BEEVILLE—South Texas Children’s Home Ministries sent 100 boxes of food and provisions for children and families affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

The children’s home worked with Rudy de la Cruz, pastor of Quisqueyana Baptist Church in Santo Domingo and other partners in the Dominican Republic to deliver the supplies to churches in Haiti.

Rudy de la Cruz, pastor of Quisqueyana Baptist Church in Santo Domingo, delivers supplies from South Texas Children’s Home Ministries to Iglesia Tabernaculo de la Trinidad in Bouque, Haiti, for distribution to children and families affected by an earthquake.

As the Baptist workers traveled through the countryside, they were struck by the desperate situation of the Haitian people.

“It was the middle of the day, the time for preparing their main meal, but there was no smoke from charcoal fires—no smells of food in the air. Just hundreds of people walking, milling around, hopeless, hungry,” De la Cruz said. “They just stood around or moved slowly and aimlessly from place to place, and no one was working. None of the children seemed to be in school, but they didn’t laugh or play. They just stood, with sad eyes, and hunger stamped on their faces.”

The team planned to let Iglesia Tabernaculo de la Trinidad in Bouque, Haiti, quietly distribute food to families in its membership, but when the team arrived, more than 1,000 people had gathered as word had spread food supplies might be available.

To avoid a riot, the bus was parked a few inches from the church door, and the sealed boxes were passed through a window of the bus and taken directly into the church.

The church provided a safe haven for the supplies, in spite of the damage it sustained in January’s earthquake. Large cracks in the roof and walls have made it unsafe for worship, and the congregation now meets under tarps strung between tree-branch poles.

An earthquake left large cracks in the roof and walls of Iglesia Tabernaculo de la Trinidad in Bouque, Haiti, making the building unsafe for worship, but the congregation continues to gather for worship under tarps strung between tree-branch poles.

After all the boxes were unloaded, the pastor of the Haitian church led a brief worship service and spoke words of encouragement to the gathered crowd. As the crowd disbursed, the team left in the bus so that the pastor could quietly distribute the boxes of food to individual families.

“If the provisions of food from around the world would have been distributed through the churches in Haiti, the churches could have delivered the food to their congregations and communities. The bottleneck that is preventing hungry people from receiving the food could have possibly been alleviated. So much food continues to be stored in huge warehouses and crates, and is even rotting on piers, while so many go hungry,” De la Cruz said.

South Texas Children’s Home Ministries has been involved in international ministry and humanitarian aid for several years, with much of its work centering in the Santo Domingo area of the Dominican Republic.

“We pray that these provisions will be an encouragement to these Haitian Christians and their pastor,” said Joanna Berry, vice president of family counseling and international ministry. “We want them to know that God and his people have not forgotten them in their distressing situation.”

RICHARDSON—John Wills serves as executive pastor of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, and for the first time in his ministerial career, he works regular hours.

As the church’s chief operating officer, mentor to staff and pastoral confidant, he could work through the night and never get all his work done. But Wills goes home at the end of business so he not only can spend the evening with his wife, but also with his neighbors.

“The office work can wait until tomorrow,” he said. He sees his neighborhood as a mission field needing his attention. “It’s calling my name.”

Wills notes his attitude toward sharing his faith changed five years ago after he read Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll.

“I’ve always felt like evangelism was our responsibility,” Wills said, but he never saw himself as the type who would share his faith every day. For years, he stayed so busy at church, ministry in the community had no place in his life.

But Wills became stirred—even “haunted,” in his words—by a statement by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:14: “The love of Christ compels us.”

Wills knew he needed to take action. For two years, Wills implemented relationship-style evangelism.

John Wills and his family offer a party on the patio for their neighbors.

“I already have a strike against me because I’m a preacher,” he noted. Neighbors still wondered how they should behave around him. And Wills recognized relational evangelism demands long-term investments of time and effort. But he also knew Jesus spent time with all kinds of people—devoting much of his attention to people who did not know God. And Wills wanted to follow Christ's example.

He began to view ministry in his neighborhood with intentionality. Neighbors learned that when his door was open, anyone was welcome to stop by unannounced. He and his wife, Kelly, host a “party on the patio’ each Friday. Families bring their children to play, while adults visit.

Wills interacts with neighbors from varied backgrounds. Some believe they have to work their way to heaven. Others are reluctant to give up old habits or lifestyles. He’s sat in on interventions for people struggling with unhealthy dependencies.

John Wills and some of his neighbors celebrate a birthday dinner.

As Wills builds relationships, he looks for the appropriate time to present the gospel. By showing love and spending time, he earns the right to talk about Jesus.

“I’m going to live the story, then I’m going to tell my story, then I’m going to tell his story,” he said.

Usually, he noted, the time comes when neighbors face either a crisis or an opportunity.

“You have to be sensitive to the things of God and walk through doors when he opens them,” he said.

Although Wills talks about relationship evangelism, he considers other styles relevant and useful. Regardless of style, Wills emphasizes, the gospel cannot be cheap. While talking about God’s love, Christians must talk about God’s justice.

“You have a choice. Either you die for your sins or Jesus does,” he said.

Neighbors hang out in the Wills family garage.

As Wills worked on his personal neighborhood ministry, he started to challenge members of The Heights to do the same. The church’s Engage ministry challenges members to do ministry within their circle of influence. Engage started by challenging families at The Heights to become involved in some kind of relationship-based ministry. The next phase asks people to move one of those relationships into conversations about Jesus, opening doors to share the gospel.

“Pockets of people have really embraced it. Other people are going ‘It’s nice for you but not for me,’” Wills acknowledged. While some remain under the impression that the staff gets paid to do the evangelism, some put forth effort but struggle for results, he added. Even so, church members have launched more than 30 neighborhood ministries in recent months.

Pastor Gary Singleton often challenges The Heights Baptist Church with a question: “If this church left, would anyone know we’re gone?”

Wills accepted the challenge to make sure in his neighborhood, his absence would be noted in the lives of people who need to draw closer to Christ.

Eric Davis is a member of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson. He will graduate in December from Dallas Theological Seminary with masters’ degrees in Christian education and media/communication.

• Volunteers are needed to help rebuild Dover Church near Tyler. It is one of several churches burned by arsonists in February. The rebuild will begin June 21. Hookups for RVs and meals will be provided. For more information, call (903) 571-5345.

• Howard Payne University will hold Young and Summer Scholars programs July 19-23 from 9 a.m. to noon on the Academy of Freedom campus. Summer Scholars is a program for children entering grades 4 through 6 with instruction in computer graphics, speech/ debate, science and physical education. Young Scholars is for children entering grades 1 through 3 and features instruction in reading, music, science and physical education. Students also will be introduced to HPU’s climbing wall and spend at least two days learning basic climbing techniques. Registration is $150 and includes a book bag, snacks and supplies. Registration deadline is July 12. For more information, call (325) 649-8508.

• Dallas Baptist University presented the 22nd annual DBU-Oak Cliff Partnership Good Samaritan Award to Jan Pruitt, CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, and Weldon Estes, professor of religious education and biblical studies at DBU.

• Joe Perez, a chaplain endorsed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas working at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, received the Out-standing Local Leadership Award from the Association of Profes-sional Chaplains.

• Laura Baskin of Heflin, La., was named East Texas Baptist University’s Senior Girl Call-Out. She is the 63rd person chosen in the school’s longstanding tradition of choosing someone who models Christian character, social consciousness, personal poise, academic acheivement and spiritual vision.

• The insects and human interactions class at Hardin-Simmons University has incorporated a butterfly garden into the prayer garden of Big Country Assembly in Leuders.

Anniversaries

• Sam Gwon Kang, fifth, as pastor of Korean Mission in Sherman, June 6.

• Griff Servati, 10th, as minister to students at First Church in Van Alstyne, June 1.

• Hillcrest Church in Cedar Hill, 90th, June 6. Mike Simmons is pastor.

• Lynn Godsey, 25th, as pastor of Templo de Poder in Ennis, June 11.

• Clint Anderson, 10th, as director of missions for Will-iamson Association, June 15.

• First Church in Westbrook, 120th, June 20. Coffee, juice and doughnuts will be provided at a fellowship beginning at 9 a.m. Exhibits detailing the church’s history will be displayed. Former pastors and staff are expected to participate in the morning worship service. A meal will follow in the school gym. Terry White is pastor.

• Alfonso Flores Jr., 20th, as pastor of Primera Iglesia in San Antonio, July 15. The church also will celebrate its 122 years of ministry to the community on that date. Javier Elizondo, executive vice president and provost of Baptist University of the Américas, will be the keynote speaker at a banquet honoring Flores.

• First Church in Lockhart, 75th, July 18. A breakfast will begin at 8 a.m., and a covered-dish luncheon will follow the morning service. Gary Rodgers is pastor.

Retiring

• Richard Robinson, as minister of music at First Church in Kenedy, May 31. He served the church five years.

• Bruce Stovall, as pastor of Friendship Church in Albany, May 2. He was in ministry 51 years, and he served the Albany church more than 22 years.

Death

• Bill Pond Jr., 89, May 4 in Grapevine. He was a pastor more than 60 years. He served as a trustee of Houston Baptist College (now Houston Baptist University) and was on the board of directors of the Northwest Baptist Foundation. He served on the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and also on the State Missions Commission. His pastorates in-cluded First Church in Hunts-ville, First Church in Burnet, Forest Avenue Church in Sherman, two churches in the Pacific Northwest and a church in Panama. After retirement, he was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Chicago, and then served as a Mission Service Corps volunteer in Florida. Upon returning to Texas, he was minister to senior adults at First Church in Grapevine. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Patricia Pond. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Mary Louise; daughter, Sharon Nations; sons, Ronald and Richard; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Events

• Riding for the Brand Cowboy Church in Sanger will celebrate its groundbreaking June 19 at 6 p.m. with a cowboy poetry chuckwagon dinner fundraiser. In addition to the poetry and dinner, the program will feature music, a live auction, door prizes and a grand prize of a National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas package for two. Tickets are $125 a plate with premium tables seating eight people for $1,500. For more information, call (940) 765-1321. Jack Blease is pastor.

• Elliott Church in Hearne will hold a homecoming celebration June 27 in commemoration of its 121 years of service to the community. Former Pastor Dean Parmer will preach in the morning service. A lunch and special music will follow. Dale Wells is pastor.

• First Church in Abilene will hold a Bible conference June 27-30 with Jim Denison teaching on the topic “Finding God’s Purpose in Uncertain Times.” Sunday’s services will be 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Wednes-day, a meal will be served for $5 at 11:30 a.m. with Bible study following at noon. The weekday evening services begin at 7 p.m. Phil Christopher is pastor.

Revival

• Valley View Church, Longview; June 6-9; evangelist, Ronnie Starr; music, Mark Fried; pastor, Tim Lindsay.

• Pam Click to Pioneer Drive Church in Abilene as preschool minister.

• Brad Echols to Field Street Church in Cleburne as minister to students.

• Erica Evans has resigned as youth minister at Lakeside Fellowship in Roanoke.

• Darrell Fishbeck to Fellowship Church in Marble Falls as associate pastor of worship and students.

• David Higgs to First Church in Bryan as pastor.

• Paul Kipgen has resigned as pastor of Pilgrim’s Way Church in Sanger.

• Monti Koch has resigned as associate pastor at CrossPointe Church in Corinth.

• Ronny Marriott to First Church in Corpus Christi as pastor from Shady Oaks Church in Hurst.

• Kimberley McMillon to Pioneer Drive Church in Abilene as children’s minister.

• Chris Millican to Shady Shores Church in Denton as youth minister.

• Kristin Robison to Memorial Church in Denton as children’s minister.

• Jes Stafford to Little Whitewater Church in Patton, Mo., as pastor from Eleventh Street Church in Shamrock.

• Milton Tyler has completed an interim pastorate at Second Church in San Angelo.

• Joey Vandeveer to CrossPointe Church in Corinth as worship leader.

Fifth Buckner shipment to Haiti slated. Buckner International has dispatched four shipments of emergency aid to Haiti since an earthquake hit the country in January, and a fifth shipment will arrive this summer. The first shipment included 12 tons of hygiene kits, shoes and humanitarian aid that were distributed to a children’s hospital, an orphanage and needy families in early March. The second shipment—nine tons of medical supplies, tents, linens, shoes, baby supplies and water—arrived a couple of weeks later. Two shipments arrived in April—one with medical provisions, school supplies, water and other aid, and the other with baby food valued at more than $59,000.

BUA provides training for alternative teacher certification. Baptist University of the Américas will provide classes for the training of everyone seeking alternative teacher certification with Texas Education Agency Region 20 under the terms of a new agreement between the two institutions. Region 20, based in San Antonio, encompasses 50 school districts with 300,000 students in 15 South Texas counties. Region 20 will provide the course material and the technological platform to offer online courses, as well as scholarships for BUA graduates enrolled in the program when the next program cycle begins next January. BUA will provide and contract for online course facilitation and final grading and will develop on-campus courses. The agreement advances the school’s goal of equipping students for bivocational ministry, BUA Provost Javier Elizondo said.

HBU benefits from Cullen Trust. Houston Baptist University was granted $1.5 million from the Cullen Trust for Higher Education to help the university upgrade its information technology and communications infrastructure. The grant, payable over three years, will allow HBU to protect its existing information assets while expanding the capacity and reach of its technological infrastructure, allowing HBU to implement several recommendations resulting from a civil engineering infrastructure study of the campus conducted in the summer of 2009. Created by a Cullen Foundation trust agreement in 1978, the Cullen Trust for Higher Education has supported HBU with gifts and pledges totaling more than $14 million, benefiting the university’s programs in the sciences, nursing, business, education and the performing arts.

ETBU names new provost. Following a nationwide search, Sherilyn Emberton has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at East Texas Baptist University, effective July 1. ETBU President Dub Oliver described her as “a very talented and capable leader whose Christian commitment, academic experiences, and winsome personality will help us more fully realize our mission and vision.” Emberton comes to ETBU from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee, where she has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2007. She served previously as associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of the School of Education at LeTourneau University in Longview. Emberton earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches and a doctorate from Texas A&M University-Commerce.

ARLINGTON– People who remain safely in the middle of life, far from the edges, have little to say, author Calvin Miller told the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute summer colloquy.

Quoting from his memoir, Life is Mostly Edges, Miller said: “I like the middle of the stamp more than the edges. This is not unusual. We all like the middle. The middle is safe. You can’t fall off the middle. The edges are dangerous. Also, the edges are the only place you really learn.”

He emphasized to preachers and other Christian communicators the importance of viewing life from the edges.

Calvin Miller

“I say that people who have not walked the edges of life don’t have much to say,” said Miller, professor of preaching and pastoral ministries at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. He added writing from the edge is image-driven, visual, optimistic and filled with joy.

Miller, an Enid, Okla., native and graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University, lectured May 31 and June 1, offering insight on the interaction between the arts and Christianity.

One lecture explored the source and relevance of the “happy ending” in Christianity.

“We are a people who celebrate a great victory and it filters through every area of our heart. That is the happy ending,” he said.

Additionally, Miller connected the belief in this happy ending to the current trends in the modern church.

“Most of us want to leave church happy,” he said. “It has to do with our view of the happy ending, that everything good done in Christ has to end up happily.”

In his final lecture, “Imagination: Advice from Three Greeks,” Miller emphasized the use of imagination in artistic creation.

He also discussed the works that he has published for children to encourage theological learning. “I always try to hide something theological in something I’ve done for children that will introduce them to some of our key ideas.”

Miller concluded with three rules for maintaining artistic integrity:

• Throw away all of the bad portions of one’s art.

• Artists must fight for the good pieces of their art.

• Artists must not let others influence their art. “Nobody lays a chisel on my statue,” he said.

Miller expressed the importance of art hidden in everyday life. “Truth and beauty are there, whether or not you agree to see.”

ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — A prominent African-American pastor has announced plans to ask the Southern Baptist Convention to amend its constitution to ban churches that condone racism.

Dwight McKissic

Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, said in a blog and press release dated May 27 that he would ask messengers at the SBC annual meeting June 15-16 to consider amending an article on membership to exclude churches that "act to affirm, approve or endorse … racial discrimination and bigotry in any form."

The membership article already bans churches that condone "homosexual behavior" in an amendment added during the 1990s after one North Carolina church licensed a practicing homosexual as a minister and another performed a ceremony blessing a same-sex union.

McKissic said he wants a similar zero-tolerance ban on racism because of "residual racism or latent bigotry" in the nation's second-largest religious body. Part of that is "unrepentant belief" in the "curse of Ham" theology used historically to mistreat persons of color.

The curse of Ham refers to one of Noah's three sons mentioned in the Bible. In Genesis 9:20-25, Ham enters a tent and discovers his father naked and drunk then goes back to tell his brothers. They avert their eyes to avoid looking at Noah and use a garment to cover their father's nakedness. After he awakes Noah curses Ham's descendants to become servants of those of his brothers.

Some scholars view the story as a rationalization for Israel's conquest and enslavement of the Canaanites, presumed to be descendants of Ham. Later some Christians came to believe the story explained different skin colors and used it to justify enslavement of African blacks.

It was a popular view in the era that the Southern Baptist Convention organized in 1845 around the rights of slaveholders to serve as missionaries. McKissic said he bought a copy of Smith's Bible Dictionary, a reference first published in 1884, at a LifeWay Christian Store in the 1990s and was shocked to read the question: "Do the effects of [Ham's] curse continue to the present time?" answered with, "Yes: in Africa, which was peopled by the descendants of Ham and is the chief scene of the horrible traffic in slaves."

McKissic said in his blog May 27 that he communicated with a LifeWay Christian Resources employee who told him the book is available by special order and the copy he found was probably never picked up and placed on a shelf by a store manager. McKissic said the employee told him that at his request the chain would no longer handle the book unless it was an edition that edited out racist theology.

In a related resolution submitted to the SBC Resolutions Committee McKissic says Southern Baptists need to repent of racist theologies the way they apologized for condoning racist structures in 1995. Despite progress toward racial unity, McKissic says Southern Baptists "have not yet fully realized the full participation of our vast ethnic diversity in convention life and leadership."

He says "careless statements regarding persons of color who hold high elected office have been allowed to go publicly unchallenged, causing tremendous disappointment and frustration for those seeking to enlist and encourage greater participation among ethnic minorities in Southern Baptist life and leadership."

McKissic says "purposeful inclusion" of ethnic minorities in SBC life and leadership is "far too often an afterthought" and designed to "merely accept and allow persons of color who bring a rich tradition and robust partnership to our convention work."

His resolution calls on the convention to "recognize and embrace with enthusiasm the challenge before us to more proactively include and affirm the full participation of all ethnic groups in the work, witness, life and leadership of our convention."

It also would put the convention on record as saying "that we detest any residual racism or latent bigotry in our cooperative work or among our churches, for we recognize that these cancerous theologies and perspectives are capable of spreading if tolerated" and formally "repent of the 'curse of Ham' theology that has provided a theological and sociological cover for mistreatment of persons of color, and further amplify our 1995 statement on racial reconciliation to include this penitent resolve."

All resolutions proposed by individual messengers are referred to a committee appointed by the SBC president for study. The committee has options of recommending or declining to recommend them for vote and commonly uses various resolutions addressing a similar theme to write a resolution of their own. Messengers then have opportunity to debate and offer amendments from the floor.

Along with the resolution asking for repentance of racist theology, McKissic is submitting separate resolutions apologizing for past indignities to women, who were not allowed to vote as convention messengers until 1918, and calling for a "solemn assembly," defined as "a time of intense spiritual discipline, fasting and prayer, for the purpose of seeking God's face in the midst of the important decisions we must make about our future."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

Previous stories:

Black Baptist pastor asks SBC to repent of racism

Black pastor says he doesn't plan to run for SBC president

McKissic says it is time for Southern Baptists to elect a black president

BROWNSVILLE—The main streets of Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville filled with more than 20,000 people, flavorful food, festive music and brightly-colored floats during Charro Days, a weeklong festival celebrating the heritage between the sister cities. And a group of 55 church members gathered to celebrate the hope of Christ and to share it with those they encountered that day.

Church members attach information about Brownsville-area Baptist churches to Texas Hope CDs before distributing them during Charro Days. More than 55 people from eight churches in Brownsville and Matamoros, Mexico, came to the events in their cities to help spread the gospel to families who attended the festival. (PHOTOS/Josue Valerio)

The event, held since 1938, ends with a parade on the last day of the festival that begins in Brownsville and travels across the Texas-Mexico border into Matamoros.  Children and families dress in traditional Mexican attire, while others participate in activities like jalapeño-eating contests or a sombrero fest.

The activities gave church members opportunities to interact with their community and hand out more than more than 4,000 compact discs that include the Gospel of John in Spanish and English and the option to download the New Testament in more than 300 languages for free. Each disc had a note printed in Spanish attached, listing the churches involved and inviting people to worship with the church families.

“The goal is to get churches involved in evangelism,” said Osvaldo Lerma, a Texas Baptist River Ministry coordinator and pastor of Iglesia Bautista Filadelphia in Brownsville.

Charro Days brought families from throughout South Texas to Brownsville—and its sister city across the Rio Grande—and provided an occasion when Baptists from area churches could share the gospel. (PHOTOS/Josue Valerio)

“If this will help or spark the vision to get out and share, then that would be a great blessing. That is our hope that we would help churches mobilize in the city.”

The effort was part of Texas Hope 2010, a challenge to Texas Baptists to pray for the lost, care for the hurting and hungry, and share the gospel.

“This is the call of every Christian to go and spread the gospel,” Osvaldo said. “I saw this as a great opportunity to reach as many people as possible that will be in one location just waiting for the parade to happen. I thought it would be a good way to present them the gospel and tell them about a church they can come to.”

For Josue Valerio, Texas Baptists’ director of missions mobilization, participating in Charro Days not only was sentimental since he had attended the parade as a young boy, but it was also invigorating as he saw churches engage their community with the gospel.

“Other churches were managing food stands and parking lots, but our group was the only one sharing the word of God,” Valerio said. “It gave the Baptist churches visibility, and the people who participated ideas of what they can do to reach their community.”

Baptists walked the streets of Brownsville—and its sister south of the border, Matamoros—distributing Texas Hope 2010 CDs during Charro Days festivities. (PHOTOS/Josue Valerio)

After receiving the CD, several people asked about the churches while others were eager to know more about the project and gospel.

“I think God was at work there,” Valerio said. “I think it brings hope to people. They are all here celebrating something good, but this is something that brings hope, something they can celebrate whether they live on the Mexico or Texas side of the border.”

The churches involved already are making plans to host a float next year, allowing the group to distribute CDs or other church information as they walk down the parade route.

“I hope that they can capture a vision for missions and evangelism and see that God has called some of them to go out and be missionaries and spark something in their hearts,” Lerma said.

Through efforts like the CD distribution at Charro Days, River Ministry coordinators hope to see additional churches started to further reach the residents in the Rio Grande Valley with the love of Christ.

AMARILLO—When members from Iglesia Bautista Fuente Viva delivered a multimedia compact disc containing Scripture to homes near their church in early May, they wanted to bring encouragement to their neighbors and share about the hope of Christ.

Little did they know that only a few hours later, 10-year-old Manuel Gonzalez’s life would be changed forever from the message he heard on the Texas Hope 2010 CD.

After the group stopped by his home, Gonzalez asked his grandmother if he could watch the multimedia disk. He went to another room, popped it into the DVD player and began to watch testimony after testimony of people who have been changed by the love of Christ.

“After seven minutes passed, he came back,” Pastor Fredy Pavez said.

“And he came to (his grandmother) with a big smile and crying and said, ‘I just accepted Jesus Christ.’ The next day, the grandma shared with us that he is so excited. He has been letting everyone know in his class at school what he did.”

The next Sunday, Gonzalez and his family came to the church and began to get involved. Then, a couple of weeks later, Gonzalez was baptized. Several students and teachers he told about his relationship with Jesus were present at the baptism.  

Iglesia Bautista Fuente Viva is one of 14 Amarillo churches engaging their neighbors and distributing CDs that include the Gospel of John and an option to download the New Testament in more than 300 languages.

The churches are working together to pray for the lost, care for the hurting and hungry in the state and share the gospel where all Texans can respond to the hope of Christ.

“Our hope is that those CDs will touch the lives of those and that they will believe that Jesus is the way to the truth and the life,” Pavez said. “Our main goal is to give the word away so they will know truth. And it is a great time for those who have never been involved in evangelism before, going door-to-door. Maybe God will touch the lives of many, and we will have new ministers.”

To help the city become aware of the initiative, the churches led by a team of pastors and members from area congregations and Amarillo Area Baptist Association purchased ads about the Texas Hope 2010 CD in the local newspaper and monthly city magazine, as well as on cable television in April, making residents aware a church soon would be at their door to offer a CD and a helping hand.

The association divided Amarillo by mail-carrier routes so churches could adopt specific areas in the city for CD delivery. Many of the churches are going door-to-door in their area to meet the residents and deliver the CD, while other churches that may have more difficulty with this task have opted to mail the CDs to their designated area. Some churches started delivery during April, while other churches deliver CDs during summer outreach programs. Through the effort, more than 60,000 CDs will be delivered to Amarillo residents.

Bryan Houser, director of missions at the Amarillo Area Baptist Association, said his desire for churches as they get involved in the effort is that they will be renewed in their vision for taking the hope of Christ to the city.

“We are hoping that we can get the gospel out and reach people who have not been reached any other way,” Houser said. “The goal is primarily an evangelistic effort. “Secondly, we hope to see a vision for churches to reach people that they don’t normally think about sharing the gospel with each week. You can have any method, but if you don’t use it, it won’t work. This is a method that will help churches get involved.”

For some churches, the CD came as the next step to continue outreach efforts already being carried out by the church. Bykota Baptist Church is using the CD to continue on with a prayer effort members held in the neighborhood around the church the past couple of months. Each Tuesday night, members went door-to-door, street-by-street to meet residents and to ask for prayer requests and ways they can be a help to them.

 “I’ve been excited since the beginning, and I’m ready to see it get to the streets and not just in our hands,” said Chris Moore, pastor of Bykota Baptist Church . “I hope it changes lives.”

To follow up on the prayer effort, the church is taking 750 CDs back to the same homes. The church has two teams that will deliver CDs and one team that will be prayer support, praying for the CD effort and requests mentioned and following up on the visits with cards and phone calls. Many neighbors have now become more open to the church through the effort, Moore said, and he is seeing renewal in church members as they participate in reaching out to their community.

“More than anything it has made a difference in the members that are involved,” he said. “They realize how easy it is to get out and share their faith.”

As people understand the love of Christ, Moore hopes that they will accept him and then get involved in a church where they can be discipled. To further this vision, Bykota Baptist Church began a basic Christian beliefs class on Sunday nights to help people in the area who are seeking to know more about Christ or desiring to learn how to mature in their faith.

Victor Miller, minister of education at Paramount Baptist Church , said the church handed out 500 CDs to members in March, asking them to think of a specific co-worker, family member, neighbor or friend who they can give the CD to as a gift. The church also plans to deliver several thousand CDs to the neighborhood around the building during May.

“We want to continue to create awareness in every church member that they are part of the redemptive process and that God wants to use them to take the gospel to those in their sphere of influence,” Miller said. “Ultimately we hope that these people [who receive the CD] will be drawn into relationships with Christ.”

First Baptist Church also got involved with the distribution. The church cancelled the Sunday evening service on April 25 so that members could gather CDs and deliver them to the neighborhood around the church and to others in southwest Amarillo. The church prepared packets of 50 CDs for members to deliver to designate areas. While some members delivered more than 4,000 CDs, many others stayed behind at the church praying for the effort.

“Our hope as we go out is that we will be able to share the good news with those in our community and also through our efforts, be reminded not only of the benefit of sharing Christ but of the blessing we also gain,” said Robby Barrett, minister of education at the church.

For Nancy Hanning, a church member who participated in delivering CDs, the effort was a way to interact easily with residents, praying for them and planting gospel seeds in the process.

“I loved this ministry,” Hanning said. “Of all the ministries and the outreaches and the evangelism programs we have had at church, I think this by far truly is the very best…. It is the least intimidating for those of us as family at First Baptist. The most timid of us can go out and do this, feeling like we are not imposing.”

Hanning also sees that God is going before the members, preparing residents’ hearts to hear the message of hope.

“God has opened people’s hearts,” she said. “I found people very receiving, open, welcoming and even very appreciative. With world events going on now, I just find that people are open. We couldn’t be in a better place, in a better time to do this. We are called to do this. He has asked us to do this. All of us are equipped to do this.”

City Church plans to deliver 10,000 CDs to households in northeast Amarillo in June through the church’s summer lunch program. About 700 volunteers come to the ministry each summer to help provide lunch to children in low-income areas of the city and to host kids’ clubs, sharing the hope of Christ in the process with those who attend. This summer, the volunteers will take the CDs to the families along with the meals.

“We are going to use them as an excuse to knock on the door and build a relationship with people we are not already reaching,” said Don Lane, pastor of City Church . “It is those kinds of efforts to challenge us to find the people who have been over looked.”

The church also plans to hand out the CDs at the church’s annual Jesus Loves You Festival, a family event held each summer that reaches out to the more than 15 language groups that live in the area around the church. Lane sees the CD as a useful tool in sharing the gospel with the diverse language groups there because of the option to download the New Testament in so many languages, allowing them to hear the gospel in their native tongue.

“We are trying to obviously lead them to the Lord and disciple them,” Lane said. “When you talk about discipling multiple languages and cultures and in one church, that is not something that usually happens. The deeper that we dig in the neighborhood, we believe that it will be a real turning point in our church.”

Iglesia Bautista Fuente Viva also will hand out additional CDs while hosting 12 youth rallies at city parks this summer. The student ministry will host events including a cookout, bands and evangelistic dramas to attempt to engage area youth with the hope of Christ.

Pavez said that many of the church’s students were not interested in helping with these events and CD distribution until they heard about Gonzalez’s story, understanding that God can use any effort to bring someone into a relationship with Him.

“We have kids here that didn’t want to participate, but when they listed to his testimony last Sunday, everyone was ready to help. They saw that God touch the life of a 10-year-old so He can touch the lives of others,” Pavez said.

As the Amarillo churches have worked together to share the word of God with the city, the bond between the churches has strengthened, helping the churches catch a unified vision for God to work and transform the city.

“I think one of the best things is the relationship that has formed within the association— churches  coming together for a joint effort in ways we might not typically come together to reach our city,” Moore said.

“My hope is that we are going to have a citywide revival as we come together as brothers and sisters in Christ and that in the days and years to come, we will continue to work together. I can see that God is ready to move in a major way throughout the city and I hope that He moves throughout the state.”

Other churches in the association outside of Amarillo have also been involved with the Texas Hope 2010 CD effort. Churches in Channing, Canyon, Hereford and Vega also are delivering CDs to homes in their cities, praying the gospel penetrates the hearts of those who hear.

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted May 25 to refuse any financial contributions from a North Dallas church that has ordained as deacons practicing homosexuals, and the board asked the church to stop identifying itself as affiliated with the BGCT.

The 63-4 vote by the BGCT Executive Board regarding Royal Lane Baptist Church came one day after Dallas Baptist Association’s board voted to declare the church out of fellowship with the association.

Executive Board motion introduced

The BGCT board approved a motion from its executive committee acknowledging the autonomy of Royal Lane Baptist Church but also stating the BGCT “expresses its standards for churches identifying with the BGCT.”

“In ordaining practicing homosexuals as deacons, the actions of Royal Lane place the church outside the BGCT understanding of biblical and historic views on sexual ethics,” the motion said.

“Therefore, the executive committee recommends that the BGCT not accept any funds from Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas. We request that Royal Lane Baptist Church discontinue the publication of any materials that indicate that they affiliate with the BGCT. Funds received from Royal Lane Baptist Church since Jan. 1, 2010, will be returned to the church. This will also result in the disqualification for service of Royal Lane Baptist Church members on the BGCT staff and membership on boards and committees elected by the BGCT.”

Royal Lane deacon responds

Two BGCT employees are members of Royal Lane Baptist Church, and the board was told they plan to move their membership to another church. Doug Washington, a director of the BGCT Executive Board and deacon at Royal Lane, spoke against the motion.

“We at Royal Lane continue to be the same church I came to know and love,” he said. “We do, in fact, have some gay and lesbian members. If you stop and look, some of your churches do, too.”

Royal Lane has a gay deacon and a lesbian deacon, he added, pointing to them as gifted and committed individuals. Royal Lane does not ask if its members with homosexual orientation are practicing homosexuals any more than it asks its single members if they are celibate, he noted.

“We just say: ‘Come as you are. We will lead by example,’” Washington said.

Christian churches constitute the only society on earth where people are admitted into membership based on their acknowledged unworthiness, he noted.

Gospel includes repentance, BGCT president stresses

BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett speaks about the resolution to distance the convention from Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas.

BGCT President David Lowrie agreed churches should be open to all people, recognizing all people who come to Christ must acknowledge their sin. However, he added, the gospel also includes a call to repentance.

“To repent means acknowledging the brokenness that is in all of us and acknowledging that change is possible,” he said.

Churches have a responsibility to preach and model the whole gospel—accepting sinners just as they are, but also telling them they do not have to remain as they always have been, he insisted.

Churches also must exercise discernment in how they select leaders, he added. Quoting the late Cecil Sherman, former pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth and founding coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Lowrie said, “We cannot compromise in the area of leadership.”

Church declares its inclusiveness

The board’s action followed the precedent set in 1998 when the BGCT Executive Board learned University Baptist Church in Austin ordained a gay deacon and noted that action on its website.

On Feb. 14, Royal Lane Baptist Church’s deacons voted to approve new wording for the church’s website, emphasizing its inclusive stance.

“Royal Lane Baptist Church is an inclusive, multi-generational congregation joined in Christian community. We are a vibrant mosaic of varied racial identities, ethnicities, sexual orientations and denominational backgrounds,” the church’s website stated.

The website also identified the church as “an ecumenical Baptist congregation affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.”

A March 6 article in the Dallas Morning News described the church as “coming out of the closet” in its ministry to homosexuals.

BGCT leaders respond

After the article appeared, BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett requested a meeting with leaders of the church. Joining Everett and other BGCT Executive Board senior staff were Lowrie, Executive Board Chair Debbie Ferrier, Executive Board Vice Chair Van Christian, Dallas Baptist Association Executive Director Bob Dean, Royal Lane Pastor David Matthews and Washington.

After the meeting, Everett instructed the BGCT treasurer’s office to escrow all funds contributed from Royal Lane to the BGCT since Jan. 1 and asked the church to remove references to the BGCT from its website until the church clarified its position on homosexual behavior and the Executive Board could respond.

Church approves letter

On April 21, at a quarterly church conference, Royal Lane Baptist Church adopted a letter from its deacon board to Everett expressing its “sincere sense of loss” that the church faced the possibility of “discontinuing a long history of cooperation in Christian ministry” with the BGCT.

“Through the years, decisions have been made by the BGCT that would not have been the first choice” of Royal Lane, the letter said. “However, the strength of our relationship has been in what we can accomplish for the kingdom of God in partnership.

“Royal Lane is the same church that it has been since its founding in 1952. We were on the front lines of ordaining women as deacons in the 1970s, the first woman served as deacon chair in the 1980s, and a member, who is homosexual, was ordained to the deacon board at least 15 years ago.”

The letter pointed out many of Royal Lane’s lay leaders grew up in the church.

“All who come professing Christ as Lord and Savior are welcomed as members who are equally loved and valued,” the letter said. “Should we now tell them that what they have learned about the radical grace of God is not really true? Should we suggest that such a truth be kept quiet?”

Painful, not difficult, executive director says

Doug Washington, a director of the BGCT Executive Board and deacon at Royal Lane, spoke against the motion.

On the eve of the BGCT Executive Board meeting, members of the board’s executive committee met with deacons from Royal Lane Baptist Church to clarify further the positions of both the church and the BGCT.

“The situation has been painful but not difficult for me,” Everett told the board.

The matter became painful because he recognized any action by the BGCT would be misunderstood by some and misinterpreted by others, he said.

It also was painful because Royal Lane had a long history of partnership with the state convention and because he saw Washington as a valued board member and trusted friend, he added.

However, Everett said, he did not see the decision as difficult because the church had demonstrated by its actions in ordaining gay and lesbian deacons that its convictions are inconsistent with positions consistently expressed by Texas Baptists.

The BGCT has approved resolutions at annual meetings in 1982, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2005 and 2009 describing homosexual behavior as sinful, outside God’s perfect will and contrary to the biblical norm for families.

He noted particularly a 2009 resolution affirming “the biblical sexual ethic of fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness, and … the biblical image of marriage as the union before God between a man and a woman.”

Association declares church ‘out of fellowship’

In a letter to Royal Lane from Dallas Baptist Association, Dean likewise wrote, “The Bible has a number of references that speak clearly to the issue that homosexual behavior is sin and, therefore, an unbiblical lifestyle.”

The association “recognizes and respects the autonomy of each church in our association,” Dean’s letter said. “The association is also autonomous and free to determine if churches are in doctrinal harmony.”

A resolution from the credentials committee and administrative committee of the association and approved by its executive board concluded Royal Lane had “affirmed a position regarding homosexual behavior that is not in harmony with the historic faith and practices of Baptists substantially as set forth in the Holy Scriptures.”

The resolution noted doctrinal conflict remained unresolved after conversations involving Royal Lane’s leaders and the association’s executive officers. 

The resolution declared Royal Lane “out of fellowship” with the association and said messengers from the church would not be seated or recognized at the association’s annual meeting.

Other business

The BGCT Executive Board also authorized $12,000 a month to Baptist University of the Américas in San Antonio from July to December to help provide non-degree-level basic Bible institutes in South Texas, along the Rio Grande.

Of the $72,000 total, $51,400 would be made available from the proceeds of foreclosed property sold by the Baptist Church Loan Corporation, and the balance would be from the proceeds of trusts.

The board will consider continued funding of the institutes at a reduced rate in 2011 and 2012 after BUA submits a business plan.

In other business, the board:

• Recommended a change to the BGCT constitution that would change the percentage of convention-elected trustees on institutional boards from 75 percent to a simple majority. The change will require approval by messengers to two consecutive BGCT annual meetings.

• Approved a resolution recognizing the centennial of the Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing.

AUSTIN—In spite of protests, the Texas State Board of Education voted May 21 to approve social studies curriculum standards that urge high school students to examine church-state separation critically—a move likely to affect textbooks nationwide.

A motion to postpone until July a vote on the social studies standards failed 6-8. The high school social studies standards passed along party lines, with 9 Republicans favoring and 5 Democrats opposing them.

In the days leading to the vote, more than 200 people registered to testify before the board, voicing their opinions about language of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, a state-mandated set of learning objectives for public-school students.

Those standards not only influence textbooks in Texas, but also have an impact nationally because Texas is one of the top two buyers of textbooks in the United States, and many publishers craft their books with the Texas market in mind.

Over the objection of some members—including Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi, who raised concern about last minute “cut-and-paste” additions to standards—the board approved a lengthy list of amendments on the day of the final vote.

Bob Craig of Lubbock offered an amendment rewriting the contentious church-state amendment, offering what some observers characterized as compromise language.

The amendment, calling on high school students to compare and contrast separation of church and state with the Founders’ original intent, passed 11-3.

As amended, the standard states, “Examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America and guaranteed it free exercise by saying that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and compare and contrast this to the phrase ‘separation of church and state.’”

Thomas Jefferson, who famously used the phrase “wall of separation between church and state” in a letter to Danbury Baptist Association, had been dropped by the board from an early draft of the high school standards in a list of influential political thinkers, although he appeared in standards at other grade levels.

In response to a firestorm over the omission, the board reinstated Thomas Jefferson to the high school standards. But the board rejected a move to add John Madison—primary author of the Bill of Rights—and drop theologian John Calvin’s name.

At the opening of the May 21 meeting, board member Cynthia Dunbar of Richmond offered an invocation articulating the position of a vocal segment of the state board—a desire to teach public school students the United State is “a Christian land governed by Christian principles.”

“I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses. … I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country,” she said.

Prior to final public hearings and the board’s vote on curriculum standards, some religious leaders had voiced concern about proposed language that would downplay constitutional protections for religious freedom.

“Our Founding Fathers understood that the best way to protect religious liberty in America is to keep government out of matters of faith,” said Roger Paynter, pastor of First Baptist Church in Austin.

“But this state board appears hostile to teaching students about the importance of keeping religion and state separate, a principle long supported in my own Baptist tradition and in other faiths.”

Regents OK relocation of Baylor School of Social Work. Baylor University’s board of regents authorized the relocation of the Baylor School of Social Work to downtown Waco and approved a $403.3 million operating budget for the university in 2010-2011. The School of Social Work, currently housed in the Speight Avenue parking garage on campus, will move to the former Wells Fargo Bank building downtown. Baylor will lease the 33,000-square-foot, three-story building, and the university has expanded its downtown-area shuttle service to include the location to make it easier for graduate and undergraduate students to travel between the main and downtown campuses. The university operating budget, which takes effect June 1, reflects an increase of $13.8 million or 3.55 percent over the original 2009-2010 budget adopted by Baylor regents last year. It includes an increase of $17.4 million or 15.9 percent to support merit and need-based scholarships, graduate assistantships and scholarships for Baylor Law School, Truett Theological Seminary and athletics. Regents re-elected Dary Stone of Dallas to a one-year term as chair. Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, was re-elected to a one-year term as vice-chair.

ETBU trustees approve budget. East Texas Baptist University’s board of trustees approved a $27.8 million operating budget for 2010-2011—a 2.5 percent increase over the current year’s budget. The budget, which takes effect June 1, includes more than $7 million for merit and need-based scholarships for students, an increase of 5.3 percent. Trustees also approved a recommendation to begin the process of adding two graduate programs—a Master of Arts in Religion degree offered by the School of Christian Studies and a Master of Education degree offered by the School of Education.

Dallas church pledges $115 million. First Baptist Church of Dallas members have pledged $115,062,000 over three years to reshape the church’s downtown campus. In making the announcement May 16, Pastor Robert Jeffress told the church the campaign set a record for a Protestant congregation in the United States. The project includes construction of a 3,000-seat sanctuary, but the historic 1890 sanctuary will be retained for weddings, funerals and special events. New construction includes a religious education building and parking garage, a sweeping glass-fronted concourse and a sky bridge, as well as an acre of green space and a soaring fountain that can be used for warm-weather baptisms. After the church’s building committee finalizes plans and presents them to the deacons, the congregation is expected to vote on the building project June 6.

Run to benefit terminally ill pastor. David Johnson, former pastor of Caprock Baptist Church in Odessa, will participate in the Summer Solstice Six-hour Endurance Run, June 18 in Abilene, to raise funds for the church’s current pastor, who is terminally ill. Mike Johnson, no relation to the runner, was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease in September 2008. He was featured in the Feb. 15 issue of the Baptist Standard. For more information about the benefit run, e-mail David Johnson at runningpreacher@hotmail.com, phone (432) 367-0038 or mail Caprock Baptist Church, Attn.: Paul Miller, 1131 E. FM 1787, Odessa 79766.