GEORGETOWN—Loss of a loved one through death creates trauma, but emotions surrounding that loss can be particularly close to the surface during the holidays.

In preparation for this stressful time, First Baptist Church in Georgetown offered a “Surviving the Holidays” GriefShare meeting to help.

“Your grief is different; it’s individualistic,” Facilitator Sharon Kelley told participants. “Someone can understand your grief, but they can’t know where you are in your grief.”

Participants viewed a video with insights about why the holidays are tough times. It cautioned them not to avoid holiday pain, provided instructions on how to plan for the holiday season and offered the hope of healing through relationships—especially a relationship with God. The presentation also highlighted warning signs, such as thoughts of suicide.

“Anytime there is a pattern of suicidal thinking, talk to someone, because right now the only one you’re talking to is yourself, and you’re not giving very good advice,” participants heard.

To fend off such thoughts, face the fact that the holidays will be hard and will hurt; this will offset panic when the bad days arrive because they are expected.

Grieving people should not fake that everything is fine, participants learned. “Some Christians treat Christmas like Halloween. They put on a mask,” which robs the person of care and prayer of friends and family who believe everything is fine.

In planning for Christmas, prioritize what “you need for it to really be Christmas,” participants were instructed. Cut back on social engagements if desired, and also farm-out some jobs if the schedule becomes overwhelming.

Some may find a visit with family more tolerable when scheduled before or after the holiday rather than on the special day. That way, the grieving person does not feel the burden of performing for others on the holiday, participants were counseled.

Healing takes time. “It might not be a good holiday the first year. That’s OK,” participants learned.

The GriefShare ministry at First Baptist Church in Georgetown had its genesis more than a dozen years ago when JoAnn Goldston’s husband died. She looked around for support but found no biblically based help. She began her own group at the church calling it “Coming Alongside” that met twice a year.

A few years later, Church Initiative came out with the GriefShare program, and Goldston immediately was interested because the video format made it accessible for many to help in the ministry.

This year, 44 people participated in the three meetings. In addition to the meetings, participants also have daily devotionals to help them between meetings. When they meet, participants share how God has been working with them. Then they watch a video and discuss it in small groups.

More people from outside the church are beginning to join the group, Goldston said.

“There are four tasks we enable the members with,” she explained. One of them, and this is huge, is to acknowledge the person has indeed died and will not come back.”

Many people relate how they hear a door open and expect the person to come walking down the hall, or when they go on a trip sit down to write them a note.

“Another thing is to recognize the emotions they are having, learn some ways to deal with them and that they all go back to God. So many people, especially Christians, will deny anger. And anger is very much a part of it. There has been a great loss. There has been a great pain. There’s going to be anger,” Goldston explained. “We work with them on adjusting to different losses.”

For example, she said if someone’s child dies, that child might have been the one in the household who always set the table. Without their recognizing it, mealtime can become a time of great stress.

First Baptist Church in Georgetown offers a “Surviving the Holidays” GriefShare program.

“Spouses have to learn to deal with there is no one to sew a button on, no one to do the grocery shopping, no one to bring the garbage can in,” Goldston continued.

“And the last step is being able to move forward, to recognize they will have a new identity. They will not be the same person they were before the loss. Chances are very good they will be even better—that God will make them stronger and more compassionate and more sensitive and more of just anything you can think of. He just improves on the model.”

The holidays are a time of testing, Goldston admitted.

“For the holidays, expect that it’s going to hurt. It’s really going to hurt because there is so much emotion connected with holidays. And it’s not just Christmas and Thanksgiving—it’s birthdays, it’s anniversaries, and it’s the date of the loss,” she pointed out. “There are lots of dates that are different because of the emotions connected with them.”

But as the participant learned, God is there for solace.

“If you already have a relationship with God, the holidays are an opportunity to grow closer to him. Tell him what you are feeling,” said Paul David Tripp, a minister from Philadelphia.

“The person in pain and the person who is not presently in pain are exactly the same person—both are completely dependent on God for their life. One is just much more aware of the fact.”

Editor’s Note: For additional resources, visit http://www.mastersincounseling.org/loss-grief-bereavement.html

DALLAS—Tiny stuffed animals, flowers, photos and other mementos of all-too-brief lives filled a table at the front of Penland Chapel at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Each fall, chaplains in Baylor’s pastoral care and counseling department lead a memorial service for the benefit of parents whose children died in infancy.

This year, Chaplain Millicent Albert invited parents and guests to reflect on the lives of their children, encouraging them to take comfort in the knowledge those lives had purpose and meaning.

During a time of sharing, chaplains invited parents to read letters, poems or reflections on about their babies. At the conclusion of the service, each parent was his invited to speak the name of his or her child.

Each parent was given a rose to symbolize the beauty and fragility of life, along with a small keepsake showing the image of an angel holding a baby and inscribed with Psalm 91:11—“For he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways.”

“Throughout this very special service, you could sense the depth and breadth of the love that each parent had for their baby and how priceless it was to each parent for their precious baby to be remembered and honored in this very special way,” Albert said.

“Parents expressed a great deal of appreciation for the service, sharing that they left feeling encouraged, valued and supported, knowing that their babies will continue to be remembered and honored not only by them but by everyone who has been touched by their lives.”

PLAINVIEW—The events of Oct. 7, 2001, are blurry for Beau Bishop. He knows he was a passenger in a car that wrecked in Central Texas—an accident that left him with a broken neck, three skull fractures, a punctured lung and three broken vertebrae. He knows he “slept” through the worst of it.

Beyond that, the details are buried deep inside Bishop, who personally prefers to dwell not on his trauma from two years ago but on his recovery and bright future.

“One of my first conscious memories is being in a nursing home bed in a hallway,” said Bishop, now a senior at Wayland Baptist University. “I was in a coma for weeks and had to have a ventilator to breathe.”

One thing is clear. The wreck dramatically changed life as Bishop knew it. At age 25, he struggled to recover health and then rehabilitate, essentially relearning all the basic functions of self-sufficiency.

His stint in the skilled nursing facility in Lubbock—his first stop after being airlifted by helicopter to a hospital—lasted nine months.

Next, Bishop transferred to the Transitional Learning Center in Galveston for another six months, where he relearned basic skills from hygiene to meal preparation, along with other post-acute brain injury patients.

An assisted-living facility in San Antonio was the next stop as Bishop continued to hone his life skills and recover from the crash. It was a difficult, uphill battle, he recalls.

“I wouldn’t take it back now, but at the time, I didn’t want to do (all the rehab), of course,” he said.

Finally, Bishop ended up in Borger, where he worked in an oilfield machine shop and tried to return to some degree of normal life. Bishop had a nagging dream that survived the wreck: he wanted to go to school.

“I enrolled at Frank Phillips College in an elementary algebra class just to see if I could cut the mustard,” he smiled. “I worked my tail off, but I made an ‘A.’”

That good grade propelled Bishop to keep going in his studies, and he began to double his load. With each class, he collected more “A”s, encouraging Bishop that he really could pursue his degree. He eventually earned a scholarship to go fulltime to community college, finally earning his associate’s degree in 2007.

While in Borger, Bishop had heard about Wayland Baptist University and knew it was nearby. He also knew about the Christian environment and felt it would be a good fit. He enrolled in fall 2007, attending fulltime and working in the school library, and will finish his bachelor’s degree in psychology in December.

Bishop believes it was God’s will that he end up at Wayland. He’s found much encouragement from faculty and staff members, notably his psychology professors with whom he’s spent much of the last two years. He is also receiving assistance from the state’s Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services in financial support to reach his educational goals.

“Everything that has happened here has been awesome. Every professor I’ve dealt with here has been great. I’ve made the dean’s list every semester,” he adds with a smile. “Now I want to help other people have been through the same trials I faced.”

Bishop sees some sort of social work or counseling in his future, encouraged by counselors who assisted him during the rough journey of the past few years. But besides wanting to give back to others, one thing in particular has compelled Bishop to complete the degree and begin a rewarding career.

“I have a daughter who is 11 and lives in Levelland. I want to be able to contribute to her welfare as much as possible,” he said.

“It really hasn’t been a bed of roses (the past few years) but she has definitely been my driving force to live right and do the right things for the right reasons.”

Bishop said his faith has been his “backbone” during these difficult years of recovery and moving forward. He also said his stubborn, optimistic attitude played a role in keeping him focused.

“I go through trials all the time just like everyone, and there are times I don’t know what to do. But I know that the Creator will see me through,” he said. “I’m not a victim. I don’t choose to see myself that way. I’m a survivor.

“I know I still have to iron out the kinks, but all in all I’m getting better with each and every day. I never wanted to be content with just letting things be. I wanted to be as normal as possible.”

After years of therapy and regular exercise, Bishop bears only a few scars from the accident, slightly slowed speech and a very slight limp to his walk. But he paused thoughtfully while pondering how the events of the last eight years have changed him in less noticeable ways.

“It’s made me more aware of the small things in life,” he said with a peaceful smile. “And I realize that it’s important to tell people what they mean to me.”

Foster parents in Moldova recently received parenting training, thanks to Children’s Emergency Relief International, the overseas division of Baptist Child & Family Services.

Social workers and former foster parents, Mike and Diane Leach, long-term CERI supporters from Boston, traveled to Eastern Europe to provide training to 28 foster parents in two cities in Moldova.

The couple taught classes on the stages of grief and loss, understanding the differences between biological and foster children, how children develop healthy attachments and how spiritual gifts function in foster parenting.

“I believe the families left with an understanding that children are greatly influenced by their past, and were relieved to know that other families struggle with similar issues,” said CERI Moldova National Director Connie Belciug.

The course was so well received, families requested more tips and lessons to help them provide good homes for their foster children. In response, CERI is planning future seminars to discuss topics such as relationships between males and females, encouraging godly habits and breaking cycles of destructive behavior.

 “We have a great appreciation and respect for the work CERI is doing in Moldova and are honored to be allowed to help. We will return as often as possible,” Leach said.

WACO—Federal, state and local leaders in the fight against hunger gathered for a hunger summit at Baylor University to begin a discussion they hope will spark actions to end food insecurity in Texas by 2015.

By bringing together about 250 government officials, clergy and lay leaders, organizers hoped to break down “silos” in the battle against hunger. If individuals on different levels can cooperate with each other, every Texan can have enough to eat in five years, said Jeremy Everett, one of the event’s coordinators and director of the Texas Hunger Initiative, a partnership between the Baylor School of Social Work and the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.

“Basically, what we’ve noticed over the course of time at the Texas Hunger Initiative is that these federal groups, the state groups and often these community-based groups work as silos and they don’t work together,” he said. “It’s our belief that if we’re going to work toward food security in Texas—that we define as three healthy meals a day, seven days a week—we’re going to have to all do it together.”

To bring people together beyond the event at Baylor University, the Texas Hunger Initiative is looking to launch two initiatives statewide.

First, organizers are looking to create a food policy roundtable of state and federal leaders to assess what resources are available and coordinate efforts to make those resources available locally. The first roundtable meeting is scheduled Jan. 20 in Austin.

The second initiative is an effort to create food-planning associations in each of the state’s 254 counties. These hunger coalitions will bring together pastors, lay leaders, mayors and government officials to plan ways to provide people in need better access to healthy meals.

The Texas Hunger Initiative is part of Texas Hope 2010, a Texas Baptist initiative to pray for vulnerable and spiritually lost people, care for Texans in need and share the gospel with every person in the state by Easter 2010.

The Texas Hunger Initiative recently was selected to receive six $10,000 Texas Hope care grants through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. The grants will be used to help start and expand summer feeding programs in at least six cities, the first priority of the hunger initiative.

Texas has the highest percentage of hungry children in the nation at 22 percent. About 2.5 million children are on the free lunch program in Texas schools. Of those students, 2 million are not enrolled in summer feeding programs.

Max Finberg, director of faith-based and neighborhood partnership for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Texas has much to be proud of, but not these statistics.

“One of the things you can’t be proud of is that you’re the second-hungriest state in the nation,” he said.

The recent economic swoon is exacerbating the problem, said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples.

“No American wants to be hungry,” he said. “No American seeks to be hungry. And no American needs to be hungry.”

Texans would do something about the issue if they had a personal connection to the problem and a clear plan to follow, said Camille Miller, president of Texas Health Institute.

“We’ve got to be committed,” she said. “We’ve got to stay with this.”

Leaders said that food insecurity could drop dramatically across the state if people would take advantage of the available federal resources. Harris County residents alone leave $203 million on the table that could be used to provide food for their families simply because they do not sign up. In Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, residents do not use $47.1 million for which they are eligible.

“We have untapped resources that can have an immediate impact,” Staples said.

Summit leaders repeatedly voiced optimism that hunger could be significantly decreased. They noted political leaders at all levels seem intent on attacking the issue. Churches are stepping up to the challenge, as well.

Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission, said God appears to be moving in the lives of people in such a way where a dramatic effort can take place to aid people in need.

Paynter described this point in history as being like the second time Jesus laid hands on the blind man in Mark 8. Upon the first touch, the man said he saw people, but they were unclear. Jesus touched the man’s eyes again, clearing his vision completely.

“We’ve heard about hunger,” she said. “We’ve read about it in Scripture. Now, we’re being touched a second time and can do something about it as a sign of the kingdom of God. If the church steps up and starts feeding hungry children, it will be a sign of God’s work.”

Christ’s command to his followers to feed the hungry applies to each of them, Paynter said. All of them have a role to play in fighting hunger. A free handbook on how to start a summer feeding program is available from the website of Texas Impact, an interfaith non-profit group based in Austin. That site is www.texasimpact.org.

“What church doesn’t have a kitchen?” she said. “What church can’t make sandwiches? It’s a universal call.”

For more information on summer feeding programs, call the Christian Life Commission at (888) 244-9400.

WACO—Baylor University’s Faculty Senate has weighed in on the turbulent relationship between the Baylor Alumni Association and the university’s administration and board of regents.

At their mid-November meeting, members of the Baylor Faculty Senate approved two statements—one noting “deep concern” about the conflict and the other congratulating the alumni association on its 150th anniversary.

“The conflict between the Baylor board of regents and administration, on the one hand, and the Baylor Alumni Association , on the other, has been a source of deep concern to the Baylor Faculty Senate and the Baylor community as a whole,” the first statement said.

“Disagreements about university polices are to be expected in an academic community committed to free and open debate. Baylor’s leaders and the members of the Baylor Alumni Association need to embrace the policy of cooperation and coordination that characterized the relationship for virtually all of the last 150 years. The Faculty Senate stands ready to assist in any way it can to foster a spirit of Christian reconciliation and forgiveness.”

The other statement congratulated the Baylor Alumni Association for “150 years of faithful service to the students, faculty, administrators, graduates and friends” of Baylor.

“Without the loyal support of its alumni and their Association, Baylor might not have weathered the many challenges it has faced over the last century and a half,” the Faculty Senate statement said. “That it has survived and prospered, steadily enhancing its national and international reputation is due in no small part to their efforts, and we offer our thanks on behalf of the Baylor faculty.”

In turn, Jeff Kilgore, executive vice president and CEO of the Baylor Alumni Association, expressed thanks for the words of affirmation and to the Baylor faculty.

“They are essential to everything that is good about Baylor University,” Kilgore said. “What we have in our faculty is what makes everything right about our alma mater, and that just isn’t appreciated enough.”

Baylor administration was in the process of preparing for Thanksgiving break and could not offer a detailed response.  However, John Barry, vice president for marketing and communication, said, "We read with interest anything that comes from our Faculty Senate."

HOUSTON—George W. Truett’s experience preaching to troops in Europe during World War I not only shaped his views about militarism, but also contributed to his growing conviction that only Christ’s church—not any government—offered hope for lasting peace, church historian Kelly Pigott said.

Pigott, university chaplain and assistant professor of theology at Hardin-Simmons University, presented a paper on “George W. Truett: Hawk or Dove?” at the annual meeting of the Texas Baptist Historical Society in Houston.

Truett, Baptist statesman and longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, voiced strong support for the war effort when the United States entered what President Woodrow Wilson touted as a struggle to make the world “safe for democracy,” Pigott noted.

George W. Truett

“He praised the young men in his congregation who served in the military. He pitched Liberty Bonds. He led the church to provide special ministries to the servicemen and women in town. He even introduced a resolution at the Baptist General Convention of Texas meeting in 1917 that called for the convention to fully support the war,” he said.

“And finally, when President Wilson selected Truett along with about 20 other prominent pastors to preach to the troops through the offices of the YMCA, Truett accepted the call.”

Initially, Truett characterized the war with Germany as a “battle between paganism and the highest civilization,” Pigott noted.

“But Truett’s public confidence and cheering for the war belied an inner angst he felt as he hoped for a quick end to the violence and a new world ruled by rational and moral men who would bring to fruition Wilson’s prophecy that this would be a war to end all wars, inaugurating an age safe for democracy,” he said.

Truett’s support for the war rested less in belief about just war theory and more in his faith “in the institution of governments to create a just world where warfare no longer existed,” Pigott observed.

Truett’s presidential appointment to preach six months to the Allied Forces in Europe gave him the opportunity to witness the destruction of war and visit wounded soldiers. He narrowly escaped death himself when he missed boarding a ship, and a U-boat torpedo subsequently sunk that vessel, killing all its passengers.

And the tour of duty changed him, Pigott noted. A close-up look at the horrors of war strengthened Truett’s commitment to doing everything possible to create non-military solutions to international disputes. And the failure of the United States to embrace Wilson’s vision of a League of Nations left him disillusioned with government—as reflected in his famed 1920 religious liberty speech in Washington, D.C.

“Beyond just an opportunity to trump a long cherished Baptist principle, perhaps Truett’s proclamation on the steps of the Capitol was the beginning of a journey of increased suspicion about government,” Pigott suggested.

“In this address, he still clearly saw autocracy and democracy at odds. But now he couched it in religious terms, contrasting Catholic and Baptist polity. And he described the church—not the United States—as a ‘pure democracy.’ He issued a stern warning about what might happen to that purity if the church ever got too cozy with the government.”

Truett apparently retained his postmillennial eschatology, Pigott noted, but without its optimistic assessment of human institutions. He grew increasingly committed to the position that the church and Christian educational institutions—not secular government—would be the only instruments capable of creating a golden age of lasting peace prior to Christ’s return. Christ’s church was “the best hope for humanity,” he concluded.

“At the twilight of his life, Truett was weary of the promises of politics but confident in an institution that he believed even the gates of hell could not prevail against,” Pigott said.

At the Texas Baptist Historical Society meeting, members elected officers for 2009-2010: president, Butch Strickland of Independence; vice president, Don Wilkey of Onalaska; and secretary treasurer, Alan Lefever of Dallas. Mark Bumpus of San Angelo and Kyle Henderson of Athens were named to the organization’s executive committee.

The society presented a church history writing award to Jeff Huckeby of Gatesville for 125 Years Down by the Creek: 1882-2007 Pecan Grove Baptist Church, and to Keith Mack and Herb Weaver for 100 Years of Royal Ambassadors. Two writers of unpublished manuscripts also were honored—Ron Ellison for “Transplanted Tennessean Adoniram Judson Hill’s Only Texas Pastorate, 1879-1884” and Mary Moore for “From a Missionary’s Heart: The Writings of Anne Luther Bagby.”

WACO—Federal, state and local leaders in the fight against hunger gathered for a hunger summit at Baylor University to begin a discussion they hope will spark actions to end food insecurity in Texas by 2015.

By bringing together about 250 government officials, clergy and lay leaders, organizers hoped to break down “silos” in the battle against hunger. If individuals on different levels can cooperate with each other, every Texan can have enough to eat in five years, said Jeremy Everett, one of the event’s coordinators and director of the Texas Hunger Initiative, a partnership between the Baylor School of Social Work and the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.

“Basically, what we’ve noticed over the course of time at the Texas Hunger Initiative is that these federal groups, the state groups and often these community-based groups work as silos and they don’t work together,” he said. “It’s our belief that if we’re going to work toward food security in Texas—that we define as three healthy meals a day, seven days a week—we’re going to have to all do it together.”

To bring people together beyond the event at Baylor University, the Texas Hunger Initiative is looking to launch two initiatives statewide.

First, organizers are looking to create a food policy roundtable of state and federal leaders to assess what resources are available and coordinate efforts to make those resources available locally. The first roundtable meeting is scheduled Jan. 20 in Austin.

The second initiative is an effort to create food-planning associations in each of the state’s 254 counties. These hunger coalitions will bring together pastors, lay leaders, mayors and government officials to plan ways to provide people in need better access to healthy meals.

The Texas Hunger Initiative is part of Texas Hope 2010, a Texas Baptist initiative to pray for vulnerable and spiritually lost people, care for Texans in need and share the gospel with every person in the state by Easter 2010.

The Texas Hunger Initiative recently was selected to receive six $10,000 Texas Hope care grants through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. The grants will be used to help start and expand summer feeding programs in at least six cities, the first priority of the hunger initiative.

Texas has the highest percentage of hungry children in the nation at 22 percent. About 2.5 million children are on the free lunch program in Texas schools. Of those students, 2 million are not enrolled in summer feeding programs.

Max Finberg, director of faith-based and neighborhood partnership for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Texas has much to be proud of, but not these statistics.

“One of the things you can’t be proud of is that you’re the second-hungriest state in the nation,” he said.

The recent economic swoon is exacerbating the problem, said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples.

“No American wants to be hungry,” he said. “No American seeks to be hungry. And no American needs to be hungry.”

Texans would do something about the issue if they had a personal connection to the problem and a clear plan to follow, said Camille Miller, president of Texas Health Institute.

“We’ve got to be committed,” she said. “We’ve got to stay with this.”

Leaders said that food insecurity could drop dramatically across the state if people would take advantage of the available federal resources. Harris County residents alone leave $203 million on the table that could be used to provide food for their families simply because they do not sign up. In Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, residents do not use $47.1 million for which they are eligible.

“We have untapped resources that can have an immediate impact,” Staples said.

Summit leaders repeatedly voiced optimism that hunger could be significantly decreased. They noted political leaders at all levels seem intent on attacking the issue. Churches are stepping up to the challenge, as well.

Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission, said God appears to be moving in the lives of people in such a way where a dramatic effort can take place to aid people in need.

Paynter described this point in history as being like the second time Jesus laid hands on the blind man in Mark 8. Upon the first touch, the man said he saw people, but they were unclear. Jesus touched the man’s eyes again, clearing his vision completely.

“We’ve heard about hunger,” she said. “We’ve read about it in Scripture. Now, we’re being touched a second time and can do something about it as a sign of the kingdom of God. If the church steps up and starts feeding hungry children, it will be a sign of God’s work.”

Christ’s command to his followers to feed the hungry applies to each of them, Paynter said. All of them have a role to play in fighting hunger. A free handbook on how to start a summer feeding program is available from the website of Texas Impact, an interfaith non-profit group based in Austin (www.texasimpact.org).

“What church doesn’t have a kitchen?” she said. “What church can’t make sandwiches? It’s a universal call.”

For more information on summer feeding programs, call the Christian Life Commission at (888) 244-9400.

HOUSTON—The 2009 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Houston attracted the fewest messengers in at least 60 years, but a series of evangelistic events prior to the meeting marked the greatest involvement and the largest number of professions of faith in Christ of any similar event in recent history.

More than 20 City Reach evangelistic events drew 19,000 participants and resulted in 3,000 decisions for Christ, including 1,917 professions of faith. A multisite outreach to prisons throughout Southeast Texas conducted in partnership with Bill Glass Champions for Life involved 14,000 volunteers and produced 2,429 commitments to Christ by offenders, including 1,405 seeking salvation.

However, the Houston annual meeting itself drew only 1,493 elected messengers and 626 registered guests, down from 1,891 messengers at the 2008 meeting in Fort Worth and the least number since 1,667 attended the 1949 meeting in El Paso.

While the messenger count for several years in the 1930s and 1940s was not available, the lowest participation on record was 1,445 in 1937.

In contrast, the largest meeting in BGCT history—the 1991 annual meeting in Waco, when the convention was dealing with controversy surrounding a charter change for Baylor University—drew 11,159. Excluding that year, the average number of messengers at annual meetings in the 1990s was 5,941.

After the 2000 annual meeting in Corpus Christi, which drew 6,713 messengers, the numbers dropped to 3,317 in 2001 and 3,327 in 2002. The convention hasn’t reached the 3,000-messenger level since then, and the numbers have declined every year since 2004.

In response, messengers to the 2009 annual meeting approved a motion introduced by Paul Kenley, pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Lampasas, on behalf of the committee on convention business recommending a committee be created to study changes to the BGCT annual meeting to “enhance interest and participation from a broader spectrum of participating churches.”

The recommendation called for a committee limited to 11 members appointed by convention officers by the end of the 2009 annual meeting, with instructions that the committee report to the 2010 meeting in McAllen.

Members of the study committee are Chairman Kyle Henderson, First Baptist Church, Athens; Paul Kenley, Grace Fellowship, Lampasas; Jesse Rincones, Alliance Baptist Church, Lubbock; Mike McKinney, Dallas County Cowboy Church; Ernest Dagahoy, First Philippine Church, Houston; Oscar Epps, Community Missionary Baptist Church, DeSoto; Dub Oliver, East Texas Baptist University; James Stone, Hardin-Simmons University; Sharon Felton, First Baptist Church, Hamilton; LeAnn Luedeker, Jersey Village Baptist Church, Houston; and Gary Singleton, The Heights Baptist Church, Richard-son.

In other business, messengers to the annual meeting approved a reduced budget for the second consecutive year, adopted recommendations presented by the Future Focus Committee—including creation of a Cooperative Program study committee—and re-elected the convention’s first two-term president in re-cent years.

Kyle Henderson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens, introduces a motion that would put into place a process requiring advance notice of a challenge to the seating of messengers from any church.

They also passed a resolution on sexual ethics. It noted previous statements from 1982 to 2005 and resolved the BGCT “maintain the consistent position of past convention statements and actions which affirm the biblical sexual ethic of fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness and also affirm the biblical image of marriage as the union before God between a man and woman.”

A motion to postpone indefinitely a vote on the resolution failed.

The statement reaffirmed a 1992 resolution encouraging all people to uphold a lifestyle of biblical sexual ethics while affirming “the gospel provides forgiveness and restoration for all persons through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.”

It also reaffirmed the 1998 Executive Board statement that “churches should seek to minister to all persons” and that “the love of God embraces all persons and instructs all Christians to share God’s love with others.”

The resolution marked the only reference to homosexuality at the meeting, in spite of widespread preconvention conversations about an anticipated challenge to messengers from Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. In June, the Southern Baptist Convention severed its longstanding relationship with the congregation over the church’s perceived toleration of homosexual members.

Broadway Baptist leaders determined in the days immediately prior to the annual meeting not to send messengers to the annual meeting “in the best interests” of both the BGCT and the church.

Messengers approved a $44,029,505 budget for 2010. The total budget calls for $38,865,000 from Texas Baptist cooperative giving and $2,135,000 from investment income, with the balance in revenue provided by conference and booth fees, funds from the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, product sales and other sources. The budget marks a 9.8 percent decrease, after adjustments for organizational realignment that occurred in recent months.

The convention’s Future Focus Committee presented its final report to the annual meeting. The committee, formed in response to a motion at the 2007 annual meeting in Amarillo, offered affirmations reflecting values and vision for the future and submitted a series of findings and recommendations—including some that already have been implemented.

In terms of vision and values, the committee affirmed the BGCT emphasis on evangelism and missions, discipleship and education, and advocacy and care for people in need. It also affirmed congregational autonomy, and it noted “the BGCT is not the ‘state branch’ of any national denominational body.”

The committee also affirmed the convention’s role as a partner and resource for churches, affirmed the Cooperative Program as the primary funding mechanism for convention work and underscored the importance of good stewardship, sound financial practices and accountability.

Findings and recommendations by the committee centered on:

•Name change. The committee concluded the formal historic name—Baptist General Convention of Texas—“did not speak to a new generation of Baptists,” and it recommended at last year’s annual meeting the name be changed to “Texas Baptist Convention.” After the motion was referred to the BGCT Executive Board, the group decided to retain the legal name but register and use “Texas Baptists” as the convention’s trademark.

•Strategic realignment. After evaluating the BGCT Executive Board staff structure, the committee recognized the need for a simplified structure built around three emphases—evangelism/missions, Christian education/discipleship and advocacy/care. BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett re-aligned staff in May, and the committee endorsed the action. The committee also endorsed “future moves to eliminate duplications within the organization.”

•Cooperative Program promotion. The committee found the number of BGCT-related churches giving through the Cooperative Program dropped from 4,942 in 1997 to 3,789 in 2008, and funds received for BGCT ministries declined from more than $44.1 million in 1997 to about $37.9 million in 2008. The committee recommended creating a Cooperative Program study committee to formulate a plan for marketing the unified giving program, and it recommended requiring all ministry partners that receive BGCT funds to acknowledge that in their publicity.

•Financial policy changes. The committee discovered the convention “was operating in the recent past on financial initiatives that were not fiscally sound.” It recommended the BGCT adopt a comprehensive budget inclusive of all revenue sources—Cooperative Program, mission offering, investments and other operating funds received for special purposes. The committee called for designated funds to be invested in nonspeculative accounts such as certificates of deposit or money market funds until they reach the appropriate time for expenditure as provided in the designation. The group also recommended the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation increase the endowment to underwrite costs of infrastructure and administrative BGCT operations.

•Collaborative relationships. Point-ing to collaboration as “a biblical concept,” the committee instructed the BGCT Executive Board to explore ways affiliated churches can develop collaborative relationships with other BGCT-related churches, institutions and ministry partners inside and outside Texas.

•Hispanic work in Texas. Reaching Hispanics offers “one of the keys to reaching Texas in the years ahead,” the committee found, and the committee joined the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas in asking the Executive Board to recommend a committee to work with Convencion representatives to write a new unification agreement between the two conventions.

At the recommendation of the Executive Board, messengers to the annual meeting approved the creation of a 12-member commission to work on the unification agreement—Jesse Rincones, Lubbock; Isaac Rodriguez, Tyler; Ruben Chairez, Del Rio; Manuel Rios, San Antonio; Silvia Briones, Houston; Teresa Luna, San Antonio; Rudy Camacho, Fort Worth; Angel Vela, El Paso; Nestor Menjivar, Austin; Moises Perales, North Central Texas; Elisabeth Tamez, East Texas; and Ray Zamora, El Valle.

•Mission initiatives. The committee discovered lack of support for the WorldconneX missions network—which subsequently was dissolved in May—and urged that elements of WorldconneX be absorbed into the BGCT organizational structure. The committee also recommended development of a comprehensive missions education program for the BGCT, called for increased cooperation with associations of churches and recommended funding for church starts be a high priority for the BGCT.

•Educational partnerships. Grad-uates of BGCT-related colleges and seminaries often have “a woeful ignorance” of the Cooperative Program and the support it provides, the committee found. The group recommended that in order for a school to receive funds for ministry students, it be required to teach about Baptist heritage, the work of the BGCT and the Cooperative Program.

•Advocacy/care collaboration. The committee recommended the BGCT Advocacy/Care Center create a meeting place for all institutions that are advocates for the marginalized in Texas.

Messengers to the annual meeting re-elected for a second one-year term David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon as president. Ed Jackson, a layman from First Baptist Church in Garland, was elected first vice president, and John Ogletree, pastor of First Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston, was elected second vice president.

Messengers approved a motion recommending a committee be created to study changes to the BGCT annual meeting to “enhance interest and participation from a broader spectrum of participating churches.”

In addition to the resolution on sexual ethics, messengers also approved a resolution encouraging “lawmakers and public officials to cooperate in efforts to ensure adequate health care for all members of society.”

Another resolution expressed grief over the tragedy at Fort Hood and the suffering of all people in times of war, noting concern over “the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the continued threat of terrorism.”

It called on Texas Baptists to pray for “just and lasting peace for all people,” for national leaders and “for men and women in uniform,” particularly singling out Baptist military chaplains.

Other resolutions emphasized the Baptist commitment to religious liberty and church-state separation, encouraged Texas Baptists to engage in ministry to people affected by substance abuse and called for responsible financial stewardship.

In other business, the convention’s annual meeting:

•Referred to the Executive Board a motion introduced by Kyle Henderson creating a process in advance of the annual meeting to deal with any challenge to the seating of messengers.

Henderson called for amendments to the BGCT bylaws, including the following addition: “Any messenger intending to challenge the seating of another messenger or messengers from a church must have made a good-faith effort to contact the messenger’s church at least 18 days before the BGCT. A statement of the intention to challenge the seating must be presented to the credentials committee at least one week before the BGCT with the inclusion of verification of the good-faith effort to deal directly with the church.”

•Approved a proposal by Dick Hurst, a physician from First Baptist Church in Tyler, calling on the BGCT Executive Board to create an ad hoc study committee to consider how Texas Baptists can create ways to address violence along the Texas/Mexico border. The initial motion dealt specifically with Juarez but was expanded to include the entire border.

•Referred to the Executive Board a motion by Terry Williams of Key Heights Baptist Church in Perryton, stipulating that members of BGCT committees and boards who complete their terms of service be ineligible to serve on another standing committee or board for at least two years.

•Approved a revised relationship agreement with Valley Baptist Health System. The new agreement calls for the BGCT’s primary governance influence to be moved to a subsidiary entity of the health care system—Valley Baptist Hospitals Holdings Inc. At least one-fourth of that board will be Baptist, with the BGCT electing a majority of those individuals. The Valley Baptist Health System board will become self-perpetuating, with one BGCT-elected trustee of the subsidiary board serving as a member.

•Approved a merger of Baptist Memorials Ministries and Baptist Memorials Services, both of San Angelo, into a single entity that will become affiliated with Buckner Retirement Services.

•Amended the agreement between the BGCT and the Baptist Church Loan Corporation. The agreement provides for financial separation between the Baptist Church Loan Corporation and the BGCT. The change enables the corporation to borrow and repay its obligations on its own financial capabilities, and it reduces potential liability of the BGCT.

The Baptist Church Loan Corporation will continue to be run by its board of directors, all of whom must be members of BGCT-affiliated churches. The BGCT has the right to elect one-third of the board. The Baptist Church Loan Corporation will release the BGCT from any and all guarantees of loans—past, present and future.

HOUSTON—The first group of messengers and visitors to arrive in Houston for the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting of Texas Baptists was a little different than normal. They all were under age 35. 

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Participants in Stream—a special event added to the meeting schedule to appeal to young Baptists—gathered on the Union Station rooftop overlooking Minute Maid Park and downtown Houston.

“I enjoyed meeting people who all have a heart to live for Christ,” said Emily Prevost, associate director of the BGCT Center for Effective Leadership.

“We just hung around, talked and shared experiences. It set a great tone for Stream workshops and worship. It’s the whole reason why we held this meeting,” she said.

More than 200 Stream participants filled workshops on living missionally, human trafficking, the Texas Hunger Initiative, challenges of church leadership, the arts and worship, and creation care.

“The Stream workshops were created on topics that appeal to, interest and apply to Baptist leaders of our generation,” said Stephen Reeves, legislative counsel with the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.

During a break in the annual meeting schedule, several Stream participants who were not registered messengers performed mission service at Houston Food Bank as a part of the Feeding America emphasis.

Brittany Green from First Baptist Church in Marshall came with a group from East Texas Baptist University to earn extra credit for her ministry formation class—and to discover what’s going on in Baptist churches and the BGCT.

“After coming, I realized that the BGCT is about all kinds of ministries going on and the outreach that’s going on,” Green said. “It was also great to see Christian Motorcycle Association recognized, as I’m a member.”

Green attended the human trafficking workshop and learned “where I can be needed as a missionary and a praying Christian and where I can help as a consumer.”

Paul Holt, a messenger from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Flint, attended his first-ever Texas Baptist event.

“I came to network and find new ways of ministry in communication and to help myself and my relationship with God,” Holt said.

“I really enjoyed the event for the younger ministers. I’ve been interested in this, and it’s been a success so far,” said Patrick Adair, youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Waco, who attended the Stream session on the challenges of church leadership. “It was great to speak openly with a representative from BGCT and be heard about helping young ministers succeed.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—As investigators seek to uncover what motivated Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to kill 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, one lead they are exploring is his apparent worry that serving in the U.S. Army compromised his Muslim faith.

As his deployment to Afghanistan loomed, Hasan faced the possibility of killing Muslims, or at least abetting an army responsible for killing thousands of fellow Muslims.

In a presentation to soldiers in 2007, Hasan theorized that Islam prohibits Muslims from serving in a military force attacking Islamic populations, as he perceived the U.S. military to be doing.

To support his argument, he cited a verse from the Quran: “And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell,” according to The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the presentation.

The solution, Hasan concluded, was for the military to discharge Muslim-American soldiers as conscientious objectors.

In the wake of the Fort Hood shooting, a number of leading Muslim-American soldiers and scholars are debating Hasan’s interpretation of Islamic teachings on serving in non-Muslim armies.

More than 3,500 servicemen and servicewomen identify themselves as Muslim, although the actual number probably is higher, observers say.

No Muslim scholars condoned Hasan’s violent actions, but some say his military arguments have merit. But others say Hasan misread the Quran and the U.S. military’s actions.

A wide variety of fatwas—interpretations of Islamic law—on this issue are available on the Internet, but Islam’s lack of a centralized authority makes it difficult to say which opinions hold the most sway.

For instance, many Muslims in the U.S. military see themselves not as waging war against fellow Muslims, but protecting them from enemies who claim to be Muslim, like the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Muzammil Siddiqi, an imam in Orange County, Calif., and member of the North American Fiqh Council, which issues rulings on issues of concern to Muslims, said Islam in no way prohibits Muslims from serving in the U.S. or other non-Muslim militaries, and they may even participate in war.

“If the war fought by non-Muslims is a just war, then they can participate,” Siddiqi said. This would include wars fought in self-defense, or fighting against oppressors. “Otherwise, fighting is not allowed.”

When asked how he would counsel a Muslim soldier who asked his guidance on whether serving in Afghanistan or Iraq would compromise his faith, Siddiqi said it was a “difficult question” that depends on many factors.

For example, Siddiqi would ask what role the person would have. Would he be a medic, or a gunman? And what toll would the war take on innocent Muslims? “I would ask him to think about it,” said Siddiqi.

Muzammil Siddiqi is chairman of the North American Fiqh Council and director of the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove, Calif. (RNS PHOTO/Courtesy of Muzammil Siddiqi

Atif Qarni, a Marine reservist from 1996 to 2005, saw active duty in Iraq as a platoon leader in 2003.

“I didn’t have any hesitation,” Qarni said. He regrets Muslim civilian deaths caused by U.S. forces but said the Taliban, al-Qaida and Iraqi insurgents are oppressors who violate Islamic principles; therefore, serving against them is justified.

“Even though they claim to be Muslims, they are enemies to Islamic principles,” said Qarni, now a junior high school history teacher in Northern Virginia. “They’re outside the realm of Islam.”

Qarni met a handful of Muslim soldiers during his tenure and said most think along similar lines.

But one soldier he knew did not want to deploy to Iraq because of concerns about harming Muslims and requested a hearing for a discharge, which was granted, Qarni said.

Ali Jum’ah, a professor of Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, wrote in 2002: “It is not allowed for a Muslim who is currently recruited in the American army to fight against Muslims, neither in Afghanistan nor anywhere else. It is better that those Muslim soldiers exercise their right and excuse for not participating in the war.”

Scholars at Islamonline.net have said Muslim-American soldiers should not fight against other Muslims, but that if they had no choice and risked harming their community by not participating, then they should find a limited way to participate.

“If there is no way but to participate, then a Muslim can join the rear to help in military service.” The scholars added, however: “After striking the balance between the two difficult choices, the American Muslim soldier should reach a final decision by himself. … We cannot give a general fatwa that will suit the situation of all American Muslim soldiers.”

HOUSTON—The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation celebrated 25 years of service at its annual mission awards luncheon during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting, honoring a medical clinic, a ministry to urban youth and a church that discovered new avenues of ministry after being devastated by Hurricane Ike.

• Casa El Buen Samaritano, a medical clinic located in a predominantly Hispanic community in southwest Houston, received the Adventurer Award, given to a ministry that embarks into new, unchartered areas in presenting the gospel.

Lydia Eckhoff is executive director of Casa El Buen Samaritano.

Barry Landrum, pastor of West University Baptist Church, noted the mission began as an outreach project to a group of undocumented immigrants living just a few miles outside of Houston.

Attempting to reach out to those who could not help themselves, Landrum, Steve Spann and others formed Casa El Buen Samaritano in order to provide needed medical care and also establish an avenue for sharing the love of Christ.

Since its establishment, thousands have received free medical care from hundreds of volunteer doctors. Members of Iglesia Horeb in Houston, a partner church with the ministry, also are available to help through interpreting, sharing the gospel or providing counseling for those who visit the clinic. Iglesia Horeb Pastor Campo Londono noted their work allows them to be a part “of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.”

“It is a blessing and honor to receive this award,” Eckhoff said. “And we want to thank the (missions foundation) for their support over the years. We hope that this award will provide us a platform that will let other local churches to know about the work we do and partner with us.”

• The Innovator Award for creativity in missions was presented to Street Life Worldwide, a Houston-based ministry to urban youth led by Terrance Levi. The award is given to ministries that explore new and creative ways to present the gospel.

Salvatore Sberna, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston, presented the award and described the ways this ministry penetrates into the hip-hop culture to bring people the hope of Christ.

Street Life Worldwide engages in many typical outreach activities, such as apartment ministries, festivals, revivals and sports ministries, but it does so through hip-hop music and media.

With a special eye to redeem all of creation, including the creative arts, for God, Street Life Worldwide has produced music and short films, and is working on a feature-length film, all told from an urban perspective.

One way these media creations are delivered is the Mobile Multi Media Missions Machine, or “M5,” a large bus outfitted with speakers and screens that travels into neighborhoods to set up block parties.

Funds from the missions foundation helped to purchase the M5. In the last 12 months, Street Life has held 63 events that reached 15,000 people with 9,250 who accepted Christ for salvation.

In accepting the award, Levi pointed to the concept of cultural penetration as a great need for the church in the years to come.

“We have to have a penetration mindset and be willing to do some different things,” Levi stated. “For the church to make the impact we want, we have to be willing to penetrate the culture.”

• Pastor Ray Meador and First Baptist Church in Galveston received the Pioneer Award for service in missions, which recognizes ministries that endure special hardships and persevere in their commitment to the gospel.

Alan Reed, pastor of First Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, presented the award to First Baptist Church. Reed described the ministry of the Galveston congregation after facing the destruction of Hurricane Ike in September 2008, as well as noting God’s provision during that time.

During the past year, First Baptist in Galveston has faced the severe damage its own faciliities sustained, as well as the displacement of many of its members. However, instead of being focused on devastation, the church became a center of ministry to the hurting community.

Working with churches from around Texas, First Baptist provided showers for the homeless and the volunteers.

The church established Grace Mart, which distributed clothing, household items, baby supplies and food to people seeking help. Members also worked to staff Mercy Clinic, providing medical assessments and assistance. Even though the church’s facilities are still months away from restoration, the church has continued to offer freely the love of Christ in visible, meaningful ways, Reed noted.

As Meador accepted the award, he reflected back to a sermon series he began two years prior to the storm that focused on Jeremiah 29:7. In this passage, God calls upon his people to seek the welfare of the city where they live, and in turn, they also will find their welfare. Meador explained how this passage became real to him over the past year.

“The great thing about being where we were,” Meador explained, “was seeing how God used his hand to make us bring about his hope.”