PLAINVIEW—The 10-member team from Wayland Baptist University hiked. They rafted. They played with children. And even if the trip description didn’t specifically call for sweating or walking miles, they did that, too.

The group spent two weeks in Ecuador on a mission and education trip through Wayland’s School of Education.

Led by Erika Deike, assistant professor of exercise and sport science, and Gene Whitfill, assistant professor of education, eight students ventured through jungles and cities, up mountain peaks and down rivers.

“We didn’t know what to expect in some cases, but we got to see a lot of the different cultural aspects of Ecuador. We got to see more variety than we thought,” Deike said. “This year was more of a vision trip, and I’d definitely like to do more of the mission work next time.”

Missionaries Darryl and Kelly Chambers, parents of WBU soccer player Courtney Chambers, escorted the group. They run a guesthouse in the capital city of Quito that hosts mission groups coming through Ecuador. Because of their knowledge of the area and the language, they were able to plan activities and coordinate the group’s schedule.

“They were great. They drug us all over Ecuador and participated with us from Day 1 until we came back. Because they had such a vast experience, it was a great way to see the country,” Whitfill said. “They shared some cultural things about Ecuador and had a great knowledge of the activities we could do.”

Tierra Timarky, assistant professor Erika Deike, Sharon Haney, Michelle Ritter and Leigh Castillo—all from Wayland Baptist University—lead a song for children at the Casa De Fe orphanage in Shell, Ecuador. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Sharon Haney)

The two weeks included three days spent working with 63 students at the Casa de Fe orphanage in nearby rural Shell, founded by an American woman who is a military veteran. One day, the group helped at the building site for the orphanage’s new facility being constructed to provide much-needed additional space, and they spent the majority of their time there leading a Vacation Bible School for the children.

Deike also led her community health and wellness students to share their knowledge and pre-trip research with the children through puppet presentations on basic hygiene and health practices, such as brushing teeth.

But the group also spent time having fun on an adventure course that included hiking up the Pinchicha volcanoes after taking a gondola ride to 13,000 feet. They also went whitewater rafting, rappelled down a waterfall, rode four-wheelers and go-carts to a recently active volcano at Baños, and tubed down a jungle river.

The group spent three nights and four days at the Amazon Field School run by Tod Swanson, an Arizona State University professor who grew up in Ecuador as the son of a medical missionary.

The Wayland Ecuador Travel Study group paused for a photo en route to the top of a volcano in Baños with tour guides Darryl and Kelly Chambers (right), who serve as missionaries there. Pictured are (front row, from left) Gene Whitfill, Michelle Ritter, Tierra Timarky, Leigh Castillo, Sharon Haney, Drew Palser, Erika Deike, (back row, from left) Shawn Langston, Ben Robbins and Desiree Sanchez. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Sharon Haney)

The Wayland group learned much about the culture and traditions of the people of Ecuador, as well as some of the native language of Quichua and the folklore behind the plants used for food or medicine for centuries.

“That was a highlight for me. I really found all that fascinating,” said Whitfill, noting the group trekked into the jungle and spent one night there. “Even though it was a little scary, everyone really enjoyed it.”

The group worshipped with Ecuadorans in two churches, and Whitfill noted the customs were far different from American culture. After a long time of greeting and singing, followed by the sermon, the group was treated to a meal by the church—at nearly midnight.

The classes met for a week prior to leaving for Ecuador to conduct advanced research and demographic study on the cultures.

During the trip, Whitfill told his students to journal their cultural experiences and give a final report when they returned. Deike’s students reported about their experiences with Ecuadoran health and wellness practices.

Senior Shawn Langston of Plainview said he enjoyed the trip and experienced many things on his first trek outside the United States.

“It was definitely an eye-opening experience, especially with the orphans,” he said. “Overall, it was a great trip. I took for granted a lot of stuff, that’s for sure.”

Sharon Haney, a senior from Spearman, also enjoyed the varied experiences on her first foreign mission adventure. In particular, the orphanage made an impact.

“We learned a lot about how truly blessed we are here, and just how happy they are there with so little. The kids were amazing, and they really touched my heart,” she said. “Through this trip, we really had to rely on God. All the things we did like canyoning and hiking in the jungle, I couldn’t have done on my own strength.”

Whitfill said he came away from the trip with a great appreciation for serving and helping others at the orphanage and about the differences in how people live around the world in general.

Deike, who did the majority of the planning with the Chamberses, brought back ideas about future endeavors to the South American nation and how to better the experience for students.

“What I learned for next year is to get together more and build up the team more, and do a little more training for all of us. Also, I learned to just rely on God to lead us in the direction he wanted us to go, even if it wasn’t on our agenda,” she said, noting she also wanted to explore making the trip longer to allow for more mission work.

“You could tell the students were growing in their faith, and that was my goal … for them to step out of their comfort zone and see the bigger picture of God since you don’t have the comforts of home.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Oklahoma state Rep. Rex Duncan expects his “Save Our State” referendum to keep Islamic law out of state courts to pass easily on Nov. 2. He’s less certain a similar measure could pass in Michigan.

The reason? Muslims have have established a foothold in and around Detroit, and they wield enough political power to stop it, he insists.

“I don’t believe anybody who would spend five minutes looking at the landscape and the political dynamics of Dearborn, Mich., would for one minute entertain the idea that they could pass a preemptive strike to keep Shariah law out of the courts,” Duncan said.

Duncan and other conservatives—including Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle in Nevada—ominously warn that Muslims are determined to impose Shariah law on the U.S. legal system.

When opponents of a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero rallied at the site in September, many carried signs that depicted “SHARIA,” dripping in blood. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich got a standing ovation at September’s Values Voter Summit when he called for “a federal law that says Shariah law cannot be recognized by any court in the United States.”

The odd thing is that no one in Oklahoma, Michigan or anywhere else is calling for Shariah—including and especially Muslims.

Instead, Muslim American leaders say Duncan’s referendum is a concrete example of fanning hyster-ia about the myth that they want to impose Shariah, which many Americans associate with misogyny, religious intolerance and cruel punishments.

“This is another right-wing fantasy that started on the hate blogs and worked its way into the mainstream media,” said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council of American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C. “Where is the evidence of the takeover?”

Perhaps the most frequently cited example comes from New Jersey, where a Moroccan Muslim immigrant who beat and raped his wife was acquitted by a local court that ruled the husband was acting according to his religious beliefs. An appellate court reversed the ruling, and many Muslim Americans say they found the initial New Jersey court ruling as absurd and cruel as non-Muslims.

What they do want, however, is protection for reasonable constitutionally protected acts, like wearing a headscarf or praying at work.

“Accommodating a Muslim employee’s request to wear a religious headscarf at work in no way imposes religious law on the workplace, any more than when employees wear a Latin cross or a Star of David,” said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU’s Freedom of Religion and Belief program. “Somehow, basic religious exercise by Muslims is viewed as imposition by that group of its own faith on others.”

Frank Gaffney, president of the conservative Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., disagreed.

“The principle difference is that Shariah calls for the destruction of our country; Jewish law does not,” said Gaffney, whose institute released a 177-page report recently called “Shariah: The Threat to America.”

Examples of “creeping” Shariah infiltrating American society cited in the report include Muslims building mosques, using Islamic financing to buy homes, and depositing money in Islamic banks, which forbid interest and avoid investments in products like alcohol and tobacco.

“So when you’re talking about saying, ‘Well it’s just another religious court system that is operating kind of like the Jews do,’ it’s completely different; it’s sedition,” Gaffney said.

Muslims say such views reflect either bigotry or ignorance about Shariah, which means “path” in Arabic and is based on the Quran and the recorded teachings of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, an Islamic scholar at Emory University, argues in his 2008 book, Islam and the Secular State, that Shariah is meant to be followed as a personal religious code, not imposed as a public legal system covering all citizens in society.

“The moment the state imposes Shariah, it stops being Islamic,” An-Na’im said.

Other Muslims acknowledge some Islamic countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, have legal systems based on strict interpretations of Shariah. That doesn’t mean, however, Muslims elsewhere desire the same thing. In fact, many condemn it.

“Assuming all Muslims follow medieval Islamic rules today is like assuming that all Catholics follow ninth-century canon law,” wrote Sumbul Ali-Karamali, a Muslim woman raised in California and author of The Muslim Next Door: The Quran, the Media and That Veil Thing, in a recent Huffington Post column.

Gaffney, whose report called Shariah the “preeminent totalitarian threat of our time,” dismissed alternative interpretations of Shariah as inauthentic. “There is only one interpretation of Shariah law,” Gaffney said.

Anti-Shariah legislation may never be introduced in Michigan, but Duncan believes other states will follow Oklahoma’s lead and pass similar legislation to ban Shariah.

“There are other states, I believe a dozen or so, maybe more, who are currently in discussions with me,” Duncan said, “and watching what we’re doing.”

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (RNS)—Harvard University scholar Robert Putnam has earned a reputation as an expert on the threads that hold America’s social fabric intact. His 2001 bestseller, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, drew national attention to an alarming decline in civic engagement.

His new book, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, with co-author David Campbell, plumbs the apparent divide between religious and nonreligious Americans. Across 688 pages, the two argue that Americans honor their neighbors’ religious differences largely because they’ve cultivated personal ties across sectarian lines.

Harvard University political scientist Robert Putnam’s new book, American Grace,

As it turns out, Putnam lives by that same ethic, intentionally shortening distances between Jews and Christians, Americans and internationals, heartland believers and coastal skeptics.

It’s a long way from Putnam’s hometown of Port Clinton, Ohio, to the ivy-covered walls of Harvard, but friends and associates say the relationships he formed along the way continue to deeply inform his work.

“I’m talking to people in the grocery store; he’s talking to congressional leaders,” said Virginia Park, who’s known Putnam almost 50 years since their time together at Port Clinton’s Trinity Methodist Church.

“But he’s never lost touch. … He reaches back into the community and communicates with people,” especially during important times like reunions or a death in the family.

Putnam’s co-author, Campbell, said there’s still a lot of Port Clinton that shows up in Putnam’s approach to his work at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

“It’s easy to caricature someone like Bob as just a pointed headed intellectual who lives in Cam-bridge,” said Campbell, a political scientist at the University of Notre Dame. “Bob is an intellectual, and he does live in Cambridge, … but he comes from a background that I think gives him a healthy perspective on the role of religion in American society.”

When research for American Grace brought Putnam from famously secular Cambridge to a conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran congregation in Texas, the evangelical terrain didn’t feel especially foreign to him.

“Actually, it wasn’t so strange,” he said. “We went to a church picnic up under the oaks on the grounds of the church, and it was wonderful. I didn’t feel like, ‘What am I doing here?’ I felt completely comfortable in that setting.”

Putnam is concerned, however, that many Americans don’t share his fluid comfort among believers and nonbelievers. Instead, they fear people unlike themselves, often out of ignorance.

“People who are really secular and don’t really know much about religious people at all … project their worst fears,” Putnam said.

“They imagine that all evangelicals are would-be theocrats, that they’re sort of Taliban-like and would like to get rid of all the non-Christians. Conversely, evangelicals (and) other deeply religious people know about secular people from what they see on TV and think, ‘These people are really godless. … They’re Satan personified.”’

When he started work on American Grace, he was confident “that they were both just wrong.”

Research for the book confirmed that hunch: on the whole, neither seculars nor religious people are as hostile or eager to undermine the other as they’re purported to be in popular media.

Putnam’s own religious journey mirrors many of the findings in his book. In 1963, he broke with contemporary norms by marrying a Jew from an intellectual Chicago family. Within a few years, he’d converted to Judaism.

Putnam isn’t one to debate theology. He says he’s “puzzled” on theological matters, though he declines to describe himself as agnostic or anything else. He notes that on high holy days, he attends services not as an academic observer but as someone “there to worship God.”

His rabbi at Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Mass., Howard Jaffe, said Putnam has helped him better appreciate the intrinsic value of tight-knit communities and improve his relationships with religious leaders in the area.

“My conversations with Bob always inspired me to be more open to and aware of what’s going on in other religious organizations,” Jaffe said. “Bob’s work on the importance of working together (with non-Jews) inspired me to be more involved in developing that kind of social fabric.”

Putnam brings his passion for well-formed communities to his professional life as well. The research team for American Grace included about 25 graduate students and other assistants, who were encouraged over meals to tell personal stories from their varied backgrounds as Catholics, evangelicals, Mormons and others.

So deep is Putnam’s commitment to learning from others that he keeps an easel upright in his living room at all times for spontaneous brainstorming sessions.

“He loves people, and he loves ideas,” said Sean McGraw, a former research assistant who’s now a Catholic priest and assistant professor of political science at Notre Dame. “Working in teams gives him the best of both.”

The following information is provided in compliance with the bylaws of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Nominations to be considered by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting, Nov. 8-9 in McAllen, are presented by the Committee on Committees, Committee to Nominate Executive Board Directors and the Committee for Nominations for Boards of Affiliated Ministries.

Report of Committee on Committees

Committee to Nominate Executive Board Directors

Term to Expire 2013

Ella Prichard, Corpus Christi

Greg Long, Elgin

Jeff Raines, Amarillo

Kyna Saul, Hewitt

Nena Dowden, Nederland

Term to Expire 2012

Fred Hobbs, Victoria

Committee on Nominations for Boards of Affiliated Ministries

Term to Expire 2013

Curt Fenley, Lufkin

Dana Moore, Corpus Christi

Elijah Austin, Lubbock

Molly Farmer, Plano

Samuel Jones, Arlington

Executive Board Nominees

Executive Board Directors to be Re-elected

Term to Expire in 2013

Bill Bevill, Corpus Christi

Bruce Webb, The Woodlands

Charlotte Young, Dimmitt

Cheryl Jones, Temple

Clint Davis, Mount Pleasant

Darrell Miles, Cleburne

Debbie Ferrier, Houston

H.C. Rockmore, Longview

Jo Gartman, McAllen

Mike Middlebrooks, Mesquite

Stephen Hatfield, Lewisville

Van Christian, Comanche

Vernon Webb, San Antonio

New Executive Board Directors

Term to Expire in 2013

Ben Macklin, Vernon

Betty Burns, Plano

Bonnie Martinez, El Paso

Charles Richardson, Abilene

Coleman Cheong, Missouri City

Ernest Dagohoy, Houston

Iraj Hemati, Plano

Jay Abernathy, Palestine

Jerry Becknal, Canyon Lake

Jesse McLendon, Tyler

Margie Norman, Burleson

Michael Hale, Center

Mike Toby, Waco

Nestor Menjivar, Austin

Ralph West, Houston

Sam Dennis, Plano

Solomon Liu, North Richland Hills

Sylvia Villareal, Dallas

Vuthy Yos, Houston

Yutaka Takarada, Dallas

Unexpired 2012 Term

Alfred Brown, Mesquite

Bob Billups, Denton

Donna Fulfer, Garland

Jeff Johnson, Del Rio

Jim Nelson, Austin

Kyle Morton, Port Arthur

Ron Lyles, Pasadena

Wesley Johnson, Kerens

Unexpired 2011 Term

Vernon Stokes, Midland

Institution Board Nominees

Trustees – Baptist University of the Americas

Term to Expire in 2013

Carlos Alsina, Austin

Mary Frances Barrera, Tulia

Alcides Guajardo, Beeville

Teresa Luna, San Antonio

Beatrice Mesquias, Harlingen

Term to Expire in 2012

Rene Balderas, San Antonio

Term to Expire in 2011

Rhoda Gonzalez, Dallas

Term Extended 1 Year

Debbie Ferrier, Houston

Regents – Baylor University

Term to Expire in 2014

Milton Hixon, Austin

Duane Brooks, Houston

Trustees – Dallas Baptist University

Term to Expire in 2013

Wanda Carter, Dallas

Pete Delkus, Plano

Jim Nation, Dallas

Sudheer Jayaprobhu, Texarkana

Anita Jones, Dallas

Ken Pilgrim, Pittsburg

Michael Griffin, Flower Mound

Bobbie Pinson, Lancaster

Ron Skaggs, Plano

Ludwingk Rios, DeSoto

Mary Stuart, Dallas

Jeff Warren, Dallas

Term to Expire in 2011

Grady Tyroch, Temple

Trustees – East Texas Baptist University

Term to Expire in 2013

Glenn Bickerdike, Marshall

Susan Bush, Athens

Ray Delk, Marshall

Kenny Hall, Marshall

Sam Moseley, Marshall

Term to Expire in 2012

Mary Fitts, Marshall

Term to Expire in 2011

Hal Cornish, Marshall

Trustees – Hardin-Simmons University

Term to Expire in 2013

Bonnie Baldridge, Jayton

Marcus Norris, Amarillo

Ron Howell, Arlington

Leigh King, Abilene

Jan Patterson, San Antonio

Jerry Phillips, Lubbock

John Sieren, Arlington

Bubba Stahl, Kingsland

Josh Silva, Lubbock

Trustees – Houston Baptist University

Term to Expire in 2013

Pat Goettsche, Houston

Ben Renberg, Houston

David Stutts, Houston

Larry Womack, Houston

Trustees – Howard Payne University

Term to Expire in 2013

Dale Gore, Belton

Flora Andrade, Universal City

Jeremy Denning, Brownwood

John Duncan, Georgetown

Sharon Guthrie, Stephenville

Al Lock, Fort Worth

Marlon Prichard, Burleson

Nancy Pryor, Austin

Mike Toby, Waco

Term to Expire in 2012

Wilson Grant, San Antonio

Term to Expire in 2011

Roy Robb, San Angelo

Trustees – San Marcos Baptist Academy

Term to Expire in 2013

Ross King, San Marcos

Jackie Gray, Waco

Stan McClellan, Allen

Mack Phipps, Belton

Dale Taylor, Arlington

Trustees – University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Term to Expire in 2013

Andy Davis, Belton

Brian Dunks, Waco

Mike Harkrider, Boerne

Jimmy Hinton, Temple

Betty Huber, Waco

John Covin, San Antonio

Martin Knox, Temple

John Messer Sr., Belton

Delia Quintanilla, Austin

Jane Potter, Belton

Drayton McLane III, Salado

Ted Bartley, Coppell

Term to Expire in 2011

Bob Galligan, McAllen

Trustees – Wayland Baptist University

Term to Expire in 2013

Gary Abercrombie, Plainview

Danny Campbell, Midland

Pat Crawford, Amarillo

Ken Coffee, San Antonio

Ella Prichard, Corpus Christi

Randy Stark, Quitaque

Tommy Lyons, San Antonio

Bob Moody, Lubbock

Jeff Raines, Amarillo

Trustees – Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center

Term to Expire in 2013

David Embry, Dripping Springs

Jo Lee, San Antonio

Tony Risica, McAllen

Josue Arrambide, Midland

Don Higginbotham, Fredericksburg

Term to Expire in 2012

Alton Holt, Silsbee

Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio

Term to Expire in 2013

Jim Elkins, San Antonio

Alice Gong, San Antonio

Connie Jones, Boerne

Bill McCandless, San Antonio

Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas

Term to Expire in 2013

Loretta Hughes, Orange

Larry Walker, Beaumont

Baylor Health Care System

Term to Expire in 2013

Jim Denison – Dallas

Term to Expire in 2014

Janie Pena – Dallas

Jim Turner – Dallas

Hendrick Medical Center

Term to Expire in 2013

Terry Beal, Abilene

Ron Fogle, Abilene

Leland Robinson, Abilene

Tim Laws, Clyde

Kelly Kinard, Abilene

Shelly Utley, Abilene

Hillcrest Health System

Term to Expire in 2013

Will Fair, Waco

Baptist Community Services

Term to Expire in 2013

Robert Byrd, Canyon

Don Cartwright, Amarillo

Charles Moss, Amarillo

Roy Kornegay, Amarillo

Mike Wartes, Canyon

Baptist Child and Family Services

Term to Expire in 2013

Carl Register, San Antonio

Bob Ownby, Jr., San Antonio

Buckner International

Term to Expire in 2013

David Hennessee, San Antonio

Barry Pryor, Dallas

Kay Struzick, Houston

Children at Heart Ministries

Term to Expire in 2013

Barry Chinn, Austin

Buddy Ferguson, Austin

Becky Guajardo, Katy

Tom Norris, Waco

Stephen Webb, Austin

South Texas Children’s Home Ministries

Term to Expire in 2013

Johnny Melton, Rockport

David Brock, Boerne

Ron Hyde, Kenedy

Mickey Lofton, Beeville

Lamar Meadows Jr., Rosenberg

Tom Wolter, Bishop

Sherry Sigmon, San Antonio

Term Extended 1 Year

Tracy Crawford, Tyler

Baptist Church Loan Corporation

Term to Expire in 2013

Theodore Deaver, Houston

Gene Payne, Garland

Baptist Foundation of Texas

Term to Expire in 2013

Mark Lovvorn, Dallas

John Minton, Tyler

Robert Fowler, Houston

Baptist Standard

Term to Expire in 2013

Roger Hall, Midlothian

Kim Moore, Fair Oaks Ranch

Diane Payne, Houston

Wilburn Tanner, Lubbock

Nancy Gonzalez Salazar, San Antonio

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —In their concerts, members of the Christian band Mikeschair encourage audiences to change the world by sharing Jesus’ love with people in need—including orphans whose lives are touched by Buckner International.

The band is made up of lead singer Mike Grayson, violinist Jesse Hale, bass player Jon Haire and lead guitarist Sam Tinnesz. The four friends met while attending Belmont University in Nashville, and the band’s name serves as a reminder of their humble beginnings.

Mikeschair band members—along with the morning show crew of a Christian radio station, Dave Cruse, Carmen Brown and Bill Martin—teamed up for a second time to collection shoes for Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls.  Last year, the group traveled to Peru and provided 7,000 new pairs of shoes.  This year, they received even more support for their shoe drive and were able to deliver 27,716 new pairs of shoes to children in Guatemala.

“The ‘chair’ was the central gathering point where we got our start,” Tinnesz explained. “All of us lived on the same floor of our dorm at Belmont, except for Mike. Since he was always hanging out with us on our floor, we decided to get him a piece of furniture to make him feel a little more at home. The chair was his only piece of property on our floor. He wrote his name on it in big capital letters, and it kind of became his seat of inspiration for writing songs and being creative.” 

Moving from dorm room practices to the public stage happened fairly quickly when the group decided to submit an application and demo for Belmont’s Christian Music Showcase. Although it seemed unlikely for a band made up entirely of freshmen to be selected for the showcase, they were pleasantly surprised when they were invited to perform after extensive auditions. They rapidly worked up a set of original material and made their public debut as a band just two weeks later.

Following a successful music showcase, the group began performing concerts on weekends, holidays and vacations. Keeping a strong commitment to their education, they often drove through the night just to make it to 8 a.m. classes. Their work ethic was rewarded during their senior year of college when they received a recording contract with Curb Records. After graduation, they began touring and released their self-titled debut album. 

As Mikeschair performs around the country, their goal is to provide students and young adults a life-changing encounter with God.

“Our prayer is that people will leave our shows, not with a sense of how awesome the music is, but with a deeper sense of searching and to begin asking questions that they weren’t asking when they showed up,” Grayson said.

To encourage young people to reach out and make a difference in the lives of other people, the band has set up a special area at their concerts—designated as “Mikestable” which provides information about missions organizations such as Food for the Hungry, International Justice Mission and Love 146. They also have hosted canned food drives at many concerts, benefiting local food banks.

More than having a passion for music, the group has a calling to touch lives.

In 2009, Mikeschair partnered with a Christian radio station in Tampa, Fla., and took a mission trip to Peru in support of Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls.

This summer, they again worked together to raise awareness about the needs of orphaned children and hosted a drive that collected about 28,000 pairs of shoes. In September, they traveled to Guatemala and witnessed firsthand how these simple efforts are making a huge impact in the hearts and lives of children around the world.

“From the very beginning, we decided that we wanted our group to be about much more than the music,” Grayson said. “We have always had a heart for needs around the world and wanted to find ways to make people aware of those needs. Our prayer is that we will, in some way, play a part in encouraging someone to take part in changing the world.”

Hale agreed, adding: “Music definitely isn’t the full extent of our purpose. We are committing our time, effort and platform to helping those in need—making ourselves available to be the hands and feet of Jesus. There’s something more here than just music. We’re presenting something that’s very precious to audiences and listeners. It’s the gospel in action.”

CELINA—A chance encounter on a seminary campus led a North Texas church to focus its mission efforts on India.

Jeff Carter, youth minister at Bethel Baptist Church in Celina, had trouble finding his class at Dallas Theological Seminary and asked another student for directions. He didn’t realize Godwin Simpkins was fresh off the plane from India.

Godwin Simpkins preaches the gospel to people in India. Bethel Baptist Church in Celina has provided prayer and financial support that enabled Simpkins to make two preaching trips to India, and the church has given him a monthly stipend while he attends Dallas Theological Seminary.(PHOTO/Courtesy of Godwin Simpkins)

“I asked a guy from India, who had no idea where Dallas was, how to get to class,” Carter recalled with a grin.

But that brief interaction led to a friendship between the two men and a relationship between Carter’s church and Simpkins’ outreach to his homeland. Bethel Baptist has funded two mission trips to India for Simpkins to preach to a portion of the millions of Hindus who live there.

Most recently, he preached at four open-air rallies when many made professions of faith in Christ, he reported.

On the first night of the preaching, a rich landowner’s bodyguards “thrashed the crowd,” Simpkins reported.

“I fled. I was so weak in that moment, I fled for my life. Luckily, I was on the stage, so they couldn’t get to me,” he said.

The next day, while he and other organizers prayed, Simpkins said, he was called to the hospital. He thought it was one of the worshippers from the night before, but it was the man who had commanded the beatings. A tree had fallen and broken his legs.

The injured man told Simpkins he now recognized the power of Christ, and wanted to give four acres of land for God’s work. Simpkins hopes to see a Christian school built on that land.

“Education is the way to spread the gospel in India,” he explained. “Education is a platform for missions. Education is a huge need and a huge attraction.”

As Simpkins has shared stories of persecution in India, Bethel Baptist has been moved to action, Carter said.

Godwin Simpkins baptizes a new Christian during a visit to his homeland in India. Bethel Baptist Church in Celina has helped Simpkins by providing him a monthly stipend while he is at Dallas Theological Seminary and by funding two trips to India, where he has preached to large crowds and has reported numerous professions of faith in Christ. (PHOTO/Courtesy of Godwin Simpkins)

“Bethel has been changed through exposure to his relaying these stories of persecution,” he said. “What he has told us has struck a chord in so many people’s hearts.”

The church also has helped Simpkins with a monthly stipend while he is studying at the seminary, Carter said, noting the deacons recommended a much larger amount than he requested.

“Unheard of, especially given the size of our church and its budget,” Carter said. “We don’t have that in the budget, but people began to give sacrificially to the India missions fund.”

Carter wrote about Simpkins to several area pastors, and two responded. As a result, Simpkins has preached at First Baptist Church in Tom Bean and First Baptist Church in Whitewright. Those congregations also helped support his latest trip to India.

“They both had been praying for something to do in missions,” Carter said.

As youth minister, Carter particularly appreciates the change he has seen in students at his church. While Simpkins is on his trips to India, his calendar is split up among various volunteers who make sure he is prayed for constantly.

He recalled one group who gathered for prayer in the wee hours of the morning because they realized with the time difference between Texas and India, that was when Simpkins would be ministering.

“Godwin needed the prayer, and we needed the practice,” Carter said. “And when he returned and gave his report, many of the things he told us correlated perfectly with when we were praying.”

Knowing Simpkins has made the youth group at Bethel Baptist more attuned to importance of missions, he continued. On a recent Wednesday night, he asked who would go to India to minister if they had the opportunity, and 15 of the 18 present raised their hands.

“That gives you an idea of how God has used the exposure and experience of a missionary like Godwin among us,” Carter said.

They have also put feet to their prayers. After talking about how far some people walked to get to the meetings, the youth group decided to gather at 6 a.m. and walk five miles to church. As they walked and prayed, they focused on the theme: “Still praying, still walking, still believing, because God is still saving.”

That experience illustrated an overall greater awareness of missions throughout the church body, he continued.

“It’s had a uniting effect for our church,” Carter said, “because we now have a mission.”

Students in an upper-level ecology class at Dallas Baptist University taught by Deanna Noyes, professor of biology and natural sciences, tested the soil of rural rice fields outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

And in the process, the team helped a ministry to Muslims figuratively prepare the ground for planting gospel seeds in rural Bangladesh.

The class tested 34 fields throughout the week. Over the course of their investigation, they identified fungal infections and insect infestations in more than half the fields examined.

In response to the discovery, the class helped develop a treatment plan designed to improve the crops of local farmers, who typically struggle to produce enough food to feed their families and make a living.

In addition to testing soil, the DBU volunteers distributed medicine, provided eyeglasses and helped Bengali people secure micro-loans from Humanitarian Aid for Rural Development, a nongovernmental organization.

The microloans will enable farmers to purchase chickens and cows and allow tailors and seamstresses to buy sewing machines.

The NGO works with more than 7,000 families in rural Bangladesh. The organization built a medical clinic—the only one in the area—that serves more than 300,000 people.

“We seek to impact the Muslim society holistically,” said Amie Sarker, director of DBU’s master of education in reading and English-as-a-Second-Language program. “We go home-to-home and share the gospel one-on-one after we have built relationships with the people.”

The team went to Bangladesh to meet physical needs, but they also addressed spiritual needs by sharing the love of Christ.

“We were able to meet some very pressing needs that are directly linked to adequate food supplies within these villages,” Noyes said. “But we were also able to establish relationships with the Bengali people that will yield fruit in the future and in eternity.”

The fifth generation of Texas Baptist church leaders is called to continue sharing the hope of Christ throughout the state, and they’ll do it in an environment unlike any in Texas history, Baptist General Convention of Texas leaders observed.

This year’s G5 conference following the BGCT annual meeting is designed to discuss how Texas Baptists can serve more effectively in this context.

Conference leaders will lead a dialogue about how churches can be forces that reach out to the hungry in their communities. Moderators also will guide an in-depth discussion about leadership in a Hispanic context, whether in a church or community.

Ron Herring, director of the Center for Effective Leadership, said the G5 conference will help people discover and refine skills that will help them reach their areas better.

Victor Rodriguez, pastor of South San Filadelfia Baptist Church in San Antonio; Julio Guarneri, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen; Patty Villareal, national director of church and community collaborations for Buckner International; and Lorenzo Peña, director of Texas Baptists’ associational missions team, will lead the discussion on Hispanic leadership.

“We hope that people will leave there with a better understanding of Hispanic culture, Hispanic leadership principles and how Hispanics best respond to ministry,” Herring said.

“I think the people we have presenting are as good as any in the nation.”

The conversation about meeting the needs of the hungry will continue to build on conventionwide efforts in recent years to make sure every Texan has something to eat. Joyce Gilbreath, Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger specialist, said ministering in communities and meeting needs in the name of Christ powerfully connects with the fifth generation of Texas Baptists.

Steve Payne, community ministries consultant for San Antonio Baptist Association; Gisela Lenz, food distribution coordinator for First Baptist Church in Del Rio; and Juan Tapia, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Las Milpas, will lead the discussion on hunger ministries.

“The G5 generation wants to be involved,” Gilbreath said. “They want to be hands on. They want to connect with the ministry directly.

“We’re hoping to talk to people and show people how they can do that.”

For more information about the conference, visit www.effectiveleader.org/G5. 

AUSTIN—Born with “a dream and an ache in the heart” 60 years ago, the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission has challenged and helped shape the state ever since.

In 1948, while hospitalized following a heart attack, Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Secretary J. Howard Williams first envisioned a prophetic arm of the convention that would challenge Texas Baptists to think and act according to biblical principles—a dream realized by the formation of the CLC in 1950.

The commission first pushed Texas Baptists to rethink attitudes and actions toward African-Americans. Building a case upon biblical passages, it waged a grassroots battle for racial reconciliation. Because of its stance, a dislike for the commission quickly formed in some quarters. But in the end, the commission’s viewpoint won out.

That effort set the precedent for how the commission would operate for the next 60 years—waging passionate ef-forts to urge Texas Baptists to act biblically, making friends, encountering people who strongly disagree with their stances and seeing its stance prevail.

Former CLC Director Jimmy Allen, who fought for the end of segregated restrooms in the Baptist Building and hired the convention’s first African-American staff member, said CLC leaders worked at a grassroots level, believing the Bible would changes lives when put in front of people.

The CLC later would discuss church and state separation issues, fight gambling expansion in the state and look for solutions to the nation’s immigration matters.

In recent decades, the commission has helped Texas Baptists tackle hunger and poverty. In 2009, Texas Baptists gave more than $900,000—a record—to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, a giving channel created by CLC.

Throughout the years, the commission has become a group of “happy warriors who bought into the vision of applied Christianity,” said former CLC Director James Dunn, who celebrated the CLC’s 60th anniversary at a gathering in Austin Oct. 18 that featured commission leaders past and present.

“We’ve fought these battles together,” he said. “How can we not be bonded together?”

In the commission’s journey, it has clung to a Christ-centered theology that is incarnational, personal and experiential, Dunn said. The CLC has encouraged a faith based on the notion that a personal relationship with Christ should profoundly affect how a Christian cares about other people.

Scripture and people committed to carrying the gospel throughout the state have changed the state for the better, said Suzii Paynter, the CLC’s current director.

“We are only as good as the folks who have laid the foundation and held a lighted torch of their calling,” she said.

A box filled with a parent’s written stories, photos, letters and keepsakes provides a valuable tool to help AIDS orphans in Africa deal with loss.

Children’s Emergency Relief International Executive Director Dearing Garner recently took part in a three-day meeting in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where the focus was all about building resiliency and healing the emotional wounds of children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

CERI, the Houston-based interna-tional arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, works with the Sinomlando Center of Oral History and Memory Work at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, on its memory box project.

The memory box methodology works with dying parents and their children to preserve memories, build the children’s resilience and nurture their sense of identity.

A grandmother sits with her grandchild, an orphan of Africa’s AIDS epidemic, who clings to his memory box.

A child’s “River of Life” picture became part of the memory box process.

“Many grandmothers, aunts and uncles told me about the difference our memory box project is making in the lives of their young family members, who they’ve taken to caring for after their parents passed away,” Garner said. “It’s a remarkable feeling to hear how our efforts are truly bringing about peace and hope in times of tremendous sadness.”

The memory box project is being expanded across South Africa in partnership with CERI and with funding from the United States Agency for International Development, as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Since 2008, the memory box program has provided training in psycho-social rehabilitation to more than 2,400 HIV-prevention and treatment caseworkers in six South African provinces. 

“It is our hope that, given the tremendous success we’ve seen, this project will continue to grow and lift up more orphaned children through-out South Africa who are coping with the loss of their parents,” Garner said.

Two Baptist Child & Family Services programs have joined forces again in a special tradition. In anticipation of Children’s Emergency Relief International’s annual winter mission to Eastern Europe, residents from Breckenridge Village of Tyler knitted more than 375 warm wool hats to protect orphaned and impoverished children from frostbite. 

This marks the second consecutive year Breckenridge Village crafted hats for the mission. Every December for the last decade, CERI has led mission teams to orphanages across Moldova and Transnistria, where volunteers place warm winter boots and socks on the feet of thousands of children.

Diane Stone, a Breckenridge Village day-program staff member, developed the project after stumbling across some old looms in a closet.

“I thought the idea of working on these hats would be a fun activity for our women,” she said. “It wasn’t until we made the connection that these could be gifts to the less fortunate children in Moldova that it truly became a ministry.”

The group, who call themselves Women of Wonder, knit a little bit every day throughout the year to make sure they had a healthy supply of warm winter wear to send with CERI in December.

“It is a neat perspective to see how the generosity and compassion of our special (Breckenridge Village) residents is felt and appreciated oceans away,” said Dearing Garner, CERI executive director. “This is a wonderful tradition that I hope will continue for years to come.”

This year’s CERI boot mission will take place Dec. 3-18. Donations toward the purchase of boots still are needed. Each pair costs about $20.

Gifts can be made online at www.CERIkids.org or by mail at 1406 Stonehollow, Suite 400, Kingwood 77339.

Families living in primitive conditions in colonias along the Texas/Mexico border have seen their lives transformed through the efforts of Christian volunteers with Buckner International who build homes and spread hope.

In 2008, Rafaela Beltran walked into a small church asking for help making an electricity payment.

Rafaela Beltran teaches her daughters to cook in her new home.

“I asked for help through Ricardo’s church,” Beltran said. “A friend told me about him and how he helps people.”

Ricardo Brambila, pastor of First Baptist Church in San Isidro and Buckner colonia program manager, visited Beltran’s home and found it unlivable.

“She built it herself with her five children, and they all lived there,” Brambila said. “It was freezing in the winter and scorching in the summer.”

Eighteen years ago, Beltran crossed the Rio Grande with her husband, young children and twins on the way. The babies did not survive the journey. And after her husband hit one of his children in a drunken rage, she kicked him out. They had just moved into their newly constructed dirt-floor shelter.

But Beltran said her life changed for the better after she received help from Buckner. She began attending First Baptist Church in San Isidro. “I know that God put Buckner in our path for a purpose. Through all of this, I learned that God answers prayer,” she said.

And he did. In July 2009, a team of volunteers from Valley Ranch Baptist Church in Coppell built the family a three-bedroom, one-bath home.

“More than anything these people gave me, they gave me love and affection,” Beltran said.

“When I moved into my new house, I told my daughter that I was resolved to walk through that door as a new person. … God has me in his hands. Now, I am teaching my children to love him and how to follow him.”

Rolando Rosales stands in front of his new home with some of his children. He recently put in a walkway that leads to the front door of his home

Buckner Colonia Program Director Jorge Zapata said many of the people Buckner serves tell him: “‘Before Buckner came, I thought God had forgotten about us.’ A lot of our short-term mission groups love to come, because together, we are bringing Christ into this community.”

Rolando Rosales’ wife had one dying wish—a home for her family.

“When Buckner first knocked on our door, my wife was in bed and couldn’t get up anymore,” he said. “I was feeding her when they knocked on the door.”

The family was living in a rented house with a caved-in roof, he said, adding that in the last couple of years of his wife’s life, he was responsible for her care and was unable to spend enough time earning a living.

“It was leaking everywhere and had a strong smell of mold. But Buckner got us a brand-new home in May of 2010.”

Sadly, Martha Rosales never got to see her new house. She was living in a rented home Buckner provided for them when she died.

“I know that my wife would be happy,” Rosales said. “I know that she is happy because she sees how we are living now.”

Martha Rosales, who died of cancer in 2008, had her dream fulfilled by volunteers from First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., and Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen, who helped build the home.

“I bought the lot, and they built my house,” Rosales said. “The kids are very happy, the boys have their own room, and the girls have their own room. Buckner has also supported us with clothes, shoes and school supplies.

“I took care of my wife for three years. It was hard to make much money while doing that. Buckner helped with the funeral cost.”

Rosales works hard, pressure-cleaning dry roofs and doing landscaping to pay off the lot for the home, always making payments one month in advance.

“I do miss my wife a lot. Sometimes I just think of her. I remember when she was with me she was always washing clothes, cleaning, cooking. I never know what to cook, but she always knew what to do.

“My kids are what keep me going. I’ve been happy here. Very happy,” he said.

The Rosales and Beltran families are just two of hundreds of testimonies that Buckner hears from its work in the colonias. But the program had humble beginnings.

Buckner’s initial work along the border began by providing humanitarian aid and social casework in one of the poorest communities in the Browns-ville area—Cameron Park.

In 2001, Buckner signed a collaboration agreement with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to provide expanded ministries to at-risk children and families in the Valley.

“Jorge Zapata has been a driving force in helping to expand our collaboration to include various Baptist and ecumenical organizations, local schools and government agencies,” said Rick McClatchy, coordinator for the CBF in Texas.

In 2009, Buckner Border Ministries served 48,623 individuals and sent 2,755 volunteers to repair houses and serve in various capacities. Volunteers and staff also recorded 1,161 decisions to follow Christ.

In total, more than 262,405 lives have been affected along the Texas/Mexico border through Buckner ministries.

Buckner currently is developing a Community Transformation Center to be located in a colonia where more than 10,000 individuals live in extreme poverty. The families served through the center will receive holistic support through counseling, stress management classes and emotional and physical assistance until they reach independence. Individual caseworkers will work with families to develop life plans.