DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas has named Gus Reyes to lead an initiative encouraging Hispanics across the state to attain higher education—an early step in what the organization hopes will quickly be one of many to tackle a critical issue facing Texas.

As director of the BGCT Hispanic Education Initiative, Reyes is charged with spearheading efforts among Texas Baptists to help Hispanic teens complete high school and earn degrees in higher education. In that effort, he will work with BGCT-affiliated congregations to attack the issue on practical and legislative grounds.

Gus Reyes

“The Hispanic Education Initiative brings focus to three strategic targets,” Reyes said. “First is the need to keep Hispanic students in school through graduation. Second is the need to help prepare Hispanic preschoolers with their learning readiness for their initial experiences in kindergarten and first grade. Third is the need to reclaim academic opportunities for adults lacking a G.E.D. or high school diploma.”

52 percent graduation rate 

Studies indicate 52 percent of Hispanic students nationwide graduate on time. About 60 percent of African American, Latino and economically disadvantaged students in Texas graduate.

BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett believes Reyes can lead Texas Baptists to make a significant impact on the high school drop out rate of Hispanics quickly.

“No person is better equipped to lead this BGCT effort than Dr. Gus Reyes,” Everett said. “He has the educational background and the relationships with our pastors and institutional leaders that provide immediate credibility.”

A Dallas resident, Reyes earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, a master’s degree in business administration from Angelo State University, a master’s degree in religious education from Southwestern Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Southwestern Seminary.

Among his first is partnering with the BGCT Christian Life Commission to gather Hispanic pastors at the Texas capital March 24 to meet with legislators to discuss the importance of educating Hispanics and to talk about government actions that can be taken to encourage education among the state’s fastest growing demographic.

Among their chief points of interest will be increasing the amount of funds the state spends on adult education, which would further open avenues for adults to earn a general education diploma.

That day, Hispanic pastors can share what they’re seeing in their congregations, Reyes said. They can share their personal experiences and what may be helpful in assisting more Hispanics earn diplomas.

Reyes also will be working with Texas Baptist churches—Hispanic and otherwise—to create and strengthen education outreach programs. Baptists can develop mentoring programs that serve children beginning in elementary school and aid them through high school.

New web portal 

The BGCT also plans to create a Web portal that would be a repository of information for Hispanics seeking educational advancement. It will include information ranging from when to apply and what colleges are seeking in their students to a database of organizations that offer scholarships, particularly scholarships for Hispanic students.

Rolando Rodriguez, director of the BGCT Hispanic Ministries, praised Texas Baptists for stepping forward to take on such a critical issue.

“In the state of Texas, more than 50 percent of Hispanic young people are not graduating from high school,” he said.”Texas Baptists are responding to this challenge by naming Dr. Gus Reyes director of the Hispanic education initiative. Dr. Reyes will lead us to start and implement programs that will make an impact in the lives of young people all over the state”

The creation of Reyes’ position is the result of the recommendation of the BGCT Hispanic Education Advisory Council, which was created in 2005 as the BGCT Hispanic Education Taskforce.  The group first produced a report of areas where it believed Texas Baptists could significantly help Hispanics achieve their educational goals.

Education helps people grow and makes additional opportunities available to them, said Nestor Menjivar, chairman of the council and pastor of Iglesia Bautista Principe de Paz in Austin. Beyond business prospects, a more educated Hispanic population would lead to a more educated Hispanic clergy that would be capable of reaching the growing demographic.

A need for more leaders

“We do not have enough pastors and educated church leaders to lead the churches to reach the Hispanic population,” Menjivar said. “We need to have high school graduates so they can go on to Bible colleges, Christian colleges and seminaries so we can have leaders and missionaries in our churches.”

Menjivar believes this initiative is a significant opportunity for Texas Baptists to help Hispanic fulfill dreams for their children and expand the kingdom.

Many Hispanics are immigrants who have left everything behind in order for their children to have better lives. However, many people are running into roadblocks trying to navigate the education system. If Texas Baptists can help these people fulfill their dreams, they will have a large opportunity to share the gospel with them.

“Where Texas Baptists step up and say ‘We’re going to make that dream come true,’ we are seen in a different light,” Menjivar said.
 

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A coalition of religious leaders who oppose the United States’ use of torture in the fight against terrorism called March 3 for a “truth commission” to investigate government policy and allegations of inhumane actions against terrorism detainees under the previous administration.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture released the statement, signed by 23 prominent religious leaders from a wide variety of faith traditions, on the eve of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings scheduled to delve into the subject.

“We call for an impartial, nonpartisan, and independent Commission of Inquiry,” the statement said. “Its purpose should be to gather all the facts and make recommendations. It should ascertain the extent to which our interrogation practices have constituted torture and ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.’ Understanding the causes, nature and scope of U.S.-sponsored torture is essential for preventing it in the future and eliminating it from our system without loopholes. U.S. law will determine the extent of any criminal culpability.”

It continued: “As people of faith, we know that brokenness can be healed — both in individual lives and in the life of the nation. All religions believe that redemption is possible. Learning the truth can set us on a path toward national healing and renewal.”

Baptist signers of the statement were Stan Hastey, minister for mission and ecumenism at the Alliance of Baptists; and David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights and professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University in Atlanta. Gushee also writes a weekly column for Associated Baptist Press.

The call came a day after Justice Department officials released nine previously classified memoranda, produced by lawyers for President Bush, outlining sweeping presidential powers to circumvent legal constraints established by Congress on interrogation techniques and other aspects of detainee treatment.

Bush’s White House claimed the authority described in the memos in response to the post-9/11 terrorism threat. Some torture opponents and civil libertarians have said the powers claimed by the memos went even further than they thought Bush’s administration had.

Several similar memos are believed also to exist, but remain classified.

The Judiciary Committee hearings, scheduled to begin March 4, will explore creation of a formal commission to investigate government policy on interrogation techniques under the Bush administration. The panel’s chairman, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, has called for such a body. So has his House counterpart, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).

While President Obama followed through on a campaign promise to revoke controversial Bush policies on interrogation and treatment of terrorism detainees, the White House has rebuffed calls by many torture opponents to investigate Bush officials.

Related ABP story:

Religious torture opponents pleased, concerned by Obama executive order (1/22)

WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama's first proposed budget signals a dramatic shift in prioritizing domestic poverty, centrist and liberal Christian leaders said in a teleconference with reporters March 2.

Nonetheless, some expressed concerns that portions of the proposal did not go far enough in alleviating poverty. And many conservative Christian leaders have echoed the criticisms of other conservatives — that Obama’s proposal is far too large and would create the most massive expansion of government social-service programs since Lyndon Johnson’s administration.

Jim Wallis, founder and CEO of Sojourners , termed inequality between the haves and have-nots "a sin of biblical proportions" in the United States.

Wallis said budgets are "moral documents" that reveal the nation's priorities and values. For Christians, he said, there is "a religious obligation" to look out for the poor and vulnerable in society.

"For a long time we've almost thought that we don't need to bring values to bear or virtue to bear on our economic decisions — the ‘invisible hand’ of the market would make everything come out all right — but that hasn't happened," Wallis told reporters. "I would say the invisible hand has let go of the common good."

Wallis said the common good "has not been part of our decision-making for a long time now."

Dramatic step 

"This budget is a step, I think a dramatic step, to try to restore a sense of the common good," he said.

Wallis and other faith leaders applauded money in the budget for health care, the environment, education and increased foreign aid, but they also voiced concerns about the proposal they plan to address in coming weeks.

Candy Hill, senior vice president of social policy and government affairs for Catholic Charities USA, questioned the president's proposal to cut tax deductions for charitable giving for Americans in the top income brackets. She said most people who make contributions to Catholic Charities don't do so for a tax break, but because they support its mission and care for the poor.

Immigration reform left out 

Noel Castellanos, CEO of Christian Community Development Association, also lamented the budget does not include funds for immigration reform.

"In the Latino community you are going to hear more and more outrage and concern about the fact that no policy change means that we're going to rely on this enforcement-only strategy that divides families through ICE [the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security] raids and creates more havoc of people who are victims of a system that is broken," Castellanos said.

But the leaders on the call said the particulars matter less than the overall budget trend.

"This budget clearly is an attempt to reverse a trend," Wallis said. "For three decades we've had a growing trend of massive inequality in this country. Those who have been promoting that trend have said that policies, regulations and practices which enhance and benefit the wealthiest among us will eventually benefit us all."

"I think that has proven to be false," he said. "The central moral issue in this budget, and in American politics right now, is whether we should begin to reverse the massive trend toward growing inequality after three decades."

"Stop helping the undeserving rich" 

Wallis said it is time for the government to stop helping "the undeserving rich."

"We've had this notion of the undeserving poor for a long time," Wallis said. "I'm saying now there has been a class of undeserving rich, who have been helped far more than they should be helped."

Wallis called the proposed budget "a fundamental moral shift."

"We have our concerns," he said, "but I think, fundamentally, the moral issue is whether this trend of inequality can now be halted and reversed, and we can begin to rebalance the budget more in the direction of the common good.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press. Robert Marus, ABP’s managing editor and Washington bureau chief, contributed to this story.

SAN FRANCISCO (ABP) — A federal appeals court ruled Feb. 25 that Montana officials violated the free-speech rights of a Southern Baptist church when they required the congregation to register as a political action committee for supporting a ballot initiative against gay marriage in 2004.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not address the constitutionality of a Montana law that labels groups not specifically organized to influence elections but that by making a contribution or expenditure on behalf of a candidate or issue become an "incidental political committee" and requires reporting and financial disclosure.

A three-judge panel did say, however, Montana's commissioner of political practices erred in applying the law to Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in East Helena with about 200 members.

Judges said the church's actions — sponsoring a video against gay marriage and encouraging members and guest to sign petitions supporting defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman in the state constitution — were so minimal they were unworthy of the state's attention.

The Alliance Defense Fund, which assisted in the church's defense, called the ruling a major victory that could embolden other churches to take a stand on ballot initiatives in the future.

"Churches shouldn't be penalized for expressing their beliefs," said Dale Schowengerdt, legal counsel for the ADF, a Christian legal group formed in 1994 to counter the American Civil Liberties Union. "They should never be forced to forfeit their free speech rights just because the government decides to enact unconstitutional laws requiring them to remain silent on social issues."

Montana State Solicitor Anthony Johnstone, however, who argued before the appeals court that the church was subject to the disclosure law, said he doubted the ruling would have any broad implications.

Social conservatives often criticize the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which recently said the federal government could not deprive same-sex couples of benefits offered to married couples as being hostile toward religion.

The three judges unanimously supporting Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church in the Feb. 25 ruling were Circuit Judges Harry Pregerson and William C. Canby Jr., who were appointed to the bench by President Carter, and Senior Circuit Judge John T. Noonan, a Reagan appointee.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press. 

Author Calvin Miller and Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Randel Everett are among the featured speakers at the 88th annual Panhandle Plains Pastors’ and Laymen’s Conference, March 9-10 at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview.

Other program personalities include Wayland President Paul Armes and recording artist Christine Wyrtzen.  

This year’s conference theme is “Doing More Than We Can Dream,” with Ephesians 3:20-21 serving as the focal text. The conference will feature several breakout session led by church leaders and Wayland faculty members. A Wayland Centennial Reception is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. March 10.

For more information or to register for the conference, contact Micheal Summers, director of Church Services at Wayland, by calling (806) 291-1165, or by email at summer@wbu.edu .

NEW BRAUNFELS—At the corner of San Antonio and Hickory streets sits a doctor’s office seemingly like any other. But it’s like none other in town.

Patients sit in the waiting room where they read magazines, and children play with toys on the ground as their appointment nears. Mothers fidget with their purses. Young men tap their toes to songs playing in their minds. They wait here with a variety of ailments— diabetes, mental health issues and toothaches—many of them preventable with regular medical care. It’s care none of these patients can afford.

And here at the New Braunfels Volunteers in Medicine clinic, they don’t have to pay for it.

If there are gaps in this country’s health care system, the people here surely are falling through them. Some work multiple jobs to support their families, but none have insurance. Some have never been offered it. Others lost it when they changed jobs, if they had it to begin with. This clinic is the only net that keeps the new Braunfels working poor from falling to the floor face first.

“Without us, they have nowhere else to turn,” said Jennifer Malatek, executive director of New Braunfels Volunteers in Medicine.

In Comal County alone, the uninsured working poor number about 16,000, according to Malatek. In the last few months of 2008, the clinic served more than 800 patients. As word has spread, the clinic has become more popular, having served an equal number in just the first six weeks of 2009.

“Our goal is to become a medical home for people who are caught in the middle and don’t have the opportunity to have health insurance or have government funded programs for whatever reason,” Malatek said.

“We’re really serving, for a lack of a better term, the working poor who are caught in the middle. This can become their medical home so they can stay healthy, stay at work and stay in school.”

The clinic was birthed out of Oakwood Baptist Church and while other congregations have come along to help, Oakwood remains the clinic’s primary financial supporter and source of volunteers. The off-campus clinic, coupled with a counseling center and kids after-school program, is one of the ways the church remains committed to caring for its community, one of the pillars of Texas Hope 2010, a Baptist General Convention of Texas initiative to share the hope of Christ with every Texan.

“We just thought if you can care about somebody and show them you’re concerned about them, you certainly a lot better opportunity to share the gospel and let them see Christ in that manner. Our people have really enjoyed that,” said Roxi Vanstory, Oakwood’s executive administrator, who believes many communities could use a clinic like the one in New Braunfels.

Beverly Baldwin, an Oakwood member and retired registered nurse who volunteers at the clinic, said she enjoys serving the patients. She’s had the opportunity to build relationships with some of them, which has led to opportunities for her to pray with them and share her faith.

“I especially enjoy working the patients,” she said. “I get to see some of the patients more than once. I get to work with them one-on-one, which is what I missed.”

Where they see a need, Oakwood members want to meet it, Vanstory said. “They want to get their hands dirty to do the work of the Lord.” As a result of the church’s commitment to outreach, people are becoming healthy, children are doing better in school and lives are being transformed by the power of Christ.

There’s much more to do, Vanstory said, and the church is seeking God’s calling to do all that it can.

“We want to be an integral part of our community,” she said.

For more information about New Braunfels Volunteers in Medicine, call (830) 632-5131. For more information about Texas Hope 2010, visit www.texashope2010.com.

MIAMI, Fla.—When many wouldn’t, Angel and Jason Pittman believe—in their neighbors, in their community and in what God can do. After years of living that message in Overtown, the poorest neighborhood in Miami, the community is starting to believe, too.

The Pittmans serve as Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel in Overtown through Touching Miami with Love, an urban ministry operating since 1993. Drug trafficking, violence, failed programs, racial tension and single-parent families are just a few of the local challenges facing Overtown, but now residents are beginning to come together to talk about community change.

“It’s been great to see them start to take charge and be excited about themselves being part of the solution,” said Jason Pittman, a graduate of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. “They can do things to help make things better. That’s very exciting to see them catching a vision to what God can do here.”

Appointed as CBF field personnel in 2002, the Pittmans followed their heart for urban ministry to inner-city Detroit. In 2005, they moved to Miami, where he serves as executive director for Touching Miami with Love, and she works as director of development.

After a year of building relationships, they restarted an after-school children’s program at Touching Miami with Love, focused on the goal of making education fun. Children who couldn’t even identify their country or state on a map before the program started now can locate every state on a national map and all the continents on a globe.

“People in the community started seeing what a great program we were providing and came to us about partnerships,” Mrs. Pittman said. “We got a major grant that has allowed us to increase our hours and (number of) kids served. We’ve seen explosive growth.” 

But the ministry doesn’t just help children. Programs also are offered for parents, and the Pittmans hope entire families will engage with Touching Miami with Love and work toward community transformation.  

“Our calling is to this neighborhood and to see it transformed into a picture of God’s kingdom here on earth—a community that’s safe where people can live and raise a family. One that offers hope, opportunity and resources,” Pittman said.

After 15 years of Touching Miami with Love, positive signs abound.  Youth are turning to Christ. There’s growing energy behind planting a neighborhood church. Residents are recognizing their own skills and starting to believe they can better the neighborhood. The Pittmans see the change because they live in the community and are part of its daily life.  

“We experience the same thing everyone else is experiencing. If we hear a gun battle at night, they’re hearing the same thing we hear,” he said. “Living here builds a trust and camaraderie that you can’t have if you don’t live here.”

His wife added, “You cannot be the presence of Christ if you’re not willing to be present.”

Through a ministry of short-term presence, churches have become a vital part of the ministry. Many churches come each year to help lead summer camps, which make an impact on children and youth and also help establish credibility in the community.

After a 2005 hurricane, Touching Miami with Love stored belongings for many families whose apartments were damaged and condemned. Many of these families didn’t know Touching Miami with Love, but a respected community leader yelled, “These are the people that love on our kids in the summer.”

“If we hadn’t had church groups coming in and loving on their kids, we never would have had that open door. Never,” Pittman said. “Churches allow our impact to be so much greater.”

TYLER—Breckenridge Village is celebrating March as National Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month by raising awareness on the issues affecting mentally challenged people.

Breckenridge Village residents are featured on billboards around Tyler, and leaders from the Baptist Child & Family Services-affiliated ministry are slated to speak at local churches to educate the community about the needs of special-needs individuals and resources available to their families. 

“Each year, (Breckenridge Village) takes the opportunity to raise awareness about the unique contributions people with cognitive, intellectual and developmental disabilities make to our community,” said Linda Taylor, director of development at Breckenridge.

Breckenridge Village residents are encouraged to give back to their community and learn new skills—like cultivating ferns in the campus greenhouse. (BCFS PHOTO)

“National Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month also offers the chance to express our thanks to those in Tyler who’ve been our strong supporters, and to invite others to learn more about us and our mission.”

Breckenridge Village is a faith-based residential community offering a variety of services to meet the unique needs of adults with mild to moderate cognitive/developmental disorders. It is the only Baptist facility in Texas providing around-the-clock residential care for this population and their families.

Breckenridge programs are designed to help residents achieve and maintain developmentally appropriate skills which enable them to function successfully in family and group living settings, leaders explained. Staff is dedicated to empowering each resident as he or she develops spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally and socially in a safe, loving and closely supervised environment.

The campus houses a chapel, administrative building, vocational workshop, greenhouse, swimming pool, physical fitness room, computer lab, RV park, indoor activity areas and plenty of space for outdoor activities like fishing. Residents each have a room of their own in a group home of up to eight residents of the same sex.

For more information about Breckenridge Village, visit www.bcfs.net.

BRIDGE CITY—When Hurricane Ike roared ashore on the Texas Gulf coast, the storm left behind a wave of devastation, filth and misery in places such as Bridge City. But two student groups from East Texas Baptist University journeyed to the coast to help residents who lives continue to be disrupted by Ike’s wrath.

Members of the Lady Tigers softball team and history majors from the ETBU School of Humanities helped clear away mounds of debris and trash still lingering from Ike. First Baptist Church of Vidor provided lodging for the ETBU volunteers.

The Lady Tigers originally had planned a service project Mission Arlington for the second consecutive year, but Hurricane Ike changed those plans.

“After the devastating blow from Ike, many of the girls felt lead to go and help in the Hurricane Ike area instead,” Lady Tigers Head Coach Janae Shirley said. “We have a number of girls who have played or currently play for ETBU who are from the Southeast Texas area.”

Another student group approached Sandy Hoover, ETBU history instructor, to form a group to go to Southeast Texas to help Ike’s victims.

“Lynn Wartberg visited with me about putting together a mission trip, and the students responded to the plea to go,” Hoover said. “Lynn is an evacuee from New Orleans, and she is particularly sensitive to the situation on the Texas coast.”

The softball team was assigned the task of cleaning up the property of an elderly woman in Bridge City. Her home was located close to the marshy waters that surged to rooftop depth during the hurricane, and her yard was covered in debris. The team was told to expect the job to take more than one day, something Shirley said her team took as a challenge.

“The yard that we cleared out had not been touched since the hurricane,” senior Michelle Grimsley-Graves said.  “It was sad to see the damage and debris just sit there untouched because the home owner is not physically able to clear it.”

The Lady Tigers went to work cleaning the area in one day. Shirley said that hundreds of wheelbarrow loads of debris were removed as ETBU’s softball players worked tirelessly to clear the property. Along the way Lady Tigers had to dodge snakes, rodents, frogs and insects.

“At first, you knew there was a snake because you could hear several screaming girls, but by the time we finished, snakes were no big deal,” said Grimsley-Graves of Mansfield, La. “We definitely killed over 20 snakes and even saw some get away.”

The ETBU history majors were assigned to help a couple continue the lengthy process of getting their home back in order after Ike. The home had all ready been worked on by five crews and gutted down to the studs.

East Texas Baptist University instructor of history Sandy Hoover and history major Jonathan McDaniel power wash inside a home flooded by Hurricane Ike in Bridge City. (PHOTO/ETBU/Lynn Wartberg)

“We were all surprised at the level of destruction in the area,” Hoover said. “Most businesses in Bridge City had still not reopened. Debris was still piled along the streets for the overworked garbage crews to pick up.”

“It was hard to believe that something like this could happen,” Cameron Sipes from Henderson said. “One never knows how much destruction is in the area until you see it with your own eyes.”

“As a Katrina evacuee from New Orleans, the people of Marshall were very kind to me and my family,” said Wartberg, an ETBU junior. “When Ike hit the Texas Gulf coast, I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to give something back to the state of Texas. God taught me on this trip that is very important to give back what you can. The Lord needs us to lift ourselves out of our own problems and help others.”

Sipes came away from the experience with a new understanding. “In times of trouble, we should be willing and ready to help those in need,” said Sipes. “Even when I am very fortunate, there is always someone in need, and I should be willing to go and help.”

The history majors helped the homeowner pressure wash the concrete floors, spray sanitizing solution to prevent the growth of mold, and removed nails that had been left in the studs when the sheetrock was removed.

“The homeowner we helped was a believer in Christ and gave a strong testimony of God’s work in the area,” Hoover said. “The man told us of the various groups who had helped him. Our group was impressed with the devotion of the host church who had suffered damage themselves from the hurricane.”

ETBU history majors who went on the mission trip are Jared Bostick, Kayce Gilbreath, Jonathan McDaniel, Cameron Sipes, Christina Tolentino and Lynn Wartberg. 

Members of the ETBU softball team include seniors Dani Miller, Katie Edwards, Brandi Harris and Michelle Grimsley-Graves; juniors Stacy Jordan, Ayrika Henderson, Adrienne Meier, Porsha Harrison and Shandrel Whitaker; sophomores Meghan Fisher, Jane Hays, Hayden Furlow and Kaleigh Mushinski; and freshmen Kelli Peppers, Brooke Martin, Erin Jones, Emilee Spoerl, Erin Garcia and Alicia Wright.

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board granted the state convention’s treasurer permission to tap up to $2.5 million in emergency reserve funds this year.

Chief Financial Officer Jill Larsen reported Texas Cooperative Program receipts in January totaled only $4.3 million—78.9 percent of budget requirements and 88.2 percent of the same month’s receipts last year.

According to board policies, the emergency reserve funds are set aside from previous years’ receipts for use in times of severe economic disruption or depression, she explained.

“While February receipts appear to be stronger, we are very concerned about the effect of the recession on our churches and their giving,” Larsen wrote in a memo send to the board prior to their Feb. 24 meeting.

Balance in the reserve fund—invested with the Baptist Foundation of Texas—at the end of December was $7.895 million.

If the reserves are tapped, those funds will need to be repaid, Larsen noted.

“I don’t really think the sky is falling,” she told the board, adding she believes the convention is “well-positioned for the economic downturn.”

BGCT investments dropped $40.9 million in 2008, with $34.2 million of the decrease due to market decline, Larsen reported.

Larsen commended BGCT Executive Board staff for their efforts in controlling expenses and living within resources, noting actual budget expenditures for 2008 totaled $44.7 million—well below both the originally approved $49.8 million budget and the $45.6 million adjusted budget.

However, she also reported a customer-relations management system approved for purchase last year at about $1.49 million significantly exceeded budget. At the end of December, total costs were $2.14 million.

The system enables the BGCT to track church information such as giving records, contact information for staff members and data provided on the annual church profile. When fully implemented, it also will provide workflow management for church-starting projects, allow online registration for events and track product sales and inventories for resources.

Nestor Menjivar, pastor of Iglesia Principe de Paz in Austin, asked how the system could have gone more than 50 percent over budget, adding, “It doesn’t sound like we did a very good job of controlling costs on this project.”

Larsen noted several cost overruns—$100,000 in licensing fees, $42,000 in imaging software and, primarily, $484,000 in consulting fees. Both Executive Board staff and consultants “underestimated the complexity” of the task, and it consequently “took a great deal more time” than originally projected, she said.

Fred Roach of Richardson, chairman of the board’s finance subcommittee, noted the original projection included only basic equipment costs, and the board was told to anticipate some additional costs. The project actually exceeded anticipated expenses by about 20 percent, rather than 50 percent, he said.

Twin themes—concern about the current economic situation and an urgent desire to share a message of hope—continued to emerge throughout the board’s meeting in Dallas.

“The economy is bad and could get worse,” BGCT President David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, acknowledged.

“We know our convention, our state and our nation are facing significant challenges. But if we are not a people of hope, how can we share hope?” he asked.

God may use times of economic instability to remind people of their need to trust in him rather than in material resources, he suggested.
“Bad times may be the best of times for the kingdom of God,” he said.

BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett pointed to several individuals and Christian ministries that have stepped forward to help Texas Baptists achieve their Texas Hope 2010 mission of sharing the gospel and eliminating hunger in the state.

“My priority is to share the hope of Christ with every person in this state in their own language and culture,” Everett said. “It will not matter what else we do if we do not do that first.”

As an example of people who have made themselves available to help Texas Baptists reach their state and the world for Christ, Everett introduced Jim Denison as the new BGCT theologian-in-residence. He characterized the new post as “an unbelievable gift from God … that costs us not a penny.”

Denison explained a couple at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, where he was pastor, approached him more than a year ago after they sold their business “for a great deal of money.” They wanted to fund a ministry that would provide Denison a platform to write and teach extensively.

Then last fall, Denison and Everett talked about the need to equip Christians to respond to societal questions at a theological level and minister in the broader culture. Denison went back to the couple who had approached him earlier, and they agreed to fund the initiative.

In his role as theologian-in-residence, Denison explained, his focus will be Texas Baptists, and his goals will be to encourage cultural engagement, spiritual renewal and practical discipleship.

The Baptist Building in Dallas also will house the Center for Informed Faith, a ministry designed to extend beyond the BGCT to serve the global Christian movement in what Denison believes may be the start of a great spiritual awakening.

“Awakenings occur in times of crisis—nearly always in economic crisis,” he said. “What if God uses the current economic crisis to turn Americans from their resources to God’s resources?”

In other business, the board approved a recommendation from the Hispanic Education Advisory Council asking the board to direct the executive director to provide clarification regarding the process necessary to pursue grant-writing and collaboration to fulfill the Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) initiative and for the board to express its understanding that Hispanic education efforts be a priority for worldwide funding and, if possible, that funding be increased beginning in 2010 to a level that reflects that priority.

Everett announced to the board Gus Reyes, formerly director of the BGCT service center, will head the Hispanic education initiative. Half his time will be devoted to that role and half to other supervisory tasks, Everett explained.

The board approved a recommendation that separate councils for lay and vocational theological education be consolidated into a single Theological Education Council. The board also adopted resolutions of appreciation for two retiring university presidents—Jerry Bawcom of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Bob Riley of East Texas Baptist University.

The board approved Greg Ammons, pastor of First Baptist Church in Garland, to fill a vacancy on the BGCT Committee on Nominations for Boards of Affiliated Ministries.

The board approved as trustees for related institutions Guthrie from First Baptist Church in Stephenville for Howard Payne University, Teresa Luna from First Mexican Baptist Church of San Antonio for Baptist University of the Americas and Penne Jaster of First Baptist Church in Universal City for Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio.

The board also elected three regents for Baylor University—Bobby Dagnel, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lubbock; Gary Elliston from Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas; and John Reimers from First Baptist Church in Beaumont.

Board Chairman John Petty brought updates on several items referred from the 2008 annual meeting:

— Change the convention’s name. At last fall’s meeting, Future Focus Committee Co-chairman Andy Pittman of Lufkin introduced a motion that the articles of incorporation and constitution be amended to change the organization’s name from “Baptist General Convention of Texas” to “Texas Baptist Convention.”

Messengers to the annual meeting approved a recommendation from the committee on convention business to refer the matter to the BGCT Executive Board for further study.

Petty reported “friendly communication” from the Future Focus Committee, indicating that while the committee continues to believe the recommended name change would be an appropriate expression of the convention’s identity and mission, the group recognizes there are other ways to achieve that objective.

The committee currently is exploring what would be involved to trademark certain names or phrases to help the BGCT’s public relations and marketing efforts.

— Help small churches. Charles Whiteside, a member of First Baptist Church in Kilgore, introduced a motion at the annual meeting asking the Executive Board and BGCT to explore ways to help churches with fewer than 50 in attendance. Whiteside addressed the board’s executive committee, expressing his desire for the BGCT to help and encourage small churches and congregations in decline. Petty indicated the board would seek ways to raise awareness about the needs and challenges of small churches.

— Clarify the non-solicitation policy. Last year, Buckner International asked for modification or clarification of the policy in the BGCT business and financial plan that forbids affiliated institutions from soliciting funds from church budgets.
Petty reported he had named an ad hoc committee chaired by Morgan Malone, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bonham, that includes representatives from the board’s policy committee, human care subcommittee and education subcommittee. The committee will study the matter and bring recommendations to the board.

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could lead to the first major church-state decision under the panel’s current makeup.

The justices announced Feb. 23 they would hear Salazar v. Buono (No. 08-472). The case involves a cross — a predecessor of which was first erected as a World War I memorial in 1934 — standing on government-owned land in California’s Mojave National Preserve.

The current version was built of painted metal pipes by a local resident in 1998. The next year the National Park Service, which oversees the land, denied an application to build a Buddhist shrine near the cross.

The agency studied the history of the monument and, determining that it did not qualify as a historic landmark, announced plans to remove it. Congress intervened with a series of amendments to spending bills attempting to preserve the cross.

In 2001 Frank Buono, a former Park Service employee who once worked at the preserve, filed suit with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. They claimed that the cross violated the Constitution’s ban on government establishment of religion.

A series of federal court decisions ruled against both the cross and the government’s attempts to preserve it through legislative maneuvers. In 2007, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a 2003 law that ordered the government to give the parcel of land the cross sits on to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in exchange for a privately owned plot elsewhere in the park.

“We previously held that the presence of the cross in the preserve violates the Establishment Clause [of the First Amendment], wrote Judge Margaret McKeown in that decision. “We also concluded that a reasonable observer aware of the history of the cross would know of the government’s attempts to preserve it and the denial of access to other religious symbols.”

McKeown said even an observer who didn’t know the monument’s history would assume that it was a government symbol, because the vast majority of land in the area is owned by the government — even if a private organization actually owned the small plot on which the cross stands.

“Under the statutory dictates and terms that presently stand, carving out a tiny parcel of property in the midst of this vast preserve — like a donut hole with the cross atop it — will do nothing to minimize the impermissible governmental endorsement.”

Supporters of the cross — including the VFW, the American Legion and other veterans’ groups — argue in a brief that a decision allowing removal of the cross would endanger other religious symbols on federal property, such as grave markers in national cemeteries.

The last time the court handed down decisions involving religious displays on government property was in 2005. That was before Chief Justice John Roberts took over for the late William Rehnquist and Justice Samuel Alito replaced retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

O’Connor — considered a moderate on church-state issues — voted against Ten Commandments displays in Kentucky and Texas. Alito is likely to be more open to such monuments on public property.

But the case may turn on a different issue — whether Buono has the legal standing to assert the case in the first place. The high court’s 2007 decision in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation significantly limited most potential plaintiffs’ ability to sue over government endorsements of religion.

The justices won’t hear the Salazar case until their 2009-2010 session begins in October. While President Bush’s administration defended the cross, President Obama’s administration may have a view of the First Amendment more in line with the 9th Circuit’s. They could withdraw the appeal altogether or simply choose not to defend vigorously Congress’ attempts to preserve the cross.

–Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington Bureau Chief for Associated Baptist Press.

Related ABP stories:

Supreme Court denies taxpayers ability to sue Bush over faith-based funding (6/25/2007)

Supreme Court offers split decisions in Ten Commandments cases (6/27/2005)

MOSCOW (ABP) — Russian Baptists denounced the injection of religion into politics after a bogus newspaper circulated in a mayoral race falsely identified a candidate as a Baptist in an effort to besmirch his character.

According to Internet reports, a counterfeit newspaper stuffed into mailboxes in the western Russian city of Smolensk claimed Baptists were supporting a mayoral candidate in hopes that his election would cause Baptists to rival the Russian Orthodox Church for influence.

"Russian Baptists are for Maslakov!" appeared as a banner headline in the supposed special edition of The Protestant, presumably forged as a political dirty trick.

The article claimed that Baptists all over Russia and from around the world were hoping candidate Sergy Maslakov "will become the first Baptist mayor in Russia" in the upcoming March 1 election. But Baptist leaders said Maslakov, one of 10 candidates running for mayor, is largely unknown outside the region and has no known ties to Baptists.

Allegedly bogus headline reads 'Russian Baptists are for Maslakov!' (RUECB)

The article alluded to rumors of rampant sexual immorality and pedophilia among Baptists, and implied Russian Baptist churches are funded largely by Western sources, including the government of the United States.

"Political con-artists are trying to turn the respected, 140-year history of Baptists in Russia into a horror story in hopes of helping and hurting certain political parties," said Vitaly Vlasenko, the Russian Baptist union's director of external church affairs.

Vlasenko accused campaign workers of "sowing hatred between the [denominational] confessions," an act he termed "ugly and totally unacceptable."

The article reportedly included comments falsely attributed to the head of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists from an interview that did not take place. The paper carried photos of Baptist leaders with mismatched captions that identified them with incorrect names.

Viktor Ignatenkov, pastor of First Baptist Church of Smolensk, told the Slavic Legal Center the candidate has no relationship to Baptists and has never been a member of a Baptist church. He said the anonymous authors apparently intended to inflame irreligious strife with statements about Baptists that are patently false.

Anatoly Pchelintsev, a university professor and chief editor of the Religion and Law journal told Slavic Legal Center that Baptists have never conducted themselves in ways described in the newspaper or interfered in political activity. He joined Russian Baptists in saying law enforcement should investigate who was behind the publication.

Smolensk, with more than 300,000 citizens, is one of Russia's oldest cities and scene of some of the heaviest fighting during World War II. Located on the Dnieper River, it is a port city and important rail junction for distribution of agricultural products and other goods.

It is also hometown of the new Russian Patriarch, Metropolitan Kirill, who supports better relations between the Orthodox Church and other faith groups.

Vlasenko of the Baptist union called the bogus publication a "nasty farewell" and "grievous insult" to the patriarch, who was metropolitan of Smolensk from 1991 to 2008, and said it "besmirches that which it intends to defend: the Russian Orthodox Church."

Tensions between Orthodox leaders and minority faiths are not uncommon in the former Soviet Union. Last year a court in Smolensk dissolved a Methodist church for having a Sunday school attended by four children, but Russia's Supreme Court later reversed the decision.

The First Baptist Church of Smolensk, on the other hand, was recognized by the government of Vladimir Putin with a medal recognizing its social ministries.

The International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic, recently sponsored a groundbreaking conference aimed at improving Baptist-Orthodox relations in European contexts with an Orthodox religious majority.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.