“A lack of respect and civility in our discourse undermines our ability as a nation to solve our problems—and we have quite a lot of them at the moment.”

Richard Stengel

Managing editor of Time magazine, commenting on “a new level of discord” in American politics (Time)

“I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt—or religious belief. I hope for an America where the power of faith will always burn brightly, but where no modern inquisition of any kind will ever light the fires of fear, coercion or angry division.”

Edward Kennedy

Who died recently after a year-long fight with brain cancer, in a 1983 address to Liberty University (RNS)

“This is a moral failure by our nation, as we have disregarded the tradition of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of treating detainees, in all manners of war, with fairness and even respect.”

Evangelicals for Human Rights

Responding to a declassified 2004 CIA report documenting abuse of terrorism suspects in U.S. prisons (ABP)

Pray for both

Like most Christians, I am stunned to read about the Tempe, Ariz., Baptist pastor who prays for the death of our president.

I agree wholeheartedly with the letter from David Long (Sept. 21) about the biblical way to confront a brother or sister whom we find in error. The last part of that admonition, telling us to treat an unrepentant person “like a pagan and a tax collector,” is a brilliant idea!

Let’s see, how did Jesus treat pagans and tax collectors? Oh, that’s right. He loved them and died for them. And so we grieve for the poor misguided use of prayer and blatant attempt at manipulating God by this preacher and include him in our prayers as we continue to pray for the president of the United States of America.

Ragan Courtney

Austin

Meaning of words

A recent poll indicates less than 25 percent of high school students in Oklahoma could name the first president of the United States. I suspect other high school students in America would do no better. It is sad, but it is not surprising, given the culture in which we live.

Think about how we have perverted certain words such as “liberal,” “conservative,” “hero” and even “Christian.” All these terms are actually good, but we have misused them to such an extent they are unrecognizable.

Take the word “hero.”

In the Bible, we have accounts of many who risked their lives for their faith and went above and beyond the call of duty to stand for that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Even in America, people have been persecuted because of their faith. Sixty years ago when I was in high school, we learned about some of our great presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We also knew about military heroes such as Alvin York and Audie Murphy.

Today, we sometimes see folks called a hero simply because they wear a military uniform, play football or shout from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, “You lie!” to the president when he is speaking to Congress.

How can we expect our children to have knowledge when they are exposed to this rhetoric?

Carl L. Hess

Ozark, Ala.

Homosexuality & gospel

I appreciate Ann Carson’s thoughts on homosexuality (Sept. 7). Jesus spoke clearly to the issue of homosexuality by speaking clearly on the issue of human sexuality.

Matthew 19:1-9 serves as Jesus’ manifesto on human sexuality. He cites the creation of two genders in Genesis 1:26-27 and reveals the purpose of those genders, citing Genesis 2:24: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

By clearly limiting sexual intercourse to male and female union in marriage, Jesus excludes every other sexual option. Jesus’ statements in Matthew 19, Matthew 15:18-20 and John 8:1-11 point to a sexuality chaste and pure, comporting with what the Apostle Paul says about sexuality. Jesus and Paul do not contradict.

Carson fears we will lose souls unless we take a more accommodating stance on homosexuality. We will not lose them if we lovingly present the truth of the gospel: All men are dead in trespasses and sins, under the wrath of God, and bound for hell. But Jesus stood in our place. All who repent of their sins and trust Christ alone as Savior will be made new and have life everlasting.

Ben Mullen

The Colony

I currently am in Nyeri, Kenya where my partner, Andrew Lancaster, and I will teach at Nyeri Baptist High School, coaching basketball and cross-country.

I keep thinking back to how God called me here.

My passion for Africa was at an all-time high. I couldn’t function with out thinking about Africa. I needed to go. I felt God was calling me, but I still had my doubts.

I prayed: “I’ll go, but only if you are sending me. How will I get there? How do I know this is you? Help!” I felt willing to give up anything to serve God—even running track and cross-country after making it on the team as a freshman walk-on. But I felt so unworthy, so inadequate.

As I prayed outdoors, the wind blew open the pages of my Bible, and God directed me to Isaiah 6. It was the passage where the prophet expressed some of the same feelings I had, and where God asked the question, “Whom shall I send?”  And Isaiah replied: “Here I am. Send me.” 

Not long after that, I went to a computer lab to check my e-mail. I discovered a message from Brenda Sanders at Go Now Missions. She had heard my story from my BSU director and was wondering if I was interested in going to Kenya for six months—if I felt like it was the Lord’s will. The staff and others were praying for someone to go serve with Andrew Lancaster. Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs, and they wanted Andrew to have a partner. And by the way, she said, Andrew is a track and cross-country runner. 
Through more prayer, fasting, and seeking the Lord, God made it crystal-clear that he called me to Kenya for six months.

To God be the glory!  I’ve been sent.

Al Johnson from the University of Texas at San Antonio is a student missionary correspondent with Go Now Missions.

Each week, around 10 unbelieving international students gather with a handful of Christians to enjoy a home-cooked meal, play games and discuss the Bible together. On the first night we had it, individuals showed up simply because they have received a flier—and the Holy Spirit was drawing them—and they were eager to make American friends. For many of them, it was their first time to read from the Bible or even hear about the story of Jesus. Some of the students have lived in America for only a month.

We passed out Bibles, showed them the table of contents and explained what chapters and verses were. We read through chapter four of 1 John, starting with verse seven. They followed along, wide-eyed and intently reading. They had questions. Some of them have religious backgrounds of Buddhism or Hinduism. Many contributed their thoughts about God being identified as love.

After talking several minutes, the opportunity arose to explain how God’s perfect love was shown to us when he sent his only Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross. We tried to convey the gospel in simple terms, without using church lingo. Foremost, we wanted to embody Christ’s love and build real relationships with them.

On the drive home, a radiant Vietnamese girl said to me: “I am excited! The Bible is easier to understand than I thought.”

The following week, my Chinese friend talked about a time when she felt lonely, sad and afraid. She said: “I remember learning from the Bible that I was loveable and treasured. Then I was comforted and felt the warmth and love of God. I experienced God’s love driving away fear.”

Over the weekend, she and I took our friend’s dog for a walk through the newly harvested wheat fields. We marveled at the majestic sun setting and she said, “Even though I do not know how to pray to him, I do believe that God really is big.”

I tried to explain prayer is simply having a conversation with God. She held my hand as we helped each other walk up and down the steep, rolling hills. We encountered wild deer and skittish mice. Most importantly, though, God’s presence was unmistakable, and our friendship deepened. I am excited she is going to teach me how to cook spring rolls very soon.

Jane Owen is a student missionary correspondent serving with Go Now Missions in the Pacific Northwest.

What will our nation do about health care? That question dominates the American social and political landscape this autumn.

But another question hovers in the mists of that landscape. It’s almost as important and perhaps even more troubling: Will U.S. Christians be part of the health care problem, or will we contribute to the solution?

Judging by what we saw this hot, hazy summer, Christians probably will exacerbate the issue. Time after time, we watched as people simultaneously trumpeted their faith and blasted opponents who disagreed with them about how to ensure and insure health care. It wasn’t a pretty sound. And I fear for the damage done to the reputation of Jesus Christ by the vitriol spewed by his followers.

In an effort to dissipate heat and shine light, the Baptist Standard and our New Voice Media partners—Associated Baptist Press, Virginia’s Religious Herald and Missouri’s Word & Way—have prepared a package of articles on health care, which we’re introducing on page 1 of this paper. Our reporters and editors have worked hard to help you base your decision about possible solutions on facts and informed analysis of the status of health care in our country.

At the outset, let me say that I’m not advocating a specific solution. I think we should be able to build consensus around two parallel ideas: Solid health care should be available to all Americans. And something must be done to stem the rising costs of medical treatment, which not only crimp coverage, but also threaten to cripple the economy.

Personally, I’ve been fascinated by proposals that would eliminate for-profit insurance companies in favor of not-for-profit insurance organizations. I’ve also been intrigued by ideas that eliminate administrative costs of both health care and insurance coverage, emphasize preventive care, guarantee insurance portability and protect people from having their coverage summarily denied, particularly through no fault of their own. And I would love to live in a country where everyone has a right to a healthy and decent level of basic medical care and where all Americans can insure themselves to ensure they receive the most comprehensive and excellent health care in the world.

By now, steam may be streaming out your ears because you have projected one model or another of health care upon the ideas I’ve just shared. If that is the case, I have one plea for you: Calm down. The First Amendment guarantees free speech. The social construct of our country calls for a civil exchange of ideas—a concept that seems lost in 2009.

I hope and pray Christians and other people of faith would lead the way toward finding a solution to this vital issue by embracing three principles outlined in the sixth chapter of the Old Testament book of Micah:

• Act justly. If we truly believe all people are created in God’s image and are of equal worth, then justice demands that we guarantee access to adequate medical care, and that it not be offered only to those who possess special status. We have developed a consensus regarding the human right to food, clothing and shelter. Well, shelter should include at least a decent level of protection from disease and physical malady, as well as protection from the elements.

• Love mercy. This may be the hardest part. Mercy extends to those who are different, those we don’t like, and even—or especially—those we don’t think deserve it. Frankly, we can identify plenty of people who, we think, don’t deserve full medical care. But the prophet didn’t include an opt-out clause for mercy.

• Walk humbly with God. Lord, do we all need humility. Especially when we’re worried and scared. But humility with God—extended to others—can help us find a solution.

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

By the time you read this, I’ll be another year older. Actually, of course, I’ll only be two weeks older than I was the last time you read this column. But you know what I mean.

For as long as I can remember, September has been my favorite month:

• It’s my birthday month. This was a really big deal when I was a kid. It’s not so big of a deal now, but we’ll talk about that later.

• When I was a kid, September signalled the start of school. Some kids lived for summer, and I liked summer OK. Summer was great, especially when I got to spend weeks with Grammar and Popo, my grandparents, up in Oklahoma. Vacation was fun, too. We always went to the mountains to escape the heat. I adore the mountains. But to tell you the truth, I lived for school, which started in September. School was way less boring than summer and way more fun than trying to think up things to do on a July afternoon.

• High school football season started in September. High school football is a divine sign that God loves us and takes pleasure when we scream like banshees at a game that, for all its fun and excitement, really doesn’t matter all that much in the grand scheme of things.

• Now, an increasing number of Mexican food restaurants have declared most of September “Hatch Chili Month” in celebration of the green chili peppers that grow near Hatch, N.M. When we all get to heaven, we all will eat Hatch chili rellenos for dinner every day.

As you might expect, I don’t see my birthday in the same light as I did when I was a child.

When you’re a child, a birthday is confirmation that you are gravity—the center of the universe. For one day, at least, the sun and the moon, as well as your parents and your siblings, orbit around you. And after you eat your fill of birthday cake and ice cream, you orbit around them for a few hours.

Now? Not so much.

Joanna promised to take me out to dinner on my birthday and let me pick where. (Ironically, when it’s your birthday, choosing where to eat is a special treat. But the rest of the year, we argue over who has to choose where we go out to eat.)

Molly, our youngest daughter, bought and gave me my present six weeks early, while we were in Michigan for a wedding. When I bought a couple pair of slacks on sale at my favorite men’s store two weeks before my birthday, Joanna expressed delight that she had finished “shopping” for my birthday. And Lindsay, our oldest daughter, gave me a birthday hug and kiss when she and her husband, Aaron, visited us for Labor Day. She said she’d send me a birthday present whenever she decides what it is she wants to give me for that birthday.

Still, a birthday at 53 is sweeter than it was at either 5 or 3, because now I know what a blessing it is just to thank God for another year of life.

“How can I give ethical guidance as ethically as possible?”

Giving ethical guidance can be a particularly daunting task. There always is the question of “who are you to be giving me guidance?” as well as the problem that ethical guidance sometimes merely serves as a cover for casting judgment. Such issues can produce enough backlash to render the entire conversation meaningless. An ethical approach can prevent this loss of communication.

A foundational element to such an approach involves recognizing the true source of ethical guidance. The guidance must come from God, not simply the mouth or mind of the person speaking the words. A proper understanding of the fact that, as humans, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God provides two critical elements necessary for successful ethical guidance.

First, such an understanding bestows the appropriate sense of humility on the one seeking to give guidance. This eliminates any level of judgment. The presentation must convey a sense of one imperfect person trying to help another. The theme should be of joint struggle, not victorious condescension. The description in John 8 of Jesus’ admonition to the crowd surrounding the woman caught in adultery should serve as an example for those who would seek to promote such superiority.

So, who then could ever give ethical guidance? A second element of understanding God’s glory supplies the answer. We are not giving our guidance but God’s, and God has commanded us to make his will known. This understanding keeps us from remaining quiet on issues God has deemed important. We speak not with our own authority, which has no value, but with the authority of God, which has supreme value.

The prophets and the apostles understood the obligation to tender such guidance. They spoke with the authority that “thus saith the Lord.” Speaking with humility, they nevertheless spoke the word of God with power and determination. Following their example, we find the strength to speak with authority on difficult issues, all the while maintaining a love for people and a desire to see God’s will done above all else.

Of course, we find our supreme example of how to give ethical guidance in an ethical manner by looking at the life of Jesus. He never hesitated to confront improper attitudes and actions or to guide people in difficult decisions for the improvement of their lives and the kingdom of God. Yet, in a humility that would ultimately lead to the cross, Jesus showed his only motivation was love for God and for his people. By constantly following these greatest commandments, Jesus demonstrated for us the true nature of ethical guidance. Our goal must be to model that behavior in our lives today.

Van Christian, pastor

First Baptist Church

Comanche

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.

“Our finest Baptist universities were founded by more progressive Baptists, who believed that religion and ignorance were a dangerous combination, and who therefore advocated for places where students would grow both spiritually and intellectually as they learned to pursue discovery, solve problems and think for themselves.”

Bill Underwood

President of Mercer University in Macon, Ga. (ABP)

“Human beings are not for sale in Texas.”

Suzii Paynter

Executive director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, articulating the message of the first state law in the nation to provide assistance to domestic human trafficking victims (BGCT)

“When budgets get tight, expanding gambling always looks to lawmakers like the perfect quick-fix solution. But in the end, it so often proves to be neither quick nor a fix.”

John Kindt

Professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois, who studies the impact of state-sponsored gambling (New York Times)

Thanks for students

We would like to thank Texas Baptists for sending students to be involved this summer through Nehemiah Teams. God used them to do some amazing things! More than 120 students from 21 states served among the unreached and hard-to-reach in eight countries. Texas students were Autumn Scrivner, Darjuan Horton, Kelsey Emmons, Haley Barron, Courtney Pett, Christiana Lewis, Clint Taylor and Matthew Evans.

They shared the gospel face-to-face with thousands of people. Teams were involved in a variety of ministries including agriculture and construction, orphanage ministry, media and direct evangelism.

At www.nehemiahteams.blogspot.com, you can read stories and see pictures of the ministries. You can access more information about the goals of Nehemiah Teams and see requests for summer 2010 teams on our website, www.nehemiahteams.com.

We feel called to lead students to help finish the Great Commission in this generation. For eight weeks, through Nehemiah Teams, students can be involved in church planting. While on the field, they confront God’s will for the nations.

Thank you again for your role in reaching the nations. We look forward to partnering with you in the future.

Jess & Wendy Jennings

Pacific region

Witness-wrecking speech

In a recent Bible study, we looked at Matthew 18:23-35, commonly referred to as the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. To set the parable in context with Jesus’ other words, we looked at the preceding verses as introduction: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault. … If he will not listen to you, take one or two others along. … If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

In Tempe, Ariz., Baptist pastor Steven Anderson is preaching hate of President Obama and praying for his death via brain cancer. Such vitriol is not Christian and disrupts the fellowship of the greater Christian church while undermining the witness of the local churches.

Jesus’ words are explicit in what should be done. Because this pastor has rejected the reprimand of individuals, some influential Christian leaders should go in a group to meet him. If that should fail, leaders should lead their denominations to affirm Christ’s words in the two commandments he gave us—love God and love neighbor, and he should be treated then as “a pagan and tax collector.” To do less is to hide our heads in the proverbial sand and pretend he is doing no harm to the church and our witness in the world.

David C. Long

Monterrey, N.L., Mexico

Health care debate

In the Aug. 10 issue, Marv Knox told us Christians had “abdicated” their responsibility to provide health care to the government, and other op/ed pieces urged us to stand behind the socialist takeover of yet another private industry. No mention of LBJ making babies a cash crop and how sheer numbers make a few supporting the many an impossibility.

Last week, I read of a Houston pastor urging us to “speak out against … the unjust treatment of ‘strangers and sojourners’ in the United States.” No mention of the term “illegal alien,” which is exactly what they are.

So, is the star in the banner of the Baptist Standard soon to morph into a hammer and sickle?

Becky Woodworth

San Antonio

Health care is supposed to heal the patient, not kill the patient. But so-called “health care” legislation would promote the killing of our youngest patients—unborn babies—through abortion.

Even worse, you and I could be forced to pay for the killing of God’s innocent children—with our tax dollars. Pending bills in Congress could also result in private businesses and organizations being forced to pay for abortions—through government mandates that abortion be covered in their health insurance plans.

Because of this, “health care reform” would lead to the largest expansion of abortion in our country since the tragic 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

Any health care reform legislation should specifically exclude abortion from coverage. Let’s support health care that heals, not kills.

Rita Kelly

Corpus Christi

Homosexuality & church

I’m a native Texan and appreciated the thoughtful articles on the need for churches to “talk about homosexuality.” We need to do more than talk.

Many Christians struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction and are labeled and identified, stereotyped and minimized. They have a temptation issue and understand from biblical principle and teaching that acting out is a sin. I did and hid because I could not seem to overcome. Still, I knew God wanted me to be among believers. Sexually abused as a child, I became a Christian at 12, the result of a bus ministry taking me to Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston. I was a Christian long before the sexual problem emerged. I struggled with unwanted same-sex attraction through college, into marriage and while raising a family. I learned that being tempted is one thing; acting on it is another.

If churches create a loving environment where grace is taught and transparency encouraged, where this particular sin is not a mark of rejection, but a sin with which to be reckoned, some might not struggle as long in silence and fear, but might ask for support in our pursuit of freedom from acting out.

With the Southern Baptist Convention’s “The Way Out” task force on ministry to homosexuals, the denomination is attempting to minister. I hope individual churches will wake up and follow the leadership. Helping Christians with this issue is a domestic mission.

Thom Hunter

Norman, Okla.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has voted to affirm homosexuals. Slowly, most denominations are moving in that direction. Except Baptists. Most who study homosexuality affirm homosexuals. Have you studied? If not, have you pre-judged it? Pre-judging is prejudice, a great evil. Most Baptists have not studied it.

We need to learn first that there is nothing in the Bible about homosexuality or homosexuals. Homosexuality was unknown until the late-19th century, and until then no one could speak or write about it. Every biblical reference to same-gender sex is to heterosexual people. Historians tell us there was so much of that in Bible times that men had debates about whether sex with a man or sex with a woman was preferable. Certainly, the Bible condemned such lust.

Second, science tells us homosexuality is innate and unchangeable, never a choice.

The message of some pastors that “God hates fags” and will send them to hell is doing untold damage to homosexuals. Many believe it and hate themselves or commit suicide. One boy said, “It terrified me to think that God made me just to hate me and send me to hell.” Some homosexuals forsake churches they have grown up loving. Others never will hear the gospel, for they won’t go to churches they know condemn them.

Homespun philosopher Josh Billings said, “The longer I live, the more I find it necessary to re-examine those things about which I was once most certain.” Baptists need to re-examine homosexuality.

Bruce Lowe

Dallas

Women in ministry

Thank you for “Christian love requires respect for Baptist women in ministry, Oklahoma pastor insists” (Aug. 10). I am an ordained Baptist chaplain. I was a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1985, trying to learn all I could from dedicated men and women of the Bible. I endured insults, brash young men questioning why I was there, pushed off the campus sidewalk by rude young pastors-to-be. All this in addition to having to listen to twentysomethings question Greek and Hebrew scholars about the meaning of a word. This is only the tip of the iceburg.

After one year of this, I transferred to Duke Divinity School. I’m not bitter or resentful of what I had to go through. It taught me to search the Scriptures for answers; to be more tolerant of those different from me; to follow God’s encouraging ways instead of biased human judgment. I, too, think we must answer for the way we treat our brothers and sisters—Baptists as well as those of other denominations.

I am a Methodist now. I can teach adults in Sunday school and in Bible studies and fill in for the pastor without fear of reprisal. I do not expect everyone to like me or my preaching and teaching. All I want is respect and understanding that this was not my decision. I only do what I am called to do.

Penny Godfrey

Salisbury, N.C.

Continuing Broadway fallout

The leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, in tandem with messengers who are blinded by the call to chastise Christians who won’t genuflect to the Baptist Faith & Message creed, have now decided to usurp God’s continuing work with professor Michael Cox, faculty member for the past 19 years of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Try not to laugh, but the tightly controlled seminary has a “rule” that those who teach there must be members of a Southern Baptist church.  Professor Cox met that requirement with membership in Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, where he was employed as a part-time musician—that is, until the “leaders” of the SBC, flying under the flag of convention mandate, kicked this church out of the convention.  Suddenly, he was without a “proper” church and, with his refusal to bend to this childish academic playground rule, that demanded he renounce his church membership, without a job!  He could have joined a Baptist church down the street and kept both jobs, but evidently decided not to play these games.

The “leaders” of this convention are slowly sucking the life from it.  All the talk of reconciliation and compromise falls on deaf ears as people who think realize the creedis the battering ram used to control the fundamental judgments of pious leaders who, after receiving the grace of God, remain graceless.

Edward Clark

Danville, Ky.

Permissive will?

Esteemed people, among them Oswald Chambers, teach that God has both perfect and permissive wills. Will is what God or a person desires to happen. God’s will is always perfect and has not changed over time. God’s plans changed because of man or Satan’s disobedience.

This theology, although elaborately crafted, is not supported by Scripture, and confuses more than enlightens. Man does not always do God’s will, because God gave him free will. God may control natural events, but he can only influence or judge man. To call this problematic situation God’s permissive will means the sins of man or Satan somehow put God in complicity with their disobedience. Satan or man’s disobedience always has consequences. We attempt to soften these consequences by implying they were a part of God’s permissive will. 

God’s will did not include slavery, adultery, bigamy, domination of women, divorce, etc. These are things man did on his own. Because someone in the Bible did something does not mean God approves similar actions. Some actions of God are criticized by some people, but even though they may have seemed cruel, they were necessary for God’s plan for salvation to work.  God is always good and always does good and wills only the best for man.

Russell Hairston

Nacogdoches

Our churches are sick and powerless

After reading three letters from the Sept. 7 Standard—foreign aid, homosexuality and church, and women in ministry) it’s no small wonder why there are two Baptist conventions in Texas!

Folks, our churches are sick and powerless, and so are the denominations we are a part of.  We had better fall on our faces, repent of our sins, and cry out to the Lord God to send the Holy Ghost in a downpour and don’t let up ’til he delivers!

Josh Eubanks

Fort Worth

Vernon's great challenge

Steve Vernon, associate executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, recently preached in First Baptist Church in Plainview and delivered a wonderful message on how the crowd went to blind Bartimaeus and told him, “Take courage, stand up! He (Jesus) is calling for you.”

Vernon said that is our Texas Hope 2010 challenge as Texas Baptists—to see those in need of salvation and bring them to the One who can meet all needs.

What a great challenge!

Danny Andrews

Plainview

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Length limit is 250 words.

The Center for Informed Faith and the Center for Effective Leadership invite you to a conference on theology and leadership at the conclusion of the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Houston, Nov. 17 from 1 to 5:30 p.m. Timothy George, David Naugle, David Dykes, George Mason and Chris Seay will be the presenters.

Some pastors opt out of denominational meetings and choose rather to attend stimulating conferences that bring immediate impact to their ministries. Obviously, the BGCT annual meeting is not a conference. It is an opportunity for messengers to learn how their mission dollars are being spent and what kingdom opportunities are available for our collective ministries. It also is a time of inspiration and fellowship.

Some of our early Texas Baptist gatherings included theological debates and conversations about challenges and prospects for missionary endeavors. In this light, the G-5 Conference will be an opportunity for dialogue and sharing resources that will help us to be better equipped for ministry.

Texas Baptists have been around for more than 160 years. If we set an arbitrary length of leadership as a 40-year span, then we are currently in the fifth generation—G-5—of leadership. What are the theological and leadership challenges we face as G-5 leaders?

One of the key theological debates concerns Calvinism. On this double anniversary of the 500th birthday of Calvin and the 400th birthday of Baptists, there appears to be a resurgence of interest in Calvinism. This debate is not new to Texas Baptists. When Texas Baptist leaders met in June of 1840 in Independence to consider forming a Baptist association, Calvinism was one of the hot topics. In Texas Baptists, Leon McBeth records their confession, “We believe in the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, and man’s free agency as an accountable being … (and) that salvation on these terms (repentance and faith) is freely offered to all.”

Jim Denison, the BGCT’s theologian in residence, will engage Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School, and David Naugle, chair and professor of philosophy at Dallas Baptist University, in a discussion about the implications of Calvinism as they relate to our understanding of Scripture and implications for missions. One of the primary purposes of the conversation is to remind us of the imperative for developing a consistent biblical worldview.

Ron Herring will convene a dialogue between George Mason, David Dykes and Chris Seay concerning leadership. They have excellent reputations for leading diverse congregations over significant time in effective and innovative ministry. It will be helpful to learn about their styles of leadership, resources that have proven helpful to them and mentors who helped to shape them.

The G-5 Conference will be held at the Brown Convention Center, where we will hold the annual meeting. We encourage you to make plans to be part of this dialogue that we pray will prepare us to be effective in the leadership challenges we face as fifth-generation Texas Baptist leaders.

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