In a sex-saturated society, churches that consider conversations about human sexuality taboo run the risk of appearing irrelevant, some Baptists insist.

David GusheeChristian ethicist David Gushee, understands why many church leaders shy away from open discussions about sexuality. Pastors fear offending members. Diversity of age, values and life experiences among members make consensus difficult.

“I would fault churches for their silence on these issues, but having witnessed churches melt into horrible conflict over what ought to be solvable problems, I find it hard to fault pastors and other church leaders for not walking into this field full of landmines,” said Gushee, distinguished university professor of Christian ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University.

“Still, the church’s silence leaves a vacuum that is quickly filled by others. What is not talked about on Sunday morning is instead addressed on Saturday night.”

For 14 years as a minister, Jim Coston, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, avoided sermons on sex—except to preach “no, no, no” to intercourse outside marriage.

Jim Coston“I never talked about what God has said ‘yes’ to,” he acknowledged.

In recent months, he has made up for lost time. He preached a sermon series on the Old Testament Song of Songs about the joy of sex within marriage. The congregation responded favorably, and he offered a follow-up message on sex as “a gift from God—a blessing from God within the proper parameters.” Too often, the church has presented sex “more as an accommodation to lust rather than an expression of love,” he said.

“Sex within marriage is beautiful—the most personal act between two people. It is fulfilling even as it makes vulnerable. It is a gift. It is a blessing. Within that context, it is good,” he told the congregation. Outside of marriage, sex is “the misuse of a blessing and therefore sinful,” he added.

Popular media and the prevailing culture, on the other hand, have presented a picture of sex entirely as gratification of one’s own desires, he asserted.

“We have made sex entirely physical and transactional, lacking emotional content. … The great societal irony is that in sexualizing so much, sex has lost its sanctity. It is not viewed as special but seemingly as commonplace as meeting for a cup of coffee or trying on new clothes,” he said.

“While sex is physical, it is also spiritual. It is giving. It is receiving. By relegating it to just a bodily experience, this expression of love becomes instead an act of taking and diminishing. Sex involves the whole self. It is surrender to another. Sex is more than the mere coupling of bodies. It’s a man and a woman connecting in a fundamental way—becoming one flesh.”

Coston hopes Sunday school classes and small groups at Calvary will keep the conversation going in the months ahead.

“We have to talk about it. After all, our culture is doing it nonstop—often in ways that are not very healthy and appropriate,” he said.

Malcolm DuncanSometimes, cultural change forces churches to confront issues they might prefer to ignore. In the context of debate in the United Kingdom about same-sex marriage, British Baptist Pastor Malcolm Duncan preached a widely disseminated sermon on sex.

“If we cannot talk about this here, then where exactly shall we?” Duncan asked in his sermon at Gold Hill Baptist Church in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire.

Duncan called for more holistic view of sexuality that encompasses the human need for interconnectedness with people of the opposite sex spiritually and socially as well as physically.

“We do not have to be sexually active to be sexually fulfilled,” he said.

With regard not only to homosexuals, but also heterosexual couples engaged in extramarital or premarital sex, Duncan expressed his belief the church must welcome all people, but not affirm behavior the Bible prohibits.

“Acceptance and agreement are not the same thing,” he said.

However, even among Baptists and other evangelical Christians who take a traditional view toward sex outside marriage, changes in society make it imperative for Christians to frame the discussion in different ways.

Roger Olson“Sexual activity belongs within the confines of heterosexual, monogamous marriages. That should be the church’s position,” said Roger Olson, Foy Valentine professor of Christian theology and ethics at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“But Christians need to become aware that we no longer own the culture. The culture we live in is pluralistic and secular/pagan. Singling out homosexuality as a special kind of evil is perceived as simply stupid by secular and pagan Americans—to say nothing of non-Americans.”

Crusades to “protect traditional marriage” reinforce the widespread impression that evangelical Christians believe they have the right to dictate and legislate morality for everyone, he said.

Olson advocates a separation of the civil and religious functions of marriage. Government should offer civil unions to guarantee shared property rights and rights in regard to partners’ decisions concerning each other. Churches and religious organizations should have “the exclusive right to determine who is and who is not married,” he said.

Gushee sees “a weakening sense of moral clarity related to what exactly biblical sexual ethics” means in the 21st century, as well as social pressures that make marriage unattractive or even unattainable for some people.

“Today, we see more clearly than ever that marriage is a social institution whose vitality in part depends on factors extraneous to Christian morality or beyond Christian control,” he said. He cites factors such as the average age for the onset of puberty, the health of the economy, professional prospects for young people, the ages at which people reasonably can be expected to enter into marriage, and even how tax policy, social welfare policy and inheritance law treat marriage.

“The overall direction of recent changes in these areas has been to weaken the viability or preferability of marriage as an institution and to de-couple sexuality from marriage for a majority of the U.S. population,” he said.

“It is not just those with same-sex attraction who lack access to marriage in many parts of the country, but those in their 20s trying to get started in a depressed economy and those in their 70s trying to find love after the death or divorce of a spouse. The viability of the traditional Christian sexual ethic keeps eroding, from all sides.”

Dan McGee, a Christian Dan McGeepsychologist and board-certified clinical sexologist, agrees with church leaders who call for a more expansive understanding of human sexuality.

“Sexuality is a much deeper mystery than mere sexual behavior. Human sexuality is interwoven biologically, psychologically, socially and spiritually,” he said.

The complexity of human sexuality makes it particularly difficult for Christians to deal with the issue of homosexuality, said McGee, former director of Counseling and Psychological Services for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Research points to sexuality as a continuum, from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual, with gradations between, he asserted.

Based on more than 35 years clinical experience, he said, “I lean strongly to the notion that there are indeed biological factors involved in the origin of homosexuality, and the closer one scores on to the ‘exclusively homosexual’ end of the continuum, the greater role this biological factor plays.”

McGee sees Christians who support “reparative” or “conversion” therapy for homosexuals as sincere and well-meaning but ill-informed.

“It’s built on pseudo-science that says, ‘Homosexual orientation is caused by overprotective mothers and distant fathers, and we’re here to fix it,’” he said.

While McGee notes, “I certainly believe one’s faith in a loving God can work miracles,” he insists therapy designed to “cure” homosexuals of same-sex desires can cause guilt, shame and depression for gays who find themselves unable to change their orientation.

Nevertheless, in spite of the complex nature of human sexuality and shifting understandings of marriage, Baptist ministers, ethicists and mental health professionals agreed on the importance of fidelity and commitment.

Gushee particularly advocates what he calls a “covenant fidelity ethic.”

“Emphasizing the wellbeing of children, parents’ covenant obligations to children and their need for a stable, loving family in which to be raised would be an extremely important part of this ethic,” he said. “And in our culture of easy in/easy out relationships, teaching covenant fidelity to everyone would in fact be countercultural.”

HOUSTON—Many churches greet the rush of the back-to-school season with special worship services and promotion Sundays. One Houston church stays grounded with an annual project that has helped more than 100,000 children worldwide.

South Main Baptist Church in Houston completed its Volunteers of all ages helped pack shoes at South Main Baptist Church in Houston on Sept. 1. Church members have collected 100,000 pairs of Shoes for Orphan Souls over the lifetime of the project. (Photo by Eric Guel)13th annual shoe drive Sept. 1 in support of Shoes for Orphan Souls, the largest humanitarian aid project of Buckner International. The church collected 10,012 pairs of shoes this year that soon will be on the feet of children in the Dominican Republic, Peru and the United States.

This year’s collection pushed the total given through South Main to 100,310 pairs of shoes collected since 2001, making it the largest cumulative collection of shoes by any church in the history of the Shoes for Orphan Souls project. 

“These shoes will find their way to vulnerable children and families and serve as a tangible expression of God’s love, shining hope into their lives. South Main has really taken the ball and scored a touchdown for Shoes for Orphan Souls,” said Albert Reyes, president and CEO of Buckner International.

Shoes are displayed behind cages in the lobby of South Main Baptist Church in Houston where they serve as a constant reminder of the children whose lives will be affected by the collection. (Photo by Eric Guel)On Sept. 1, more than 200 volunteers of varied ages worked together in the South Main lobby to prepare the shoes for shipping. Children as young as 4 and 5 years old tossed shoes from the top of the “shoe mountain” as adults sorted and packed them up for shipment to the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid in Dallas.

“It’s controlled chaos,” said Henry Hill, church member and long-time shoe drive coordinator. “But I always say there’s a job for everyone.”

Children climbed mountains of shoes in the lobby at South Main Baptist Church in Houston to toss shoes down below to the adults packing up the boxes. (Photo by Eric Guel)Hill has coordinated the church’s shoe drive since it began in 2001 and has traveled on 15 mission trips with Buckner to serve vulnerable children and deliver shoes. He serves as trustee emeritus on the Buckner board and has a unique perspective on the needs of children he has seen through his travels around the world.

“I catch myself looking at what kids have on their feet, and most of the places we go, the kids don’t have shoes like they should,” he said. “I am continuously reminded that there is a purpose to what we’re doing. So, if the church wants to keep supporting it, I want to keep doing it.”

Every August, the church begins collecting shoes and money. South Main welcomes visitors and members with mountains of shoes piled at least six feet high in the lobby, held in place by more than 50 feet of caged fences wrapped in white Shoes for Orphan Souls banners.

Volunteers at South Main Baptist Church in Houston load boxes onto the truck for shipment to the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid in Dallas. (Photo by Eric Guel)Volunteers arrive each Wednesday morning during the drive to remove shoes from boxes, cut off tags and tie the laces together. Then on the last Sunday of the shoe drive, everyone comes together for a packing party after church to help process and pack the shoes for shipment.

Pastor Steve Wells said the mountains serve as both a practical storage space and visual reminder about the children whose lives they are changing through their gifts.

“There is so much energy that comes from seeing this big display continue to grow week after week,” Wells said. “We are constantly reminding everyone that each pair of shoes is going to be delivered to a child with grace and love; and that this is not a one and done project. Buckner is in it for the long haul. The shoes are a front door, not a back door. Buckner maximizes the impact of the shoes for deeper ministry everywhere they go.”

Molly Cash, Shoes for Orphan Souls project coordinator, unloads boxes at the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid. (Photo by Lauren Sturdy/Buckner International)In addition to the shoe drive, South Main collaborates with Buckner to support a community project in Peru and to build churches and homes for vulnerable families in the poorest counties of the Rio Grande Valley.

Molly Cash, Shoes for Orphan Souls coordinator, said South Main’s dedication is “unheard of” and the church has collected more shoes than any other church in the United States. 

“They have such a fiery passion to help kids,” she said. “To see it continue to thrive and flourish year after year is so inspiring. Without South Main, a lot of kids wouldn’t have the joy of receiving a new pair of shoes, or the prayers and love that come with them.”

Cash, who grew up attending the church and first learned about Buckner and Shoes for Orphan Souls through Hill, credits the church’s leadership and coordinator Henry Hill with helping the project continue to be so successful.

SaraBeth Tunnell, Shoes for Orphan Souls project coordinator, helps unload boxes of shoes at the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid in Dallas. (Photo by Lauren Sturdy/Buckner International)“Henry is a sweet man with the biggest heart,” she said. “He loves Buckner and the kids we serve. His attention to detail and to making sure each child receives the very best is what makes him so wonderful to work with. And I think the church seeing his enthusiasm is huge.”

Hill points back to the church as the true sustaining force behind the effort.

“I feel very proud and very appreciative of what the members of South Main have contributed over such a long period of time,” he said. “To sustain it for that long is really something. South Main truly has a heart for ministry.”

Hill will travel to Peru with Buckner the ninth time this December to deliver Christmas gifts and shoes to children.

“Buckner always says the shoes help the kids know they are not forgotten, and that is really the truth. You see the kids smile and jump, dancing around in their shoes. It’s pretty special. Especially when you know they don’t ever get anything new. I feel very, very blessed.”

BOERNE—The waters of the Guadalupe River stirred in mid-August—not unusual for a popular Central Texas summer rafting site. Only this time, floating the river was the last thing on the minds of the people who gathered there.

Pastor Jason BrownNineteen:ten Church, a Texas Baptist congregation in Boerne that takes its name from Luke 19:10 in the New Testament, baptized 85 people, and about 350 witnesses lined the shore as part of the church’s annual end-of-summer celebration.

Children, teens and adults entered the water for the ordinance. Fathers baptized sons. Husbands baptized wives. Bible study leaders witnessed people they are seeking to disciple take a public step of faith. The event provided an opportunity for worshippers who made commitments to Christ during the church’s summer camps and outreach efforts to follow up by being baptized.

It seemed like a scene directly from the Bible, Pastor Jason Brown noted.

“It’s really a beautiful setting,” he said. “I can’t help but picture the Jordan River looking a lot like that. I’ve never been there, but I’ve seen pictures, though. You can almost see John the Baptist and all these people out there to be baptized.”

Brown hopes baptism is a life event each of the participants never forget.

“We try to make it really special for them to understand this is a special moment in your life,” Brown said. “Take it in. Take it all in.”

Marty Mosher, a church starting consultant with the Baptist General Convention of Texas who has helped Nineteen:ten since its beginning, celebrated how God is changing lives through the congregation’s ministry. That’s precisely what Mosher prays every new Texas Baptist church does.

“Regardless of the numbers, we’re seeking to start churches that reach the unreached,” he said. “Through outreach, we want them to get big enough to support themselves, make their own decisions and start other churches that in turn will reach more unreached people.”

Brown thanks God for every person Nineteen:ten has had the opportunity to serve. Every profession of faith in Jesus and every life changed reflects God’s work in the area.

“It’s just affirmation to us that this ground that we’re plowing, we’re starting to see fruit from it,” he said.

LONGVIEW—Pastor Glynn Stone asked people in worship services at Mobberly Baptist Church to proclaim one simple yet powerful message through action: “I am not ashamed.”

They did it in droves.

Eighty people were baptized Aug. 18 after the pastor explained the significance of the ordinance and provided biblical examples of believers submitting to baptism as a public display of a decision to follow Christ.

Mobberly Baptist Church Senior Pastor Glynn Stone explains the importance of baptism during the “I Am Not Ashamed” emphasis.“Baptism is a sermon of you committing your life to Jesus Christ,” he said. “Today, we get to celebrate that.”

Removing the barriers

The church attempted to remove all barriers that cause people to postpone baptism. Horse troughs set up on the platform served as baptisteries. Individuals who came forward were baptized that morning. The church provided a change of clothes for any who felt they weren’t dressed appropriately.

Some people postpone baptism, Stone said in his sermon. The longer they put it off, the harder it is to get around to doing it. But Christ’s example of baptism by immersion remains, he stressed.

“The longer you wait to do what’s right, the harder it gets,” he said. “That’s just the reality. We have a whole lot of people packing the pews of different churches who know Jesus as their Savior who have never been baptized, biblically baptized.”

Of the 80 baptisms, 32 involved people who made first-time professions of faith that morning. The rest were following up on a profession of faith they had made earlier in life.

84-year-old

An 84-year-old man was baptized about 60 years after committing to follow Christ. A woman who had just moved to Longview was baptized. A couple living together were baptized and sought a marriage license the next morning.

Jay Shepherd, the church’s minister of outreach and assimilation, said the excitement in the special services was palpable. People were eager to get baptized. The congregation held a similar day last year and baptized 55 people. The large number of people making decisions this year further reflects the need for churches to give people the opportunity to testify about their faith, he said.

Mobberly Baptist Church seeks to present the gospel clearly and often, Shepherd said. People are encouraged to live out their faith day-to-day. As they declared, “I am not ashamed,” they took another step in that journey.

“We make the gospel readily available to the people,” he said. “We train people to live out their faith. Everyday faith is what we call it.”

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted 77-0 to sell its 54-year-old lodge at Glorieta Conference Center for $100,000.

Since Glorieta 2.0—the Christian camping group that is buying the New Mexico conference center from LifeWay Christian Resources—imposed a Sept. 1 deadline on leaseholders to accept or reject an offer, the board could not wait until its regularly scheduled Sept. 23-24 meeting to deal with the matter.

Rather than decide strictly by mail or email balloting, Chairman Ron Lyles said he wanted to give board members the opportunity to discuss it and ask questions. So, the board met by Web-based conference Aug. 27 to consider a finance committee recommendation to sell the lodge. Board members had until noon Aug. 29 to vote by teleconference, email or phone.

Texan Lodge

The BGCT built the Texan Lodge in 1959 at Glorieta on land owned by the Baptist Sunday School Board, now known as LifeWay. The BGCT’s lease expires Sept. 30, and Glorieta 2.0 gave current leaseholders three options:

• A one-time buyout for $30 per square foot, with a minimum $40,000 and maximum $100,000 payment, regardless of the appraised value.

• A new 12-year lease. At the end of the lease, the building would go to Glorieta 2.0 for no compensation.

• Donate the building to Glorieta 2.0.

Jill Larsen, BGCT treasurer and chief financial officer, noted the BGCT’s attorney reviewed the lease and saw no reasonable possibility of success if the convention took legal action.

Declining use

For about 40 years, the Texan Lodge housed BGCT Executive Board staff whose job responsibilities included participation in many of the conferences offered at Glorieta, but that changed in recent years.

“LifeWay has reduced the number of conferences offered over the past few years to the point that in recent years, the lodge has only been used one or two weeks a year for conference attendees,” Larsen said.

Average operating costs of the lodge for the last eight years have been $15,000 a year, she reported.

At an Aug. 20 meeting, the BGCT Executive Board’s finance committee voted to recommend the board approve of the lodge’s sale to Glorieta 2.0 for $100,000 and authorize the Executive Board staff to dispose of its contents either by sale or donation.

Endowment fund

The committee also recommended the board use proceeds from the lodge’s sale to establish an endowment-type fund at the Baptist Foundation of Texas and use income generated by the fund to support BGCT-sponsored student camps.

In response to questions during the Web-based conference, Larsen noted the fund could be expected to produce $4,000 to $5,000 per year, and she pointed to Camp Exalted for African-American students and Camp Fusion for intercultural youth as likely recipients.

Since the fund would be established by the board rather than designated by a donor, the board could vote at any time to change how the money is used, she added.

Some board members who responded in the Internet conference expressed their desire to see the $15,000 previously designated for upkeep of the Texan Lodge directed to the facility needs of Baptist Student Ministries.

The board will vote on the 2014 BGCT budget at its Sept. 23-24 meeting. Normally, the board recommends a budget to the BGCT annual meeting, and messengers vote on it. This year, since the BGCT annual meeting was scheduled in July as part of a multiethnic Family Gathering, the convention authorized the board to approve the budget.

Jared Billups to Highland Baptist Church in Waco as gathering pastor from First Baptist Church in Irving, where he was contemporary worship leader.

John Durham to Highland Baptist Church in Waco as pastor from First Baptist Church in Irving.

Chad Edgington to First Baptist Church in Olney as pastor.

Brad Holmes to First Baptist Church in Amarillo as minister to young adults from Southwinds Baptist Church in Tomball, where he was assistant pastor.

Ross Shelton to First Baptist Church in Brenham as pastor from First Baptist Church in Woodville.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas evangelism division has scheduled several KidsFaith clinics around the state. KidsFaith is an interactive journal to guide 10 faith conversations with kids with their parents. The conversations provide opportunities for children to respond to God as they grow in their understanding of him. Clinics are scheduled Sept. 22 at Indiana Avenue Baptist Church in Lubbock at 6 p.m.; Oct. 7 at San Antonio Baptist Association at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Oct. 20 at First Baptist Church in Grandview at 5 p.m.; and Oct. 22 at First Baptist Church in Richardson at 7 p.m. To register for any of the clinics, click here.

David Thye, professor of conducting at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, will conduct a musical drama, “A New Nation,” based on the story of Jacob and Esau. Three performance will be held at the Scott Theater in Fort Worth, Sept. 20-22. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8 p.m. and Sunday’s is at 4 p.m. To buy tickets, click here. 

The third annual Barefoot Run benefiting Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls program will be held Oct. 5 at Andy Brown Park in Coppell. Registration prior to Sept. 19 is $25, before Oct. 3 is $30, and race-day registration is $35. Entry for runners 12 years old and younger is $15. There also is a 1-mile fun run with an entry fee of $15. Registration begins at 7 a.m. To register, click here. 

Paul Foster has been elected chair of the University of Texas System Board. Gov. Rick Perry requested he focus his energy on the post, and so Foster has deferred his service on the Baylor University board of regents. Foster was elected chair of the UT System on Aug. 22.

Children’s Emergency Relief International, the Children’s Emergency Relief International will expand its ministry to Eastern European children to include Ukraine and Romania this year.international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, has expanded its winter boot missions to Ukraine and Romania. For more than a decade, CERI has alternated providing winter boots for children in Moldova and Transnistria. The expansion of the ministry is in cooperation with New Hope International in Ukraine and Project Ruth in Romania. CERI volunteers will travel to 27 orphanages in Ukraine around the city of L’viv and also distribute boots to severely impoverished Roma (Gypsy) communities in Bucharest, Romania. The boots will be purchased from a factory in Moldova. The project goal is $90,000 and each pair of boots costs $25. To donate to the project, click here and select Kids and Boots 2013.

Highland Lakes Camp will hold its annual 55+ Day Celebration Oct. 3. Wes James will speak and sing as the keynote speaker. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. and includes a barbecue lunch. The cost is $15. Registration closes Sept. 30. To register, click here. 

Incoming freshmen at Howard Payne University concluded Howard Payne University students clear debris near Lake Brownwood.their orientation activities with SWARM—Serving With a Right Motive. The students completed community service projects at a variety of locations including the Brownwood Area Community Garden, the Corinne T. Smith Animal Shelter and Lake Brownwood. 

Three hundred Hardin-Simmons University freshmen and transfer students completed two community service projects, one at the Taylor County Expo Center and the other in the neighborhood just north of the HSU campus as a part of their orientation activities. The work at the expo center was in preparation for the West Texas Fair & Rodeo to be held there Sept 5-14.

The East Texas Baptist University class of 2013 presented the gift of a new archway over the campus entrance. The class raised the $9,000 for the gift in only four months. The last archway to mark the entrance to the school said “East Texas Baptist College” and came down in 1984 when the school became a university. A dedication ceremony for the arch will be held during homecoming activities, Oct. 18-20.

Almost 800 incoming freshmen at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor worked University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students worked to clear brush at Taylor’s Valley Baptist Church in Temple. (Photo: UMHB/Jennifer Jones)on 30 service projects throughout Central Texas as a part of their orientation activities. Students performed landscaping chores, painted, organized office space and played with children along with a multitude of other tasks.

Eleven faculty members have joined Wayland Baptist University this fall. They include Rebekah Crowe, assistant professor of history; Sean Ditmore, instructor of library science; Timothy Doty, assistant professor of communication studies; Troy Gregory, assistant professor of English; Erin Heath, assistant professor of English; Anthony King, assistant professor of music and associate professor of bands and applied percussion; Mark Kirk, associate professor of theater; Amy Miles, assistant professor of academic achievement; Maria O’Connell, assistant professor of English; Randolph Rogers, assistant professor of religion; and Scott Strovas, assistant professor of music.

Araceli Flores has become the director of Baptist Child & Family Services’ Healthy Start program. She is a registered nurse with 17 years experience delivering and directing compassionate care to children and families in Laredo. The Healthy Start program was established in Laredo in 2001 to decrease disparities in access to maternal and child health care.

Anniversary

Afton Baptist Church in Afton, 125th, Aug. 18. Harold Abney is pastor.

David Cox, 20th, as pastor of Davilla Baptist Church in Davilla.

John Chivvis, 15th, as pastor of Fellowship at Field Store in Waller.

Scot Stolz, 15th, as elder/pastor at Community Church in College Station.

Ross King, 15th, as elder/pastor at Community Church in College Station.

Art Vestal, fifth, as pastor of Little Deer Creek Baptist Church in Chilton.

Licensed

Alberto Aguirre, to the ministry at Iglesia Bautista El Calvario in Kress.

Truett Seminary plans Austin extension campus. Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary will open an extension campus in Austin next January. Truett Seminary will sponsor an open house and information session for prospective students, Austin-area alumni, and church and community leaders from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 17 at the extension campus in Oak Creek Plaza, 3107 Oak Creek Dr. in Austin. Classes at the extension campus will begin Jan. 13, 2014, with a limited number of courses offered during the day on Mondays and on Tuesday evenings. 

Stone named to post at HSU. After eight months as interim executive director of marketing James Stoneand communications at Hardin-Simmons University, James Stone has been promoted to the newly created position of executive director of university relations. Stone served more than five years as the director of church relations, congregational relations and ministry placement for HSU and Logsdon Seminary. He and his wife, Meredith, Women in Ministry specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, have two daughters, Hallie and Kinsey. They are members of First Baptist Church in Abilene.

DBU receives $2 million for building. Dallas Baptist University received $2 million from Jim and Sally Nation, members of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, as the lead gift for construction of Nation Hall, which will house the Gary Cook School of Leadership. The 20,000-square-foot multipurpose facility located in the center of campus will house classrooms, meeting rooms, student reading areas and specialty academic libraries, as well as faculty and staff offices. Jim Nation is chairman of the DBU board of trustees, and Sally Nation is a former trustee and a past president of the DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Christian conservatives who think Satan is using communism and Islam to bring down America can add a new adversary to the list—the Emergent Church movement.

A portion of the upcoming Values Voter Summit in Washington will stray from its usual focus on politics and consider the Emergent Church as one of three “channels the adversary is using to bring America down.” Art Ally, president of The Timothy Plan, a Florida-based mutual fund company devoted to “biblically responsible investing,” will lead the breakout session.

Brian McLaren“Why would Satan use communism? It’s a godless form of government,” said Ally. “Why would Satan use Islam? Same reason. It’s not a religion. It’s a movement to dominate the world under the guise of religion. The Emergent Church plays right into that by weakening further our church community.”

The Emergent—or Emerging—Church became a hot topic a decade ago as authors and pastors like Brian McLaren and Tony Jones challenged churches to adapt to a postmodern culture, but the movement never organized itself well, and the debate surrounding it eventually died down.

“The Emerging Church was founded to get the evangelical church to take art, social justice and other what might be considered progressive issues more seriously. It was also founded to get the Mainline church to loosen their neckties a little bit,” Jones said.

Rob Bell“If we had one one-thousandth of the adherence of either of communism or Islam, we’d be doing pretty well.”

The Emerging Church’s inclusion in the conference surprised Jones, given that the movement has largely gone under the radar.

“When I first saw this, I thought it was a headline from The Onion” satirical news service, Jones said. “Some people say the Emerging Church is dead, other people say the Emerging Church has spread so far it’s just been absorbed into the fabric of the American church. So, maybe that’s what frightens these guys.”

But what Ally considers to be part of the Emergent Church might include a wider definition than what Jones and McLaren would. While hesitant to name names, Ally suggested megachurch pastors Rick Warren, Bill Hybels and recently retired pastor John Piper could be considered emergent.

Tony Jones“These guys don’t even talk about sin for fear it’s driving away the postmodern generation,” Ally said. “The Emergent Church has watered down biblical Christianity to the point that John the Baptist would have been shocked.”

Many theologians, however, would likely not include Warren, Hybels and Piper in the Emergent camp. Piper, for example, has been critical of the Emergent Church, saying it is “going away from the gospel.”

Either way, the movement could be considered sputtering, said Scot McKnight, a New Testament scholar at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Ill.

“It’s an unaware perception of what’s going on in the church today,” McKnight said. “I’m thinking this is going to appeal to people who are 70 and above.”

The Family Research Council’s annual Values Voter Summit is seen as a platform for Republican and Tea Party luminaries to reach politically minded social conservatives. Confirmed speakers this year include Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

A spokesman for the Family Research Council said breakout panel sponsors choose their own content.

In 2007, the summit hosted a debate between Sojourners founder Jim Wallis and Richard Land, then-president of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics and Religious Commission, but it has generally stayed away from theological debates.

“Aspects of Emergent have become popular in Mainline Protestantism, and more regularized in pockets of evangelicalism,” said Daniel Treier, a theology professor at Wheaton College outside Chicago. “I would speculate that the Values Voters are up in arms because of some prominent Emergent tensions over sexual ethics, its general aversion to right-wing culture wars, and thus its perceived tendency to go Democrat.”

Islamic TV station in England fined. Britain’s broadcasting watchdog fined an Islamic TV channel 85,000 pounds—$132,490—for inciting violence after a program host said it was acceptable, and even a duty, for Muslims to murder anyone who insults the Prophet Muhammad. In a statement, the regulator known as Ofcom—short for Office of Communications—said the fine was imposed due to the serious nature of statements made by a presenter last year. On the program in question, Paigham-e-Mustafa, which means “Message from Mustafa,” presenter Allama Muhammad Farooq Nizami answered questions from viewers about a wide range of issues relating to Islam. One caller asked in Urdu what punishment was due for anyone showing disrespect to Muhammad. Sitting alone in the studio, Nizami looked straight into the camera and replied: “One has to choose one’s own method. Our way is the peaceful way, but when someone crosses the limits, faith-based emotions are instigated. The mission of our life is to protect the sanctity of our beloved Lord. May Allah accept us wherever there is a need to kill a blasphemer. We are ready, and should be ready at all times, to kill a blasphemer.” In addition to imposing a fine, Ofcom ordered the TV station not to repeat the segment and to broadcast a statement of its findings. Al Ehya Digital fired Nizami in May this year for promoting personal political opinions and supporting a violent act. 

N.C. anti-Shariah bill becomes law. Add North Carolina to the list of states that prohibits its judges from considering Islamic law after Gov. Pat McCrory allowed the bill to become law without formally signing it. McCory, a Republican, called the anti-foreign-law “unnecessary,” but declined to veto it. The bill became law Aug. 25. The state joins Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota and Tennessee. The North Carolina ban is limited to family law. Bans in other states are broader, applying to commercial law, contract law and other types of laws. A federal judge struck down a constitutional amendment in Oklahoma because it singled out Shariah by name rather than referring more broadly to “foreign law.”

Conservative African Anglicans plan conference. Concerned that the crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion is deepening, conservative Anglican bishops in Africa are organizing a second conference to discuss ways of returning the church to what they describe as biblical faithfulness. They held the first conference in Jerusalem in 2008, five years after openly gay New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson was consecrated in the Episcopal Church. Participants at the Jerusalem meeting called for the creation of an Anglican province in North America to rival the Episcopal Church. Five years later, the church leaders say the new Anglican province, known as the Anglican Church in North America, is thriving. Now, the archbishop of Nigeria and archbishops in East Africa have organized the second Global Anglican Future Conference at which they hope to accelerate the process that began in Jerusalem. The GAFCON II meeting will take place Oct. 21-26 in Nairobi.

WACO—Baylor Bears quarterback Bryce Petty never has been put through a workout he couldn’t do. But Petty, a Midlothian native, finally met his match at Ultimate Training Camp, held recently at Baylor University.

Baylor football player Joe Williams competes in relay races in an exercise to learn to work together and express worship through attitude and body. (PHOTO/Graham Dodd/Baylor University)More than 80 Baylor Christian student-athletes attended to learn how to integrate faith into their sports. The camp intellectually and spiritually tested them over four days as they explored identity, motivation, attitude, virtue, and winning and losing through sport and physical activity.

The camp was designed to put sports in its proper place, said John B. White, director of the sports chaplaincy and ministry program at Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary.

Ultimate Training Camp hosts camps around the world, but Baylor is the first top-tier academic and athletic institution to host a camp, he said. The seminary and Baylor athletics department teamed up to help transform how athletes think about, value and play sports, he said.

“The first lecture is a talk on idolatry. Sports often get inflated to an ultimate concern, which misdirects and challenges our worship and trust in God,” White said. “Sports can create spaces to practice God’s presence.

“God’s love and grace are central to why Christian athletes play and enjoy sports. This motivation liberates athletes from using sports for personal gain, rewards and fame. When athletes are imprisoned by imaginations and pressures extrinsic to their games, they often cheat and alienate others—bringing out their worst and damaging excellence.”

Many of the student-athletes’ toughest—and most meaningful—moments of camp came on the final day, when they ran a great distance through part of the Brazos River and across a bridge. They carried boards across their shoulders to identify with Jesus’ journey to the cross as the basis of their own identity in sports and life.

For their final challenge, student-athletes—including Brittany OgunMokun, Baylor track and field—carry a cross-beam to reflect on the death of Christ.  (PHOTO/Graham Dodd/Baylor University)“At this point, I was physically, mentally, spiritually—just any other kind of way that you could put it—just exhausted,” Petty said. “It was really cool, because I had never been at that point to need God to get through it.”

Dallas native Hope Ogden, a member of Baylor’s volleyball team, noted: “Everyone was so encouraging, and it was like the top of the mountain that we had just finished. It was definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

At camp’s end, Ogden and Petty said they saw changes not just in themselves, but in their teammates and the way they perform individually and as a team.

“I think the biggest part of (the camp) was having our whole team go through it together. It brought us a lot closer, and we can hold each other accountable for what we know,” Ogden said.

Although players may lose the immediacy of their “summer camp high,” Petty said, he “can definitely tell there’s a difference in what they’re playing for and who they’re playing for.”

Track and cross country athlete Brittany OgunMokun, who completed her undergraduate degree from Baylor University last year, described Ultimate Training Camp as “awesome.”

“I have never experienced something whereby I could not rely on my athletic ability to get me through something,” she said. “At the end of UTC, when we had to carry the cross and wade in the lake, my physical limitations stopped me in my tracks and made me rely on God to carry me the rest of the way back.”

OgunMokun, originally from Landover, Md., is a member of Antioch Community Church and involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes with Petty, where the quarterback first heard about the camp.

This fall, OgunMokun begins her first year at Truett studying sports ministry and says she is “more excited now than ever that I will be able to reach athletes in my sports ministry career in the way I was reached at the Ultimate Training Camp.”

Truett students were invited to attend to learn how to minister in an athletic environment. Bryan DeVries, a second-year theology student from Corpus Christi, said it was “particularly neat to be able to witness how many of the Baylor athletes quickly integrated what they learned in the teaching sessions into the other camp events.

“Many of their focuses changed from within themselves to without, relying on God as their source of motivation for how they compete as athletes.”

Nearly all of those who attended Baylor’s Ultimate Training Camp said they felt they were beginning to understand how to integrate faith in their sport.

“UTC was a blessing for our student-athletes that enabled them to form great relationships with teammates and fellow student-athletes while growing in their faith,” Director of Baylor Athletics Ian McCaw said.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Fifty years after Martin Luther King Jr. wakened the nation’s conscience with his dream of justice and equality, religious leaders gathered in a historic church to remind the nation faith fueled his vision.

The Lincoln Memorial was festooned with banners on Aug. 28, 2013 for the “Let Freedom Ring” event marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. (RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks)Later, in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial where King thundered about America’s unmet promises, King’s children joined the likes of President Obama and Oprah Winfrey to rekindle what Obama called a “coalition of conscience.”

At Shiloh Baptist Church, where King preached three years before his 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, clergy of varied faiths summoned King’s prophetic spirit to help reignite the religious fires of the civil rights movement.

Bernice A. King told the service her father was a freedom fighter and a civil rights leader, but his essence was something else.

Faith leader

“He was a pastor,” said King, who was 5 when her father electrified the nation in front of the Lincoln Memorial. “He was a prophet. He was a faith leader.”

“We can never forget as we celebrate, as we remember … it was that faith and the Spirit of God itself that fueled, that infused the movement that led to great change and transformation in the ’50s and ’60s.”

Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Martin Luther King’s spiritual home, Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, said they had come together to celebrate a servant of God, “whose ministry stretched far beyond the four walls of the church, and whose parish was America and the world itself.”

Crowds gathered on the National Mall on Aug. 28, 2013 as President Obama addressed the “Let Freedom Ring” commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. (RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks)Other clergy recalled with pride how members of their own faiths joined with King 50 years ago to nonviolently challenge racism and demand equal opportunity and jobs.

March ‘was worship’

Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, read from a letter written to King by Abraham Joshua Heschel, a rabbi who walked shoulder-to-shoulder with him during the freedom march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965.

“Even without words, our march was worship,” Heschel wrote. “I felt like my legs were praying.”

In the years after the Holocaust, Schonfeld said, King gave Jews in America a spiritual rebirth, a reason to believe “God had not forsaken all mankind.”

Born in Sudan, Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America, said King’s legacy made it possible for 28 faith communities to came to his mosque after 9/11 to pray alongside his congregation.

King taught that “hate cannot drive out hate,” Magid said. “Only love can do that.”

Justice remains elusive

After the morning prayer service, throngs gathered at the site of King’s speech to mark decades of progress but issue the reminder justice remains elusive for some.

“We’re not here to claim any victory. We’re here to say that the struggle continues,” said Andrew Young, a King aide who went on to become mayor of Atlanta, U.N. ambassador and president of the National Council of Churches. “Pray on and stay on and fight on.”

Martin Luther King III added: “No one ever told any of us that our road would  be easy. I know that our God, our God, our God would not bring all of us this far to leave us.”

Joseph Lowery, one of the last living icons of the civil rights movement, spoke from a wheelchair close to the imposing statue of Abraham Lincoln and challenged the crowd to battle modern-day efforts to deny rights and restrict freedom.

“We come here to Washington to say we ain’t going back,” said Lowery. “We’ve come too far, marched too long, prayed too hard … bled too profusely and died too young to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.”