KANSAS CITY, Kan. (ABP)—Four families packed a church van and headed on summer vacation. Although they only drove a few hours to Kansas City, Kan., this was no ordinary vacation for these Missourians.

This vacation was about sharing God’s love through mission projects.

“What more can you ask for? You get to have fun and tell people about Jesus at the same time,” 8-year-old Matthew Black said. “It makes you have such a joy in your heart. I’d do it again—any time, any place.”

Black and his family joined more than 100 other volunteers at FamilyFest, a hands-on missions opportunity for families sponsored by Woman’s Missionary Union. The volunteers, ranging in age from 4 to 72 and representing 10 states, did everything from painting and construction to servant ministries to backyard Bible clubs in the Kansas City area.

Meanwhile, 1,100 miles to the east, more than 60 volunteers ages 5 to 77 traveled from seven states to minister in 10 churches and four ministries in Baltimore, Md., during another FamilyFest missions event.

Nelda Taylor, former president of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, was part of a team who won a FamilyFest trip during a contest at the 2007 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio.

Taylor and her team from Austin Baptist Association served at City Springs Elementary School in Baltimore, where they mopped and cleaned the facility and prayed over the school’s students and teachers.

With rising gas prices, Gena Brown of Richland, Mo., said her family knew they would need to stay close to home this year. So, four families—almost half of their small church—decided to pool their vacation money and do something as part of God’s work.

Brown admits she was not sure how taking young children would work on a mission trip.

“I was afraid they’d get bored or tired,” she said. “But they’ve loved every second of this. The older kids are already talking about what we can do back home for mission projects in our own community.

“That’s exactly what we had hoped for. We wanted to open the kids’ eyes, as well as our own, to God’s will for us to serve others and share his love.”

Texan Kathy Jean Applegate from First Baptist Church in Godley fastens some glitter strings to a classroom doorway at Metropolitan Baptist Church, Kansas City, Kansas. Applegate volunteered at the church as part of WMU’s FamilyFest.

Twenty-one members of Osawatomie (Kan.) Baptist Church took vacation time as well to cross the state line into Missouri and repair a church. Melissa Cooke, an Osawatomie member, said her congregation decided to participate in FamilyFest as a way to “give back” what they’ve received.

Almost a year ago, floods flowed through the Kansas town. Soon after, volunteers came to assist. Cooke said volunteers helped at the church, and the church served as a host site.

“Those volunteers were a good example of service to us. They planted the missions seed in our congregation,” she said. “When FamilyFest came to
our area, we knew it was the perfect opportunity for us to give back. The appeal of this particular missions trip was that it was aimed for families.”

Cooke’s three children worked alongside her and her husband, Brian, throughout the week. Eleven-year-old Shelby Cooke and her dad joined the youth group to paint hallways and stairwells.

“Dad, I bet the church people are surprised when they see this,” Shelby said, while painting the stairwell a vibrant red. “I think they will feel loved just like we felt loved.”

With additional reporting by Shannon Baker

FRISCO (ABP)—Dellanna West O’Brien, who led the Southern Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union through some of its most trying times, died Sept. 7 at age 75.

She suffered what WMU officials described as “a massive cerebral bleed” Sept. 4 after falling and hitting her head at her home in Frisco, north of Dallas. She died three days later with her husband, Bill, and their three children at her side.

O’Brien served as executive director of the Southern Baptist Convention women’s auxiliary for a decade before retiring in 1999. WMU—which is governed independently and receives no funding from the denomination—had been challenged by many of the fundamentalists who took control of the SBC during that period.

“Dellanna led Woman’s Missionary Union through difficult times, and she faced opposition and personal difficulties head-on and successfully,” said Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, who preceded O’Brien as WMU head.

Crumpler noted O’Brien continued to lead the organization after suffering a stroke in 1998. She described O’Brien as a “true friend, wife, mother, missionary, educator, mentor, leader and over-comer.”

“Dellanna O’Brien is one of the most amazing women I have ever known,” said Wanda Lee, O’Brien’s successor at WMU. “She possessed a deep love for the Lord and her family, and made countless sacrifices as she led WMU through 10 challenging years in our denomination. I will remember her as a great friend, leader, educator, innovator, and loving wife and mother—but, most of all, as a humble and diligent servant of Christ and his mission.”

During O’Brien’s tenure, WMU developed several new programs, including Christian Women’s Job Corps, to assist women with economic and other challenges. The WMU Foundation also was formed, and WMU opened its first development office under O’Brien. The agency combined its Baptist Women and Baptist Young Women organizations to form Women on Mission.

O’Brien also led WMU to assume responsibility for Pure Water, Pure Love—a ministry that provides water filters and purification systems to missionaries.

“She had the ability to anticipate the future and its consequences and was willing to take risks for what she believed to be right,” said June Whitlow, who served as WMU’s associate executive under O’Brien. “Dellanna made a positive difference in the lives of people around the world.”

O’Brien was the author or co-author of several books, including Timeless Virtues: Lessons in Character for Women and Choosing a Future for U.S. Missions.

Born July 20, 1933, in Wichita Falls, O’Brien earned her bachelor’s degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene in 1953 and worked as an elementary school teacher until 1963. She and her family served as SBC Foreign Mission Board missionaries in Indonesia the next nine years.

Upon returning to the United States, O’Brien pursued graduate studies and received a master’s degree in education from Texas Christian University in 1972 and a doctorate in education from Virginia Tech in 1983. She also holds honorary degrees from Hardin-Simmons University, University of Richmond in Virginia, and Judson College in Alabama.

Prior to her post at WMU, she served as president of the International Family and Children’s Educational Services, a non-profit organization she founded to provide educational-testing services for missionary kids.

She is survived by her husband, Bill, three children and six grandchildren. Bill O’Brien served as an executive with the Foreign Mission Board and, later, as a missions professor.

Memorials be sent to the WMU Foundation, 100 Missionary Ridge, Birmingham, AL 35242; or the Dellanna O'Brien Chair for the School of Social Work at Baylor University, c/o WMU Foundation, 100 Missionary Ridge, Birmingham, AL 35242.

Johnny Pierce and Robert Marus contributed to this story.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Greg Warner, who has led Associated Baptist Press since its infancy 18 years ago, informed the agency’s directors and staff Aug. 26 that he would be stepping down for medical reasons.

Warner, 53, has been the independent Baptist news service’s executive editor since 1991. On Aug. 28, he was scheduled to undergo his seventh spinal surgery since 2002. Afterward, he said in a letter, he would begin a 90-day sick leave that would, he expected, transition into permanent disability.

“[Y]ou are aware that my chronic back condition is increasingly limiting my ability to work and travel,” Warner wrote to directors. “The inevitable day has come when I must tell you I am no longer physically able to do my job. I cannot give ABP the performance that it expects of its chief executive or I require of myself.”

The surgery—a fourth lumbar spinal fusion—is the latest of more than a dozen medical procedures Warner has undergone in an effort to relieve back pain that surfaced in 1998.

Despite temporary improvements following some of the procedures, he said, his condition has degenerated to the point where he is in constant and significant pain requiring large doses of prescription pain-killers.

“For more than 10 years, I have continued to do my job despite degenerative-disc disease and failed-back syndrome,” Warner wrote. “Chronic, intractable pain now prevents me from sitting or standing for more than a few minutes at a time. For the past year and a half, your encouragement and cooperation has allowed me to continue in this role while working from home. Despite those accommodations, my health has continued to decline, now resulting in cognitive impairments and depression that only amplify the effects of chronic pain.”

He continued: “The surgery I face may temporarily slow the degeneration of my spine, but my doctors tell me the natural course of this disease will produce only worse symptoms and more limitations. So I am making the tough decisions now that will put me in the best position to manage the pain and give me the best chance to reclaim a healthy lifestyle."

If his health allows, Warner said, he hopes eventually to work part-time as a consultant or freelance writer, perhaps for ABP.

In e-mail and telephone interviews, ABP leaders, current and former colleagues, and friends expressed both dismay at Warner’s circumstances and admiration for his role in journalism and in the Baptist movement.

“The Associated Baptist Press board of directors is deeply saddened by Greg’s health issues that are forcing him to seek full disability,” said ABP board chair Dan Lattimore, a University of Memphis dean and journalism professor.

“Greg has provided the leadership to give ABP a solid foundation and to prepare the organization to move forward in the ever-changing world of journalism and religious media…. We know he will continue to support our work, and someday we hope he can again write for ABP.”

Marv Knox (left), editor of the Texas Baptist Standard, and Greg Warner in the newsroom at a meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Marv Knox, editor of the Texas Baptist Standard and a member of ABP’s board, said the announcement was especially difficult for him because Warner is not only a beloved peer and business partner, but a long-time friend.

“This plain hurts,” he wrote. “Saying Greg is a respected colleague is only the start of it. For almost our whole adult lives, he’s been a traveling companion, confidant, soulmate and fellow baseball fan. I can’t imagine doing this work— especially going to big Baptist meetings—without him. I just love the guy.”

Knox—whose newspaper has entered into a publishing and Internet partnership with ABP, the Religious Herald of Virginia and Missouri’s Word & Way—noted some of the highlights of Warner’s three-decade-long career in Baptist journalism.

“He’s always been after the stories that explain faith, and life and doing church,” Knox said. “Whether it’s covering Baptists’ initial response to AIDS—one of his early, ground-breaking news packages—or church architecture, the ‘Baptist battles’ or the impact of changing worship styles, Greg has helped all of us understand the context in which we share our faith. We can’t repay the debt we owe him.”

Warner began work for ABP May 1, 1991, as the agency’s first permanent employee. The organization was created July 17, 1990, as a result of bitter fighting between fundamentalists and moderates in the Southern Baptist Convention.

The struggles engulfed the nation’s largest Protestant denomination for two decades beginning in 1979. After fundamentalists gained a majority on the SBC Executive Committee in 1990, they ousted the two top editors of the denomination’s news service, Baptist Press.

Concerned editors of the most prominent Southern Baptist state-convention newspapers almost immediately joined together to form a news collective that would carry on BP’s tradition of independent Baptist journalism, adhering to the same ethical standards as respected secular news sources.

Warner took the helm and built a fledgling organization into one that now has multiple editorial and administrative staff positions and a $500,000 annual budget; operates news bureaus in Washington, D.C., and Dallas; and enjoys widespread respect among religious and secular journalists.

Warner “helped ABP to emerge at a time when the Southern Baptist Convention's news service was no longer willing or able to provide the kind of reliable news that Baptists expected,” said Baptist historian Walter Shurden, a professor at Mercer University. “He has made a difference in religious journalism.”

“Greg shaped a press organization that has achieved excellence in detail and thoroughness,” said historian Bill Leonard, dean of the divinity school at Wake Forest University. “He exercised great courage in guiding a new organization out of the fragmentation of denominational controversy and schism.”

ABP remains the only independent, daily news agency that reports on and for Baptists. Others are either periodicals or are controlled and funded by denominational organizations.

Charles Overby, president of the Freedom Forum and Newseum and Pulitzer Prize-winning former editor of the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, was chairman of the first ABP board, which hired Warner. “Greg has demonstrated what good journalism is all about,” he said. “He is aggressive, fair and—above all—honest. He defines Christian journalism. He showed a Baptist can report about Baptist affairs with credibility. His leadership gave ABP a large national following. He is the reason that ABP has survived and succeeded for all these years.”

Others agreed. “Greg Warner has played a historic role within the Baptist family as the founding editor of Associated Baptist Press,” said Daniel Vestal, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. “His commitment to a free Baptist press and to journalistic integrity has been a valuable and valued contribution.”

Likewise, prominent secular religion editors and reporters praised Warner’s work and character.

“From the time I first started on the religion beat, Greg was a great source and informative guide to the world of Southern Baptists,” said Mark Pinsky, former religion editor for the Orlando Sentinel and author of several books on faith and culture. “In his soft-spoken way, he provided insight and humor to what was often a rancorous story. Over time, he became my friend as well.”

Gustav Niebuhr, a professor of religion and media at Syracuse University and former religion reporter for several prominent newspapers including the New York Times and the Washington Post, said he would miss Warner’s byline.

“I consider Greg to be a paragon of ethical, enterprising and courageous journalism. He is one of the people who has really stood up for the free flow — and fearless flow — of information about religious affairs in this country at a time when that is oh-so-necessary, as it will continue to be,” he said. “I believe he has made a great contribution to journalism in establishing Associated Baptist Press and that will be an institution that I think will define him for many of us who have had the good, good fortune to know him.”

Adelle Banks, a reporter who covers Baptists for Religion News Service, said she would miss his presence at denominational meetings. “I have learned from his stories and appreciated his professional presence in the newsroom of the annual Southern Baptist Convention,” she said. “I admire his ability to meet the demands and necessary diligence of journalism as he dealt with a most difficult condition, and am sorry he has reached a point where he feels that is not currently possible.”

Although Warner was born in Upstate New York, he was raised in Lakeland, Fla. He graduated from Florida Southern College in Lakeland and earned master’s degrees in divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and in journalism from the University of North Texas.

He began his journalism career while still in college, with one foot in each of the worlds of secular and Christian journalism. He worked in photography for the Florida United Methodist Conference, but also worked as a sports reporter for the Lakeland Ledger, his hometown newspaper.

While in seminary at Southwestern, Warner was a news writer in the school’s public-relations office.  In 1980, he became news coordinator for the now-defunct Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission, also in Fort Worth.

In 1985, he moved back to his home state to become associate editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, based in Jacksonville. Warner held that position until he was hired to head ABP, which is still headquartered in Jacksonville.

His wife, Cheryl, is the rehabilitation manager for Baptist Health Systems, which operates four hospitals in the Jacksonville area. Their two adult children are both students. Dane, 25, lives in Jacksonville, and Shawn, 22, is in Austin, Texas.

The Warners are longtime members of Jacksonville’s Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church.

ABP leaders said the organization is already moving forward with creating a new position — executive director — to handle Warner’s administrative and development duties while creating a separate managing editor’s position to oversee daily operation of the news side of the agency’s business.

“As sad as it is to leave this ministry, I truly am excited about the future of ABP,” Warner said. “The proposed staff structure and our new partnerships are just what ABP needs to make the most of our opportunities. And I’ll do anything I can to ensure that success.”

Total giving from Southern Baptists has topped $3 million for Union University’s recovery from a Feb. 5 tornado that destroyed much of the housing and caused major damage to other academic buildings at the Jackson, Tenn., campus. All told, more than 6,000 donors have contributed about $13 million to the cause, leaving Union about $5 million short of its needs.

Caner to lead Truett-McConnell. Emir Caner, founding dean of the College at Southwestern in Fort Worth, was elected president of Truett-McConnell College Aug. 8. Caner, 37, was raised in a Sunni Muslim family in Ohio and converted to Christianity as a teenager in 1982. Caner, who earned his undergraduate degree at Criswell College, his master’s degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and his doctorate from the University of Texas at Arlington, will become the youngest president ever to lead Truett-McConnell, a four-year college affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention. He begins his new duties Aug. 18. Caner has led the College at Southwestern—the undergraduate program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary—since 2005.

CBF, Global Women enter partnership. Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Global Women recently agreed to enter a three-year partnership to meet the needs of women around the world. Global Women Executive Director Cindy Dawson noted the agreement marks the first long-term partnership for the nondenominational Birmingham, Ala.-based organization since its inception in 2001. Most Global Women partnerships have been short-term and based around specific projects.

Embattled Nashville pastor to step down. Prominent Southern Baptist pastor Jerry Sutton, 57, is set to retire early from Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, following a year of turmoil. The church approved a retirement package that will give him one month of salary for each of his 22 years as Two Rivers’ pastor. Last year, the former Southern Baptist Convention officer came under fire from a vocal group of Two Rivers members. They accused him of misappropriating church funds for personal use. In September 2007, more than 70 members filed a lawsuit alleging Sutton had illegally concealed church records that would prove their charges. Sutton survived an October ouster vote, and a judge dismissed the lawsuit in January. In May, the church voted to remove the plaintiffs from membership “because of the damage done to the witness, reputation and welfare of Two Rivers Baptist Church.”

Lilly awards $1 million grant to CBF. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has been awarded a $1 million grant by Lilly Endowment Inc. for a new missional leadership initiative it will create during the next three years. The “missional leadership ecosystem,” as the grant describes it, will focus on two initiatives—one aimed at youth and college students and the other designed to bring theological educators and pastors together in dialogue.

LifeWay announces cutbacks. LifeWay Christian Resources recently announced it is reducing its workforce by about 5 percent by Sept. 30 and cutting expenses in other parts of its operations. A statement released by the agency blamed the nations’ economic downturn for lower-than-projected revenues from sales.

FALLS CHURCH, Va.—An eye-opening visit by a Baptist Sunday school class to a Moscow hospital nearly 20 years ago sparked a project that today provides millions of dollars in medical supplies to almost 100 countries around the world.

In 1989, emboldened by the Soviet Union’s new perestroika policies, a few members of Columbia Baptist Church in suburban Washington, D.C., traveled to Moscow to explore a mission partnership with the Soviet capital’s Central Baptist Church.

While there, a tour of a nearby hospital—suffering from the country’s economic tailspin—shocked them. Medical personnel removed gauze from a wound, washed it and reused it. Surgeons used common sewing thread instead of sutures. Medical supplies were limited and sometimes non-existent.

Over the next few years, the Bible study class worked with its church and community to collect medical supplies, eventually shipping 17 40-foot containers filled with medical supplies to Moscow. The first shipment of supplies was valued at $131,532. Three years later, almost $5 million in supplies had been sent.

In 1996, the Russian relief program ended when it became too difficult to ship containers to Moscow. But by that time, Columbia’s volunteers had developed effective systems to acquire and ship donated funds and supplies around the world, and they were determined to continue the project. In November of that year, CrossLink International was incorporated as a nonprofit humanitarian aid ministry.

Since then, CrossLink has provided millions of dollars in medical supplies to thousands of missionaries, mission teams and clinics both abroad and in the United States—most recently in the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast region. The supplies include:

• Pharmaceutical drugs and over-the-counter medications ranging from antibiotics to aspirin.

• Medical supplies such as tongue depressors, gauze bandages and tape.

• Diagnostic and surgical supplies and equipment ranging from blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes to scalpels and suturing materals.

• Eyeglasses ready-to-wear.

• Hospital equipment, including beds, wheelchairs and examination tables.

CrossLink acquires large volumes of excess equipment donated by hospitals, physicians and the public. At a CrossLink warehouse, volunteers package materials for shipment, based on requests from mission teams.

The number of projects fluctuates from year to year, Cross Link Executive Director Dan Henneberg said. This year, CrossLink will be involved in about 350 projects in 90 countries, distributing close to $3.7 million in medical supplies.

Donations from medical supply companies continue to play a big role in CrossLink’s ministry. But donations from pharmaceutical companies have diminished, Henneberg noted.

“We’re always looking for churches or other groups to help us with over-the-counter medicines, such as aspirin,” he said. “For prescription drugs, we’re buying them at wholesale prices. We have developed relationships with vendors who give us good prices.” That’s possible in part because CrossLink is licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Board of Pharmacy as a warehouse/distributor of medicines.

For instance, in a recent test project, CrossLink shipped a 2-foot by 1-foot box of medicines to Romania. The cost to CrossLink of the drugs and shipping was about $700. The retail value was about $10,000.

“We can negotiate some good prices, but we still have to have churches and other groups come up with the money,” Henneberg said.

Three years ago, CrossLink, housed in a building two blocks from Columbia Baptist Church, opened its first satellite office in Memphis, Tenn.

“Strategically, Memphis is a great location,” said Henneberg. “It’s on the Mississippi River, it’s the headquarters of FedEx, and it has four or five faith-based hospitals.”

First Baptist Church in Memphis is partnering with CrossLink to provide office and warehouse space.

While an independent board of directors oversees CrossLink, the ministry retains close ties to Columbia Baptist Church.

“It’s a great ongoing relationship,” said Henneberg. “We partner with them in many ways and have lots of volunteers from the church who work on and with our staff.”

In the future, Henneberg hopes to see CrossLink provide more sustained support for the on-site clinics around the world that partner with medical mission teams.

“Mission teams go over to those clinics and do fabulous work,” he said. “But a month or two later, some of the clinics run low on supplies. We’d like to see how we can give ongoing support to those clinics, maybe providing a box or container every month or so.”

More information about CrossLink is available at www.crosslinkinternational.net.

DALLAS (ABP)—Criswell College President Jerry Johnson resigned Aug. 5, after a public clash with the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas over the institution’s future.

His resignation, accepted during a called session of the college trustees’ executive committee, “was due to philosophical differences the president had with the chancellor and trustee leadership about the future of Criswell College,” board members said in a statement released Aug. 6. The resignation takes effect Aug. 15.

Jerry Johnson

An interim president is expected to be named quickly, trustee chair Michael Deahl said by telephone Aug. 7.

“Our plan and expectation is to have someone named and to be in place as close to that (Aug. 15) date as possible so there will be no gap in leadership,” Deahl said.

Possibility of selling the assets

He also confirmed that controversy over the possibility of selling the college’s assets “played a part” in Johnson’s decision to step down.

Johnson and at least one Criswell trustee recently accused First Baptist Church of Dallas and its pastor, Robert Jeffress, of planning to sell the institution’s assets. The proceeds, they contended, would go to fund a massive new proposed sanctuary for the historic church.

First Baptist, under the guidance of its legendary then-pastor, W.A. Criswell, established Criswell College in 1971. The church must approve appointment of the college’s trustees, over half of whom must be First Baptist members, and the church’s pastor serves as the school’s chancellor. Criswell College is affiliated with the fundamentalist Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

“For six months, the chancellor has been trying to cannibalize Criswell College to fund his building program at the church, which will cost $170 to $240 million,” Johnson told the Dallas Morning News a week prior to his resignation.

The president also accused Jeffress of planning to stack the board with trustees who would agree to sell the Dallas-based campus and its radio station, KCBI. The FM station and its two satellite stations broadcast over large portions of Texas and Oklahoma.

Johnson claimed Jeffress said earlier this year that nearby Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary would absorb Criswell. Southwestern operates its own undergraduate college at its Fort Worth campus.

Criswell College trustee Steve Washburn, pastor of First Baptist Church of Pflugerville, also accused First Baptist of plotting to sell the school’s assets, in a letter released in late July. 

According to news reports, Johnson and some trustees, such as Washburn, have pointed out that the college is meeting financial and enrollment challenges. But Jeffress has advocated for a study to determine whether a need for the institution still exists.

Praise for Johnson

In spite of the disagreement, trustee chairman Michael Deahl praised Johnson’s leadership in the college’s Aug. 6 statement. He expressed gratitude for the “accomplishments that have been achieved at the college and KCBI under Dr. Johnson’s leadership, which are too numerous to mention.

“I firmly believe that, due in no small part to Dr. Johnson’s contributions, the greatest days at Criswell College are yet to come.”

Calls to Johnson and Washburn were not returned by press time.

Johnson was named Criswell’s president and a professor of theology and ethics in 2003. Prior to that date, he was dean and assistant professor of ethics at Boyce College, the undergraduate program at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Johnson is a Criswell alumnus, earning a bachelor of arts degree in biblical studies from the institution in 1986.

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. – His name is Frank, and he hadn't been near the water in more than 40 years. And who can blame him? The last time he got in the water, he was 11 years old and nearly drowned.

But now his grandchildren can swim, and they love it so much that he bought them an above-ground pool — and that's what brought him to the Helena-West Helena, Ark., municipal pool for swimming lessons taught by members of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship partner churches.

The CBF supporters had to help Frank walk into the shallow end of the pool. But, by the end of the lesson, as the rest of the adult swimmers and teachers gathered for the closing prayer circle, Frank — so deathly afraid of water — nonetheless made it out of the shallow end.

"When I turned around, I saw Frank in the circle standing in the mid-section of the pool," said Kate Hall, the swim camp director and a member of Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. "He told the volunteer, 'I have to go under this rope and join that prayer circle, because I have to thank God for what he's enabled me to do tonight.'"

The more than 230 children, teens and adults who took to the pool during swim camp were only one part of the All Church Challenge, a two-week missions blitz in Phillips County, Ark., where CBF field personnel Ben and Leonora Newell have served since 2002. The ministry is part of Together for Hope, the Fellowship's rural-poverty initiative in 20 of the poorest counties in the United States. Phillips County, of which Helena-West Helena is the seat, is in the Mississippi Delta region — one of the nation's most poverty-stricken.

More than 250 Fellowship Baptists representing 21 churches traveled to the county to serve during the challenge July 12-24. Many have come before — some year after year.

"As they make a long-term commitment, their ministry deepens," Leonora Newell said.

B.F. Waddell, a member of McGill Baptist Church in Concord, N.C., helps prepare the municipal pool pavilion for its dedication during the All Church Challenge closing celebration July 24. (CBF Photo)

One of those churches is First Baptist Church in Elkin, N.C., which has sent teams for three years. Church member Betty Pittman spent the week traveling on the Stories on Wheels bus to Elaine, Ark., where they held a children's camp that included basketball, games and a Bible story.

"We're planting the seed, believing — even though you can't see — that the seed will sprout," she said.

Individuals keep coming back, too, like Van Jones, a member of St. John's Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., who has stayed both weeks for three years.

"I've planted roots in a mission project," he said. "This is worthwhile. I see a lot of change in the community. I might not live here, but I make a lot of friends."

And that's one of the goals of the All Church Challenge — for local residents to get involved in, and energized by, the work.  During the first week, Leonora Newell nearly canceled preschool camp because she didn't have enough workers, but local resident Jean Williams stepped in and said she'd find enough workers from the community. Local residents showed up, and the camp ran as planned.

"God intended local volunteers to get involved," Leonora said.

Fellowship Baptists came from as far away as Virginia and Texas for the blitz. B.F. Waddell, 87, came to help finish a new pavilion at the pool. On the way to Helena and back to North Carolina, where he is a member of McGill Baptist Church in Concord, he stopped to see two friends from his service in World War II. One he hadn't seen in 50 years.  

During both weeks of the All Church Challenge, Fellowship Baptists worshipped with local churches at a community-wide worship service featuring local musicians and communion. (CBF Photo)

Participants like Waddell spent the two weeks "sharing the gospel in all types of ways," Ben Newell said. They catalogued books for the community-center library, hosted a children's camp, worked in the community gardens, taught water aerobics and visited local residents in the nursing home. They also helped with construction like installing new siding at the home of Charley and Winifred Wells, who saved money all year long to buy the materials.

"This means the whole world to me," said Charley Wells. "I am being blessed. We've waited a long time."

At the end of the two weeks, there was time for celebration. Nearly 400 people gathered to see children perform the new songs they learned, to honor the efforts of local leaders, and to see the new pool pavilion dedicated to Hall, who helped launch the annual swim program four years ago, and Earnest Womack, the long-time local pool director.

As Ben Newell looked over the crowd, seeing the smiles and hearing all the laughter and conversation, he knew the last two weeks had made a difference.

"This is when you really realize the impact [the All Church Challenge] has," he said.

Read more

Together for Hope, CBF's rural-poverty initiative

ATLANTA – Dorothy “Dot” Sherman, wife of Dr. Cecil Sherman, the founding coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, passed away Aug. 1 in Richmond, Va., following a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 90.

“All of the CBF family grieves the passing of Dot Sherman,” said Daniel Vestal, CBF executive coordinator. “Her quiet strength was endearing to everyone who knew her. We send our love to Cecil and their daughter, Genie.”

Cecil and Dot Sherman receive a plaque at Cecil’s retirement celebration in 1996 at the conclusion of his tenure as coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. (CBF file photo)

Cecil is currently undergoing treatment for acute leukemia at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Memorial services will be at a future date to be determined by the family. Two memorial services will be planned, one for River Road Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., and one at First Baptist Church, Asheville, N.C. Dr. Bill Sherman, Cecil’s brother, will officiate both services.

A native of Spartanburg, S.C., Dorothy Hair Sherman earned a master’s in religious education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and worked as an editor at the Sunday School Board in Nashville as well as Southwestern. She met Cecil in 1950, and the two were married Dec. 23, 1953, in Greer, S.C. Cecil and Dot have one daughter, Eugenia Sherman Brown of Madison, Wisc.

“Dot’s name is Dorothy. The name means ‘gift of God,’ and she has been that to me,” Cecil wrote in his recently released memoir, By My Own Reckoning.

Those wishing to express their care for Cecil and Eugenia can visit www.thefellowship.info/cecil and add their names to a letter that will be hand-delivered to Cecil the week of Aug. 4.

READING, England—British Baptists are setting their sites, not to mention their stomachs, on a world record.

Actually, the men are going it alone. Chowing down for Jesus. Gobbling for God.

They’re hoping to set a world record for the largest men’s breakfast, reported Phil Creighton, president-elect of the Baptist Men’s Movement, an affiliate of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

And, since this will be a “virtual” breakfast—location doesn’t matter—they’d appreciate help from Baptist men in the former Colonies, said Creighton, a former editor of The Baptist Times, the union’s newspaper.

“As part of an attempt to help churches with their men’s ministries and to put BMM back on the map, we’re launching a record-breaking attempt called the Bigger Breakfast,” he explained.

“The idea is simple: On Saturday, Oct. 11, churches host a men’s breakfast—in their homes, chur-ches, cafes … wherever. It doesn’t matter. If we can get more than 18,943 men taking part, we’ll beat a world record set by Texan cowboys back in 2001. So, Texan Baptists can help make a new record, thus keeping it in Texas! …

“We’d love it if Texan Baptist churches would be willing to sign up too. Churches are free to charge what they want to for hosting their breakfast, we just need churches to register so that we can tally numbers.”

To learn more about Baptist Men’s Movement, visit www.baptistmen.org.uk.

For more about Bigger Breakfast, go to www.biggerbreakfast.org.uk.

American Baptists propose changes. Leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA are proposing changes to the denomination’s governing structure that aim to encourage greater missional empowerment and broader involvement of affiliated churches. The ABC General Board considered the proposal during its summer session, although details are in process and will be worked out this fall. The proposal must be approved at the denomination’s biennial meeting in 2009 before the changes are adopted. The proposal reduces the size of the General Board from its current 109 members to 31. It also allows the entity’s national and international mission boards to choose their members from outside the General Board.

Kentucky Baptists sent most to SBC. Official registration figures for the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis released by SBC Registration Secretary Jim Wells show Kentucky Baptists sent the largest number of messengers to the annual meeting. The Kentucky Baptists comprised 10 percent of the 7,277 messengers who registered for the June 10-11 meeting at the Indiana Convention Center. Texas churches sent 416 messengers. In all, 3,142 churches sent messengers to the meeting.

Student missionary to Peru killed. Southern Baptist student missionary Gregory Gomez IV died in a bus crash in Peru. Gomez, 22, was serving as a short-term field worker with the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. According to Baptist Press, the SBC’s information outlet, Shivar, from Crawford, Ga., and the translator received minor injuries. Gomez graduated in May from the University of Mississippi with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was a member of Bethel Baptist Church in Troy, Ill., near St. Louis.

Correction. Due to a reporting error, an article in the July 21 Baptist Standard incorrectly stated the percentage of pastors who will be fired. “Rejected ministers find acceptance and help” said the Ministering to Ministers Foundation reports that 2 percent of all pastors “will be fired or pushed out of their churches during their careers.” Actually, that fate will befall 20 percent of pastors.

ATLANTA (ABP) — Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Global Women recently agreed to enter a three-year partnership to meet the needs of women around the world, CBF officials announced July 29.

The partnership will start with two specific projects already in place, Global Women Executive Director Cindy Dawson explained by phone July 31.

Some CBF field personnel will participate in the Global Women’s Global Voices 2008 Summit set for Sept. 12-13 at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio. In addition, CBF will help promote, in its partner churches, a special prayer focus for International Women’s Day, scheduled next year for March 8.

First long-term partnership 

Dawson noted the agreement marks the first long-term partnership for the Birmingham, Ala.-based organization since its inception in 2001. Most Global Women partnerships have been short-term and based around specific projects, she said.

Global Women is a non-denominational group designed to provide opportunities for women to minister with and to women. It currently operates primarily through Global Women chapters based in local churchaes.

The two projects are only the beginning, Dawson added. “This is where we can start,” she said, noting that the two organizations will develop new ministries specific to the partnership.

“God seems to be drawing both of us [CBF and Global Women] to Central Asia. The needs of the women there are great,” she said. “We are investigating ways to empower women — to find ways to empower and encourage women to live out their call to ministry.”

Dawson, a former CBF field worker in Russia, is excited by the possibilities the partnership could provide. “It is a very complementary relationship. We want to enlarge the understanding of what Christ means for women around the world,” she said.

“I’m delighted that CBF is entering into this intentional and strategic agreement with Global Women at a moment when both groups have an opportunity to transform the lives of women around the world,” noted CBF Global Missions Coordinator Rob Nash, in a press statement.

Unique challenges 

Nash, who signed the agreement on CBF’s behalf, added, “My hope and prayer is that this connection will help to keep before our congregations the unique challenges that women face around the world and to provide many opportunities for ministry together.”

“We have found that Global Women really strikes a chord,” Dawson said. “Some churches maybe don’t do the women’s missions groups like they used to. Some churches are finding a void and have started Global Women groups, some of which include men.”

The organization faced internal struggles over generational and leadership-style differences in 2005 and 2006. Dawson was chosen to fill the executive post in 2006.

Global Women and CBF struck a formal partnership shortly after the women’s organization formed. That accord was renewed in 2002, but changes in Global Women’s leadership shifted the agreement to a more informal relationship, noted Chris Boltin with CBF Global Missions.

Boltin is happy the relationship once again has been formalized. “They keep us focused on women’s issues,” he said.

Read more

Global Women conference focuses on world’s needs www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2890&Itemid=120

Global Women picks new leader amid generational tension
www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1463&Itemid=119

Stories, statistics motivate Global Women to action
www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=537&Itemid=118

SHAWNEE, Kan. (ABP) — Central Baptist Theological Seminary has received a more than $2.2 million gift — the largest in the institution’s history — from the former members of a St. Louis-area church.

Trustees of the recently disbanded Des Peres Baptist Church have distributed funds from the sale of the congregation’s property in St. Louis’s posh western suburbs, seminary officials announced July 31.

Founded in 1955 as a mission of Third Baptist Church in St. Louis, the Des Peres congregation reached its peak of almost 250 members in 1981. Declining membership led to the church closing its doors the last Sunday of December, 2006. Des Peres was affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.

Significant legacy

“The congregation determined that the proceeds from their building and property should help sustain our work in theological education and provide for creative, accessible delivery,” Central Seminary president Molly Marshall said in an e-mail to students, faculty and supporters. “Although they could not continue as a church, they wisely chose to sow seeds for the future. It is a significant legacy.”

“Closing a church leaves the feeling, for some of us anyway, that we have failed in the legacy entrusted to us,” said church trustee Mauriece Smith in a seminary press release. “But creating a means to train candidates for the pastorate somehow lessens the feelings of failure and provides a hope and promise for the future.”
 
The funds will endow the Des Peres Chair in Congregational Health, a new faculty position on the seminary’s main campus outside of Kansas City, Kan. It will also create the Des Peres Church Resource Center in Central’s new library.

Ministerial preparation 

In addition, the terms of the gift stipulate that part of it fund a St. Louis-area initiative in ministerial preparation. Seminary officials have not yet determined exactly what form that initiative would take. Administrators are considering several possibilities, including expanding Central into the St. Louis area with a satellite campus or streaming video, or funding scholarships for St. Louis students to attend classes on the Kansas campus.

Des Peres members chose to focus on congregational health as a means to help other churches deal with problems before they face the possibility of closing their doors, Robin Sandbothe, Central’s director of seminary relations, noted by phone.

“Central is committed to finding ways to help churches nurture congregational health in honor of the ministry of Des Peres Baptist Church,” Marshall said.