NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – A Tennessee school district has settled a lawsuit over the proper role of religion in public schools. The Sumner County Board of Education voted Dec 6 to accept an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee ending a lawsuit filed against school officials May 2.

The ACLU alleged a pattern of unconstitutional religious activity dating back at least five years in the county’s schools. Alleged Establishment Clause violations included distributing Bibles in elementary schools, invocations at school board meetings, prayer over loudspeakers led by members of a student Bible club, teacher endorsement of religion and holding graduations and other school events in churches.

Filed on behalf of nine students attending five schools, the lawsuit also objected to busing of students to a Southern Baptist church for activities like a celebration of the completion of comprehensive testing without permission from their parents and allowing a youth minister from the church, Long Hollow Baptist Church, to join students at a middle school for lunch at least once a week.

A “consent decree” filed in United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee agrees that in the future school events would only be held in religious venues if no comparable secular alternative to accommodate them is readily available. School officials are no longer allowed to promote their personal religious views in the classroom, and lunch-room visitors will be limited to family members.

“We are pleased that the Sumner County School Board ultimately recognized its obligation to ensure the religious freedom of its students by preventing school officials from promoting their personal religious beliefs,” said George Barrett, cooperating attorney for ACLU of Tennessee.

The school board said the settlement “fully preserves the constitutional rights of students and teachers and looks forward to the school district’s continued success in its mission of educating students by preparing graduates, engaging minds and developing character.”

David French, senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice who represented the school board, said terms of the agreement allow students “the full range of constitutional rights” in areas like forming religious clubs, organizing See You at the Pole prayer events and praying in the end zone after football games.

Regarding teacher rights, French said, the settlement “clarifies the distinction between official and personal conduct” in using taxpayer-funded positions for educational aims.

The settlement marks the third time in three years the Tennessee ACLU has managed to change school policies on religious activities. In 2010, Cheatham County schools agreed to a court order requiring that religious practices at the school halt and in 2008 a federal judge ordered the Wilson County schools to end their endorsement of religion.

–Bob Allen is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press.

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School district sued over religious activity

NEW YORK—Quarterback Robert Griffin III won the Heisman Trophy on Dec. 10, becoming the 77th recipient of college sports’ highest award and the first in Baylor University’s history.

Heisman voters selected Griffin over Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, Luck, Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, Louisiana State cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and Alabama running back Trent Richardson.

Robert Griffin III

RG3, as fans throughout “Baylor Nation” know him, wore a new suit and brightly colored Superman socks for the occasion at Best Buy Theater in Times Square.

The redshirt junior—who already earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Baylor in three years, is working on a master’s degree in communications and plans to apply for Baylor Law School if he doesn’t go to the NFL—accounted for 45 touchdowns this season. Griffin ran for 100 or more yards twice and threw for 300 yards or more nine games this season.

Baylor notes Giffin also is:

• No. 1 in the nation in pass efficiency (on pace for a new NCAA record) and points responsibility

• Top-5 nationally in total offense, touchdown passes and completion percentage

• Owner of 51 Baylor records, including season and career marks for passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage, total yards and total touchdowns

• Davey O'Brien Award winner

• Walter Camp Player of the Year finalist

• Manning Award finalist

• Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist

• Wuerffel Award finalist

• Academic All-District VII and 2011 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team selection

• Four-time national player of the week

• One of three players in FBS history with 10,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing

• 2011 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year

• 2011 Big 12 All Conference First Team.
 

DALLAS—Nursing students from Texas Women's University and members of the Dallas Cake Club spread Christmas cheer at three Buckner afterschool programs in the Dallas area.

The faces of children in Buckner-run afterschool programs lit up when they opened their gifts to find toys, school supplies and hygiene products. (PHOTOS/Buckner International)

The Dallas Cake Club provided festive, fondant-covered confections to the Hillburn Hills, Simari Ridge and Wynnewood community resource centers, while the TWU nursing school brought wrapped boxes filled with gifts that nursing students had collected for each child.

"I really hope that the kids just know there are people out there who love them and care for them that are not in their everyday life," said Chelsea Moran, a junior in the nursing program and a member of First Baptist Church of Euless.

The children's faces lit up to open their boxes and see new school supplies, jewelry-making kits, action figures, kites, new socks, toiletries and other gifts.

"The kids responded well to the group, and they were very excited to get gifts," said Carter Shephard, community resource coordinator at Simari Ridge. "The nursing students made the kids feel that they care about them, support them and wanted them to have a great Christmas."

Nursing students from Texas Women's University collected gifts for each child in the Buckner-run afterschool programs at Wynnewood, Simari Ridge and Hillburn Hills community resource centers. (PHOTOS/Buckner International)

The nurses-in-training encouraged students to pursue education and achieve their dreams. They also answered questions about what it's like to work in nursing. The children especially were intrigued to learn that nursing students got to help in the delivery room.

"One of our primary goals is to use these experiences to show a compassionate side of nursing to students," said Myke Knapp, president of the TWU Nursing Student Association. "Another goal is to be role models and demonstrate how an education can take you beyond what you have come to know as your destiny."

The Christmas party marked the second event the TWU Nursing Student Association has held for the children in Buckner afterschool programs. Earlier this year, they collected 250 pounds of candy and 2,300 plastic eggs to organize an Easter egg hunt for the children.

"You mean we have to go to church Christmas Eve and Christmas morning?"

Many worship leaders know their own children likely will ask that question this year. They also know quite a few families in their congregations will answer, "No."

So, some churches struggle with how to balance reality and reverence when Christmas falls on Sunday.

Even the "we've-always-done-it-this-way" guideline fails to provide much help for some churches.

"Because Christmas is on a Sunday only every six years or so, it seems we forget what we did the last time Christmas was on a Sunday," said Allan Aunspaugh, minister of music at Second Baptist Church in Liberty, Mo.

Scaling back

With teachers in short supply—and church officers who have no desire to keep records of low attendance—many congregations report plans to cancel Sunday school.

"Our church would never consider not having a service on Christmas Day, but we will scale the activities back a bit," Aunspaugh noted.

For many congregations that offer multiple worship services on typical Sundays, Christmas Sunday morning means a single worship service—most often a blended format if the church normally provides separate traditional and contemporary worship experiences.

"We're keeping it simple—no choir, no praise team, just a simple Christmas service. … We're scaling back. We're not expecting huge crowds," said J.K. Weger, worship pastor at Woodlawn Baptist Church in Austin.

However, when Woodlawn church leaders discussed cancelling services altogether, they agreed that was not the answer.

"It's one of the most sacred Christian holidays on the calendar. It would be disrespectful to shut the doors that day," Weger said.

Be the church

Leaders at First Baptist Church in Amarillo began nearly a year ago discussing how to handle Christmas on Sunday.

"This is the day we observe Christ's birth. We decided to do it well, and do it big," said Dan Baker, minister of music.

While the Amarillo church is cancelling Sunday school, it is planning two Sunday morning worship services, as well as a Christmas Eve family-oriented service.

"We're calling on the church to be the church on Christmas Day," Baker said.

That's the broad consensus among church leaders nationwide. A recent LifeWay Research study of 1,000 Protestant pastors found nine out of 10 plan to have worship services on Christmas Day. And nearly two-thirds—63 percent—plan to hold worship services both on Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Sensitivity to families

Still, worship planners cannot help but put themselves in the place of parents whose children want to stay home and play with newly opened presents—not sit still in a pew for an hour.

"We have to face the reality of families who don't want to struggle to get kids dressed and come to church," said Brad Jernberg, minister of music and administration at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas.

"But we never considered completely cancelling church. We felt strongly we should worship together, but we recognize the reality of what it means on Christmas morning."

Even so, the church found a way to call members together for worship and send them out to serve.

"It's a tradition here for members to prepare and package Christmas Day dinners for delivery to homebound members," Jernberg said.

This year, some volunteers will arrive prior to the worship service to prepare the meals. Everyone will gather for worship, and after the service, more volunteers will take 50 to 75 meals to shut-ins.

The event is part of an ongoing Advent emphasis at Cliff Temple on "The Greatest Gift Ever Delivered," Jernberg noted. In services each Sunday, the church highlights a particular way Cliff Temple gives back to the community and the world, from involvement in the international Operation Christmas Child program to a Spanish-speaking ministry at the local Lancaster Apartments complex.

Casual and flexible

Worship leaders at First Baptist Church in Abilene don't know how many people to expect at worship services on Sunday morning, Dec. 25, but they are pretty sure the ones who show up will wear jeans and sweaters, not their Sunday finest.

"It will be a less formal time—not a coat-and-tie kind of service. That lack of formality will be reflected in the way the service is led," said Todd Wilson, pastor for worship and music at First Baptist Church in Abilene.

That's by design, Wilson noted. "With Christmas falling on Sunday, it means we have to be a little more creative and do something young families may respond to."

At Beth Car Baptist Church in Halifax, Va., homegrown bluegrass musicians who now perform professionally in Nashville, Tenn., will lead a lively worship service on Christmas morning. Mike Parnell, pastor of the church in south central Virginia, said the musical group—twin brothers and their niece—will offer about 45 minutes of Christmas music accompanied by acoustic guitar, banjo and mandolin.

The musicians grew up at Beth Car—the twins' mother still attends there—and played locally until a few years ago, when they moved to Nashville. There they've developed careers as session musicians, working with bands in recording sessions.

"They're almost always home at this time of year, and typically they'll play on a Sunday in Advent," Parnell said. "This year, we decided to expand that and let them lead most of the service."

Although Piney Grove Baptist Church in Mount Airy, N.C., is cancelling Sunday school for Christmas day, it will replace its single service with three worship experiences, Pastor Mark Reece said.

"In lieu of Sunday standard worship, we're having three 15- to 30-minute communion services at 10, 10:30 and 11," he said. "We're doing it in our chapel instead of the sanctuary and hope it will cater to the smaller crowds we anticipate for Christmas."

The schedule was based in part on an informal survey of the congregation in northwest North Carolina, Reece said. "Some of our folks suggested that their visiting immediate and extended family members might find a short communion service attractive, especially since some of … (the visitors) come from many church traditions, but wouldn't be as likely to come to a standard worship service," he said.

The flexible format also will accommodate church members' travel plans, drawing some who otherwise might not have worshipped that day, and will encourage people to "come by as they are and not concern themselves about attire," added Reece.

The "floating schedule" also will make it easier for families to continue Christmas Day traditions like elaborate breakfasts or lunches, he said.

"I envision families coming by on Christmas morning to hear the Christmas story and a short word and receive communion together—a short service, but a meaningful family worship experience," he said. "This wouldn't work everywhere, but it works well for us since we don't have a Christmas Eve service with communion."

Christmas worship at Knollwood Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., will be reoriented to include all family members, including the youngest, said Adam Davis, minister with youth and children.

"Instead of a sermon, our senior pastor Bob Setzer is writing an original children's story. We will invite the kids up to the chancel to hear and, I imagine, interact with a children's sermon," Davis said.

"One of our youth has decided to give his life to Jesus and so we will be baptizing him on Christmas Day. Our youth have started the tradition of sitting in the front three or four pews on the Sunday when someone gets baptized as a show of love and support. I know that having his baptism will greatly increase the number of youth who will want to attend."

Since Knollwood also has cancelled child care and children's church with the expectation that they will join their families in worship, "it could be a chaotic Sunday," said Davis.

"But as my mentor said when we had 55 kids dancing and singing Vacation Bible School songs on a recent Sunday morning in a rather traditional worship service, 'Embrace the chaos!'"

Christmas Eve worship

The prospect of back-to-back worship services on Christmas Eve and the following morning complicates matters—particularly in churches like First Baptist in Abilene that schedule choral events on Christmas Eve.

"From 11 to midnight, we have a Christmas Eve service with a full choir. It's very large, very involved, and family members who are visiting are invited to come sing with us," Wilson said.

So, that means lowering expectations for involvement the next morning. "On Christmas Day, we'll probably have a vocal ensemble," Wilson said.

Holmeswood Baptist Churchin Kansas City, Mo., reports similar plans. "We're doing an 11 p.m. service Christmas Eve, featuring our organist and musicians from our congregation. It's a Lessons and Carols sort of thing," said Wanda Herron, pastor of worship and arts.

Due to the economy, Holmeswood Baptist is using singers, instrumentalists, dancers and artists mostly from within the church this year, rather than hiring musicians, she added.

"Children—and adults, I hope—are creating art related to the Nativity story that we will display and project during the Christmas Eve service," she said.

Overall, Baptists and other evangelicals—particularly in the South—are less likely than some other Protestants to hold Christmas Eve worship services, LifeWay Research discovered.

Protestant pastors in the South are the least likely—at 62 percent—to hold a Christmas Eve service, compared to other regions, LifeWay found. And pastors who identify themselves as mainline Protestant (87 percent) are more likely than self-identified evangelical pastors (70 percent) to have services on Christmas Eve.

LifeWay Research also learned:

• Only 6 percent of Protestant churches plan to have a Christmas Eve service but no service on Christmas day, while 28 percent plan to have a Christmas Day service but no service Christmas Eve.

The District Church in Washington, D.C.—a year-old congregation with Baptist ties—will be among the group that focuses on a Christmas Eve service on Saturday and cancels Sunday morning worship. The church, which meets in a school building in the capital's Columbia Heights neighborhood, ministers to Washington's Millennials, the generation born between about 1980 and 2000.

"We have a young crowd, many of whose families live elsewhere," said Aaron Graham, the church's pastor. "We are just having a Christmas Eve service on Saturday night at 5 p.m. and no Sunday services. This is a combination of the challenge of getting access to our school space on Christmas, as well as the number of our folks who will be out of town."

• Full-time pastors (71 percent) and pastors who identify themselves as "part-time" (74 percent) are more likely to plan a Christmas Eve service than bivocational or volunteer pastors (53 percent).

• Apparently, the distinctive religious significance of Christmas is not the only reason churches don't cancel Sunday worship on holidays. Nearly as many Protestant pastors (88 percent) plan to hold services on New Year's Day as Christmas Day (91 percent).

But they and their church members will be somewhere other than at "watch night" worship services on New Year's Eve. Only 26 percent of the pastors surveyed plan for their churches to hold a Dec. 31 meeting.

–With additional reporting by Vicki Brown and Robert Dilday

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the busy weeks leading up to Christmas, singer/songwriter Matt Wertz is helping listeners slow down and take time to reflect on the real reason for this season with his latest album, Snow Globe. 

In addition to including several Christmas classics, the album features original songs inspired by Wertz's grandfather, who served many years as a Baptist pastor. 

"Growing up, we would always gather at my grandparents' house on Christmas Eve, and my grandfather would read the Christmas story," Wertz said. "Some of my favorite memories involve my grandfather reading Scriptures and praying."

Today, as Wertz maintains a busy schedule performing concerts across the country, he relies on his faith in Christ to keep him grounded in the music industry.

"There are so many opportunities to just be thrown off your foundation, as a musician or any profession," Wertz said.

"A lot of temptations and distractions come with being a musician. But I am constantly being reminded that my identity is found in Christ, and that defines who I am."

With songs featured in movies and television shows, Wertz has gained national recognition. However, he remains focused on keeping the spotlight shining on Christ.

"For me, songwriting is like a journal entry put to music," Wertz said.

"Often, I'll write songs to help people reflect and remember who God is and his attributes. Faith and church have been always part of my life since I was a child. As I've gotten older and gone through different seasons, I have learned the importance and value of a relationship with Christ in the midst of busy seasons and making it a priority to stay focused on him."

BROWNSVILLE—Christmas will come a little early this year with gifts for 170 families living in the lower Rio Grande Valley. And their handmade, individually selected gifts never will go out of style and will continue to have an impact for years to come.

On Dec. 16, children from eight Brownsville schools and two local family literacy programs will receive beginning home libraries. Each school will serve as host for a family reading fair, where parents and children will decorate their own bookcases. The children will be able to select Bibles, health literacy books, new and used storybooks, and then read together.

The urgency of encouraging and equipping parents to read to their young children cannot be overstated, said Lester Meriwether, executive director of Literacy Connexus. Children acquire the foundation of language and literacy during their first three years and do not develop to their full capacity without early literacy experiences, he noted.

Dubbed "the readiness gap" by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, entering kindergarten far behind the level of their peers is the reality of most children from low-income families.

Royal Ambassador groups in churches throughout Texas embraced Books for the Border—a Literacy Connexus emphasis—as this year's state missions project. At the RA Missions Mania at Latham Springs Camp and Retreat Center in mid-November, campers delivered 90 handcrafted bookcases, 12 boxes of donated books and $2,100 to buy Bibles and other literature for families in the Brownsville area.

"RAs are all about hands-on crafts and missions," said Gene Cummins, RA coordinator at First Baptist Church in Killeen. "They enjoyed seeing the fruits of their labor, and the older boys, especially, had an understanding of the need for the books and bookcases."

In addition to the RA emphasis, the Brownsville Books for the Border project also received support from First Baptist Church in Athens, Community North Baptist Church in McKinney, First Baptist Church in Zachary, La., and Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, as well as Trinity Terrace Retirement Community in Fort Worth.

Royal Ambassadors and their leaders from First Baptist Church in Killeen delivered 15 bookcases, $450 and a box loaded with books to Missions Mania at Latham Springs Camp. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Literacy Connexus)

The Brownsville reading fairs will culminate a six-week family literacy program for 3-year-olds and their parents, sponsored by the HEB grocery store chain. The HEB Read 3 campaign's weekly sessions focus on early literacy and nutrition, and they give parents the opportunity to read, sing and play with their children. The beginning home libraries provided by Books for the Border at the conclusion of the program will equip families to continue these literacy-developing practices.

Books for the Border endeavors to break the cycle of generational poverty by placing books in homes where none exist, Meriwether explained.

"We are redefining ourselves as Books for the Border and beyond," he said. "People need to understand the universality of need across Texas, but we want to keep a strong focus on the border. We do not want people to forget the needs along the border."

At least 170 families in the Brownsville area will know they were not forgotten this Christmas.

The gifts they receive have the potential to lift them out of poverty by improving literacy skills, Meriwether noted. And through the Bibles that will be made available, he added, some will be introduced to Jesus Christ—the best gift of all.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—An advocacy organization for persecuted Christians has asked the 2012 presidential candidates to sign a pledge stating they would make religious freedom a priority in the United States and overseas if they win the White House.

Open Doors USA joined with religious freedom activist Tom Farr of Georgetown University to draft the pledge. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., was the initial sole signatory among the candidates.

"The right of religious freedom must be applied equally to all religious communities in America, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and others," the pledge states.

"At the same time, religious freedom does not mandate belief but protects the right not to believe."

The pledge, endorsed by prominent conservative organizations and individuals, defends the right to use religious arguments when debating laws about abortion and traditional marriage. It also supports "religiously motivated" charitable work.

"Tens of millions of human beings are subject to violent persecution because of their beliefs or those of their tormentors," Farr said in a statement. "Whoever wins the presidency in 2012 should make religious freedom, at home and abroad, a high priority."

The pledge calls for the candidate, should he or she become president, to nominate federal judges who support religious liberty. It also asks candidates to make religious freedom promotion a foreign policy priority and urges the appointment of a religious freedom ambassador "who is a person of stature, experienced in matters of religious freedom and diplomacy."

Suzan Johnson Cook, a former New York minister, became ambassador last spring. When she was nominated, Farr said, he was troubled the post would not be filled with "an expert in international religious freedom with experience in foreign affairs."

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Nearly one in five clients of Christian rescue missions said they were victims of physical violence within the past year, a 6 percent jump from the previous year, according to a new survey.

"It's quite possible that the uptick in physical violence … is due to a friend or family member's feeling of desperation and helplessness accompanying their unemployment and underemployment," said John Ashmen, president of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions.

The Snapshot Survey of the homeless is conducted annually by AGRM, North America's oldest and largest network of independent homeless shelters and rehabilitation centers.

Nearly 19,000 individuals took the survey in October at 114 rescue missions; 17 percent of those surveyed were not currently homeless, but all had received services offered at the missions, such as food and medical care.

Although a quarter of those surveyed said they had been homeless three or more times before, an even higher figure—35 percent—said they never before had been homeless.

Bill Roscoe, director of Boise (Idaho) Rescue Mission, said his shelter housed more than 2,000 people in the past year who never had been homeless before.

"We've seen quite a significant increase in numbers with women and children. In two years, the average daily population in our women and children's shelter more than doubled," Roscoe said.

Aside from the increases in reported violence and numbers of women and children, the survey found 80 percent of those using the rescue missions preferred receiving assistance from an agency with a spiritual emphasis.

"Unfortunately, nothing in the report is a huge surprise," Ashmen said. "Some public figures like to give the impression that government programs are curbing homelessness and hunger. We certainly aren't seeing it."

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas executive director search committee conducted second interviews with three serious candidates in November, and the group's chairman expects the committee to select a nominee in December.

Chairman Ron Lyles, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, said each candidate is a "gifted, capable and gracious person." He is hopeful the committee will identify the nominee in December and make the announcement in January.

The nominee then would be presented to the BGCT Executive Board either in a special called meeting or during its scheduled meeting Feb. 28.

The committee is seeking a successor to Randel Everett, who became pastor of First Baptist Church in Midland Jan. 16. The BGCT Executive Board authorized Steve Vernon, associate executive director, to assume responsibility temporarily in the executive director's absence.

DENTON—When Kenny Robison first met Rafael Natividad, the two pastors meshed well. Robison had water and Natividad popcorn at a University of North Texas Baptist Student Ministry event.

Months later, Robison prayed as he drove through the neighborhood surrounding Memorial Baptist Church, where he served as pastor.

He recalled the minister he had met and liked so well, but he couldn't recall his name or that he was pastor of Primera Iglesia. He only knew the day he had told his congregation about years before had come.

"When they asked me to come as bivocational pastor, I told them it was with conditions, and one of those was that they be open to some sort of transition. At the time, I didn't know what it was, but I knew the community was changing," Robison recalled.

After five years as pastor, he felt the time for a new beginning had arrived. Robison called the associational office, and the staff helped him determine perhaps Natividad was the person he was trying to remember.

Robison called Natividad. The two pastors then took their first drive together through the community near Memorial as they discussed the possibility of merging their two congregations.

"Before Pastor Kenny initially contacted me, we were already looking to either build or relocate as a congregation," Natividad said.

Primera owned four acres of land, but the church had not received the zoning necessary to expand its facility.

"We were discouraged as a congregation. We were thinking: 'Well, God, what's going on? What are you doing? Why close these doors? We've outgrown our building, so where are we going from here?'" Natividad recalled.

While the church's members had thought about selling their property and moving elsewhere, a merger was not on the radar.

"When Pastor Kenny contacted me, it was a whole new direction we hadn't even contemplated, much less considered as a possibility," he said.

The two pastors talked about the possibilities for a couple of weeks and then asked their congregations to pray for a month.

After that time, the churches began to talk more seriously about a merger and began having fellowships together on Wednesday nights, so that they could begin to get to know one another.

On Oct. 31, 2010, both congregations voted overwhelmingly to merge into a new congregation called Life Fellowship Community Church.

From the beginning, the hiccups have been few, the co-pastors said.

"There are differences in culture, but both congregations have learned there is no such things as groups anymore—we're all one family now," Natividad said.

"We've accepted one another and our differences. We're learning that while there are differences, we're a church and that's my brother and that's my sister, and we're going to encourage each other, put up with each other and bless each other."

While both pastors acknowledge the fellowships and barbecues that preceded the merger helped, they believe the camaraderie they share also has been important.

"We hit it off immediately," Robison said. "And because we hit it off so well, and they see we genuinely love each other, that's made it easier for the congregations to genuinely love each other."

The transition also was easier because of the way God had positioned the leadership of the two churches, Natividad said.

"Where they were lacking, we had someone. Where we were lacking, they had someone. … When we came together it was perfect," he said.

"We didn't have to add Hispanics to some areas to make it seem fair. That's who we had. It just fell into place. You go down our leadership roles, and it's not blended on purpose. That's just how God did it. There's no doubt God was in this."

As co-pastors, Natividad and Robison alternate preaching series on Sunday mornings. Whoever is not preaching on Sunday mornings preaches on Wednesday nights. Sunday nights are left for small groups and fellowships.

In the beginning, Life Fellowship had one bilingual service with Natividad providing the Spanish translation regardless of who was preaching.

The pastors didn't want to have two services, because they didn't want two churches but a single unified congregation.

A few months ago, the church started an English service primarily to offer something for Anglo visitors who might not be immediately comfortable in a bilingual service.

They found some Hispanics are attending the English service, and some Anglos still are attending the bilingual service.

"They don't speak any Spanish, but they enjoy the fellowship—they enjoy being with their brothers and sisters in Christ," Robison said.

The second service seems to be helping the congregation reach out. With a single service, New Fellow-ship was running about 90 people in worship, now that number is closer to 130.

In the first year of the congregation's life, 43 people made professions of faith in Christ.

While it is not uncommon for Anglo congregations to turn over the keys to Hispanic congregations in transitioning communities, Nativi-dad said, that is not what is going to happen at Life Fellowship Community Church.

"They're here to stay, and we're here to stay. And we see it as a God thing completely," he said.

The next challenge is to move beyond some seeing Life Fellowship as a Hispanic-Anglo congregation, Robison said.

"That's what we are, but that is not what we have living around us in a five-mile radius. Our calling is to be a Great Commission, Great Com-mandment church," he said.

"What we're trying to do is reach people. We don't care what their skin color is or what their ethnicity is."

DALLAS—The importance of disability ministry and depending on God during suffering were the themes of Joni Eareckson Tada's message during a recent chapel service at Dallas Baptist University.

"How tragic it would be if the suffering that people with disability experiences were nothing but a preface of the eternal suffering that awaits them in a Christless eternity," shared Eareckson Tada. "That may be the most compelling reason for disability ministry."

Eareckson Tada is the founder and chief executive officer of Joni and Friends International Disability Center, an international advocacy agency for people with disabilities. After a diving accident at age 17, she became a quadriplegic. She underwent two years of rehabilitation, but she never regained the use of her legs or hands.

Eareckson Tada detailed her struggles with faith and God's purpose for her life following the accident.

She spoke about the importance of seeking God during times of suffering.

"God is not quick to give advice. He gives himself," she said.

"When the hearts of hurting people are bleeding and they are seeking answers and asking why, we as Christians can't just give truth. We as believers need to show what is called compassion."

With more than 1 billion people in the world suffering from disabilities, 80 percent of whom live in abject poverty, there is great need for ministry, she said.

Christians should not just tell others about Jesus, she said, but rather give them an up-close, personal expression of Christ. Eareckson Tada recounted many instances of Christ's care to the blind, lame and sick.

"It is about not just telling them, but showing them the gospel," she explained. "Not just proclaiming, but portraying the compassion of Jesus Christ."

Eareckson Tada also encouraged students to enroll in the DBU class "Disability and the Church" that will be offered in the spring semester. Taught by Mark Hale, assistant professor of higher education and director of the master of education in higher education program, the course was developed following the encouragement of Eareckson Tada for DBU to help educate students on ways to minister to disabled people through local churches.

During a luncheon for faculty and staff, she elaborated on the importance of ministering to students with disabilities and helping encourage people who are suffering trials of various kinds.

The author of 46 books and numerous magazine articles, Eareckson Tada also hosts a four-minute radio program that reaches 1 million listeners each week.

She also hosts the Joni and Friends television series, which is broadcast in 84 countries.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (RNS)— Walking across the tidy campus of Bob Jones University, there's no obvious sign this bastion of Christian fundamentalism is home to one of the nation's largest collections of Renaissance and Baroque religious art from the heart of Catholic Europe. It's all the more surprising since the school's old-time Protestant leaders have for years taught Catholicism is a cult and even called it the "Mother of Harlots."

"You go into that gallery, and its big, amazing paintings are really staggering, and you know you can't buy altarpieces like that anymore," said David Steel, curator of European art at the North Carolina Museum of Art and a longtime fan of the BJU collection. "They're just not on the market."

Edgar Peters Bowron, who oversees European art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, agreed.

"It's one of the best collections in the Southeast generally, and certainly in terms of Italian painting from the Renaissance through the Baroque, it is one of premier collections of Italian paintings in America, without contradiction," he said.

Just as surprising as the collection itself, however, is that the man who started it 60 years ago was Bob Jones Jr., the school's second president and the son of the university's namesake.

The younger Jones was not only a promoter of fine paintings, but also of the hoariest anti-Catholic tropes, calling the church of Rome "a satanic counterfeit," for example, and "drunk with the blood of the saints."

Yet the younger Jones, who retired in 1971 and died in 1997, so loved the arts he was able to put these Old Master works in a category that superseded sectarian divisions. Like theologians centuries ago, Jones viewed the artworks as "mute preachers" that could instruct viewers about the Bible, the first and final arbiter of Christian fundamentalist faith.

"He really thought that paintings can reach people and talk to people in ways that that reading books cannot," said Steel, who knew "Dr. Bob," as everyone called him.

Providence, market conditions or both also were kind to Jones. When he took over as president just after World War II, there was a lot of European art on the market, and "sophisticated" collectors viewed Renaissance and Baroque religious pieces as little more than artistic schlock.

"This style was just anathema," Bowron said, and for years the major dealers and famous collectors "didn't touch this stuff."

Jones convinced the university's board to allot him $30,000 a year to buy religious art. He canvassed Europe, establishing ties to sympathetic dealers and leaning on the advice of experts who knew quality and what Jones wanted.

And, Steel recalled, "he was a great bargainer. He loved the deal."

Paintings already going at fire-sale prices often were procured for just a few hundred dollars. By the 1970s, BJU had amassed a collection of some 400 works that covers the 14th to the 19th centuries, with a few stellar Dutch and English pieces among the predominantly Italian Renaissance and Baroque works.

Today, tastes have shifted, and now the pieces are worth hundreds of thousands each; several easily would fetch more than $1 million—not that BJU is looking to sell.

"If you are going to have a strong university, you need a strong collection of art," said Erin R. Jones, director of the BJU Museum and Gallery and wife of the current BJU president, Stephen Jones, a grandson of Bob Jones Jr.

But outside of places like Harvard, Princeton and Yale, no university has a collection like BJU, and high demand and prohibitive prices mean even the wealthiest museum would be unable to assemble such a collection today. More-over, no university uses its collection the way BJU does.

"It is really a teaching collection in the truest sense of the word," Steel said. "It is completely integrated into the life of the university."

But when the university promotes a fundamentalist, decidedly non-Catho-lic version of Christianity, how do crucifixes, altarpieces and coronations of the Virgin Mary fit into the picture?

Erin Jones points to what motivated her husband's grandfather to start the collection in the first place—communicating Bible stories to BJU students while teaching them to appreciate great art.

"As one of God's creations, we are created with a love and a desire to create," she said. "So, these works mirror our God-given gift to create."