Posted: 12/14/07

Christian website offers YouTube
alternative for wary Baptists

By Grace Thornton

The Alabama Baptist

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP)—Move over, YouTube. Baptists have video cameras. And they’re using them, now that they have a “safe” place to share their videos online, said Bill Nix, CEO and president of Axletree Media.

Axletree’s E-zekiel, a website builder and host used by churches and other nonprofits around the world, has come out with a video counterpart to its popular web service: E-zekiel.tv, which launched in early November.

“E-zekiel.tv is the answer to the question many churches have been asking,” said Nix, a member of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. “Many of our churches whose websites are on E-zekiel have been wanting to share videos online, but the option of going to YouTube wasn’t an option.”

With YouTube, Nix explained, the possibility always exists that users could encounter sexually explicit content.

Videos posted on E-zekiel.tv are monitored for such content so that the site remains Christian-based and family-friendly. And anyone can use it for free, Nix said: “You don’t have to have an E-zekiel website to use E-zekiel.tv.”

Jim Jackson, director of missions for Elmore (Ala.) Baptist Association, can attest to that. Nix handed Jackson and several others small video cameras at the recent Alabama Baptist Pastors’ Conference in Mobile, Ala., and asked them to give it a try with the E-zekiel.tv site.

Jackson tried it, and he said he’s sold.

“It’s very simple. You just have to sign in and create an account, then you can start uploading,” he said. Elmore Baptist Association’s site isn’t powered by E-zekiel, but Jackson said there are plans to link its site to E-zekiel.tv so videos can be posted.

“We’ve been thinking of some of the ways we could use it,” said Jackson, who’s already envisioning his churches using it for online videos welcoming visitors, among other things.

The site already has made an impact on his family, too. Jackson’s son-in-law, Brian Gay, recently went to Guatemala and was able to upload videos of mission work in that nation while still on-site.

“It was really neat for us because he had left an itinerary behind so we could be praying for them, but when we could see the video and see the folks they were working with, that made it even more real,” Jackson said.

Nix noted that YouTube and GodTube.com, one of the pioneers in Christian video sites, plowed some of the ground for E-zekiel to get into this line of ministry.

GodTube, the “video-driven social network,” launched officially in August and offers video-sharing, chatting, messaging and blogging.

Currently the Plano -based service is the largest broadcaster of Christian videos on the Internet, with more than 500,000 unique visitors hitting the site each month.

Nix is getting on board with that trend, but said he has different plans for his site than the one-to-one relationship that happens on YouTube and GodTube.

“I imagine that there will be churches setting up groups and using this to communicate with their members,” Nix said, explaining that churches could use it for all kinds of purposes, such as sending videos to their members.

“I can envision a person visiting a church, filling out a visitor card and providing the church with an e-mail address,” he said. “Then when that person gets home, there’s an e-mail invitation asking them to be a part of the church’s video group online. That person then has access to videos explaining the church’s mission, giving a virtual tour of its facilities and ministries — the list could go on and on.”

Posted: 12/14/07

Faith Digest

Court rejects faith-based prison program. An Iowa prisoner rehabilitation program run by evangelicals oversteps church-state boundaries and should not receive government funds, a federal appeals court has ruled. InnerChange Freedom Initiative runs a program “dominated by Bible study, Christian classes, religious revivals and church services,” according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. While participation in the program was voluntary, prisoners who signed up got better cells, were allowed more visits from family members and had greater access to computers than other inmates, the court found. The prison program, affiliated with Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministry, received state funds from Iowa beginning in 2000. Part of that money must be returned to the state, the court ruled, but it reversed the decision of a lower court that would have required InnerChange to repay the entire $1.5 million it received in government funds.

Religion website acquired by Fox. Beliefnet.com, one of the country’s leading websites devoted to religion and spirituality, is under new management as part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and the Fox Entertainment Group. The acquisition adds to News Corp.’s $64 billion media empire, including the 20th Century Fox film studios, the Wall Street Journal, MySpace, the Fox Faith film division, and HarperOne and Zondervan, two of the biggest names in Christian publishing.

Christian broadcaster’s son takes reins of network. Gordon Robertson, 49, son of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, has been elected chief executive officer of the Christian Broadcasting Network. The elder Robertson told CBN directors that he would remain as board chairman but wanted to relinquish his duties as CEO of the network. Pat Robertson, who will turn 78 in March, has been the ministry’s CEO since he founded it in 1960.

Missouri Synod Lutherans report membership decline. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has reported a drop of 22,867 members in 2006, bringing membership to just over 2.4 million. The denomination saw decreases in the number of children baptized and the number of teenagers and adults who were confirmed, but the church saw increases in the numbers of students attending weekday religion classes and enrolled in Sunday school. Despite the lower membership numbers, giving and average weekly worship attendance have increased, church officials said.

Mardel founder conditionally pledges $70 million to ORU. Mart Green, founder and CEO of the Mardel store chain, and his family gave troubled Oral Roberts University $8 million to help with immediate needs and pledged an additional $62 million in 90 days—but only if an in-depth business review confirms that ORU has straightened out financial, leadership and governance concerns. The pledge was announced after the university’s regents unanimously accepted the resignation of embattled President Richard Roberts and began a search for a new president.

Posted: 12/14/07

GodTube offers Christian
alternative to YouTube

By Heather Donckels

Religion News Service

DALLAS (RNS)—Chris Wyatt and the Internet have something going.

In the late ’90s, the young television producer helped start Communities.com, the world’s first social networking website. The site exploded into the Internet’s largest pre-MySpace network.

Now, less than a decade later, Wyatt runs Plano-based GodTube.com, which was rated the fastest-growing online site when it launched in August. The site aims to “help the church get people back into the pews,” he said.

Wyatt started GodTube.com, a Christian video-sharing and social-networking site, and now he is the CEO of a company that employs about 20 people and has a distinctly Christian outlook.

“We’re a traditional Christian site,” said Wyatt, a 38-year-old student at Dallas Theological Seminary. “Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, period.”

According to comScore Inc., which tracks the growth of websites, GodTube grew nearly 1,000 percent in its first month, and it had 1.6 million unique visitors every month. There currently are more than 38,000 videos on GodTube.

Wyatt came up with the idea for GodTube after reading a survey about falling church attendance. And while churches can upload video-sermons to the website, Wyatt insists Christians still need to attend an actual church—not just a virtual one.

“GodTube is by no means a substitute or alternative for church,” he said. “We’re here to help the church.”

Christians aren’t the only ones using the Internet to share their faith. For Jews, there’s JewTube.com, and for Muslims, IslamicTube.net. Though the two sites are considerably smaller—JewTube gets about 175,000 visitors per month and IslamicTube 23,000—the two sites are similar to GodTube in their mission to promote their individual faiths and surrounding cultures.

JewTube founder Jeremy Kossen said he has a “very positive” opinion of GodTube.

“Go to YouTube and type ‘Jewish’ or ‘Israel,’” he said. “Tell me what you find. Eighty percent of it is anti-Semitic. Now go to GodTube and type the same thing. What do you get? Ninety-nine percent pro-Israel and pro-Jewish.”

In spite of its smashing success, not everyone has such a rosy view of GodTube.

Dan Smith, pastor of Momentum Christian Church in Valley View, Ohio, created the video “Baby Got Book,” which GodTube used to launch their site. Though the spoof on the rap song “Baby Got Back” has been viewed more than 603,000 times on GodTube, Smith wonders how effective the site will be in reaching non-Christians.

“Most Christians want to reach un-churched people,” Smith said. “But you have to be really smart about where you reach unchurched people.”

Tim Ellsworth, the director of media relations at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., has his doubts, too. Although he thinks GodTube can have a positive impact on believers, he thinks it’s yet another example of American Christians copying elements of pop culture—from Christian breath mints and energy drinks to a Christian version of American Idol.

“It’s comfortable and convenient for us to surround ourselves with Christian versions of everything rather than to interact with the broader culture,” Ellsworth said.

Ellsworth would love to see a larger Christian presence on YouTube, because there the videos would have a better chance of being viewed by non-Christians. He thinks Christians’ tendency to withdraw from the world reflects badly on them.

“It indicates to … nonbelievers that we don’t care as much about them … whenever we try to make Christian copies of everything,” he said.

Nevertheless, Wyatt sees GodTube as his ministry, a way “to bring as many people to Christ … as possible.” He doesn’t think he is the reason for the site’s success. Rather, it’s the result of “God in GodTube.”

“I’m not really the CEO,” Wyatt said. “I feel like I’m the CEO’s man on the ground.”

Posted: 12/14/07

Does ‘Compass’ point
kids in the wrong direction?

By Heather Donckels

Religion News Service

NEW YORK (RNS)—The holiday season means it’s time for another Hollywood wintry blockbuster with a cast of talking animals, witches and an earnest child to point the way to truth and justice.

But some Christians who applauded the Christian allegory in The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings now worry that The Golden Compass, the recently released silver screen adaptation of Philip Pullman’s book, will poison kid’s minds with atheism.

Kiera McCaffery, a spokeswoman for the New York-based Catholic League, says the film is a hook to lure kids into a series of what she calls deeply anti-Catholic books.

“Once parents know about the books … they’re going to want to keep their children away from reading the books,” McCaffery said.

The Golden Compass, the first installment in avowed atheist Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, follows a young girl, Lyra, through a world dominated by a governing authority Pullman calls the Magisterium—the same name Catholics use to refer to their church’s teaching authority.

Although New Line Cinema has said it watered down the anti-religious themes in the movie, Plugged In, the entertainment-review sector of Focus on the Family, said there still is reason for concern.

“Even if they were (watered down), the theatrical celebration of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials stories will likely introduce many more viewers to a worldview that’s wholly opposed to the gospel message of Jesus Christ,” a Plugged In statement said.

Several critics base their concern on Pullman’s books since they had not yet seen the film. Ted Baehr, president of Movieguide, which uses “biblical principles” to rate about 20 films every month, is one of them.

“Since we haven’t seen it, we won’t boycott it,” a Movieguide statement said. “But since it’s based on a book … that can only demean, devalue and diminish life, we do urge people of faith and values not to bother to corrupt their children with this odious atheistic worldview.”

Pullman has said his books “are about killing God,” but he talks about the value of “the religious impulse” on his website. However, he goes on to condemn organized religion that has “burned, hanged, tortured, maimed, robbed, violated and enslaved millions” in the name of God.

“That is the religion I hate,” Pullman writes, “and I’m happy to be known as its enemy.”

It’s the same type of religion Pullman sets up as the bad guy in The Golden Compass. The General Oblation Board of the Magisterium is responsible for kidnapping children and cutting away their souls, outwardly manifested as animals called daemons.

So is the film specifically anti-Catholic? Nicole Kidman, who was raised Catholic and plays the role of the sinister Mrs. Coulter, the head of the General Oblation Board, doesn’t think so.

The Golden Compass is the first installment in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

“The Catholic Church is part of my essence,” she told Entertainment Weekly in an interview. “I wouldn’t be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic.”

Donna Freitas, professor of religion at Boston University, agrees. In fact, she said reading the trilogy “reinvigorated” her concepts of God, salvation and the soul.

“This trilogy is actually responsible for helping me stay Catholic,” she said.

Freitas, who recently wrote Killing the Imposter God: Philip Pullman’s Spiritual Imagination in His Dark Materials with Jason King, interprets Pullman’s books quite differently than other Catholics. In her mind, it isn’t God who’s killed in the end, but an angel who has set himself up as a false god.

Freitas doesn’t see Pullman’s books as dangerous for children either, because “kids read things very differently” than adults. Earlier this month, she had the chance to watch children ask Pullman about his series. Not a single kid asked why he killed God in his books, she said.

Opposition to the movie and books coming from the religious community makes her sad, Freitas said. It’s one thing to express your point of view, she said, but quite another to get people to boycott or ban books and ideas.

“Secrecy is a terrible thing, especially in the context of the church,” she said.

Atheist groups, including the New Jersey-based American Atheists, have mixed feelings about the film. They say Hollywood should make more films that aren’t afraid to challenge religion, but also chide New Line for watering down some atheist themes in The Golden Compass.

Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, thinks the religious community made a strategic error in coming out against Pullman’s books and the movie.

“Now people want to read what’s in there,” she said. “What’s the forbidden message, and why is it forbidden?”

For his part, Pullman seems equal parts puzzled, amused and saddened by all the critics, especially Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League.

“To regard it as this Donohue man has said—that I’m a militant atheist, and my intention is to convert people—how … does he know that?” he asked in an interview with Newsweek. “Why don’t we trust readers? Why don’t we trust filmgoers? Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world.”

Posted: 12/14/07

Practical tips on helping the homeless

By Heather Donckels

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Steve Burger, former executive director of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, urges Americans not to give money to homeless people on the streets.

“If you give a dollar to a panhandler, often you are really funding the local tavern or drug dealer,” Burger said. “Most Americans do not know how to give effectively or wisely. I wish that people would stop giving spare change to the homeless, because it can promote irresponsible and self-destructive behaviors.”

Here are Burger’s tips for how people can help homeless men, women and children:

• Don’t give money hand-outs. Instead, purchase food items yourself, refer the person to an agency that can provide food or shelter, or give coupons to restaurants or grocery stores that can be redeemed for food.

• Donate food to a local agency. Food usually is in short supply at rescue missions; they especially need items such as juices, meats, soups and stews.

• Donate clothes (jackets, sweatshirts, new underwear, socks, shoes, knit hats and gloves) that can be used by both men and women.

• Babies and children—Because the fastest-growing groups of homeless people are children and women with children, there is a need for disposable diapers, baby food and formula, clothing and blankets.

• Homeless children dream of new toys such as dolls, trucks and games. These donations may be the only gifts they receive for a birthday or Christmas.

• Soap, shampoo, toothpaste, hairbrushes, combs and shaving lotions always are welcome.

Used with permission of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions.

Posted: 12/14/07

‘Can you spare some change?’
Many Christians unsure how to respond

By Heather Donckels

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Every day, Lawaune Stockton stands with her cup in front of a downtown McDonald’s, jingling the change inside as customers come and go. She cinches the strings on the hood of her sweatshirt to keep out the damp air.

Stockton, who’s only been homeless four months, knows some passersby think homeless people ask for money to buy drugs and alcohol, but the stereotype doesn’t stop her.

“You can’t judge a book by its cover,” said Stockton, who makes about $20 a day in change.

As winter sets in, increasing numbers of Americans will be confronted with the harsh reality of homelessness—bundled, shivering souls, hands held out for loose change.

But many people are unsure how to respond: Show a little charity with a dollar or two, or risk funding someone’s drug or alcohol habit?

Herb Smith, president of the Los Angeles Mission, has an easy answer: Just don’t give. Money given straight to the homeless “generally goes toward supporting a drug or alcohol habit,” he said.

Smith, whose LA Mission offers meals, beds, education and counseling to the poor in what he calls the “homeless capital of the U.S.,” said he learned not to give new shoes or sleeping bags when he heard homeless people sold them and took the money to buy drugs.

What’s more important than money, he said, are the few seconds it takes to spend a little time treating the homeless as human beings.

Joe Little, a spokesman for the New York City Rescue Mission, agreed.

“Yes, they’re looking for money, yes, they’re hungry … but what they’re really after … is acceptance and some variation on intimacy,” Little said.

Unlike Smith, Little doesn’t object to someone giving a dollar to a homeless person. Sure, you don’t know where the money will end up, but neither do you know what anyone will do with anything.

Each day after Mass, the homeless approach exiting worshippers on the steps of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, several blocks from where Stockton stands outside the McDonald’s. Teresa Volante runs the cathedral’s homeless ministry, which includes a Monday morning breakfast of eggs, casseroles, fruit and croissants.

She personally prefers to give food and clothing, but stops short of saying people shouldn’t give money.

“I think it really comes down to an individual call,” she said.

From a safety perspective, though, she advises against it. Some parishioners give a dollar to a homeless person, only to have $5 or $10 demanded the next time.

Not all homeless are looking for money or a handout, however.

Lamar McCoy, for example, had parents who raised him to support himself. Even though the former machine operator has been homeless 17 years—15 in shelters and two on Washington streets—he insists he never asks for money.

“Just because you’re homeless doesn’t mean you have to lose your principles,” McCoy said.

Once, he said, he found a wallet full of money and turned it in to a pharmacy instead of keeping it. He sometimes feels belittled and demeaned when people offer him cash.

Offering money and food isn’t going to solve homelessness anyway, some say. Joel John Roberts, the CEO of People Assisting the Homeless in Los Angeles, wants to teach the homeless what McCoy’s parents taught him—how to support themselves.

“Our goal is not to provide ‘three hots and a cot,’” he said, referring to the traditional work of soup kitchens and shelters. Instead, Roberts’ agency provides job training and tries to help homeless people secure permanent housing.

David Sefton, a junior at Chicago’s Moody Bible Insti-tute, has less tangible concerns—hopelessness, despair and self respect. A few nights each week, he and 25 or 30 other students try to build relationships with the homeless. They strike up conversations about anything, from sports to spirituality to what’s on the menu at the nearby homeless shelter.

As a general rule, they don’t give money to the people they meet, unless they know about a specific need, like a bus pass or medicine, or know the individuals and really trust them.

“I don’t know what I’m supporting, and I know that … drugs and alcohol … are a big problem on the streets,” Sefton said.

Sometimes, the students pass out sandwiches, but Sefton said the focus of their work is less on providing physical needs and more on rebuilding shattered self-image. After being ignored and avoided, Sefton said, “Your dignity gets pretty shot.”

Posted: 12/14/07

Laredo ministry seeks to offer
children in need a healthy start

By Haley Smith

Baptist Child & Family Services

LAREDO—Imagine going 24 hours without electricity or running water. Consider what it would mean to someone in an emergency if they had to walk blocks to meet an ambulance because it would not cross the county line into their neighborhood.

Cristina De Bosquez doesn’t have to imagine. She works daily with people who live in exactly those situations.

De Bosquez directs Healthy Start Laredo, a Baptist Child & Family Services program designed to provide comprehensive medical care for women either pregnant or raising a child under the age of 2. The program’s goals are to reduce infant mortality, prevent child abuse and assist families in meeting basic health needs.

Healthy Start Laredo has reduced the number of infant deaths in Laredo over the past six years during the life of the program, reaching more than 300 families—about 1,500 individuals—per year, 150 pregnant women and 150 families with children under age 2.

It also serves another 500 non-clients through educational services and workshops.

Healthy Start partners with Laredo’s Gateway Clinic to provide medical services for families who cannot afford health care—particularly pregnant women and families with young children.

The majority of Healthy Start clients live in small colonias—often 30 miles outside the Laredo city limits. The colonias generally lack running water, and residents often are isolated because they do not have a phone or car.

Baptist Child & Family Services recruits clients and provides transportation to a mobile medical unit, parked at a different location daily throughout the five colonias served.

“We have one and only one focus—to protect babies, born and unborn,” De Bos-quez said.

A Baptist Child & Family Services case manager follows each family until the child turns 2, developing nurturing plans and teaching parenting skills, while working to empower clients by helping them achieve independence.

“Our program is a strength-based program and equips these families with skills to make it on their own,” De Bosquez noted. “We give our clients hope and permission to dream and set goals, which is priceless.”

Healthy Start Laredo not only helps people who specifically request assistance, but also goes into areas where people who need the services live. 

Client Amelia Perez and her family live in an empty horse stall where her husband works, and they are exposed daily to quarantined horses and dangerous pesticides. Without transportation, she sometimes has to pay a neighbor $30 per trip to take her to get groceries. This family is only one of 15 families originally discovered living on the property who now are served by Healthy Start Laredo.

“The program requires aggressive outreach,” Gateway nurse practitioner Patricia Tijerina said. “People need to know that these services are available to them. Awareness is an ongoing need.”

“It’s a very good program that has helped my family a lot in the process of delivering our baby,” client Carmen Sanchez said, after completing her two-week check up after a C-section. “It’s very convenient, and I’m grateful that I didn’t have to travel far for my appointments.”

Although the Healthy Start Laredo staff may never know the full impact made in the lives of clients, the staff believes in the work they do and can see God’s hand in it, De Bosquez noted.

“It’s not about the pay or the hours we work,” she explained. “Working here is a humbling experience that allows us to go home daily with renewed and appreciative attitudes.

“We are a faith-based organization and simply live out our faith by meeting our clients’ needs. We demonstrate by example, so when asked, we tell our clients that we’re ‘doing God’s good work.’”

Posted: 12/14/07

Texas Baptist Forum

God & science

Too often, Christians believe science is an enemy of the Bible. On the contrary, the sciences magnify the glory of God.

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“The coldest of seasons, winter is like the 4-year-old crashing a birthday party. No matter if it’s his or not, all of him says, ‘I’m here, and I’m taking over.’” Don Newbury President emeritus of Howard Payne University “I had a wedding or a funeral, I can’t remember which. Anyway, I don’t pre-empt a wedding or a funeral for a presidential candidate. Because I’m a pastor.” Leith Anderson President of the National Association of Evangelicals, describing how he reacted when contacted by a presidential campaign to meet with a candidate (Associated Press/RNS) “Health care should be part of foreign policy; it makes friends. Does God have favorites? Yes he does; he loves the poor.” Rick Warren Pastor/author/poverty advocate (RNS)

In the Old Testament, Joshua 10:12-14 can be explained through science. Astronomy tells us Earth revolves around the sun. Physics tells us that if Earth were to stop turning, it would be the end of all life on earth. Phenomenology tells us we experience physical life through the phenomenological perceptions of our senses; therefore, we can understand this Scripture reference was inspired in the terms of the writer’s phenomenological understanding. Through science, we know the sun did not actually stop, but Earth stopped turning for about a full day, and the moon held its place. The magnitude of this miracle demonstrates the awesome power of God.

This is a compact example of how the church can—from behind the pulpit and in Sunday school classes—make Holy Scripture relevant in today’s culture. “The very core of the secular culture in the United States today is their view of knowledge through the senses … they see any thing outside the realm of the senses as a matter of how one feels about it … a dangerous philosophy,” notes J.P. Moreland of Biola University.

The sciences are a door opener that we should all know how to use and how to follow up with an introduction of our knowledge of faith in Jesus Christ, which does in fact produce empirical evidence to its validity, both individually and collectively.

Larry Judd

Dickinson

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Due to space limitations, maximum length is 250 words. No more than one letter per writer per quarter.

Posted: 12/14/07

Interracial New Baptist Covenant
program focuses on unity in Christ

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—Even though they are known for their history of independence, Baptists from more than 40 American and Canadian groups will converge under a banner of unity next month in Atlanta.

Organizers of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant recently announced the event’s theme, “Unity in Christ,” and details of special breakout sessions. The historic convergence—20,000 Baptists expected from a wide variety of geographical, racial, denominational and ideological backgrounds—is scheduled Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

The organizers are seeking common ground that will unite Baptists around an agenda of ministry. To that end, special-interest sessions will focus on religious liberty, poverty, racism, AIDS, faith in public policy, stewardship of the earth, evangelism, financial stewardship and prophetic preaching.

Both the special-interest and plenary sessions are organized around themes in the ministry agenda announced in Jesus’ sermon in Luke 4:18-19, organizers explained. The five plenary sessions will focus on unity in peacemaking, in preaching good news to the poor, in respecting diversity, in welcoming the stranger and in setting the captive free.

One goal of the meeting is to provide “an atmosphere in which networking can be accelerated,” Jimmy Allen, the event’s program chairman, said.

Networking opportunities for broad groups of Baptists have been in short supply. Indeed, Allen told a group of Baptist leaders in February, Baptists have shied away from such broad-based cooperation since before the Civil War.

Such networking will serve the purpose of pan-Baptist cooperation on fostering social justice and alleviating social ills, Allen said. For attendees, the theme will be “hard to miss” with the range and depth of the sessions planned, Allen said. He is a former Southern Baptist Convention president and one of the initiators of the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Vice President Al Gore will speak about Christian environmentalism during a special luncheon. Other speakers include Baptist author and sociologist Tony Campolo, former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Truett Theological Seminary professor Joel Gregory, journalist Bill Moyers, and two Baptists who are both prominent Republican senators—South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Iowa’s Charles Grassley.

One breakout track will focus on disaster-relief ministries. Allen has invited experts such as Tommy McDearis, pastor of Blacksburg (Va.) Baptist Church, and Samuel Tolbert, general secretary of the National Baptist Convention of America. McDearis was one of the first responders after the April massacre at Virginia Tech. The university campus is adjacent to his church. Tolbert led in flood relief and community rebuilding in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, which devastated many African-American Baptist congregations.

The disaster-relief program also features Millard Fuller, founder of the Habitat for Humanity housing ministry for the working poor.

While organizers still are finalizing other presenters and moderators, several well-known names in Baptist life already have confirmed their participation. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, and Neville Callam, new general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, will speak about Baptists finding common ground with people of other faiths.

Other speakers and their topics include Stan Hastey, executive director of the Alliance of Baptists, on peacemaking; Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, about the separation of church and state; Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, about faith and public policy; Lauran Bethell, a Baptist missionary based in Prague, about sexual exploitation; and Malcolm Marler, of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Alabama, about the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Posted: 12/14/07

New Jersey church makes good
on $1 million pledge to Gulf Coast

By Jeff Diamant

Religion News Service

SUMMIT, N.J. (RNS)—Fountain Baptist Church, an African-American congregation formed 110 years ago in Summit, N.J., mostly by gardeners and domestic workers, recently gained the distinction of being one of the few churches nationwide ever to raise $1 million for a specific charitable cause.

Members of the congregation have been donating money for the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort since May 2006, when Fountain Baptist announced its $1 million pledge. The members met the pledge in November and celebrated the achievement at the church’s annual Thanksgiving services.

The Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University, which monitors big donations from American nonprofit organizations, said it knows of only one instance in which a single church has made a larger charitable gift—Oriental Mission Church in Los Angeles gave $3 million to help El Salvador earthquake victims in 2001.

“Anytime you help someone and know they’re going to be blessed by your effort, there’s no better feeling,” said Michael Williams, a trustee of the 1,900-member Fountain Baptist Church.

“For us to make sacrifices, because that’s what it was for many of us, to do something for people who basically have nothing—while we’ve been blessed with, from their perspective, everything—it feels great.”

The church beat its own two-year pledge timetable by six months. Many members know people from Louisiana or Mississippi who suffered in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“When you look at what happened to the people in New Orleans, one day things were pleasant and sunny and all was well, and in one week’s time you go from having all that you had, to life being turned completely upside down,” Williams said.

Fountain Baptist Pastor Michael Sanders reported about $400,000 has paid for job and life-skills training for 200 families in Louisiana and Mississippi; $300,000 has helped 30 pastors whose churches were devastated by the storm, either physically or through member relocations; $200,000 has paid for housing and community-building projects; and $100,000 has gone toward general and administrative costs.

The Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention, an African-American Baptist organization based in Washington, D.C., has administered the donation.

Posted: 12/14/07

On the Move

• Roddy Arnold to First Church in Pottsboro as pastor.

• Brian Brewer to First Church in Sulphur Springs as high school minister.

• Jonathan Brown to First Church in Temple as minister of children from First Church in Kingwood.

• John Cox has resigned as pastor of McMahan Church in Dale.

• Brandon Durham to North Waco Church in Waco as pastor.

• Mike Homeyer to Fellowship Church in Marble Falls as pastor from First Church in Hubbard, where he was youth minister.

• Ken James has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in Mertens and is available for supply or interims at (254) 867-6257.

• Matt Jeffreys has resigned as young adult minister at First Church in Lewisville to start a church in California.

• Dustin Jenkins to Alamo Heights Church in Port Lavaca as youth and worship leader.

• Harvey Knesek has resigned as pastor of Second Church in Victoria.

• Dajuana Neal to Bones Chapel in Whitesboro as music minister.

• Peter Parker to First Church in Woodson as pastor, where he had been interim.

• Lynn Parks has completed an interim pastorate at North Waco Church in Waco.

• Tim Studstill to First Church in Waxahachie as interim minister of music.

• John Turner to Southlake Church in Waxahachie as music and youth minister.

• Jason Vickers to First Church in Dorchester as interim youth minister.

• Andrew Werley to First Church in Anna as pastor from First Church in Woodway, where he was minister of young adults.

Posted: 12/14/07

Romney garners praise, criticism
for church-state views in speech

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Mitt Romney’s speech on faith and public affairs elicited both praise and criticism from a broad spectrum of observers—and it didn’t always break down along traditional right-left lines.

The highly anticipated speech by the Republican presidential contender was designed to allay the fears of evangelical Christians, who make up a large proportion of GOP voters in Iowa. Recent polls have shown churchgoing evangelicals are more likely than any other major group to harbor doubts about electing a Mormon president.

However, the speech’s oblique references to Mormonism annoyed some conservatives, who wanted Romney to be more specific about its significant doctrinal differences from orthodox Christianity. Others complained the speech did nothing to allay their fears that he was truly on their side on social issues, given his recent conversion to social conservatism.

But the speech heartened other conservatives, who contended Romney should not have to discuss the details of his personal faith while noting his faith-informed values would come to bear on his decisions if elected to office.

Meanwhile, some moderates and liberals praised the speech’s ringing endorsement of religious liberty, while others criticized Romney for short-changing atheists and other nonreligious people and for his critique of those who support strong church-state separation.

Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council wrote in an e-mail newsletter that Romney’s remarks were “well-delivered” and, at times, “offered many compelling thoughts.” Perkins, the group’s president and a Southern Baptist, particularly praised the speech for its endorsement of the idea that American freedom and democracy stem from what Romney called “a common creed of moral convictions.”

In a column for Beliefnet.com, Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the speech—which he had been advising Romney to give for a year now—was “an eloquent defense of the positive and crucial rule that religion has played in our nation’s history” and would elevate the entire nation’s level of political discourse on faith and politics.

“Why? Because he reminded Americans, in a high-profile venue with the focused attention of the media and millions of citizens listening, of our priceless heritage both of religious freedom and religious diversity.”

The Interfaith Alliance—an organization that espouses strong church-state separation—also gave the speech a cautious thumbs-up for its endorsement of religious freedom.

“Governor Romney should be commended for taking religious liberty so seriously,” said Welton Gaddy, the group’s president and a Baptist minister, in a statement released shortly after the speech. “This speech is exactly the kind of conversation that we would hope candidates running for president would have with the American people on the role of faith in public life. While I may disagree with some of the points made in the speech, … I appreciate the overall tone.”

But other groups that endorse strong separation of church and state found fault with a section of the speech in which Romney claimed some people have taken separation of church and state too far.

Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said that view was misguided.

“Church-state separation actually ensures our vibrant religious landscape and in no way strips the public square of talk about religion and matters of faith. Church-state separation simply requires that official government action have a secular purpose and have the primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion,” Walker said, in a response to a question in a discussion on the Washington Post/Newsweek online “On Faith” feature.

“Gov. Romney should also understand that ‘secular’ is not a bad word,” he continued. “While our culture need not be secular, our government must be—not in the sense of being hostile to religion, but being religiously neutral.”

Some conservatives also criticized Romney’s speech. New York Times columnist David Brooks noted Romney’s claim that American democracy required religious belief left non-believers out in the cold.

“Romney described a community yesterday. Observant Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Jews and Muslims are inside that community. The nonobservant are not,” he wrote.

Brooks also said Romney’s distinction between religious Americans with common values and nonreligious ones itself diminished the importance of religion.

“The second casualty of the faith war is theology itself. In rallying the armies of faith against their supposed enemies, Romney waved away any theological distinctions among them with the brush of his hand,” he wrote.