Books to burn

I think we should burn not only the Quran, but also the Book of Mormon, all Watchtower publications, papal edicts, Jewish supplemental authorities, collective wisdom of the Buddha, Hindu literature and the wisdom literature of all non-Christian belief systems.

After all, if these writings point anywhere other than to the One, True, Living, Triune God, they are of Satan.

And also burn all the perverted, not-inerrant versions of the Bible, including the Vulgate, Septuagint, The Living Bible, New International Version, Good News Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible, and all other variants from the original King James Version (OK, maybe keep the New King James Version). After all, if the King’s English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for us!

It seems intolerance has the upper hand right now. How sad.

Alan Sanders

Orange

Too much church

Baptists go to church too much. I know, because I am one.

We’ve got Sunday school, Sunday morning and night services, Wednesday night prayer meeting—and that’s just starters. There are deacons’ meetings, committee meetings, small-group meetings, teacher-training meetings, revival meetings, etc., etc., etc.

Psychologically, it would be easy to feel this is what practicing Christianity consists of—going to meetings.

Suppose you lived in a totalitarian country where you were allowed to go to a religious meeting just once a week. How would you express your Christianity? Maybe that’s what you should do now, if you have time.

Richard Berry

Longview

First-class staff

Church staff are professionals. They spent years and money training. They could have chosen other professions but did not because their faith and devotion would not let them settle for anything but service to the Lord through the local church.

I had a hand in hiring them. I help pay their salaries, and I have a voice in their ministry. Just as my church is my responsibility, they are my responsibility.

I want them to go first class.

Our church staff should not eat less, dress cheaper or live more frugally than other professionals. Since they represent my church, I want our staff to look like their congregation cares about them.

When they go to conventions or other church events, I want them to have money for all their expenses. I don’t want them to scrimp from their own allowances to accomplish the work of our church.

Whether they make more money than I do matters not a whit.

What does matter is that they be compensated commensurate with their training, abilities and responsibilities. If they choose to give all of their money to the poor and go threadbare, that’s their business. If they go threadbare through my own parsimony, that’s my business. I am proud of our staff and the work they do. I know they’ll never be rich in material things. However I want it to be said that they work for a congregation that cares about them.

I want a first-class staff to go first class.

Bob Mitchell

Waco

Editor’s note: This letter is adapted from one written by the late Jim Wiggins when he was a deacon in Terrell Hills Baptist Church in San Antonio. Mitchell was his pastor.

What do you think? Because we affirm the principle of the priesthood of all believers, we value hearing from our readers. Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Due to space considerations, limit letters to 250 words, and only one letter per writer per quarter.

“I learned what it is like to be Jesus’ hands and feet,” said Sarah, a student missionary from the University of Houston. “We sat down with the poor and homeless and treated them as equals. We eat what they eat, right next to them, and listen to them. I know how to love people better and not in a pity sort of way, but in a concerned sort of way.”

The university campuses are tremendous opportunities for Texas Baptists to implement Acts 1:8 strategies for sharing the hope of Christ with the world. Internationals from all over the world are studying in our schools. The good news is the Baptist General Convention of Texas already is doing this. Texas Baptist Student Ministry reached 113,703 students this past year, and 381 students made professions of faith.

In 2010, 352 Go Now Missionaries served in 28 Texas cities, 18 states and 31 countries. More than 2,100 spiritual conversations took place resulting in 313 decisions. And 140 of these students have expressed interest in future ministry/mission work. Go Now Missions had missionaries on the field 365 days.

BSM has a special importance to me and my wife, Sheila, because she committed her life to Christ through the influence of the Baptist Student Union when she was a student at the University of Alabama. While she was a summer missionary in Boston, she realized God was leading her into the ministry. She attended Southwestern Seminary, where she earned a Master of Religious Education (MRE) degree, believing God had called her to youth work. Fortunately for me, God brought us together, and she received her MRS degree the day after her graduation.

When you support the Cooperative Program and the Mary Hill Davis Offering through your church, you are helping support BGCT missionaries on 120 campuses throughout Texas. Even though we have had to reduce spending and staff during the recession of the last three years, almost one in every three BGCT employees is with BSM.

Students shared about the life-changing difference summer mission opportunities afforded them. Jeffrey, a Midwestern State University student serving in Tennessee, said: “God taught me to be open in sharing the word with everyone I meet. I see now the importance of being intentional with my conversations.”

Seth, a Stephen F. Austin State University student who served in Senegal, said: “I have found a new love for the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ’s life, death, burial and resurrection, as well as the importance of prayer.”

Texas Tech student Robyn, who served in Oregon wrote: “God taught me that I need to reach out more to unbelievers in my community by living missionally. To fulfill the Great Commission, and be his servant, I need to be intentional in my relationships with people I meet at coffee shops, school and other places.”

The world has come to Texas campuses and Texas students will live around the world. One of the greatest opportunities for us to be global witnesses is through the BSM. Your CP and Mary Hill Davis gifts and your prayers make this possible.

Randel Everett is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

Our town was abuzz late this summer with the arrival of the Extreme Makeover team to totally rebuild the house of a family here in Pocatello. Many people volunteered to help in the project, and many others visited the site to watch the transformation. This whole theme is interesting to me. Out of thousands of potential candidates, one family is selected to have their house totally remade so that in the end it is brand new. It is quite an undertaking—and quite a benevolent concept.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to receive an extreme makeover of your life? What things about your life would you want changed, if it were possible for someone to come in and totally transform your life? Would it be your library—your brain—filled with thousands of memories? Would you dump them all, or dump the unpleasant ones, or not want to lose any of your memories, be they good or bad?

Would you change some of your attitudes? Would like to have some attitudes taken out of your life? Would you want to replace some old attitudes with some better ones? Would you like to replace some of the heartaches of your life with joy-filled experiences? Would life be as interesting if all your experiences were only joyful?

All of us have said or done things we wish could be undone. Sometimes, we receive natural opportunities to correct situations we messed up or to repair a relationship we broke. But for most of us, most of the time, we are like the majority of Americans who never will receive the option to have our house totally remade, let alone the chance to change things we have done wrong in life.

This is why God’s gift to us—the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—is so wonderful and valuable. The message of Christianity is that the person who has fallen short of God’s ideal for life can be forgiven and extremely transformed into a person who can live a whole new life. This is possible when we allow the wrongs we have done to be nailed to the cross with Jesus, experience the cleansing of our lives from all the guilt of our selfish choices, and experience God himself moving into our lives to give us the desires we should have and the indwelling power of God to fulfill our proper desires.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the Apostle Paul states: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

When people turn to Christ and ask him to forgive them and come to live within them, Jesus makes them new people. In that pivotal event, the person and power of God enters into that person and begins the process of an extreme makeover in that person’s life. As a result, he or she becomes a new person.

We really can have totally new attitudes, perspectives, values and the power to live a life in tune with God’s original design for us.

And the neat thing about God’s extreme makeover of us is that it is available to all who ask, accomplished by the resources of God (instead of attempting it on our own), and an ongoing process so that we continually are being renewed and transformed.

Most likely you would gladly accept an extreme makeover of your house. Are you just as willing to have an extreme makeover of your life?

Ed Jordan is a columnist and pastor of Gate City Baptist Church in Pocatello, Idaho.

“What’s wrong with her?” Ava asked.“I don’t know,” Mikayla replied.

I looked at her crestfallen face and told her I was sorry. I urged her to be careful on her way there. As Ava and I waved goodbye to Mikayla, another student, Jake, raised his hand.

When I called on him, he turned to Mikayla and said, “I will pray for your grandma.”

His sincerity was obvious as he folded his hands tightly, squeezed his eyes shut and started praying for Mikayla’s grandmother right there on the spot. When he was finished, about five other students raised their hands and said, “I’ll pray for Mikayla’s grandma.”

In a matter of seconds, their soft whispering prayers filled the room. Mikayla smiled and grabbed her pink lunchbox as she headed out the door. Her expression said everything. She was thankful her friends had prayed for her grandma. I can only imagine the power of the prayers of that kindergarten class.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe not all of these children have been raised in church. It’s so amazing how the Lord used them and their sweet prayers to comfort Mikayla.

Children need prayer and love too. Jesus made that clear when he said, “Let them come to me.”  Sometimes the spiritual needs of children are overlooked because they seem so young and might not understand—or their physical needs take precedence.

But just as we train our children to eat their healthy food first out of their lunch or wash their hands after they use the bathroom, it’s important to teach them to pray for others when they are sick and show concern for their friends’ sorrows—lessons best learned by setting a good example. Nearly every day I’m surprised by how well many of them already do this.

God is doing a mighty work in the hearts of these kids in Tahoe, and I’m blessed to be a part of each of their lives.

Crystal Donahue, a student from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, is serving as a semester missionary in Tahoe City, Calif., with Go Now Missions.

Twenty years ago, a good friend and neighbor languished in a hospital bed, dying of leukemia at age 36. He grew up in the Deep South, the product of a Christian home and a Baptist church. He accepted Jesus as his Savior as a child. And as an adult, he and his wife lived out their faith, teaching their own children about Jesus, actively participating in their church, showering kindness on friends and strangers alike. About the same time my friend died, I made another friend who soon began to manifest the horrific symptoms of metastasized cancer. In many respects, he mirrored my first friend—“raised right” and the product of strong Baptist upbringing, a lifelong Christian, faithful husband, devoted father, steadfast friend, and a kind, generous and decent human being who also died at 36.

My friends differed, though, in how they faced death. Both taught vital lessons.

The first never reconciled himself to the reality cancer would take his life. He waged a bitter war of attrition against a damnable disease that killed his spirit long before it eventually ended his life on Earth. He refused to acknowledge he might die, so he never allowed “ultimate” conversations with his grieving wife, his confused children or his sorrowful friends. He never expressed how much he loved them, never heard how much they loved and would miss him. He also never granted himself the blessing of anticipating a journey to a better place, where pain and sorrow cease and disease does not ravage. He accepted few words of spiritual comfort and no images of a waiting, loving God. So, anger consumed his days, and violence reverberated through his final moments.

The second hated death and worked tenaciously with his medical team to defeat his disease. He did everything he could to keep on living. But he also recognized life extends beyond mere earthly existence and eventually acknowledged he could not overcome the tumors throughout his body. He devoted himself to blessing, teaching and encouraging his family and friends. He spent long hours of forced inactivity contemplating the meanings and possibilities of a short life. He considered the relative merits of a lingering death versus a quick passage. He told people how much he loved them and specifically described the ways their lives had enriched his own. When visitors arrived to bring good cheer, he inevitably lifted their spirits. He confidently testified to his faith that God’s love is deeper than death, more persistent than disease, more exponential than cancer cells. And as his days diminished, he remained serene as he focused on expressing his love and his hope to his wife, his children and his friends. He passed sweetly, gently from this life to the next.

As the Baptist Standard and our New Voice Media partners contemplated this issue’s cover package on fear, I remembered my young friends and how they faced death. I always will admire my second friend’s faithful courage. But I cannot judge my first friend’s fear, because I cannot say for certain how I will face my own mortality.

Still, a theme persists: How Christians handle fear is a seismograph of our souls. Of course, unless we are extremely old, most of us do not wish for death. And we never welcome calamity or desire cataclysm. But we do not allow fear of tragedy or affliction to dominate our lives. We do not quake at the thought of misfortune and do not fall apart in the face of tribulation.

With the Apostle Paul, we acknowledge our “light and momentary troubles” pale in comparison to the “eternal glory” of God. When we belong to Christ, financial setbacks, poor health, wars, betrayal, corruption and even death are disconcerting and disappointing, but they are not ultimate. They cannot destroy our faith or diminish our hope. We know God’s love endures beyond all that frightens us. We know God is perfect love, and perfect love casts out fear.

We stand on faith. We refuse to fear.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard. Visit his FaithWorks Blog.

Do you ever remember an exact moment that changed your life?

More than likely, you didn’t realize it at the time. But you’ve been different ever since.

I recalled one of those instances the other morning. It was dark-thirty, and I was out running through our community. Suddenly, it was 1970, and I was 13 years old and in the seventh grade.

Before I go forward, back up a year. One day, our PE teacher announced all the sixth graders were going to run. I think it was half a mile, but maybe it was 660 yards—a lap and a half.

I barfed. At the finish line, all over the track.

“Too many Oreos for ol’ Knox,” our teacher announced. I don’t know which pain was worse, my stomach cramps or the humiliation. Simultaneously, I wanted to die and thought it might be possible.

Now, jump up a year. Coach Lackey had selected every member of the Perryton Raiders seventh-grade track team, except one. Three boys could compete in each event, and Coach Lackey only had two quarter-milers. So, he announced a run-off for the third slot.

By that time, I’d already been beaten out for all the good stuff: Too tiny to throw the shot putt and discus. Too earth-bound to high jump or run hurdles. Too slow to run the 100-yard dash.

But for seventh graders, the quarter is a hybrid event. A kid needs a bit of speed and a smidge of endurance. And since my athletic skills were measured in bits and smidges, I signed up.

“I have to win this race,” I thought as we lined up on the track. Otherwise, no shiny satin track suit, no Saturday road trips with my friends, no adulation of seventh-grade girls. Plus, I didn’t want my sixth-grade spewfest to mark the zenith of my track-and-field career.

Nobody was more surprised than I when I won that race. Afterward, standing on that track, I realized running wasn’t so bad. It doesn’t require size, which I was pretty sure I’d never have. It doesn’t require coordination, which God had determined would not be one of my gifts. Mostly, it required desire, which just about anybody can muster up.

Then and there, I decided I actually liked running. Looking back I realized that strong emotion sprang from the thinnest of soil—the modest success of making the very last slot on team of 13-year-old boys.

Through the years, like blossomed into love. Now, 40 years and thousands of miles later, I cannot imagine life without running. (OK, I know. At my age, it’s probably jogging. Humor me here.)

Running has kept me healthy. Many times, it’s kept me sane. It’s provided hours and hours of solitude, much of it absorbed in prayer and reflection and gratitude for legs and lungs, just enough balance, and decent shoes.

So, I thank God I didn’t come in second in that seventh-grade quarter-mile run-off.

As crude oil began to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, everyone seemed to focus more on finger-pointing than on taking responsibility and finding solutions to the disaster. Where can a citizen lodge a legal complaint that would bring damage-control to bear upon a situation like this?

When this question arrived in early June, the editors suggested I might want to revise it when time came to publish it in the paper. Actually, the original question provides some food for thought.

A legal complaint generally is lodged in court. For a citizen to do so, he needs to have actual damages. Certainly, families who lost a loved one, fishermen out of work, and even owners of vacation rentals who have lost their tourist season have grounds. For the greater society, lodging an individual complaint is not an answer. We already do enough complaining and finger-pointing after something goes wrong.

As we ponder the summer’s events, we must ask: For which situation are we seeking damage control? Was it the Florida vacation interrupted, the threat to the shrimp supply for parties, the environmental damage altering the delicate Gulf ecosystem or the heartbreaking pictures of oil-soaked pelicans?

The real question is whether we would have been outraged if the oil had not gushed into the Gulf. What if it had been a leakless oil rig explosion? Would we have demanded effective legal damage control if it were a “mere” workplace accident with 11 men dead, 11 families’ lives altered forever because a corporation was indifferent, undertaking dangerous activities in search of profits without taking the proper safety precautions? Americans are convinced technology has the answers. We assume safety is assured in the processes that bring us the gas we demand for our vehicles at less than $4 per gallon, cheap coal to heat our homes and, yes, even salmonella-free eggs.

Sadly, that is not the case, as the Gulf disaster has taught. While some people ask for less government, our workplaces and products become less safe. We need to just say no to legislators who are more interested in scaring us than passing effective laws we really need.

Lawmakers listen to complaints made by large groups of their constituents. If we are to avoid situations that have us demanding damage control after the fact, we must consider the likelihood that some things can only be accomplished collectively. If enough citizens demand effective safety regulation and get over our self-centered refusal to pay for things we can accomplish only collectively, disasters like the oil spill may be prevented, protecting both our hard-working neighbors and the beautiful earth God created.

Cynthia Holmes, attorney

Former moderator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

Clayton, Mo.

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

While spending a week in Beijing recently. I was astounded by the size and scope of the city—12 million residents, 4 million taxicabs, a single airport terminal the size of most airports in the United States. America has nine cities of a million residents or more; there are 60 such cities in China.

What does China’s ascension mean for America? Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, contributes to the debate with an illuminating and disturbing essay in the most recent World Affairs journal. Titled “Gathering Storm: America and China in 2020,” Bremmer’s thesis is that the United States is becoming less relevant to China’s future, with troubling consequences for our nation.

For decades, China has been building “state capitalism,” a model whereby the central government directs economic expansion rather than depending on free markets. Such a straight-jacketed strategy could work only if it provided ever-increasing prosperity to its people. China’s has, thanks in no small part to America’s help.

We have fueled China’s economic explosion by providing customers for her goods, maintaining East Asian security and protecting international sea lanes. But the Great Recession sharply reduced Western demand for Chinese products. China’s central government responded to the economic collapse more effectively than Western nations, demonstrating in their minds the superiority of their state-centered system. The recession also taught them not to rely on the West as their customer base. An unprecedented drive is under way to build a Chinese middle class as the chief consumer of Chinese goods. Their government also is working to replace Western services in their country with Chinese versions.

There is some good news: China’s military budget is about 12 percent of ours, so they will need us to continue our global peacekeeping role. And their heavy reliance on oil and gas imports makes us a significant partner in their international relations. Bremmer’s conclusion: America should do everything we can to remain relevant to China’s future. We must not presume that past economic ties guarantee continued positive relations. When China can go it alone, they will.

In the meantime, there is a remarkable window of opportunity for Christian expansion in China today. Some missiologists believe there are 100,000 conversions every day in China. The nation is experiencing a spiritual explosion of unprecedented proportions.

Christians in America must respond while this window remains open. ESL teachers desperately are needed. Businesspeople and students can go to China as short-term missionaries. Churches can work with cities, a fact illustrated by Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler’s work with the Tyler/Qui Jing partnership. Jesus would say of China: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38). Have you prayed for China today?

Jim Denison is president of the Center for Informed Faith (www.informedfaith.com) and theologian-in-residence with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“Self-sufficiency is spiritual suicide. Western culture embraces the self-made hero, turning faith into a means to our advancement. The ancient Greeks placed sacrifices on the altars of their gods so they would bless their crops. We go to church on Sunday so God will bless us on Monday. ‘You can do it; we can help’ is not just a slogan used by Home Depot to attract customers—it is the promise made by market-driven churches to their self-reliant consumers every Sunday.”

Jim Denison

GodIssues.org

“The answer to this scandal … includes local churches that preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and disciple their congregations to know the difference between the kingdom of God and the latest political whim. It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Russell Moore

Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, on the political following among evangelicals for Glenn Beck, a Mormon (RNS)

Islamic cousins?

I take issue with the statement that we’re “all descendants of Abraham,” which I doubt both genetically and spiritually (Aug. 16).

I’ll not get into a debate on whether Allah and God are the same, whatever pious pretenses we may presume, or whether all Muslims are mandated to kill infidels—let fruits tell. However, I will point out that while we may all come from Ham, Shem and Japheth, Abraham was neither Adam nor Noah. There were corrupt influences in his day, and God told him to leave (Genesis 12). Those out to get him then may be the same ones out to destroy God’s people now, in no way related by blood or theology. I am not challenging the call to caring, only the rationale of identification.

Few of us really know who we are or whence we descended. Genealogist Lloyd Bockstruck tells how name changes for political prudence or cultural camouflage distort pedigrees and lineages.

Few can trace ancestry, either biblically or biologically, and by no stretch of my imagination can I envision Islam has a common heritage with Judaism and Christianity. Some Muslims may indeed be descended from Ishmael and Esau, but my heart and head tell me the main enemies of our God today are heirs of Abraham’s enemies, not of his sons.

Some may be believers, some deceived, and, yes, we should pray for them as souls—but not justify our concern by an unfounded claim to kinship.

Harriet Kelley

Dallas

Most-famous Mormon

Baptists teach that Mormons are a cult. If this is true, then why are our pastors and leaders—Texas Baptist and Southern Baptist—not speaking out against the mass following of Glenn Beck, a Mormon, who is tricking Christians into following his lead?

Beck portrays himself as following Christian principles. But if the messenger is false, then no matter what he says, his message is false.

Jesus’ message is true because he is true. He taught the word and principles of God in a true way. The religious people of his day also taught God’s standards, but their message was not true because they were not true. No fault of the message, but a fault of those messengers.

Beck and his co-leader, Sarah Palin, speak a message of error because they are in error. If our belief and teaching are that Mormonism is a cult, then we need to be warning Christians to stay away from those who try to sway them from remaining true to Jesus. Or will the Baptist stance be to look the other way because it is “just politics”?

I say this has moved beyond politics. The duty of pastors includes warning the members. I don’t want to see another Waco.

Cliff Davis

Granbury

No, no ‘Nanny’

A whack of the magic cane of Nanny McPhee on the Baptist Standard!

When the Standard caved in to the desire to raise advertising revenue over maintaining a commitment to virtues and values held dear by many Baptist families, I was sorely disappointed. The Standard ran a full-blown advertisement for the movie Nanny McPhee Returns (Aug. 16), complete with a header crowing, “Who’s Your Nanny?” (the grandma shout-out of “Who’s your Daddy”?), with Nanny and the kids yukking it up, no doubt over that “rude humor” that earned the movie a PG rating.

I think I am going to take the “parental guidance” of mine that was suggested and see if I can’t find that Southern Baptist favorite, the Disney movie, and amuse the kids at home with a G-rated film.

Meanwhile, I admonish the Standard to introduce more tasteful Christian entertainment, like good books and Passion Plays.

Susan Wills

San Angelo

Are you living the American dream? We have been told if we study diligently and make good grades, we can then get into the right schools. If we do well in a prestigious school, we are assured of getting a job with great benefits and a big salary. If we make a lot of money, we can provide for an early retirement that offers fun, travel and leisure.

Of course, the American dream is not the truth, and there are plenty of unemployed Ph.D.s to prove it. Yet the foundation of the American dream truly reflects our perception that we are entitled to certain privileges. We believe we should have good jobs, houses, incomes and robust health. Each generation should be healthier, wealthier and more content than the previous.

The standard of living in our country almost is unequaled in other places. Most Americans have an income multiple times that of the average person in the world. We enjoy security, freedoms, health care and luxuries millions around the world can’t imagine.

Why are we so blessed? Does God love us more than the 6,000 people who have been killed in Juarez in drug-related violence since January of 2008? Are we more valuable than the men, women and children of Afghanistan or Iraq who have experienced tyranny, war and terrorism? Has God abandoned the people in Pakistan whose lives were devastated by recent floods? Is God apathetic about the 38 people in Guatemala and their families whose lives were lost in the mudslides that destroyed their already substandard housing?

I recently heard a message by John Witte, teaching pastor at First Baptist Church of Midland, comparing God’s blessing of Abraham with God’s blessings for the church today. God didn’t bless Abraham and his descendants to the exclusion of all the other people of the earth. God chose Abraham as a vehicle through whom all the families of the earth might be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Witte reminded us God’s blessings are to be shared with people all over the world, and it is more important to be dream makers than to be living the dream ourselves.

When I was a pastor in northern Virginia, a small group from our church visited a partner church in Russia in mid-1990. Our team included a physician and a dentist, who met with Baptist doctors in Moscow. The Russian doctors shared how they had very limited supplies and how difficult it was to get basic materials, such as sutures.

Barry Byer, the physician from Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, realized how many unused medical supplies were thrown away in America. He became passionate about collecting supplies, medicine and equipment to send to doctors in Russia. His passion resulted in CrossLink International, a ministry that provides millions of dollars in medical relief for some of the world’s neediest people.

How has God blessed you?

How can God use you to make dreams a reality for some of the world’s most needy?

Randel Everett is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

I tried to call the church office of a fellow youth minister, and the secretary said: “We’re not sure where he is this afternoon, but try to contact him through Facebook. He always checks that.”

Accessibility of ministers—in particular, communication—is important. So, social networking can enhance ministry if used properly. But it also can hinder ministry effectiveness.

A senior gentleman in my church likes to use the phrase “the way things used to be” to describe life before the technology takeover. Often, the only time we see ministers now is his or her profile picture on Facebook.

The senior adults in my church tell of a day when they could find a pastor just by calling the church office. I even hear whispers of a time when one could go to the church and meet with the pastor face-to-face. A congregation needs accessible ministers, and vice versa.

When cell phones became widespread, they were supposed to help us communicate. Now, cell phones connect us to so much information that answering a call can be a hindrance. Why, it possibly could disconnect us from Twitter, Facebook or MySpace! I actually became a Twitter fan of a ministerial friend just so I could figure out where he is during the week.

Please do not misunderstand. Technology can enhance life. But failure to balance social networking with human interaction can present a stumbling block in ministry.

How can the blitz of social networking and smart-phone technology become a positive tool in ministry? Here are three principles for using modern technology to aid the church:

First, information can be dispersed and updated rapidly. After a hospital visit, I take out my cell phone and call the church secretary. Through e-mail, she updates our church prayer chain. I also can use Facebook to put up a status about a prayer request or praise, and those who watch the Facebook “mini-feed” or follow my “statuses” can choose to pray.

Second, ministers can be accessible, even when they are out of the office. If I am away and a ministry emergency strikes, I can be alerted through text message or a call to my cell phone.

Third, dispersal of information can be inexpensive and direct. I send out text messages each week to my youth group to let them know the who, what, when, where and how of our ministries.

Technology has its negatives, too. Here are three principles to remember when using social networking or technology to aid the ministry of the church:

First, do not overload inboxes with e-mail. Have a reason and objective for all messages. Also, remember what you put into cyberspace represents your body of believers and the entire body of Christ.

Second, when dispersing information, beware of gossip and remain confidential. Ask permission before you throw someone’s name into an e-mail or social networking site that acts as a public prayer forum. A church member never wants to think his or her deepest, darkest secret is going to end up on Facebook.

Third, have self-control in time management. Social networking can become addicting, so put limits on how much time you will spend online. Also, ministers should have clearly defined office hours, and they should communicate to the congregation the best way to be found in person.

As a young minister, I want to be committed to being accessible to my church members. I hope they know they always can call me at church. I want them to see and hear from me—outside of my profile picture or status on Facebook.

Kyle Tubbs is youth minister at Trinity Baptist Church in Sweetwater and will graduate from Logsdon Seminary at Hardin-Simmons University in December.