• Chris Anguiano has resigned as pastor of First Church in Dale.

• Brad Cox has resigned as pastor of Calvary Chapel in Cleburne.

• Travis Garcia to Trinity Church in Kerrville as youth minister.

• Bruce Hall to First Church in Dale as pastor.

• Barry Hazel to First Church in Dimmitt as minister of music and missions from Bono Church in Godley.

• Parker Hulsey to Calvary Church in Harlingen as associate pastor for worship and education from Oak Park Church in New Orleans, La., where he was minister of music.

• Gene Jones to Calvary Chapel in Cleburne as pastor.

• Jason Martin to First Church in Breckenridge as pastor from Robert Lee Church in Robert Lee.

• Bob Mayfield to Pine Springs Church in Tyler as pastor from Trinity Church in Tyler.

• Greg Peschel to Trinity Church in Kerrville as minister of discipleship/media, where he had been youth minister.

• Ricky Pugh has resigned as youth minister at First Church of Sherwood Shores in Gordonville.

• Zack Randles to First Church in Wichita Falls as student minister from First Church in Grapevine.

• Jeff Scott to Pioneer Drive Church in Abilene as youth minister.

• Matthew Singleton to First Church in Skidmore as pastor.

• Isaac Torres has resigned as pastor of El Buen Pastor in Beeville. He is available for supply preaching at (361) 455-1392.

• John Woods to Northside Church in Victoria as minister of worship/music.

• Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary will honor several people as honorary alumni during its fall convocation Aug. 25. They include Mark Brister, founder of Mark Brister Ministries of Alvarado; Doris-anne Cooper, pastor of Lake Shore Church in Waco; Kathy Hillman, associate professor and director of Special Collections for Bayor’s Central Libraries; David Lowrie, pastor of First Church in Canyon and president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas; and Bernie Moraga, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missional global church engagement specialist.

• Houston Baptist University’s Dunham Bible Museum will open an exhibit, “Soli Deo Gloria,” Aug. 27. The exhibit features the personal, hand-annotated Bible of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach’s Bible will be on loan from Concordia Theological Seminary through Oct. 1. In connection, Thomas Rossin,  a composer and church musician, will deliver a lecture titled “Johann Sebastian Bach: His Bible and His Music,” Sept. 27 at 3 p.m.

• An information meeting and workshop will be held Sept. 11 from 1:30 to 5 p.m. for families interested in domestic adoption. The workshop at the Buckner’s Children Home campus in Dallas will include information on the adoption process, fees and children available for adoption. Interested families must complete a free pre-application available online at www.dillonadopt.com prior to attending the workshop. To register, call (866) 236-7823. Also, an informational meeting concerning international adoption will be held Sept. 15 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. A representative will give an overview of adoption from China, Korea, Haiti, India, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, Russia and Honduras, and new opportunities in Ghana and Nepal also will be discussed. For more information or to make a reservation, call (214) 319-3426.

• A conference on ministry to marginalized people will be held Sept. 24-27 at Crestview Community Center in Waco. The conference is sponsored by Mission Waco, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Baylor University School of Social Work, Baptist University of the Americas and Crestview Church of Christ in Waco. Ray Rivera, who along with his family heads a holistic community-based ministry in the Bronx, New York, is the keynote speaker and will speak at the opening banquet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Many workshops will be offered, including “Mental Illness Workshop for Pastors,” “Understanding Addiction,” Working with Higher Risk Children,” “Confronting Human Trafficking,” “Working with the Deaf” and “Immigration Issues: The Ruth Project.” The $60 registration fee includes two continental breakfasts and two box lunches. The cost to attend only the Thursday night banquet is $12, or $35 to attend only Friday or Saturday. For more information or to register, go to www.bgct.org/noneedamong you .

• Rusty Wheelington, assistant professor of Christian studies at Howard Payne University, traveled to Interlaken, Switzerland last month as a presenter at the International Baptist Convention Summer Assembly. He addressed the topic of adolescents and how their experiences affect their faith development.

For the second time in three years, students from First Church in Henderson traveled south to help families recover from hurricane damage. In three days, the 21 students and eight adults painted the exterior of two homes, painted the exterior of a church, hauled out debris from a home damaged by Hurricane Ike and helped a single mother move back into her home. Pictured moving the debris are Morgan Partin, Ainsley Hughes, Meagan Dowden and Kelsi Reynolds.

• Dallas Baptist University presented degrees to 236 people, including 135 undergraduates and 100 graduate students, during its summer commencement service. Randel Everett, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, also was given an honorary doctor of humanities degree.

• Kate Bean, a master of divinity/master of social work dual degree student at Baylor University, has been elected to the board of directors of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work. She is the first student representative from Baylor to serve on the board.

Anniversaries

• Rick Cundieff, 20th, as pastor of First Church in Llano, Aug. 16.

• First Church in Whitesboro, 150th, Sept. 27. After a time of fellowship, a service celebrating the faithfulness of God will be highlighted by former pastors Johnny Flanagan and Harold Watson at 10:30 a.m. A catered meal will be followed by an afternoon song service. Mike Flanagan is pastor.

Retiring

• James Hill, as pastor of First Church in Graham, Aug. 30. A retirement luncheon will be held following the morning service. He has served the church 15 years and has been in the ministry 50 years. The churches he served in Arkansas and Texas  also include First Church in Caldwell and Baptist Temple Church in Houston.

Deaths

• Rafael Aurispa, 98, June 13 in Laredo. He was pastor of Primera Iglesia in Laredo almost 20 years. He was born in Sicily, but moved to Argentina at age 3. He abandoned a boxing career to follow a call to ministry. He pioneered and served as pastor of churches in three cities in Argentina. In 1959, he moved to Laredo to become pastor of Primera Iglesia. During his tenure, he initiated and led several mission congregations in the area that eventually became churches. He traveled regularly to conduct services in Olton, Mirando City, Encinal and other communities throughout South Texas and northern Mexico. He was instrumental in organizing the Latin American Ministerial Alliance of Laredo and served as president. He conducted numerous evangelistic crusades and conferences throughout the United States and Central and South America. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Paulina; son, Eddie; daughter, Gracie Grant; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

• Sara Buckner, 99, Aug. 10 in Tallahassee, Fla. She was the last of the Buckner generation who helped establish and operate the ministries of Buckner Children’s Home founder R.C. Buckner. She served alongside her husband, Robert, grandson of R.C. Buckner, at the Buckner Orphans’ Home from 1936 to 1954. She assumed her husband’s duties at the home during World War II when he served in the China-Burma-India Theater as a U.S. Army infantry colonel loaned to the Chinese Nationalist army. She helped care for 800 to 900 children during this time. She also traveled to Texas City in April 1946 to find homeless children that needed care following an oil field explosion that leveled buildings and homes. After leaving the orphanage, she taught school in Dallas until her retirement, when she returned to Tallahassee to live in her family home. She is survived by her sons, Greg and Richard; his daughter, Bonnie Buckner; and her daughter, Emma Hargreaves.

• Edith Bond, 90, Aug. 10 in Waco. She was the former dean of students at Dallas Baptist University and the former assistant to the chaplain at Baylor University. She was dean of students at DBU from 1988 until 1999. In 1994, the DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board presented her with its Ruth Award. Two years later, the university named one of the Fisher’s of Men statues in her honor. At her retirement at age 80, the university established an endowed scholarship fund in her honor. In 2002, DBU presented her with an honorary doctor of humanities degree. Prior to coming to DBU, she served on the staff of First Church in Waco from 1953 to 1970 as elementary and day school director. In 1974, she began her work as assistant to the chaplain at Baylor, where she met DBU President Gary Cook, who was assistant chaplain. When he came to DBU, he invited her to join him there. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack, former head of the Baylor chemistry department, in 1981. She is survived by her daughter, Anedith Nash; sons, Thomas and Robert; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

• Steve Fitzgerald, 47, Aug. 12 in Colleyville. The son of missionaries to Gaza, he served with them there from age 5 to 18. A Baylor University graduate, he started his own medical practice and later was chief of surgery staff at All Saints Hospital in Fort Worth from 2004 to 2006. He was a member of First Church in Grapevine, where he worked on the missions committee and taught Sunday school and Awanas. He is survived by his wife, Marie; parents, Dean and Dona; daughter, Nancy; sons, Ben and Mark; sister, Kathy Roy; and brothers, Kenneth and David.

• Nathan Neel, 24, Aug. 14 in Palo Duro Canyon State Park during a solo hiking trip. He had been called as youth minister at New Home  Church in New Home just days before. He had traveled to the canyon for some time alone with God, and he slipped and fell. A formal engagement announcement to his girlfriend, Nicolle Meers, had been anticipated. He is survived by his parents, Joe and Carolyn; brother, Jason; grandmothers, Dorothy Neel and Reba Burks.

Events

• More than 40 singers and musicians will present “The Grand Ole Gospel Sing” at Brookhaven Church in Dallas Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m. No love offering will be taken. For more information, call (972) 241-2006. Glen Meredith is pastor.

• A Fresh Start divorce recovery program will be hosted by First Church in Belton beginning Sept. 9. The five-week class will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. each Wednesday. Topics include the stages of grief, communication, re-entry into life and dealing with children. The workbook costs $15. Register by calling (254) 939-0705.

• Stanley Lemmons, historian at the First Baptist Church in America in Providence, R.I., will speak Sept. 13 at Wilshire Church in Dallas. The Providence church was founded by Roger Williams in 1638, and Lemmons wrote an extensive history of the congregation, where he also has been a member since 1967. He will address a joint session of young adult Sunday school classes, and then he will speak at a Baptist heritage lunch. The lunch is $5; no reservation required. The event is part of the observance of the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement. George Mason is pastor.

• Dellview Church in San Antonio will dedicate the renovation of its sanctuary Sept. 13. A covered-dish luncheon will follow the morning service. Phil Risley is pastor.

• Hunters’ Glen Church in Plano will hold a senior adult revival Sept. 13-16. Step Martin will be the preacher, and Alan Celoria will lead the music. On Sunday evening, the church choir will present a night of classic gospel music. Monday through Wednesday, service times are at 10:30 a.m. A lunch will follow the Tuesday service. The lunch will cost $5, reservations can be made by calling (972) 867-1610. Kim Hall is pastor.

• Friendship International will celebrate its 40th year of ministering to international students in Austin with two events at Hyde Park Church. On Sept. 20, a luncheon and slide show as well as a speaker will celebrate the ministry’s service with past leaders and workers. On Sept. 24, the ministry will begin the new year with a welcome coffee for internationals.

• Tabernacle Church in Gainesville will hold homecoming services Oct. 4 to commemorate its 106 years of service to the community. In addition to a time of fellowship, there also will be a time of remembrance of members who have died. In keeping of the theme of “May All Who Come Behind Us Find Us Faithful,” there will be a ceremony marking the passing of a torch from one generation to another. Hollis Parsons is pastor.

Ordained

• Mark Caswell to the ministry at First Church in Denton.

• Kristopher Thompson to the ministry at First Church in Hallettsville.

EDE, Netherlands (ABP)—A Hispanic Baptist theologian insists overreaction to Catholic veneration of the Virgin Mary has caused Baptists to miss important biblical teaching associated with the mother of Jesus.

Nora Lozano, associate professor of biblical and theological studies at Baptist University of the Americas, found potential liberation for women—both Protestant and Catholic—in Latin America and elsewhere by taking another look at the biblical story of Mary, Jesus’ mother.

Lozano, a participant in theological conversations between the Baptist World Alliance and the Vatican, made the remarks in a presentation to the BWA Commission on Doctrine and Interchurch Cooperation at a meeting of global Baptists in the Netherlands.

She noted the Mexican story of the Virgin of Guadalupe—a purported apparition of Mary to an indigenous peasant in Mexico City in the 16th century—and how closely it ties the identity of the nation’s Catholicism with Mary. There are comparable Mary cults of devotion in other Latin American countries.

Mexican Baptists and other Protestants, meanwhile, actively ignore Mary, to the extent of giving the biblical character short shrift, Lozano said.
“It seems that there is a consensus among these Baptists to disregard, neglect or reject the Virgin Mary,” Lozano said, speaking of an informal survey she had done of some of her global Baptist colleagues.

And, in countries where Catholics are a majority, she added, “Baptists tend to move back and forth between actively rejecting and simply ignoring Mary.”

That attitude becomes a major barrier to relations between Catholics and Baptists, she noted.

Alluding to the relationship of Hispanic American Protestants with culture, Lozano stressed the need of evaluating, under the light of Jesus, what is life-giving in the culture and rejecting what is oppressive. She continued by affirming that reevaluating and embracing the biblical Mary can be both healthy for all women and a bridge between Latin American Protestants and Catholics.

Lozano pointed to two passages dealing with Mary in the Christmas story as recorded in Luke’s Gospel: The angel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear Christ (Luke 1:26-38), and Mary’s song of praise to God, often called the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).

Mary is not a passive presence in those stories, Lozano pointed out, but an active and willing participant in God’s work who was “well aware of social injustices,” she said.

Faith groups draw volunteers. Faith-based organizations attract more volunteers than any other type of organization, according to a recent survey by the Corporation for National and Community Service. More than one-third of the country’s almost 62 million volunteers served through religious organizations last year. The  report showed adults over the age of 65 and youth who regularly attend religious services are more likely than general volunteers to serve in faith-based organizations. The report is based on data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics and provides the most comprehensive data assembled on volunteer trends and demographics.

Religious freedom panel watches India. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has put India on its watch list, citing the country’s “inadequate” response to recent waves of violence toward religious minorities. In 2002, when organizations related to the Hindu Nationalist party were on the rise, India was designated a “country of particular concern”—the commission’s most condemning category—but has since been removed from that list. With attacks against Christians in December of 2007 and into 2008, the commission’s attention has been called back to India. The panel reported inadequate police and judiciary response to the violence and the subsequent displacement of 60,000 or more Christians in August and September of 2008.

Christian schools report closures. A Colorado-based organization of Christian schools reports more than 200 schools closed or merged in its last fiscal year. As of June 30, 186 schools had closed and 16 had merged, according to the Association of Christian Schools International. That’s up from an average of 150 school closures  the association has reported in previous years.

Court OKs animal sacrifice at home. A Santeria priest can continue to sacrifice animals in his North Texas home, a federal appeals court has ruled. Jose Merced of Euless was told in 2006 he needed a permit to slaughter goats, sheep and turtles in his house, rituals he said he had been performing 16 years without incident. Merced sued the city, saying that it had violated his right to practice his religion. Euless officials cited potential health concerns over the animal sacrifices. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the city had inhibited Merced’s ability to practice Santeria. The court established that Merced’s only available ceremonial space was in his house, due to the lack of Santeria temples in the United States. Euless authorities said the city plans to file for a rehearing.

Senate confirms Vatican ambassador. The U.S. Senate confirmed a Cuban-born theologian as the ninth U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. Miguel H. Diaz, 45, will be the first theologian and the first Hispanic to serve as American envoy since Washington established formal diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1984. Diaz has taught theology at the College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., since 2004.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS)—Just when it seemed to have cooled off, the topic of hell is back on the front burner—at least for pastors learning to preach about a topic most Americans would rather not talk about.

Only 59 percent of Americans believe in hell, compared with 74 percent who believe in heaven, according to the recent surveys from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

“I think it’s such a difficult and important biblical topic,” said Kurt Selles, director of the Global Center at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. “There’s a big change that’s taken place as far as evangelicals not wanting to be as exclusive.”

At the recent annual Beeson Pastors School, Selles led two workshops to discuss, “Whatever happened to hell?” He asked how many of the pastors had ever preached a sermon on hell. Nobody had, he said.

“I think it’s something people want to avoid,” he said. “I understand why. It’s a difficult topic.”

Fred Johns, pastor of Brookview Wesleyan Church in Irondale, Ala., said after a workshop discussion of hell that pastors do shy away from the topic of everlasting damnation.

“It’s out of fear we’ll not appear relevant,” he said. “It’s pressure from the culture to not speak anything negative. I think we’ve begun to deny hell. There’s an assumption that everybody’s going to make it to heaven somehow.”

The soft sell on hell reflects an increasingly market-conscious approach, Selles said.

“When you’re trying to market Jesus, sometimes there’s a tendency to mute traditional Christian symbols,” he said. “Difficult doctrines are left by the wayside. Hell is a morally repugnant doctrine. People wonder why God would send people to eternal punishment.”

Speakers said the seriousness of Jesus dying for man’s sins relates to the gravity of salvation versus damnation, according to Johns.

“If you don’t mention God’s judgment, you are missing a big part of the Christian gospel,” Selles said. “Without wrath, there’s no grace.”

Pope John Paul II stirred up a debate in 1999 by describing hell as “the state of those who freely and definitely separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.”

Some U.S. evangelicals expressed misgivings about the implication that hell is an abstract separation from God rather than a literal lake of fire as described in the Book of Revelation.

The pope’s comments on hell stirred up the ancient debate about whether hell is a real place of burning fire or a state of mind reflecting a dark, cold emptiness and distance from God.

Evangelical Christians have traditionally offered a sterner view of salvation and damnation.

A Southern Baptist Home Mission Board study in 1993 estimated 70 percent of all Americans are going to hell, based on projected numbers of those who have not had a born-again experience.

Pretending hell doesn’t exist, or trying to preach around it, short-circuits the Bible, Selles insisted.

“This is a doctrine, a teaching, that’s being neglected in churches,” he said. “It needs to be preached. It’s part of the gospel.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—While a sour economy and rising costs make it harder for small businesses to afford health coverage, one group of employees is especially vulnerable—clergy.

Many denominations provide health care for ministers, but pastors of small and independent churches can be hard-hit by rising health care costs.
Some clergy latch on to their spouses’ health care, or take a second job that offers insurance. But as the job market tightens, even those secondary solutions are hard to come by.

For ministers, health care reform has become personal.

“So many churches are small and too many pastors are uninsured,” said Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“As clergy age with the rest of America’s population, we may see a growing list of pastors entering retirement with bankrupting medical bills.”

According to an NAE survey last year, 80 percent of respondents said they receive health insurance outside of their church.

At the time, Anderson called it a growing problem for American pastors and churches. A year later, not much has changed.

“It’s so complicated,” Anderson said. “You take all of the variables of church sizes and denominations and you multiply that by all the laws and insurance plans. It’s difficult to find a plan for anyone.”

Layoffs and downsizing at churches have left many clergy members at risk because religious institutions are exempt from buying unemployment insurance, he noted.

Simeon May, chief executive officer for the National Association of Church Business Administration, said many pastors have seen the value of their 403(b) plans—the nonprofit employee’s equivalent of a 401(k) savings plan—drop dramatically in the recession.

In a 2006 NACBA survey of its members, only 26 percent of full-time ministers and their dependents were fully covered.

Many pastors cannot afford to pay out of pocket for their own plans. Denominations, too, face difficulties footing the bill for group plans, particularly when premiums rise as church staff ages.

“It was an ongoing problem before the economy tanked because it was just difficult for small churches and individual churches to get affordable health care,” May said.

Roy Taylor, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America, said “solo pastors”—those leading a church by themselves—are finding the most difficulty.

“Ministers are just like everyone else having to deal with the economic downturn (and) the stark realities of the present situation,” Taylor said. “They find the same problems anyone would to try to find some way of having health care coverage that is sufficient and also affordable.”

Some solutions lie in cooperatives such as Samaritan Ministries International, Taylor said, where pastors of all denominations pay for each other’s medical bills.

However, some younger ministers opt out of these plans, finding cheaper rates on their own. This places a larger burden on other pastors to make up the difference for the cooperative premiums.

Some denominations—including the Conservative Baptist Association of America, as well as the Church of the Brethren—have dropped health insurance plans for their clergy, in part because of rising premiums.

Fatalities when car hits MercyMe bus. Two teenagers and an unborn baby were killed Aug. 8 when a car collided with a tour bus carrying the Christian band MercyMe at an intersection in Fort Wayne, Ind., and a third young adult died later. MercyMe had wrapped up a concert in Fort Wayne, and around 1:15 a.m. their bus was traveling through a green light when a car in an oncoming lane attempted a left turn in front of the bus. The driver, 18-year-old Kara Klinker, was nine months pregnant at the time, and her child was pronounced stillborn at a local hospital. The mother died several days after the accident. Two of the car’s passengers, Dario Boutte, 19, and Barbara Schmucker, 17, died of blunt-force trauma. The band and crew received minor cuts and bruises.

New Hope honored as Publisher of the Year. New Hope Publishers, the general trade publishing imprint for national Woman’s Missionary Union, was recognized as Publisher of the Year by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association at its Golden Scrolls Banquet held on the eve of the International Christian Retail Show. This is the first time the Birmingham-based publisher received the honor. New Hope had been nominated for the award in years past and was a finalist last year.

Hawkins diagnosed with cancer. O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In a statement released to leaders of SBC entities, Hawkins, 62, announced doctors had been monitoring his PSA count for months, and results from an Aug. 5 biopsy revealed the diagnosis. Surgery will be scheduled sometime after Sept. 7. “The prognosis is good, and hopefully we have found it early enough. We have reason to be encouraged at this point at this time,” Hawkins said. Hawkins became president in 1997 of GuideStone Financial Resources, the SBC entity that provides retirement, insurance and investment management products and services to churches, ministries, hospitals, educational and other institutions. Hawkins previously was pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas four years and First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 15 years.

Wilson to lead congregational health center. Bill Wilson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dalton, Ga., will become the chief executive of the North Carolina-based Center for Congregational Health, a nondenominational ministry that provides consultants and trained leaders to help churches become “healthier communities of faith.”  He assumes the post Sept. 21 after 33 years of local-church staff ministry in Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina. The center has been without permanent leadership since July 2007, when founder David Odom left to take the helm of the leadership-education program at Duke University Divinity School. Wilson has served as president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and on the governing boards of a variety of Baptist organizations, including Associated Baptist Press, the Religious Herald, the University of Richmond, the Baptist Center for Ethics, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Mercer University and Mercer’s McAfee School of Theology.

NORMAN, Okla.—The widow of a Christian who was martyred by Muslims in the Gaza Strip prays for revenge, her friend Hanna Massad told participants at the New Baptist Covenant regional meeting in Oklahoma. And her idea of revenge is seeing the perpetrators turn from Islam to faith in Christ.

Rami Ayyad, manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, was abducted and executed Oct. 7, 2007, as he closed his shop, explained Massad, pastor of Gaza Evangelical Church.

Gaza is a narrow slice of land, 30 miles long by seven miles wide, between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, and it is home to 1.5 million people, Massad said.

“We live between two fires—Israeli occupation and Muslim militancy,” he reported. Unemployment soars between 50 percent and 70 percent, and Massad’s church helps provide food to thousands of families, both Muslims and Christians.

Ayyad was martyred because he would not renounce his faith, Massad said. When he was killed, he and his wife, Pauline, had two children, and she was pregnant.

“This is our faith: There is nothing Jesus cannot overcome, because he is the one who stands and says, ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’” Massad stressed.

Sympathetic Christians from other parts of the world often ask why the Gaza Christians must endure persecution and why their faith is tested, he said. The answer is simple: Because of persecution, “we are able to learn in ways we could not otherwise.”

One lesson Christians in Gaza are learning is how to practice forgiveness toward persecutors, he added. “You either allow bitterness to control you, or you pray to ask God to allow you to forgive.”

That’s difficult, Massad conceded, especially when Ayyad’s little children come to church without their father, and when Ayyad’s young son, George, asks, “Mama, where’s Daddy?”

But because of forgiveness she has found through Christ, Pauline Ayyad wishes an unconventional outcome for her husband’s executioners.

“This is my revenge,” she told Massad, “that those who murdered my husband would come to know the Lord.”

“Sooner or later, all of us will leave this world. What legacy will you leave?” Massad asked the  crowd. “Your brothers and sisters in the Middle East are stretching our arms to you, saying, ‘Come and help us.’”

Sarah Stewart, ministry resident at First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, described the challenges she has faced as a woman answering God’s call to ministry within Baptist life.

Later at the New Baptist Covenant regional meeting, former President Jimmy Carter announced he plans to travel to Gaza soon “to let the world know what is happening to the people there.”

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, reported he has visited more than 125 countries since leaving the White House. And he expressed concern about the reputation of Christians worldwide.

“The pre-eminent impression is of Christians struggling with each other for positions of authority and who seem incapable of cooperating with each other,” he said. “Division is a cancer metastasizing in the body of Christ.”

Carter, one of the organizers of the initial New Baptist Covenant national meeting in Atlanta, Ga., last year and the subsequent regional gatherings this year, introduced himself as a seventh-generation Georgia Baptist and “the husband of the most active and most famous deacon” at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., his wife, Rosalynn.

But controversies about the role of women in the church—as well as different opinions about hot-button issues such as creationism, abortion, capital punishment and the separation of church and state—are secondary to the central gospel message that unites Baptist Christians, he emphasized.

“We are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ,” he said, asking the crowd to repeat that simple gospel message.

Gov. Brad Henry, a longtime member of First Baptist Church in Shawnee, Okla., told the New Baptist Covenant participants he typically has shied away from sharing his Christian testimony publicly.

“My faith is intensely personal to me. I have too often seen public officials and politicians parade around, wearing their religion on their sleeves and using it as an excuse to judge others,” he said.

But in speaking to his fellow Baptists, Henry told how he accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at age 16 during a revival at Falls Creek Assembly in southern Oklahoma and was subsequently baptized at First Baptist Church in Shawnee.

In the years that followed, Henry served as a deacon, the teacher of a high school Sunday school class and as a missions volunteer on a trip to Ghana, distributing mosquito nets to combat malaria.

“My faith has sustained me,” he said, describing how one of his four daughters was born with a rare neuromuscular disease that led to her death at age 7 months.

During the final session of the two-day gathering, Sarah Stewart described the challenges she has faced as a woman answering God’s call to ministry within Baptist life. That calling came as the result of “a thousand small yeses” since accepting Christ as her Lord and Savior at age 8, she said.

“The drumbeat I hear is my Savior calling, ‘There is work to be done,’” said Stewart, ministry resident at First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.

Experience ministering to youth, teaching and preaching within the context of a supportive congregation confirmed and clarified God’s calling on her life, she said.

“My calling came in the midst of community,” she said. “God used the church to affirm his calling on my life. I realized God created me to shepherd his people.”

NORMAN, Okla.—A South-ern Baptist pastor from Oklahoma compared his fellow conservatives’ treatment of women in ministry to earlier generations’ treatment of African-Americans.

“History will one day look back on how we Baptists in the 21st century treated our women who were called by God to minister. It is my prayer that conservative, Bible-believing men will not make the same mistake our Southern Baptist forefathers made when they remained quiet two centuries ago as another minority experienced abuse,” Wade Burleson told a regional gathering of the New Baptist Covenant.

Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., framed his message as a personal confession and a public challenge.

“I now believe in my heart that Jesus is more concerned with how we Baptists treat each other than he is what we Baptists teach each other. The people loved by Christ—particularly those who differ with me—are to be far more precious to me than any finer point of theology believed by me,” he said.

Burleson noted a recent address by California Baptist pastor Rick Warren to the Islamic Society of North America where Warren challenged Muslims and Christians to respect the dignity of every person by valuing, not just tolerating, people; restore civility to civilization; and protect freedom of speech and freedom of religion for all people.

Before Baptist Christians can begin to respond to Muslims in that way, Burleson said, they need to learn to treat their own Baptist brothers—and especially sisters—with that kind of respect.

“The greatest barometer for how well we Baptists understand the importance of agape love—which the Scriptures call the distinguishing mark of followers of Jesus Christ—is our treatment of each other,” he said.

In particular, Baptists who are serious about obeying Christ’s command to love one another must rise to defend women in ministry when other Baptists mistreat them, he emphasized.

“These women profess a call from God, show real evidence of being set apart by Christ and have experienced the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified to the world, yet many of them are being subjected to abuse—and that by Baptists,” Burleson said.

“When our Baptist women in ministry experience such personal mistreatment, ridicule or harm, we are commanded by Christ our Lord to bind up their wounds. And sometimes we must even take the weapon of abuse out of the hands of the perpetrators of those wounds.”

He pointed to specific instances of what he considered harsh and unjust treatment of women in ministry—Sheri Klouda, who was dismissed as a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Julie Pen-nington-Russell, who faced protestors when she accepted the pastorate of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco; and a female seminary student whose preaching professor allowed all male students to leave the classroom when she spoke so they would not be subjected to hearing a woman preach.

Burleson, a past president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, particularly noted a turning point in his attitude toward the treatment of women. The incident occurred when he was moderating a state convention business session and a woman was elected second vice president.

“I will never forget the sight from the platform as several men throughout the auditorium stood and literally turned their backs to the platform as they voted against the first woman to be elected to general office within the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma,” he recalled.

“That moment was an awakening for me. I realized that any cherished principle that would ever cause a Christian to be uncivil, unkind or unloving toward a sister in Christ is a principle that should be thrown out for the sake of obedience to the command of Christ to love one another.”

Not all Baptists will agree on the interpretation of Scriptures regarding the role of women in church leadership, but there is “no wiggle room” when it comes to Christ’s command to love, he said.

“You may not like the fact that women are now being called by God to preach, or called by God to do missions, or called by God to teach. You may even consider it a violation of your principles for a woman to teach a man, or preach Christ to a man, or baptize a man or lead a man, but there is one thing you and I cannot—we must not—forget,” Burleson said.

“You and I are called to love each other and every sister in Christ who feels called to ministry. We are called to affirm the dignity of every Christian woman called to minister. We are commanded to treat them with respect and civility.

“We are also called to love, respect and affirm the autonomy of local Baptist congregations and denominations that utilize these gifted women in ministry as they see fit. To censor them, reject them, abuse them or condemn their character is a sin of the first order.”

DALLAS—This summer marked the highest enrollment for Super Summer in a decade, with 3,089 students attending the leadership- and evangelism-based camp during five sessions held at Texas Baptist universities.

Sixteen new churches attended Super Summer, and individual groups also saw a rise in attendance. Jeff Gilliam, youth minister at PaulAnn Baptist Church in San Angelo and Super Summer Bible study leader, said he took a much larger group to Super Summer this year than in the past.

“This past summer, we took 60 kids from our church to Super Summer,” Gilliam said. “That is way above average.”

Leighton Flowers, director of Super Summer and youth evangelism with the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board staff, said enrollment was higher this year because youth ministries took advantage of the fifth Super Summer session that opened at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor a year ago. He also believes new churches attended because of the solid student training continually offered through the program.

“People know us as being a quality ministry,” Flowers said. “It’s not just from our wonderful staff, but from having the best volunteers from around the state. We keep pushing the quality to be better at Super Summer.

“We are bringing in top communicators and bands—ones that students enjoy and connect with. It’s something only God can pull together, and I think it is why it is so exciting.”

Flowers also believes the rise in enrollment can be attributed to the affordable price of Super Summer, offering local, quality training to any youth ministry.

“With the economy the way it is, our camp, because it is sponsored by the BGCT and cooperative dollars, is more affordable for smaller churches. And the campuses help assist with the finances also,” he said.

“It’s kind of like the staycations that people are talking about. You can do something close and high quality.”

John Fletcher from First Baptist Church in Garland gives directions as students register for Super Summer at East Texas Baptist University.

Super Summer is known by youth ministers as a cost-effective leadership training opportunity, charging $225 per student while the average youth camp costs $400 per student, Gilliam said. 

“I believe Super Summer is designed to take students to the next level for their spiritual development, and I think churches value leadership development,” Gilliam said. “The quality of leadership is consistent. It doesn’t matter what year you go to Super Summer, you will get quality training and speakers.”

Flowers thinks the high quality of Super Summer also comes from the caliber of students who attend. Only leadership-ready students are allowed to attend the week of training.

“It isn’t your normal youth camp,” Flowers said. “Send everyone to youth camp, but only your best to Super Summer. There is a different attitude at Super Summer. When you remove the students who don’t know Christ, you bring a group that is focused on growing and ready to learn how to impact their world. The methodology of Super Sum-mer is training those who are already believers, teaching them how to share their faith.”

To train students to share their faith continually, Super Summer used a theme of “All Called—Don’t stay until the Lord calls you to go. Go until the Lord calls you to stay.”

“I think a big thing about our theme this summer was every person who is a believer and a follower of Christ is called to share him,” said Lindsey Brown, Super Summer West coordinator. “In order to share him, you don’t have to be a pastor or a children’s minister.”

Super Summer goes beyond training students in local evangelism, equipping them to share the love of Christ around the globe. This summer, 103 students served with Super Summer Global on a two-week mission endeavor to Japan. Because of the continued interest in Super Summer Global, the group has planned two trips focused on Japan and North Africa for summer 2010.

While involved with Super Summer Global, Flowers believes students learn how to live intentionally wherever they are, as well as gaining a heart to share Christ with all they encounter back home in Texas.

Flowers sees this as a way for students to take part in Texas Hope 2010, an endeavor by the Baptist General Convention of Texas to share the hope of Christ with all Texans by Easter 2010, once they are home.

“By sending students internationally, they realize that they can share Christ with someone of a different culture,” Flowers said. “Then they can come back to Texas and be able to share Christ with a kid different than them in one of their classes. It helps them know that sharing Christ here is doable.”

NACOGDOCHES—A church-based program in East Texas gives students—mostly from low-income housing projects—a chance to see the country, receive help with schoolwork, enjoy a free meal and hear God’s word.

Solid Foundation Associa-tion has been helping disadvantaged youth in the Nacogdoches area with their spiritual, economic and academic needs for about 13 years, said John Cannings, interim director of Solid Foundation and a member of Nacogdoches Bible Fellow-ship, a predominantly African-American congregation affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Adults refer students who struggle in school, and the church provides transportation for the youth to the program, which meets year ’round.

“Many kids fall in the cracks of the academic system,” Cannings said. “We felt the need not just to minister to them spiritually, but to meet them where the needs were.”

Solid Foundation uses the theme “Dreams Under Construction.”

“We’re here to take their dreams and try to make them a reality by giving them the tools they need,” Cannings said.

Solid Foundation meets in the Nacogdoches church, and volunteers also go into the community to reach the youth where they live. Through this program, 25 students have given their lives to Christ.

“We’re seeing life-changing opportunities and situations occur,” Cannings said.

Ali Piran, a lecturer and laboratory coordinator in the physics department at Stephen F. Austin State University, teaches students about measurement as a part of his life-lessons class.

Churches in the community, clubs and organizations fund this organization.

“When that’s not possible, we have to buy the food ourselves,” Cannings said.

The group takes the youth not only to historic Texas sites in Austin and San Antonio, but also to out-of-state destinations like New Orleans, New York City, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

“It’s another opportunity for us to minister to them,” Cannings said. “We do Bible studies on buses and when they stop along the way. There’s another way to say, ‘There’s more to life than Nacogdoches.’”

They also treat the youth to camps and basketball tournaments, said John Davis, administrator of Solid Foundation.

“Some have seen nothing but the projects,” Davis said. “There is hope. There’s something more than what you see.”

Solid Foundation meets four days a week at Nacogdoches Bible Fellowship. Students can work on computers, get help with school work, buy items—like laptops, bicycles, bats and balls—with points they earn from good grades and behavior, eat a free meal, attend a Bible study and hear speakers teach life lessons, like a class on rulers and measurement taught by Ali Piran from the physics department at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The youth not only get support and help; they also give back. The students help elderly neighbors by painting houses, mowing yards and displaying the love they have received from Solid Foundations.

“These young people are from the projects, and they’re here to help. … Others see them in a positive light,” Davis said.

Every part of the Solid Foundation program is designed to offer hope.

“We’re blessed to be in a community that understands what we’re doing.”

Davis has seen children advance through the program from  kindergarten to college.

Candi Montgomery, who will be a freshman in college this year, went through the program, and she now volunteers to help with the youth.

“When you have that moment when you know you’ve made a difference in a child’s life, and you realize where they started from and where they are now, it just feels so good to know you had a helping hand it that,” Montgomery said.

Cannings wants to see more students enter the program so their lives can be changed for the better.

Cannings works at night and gives his time during the day to help with this ministry. “God keeps putting things before me that I never even dreamt of. I try it, and it works.”

Cannings urges people to pray for the youth of Nacogdoches.

“The only way to have a kid to be a better kid is to have a heart-changing experience through them, coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” Cannings said.

FORT WORTH—Joan Porter has 20 grandchildren, but after meeting 9-year-old Jasmin Sherman through Kids Hope USA, she was happy to make that 21.

“She calls me grandmother,” Porter said. “She says: ‘You’re not just a mentor to me. You’re more like a grandmother.’ My grandkids range from age 34 to 6 months. So I told her: ‘All right, I’ll be your grandmother.’”

Porter described Jasmin as independent and confident. They spend most of their time together each week at D. McRae Elementary School in Fort Worth, working on her spelling and reading, which Jasmin has improved a lot since they first started meeting.

Kids Hope USA is a national mentoring program that equips churches to train and recruit mentors within their congregation to form one-to-one relationships with at-risk children in neighborhood schools.

Buckner International helps Kids Hope USA connect and identify interested churches with schools in their area and support them through training, recruiting, screening and supervising each program.

When Christopher Welch, age 9, breaks his bike, he and his dad take it over to his Kids Hope USA mentor’s welding shop in Kaufman for a quick repair. Roy Ferrell, 65, from First Baptist Church in Kaufman, began mentoring Welch when he was 8 years old. Somewhere along the mentoring process, they became friends.

“Christopher and I have made this pact that I’ll be his mentor through college,” Roy said during their weekly meeting at Monday Primary School in Kaufman. “After he’s too old to be in the Kids Hope USA program, we’ll keep being friends.”

When the two aren’t working on homework or reading during their weekly meetings, they play basketball or talk about handling peer pressure and how to respond to children who threaten to hit.

Eight-year-old Oscar Herrara likes to talk—about anything and everything. And Sabrina Sariles, his 27-year-old Kids Hope USA mentor at Cesar Chavez Elementary in Fort Worth, always makes it a point to listen.

Oscar said his dad has a time-consuming job, and his mom is a busy woman. So, as much as they both love him, they aren’t always able to give him all of the attention he demands. But once a week, he gets an extra dose of attention from his mentor, a member of Iglesia Bautista Getsemani in Fort Worth.

“He is open to talking about his life, and I am able to affirm that even though his father has to work a lot, that he loves him,” Sariles said. “He’s always been very open and talkative with me, and he knows that he’s cared about here.”

The minute 8-year-old Laci sees her friend Addison Cook sitting in the lunchroom at Crockett Elementary in Weatherford, she breaks into a run and greets her mentor with a hug. Addison, 16, has been visiting Laci for more than a year.

Addison and Laci attend church together each Sunday in Aledo, thanks to Addison’s mother, who provides transportation to students in the Kids Hope USA program.

“Laci comes every Sunday,” Addison said. “Her mom told me that the main reason she comes is because of me.”