WASHINGTON (RNS)—The nation’s capital is about to have one less museum when the Newseum closes Dec. 31, but the Religious Freedom Center that was housed there will continue operations.

Gene Policinski, chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute, which includes the center among its five focus areas, said the building has not been the core of his institute’s operations, which occur more in other locations and online.

“We’re headquartered here; obviously, it’s a marvelous asset and we use the meeting rooms and the conference center,” he said of the building the institute shared with the Newseum, its partner. “But when we relocate our administrative offices later in 2020, those programs simply move to where we now will be.”

The institute’s religious liberty programming—long led by recently retired scholar Charles Haynes—dates to the 1990s, when the Newseum was housed across the Potomac River in Rosslyn, Va. It moved to the Pennsylvania Avenue location in 2008 when the Newseum moved.

The Newseum, a seven-level museum about the free press and the First Amendment, announced it was closing earlier this year and has said “remaining in the current location has proved to be financially unsustainable.” Newseum spokeswoman Sonya Gavankar said the museum hopes to find a new location “but that process will take time.”

Religious Freedom Center offices move

The offices of the institute, including the Religious Freedom Center, will move less than a mile from the building on Pennsylvania Avenue with a terrace view of the U.S. Capitol. Its leaders have secured a two-year lease at 300 New Jersey Avenue, NW.

Other aspects of the institute include the First Amendment Center, and initiatives related to education, diversity and workplace integrity training, such as the Power Shift Project that helps the media industry address issues of sexual harassment.

As they head to a new temporary location, Religious Freedom Center staffers will be working to expand some of its newer initiatives. In January 2020, it will host a weeklong intensive course on religious freedom for students from African American theological institutions at local churches and seminaries. A portion of the first offering of the course for black seminarians was held at the Newseum in January of this year.

Policinski said the center is making plans to expand a training program for business executives that will include webinars and in-person sessions after it was piloted at firms such as Accenture, a professional services company, and Schreiber Foods, a Wisconsin dairy company. He said he hopes the center can help businesses navigate differences among employees about health care and family planning services and religious objections that could arise over transgender bathrooms.

“We feel very strongly that another area, unfortunately, of contention will be, as we increase in diversity and awareness of diversity of religion in the workplace, issues around religious holidays and religious observance in the workplace itself,” he said.

Staff in transition

The center is also planning to add a staffer to a multiyear project called Georgia 3Rs Project—Rights, Responsibility, Respect—that will continue to address the academic study of religion in that state’s public schools.

The center currently has a staff of about half a dozen, along with more than 20 nonresident scholars and fellows. Kristen Farrington left her role as the center’s executive director during the summer to become an assistant chaplain at an Episcopal school. Policinski said filling that position is “on hold” during the time of transition.

The center recently held its last public event at the current location, hosting about 90 Muslim and Jewish leaders for a Dec. 3 conference that featured speakers representing American Jews and Muslims discussing what they wish members of each faith group knew about the other.

Richard Foltin, a senior scholar at the center and a member of the board of the Inter Jewish Muslim Alliance, said there are additional plans for those kinds of interreligious gatherings as well as others.

“One of the important things the Religious Freedom Center does is convene a Committee on Religious Liberty that brings together advocates and experts on church-state relations from a broad range of religious communities, from a broad range of political perspectives,” he said. “That work is going to continue as well.”

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—Anyone heading to Mount Harmony Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., doesn’t need to stop at a fancy coffee shop on the way to church. Multi-flavored coffees and lattes will be ready when worshippers arrive, served by smiling baristas.

Donations at the coffee counter not only raise money for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, but also raise awareness about the offering’s namesake.

“I didn’t just want it to be a table with people coming up to give money and get a latte,” said Emily Sheddan, who started Lattes for Lottie in her church in 2017. “It was on my heart to get them involved and really know who Lottie was.”

‘Not just a name on an offering’

Sheddan, the daughter of Southern Baptist missionaries, grew up in Southeast Asia and remembers learning about Lottie Moon. As an adult, she noticed many people in local churches didn’t know about the feisty missionary. Those who did not participate in missions education programs, like Girls in Action and Royal Ambassadors, may never have learned about Lottie Moon.

“It wasn’t just a name of an offering, but was indeed a sweet soul who went forth,” Sheddan said. “I feel like it has to be pushed out there that she’s an actual person in history that we speak of, not just the name of the Christmas mission offering.”

Each year, Sheddan refines the process and introduces new ways to teach church members about Lottie Moon and about current missions efforts. In past years, she has distributed quizzes about Lottie Moon’s life and used displays that taught more about the missionary to China.

This month, she is displaying an International Mission Board map that features unreached people groups. Each time someone buys a latte, Sheddan adds a “Send and Go” pin to an unreached area of the world.

Young baristas serve treats

As for the lattes, Sheddan prepares batches in crockpots and offers flavored syrups, espresso and whipped cream at the counter. Church members stop by before Sunday school or before the worship service and add their donations to a collection box.

Sheddan enlists youth from the church to don the barista aprons, and together they serve up the hot treats. The team even adds the special touch of shaking the beverages in mason jars before serving, to add the frothy effect common in coffee shop lattes.

Elijah Morton, 15, is taking his place as a volunteer barista for a third straight year.

“My friends and I enjoy it, and we always make it a blast, whether we are making coffee, having competitions of who can make the best whipped cream swirl, or just chatting while we have downtime,” he said.

Morton credits Lattes for Lottie for helping grow his own understanding of missions.

“It has helped me understand why we do this, why we need to reach other states, countries, nations. It’s all for the glory of God, and I realize that now, by seeing people with loving hearts give to see more people get to know the Lord,” he said.

This year, Sheddan hopes that latte donations will raise $800 toward their church’s missions offering goal. With her own missions experience and with her parents still serving on the field, she has personal connections and the knowledge of how those contributions make a difference in the lives of missionaries.

This month, she is sharing her love of missions through a latte for Lottie, with or without a whipped cream swirl on top.

WACO—Baylor University announced Dec. 11 one of its two American black bear mascots, Lady, has been undergoing radiation therapy for a benign tumor in her chest.

Veterinarians at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences discovered the cranial mediastinal mass, or thymoma, next to her heart during a routine wellness examination in the summer.

Lady, formally known as Judge Sue “Lady” Sloan, completed noninvasive radiation treatments at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in College Station. The bear will be monitored closely and assessed by her care team to ensure her comfort and recovery, the university reported.

In a letter to the “Baylor Family,” President Linda Livingstone said Lady was back on the campus in Waco and resting comfortably at the Bill and Eva Williams Bear Habitat, where she lives with her older biological sister, Joy.

“Baylor University celebrates many beloved traditions, but few bring as much joy to students, alumni and friends and as many rich opportunities to interact with and educate young people in Central Texas as our live bear mascots, Joy and Lady. They are a cherished part of the Baylor Family,” Livingstone wrote.

“The veterinarians have begun a course of TomoTherapy we hope will reduce the size of the tumor—a treatment that is believed to be the first ever done on a bear. We are grateful to have access to a remarkable team with the expertise needed for Lady’s care.

“Our priority is Lady’s comfort and wellbeing. Following the treatments, we will visit again with the veterinary team. We are optimistic about the results and Lady’s health.”

Aggie vets treat Baylor bear

The mass was discovered in June during a regular wellness visit under the direction of Sharman Hoppes, an exotic animal specialist with Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. A CT scan in July confirmed the mass as thymoma, a tumor that affects the thymus, an organ near the lungs that is part of the lymphatic and immune systems.

In August, the bear was treated with a low-dose TomoTherapy System, a treatment that targets tumors while minimizing exposure of radiation to surrounding healthy tissues and causing fewer side effects compared to conventional forms of radiation therapy. On Dec. 2 and Dec. 11-12, Lady received additional treatments.

“It shows a great level of care and respect Baylor has for these animals by bringing them to us at a specialist facility,” said J. Jill Heatley, zoological medicine specialist at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. “Not everybody would do this, so it is important to note that is beyond the standard level of care.”

The veterinarians treating Lady said this particular tumor never had been observed in a living bear early enough to treat due to its asymptomatic nature, with no external physical or behavioral symptoms that would indicate a problem. The only previous case of thymoma in a bear was not evident until an autopsy was performed. Veterinarians have closely monitored Lady’s tumor, which is benign and has not grown since it was discovered.

“The good news for Lady is that she has no clinical signs of the mass, which means that we caught it early,” said Lauren Smith, radiation oncologist and clinical assistant professor at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

“Thymomas are typically diagnosed when they’re so large in size that they’re compressing the heart and the lungs, causing difficulty breathing or lethargy. As we have been establishing the best treatment plan for Lady, the tumor has remained stable in size on advanced imaging. Being able to intervene at an early point is why we have a very positive outlook for her.

“We are still able to treat this in an aggressive manner using the advanced technology while ensuring that she is able to be at home with her sister, able to eat and drink normally and able to have a good quality of life.”

ABILENE—From local projects like building houses to international trips through Go Now Missions, Hardin-Simmons University offers students multiple opportunities to serve and make a difference in Christ’s name.

Throughout the fall semester, HSU’s Baptist Student Ministry community and church engagement ministry team partnered with Houses for Healing, an Abilene-area non-profit organization that provides temporary medical housing to individuals and families facing medical hardship.

During Stampede Week, an annual orientation for incoming students, BSM volunteers and a group of first-year students cleared land for new house construction.

“We have loved working with Houses for Healing and hope to build an ongoing relationship with them,” said Tanner Clarke, BSM director. “It has been an amazing experience doing some of the ground work for these homes. They serve such a good purpose and are just north of campus so it was a perfect fit for us.”

BSM also partners with Go Now Missions, Texas Baptists’ program that mobilizes students for one-week, summer and semester missions experiences. During spring break, BSM will participate in Beach Reach, providing free van rides, pancake breakfasts and a gospel witness to their peers who are carousing on South Padre Island.

“Beach Reach is a unique ministry that cares for spring breakers without judgment,” Clarke said. “We want to make sure they have a safe ride and are taken care of.

“The most important impact, though, is the eternal impact that Beach Reach has. Last year, 112 spring breakers committed their lives to Jesus for the first time.”

Students in the HSU physician assistant program will return to Peru next summer for a medical mission trip, and physical therapy students will promote mobility at home and abroad.

Locally, the physical therapy students build wheelchair ramps, assist with home repairs for the disabled, and evaluate and treat patients in Abilene. Internationally, they customize and distribute wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and canes for those who do not have access to basic mobility needs in Chaing Mai, Thailand.

Christian author and Bible teacher Beth Moore delivered the commencement address at East Texas Baptist University on Dec. 7. “We don’t always have the luxury of knowing that a brand new beginning is in front of us—that change is in the wind and that the wind is a hurricane. You do have that luxury in this moment,” Moore told the 100 students who received undergraduate degrees and 34 who received graduate degrees. “You are of this generation on divine purpose, in this current culture. You have been sent not to be of the world, but to be in this world—to serve faithfully in the name of Jesus, to be alert, to be astute, to be brave, to be bold in love and truth. You are carriers of the gospel, and you have been called to speak into this generation. Graduates, go therefore and invade the globe—embrace your new beginning.” ETBU President Blair Blackburn awarded Moore, founder of Living Proof Ministries, an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

Also at the commencement ceremony, Blackburn presented the President’s Award to Landin Brown, who graduated Magna Cum Laude and was captain of the men’s basketball team. The award is given to a graduating ETBU student who is considered the best representation of a Christian leader, scholar and servant. As a student, Brown volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club of Marshall and at Marshall Junior High School. He is a member of Greater Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Marshall and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

The 36^th annual Community Thanksgiving Feast at Howard Payne University provided 2,300 meals. The university’s food service staff prepared and served 600 meals on campus, while volunteers delivered more than 1,700 meals in the Brownwood and Early areas. Bill Fishback, an organizer of the event and associate vice president for business and human resources at HPU, noted more than 550 volunteers and donors helped make the meal possible.

A Baylor University senior was one of only 46 American students awarded a Marshall Scholarship to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom, and two other Baylor students were awarded other highly competitive graduate fellowships. Lawson Sadler, a University Scholar from San Antonio, will study for a master’s degree in migration and global development at the University of Sussex, where she will research comparative U.S.-U.K immigration policies. After completing her degree, she plans to return to the United States to attend law school. At Baylor, she was part of the Global Migration Project, a multi-semester social innovation laboratory on child migration directed by Victor Hinojosa as part of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty. Gabbi Mucerino, a Baylor senior political science major from Lakewood, Colo., was awarded a Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship, funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by Howard University. The fellowship will support Mucerino through a two-year master’s degree program and provide professional development opportunities designed to prepare graduate students for appointment as Foreign Service officers. Zane Zovak, a Baylor international studies graduate, has been named to the Schwarzman Scholars class of 2021. The fellowship will allow him to pursue a master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Dallas Baptist University presented the 2019 Russell H. Perry Free Enterprise Award to Sam Johnson, a highly decorated fighter pilot and former congressman. Johnson served 29 years in the U.S. Air Force, flying combat missions both in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and directing the U.S. Air Force Weapons School. He spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, including 42 months in solitary confinement and two and a half years in leg irons. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 2019. The Russell H. Perry Award Dinner recognizes individuals for their community service. Over the past 32 years, the gala diner has provided scholarship support for more than 2,400 DBU students.

Howard Payne University surpassed its goals for Giving Tuesday on Dec. 3, both in terms of dollars raised and in the number of donors involved. HPU received $68,303—more than triple its $20,000 goal. The school received gifts from 177 donors, 77 more than its goal. Donors were given the choice of directing gifts to the HPU Annual Fund, student scholarships, campus improvements or the renovation of the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom building, home to Guy D. Newman Honors Academy. “There was also motivation for supporters to give because of a $10,000 matching gift and then an additional $5,000 matching gift,” said Dale Meinecke, vice president for development. “With the matching gifts, every dollar given was doubled up to $30,000.”

HOUSTON—José Altuve, second baseman of the Houston Astros, took some time out of his off-season to pay a surprise visit to a special fan at the Buckner Parkway Place senior living community.

Shirley Clark, who turned 100 years old on Dec. 2, is a die-hard Major League Baseball fan. As a resident of Houston for the second half of her life, the Astros are her team of choice. She watches as many games as she can, whether at the stadium or on TV.

Other Parkway Place residents who want to find out baseball scores and statistics from the previous night know they can ask Clark.

News of Clark’s birthday and her status as a dedicated fan reached Altuve, a six-time MLB All-Star and 2017 American League Most Valuable Player.

Three decades as a missionary in Venezuela

He especially was touched by her work as a Southern Baptist missionary for more than 30 years in his home country of Venezuela.

Prior to living in Houston, Clark and her late husband Charles worked as international missionaries, including in Venezuela. She fondly recalls her time there ministering to those in need and forming lifelong bonds with some of her best friends.

One of her fondest memories was watching Venezuelan children play baseball in the street with a homemade ball and broomstick.

These memories are why her favorite Astros players are the ones from Venezuela, especially José Altuve and Robinson Chirinos.

Conversing in both English and Spanish, Altuve and Clark talked about her time living in Venezuela and what it was like for Altuve growing up there.

She introduced him to some of her children in town for her birthday, and Altuve connected with his wife and daughter via a video call so they could wish Clark a happy birthday, as well.

When their conversation turned to the Astros, Clark showed off her knowledge of player stats.

When asked what she credits as keys to longevity, Clark mentioned enjoying life, eating right and staying active—and getting out to the ballpark whenever possible.

Earlier in the year, Clark was one of 14 Buckner Parkway Place residents who posed for portraits as part of the community’s new campaign, “Life, Experienced.” The campaign captures the varied interests and passions of residents.

Naturally, Clark decked herself out in her Astros apparel and modeled in front of Minute Maid Park.

BOGOTÁ, Columbia (BP)—Southern Baptist missionaries Paul and Robin Tinley had just dropped off the last little bit of winter clothing they had collected. They had been distributing clothes for months, and this was the first time they had run out.

It’s not hard to see why they did. The flow of human need just hasn’t stopped.

For months, the Tinleys have been watching people spill out of Venezuela and into Colombia, where they serve with the International Mission Board.

About 5,000 a day—more than 3 million total—walk away from Venezuela’s economic meltdown in hopes that they can escape hunger, crime, unemployment and lack of medical care.

Many cross over into Colombia. Most have nothing but the shirt on their back, and even the clothes they have aren’t appropriate for Colombia’s colder climate.

Hard reality

That was the reality Carlos faced. He made it on foot into Colombia and headed for the capital. After 10 days of walking in the cold rain, he made it to the toughest point in the journey—the top of a 10,000-foot mountain pass. Temperatures plummet there at night.

On top of that, he was barefoot—his shoes had worn out along the way.

So, when he made it to the mountaintop way station where the Tinleys regularly drop off winter clothes, he was thrilled with what he found—the offer of hope and a new pair of shoes.

That is the story of many Venezuelans who make it to the way station. They are desperate for help and hope. The retired missionary stationed there round the clock shares the gospel more than 60 times a day as people pass by.

‘Open to anything’

In the midst of all the need, there is unprecedented spiritual opportunity.

“Venezuelans are more open now than they have ever been in their history, but they are open to anything—good or bad,” Robin Tinley said. “This is a historic moment where Colombian believers urgently need to share the gospel.”

Although the Tinleys are stretched thin, they serve tirelessly alongside Colombian churches to provide things like food and childcare. They are helping displaced Venezuelans start microbusinesses like bakeries and knitting shops so they can support their families. And they’re meeting often with Venezuelan groups for trauma counseling and Bible study.

The need is nonstop, Paul Tinley said. It can be hard for churches to keep going as the area becomes more and more saturated with need, but he challenges churches to leverage their position for the sake of the kingdom.

“I tell them often, ‘The mission field is walking in front of your churches, in front of your homes,’” he said. “It’s a sensitive time, and we are starting to see a movement among the churches.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (BP)—Nearly half of New Mexico’s population is Hispanic—the highest share in the United States. Yet only 57 Hispanic Baptist churches minister to fewer than 3,000 Hispanics on any given Sunday across the state. One Southern Baptist is set on changing that.

“New Mexico is a mission field,” said Ricardo Rivera, Hispanic strategist for the Baptist Convention of New Mexico. “Our biggest challenge is finding church planters to reach this people group.”

The Hispanic population of New Mexico is as diverse as it is large. In the northern part of the state, most Hispanics are of Spanish descent, have been in the area many generations and speak English primarily.

In the southern part of the state, most of the Hispanic population is made up of immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America who speak mostly Spanish.

To the east, many Hispanics work in the dairy farms that line that part of the state. First Baptist Church in Portales is the only church in New Mexico working to reach the dairy farm workers.

“The ministry to the dairy farm workers started through a deacon (at First Baptist in Portales) … who owns one of the farms and wanted to reach the Hispanics working there. Forty people have been saved as a result of that ministry,” Rivera noted.

Another strategy churches are using to reach Hispanics is evangelistic events, which Rivera says are essentially revival-style services. The Hispanic churches are encouraged to host one of these events annually. The events include block parties and door-to-door evangelism.

Thirty churches welcomed about 900 unchurched people to their Easter revivals, Rivera said. More than 100 made professions of faith in Christ, and 12 have been baptized. Next year, churches will work on hosting two revivals—one in the spring and another in the fall.

Much of the outreach so far has focused on first-generation Hispanics.

“We have many second- and third-generation Latinos who communicate in English but are culturally Hispanic,” Rivera said. “We are not currently serving that group effectively.”

“We need young, bilingual church planters who are culturally Hispanic to come and work with this people group in New Mexico.”

While ministry to a group with a strong Roman Catholic background can be challenging, “people are open to hearing the gospel,” he added.

Walker Knight, a longtime Baptist journalist, died Dec. 1. He was 95. Knight earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University. He was editor of a U.S. Air Force publication and a rural Texas weekly newspaper—and pastor of First Baptist Church in Dale—before he joined the Baptist Standard staff in 1950. During his time as associate editor of the Standard in the 1950s, its circulation grew to 355,000. He was editor of Home Missions magazine, later Missions/USA, at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board from 1959 to 1983. In that role, Knight gained a reputation for publishing not only engaging missions features, but also articles that challenged entrenched attitudes about race. He became the subject of controversy in January 1967, when a cover story on black pastor and civil rights activist William Holmes Borders provoked hundreds of readers to cancel their subscriptions. But Arthur Rutledge, chief executive at the Home Mission Board, stood by Knight, and the magazine went on to win numerous awards. “Home Mission magazine was perhaps the most effective communication piece that caused Southern Baptists to become more open and sensitive to racial reconciliation,” Emmanuel McCall, an African American minister who served on the Home Mission Board staff from 1968 to 1991, wrote in his 2007 book, When All God’s Children Get Together: A Memoir of Baptists and Race. Knight retired early and launched SBC Today in 1983 as a national newspaper free from denominational control. The newspaper was renamed Baptists Today in 1991 and eventually became Nurturing Faith. Knight was a member of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga., for 60 years. He was preceded in death by his wife Nell. He is survived by children Walker Leigh Knight Jr. of Denver, Colo.; Kenneth Knight of Cleveland, Ga.; Nelda Coats of Oriental, N.C.; and Jill Knight of Arden, N.C.; four grandchildren; and siblings Cooksey Bennett Knight of Henderson, Ky.; Mary Ruth Gardner of Bonita Springs, Fla.; Hiram Knight of Zion, Ky.; Jane Mahler of Warner Robins, Ga.; and James Knight of Henderson, Ky.

Nina Raye Phagan Pinkston, veteran missionary and longtime Woman’s Missionary Union leader, died Dec. 2 Grayson, Ga., due to complications of breast cancer. She was 89. She moved to Georgia to be near family about 18 months ago after nearly 50 years in Fort Worth, where she and her husband Glen both earned master’s degrees in religious education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and where they were longtime members of Travis Avenue Baptist Church. She was born in Bellevue to Wade Ray Lona and Lona Louville Phagan on Dec. 30, 1929. In 1944, her family moved to Perryton, where her father served as Ochiltree County sheriff for 26 years. She graduated from Perryton High School, attended Wayland Baptist College and graduated from Texas Tech University. At Wayland, she met Glen Pinkston of Levelland, and they married in Perryton. When he re-enlisted in the U.S.  Air Force and was stationed in Japan, she traveled aboard a troop transport ship to join him. Over the next 31 years, they lived in Japan, Ohio, Nebraska, England, California, West Germany and finally at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth. After his retirement, they moved to West Germany to serve as Southern Baptist missionaries more than 10 years, helping grow Baptist churches near U.S. military bases across Europe and serving as religious education consultants for the European Baptist Convention. They averaged more than 60,000 miles a year traveling to churches. During one trip, they suffered a serious car accident, in which she broke her neck and collar bone. With much prayer, great medical treatment and hard work, she recovered and continued mission work in Europe. She served in leadership roles both with national WMU and Texas WMU. She was preceded in death by her husband Glen in 2017. She is survived by sons Michael Pinkston of Plano and Steven Pinkston of Grayson, Ga.; five grandchildren; and a brother, Jim Phagan of Carrollton. A memorial service is scheduled at 11 a.m. on Dec. 21 at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth.

SOUTH KOREA (BP)—Im-Sara is a Christian—a preacher’s kid, too. But she never had been involved in missions.

So, when Hun Sol asked her if she wanted to be part of the six-month-long student missions program he runs, she wasn’t sure.

“I prayed that God would move her,” said Hun, a Southern Baptist missionary.

Apparently God did. Im-Sara signed up to leave her home in South Korea and spend six months in another East Asian country. When her six months there were up, she asked if she could stay longer.

“She completed a year there,” Hun said. “She has a real heart for the people from that country now.”

Im-Sara brought that heart back to South Korea with her. She found a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant at a university. Someone had told her that students from the country where she had served came there for breakfast.

So, every day she worked there and built friendships with them, and then she started a group especially for them at her church and invited them to come.

“Her heart was to reach out to them,” Hun said. “She committed herself to God to be a missionary, and she’s doing it.”

Transformational experience

For many students like Im-Sara, participating in a midterm missions experience is life altering. They are trained and then sent out to work alongside International Mission Board missionaries in different parts of Asia—a big stretch for them spiritually.

Before applying to the program, many of the students did not set aside daily time with God, and about 80 percent of them never shared the gospel before.

But they come back with eyes wide open to the importance of committing fully.

“Before they leave here, we show them how to share the gospel,” Hun said. “Then in their six months on the field, they see how powerful it is. They realize sharing it is so important.”

Their excitement is contagious. Hun gets more and more applications all the time, because the students’ friends and family want a taste of what they have experienced.

“In the beginning, it wasn’t easy to recruit people,” he said. “But after the students began to return, their lives were so changed that the people around them noticed, and they want to join the program too.”

He hopes students’ passion for the gospel and missions will revive the sleepy South Korean church to take the hope of Jesus to the world.

“In the past, the Korean church was gradually growing. Now it is stagnant or declining—there aren’t as many young people anymore,” Hun said. “We want to train up students who will start revivals. And we want to partner with the IMB to send them around the world and finish the task God gave us.”

FORT WORTH—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary denied charges by a former humanities professor—who identifies as a previously gay abuse survivor—that he was fired because he refused to stop talking about homosexuality and sex abuse.

Instead, Provost Randy Stinson said the decision was based on “changing program needs” of Scarborough College, the seminary’s undergraduate program.

Lopez claimed seminary wanted to silence him

Robert Oscar Lopez, formerly a humanities professor in Scarborough College, issued a public statement Dec. 3 asserting his position was eliminated due to pressure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and opposition from seminary administration.

According to the statement, Lopez claimed he was dismissed “for his position on same-sex relationships and his advocacy for victims of same-sex abuse.” He has spoken and written about his personal experience, growing up in the home of his lesbian mother and her same-sex partner. Consequently, he became involved in what he has called “a homosexual lifestyle” before he became a Christian.

Lopez insisted he was told in September “not to continue to discuss homosexuality or sex abuse in any capacity while employed at the seminary.”

Allegations demand ‘public, unambiguous response’

Southwestern Seminary issued its own statement the following day. While noting the school normally does not comment on personnel matters, the seminary provost said the “public allegations” by Lopez demanded “a public, unambiguous response.”

“Let me be absolutely clear: no faculty member, including Dr. Lopez, has been told, or would be told, they cannot discuss homosexuality,” Stinson said in the Dec. 4 statement.

The seminary “joyfully affirms” the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, “including each and every assertion about biblical sexuality,” he stated.

“As such, the administration faithfully requires all faculty members to teach in accordance with and not contrary to these truth claims. Our faculty—including our president—regularly teach on God’s design for the family and marriage and the biblical sexual ethic, which homosexuality is in rebellion against,” Stinson said.

Significant staff reductions

In a Nov. 16 article published on the conservative website American Greatness, Lopez stated: “By September 19, I was asked to resign by the provost. In early November, the spring 2020 schedule was published, indicating that I had no classes at all.”

Lopez wrote that Adam Greenway, who was elected president of Southwestern Seminary in February, “fired 26 professors in 24 hours, sending a clear signal to all of us that we were eminently replaceable.”

In April, the seminary’s board of trustees approved a reduced budget and voted to revamp undergraduate degrees offered by Scarborough College, reflecting what Greenway called a move to “recalibrate and to reposition” itself in “every way to strengthen the core of what we do.”

In an Oct. 10 interview with the Baptist Standard, Greenway noted the drastic reduction in Southwestern Seminary’s enrollment over the course of the last few decades. He stressed his desire to emphasize residential theological education and give greater attention to the master’s level degree programs that equip students for ministry in churches.

Baptist Press, information service of the SBC Executive Committee, quoted a seminary official as saying: “Currently, we have two full-time professors of humanities—one senior professor of humanities and one professor of philosophy and humanities. From last year to this year, the required humanities courses have been cut from eight to four. Michael Wilkinson, dean of the college, in consultation with Provost Stinson determined that we did not need a third full-time professor of humanities.”

Lopez said he was pressured to keep quiet

In his Dec. 3 statement, Lopez stated he received written notification Nov. 29 his position was eliminated from Southwestern’s undergraduate program. He asserted that followed three meetings with Stinson and four with Wilkinson, saying he was “pressured to cease from discussing sexuality and sex abuse.”

“I was preaching publicly that with the help of Jesus Christ people could overcome homosexuality, and I was discussing same-sex sex abuse,” Lopez stated, noting he had submitted resolutions on those subjects at Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings in 2018 and 2019, but neither resolution made it out of committee.

Lopez alleged he was ordered in September to stop discussing homosexuality or sex abuse while he was employed at the seminary.

“I stated that the demands from the seminary violated my conscience and would force me to disobey God. I was told that if that was the case, I had to resign. I refused to resign,” Lopez stated.

Claims seminary ‘in retreat’ on biblical sexuality

Furthermore, the public statement from Lopez alleged Southwestern Seminary joined unnamed churches, denominations, parachurch organizations and schools as being “in retreat” regarding “biblical truths about sexuality.”

“Any true believer in Jesus Christ expects pushback from unbelievers. What we don’t expect is pushback from people who claim to uphold and teach the very principles clearly presented in the Bible,” he said.

Lopez also was interviewed on American Family Radio’s “Focal Point” program in a segment titled “Southern Baptists getting ready to flip on homosexuality.”

‘Committed to a biblical view of marriage and sexual ethics’

In his Dec. 4 statement, Stinson insisted the seminary holds to its traditional understanding regarding biblical sexuality and the ability of individuals to be changed by Christ.

“Our faculty—including our president—regularly teach on God’s design for the family and marriage and the biblical sexual ethic, which homosexuality is in rebellion against. Our faculty also teach that all sinners can be changed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Stinson said.

“Indeed, any contrary teaching at the seminary would not be tolerated. As Southern Baptists should expect of their seminaries, we are committed to a biblical view of marriage and sexual ethics. Any claim that Southwestern Seminary has wavered on these longstanding commitments is either misinformed or intentionally deceptive.”

‘Refuse to compromise’ on biblical principles

Stinson took personal exception to assertions he made any statements contrary to the traditional understanding of biblical teachings regarding sexuality.

“I have given my entire academic and ministry career of more than two decades to addressing these matters from a biblical worldview. In light of the growing cultural confusion on sexuality and growing pressure to force Christians to conform to prevailing opinions, my resolve on these matters is stronger today than ever,” he said.

“The biblical sexual ethic is God’s plan for human flourishing and the gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s plan for redeeming all sinners. On these matters, I and Southwestern Seminary refuse to compromise.”

‘Failure to comply with basic administrative policies’

Stinson emphasized Lopez’s position at Scarborough College was eliminated due to “changing program needs.” But he also noted the decision “was undergirded by his own actions, which included his failure to comply with basic administrative policies, his being the subject of regular complaints from students and faculty colleagues, and, in the end, his refusal even to attend meetings with his supervisors.”

“While it is unfortunate when any institutional position must be eliminated, I am confident this decision is in the best interests of the students we are educating for gospel ministry and this institution,” Stinson said.