LONGVIEW—The taste of home doesn’t get much sweeter than this.

In an effort dubbed Operation Appreciation, Christians in Longview are buying Girl Scout Cookies to send to more than 115 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. In mid-March, the items were mailed individually to soldiers and chaplains serving in the area, including eight Baptist General Convention of Texas-endorsed chaplains.

Each soldier is to receive 10 boxes of cookies to share with his friends, and each chaplain will receive 100 boxes of cookies to distribute to other troops. Chaplains know who receives items from home and who doesn’t. They can give a box of cookies to a soldier to let them know someone in the United States is thinking of them.

“Chaplains have a unique position in dealing with the troops,” said Ann Walston, a member of First Baptist Church in Longview, whose class has adopted Operation Appreciation as a long-term project. “We try to supply them with quantities of things they can use.”

Volunteers work with Operation Appreciation year-round, shipping items three times a year. They provide toiletries, snacks, food, movies and puzzles. But the Girl Scout Cookies always are the troops’ favorite, said Margie Litterski, who started the effort.

“It’s so American. It’s their favorite,” she said.

Litterski has received numerous e-mails and letters from troops thanking her for the items. Some indicate the cookies made a troop’s day by reminding him that someone cared about him.

Walston said she participates in the effort to show her appreciation for what the soldiers’ are enduring. Those men and women are putting themselves in harm’s way to protect the freedom of others.

“When I slept last night, there was a soldier on guard,” she said. “They’re away from home. And many of those boys don’t have anyone sending them anything. That’s where the chaplains come in. They know which boys aren’t getting anything. They can give them the items we send.”

For more information on how to participate in Operation Appreciation, call Litterski at (903) 295-9609.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP)—Members of the Baptist World Alliance’s executive committee heard a sobering financial report detailing investment losses over the last year, agreed to slash the group’s budget, gave initial approval to organizational changes and met BWA’s new director for freedom and justice during their annual meeting.

Gathering at the organization’s headquarters in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Falls Church, Va., BWA leaders agreed to slash the 2009 budget by nearly 30 percent, from an original figure of $2,973,155 to $2,111,155—a reduction of nearly $900,000 in expenditures.

Ellen Teague, finance director for the worldwide umbrella group for Baptists, said the cuts are necessary to maintain a decent amount of reserve funds, heavily depleted over the last year because of huge investment losses.

The organization was forced to draw heavily from its reserves to cover heavy investment losses owing to the world’s tanking markets. BWA transferred more than $2.3 million in unrestricted reserves to the operating fund to cover the losses.

In order to stick to internal guidelines that require a minimum of $500,000 in reserves—and even under a best-case 2009 income scenario of donation income similar to 2008’s—Teague said BWA would have to slash its spending dramatically.

BWA General Secretary Neville Callam said the organization’s staff already had instituted pay-raise freezes and significantly cut their expenditures in anticipation of a reduced overall budget. After the committee approved the new budget figure, Callam said he and Teague would go line-by-line to figure out exactly where the additional cuts should come. Callam added he hoped to identify new sources of revenue by beefing up BWA’s list of potential contributors.

The body also gave initial approval to a set of bylaws revisions necessitated by constitutional changes already in motion. The BWA General Council—a larger governing body that gathers annually—is scheduled to have a final vote on the recommendations at its next meeting, set for July 27-Aug. 1 in Ede, Netherlands.

Committee members also voted to recommend the General Council approve Raimundo Cesar Barreto as director of the new BWA Division of Freedom and Justice. Council members created the new division—which will focus on religious freedom and justice issues that affect BWA member bodies—last year at the organization’s annual gathering in Prague, Czech Republic.

Barreto, currently a pastor in Salvador, Brazil, holds a doctorate in Christian ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary. He also has degrees from Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology and the North Brazil Theological Seminary. He has taught at theology schools in Brazil and the United States.

Executive committee members also heard that the recipient of the 2009 Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award is Indian Baptist activist Leena Lavanya.

Lavanya’s Serve Trust organization operates several charities among India’s poor and dispossessed. They include HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention and other ministries to female sex workers as well as homes for the elderly and those suffering from leprosy.

Leonard to step down as Wake Forest dean. Bill Leonard, the founding dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School, is stepping down next year, school officials announced. Leonard will retire from that post June 30, 2010. But he will continue to teach full-time as professor of church history and Baptist studies in the divinity school and professor of religion in the university’s religion department. Leonard, who recently turned 63, said the university has established a standard tenure of 10 years for deans. It has been 14 years since he came to Wake Forest, and next year will be the 10th year since the divinity school held its first classes in the fall of 1999. “It was time to move along as dean and back to full-time teaching and research,” he said.

Former Criswell College president named seminary VP. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees approved the selection of former Criswell College President Jerry Johnson as vice president of academic development during their meeting in Kansas City, Mo. Johnson, in addition to his election as professor of ethics and theology, was named chief academic officer to succeed Thorvald Madsen, who becomes dean of Midwestern Baptist College, SBC. Johnson, 44, joins Midwestern after serving nearly five years as president of Criswell College in Dallas, where he also taught theology and ethics and hosted a daily syndicated radio program on ethics and public policy. He earlier served as dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s undergraduate Boyce College in Louisville, Ky., and also taught Christian ethics and worked in development while working toward a Ph.D. from the seminary. He also holds a master’s degree from Denver Seminary and an undergraduate degree from Criswell College. Johnson’s early pastoral experience was in Texas, serving Ireland Baptist Church and interning at First Baptist Church in Dallas, then moving to Colorado to serve as pastor of churches in Aurora and Littleton. He and his wife, Rhonda, have two children, Isaiah and Eva.

Kentucky seminary honors Hinson. The Baptist Seminary of Kentucky honored one of its founding professors for 50 years of teaching by launching an endowed lecture series in his name. The free-standing Baptist school on the campus of the Disciples of Christ-related Lexington Theological Seminary established the E. Glenn Hinson Lecture Series to honor the life and work of its senior professor of church history and spirituality. Future lectures will build on Hinson’s legacy of study in spiritual formation, church history, ecumenism and Baptist history. Before coming to the Kentucky seminary, Hinson taught at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond from 1992 until retiring in 1999.

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is among several religious and civil-liberties groups objecting to proposed rules giving federal prisons more leeway to ban religious books that officials believe could incite violence or criminal behavior.

Two years ago, Congress passed a law that allows the Bureau of Prisons to restrict prison-library materials that "seek to incite, promote or otherwise suggest the commission of violence or criminal activity."

That was in response to an outcry over revelations that prison chaplains were purging from chapel libraries any materials not on a list of approved titles. Titles pulled from shelves included Code of Jewish Law by the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides and Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life.

Proposed changes to the prison bureau's regulations on religious beliefs and practices, however, would allow exclusion from chapel libraries materials that simply "could" incite, promote or suggest violence or crime.

Groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union said in public comments that broadening the standard from banning materials expressly intended to incite violence to banning anything that officials think might be disruptive "needlessly deprives prisoners of access to vital religious works." 

They said such language could theoretically ban works including the Bible, because of Old Testament verses that call for sinners to be stoned, and Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, because it advocates disobeying unjust laws as a matter of civil disobedience.

The groups said the new regulations would violate the Second Chance Act, in which Congress clearly intended to limit prison-library censorship to a strict standard. The amended regulations also do not require prisons to notify prisoners when censorship occurs, which the complaint says violates due-process rights of both prisoners and publishers.

The regulations also are unclear about who is authorized to censor materials, raising the specter of those decisions being made by low-level administrators. The groups said new language should specify that any decisions about banning a book be made by senior officials in the Bureau of Prisons central office.

David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project, said prison officials "need to follow the law, not engage in the business of banning religious material."

"Distributing and reading religious material is as protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as worshiping in churches or preaching from the pulpits," Shapiro said in a press release. "It is not the role of the government to dictate what is religiously acceptable."

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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

• Darrel Auvenshine has resigned as minister of worship and missions at Alsbury Church in Burleson to pursue full-time missions work.

• Brian Boaen to First Church in Whitewright as music minister.

• James Booth to First Church in Amarillo as minister of recreation from Wedgwood Church in Fort Worth.

• Josh Burton to First Church in Pottsboro as youth minister.

• Rick Davis to Brock Church in Brock as pastor.

• Terry Davis to Amazing Grace Church in Seguin as pastor.

• Hixon Frank to First Church in Wichita Falls as minister of education and discipleship, where he was young adult minister.

• Stephen Holcombe to Creath-Brazos Association as director of missions from Southside Church in Palestine, where he was pastor.

• Corky Holland to First Church in Amarillo as minister of pastoral care and senior adults, where he was minister of recreation.

• Heather Johnston to First Church in Cleburne as youth ministry intern.

• Carrie Morrison to First Church in Lillian as minister of children.

• Michael Moseley to Orchard Road Church in Lewisville as youth minister.

• Rod Payne to First Church in Wichita Falls as minister of missions and media, where he was media minister.

• Ricky Pugh to First Church in Shorewood Shores as youth minister.

• Candace Richey to First Church in Morgan as youth leader.

• Gary Riley to Westlake Chapel in Graham as pastor from Jean Church in Jean.

• Jerry Royal to First Church in Wichita Falls as executive pastor and minister to families, where he was minister to students.

• Brady Sharp to First Church in Wichita Falls as college minister.

• Jason Sharp to Walnut Springs Church in Walnut Springs as pastor.

• David Thye to First Church in Justin as music minister.

• Craig Van Ryswyk to First Church in Seguin as interim youth minister.

• Sean Wegener to First Church in Flower Mound as youth minister.

• Wayland Baptist University will hold its spring preview event March 27-28. “Big Weekend” offers high school juniors and seniors and prospective transfer students an opportunity to see how the campus works. The event will begin at 8:30 Friday with registration and sign-ups for scholarship auditions in the schools of fine arts and music. Students also will sit in on classes and the chapel service. After lunch, the ACT residual test is offered, followed by an afternoon of games and activities. Campus tours, a cheerleading workshop and a WBU Pioneer baseball game are other afternoon options. Friday night will feature a concert by The Afters. A late-night breakfast and other activities will round out the day. Students will share a dorm room with current students. Saturday will include informational and fun activities for parents and students. The cost is $25 for students and $15 for parents. A meal is included. For more information, call (800) 588-1928.

• The Texas Baptist Men open house and the groundbreaking for the John LaNoue Disaster Relief Complex will be held April 4 at the Robert E. Dixon Mission Equipping Center, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227. Lunch will be provided by the TBM disaster relief feeding unit. Other disaster relief units, the water purification team and a retiree builders workshop also will be on hand.

• Christian recording artists Shawn McDonald and Phil Wickham will headline the 14th annual HPU Fest at Howard Payne University April 4. Four other featured performers will be included in the free Christian music festival that begins at 2:30 p.m. and concludes at midnight. There also will be a chili cookoff and a volleyball tournament. The school’s spring preview event for prospective students, “Stinger Daze,” is held in conjuction with the event. For more information, call (325) 649-8020.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will present the 70th production of its annual Easter pageant April 8 at 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m, all outdoors in front of the Luther Memorial arches. The Easter pageant, which draws 5,000 people each year, is directed, costumed and performed by university students.

• A meeting for families interested in international adoption will be held April 9 from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Buckner Children’s Home in Dallas. Interested families must complete a free pre-application and questionnaire available online at www.beafamily.org prior to attending the workshop. The workshop is free. To register, call (866) 236-7823.

• Tony Martin, professor of Christian studies at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, will speak on “In the Image of God: How the Creator and His Creatures are Alike,” April 23 at the noon ministers’ forum. Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend.

• Moms in Touch, an organization of mothers who gather to pray for their children and their schools, is seeking to spread to additional communities. For more information, call (214) 232-1564.

Anniversaries

• Jeff Burnett, 30th, as pastor of First Church in Hurst, March 1.

• Henry Stovall, 15th, as pastor of Trinity Church in Bryan, March 15.

Deaths

• Theiss Jones, 71, Feb. 25 in Temple. A graduate of Baylor University, he served in music ministry more than 50 years. He was minister of music at First Church in Electra, Gambrell Street Church in Fort Worth, Lakeside Church in Dallas, First Church in South Miami, Willow Meadows Church in Houston and First Church in Temple. He retired in 2002 but continued to serve in churches in Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as Central Church in Hillsboro and First Church in Troy. His professional memberships include the Singing Men of Texas, American Guild of Handbell Ringers, Baptist Church Music Conference, Choristers Guild and the Century Men. He was inducted into the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Walter Gilewicz Hall of Fame, receiving the highest distinguished musicians award, in 2002. He is survived by his wife, Suzie; son Samuel; daughter, Sarah Richardson; and five grandchildren.

• John Campbell, 73, March 4 in Abilene. A longtime Abilene educator and organist, he battled cancer since last summer. He began playing piano at age 8 and took up the organ at 13. Upon coming to Hardin-Simmons University, he was the organist for chapel services and accompanied the concert choir. He also was a member of the Cowboy Band. During this time, he was organist at First Church in Abilene more than two years. Upon graduation with majors in both piano and organ, he entered the U.S. Navy for five years and was a pilot on an aircraft carrier. After his discharge, he was organist at First Church in Oklahoma City before beginning his teaching career at Berea College in Kentucky. After furthering his academic training abroad, he joined the music faculty of Hardin-Simmons in 1971, and again became organist at First Church in Abilene. He served with six ministers of music, as well as several interims. At HSU, he was professor of organ and church music and university organist. He retired in 1999. He served stints as organist for both the Century Men and the Singing Men of West Texas. He is survived by his wife, Lillie; sons, Russell and Matthew; sister, Wanda Baker; and brothers, David and James.

• Dick McCartney, 81, March 9 in Gentry, Ark. McCartney was public relations director for the Baptist General Convention of Texas from 1977 to 1979. He left the BGCT to become editor of the Baptist Messenger, the state Baptist newspaper for Okla-homa. He left the Oklahoma paper to become vice president and chief operating officer of the Southern Baptist Radio-Television Commission. Prior to coming to the BGCT, he had been public relations director for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. He also was pastor of several Oklahoma churches. He was president of the Baptist Public Relations Association, was on the national board of governors for the Religious Public Relations Council, and was named public relations professional of the year in 1983 by the Public Relations Society of America. He is a member of the Texas Baptist Public Relations Hall of Fame. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughters, Judy McCullough and Kathy Hancock; son, Michael; brothers, Earl and Al; sister, Betsy Hicklin; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Events

• The Southern gospel singing group Lewis & Lewis will bring a concert at First Church in Big Wells March 25 at 6 p.m. Donnie McCarter is pastor.

• The Baylor University Men’s Choir will be in concert at Westbury Church in Houston March 26 at 7 p.m. Jeff Berger is pastor.

• The Annie Moses Band, a family ensemble, will be at Columbus Avenue Church in Waco at 10:50 a.m. March 29. Brian Dunks is pastor.

• First Church in Duncanville will hold a “Men’s Awakening Conference” April 4 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Church in New Orleans, will be the keynote speaker. Eric Phillips and the Church on Rush Creek Worship Team will lead the music. Speakers for the breakout sessions include Lloyd Blue, Jay McFadden, Glenn Kreider, Frank Peterson, Alan Stoddard and Rick Jordan. The $20 registration fee includes lunch. For more information, call (972) 298-1435. Keith Brister is pastor.

• Dellview Church in San Antonio will hold “Celebrate Jesus Week” April 8-12. It will kick off with music and preaching at 7 p.m. Wednesday, followed by a Lord’s Supper meal at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Joshua Movie at 6:30 p.m. Friday (complete with hot dogs and popcorn), and a presentation of the church’s Easter musical at 10:45 a.m. Sunday. Phil Risley is pastor.

Ordained

• Joe Aguilar to the ministry at First Church in Weslaco.

• Kenneth Gibson to the ministry at Sidney Church in Sidney.

• Kevin Houser to the ministry at Hope Fellowship in Port Lavaca.

• Phil Risley to the ministry at Dellview Church in San Antonio.

• Ray Bassham and Clayton Wright as deacons at Hampton Road Church in DeSoto.

• Larry Pinkston as a deacon at First Church in Sinton.

Revivals

• Elmdale Church, Abilene; March 29-April 1; evangelist, Truman Turk; pastor, Bob Cheatheam.

• Belmore Church, San Angelo; March 29-April 1; evangelist, David Burk; music, Sherman and Tammy Aten; pastor, Toby Irwin.

(ABP) — Evangelical leaders in the Kyrgyz Republic are protesting a new religion law they say significantly restricts religious freedom in the officially secular country.

A new law titled "On the Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations" took effect Jan. 16. The measure's stated intent is to address concerns about terrorism and other illegal activity by groups posing as religious organizations.

The former Soviet republic's constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government has largely avoided meddling in religious affairs since the Central Asian country — formerly called Kyrgyzstan — gained independence in 1991. In recent years, however, officials have begun to restrict radical Islamic groups considered to be threats to security.

Evangelical leaders, however, say the law ostensibly aimed at curbing religious extremism goes too far in restricting religious freedom.

The Evangelical-Christian Churches of the Kyrgyz Republic released an open letter March 15 voicing concern about the new law. The coalition, which includes the Kyrgyz Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, said its members repeatedly offered suggestions and proposals to government officials that were completely ignored in the new law.

The evangelical groups said the law infringes on religious liberty and contradicts the Kyrgyz Constitution. The leaders highlighted several concerns with the legislation. They include:

— Its definition of rights and duties of local government to include ensuring "spiritual safety," a concept that evangelical leaders said is "too indistinct" and could open the door to excesses by local officials.

— Its definition of a "sect" as a religious movement that separates from a confession for "reasons of dogma" in a way that "contradicts the interests of society." Evangelical leaders said the term "sect" has no place in a secular state and puts the government in the position to differentiate between legitimate and unacceptable doctrines.

— Its ban on the involvement of children in religious organizations. Evangelical leaders said that is the same tactic used during Soviet times to forbid children of believing parents from attending church services, robbing children of religious freedom and denying parents the right to bring up their children according to their beliefs.

— Its ban on "persistent activities directed at the conversion of believers from other faiths (proselytism)." Evangelical leaders said that flatly contradicts the Kyrgyz Constitution, which says the government will establish no state religion and that individual liberties include the right to change one's religion or belief.

— Its increase from 10 to 200 the number of members that a religious body must have before it can be officially registered. Evangelical leaders said that, in the past, it was difficult even to ask 10 people to publicly state their creed, because it made them subject to difficulties. Increasing that figure,they said will make it impossible for many Kyrgyz religious organizations to register and operate legally.

It is current form, evangelical leaders said the law will "cause tension and conflict in local situations," put the republic behind other nations in church-state relations and make it harder for religious organizations to gain or retain registration.

Bordering China in Central Asia, the Kyrgyz Republic is about the size of South Dakota. About 80 percent of its 5.3 million citizens are Muslim. Estimates of the Russian Orthodox population range from 11 percent to as low as 8 percent. A small Protestant population includes 48 registered Baptist churches, according to the United States State Department.

Islam is practiced widely in both urban and rural areas around the country, while Orthodoxy is predominantly practiced in Kyrgyz cities with larger ethnic Russian populations. Tensions exist in some rural areas between conservative Muslims and foreign Christian missionaries, as well as members of traditionally Muslim ethnic groups who convert to another religion.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

MARYVILLE, Ill. (ABP) — The widow of slain Baptist pastor Fred Winters says she harbors no anger toward her husband's alleged murderer.

"I do not have any hatred or even hard feelings toward him," Cindy Winters said March 16 on the CBS Early Show. "We have been praying for him." 

She said one of the first things her daughter said after the attack was that she hoped the accused gunman, 27-year-old Terry Sedlacek, would somehow come to "love Jesus" because of the experience.

"We are not angry at all," Winters said.

She said she does not have any opinion about what should happen to Sedlacek in the legal system but she hopes that he "finds peace with God."

"I hope that he understands that God loves him in spite of his sin, and he can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

Winters said she and her daughters are holding up well under the circumstances. "I think I'm a great example that prayer works," she said.

Winters said she did know Sedlacek and had never seen him before, but now she would like to reach out to his parents.

"In some way we have been united through this crisis, and when they are ready I have a desire to meet them and let them know personally that I love them and in some way I feel their pain. I feel like we're united together in our pain."

"The way I was comforted by others, I have a desire to comfort them."

Winters said she is grateful that neither she nor either of her daughters was in the early service March 8 during the attack. She said she attends the second of the church's three regular morning worship services and had not yet left home. Her older daughter was at church, but helping out in the nursery.

"None of us, fortunately, were in the service to experience what happened, and I am so grateful to God for that," she said.

She also said she knows that coping with her loss is going to be a long process. "I know that the same way God got me through last Sunday, he's going to get me through the next week and he is going to get me through the next 10 years," she said.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

MARYVILLE, Ill. (ABP) — One of a select fraternity of pastors who has experienced a church shooting consoled and challenged an Illinois Baptist congregation one week after its popular pastor was fatally shot while preaching his Sunday sermon.

"You are the most prayed-for church in all of Christendom this morning," Al Meredith, pastor of Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, told worshipers in one of three morning worship services March 15 at First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill.

Meredith delivered the sermon from the pulpit where 45-year-old Pastor Fred Winters' life was cut short March 8, when Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, of nearby Troy, Ill., killed Winters with a gunshot wound to the heart. No motive for the shooting has been revealed, but Sedlacek's family claims he is mentally ill.

Meredith's church suffered similar violence nearly a decade ago, when 47-year-old Larry Gene Ashbrook interrupted a youth prayer service with gunfire that killed seven and wounded seven others.

Meredith warned the Illinois congregation it is "heading into uncharted waters" in dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy. He said the old hymn line, "every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before" is "baloney."

"Every day with Jesus is not sweeter than the day before," he said. "Some days are evil days, and last Sunday was an evil day."

Still, he said, the message of the gospel is, "there is hope in this violent world."

"That's why the media are so eager to hear your story, because it's so unique," he said. "We live in a hopeless world."

Describing in detail events of Sept. 15, 1999, that turned Wedgwood Baptist Church into "a killing field for a hopeless madman," Meredith said one question asked during an initial press conference is if there is anywhere in society that is safe.

"Of course not," Meredith said. "We live in a hostile world. The only real place of safety is in the center of God's will." But even that, he said, does not guarantee against untimely death.

Another question Meredith said he received was, "where was God?" when the shooting took place.

"God is exactly were he was when his own dear son was cruelly tortured and murdered," he said. "He is a parent who knows what it's like to lose his only son."

Meredith said God is in control and gives Christians who struggle the ability to get through when they need it.

He also said there are members of his church who are still having counseling nearly 10 years after the tragedy. He warned the Maryville congregation to reach out for help and avoid the "phoniness" of claiming "victory in Jesus" and going it alone.

"Get help from the body of Christ," he advised. "We are still struggling."

Meredith said the Wedgwood tragedy gave him numerous opportunities to share a Christian witness through the mass media.

"God has given us hope and peace in the face of life's worst tragedies," he said. "God gives a peace that the world doesn't understand."

On the other hand, Meredith said, tragedy can cause doubt.

"Faith is not having no doubts," he said. "In fact, faith necessitates doubt."

It's one thing to believe in God when everything makes sense, he said. It's when "God pushes into the abyss where it doesn't make sense" that faith comes into play.

"You don't really have faith until you're pushed beyond your controls," Meredith said. "Most of you are control freaks, and you want to have all your ducks in a row, and last week your ducks all fell apart."

Meredith challenged the Maryville congregation "it is time to put up or shut up" about their faith.

"You are what you are under pressure," he said. "If you squeeze an orange, you don’t get Dr Pepper…. When you're squeezed, what's on the inside is what comes out."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

Related ABP stories:

Slain Baptist pastor hailed as hero, martyr (3/13)

Wedgwood pastor to preach Sunday at grieving Illinois church (3/11)

Pastor gunned down in pulpit (3/8)

MARYVILLE, Ill. (ABP) — A fellow pastor and former church member hailed slain Baptist preacher Fred Winters as a "hero and a martyr" at a memorial service at First Baptist Church of Maryville, Ill., March 13.

"I believe with all my heart Pastor Fred died as a hero and a martyr," Tim Cowin, pastor of the The Rock Church in nearby St. Louis, said of his friend of more than 20 years, who was struck down by a gunman's bullet while preaching from the same pulpit March 8.

Without going into detail Cowin said, "Because Fred acted last Sunday, many lives were spared."

"A martyr is a person who is killed for his faith," Cowin said, adding that Winters "died the way he lived his life, in the midst of service to his King Jesus."

Cowin said a martyr is also someone whose death is a witness to the Christian faith.

Cowin said he does not know why God would allow his friend to die, but that already God was using the tragedy to "raise people to a higher level" of Christian witness.

Winters' widow, Cindy, said she met her future husband when she was 14. "We grew older together, but he never grew up," she said of the fun-loving pastor, husband and father.

She said Winters used to leave chocolate for her in her purse and at night would snuggle with her and ask how he could pray for her.

"He loved being a pastor," she told a packed sanctuary. "He had a pastor's heart. When you hurt, he hurt. When you were happy, he was happy."

"I never heard him once get sick of it," she said. "He loved you guys, and he would be proud of you."

She said Winters would be angry if people put too much attention on him. "The best way we can honor him is by honoring God," she said.

"Fred and I have been talking a lot about how God is on the verge of doing incredible things through this congregation," she said. "Satan knew it, too, but nothing's changed."

"I refuse to let Satan win," she said. "He's not going to steal my joy. He's not going to steal my passion. I'm not going to hate, and I want to carry out the mission of this church."

"I'm not going to survive this thing," she said. "I'm going to become a better person because of this thing."

Fred Winters was born Dec. 4, 1963, in Kansas City, Mo., and felt the call to ministry while in high school. He and Cindy Lee Jackson were married in 1987. They have two daughters, Alysia, 13, and Cassidy, 11.

He graduated from Southwest Baptist University in 1985 and earned a master's degree from Wheaton Graduate School in 1987. He earned a master of divinity degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1991 and went on to receive a doctor of ministry degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Winters came to First Baptist Church in Maryville when the church consisted of just a few families. Today membership has grown to 1,400 and a weekly average 1,200 people attend worship services. In 2007 Fred and Cindy Winters celebrated both 20 years of marriage and 20 years of service at First Baptist Church.

Adam Cruise, a former staff member at First Baptist Church in Maryville who now leads a church of his own, told mourners that his mentor would not want his death to result in discouragement or defeat. Rather he borrowed an illustration from a World War II story — something that Winters often did — to challenge the church to carry on its mission.

"Let the future generation of First Baptist Church Maryville look back on this generation and this moment and say this was our finest hour," he said.

Terry Sedlacek, the 27-year-old gunman charged with murder and aggravated battery in Winters' death, was released March 12 from the hospital where he was treated for self-inflicted stab wounds. When they searched his home in nearby Troy, Ill., police seized a planning calendar with March 8 marked "death day."

Cindy Winters read a message from her daughters at the memorial service saying "it was not death day for my daddy" but rather "the best day of his life."

"On Sunday my husband did not die," Winters said. "He just simply got a promotion."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

Related ABP stories:

Wedgwood pastor to preach Sunday at grieving Illinois church (3/11)

Pastor gunned down in pulpit (3/8)

WACO—Many senior adults may see spring break mission trips as exclusively for youth groups and college students. But the senior adult group at one Central Texas church found an innovative way they could touch the lives of families along the Rio Grande this spring without ever leaving Waco.

The XYZ Club at Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco learned about the Books for the Border family literacy fairs when Lester Meriwether, executive director of Literacy ConneXus spoke to one of their monthly meetings last fall.

The family reading fairs aim to get books into the homes of low-income families in counties along the Texas/Mexico border. Each family receives a bookcase built by church volunteers, along with a set of children’s books and a Bible.

Led by woodworker and retired Baylor professor James Wiley, the XYZ Club made two wooden bookcases to donate to the literacy fairs. Following the pattern from Meriwether, Wiley said it was an easy project for anybody who knows how to use a hammer and a saw.

XYZ Club members did not paint the bookcases, reserving this step for a child in Eagle Pass or Progresso who will paint and decorate his own bookcase at the literacy event.

“What’s a bookcase with no books?” Lu Treadwell, leader of the XYZ Club, asked. “So, we took up a collection in the club, and then we passed the hat in several Sunday School classes.”

Treadwell presented a check for $650 to Meriwether at the end of February.

Woodworker James Wiley and Lu Treadwell from the XYZ Club at Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco present a $650 check to Lester Meriwether, executive director of Literacy ConneXus, to buy books for children along the Texas/Mexico border.

Their gift will purchase new books to be distributed at the literacy fairs in Eagle Pass and Progresso. Families will be able to select from among a children’s picture book of Bible stories, a health literacy book and several children’s books.

Treadwell challenges other senior church groups to invest in the future of children impoverished by illiteracy.

“What grandparent doesn’t enjoy snuggling up with their grandbaby to read a book? No, we can’t go to Eagle Pass or Progresso, but we certainly can help provide books for those grandparents to enjoy with their grandkids,” Wanda Wiley said.

Like a growing number of Christians from outside liturgical traditions, students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor are discovering Lent—and finding the 40-day observance beneficial for their spiritual growth.

Senior Christian studies major John Mark Harvey decided to start practicing Lent for the first time last year and found his participation to be very rewarding.

“It is not this weird thing, and it is not just for Catholics. It is a Christian thing,” Harvey said.

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor student John Mark Harvey reads his Bible in the Baptist Student Ministry prayer room as one of the spiritual disciplines of Lent. (PHOTO/Carol Woodward/UMHB)

Baptist Student Ministry Director Shawn Shannon encourages students to see Lent as a time to take stock of the soul and focus on praying, fasting and giving. With this coaching, Harvey determined to make a mental shift for his first Lent.

“Last year, my goal throughout Lent was to have a positive attitude about things. When I was doing it, I thought, ‘This is great.’ I enjoyed things more, and I was a happier person,” Harvey said. “Even the people who knew what my goal was said they could tell the difference.”

This year, he wants to try to encourage people by listening and lifting them up. His hope as he does this is not to focus on himself but to reflect truly on others.

“I want it to be a life change—not just giving up soft drinks and then starting up again after Lent is over. I want something I do for 40 days to become a habit. I want to somehow better myself and make my life more Christ-like. I would like to experience Jesus in some way, to know him better,” Harvey said.

Fellow student Deborah Baker’s life changed by participating in Lent her sophomore year. Her friends knew her as a person who complained often and had a pessimistic outlook on life.

In the spring of 2007 while praying, Baker felt God calling her to give up complaining. With Lent around the corner, she began to prepare herself for the task ahead.

“I was scared to death, because I was aware of how hard the challenge would be. I called upon everyone around me to keep me accountable during the 40 days of Lent, and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done,” she said.

As she looks back on the time, she feels it was worth it. Baker learned the way people view situations can predict the outcome early on. If problems arise, and they know not to complain, then they just get to work and fix the problem.

“God showed me a weakness that only he could fix, and every step of the way he was there beside me stretching and molding me into more of the woman of God he has called me to be,” she said.

Baker, a senior business major at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, said she knew about Lent but never understood how challenging and rewarding the time could be.

“Now I see it not just as a time to fast and take away something from your life, but a time to exchange that thing for something that will strengthen your relationship with God, such as prayer, Bible reading, giving and many other things,” she said.

As she continues to partake in Lent, she said she hopes to learn more about submission to God and being open to whatever he wants to teach and reveal.

“Lent is a time to prepare spiritually for Easter. It’s so easy to let Easter sneak up on you and be just another Sunday on the church calendar, but it’s so much more than that. It is the day we remember why and how we live,” said Baker.

For more information about Lent go to www.cresourcei.org/cylent.html.

See related article:

Give it up for Lent