GARLAND—Citing a need for greater lay involvement and strategic planning in Texas Baptist leadership, retired electronics industry executive Ed Jackson has announced his intention to allow his nomination for first vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“We need laymen in these kind of positions” in the BGCT, Jackson said.

As a retiree—albeit one actively involved in church and community affairs—Jackson stressed he could devote the necessary time to the post and bring to it expertise in financial management and strategic planning.

Ed Jackson

 “A strategic approach is needed for the BGCT. We need to be thinking long and hard, five to 10 years out, and I have experience at that,” he said.

 Greg Ammons, Jackson’s pastor at First Baptist Church in Garland, will nominate him. Jackson can bring a love for Texas Baptists, a "missions heart" and "the fresh perspective of a layman" to the vice president's position, Ammons noted.

Jackson has led multiple missions projects at First Baptist Church, he noted, including Project Jerusalem, the congregation's effort to place Scripture in 400 homes in downtown Garland as part of the BGCT's Texas Hope 2010 initiative.

 Jackson serves on the BGCT Executive Board and as a member of the Future Focus Committee.

During his career in electronics industry, Jackson took a leave of absence to serve the Baptist General Convention of Texas as volunteer assistant director of the Mission Service Corps program.

After his retirement in 1997, he served the BGCT Executive Board staff as special assistant to the executive director, working as a consultant in the Continuous Quality Improvement program.

Jackson grew up in Cisco and was baptized at First Baptist Church there. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He attended Texas Tech University and graduated from the University of Oklahoma.

He has taught Sunday school classes since 1951, serving in four churches.

Jackson was the founding chairman of Hope Clinic, a Christian health care provider that serves the uninsured and underserved working poor in Garland.

Other community involvement includes current service as president of the Garland Housing Finance Corporation, two years as chair of the Garland Chamber of Commerce and five years on the Salvation Army advisory board.

He and his wife, Re, have been married 56 years. They have three children and five grandchildren.

EDE, Netherlands (ABP)—Despite a challenging financial outlook, Baptist World Alliance leaders moved ahead with the election of a new division director, welcomed two additional member bodies and called for new initiatives in both intra-Baptist relations and Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Holding its annual meeting July 27-Aug. 1 in Ede, Netherlands, the BWA General Council also observed the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement, which began in 1609 in nearby Amsterdam.

The council—governing body of the 37 million-member worldwide umbrella group for Baptists—also streamlined its operating procedures, nominated a new president for a five-year term beginning in 2010 and unveiled plans for its 20th Baptist World Congress, to be held next year in Hawaii.

Responding to financial challenges

About 360 council members, representing more than 50 countries, adopted a budget for 2010 of $2,348,365—the same amount as a revised 2009 budget, which had been reduced by about 25 percent earlier this year.

“This has been a very difficult year for the BWA,” said Ellen Teague, director of finance and administration, in introducing the budget July 31. The worldwide economic recession has had a highly negative impact on BWA’s investments—which have lost about $1.5 million of their value, she said.

The situation could have been even worse, she noted, but contributions to the organization were only slightly lower last year than the previous one.

“It’s remarkable to me that our donors have continued to support us even in times of personal difficulty,” Teague added.

“We felt it was unrealistic to expect increased revenue in 2010,” she said. “We took the reduced 2009 budget and used the same figures for 2010. This represents a zero increase in our budget for next year.”

BWA president David Coffey, whose term expires at the 2010 World Congress, encouraged members of member bodies’ more than 159,000 congregations to collect a “thank offering” to be presented when the BWA World Congress meets July 28-Aug. 1 in Honolulu.

In addition to providing much-needed financial assistance, the offering “will enable thousands of Baptists who are not in Hawaii to feel a part of the celebration,” said Coffey.

Despite the grim financial forecast, BWA General Secretary Neville Callam said he has “found unquestioned reasons to be encouraged.”

“We cannot find adequate words to give expression to our thankfulness,” he said. “Baptists of the world do have financial weaknesses, but God has truly blessed us.”

To ensure the BWA’s financial future, Callam announced a six-year fundraising effort—the BWA 400 Legacy Fund. The fund, whose inauguration marks Baptists’ 400th anniversary, will solicit contributions from individuals and organizations “in multiples of four, 40, 400 or 4,000 units in the currency of their own nation,” he said.

“All monies will be placed in a reserve fund to preserve the core mission of the Baptist World Alliance in times of economic instability and to provide seed money for new initiatives.”

Call for Christian-Muslim dialogue

In his report to the council, Callam also called for increased dialogue among Baptists and between Christians and Muslims.

A “Christian multicultural hermeneutic” is necessary for Baptists around the world to “understand the various cultures of participants in the BWA,” Callam asserted. “This speaks to how we understand each other and how we communicate with each other.”

“The discussion should clarify whether over the years certain norms have developed as to what is acceptable in the BWA that have chained us in a certain cultural captivity,” he added. “It should reduce tension when we gather in settings to seek consensus on difficult issues of concern to us.”

Callam noted BWA’s continuing engagement with “A Common Word Between Us and You,” a letter addressed to Christian leaders in 2007 by more than 130 Muslim scholars and religious and secular leaders. BWA representatives responded

“We have encouraged Baptist bodies to open conversations with Muslims in their neighborhood,” said Callam. “We wonder if there is a need to establish a mechanism at the global level to give expression to local dialogues.”

Callam said he hoped both initiatives would be considered by the General Council’s executive committee, which then could make recommendations for the council’s approval.

Taking care of business

Raimundo Cesar Barreto Jr., a 42-year-old Brazilian pastor, was elected the first director of the BWA’s division of freedom and justice, which was created in 2008 to promote respect for human rights and religious liberty.

Barreto, currently pastor in Salvador, Brazil, and general coordinator of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Ethics there, has been an advocate for human rights and social justice across Latin America. He holds a doctor of philosophy degree in Christian social ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary and a master of divinity degree from McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, as well as bachelor’s degrees from the North Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary in Recife. He has studied at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic.

Two new unions admitted by the General Council bring BWA’s total number of member bodies to 216. The Argentine Baptist Association and the Uganda Baptist Convention were accepted by unanimous vote. The Argentine association was formed in 2005 and includes 40 churches with about 5,000 members. The Uganda convention, organized in 2000, has more than 21,000 members in 366 churches.

Both organizations were formed following disagreements with older Baptist bodies in their respective countries, but Alistair Brown of Chicago, chair of the membership committee which recommended the two, said the conflicts have been resolved and that both older conventions recommended acceptance.

Constitutional and bylaw amendments adopted by the General Council will give broader responsibilities to its executive committee and make it “more deliberative.” The changes reduced the committee’s membership from more than 60 to 25 and dropped the number of vice presidents from 19 to 12—two nominated from each of the BWA’s six regions. For the first time, one of the vice presidents will be designated first vice president. Except for the first vice president, none of the vice presidents will sit on the executive committee.

Program committees no longer will have governance functions, but will serve as advisory panels to BWA directors. In addition, a new nominations committee will replace the officers search committee and will propose names for the president and vice presidents and members of committees and commissions—the BWA’s primarily forum for considering theological, historical and ethical issues.

John Upton, executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, was nominated by the council to be president of the BWA. If elected at the World Congress in Hawaii, Upton will serve a five-year term to end in 2015.

Upton, who also chairs the Baptist World Congress program committee, announced a slate of speakers for the 2010 event, whose theme will be “Hear the Spirit.” In addition to outgoing BWA president David Coffey, speakers will include Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union;Paul Msiza, president of the All-Africa Baptist Fellowship and general secretary of the Baptist Convention of South Africa; Alongla Aier, a founder and professor at the Oriental Theological Seminary in the Indian state of Nagaland; and Lance Watson, senior pastor of St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Richmond, Va.

In other action, the General Council:

• Adopted resolutions encouraging Baptist union and conventions to engage in dialogue with Muslims; urged national governments to initiate climate-change legislation; and expressed “deep concern over the lack of religious freedom in Azerbaijan” following passage of new legislation there.
• Presented the Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award to Leena Lavanya Kumari, a human-rights advocate and church planter in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. and her Serve Trust Ministries operate homes for the aged, for lepers and for HIV/AIDS-infected children and adults, as well as an HIV/AIDS counseling center. She has fought violations of Indian women’s human rights including sati, the self-immolation of widows on their husband’s funeral pyres. She also provides food and blankets to marginalized women and beggars. She and her organization have established more than 40 Baptist churches.

Associated Baptist Press Managing Editor Robert Marus contributed to this story.

EDE, Netherlands (ABP) — Despite a challenging financial outlook, Baptist World Alliance leaders have moved ahead with the election of a new division director, welcomed two additional member bodies and called for new initiatives in both intra-Baptist relations and Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Holding its annual meeting July 27-Aug. 1 in Ede, Netherlands, the BWA General Council also observed the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement, which began in 1609 in nearby Amsterdam.

The council — governing body of the 37 million-member worldwide umbrella group for Baptists — also streamlined its operating procedures, nominated a new president for a five-year term beginning in 2010 and unveiled plans for its 20th Baptist World Congress, to be held next year in Hawaii.

About 360 council members, representing more than 50 countries, adopted a budget for 2010 of $2,348,365 — the same amount as a revised 2009 budget, which had been reduced by about 25 percent earlier this year.

“This has been a very difficult year for the BWA,” said Ellen Teague, the group's director of finance and administration, in introducing the budget July 31. The worldwide economic recession has had a highly negative impact on BWA’s investments, which have lost about $1.5 million of their value, she said.

The situation could have been even worse, Teague noted, but contributions to the organization were only slightly lower last year than the previous one.

“It’s remarkable to me that our donors have continued to support us even in times of personal difficulty,” she added.

“We felt it was unrealistic to expect increased revenue in 2010,” she said. “We took the reduced 2009 budget and used the same figures for 2010. This represents a zero increase in our budget for next year.”

BWA president David Coffey, whose term expires at the 2010 World Congress, encouraged members of member bodies’ more than 159,000 congregations to collect a “thank offering” to be presented when the BWA World Congress meets July 28-Aug. 1 in Honolulu.

In addition to providing much-needed financial assistance, the offering “will enable thousands of Baptists who are not in Hawaii to feel a part of the celebration,” said Coffey.

Despite the grim financial forecast, BWA General Secretary Neville Callam said he has “found unquestioned reasons to be encouraged.”

“We cannot find adequate words to give expression to our thankfulness,” he said. “Baptists of the world do have financial weaknesses, but God has truly blessed us.”

To ensure the BWA’s financial future, Callam announced a six-year fund-raising effort — the BWA 400 Legacy Fund. The fund, whose inauguration marks Baptists’ 400th anniversary, will solicit contributions from individuals and organizations “in multiples of four, 40, 400 or 4,000 units in the currency of their own nation,” he said. “All monies will be placed in a reserve fund to preserve the core mission of the Baptist World Alliance in times of economic instability and to provide seed money for new initiatives.”

In his report to the council, Callam also called for increased dialogue among Baptists and between Christians and Muslims.

A “Christian multicultural hermeneutic” is necessary for Baptists around the world to “understand the various cultures of participants in the BWA,” Callam asserted. “This speaks to how we understand each other and how we communicate with each other.”

“The discussion should clarify whether over the years certain norms have developed as to what is acceptable in the BWA that have chained us in a certain cultural captivity,” he added. “It should reduce tension when we gather in settings to seek consensus on difficult issues of concern to us.”

Callam noted BWA’s continuing engagement with “A Common Word Between Us and You,” a letter addressed to Christian leaders in 2007 by more than 130 Muslim scholars and religious and secular leaders. BWA representatives responded earlier this year with a document of their own.

“We have encouraged Baptist bodies to open conversations with Muslims in their neighborhood,” said Callam. “We wonder if there is a need to establish a mechanism at the global level to give expression to local dialogues.”

Callam said he hoped both initiatives would be considered by the General Council’s executive committee, which then could make recommendations for the council’s approval.

Raimundo Cesar Barreto Jr., a 42-year-old Brazilian pastor, was elected the first director of the BWA’s division of freedom and justice, which was created in 2008 to promote respect for human rights and religious liberty.

Barreto, currently pastor in Salvador, Brazil, and general coordinator of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Ethics there, has been an advocate for human rights and social justice across Latin America. He holds a doctor of philosophy degree in Christian social ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary and a master of divinity degree from McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, as well as bachelor’s degrees from the North Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary in Recife.

Two new unions admitted by the General Council bring BWA’s total number of member bodies to 216. The Argentine Baptist Association and the Uganda Baptist Convention were accepted by unanimous vote. The Argentine association was formed in 2005 and includes 40 churches with about 5,000 members. The Uganda convention, organized in 2000, has more than 21,000 members in 366 churches.

Both organizations were formed following disagreements with older Baptist bodies in their respective countries, but Alistair Brown of Chicago, chair of the membership committee which recommended the two, said the conflicts have been resolved and that both older conventions recommended acceptance.

Constitutional and bylaw amendments adopted by the General Council will give broader responsibilities to its executive committee and make it “more deliberative.” The changes reduced the committee’s membership from more than 60 to 25 and dropped the number of vice presidents from 19 to 12 — two nominated from each of the BWA’s six regions. For the first time, one of the vice presidents will be designated first vice president. Except for the first vice president, none of the vice presidents will sit on the executive committee.

Program committees will no longer have governance functions, but will serve as advisory panels to BWA directors. In addition, a new nominations committee will replace the officers search committee and will propose names for the president and vice presidents and members of committees and commissions — the BWA’s primarily forum for considering theological, historical and ethical issues.

John Upton, executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, was nominated by the council to be president of the BWA. If elected at the World Congress in Hawaii, Upton will serve a five-year term to end in 2015.

Upton, who also chairs the Baptist World Congress program committee, announced a slate of speakers for the 2010 event, whose theme will be “Hear the Spirit.” In addition to outgoing BWA president David Coffey, speakers will include Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union; Paul Msiza, president of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship and general secretary of the Baptist Convention of South Africa; Alongla Aier, a founder and professor at the Oriental Theological Seminary in the Indian state of Nagaland; and Lance Watson, senior pastor of St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Richmond, Va.

Upton said he anticipates as many as 10,000 participants from more than 100 countries to attend the Congress.

In other action, the General Council:

— Adopted resolutions encouraging Baptist unions and conventions to engage in dialogue with Muslims; urged national governments to initiate climate-change legislation; and expressed “deep concern over the lack of religious freedom in Azerbaijan” following passage of new legislation there.

— Presented the Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award to Leena Lavanya Kumari, a human-rights advocate and church planter in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Lavanya and her Serve Trust Ministries operate homes for the aged, for lepers and for HIV-infected children and adults, as well as an HIV/AIDS counseling center.

She has fought violations of Indian women’s human rights including sati, the self-immolation of widows on their husband’s funeral pyres. She also provides food and blankets to marginalized women and beggars. She and her organization have established more than 40 Baptist churches.

–Robert Dilday is managing editor of the Virginia Baptist Religious Herald. Associated Baptist Press Managing Editor Robert Marus contributed to this story.

Related ABP stories:

BWA leaders hear sobering finance report, fill justice post (3/4)

Baptist World Alliance responds to Muslim letter (1/5)

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (ABP) — Two months after passing a resolution unanimously praising the direction of the North American Mission Board and affirming President Geoff Hammond for "exemplary, unique leadership and vision," NAMB trustees will meet Aug. 11 to consider removing him from office.

Two Baptist state newspapers reported contents of an e-mail listing leadership issues to be discussed at a regular meeting of NAMB's 21-member executive committee. After word of the meeting spread, all 57 board members were polled about calling a special meeting.

Bruce Franklin, a trustee from North Carolina, told the Biblical Recorder that such an important decision should not be handled by a committee alone.

Trustee Jack Pettus, pastor of Living Hope Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Ky., circulated an e-mail July 29 describing a conversation he had with board chairman Tim Patterson.

Pettus said Patterson identified several "serious issues" that board leaders wanted to discuss with Hammond. He listed three most pressing concerns as Hammond's failure to meet with an executive leadership coach that had been hired to help him refine his leadership and management skills, his hiring of a chief operation officer without prior approval of the executive committee and staff morale at an all-time low.

Pettus told the Christian Index he was not taking sides and had full confidence in the executive committee, but he wrote other board members so they could be praying for the agency.

Patterson told the Georgia Baptist paper he would preside over the executive committee meeting but would not bring up integrity or leadership issues, so that no one would perceive the issues were result of a personality conflict between him and the president.

In May NAMB trustees passed a resolution describing the agency as "crucial" to Southern Baptist mission work and expressing unified support for Hammond, who took over as president of the agency in 2007.

That came after Patterson, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., was quoted in the Florida Baptist Witness as saying he would support consolidating the Southern Baptist Convention's two mission boards in context of a discussion about a "Great Commission Resurgence" task force appointed by SBC President Johnny Hunt.

Patterson apologized to fellow board members May 20 for making it appear he was speaking on their behalf.

Trustees elected Hammond in March 2007 to replace Bob Reccord, the former president forced to resign in 2006 amid reports that he mismanaged the agency.

Things went well for a six-month "honeymoon" period, the Christian Index reported, until Hammond began to be criticized as an autocratic leader who rejected counsel of trustees and others.

The Biblical Recorder said Hammond has chafed under unusual constraints on his office put in place by trustees after Reccord's departure and reported morale at NAMB lower now than it was during the tumultuous days before Reccord resigned.

Last November the Christian Index published a news analysis questioning Hammond's handling of a national evangelism campaign called God's Plan for Sharing, or GPS.

JACKSON, Miss. (ABP) — A July 12 rollover of a bus carrying a church youth group to a summer camp has claimed a second fatality.

Maggie Lee Henson, 12, died Aug. 2 after a three-week battle with critical head injuries received when the bus from First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., blew a tire and overturned en route to a Passport youth camp in Georgia.

All 23 passengers were injured in the accident on an interstate highway near Meridian, Miss., several seriously. One, Brandon Ugarte, 14, died while being airlifted to the hospital.

Henson was thrown from the bus, which rolled several times, and trapped underneath. A busload of Alabama National Guard soldiers that happened on the scene helped upright the vehicle to free her.

She was taken to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss. She died at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday in a private room where she had been transferred July 31 from a kiosk in the Children's Hospital Pediatric Critical Care Unit.

Survivors include her father, John Henson, an associate pastor at the church; her mother, Jinny; and a younger brother, Jack.

Maggie Lee Henson was a rising seventh grader at First Baptist Church School.

Her parents reported details of her three-week fight for life on a website called CaringBridge.org.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press. 

CANYON—David Lowrie will seek a second term as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas when the BGCT conducts its annual meeting in Houston Nov. 16-17.

Lowrie’s decision to serve a second one-year term could reverse a recent trend in BGCT politics. Although presidents historically served two terms as the convention’s leader, his five immediate predecessors did not seek re-election, each voluntarily serving a single term.

David Lowrie

Ken Hall, whose term began that recent trend, articulated the rationale. Since the BGCT is large and enjoys a bounty of qualified leaders, single-year administrations enable the convention to elect twice as many presidents, he explained.

During the short succession of one-year presidencies, the BGCT broke ground on several fronts:

• Albert Reyes became the convention’s first Hispanic president in 2004.

• The BGCT elected Michael Bell as its first African-American president in 2005.

• In 2007, Joy Fenner ventured where no woman had gone before, becoming the convention’s first female president.

• Last year, for the first time in more than two decades, Texas Baptists Committed—a political group formed to protect the BGCT from fundamentalists who gained control of the Southern Baptist Convention—did not endorse a presidential candidate.

Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, based his decision to seek a second term on conversations with convention leaders, prayer and a sense of God’s leadership, he said.

“I did consult with a large number of leaders from all different parts of Texas Baptist life,” he said. “Listening to their advice and looking at what had been happening and what I hoped would happen in years to come, I felt this was a unique situation and time and opportunity to serve a second term. …

“My wife and I prayed long and hard about it,” he said. “Clearly, it’s the people’s decision. I can’t say without a doubt this is God’s will. God will either affirm it or not, but I feel a peace.”

So does Bobby Dagnel, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lubbock, who plans to nominate Lowrie for the presidency at the BGCT annual meeting.

“David is someone I’ve gotten to know during my days here in West Texas and in Lubbock,” Dagnel said. “I appreciate his work and the efforts he’s made the past year. He’s made great strides serving as president.”

Dagnel noted the previous five presidents served single terms and said he was struck by how that trend conflicts with advice he heard at a “best practices” seminar at Baylor University, where he serves on the board of regents.

“Part of the panel discussion focused on extended terms for officers,” he said. “If you serve one term, by the time you learn the ropes, your time is up.”

Lowrie entered the presidency without previously serving as a convention vice president, and Dagnel said he decided much could be gained if Lowrie has another year to lead.

“He’s doing a great job and just now getting traction,” Dagnel said. “A second year lends itself to continuity.”

“David also has represented a broader tent in Texas Baptist life,” Dagnel added. “He’s doing a good job and is deserving of another year.”

Lowrie cited several factors that indicate a second term would benefit the convention.

“My hope would be, if I were re-elected, I would be able to continue the work we’re doing on Texas Hope 2010,” he noted.

Texas Hope 2010 is the BGCT’s campaign to present the Christian gospel to every Texan and to combat hunger statewide by Easter 2010. It’s the brainchild of BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett and was launched last year, not long before Lowrie assumed the presidency.

“Texas Hope 2010 will be on the front page. That’s where we need to put all our energy,” Lowrie said. “I feel there’s an up side to the continuity of having the same president for the second year of the initiative. … If I’m elected in November, we will have six to seven months to get after it.”

Another benefit to a second term is the opportunity to build on the reconciliation and harmony the BGCT has enjoyed recently, he added.

“I feel we have made a lot of strides in the past year—getting the groups of the convention working together and moving forward. I would like to continue that,” he said.

For example, he cited how he and the BGCT’s vice presidents, Carolyn Strickland and Bobby Broyles, “have done a good job of appointing members of our convention to serve on various committees and in places of leadership that represent well the face of Texas Baptists.”

“I also feel we have made strides in helping churches who felt they weren’t a part of what we were doing to feel a part—particularly churches that continue to have a relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said.

Also, another year without endorsed presidential candidates could benefit the BGCT, Lowrie surmised, noting this second year of non-endorsements would set the stage for a broad range of presidential candidates at the 2010 annual meeting, when his term would expire.

“I want to make sure my service will help and not hurt our cause,” he said. “I truly believe, talking to other leaders, that it will help.

“I feel I can make a difference next year and help us accomplish Texas Hope 2010, and that’s a high commitment on my part. If the people decide otherwise, I will support the new president.”

Among other priorities of a second term, Lowrie would focus on engaging the rising generation of Texas Baptists.

“One of the things I’ve already started is to try to build connections with our younger generation of leaders—both men and women,” he said. “If we don’t reach them, we will lose opportunities to be all God wants us to be.”

Because of its nine universities and two seminaries, the BGCT should reap a perpetual bumper crop of young leaders, he explained. “We ought to be at the forefront of reaching young leaders and engaging them in the process.”

Similarly, Lowrie wants to involve a broader range of Texas Baptists in the life of the convention.

“We must try to help our affinity groups to step up and nominate leaders and be part of the process,” he said. “Because the BGCT is such a wonderful, diverse, strong convention, we need to represent that in our leadership. … That has been part of who we have been, and I want to continue that.”

In addition, Lowrie hopes to strengthen the convention’s financial base, which has been stricken by a weak economy and disaffection of many churches.

“I would like to build connections with churches to help them see clearly our vision and, hopefully, to get them to be more part of our convention,” he said, noting he wants to help churches understand the value of their engagement in the convention and to see they can shape how the convention allocates its resources.

Whether it lasts one or two years, Lowrie set his BGCT role in context. “The presidency is somewhat symbolic,” he said. “Randel Everett has been the guy who has helped mobilize this progress. I’ve seen a lot of exciting things under Dr. Everett’s leadership. I believe our future is really bright.”

Lowrie is the first second-generation BGCT president. His father, D.L. Lowrie, was president in 1982-83.

Lowrie is a graduate of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned a doctorate from Bethel University.

He is a member of the Howard Payne University board of trustees and the BGCT Future Focus Committee.

He and his wife, Robyn, are the parents of four children—Kalie, Lorin, Jamie and Madison.

BROWNWOOD—Howard Payne University’s board of trustees elected as the school’s president Bill Ellis, who has served as provost and chief academic officer at Hardin-Simmons University since 2001.

But when it came to a vote, board members chose between two nominees—Ellis, who was recommended by the presidential search committee, and veteran denominational worker Chris Liebrum, who was nominated from the floor. Trustees elected Ellis over Liebrum by a 19-14 vote.

The search committee, chaired by Brad Helbert of Abilene, unanimously recommended Ellis. The committee included four trustees, four Howard Payne University faculty and staff, the alumni association president and the student body president.

Bill Ellis, pictured with his wife, Diana, has been elected 19th president of Howard Payne University. (PHOTOS/Kalie Lowrie/Howard Payne University)

Trustee Rick Akins of Salado nominated Liebrum, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Education/Discipleship Center and a Howard Payne alumnus.

After trustees spoke in favor of each nominee, board members voted by secret ballot. Ellis received 58 percent of the votes, and Liebrum received 42 percent.

Ellis expressed his appreciation to the board for the opportunity to lead the university.

“Howard Payne has a long and illustrious heritage, and I am tremendously excited by the opportunity to serve at such a distinguished institution,” Ellis said.

He added he and his wife, Diana, “look forward to joining the excellent faculty and staff at HPU in doing the important work of providing the highest quality education to our students.”

Randall Grooms of Tyler, chairman of the board of trustees, voiced confidence in the president-elect’s ability “to lead Howard Payne University into the future.”

“Howard Payne University is extremely fortunate to have a man of Dr. Ellis’ experience and credentials as president,” Grooms said. “He has served in various capacities within Baptist higher education for over 30 years.”

Lanny Hall, past president of Howard Payne and current president of Hardin-Simmons University, hailed Ellis as “a proven and dedicated academic leader” and offered his congratulations.

A loss for HSU 

“While his leaving represents a major loss for HSU, we are happy for him and very glad that he will still be in Texas, leading another well-respected institution with which we have close ties,” Hall said.

“We were not at all surprised that the board of Howard Payne pursued him to be the new leader there. We wish him the very best as he moves to Brownwood.”

Akins, who practices law in Round Rock, noted both his rationale for offering an alternate candidate at the board meeting and his support for the trustees’ choice.

“In nominating Chris Liebrum from the floor to serve as Howard Payne’s next president, I reflected the sentiments of some other trustees, many Howard Payne alumni and many Texas Baptist friends who sincerely felt Chris Liebrum was the best choice for the next president of Howard Payne University,” he said.

“Although the trustees may have been divided in our feelings as to who could be the most effective leader to serve Howard Payne University at this time in her history, we are united in our support of Dr. Bill Ellis as our new HPU president, and all trustees look forward to a bright future for our school under his leadership.”

Jim McEachern of Midlothian characterized himself as “a strong supporter of Chris Liebrum,” calling the veteran denominational worker “a wonderful and awesome man.” He noted Liebrum had not actively sought the position but was presented as a candidate by trustees who knew him well and respected his years of service.

However, McEachern voiced his desire to see the Howard Payne community unite around the university’s newly elected president.

“I want to give my wholehearted support to Dr. Ellis,” he said.

Trustee David Currie of San Angelo praised board members for the cordial manner in which they conducted themselves when they differed, calling it “a spiritual experience.”

Dignity and Class 

“The meeting was handled with dignity and class in every way,” said Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed.

“Persons spoke with passion for their candidate, but no negative words were spoken regarding either candidate, and no one was defensive or tried to cut off discussion. A vote was taken and a candidate chosen, and then the board united behind the new president via a formal motion of support.”

In fact, Currie noted, a trustee who had spoken in favor of the losing candidate asked for the privilege of leading the closing prayer for unity.
“It was an incredible experience to be a part of—a Christlike experience,” he said.

In an e-mail to the trustees, Liebrum expressed his appreciation to the board and likewise pledged his support to Ellis

“Although I never personally sought the position at HPU, I was humbled by those who encouraged my candidacy. A few of those encouragers sought my permission in submitting my name, but many acted independently and on their own to recommend me to the search committee and the board. Either way, I am humbled by their support,” he wrote.

Liebrum, who was attending the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Amsterdam, noted he immediately contacted Ellis after being informed about the trustees’ action.

“I expressed not only words of congratulation, but pledged to him my prayers and support.  After a few hours, we exchanged e-mails. I do not know Dr. Ellis but look forward to meeting him in the near future. We will all work hard to ensure his success. His resume is impressive, and he will lead us well,” Liebrum said.

Ellis holds a bachelor’s degree from Hardin-Simmons University, a master’s degree from Texas Tech University and doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.  

He also has pursued post-graduate study at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Diana Ellis is professor of voice and opera at McMurry University in Abilene. The Ellises are members of Lytle South Baptist Church in Abilene and have two adult children, Emily and Brett.

EDE, Netherlands (ABP) — The story of an African-Caribbean Baptist slave's 19th-century revolt holds theologically liberating implications for all Christians, an international Baptist scholar said July 29.

Presenting a paper as part of the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering in the Netherlands, Caribbean-American scholar Delroy Reid-Salmon assessed the theological insights he gleaned from writing a book about Sam Sharpe, the main leader of the 1831-32 "Baptist War" slave rebellion in Jamaica.

Sharpe, a Baptist deacon, and hundreds of others were arrested and summarily executed for organizing a general strike at sugar-cane-harvesting time that turned into an attempted rebellion against their owners. Sharpe is now considered a Jamaican national hero.

Some accounts say that Baptist missionaries and pastors helped Sharpe stir the upheaval, which came after a series of prayer meetings and Bible studies in which the future rebels studied the liberation themes found in Scripture.

Reid-Salmon, a pastor in New York and fellow at Regent's Park College at Oxford University in England, said the work of God in history is evident in Sharpe's story.

"It is undisputable that this rebellion has played a major role in the abolition of slavery," he said. Abolition came to Jamaica and the rest of the British Empire a few years after Sharpe's rebellion and, nearly 30 years later, in the United States.

The slaves' decision to strike and, eventually, to revolt, was consistent with the Bible's passages on freedom, justice and oppression, Reid-Salmon said. "The biblical witness consists of the Exodus story, the prophetic tradition and of course the gospel of Jesus Christ," he said.

During the gathering's morning worship service in which participants remembered Baptist prophets, Reid-Salmon read part of Sharpe's defense of his actions.

"They may put some of us to death, but they cannot hang and shoot us all," he quoted Sharpe as saying. "In reading my Bible, I found that the white man had no more right to make a slave of me than I have to make a slave of the white man. I would rather go out and die on that gallows than to live as a slave."

After Sharpe was arrested, powerful white religious leaders told him he was wrong not to be content with the station in life in which God had placed him.

But accepting such oppression would not have been in line with God's nature, Reid-Salmon said.

"In the final analysis, Christians either behave as if they believe humanity is made in the image of God, or else they practice a theology that essentially asserts God is a creation of human freedom," he said. "Human beings take responsibility for re-ordering society in response to God's freedom."

Reid-Salmon delivered the remarks on the second day of the BWA's Annual Gathering in Ede, Netherlands. Hundreds of Baptists from around the world came to conduct BWA General Council business as well as observe the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement, which began in the summer of 1609 in nearby Amsterdam.

— Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.

TASHKENT CITY, Uzbekistan (ABP) — Authorities in Uzbekistan cracked down on Baptists after a government-sponsored news agency ran articles alleging illegal religious activity at a summer camp for children.

Forum 18, a Norway-based news service that monitors alleged violations of religious freedom, reported July 28 that Pavel Peichev, head of the Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists of Middle Asia, faces criminal charges of unlawfully teaching children religion and misusing resort facilities.

Local Baptists fear huge fines, confiscation of the property, imprisonment or some combination of penalties if Peichev is convicted.

Details of the investigation were sketchy, but Forum 18 said charges include violating rules of maintenance and fire safety, unlawfully using Baptist property for a children's camp and "involving under-age children in religious organization as well as teaching them religion against the will of the children, their parents or persons substituting them."

Camp Director Dimitry Pitirimov told Forum 18 that all parents whose children attend the Camp4Joy summer camp know it is run by Baptists and sign an agreement to allow children to be taught. He said most children who attend are children of members of Baptist churches.

Uzbekistan's law says only registered religious groups can engage in religious activity. In April a deacon of a Baptist church in Tashkent received a 15-day jail sentence for allegedly teaching Baptist beliefs to children in his home and giving them food.

Pitirimov says the Camp4Joy is legal because the Baptist union is a legally registered religious organization. Baptists have been holding the camp in the mountain district about an hour-and-a-half's drive from Uzebekistan's capital city of Tashkent for several years.

Pitirimov denied several allegations in two articles published by the news agency Gorizont.uz under a headline "Grievous and Criminal Acts of 'Joy,' including that he receives large amounts of money from foreign sponsors.

Last year Camp4Joy had 538 campers. The camp lasts eight days and features rock-climbing, hiking and other recreation.

Uzbekistan's constitution provides for freedom of religion and for the principle of separation of church and state, but a religion law passed in 1998 restricts many rights only to registered religious groups and limits which groups may register.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom labels Uzbekistan a "Country of Particular Concern," ranking it as one of the world's worst violators of religious liberty.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

NACOGDOCHES—Vacation Bible School for children is the highlight of the summer for many churches, and some even hold an adult Vacation Bible School. Austin Heights Baptist Church in Nacogdoches is one of the few, however, to host an intergenerational VBS.

Vacation Bible School is geared toward everyone at the East Texas church, with participants ranging from 2-year-old toddlers to some who have seen many Vacation Bible Schools in their more than seven decades.

The church-wide evening VBS is partly from necessity and partly a reflection of the church’s identification of community as one of its primary goals, Pastor Kyle Childress said.

“To be honest, we ended up doing it this way because we tried some other things that didn’t work,” he acknowledged.

A traditional daytime Bible school for children wasn’t working because the children’s parents had a difficult time arranging transportation and it also was hard to find an adequate number of workers with daytime availability.

“We needed everyone in the church to take part because we’re small,” Childress said. The congregation averages about 60 to 70 during the summer months and from 90 to 100 the rest of the year, he said.

Also, an intergenerational VBS meshes well with the church’s philosophy, he added.

“Over time, we began to realize that we believe the church is to be this community where everybody is connected to everybody else in Christ,” he said.

It especially is important for children, Childress believes. He points to research that indicates exposure to and caring relationships with other adults outside the family is key to the spiritual growth of children. It is even more important in a society where many children grow up in single-parent homes or are separated geographically from their grandparents.

The church used a curriculum called “The Good Life” from Alternatives for Simple Living. Session titles include “Do Justice,” “Cherish the Natural Order” and “Nurture People.”

“Cherish the Natural Order” focused on appreciating the world God had created and the role of humans as caretakers of that world.

The evening kicked off with church members, predominantly children and young families, but adults of all ages in the mix, bringing food. Some brought food from a local farmers’ market to illustrate the evening’s theme, but one wise father brought pizza to satisfy the tastes of the children and more than one adult.

Following the meal, Education and Children’s Minister Jane Childress, the pastor’s wife, led the group in a time or reflection of memorable times spent in nature.

Those times ranged from a boy recalling a time harvesting watermelons with his grandfather to a young girl talking of playing in her backyard with her brother to a young father recalling a hiking trip in Colorado to a senior adult couple remembering a canoe trip.

Mrs. Childress then led the group through a responsive reading and dramatization of Genesis 1. Beginning without lights outs until God created it, various members brought items such as tea lights to a central table to signify the creation of the moon and stars, and fruit and plants and stuffed animals as their part in God’s creation was read.

The group of about 40 then divided into two groups for game time. Each group took an inflated globe and began tossing it around the circle to simulate the earth’s orbit, being careful not to let it drop. As the game continued, however, the facilitators added such things as clothing, cell phones and books to the thing the players had to take care for in addition to the earth.

The point was, the group was told, that while most people want to be good stewards of the earth, many times the things people want make it harder to live up to the ideal.

Participants of all ages in Vacation Bible School at Austin Heights Baptist Church in Nacogdoches recycle discarded items from home to make decorative crosses.

The evening ended with small groups using things brought from home to make crosses. The idea was that recycling was a means of being a good caretaker of the earth and a way to bring glory to God by honoring his creation.

George Patterson, a member of Austin Heights who is a retired minister of education and also the son of a minister of education, acknowledged a difference from a conventional VBS.

“My father was ‘Mr. VBS,’” he said. “The lack of structure here he just wouldn’t have understood, but for this time and especially this congregation, it works.”

Childress acknowledged a little less structure is present, but he’s OK with that. “You can’t do a straight Bible lecture like you would with adults, but that’s all right. I want our kids to learn by pray by watching and listening to our older adults pray,” he said.

The closer the relationships between children and adults, the more responsibility it places on adults, he pointed out.

“There is a greater responsibility in peoples’ lives because these kids get to know you, and they start to watch how you get mad, how you pray, how often you show up at church,” Childress said.

The additional responsibility is worth it, however, because of what is at stake, he said.

“We need to raise Christians, because if we don’t do it here at the church, it won’t get done anywhere else. And growing relationships and building relationships is the essence of it all,” Childress said.

DALLAS—With the number of homeless in Dallas hitting almost 6,000 in 2008, a pastor felt called to not only meet their spiritually needs but their physical needs, as well.

Micah Phillips, pastor of Holy Communion Baptist Church, has a heart for the people in his community, especially the ones who do not have a home.

When in California, he saw people from all different backgrounds come together. He wants to see this happen in Texas.

“Dallas will be restored depending on how we treat the homeless,” Phillips said.

The church provides food and lodging for each homeless person for up to six months to help them get on track. Residents can attend transitional-living classes three days a week, and the church will soon offer classes every day, Phillips said.

“It’s part of God’s vision,” he said. “He needs someone who’s going to go to the uttermost. You must go to the guttermost to go to the uttermost.”

About 100 homeless people a month contact the church looking for assistance. More than half of Holy Communion’s membership consists of homeless people who attend the church, said Eloisa Mariscal, Phillips’s executive assistant.

“We’re getting people to get reconnected with the source, which is God,” Phillips said. “We don’t do hand outs. We do hand ups.”

Robert Brown, former evangelism coordinator with Holy Communion Baptist Church in Dallas, helps a man looking for spiritual guidance.

Phillips named one success story after another of people who have gone from being homeless with drug problems to having jobs and being a part of the church. The program has an 80 percent success rate.

“They’re changing,” Phillips said. “I can see the change in them.”

This ministry opened his mind and gave him more respect for people who end up in this predicament, he said.

Phillips and members from his church also ride public transit trains and witness to the riders. “It’s one of the most fertile grounds I’ve ever seen for evangelism,” Phillips said. “Everyone we asked accepted Christ,” he said. “Most of the people on trains are struggling.”

About 22 people began a relationship with Christ in the few hours the church members ministered on the trains. The members rode as regular customers.

Phillips’s other job helps him be even more involved with his community. He works with the Dallas Fire Department where he sees life-and-death situations.

“It gives you a chance to see for yourself,” Phillips explained. “A pastor gets the people in the church and sees them there. When you’re hands on, you’re able to be in the community.”

“It feels like I’ve put out physical fires and spiritual fires,” Phillips said while assisting a person over the phone with an emergency.

On a public transit train, Micah Phillips, pastor of Holy Communion Baptist Church in Dallas, prays with a single, homeless mother of three.

Phillips wants to be more than a preacher and firefighter, though. He wants to film a reality show, which will portray the people in the program, so people will see the transformation and how successful residents become.

He also wants to publish a book about the ministry.

“I enjoy getting the message out,” Phillips said. He recently met with the pastors in the city. “If we collectively came together, we could really change the community.”

Holy Communion has received a van and other support from Inner Faith, a housing coalition that provides transitional housing, services and programs to the homeless in Dallas, said Linda Hall, executive director of Inner Faith.

“We see the tossed away people,” Hall said. “It’s through our service we show our Christian love.”

Hall and Inner Faith work to help homeless people learn how to support themselves, and working with these people has made her faith stronger, she said.

“Ministry to the homeless strengthens any community,” she said.

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras—While world leaders focused their attention on a Summit of the Americas meeting here that attracted top officials from the Organization of American States, a group of East Texas Baptist University students quietly served two orphanages just outside the city.

The 15 students and a sponsor worked daily at Casitas Adolescente Home and the Heart of Mercy. And while their activity didn’t draw widespread media attention, participants believed they experienced God’s loving attention as they served the less fortunate.

“The most important thing God revealed to me was that it is not about us or what we did in Honduras; it’s what he did,” said junior Brittany Walters of Longview.

“God did not need us to accomplish his will in Honduras, but he allowed us to have the amazing privilege to be a part of his plan in sharing his word and his love with the people there.”

Working in cooperation with Buckner International, the ETBU group went to Casitas, an orphanage for sexually abused teenage girls, during the morning hours. The afternoons were spent at the Heart of Mercy orphanage for HIV-positive children.

Despite having a language barrier to overcome the group was able to communicate.

East Texas Baptist University student Kristen Cole (left) plays jacks with two teenage girls. A group of 15 from ETBU spent a week in Honduras ministering to children and teenagers in two separate orphanages. (PHOTO/ETBU Public Relations)

“God showed me that I did not have to be able to speak their language to build relationships with them,” said junior Mallory Harrell of Houston. “All I had to do was show God’s love as well as mine.”

“God did amazing things and took all of our plans, and turned them into something completely different,” said junior Christina Southard of Hallsville.  As the week unfolded, the group came to the understanding that their mission was to express love to the ones they came to serve.

“We did some Vacation Bible School activities with both homes, but we mainly just played, hugged, and talked with the kids,” said Rena McDaniel, a senior from Monroe, La. “It is truly amazing what God can do when you just love on people. Love speaks loudly in every language.”

Dane Fowkles, East Texas Baptist University director of major gifts, works with children on a Vacation Bible School project. (PHOTO/ETBU Public Relations)

“I saw the Lord reach these kids in a way that they may not have been reached before,” said Kenna Luttrell, a sophomore from Boise, Idaho. “Our group was able to give them more attention than they normally receive.”

“Every day we spent with the girls at Casitas and the children at Heart of Mercy, we did our best to smile and bring a little sunshine into their day,” Walters said.

“I have never been so proud of our ETBU students,” said Dane Fowlkes, ETBU director of major gifts, who accompanied the students to Honduras.

“Without exception, all 15 students pulled their weight and displayed sacrificial and cooperative spirit throughout the experience.”

Susan Williams, a graduate of ETBU and an office manager at Buckner International, also accompanied the group to Honduras.

“I loved working with this team because they were so willing, so eager to get to know the kids we were working with,” said Williams, who leads two or three mission trips a year. “I never saw anyone act like they were there to be an observer.”

A group of 15 students and one sponsor from East Texas Baptist University spent a week in Honduras this summer. The group worked in two orphanages that have a relationship with Buckner International. (PHOTO/ETBU Public Relations)

“The students ministered in heart-breaking circumstances, yet did so with love and compassion. They held children that many would have been afraid to touch,” Fowlkes said. “Most important was the hope they communicated with the adolescent girls as they developed meaningful relationships with them.”

The orphanages were located in a poverty-stricken area. “Poverty is everywhere,” Walters said. “Even on the streets where you see nice cars just like home, you could look to your right or left and see children driving horses and buggies trying to make money for their family.”

“I can tell you that the things we saw and experienced in Honduras were awful. And yet, at the same time, they were beautiful,” said senior Krystle Renfrow of New Caney. “It was heart-wrenching to see some rather severe living conditions and to have come to terms knowing that we were leaving soon to escape back to our lives of comfort in Texas.”

“It was so hard to leave those teenage girls, but I had to remember that his plans for them are better than any of mine could ever be,” Southard said. 

The ETBU students decided to collect an offering among them to meet a need in the girl’s home they discovered. Casitas Adolescente Home has a budget for 40 girls but had 92 in residence the week the students visited. The students collected enough money to buy chicken feed for five weeks.

“This offering was critical because they raise chickens to provide the eggs they need,” Fowlkes noted. “The offering also provided several weeks worth of powdered milk, processed meat, beans, and other food items.”

Hope Hodel, East Texas Baptist University student from Shreveport, La., teaches Sarahi some English. A group of 15 students from ETBU in cooperation with Buckner International spent a week in Honduras ministering to children and teenagers in two orphanages.

Not only was God at work during the groups time in Honduras, his activity also was seen in how the mission trip was formed and funded. 

“Our group is the first college aged group to do a mission trip to Honduras for Buckner,” said ETBU Great Commission Center Allan Thompson. “Dane in his work for the University was introduced to Lee and Susan Bush of Athens, who provided a major portion of the funds for the trip.” 

Lee Bush serves as a trustee of Buckner International. The Bushes, owners of Red Dot Building Systems, provided half the costs for each student to go. 

“Initially we were planning to send 10 students and a sponsor,” said Thompson. “I thought it would be difficult for the Great Commission Center to even find enough students willing to go to Honduras.  By the time plans were finalized for this trip, many of our students were committed to travel study abroad opportunities, the Concert Choir European tour, as well as other mission endeavors.”

“Lee and Susan became keenly interested in the vision and work of our Great Commission Center,” Fowlkes said. “They came up with the idea of providing seed money for 10 of our students to do a pioneer partnership mission trip with Buckner.”

“Honduras was chosen because it is a new venue for Buckner’s work internationally. A team from Red Dot Buildings preceded us in Honduras,” Fowlkes added.

“Our applications to go and serve in Honduras were more than we expected.” Thompson said. “The Bushes responded by providing additional funds to take 15 students to Honduras instead of 10.”

After the student group returned East Texas, several expressed hope it only marked the beginning of many trips to Honduras. 

“This new relationship with Casitas is an opportunity for ETBU to get involved in changing the world in a very specific, tangible way,” McDaniel said.

“We came back having been blessed beyond measure,” said junior Hope Hodel, of Shreveport, La. “No one wanted to leave, but now that we are back, all we want to do is continue to help them.”

Renfrow summed up the trip for many of the participants, saying, “We had the privilege to be the hands and feet of Jesus serving beautiful people who needed to be loved.”