• The Singing Men of North Central Texas will present a concert at Dallas Baptist University April 15 at 7 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.

• Recording artist Cynthia Clawson will perform at the dedication of Howard Payne University’s newly renovated Mims Auditorium April 15 at 10:30 a.m. A former HPU Heritage Singer, Clawson also will join others from the group’s 1970s in a song.

• A LifeWay Women’s “You & Your Girl” event for mothers and their daughters will be April 17 at First Church in Carrollton. Author Vicki Courtney will lead the event, with music by Sonflowerz. The 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. event features several breakout sessions. Admission for mothers is $45. The first daughter is $30, and each additional daughter is $15. Register at www.lifeway.com/ yourgirl.

• Dillon and Buckner International will host a heritage day for adoptive families April 24 at Tallowood Church in Houston to celebrate cultures around the world. The “Travel the World” theme will feature Russia, China, Vietnam, South Korea and Ethiopia. Special entertainment will include a presentation by the Russian Children’s Theatre, Lee’s Golden Dragon Dancers and the Ethiopian Praise Choir. The event will begin at noon and end at 4 p.m. The cost is $10 per adult and $5 per child. To register, call (713) 278-9213, ext. 2222.

• Howard Payne University’s Woman’s Club Yellow Rose luncheon will held April 29 at 11:45 a.m. Author and media analyst Jane Hampton Cook will be the featured speaker. The recipients of the Yellow Rose Scholarship and the Yellow Rose Award also will be announced. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers. For more information, call (800) 950-8465.

• Jason Soles has been promoted to director of admissions at East Texas Baptist University. He had been assistant director since 2006.

• Mario Guerra has been named associate executive director for the emergency services division of Baptist Child & Family Services. He served with the San Antonio Fire Department 34 years.

• Wayland Baptist University is seeking volunteers for a July 27-Aug. 10 mission trip to India. The cost is about $2,000 per person. For more information, call (806) 291-1162.

• Michael Sherr, director of the Baylor University School of Social Work’s doctoral program, will receive the University of Hong Kong’s Young Scholar Award for Outstanding Abstract at the 2010 Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development in June.

• Mary Ranjel has been named director of enrollment management and student services at the Baptist University of the Américas. She has worked at the school 33 years and is the first woman on the school’s executive council.

Anniversaries

• First Church in Christine, 100th, March 21. Mike Bender is pastor.

• Westover Church in San Marcos, 70th, April 25. A meal will follow the morning service. Jeff Latham is pastor.

• Jermyn Church in Jermyn, 100th, May 15-16. Former pastors Logan Peterson, Jimmie Warren, David Buckler and Travis Hart will attend. An afternoon of fellowship and testimony is planned for Saturday afternoon. Hart will preach Sunday morning, with a lunch and fellowship time scheduled to end at 3 p.m. Pat Lockhart is pastor.

Retiring

• R.C. Jeanes, as pastor of Cadiz Church in Beeville, April 1. He served the church bivocationally 44 years.

• Wayman Swopes, as pastor of Greenwood Church in Midland, April 25. He has served the church 22 years. He also was pastor of churches in New Mexico, Kentucky and Michigan, as well as First Church in Petersburg.

• Charles Wisdom, as pastor of Waller Church in Waller, April 25. He has served the church six years and has been in ministry 52 years, serving as a pastor, missionary to Mexico and adjunct professor at Southwestern Seminary’s Houston campus.

• Milton Ertelt, as director of missions for Southwest Metro-plex Association, April 30. He has served the association more than 13 years. He and his wife, Charlotte, also served as missionaries in Africa and the Middle East. During his term of service with the association, 36 missions or churches were brought into the association, 20 of which continue to meet.

• Bob Kibbe, as chaplain at McConnell Prison in Beeville. He is available for pulpit supply or interim pastorates at (361) 375-9244.

Deaths

• Bob Graham, 72, March 12 in Fort Worth. He was pastor of Field Street Church in Cleburne 28 years, and was named pastor emeritus. He served as an officer of Johnson Association, and on the boards of Howard Payne University and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was pastor of churches in Olney, Blue Mound and Quitman prior to coming to Cleburne. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Jo Ann; son, Bobby; daughters, Kathryn Frederick and Karen Hartgraves; brother, Jack; and six grandchildren.

• Ernest Stewart, 86, in Sweetwater, March 22. He was a pastor more than 60 years, including churches in Tuscola, Robert Lee, Whiteface, O’Donnell, Big Spring, Mineral Wells, Crosbyton and South Plains, as well as Nebraska and Kansas. He was preceded in death by his son, Ernie Jr., and grandson, Shawn Stewart. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Jerry; son, Cliff; daughter, Annette Thomas; sisters, Evelyn Looney, Helen Johnson, Betty Schwenson and Bonnie Becton; six grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

• B.W. Aston, 73, March 25 in Abilene. He began teaching history at Hardin-Simmons University in 1967, and retired from the university 35 years later. He served as president of the HSU faculty and was chosen as faculty member of the year in 1989. He also served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He and his wife toured all 50 states, travelled southern Canada from Vancouver to Prince Edward Island and visited more than 70 foreign countries. He was active at University Church and Pioneer Drive Church in Abilene. He served both churches in a variety of capacities, from cook to chairman of deacons. He was preceded in death by his brother, Verlon. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Lillie Mae; and brother, Weldon.

• Joseph Weatherby Jr., 74, March 29 in Brownwood. He had been a Howard Payne University professor 14 years and was the Sandefer scholar-in-residence and a professor of political science at the time of his death. He was instrumental in the creation of the Model United Nations program at the university and was a frequent sponsor on student trips around the world. He spent more than 40 years teaching, and he also was professor emeritus at California Polytechnic State University. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Anne Weatherby. He is survived by his wife, Jane; son, James; daughter, Holly Nickerson; and sister, Sarah McAlpine.

Events

• First Church in Devers will hold its eighth annual gumbo cookoff and gospel singing April 24. Judging will begin at 5 p.m., eating at 5:15 p.m. and singing at 6:15 p.m. One Desire and Appointed by Grace will be the featured singing groups. For more information, call (936) 549-7653. Harry McDaniel is pastor.

• Jim Denison, theologian-in-residence for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, will speak on “Radical Islam: Past, Present and Future Implications” at the Men of Faith fellowship breakfast May 13 at 8 a.m. at the Quail Point meeting room at Horseshoe Bay. Tickets are $10. For more information, call (830) 598-8390.

• The Singing Men of South Texas will present a concert at First Church in Pleasanton May 20 at 7 p.m.

Ordained

• Jason Daniels to the ministry at First Church in Haskell.

• Jody Simmons to the ministry at First Church in Cherokee.

• Robbie Fox to the ministry at Everyday Christian Fellowship in Cibolo.

• David Hudson to the ministry at Baptist Temple in Victoria.

• Jack Hilt to the ministry at Calvary Church in Aransas Pass.

• Danny Brueggeman, Kent Colley, Ervin Frierson, Dave Harrison, Joey Kimbrough, Cliff Morris and John Rutkowski as deacons at First Church in Haskell.

Revivals

• Blanconia Church, Refugio; April 11-14; evangelist, Norman Rushing; pastor, David Mundine.

• Hays Hills Church, Buda; April 18-21; evangelist, Robert Barge; music, David Guion; pastor, David Sweet.

• First Church, Devers; April 18-22; evangelist, Rick Ingle; music, Paul and Christy Newberry; pastor, Harry McDaniel Jr.

• De Berry Church, De Berry; April 24-25; evangelist, Jim Walsh; pastor, Hal Rymel.

• Avondale Church, Sweetwater; April 25-28; evangelist, Robert Barge; pastor, Jason Shuttlesworth.

WACO, Texas (ABP) — More than 50 years after Martin Luther King lamented that 11 o'clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America, a Baylor University study suggests that religion itself may be a contributing factor in racial prejudice.

The study, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, found that people subliminally "primed" with Christian words reported more negative attitudes about African-Americans than those primed with neutral words.

"What's interesting about this study is that it shows some component of religion does lead to some negative evaluations of people based on race," said Wade Rowatt, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor, who led the study. "We just don't know why."

Priming occurs when exposure to one word or concept influences an individual's future response to something else. Studies show that people asked to choose between a string of letters on a computer screen that forms a word — "banner," for example — and one that does not — like "banack" — respond more quickly the next time they see a similar word. After being primed with "water," for example, subjects will more quickly identify the string "drink" as a word. Psychologists call it "cognitive priming," and it has long been thought to play a role in prejudice.

Priming is why supermarkets stock items in bins marked with signs like "10 for $10" or "limit 12 to customer." Because it's subconscious, shoppers don't think they are influenced to buy larger quantities, but it must work. Otherwise businesses wouldn't continue to do it. It has also been observed that people voting in a school are more likely to support a school funding project than those who vote in another polling place.

In the Baylor study, college students recruited from introductory psychology classes were primed with either religious-word letter strings like "Bible," "faith," "Christ" and "church or neutral words like "shirt," "butter," "switch" and "hammer." Researchers found that religiously primed students demonstrated "a slight but significant" increase in racial prejudice.

Previous studies show a complex relationship between religiosity and racial prejudice. Some dimensions of religion have been shown to increase levels of prejudice, while others reduce it. Those studies all rely on self-reporting, however, and are therefore skewed by "social desirability," meaning that some people report more positive racial attitudes than they actually hold.

The Baylor study is thought to be the first to experiment whether exposure to religious concepts may contribute to racial prejudice.

Rowatt, along with fellow researchers Megan Johnson, a graduate student in social psychology, and Jordan LaBouff, a Ph.D. candidate in social psychology, speculated about possible explanations for what they call the "Christian-racial-prejudice hypothesis."

One is that because America's religious tradition is so influenced by Puritanism, people responding to religious terms may be drawing on ideals like the "Protestant work ethic," which has been shown to activate anti-black attitudes.

Another possibility is that Christian words might evoke feelings of fundamentalism — with has previously been found correlated with prejudice — or political conservatism, which tends to justify existing inequalities between blacks and whites.

Another is that religious terms trigger positive feelings toward "in-group" members while denigrating "out-group" members perceived as violating a particular core value.

Groups in the study were ethnically diverse but predominantly white. They were also predominantly Protestant or Catholic.

Researchers said they chose Christianity for the study because it is the most prominent religion in America. African-Americans were selected because they are historically a disadvantaged social group in the United States. They suggested that future studies could explore whether a similar effect occurs in other cultures and religions other than Christianity.

Students primed with religious terms scored higher in both terms of "covert" racism — where individuals evaluated whether conclusions were supported by certain arguments rather than whether they agreed with those arguments or conclusions themselves — and "overt" racism — negative attitudes expressed in responses to questions like how afraid they are of African-Americans as a group or whether or not they like them.

"These experiments are the first to document that activation of Christian concepts by priming affects racial attitudes and provide some insight into the 'paradoxical' relationship between religion and prejudice," the study concludes. "What now remains to be demonstrated is what mechanisms underlie this relationship between religion and racial prejudice."

Rowatt said he doesn't know if the study helps explain why despite progress in race relations since the 1950s, black and white Americans still overwhelmingly worship in separate churches.

Kevin Dougherty, assistant professor of sociology at Baylor, says people tend to be attracted to churches by a "shared culture" that include things like agreement about what defines sound doctrine, worship style and the presence of family and friends. He warns, however, that cultural divisions also promote social divisions, which are part of what the Bible says Christ came to redeem.

Dougherty says factors like race, social class and gender should not divide the nation's 350,000-plus congregations. While not every church can be multi-racial, he says, every church should be a part of "God's redemptive work of reconciling societal divisions."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — During his installation March 18 as president of the Center for Congregational Health, Bill Wilson said churches and ministers are "in crisis." That's a breath-sucking observation from the head of an organization that has dealt with struggling congregations for nearly two decades.

"We've got to help congregations figure out how to do church that works," Wilson said during an interview in his office in Winston-Salem, N.C. The center is a joint venture of Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Wilson said with many churches spinning their wheels in a culture that discounts them because they haven't stayed relevant, "vigilantism" among frustrated members is showing its head.

"Frustrated with the church's inertia, some members are taking matters into their own hands," Wilson said. "They've tried to effect change through the church's own pathways and can't get anywhere. So they say, 'If you won't listen to us, we'll have a palace coup.'"

Such feelings are more likely to boil over if a church has no personnel committee, no review process and no way to air a grievance.

Concerned members are labeled "disloyal" if they speak up, so they "have to take the law into their own hands," Wilson said. That, he warned, "almost always ends badly. It's never clean, never healthy."

The Center for Congregational Health started in 1992. David Odom, now in leadership development with Duke University Divinity School, was its first president. Wilson, 55, on the job since September 2009, is just its second.

Wilson said he is eager to "illustrate what a dynamic, diverse and energizing entity this is; how it does what a lot of other groups can't do, which is cross many, many boundaries and unify people around the idea of healthy church; healthy clergy."

Center staff offers six defined streams of ministry: coaching, consulting, intentional interim pastorates, leadership development, spiritual formation and emotional-intelligence training.

Consultants provide outside help for a congregation in strategic planning, helping members to consider options, clarify their mission and vision and to retool, revamp and rethink staffing and ministry models.

"We're not selling a book or program," Wilson said. "We're selling leadership.

"This is actually one of my favorite things to do," he said. "It's usually with people with low conflict and high dreams."

The center's staff often is involved in conflict resolution, and this may be the area for which the Center for Congregational Health is best known.

Staff helps congregations "which need an outside voice to guide them through the wilderness." Wilson said this is where the 911 call comes, to say, "We need help."

Wilson said he has seen a spike in recent months in both the number and depth of conflict.

"We are in epidemic status, Code Red, DEFCON 4, however you want to say it," Wilson said. "We are in pandemic mode in terms of conflict in local congregations."

"Church is reflecting the anxiety in the culture that has to do with political, economic and social turmoil," he said. "You can't turn those voices off when you walk into the sanctuary."

The economics of congregational giving has created "a huge amount of stress."

Clergy are taking pay cuts, having benefits reduced and travel limited "while their work load in this climate is escalating."

Wilson said pastors dealing with more people struggling with job loss they might have a chip on their own shoulder because of their stress. Their teacher wives are burdened with larger classes and less security and their church is struggling to pay even reduced bills. All the while there is the unspoken charge that if the church isn't doing better, it must be the pastor's fault.

The center has trained more than 2,000 men as intentional interim pastors to help congregations through difficult transitions.

Interims from the center have been accused of leading churches to disassociate from the Baptist State Convention in favor of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina — and vice versa — but Wilson said that is "absolutely not true." He said the center offers any church a list of men who have been trained as intentional interims, and the church chooses.

The interim is trained to guide the church to make its decisions "but not to influence them," Wilson said. Instead, the interim guides the church to clarify its identity and help the church go where it decides it wants to go.

"This is an amazing, one-of-a kind organization," Wilson said. "No other organization in the country has this particular constellation of services. There is a genius to it that North Carolina Baptists are responsible for and I hope they take great pride in it."

Wilson said he was not looking for a change from his pastorate in Georgia when the Center search committee called. First Baptist Dalton had just completed a $15 million building project. He had a great staff and the church loved him.

But the job description read as if someone had been reading his mail. It fit him precisely in the areas he likes best; "to help congregations get healthy, do their best, dream their dreams."

–Norman Jameson is editor of the Biblical Recorder. This article is adapted from a feature story on the newspaper's website.

NEW ORLEANS (ABP) — A Louisiana pastor says he has no plans to be nominated as the Southern Baptist Convention's first African-American president this summer in Orlando, Fla.

Fred Luter, senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was mentioned publicly as a possible candidate in a March 31 blog by Texas pastor Dwight McKissic. McKissic, who is also African-American, said electing a black president would go a long way toward unifying a denomination long divided by issues including race, the role of women and attempts to silence dissent.

Luter

Luter said in an e-mail April 3 that McKissic isn't the only person who has suggested that he seek office, but he has not agreed to be nominated. "There are a lot of guys throughout the convention who would like to see that happen," Luter said. "I truly appreciate their trust and confidence in me, however that will not happen this year."

Luter has broken ground before for African-Americans in Southern Baptist life. In 1992 he was the first black elected to the Louisiana Baptist Convention executive board and in 2001 was the first African-American to preach the annual sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Started as an all-white Southern Baptist church in the 1940s, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church turned its building over to the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans during "white flight" in the 1970s as white people moved out of the neighborhood and black people moved in. When Luter came as pastor in 1986, there were 65 members on the roll. Today the church has grown to more than 7,000 worshippers and describes itself on its website as the largest Southern Baptist church in Louisiana.

McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, cited in his blog a reference in a book written in 2002 by Paige Patterson, a co-founder of the "conservative resurgence" that led a leadership change in the nation's second-largest faith group in the 1990s, supporting the idea of an African-American SBC president by 2005.

"Why not now?" McKissic wrote. "Why not Fred Luter?"

Founded in 1845 to defend slavery, the SBC passed a resolution in 1995 repenting of past racism, including lack of support for and sometimes opposition to the civil rights movement. The statement, coinciding with the convention's 150th anniversary, pledged to "commit ourselves to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry."

While much of the convention's growth since the 1980s is attributed to ethnic churches, relatively few people of color serve in leadership roles.

McKissic was elected a trustee of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, but he resigned over controversy about a 2006 chapel sermon at the seminary in which he said he had used a "private prayer language" in his personal devotions since his days as a student at the seminary in Fort Worth.

McKissic said the practice, commonly associated with charismatic and Pentecostal churches and problematic for many traditional Southern Baptists, isn't anything controversial in African-American churches.

That didn't stop fellow trustees from trying to expel him in March 2007 for publicly criticizing decisions by the board's majority. Trustees later decided not to remove him, but McKissic resigned that June saying the controversy had become a distraction to his ministry at his church.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

ARLINGTON—Unlike their peers who spent spring break partying on a beach or catching up on sleep, more than 1,000 college students chose to serve selflessly in more than 25 locations throughout the state, nation and world, proclaiming the hope of Christ and meeting needs.

Students with Texas Baptist collegiate ministries shared their faith through rebuilding a hurricane damaged home in Galveston, showing love to children living near the Texas-Mexico border, handing out hot chocolate at the Paralympics, teaching a sport to neighborhood youth, repairing a food pantry at a local church or sorting through donations at Mission Arlington.

In the process, many saw God touch the hearts of the people they encountered. But they saw God change their lives, too.

“Their week looks completely different (from the typical spring break) because they have given up their week to go on a mission trip,” said Brenda Sanders, student missions consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“Those students are doing everything from digging a water well in Nicaragua to working with children in the inner city. And yes, some of them are at the beach with Beach Reach. But instead of partying, they are witnessing and sharing with their peers. College students have spread out all across the state of Texas and as far as Canada and Brazil to share the hope of Jesus Christ.”

Brooke Brandon, an intern with the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas at Arlington, enjoys time with a little boy who attended a Kids’ Club at Wheatley Court Apartments in a low-income neighborhood in San Antonio. (PHOTO/Carrie Joynton)

This year, more than 570 of the students from 29 campuses and churches served at Beach Reach, a ministry that serves the 50,000 students who go to South Padre Island during spring break.

The Beach Reach teams served 17,500 pancakes outside of a busy bar, gave 13,500 van rides and saw 61 students give their lives to Christ. At the end of the week, the group baptized 14 of the new believers in the Gulf of Mexico.

While Beach Reach saw new believers from the endeavor, many students with the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas at Arlington had their eyes opened to poverty in Texas during their mission trip to San Antonio.

As the BSM took 92 students to San Antonio to help with Kids’ Clubs, a soup kitchen and a nursing home in a low-income area, many witnessed for the first time the poverty that exists in Texas, just hours away from their university.

One student encountered a child attending the Backyard Bible Club hosted by the BSM who had never heard about Jesus before.

The Baptist Student Ministry from Navarro College spent a week building a house with Casas por Cristo in Acuña, Mexico. Despite inclement weather, the group was able to complete the home, providing shelter for a family in need. (PHOTO/Alena McFalls)

“We definitely have seen students stretched because of the issue of poverty in San Antonio,” said Gary Stidham, BSM director at UTA. 

“A lot of our students are small-town or suburban kids, and they come here and see in some neighborhoods in just abject poverty. It stretches some of their assumptions and beliefs about what they need in life.”

Sanders agreed, adding students don’t have to go halfway around the world to find ways to help with poverty since it exists in their own backyard.

“It’s been interesting hearing the students talk about encountering poverty—whether that is driving down the street or realizing people don’t have enough food to eat or hearing the stories of the children,” Sanders said.

“It has been very eye-opening for them to realize this is in Texas, this is just a van ride away from my campus. But the reality is that in Arlington, Texas, this is blocks from their campus. My hope would be that their eyes and hearts are opened to realize there are needs all around them.”

For other groups, like the BSM at UT Southwestern Medical School, Spring Break meant spending the week showing love to people with physical and medical needs. During three BSM mission trips, 55 students cared for more than 570 patients at clinics in Laredo and El Paso, tending to physical needs and bringing spiritual hope.

Students from Dallas Baptist University work on a Habitat for Humanity project in Pensacola, Fla. (PHOTO/DBU Communications)

Still more students spent their time reaching out to children through Champs’ Camps at First Baptist Church in Brownwood and Harlingen. The camp reaches out to communities through teaching children sports and the hope of Christ.

Although the mission trips were focused on taking the hope of Christ to people in need, many BSM students grew in their faith as they verbally shared their faith with others for the first time. B.J. Ramon, BSM director at the University of Houston, said this growth happened with several of his students while they were at Beach Reach.

“Some of the students shared their faith for the first time during Beach Reach, and they haven’t stopped since,” he said.

Because the students were faithful to step out of their comfort zones and share the hope of Christ, eternity was changed for many men, women and children, Sanders said.

“I think during this week they get to be the hands and feet and eyes and ears of Jesus,” Sanders said. “They get to show the love of Jesus, whether that is hugging a child or playing bingo with a senior adult or serving in a soup kitchen or giving a van ride to a drunk peer on the beach.”

Above all, Sanders hopes students walk away from Spring Break ready to minister in the same way and be bold in verbally sharing their faith when they return to their college campuses.

“So often after Spring Break, we see students go back to their campuses, and they are more intentional about sharing their faith,” she said.

“After Spring Break, the light goes on, and they realize there are people just like this on their campus who need to know the Lord.”

BELTON—From dozens of preschool children sitting on the grass to senior citizens in lawn chairs, the 71st annual University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Easter pageant drew record crowds to the Belton campus March 31.

Based on the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the production is completely performed by UMHB students. Hundreds of students participate as actors, committee members, or as part of the production crew.

Dennis Greeson, a senior whose parents are missionaries in Chaing Mai, Thailand, portrayed a red-haired Christ this year.

Pageant Director Brandon Brewer, a junior at UMHB, was intent on creating a quality production because of the value it brings to people’s lives.

Dennis Greeson portrays Jesus emerging from the tomb as the Risen Lord as part of the UMHB Easter pageant.

“The gospel is so beautiful and so powerful, the costumes, the set, the props, the people are all instruments showing its power,” Brewer said.

The pageant was staged so the action would surround the audience, and actors could interact directly with them.

“We want them to feel like they’re literally sitting in the city of Jerusalem and watching Jesus as he lived,” Brewer said.

The flow of the story—and how the audience reacts to their surroundings— is emphasized by the message, and actors want that message to make a difference, Brewer stressed.

“I love the experience of being so invested in this ministry. It’s been so incredible to see people come to life, and the gospel really shows out through people and the ministry as a whole. Being the director has allowed me to see so many perspectives on the gospel and the true grace and love Christ gave us when he died and resurrected,” he said.

DALLAS—Will Bakke, director and executive producer of Beware of Christians, recognizes the provocative title of his new documentary will raise some eyebrows. He hopes it also will raise consciousness about what radical commitment to Christ really means.

Beware of Christians centers on self-discovery—four college guys who grew up in Texas seeking answers to their own questions about what being a Christian means.

“The idea is to beware of Christians like us who never really have known what it means to follow Christ,” said Bakke, a senior film major at Baylor University.

Beware of Christians marks Bakke’s second major documentary. The first, One Nation Under God, chronicled his five-week journey through the United States with three friends, asking people they encountered questions like “Who do you think Jesus Christ is?” and “What do you think happens when you die?”

The new production follows a similar format, with Bakke and three friends making a journey of discovery, this time through Europe. It includes plenty of humor geared toward a student audience—fighting with toy swords and plastic armor outside the Coliseum in Rome; gawking at a futuristic car in downtown Paris; trying not to gawk at a nude beach; and experiencing frustration when the young men met a troupe of beautiful ballerinas who invited them to dinner, only to have to decline their offer because the young men had committed to 24 hours of fasting and serving the homeless.

But in Beware of Christians, the story centers primarily on self-discovery—four college guys who grew up in Texas seeking answers to their own questions about what being a Christian means.

In the process, the four students—one from Baylor, two from Texas A&M University and one from Georgetown University—candidly explore how a commitment to Christ affects attitudes about matters such as sex, alcohol, materialism and media.

To “get beyond churchy answers” and deal with those issues honestly, Bakke believed he and his friends needed a temporary escape from the comfortable cultural Christianity of Bible Belt America.

“I’m so tired of feeling like a hypocrite,” he said. Bakke and his friends wanted to deal forthrightly with the costs of discipleship in an atmosphere where cultural assumptions about Christianity would be challenged.

Bakke grew up in the affluent Highland Park area of Dallas, attending a large Presbyterian church as a child with his family and eventually becoming involved with the youth group at Park Cities Baptist Church. As a college student, he began attending Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, where he teaches a Bible study for high school students.

One of his traveling companions and a co-producer of the documentary, Michael Allen, grew up in First Baptist Church of Dallas and attended First Baptist Academy.

“I was a typical church kid, and I played the part well,” Allen said.

As a student at Texas A&M University, he became convinced he needed to reexamine what the Bible teaches about the demands of following Christ.

“Things I thought of as being Christian didn’t quite square up with Scripture. I started rethinking the way I read the Scriptures, particularly rethinking the Gospels—especially the parts in red letters,” he said, referring to the words of Christ.

After a period of what he described as “church-hopping,” Allen has become involved with New Life Baptist Church in College Station.

Out of his newfound commitment to becoming “a radical believer,” Allen said, he developed “a passion for social justice and the weak of the world,” as well as a deep desire to tell stories that honor God, deal honestly with human issues and have artistic integrity.

“Frankly, a lot of Christian media either is not very honest or not very good,” he said.

Some movie critics, such as Gary Cogill of WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Dallas, praised the first documentary by Bakke, Allen and friends for its unfiltered honesty. In Beware of Christians, the four featured college students demonstrate even greater transparency.

“We’re not actors,” Bakke emphasized. When any of the four students lapsed into offering easy answers on-camera that failed to reflect the feelings they shared off-camera, their friends challenged them, he noted. “We held each other accountable.”

Beware of Christians premiered April 2 in Dallas. Screenings already are scheduled at Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas Christian University, and additional showings are planned for other university audiences, including in Alabama, Virginia and the Washington, D.C., area. For more information, visit bewareofchristians.com .

SAN ANTONIO—When Jackie Grayson and Dale first met in 2002, she was working as an assistant to the executive director at Baptist Child & Family Services’ residential campus in San Antonio. 

At the time, Dale was a traumatized 10-year old. After being removed from an alcoholic mother’s home and placed into BCFS’ extended care program, his life was turned upside-down between stints in foster care homes and temporary housing. As a result, Dale struggled with finding a sense of security and trust.

Dale Grayson

Jackie Grayson and her husband, Bill, were already licensed to foster and when it came time for Dale to be placed back into foster care, Asennet Segura, BCFS director of residential services, believed God wanted him in the Grayson’s home.

“It was always in our hearts to foster teenage boys since we already had two biological sons of our own, though we were not planning to go the adoption route at the time,” said Jackie Grayson, BCFS residential and Medicaid billing manager.

But the Graysons were thrown a curve ball the first time Dale came for an overnight visit at their home.

“It was so natural the moment he stepped into our house. It was as if he had always been there. He hit it off with our boys almost immediately,” Mrs. Grayson said. “Before we even legally adopted him, he was already calling us Mom and Dad.”

Today, Dale Grayson is an18-year-old private first class in the Army, stationed in Arizona. 

“My decision to go into the military came from a desire to give back to a government that I feel has already given so much to me,” he said.

In addition to military service, he also found a way to “give back” to BCFS.  He recently returned to the agency’s residential campus to speak with some of the children and youth who are facing the same challenges and uncertainty with which he once struggled.

“I wanted to remind them that God has not forsaken them, and he still has a plan for their lives, just as it was God’s plan for me to be part of the Grayson family,” he said.

“Often times, these kids assume that no one understands what they’re going through and where they’ve been.  As they listened to Dale’s story, he was able to encourage them from experience to make the most of the life they’ve been given,” said Mike Denning, BCFS counselor.

“There’s no greater reward as a parent to see a child grow up to be a faithful man,” said Mrs. Grayson. “Fostering and adopting Dale was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.”

To find out more about BCFS’ foster and adoption services, visit www.bcfs.net

SAN ANTONIO—The ministry of Baptist Child & Family Services came full circle recently. One of the first residents of Mexican Baptist Orphans’ Home in the San Antonio—a children’s home that grew into an international human services agency—saw her own daughter become an adoptive parent.

Gloria Hernandez Padilla arrived at the children’s home in 1944 at age 5 along with her two sisters, ages 6 and 7. Sixty-six years later, her daughter, Belinda Perez, became an adoptive parent through BCFS.

Perez was no stranger to the idea of foster care and adoption. Her mother’s passion for caring for children without a home always had been part of her life.

“My brother and I grew up going to visit the children living at the BCFS campus,” Perez said. “My mom spent 31 years teaching in San Antonio Independent School District and serving at Calvary Mexican Baptist Church, encouraging everyone she came in contact with to go out to the campus and love on the children living there.”

But last year, Perez began to consider building her own family through adoption. One day, she said, it was so clear, as though God was sending her a message to open her heart and home to a child in need.

She and her husband, Robert, met with Child Protective Services, and then turned to BCFS for help in navigating their way through the foster-care and adoption process.

Gloria Hernandez Padilla is all smiles as she sits with her biological daughter, Belinda, and her two newly adopted grandchildren, Kristen and Luke. (BCFS PHOTOS)

On March 18, they finalized their adoption of 4-year old Kristen and 3-year old Luke. At the courthouse, Padilla and a dozen other family members and friends beamed with joy as mom and dad raised their right hands and swore to always love and care for their new son and daughter. As soon as the judge closed their case, hugs and kisses were given all around.

“You can just feel the love Belinda and Robert have for the children,” said Teresa Berkley, BCFS director of adoptions. “And without a doubt, the feeling is mutual.”

Kristen smiled and said, “Mommy says we’re going to stay now forever!”

Wrapping her arms around her new grandson and granddaughter, Padilla’s eyes filled with tears.

“We are part of the generations of BCFS, and BCFS is now part of the generations of my family,” she said.

To find out more about BCFS’ foster and adoption services, visit www.bcfs.net.

SAN ANTONIO—The Baptist University of the Américas’ Rondalla de las Américas represented Latin America at the Baptist World Alliance’s recent Window on the World Concert.

Most of the students in the group had never been to Washington, D.C. But most of the audience that heard them perform had never heard rondalla music, either.

The Rondalla de las Américas performs traditional and contemporary Mexican Christian music, primarily on guitars of various sizes. All compositions are written and performed in Spanish.

At the BWA concert, in addition to Mexican compositions, the rondalla performed a piece from South América that included a quena (Andean flute), charango (small Andean guitar) and bombo (drum).

BUA’s Rondalla de las Américas was the only performing group not based in the Washington, D.C. The BUA group made a 30-hour drive each way to participate in the concert at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va., a prelude to the BWA executive committee’s meeting.

In the course of the concert, regional secretaries for each of the BWA’s six geographic divisions brought greetings from his or her part of the world. Each greeting was then followed by music representative of that region. 

“It was inspiring to hear greetings from our Baptist brothers and sisters from around the world. Particularly moving were the words of Alberto Prokopchuk, regional secretary from Latin America, as he had just arrived from Chile and was visibly affected by the destruction and suffering resulting from the earthquakes in that country,” said Maria Monteiro, the rondalla’s director.

In addition to the Rondalla, other groups and individuals presented music representative of Korea, Zambia, Jamaica/Trinidad, Latvia/Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

“It was a great opportunity for our students to interact with people from all over the world, as well as see some of the places where American history is made and celebrated,” Monteiro added.

During blocks of free time, BUA students visited the Washington Cathedral, the Holocaust Museum and all the major memorials.  They also saw the White House, the Washington Monument and the Capitol building.

“It was an unforgettable experience to get to visit the historic places in the nation’s capital and to get to know musicians representing so many other cultures,” said Antonio Santillan.

Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana and Trinity Baptist Church, both in San Antonio, and the Racial, Ethnic, Multicultural Network of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education helped fund the trip, along with BUA.

The rondalla was invited to the concert after Lyuba Dovgalyuk, a member of McLean Baptist Church and a BWA ambassador, heard them perform at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta.

MARSHALL—The East Texas Baptist University campus grew quiet over spring break, but some students made their presence known far beyond Marshall—for God’s glory.

More than 40 ETBU students participated in teams that traveled to South Padre Island, Laredo and Chicago on mission trips coordinated by the ETBU Great Commission Center and Baptist Student Ministries.

The South Padre Island group participated in the annual Beach Reach ministry sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas collegiate ministry division.

“We served the spring breakers free pancakes, gave them free rides from the clubs to their hotels, and made intentional conservations about Christ with those we were serving,” said Bridgette Fletcher, a senior from Groesbeck.

“It was a new and different experience for me, because I had never been on a mission trip that focused so much on people rather than building something.”

Kyle Polvado, a senior from Las Vegas, wanted a spring break experience that would get him out of his comfort zone.

“I wanted to learn how to start up conversations with strangers with the intention to look for and find clues to seamlessly bring up Christ in the conversation,” he said.

East Texas Baptist University students take a break from building a house for Habitat for Humanity of Laredo.  (PHOTO/Michael Cucinotta)

Early Tuesday morning, while giving free rides back to hotels from clubs, members of the Beach Reach team led one student to faith in Jesus Christ.

About 200 miles to the northwest of South Padre Island, 16 ETBU students served on a construction project in Laredo. For the past 10 years, ETBU has sent teams to help the Laredo chapter of Habitat for Humanity with building projects.

“I have gone the past three years, and it has been an incredible experience every time,” said Trevor Middleton, a senior from Hawkins. “Not only do we get to help in building homes for families, we also had the opportunity to be a light and witness for Christ. Many of the ones who worked alongside us were not Christians.”

Middleton developed a friendship with a female college student from Indiana who was on his Habitat crew. By the end of the week, he and another ETBU student felt comfortable sharing their Christian testimony with her.

“She was very open to hearing what we had to say and seemed interested, but not enough to accept. It was great to be able to share the gospel with her and continue a friendship afterwards,” he said.

Amanda Bean, a senior from Nederland, did not want to miss out on an opportunity to serve God during her last spring break as a college student.

A sand sculpture offers a silent Christian witness at Beach Reach 2010. (PHOTO/Bridgett Fletcher)

“The week in Laredo taught me to love others just the way they are and treat them the way I would want to be treated,” she said.

“I also learned that wherever I go, I need to be sure that I am showing Jesus in the way that is pleasing to him, because you never know who is watching you.”

The ETBU builders were able to visit with some children who already live in Habitat homes near the house where the students were working.

“They were precious children and really loved the houses they are living in now,” said Cameron Christy, a sophomore from Hallsville. “Just to see the happiness on their faces that we were paying attention to them was encouraging to me.”

“Through this experience, I have realized how very fortunate I am for what I have. There are people not far from me that need some extra help, and I am called as a Christian to help them out in any way I can.”

Chicago has been an ETBU spring break mission trip destination for decades. This year, the team served with several churches in the area.

They worked with Holy Trinity Church and Chicagoland Community Church to conduct surveys and distribute door hangers with information about church services and brochures about Christian-based after-school programs.

Students also picked up trash in the neighborhoods surrounding Chicagoland Community Church and visited North Park Seminary to interact with students.

“We helped the community by cleaning their neighborhoods and finding out their needs,” said Stephanie Taylor, a senior from Katy. 

The students helped Uptown Baptist Church prepare and serve a friendship meal to more than 200 homeless people. The team also assisted at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, processing 3,000 cartons of milk for use in soup kitchens and homeless ministries across the Chicago metropolitan area.

“We were the hands and feet of Jesus as we also did service by feeding the hungry and homeless,” said Phillip Martin, a junior from Shreveport, La.

The Church Planting Center of the Chicago Metropolitan Baptist Association also benefited from the students’ eagerness to serve by conducting ethnographic research in the area for them.

“I met many people on the streets,” said Hayley Andress, a junior from Nederland. “Most of the ones I talked to were opposed to religion because they grew up in strict environments where church was forced upon them. I think the people we talked to while doing surveys were thinking a lot about what they personally believed. Hopefully some of them were thinking about God after we talked to them.”

“I was able to spend a lot of time with people who were not saved and got to know about their lives and what they think about Christianity,” Taylor added. “Our group experienced a plethora of cultures and witnessed how different Christians worshipped.”

The ETBU Chicago team also worshipped at several churches. Martin felt moved by the passion of the Christians in Chicago.

“I met awesome people with a heart for Chicago to be changed by Jesus,” he said. “This trip taught me that God is truly a God of all people and that he is at work fixing broken people and renewing them.

A 24-person team from Mission Waco recently spent eight days in Haiti, serving in the northeast region of the impoverished nation that suffered a devastating earthquake in January.

A medical team of two physicians, two nurses and several assistants treated more than 400 patients in three days at a clinic. They also distributed thousands of dollars of donated medicine and served everyone who visited the clinic a nutritious meal.

A small church-based clinic Mission Waco has used in its ongoing ministries to Haiti in recent years was being expanded while the Texas-based team was on hand to help.

“ Due to the generosity of a Christian foundation and several other matching donations of $15,900, over 30 Haitians were employed for two weeks to add six more rooms and two toilets to the former three-room clinic,” said Jimmy Dorrell, executive director of Mission Waco. “Baylor students—along with Haitian laborers—worked daily to carry rock, cement and blocks for the construction work.”

A church-based clinic was being expanded while a team from Mission Waco was on hand to help. The job provided two weeks of employment of 30 Haitians who added six rooms and two toilets to the former three-room clinic.

Haitian Pastor Zenas Pierre used salvaged materials, to build an additional three rooms for the 10 orphans he and his wife care for each day, Dorrell reported.

While the Mission Waco team was in Haiti, one water well was drilled and another was repaired.

“Several of the contaminated water wells from years past that were previously tested were now clean. Only two still needed purification,” Dorrell said.

While the Mission Waco team was in Haiti, one water well was drilled and another was repaired.

The team also was involved in shooting photographs of 80 unsponsored school children. Currently, Mission Waco has enlisted sponsors at $195 a year to enable 148 Haitian children to attend school.

Four $125 scholarships also were established to help high school students complete their last year of secondary education, Dorrell noted.

The Mission Waco team also met with 37 women to begin a micro-credit loan program to help them establish small businesses to lift them out of poverty.