1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity

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November 2004
Vol. 22, No. 11
Anti-public schools
resolution expected at
state conventions
PAGE 12
Dilday recalls events
surrounding his firing
as seminary president
PAGE 13
Master craftsman carries
on family tradition
www.baptiststoday.org
PAGE 2
FEATURE
Story and photos by John Pierce
master craftsman
Mission volunteer
carries on family tradition
SPRUCE PINE, N.C. —
Preparing to preach
uther Stroup can
turn a pile of wood
and moving parts
into an elegant
grandfather clock. He is also
known for leaving the hills of
western North Carolina on occasion for a good mission venture
— whether in neighboring states
hit by storms or faraway places
like Alaska, Cuba and Poland.
Both Luther’s craftsmanship and
discipleship were strongly influenced by his late grandfather, H.M.
Stroup, who served as pastor of several North Carolina congregations
including the First Baptist Church
of Spruce Pine where Luther is
actively involved.
Most impressive, said Luther,
was his grandfather’s willingness to
get a good education following his
call to ministry.
“He said the Lord has too many
ignorant people trying to speak for
him,” Luther recalled. But his
grandfather’s ministry preparation would not come easy.
H.M. Stroup was a 22-year-old machinist without
a high school diploma when he sensed a divine
calling. Humility was apparently one of his many
good traits.
Luther said his grandfather would take his 6year-old daughter by the hand and walk her to the
one-room schoolhouse in the Steel Creek community south of Charlotte. After seating her with
other first graders, he would join the high school
kids in the back of the room.
The oldest graduate in his class then moved
on to Wake Forest College “with four children and
$40 — believing that the Lord had blessed him.”
Then study at Southwestern Seminary in Fort
Worth, Texas, would follow.
“He came back to North Carolina and took
mostly small rural churches,” said Luther. “That is
where his heart was.”
L
L
uther Stroup’s handcrafted clocks are
constructed to order at Stroup Hobby
Shop. A few finished clocks are displayed at
the Twisted Laurel Gallery in downtown
Spruce Pine, N.C., along with the works of
other artisans.
Custom clocks range from $1,500 $5,000, with a typical grandfather clock
costing $2,000 - $2,500.
Today, Stroup clocks — many built by his
2
Baptists Today • November 2004
Another skill
In his spare time the rural pastor would build furniture that soon evolved into clock making.
Following retirement, he refined the craft even
more.
“He worked until he was nearly 90 years old,”
said Luther who began as a youth helping his
grandfather around the shop. “He made about 700
(grandfather clocks) by himself.”
grandfather — are being passed down to
second- and third-generation owners. They
can be found across the country and around
the world.
During heavy demand, Luther said it has
taken up to two years to complete a clock
from the time it was ordered. Today, he said,
he can usually do one in about eight weeks
— that is, unless a good mission project is
on the horizon. BT
FEATURE
Personal touch: Luther Stroup builds, delivers
and sets up handcrafted clocks, a skill learned from
his grandfather.
In 1972, with the Army waffling on
whether Luther and his weak knees were
needed, the recent college graduate with
public relations experience passed over
two good job offers and began working
more closely with his grandfather.
Luther carefully constructed a ledger
showing the style, date, cost and customer of each individually crafted clock.
In August of this year, he was working
on the 2,507th floor clock crafted in the
understated Stroup Hobby Shop by
Luther, his grandfather, or the two of
them when they worked hand in hand.
“So I turned this into a business
rather than a hobby,” said Luther of his
unintended profession.
New orders come through word-ofmouth referrals, not advertising. And
this is no assembly-line operation.
“(Customers) tell me what they
want or I steer them toward what they
want,” said Luther. “I take their name
down and call them when it’s done.”
Often customers have an idea of
what they want, said Luther, because
they have seen someone else’s clock.
Wood samples, photographs and design
patterns created by his grandfather help
with the personalized decisions.
The same care in construction
comes with the delivery. Every clock
made by the Stroups since 1949 has
been delivered by Luther, his father or
brother, except those shipped overseas.
“I’ve personally delivered and set up
clocks in 48 states, Canada and
Mexico,” said Luther who enjoys a good
road trip and a break from the sawdust
and stain.
Stroup Hobby Shop
P.O. Box 683,
Spruce Pine, N.C. 28777
(828) 765-2765 [Shop]
(828) 765-1562 [Gallery]
Craftsman on mission
When not working among the stacks of
walnut, cherry, mahogany, oak, maple
and pine, Luther enjoys another passion
he learned from his grandfather —
ministry to those in need.
The Carson-Newman College graduate with degrees in religion and English
teaches Sunday school and serves as deacon at First Baptist Church of Spruce
Pine. Pastor David Vess calls him a
uniquely gifted lay leader.
“He’s just one of those special folks
who has a wide variety of interests,” said
Vess. “He can sit down and talk to anybody; he’s an open and accepting
person.”
Those interests have taken him far
from Spruce Pine. Luther and his
brother, Robert, have joined N.C.
Baptist Men on several projects in the
U.S. and overseas.
“I’ve tried to go somewhere every
year since 1990,” said Luther, whose
first overseas venture was to Poland.
He has since been to Honduras,
Russia and other destinations. The flexibility of his one-man operation enhances
his mission involvement.
“I’ve done in my working life what
a lot of people are retiring to do,” said
Luther of crafting wood into art. And
with no boss, Luther said he only needs
permission from his wife to join the
next mission endeavor coming along. BT
Pastor David Vess (right) calls Stroup a gifted lay
leader with a variety of interests.
Baptists Today • November 2004
3
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Volume 22 • Number 11 • November 2004
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PERSPECTIVE
7
It’s not that complicated, really
9
Lessons from the deeper
shadowlands
Furious Minds
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20
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10
NAMB: New churches must affirm inerrancy,
not ordain women deacons
11
Baylor regents narrowly reject call for
13
oppose devaluing of
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19
Ga. church with female
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27
Religious Right pioneer
Ed McAteer dead at 78
29
Saudi Arabia added to religious freedom
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Habitat leaders compromise on leadership
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Baptist layman Luther Stroup is a
respected clockmaker and missions
volunteer.
Story on page 2
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5
quotation
“ ”
PERSPECTIVE
remarks
“Let us recognize it was an evil deed.
None of the great religions of the
world would condone it, even the
religion from which the terrorists
profess to come.”
—Pastor Jerry Gladson of First Christian Church
in Marietta, Ga., during the funeral for beheaded
American contractor Jack Hensley
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
“We have implemented corrective
actions to make sure that such an
error never happens in the future.”
—Stellar Gospel Music Awards officials, who
initially included rapper Kanye West’s CD, The
College Dropout, on its ballot, but
discovered the CD contains explicit language on
cuts other than “Jesus Walks” (RNS)
“She wanted to put her team first,
after her faith, and didn’t want to be
the center of the controversy.”
—Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, on why Andrea
Armstrong quit the University of South Florida
women’s basketball team although the school was
seeking NCAA permission for her to wear a
scarf, long pants and long sleeves during
games for religious purposes (RNS)
“I had some ticker trouble in May
and the heart people say it takes a
good six months for a football player
to get over something like that.”
—George Beverly Shea, 95, who followed doctors’
advice and skipped the October crusade in Kansas
City, Mo., making the first time in 57 years he has
missed singing before Billy Graham preached (RNS)
“I will not retire from the ministry
until I draw my last breath.”
—Former Southern Baptist Convention President
Adrian Rogers, announcing that he will retire as pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis next
year when his successor is named, but will continue
his televised preaching and church membership
—Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist
“We don’t need to make
Jesus and God look good.
Our responsibility is to be
honest and authentic.”
—Ruth Graham, youngest daughter of famed evangelist Billy Graham, on her willingness to speak
publicly about overcoming depression (RNS)
“My new jungle is going to be Santa
Cruz, Calif., where I will be attending
Cabrillo College for a year while
deciding what to study.”
—College freshman Tim Chapman, who lived an
adventurous adolescence in the Congo as an
American Baptist missionary kid
(God’s Kids newsletter, Fall 2004)
“This is the most important event to
happen in the (Wiccan) religion for
over the past 50 years.”
—Paul Cameron Rickards, whose September marriage to Laurie Schedler marked the first officially
recognized pagan wedding in Scotland (RNS)
“Across millenniums, religion has
produced innumerable acts of charity
and unspeakable acts of violence.”
—Molecular biologist Dean Hamer, author of the
forthcoming book The God Gene: How Faith Is
Hardwired Into Our Genes (RNS)
6
“Smaller membership churches may
want to consider providing enough
freedom for the pastor to be the
leader of the church … The pastor is
still accountable, but not to everyone
in the community for every word
spoken or every action or how every
minute is spent.”
Baptists Today • November 2004
“Just as congregations needed worship in the aftermath of Sept. 11,
many will feel violated, isolated and
afraid after Nov. 2. Churches could
announce that their sanctuaries will
be open as safe havens for prayer and
reflection following the elections.”
—Joe Phelps, pastor of Highland Baptist Church in
Louisville, Ky. (Western Recorder)
“I think what we’re seeing here is
really not yet the full flowering, but
the beginning of the full flowering of
this issue in the evangelical community.”
—Jim Ball, executive director of Evangelical
Environmental Network, on the growing concern
about the impact of climate changes (RNS)
“I am disappointed but not surprised
that this liberal Supreme Court, which
opens every session with ‘God save
the United States and this honorable
court,’ would now simply ignore the
fact that the chief justice of a state
was removed from office because he
acknowledged who God is.”
—Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, whose
failed efforts to be reinstated ended Oct. 4 when the
U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case (RNS)
PERSPECTIVE
editorial
It’s not that complicated, really
By John D. Pierce
W
ith election fever running high,
the emotional debates over the
role of religious faith in the political arena have escalated. Some church-related
groups have devoted unprecedented energy
and resources to affect the tally at the polls.
From high school classrooms to the high
courts, issues concerning the proper relationship between church and state are being
hashed out. Admittedly, some specific cases
are rather complex. Astute observers will note
the shades of gray where proponents and
opponents speak confidently of black and
white.
In the midst of these emotionally
charged exchanges it is easy for the more
rational voices to be drowned out. But they
must be heard.
Those advocating extreme positions on
either side of the religious liberty debate are
wrong. One side suggests that only private
expressions of faith are appropriate within the
realm of church-state relations.
The First Amendment clause forbidding
the establishment of a particular brand of
religion is over-emphasized to the exclusion
of the free exercise clause that guarantees all
Americans the right to express their religious
views freely.
On the other extreme are those who
undervalue the genius of church-state separation and look for special privileges for their
particular religious viewpoints and endeavors.
They wed their faith to partisan politics in
ways that weaken both.
Recently, it dawned on me that for 13
years I served as a Baptist campus minister on
state university campuses without conflicts
with school administrators or any difficulties
in fulfilling my ministry calling.
Perhaps the reason is that university
administrators and I approached the unusual
relationship — a denominationally-employed
minister serving students and faculty in government-operated academic settings — with
two shared principles: common sense and
respect for the rights of all persons.
Common sense assures us that real faith
cannot be coerced regardless of how subtle
the coercion may be. Respect for others
ensures that we value those who may not
share our religious convictions — no matter
how important those convictions may be to
us personally.
Understandably, some university leaders
had suspicions early on. I had to prove myself
to be trustworthy. But that came quickly
when campus leaders
learned that I was as
strong an advocate of
church-state separation as
they — if not stronger.
Preferential treatment
was never my goal. I simply insisted on having the
same opportunities to
reserve space, advertise our events and relate
to the broader campus community as other
religious and non-religious organizations.
Trust was also increased by making
myself available during times of crisis such as
the tragic death of a student in the dormitory. And evidence that our ministry
improved the school’s student retention statistics was no small concern for most educators.
On one occasion a university president
asked me to serve on what was deemed the
“sensitivity committee.” All other representatives were faculty or staff members.
The committee was formed when a
Jewish counselor — new to the university —
objected to an overtly Christian prayer given
at a faculty meeting and likewise at graduation. During the initial committee meeting,
he seemed rather surprised when the Baptist
campus minister was the first to argue that
sectarian prayers don’t belong at state
university-sponsored events.
However, I also used the opportunity to
launch a Bible study and prayer group for
faculty and staff interested in exploring the
Christian faith. It, of course, was a voluntary
event on campus.
Asking government for anything more
than equal opportunity to express our religious faith is asking for too much — or, in
reality, too little — for governmentsubsidized faith is a weakened faith.
Government’s helping hand on our
treasured beliefs confuses allegiances and
tempts us to put our trust in places less trustworthy than Almighty God. Such a faith —
that requires the endorsement of, or preferential treatment from, political powers — is too
fragile a faith for me.
If we can get past the heated rhetoric
and unfounded fears, we will realize that the
proven path of church-state separation is not
that complicated, really. America’s vital religious liberties and healthy religious
communities are not being enhanced by the
hostile, counter-point exchanges often heard
on Larry King Live or Fox News.
We need to raise the clearer voices that
advocate a common-sense approach to
convictional faith alongside a deep respect for
the freedoms of all others as well. BT
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Baptists Today • November 2004
7
PERSPECTIVE
readers’ responses
Powerful preaching wanted
Jesus overshadowed by politics
EDITOR: I congratulate you on printing
the guest commentary by Ron Grizzle on
the state of preaching today (September
2004, page 8). I see a direct correlation
between this article and the report on the
decline of Protestantism on page 28.
Like it or not, strong churches have
always been built on strong preaching and
there is precious little of it in “moderate”
pulpits today. That has been my greatest
disappointment in retirement.
I expected to have the chance to hear
great preaching and experience outstanding
worship. I have found neither.
Today’s preachers too often spend 20
minutes saying nothing. They say it well.
They just don’t say anything.
I keep waiting for the meat of the sermon, and 12 noon arrives and they still
haven’t said anything. I leave with the
thought, “So what?”
With the country and the world in turmoil, wrecked homes, dysfunctional families
and persons, people eating tranquilizers and
anti-depressants like candy (and getting
worse), with fear, ignorance, bigotry, guilt
and intolerance rampant and our nation
viciously divided politically — is there no
word from the Lord today?
It appears that preachers today
absolutely refuse to engage the crying needs
of our time or say anything that relates to
anyone in the congregation. Forget about
taking a stand for or against anything or
anybody. But salaries for pastors today have
skyrocketed in many cases. Is there a
correlation?
I see very little in our services (I won’t
call them worship) to cause seekers to
return. Mamby-pamby, politically-correct
drivel along with tacky, unsingable music
certainly won’t do it.
There is no passion, no “fire in the
belly” as the old-timers called it. Unless
there is a radical revival in our so-called
moderate churches and pulpits, they are
down the tubes and ignorant fundamentalism will be all that’s left.
EDITOR: It appears that we, as Baptists, have
waited far too long for Moses to come down
from the mountain and have erected our own
golden calf. Our calf is secular politics.
I recently noticed a terrifying trend in
several large Baptist churches that caused me
to look back over the Gospels to make sure we
were reading the same Bible. American politics
in every form imaginable has moved into our
churches and has, quite frankly, pushed Jesus
and his teachings out the back door.
I can attend worship, learn about any
number of propositions on the state books,
find out where the presidential candidates
stand and register to vote all in the same
service. The only thing lacking is Jesus.
In the urgency to call upon God the
Father to bless us, our troops and our president, Christ has become a footnote for some
Christians. We have declared that the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is no
longer applicable to today’s society.
We are right back to an eye for an eye.
We resist evil people, we do not turn the
other cheek, we hang on to that tunic, and
we refuse to even go the first mile.
How often do you hear a prayer for
Iraqi militants, Osama bin Laden or
Saddam Hussein? Not often enough if we
believe Matthew 5:43-44 to be true.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
will be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). I do
not see how we, the Baptist community in
North America, have made much of an
effort at all to bring about peace.
One of our own documents (Baptist
Faith and Message, adopted June 14, 2000)
states it in the simplest way possible: “It is
the duty of Christians to seek peace with all
men on principles of righteousness. In
accordance with the spirit and teachings of
Christ they should do all in their power to
put an end to war.”
Let us bring Jesus and his teachings
back into the sanctuary, back into the pulpit
and back into our lives. Christ did not
preach a gospel of politics; he taught one of
love, mercy, forgiveness and kindness.
H. Edgar Twine, Tampa, Fla.
Blake Chism, Carlsbad, Calif.
(Chism, a recent graduate of Baylor
University’s Truett Seminary, is currently
working on a Ph.D. in education through a
joint program with Claremont Graduate
University and San Diego State University.)
Discover Bible’s meaning
EDITOR: The most common mistake in
reading the Bible is to assign meaning to
scripture. The reader already has in mind
what the passage means and, if it fits,
concludes that the correct meaning has been
found.
This amounts to reading into the Bible
what the reader wants the Bible to say. True
understanding comes from discovering the
meaning in the Bible, not assigning meaning
to the Bible.
We are helped in our understanding
when we see the Bible has both a divine and
human character. The truth of the Bible is
given by God, but it comes to us through
human processes.
To overlook the human element in the
Bible is to make it a collection of divine oracles spoken directly by God, independently
of human affairs and experience. This makes
the Bible seem unreal, an object for veneration rather than a source of spiritual help.
There are those who admire the Bible
but seldom read it.
There is a close, inseparable relationship
between the Bible and the Word of God. To
understand the Bible is to be confronted by
the Word of God. The Bible is inspired, an
authentic record of the revelation of the
Word of God in creation, in salvation
history and in Jesus Christ.
So supremely is Jesus Christ that it is
correct to say that he is the Word of God. In
Christ, this Word is authoritative and
inerrant. This definition of the Bible gives
us a high view of Scripture without elevating
it to the status of deity…
Understanding the Bible while appropriating its spiritual treasure into our minds
and hearts honors God and is worthy of our
best efforts. Don’t let a day go by without
reading it.
Carmen L. Conner, Leesburg, Fla.
This forum gives readers a chance to participate in respectful, though often passionate, dialogue on important issues. Your opinion is welcomed. Please include
your name, address and phone number, and limit your letters to 200 words. Send by e-mail to [email protected], by fax to (478) 301-5021, or by mail to
Editor, Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208-6318.
8
Baptists Today • November 2004
PERSPECTIVE
guest commentary
Lessons from the deeper shadowlands
By Milton L. Rhodes
I
n the article, “Meditation in a
Toolshed,” C.S. Lewis describes standing
in a dark tool shed where the sun could
shine in only through a small crack above
the door (God in the Dock, Inspirational
Press, 1967). As he looked at the sunbeam,
all he could see were specks of dust.
However, when he moved to where the
sunbeam fell on his eyes, he could see “green
leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside, and beyond that, some 90-odd-million
miles away,” he could see the sun itself.
There is a difference, he said, in “looking
along the beam” and “looking at the beam.”
In The Weight of Glory (Simon and
Schuster, New York, 1962), Lewis writes, “I
believe in Christianity as I believe the sun
has risen, not only because I see it, but
because by it I see everything else.”
We live in a shadow of the real world.
One day, as Paul said, we shall see things as
they really are.
There are experiences in life that move
us further into the shadows. Those who suffer from life-threatening illnesses or are
chronically ill often feel they live in a level
of shadowlands far removed from the world
most people experience.
I learned this in January 2003 while
spending 25 days in the hospital with a condition known as infectious endocarditis that
led to a series of small strokes. The experience
gave me a very different perspective on life.
Some shadowlands are worse than others. I think this is what I heard late one
night in the voice of a man in the next bed
who whispered to the nurse that the only
reason he was alive was that his son had rescued him. He added that he wished the son
had not done that.
I experienced the darker shadowlands
when I learned that two people had died in
ICU on the night I had been there. I saw it
in the faces of emaciated elderly persons
who were whisked down the corridors in
wheel chairs to unknown destinations. I
heard it in the cries of those who had just
learned terrible news about their loved one.
“Not everyone who gets prayed for will
survive whatever ordeal may come.
But the challenges of life are beyond
our ability to solve, and we need God’s
help more than we often realize.”
I sensed it in the demeanor of people with
whom I shared an elevator ride.
What did I learn from this experience?
First, I learned that I am mortal. While we
all know that we will eventually die, we tend
to think of it only when writing out our
wills or purchasing an insurance policy.
In the deeper levels of the shadowlands
we think of it often. We sense its presence
daily. The loss of physical stamina and the
difficulty in seeing any positive progress
keep the reality of death close by.
The closeness of death also means that
God is near us, for God has promised to go
with us as we walk through the valley of the
“shadow of death.” What we do not anticipate is that being close to God reveals not
only our mortality, but also our sinfulness.
I heard T.B. Maston tell of the time he
looked out of his bedroom window and saw
his mother hanging the laundry on a
clothesline. The clothes appeared to be very
clean and shiny as they were bathed in the
rays of the sun.
During the night it snowed. When he
looked out his window the next morning, the
clothes that had appeared bright and clean
the day before now looked yellow and dingy
compared to the whiteness of the snow.
Life in the deeper regions of the shadowlands encourages a more intense look for
God’s face and viewing the stark reality of our
sinfulness. The deeper shadowlands is not a
place to pretend to be humble. It is a time for
being truthful and honest with God.
The second lesson I learned while going
through a serious medical event was the
need for God’s help. I often prayed: “God, I
cannot do this by myself. Please help me!”
And God did. I know that my chances for
survival were, at times, very slim and that
there could have been a different outcome
to this story without God’s help.
Not everyone who gets prayed for will
survive whatever ordeal may come. But the
challenges of life are beyond our ability to
solve, and we need God’s help more than we
often realize. God is constantly on our side
throughout all our difficult times.
The third lesson was that I need the
help of others. A remarkable team of physicians cared for me. Cards, prayers and visits
from friends brought me out of the shadowlands daily.
Family and friends gathered in the waiting room during surgery. My loving wife,
Fran, stayed with me every night taking care
of my personal needs.
I remember the love in her eyes when
she would awaken and smile at me asking if
I was “OK”. I could not have made it without her support, prayers and presence
during those difficult days.
I am a blessed man and will never be
the same. But it was a hard way to learn
what I should have already known. That is,
God and his helpers are there in the deeper
shadows of the shadowlands. BT
(Milton L. Rhodes, Ph.D., is a member of the
Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio,
Texas, where he served as a deacon and
Sunday school teacher.)
Baptist News
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Baptists Today • November 2004
9
INFORMATION
NAMB: new churches must affirm inerrancy, male deacons
By Steve DeVane
Biblical Recorder
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — New North
American Mission Board guidelines for
starting Southern Baptist churches call for
the congregations to have a covenant affirming inerrancy and only male ordained
deacons.
A document titled “Ecclesiological
Guidelines to Inform Southern Baptist
Church Planters” was approved Oct. 6 by
NAMB trustees. Stan Norman, associate
professor of theology at New Orleans
Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote the
guidelines, which include a commitment to
the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message statement.
The BF&M neither uses the term
“inerrancy” nor addresses women’s ordination as deacons.
The paper addresses such issues as the
authority of a Baptist church, classic marks
of a true church, congregational polity,
autonomy, and the offices, ordinances, and
mission of a New Testament church. Martin
King, a NAMB spokesman, said NAMB
officials will work to be sure materials,
training, strategies and initiatives aren’t outside the bounds of the document.
NAMB officials will continue to work
with state convention and association
partners when determining whether a new
church receives NAMB funding, King said.
Milton Hollifield, executive leader of
the Baptist State Convention of North
Carolina Mission Growth Evangelism group,
said NAMB officials had indicated the
document will serve as a guide for planting
Southern Baptist Convention churches.
NAMB officials said the guidelines are
not intended to be a hindrance to church
planting efforts, he said.
“I think this is a statement for planting
what they see as a New Testament, Southern
Baptist church containing foundational
principles, rather than something that will
be used to determine funding or lack of
funding,” Hollifield said.
Norman wrote that “the covenant of a
Baptist church must minimally affirm three
things: the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the
church and its members; the divine inspiration, inerrancy and authority of the Bible;
and the membership of the church consisting only of regenerate persons who have
professed their faith in believer’s baptism by
immersion.”
While the 2000 BF&M “leaves open
the issue of whether or not women can serve
as deaconnesses in SBC churches,” Norman
states, “My position is that, if a local church
ordains its deacons, then women cannot
serve in this capacity.”
“In SBC life, ordination carries with it
implications of authority and oversight, and
I believe the Bible relegates authority and
oversight to men,” the NAMB document
adds. “If a church, however, does not ordain
its deacons, then the authority-oversight
prohibitions would not apply. In that case,
the generic meaning of the term ‘deacon’ …
is that of a servant or a table waiter. Thus,
any member of the congregation is qualified
to serve.”
NAMB helps start about 1,500 new
Southern Baptist churches each year.
Speaking to trustees during their
regularly scheduled meeting, NAMB
President Bob Reccord said the document
was needed because of the rapid proliferation across the country of some non-biblical
church models including the “family” or
“simple” church networks.
“In many parts of North America, an
errant theology of church has begun to
spread, especially in a few younger church
planters, because these non-biblical models
sound good and it’s easy to get sucked in,”
he said.
“A church cannot be myself and my
wife meeting in our home, and it’s we two
and no more. That is not a church. What
we’re doing with this document is giving
guidelines to ensure that Southern Baptists
are starting biblically sound New Testament
churches.”
(This article contains additional
reporting from news services.) BT
President Carter’s pastor, Dan Ariail, to retire from Plains, Ga. church
By John Pierce
PLAINS, Ga. — After 22 years as pastor of a
small Baptist congregation that includes former President Jimmy Carter and his wife
Rosalynn, Dan Ariail plans to retire next year.
The 135-member Maranatha Baptist Church
in Plains, Ga., is known for attracting
thousands of visitors, including many internationals, annually to hear Carter teach weekly
Sunday school lessons.
“Both Jimmy and I are in good health,
but I feel that if I waited until he is no longer
able to teach the class, our church might not
survive such a double whammy,” Ariail told
the independent news journal, Baptists Today.
Carter, 80, who teaches Bible lessons
10
most Sundays to a full sanctuary, and often an
overflow crowd in the church’s fellowship hall,
has not indicated any plans to quit soon. Tour
buses and vehicles with
car tags from across
the nation are parked
among the pecan trees
outside the rural
Southwest Georgia
church on typical Sunday
mornings.
Ariail has the
unique responsibility to
Dan Ariail
preach to more visitors
than members with many of the guests experiencing a Baptist church for the first time. He
and his wife Nell plan to continue living in
Baptists Today • November 2004
Plains and being a part of the Maranatha
congregation.
“I dearly love the church and its people,
and think I can be a help to the new pastor,”
said Ariail. “If it appears that I am giving him
trouble, I will back off.”
Ariail, 66, plans to retire Oct.1, 2005 or
earlier in the year if a new pastor is called.
The open plan, he said, does not tie the
church leaders’ hands, but “is meant to get
them into gear on the process.”
In 1996, Ariail co-authored a book from
Zondervan Press titled, The Carpenter’s
Apprentice: The Spiritual Biography of Jimmy
Carter. A native Georgian, Ariail is a graduate
of Mercer University and Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary. BT
INFORMATION
Baptists Today expands board, honors outgoing directors
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three longtime
Baptist leaders were recognized for their
devoted service to Baptists Today during the
news journal’s annual meeting of the boards
of directors and advisors Sept. 30 – Oct. 1
in Jacksonville, Fla.
Jimmy Allen of Big Canoe, Ga.,
Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler of
Cincinnati, Ohio, and James Dunn of
Winston-Salem, N.C., completed consecutive three-year terms on the board of
directors. However, their involvement with
the autonomous, national news journal will
continue.
The three were elected to serve on the
board of advisors. Also, Allen was reaffirmed
as chair of the Friends of Freedom campaign
that seeks three-year financial commitments
from individual donors as a primary means
of support for Baptists Today.
Six new directors were elected effective
immediately. They are Ann Beane of
Richmond, Va., Jimmy Little of Hartselle,
Ala., William Neal of Stone Mountain, Ga.,
Ella Wall Prichard of Corpus Christi, Texas,
Mary Etta Sanders of Dalton, Ga., and E.C.
Watson of Elgin, S.C.
Their election increases the news journal’s board of directors to 18. A committee
of the board is reviewing plans to expand
the board of advisors with rotating terms of
service as well.
The annual board meeting was held in
Jacksonville in order to share a dinner and
program with directors of the independent
news service Associated Baptist Press. A
panel discussion on the future of Baptist
news was led by James Evans of Auburn,
Ala., Marv Knox of Dallas, Texas, Dan
Lattimore of Memphis, Tenn., and Ben
McDade of the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship in Atlanta.
Two new working committees of the
Baptists Today board held their first meetings. The circulation/partnership committee,
chaired by Winnie Williams of Seneca, S.C.,
is exploring ways to continue the steady
growth of subscriptions in recent years. Jack
Bishop Jr., of Waynesville, N.C., chairs the
development committee that is considering
an endowment program to help secure the
future of the autonomous news journal
that relies on contributions for much of its
support.
The next meeting of the Baptists Today
board of directors is set for April 22-23,
2005, in Atlanta that includes the annual
Judson-Rice Dinner. The public will be
invited to the April 22 dinner event that will
feature the presentation of the 2005 JudsonRice Award to Walter B. Shurden, author,
historian and director of Mercer University’s
Center for Baptist Studies. BT
Baylor narrowly votes to postpone call for Sloan’s termination
By Ken Camp
Baptist Standard
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Baylor University
regents voted to postpone indefinitely a call
for President Robert Sloan’s resignation, and
they unanimously rejected a request by the
university’s faculty senate to hold a facultywide referendum on Sloan’s administration.
After a motion was introduced at the
Sept. 24 regents’ meeting calling for Sloan’s
resignation, a second motion called for the
matter to be postponed indefinitely, chairman Will Davis announced after the
executive session.
“It does not kill the idea for ever and
ever. It can be brought up at another time,”
he said. Davis declined to reveal the vote
margin on the motion to postpone, but one
regent characterized it as “very close.”
The motion to postpone a call for resignation was the latest in a series of votes by
regents on Sloan’s leadership. The board
voted 31-4 in September 2003 to affirm
Sloan. But his support had eroded by spring,
and at the board’s May meeting, a motion to
ask for Sloan’s resignation failed by an 18-17
secret ballot.
Regents took no vote on Sloan’s presidency at their July retreat, other than
unanimously affirming the Baylor 2012
10-year plan that has become the controversial centerpiece of his administration.
While Davis described the Sept. 24
meeting as “collegial,” a regent said the mood
was “very tense.” A
majority of the board
members expressed their
views during extended
discussion of Sloan’s
leadership, he added.
Twice in a little
more than a year, the
university’s faculty senRobert Sloan
ate passed votes of no
confidence in Sloan’s leadership. At a recent
retreat, the group voted 29-1 to call for an
independently administered secret-ballot survey asking all university faculty whether they
believe Sloan should remain as Baylor’s president. Davis said the regents unanimously
turned down that request and he personally
did not believe it was appropriate to put the
issue to “some kind of popularity contest.”
New facilities have been a key component of Baylor 2012, Sloan’s 10-year vision
for making Baylor a top-tier university. But
capital expansion at the university, coupled
with unprecedented levels of debt, during
Sloan’s tenure as president have raised the ire
of his critics. They also faulted him for
increasing tuition, failing to foster good relationships with alumni and faculty, and
imposing more narrow religious restrictions
on faculty.
Prior to the regents meeting, 22 former
Baylor regents submitted a resolution calling
for the current board to replace Sloan immediately with an interim leader and initiate a
nationwide presidential search.
Signers included John Baugh, founder
of the Houston-based Sysco Corporation
and a major Baylor benefactor. Baugh had
addressed the regents at their May meeting,
warning he would ask for loans to be repaid
and his financial gifts to Baylor be returned
unless the board took action to rescue the
university from “the paralyzing quagmire in
which it ... is ensnared.”
Following the Sept. 24 regents meeting,
Baugh said he felt university leaders were
“still bogged down,” but he would not make
a decision regarding his gifts and loans until
he knew more about “what went on behind
the scenes” or until “the direction they take
is definitive.”
Sloan, 55, is a Texas native and Baylor
graduate. Before assuming the Baylor presidency in 1995, he was dean of Baylor’s
Truett Theological Seminary. BT
Baptists Today • November 2004
11
INFORMATION
Anti-schools resolution expected to surface
in 10 state Baptist conventions this autumn
By Michael Leathers
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (ABP) — Although a
resolution urging Christians to pull their
children from public schools failed to gain
approval of the Southern Baptist
Convention last summer, the issue is
expected to come to a vote in as many as 10
state Baptist conventions this fall.
T.C. Pinckney of Virginia and Bruce
Shortt of Texas were unable to muster support from their denomination’s resolutions
committee to bring their proposal before
voting messengers last June in Indianapolis.
Generating considerable pre-convention
publicity, the resolution decried the secular
condition of public or “government”
schools, as Pinckney describes them. The
measure urged parents to “remove their children from “godless” and “anti-Christian
government schools and see to it they
receive a thoroughly Christian education.”
The issue is expected to resurface at
nine state Baptist conventions and one
multi-state convention, according to Exodus
Mandate, a group advocating a Christian
departure from public education.
Those state conventions are in
California, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
and Virginia. The Baptist Convention of
New England, representing Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and Vermont, is also expected
to have the resolution introduced at its
annual meeting. The executive directors of
three of these conventions — Illinois,
Missouri and New England — were
unaware of the movement to introduce the
resolutions at their annual meetings.
Last June, the SBC resolutions committee declined to act on the anti-schools
resolution, saying to do so would “usurp”
the responsibility of parents to decide how
to educate their children. Pinckney’s attempt
to add the anti-school language to an SBC
resolution on secularization in America
failed on a show-of-hands vote.
Pinckney, a retired brigadier general
from the U.S. Air Force and a former second vice president of the Southern Baptist
Convention, said recently he does not
12
expect the resolution to pass in even one
state convention. But raising the issue is
necessary, he said, to build awareness for the
cause. “To deal with an issue like this takes
quite a while because you’re dealing with
basic assumptions that people have made,”
he said.
Pinckney, who went through the public
school system and sent his three children to
public schools, said he used to be one of
those people who saw no real harm in public education. He no longer believes that, he
said, and his 12 grandchildren are all homeschooled. “We are criticizing the overall
system of government schools as not being
biblical,” he said.
Larry Reagan, a Tennessee pastor, said
he and another co-sponsor are revising the
language of the resolution so it’s not as confrontational as the one rejected by the SBC.
He will bring it the Tennessee
Baptist Convention’s annual
meeting Nov. 9-10 in
Sevierville. Reagan’s
goal is also to build
awareness,
with an
eye
toward encouraging more
Christian
churches to
start their own schools.
Robert Dreyfus, who will introduce the
resolution at the Florida Baptist State
Convention’s annual meeting Nov. 8-9 in
Jacksonville, said public schools have failed
on the academic, moral and spiritual fronts.
He sees little hope for change, citing federal
and state legislation, an educational bureaucracy and teachers’ unions as factors
hindering meaningful reform.
An exodus of Christian students from
the public school system can keep those
children from drifting away from their faith
in their adult lives, Dreyfus said. He said
research by pollster George Barna has shown
that as many as 88 percent of children from
evangelical families enrolled in public
schools will drop out of church in the two
years following graduation.
A survey of several executive directors
Baptists Today • November 2004
from the 10 conventions found no one
aware that the measure was heading their
way.
“This is the first time I have even heard
about such a resolution,” according to an
e-mail response from David Clippard, executive of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
“As far as I know, no such resolution exists.”
According to Exodus Mandate’s website, the resolution’s sponsor in Missouri is
Roger Moran, an outspoken conservative
and member of the SBC Executive
Committee.
Jim Wideman, executive director of the
Baptist Convention of New England, said
he had been contacted by Jonathan Black,
the pastor listed by Exodus Mandate as the
New England sponsor, about how to present
a resolution, but he “had no idea of the
content of his resolution.”
Wendell Lang, executive director of the
Illinois Baptist State Association, said Oct. 6
he wasn’t aware of the resolution. Pat Pajak, former
IBSA vice president and
past member of the SBC
Executive Committee, confirmed earlier in the week
that he intends to send it to
the IBSA but has not done
so. “At this point, I haven’t
made any kind of commitment to T.C. [Pinckney],”
Pajak said.
The Illinois resolutions committee did
briefly discuss the resolution Sept. 14 but at
that time “did not feel they could recommend it to our messengers for
consideration,” according to Bill Weedman,
the IBSA’s senior associate executive director.
It’s not clear if the committee will reverse
course before the Nov. 10-11 annual meeting or if someone will introduce the
resolution from the floor.
Whether it results in a vote or not in
any of these conventions isn’t most important, Pinckney said. Just discussing the
proposal will cause some Christians to think
through the issue and realize, as Pinckney
sees it, that sending their children to “government schools” is not what God has
directed parents to do. BT
INFORMATION
Dilday recalls events surrounding his firing
as president of Southwestern Seminary
By John Pierce
Fort Worth, Texas — March 9, 1994, is considered by many to be a monumental day in
what supporters call the “conservative resurgence” and detractors call the “fundamentalist takeover” in the Southern Baptist
Convention. It was the day Russell Dilday
was fired as president of Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
A decade later, Dilday is bringing his
dismissal and the surrounding events to light
in Columns: Glimpses of a Seminary Under
Assault, to be released by Smyth &Helwys
Publishing in November. The title comes
from the monthly columns Dilday wrote in
the seminary newsletter during his 16 years as
president.
Dilday said he re-read the columns in
preparation for another book to be released
in 2005 in which he reflects on the larger
issues concerning the SBC controversy that
began in the late ‘70s and significantly
reshaped the nation’s largest non-Catholic
denomination.
“I was struck by how well (the columns)
tell the story of the joys, accomplishments
and disappointments we experienced and
how the seminary family worked together to
keep Southwestern ‘lashed to the cross,’”
wrote Dilday in the book’s preface.
Dilday said the columns “speak for
themselves” and are a “remarkable and sometimes sad chronicle of how the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC from 1978 to 1994
ultimately undermined the world’s largest
seminary…”
The book is both history and commen-
The book is both history and commentary. The various columns are
preceded by listings of “key events” such as seminary programs, speaking engagements and other contextual information. Dilday seems
particularly interested in communicating once again with the many
ministers, educators and missionaries who came through SWBTS.
tary. The various columns are preceded by
listings of “key events” such as seminary programs, speaking engagements and other
contextual information. Dilday seems particularly interested in communicating once
again with the many ministers, educators and
missionaries who came through Southwestern
during his tenure as president.
He writes: “I hope reflecting on these
years again will renew your appreciation for
the Southwestern of yesterday, will highlight
dangers to avoid in future models of ministry
training, and will clarify some of the mystery
of how such a great school could be captured
and pillaged.”
The cautious and affirmative columns of
a denominational executive are sandwiched
between more recent and direct comments of
one considered by sympathetic persons to be
a victim of fundamentalist politics. At times
Dilday refers to individual trustees who
helped carry out his dismissal by descriptions
such as “a Texas lawyer” or “another trustee
from North Carolina” rather than names.
However, he roundly portrays the majority of trustees responsible for his ouster as
incompetent and often unsophisticated. He
even describes a scene in which one trustee, a
music evangelist, is asked to sing for the
seminary’s top donors.
“He was going to sing and whistle at the
same time,” writes Dilday. “What came out
was something close to the sound Donald
Duck makes in TV cartoons. It was humiliating to all except the fundamentalist board
members…”
Dilday leaves no doubt about where he
places the direct blame for his ouster —
board chairman Ralph Pulley and those who
put him in leadership.
Pulley, who returned to the board in
1992 after already serving an unprecedented
12 years as a trustee, was described by Dilday
as “a source of contention at nearly every
meeting.” Dilday notes the close relationship
between Pulley, an attorney and deacon a
Dallas’ First Baptist Church, with then pastor
W.A. Criswell and associate pastor Paige
Patterson.
These two men, of course, were key
players in the rightward shift within the SBC
in recent decades. And, now, Patterson occupies the president’s office on the seminary
campus from which Dilday was barred
immediately following his swift termination
in 1994. BT
Georgia Supreme Court to hear Shorter College appeal over reorganization
ROME, Ga. (ABP) — The Georgia
Supreme Court has agreed to hear Shorter
College’s appeal of a court’s decision in
favor of the Georgia Baptist Convention,
according to the court clerk’s office Sept.
14.
A state appeals court ruled March 17
that Shorter College’s dissolution and reorganization that created a self-perpetuating
board of trustees last year “cannot stand”
without the Georgia Baptist Convention’s
approval. The state Supreme Court will
now hear arguments in the case, although
no court date has been set.
The college transferred its assets to a
new foundation in April 2003. The new
entity was then named as Shorter College
Inc.
The college has claimed in recent years
that the convention has put the college’s
accreditation at risk by unduly influencing
trustees. Convention leaders charge Shorter
President Ed Schrader and trustees with
trying to remove the Georgia Baptist
Convention as the rightful owner of the
college.
Shrader announced Sept. 16 that he
will leave Shorter at yearend to serve as
president of Brenau University in
Gainesville, Ga. BT
Baptists Today • November 2004
13
INFORMATION
Future of society, democracy at stake,
Land tells SBC Executive Committee
By Tony Cartledge
Biblical Recorder
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — America is
approaching “the most crucial election process
in our lifetime,” according to Richard Land,
executive director of the Southern Baptist
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Though not explicitly endorsing the re-election
of President Bush, Land made it clear he
believes a John Kerry victory would take the
United States down the wrong path.
Land told the Southern Baptist
Convention Executive Committee Sept. 21
that Americans will choose between a high
road and a low road. Choosing the “high road”
could lead to renewal, revival and possibly reformation, he said. But choosing the “low road”
will lead American society into outright sexual
paganism, he told the committee at their semiannual meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
Claiming the recent Massachusetts
Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex
marriage is what makes the election so important, Land said, “Legalizing same-sex marriage
will be the final death blow to marriage as
defined by God” and as accepted in Western
society for hundreds of years.
And because of the gay-marriage issue,
democracy is also at stake, Land continued.
Americans must choose “whether we will have
government of the people, by the people and
for the people,” or whether government will be
“of the judges, by the judges, and for the
judges.”
Land cited several states in which citizens
have voted to amend their state constitutions
to prevent judges from ruling in favor of marriage between same-sex partners. He said, even
California residents voted against allowing the
marriage of “girlie men,” with the only demographic favoring same-sex marriage being
people between the ages of 18 and 24.
“We can do this,” Land said. “The majority is with us. We must mobilize our citizens,
register them, and get them to vote their values.”
Referring to the relatively small ERLC as
“the swift boat of the culture wars,” Land also
highlighted the development of the “I Vote
Values” campaign to register voters, provide
values-based information about party platforms, and encourage people to vote their
values.
An “I Vote Values” tractor-trailer outfitted
by the ERLC has appeared at more than 50
venues in 13 states so far, with 20,000 people
passing through its doors, he said. The effort
has distributed more than 9,000 “voter toolkits” designed to help volunteers register at
least 50 voters each, produced half a million
platform resource guides, and drawn millions
of visitors to the ivotevalues.com and
ivotevalues.org websites, Land said.
Earlier in the two-day meeting, in the
mode of a general rallying his troops for battle,
Southern Baptist Convention president Bobby
Welch brought the Executive Committee to its
NC church leaves SBC to feel “unencumbered”
GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — First
Baptist Church of Greensboro, N.C., voted
Sept. 15 to remove all denominational
affiliation from its bylaws and cut its last
funding for a Southern Baptist Convention
agency. The moves effectively end the
church’s formal ties with the SBC.
About 225 people voted on the issues,
said Ken Massey, the church’s pastor. Three
people voted against the bylaw change that
took out the reference to cooperation with
any specific Baptist group. About 25 voted
against removing funding for the
14
International Mission Board from the
church budget.
Massey said the church could still send
messengers to the SBC annual meeting
because some members designate funds for
the SBC’s Lottie Moon offering for
international missions or the Annie Armstrong offering for North American missions.
The church hasn’t sent messengers to the
SBC’s annual meeting since 1991, he said.
The change to the bylaws says the
church’s relationships to other groups “must
remain free, faithful and mutually edifying.”
Baptists Today • November 2004
feet with a stirring call to action.
Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in
Daytona Beach, Fla., recently finished the eastern swing of a promotional bus tour in which
he plans to visit all 50 states and Canada
within 25 travel days. The tour, he said, is one
of “seven or eight” promotional components
leading up to the launch of the “Everyone Can
Kingdom Challenge” during the 2005 SBC
meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
Welch and other SBC leaders are promoting a goal of 1 million baptisms during the
12-month period between the 2005 meeting
in Nashville and the 2006 annual meeting in
Greensboro, N.C.
This comes after four years of declining
baptisms in the SBC, with 377,357 recorded
for 2003.
Welch said Baptists must stop viewing the
church as a fort and think of it as a forward
operations base. Welch, a wounded and decorated Vietnam veteran who served in the
Special Forces, said a forward operations base
is not intended to be permanent, but is
designed to facilitate an army’s forward
progress. Soldiers advance from the forward
operations base, then return to it for rest,
nourishment, medical attention, encouragement and new weapons before going out
again, Welch said.
Likewise, Baptists should think of their
churches not as places of retreat but as forward
operations bases from which they go out to
work for God. BT
“For the time being, that limits our
cooperation with the SBC,” Massey said.
Massey said the church is not
angry, but just wants to move forward
“unencumbered.”
Massey said the church will evaluate
all its funding as a practice of good stewardship. The church will financially
support two missionary families that have
ties to the church, Massey said.
First Baptist Church in Greensboro is
one of more than two dozen North
Carolina Baptist churches to leave the SBC
in recent years — and one of more than
100 across the South. BT
INFORMATION
SBC, BWA leaders disagree
on appeal to churches
By Trennis Henderson and
Robert Marus
NASHVILLE (ABP) — A Baptist World
Alliance fund-raising appeal directed to
Southern Baptist Convention churches has
drawn criticism from Morris Chapman,
president of the SBC Executive Committee.
In a letter to BWA officials, Chapman
claimed the effort violates denominational
policy. That policy, however, is limited only to
SBC-run agencies. The SBC voted to break all
official ties with the worldwide Baptist organization in June, redirecting funding to its own
planned international group.
The policy, included in the SBC’s business and financial plan, specifies that “in no
case shall any convention entity approach a
church for inclusion in its church budget
or appeal for financial contributions.”
BWA leaders voluntarily honored that
policy when the SBC was affiliated with
the BWA. The denomination ended its
affiliation with the BWA after an SBC
study committee charged that the group was too
friendly with some Baptist individuals and organizations that SBC leaders deemed unorthodox.
The fund-raising letter, signed by BWA president Billy Kim and General Secretary Denton Lotz
and dated Aug. 27, addresses the SBC’s charges
and also details the ministry of the Baptist World
Alliance.
The letter notes that a gift of $250 will
make a church an “associate member” of
BWA, while a gift of $1,000 will make it a
“Global Impact Church.”
In the Sept. 24 response, Chapman wrote,
“In attempting to encourage Southern Baptist
churches to include the Baptist World
Alliance in their budgets, you are violating
a policy by which our entities abide for the
sake of Southern Baptist cooperative world
missions. Therefore, on behalf of the
Southern Baptist Convention and its
churches, I respectfully ask you to cease immediately any fund-raising appeals to our churches.”
Acknowledging that “Southern Baptist
churches are autonomous and can voluntarily support the BWA financially should they choose to do
“We are, of course, all sorry that the
SBC will no longer be part of the world
fellowship they helped
form.”
—Denton Lotz,
so,” Chapman added that
“solicitation of funds from
our churches fails to honor the convention’s cooperative plan for
supporting missions, and thus,
defies the spirit of working
together with another Baptist
body.”
Contacted by Associated
Baptist Press for comment,
a BWA spokesperson
referred to a message that Lotz sent to Chapman in
response.
In it, Lotz notes that the fund-raising letter
was not sent only to SBC churches, but also to
other United States congregations in denominations historically affiliated with the BWA. They
included churches affiliated with the American
Baptist Churches, Progressive National Baptist
Convention and Baptist General Conference.
Lotz said that was because of a recent BWA
bylaw change that allows churches, individuals and other Baptist bodies to join
the organization as “associate members.” Only regional or national
Baptist denominations or
associations can be full members
of BWA.
“A letter of invitation went out
to most all North American
churches, not only SBC
churches,” Lotz said. “We are,
of course, all sorry that as of
Oct. 1, the SBC will no
longer be part of the world
fellowship they helped form. This is a great
loss for all of us.
“We look forward in the years ahead to the
day when the SBC will again take its rightful place
at the table of Baptists around the world,” Lotz said. BT
The Betrayal of Southern
Baptist Missionaries by
Southern Baptist Leaders
1979-2004
by John W. Merritt
A 34-year missionary veteran,
Merritt writes to clarify who
sends missionaries and under
whose authority they live and
work. He deals with the chaos,
confusion and division that SBC
fundamentalist leaders have
brought to the SBC and taken
into mission work.
• Unveils their distortion of the
theory of biblical inerrancy
• Traces their march toward
authority over the SBC
• Documents their deception
in foreign missions
• Presents 10 arguments that
the movement is “another
gospel”
• Appeals to churches to study
the movement under
scrutiny of Scriptures
• Makes five proposals to
churches to enable them
to regain their autonomy
under the authority of Christ
• Offers a new vision for
a new future for Southern
Baptists
• Calls for churches to
“Hear what the Spirit is
saying to the churches”
A valuable resource
for church leaders
$14.00 + shipping
Orders:
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[email protected]
Baptists Today • November 2004
15
INFORMATION
Baptist Joint Committee makes name change
By Robert Marus
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Baptist
Joint Committee on Public Affairs became
the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious
Liberty after the agency’s directors
approved a name change Sept. 27.
Holding their annual meeting in
Washington, D.C., representatives of the
national and regional Baptist bodies that
support the group voted unanimously to
alter their certificate of incorporation. The
alterations include the name change,
designed to better reflect the BJC’s mission
of advocating for religious freedom and
church-state separation.
“‘Baptist Joint Committee on Public
Affairs’ is a relic from the old days when
there was possibly more of a public-affairs
mission [for the organization],” David
Massengill, chair of the BJC’s bylaw revision committee, told board members in
recommending the change.
The Washington-based group deals
strictly with legal and legislative issues
regarding the First Amendment’s two religion clauses — that ban both government
establishment of religion and government
infringement on religious exercise. The
BJC does not deal with other public-affairs
The board also voted to enter
into a fund-raising campaign that
would culminate in 2006.
issues in which Baptists might be interested. Therefore, Massengill said, the name
change was in order.
The change came about with a revision of the group’s incorporation
documents, as well as its bylaws, to bring
the documents better into line with
District of Columbia law for non-profit
corporations.
Opening the board’s meeting with a
devotional message, Falls Church, Va., pastor Jim Baucom told BJC leaders that
many Baptists don’t understand or appreciate the concept of church-state
separation anymore. Therefore, Baucom
said, the organization needs to focus its
public message more on advocacy for religious freedom — and then note that such
freedom is underpinned by the separation
of church and state.
The board also voted to enter into a
fund-raising campaign that would culminate in 2006, the 70th anniversary of the
BJC’s founding. The campaign would
center around raising funds to build, buy
or lease a religious-freedom center somewhere in Washington. The building would
house BJC’s offices as well as meeting
space for educational and lobbying efforts.
A document provided to board members says the center would “provide a
strategic base to protect and advance religious liberty.”
For several decades, BJC has rented
office space from the Washington office of
the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
In other business, the board approved
a 2005 budget of $1,096,100. The
proposal represents a $33,000 increase
over BJC’s 2004 budget.
The board also re-elected its current
officers — Jeffrey Haggray, executive
director of the District of Columbia
Baptist Convention, as chairman; Ray
Swatkowski, executive vice president of the
Baptist General Conference, as vice
chairman; and Sue Bennett, a Tulsa
businesswoman, as secretary.
The new BJC bylaws created a
treasurer position separate from the executive director’s position. To fill that new
slot, the board elected Valoria Cheek, president of the American Baptist Extension
Corporation, as treasurer. BT
Campaign set to mobilize Christians to combat poverty
By Greg Warner
NEW YORK (ABP) — Christian leaders
from around the world launched a major
anti-poverty initiative Oct. 15 in New York
City with an ambitious goal — to cut worldwide poverty in half by 2015.
The campaign — named the Micah
Challenge after the Old Testament prophet of
justice — represents more than 3 million
congregations worldwide and 260 Christian
relief and development organizations, including the Baptist World Alliance and Baptist
World Aid.
But those groups don’t plan to fight
poverty alone, said Michael Smitheram of
England, international coordinator for the
Micah Challenge. Instead, they are “calling
on their [political] leaders to live up to a
promise they have already made,” Smitheram
16
told Associated Baptist Press.
He referred to the United Nationsapproved Millennium Development Goals,
adopted by the U.N.’s member countries in
2000. Those eight goals represent “kind of a
benign framework [Christians] can get
behind,” he said, adding, “We’re not asking
them to get into an argument” over which
anti-poverty strategies are best.
Central in the international strategy is
canceling the debts of Third World countries
and eliminating trade inequities, Smitheram
said. But even that won’t be enough to cut
poverty in half, he said.
It will require commitment to all eight
U.N.-adopted goals: to eradicate extreme
poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and
empower women; reduce child mortality;
improve maternal health; combat
Baptists Today • November 2004
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;
ensure environmental sustainability; and
develop a global partnership for development.
The Micah Challenge was initiated by
the Micah Network, an association of 260
Christian relief and development organizations, which recognized the need to “become
more involved at the political level to support
what they are doing on the ground,”
Smitheram said. The network sought the help
of the World Evangelical Alliance, the primary international network of evangelical
churches.
The Baptist World Alliance, through its
General Council, endorsed the Micah
Challenge Aug. 1, calling Christians to take
“prayerful, practical action in their nations
and communities” and to hold their nations
and global leaders “accountable in securing a
more just and merciful world.” BT
INFORMATION
Louisiana College hires conservative
seminary scholar as 8th president
By Greg Warner
PINEVILLE, La. (ABP) — Trustees of
Louisiana College announced Sept. 30 that
conservative seminary scholar Malcolm
Yarnell will be the embattled school’s eighth
president.
Yarnell, assistant dean of theological
studies and associate professor of systemic
theology at Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas,
was offered the job after a closed-door session of trustees Sept. 24.
“Today is a great day for the college,”
emphasized Ed Tarpley of Pineville, who
headed the presidential search committee.
“Malcolm Yarnell is an outstanding
theologian and teacher. He has a love for
students and faculty, and he is truly a man
that all Louisiana Baptists can be proud of.”
The college’s trustee board has been
divided between the conservative majority
and a moderate minority, and the school is
now under investigation by its accrediting
agency, the Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools. Trustee chair Joe Nesom
resigned June 27 as fellow trustees prepared
to remove him from office. Nesom
denounced “unwise unilateral actions taken
by certain board members.”
At a news conference announcing
Yarnell’s decision to accept the post, Tarpley
was asked if he had confidence in the new
president’s ability to heal tensions at the
school.
“Dr. Yarnell is a peacemaker,” Tarpley
responded. “He’s a consensus builder. He’s
going to be someone
who’s going to come in
and listen to everyone
and do what is best for
the students, the faculty
and the entire Louisiana
College community.
“And I think, with
all those characteristics,
he’ll be able to come in Malcolm Yarnell
and start the healing process and move
Louisiana College forward,” Tarpley said.
Tarpley rejected the idea when asked if
there were concerns that Southwestern
Seminary and its president — longtime conservative leader Paige Patterson — will exert
undue influence on Louisiana College
matters.
“Dr. Yarnell is his own man,” Tarpley
stressed. He will be making his own decisions. He is a man of great character and
wisdom and maturity. He is very well educated and has outstanding qualifications and
great experience. There is no question that
Dr. Yarnell will be someone who will chart
his own course at Louisiana College.”
And while Tarpley declined to discuss
specifics of the presidential search process,
he did say it was clear at the end of the sixmonth effort that Yarnell was the most
outstanding candidate. The vote reportedly
was divided when trustees met Sept. 24, but
they united behind their choice after the
vote.
In June, college president Rory Lee
resigned amid controversy over new policies
that require new faculty members to submit
a statement outlining their “worldviews,” as
well as a policy forcing faculty members to
have all classroom materials approved by the
academic dean.
Another policy adopted recently
requires a committee of trustees to approve
the contract before a new faculty member
can be hired. That policy, reportedly unique
among Baptist colleges, is similar to one
criticized by the college’s accrediting agency
in 2001.
Many faculty members have protested
the policies, saying they endanger academic
freedom. Conservative board members
have defended the policies as necessary to
maintain the school’s fidelity to its Baptist
roots.
Yarnell, an advocate for the conservative
movement in the SBC, has written articles
arguing for closer governance of Christian
colleges by local churches and against selfperpetuating trustee boards. BT
Adrian Rogers to retire but remain at Bellevue
CORDOVA, Tenn. (ABP) — Adrian
Rogers, prominent pastor and leader of
Southern Baptist conservatives, has
announced he will retire next year from the
church he has led for 32 years — but that
he’ll remain close at hand.
Rogers, pastor of Bellevue Baptist
Church in Cordova, Tenn., a suburb of
Memphis, announced his plans to the
congregation Sunday, Sept. 12, his 73rd
birthday.
According to the Memphis Commercial
Appeal, he promised to watch the selection
of his replacement closely.
will remain members at Bellevue.
Bellevue, with more than 28,000 members, is one of the nation’s largest Southern
“I’ve got a short list of men I think
Baptist congregations. And Rogers is
would make fine candidates,” Rogers said at
arguably one of the most recognizable names
a press conference. “I’m not going
in Baptist life. He was three times
to hand-select the man who’ll
elected president of the Southern
follow me, but I’ll stand close by
Baptist Convention — the first in
to make sure there aren’t any
1979, launching a succession of
mistakes.”
conservative presidents that took
Although Rogers did not give
control of the largest non-Catholic
a specific date as his last day, he
denomination and reshaped it
said his target for retirement is in
around biblical inerrancy and
the spring. The church’s goal is to
conservative social values.
have a replacement by the time of Adrian Rogers
He is seen nationwide on his
his departure.
“Love Worth Finding” broadcasts. In addiIn addition, Rogers said he and his wife tion, he has authored numerous books. BT
Baptists Today • November 2004
17
INFORMATION
WMU of Virginia leaders oppose
devaluing of women in ministry
By Robert Dilday
Religious Herald
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Leaders of
Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia have
adopted a declaration endorsing the “diverse
and unlimited” Christian vocations of
women and “rejecting” both the Southern
Baptist Convention’s official opposition to
women pastors and the refusal of the
denomination’s North American Mission
Board to endorse women as military and
prison chaplains.
The “Declaration of the Dignity of
Women” was unanimously approved Sept.
11 by Virginia WMU’s board of trustees and
its advisory board during their annual meeting at CrossRoads Camp and Conference
Center near Lowesville, Va.
Speaking “at a time when the leadership
of women has been devalued and suppressed,” the leaders declared:
— “That we reject all blanket discrimination against women in the work of
Christian ministry, in particular as elaborated
in the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.” The
Southern Baptist Convention’s confession of
faith, as revised in 2000, maintains that
Scripture limits the office of pastor to men.
— “That we reject the findings and
policy of the North American Mission
Board with regard to the non-endorsement
of women in chaplaincy positions.”
The NAMB voted last February to
cease endorsing women for chaplain positions “where the role and function of the
chaplain would be seen the same as that of a
pastor.” That apparently included all military and prison chaplains, but not those
serving in hospitals or industrial settings.
Chaplains typically are required to be
endorsed by a denominational entity. The
NAMB is the Southern Baptist Convention
endorser.
— “That we reject any devaluation of
women worldwide.”
The document notes: “Our declaration
is that women are leaders in the church,
called by God, commissioned by Christ, led
by the Holy Spirit, with a strong, noble
18
heritage. Empowered by our mission, values
and heritage, we pledge to support all
people, especially women and girls, as they
live out their diverse and unlimited vocations. Through the study and exposition of
Scripture, public advocacy, mentorship,
networking, inclusive language, careful
dialogue, proactive speech, seminary scholarships and influence on pastoral search
committees and nominating boards, we will
encourage and continue to develop the
leadership of women and girls in all spheres
and at all levels of church life.”
The 130-year-old WMUV is a Virginia
Baptist women’s organization that provides
missions education and training to adults,
youth, children and preschoolers of both
genders. It is an affiliate of the national
WMU, which is an auxiliary to the SBC,
but WMUV is governed independently
by its 14-member board of trustees
and 68-member advisory board.
WMUV’s president serves on
national WMU’s board.
The Virginia WMU works
closely in mission and training
ventures with the Baptist General
Association of Virginia, which
officially regards the issue
of women pastors as a
local church matter.
But the BGAV is
arguably the state
Baptist convention
most open to women
ministers, who regularly
serve as officers of the
convention and its
pastors conference, and
are frequent preachers at
statewide meetings.
“The women of Virginia have
always seen themselves as leaders in
the church,” Earlene Jessee, executive
director of WMUV, told the Religious
Herald, newsjournal of the BGAV. “But
in recent years they have seen the role of
women in the church devalued and no
one has stood to speak against the
devaluing. In discussing that, our women
Baptists Today • November 2004
came to the conclusion that they must say
something. As one of our trustees said,
silence is consent.”
Pat Bloxom, a Mappsville, Va., laywoman who serves as WMUV’s president,
called women “servant leaders.”
“They are the backbone of the church
in many cases,” she said. “We have been
waiting for someone to speak out on this
[devaluing of women’s roles in church].”
Bloxom said enthusiasm for the
declaration was strong among WMUV’s
trustees and advisory board members.
“It became apparent as we discussed it
that they were eager not only to vote for it
but to sign it,” she said. “We only had three
places for signatures — for the president, vice president and
executive director. But
they all said, ‘We want
to sign this, too.’ So
we turned the page
over and they put
their signatures on the
back.”
The declaration
emphasizes WMUV’s
“prophetic conviction”
in speaking against the
devaluing of women.
“In this Kingdom
work, we are not
activists but leaders and
prophets, calling the
Church toward its true,
original and best
identity,” it says. “As
women, our call to
leadership is the Great
Commission of Jesus
Christ; our guide is
the Holy Spirit of
God; our heritage is
scriptural, ancient and living;
our crisis is urgent and our
declaration is firm: ‘Your sons and
daughters will prophesy’ (Joel 2:28,
Acts 2:17).”
The full text of the declaration may be
read at www.wmu-va.org. BT
INFORMATION
Georgia church with female co-pastor leaves
association over adoption of 2000 BF&M
By Robert Marus
ROME, Ga. (ABP) — North Broad Baptist
Church in Rome, Ga., has left the Floyd
County Baptist Association after the group
adopted a statement of faith that, among
other things, bans female pastors.
Members of the church reportedly left
the association’s annual meeting the evening
of Sept. 27, shortly after their fellow messengers voted to adopt the 2000 revision of the
Baptist Faith and Message as the association’s
official doctrinal statement.
In November of 2003, the church called
a husband-and-wife team to serve as its cosenior pastors. Shortly after Katrina and Tony
Brooks began ministering at North Broad, the
association’s executive board recommended
adoption of the faith statement, which says
the office of senior pastor is for men only.
Messengers to the association voted 428130 to adopt the statement. Earlier,
messengers defeated by a similar margin an
amendment that would have prevented any
churches from being dismissed from the association in the future simply because they did
not adhere to the statement.
In response, North Broad members presented a letter of resignation to the
association, thus ending the church’s 112year-old affiliation with the body.
“I’m not sure how I feel right now,”
Katrina Brooks said after the vote, according
to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I don’t
understand how an individual church’s decision on who its pastor will be could affect the
ministry that the church belongs to. That’s
not a part of my framework.
“I’d like to hope they prayed about it and
considered it, but they obviously felt North
Broad’s presence was tainting their association,” she continued.
But other messengers reportedly argued
that the adoption of the statement was not
aimed at excluding any particular church, but
that the association had the right to set its
doctrinal parameters.
“People are changing what they believe,
and why would we expect any less from our
integrity?” said David Harper, pastor of
Rome’s Hollywood Baptist Church, according
to the Rome News-Tribune. “This could lead
us down a slippery slope.... We could end up
seeing the Nudist Baptist Church or the
Homosexual Baptist Church.”
But North Broad member Carla
Moldavan, a professor at nearby Berry
College, said the church’s decision to call the
Brooks was God-led. “We didn’t go out to
stir up trouble. We made this decision with
much prayer and thought,” she said, according to the News-Tribune. “There are
wonderful, incredible people in Floyd
County, and I thought there was a chance
they would understand. I might have been
too optimistic.” BT
Baptists Today • November 2004
19
PERSPECTIVE
back-row birdie
By the rivers in Babylon
By Keith D. Herron
B
“
irdie, how’s your granddaughter?
Didn’t I hear her unit got shipped
out to Iraq?”
“That’s right! I’m mighty proud of
Amber for having the guts to sign up, but
I’m not happy about her actually going over
there. The nightly news reminds me too
much of Vietnam. The color palette on the
nightly news has changed from jungle green
to sand tan, but the rest of it is downright
eerie.”
“Birdie,” I asked gingerly, “we’ve sent
troops in the past all over the globe, but it’s
never been like this. How do you handle
watching the news knowing Amber’s headed
there?”
“Preacher, you don’t know the half of it.
When Amber was over to the house last
week, the news came on and I knew immediately we were looking at the same stuff but
seeing it from two totally different points of
view. I saw the terror and the tragedy of it,
and all she saw was the nobility of protecting our homeland. The muscles in her jaw
tightened up, and my tear glands loosened.
Sometimes we talk about it, but most of the
time we just sit there silently immersed in
silence. It’s plain we can’t talk about it without arguing whether it’s right to be over
there.”
Birdie was suddenly moved to tears,
and we stood there in our own awkward
silence.
It was left to me to break
the silence. “Funny how ironic
all this is … I was reading in
the Old Testament the other
day about the Babylonian captivity, and suddenly it dawned
on me that our troops are walking on holy ground. Spooky
really when you think about it.”
“Rev, you’re preaching
from the backside of the Old
Testament I’ve never really
understood. I can’t seem to
keep all the enemies and slaveries straight. Seems I know they
20
went down to Egypt for a few hundred
years. Isn’t that when Moses freed the slaves
and led them into the desert?”
“So far, you get an A+ in Jewish history!
Any ideas about what happened next?”
“Gosh, I don’t like how this conversation has turned into a chance for you to
gloat! I remember they wandered around in
the desert until all the gripers died off, and
then they whipped all the tribes who were
squatting on their land. I’m not sure they
really had the deed in their pockets, but
they whipped them anyway ‘cause God told
them to. Does that have anything to do
with what’s happening in Israel today?”
“Birdie, you’re good at connecting the
dots, but maybe foreign political history is
not the best application of your many gifts!
If you keep going in this story, you’ll
undoubtedly get to the parts of the Old
Testament where the prophets emerged as
the voice of God trying to get Israel to act
and do more like they were God’s people.
When the people refused to change their
ways, God allowed them to be conquered
and carried off into captivity. That’s modern-day Babylon! We’re traipsing around on
land the Jews endured while in captivity.
Took them a generation or two before they
were released. In fact, it was such a tough
time, the poetry of that day is absolutely
startling. How about these words from
Baptists Today • November 2004
Psalm 137: ‘By the rivers of Babylon, there
we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows we hung our
harps. Our captors demanded songs from us
and taunted us: Sing us one of the songs of
Zion! And all we could think was, How can
we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?’”
“Wow, Preacher! That’s exactly how I
feel about this mess in Iraq. When I think
of my little Amber over there carrying an
automatic weapon and wearing body armor
so she doesn’t get killed, it makes me want
to sit down and cry. It must have been
something awful to be torn from your
homes and led like slaves out into the middle of the desert to spend the rest of your
days as someone’s pitiful slave.”
“Birdie, maybe we’re living in another
time such as that. Maybe we’re being carried
off in captivity again.”
“Another Babylonian captivity? I never
thought of it like that.”
“Sure, it’s true we weren’t whipped but
we’ve sure been leading our young over there
and dropping them off in a war we don’t
know how to end. There’s more and more of
them dying over there, and the place looks
like a powder keg with a short fuse. Is it
possible it could get worse?”
“Preacher, be careful how you say this
stuff. No one liked a prophet back then, and
I doubt anyone wants one now. We like our
preachers better when they stick
to the Big Book and leave politics at the door. We like our
sweet Jesus to mind his own
business so we can mind ours.”
“I’ll bet the prophets
muttered the same thing when
God told them to speak to the
people.”
“Now I have two soldiers
to worry about.” BT
— Keith D. Herron is pastor
of Holmeswood Baptist Church
in Kansas City, Mo.
Illustration by Scott Brooks
2004
Formations Commentary
Bible Study resources for the adult Formations lessons available from Smyth & Helwys Publishing (www.helwys.com)
LESSONS FOR:
Sunday, Dec. 5-26,
2004
Written by Pam Durso,
associate director of
the Baptist History and
Heritage Society in
Brentwood, Tenn.
Dec. 5, 2004
Just another Sunday
Matthew 24:36-44
Near the end of his life, Jesus gave his disciples a lesson on what the end of time
would be like. He talked of signs and
prophecies, described the kingdom of
heaven, and spoke of preparing for the day
and hour of his second coming.
The teaching passage found in
Matthew 24-25 has long intrigued the
Christian community, and scholars and
laypersons alike have spent much time
reading and studying Jesus’ words. Some
have even spent their lives trying to
unravel the mystery of Jesus’ second coming. Yet, Jesus’ words in these chapters were
not meant as a challenge to his followers to
figure out the exact day and hour. His
words were meant as a challenge to live in
expectation and preparation for his return.
Jesus noted that neither he nor the
angels had a clue about the scheduled end
of the world. He followed this declaration
with a few examples of the surprising way
in which people involved in everyday activities would suddenly be taken from the
earth, while other people would be left. He
then offered these words: “Therefore, you
also must be ready” (24:44).
Being prepared was Jesus’ central
message on that day of teaching the crowd.
Later that day he offered illustrations about
how his followers could ready themselves
for his return. He called them to meet
the needs of the hungry, the naked, the
imprisoned and the sick.
For Jesus, being prepared did not
mean studying the signs or the prophecies,
watching for specific events to happen in
the world or plotting out numbers and
timelines. For Jesus, being prepared meant
offering compassion to the needy, giving
help to those struggling and living in peace
with everyone. In other teaching passages,
Jesus taught that being prepared meant
daily trusting God, sharing God’s message
of grace with the world, and loving neighbors and enemies.
One of my favorite books has a similar
message about being prepared. Tuesdays
with Morrie tells the story of Morrie
Schwartz, a retired university professor
who is dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). In 1995, as his
disease was progressing and his death nearing, Morrie spent several hours each
Tuesday with a former student. After
Morrie’s death, that student, Mitch Albom,
wrote of the many lessons he learned from
his teacher, and one of those lessons was
on being prepared.
Morrie told Mitch: “Everyone knows
they’re going to die, but nobody believes it.
If we did, we would do things differently.
… To know you’re going to die, and to be
prepared for it at any time. That’s better.
That way you can actually be more
involved in your life while you’re living.”
The student then asked the obvious
question about how to prepare to die.
Morrie answered: “Every day, have a little
bird on your shoulder that asks, ‘Is today
the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need
to do? Am I being the person I want to
be?’”
For Morrie, being prepared meant
stripping away all of life’s clutter and focusing on the essentials. Later, on another
Tuesday, Morrie talked to Mitch about
finding meaning in life. The teacher
advised: “Devote yourself to loving others,
devote yourself to your community around
you, and devote yourself to creating
something that gives you purpose and
meaning.”
While Morrie was not a Christian
teacher or even a Christian, his words
remind me of those spoken by Jesus in
Matthew 24. Like Jesus, Morrie placed
great emphasis on living with expectation
and on being prepared for the end of life
on earth. Like Jesus, Morrie also saw a
connection between being prepared and
the treatment of others. Morrie knew that
caring for others, meeting the needs of
those in pain, and loving friends, neighbors
and even strangers would bring great
meaning to life.
While I love the story of Morrie’s relationship with his student, and while I find
great challenge in reading the lessons he
shared with Mitch, I am always struck by
one missing element — hope. In Jesus’
teachings, preparedness is tied to the hope
for future, the hope of life beyond this
earthly life, the hope of being with God.
Jesus was not only preparing his listeners
for death, but he was also preparing them
for a new life with him.
Two thousands years later, Jesus’ message remains unchanged. He calls us to be
ready, to be prepared, and he requires that
we offer compassion to the needy, give
help to the struggling, live in peace, share
God’s message of grace, and love our
neighbors and enemies.
Dec. 12, 2004
When good news
is bad news
Matthew 3:1-12
Recently, while, I was listening to National
Public Radio, I heard Garrison Keillor read
a poem by Jeanne Marie Beaumont titled
“Afraid So.” The poem consists of 34
questions, and the implied answer to each
question is “Afraid So.” The first few
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship provides these Bible study resources to church leaders
through this supplement to Baptists Today. For more information on how CBF is “serving Christians and
churches as they discover their God-given mission,” visit www.thefellowship.info or call 1-800-352-8741.
FORMATIONS COMMENTARY
questions are ones we have all asked: “Is it
starting to rain? Did the check bounce? Are
we out of coffee?” But as the list of questions progresses, the questions become
more painful: “Is the bone broken? Will I
have to put him to sleep? Was the car
totaled? Was the gun loaded? Could this
cause side effects? Can it get any worse?”
By the time Keillor had finished reading this brief poem, I was disturbed and
even a bit depressed. So much bad news
was in that short poem, and so many of
the questions were all too familiar. Bad
news seems to dominate the headlines and
our conversations. Bad news surrounds and
sometimes suffocates us.
When John the Baptist began his ministry in the wilderness of Judea, he
preached bad news. He called people to
repent, telling them time was short and the
kingdom of heaven was near. He pointed
fingers at the religious leaders and called
them vipers. He chided them for depending on their ancestors’ faith instead of
developing their own faith. He roared
words about cutting down all unproductive
trees and throwing them into the blazing
fire. He proclaimed that the wheat and
chaff would soon be separated and that the
chaff would burn in an unquenchable fire.
John’s words were not meant to bring
comfort or reassurance. They were hard
words, frightening words. The message he
brought from God surely did not sound like
good news to those who heard him preach.
Like John, Jesus’ sermons often contained bad news, repeating the themes
preached by John. Matthew 23 recounts a
sermon in which Jesus called the religious
leaders hypocrites, fools, blind men, dirty
dishes, whitewashed tombs and serpents.
He rebuked their superficial attempts at
religious living and threatened to block
heaven’s entrance so they could not enter.
He warned them that they were bound for
hell and that there was no escape for them.
Surely his listeners could find no good
news in these harsh words spoken by Jesus.
Even Jesus’ words to his own disciples
sometimes seemed like bad news. Jesus told
his followers: “If any man would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. For whoever
would save his life will lose it, and whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it”
(16:24-25). These words must have frightened even Jesus’ closest friends, who must
22
have wondered if following Jesus would
result in their suffering and perhaps even
dying. Jesus’ message again sounded more
like bad news than good news.
So what are we to do with all this bad
news? Is there any good news to be found?
Or, do the messages of John and Jesus
conclude with the terribly painful words
“Afraid So.”
Look back at John’s message in
Matthew 3. John finally offered his listeners some good news (v. 11). He told the
crowd gathered around him that the
Messiah was coming and that God’s
messenger would soon arrive and bring
cleansing and healing to those who were
prepared to hear his message. Although this
good news contained some hard words of
judgment, it was still good news. The good
news was that Jesus was on his way. Jesus
was coming, and in the verse following the
conclusion of John’s sermon, Jesus showed
up! Jesus asked John for baptism and then
began his ministry among the people.
Look back at Jesus’ preaching. In John
14, Jesus shared good news with his disciples. He assured them of the security of
their future with him: “Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also
in me. In my Father’s house are many
rooms; if it were not so, I would have told
you. I am going there to prepare a place for
you.” And then Jesus offered them reassurance: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I
give you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled,
and do not be afraid.”
In this much loved chapter of the
Bible, Jesus presented a message of hope to
those who had the faith to hear his words
and the perseverance to follow his commands. It was good news. His words are
still good news. “Afraid so” was not and is
not the message of Jesus. Rather, his message to us is “Do not be afraid.”
Dec. 19, 2004
“Let heaven and earth
combine”
Matthew 1:18-25
Just imagine that an angel appeared in your
bedroom, waking you from a deep sleep,
and the first words spoken by the angel
were, “Do not be afraid.” Would you find
Baptists Today • November 2004
comfort in those words, or would they
frighten you?
Joseph heard those words following his
decision to renounce quietly his marriage
arrangement with Mary. Joseph knew in
his heart that Mary’s dilemma was not of
his making, and he determined that her
well-being should no longer be his responsibility. Yet, he compassionately decided
that while he could not marry her, he
could not publicly humiliate her either.
With the decision made, Joseph settled
down for a nap, only to be rudely awakened by a messenger from God: “Do not
be afraid!” These same words appear
repeatedly in the Luke birth narratives.
Messengers from God said these words
to Zechariah, Mary and the shepherds.
When an angel of the Lord appeared in the
temple and spoke to Zechariah, these
words were the first ones spoken to the elderly fatherless priest (Luke 1:12). When the
angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to inform
her she had been chosen to bear a son who
would become the savior of the world,
Gabriel first spoke words of greeting and
affirmation to her and then said, “Do not
be afraid” (Luke 1:30). When an angel
spoke to a group of shepherds sitting
around a campfire on a hill outside
Bethlehem, the first words they heard were,
“Do not be afraid” (Luke 2:10).
Each time these words were spoken by
a messenger of God, the hearers must have
wondered what was about to happen to
them. They must have been frightened and
anxious. Perhaps they were even startled
when they heard these words, words that
must have seemed almost ludicrous given
the circumstances. Imagine Joseph, a
sleepy, rumpled man waking up to
encounter a heavenly being. Hearing “Do
not be afraid” most likely did not calm his
nerves or end his fear. Experiencing an
encounter with a messenger from God
would have been scary, and receiving a
message from God would have been even
more frightening.
Yet, these words of reassurance were
spoken. Even though Joseph may not have
realized it, they were needed words, words
that were meant to give comfort and hope
not only in that one moment, but also in
the days and years to come.
Throughout the remainder of his life,
the importance of these words would be
made clear to Joseph. The events that
FORMATIONS COMMENTARY
followed this encounter with an angel were
often difficult. Joseph, by changing his
decision about Mary and taking her as his
wife, ensured that his life would have more
than its share of pain, fear and uncertainty.
In time, he may have recognized that the
angel’s words of reassurance were meant
not only for that decision but also for each
day of his life. “Do not be afraid” were
words of support for the hard days, for the
days of doubt, for the days of fear and
uncertainty. God’s messenger had given
Joseph a lifetime gift of encouragement
and a life-long promise of divine presence.
Joseph responded to these words and
the instructions that followed by obeying.
He asked no questions and demonstrated
no hesitation. In faith, he simply obeyed.
His soon-to-be relative Zechariah, however,
had a few questions and expressed doubt
about the message he received from the
angel. Joseph’s soon-to-be bride also had a
few questions for the angel about the
possibility of her conception.
Yet, in the end, Joseph, Zechariah and
Mary all experienced the faithfulness of
God. They were blessed by the birth of
healthy children. They experienced affirmation and support from friends and
neighbors — if shepherds and the magi can
be counted as friends and neighbors. As
recipients of words of reassurance, Joseph,
Zechariah and Mary experienced the power
of God’s presence and lived daily with the
knowledge of God’s love for them and
God’s faithfulness toward them.
“Do not be afraid” continues to be a
message for the people of God. While
angels do not often bring the message to us
directly, this message comes to us through
the biblical text, through the words of
God’s messengers here on earth, and
through the love and kindness of family
and friends. As it was for Joseph, “Do not
be afraid” is a message meant to reassure us
today and to comfort us throughout our
lives.
Dec. 26, 2004
A gift for a king
Matthew 2:1-12
Matthew’s is the only Gospel that offers us
the story of magi wandering in from the
East, bringing three gifts meant for a king.
These magi presented to Jesus and his fam-
ily gold, frankincense and myrrh. Much
has been written about the symbolic nature
of these gifts, but rarely have I heard much
talk about the intentions of the gift givers
or about what the gifts meant to Mary and
Joseph or about the practical nature of the
gifts.
Look back at the story. The magi discovered through their study that a special
child had been born. This child was the
Christ, whose birth had been predicted
long before by Hebrew prophets. The magi
set out to find this child, embarking on a
dangerous, bewildering journey that led
them to the palace of King Herod. There
they revealed their findings to the king and
asked for help in locating this newborn
Christ.
Herod took seriously their belief that
such a child had been born, but rather
than give them help, he ordered them to
track down the baby and report back concerning the child’s location. Once the magi
set off on their mission to Bethlehem,
Herod plotted to track down this baby
himself and to have the child killed. Before
he could implement his plot, however, the
magi succeeded in their mission. They
arrived in Bethlehem and located the baby.
Upon seeing the Christ-child, these great
learned, scholarly men dropped to their
knees, worshipping Jesus, and then they
offerd their treasures to the baby.
I have often wondered if the magi,
when they set out on their journey, took
along these expensive treasures to present
to the Christ-child. Maybe they did, but I
like to think they took along the gold,
frankincense and myrrh to finance their
trip. They knew they might be on the road
for months, and they needed to take along
some first-century travelers’ checks to cover
their expenses. Their treasures were not
meant to be gifts for the baby they were
seeking. Yet, when they encountered the
Christ-child, when they stood in the presence of the Son of God, they fell down and
worshipped and then spontaneously presented their earthly treasures to this
heavenly king. Their giving was an act of
worship. Perhaps it was not a pre-planned
gift-giving ceremony, but rather an
unplanned gesture of love.
Mary and Joseph, on Jesus’ behalf,
received these generous gifts, and while
Matthew did not record their expressions
of gratitude, surely they spoke words of
thanksgiving to the magi. For both Mary
and Joseph, the arrival of respected, educated men and the receipt of expensive gifts
must have been a bit overwhelming. Yet,
this experience must have given them confidence that somehow all the things that
had happened were truly the work of God.
For Mary, the arrival of the magi and
their presentation of gifts must have
affirmed that the words spoken to her earlier by the angel were not a dream, that her
newborn son was truly the promised messiah, and that God was surely present with
her and would continue to be present.
Joseph must have felt similarly affirmed by
the magi’s coming and their presentation of
gifts. For this young couple, the gifts were
more than symbolic of the kingly nature of
their son. The gifts were reminders of
God’s love for them.
Shortly after presenting their gifts, the
magi left to return home. Realizing that
King Herod was not sincere in his desire to
worship the Christ-child, the magi avoided
the royal palace and took an alternate route
home. Meanwhile, God revealed to Joseph
that his family must flee Bethlehem to
escape Herod’s plans, so Joseph packed up
Mary and Jesus and headed to Egypt, taking with them the gold, frankincense and
myrrh.
Although the family was forced to
move quickly to a new, unknown land,
they were not destitute. They had the gifts
from the magi. I like to think that Mary
and Joseph used these treasures to support
themselves while they settled into a new
home. The gifts then would have become
practical means of support for two
people who had followed God’s leading
despite their encounters with humiliation,
discomfort and danger. The gifts served as
practical reminders of God’s care giving,
faithfulness and provision.
The lessons learned by the magi and
by Mary and Joseph are lessons God continues to teach today. Spontaneous and
joyous giving will and should occur when
people encounter Christ. Signs of God’s
love for us often come in unexpected forms
from unexpected people. And while following God’s lead down frightening and
dangerous paths may not ensure that we
receive gold, frankincense and myrrh,
following God does mean we will be the
beneficiaries of God’s care giving, faithfulness and provision. BT
Baptists Today • November 2004
23
RESOURCES
2004
Brought to you this month
by Hugh Kinard
The Resource Page
... creative and practical ideas
The challenges of teaching adults
T
eaching adults presents challenges in most
any setting, but it may be an even more
complex assignment in a church. There
are logical reasons for this:
• Most teachers in church settings are not specially
trained as educators. Their knowledge of teaching
is gleaned primarily from what they have
observed and experienced.
• Many think of teaching only in terms of
“telling.” Although there are occasions when the
lecture method may be appropriate for a certain
phase of a study, those times are rare. When
teachers do all of the talking, the focus is on
them rather than on the learners.
• Our society assumes that childhood is the time
for learning and that when we reach adulthood,
we probably know all we need to know.
• Adults like to think of themselves as independent, self-motivated and autonomous. Putting
ourselves into the role of learners may lessen our
sense of maturity, adequacy and completeness.
• Opening ourselves to the possibility of learning
can be threatening to some. Maturity, however,
includes a willingness to admit there are some
things we don’t know.
• Some adults are sensitive when talking about
spiritual learning and growth. Our vocabulary
seems limited when it comes to talking about
those things we cannot see and/or pertain to our
inner experiences.
Effective approaches
to teaching adults
The activity of teaching is so general in our society
that most people can successfully carry out the task
if they are willing to grow and learn “on the job.”
Following are effective approaches to directing or
influencing the learning of adults:
• Talk with respected teachers about the special
dimensions and considerations of teaching adults.
• Consult some of many good resources on planning and conducting suitable learning activities.
• Take advantage of excellent teacher training
opportunities for lay leaders.
Recommended Resources
32 Ways to Become a Great Sunday School Teacher, Delia Halverson
Activities for Teacher Training, Elaine M. Ward
Basic Teacher Skills: Handbook for Church School Teachers, Richard E. Rusbuldt
Being an Effective Teacher, Robert G. Davidson
Creative Ideas for Teaching, Mary Nelson Keithahn
Creative Teaching Methods: Be an Effective Teacher, Marlene D. LeFever
Effective Teaching and Mentoring, Larent A. Daloz
Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood, Jack Mezirow and Associates
Help! I’m a Sunday School Teacher, Ray Johnson
Learning Styles: Reaching Everyone God Gave You to Teach, Marlene D. LeFever
Planning for Teaching Church School, Donald L. Griggs
Teaching the Bible to Adults and Youth, Dick Murray
Teaching for Faith: A Guide for Teachers of Adult Classes, Richard Robert Osmer
Teaching and Learning in Communities of Faith: Empowering Adults Through Religious Education, Linda J. Vogel
Teaching Teachers to Teach, Donald L. Griggs
The Craft of Christian Teaching: Essentials for Becoming a Very Good Teacher, Israel Galindo
Transforming Bible Study, Walter Wink
• Never stop learning and improving your skills.
You will not become an expert on any one skill
right away, but you can improve your abilities by
focusing on one or two areas at a time.
• Stir interest in or curiosity about the areas to be
explored.
• Determine what the pupils already know related
to the learning objective at hand.
• Be sensitive enough to detect opportunities for
significant learning encounters.
• Don’t assume which needs might be met by a
given study. Listen to the questions asked and
responses to various ideas to learn about the
interests and concerns of each participant. Note
the more frequently expressed needs and address
them when the best opportunity arises.
• Create learning activities appropriate to the learners’ level of development that will permit them to
discover and learn for themselves.
• Remember that learning is a lifelong process.
Adults are continually developing spiritually, and
development is often slow and gradual. On
almost any topic, there are opportunities for
deepening our understanding, insight or level of
concern.
• Learn how to direct the learning of pupils — just
as parents guide their children to learn to
perform certain tasks.
• Rather than devoting attention to what you say
and do during instruction, focus on what the
pupils are led to think, feel, discover or ask in
order to learn for themselves. Moving the focus
in the teaching/learning process to the pupils
does not place less importance upon your role as
teacher, instructor or facilitator. In fact, the work
and responsibility are greatly expanded.
• Formulate procedures that will reinforce the
learning.
• Evaluate progress toward learning goals and plan
appropriate next steps or follow-up.
Summary
Learning is exciting, even for teachers. And if
teachers can’t get excited about their own learning,
how can they become interested in the learning of
someone else?
After all, if the pupils have not experienced
learning, there has been no teaching. Regardless of
the activities conducted, if learners have not
appropriated some new information, fact,
understanding, skill or insight, there has been no
teaching. BT
THE RESOURCE PAGE is provided by the Congregational Life office of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in partnership with Baptists Today and
for those dedicated lay leaders working in the educational ministries of local churches. This month’s page was written by Hugh Kinard, a retired educator
living in Smyrna, Ga., and a member of Marietta First Baptist Church.
24
Baptists Today • November 2004
CLASSIFIEDS
Mount Zion Baptist Church of Macon,
Ga., a historical church approaching
its 175th anniversary in 2007, is now
receiving résumés for senior pastor.
We are seeking an experienced
minister of the gospel with strong
leadership skills and a heart for the
people of the community of faith to
help lead our church to the next step
in its bright history. This man of God
needs to possess effective preaching
skills and be able to work with and
love people of all ages. Weekly attendance averages 300. Mount Zion is
affiliated with SBC and CBF. If interested, mail résumé to: Chairman of
Pastor Search Committee, Mount
Zion Baptist Church, 7501 Rivoli Rd.,
Macon, GA 31210.
Crosscreek Baptist Church
(www.crosscreekbaptist.org), a liturgical and informal moderate church
family of about 150 active members
located in Alabama’s fastest growing
county just south of Birmingham,
announces an opening for pastor.
Salary commensurate with experience and education. Respond to:
Pastor Search Committee, 600
Crosscreek Trail, Pelham, AL 35124 or
[email protected].
First Baptist Church Albany, Ga., is
searching for the senior pastor
whom God has chosen to lead us
into the future. We are looking for
someone with strong preaching and
teaching abilities, a dedicated soul
winner with a minimum of five years
experience as a pastor, to lead our
congregation of approximately 450
(average attendance). First Baptist
Albany has had a historical affiliation
with the Southern Baptist
Convention. Please prayerfully consider whether God is calling you for
this position and send your résumé
to: Pastor Search Committee, P.O.
Box 67 Albany, GA 31702 or
[email protected]. For
additional information, visit
www.firstbaptistalbany.org.
The First Baptist Church of Frederick,
Md., is seeking a minister of
worship. We are looking for an
energetic, team-oriented individual
with demonstrated expertise and
passion for both traditional worship,
which includes an adult choir, and
contemporary worship, which
includes a praise band. FBC Frederick
is a fast-growing church located in a
fast-growing area within 50 miles of
both Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
We cooperate with the Southern
Baptist Convention, the Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist
Convention of Maryland/Delaware.
We offer both traditional and contemporary worship, and plan to relocate
in the next few years to a 38-acre
site three miles from the present
downtown location. We seek to be
“Light Unleashed” — a church
whose life and good works are so
compelling to the world around it
that the community is drawn to God
through its irresistible influence. For
more information about the church,
visit www.firstfrederick.org. Send
inquiries and résumés to: Dr. Larry
Eubanks, 217 Dill Ave., Frederick, MD
21701 or [email protected].
Minister to Adults: McLean Baptist
Church, McLean, Va., affiliated with
the CBF, seeks candidates with
7-plus years experience on a church
staff and strong talents in Christian
education. Résumés and letters will
be accepted until Nov. 15. Email
[email protected] or fax
(703) 356-8091. Direct questions to
James Henderson at (202) 857-2333.
For details on this position, visit
www.mcleanbaptist.org.
Trinity Baptist Church of Moultrie,
Ga., a church affiliated with both
the SBC and the CBF, is seeking a
minister to students and families.
Mail résumés to: Dr. Michael Helms,
201 Twelfth Ave. SE, Moultrie, GA
31768.
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discover The Giving Life? Order a
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emphasis — posters, worship
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at (800) 659-7445 or
www.resourcechurches.com.
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Baptists Today • November 2004
25
INFORMATION
Members of Congress, Presbyterian Church
differ on policy in Middle East, Israel
(RNS) — More than a dozen members of
Congress and an official of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) have recently exchanged
letters related to their differences on Middle
East policy.
In a mid-September letter, the members
of Congress criticized actions at the General
Assembly of the denomination this summer.
“The Presbyterian Church has knowingly gone on record calling for jeopardizing
the existence of the State of Israel,” the
members concluded in their Sept. 13 letter.
In July, assembly delegates voted to
study whether the church should divest
from companies doing business in Israel. In
a separate vote, they called for an end to
construction of a controversial Israeli security barrier that has been criticized for
separating Palestinians from their land, jobs
and schools.
The 21/2-page document stated the U.S.
representatives’ belief that the church mis-
“The Presbyterian Church has
knowingly gone on record calling
for jeopardizing the existence
of the State of Israel.”
understands the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
and called the proposal for divestiture “irresponsible, counterproductive and morally
bankrupt.”
Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the
Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General
Assembly, responded in a Sept. 24 letter
with his own criticisms. “Perhaps if the
United States Congress had been more
forthright in seeking ... a just solution for
Israel and Palestine, it would not have been
necessary for our General Assembly to take
this further action to achieve our long-term
commitment for peace and well-being for
both Israelis and Palestinians,” he wrote in a
three-page letter.
Kirkpatrick added that the start of the
process of “phased, selective divestment”
from some companies working in Israel “was
not taken lightly” and said it was “the occupation, not our move to consider
divestment” that threatens Israel’s existence.
He added that he would welcome the
opportunity for further dialogue between
Presbyterian Church leaders and congressional representatives. Those signing the
letter to Kirkpatrick were: Gary L.
Ackerman, D-N.Y.; Howard L. Berman,
D-Calif.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Eric Cantor,
R-Va.; Tom Feeney, R-Fla.; Barney Frank,
D-Mass.; Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Mark
Steven Kirk, R-Ill.; John Lewis, D-Ga.;
John Linder, R-Ga.; Deborah Pryce, ROhio; Linda T. Sanchez, D-Calif.; Lamar S.
Smith, R-Texas; and Henry A. Waxman,
D-Calif. BT
Under pressure, Wal-Mart pulls anti-Semitic book
(RNS) — Retail giant Wal-Mart has agreed
to stop selling the anti-Semitic book
The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
after receiving complaints from Jewish
groups.
Wal-Mart said in a statement Sept. 24
that “we have made a business decision to
remove this book” based on “significant
customer feedback.”
Wal-Mart had been selling the book, a
discredited tale of a world Jewish conspiracy, on its Web site.
In early September, Rabbi Abraham
Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angelesbased Simon Wiesenthal Center, sent a
letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott after
one of the Jewish human rights group’s
supporters alerted Cooper’s office.
“One of our members sent us a link to
the site,” said Cooper in an interview.
The Protocols has been widely
dismissed for years as a forgery created by
Russia’s pre-Soviet czarist police, yet the book
is read and believed today in anti-Semitic
circles and was a part of the founding of
the Islamic militant group Hamas.
26
The Protocols has been widely
dismissed for years as a forgery
created by Russia’s pre-Soviet czarist
police, yet the book is read and
believed today in anti-Semitic circles.
“Hamas quotes directly from the
Protocols in its 1988 charter,” Cooper said.
“It’s part and parcel of its founding documents. They invoke it.”
The Amazon.com and Barnes &
Noble Web sites also sell the book but with
content warnings that were lacking on the
Wal-Mart site. Cooper said he did not
think Wal-Mart intentionally was trying to
“make a buck” off the Protocols but speculated that the book somehow found its way
into the retailer’s extensive online selling
bin without proper scrutiny.
“I have no doubt that there was no
conscious decision at all by Wal-Mart,”
Baptists Today • November 2004
said Cooper.
Anti-Defamation League National
Director Abraham Foxman said Wal-Mart’s
decision to drop the book made sense.
“I would guess that part of their thinking was, ‘This is another headache we don’t
need,’” said Foxman. “The (online)
description of it sounded like it was a regular nonfiction book.
But it’s a notorious
forgery that continues
to be part of the
anti-Semitic arsenal.”
Foxman had
advocated that
Wal-Mart carry a
Protocols disclaimer
similar to those on the
Amazon and Barnes & Noble sites. Cooper
suggested the book itself be removed and
then replaced online with one or several of
the annotated deconstructions of the
Protocols, which include chapter-by-chapter
refutations.
“This is a white-hot, third-rail, alive
hate tract,” said Cooper. BT
INFORMATION
Bush appoints commissioners for religious freedom
(RNS) — President Bush has appointed a
Roman Catholic archbishop and an evangelical leader to the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom.
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver
and Michael Cromartie of the Washingtonbased Ethics and Public Policy Center will
serve two-year terms on the commission,
which makes recommendations to the
president, Congress and secretary of state.
Chaput will be serving his second term
on the commission. Cromartie succeeds
Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics
and Religious Liberty Commission of the
Southern Baptist Convention.
The commission was created by the
International Religious Freedom Act of
1998 to monitor international religious
freedom as defined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Nine voting
commissioners and a non-voting ambassador
at large serve on the commission. The president appoints three of the commissioners.
Chaput became the first Native
American archbishop in 1997. Cromartie,
an evangelical Christian, is vice president of
the Ethics and Public Policy Center. BT
Religious-Right pioneer Ed McAteer dead at age 78
By Robert Marus
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A Southern
Baptist layman credited with being the
“godfather” of the modern Religious Right
is dead at age 78.
Ed McAteer died after a long battle
with myeloma, a form of cancer, on the
morning of Oct. 6 at his home in Memphis,
Tenn. His wife, Faye, was with him when he
passed away.
In the late 1970s, McAteer became convinced that the nation was on a declining
moral trajectory. He left a successful career
as a salesman and executive with ColgatePalmolive to enter political advocacy.
He soon became one of the driving
forces in convincing Jerry Falwell, the conservative Baptist television preacher, to enter
politics in the late 1970s. McAteer — along
with Religious Right activists Paul Weyrich,
Paul Viguerie and Howard Phillips —
helped Falwell found the Moral Majority in
1979.
Although the Moral Majority no longer
exists, it was the first major organization
encouraging fundamentalist Protestants to
get involved in secular politics.
“Ed was a gigantic figure, starting in
the late ‘70s on through the ‘80s, in the life
of America in the conservative — especially
the religious — right,” said Tom Lindberg, a
family friend and co-author of a recent biography of the activist. “Jerry Falwell has said
that there would not have been a Moral
Majority if it had not been for Ed McAteer.
Ed has been a titanic figure in that.”
McAteer organized the first National
Affairs Briefing, which brought about
15,000 pastors and other conservative
Christian activists to Dallas in 1980. At that
meeting, then-presidential candidate Ronald
Reagan — by most accounts a nominal
Presbyterian — cemented his ties to the
Religious Right by famously declaring, “I
know you can’t endorse me, but I endorse
you.”
According to
Lindberg, who is pastor
of Memphis’ First
Assembly of God, that
event “catapulted
Reagan toward the forefront” of the
presidential race among
Ed McAteer
evangelicals — even
though he was running
against incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter,
an avowed born-again Southern Baptist.
The meeting drew national headlines
for Reagan’s statement, as well as publicity
surrounding comments by Southern Baptist
pastor Bailey Smith. He received heavy criticism for telling National Affairs Briefing
participants, “God Almighty does not hear
the prayer of a Jew.”
According to Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, which has
tracked McAteer’s career, the Memphis
activist was passed over as director of the
Moral Majority, but soon founded his own
organization, the Religious Roundtable. He
directed the group until his death.
McAteer — a longtime member of
Memphis’ Bellevue Baptist Church —
devoted much of his time in subsequent
years to building support among evangelical
Christians for the modern state of Israel. He
organized regular prayer breakfasts “for the
love and support of Israel,” Lindberg said, in
both the United States and in Jerusalem.
His most recent pro-Israel prayer breakfast
took place in Memphis earlier this year.
The activist’s support for the Jewish
state owed to his adherence to an interpretation of the Bible that claims the present-day
version of Israel continues to have a special
relationship with God and a role in biblical
prophecy, according to Dallas minister Mark
Wingfield.
“Ed McAteer epitomized a certain
strain of Southern Baptist fundamentalism
that is focused in on Israel’s role in premillenial dispensational theology as the key to
understanding the world,” said Wingfield,
who knew McAteer from his previous career
in Baptist journalism. “His whole worldview
was built around eschatology — it was his
driving passion.”
But McAteer also became frustrated
with the Religious Right’s lack of success in
achieving many of its policy goals,
Wingfield said. Although he midwifed a
movement that led many conservative evangelicals into the Republican Party, McAteer
sometimes felt as if the party did little to
return the favor.
For example, in 2001, a host of conservative religious and political leaders lobbied
newly elected President George W. Bush to
appoint McAteer as ambassador to Israel.
But Bush passed him over for Daniel
Kurtzer, a former ambassador to Egypt. “We
were dropped like a hot potato once they
got out of these Christians what they
wanted,” Wingfield quoted McAteer as saying, in an article for the Texas Baptist
Standard.
McAteer “was one of the few people
who grew weary of political leaders making
promises to the Religious Right to get
elected, and then not keeping them,”
Wingfield said. “Which is, in time, what
drove him to support more and more fringe
candidates. He’s a fascinating case study of a
true believer.” BT
Baptists Today • November 2004
27
INFORMATION
Lutheran congregation censured for ordaining gay man
(RNS) — A Minneapolis congregation of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America has been censured for ordaining a
gay man who serves as its associate pastor.
Bishop Craig E. Johnson of the
church’s Minneapolis Area Synod sent a letter “of censure and admonition” to Bethany
Lutheran Church, the denomination
announced Sept. 24.
The church ordained Jay A. Wiesner
on July 25 and installed him as its associate
pastor on Aug. 1, the ELCA News Service
reported.
Johnson censured the congregation
because Wiesner was not on the official
church roster of eligible clergy, ELCA
spokesman John Brooks told Religion
News Service. Wiesner was not on the
roster “because he is gay and living in a
relationship with another man.” Church
policy requires that single ministers
not engage in sexual relations outside
heterosexual marriage.
Johnson cited the portion of the
denomination’s constitution that states that
congregations will call pastors in accordance with church procedures unless they
receive special approval from a regional
bishop.
“Bethany Lutheran Church, after
debate, discussion and vote, willfully disregarded this critical accord of congregational
life in the ELCA,” he wrote.
He said congregations don’t have “sole
authority and responsibility to ordain a
leader.”
The bishop said he would postpone
any disciplinary action against the congregation until the denomination completes a
process in which it expects to decide about
ordination of gays and lesbians in committed relationships and whether there should
be a ceremony for the blessing of samegender relationships. Those decisions are
expected to be made during the ELCA
Churchwide Assembly in 2005.
Both Johnson and Steven R. Benson,
pastor of the church, expressed “sadness”
about the censure.
Benson said the reprimand was
expected, the denominational news service
reported, but the congregation felt that
ordaining Wiesner was “an expression of
faith.” BT
BBC to drop ‘Popetown’ cartoon series offensive to Catholics
LONDON (RNS) — The BBC has
announced it will not broadcast
“Popetown,” a cartoon series set in the
Vatican featuring sinister cardinals and a
childish pope.
The Sept. 23 decision was welcomed by
Roman Catholic officials.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor,
archbishop of Westminster, said: “I raised
this issue with the BBC. I am very happy
they have heeded my wishes and the
concerns of Roman Catholics.”
Baptist News
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national Baptist
news journal
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28
Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth,
chairman of the bishops’ strategic communications committee, also expressed relief.
“It was obviously going to be a controversial program which would have caused
offense, not least among the Catholic community who hold the person of the Holy
Father in the highest regard and affection,”
said Hollis.
“Any attempt to belittle or diminish his
status as the leader of the Catholic Church
is totally unacceptable, and not only to
Catholics.”
According to the BBC’s publicity material, issued when the series was first
announced two years ago, in Popetown “cardinals are sinister, corrupt and mysteriously
wealthy, and the pope is an infuriatingly
childish 77-year-old whose every fickle
whim must be indulged.”
The series would have been shown this
year on BBC 3, one of the BBC’s new digital channels which has a potential audience
of about 6.5 million. BT
United Methodist bishops open office in D.C.
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Council of
Bishops of the United Methodist Church has
opened its first permanent office in the
United Methodist Building in Washington.
The new office will be the international
headquarters of the council, said Bishop Peter
D. Weaver, council president.
“United Methodist bishops have much
to offer to the church and to the world,” he
said in a statement released by United
Methodist News Service. “As a council we
believe we are better positioned and better
equipped to provide effective leadership and
communications by being located in one of
the world’s most important centers of
communication.”
The office is in a building that houses
other United Methodist and ecumenical agencies. It is located across the street from the
U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Capitol.
The office will be staffed by retired
Bishop Roy I. Sano, the council’s executive
secretary.
The United Methodist Church has 68
active bishops, 50 in the United States and 18
in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. It has
8.3 million members in the United States and
a total of 11 million worldwide. BT
“United Methodist bishops have much to offer to the world.”
Baptists Today • November 2004
INFORMATION
Saudi Arabia added to religious freedom watchlist
By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON — The U.S. State
Department on Sept. 15 for the first time
included Saudi Arabia on a list of eight
“countries of particular concern” for not
allowing religious freedom, a potential stumbling block for relations between the United
States and its Persian Gulf ally.
The department’s sixth annual report on
international religious freedom also added
Eritrea and Vietnam to the roster of those
countries guilty or tolerant of “systematic,
ongoing, egregious violations of religious
freedom.”
Countries that remained on the list were
Burma, China, Iran, North Korea and Sudan.
Iraq, which had been on the list under
Saddam Hussein’s regime, was removed.
“Defending the sacred ground of human
conscience is a natural commandment to all
mankind and America will always heed this
call,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
Designation on the “CPC” list does not
carry immediate sanctions, and returning
countries faced little more than diplomatic
pressure. Still, human rights advocates say
being listed among “the worst of the worst” is
a significant signal.
The U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom, an independent watchdog
group chartered by Congress in 1998, had
urged Powell to also add Pakistan and
Turkmenistan to the CPC list in its May
report. The panel was divided on whether
India should also be listed.
Pressure had been mounting on Powell
to add the Saudis to the CPC list, despite
their key role in the war on terrorism. Critics
accuse the kingdom of exporting a militant
form of extremist Islam known as Wahhabism
and supressing all non-Muslim religions.
John Hanford, the U.S. ambassador at
large for religious freedom, noted some “sincere improvements” among the Saudis to
reign in extremists, open dialogues with Shi’a
Muslims and revising textbooks with “inflammatory statements” against non-Muslims.
Still, Hanford said such steps were not
enough. “We just feel the improvements aren’t
adequate at this point to put them in a position where they do not deserve designation,”
he said.
The report was more blunt than
Hanford’s public comments, noting that
“freedom of religion does not exist” in Saudi
Arabia, a distinction only shared with North
Korea.
Factors cited in the other “countries of
particular concern” included:
— China: “intimidation, harassment and
detention” of members of underground religious groups, especially Falun Gong, and a
“poor” respect for religious freedom.
— Burma: government monitoring and
infiltration of private religious groups and
restrictions on Buddhists and Muslims to
worship freely.
— North Korea: “arrest and harsh penalties” for proselytizers of unauthorized religious
groups and deaths of underground church
members. “Genuine religious freedom does
not exist,” the report said.
— Vietnam: persecution and detention
of minority Protestants and faiths that are not
officially recognized by the government.
— Eritrea: persecution of Pentecostal,
evangelical, Orthodox and Jehovah’s
Witnesses. “Prisoners of conscience are often
subjected to inhumane treatment that
includes poor living conditions and abuse,”
the report said.
— Iran: imprisonment, harassment,
intimidation and discrimination directed
against Sunni Muslims, Baha’is, Jews and
Christians.
— Sudan: second-class status for nonMuslims and “ethnic cleansing” against ethnic
black Africans in the western Darfur region
that has killed at least 30,000 and displaced
millions.
“Too many people continue to suffer for
the belief or practice of their faith and too
many governments refuse to recognize or protect this universal right,” Hanford said.
The report cited five countries —
Afghanistan, Georgia, India, Turkey and
Turkmenistan — for “significant improvements” in religious freedom.
The State Department report went
beyond the eight CPCs to single out problems in other nations. Many of the CPCs
were included on other lists, but the report
included a wide scope of nations. BT
Baptists Today • November 2004
29
INFORMATION
Statement of Ownership,
Management, and Circulation
1. Publication title: Baptists Today
2. Publication number: 1072-7787
3. Filing date: Sept. 16, 2004
4. Issue frequency: monthly
5. No. of issues published annually: 12
6. Annual subscription price: $18
7. Complete mailing address of known office
of publication:
P.O. Box 6318
Macon, GA 31208-6318
Contact person: John D. Pierce
Telephone: 478-301-5655
8. Complete mailing address of headquarters
or general business office of publisher:
988 1/2 Bond St.
Macon, GA 31201
9. Full names and complete mailing address
of publisher, editor and managing editor:
Publisher: Baptists Today, Inc.
c/o James T. McAfee, chairman
3117 Falcon Heights
10580 Big Canoe
Big Canoe, GA 30143-5128
Editor: John D. Pierce
Baptists Today
P.O. Box 6318
Macon, GA 31208-6318
Managing Editor: Jackie B. Riley
Baptists Today
P.O. Box 6318
Macon, GA 31208-6318
10. Owner: Baptists Today, Inc. (nonprofit)
P.O. Box 6318
Macon, GA 31208-6318
James T. McAfee, chairman
3117 Falcon Heights
10580 Big Canoe
Big Canoe, GA 30143-5128
Habitat leaders compromise on leadership transition
By John Pierce
“Now as I approach
AMERICUS, Ga. — Millard Fuller, who founded
Habitat for Humanity International with his wife,
Linda, in 1976, will relinquish the title of chief
executive officer but continue as “founding president” of the worldwide housing ministry.
Fuller has been in dispute for several months
with Habitat’s board of directors that appointed a
new managing director in June and called for
Fuller to retire as president on his 70th birthday in
January 2005. Former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter, Habitat’s best known volunteer, has intervened on two occasions to seek a compromise.
According to a press release from Habitat’s
headquarters in Americus, Ga., the Fullers will
serve as ambassadors for the ecumenical Christian
housing movement that will dedicate its 200,000th
house this year. Fuller has stated earlier that he
wanted to be in a leadership role when that milestone is reached.
“Now as I approach my 70th birthday, it is
time for a change,” said Fuller, according to the
my 70th birthday, it is
Thomas E. Boland, vice chairman
14950 E. Bluff Rd.
Alpharetta, GA 30004-3158
John D. Pierce, executive editor
P.O. Box 6318
Macon, GA 31208-6318
11. Known bondholders, mortgagees and other
security holders owning or holding 1 percent or
more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or
other securities: None
12. Tax status: The purpose, function and nonprofit
status of this organization and the exempt status
for federal income tax purposes has not changed
during the preceding 12 months.
13. Publication title: Baptists Today
14. Issue date for circulation data below:
September 2004
15. Extent and nature of circulation
Total number of copies: *11,741 **11,750
Paid and/or requested circulation
(1) Paid/requested outside-county mail subscriptions stated on
Form 3541: *9,975 **10,345
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stated on Form 3541: *— **—
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vendors, counter sales and other non-USPS
paid distribution: *— **—
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*1,000 **—
Total paid and/or requested circulation:
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Free distribution by mail
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Form 3541: *120 **188
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the USPS: *— **—
Free distribution outside the mail: *621 **750
Total free distribution: *741 **938
Total distribution: *11,716 **11,283
Copies not distributed: *25 **467
Total: *11,741 **11,750
Percent paid and/or requested circulation:
*93% **91%
16. Publication statement of ownership: Publication
required. Will be printed in the November 2004 issue
of this publication.
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preceding 12 months
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to filing date
30
Baptists Today • November 2004
time for a change.”
—Millard Fuller
release. “I will remain very
engaged in the ministry as a
spokesperson and strategist, and will help in every
other way I can to strengthen and expand the
work of Habitat for Humanity throughout the
United States and around the world.”
Board chairman Rey Ramsey announced that
Paul Leonard, managing director since June, will
serve as Habitat’s CEO until a permanent replacement is named. David Williams will remain in
charge of day-to-day management as chief operating officer, a job he has held for several years.
“With today’s actions,” said Ramsey, an
attorney in Baltimore, “everyone involved in the
organization can keep their focus firmly on the
future.” BT
PERSPECTIVE
the lighter side
Church dinners meet modernity
By Kathryn Hamrick
A
s a Baptist preacher’s daughter, I
haven’t grieved as much over the
disappearance of Training Union as
I have over the near extinction of homecoming, aka dinner on the grounds. For PKs,
homecoming was the culinary event of the
Baptist ecclesiastical calendar.
Fast forward a couple of decades and
witness Baptist churches taking a stab at oletimey cooking to commemorate historic
anniversaries. When our church celebrated
its 150th Founders Day, the modern Ladies
of the Church were asked to prepare the
great recipes of the past. The completion of
our air-conditioned, comfortable family life
center certainly made it easier to reinstitute
“dinner on the grounds.” There would be no
flies in the egg custard; no slipped iced cake
layers; and, most of all, no wilted church
members.
The charter members would have
sniffed their smelling salts had they been
able to witness the frenzy as my husband,
son and I prepared the 21st century’s version
of ole-timey recipes.
My husband suggested we fix authentic
fried chicken, but quickly backpedaled at
the prospect of wringing a chicken’s neck. I
was secretly relieved — our Fry Daddy was
not large enough to handle a whole fryer.
If not chicken, what kind of meat
would we cook, we wondered early Sunday
morning as we watched the Doppler radar
on The Weather Channel. We nixed meat
loaf, that being a 1950s creation as opposed
to 1850s. We almost settled on country ham
biscuits, but the Doughboy’s frozen biscuits
would violate the spirit of the event.
“Let’s do a platter of liver mush!” my
husband decided and set off for the grocery
store. The times they are a-changing. Just 20
years ago, husbands didn’t know where the
grocery store was.
In the meantime, I started on our
favorite dessert: blackberry cobbler. Mother
Nature helped with the blackberries, but I
was on my own with the pastry. There were
enough pastry scraps left over for Grandma’s
ole-timey stickies, which I did not take to
church.
By now my husband had returned with
four pounds of liver mush, a local delicacy.
As our church members still know, when
you “work up a hog,” the recipe for liver
mush is “everything else.”
That Sunday morning, sensing that I
was nearing meltdown, my husband did
something no male ancestor would ever
have done: he volunteered to cook. So he
sharpened his knives with PaPa’s whet rock,
sliced the block of meat, lighted our gas grill
and grilled the liver mush.
Back in the house, I wondered what
sort of authentic vegetable to fry. Then an
inspiration: OKRA! But who would fry the
okra? Why not youngest son, Miles? So I
got him out of bed and
volunteered him.
Miles decided to
use his fish cooker
and propane tank.
It took just three
minutes and $10
worth of oil, but he
fried a whole bucket of
okra for Founders’ Day
lunch.
Our last contribution to the meal was
corn sticks, baked in Grandma’s cast iron
cornstick pan. Thank goodness for aerosol
cooking spray. The cornbread itself was from
scratch, since my husband got on his knees
and begged me not to add contemporary
ingredients such as sour cream, cheese or
Mexican corn.
With our authentic ole-timey meal thusly
prepared, we checked the weather Doppler,
the Internet and our cell phones, raced to
church, and thanked God for our goodly
heritage … and modern translations. BT
—A layperson, Kathryn Hamrick is a
trustee of North Carolina Baptist Hospital
in Winston-Salem and has served as president
of the General Board for the N.C. Baptist
State Convention.
Illustration by Scott Brooks
Baptists Today • November 2004
31
INFORMATION
in the know
Keeping up with people, places, and events
PEOPLE
Carlton Allen is pastor of First
Baptist Church of Commerce,
Ga., coming from First Baptist
Church of Claxton, Ga., where
he served for 10 years.
Robin Anderson is associate
pastor of University Baptist
Church in Baltimore, Md.,
coming from First Baptist
Church of Decatur, Ga.
Tony Lankford is pastor of Park
Avenue Baptist Church in
Atlanta at Grant Park. He comes
from Second Baptist Church of
Cedartown where he served as
associate pastor.
Paul Dakin is minister of music
at First Baptist Church of
Murfreesboro, Tenn. He served
Warrenton Baptist Church in
Virginia for eight years.
Clay Lester, a student at the
Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, is
youth minister at First Baptist
Church of Frankfort, Ky.
Tommy Ferrell is pastor of
Briarlake Baptist Church in
Decatur, Ga. He had served as
director of the evangelism and
missions team for the South
Carolina Baptist Convention.
Daniel Glaze, a recent graduate
of the Baptist Theological
Seminary at Richmond, has
joined the staff of First Baptist
Church of Frankfort, Ky., as
minister-in-residence.
Joy Heaton is pastor of Waverly
Congregational Christian
Church near Richmond, Va.
Her husband, Tom, will study at
the Baptist Theological
Seminary at Richmond. She previously served Antioch Baptist
Church in Enfield, N.C.
Wanda Herron is associate pastor for worship and arts at
Holmeswood Baptist Church of
Kansas City, Mo.
Ray Higgins will become the
second coordinator of
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
of Arkansas Jan. 1, 2005, coming from the pastorate of Second
Baptist Church in Little Rock.
He succeeds Tom Logue who is
retiring.
32
Baptists Today • November 2004
Tom Jackson has been named
pastor emeritus by Wake Forest
Baptist Church in Wake Forest,
N.C. He served as pastor from
1988 until his retirement earlier
this year.
Timothy K. Norman is director
of congregational relations at
Baptist Theological Seminary at
Richmond, a newly-created
position. Previously, he served as
president of the Virginia Baptist
Foundation for 11 years.
Kathy Pickett is associate pastor
for youth and missions at
Holmeswood Baptist Church of
Kansas City, Mo.
William D. Shiell is pastor of
First Baptist Church of
Knoxville, Tenn., coming from
Southland Baptist Church in
San Angelo, Texas.
PLACES
Campbell University has
received a pledge of $4.5 million
from the John William Pope
Foundation that will be applied
to the cost of the $30 million
John W. Pope Jr. Convocation
Center to be constructed on the
Buies Creek campus. The center
will seat 3,000 spectators for
athletic events and up to 5,000
for special concerts, graduation
activities and other community
and regional events.
PERSPECTIVE
faith experience
Mothers and daughters and storms
By Colleen Burroughs
W
hat was up with the hurricanes
this season? I lost count. My
family was in Florida for two of
them. Then there was Ivan who swept up
through Alabama and knocked a million of
us into darkness for days.
I spent the first hours of Ivan’s darkness
with my parents and my 94-year-old grandmother who lives with them. Long-term
health needs in the house require oxygen and
a C-pap machine — and the electricity to
run them! So, like many folks across the
South lately, I hauled out a generator.
The basement flooded. The bedroom
leaked. The rooms were dark. We lit candles.
But then we remembered oxygen is FLAMMABLE, so we blew out the candles.
The generator read, “Do not use in rain
or snow,” but I cranked it anyway — and
then worried about the carbon monoxide levels inside the house. So, Mom and I opened
the storm windows and allowed the wet wind
to blow inside.
As if the threat of flooding, electrocution, explosion or poisonous gases weren’t
enough, multitudes of ants crawled into the
kitchen seeking shelter. They did not survive
as I wiped them away with the fury of the
storm itself.
When the lights are out, you think it’s
time to go to bed — but then discover it’s
only 7:30. We were all tired, and I was
grumpy. The generator was small enough to
be carried with help, but it was not large
enough to run all night. It required refueling
every hour. The neighbor’s flashlights blinked
at us every time we would crank it. Maybe
they assumed from the noise that we had a
TV and a hot meal.
About 1 a.m. I wondered how many
days my mom and I could keep cranking
without extended sleep. The electricity finally
came on, and I was so relieved that I cried.
First I thought, “We didn’t kill ourselves surviving the storm.” My next thought was “We
can make coffee — hot coffee!”
As I reveled in my own egocentric
celebration of survival, my mother’s words
stopped me short. They brought my heart to
my knees. Even though my father is very ill
and my grandmother could never hear the
tornado siren, mother spoke about how
blessed we were. She praised God for the
unusually bright, cloudy night to see by and
for the cool breeze coming through the windows. “Yes, we have lots to be thankful for
today,” she said.
I have so much to learn from my
mother. I’m moved by her deep faith and
constant kindness, even in exhaustion. She
didn’t pray for the storm to miss us, and
therefore hit someone else. She didn’t expect
God to keep limbs from falling on the car.
She just weathered the storm with a countenance of Christ’s peace.
I’m struck by something else. How is it
that we live in a world where communication
is available in such a way that millions of us
know to board up, buy water, find batteries
and cancel school? The same storm that
wipes out thousands of people like ants elsewhere manages a comparatively small number
of fatalities on our own shores. While I’m
personally grateful for the technology and
The Weather Channel, I have survivor’s guilt.
I have a lot to learn from my daughter.
The week following hurricane Jeanne there
was a picture of a Haitian boy on the cover of
our newspaper. He was crying behind bars
that blocked him from receiving the limited
supply of food and water. My 6-year-old
asked me if he had lost his house. Then she
asked if he had lost all his clothes. Later in
the day, as I was clearing the clutter from the
room, she held tight to the picture of the boy.
I had separated it into the pile intended for
the recycling bin, but she would not let me
throw him away.
I have much to learn from my mother
and my daughter … something about weathering a storm with a countanace of Christ’s
peace whatever the outcome … something
about trying not to ignore the reality that
there are places in the world devastated by
the same storm that may simply interrupt my
cable service. I need to wrap my brain around
the fact that the thousands of Haitian people
who were wiped out are not ants, but are
people whom God loves. They are mothers
who weathered the storm in prayer just like
mine did. And they are children who must
not be tossed aside by my indifference. BT
—Colleen Burroughts is executive vice
president of Passport Inc., in Birmingham, Ala.
Baptists Today • November 2004
33
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Baptists Today • November 2004
35
PERSPECTIVE
the media shelf
Review by John Pierce
Writer explores impact of Civil Rights Movement on leaders’ children
N
ames like Martin Luther King Jr.,
Malcolm X, Andrew Young, Ralph
David Abernathy and George
Wallace have been chiseled into the annals of
American history. But John Blake addresses an
unexplored and fascinating question: How did
the Civil Rights Movement impact the children of those leaders?
Through deeply personal interviews with
24 now-adult children — and, when possible,
their parents — Blake discovers there is no
single answer. For some, the struggle brought
families together. In other cases, the public
leader failed miserably as a
parent.
Former Atlanta Mayor and
U.N. Ambassador Andrew
Young confessed: “We willingly
risked our lives, but too seldom
did we stop to recognize the
burden we placed on our
children.”
Baptists Today editor John
Pierce asked author John Blake,
religion writer for the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, about his
book.
BT: What piqued your interest in the offspring of those on center stage of the Civil
Rights Movement?
JB: Living in Atlanta sparked my curiosity. I’ve
been here about 14 years and periodically I
would read news accounts about some of the
difficulties the children of Civil Rights leaders
were having. I always sensed that there were
these rich stories out there about the children
of the movement’s most famous figures. I
decided to finally write those stories one day
when I stumbled into a conversation with the
daughter of Rev. James Bevel, a close associate
of Dr. King, who told me how terrible her
father was though he was a great Civil Rights
leader.
BT: You chose to go wide in your choice of
interviews to include the children of segregationists and Black Panther leaders. Why?
36
JB: I think too many
people today see the
Civil Rights Movement
as a “black thang.” I
think it was actually one
of the most inspiring
expressions of Christian
and Jewish faith ever. It
made religion real to so
John Blake
many hurting people.
The movement never had one voice, despite
people who think today that Dr. King spoke
for all blacks. There were always competing
visions from within the black communities
about how blacks should react
to segregation. Those visions
include the Black Panthers
party and people like Malcolm
X. I included children of segregationists like George Wallace
and Ross Barnett because I
never heard much about them.
I wanted to know if they had
adopted their parents’ views or
rejected them.
BT: How were your requests
for interviews received?
JB: Hardly anyone turned me down, children
or parents. Even reclusive figures like Bob
Moses and busy leaders such as Andrew Young
talked to me. I suspect people said yes because
no one has explored this perspective on the
movement. And for a lot of people who
shared these very raw, personal stories, talking
about their relationship with their parents
seemed like therapy to them.
BT: What were the biggest surprises to you
from the interviews?
I was surprised at how so many children of
famous civil rights leaders grew up not knowing about their parents’ significance. They had
to find out about their parents through others.
Malcolm X’s daughter, Ilysasah, told me she
had to buy her father’s book to learn more so
she could talk about him with others. I was
Baptists Today • November 2004
also surprised by how unapologetic some of
the children of the segregationist leaders were.
BT: What conclusions did you reach about
the movement’s impact on these families?
JB: I couldn’t draw any broad conclusion
because each family reacted so differently.
Some children like the daughter of Bob Moses
and the son of Julian Bond expressed a deep
appreciation for their fathers, despite being
second place at times to the movement. But
more children still seem to experience an emotional distance with their parents. The saddest
part came from families who never recovered
from the movement. The son of Rev. James
Reeb, for example, a white minister murdered
in Selma, stopped believing in God because of
his father’s murder. And the daughter of James
Earl Chaney, one of the three civil rights
workers murdered in Mississippi during 1964,
told a heartbreaking story of being born a
week after her father was murdered, and growing up knowing that she would never know
the father whose picture she constantly sees in
history books.
BT: Is it constructive for readers to understand that faulty humans are often the
vehicles for great social change?
JB: I think it’s needed. Think of all the flawed
characters in the Bible: Jacob the deceiver;
Moses, who murdered a man; Paul with his
“thorn in his flesh.” The biblical stories say
more to us when we know that these heroes of
the faith struggled like we do.
I think the greatest enemy of the Civil
Rights Movement today is not racism, but
indifference and sentimentality. Heroes
become bores if we don’t make them human. I
wanted to show a more personal and raw side
of these leaders to make them come alive to a
new generation.
Children of the Movement by John Blake
(Lawrence Hill Books, 2004)
ISBN 1-55652-537-0
www.childrenofthemovement.com
RESCHEDULED
Gary Furr
The Mercer
PREACHING CONSULTATION
November 21-23, 2004
The King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort, St. Simons Island, Ga.
Truett Gannon
Leaders include
Co-sponsored by
The James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology
R. Alan Culpepper, Dean
R. Kirby Godsey
and
The Center for Baptist Studies
Walter B. Shurden, Executive Director
Clyde E. Fant
Rena Henderson
Sunday Evening
Monday Evening
Walter Shurden, presiding
Walter Shurden, presiding
4:00 Registration
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Amy Mears
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Stetson University, Deland, Fla.
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Bruce Morgan
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Charles E. Poole
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Services, Inc.
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Stetson University, Deland, Fla.
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Seeing Visions and Dreaming Dreams”
Tuesday Morning
Truett Gannon, presiding
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“Leading for Change Without Alienating”
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Griffin, Ga.
“The Preacher Learning from the Poet”
9:30 Clyde E. Fant, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies,
Stetson University, Deland, Fla.
“The Contemporary Church and Preaching:
Touching the Untouched”
To register, contact Sharon Lim
at Mercer University:
(800) 837-2905 or (678) 547-6420
For details, go to
www.mercer.edu/baptiststudies
and click on “conferences.”
QA
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First Baptist Church, Columbus, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Dalton, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga.
First Baptist Church, DeLand, Fla.
First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky.
First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Fla.
First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Greenwood, S.C.
First Baptist Church, Griffin, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Independence, Mo.
First Baptist Church, Jefferson, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Kannapolis, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Lavonia, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Lincolnton, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Macon, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Marion, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Manchester, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Monroe, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Morehead City, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Morganton, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Morrow, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Mt. Olive, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
First Baptist Church, Orangeburg, S.C.
First Baptist Church, Pensacola, Fla.
First Baptist Church, Riverdale, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Savannah, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Spruce Pine, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Statesville, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Tifton, Ga.
First Baptist Church, Vero Beach, Fla.
First Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.
First Baptist Church, Washington, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Waynesville, N.C.
First Baptist Church, Wilmington, N.C.
Flat Rock Baptist Church, Mt. Airy, N.C.
Florence Baptist Fellowship, Florence, S.C.
Glenwood Hills Baptist Church, Macon, Ga.
Grace Fellowship Baptist Church, Meridian, Miss.
Haddock Baptist Church, Haddock, Ga.
Hardwick Baptist Church, Hardwick, Ga.
Hendricks Ave. Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla.
Highland Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.
Highland Hills Baptist Church, Macon, Ga.
Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo.
Immanuel Baptist Church, Greenville, N.C.
Johns Creek Baptist Church, Alpharetta, Ga.
Kirkwood Baptist Church, St. Louis, Mo.
Knollwood Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Madison Baptist Church, Madison, Ga.
Masonboro Baptist Church, Wilmington, N.C.
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Macon, Ga.
New Hope Baptist Church, Hickory, N.C.
Northminster Baptist Church, Jackson, Miss.
North Riverside Baptist Church, Newport News, Va.
Northside Drive Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.
North Stuart Baptist Church, Stuart, Fla.
Northwest Baptist Church, Ardmore, Okla.
Oakhurst Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga.
Peachtree Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.
Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church, Urbana, Ill.
Pintlala Baptist Church, Hope Hull, Ala.
Providence Baptist Church, Charlotte, N.C.
Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark.
Riverside Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.
Rock Falls Baptist Church, Orrick, Mo.
Rocky Creek Baptist Church, Forsyth, Ga.
Second Baptist Church, Liberty, Mo.
Second Baptist Church, Lubbock, Texas
Second Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn.
Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.
Shades Crest Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala.
Shurlington Baptist Church, Macon, Ga.
Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Stone Mountain, Ga.
South Main Baptist Church, Houston, Texas
Southside Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala.
St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, La.
St. John’s Baptist Church, Charlotte, N.C.
St. Matthews Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.
Tabernacle Baptist Church, Carrollton, Ga.
Trinity Baptist Church, Cordova, Tenn.
Trinity Baptist Church, Moultrie, Ga.
Valley Brook Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga.
Vineville Baptist Church, Macon, Ga.
Wieuca Road Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.
Winter Park Baptist Church, Wilmington, N.C.
Woodhaven Baptist Church, Apex, N.C.
Yates Baptist Church, Durham, N.C.
… Your church can be better informed, too, for as little as $375 per year
(minimum 25 subscriptions at $15 each).
Just send a list of names and addresses, along with a check, to:
Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208-6318
(For more information, call toll-free 1-877-752-5658)
P.O. Box 6318
Macon, GA 31208-6318