Posted: 5/30/03

Bernice Edwards dies in an Illinois prison

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (RNS)–The woman whose wild spending and close relationship with a Baptist minister landed them both in prison has died.

Bernice Vernell Edwards was 46. She was serving a nine-month prison sentence in Illinois and suffered from a “chronic pulmonary condition,” the St. Petersburg Times reported. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the exact cause of death.

Edwards was a close associate of Henry Lyons, former president of the National Baptist Convention USA. When Lyons' wife suspected the two of having an affair, she set fire to a waterfront mansion co-owned by Lyons and Edwards. Both denied a romantic affair.

That fire led to an investigation that resulted in charges against both Edwards and Lyons for embezzling millions from the church. In 1999, Edwards was acquitted on all charges, while Lyons was convicted of racketeering and grand theft and sentenced to more than five years in prison.

One month later, Edwards pleaded guilty to tax evasion and served 13 months of a 21-month sentence. Last year, while on probation, Edwards was accused again of financial improprieties and sentenced to nine more months in prison.

Posted: 5/30/03

HealthSouth executive, accused of
fraud, heard sermons on ethics

By Greg Garrison

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) –HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy, accused by federal investigators of overseeing massive accounting fraud, sat through many Sunday sermons on corporate ethics and the hazards of wealth, his pastor says.

“Richard has been a part of our church and has heard and responded to strong messages about biblical ethics,” said William Elder, pastor of MountainTop Community Church in the affluent Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills. Scrushy has attended services there for six years with his third wife, Leslie, and as many as five of his eight children. “They're at church when they're in town most of the time,” Elder said.

Scrushy donated $600,000 toward construction of the church's $11.5 million new building. The ousted chief executive of the nation's largest chain of rehabilitation hospitals has kept a low profile in recent weeks and has missed worship services since being accused of accounting fraud. But the church still supports him, Elder said.

“We are trying to reach out to him every way we can,” the pastor said. “God does incredible things with repentance and brokenness.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Scrushy of insider trading and inflating profits by $1.4 billion to prop up the value of the stock he sold. One of eight former HealthSouth executives who has pleaded guilty so far told investigators of another $1.1 billion in false profit claims.

The federal accusations of fraud at HealthSouth have again raised the issue of a lack of corporate ethics in America. No criminal charges have been brought against Scrushy, but a grand jury is investigating.

The temptation to abandon integrity and long-term business stability in favor of short-term profit runs rampant in corporate America, say business ethics experts.

“Nobody usually starts off trying to defraud,” said Rick Boxx, founder of Integrity Resource Center in Kansas City, Mo. “It's usually a small step at first, then once they get away with it, it expands.”

Unethical executive behavior has been blamed for scandals at Adelphia, Enron, HealthSouth, Tyco and WorldCom.

Elder said he hopes Scrushy didn't do what he's accused of–insider trading and faking $2.5 billion in profits.

“We don't know that he did anything wrong,” Elder said. “That remains to be seen. If he did do something wrong, that indicates that he is a sinner, just as we are. We try to walk with sinners. We are a church that loves sinners and hates the sin.”

Scrushy lived in grandeur with multiple mansions, yachts and a fleet of airplanes as one of the nation's highest-paid executives. He had made $169 million in salary, bonuses and exercised options since 1992, taking home $106.8 million in 1997, ranking him as Business Week's third-highest paid U.S. executive. He once said he wanted to be the highest-paid CEO in the world.

Another noted executive, Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, son of a Baptist minister and a member of the board of trustees at First United Methodist Church in Houston, had his churchgoing ridiculed by comedians after the Enron scandal broke.

Elder said he preached often on the dangers of wealth with Scrushy in the congregation.

“We talk a lot about ethics in the workplace and stewardship,” Elder said. “Richard has heard messages on the rich young ruler, the Good Samaritan, the prodigal son. He always responds positively.”

Posted: 5/30/03

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for June 8

Salvation comes through personal faith in Jesus

Galatians 2:4-5, 11-21

By Jim Perkins

Madison Hills Baptist Church, San Antonio

Our zeal in life is often misguided. People waited in line for an hour recently for the promotional sale of gasoline at our new neighborhood grocery store. To save a quarter per gallon, they wasted an hour–and probably a gallon of gasoline! We need a more vital arena in life to invest our energies.

Set a good example

The Apostle Paul invested wisely–he maintained a consistent, God-given zeal for the defense of the “truth of the gospel” (2:5, 14). As becomes obvious in this passage, the message of the gospel centers around a simple yet life-changing truth: Salvation comes through a personal faith in Christ as Lord and Savior.

The second chapter of Galatians includes a description of two key events in the gospel ministry of Paul. The first event was Paul's defense of the gospel in the face of a challenge to the integrity of the gospel message of salvation through faith in Christ. It seems that “Judaizers” (those teaching that Gentile believers must be circumcised and obey the law of Moses, see Acts 15:5) had infiltrated the churches in Galatia. These “false brothers” (2:4) taught what we might describe as a “Jesus plus” gospel. Although this message varied somewhat–and still varies today–it always included the dangerous concept of requiring Jesus plus some other aspect to attain complete salvation. For Paul, as it should be for us, that concept of adding to the simple gospel message–“Jesus plus”–was anathema (1:9).

The second event was the occasion on which Paul had to remonstrate against the behavior of the Apostle Peter, a beloved and highly visible member of the apostolic group (2:11-13). It seems Peter had come to Antioch and accepted the full participation of the Gentile believers in worship and social events. This acceptance probably included social interaction at meals (a mark of acceptance in Jewish life) and the Lord's Supper.

Peter's behavior, however, began to devolve when those of the “circumcision group” (again, those promoting circumcision and observance of the Jewish law as necessary to complete salvation) came to Antioch. He “began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles” because of a fear of these self-appointed representatives of James and the Jerusalem Christians–even leading Barnabas and others astray (2:12-13). Sadly, Peter's behavior on this occasion can only be seen as an example of behavior not in line with the truth of the gospel.

Be consistent

Paul provided an appropriate example of faithfulness to the gospel by addressing this hypocrisy in a straightforward manner. We cannot be certain, but perhaps Paul's challenge to correct and consistent behavior was both private–between Paul and Peter only (“to his face,” 2:11)–and public (“to Peter in front of them all,” 2:14).

The content of Paul's corrective challenge was faithful to the truth of the gospel. Paul reminded Peter and all those caught up in this hypocritical withdrawal of fellowship that “man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16). There are no second-class Christians, nor is there a wall of separation between Jewish and Gentile Christians (see Ephesians 2:11-22). Paul also reminded Peter and the group he had influenced to abandon fellowship with the Gentile believers that “we, too, have put our faith in Christ” in the firm belief that salvation would come through “faith in Christ and not by observing the law” (2:16).

The net effect, then, of Paul's defense of the truth of the gospel was to promote a unity in the church that transcended racial or cultural distinctions. We are faithful and wise to do likewise.

Live for God

Paul defended the truth of the gospel against unspecified charges in 2:17-18. While we cannot be dogmatic about the exact nature of the charges, perhaps they dealt with Paul's insistence that Jews and Gentiles alike were sinners in need of salvation through faith in Christ. Indeed, the law of Moses did not provide immunity from sin, but instead a recognition of the present reality of sin: the “all” of Romans 3:23 really does include every person on earth!

Christ, then, does not “promote” sin, but reveals the desperate need of all (Jew and Gentile alike) for salvation through faith. In addition, perhaps here Paul also means that a “going back” to the Mosaic law and its test for table fellowship would have been an act of disobedience relative to the specific command of Christ to respect and treat as precious all of God's creation (refer back to God's revelation to Peter at Joppa in Acts 10:9-35).

The Apostle Paul continued in his defense/explanation of the gospel in 2:19-21. New life through faith in Christ as Savior brings a momentous and radical transformation of rebirth for the believer. The person (“I”) who lived life in relation to the law now lives in a relationship with the risen Christ. That Paul chose to speak of the indwelling Christ here and elsewhere of the Spirit indwelling the believer is of little consequence (compare Romans 8:9-11, or even Acts 16:6-10).

We can simply rejoice with Paul that the good news of the gospel also includes this: The new life Paul (and every believer) received through a personal experience with the risen Savior becomes a dynamic, daily reality that renews every aspect of the Christian's life.

Question for discussion

What “Jesus plus” additions do people still try to make to the gospel?

Posted: 5/30/03

LifeWay Family Bible Series for June 8

Indicators of a growing disciple of Christ

Luke 9:23-24; Ephesians 4:29-5:10

By Tim Owens

First Baptist Church, Bryan

Following Peter's confessions of Christ at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus foretold his own death and resurrection. He then set forth the requirements of discipleship: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23).

In Ephesians 4:29-5:10, Paul contrasts the new life in Christ to the old way of life without Christ. Taken together, these two passages of Scripture address the questions, “What does it mean to be a mature disciple of Jesus Christ?” and, “What does it look like when a Christian is truly following Christ in all areas of life?”

God's grace does not allow his people to live any way they want to live. Rather, God's grace empowers his people to live with the attitudes and actions of Christ. What are some of the signs of a growing disciple?

Deny self (Luke 9:23-24)

Christian discipleship begins with a personal commitment to pursue the life and the mission of Christ above everything else. Christians who live as Christ lived will every day put their own interests and desires into the background and accept wholeheartedly the sacrifice and suffering that may have to be endured in his service. The “cross” is not the ordinary, human troubles such as disappointments, physical illness, emotional stress, financial or vocational loss, etc. The “cross” would include anything that has to be suffered, endured or lost in the service of Christ. This might be persecution, self-sacrifice, suffering, even death as a result of obeying Jesus Christ.

Jesus made it clear that Christians who try selfishly to secure for themselves pleasure and happiness in life will in fact never find real joy or purpose in life. However, those who lay their lives on the altar in service to Christ, who strive for his glory and for the extension of his kingdom, will spontaneously find true joy and purpose in life. Both here on earth and forever in heaven.

Imitate God (Ephesians 4:29-5:2)

The apostle Paul is eager to explain in very tangible terms what it means to follow Jesus Christ. He cautions believers to recognize the power of the spoken language. He commands them to avoid dishonest, unkind, destructive and vulgar speech. William Penn said, “If thou think twice before thou speak once, thou will speak twice the better for it.”

In Ephesians 4:30, Paul is asking, “Why would anyone, who was sealed by the ownership of the Spirit, do anything to live contrary to him, offend him or hurt him?” Believers receive the seal of the Holy Spirit when they first surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. Believers are sealed at the moment of conversion until the day of redemption. In the in-between time, Paul commands us not to grieve the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit hates sin, falsehood and language that tears people down. If Christians are going to follow Christ, they must also hate these things.

The call to Christian discipleship is to be kind, compassionate and forgiving toward others. Refusing to forgive is hazardous to one's Christian health. Forgiveness is a refusal to let a past wrong destroy a present relationship. Forgiveness is a rejection of bitterness, malice and revenge. Forgiveness is when Christians do unto others as Christ has done to them.

Avoid wrong (Ephesians 5:3-7)

The life of Christian discipleship is one of high standards. There is not any higher standard than Ephesians 5:1: “Be imitators of God”–imitate his kindness, his forgiveness, his unconditional love and his holiness. Believers are children of God. As such, they should take upon themselves the characteristics of the family to which they belong. Paul is calling believers to holy living in an unholy, godless age.

Holiness is not something that just happens. Rather, Christians are to take holiness upon themselves with intentionality. Read Ephesians 5:3-7 with the conviction that believers have the power to put off the old life of immorality and put on the new life of purity and morality. There should not even be a hint of these things in the minds, words and actions of Christians.

Paul was writing in an age in which believers were tempted to imbibe the sexual mores of the culture in which they lived. The same thing happens today! But through the power of God's Spirit, the believer can follow Christ in such a way that there is not even a hint of immorality, impurity or greed.

Do right (Ephesians 5:8-10)

Ephesians 5:8 is radical. Paul writes, “You are light in the Lord.” He does not say believers belong to the light or that they are in the light. He says strikingly: “You are light. Therefore, live as children of light.” Paul echoes the words of Christ: “You the light of the world. … Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Question for discussion

If you were measuring your growth, are you growing or have you tapered off?

Posted: 5/30/03

GEORGE FOREMAN:
Heaven-bound heavyweight

George Foreman, two-time former heavyweight boxing champion and globally renowned corporate spokesman, is also an ordained minister and founder of the George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston.

Q:

In your book, you talk about your childhood–how you were raised in extreme poverty and had to learn everything the hard way. What was it like for you growing up?

I was raised in a one-parent home, and my mother had to work two jobs. When you're in a single-parent home, they try to give you a good foundation, but by the time you're 4 or 5 years old, from that point on you're pretty much on your own. You get your hand burned, and you learn not to put your hand on the fire. So everything I learned I had to learn the hard way. There are seven of us total, I'm number five of seven kids, four boys and three girls. Most of my childhood I was raised in the city of Houston, where I am now. But I started my boxing career in California.

Q:

How did you get started in boxing? What motivated you?

After I dropped out of junior high school, I heard a commercial–a great football player by the name of Jim Brown said if you're looking for a second chance, join the Job Corps. And I was looking for a second chance–I was in big trouble anyway–and I joined. That's where I started a basic education and vocational program. I studied electronic assemblies in the Job Corps.

One day there was a fight being broadcast between Muhammad (Ali)–he was Cassius Clay then–and he was fighting Floyd Patterson. All the kids said, “George, you're a bully; why don't you be a boxer?” And I just took the challenge. I said, “OK, I'll show you.” Just to prove it for myself, I went out for boxing.

I didn't like it; I really didn't like it. But the boxing coach, Doc Broadus, liked me. He said, “Look, if you stop fighting in the streets and the alleys, you could be an Olympic champion.” I had no idea what an Olympic champion was. He stayed on my back, and I went back to California to work for the Job Corps center, and I learned how to box. In 1968, I became a gold medalist in Mexico City.

That was the highlight of my whole athletic career. I was a 19-year-old boy who had never had a dream come true before, and there I am standing on the platform with the medal around my neck, and I hear the national anthem in the background–there's never been anything like that in my life since.

Q:

You've been through a lot of ups and downs in your boxing career. What effect did losing have on you? Was it as important as winning?

In 1973, I became heavyweight champion of the world with 38 victories, no defeats as a professional. You get to a point where you think you cannot lose. I felt like I had the greatest power with my fists, I was the strongest man in the world. I kept winning fights, but then I lost to Ali in Zaire, Africa.

It devastated me. It really did have a great effect on me. I told everybody I was going to be heavyweight champion of the world forever, and I was the strongest man alive. And I lost in Zaire. In 10 seconds, my whole life was changed. One day people walking by you were afraid to even ask you a question, and the next day they're patting you on the back with pity. That was devastating. It changed my life.

Q:

But you regained the heavyweight championship.

Twenty years after I lost. I was 45–the oldest ever to do so.

Nobody believed it. They said, “George Foreman is gonna get himself hurt; he's too old.” I heard it all. But one thing I always had going for me, I knew how to box, I always knew how to box. I gave it up to become a preacher, but not because I couldn't do it anymore. Just that the higher calling penetrated my life.

Q:

You're talking about the religious awakening you had in 1977?

I didn't believe in religion, but I knew there was a God somewhere.

Everybody I knew who was in (religion) always seemed like they were running from something. So I wasn't going to take it up. But that night in Puerto Rico, I had my last boxing match in 1977 with Jimmy Young. I lost a decision, a split decision, went back to my dressing room to cool off, and that's when it all started happening.

I started thinking, I could go home and retire, I got money, I could retire right now to my ranch and die. And before I knew it, that had taken over my whole conversation–you're gonna die. I realized I was going to die in that dressing room from a boxing match.

I thought silently, because I thought if I revealed to anyone in the room what I was thinking that they was gonna figure I was depressed because I lost the decision. So I kept it in. And right within my thoughts I heard a voice within me that said: “You believe in God. Why are you scared to die?” And I was scared; … I didn't want to die. I mean, I didn't think that could happen to me so I started jumping up and down, saying: “I'm not gonna die; I got everything to live for.”

I tried to make a deal with the voice–I'm champion of the world, I'm George Foreman, I can still give money to charity and cancer. I heard an answer right in my thoughts: “I don't want your money. I want you.” And that's when I knew I was about to die.

I said, “God, I believe in you, but not enough.” When I said that, there was a deep dark nothing over my head, under me, all around me was just a dump yard of every sad thought I ever had in my life, multiplied like nothing. And I was dead, and I could smell death, and it was just the most horrible thing. It was like someone dropped me off in the deep sea–no help–there was no way I could get out of this.

And I said, as a tough man, I've always been tough, I said, “I don't care if this is death, I still believe there's a God.” When I said that, a gigantic hand snatched me out of this “nothing,” and I was lying in the dressing room bleeding, blood flowing through my veins. And evidently they had picked me up off the floor in the dressing room and laid me on the table, because that's where I was and everybody was standing around me crying, and I said to my doctor: “Move your hands. The thorns on his head are making him bleed.”

I saw blood coming down my forehead, and I hadn't been hit in the boxing match. And I told my masseur, Mr. Fuller, “You move your hand because he's bleeding and they crucified him.” And I started screaming words I never screamed before–that Jesus Christ was coming alive in me. And I jumped in the shower, started screaming, “Hallelujah, I'm clean, I'm born again, I'm going out to save the world!” and they said, “You better put on some clothes first.”

I tried to explain it away as much as I could–you got hit too hard, you're hot, I didn't believe in religion, Jesus, I never even thought it existed.

Q:

You were running away from it?

Religion was for depressed people, just an excuse if you didn't have anything else. So here I was embarrassed because my friends, we made fun of religion.

After that experience, I was still a top contender, but I just couldn't go back into the gym. I didn't know what to do with my life. And I started telling this story … and people started calling me “brother” and I was ordained at the Church of Lord Jesus Christ in Houston at the end of 1978 as an evangelist. I started traveling to hospitals and prisons and telling this story. Eventually, I started preaching weddings and funerals. That's been the story of my life. I never intended to be a preacher, never!

I started a youth center, my brother-in-law and I, in Houston, for the kids to hang out. Finally I was broke, I would have to close the youth center if I didn't quickly move. The only way I knew how to make money and not to beg people for it was to be a boxer again. It hurt me to take my shirt off again and be a boxer but it was the only profession I had. And that's why I went back.

Q:

Was it hard for you, believing in Christianity, which emphasizes peace, to take up boxing, with all the violence that's involved?

That was a hard thing for me. When I started the youth center, some parents wanted me to get their kid interested in boxing. I said: “Look, I'm a preacher. I'm not going to be helping boxers; that's nothing but ignorance and violence.” And then one day I inquired about the kid, and (learned) he robbed a store in my neighborhood. The storekeeper shot his friend, and he shot the storekeeper. All these lives were devastated because I didn't want to look like a backslider. I said, “I can't help this kid, but I'll never let another get away from me.”

Q:

What do you pray for?

You know this peace I found in 1977? More than anything, I pray to keep it. When I was about to die in that dressing room, all I could think of was I didn't say goodbye to my mother, I hadn't gotten a chance to embrace my kids, there were friends I forgot to say I'm sorry to. I had a second chance to live, and I'm constantly embracing my loved ones. My friends know that they're my friends–even my enemies know that they're my friends. All I pray is to be consistently like this all the days of my life.

I never pray for things–just to consistently be the same way I am. I never get upset about what I read in the newspaper. I realize that every human being can make a difference in this world. Just make certain that I'm consistently making a difference.

Q:

What's your relationship like with Ali?

We've become great friends. Muhammad Ali and I–I love him like a little brother. I'm always talking the Bible to him and he's saying, “Uh-oh, here he comes!”

Q:

Does Ali ever come back and quote the Koran to you?

Never, never. It's always like, “George, if God wants me to know about it, he'll tell me; don't do it, George, don't!” That kind of thing.

Q:

Is there any minister that you admire as a role model?

There are so many guys who do so many good things. I hate to say just ministers. There are so many people out there who do so many good things. Dr. Robert Schuller, I told him what happened to me … I said, “I know you may think I'm crazy but I'm telling you I was dead.” He said, “George–I'm a reverend and I'm a psychologist, and I believe you.” I've never forgotten that.

That was all I needed. From then I started running. I thanked him in my book for being a good corner man–to push you off the stool when you don't want to go on. In the ring sometimes when a guy is whipping you bad, you sit on your stool and you say to your corner man, “I think I had enough.” And it takes a strong trainer to pick you up and say, “Get back out there; don't you quit!”

Interview by Wendy Schuman of Beliefnet. Distributed by Religion News Service.

Posted: 5/30/03

House prayer led by gay pastor

WASHINGTON (RNS)–For the first time, a pastor affiliated with the nation's largest primarily gay denomination has offered the opening prayer in the House of Representatives.

Steven Torrance, a police chaplain in Key West, Fla., and a pastor in the Metropolitan Community Church, offered the prayer May 1, which also was designated the National Day of Prayer.

“Help us to secure justice and equality for every human being; help us bring an end to division, and continue to build our country on peace and love,” Torrance prayed in the House chambers.

Posted: 5/30/03

Gay-right protestors target SBC again

By Bob Allen

EthicsDaily.com

For the fourth consecutive year, homosexual-rights activists are organizing a presence at the Southern Baptist Convention to protest anti-homosexuality rhetoric by the convention.

This year's demonstration will contrast with a strong push promoting traditional families at the SBC annual meeting, scheduled June 17-18 in Phoenix. A Kingdom Family Rally on the eve of the convention will set the stage for introduction of a new SBC standard for Christian families, described as the “Seven Pillars of a Kingdom Family.”

Mel White, executive director of Soulforce, a religious organization that supports gay rights, wrote SBC President Jack Graham May 7 requesting a meeting.

Graham's predecessor as SBC president, James Merritt, rebuffed similar requests to meet with White the last two years, prompting Soulforce to escalate protests at last year's SBC annual meeting in St. Louis. A dozen Soulforce protestors were arrested inside the convention hall while attempting to disrupt the meeting. Another 38 were arrested for trespassing.

In his letter to Graham, White implied similar action this year.

Gay-rights protests have become a staple at the SBC annual meeting since Soulforce sponsored its first demonstration at the 2000 gathering in Orlando, Fla. Soulforce protestors claim Southern Baptist attitudes against homosexuality contribute to discrimination and violence against gays.

Soulforce's presence has prompted counter-demonstrations from Fred Phelps, an independent Baptist pastor from Topeka, Kan., known for his inflammatory message, “God Hates Fags,” displayed on placards and a website.

Posted: 5/19/03

San Angelo church builds a mission project in parking lot

By George Henson

Staff Writer

SAN ANGELO–Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo may be setting a record for the shortest distance ever traveled on a mission trip. This mission is taking shape on the church parking lot.

Church volunteers are building a three-bedroom Habitat for Humanity house. But instead of building it on-site, as most Habitat groups do, the San Angelo church is constructing its house on cinder blocks in the parking lot. The house will be moved after completion.

The project has been undertaken in conjunction with celebration of the church's 25th anniversary later this year.

“We wanted to do more than celebrate,” said Dwain Dodson, who is overseeing the construction. “We wanted to do something outside the walls of the church, and the idea of a Habitat house really caught on as a mission project.”

Pastor Bill Shiell concurred the congregation felt that more than a celebration was in order.

“People like to throw birthday parties for themselves, but we wanted to throw one for our community,” he said. “We can in no way repay what has been done for us over the last 25 years, but we wanted to show our appreciation.”

The Habitat house is scheduled to be only the first of 25 mission projects the church does to celebrate its anniversary.

Church leaders decided to erect the house on the parking lot to increase involvement, Dodson said. “Having it here at the church has really stirred up some enthusiasm.”

That enthusiasm hasn't been limited to the church's members alone. After the first day of construction, the local Habitat office said it received more calls than ever before from individuals curious about what was going on and from other groups in the community wanting to know how they could become involved. The church is located on heavily traveled Loop 306.

To raise the $30,000 needed to build the house, church members collected offerings large and small, mainly small.

For publicity, organizers broke down expenses to bite-size pieces, illustrating, for example, that a donation of 28 cents was important because it would pay for one of the 216 joist hangers.

“Building this house is the best thing that I have ever done with a church,” Shiell said. “It's is so hard to get people's hands on missions, but to have children give $2.50 for a 2 x 4 stud, and then to see that stud become a part of someone's house, that's when missions becomes real.”

Children and youth classes took those studs and then drew hearts and crosses and wrote Scripture verses and religious sayings such as “'Jesus loves you' on them.” Some of those were brought forward in an April dedication service in which the presenters and the choir wore yellow hard hats.

“It was quite compelling,” Shiell recalled. “It was really a joyful time.”

The only hard part, Dodson reported, is finding a good place to cut those inscribed boards.

The house will be dedicated and church members will prayerwalk around it and through it Aug. 16. It then will be moved about three miles to its permanent location at a cost estimated to be under $1,500.

Southland members plan to build a second Habitat house in the near future as well. When they do, they hope to partner with another church that doesn't have the funds necessary to build their own house so that the blessing can be shared and a relationship fostered.

Posted: 5/19/03

Hispanic School OKs 2008 plans

SAN ANTONIO–Trustees of Hispanic Baptist Theological School approved final preparations to purchase an 82-acre tract across I-35 from the school's current facilities.

Meeting May 6, the board also elected a vice president for advancement, approved the first graduating class with bachelor of arts degrees, approved a strategic plan for 2003-2008 and granted the first sabbatical leave in the school's history.

The property purchase previously was affirmed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Education Coordinating Board.

Arnie Adkison was named vice president for advancement.
Since 1996, he has been director of the Far West Texas Fellowship of Christian Athletes in El Paso, where he carried primary fund-raising responsibilities.

Adkison has served as pastor of Loma Terrace Baptist Church and Pueblo Nuevo Church in El Paso for 11 years and has served on the student ministry committee of El Paso Baptist Association.

The school's first-ever sabbatical leave was granted to Fermin Flores, who has taught at HBTS for 32 years.

The new strategic plan outlines six focus areas related to governance, institutional advancement, academics, student services, facilities and administration.

The plan builds on previously announced goals to enroll 500 full-time equivalent students by 2008 and build a new student center, learning resource center and other facilities.

Other goals of the strategic plan call for:

Increasing the annual fund to $1 million in contributions by 2006.

Raising $18 million in two capital campaigns by 2008.

Increasing endowment to fund 10 percent of the annual operating budget by 2008.

Hiring an alumni director.

Adding degrees in general studies, leadership, media arts and education.

Developing language programs in Spanish, French and Arabic.

Creating off-campus classrooms in other Texas cities.

Mobilizing all students on annual mission trips.

Establishing a campus child-care center, clinic and counseling center.

Posted: 5/19/03

Iraqi Christians fear for safety

By Mark Mueller

Religion News Service

BAGHDAD, Iraq (RNS)–Two weeks ago, Raad Karim Essa arrived home from work to find his furniture on the street. His Muslim landlord wasn't renting to Christians anymore.

“He told us not to argue and threatened us,” said Essa, 42, a father of four. “He said the government was no longer here to protect us. What could we do? We feared for our lives.”

"The Muslims want to destroy us," said Amira Nisan, 38, Essa's wife. "I think we were better off under Saddam."

Such a sentiment is voiced increasingly today among Iraq's 800,000 Christians.

Like most of their countrymen, Christians greeted the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with celebration and hope. But in little more than a month, their desire for greater religious freedom has been replaced by fear of the fundamentalism rippling through Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, which has moved quickly to exert its influence after decades of violent repression.

Christian women say they've been harassed by Shiite men for walking on the street without head scarves, and priests complain that Shiite clerics inflame religious hatred by calling for the expulsion from Iraq of “non-believers.”

The most overt acts have been directed at Iraq's liquor stores and manufacturers, almost universally run by Christians. The owners of those facilities say they've been threatened with death for selling alcohol, forbidden under a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

"I'm afraid for my people," said Bishop Ishlemon Warduni, the religious leader of Iraq's Chaldean community, which represents about 80 percent of the nation's Christians. The remaining 20

A woman attends mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church in Baghdad. Some Iraqi Christians fear persecution by Shiite Muslims, who have more freedom to practice their religion since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. (Noah Addis/RNS Photo)

percent is comprised mostly of Syrians, Assyrians and Armenians.

“During the war, we were not afraid like we are now,” said Warduni, 60. “All Christians are in danger.”

Warduni recently expressed his concerns in a letter to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. On May 13, the bishop was to make his case in a meeting with Jay Garner, the retired U.S. Army general who has been administering Iraq.

“We would like a guarantee of our rights, our freedom and our protection,” Warduni said. “We have a 2,000-year history in Iraq, and that is now threatened. The fanatics would see us gone.”

The worries are most pronounced in southern Iraq, a Shiite stronghold where clerics have issued the most strident calls for the creation of an Islamic republic. Underscoring the dangers, the Christian owners of two liquor stores were shot to death the first week of May in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, after rebuffing demands to shutter their shops.

But religious tensions are high and rising in Baghdad as well.

"Ten days ago was better than a week ago, and a week agowas better than today," Warduni said. "I have no doubt that tomorrow will be worse. We're losing what little protection we had."

Under Saddam, Christians were permitted to worship but not to publicly express their views or proselytize. It also was forbidden to give children Christian names.

While those strictures have been swept aside, Christians say they feel even less free in the face of growing Shiite pride and power. In the chaotic days after Baghdad's fall, Shiite clerics sent armed followers to patrol neighborhoods and to safeguard schools and hospitals from looting.

Still under Shiite control, some of those hospitals now bear signs ordering any woman seeking treatment to wear a head scarf.

The relationship between Muslims and Christians has grown more sensitive with the profusion of new mosques. In almost every Baghdad neighborhood, vacant buildings and former government offices have been converted into Shiite houses of worship

The relationship between Muslims and Christians has grown more sensitive with the profusion of new mosques. In almost every Baghdad neighborhood, vacant buildings and former government offices have been converted into Shiite houses of worship.

Posted: 5/19/03

He Said/ She Said:
The award

“Mrs. Wingfield, this is Denise May at Moss Haven.” That greeting on our home answering machine started my heart pumping. Mrs. May is our assistant principal in charge of discipline. “Oh, no, I thought, who's in trouble? What did one of my sons do?”

All that went through my mind in the split second before the message continued, ” … there's nothing wrong.”

Mrs. May must be used to my previous reactions. She continued, “Garrett wanted to share some good news with you, so if you get this message in the next half hour, please call me back.”

Hmm. She had left the message around 11:30 a.m. and it

was already 2:30 p.m., so I figured it was too late to call and find out what was going on. As I reviewed what was happening that day, I remembered Garrett was going to be in a contest as part of the school district's trip to hear two high school symphonic bands play. He had won the contest for fifth graders at our school, which was a listening game. The students had to guess which instrument they were hearing. Garrett guessed all but one right, so he got to represent our school at this concert.

So, I guessed that Garrett had probably done well in the contest. When I picked him up from school, I coyly asked him why he wanted to talk with me in the middle of the day.

“I won, Mom! Where were you?” he asked. I explained that I was sorry, but I hadn't been home when he called. I was naturally thrilled that he had wanted to share the good news with me. But that bubble quickly burst. I found out the real reason he had asked Mrs. May to call: As part of his reward, he got a free meal from McDonald's. He wanted me to pick it up for him right then.

I was thrilled when I found out he also had won tickets to the Dallas Symphony and a $50 savings bond. He was thrilled with McDonald's french fries. Ah, the simplicity of youth.

HE SAID:

Well, the final truth of the matter explains why when the school secretary called me at work looking for Alison, Garrett wasn't interested in talking to me. I, too, inferred from the conversation that Garrett must have done well in the competition. But I couldn't understand why if the school was calling, he wouldn't get on the line and tell me he had won.

I just thought the school secretary thought I was chopped liver.

Truth is, Garrett was more interested in the Fren

MARK WINGFIELD

ch Fries than anything else.

This is a child, however, who won't eat the hamburgers at McDonald's, won't eat the Chicken McNuggets, won't eat anything except the fries.

At least he knows what he wants–which almost always has been the case. He likes to wear specific colors (orange being his first choice) and do things in specific ways. He wants to eat specific foods and those foods only.

Trouble arises when his idea of what he likes conflicts with generally accepted concepts of good taste. We've had to restrain him at times from going to church decked out in three clashing shades of blue.

“Those colors don't go together,” I'll say.

“They look good to me,” he'll reply.

“But they clash,” I'll shoot back.

“It looks good to me, so that's what's important,” he'll retort.

Chalk one up for courage.

Let's just pray he's able to retain that sense of determination and independence when the peer pressures increase in the years ahead.

Posted: 5/21/03

Commission urges religious freedom in Iraq

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged President Bush to maintain his commitment to religious freedom for all Iraqis.

“Now that Saddam Hussein has been ousted, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom believes strongly it is essential to ensure that the Iraqi people can exercise their religious freedom in full accordance with international human rights standards,” commission members wrote Bush in a letter dated April 28. “The United States can help this become a reality.”

The commission expressed its concern that U.S. leadership is needed to prevent ethnic and sectarian violence and other human rights violations against Iraq's diverse religious communities.

“The recent murders of Shiite clerics could be the harbinger of further violence within and between religious groups,” they wrote. “Now is the time to prevent such an outcome.”

In a speech Monday in Dearborn, Mich., the president included the issue of religious freedom in his comments about the future of Iraq.

“Whether you're Sunni or Shia or Kurd or Chaldean or Assyrian or Turkoman or Christian or Jew or Muslim–no matter what your faith–freedom is God's gift to every person in every nation,” he said.