professionals. After a ministry pays MedSend a one-time participation fee, MedSend looks at the candidate's qualifications and financial situation. MedSend assumes the debts for as long as they're in the field. The average grant is $30,000, but grants for physicians can be more than $100,000. Most donors are Christian doctors.

So far, two families aided by Project MedSend have left mission work for health reasons, but no one has left to pursue a more lucrative career once MedSend repaid their loans.

“We're picking people who have an open-ended calling to a career in the mission field, and they just stay,” Topazian said.

Egbe Hospital, where the Goens practice–he as a surgeon and she as a pediatrician–offers the only health care available for nomadic Muslim Fulani cattle-herders in southwestern Nigeria. At first, the Fulani had nothing to do with the hospital because the Goens are openly Christian. They did, however, take up an offer by Tracy Goen–who had finished part of a veterinary medicine degree before he switched to human medicine–to vaccinate and treat the cattle, which are key to the Fulani's culture and livelihood.

But not long after the physician couple arrived in the area, he saved the lives of a snake-bitten boy and a teenager bleeding to death from a sword slash that had almost severed his arm.

The boy turned out to be the grandson of a powerful Fulani leader. After saving the teen's life and arm in a five-hour surgery, Goen learned that he was a prince. His father was the new king, who then invited the Goens to share their Christian faith as they wished among the Fulani.

Now on weekends, Tracy Goen travels the area to vaccinate cattle and show a film on the life of Christ dubbed in Fufulde, the Fulani language. Although Nigeria is embroiled in violent Muslim/ Christian conflict, Goen said he's never afraid of attack for his Christian faith because the Fulani are so grateful to them.

Without MedSend, the couple would have been working to pay off their loans until last year, when MedSend finished repaying them.

Tracy Goen says he has zero desire for the fruits of the lucrative private practice he was poised to build. Today, he and his family live with no electricity, phone or television. A teacher from their Temple church recently joined them to educate their five children. That freed Patty Goen, who had been home-schooling them, to serve more hours in the hospital.

“We've never felt like we're in need of anything,” Tracy Goen said. “God has met our needs.” In addition to an appreciative clientele, their practice has other perks: no lawyers and no insurance.

“We had built a house in the middle of a cousin's ranch in College Station,” Goen said. “We'd have lived happily ever after. I really don't think we'd have gotten to the mission field had I gone into private practice to pay off the debt. MedSend made it possible.”

Posted: 5/30/03

Fort Worth program places
ministers alongside police officers

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

FORT WORTH–Some Baptists are known for stands against dancing and drinking and smoking, but Randy Austin wants to let Fort Worth know Baptists also will take a stand against crime.

The chief of security at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is one of 37 ministers across faith lines participating in Ministers Against Crime, a federally funded initiative in Fort Worth. It enables ministers help connect police officers to the community and minister to the needs of residents. The effort is one of 13 faith-based partnerships with police departments around the nation.

Ministers are trained through the police academy so they can better understand the work and stresses of police officers. The training also involves understanding the mindset and needs of crime victims.

The police department furnishes ministers with pagers, cell phones and credentials so the clergy can be contacted to help at the scene of an incident.

While many people in high-crime areas distrust police officers and refuse to speak to them, officers found community residents easily open up to pastors, said Sgt. Mark Thorne, liaison between the Fort Worth Police Department and Ministers Against Crime.

Officers also noticed people responded better to pastors' words than rebukes by police, Thorne explained at a Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored session during the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse Conference in Austin. Ministers are connected to entire families and are credible in the neighborhoods, he continued.

By partnering law enforcement with ministers, officers have found it easier to connect with the neighborhoods they serve, Thorne noted. People are more willing to speak with them, and trust has increased.

People who are initially rude with officers often become very friendly when they see a minister standing beside the lawperson, Thorne said. Because of this, ministers have helped resolve issues people have with officers.

“We are out there to help build bridges to the community,” Austin emphasized.

But the ministers' work does not stop there. Thorne commonly calls on them to pray for specific situations and times of need. The ministers then enlist their congregations to pray for God's help.

Specifically challenged one day by a non-believer to “see what your God can do,” Thorne quickly asked the ministers to start praying over an area. The church leaders did, he said, and the crime rate dropped 50 percent that month. Prayer has calmed riotous vibes in the community as well, he said.

“We have tapped into a resource in Fort Worth that is changing our community,” Thorne happily declared.

Posted: 5/30/03

VMI's prayers ruled unconstitutional

RICHMOND, Va. (RNS)–An appellate court has ruled that the Virginia Military Institute's tradition of prayer before evening meals is unconstitutional.

“In establishing its supper prayer, VMI has done precisely what the First Amendment forbids,” a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled April 28.

The decision upheld a lower court ruling.

The panel rejected arguments that the prayer is voluntary because the cadets are adults. It emphasized that the high level of obedience expected from VMI cadets doesn't give them the freedom to choose whether to take part in what has been called a voluntary, non-denominational dinner prayer.

“Put simply, VMI's supper prayer exacts an unconstitutional toll on the consciences of religious objectors,” wrote Judge Robert King.

Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said the prayers are “part of the fabric of our country,” and he plans to appeal the decision to the entire appeals court.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, welcomed the ruling.

“No Americans should be forced to sing for their supper or pray to get it either,” said Lynn, whose organization filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the two cadets who sued.

“It's a sweeping decision that means public universities have no business promoting religion at mealtimes, bedtimes or any other times.”

In light of the ruling, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland suggested the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., review its practice of leading students in lunchtime prayer. Academy officials did not comment, but a Navy official said the service will review the decision.

Posted: 5/30/03

Prime time sexual content declines

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Almost every broadcast network saw a marked decrease in sexual content during the evening “family hour” between 1998 and 2002, the Parents Television Council reports.

With the exception of the WB, every broadcast network decreased its sexual content from 8 to 9 p.m. in recent years. All the networks except the WB and UPN also showed a reduction in such content during the hour from 9 to 10 p.m.

“For years, conventional wisdom in Hollywood had it that 'sex sells,' and therefore the more of it, the better,” said Brent Bozell, president of the Los Angeles-based council.

“But ratings data and survey results prove that's not true. Parents don't want their kids to be exposed to irresponsible messages and explicit depictions of sex on TV. But more than that, parents don't want to see it either.”

Analysts for the council found sexual content during the family hour dropped 67 percent on ABC from 1998 to 2002. In that same period, similar content decreased 48 percent on Fox, 13 percent on UPN and 6 percent on CBS. NBC's sexual content during the family hour decreased by 34 percent from 2000 to 2002.

Researchers looked at 400 program-hours of prime-time entertainment on the major broadcast television networks during the first two weeks of the 1998, 2000 and 2002 November sweeps periods.

Posted: 5/30/03

Texas evangelist worked behind
the scenes to comfort Smart family

A Texas evangelist played a behind-the-scenes role in encouraging the family of Elizabeth Smart through prayer and fasting.

Michael Relton, an evangelist and former pastor, currently lives in Dallas, where he is a member of Prestonwood Baptist Church. He is the author of “Dear God … Prayer Book,” a collection of prayers for specific life problems.

Smart is the Salt Lake City girl who was abducted from her bedroom last June, sparking nationwide interest in the search for her.

When Relton first heard the news reports of Smart's abduction, he began to pray for her and her family, he said. “I prayed for her protection and safe return and also to reveal her whereabouts.”

He called Smart's father, Ed, to encourage him and pray with him. Ed Smart acknowledged the Texas evangelist's ministry in an interview on the CBS “Early Show” March 13, the day after Elizabeth Smart was found alive.

“Had we not had the people out there helping us and trying so hard–I mean, Rev. Relton, we're here, we're home, and thank you for your help.”

The interviewer asked for an explanation of who that was, and Smart said: “I had this one reverend from Texas that kept calling and calling, and he actually came up here a couple of weeks ago and prayed with me, and I appreciate that.”

By Relton's account, God told him in February that he should do more than pray for Elizabeth. “He said I must go and meet the father and pray with him and do fasting and prayer on behalf of her,” Relton said.

He wasn't excited about the idea for several reasons–weather, distance and the fact that the Smarts are Mormons–but finally he “decided to obey God,” he said.

On Friday, Feb. 21, Smart met with Relton in his hotel room in Salt Lake City. They talked and prayed together for more than two hours, Relton said.

While in Salt Lake City, Relton felt he should fast for three days on Elizabeth's behalf. Upon breaking the fast, “I felt a strong assurance that Elizabeth is alive and well,” he reported.

He called the Smart family to tell them his impression not only that Elizabeth would be found alive but that she would be found near Salt Lake City wearing a disguise. He further told the family he believed God told him she would be found in two weeks.

In fact, less than three weeks later, Elizabeth was found alive in a suburb of Salt Lake City, and she was wearing a disguise at the direction of her captors.

“I would like to encourage all the believers not to give up on God if he did not answer your prayers,” Relton declared. “First, make sure you are praying according to his will, and then after a considerable amount of time, if nothing happens, try fasting and prayer.”

Posted: 5/30/03

Young and old harmonize on Richardson ministry

By George Henson

Staff Writer

RICHARDSON–Youth and senior adults joined hands at First Baptist Church of Richardson on a recent weekend to work in 15 area homes.

More than 120 members of the junior high and senior adult choirs cooperated with four Sunday School departments to assist widows, the disabled and families of men deployed for military service with work around their houses.

The project, called “Fix-Sings,” concluded with a hotdog dinner and concert at the church. Workers young and old who participated invited residents of the homes where they had worked to join them for the evening.

Unlike many church home-repair mission projects, this one did not target the poor but rather church members with special needs.

For example, the volunteers aided the family of man deployed by the military.

“The lady in that house was so appreciative of our help. We trimmed trees and took care of the lawn, so now when her husband comes home he can spend time with his family instead of taking care of those sort of things,” said Gerald Ware, associate minister of music and minister to senior adults.

Young adult Sunday School members took care of work on ladders outside while the junior high students and senior adult choir members worked indoors.

The project was both helpful and insightful, Ware said.

“It opens the eyes of kids to ministry. Often we send kids out of state to do ministry, but here they saw that ministry opportunities are right in their own backyards. And when we asked them what they thought at the end of the day, almost every one said, 'It was fun.'”

The day also helped foster intergenerational relationships, he said. The Goldenaires, the senior adult choir, adopts high school choir members for each choir mission trip, so that they can pray for them daily. On this project, they established links with younger youth.

Keith McCormick ( above) takes the high road while James Coker takes the low road on an outdoor cleaning project. At right, workers cover both sides of a large window

Posted: 5/30/03

RiverPointe names 'em and claims 'em

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

CONROE–Forget “Cheers.” At RiverPointe Baptist Church, everybody really knows everyone's name. It's written on their nametags.

Every person who walks through the doors of the 3-year-old church sticks a nametag on his or her shirt and is asked to fill out an information card.

The uniform actions create a sense that everyone is equally important and welcome, according to Pastor Dane Riddle. The barrier of not knowing anyone's name is immediately knocked down, and it is easier for people to connect, he said.

Although everyone goes through the same motions, church members recognize and welcome guests to the service with warm handshakes and caring conversation, Riddle said. The pastor encourages several people to meet each newcomer, so that every visitor feels comfortable in the close-knit congregation.

This allows the church to be “extraordinarily friendly” without embarrassing anyone, Riddle said. “You can't sneak in and sneak out.”

Ola Willliams, a founding member of the church, has seen the nametags help visitors immediately feel like they are a part of the congregation. She and several other women send handwritten notes to people inviting them to church, thanking them for visiting the church and congratulating them on their new babies.

Occasionally new people will enter the church, connect her nametag with the signature on one of her letters, give her a hug and thank her for writing, Williams said. She sits with them during the service, and a relationship develops.

Jovana Young, who joined the church earlier this year, found the nametags particularly accommodating. She admitted she has trouble remembering names, so the identifiers help her recall people and eliminate awkwardness with other people in the church.

The church, founded by believers from West Conroe Baptist Church who felt a call to start a new work, continues its outgoing spirit in missions as well. It sets out to reach unchurched people by personally building relationships, helping them with needs and inviting them to church.

The congregation continues following God's call to support new churches, Williams said. Inspired by the 13 churches around the state that sponsor RiverPointe Baptist Church, the congregation now is helping sponsor a new church itself.

The church's outreach has been enhanced by a recent move to a more visible location near Interstate 45. People can easily see the church as they drive by and have no trouble getting to it.

“There's nothing we've done to get people to visit more than location,” Riddle said.

And visit they have. The church averaged 55 people while it met at a YMCA building, but attendance surged to 75 after the congregation moved to its new location. The church has served as many as 120 people in Sunday services since Easter.

People are entering the church through several ministries, including the Wednesday prayer time.

Riddle credits the success of the church to the power of God and the loving spirit of the congregation.

“It's in the genetics of people who start a new church,” Riddle explained. “They want to reach people.”

Posted: 5/30/03

Hand-stenciled signs on a campus telephone pole honor graduating seniors at San Marcos Baptist Academy. Arman Rupani of Flower Mound (right) conducts an experiment in a science lab.

San Marcos Academy takes students full-speed ahead

By Craig Bird

Special to the Standard

SAN MARCOS–At first glance, the signs don't seem to share anything except proximity.

The standard-issue, permanent “Speed Limit 35” notice sits a few yards inside the entrance. Close behind it, nailed to a telephone pole are individual, temporary, hand-stenciled boards: Class of '03, Renee, Justine, Collins, Reed, Kristina, Dale, Anjuli, Claudia T., Bev, Cody and Tory. Along the road, other telephone poles sprout from the ground bearing more names–and other traffic restrictions.

Senior Brady Mitchell says the academy has helped her fulfill her dream of attending Baylor University.

Separately, the signs' messages are clear. But together they provide symbolic bookends to the ongoing story of San Marcos Baptist Academy, one of the few military boarding schools in Texas and one of the lesser-known ministries of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Texas Baptists support the academy through gifts to the BGCT Cooperative Program.

Make no mistake: The Academy, with a coed enrollment of about 250, is a place of structure and rules, of responsibility and accountability. Each student is graded and ranked weekly on a two-tiered system that considers both academic standing and behavior. Privileges are directly related to the scores.

The tightly run program is geared to help students recognize and reach their potential intellectually, physically and spiritually.

“We celebrate the fact that 97 percent of our graduates go on to attend college. That is an enviable academic achievement,” said President Victor Schmidt. “But more importantly, we also strive to prepare our students for life by surrounding them with a community fully committed to values based on Jesus Christ. This is a mission field, and Texas Baptist are helping change lives.”

Lives like Jorge Ayala and Brady Mitchell, Claudia Tijerina and Ryan Gaspard and Anjuli Kamins. All names on those telephone poles.

Returning students Ashley Dunn of Gainesville, Claudia Diaz of Sugar Land and Danielle Madsen of Richmond celebrated the start of school last fall.

Ayala, a 17-year-old junior, is a newcomer, arriving at the school last January, the most recent stop on a traumatic, four-year tour of boarding schools and rebellion. He thinks this will be his final stop.

“When I was about 13, I started fighting with my dad all the time,” he explained. “My parents sent me to several of the best boarding schools in Mexico, and even to Canada for a year, but I just didn't have the strength on my own to be self-disciplined. I wound up partying all the time.”

Finally, a family friend who lives in Houston suggested San Marcos Academy. There, Ayala has found the academic attention and structure he was looking for–and a faith experience he had not expected.

“I went to church in Mexico sometimes, but it didn't mean anything,” he said. “Here, I feel the presence of God with me. Mr. (Craig) Paul (the campus pastor) really supported me and answered my questions, and my roommate showed me how to live a Christian life. I was saved two months after I got here. My parents are really impressed.

“I've learned the Bible can help me make good decisions. This summer, I'll go home for two months. It will be my last chance to prove that I've really changed.”

Mitchell grew up in the Dallas area with two dreams–to go to boarding school and to attend Baylor University. Doing the first made the second possible.

“In the seventh grade, I got this idea I wanted to go to boarding school, and my parents said I could for my ninth grade,” she said. “Then when I got here, I cried and cried and cried, I was so homesick. But my parents made me stick it out. And I'm really glad. The past three years have been great, with so much to do and so many friends.

Senior members of the Reserve Officer Training Corps celebrated the end of the year by wearing civilian clothes to morning assembly.

“Plus my grades are high enough I was accepted by Baylor,” Mitchell continued. “It's almost impossible to fail here academically–not because it's easy. It's very hard, but the teachers here are all overqualified for what they teach. Plus, in addition to mandatory tutorials if your grades aren't good enough, the teachers come out here on their own time in the evenings and weekends to give you as much help as you need. They refuse to let us not learn.”

Tijerina, among the 20 percent of students who do not live on campus, was drawn by the international outlook of both the classroom and the student body. The academy draws students from Asian countries as well as South and Central America, Mexico and the Middle East.

Previously, “school just wasn't very academically challenging, and we weren't exposed to world issues,” she explained. “The teachers here not only do a great job teaching, but they show you how to apply what you've learned. And all the students from other countries really enrich the intellectual mix.”

The worldwide outlook will be valuable, Tijerina believes, not only when she moves on to Baylor but as she answers a call to full-time Christian vocation.

“I went to Germany last summer on a mission trip, and I'm going back there again this summer,” she said. “I think that may be where God wants me as a career missionary.”

There would seem to be a logical connection between Gaspard's profession of faith in Christ at summer church camp and his enrollment at the academy in the fall. But there wasn't.

2002 seniors Sophia Troxell of Wimberley and Mary Claire Ledoux, Lindsey Burnett, Sarah Dillon and Nicole McClusky of San Marcos celebrated commencement.

“I had mono my sophomore year (in Rockwall) and got way behind in school,” he explained. “My aunt was surfing the Internet when she found this school. We had never heard of it. I came here for a better academic opportunity. If I hadn't, I don't think I would have gotten into college.”

Gaspard is headed to Texas A&M-Commerce with hopes of transferring to Texas A&M-College Station later.

His new faith commitment led him to apply for the chaplain's slot in his ROTC corps. “I didn't know what I was getting into,” he admitted. “We have Buddhists and Muslims in the corps, and it was hard to overcome some of the barriers. But it helped me learn what I really believe and why I believe it.”

Now he plans to join the military, aiming to be an airborne chaplain.

An American couple's conversion to Hinduism led, indirectly, to Kamins' enrollment at the academy.

“My parents came to India as part of their process in becoming Hindus,” she said. “They adopted me when I was a few months old and brought me back to Seattle.”

The family moved to Austin four years ago, but the young teenager was figuring out she needed both intensive academics and firm structure. She got the first at a private day school, “but I couldn't handle all the freedom my parents gave me,” she said.

She looked in the yellow pages for a boarding school and found the academy. It has proved all she hoped for–and more.

“I love crowds, and it is great to always have a group of girls to talk to at the dorm,” she explained. “The teachers pushed me hard but helped me every step of the way.”

She also started paying attention to what was said in chapel and how the teachers and staff and many of the students lived up to the devotions.

“There were Christians all around me, and I found I enjoyed that environment,” she said. “I started to ask, 'Why the difference?' Eventually I realized Christianity is world-embracing rather than self-serving. I wanted to live like that.

“My dad is OK with it (being a Christian), if it's what I want. But my stepmother thinks I'm just going through a phase. But this is real. I am a Christian.”

The 30-member staff at San Marcos Academy is remarkable not only for devotion but also for longevity. Two teachers are 35-year veterans, and two others have passed the 25-year mark. Many staff are former students or the children of former students or staff.

“I have no doubt that all our people are here because they are called to this ministry,” Schmidt insisted. “None of them are paid what they are worth, but they love these kids so deeply and do a magnificent job.”

The staff agrees.

Byron Robinson, one of the 35-yearers, has a Ph.D. in reading and turned down a faculty position at the University of Mississippi to stay at San Marcos and teach English and math. He also coached the offensive line on the football team and coached track for 27 years until health problems made him drop that two years ago.

“This is a special place,” he said. “It allows us to establish close relationships with both the students and their parents. I hope my granddaughter gets to go to school here.”

The San Marcos Baptist Academy senior class of 2003 celebrated homecoming with a bonfire.	Jorge Ayala says the academy changed his life.

Posted: 5/30/03

Baptists, Scouts pitch tents together 50 years

By Bob Carey

Baptist Press

RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)–Southern Baptists and the Boy Scouts of America have worked through the Association of Baptists for Scouting for almost 50 years, so it was a reunion of sorts when more than 120 Scout leaders from 12 states and various Baptist denominations met this spring at LifeWay's Ridgecrest Conference Center.

The conference, titled “God and Country,” highlighted ways Baptists can positively influence America's youth from elementary to high school through Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops.

The weekend brought pastors and scout leaders together to find ways for local churches to encourage the growth of Boy Scout troops. Several pastors committed to add either Boy Scout troops or Venturing programs in their churches. Venturing is a coeducational program for youth between the ages of 14 and 20.

Currently, about 5,000 of the nation's 90,000 Baptist congregations (SBC and non-SBC) sponsor Scouting programs, according to Don York, director of the relationships division of the Boy Scouts of America. Many more Baptist families are involved in Scouting through packs and troops sponsored by local schools or other churches.

Several speakers discussed the outreach possibilities Scouting offers churches. Chip Turner, vice president of FamilyNet in Fort Worth, noted Scouting and Baptist churches have a long history together.

“Dr. George Truett of First Baptist, Dallas, endorsed the concept of Scouting in churches in 1924, but we still have a lot to do to reach more youth,” Turner said.

David Hansley, president of the Association of Baptists for Scouting, encouraged the crowd to help pastors and youth ministers see the benefits of Scouting. “Most pastors, when they see the benefits of Scouting, will catch the vision. There are too many boys to reach. It's a great outreach if the churches will just take it and run.”

Retired Navy Commander Robert Fant Jr., a former Vietnam POW, testified to the importance of both church and Scouting in his life.

“When I was captured, the first thing I concentrated on was the Lord's Prayer, then the 23rd Psalm. Soon after that, I began concentrating on the Scout Law. It was these things I had learned at church and in Scouting that helped keep me going.”

In addition to the general sessions and specialized training, the conference also featured two banquets to honor recipients of the Good Shepherd Cross and Staff award. The award is a national recognition for adults who render outstanding service to Baptist youth through their churches and the Boy Scouts of America. The award is given to either laypeople or pastors who lead in the spiritual, physical, mental and moral development of youth.

This year, 22 recipients were recognized for service to Baptist Scouting, with six of the recipients receiving Silver Good Shepherd awards representing at least 50 years of Scouting involvement. They join several prominent Baptists who are former recipients of the award–LifeWay Christian Resources President Jimmy Draper, SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman, evangelist Billy Graham, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Sen. Trent Lott. Texas author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar is slated to receive the honor later this year.

Posted: 5/30/03

Gallup explores identifiers for nation's 'secularists'

PRINCETON, N.J. (RNS)–The 10 percent of Americans who claim no religion tend to be young, liberal and live on the West Coast, according to research by the Gallup Organization.

The so-called “secularists,” while “being detached from the religious process also are apparently more likely to be detached from other American institutions such as marriage and the political process,” Gallup researchers said.

While 69 percent of secularists are registered to vote, that figure is smaller than the 83 percent registered among Americans who claim a religious preference. The percentage of secularists who are unmarried and living with a partner–12 percent–is double that for religious Americans.

Secularists also are younger–those between the ages of 18 and 29 are four times as likely as those older than 65 to be secularists, and twice as likely as those between the ages of 50 and 64.

The Western United States–particularly Oregon and California–has a larger percentage of residents identifying as secularists (15 percent) than other parts of the country (typically less than 10 percent).

Forty-three percent of secularists describe themselves as moderate, while 35 percent are considered liberal and 20 percent are conservative. Other Gallup polls have shown that more religious people tend to be more conservative.

Only about 1 percent of Americans describe themselves as atheists, who have no belief in God, or agnostics, who aren't sure about the existence of God, according to the Gallup study.

Posted: 5/30/03

Song played role in South Africa

NEW YORK (RNS)–Did music help end apartheid in South Africa, a nation where long ago song, spirit and faith merged into one?

Yes, argues a new documentary that chronicles the role that song–inseparable from religious faith–played in the four-decade struggle to overthrow white minority rule in South Africa.

“Amandla: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony” communicates what New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell calls music's “subversive power.”

The documentary focuses in part on the music of Vuyisile Mini, a singer and composer executed in 1964 for his political activism.

Mini's acclaimed black freedom songs were remarkable for their haunting melodies and expressive power–so much so that even whites liked them. But few whites knew that one of Mini's catchy tunes was actually a song called “Beware Verwoerd”–an anthem in Xhosa warning Hendrik Verwoerd, the hated architect of apartheid, he faced a day of judgment.

Deep wells of religious tradition, symbolism and feeling were imbedded in the songs–a world of music and verse, memory and hope in which Nelson Mandela became Moses, the Walls of Jericho were more than a mere symbol and Jesus was a black liberator.

“Jesus was a big player in the freedom song scene,” said director Lee Hirsch. “'Jehovah will free us;' 'The liberation will come through Jesus, through Mandela;' 'Jesus will look after our boys in exile and comfort our mothers.' These were all common themes.”

With its profiles of musicians, singers and “freedom fighters,” scenes of singing and classic archival footage of leading figures, “Amandla” received acclaim at Sundance Film Festival and now has been released in New York and other major U.S. cities.

The central question the film poses is this: Did the struggle for black majority rule lead to song or did song lead to struggle?

One answer is that song and struggle could not be separated. Music itself became spirit, a life force, even redemption.

One reason music proved to have such redemptive power was because apartheid–the rigid system of racial segregation imposed in 1948 by a white minority government–proved so dehumanizing.

To overcome apartheid's dispiriting effects, solidarity was found in church.

As with many African-American congregations, the power of collective song and “letting the spirit rise” is central to the South African church experience.

That draws parallels to the experience of blacks in the American South fighting oppression.

“There has been clear cross-pollination,” Hirsch said.