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News and information for ministry from
LifeWay Christian Resources of the
Southern Baptist Convention
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2004
Chuck Norris:
Action star tells
about ups, downs
and God’s providence
in new B&H autobiography
Inside:
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
Celebrating the 12 Days
of Christmas, 20-21
Contents
Commentary
From My Heart to Yours: Families face a firestorm . . . .4
Pastors see divorce, media as biggest threats . . . . . . . . .6
Articles
M-Fuge campers make impact in Germany . . . . . . . . .8
LifeWay invests in state convention baptism plans . . .12
New units lead to church growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Church resources area announces new leadership . . . .16
B&H releases Chuck Norris autobiography . . . . . . . . .17
Celebrate Christmas God’s way -- 12 ideas . . . . . . . . .20
Small church VBS results in big miracle . . . . . . . . . . .22
SBC president cites VBS, FAITH as key . . . . . . . . . .26
LifeWay trustee report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Kingdom education is this man’s passion . . . . . . . . . .29
New HCSB kid’s Bible gives parents a great tool . . . .32
Spanish Web page reaches out to Hispanic Christians .35
500 campers make decisions at Centri-KID . . . . . . . .36
Fuel gets teenagers on fire for Sunday school . . . . . . .38
Collegiate Week goes cross country . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Ancient worship service speaks to college students . . .42
Men’s ministry grew out of a boxing match . . . . . . . .44
12 tips for teaching that leads to transformation . . . . .46
This & That . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
M-Fuge International • 8-11
Resources
Just released from LifeWay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Cover Photo: Action star Chuck Norris has a new autobiography published by LifeWay’s
Broadman & Holman. In the book, Norris tells how he always has known that God has
a plan for his life. Photo by Kent Harville.
November/December 2004
Volume 50 • Number 6
Facts & Trends is a free publication of LifeWay Christian Resources.
Our purpose
New Units • 14-15
To support you in ministry by connecting you with LifeWay’s “Biblical Solutions for Life.” Carry out
your calling more effectively as you read news and feature stories, information about trends that impact
the church, ministry tips and an introduction to new LifeWay products. Whether you’re a pastor, church
staff member or lay leader, you’ll find ways to enhance your ministry.
Collegiate Week • 40-41
Resurrecting Christmas • 20-21
Upcoming
In the Jan/Feb Issue
Listing of all the 2005
LifeWay-sponsored
enrichment and
training events
Half of the magazine will
be devoted to letting you
know the choices you and
your church have to learn
and grow in 2005.
Locations include Glorieta, Ridgecrest, Nashville
and St. Louis.
Bible for kids • 32-33
Small church, big VBS • 22-23
How to get
Facts & Trends
absolutely free
Write us:
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One LifeWay Plaza
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Fred Luter • 44-45
Our format
Chuck Norris’ new
autobiography • 17-19
Facts & Trends is published six
times a year by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern
Baptist Convention.
Our people
LifeWay’s news site:
www.lifeway.com/news
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communications assistant; Shirley Richardson, Web
editor; Rob Phillips, director, corporate communications.
From my
heart to yours
Families face a cultural firestorm
T
LIFEWAY
he last couple of years wildfires have ravaged the southwestern
United States. If you'll recall the fires in southern California, you'll
remember how quickly -- and dangerously -- they covered great
distances and charred neighborhoods.
James T. Draper Jr.
President, LifeWay Christian Resources
of the Southern Baptist Convention
A similar firestorm is sweeping the American family and threatens to
be a much more significant crisis. The assault on the family has
accelerated and is burning at a white-hot temperature. The traditional
family -- a man and a woman married to each other and raising
children if they have them -- is the bedrock of our culture. As it erodes,
our nation becomes unstable and eventually will crumble. History
supports this statement. The erosion of
the family was a core reason some of
the world's great civilizations collapsed.
“God designed the
A recent survey done for Facts &
family to be the fort
Trends and appearing on the following
pages revealed what pastors of different that insulates children
denominations across the country
from the world.”
believed to be the biggest threats
families encounter. Overwhelmingly,
— James T. Draper Jr.
the majority said divorce. Interestingly,
the survey, conducted months ago,
didn't even list same-sex marriage as a
threat but most certainly would if the survey were taken today; that's
how quickly the issue has come to the forefront. Recent surveys show a
majority of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, and by more than 70
percent Missourians recently added an amendment to their state
constitution stating that “…to be legal in this state, a marriage shall
exist only between a man and a woman.”
Divorce and same-sex marriage are damaging fires stoked by the
winds of contemporary culture and fueled by citizens who increasingly
embrace moral relativism. One-third of all marriages in this country
end in divorce. I know there are exceptions, but for the most part,
marriage is not seen as a binding lifelong contract. There seems to be in
the back of people's minds the caveat that “if this doesn't work out I
Subscribe
In addition to this column in Facts & Trends, LifeWay President James T. Draper Jr. writes
LifeWay@Heart, a periodic e-mail message addressing trends and ministry ideas. Add your name to the
LifeWay@Heart mailing list by going to www.lifeway.com/form_heart.asp. On the form, type in your email address and name, then click the “Join List” button.
can always get a divorce.” We conveniently forget the “until death
do us part” section of our vows to one another. Social psychologists
can spin it any way they want, but there is overwhelming credible
research that reveals the traumatic effects of divorce, especially on
children. God designed the family to be the fort that insulates
children from the world, but a divorce is the breach in that wall.
Sadly, believers are no example to the world around them.
According to Barna Group research, 33 percent of “born again”
adults who have been married have gone through a divorce
compared with 34 percent of “non-born again” adults. It appears
that the church is having no positive impact in strengthening
marriages.
Also, it is difficult to respond to homosexual activists who say
our biblical arguments ring hollow. We say marriage between a
man and a woman is necessary for a child's emotional health, yet
biblical truth is undermined when heterosexual couples so quickly
cast aside an institution that was established to depict the
relationship between Christ and His church. Christians come off
as hypocritical. Homosexuals say if we are so worried about the
institution of marriage maybe we should focus on the problems
facing heterosexual marriage.
Know what? They're right! The church must passionately do all
it can to strengthen families and save marriages while combating
the threat same-sex marriage presents. There will be nothing but
the charred remains of what was the family if the church doesn't
rise to the challenge.
In His love,
Looking at issues:
Pastors were almost evenly divided on
the statement, “Like it or not, the traditional view of family no longer really
exists in American society.” See what else
they had to say on the state of the family
in their own communities in the survey
on pages 6-7.
We recommend:
• Marriage Enrichment: Making a
Good Marriage Better (Serendipity Felt
Need Series)
• Same Sex Marriage by Matthew
Staver
• Covenant Marriage by Gary Chapman
• Extraordinary Marriage: God’s Plan
for Your Journey by Rodney and Selma
Wilson
• Experiencing God as Couples by
Henry Blackaby
• The Homosexual Agenda by Alan
Sears and Craig Osten
These and other resources are available
through customer service at lifeway.com
and (800) 458-2772 and
from LifeWay Christian Stores at
lifewaystores.com and (800) 233-1123.
Ron Sellers is president of Ellison
Research, which is
conducting exclusive research for
Facts & Trends on
issues important
to our readers.
6
Facts & Trends
efore you read any further, ask
yourself: What are the three
strongest threats to families in your
community?
A representative sample of 695
Protestant clergy across America got
that exact question in a study conducted for Facts & Trends by Ellison
Research of Phoenix, Ariz. The top
three, as seen by pastors, were divorce (named by 43 percent), negative influences from the media (38
percent) and materialism (36 percent).
After these three came absentee
fathers (24 percent), the lack of a
stay-at-home parent (22 percent),
co-habitation before marriage (18
percent), and pornography (17 percent). Much lower down the list
were issues such as substance abuse,
sexual predators, teen pregnancy
and adultery.
The perceived threats to family
differed quite a bit by
region. For instance,
ilies, and to place more
morality not being
Eighty-seven percent of all emphasis on divorce.
taught in schools was
Respondents also were
pastors agreed with the
infrequently menasked to agree or distioned by pastors in
statement, “No matter how agree with three differthe Midwest, while
ent statements about
society defines family,
co-habitation was seen
churches need to promote family. A majority
as much more of a
agreed that “churches
threat there than else- a traditional view of family.” tend to focus so much
where. Parental alcoon 'traditional' families
hol abuse was particuthat they do not serve important groups
larly felt by Western ministers, while
such as singles, childless couples or single
absentee fathers were seen as a more seri- parents appropriately.” While six out of
ous problem in the South than else10 pastors agreed with this, only 12 perwhere.
cent did so strongly, while 48 percent
Southern Baptist pastors tended to
agreed somewhat. Twenty-six percent
have opinions that were quite close to
disagreed somewhat, and 14 percent disthe average, aside from a tendency not to agreed strongly. Southern Baptists were
emphasize poverty as a top threat to fam- split on this, with 47 percent agreeing
COMSTOCK
Pastors see divorce as biggest
threat to their communities
B
Ministry
Protestant clergy rate
perceived threats to family
Top five for Southern Baptists:
Divorce (53%)
Negative influences from the media (38%)
Materialism (36%)
Absentee fathers (29%)
Latch-key kids (23%)
Top five for other Baptists:
Negative influences from the media (43%)
Divorce (40%)
Materialism (36%)
Absentee fathers (26%)
Co-habitation (24%)
Top five for Methodists:
Materialism (35%)
Divorce (35%)
Negative influences from the media (34%)
Parental drug abuse (23%)
Poor economy/poverty/unemployment (22%)
Top five for Lutherans:
Materialism (44%)
Divorce (44%)
Negative influences from the media (34%)
Parental alcohol abuse (21%)
Poor economy/poverty/unemployment (20%)
Top five for Pentecostals:
Source: Ellison Research, 2003
and 53 percent disagreeing.
Pastors were divided on the statement, “Like it or not, the traditional
view of family no longer really exists
in American society.” Forty-seven
percent agreed (10 percent strongly,
37 percent somewhat), while 53 percent disagreed (26 percent strongly,
27 percent somewhat). Southern
Baptists were particularly likely to
disagree strongly with this statement.
One thing on which most pastors
could agree was that “No matter
how society defines family, churches
need to promote a traditional view
of family.” Eighty-seven percent
agreed with this perspective, including 71 percent who agreed strongly.
Five percent disagreed somewhat,
while 8 percent disagreed strongly.
In the SBC, 94 percent agreed, including 84 percent who agreed
strongly with this statement.
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison
Research, noted there was no consensus on what constitutes the
strongest threats to the family in
America. “The level of threat each
issue represented often differed from
region to region, and no threat was
named among the top three by even
half of all pastors,” Sellers pointed
out. “Obviously the threats to families differ considerably from one
community to the next. An upscale
suburban community may be threatened most by materialism or latchkey kids, while a rural area may have
real problems with poverty or alcoholism. This could make any nationwide or large-scale initiatives to deal
with these problems a challenge, or
at least lead to very spotty success.”
Divorce (50%)
Negative influences from the media (36%)
Absentee fathers (32 %)
Morality not taught in schools (24 %)
Latch-key kids (23%)
What a difference a year can make. When this survey was done, same-sex marriage was not the big issue it is now. See
what LifeWay President James T. Draper Jr. said about the state of marriage in My Heart to Yours on pages 4-5.
November/December 2004
7
Souvenirs
from Germany:
Changed Lives!
8
Facts & Trends
Missions
M-Fuge International
By Mike Creswell
S
eventy-five American students headed home from
Germany last summer with some unusual souvenirs:
changed lives.
The students took part in M-Fuge International, a
week of training and experience in missions sponsored
jointly by LifeWay and the International Mission
Board.
LifeWay staffers joined with Southern Baptist missionaries from several countries to provide an intense,
full week of Bible study, prayer and on-the-scene faithsharing. The students spent hours in the parks and on
the streets of Cologne, Germany, at first prayer walking
and asking God to become known to the 20 million
people who live in and around the city, then making
friends and sharing their faith.
Cologne was not chosen at random. Southern Baptist
missionaries say the city is a strategic place for outreach
on several levels. A favorite tourist location because of
its famous twin-spired cathedral beside the Rhine
River, Cologne is perhaps most famous for trade shows
and exhibits at its huge Köln Messe exhibit hall.
But missionaries say Cologne is also a Gateway City
that has drawn people from many lands and cultures
here. As many as half the people living in some parts of
the city are Muslims from Turkey, for example. Here,
it's possible to witness to people from the Middle East
and other parts of the world that are closed to missionary presence.
Local missionaries were pleased with how the American students overcame their fears and began to talk
with people, despite language problems. If each of the
75 students shared the gospel with one person, their
week of work could equal a missionary’s two-year term
in Cologne, one missionary leader said.
Youth leaders were delighted with the spiritual
stretching and growing they saw in their young people.
Rick Conner, associate pastor in charge of worship and
youth ministry at New Covenant Community Church,
a Southern Baptist congregation in Tavares, Fla., said
his church has done missions projects, usually service
ministries, such as house construction. But he thinks
the M-Fuge International experience for his 11 students will take them and their home church to the next
level of missions.
What’s that next level? “Seeing that desire and having
PHOTO BY MIKE CRESWELL
Facing page: In Cologne,
Germany, students Abbey
Cripe, left, Tavares, Fla.,
and Mandy Moench, daughter of Southern Baptist missionaries serving in Europe,
prayer walk in a park along
the Rhine River, with the
city’s landmark cathedral
spires behind them. Prayer
walking was an essential
part of the week-long MFuge missions experience.
(continued on next page)
November/December 2004
9
compassion to see their friends come to Christ and
knowing they don’t have to rely on the youth group
to do that,” Conner said. “They can very much do
that themselves by praying and then by sowing some
seeds and finding some common ground and then by
reaping the harvest and discipling them.”
Meanwhile, the students themselves also were taking
home a bigger understanding of what they can do for
God. Some acknowledged that parts of the week were
difficult: Even ordering a burger at Burger King was
hard when the clerk spoke no English.
But students learned to look beyond such inconveniences. Tyler Bickhart, 19, is an active member of
New Covenant and a student at Lake Sumter Community College in Leesburg, Fla. He said the week
was a “humbling experience” for him. It was the first
time he had ever seen so many people who have no
clue who Jesus is. “I’ve grown up with Him all my
life; I’ve always seen God working,” he said.
M-Fuge students tackle world for Christ
PHOTO BY MIKE CRESWELL
By Mike Creswell
M
ost high school and college kids who visit this
sprawling city on the Rhine River come to see
the sights and have a good time.
But 75 young people from five U.S. states who took
part in M-Fuge International last summer had a higher aim: To learn how to lead people in Cologne, Germany, to Christ.
Sponsored jointly by LifeWay and the International
Mission Board, the week-long experience was led by
both LifeWay personnel from America and Southern
Baptist missionaries from several countries.
For the mostly Southern Baptist high school and
college students the week amounted to a crash course
on international missions. It was a dive-in-and-get-itdone approach to sharing the gospel with people despite language and cultural barriers.
After Bible studies, small-group teaching times,
worship and major emphasis on prayer, students were
sent out to the streets, parks and shopping centers
across Cologne to share their faith.
But for Southern Baptist missionaries trying mightily to share Christ with people here, the week was an
integral part of their plan. It was not just a classroom
exercise, but rather a sowing of gospel seeds.
“This is not just for teaching,” said one missionary.
“We bring hundreds of short-term workers here every
year because we want wide sowing of the gospel and
we’ve seen good results from it.”
If each of the 75 students shared the gospel with
one person, their week of work could equal a mission10
Facts & Trends
Bible study on Christian responsibility for missions was a key part of the
week-long M-Fuge session. Here, Kris Miller, right, 18, a recent high
school graduate, studies with Dain Quiring, 16, a high school junior.
Both are members of Zion Christian Church in Palm Bay, Fla.
ary’s two-year term in Cologne, another missionary
leader said. “That’s an incredible contribution to the
Kingdom.”
Church leaders like Rick Conner who accompanied
their students to Cologne were excited to see the
changes in their students’ spiritual lives.
Conner is associate pastor in charge of worship and
youth ministry at the 135-member New Covenant
Community Church, a Southern Baptist congregation
in Tavares, Fla. He brought 11 students.
His church has done missions projects in the past,
usually service ministries, such as house construction.
But he thinks the M-Fuge International experience
will enable his students to move towards direct evan-
Missions
gelism and church planting.
Taking part in M-Fuge International
was part of a two-year plan to implant
missions into the lives of students at
Brent Baptist Church in Brent, Ala., said
Scott Davis, assistant pastor, who
brought five students.
“We felt like God wanted our church
to begin to have eyes to see the globe
rather than just focusing on the United
States, so we planned for two years. Last
year we went to M-Fuge at a location in
Alabama. And after that our two-year
plan was to take an
international trip,
so that’s how we
ended up here.”
A self-described
“layman who tries
to be involved,”
Marty Logsdon
brought his son,
Andrew, and another boy from Antioch Baptist Church
in LaCenter, Ky. “It
has been a wonderful experience to be
here with my son
on his first mission trip,” he said. “It has
been extra special for me to sit back and
watch him and see how he handles a different culture and language.”
Logsdon, a computer specialist with an
energy firm, added, “I’m excited to get
back home and share with our church
and other churches in our whole state
and try to get more youth involved in
missions -- I didn’t get involved until I
was in my 30s. This is an excellent opportunity for youth to come out for a
week and see what it’s about.”
Language and cultural barriers hit the
students as soon as they arrived in Germany. Logsdon said he was pleased with
how his two students managed to figure
out how to ride on Cologne’s tram sys-
PHOTOS BY MIKE CRESWELL
M-Fuge International
Above: Restaurant
patrons are unaware
that Joe Willis, Palm
Bay, Fla., and Erika
Scrimpshire, Laurel,
Miss., are praying
intently for their salvation.
Inset: LifeWay’s Brent
Hutchinson teaches during a general session of
M-Fuge International in
Cologne, Germany.
tem and by the end of the week had
picked up short German phrases to help
them get around.
Tyler Bickhart, 19, a New Covenant
member, said he came to a new appreciation of his own salvation and found it
exciting to be working for God in
Cologne. Asked if he would return to
Florida a different person, he answered,
“Yes! An extremely different person. I’m
going to go home realizing that there are
people back home I walk past every day
who don’t know Christ, just like over
here. And I can communicate with them
on any given day. I’m going to try to
show the light a lot more than I did
before.”
November/December 2004 11
LifeWay invests $1.6 million
in state Baptist conventions to
support goal of 1 million baptisms
L
ifeWay has invested more than $1.6
million in 13 state Baptist conventions and one association to fund evangelism projects aimed at helping Southern
Baptists achieve one million baptisms in
2005.
The funds represent LifeWay’s response
to the Southern Baptist Convention’s
challenge to double baptisms in the coming year and reverse four consecutive
years of declines in baptisms throughout
the SBC.
The LifeWay initiative began almost a
year ago, when the company hosted a
state executive-directors meeting in
Nashville. Ted
Warren, Life“...we believe God is honored Way’s executive
vice president
when we trust Him for
and chief operimpossible things that we know ating officer,
Presiwill bring Him great glory and shared
dent James T.
honor. We believe this is a
Draper Jr.’s vifor SouthGod-given vision that He will sion
ern Baptists to
equip us to achieve.”
reach a million
baptisms in a
— Ted Warren
single year -- a
vision shared
by LifeWay’s executive management
group. Warren then invited the state executive-directors to request funds from
LifeWay if they had plans to double baptisms in their states in 2005.
Thirteen state conventions and one association responded with a wide range of
proposals that met the standard. These
included state fair evangelism, youth encounters, evangelism training involving
LifeWay’s Share Jesus Without Fear, the
FAITH/Sunday School Evangelism Strat12
Facts & Trends
egy, university evangelism, state-wide
“wave” evangelism, outreach Bible studies, revival training and community
evangelism events.
The state conventions are spread out
across the country: Alabama, the Dakotas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New England, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania/New Jersey and Southern Baptists of
Texas. Several of the state conventions
got together and proposed regional evangelism plans.
“These projects demonstrate LifeWay’s
desire to partner with state conventions
when we share a common vision,” said
Draper. “These are very creative partnerships. God has given us the vision to
baptize a million people next year, and
He has blessed LifeWay with the resources to help state conventions see a
doubling of baptisms in their states using
evangelism tools that work best for them.
We asked the states to dream big, and
these states most certainly did, and we
are excited about what God will do
through us in the coming year.”
“We understand doubling the number
of baptisms in any state convention is
impossible apart from God,” Warren
said. “But we believe God is honored
when we trust Him for impossible things
that we know will bring Him great glory
and honor. We believe this is a Godgiven vision He will equip us to achieve.”
At the Southern Baptist Convention in
Indianapolis in June, Draper told messengers he attributed the four-year decline in baptisms to a lack of denominational focus. “It’s hard for someone to
argue to the contrary when more than
10,000 Southern Baptist churches did
LifeWay
not baptize a single person last year,” he said.
“Perhaps the main reason
for the decline in baptisms is that our denomination is simply failing to
reach people for Christ.”
Last year LifeWay invested $6.7 million in
state conventions through
its ministry investment
plan, student ministry
and other evangelism and
discipleship initiatives.
“The addition of $1.6
million to help churches
double their baptisms in
2005 shows that they
share our urgency to tell
Above: Baptism during the National FAITH Institute at
people about the love of
First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Christ,” said Draper.
Right: Examples of some products LifeWay has developed to
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
evangelism
equip believers to share their faith.
Below: The state conventions highlighted in red will receive
funds from LifeWay.
November/December 2004 13
New Sunday school units
target church, spiritual growth
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
Andrew Patton (in front of fireplace) and wife, Joy (to his
right), started this Bible study
two years ago, primarily seeking
out young, newly married couples they knew from church,
work and the neighborhood.
The group has gone through
several different Bible studies
and currently is studying “Jesus
the Teacher, Understanding the
Savior” from LifeWay’s
Serendipity line.
14
Facts & Trends
By Sharon D. Harper
L
ifeWay is giving the Southern Baptist
Convention a boost in its goal of one
million baptisms next year. The SBC's
publishing arm plans to lead churches to
start 100,000 new Bible study units to
reach new people for Christ and assimilate them into churches.
Wayne Poling, Sunday school specialist
in LifeWay's church ministry leadership
area, said the initiative to equip and engage churches is getting strong response
from churches nationwide.
“The goal is attainable since we had
70,000 units started last year,” he said.
“But I want people to know that the
purpose of starting new units is a heart
one, to reach people for Christ. It's not
just a mechanical action.”
Units can be more than just Sunday
school classes, Poling said. They can be
all kinds of ongoing evangelistic Bible
study classes in a mix of settings, from
clubhouses to homes to typical Sunday
morning gatherings. “We really encourage church members to begin looking at
the variety of possibilities,” he said.
“It could meet anytime, anyplace and
it's not for believers only. There's an intentional focus on reaching those outside
the church.”
Jay Johnston, director of LifeWay’s
FAITH/evangelism and discipleship area,
added, “One of the key goals for the
church resources division is to help
churches grow. By providing new-unit
helps like CDs and evangelism curriculum we are helping create an atmosphere
for churches to start new units. When a
church starts new units the church will
win people to Christ and we will see an
increase in baptisms.”
Rick Whitaker, minister of education
at First Baptist in Moore, Okla., has a
Ministry
Sunday school
strong commitment to start new units in
order to reach people for Christ. Sometimes that commitment involves asking
people in his church to make some
tough choices and take steps of faith.
He encouraged a women's class that
had been meeting for 15 years to focus
on outreach, after years of fellowshipfocused discipleship within the group.
Whitaker said the class was hesitant at
first to expand evangelistically, but after a
Spirit-led discussion, they agreed to
begin three new classes from their one.
“Evangelism is about those outside our
circle,” Whitaker told the group. “It's
supposed to hurt to do the right thing. I
was prompted by the Holy Spirit to say,
'You have been together 15 years. Within
this time, you should have started 10
daughter and granddaughter classes
growing with leaders galore. God intends
for the next 15 years to be different.'”
Poling encourages church ministry
leaders to log onto www.lifeway.com/
newunits for practical suggestions for
starting new classes. The site includes information on what a new class looks like,
common challenges, presenting new
units and suggested resources based on
the unit setting. Church leaders are asked
to write testimonies of their current
classes' success in aiding spiritual growth.
Poling said churches of all sizes organizing new units are succeeding in
church growth. Topper Reid, pastor of
Hunter Street Baptist in Birmingham,
Ala., said since 1991 classes grew from
52 units to 297, increasing church attendance from 700 to 3,100 people. “Creating new units allowed us to do evangelism through the Sunday school and
reach new people,” Reid said, adding,
“Many of our existing new classes gave
birth to as many as five new units
through the years.”
John Franklin, pastor of Woodmont
Bible Church, a smaller Nashville congregation in decline 14 months ago, explains that the new units have helped his
church grow as he sought a way to meet
a need for families with children.
“We had only one Sunday school in
the whole church, an adult class, and
that was nominal,” he said. “We brought
a new teacher on board, and now that
class is healthy and functioning. In addition, we've established two toddler classes and are adding another three.
“People are going to get involved and
grow as disciples of Jesus based on relationships,” Franklin said. “The base
strategy for us is Sunday school. We saw
the activity of God and stepped out
where nothing existed. We prayed and
God is doing it. It didn't stem from
being such a brilliant church growth
strategist as much as it stemmed from a
logical next step.”
Franklin said everyone who has joined
his church has been involved in Sunday
school. “This was an older church that
once had 200 in children's classes. It has
declined substantially, but it's on the rebound. There's a new energy and excitement, a sense we're going somewhere.”
More established churches also reap the
benefit of ongoing units, added Steve
Stege, minister of education at First Baptist Church of Lubbock, Texas. The
church added almost 50 units in the last
two years, and has an average unit attendance of 1,900.
“Adding new units is fundamental for
growth,” Stege insisted. “For every unit,
you're going to see 10 new people starting Bible study. It's essential to church
growth because Sunday school is the
evangelistic arm of the church.”
We recommend:
• Essentials for Excellence:
Connecting Sunday
School to Life
• Evangelism Through the
Sunday School - A Journey of FAITH
• Growing an Evangelistic
Sunday School
• How-to Sunday School
Guide - Curriculum
Workshop for Church
Leaders
• Teaching the Jesus Way:
Building a Transformational Teaching Ministry
• Ten Best Practices To
Make Your Sunday
School Work - Resource
Book
• What Every Pastor
Should Know about Sunday School
• What Every Sunday
School Teacher Should
Know
These and other resources are available
through customer service
at lifeway.com and (800)
458-2772 and from LifeWay Christian Stores at
lifewaystores.com and
(800) 233-1123.
Go to www.lifeway.com/newunits and learn how to order a new-units CD.
November/December 2004 15
LifeWay
organization
Staff changes announced
in church resources division
L
ifeWay has named Selma Wilson associate to the vice president of the
church resources division and announced
other divisional leadership changes designed to enhance LifeWay's ministries to
churches.
Wilson is a 10-year veteran
with LifeWay who served most
recently as director of organizational performance for church
resources. Wilson will work beside recently appointed church
resources interim vice president
John Kramp.
Other key changes in the
church resources leadership
team include:
Selma Wilson
Louis Hanks, formerly director
of publishing, is now director of ministry
and business development, a new position that will strengthen LifeWay's magazine offerings, women's ministry, Vacation Bible School and childhood
publishing, music, new ventures and
other areas.
David Francis, formerly director of regional operations, now directs a newly
organized Sunday school team that will
place stronger emphasis on the strategies
and products churches need to grow
their Sunday schools.
Jay Johnston, formerly director of
church ministry leadership, is now director of a new emphasis called
FAITH/Evangelism and Discipleship,
helping grow LifeWay's FAITH evangelism strategy and lead the company's discipleship efforts to help churches develop
Great Commission Christians.
Mike Miller, formerly director of
church relations, is now director of LifeWay's regional operations. Miller is a
prolific author who most recently pub16
Facts & Trends
lished The Kingdom Focused Leader.
Gary Hauk, formerly director of leadership and adult publishing, is now director of publishing, overseeing all of the
division's childhood, student and leadership/adult publishing and multimedia efforts.
Jim Johnston, director of publishing
services and multimedia, will serve as interim director of marketing, overseeing
market research and intelligence, customer interaction strategy, advertising
and promotion and customer service.
LifeWay is engaged in a nationwide
search for a permanent marketing director.
Mark Marshall, formerly director of the
southeast region, is now director of a
new training and events team, bringing
together the related ministries of leadership training and student, men's and
women's events. Marshall will lead LifeWay's effort to champion the pastor, including the new initiative with President
James T. Draper Jr. to engage more
young SBC ministers in the direction of
the denomination.
“The church resources division has a
wonderful opportunity to move forward
in ministry, and these changes in our
leadership team will maximize the effort,” said Kramp. “We are uniquely
equipped, now more than ever before, to
champion the pastor and grow the
church. These are great days to strengthen relationships and to work together to
accomplish the assignment God has
given us.”
Find out what David Francis, Louis
Hanks, Jay Johnston and Mark Marshall have to to say about their new
areas of responsibility in a Q&A series
at www.lifeway.com/news.
B&H
Chuck Norris
Hundreds of fans lined up
to meet Chuck Norris,
right, and his wife, Gena,
standing to his right, at
the LifeWay Christian
Store in Nashville, Tenn.
Norris’ new autobiography
is published by Broadman
& Holman.
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
In new B&H book, actor
Chuck Norris tells God’s plan
was bigger than his own
By Sara Horn
knew he could rely on God. He recounts
the events of that frightful night in his
ost would say Chuck Norris has
new autobiography, Against All Odds: My
reached the pinnacle of success.
Story with Ken Abraham, published by
A six-time world karate champion, he
starred as the hero in more than 23 films Broadman & Holman, LifeWay’s tradeand wrote and produced his popular tele- book division.
“I had earned millions of dollars over
vision series, “Walker, Texas Ranger.” But
my
lifetime,” he writes. “I’d been a friend
success couldn’t rescue the Norris family
to several presidents, yet all the money in
the night they faced a life-threatening
my bank account couldn’t help me now.
crisis.
Norris felt absolutely helpless when his … There was only one person to whom
I could turn.” It was God. He’d been
wife, Gena, went into pre-term labor
with their unborn twins. But Norris also with Norris throughout his life, and this
would be no different.
M
(continued on next page)
November/December 2004 17
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
Patient and quick with a smile, Chuck Norris signed copies of his new autobiography,
“Against All Odds” for hundreds of fans in Nashville’s LifeWay Christian Store.
God Has a Plan for You
Carlos Ray Norris was born into a family
struggling to survive, led by an alcoholic father who moved the family 16 times by the
time the future actor turned 15. Norris’
mother, a strong Christian and a prayer warrior, never gave up or let her children give up
despite living in extreme poverty.
“God has a plan for you,” she told her son
daily, convincing him he could, indeed, beat
the odds.
His mother’s enormous faith was a great example for the young Norris. It was she who
insisted the family go to church wherever they
were living. Norris began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ at an early age, and he
rededicated his life to Christ as a young adult
when he attended a Billy Graham crusade.
Norris says his mother continues to be a
great influence in his life.
“She loves Jesus with all of her heart and
soul,” he said following a book-signing in Atlanta. “She influenced me spiritually and instilled in me a sense of responsibility that car18
Facts & Trends
ried over in my later adult
life. She always told me
‘God has plans for you,’
and I didn’t know what
she meant. I think I do
now.”
Finding Forgiveness
You could say the action star’s career “kicked” off
as a young airman stationed in Korea studying
martial arts. He wasn’t initially strong, and
success did not come easily, but within eight
years, Norris became a martial arts world
champion. He holds the distinction of being
the first man from the Western Hemisphere
to receive an eighth degree black belt grand
master in Tae Kwon Do.
The chain reaction that followed his success
in karate moved him rapidly up the ladder of
recognition. His karate championships led
him to open a successful chain of karate
schools and gain appearances on television,
including “The Tonight Show.” Eventually
Hollywood took notice, and it wasn’t long be-
B&H
Chuck Norris
fore he was cast in his first feature film.
But while his career path was leading to
fame and fortune, his personal life bore
the toll. Norris and his first wife, Dianne, divorced after 30 years of marriage.
When their two sons grew up and
moved away, the long distances and
times apart adversely affected their relationship. Even so, he and Dianne remain
friends to this day.
Ten years later, things took a lifechanging twist. A letter from a daughter
he’d never known turned up in his mailbox. In his first year of marriage, Norris
had committed a one-time extramarital
affair while stationed away from home.
He’d never known the experience had
made him a father.
It would be hard for many people of
Norris’ stature to relay struggles in a
book for all to read, but Norris and his
wife, Gena, see the theme of forgiveness
as a big part of their story. His daughter,
Deanna, and her husband are now a part
of the family, and there’s been emotional
healing all around -- between Norris and
Deanna’s mom and Norris and his former wife -- and new relationships between his sons and their half-sister.
“These are human frailties; we all have
them, we all sin,” Norris said. “But my
daughter turned out to be a blessing. I
can’t imagine my life without her and her
children, my three grandchildren.”
From Kick ‘Star’ to ‘KICKSTART’
These days, children are very important
to Norris. After a difficult pregnancy, his
wife of six years, Gena, gave birth to
healthy twins, a boy and a girl, now age
three. He also continues to work on his
KICKSTART program for middle school
students. The proceeds of his book will
go to KICKSTART.
More than 30,000 kids have graduated
from the program, currently found in 37
schools. While the focus of the program
is on martial arts, it does a lot more for
the kids who participate -- many who are
from the inner city. It builds their self-esteem.
“Many have gone on to college, and
one of our kids just graduated from MIT
on a scholarship,” Norris said proudly.
It’s clear he’s passionate about the program, almost as much as he is about his
faith. By his own acknowledgement, he’s
grown deeply in his walk with God over
the last 10 years. But Norris gets frustrated at the silent majority of Christians
who refuse to speak out on issues of
faith.
He and Gena have taken a stand to get
the Bible back in public schools. They
endorse the National Council of Bible
Curriculum in Public Schools, which
aims to incorporate the Bible as part of
elective history and literature classes.
So what’s next for the soft-spoken action hero? A two-hour “Walker, Texas
Ranger” special is planned, as well as the
possibility for a new series tied closely to
his KICKSTART program. Members of
Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas,
he and Gena hope to eventually get involved in missionary work as their children grow older. And, of course, he remains passionate about the
KICKSTART program.
“We’re hoping to help millions of kids
and show them that they don’t have to
give up,” Norris said. “The odds aren’t
stacked too highly against them to
achieve their dreams. I want them to
know that if I can overcome the things
in my life, there’s no reason why any of
them can’t do the same thing.”
November/December 2004 19
Resurrecting Christmas:
12 Days of celebrating God's way
By Patrick Borders
T
he Christmas season is filled with anything but peace for many people. Too
much rushing around. Too much traffic. Too
many activities, crowded stores and long lines.
Too much stress. Too little spiritual reflection
and drawing closer to God.
If your disillusionment with Christmas has
been growing, one way to resurrect the holiday spirit is to practice the time-honored observance of 12 days of Christmas.
According to most church calendars, the
Christmas season actually begins Dec. 25 and
ends Jan. 5. The 13th day, Epiphany, commemorates the wise men’s arrival and the revelation of Jesus as Savior to the Gentiles.
If you feel spiritually frazzled during December, celebrate these observances, individually or as a family, to reconnect with our Savior and reclaim the holidays:
1. Give meaningful gifts. “They opened
their treasures and presented Him with gifts:
gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew
2:11). Take time to reflect on the meaning of
gift giving. With each gift exchange, you’re reenacting the scene of the wise men bestowing
their treasures on Jesus.
2. Forgive and reconcile. “You are to name
Him Jesus, because He will save His people
from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). As Christ
came to forgive us, we’re called to forgive others. Who has sinned against you? Whom have
you offended? While reconciliation takes
time, it can begin on this day with the first
thought or act of forgiveness.
3. Watch for God. “They will name Him
Immanuel, which is translated ‘God is with
us’” (Matthew 1:23). Search for God this day.
You can see His hands in everything -- the
shining sun, laughter, the warm glow of the
fire and your heart. Take time to be still and
listen to God’s voice. What is He saying to
you?
20
Facts & Trends
4. Show hospitality. “In those days, Mary
set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s
house” (Luke 1:39). When Mary was pregnant and unmarried, she sought refuge in the
home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Welcome
someone into your home who is grieving a
lost loved one, going through a divorce or
simply feeling lonely during Christmas.
5. Honor your mother. “Then [Elizabeth]
exclaimed with a loud cry: Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is your offspring!”
(Luke 1:42). Honor your mother on this day.
Spend time with her or call her. If she has
passed away, reflect on her gift of life. Perhaps
you can help an overwhelmed mother in your
church or neighborhood.
6. Serve the homeless. “And she wrapped
Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a
manger -- because there was no room for
them at the inn” (Luke 2:7). Mother Teresa
once said that to serve the homeless was to
serve the living Christ (see Matthew 25:40).
Serve the homeless this day by helping out in
a shelter or soup kitchen.
7. Get back to nature. “We saw His
star in the east and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2). God used
nature to guide the wise men. After
days of gluttony and sofa sitting,
spend time in God’s playground.
Soak in the divine creativity and
presence of God.
8. Honor children. “You will
find a baby wrapped snugly in
cloth and lying in a manger”
(Luke 2:12). Look for Jesus
in the faces of children
around you. Spend quality
time with little ones, absorbing their playful spirits. If
children don’t live with you,
visit a family with children or
volunteer to baby-sit for a friend.
Christmas
celebration ideas
9. Reflect on the past. “Mary was
treasuring up all these things in her
heart and meditating on them” (Luke
2:19). Reflect on the things God has
taught you or the ways He has worked
in your life during the past year.
10. Worship and celebrate the Sabbath. The wise men “saw the child with
Mary His mother, and falling to their
knees, they worshiped Him” (Matthew
2:11). Go to church and focus on worshiping God. Praise Him throughout the
service. After church, enjoy God’s gift of
the Sabbath with family or friends.
11. Experience one hour of prayer.
Anna “did not leave the temple complex,
serving God night and day with fasting
and prayers” (Luke 2:37-38). Go to a
peaceful place, and dedicate an
hour to communicating with God.
Savor God’s presence and rejoice in His
love for you.
12. Count your blessings. “For we
have all received grace after grace from
His fullness” (John 1:16). Set aside time
to name the ways God has blessed you.
Write them down. Be specific. The list
will provide a reminder of God’s grace
throughout the year.
The holiday season doesn’t have to be
stressful and empty. God intends for it
to be intimate and peaceful. By celebrating 12 days of Christmas, we can focus
on -- and connect with -- our Savior
during the holiday that commemorates
His birth.
Adapted from an article in HomeLife
magazine published by LifeWay. For
subscription information, e-mail [email protected] or call customer service
at (800) 458-2772. All Scripture references from the Holman CSB.
We recommend:
• A Christmas Longing
by Joni Eareckson
Tada
• A Family Christmas by
James Dobson
• A Promise Kept at
Christmas: A Christmas Eve Service by
Robert McCreight
• Christmas Moments:
Readings for the
Christmas Season
These and other
resources are available
from LifeWay
Christian Stores at
lifewaystores.com and
(800) 233-1123.
November/December 2004 21
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
110 people and 2 pans of spaghetti are
evidence of VBS miracles in Alabama
By Andrea Higgins
T
wenty-one people at a Calvary Baptist Church
service in the small southeastern Alabama
town of Geneva would normally be a packed
house.
It is a vast increase over 1998, when church rolls
had dwindled to just four women who, without a
pastor, reluctantly voted to close the doors for
good at one point.
So, when 110 folks turned out for the final night
of this year's Vacation Bible School, Pastor
Christopher Burghoff knew he had a real revival
on his hands.
The four-day event prompted 28 professions of
faith, and the congregation has swelled to more
than 50 on Sundays, with Sunday school atten22
Facts & Trends
dance up from six to 20 children.
“God broke this place apart; He just opened the
doors,” said Burghoff.
Burghoff came to Calvary Baptist Church nearly
six years ago at the request of Reginald “Dicky”
McAllister, director of missions for the Geneva
Baptist Association, a group of 36 churches in
Geneva County.
Bolstered by the association, the church agreed
to keep going, this time with only two voting
members present, McAllister said. Mirroring the
economic struggles of the region's cotton mills,
the church initially was able to offer Burghoff
$35 a week.
A bivocational pastor in search of a flock,
Burghoff answered the call, driving each day the
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KENT HARVILLE
VBS
Rickshaw Rally
45 minutes from his home in Florida to
the beleaguered church.
The church has hosted Vacation Bible
School every year since, but this year was
different.
A mission team from Fultondale First
Baptist Church, near Birmingham, about
six hours away, volunteered to coordinate
the VBS, freeing up church members to
canvas the area with 200 flyers. They also
made extra efforts, like serving a hot
meal every night. The Geneva Baptist
Association brought in vans to help pick
up participants across the town, which is
dissected by two rivers.
Their efforts paid off. The first night,
57 attended.
To everyone's surprise, 94 people
showed up the second night.
“We were not expecting a number like
that,” said Sunday school teacher Debbie
McLaney, who helped with the food.
“The two pans of spaghetti we had,
there's no way it should have fed so
many people. We had food left over, and
everybody was full. It was amazing.”
“We're a very small, financially struggling church,” added the pastor's wife,
Mary Burghoff. In 2003, the church
took in only $9,000.
“Our families brought what they could
for the meals. Each night God would
multiply the people, and each night we
had food left over. It was just like the
loaves and the fishes feeding the 5,000.”
Pastor Burghoff lined the aisles with
chairs so everyone could sit and listen in
the charged atmosphere.
“People were on their knees in between
the pews praying,” Burghoff said, which
is a confined position in the one-room
former military barracks.
Twenty people made their way forward
through the crowd that night.
Even with a driving rainstorm outside
the third night, the numbers grew to
105.
That's why everyone smiled when even
tornado warnings on Thursday, the final
night of the event, didn't diminish attendance. In fact, it broke another record,
with 110 people.
Despite being a message designed to
draw children to Christ, all but one of
the decisions were from adults.
“I used the scripture the kids were
going over,” said Fultondale Youth Pastor
Craig Newton, who brought 17 kids and
five adults to run the event.
“I told the parents that were there, 'I
want you to know what your kids are
learning and be able to talk to them.' It
turned into a salvation message pretty
much every night.”
Newton said the dramatic reaction of
participants had a huge impact on his
youth group.
“I saw kids that barely will talk in public, and they were up front praying with
complete strangers -- to see a 14-year-old
up front praying with his arms around a
40-year-old man,” Newton said. “God
did some cool stuff.”
“People are hungry,” McAllister said.
“They're ready. It's just a matter of flat
out biblical outreach.”
“Calvary has found out what their
problem is,” Pastor Burghoff agreed. “It's
not a lack of people. It's a lack of transportation. The church needs a van.” As a
certified automotive technician, Burghoff
noted that he could get a van running if
another church happened to be getting
rid of one.
For this church, what's one more
miracle?
For more information
about VBS, visit www.
lifeway.com/yourvbs.
November/December 2004 23
LifeWay —your one-stop shop for VBS!™
Curriculum • Worship
Decorations • Souvenirs
Music • Follow-up
Easy • Effective • Fun
Promo #B496A99
Hit the Road
with LifeWay’s V BS!
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Ramblin’ Road Trip: Which Way Do I Go?™ VBS. As your group
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Book your church’s Ramblin’ Road Trip today by ordering
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SBC president takes a ramblin’
road trip, spreading VBS, FAITH
quarters right here in Brunswick
his was no fall foliage tour. The New (Maine).”
England trees hadn't even started to
Welch said two important, and successchange color and SBC President Bobby
ful, ways to share the gospel and increase
Welch already was setting his sights on
baptisms are from LifeWay: Vacation
next summer.
Bible School and the FAITH/Sunday
School Evangelism Strategy.
“Summer is coming,” he said, “and I
believe everyone should be getting ready
Welch sees VBS and FAITH as so
to do Vacation Bible School.”
strategic to his goal of sharing Christ that
they are the only specific entity emphases
displayed on his brightly colored, highly
visible bus.
“In the SBC, we have a unity of purpose in evangelism,” Welch said. “VBS
and FAITH are proven success stories in
bringing people to Christ.”
By Polly House
PHOTO BY JAMES A. SMITH SR./FLORIDA BAPTIST WITNESS
T
Southern Baptist Convention
President Bobby Welch’s
nationwide bus tour with the
goal to “witness, win and baptize 1 million” pulls away from
First Baptist Church of
Daytona Beach, Fla., Aug. 29
with a local police escort and a
contingent of FAITH Riders, a
Christian evangelistic motorcycle group of Floridians.
26
Facts & Trends
Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church,
Daytona Beach, Fla., began a bus tour at
the end of August that took him to
churches in all 50 states and Canada before finishing in October. At each stop,
Welch spoke about the importance of
evangelism and baptisms. The tour was a
kickoff for "The Everyone Can Kingdom
Challenge for Evangelism" campaign,
which aims to "Witness, Win and Baptize ... ONE MILLION!" by Southern
Baptist churches in one year.
“This is so important, I wanted to
speak at the SBC headquarters,” he told
the gathered pastors, “and this is it -- the
local church. The SBC headquarters isn't
in Nashville or Richmond or Atlanta or
Dallas. It's right here. You are the head-
VBS
Welch sat down with LifeWay's VBS
team and made a bargain. “I said to
them, 'If, in the next two years, you will
give us the two best Vacation Bible
Schools, give us a component of evangelism and help us reach children and their
parents in a way that will lead to baptisms, then I promise that I will never
stand up as SBC president and talk
about evangelism without mentioning
Vacation Bible School.' They told me,
'You've got a deal.'”
It's fitting that Welch's bus tour hits on
both VBS themes for 2005 -- Ramblin'
Road Trip and Beach Blast. He and his
entourage are ramblin' across the country, while their starting and ending point
is Daytona Beach, Fla.
“I think VBS is the most dynamic and
effective way to touch families,” he said.
“We do not have a better way to reach
children, their parents and their families.”
At Christian Fellowship Baptist Church
in Londonderry, N.H., Welch went even
Evangelism
further: “If you and I will do VBS these
next two years, I believe we can reach
more families and baptize more people
than we've ever done before.”
Statistics prove Welch's point. In the
past five years, 472,707 people have
come to a saving knowledge of Christ
through VBS. Figures indicate that VBS
is the No. 1 outreach tool for SBC
churches.
FAITH
Welch is the creator of the
FAITH/Sunday School Evangelism Strategy. In the past year alone, 184 FAITH
churches have baptized 2,575 people
who found salvation in Jesus Christ.
Welch said FAITH will work if you
follow the plan. “You cast that net out,
and you will gather people in,” he said.
“It will work if you don't care who gets
saved and brought into your church. But
if you are only interested in bringing in
people who look a particular way, drive a
particular kind of car and live in a particular kind of house, it may not be for
you.”
Two Maine pastors began FAITH this
fall. Pastor Dale Morell at Maine Street
Baptist Church in Brunswick and Scott
Baker, pastor of Little River Baptist
Church in Belfast, both said they were
excited about having a new way to help
their church members share their faith.
“I'd been to several of the FAITH luncheons at the SBC (annual meeting) before I committed to doing it with my
church,” Morell said. “But, I'm looking
forward to how FAITH helps the people
in my church. We're excited.”
Baker said he sees FAITH as simple,
non-threatening and effective. “Up here,
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
VBS, FAITH
there aren't many churches, and very few
of those are evangelical. In the South, if
someone decided he wanted to go to a
church and hear the gospel, chances are
good he could find one without much
trouble. That's not the case up here.
Someone can be honestly looking for the
truth, but he can't walk into just any
church and hear how to be saved. I think
FAITH gives our church a great opportunity to reach out to our area and let
people know the truth.”
LifeWay President James T. Draper Jr.
said, “I'm excited about Bobby's message
to churches to focus on evangelism and
baptism. These are two core values to
Southern Baptists
and to us here at
LifeWay as well.
We want to
show our solidarity with what he's
doing.”
Above: Bobby Welch, right,
goes over the day's itinerary as
the bus heads to the Christian
Fellowship Baptist Church,
Londonderry, N.H. On the bus
with Welch are (left to right)
Jason Leschitz, associate children’s minister, First Baptist
Church, Daytona Beach, and
“on bus” coordinator; Allen
Palmeri, staff writer, the
Pathway (Missouri Baptist
Convention); and Jay Johnston,
LifeWay Christian Resources.
Below: Bobby Welch holds up
an old mule harness with the
words "seek" and save" painted
onto the blinders. He said we
as Christians should put our
blinders on so we won't get distracted as we reach out and
witness to a lost world.
LifeWay
Trustees adopt budget,
approve fast-track business
plan for conference centers
L
28
Facts & Trends
ifeWay trustees adopted a record
2005 operating budget of $446 million and approved a significant investment in the company’s conference centers to fast-track their revitalization
efforts.
LifeWay expected record revenues of
$427.5 million for fiscal 2004, $13.2
million more than last year but came in
$21 million short of budget, Chief Operating Officer Ted Warren told trustees
during their September meeting at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center near
Asheville, N.C. Warren cited major accomplishments in 2004,
including the introduction of the Holman Christian Standard Bible, which in a few short months
has become one of the best-selling Bibles
in the United States, and LifeWay’s commitment of $1.6 million to help 13 Baptist state conventions and one association
double baptisms in 2005.
For the new fiscal year, Warren said all
LifeWay divisions have plans for revenue
growth. But along with that are increased
expenses as the LifeWay Christian Stores
division plans to add new stores, and the
church resources and Broadman & Holman divisions plan to add staff.
“The 2005 budget is based on what we
believe to be an achievable revenue target
of $446 million, which assumes a continued recovery in the economy,” said Warren.
LifeWay is unique among Southern
Baptist entities in that is self-funding, receiving no Cooperative Program dollars.
Equally important, LifeWay gives back to
the SBC and to the state conventions to
support their ministries -- more than $12
million in 2003.
In a significant move to hasten revitalization efforts at LifeWay’s conference
centers, the trustees approved a business
plan that includes an investment of $27
million over the next four years that will
“enable the centers to be financially viable and continue their ministry into the
21st century as places where God’s people experience spiritual transformation
and renewal,” according to Mike Arrington, vice president of the corporate affairs division.
At Ridgecrest, the business plan calls
for the construction of a new 120-room
hotel, new convention and indoor recreation centers, the renovation of Pritchell
Hall and the demolition of seven aging
and expensive-to-maintain buildings. At
Glorieta, plans are for a new 140-room
hotel, a new indoor recreation center, a
renovated chapel and the demolition of
24 outdated buildings, significantly reducing the center’s adult capacity but
nearly tripling its youth capacity to better
fit seasonal demand.
Arrington said the conference centers
will break ground some time in 2005 on
both the Ridgecrest and Glorieta hotels,
targeting their completion for 2006. The
remaining work will be completed by
2008.
In addition, LifeWay is studying the
merit of pre-selling and building 100
condominiums at Ridgecrest and 120
condos at Glorieta to make the most of
undeveloped property and to increase
revenues. If feasible, the plan will be presented to the trustees at their next meeting. Feb. 7-8, in Nashville.
Christian
schools
Kingdom-focused, Bible-based
education is a God-given
responsibility of parents
By Andrea Higgins
I
LIFEWAY
t was time for action. Decades of secular influence had eroded the biblical
foundation upon which education in our
country had been built. So in 1996
Southern Baptist leaders decided to do
something about it.
Their directive to LifeWay resulted in
explosive growth in Christ-centered
teaching through the establishment of
LifeWay Christian school resources.
The LifeWay ministry developed “Bible
Quest Curriculum,” a line of teaching
tools to help Christian and homeschool
teachers instill a biblical world view in
their students.
Director Glen Schultz conducts seminars and consults with the growing number of Christian school teachers and administrators to help them integrate a
biblical world view into their curriculum.
In addition, each summer, LifeWay
Christian school resources hosts the
“Building a Kingdom School Institute”
for Christian school educators.
The LifeWay ministry seeks to shift the
emphasis on biblical education from a
Sunday-only event to seven-day-a-week
training for children.
Schultz said his lifelong study of both
Scripture and education has convinced
him that educating children is nothing
less than a sacred responsibility, which he
is fond of calling “God's homework assignment to parents.”
The 1996 Southern Baptist Convention marked what Christian educators
consider a watershed event -- a change in
the paradigm of Christian school philosophy.
Schultz, author of Kingdom Education:
God's Plan for Educating Future Generations, said it wasn’t so much a revolution
as a reformation of ideas.
“It's going back to the original stan(continued on page 30)
November/December 2004 29
LifeWay Christian education
leader gives 9 principles
of Kingdom education
Scripture makes it clear that teaching children is
God's homework assignment to parents, says Glen
Schultz, director of LifeWay's Christian school resources area.
His wish is that all parents make the grade when
God checks their work. In his book, Kingdom Education: God's Plan for Educating Future Generations,
Schultz provides a framework to help parents guide
their decisions and help them teach their children to
interpret the world through the lens of Scripture.
Through his life-long and careful study of God's
Word, Schultz has identified nine biblical principles
to guide the total education of children:
Principle 1: The education of children and youth
is the primary responsibility of parents.
Principle 2: The education of children and youth
is a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week process that must
take place from birth through maturity.
Principle 3: The education of children and youth
must have as its primary goals the salvation and discipleship of the next generation.
Principle 4: The education of children and youth
must be based on God's Word as absolute truth.
Principle 5: The education of children and youth
must hold Christ preeminent in all of life.
Principle 6: The education of children and youth
must not hinder the spiritual and moral development
of the next generation.
Principle 7: The education of children and youth,
if and when delegated to others by parents, must be
done by teachers chosen with utmost care to ensure
that they all follow these principles.
Principle 8: The education of children and youth
results in the formation of lifestyles or worldviews
that will be patterned after the belief systems or
worldviews of their teachers.
Principle 9: The education of children and youth
must have a view of the future that includes the eternal perspective.
30
Facts & Trends
dard,” he said. “It was laid out in Scripture. But it's
new to this generation.” Schultz's book is required
reading now for many seminary students studying
Christian education. Kenneth Coley, director of
Christian School Administration at Southeastern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.,
is one professor who includes it in his course syllabus.
Coley said the 1996 SBC annual meeting marked a
“quantum leap forward” for Christian schools and a
double threat against the pitfalls of public instruction.
“That fall was pivotal,” Coley said. “Up to that
point, there were many outstanding Christian schools
in Southern Baptist churches, but the Convention
had not made a bold move forward to participate in
the creation or resourcing of those schools.
“Historically, Southern Baptists were really way behind the huge wave called the Christian school movement.”
It was the first time in the history of seminaries that
there was a move to have a full-blown Christian
school focus as part of the curriculum, Coley said.
With statistics indicating that an alarming 80 percent of teenagers leave the church within two years of
graduating from high school, Schultz said parents realize that the idea of deprogramming up to 60 hours
a week of secular influence from school and other
sources isn't realistic.
“We can't just go and say we're Christians and
we're going to believe the Bible about tithing, the
family, the church and other issues, but not about education” said Schultz. “I know people are frightened
about that, but to me, we must be obedient to all of
God's Word.”
Schultz said this year alone 1,500 teachers will have
received LifeWay's biblical worldview integration
training, which provides practical lesson planning
strategies.
Schultz said Christian schools also have begun asking for help with parent training materials so they
can partner with the school and church in the education of their children.
“I see a groundswell of young parents who are saying, 'We're fearful. We need help,'” said Schultz. “Instead of simply telling them to go to a Christian
school or homeschool, we teach them biblical parenting principles so they have the truth to make good
decisions.”
Christian
schools
E
arly in his career, Glen Schultz
learned first-hand about the dichotomy of being a Christian teacher in a secular school.
After graduating with a pre-medical degree from Roberts Wesleyan College in
Rochester, N.Y., he taught chemistry in a
public high school in upstate New York
rather than pursue medical school.
A gifted teacher, he raised the percentage of students who passed the state regent's exam from 82 to 97 percent in
five years.
“I was not just causing them to memorize,” Schultz said. “I was teaching them
logic, and not to get caught with trick
questions.”
However, as a Christian, he often met
challenges teaching science from public
school text books.
“I would tell the students, 'This is what
you need to pass the test, but I want you
to know the truth,'” from the Bible,
Schultz said. His school principal knew
what he was doing and told him if any
parents complained he would have to
stop.
It wasn't complaints, but a leap of faith
that encouraged Schultz to leave the
school. He took his wife and three children to Lynchburg, Va., to work at a
Christian academy with Jerry Falwell,
pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church.
After a year as a science teacher, he spent
six years as principal and nine years as
superintendent of the school.
“The Lord started laying this biblical
concept on my heart,” he said. “I ended
up taking all my graduate work and sifting it through a biblical framework.”
He earned his master of education degree in school administration, and doctor
of education degree in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
He left there to become southeast regional director
for the Association of Christian
Schools International for seven
years, overseeing
educational services for about
600 Christian
schools with a
combined student population
of 120,000.
He became director of LifeWay's thennewly-created Christian school resources
area in 1996.
“People thought I was going to be
slamming everybody for not having their
kids in Christian schools,” he said. “I
didn't approach it that way. I just started
sharing the basic principles of a biblical
philosophy of education.”
That's when he began writing Kingdom
Education: God's Plan for Educating Future Generations, first published in 1998.
In it, Schultz argues the case for educating children by biblical standards as
the only solution to America's moral decline.
The book, revised in 2003, has sold
more than 30,000 copies to a mostly
Christian school market. It outlines nine
biblical principles he has culled from
Scripture that parents and teachers can
use as a filter to know if they are truly
tying knowledge to God.
After 36 years in education -- 31 in
Christian education -- Schultz still radiates a palpable enthusiasm for the possibilities.
“I still feel as if we've just touched the
hem of the garment,” he said.
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
Journey took Glen Schultz from teacher
to Kingdom education advocate
Glen Schultz visits with Ruth
Rawls from Chi Alpha
Academy, Spanish Fort, Ala.,
during the “Building a
Kingdom School Institute”
conference.
We recommend:
• Kingdom Education: God's Plan for
Educating Future
Generations
• 100 Top Picks For
Homeschool Curriculum
These and other
resources are available through customer service at
www.lifeway.com
and (800) 458-2772
and from LifeWay
Christian Stores at
lifewaystores.com
and (800) 233-1123.
November/December 2004 31
New Bible helps parents focus
on children’s spiritual development
By Jill Martin
S
tephanie Nesmith’s concerns
that her children may not be
interested in Bible reading didn’t
last long.
When her children, 7-year-old
Lindsey and 4-year-old Will,
got their hands on the new
Holman Christian Standard Illustrated Study Bible for Kids,
they immediately began to
quiz each other on scriptural
trivia using a “Test Your
Bible Knowledge” insert.
That’s when Nesmith
knew she had found an effective tool to teach her children more about the Bible
and spiritual disciplines.
The recently released Holman CSB, published by LifeWay’s Broadman & Holman
division, features accuracy
and readability that make the
translation helpful for teaching children.
“The Holman CSB Illustrated Study Bible for Kids guides
Stephanie Nesmith shares her love of the
Bible with her children, 4-year-old Will
and 7-year-old Lindsey, by reading the new
Holman Christian Standard Illustrated
Bible for Kids with them at bedtime.
32
Facts & Trends
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
B&H
Holman CSB for kids
parents as they lead their children to de- maps and biblical family trees, to teach
velop the spiritual disciplines of Bible
both of her children.
study and prayer,” said Judy Latham,
“My 4-year-old, Will, and I have
managing director of childhood ministry looked through the ‘Apostles of Jesus’
publishing at LifeWay. “One of the colpage together,” Nesmith said. “This
orful, four-page inserts in the Bible gives Bible is so visually friendly. The pictures
guidance for helping children establish a make it come to life for the children.”
quiet time.”
During their family vacation, Nesmith
Most parents understand their responfelt so strongly about the effectiveness of
sibility for their children’s spiritual devel- the new children’s Bible, she decided to
opment, according to research by The
take one copy for the whole family to
Barna Group, a marketing research comuse. She read a chapter of Luke each
pany that reports on cultural
night to her children.
trends and the Christian
“The translation is very
church. However, parents
“It shows you easy for them to undertypically have no plan for
stand when I read it out
spiritual development, lit- don’t have to be an loud,” Nesmith said. “I
tle or no training in how
even like to use it for my
adult to study
to nurture a child’s faith
own Bible study.”
the Bible.”
and no specific goals. In
Annette Whitton, the
addition, parents identified
— Annette Whitton director of children and
their children’s weaknesses
preschool ministries at Hillas knowing how to study the
crest
Baptist Church in EnterBible and memorize Bible verses.
prise, Ala., uses the new children’s Bible
This research underscores the need for
in her ministry.
families to take the lead in the spiritual
“We will be giving all of the first
development of their children.
graders in Sunday school a copy of this
Nesmith, who lives in Franklin, Tenn., Bible,” Whitton said. “We want to make
uses the Holman CSB Bible for Kids to
using the Bible easy for our children.
guide her daughter’s spiritual developThis Bible will make a child want to
ment.
have a quiet time. They can read it and
“I have sat down with my daughter and grasp it.”
gone through the checklist of Bible skills
Whitton said she hopes the children’s
for second-graders,” Nesmith said. “She
Bible will encourage children in their
had told me she wanted to learn the
own Bible study through helpful inserts
books of the Bible. The inserts break
such as “The Names of God” and “Kids
them into sections, such as minor
in the Bible.”
prophets and the books of poetry, with a
“It shows you don’t have to be an adult
small description of each book. This
to
study the Bible,” Whitton said. “This
helped me explain them as much as it
is a Bible that can go with them from
helped her learn them.”
five years old to being a youth.”
Nesmith uses other inserts, such as
November/December 2004 33
Hispanic
ministry
Information, resources, news for
Hispanic people and churches online
By Polly House
H
ispanics are becoming a more influential market.
So says the 2000 U.S. Census, which
reported that the American Hispanic
population rose 58 percent during the
1990s to 35.3 million.
As their numbers have grown, so have
the number of Hispanic churches across
America. Based on figures from 2000
(the last available), the North American
Mission Board estimates there are almost
2,800 Hispanic churches and churchtype missions across the country.
“This is not an insignificant number of
churches,” said Jess Fairbanks, pastoral
ministries specialist at LifeWay. “These
churches and missions are thriving and
growing. They are reaching people for
Christ.”
LifeWay has responded
to their need for curriculum and discipleship with resources in
Spanish, offering more than 50 resource
lines. These include age-graded Sunday
school curriculum, Beth Moore studies,
Experiencing God resources, Vacation
Bible School literature and a variety of
music -- all available in the United States
at www.lifeway.com or (800) 458-2772.
The number of Internet-savvy Hispanics is growing as well, with nearly 53 percent of Hispanics browsing the Web for
more than three years. Another 22 percent have been online for two to three
years, and the number keeps growing.
LifeWay also realized there were needs
in the international Hispanic community
that could be met through a Spanish language Web site -- www.lifeway.com/spanish. This site features:
1. Página en Español, the main home
page — devoted to regular articles and
columns for pastors and other key leaders.
2. Escuela Dominical — devoted to
resources for Sunday school ministry.
3. Evangelismo -- devoted to evangelism (Por Fe).
4. Educación Cristiana —
devoted to resources for
Christian education.
5. Noticias de LifeWay —
devoted to news from LifeWay, primarily articles from
Facts and Trends, LifeWay’s
corporate newsmagazine.
“It’s a critical ministry area
for LifeWay,” said David Hargrove, an Internet producer at
LifeWay. “We’re enthusiastic
about helping create a ministry area that breaks new
ground and has the potential
to meet a need that no one
else is meeting right now.”
November/December 2004 35
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHELSEA RICHARDSON
PHOTO BY SANDY KING
500 young campers make
decisions at Centri-KID
Centri-KID campers at Eagle Eyrie in Lynchburg, Va., compare body paint as they get ready to participate in
OMC - Organized Mass Chaos, the final recreation activity of the week. From left to right are Mitchel Wilkinson
and Nick Cooley, both from Winn’s Baptist Church, Glen Allen, Va.
By Sara Horn
T
en-year-old Jena Gray absent-mindedly tossed a loose strand of red hair
behind her ear, gasping for breath after
finishing a series of relay games to gather
clues. She and her friends peered intently
at a pile of index cards in a field at Eagle
Eyrie Baptist Conference Center in Virginia. They quickly figured out the password and ran up a steep hill to an auditorium door. Knocking, they excitedly
called out the word for access inside:
“God!”
But the door stayed shut. After an
emergency huddle with their group, they
tried another word: “Soccer!” This time,
the group was allowed inside.
“Were you surprised when you couldn’t
use God as the password to get in?” a
camp counselor asked from a brightly lit
36
Facts & Trends
stage as more than 200 kids found their
seats. “There are a lot of countries in the
world today that won’t let people in just
to talk about God. But they will let people in to play sports. Christians can share
the love of God and share Jesus by playing and teaching sports in these countries.”
The kids were then introduced to Infinity Sports, one of the ministries supported by love offerings from this year’s
Centri-KID camps -- week-long camps
designed for 8-to-12-year-olds created by
LifeWay. Doors was this year’s theme:
“Enter My Door,” making the Bible personal; “Enter the Door,” discovering a relationship with Jesus; and “Enter the Revolving Doors,” discovering how the
Bible applies on a daily basis and telling
others about Jesus.
Centri-Kid
A total of 13,000 campers attended
over the nine weeks of camps held this
summer -- 3,000 more than last year, according to LifeWay’s student events area.
Almost $53,000 was raised for missions
through love offerings. The camps offer a
combination of Bible studies, recreation,
games and track times covering a wide
variety of interests from “Weird Science”
to “Babysitting 101.” Everything has a
biblical tie-in.
Gray, who became a Christian when
she was 9, is a member of Winn’s Baptist
Church in Glen Allen, Va. She brought
four friends with her to camp and can’t
wait to go to school this year and tell
other friends about God.
“It’s [camp] got me on fire for God,”
she said, sitting in the cafeteria eating
lunch. “Even in sports this week, we read
Bible verses that relate. That’s cool.”
Jeff Brauer is senior pastor of Winn’s
Baptist and enjoys attending camp with
his elementary-age students. This year
they brought 18 kids.
“This camp is a great tool that helps us
in our battle to counter the culture,” said
Brauer, a day after helping supervise an
overnight camping trip involving some
of his students. “These kids are heading
into teen years that will be filled with
temptation and difficult choices. We
have to prepare them now.”
One feature that makes Centri-KID
camps unique is the staff. Generally college students in their early 20’s, staff
counselors are required to spend time
with the kids in Bible study, track times
and free time. This creates important opportunities for discussion and bonding
that might not happen otherwise.
Erin Burnett is a Crosspoint and Centri-KID program specialist at LifeWay
who spends her summers working at the
camps. This is her seventh year. “Kids
this age just want to know they’re loved.
That’s why we emphasize hanging out
and spending free time with them. We
let them know we love them and God
loves them, too.”
More than 500 decisions were made
during this year’s Centri-KID camps,
ranging from commitments to Christ as
Savior to re-dedications. Eleven-year-old
Jake Ingersoll,
also from Winn’s
Baptist, made a
decision to
spend less time
playing video
games.
“My mom’s always telling me
not to play so
much and I realized this week I
wasn’t doing
anything with
God except
when I was at church,” said Ingersoll, estimating he plays video games an average
of four hours at a time. Now he wants to
get a devotional book and start doing
quiet times more. He added that his favorite part about camp was the track he
did on making a Christian video. “I was
the production assistant -- I got to help
play the music and set up the camera.”
His mom, Robin, who attended the
camp as a church sponsor, was pleasantly
surprised to hear about her son’s decision
to shorten his video game time. “This
week really brings the kids back into
focus and encourages them to be bold
about their faith. As a parent, that’s neat
to watch.”
PHOTO BY SANDY KING
camp
At Centri-KID camp in Eagle
Eyrie, Lynchburg, Va., Tricia
and D.J. Underwood from
Zoar Baptist Church in
Deltaville, Va., look over Bible
verses to put on a poster.
Looking ahead
to 2005
For more information
on camps for 2005,
visit http://www.centrikidcamps.com.
November/December 2004 37
Fuel videos fire up students
with edgy life-changing experience
By Brooklyn Noel
P
laying video games ... flipping stations ...
watching DVDs. Teenagers constantly
stare at screens. This always happens when
Jim Johnston’s teenage son and his friends
gather in the Johnston’s bonus room.
“Teenagers are so media-oriented,” said
Johnston, interim director of marketing in
the church resources division at LifeWay.
“The best way to bring them into God's
Word is by using all the technological tools
we've been given.”
So, in an effort to reach teenagers where
they are, LifeWay created Fuel: Igniting a
New Life with God's Story. Fuel is a digital
Bible study aimed at 7th-12th graders and
designed to be a “rockin,' edgy, life-changing experience,” Johnston said.
Fuel uses contemporary Christian music,
state-of-the-art graphics and video segments
that include average teenagers giving candid
interviews about the topics presented in each session. Each
lesson features an experienced youth leader who
communicates the Bible
story at the heart of each
session.
Nielsen Media Research reports that teens watched an average of three hours and seven minutes of television each day in 2003. That
same year, the Motion Picture Association
of America Worldwide Market Research
found that 12- to 17-year-olds accounted
for 18 percent of movie-theater admissions.
“When we asked student ministry leaders,
we found out that more than 80 percent of
them wanted some kind of video component to use for Bible study,” Johnston wrote
in an article on the Fuel Web site (www.lifeway.com/fuel). “That said one thing to me
-- these leaders knew their teenagers inside
38
Facts & Trends
and out.”
The first volume of the study premiered in
July and more than 1,000 churches purchased Fuel during its first two months of
release.
“My students actually asked for more,”
said Adam York, youth minister of First
Baptist Church in Jamestown, Tenn. York
showed his youth group the promotional
first segment of Fuel that tells the story of
Noah's flood and features a segment with a
skateboarding theme.
“I've never thought they actually heard the
Bible study until now,” he said. “The material is the best I've seen.”
Johnston admitted some youth ministers
and leaders may be uncomfortable or unaccustomed to the music and video used in
Fuel, but the series was all designed with
teenagers -- not their older leaders -- in
mind.
After the positive response to the promotional DVD, York ordered the first volume
of Fuel for the church’s Wednesday night
Bible study. He said about 30 youth typically attend the study, but that number is
growing because more regular attendees are
inviting their friends.
Each volume of Fuel includes 12 sessions
on two DVDs and three CD-ROMs. Each
session has three parts: “The Spark” is designed to capture the students' attention
using themes such as skateboarding and prepare them for the more in-depth material to
come; “Fanning the Flame” features
straightforward interviews with teens who
have a variety of opinions and backgrounds;
and “Combustion,” the meat of each session, draws on the skills of an experienced
youth leader to present the Bible story.
“The videos relate to what they're doing
now, but it's not cheesy,” York said. “The
'Combustion' part presents it in a way that
Student
ministry
To view sample materials, request a
DVD and learn more about Fuel,
visit www.lifeway.com/fuel.
LIFEWAY
makes you want to hear more.”
Through eight volumes of the
study, students will have the opportunity to hear the complete
Bible in 96 stories over the
course of two years.
Johnston said Volume Two
was released Nov. 1. Other volumes will follow every three
months through July 2006.
“It's stuff similar to MTV, but
it presents the Word,” York said.
Music artist Randy Stonehill is taped on location at Crystal
Cove State Park in California for a Fuel segment.
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November/December 2004 39
Collegiate Week draws students
to Glorieta and Ridgecrest
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
In Situ leads the
Collegiate Week crowd
in a praise and worship time at LifeWay
Glorieta Conference
Center.
40
Facts & Trends
By Brooklyn Noel
D
arkened house lights and brightly colored stage lights made it difficult to
judge the size of the crowd gathered for
evening worship in LifeWay Glorieta’s Holcomb Auditorium during LifeWay’s Collegiate Week 2004.
The volume of the voices singing along
with praise band In Situ, however, revealed
a packed house. Students from all across
the country rubbed shoulders, some standing with arms raised in praise, a few seated
with heads bowed in humility, many with
eyes closed and all in passionate worship.
“For the first time ever in evening worship, I felt like no one else was in the room
singing,” said Russ Cornelius, a student at
Oklahoma State University. “It didn’t even
matter that I was singing really loud. It was
the best praise and worship experience I’ve
ever had.”
But Cornelius wasn’t alone. There were
1,204 attendees at the Glorieta conference
and 825 students at LifeWay’s Ridgecrest
Conference Center near Asheville, N.C.,
during Collegiate Week.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Collegiate Week, held annually for 51 years at
Glorieta near Santa Fe, N.M., also was offered at Ridgecrest.
“There was a good spirit at both campuses,” said Bill Wade, LifeWay’s director of
collegiate ministries. “We were really
pleased with the response of the students.”
Wade said LifeWay decided to reintroduce Collegiate Week at Ridgecrest in an
effort to make LifeWay’s most popular
conference center event more accessible to
a greater number of students.
This year’s Collegiate Week focused on
the theme, Journey Worth the Walk. Wade
said the theme was designed to encourage
College
PHOTOS BY KENT HARVILLE
ministry
Above: Sara Kinnibrugh, a
student at Hardin-Simmons
University in Abilene Texas,
spends time in prayer and
Bible study at Collegiate
Week at Glorieta.
Right: The new climbing
wall was a hit with the
energetic, athletic Collegiate
Week crowd at Glorieta.
quired him to sit quietly while God took
the reins. “I had the best prayer time I’ve
ever had,” he said. “I felt like God was
more in control than me. It was sort of a
climax to the way my life has been
going.”
When students weren’t situated in a
quiet spot beneath a pond-side willow or
on a secluded point overlooking the valleys of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains,
they were attending morning
and evening worship services,
as well as countless seminars
on a variety of topics.
Wade said Glorieta student
survey responses overwhelmingly indicated they were satisfied with the entire week
and the programs, and he said
he was pleasantly surprised by
the comments about the seminars.
“Students wanted to go
deeper into it than we anticipated,” Wade explained.
“[Next year] we are looking at
doing series-type offerings so
it allows for more in-depth
study.”
While students were diligent in attending worship services and seminars, they
also made plenty of time to enjoy the fellowship of Christian co-eds from throughout the country.
“There’s not a lot of stuff like this for
college students,” Cornelius said of Collegiate Week. “The college atmosphere can
be discouraging, so it’s encouraging to
come here and be with college students
who are in the same situation you are.”
students to make personal sacrifices for
their faith. Missionaries from the International Mission Board
and the North American Mission Board
were available to share testimonies of their
own sacrifices for faith as well as share
meals with students interested in learning
about mission opportunities.
“My prayer for you this week is that
your spiritual journey will be one of personal sacrifice,” Wade wrote in the introductory letter of the Collegiate Week program booklet. “That God will move you
out of your comfort zone to begin an incredible journey of faith.”
For Cornelius, his
Looking ahead to 2005
journey during Glorieta’s conference reCollegiate Week 2005 will be at Glorieta Aug. 3-9 and at
Ridgecrest Aug. 5-10. For more information call Bill Wade at
(615) 277-8446 or Tommy Keown at (615) 251-2290.
We recommend:
• God’s Invitation: A
Challenge to College
Students by Henry and
Richard Blackaby
• A Life of Influence:
Exploring Your Identity,
Sharpening Your Focus
by Tim Elmore
• Authentic Influence:
Leading Without Titles
by Tim Elmore
• Wired For Influence:
Skills To Lead Others by
Tim Elmore
• Leveraging Your Influence: Impacting College Students For Christ
by Tim Elmore
• Intentional Influence:
Investing Your Life
Through Mentoring by
Tim Elmore
These and other resources are available
through customer
service at lifeway.com
and (800) 458-2772
and from LifeWay
Christian Stores at
lifewaystores.com and
(800) 233-1123.
November/December 2004 41
Collegiate Week attendees have
an ancient worship experience
By Brooklyn Noel
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
T
Karen Bullock
42
Facts & Trends
wo spotlights shined on separate microphones in Holcomb Auditorium at
LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center near
Santa Fe, N.M. One by one, more than 40
Collegiate Week attendees stepped to those
mics and made Holcomb echo with personal Bible verses that spoke of strength.
“The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
“To live is Christ, to die is gain.”
“Call unto me and I will answer you and
show you great things.”
This recitation was just part of an ancient
worship experience led by Karen Bullock, a
Dallas Baptist University professor
and featured speaker at Collegiate
Week.
Bullock, who had guided a few
ancient worship service experiences prior to Collegiate Week,
said the service is a means of
reaching a generation increasingly
characterized by a desire for more
authenticity in worship.
“There is a real move among
young people to embrace liturgical elements with more theological depth in worship,” Bullock
said. “I think this generation of
students is looking for integrity
perhaps because they are so used
to the media hype that permeates our culture and the superficiality they have sometimes found in our church services. They
know the difference between authentic
worship and entertainment. What they're
seeking is pure worship grounded in
truth.”
To help create an “early church” atmosphere at the Collegiate Week service, Bullock asked the more than 1,000 attendees
to imagine it was the year 303, when the
Roman Emperor Diocletian ruled with a
murderous attitude toward Christians.
Because of the extreme persecution believers suffered during this time, house
churches of 30-60 members often met in a
secret place, like an underground coemetrium, or cemetery, Bullock explained as the
house lights were extinguished and replaced by screen projections of flickering
candles.
Bullock explained that the early church
congregation was a cultural mixture of
Greek, Roman and Hebrew people, so audience members were encouraged to imagine their heritage and names based on the
philosophical characteristics of each group
of people.
“A service like this is a way to connect
with the people who lived before us,” Bullock explained. “We live in different worlds
than they did, but we're all fallen people
who need Christ. Technology has changed,
but our human condition has remained the
same.”
For the remainder of the short service,
the students, who imagined themselves
with names like Phoebe, Esther and Maximus, grouped at the foot of the stage or in
barely visible pews softly singing a cappella
hymns and embracing this new worship
experience.
“The night service was a way the students
could see their faith in God in a new
light,” Bullock said. “When we truly experience God together, we learn more about
Him, and that's always a positive thing.”
To many of the Collegiate Week attendees at that service, the highlight of the
evening was hearing their peers speak
Scripture from their hearts.
Bullock explained to the audience that a
College
ministry
bound Bible was not yet available to
Christians of this period and the few existing Christian documents were often
confiscated and destroyed by Roman authorities. Sometimes the only means of
referencing Scripture was through memorization of texts or letters.
“It was just awesome,” said Matt Hix, a
student at Oklahoma State University.
“They did it [memorize Scripture] out of
necessity. It's so much more real when
your life is at stake for worship.”
The line of students willing to step into
the spotlight and share verses of comfort
or strength continued to grow after more
than 20 minutes of constant recitation.
Eventually, Bullock had to stem the flow
of students and move the service forward
to a formal Scripture reading. “I'm always blown away by how many people
know that much Scripture,” she said.
“We can trust that God is drawing stu-
dents to Himself and preparing them for
His work.”
The service concluded with the students, still very much in character, quietly singing “The Doxology” so as not to
alert the imaginary guards patrolling the
city above.
“It's really important that the body of
Christ is a true community,” Bullock
said. “Taking this kind of service from
historical records makes students feel
connected to something larger than just
their present circumstances.”
Hix said he was most touched and influenced by the “radical church” and
“radical obedience” he witnessed during
that ancient worship experience.
“I've wondered about the early church,
[but] I didn't really expect [ancient worship] to be different than a regular
church service,” he said. “It was powerful.”
C
ome together to celebrate life in Christ! This is the opportunity you’ve been looking for to rejoice and have your faith in
the Lord renewed! Don’t miss this event of a lifetime in St.
Louis, Missouri! You’ll experience:
•
•
•
•
Special guests
Incredible speakers
Inspiring worship
Senior Adults from all over the country!
$70.00 (includes conference fee only)
For more information, visit www.lifeway.com/events
or call toll free 1.800.254.2022.
S C H E D U L E
Sunday, April 24, 2005
6:30-8:00 pm Session 1
Monday, April 25, 2005
8:30-11:00 am Session 2
6:30-9:00 pm Session 3
Promo #B311E99
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
8:30-11:00 am Session 4
6:30-8:00 pm Session 5
There will be opportunities for sightseeing and free time in the afternoons.
When preaching didn’t get
the men, boxing drew them in
By Polly House
Luter had set a large trash can outside his
front
door, and asked the men to deposit all
en didn’t want to go to Fred Luter’s
their alcohol there before coming in. They left
church, so he invited them to a boxing
the booze outside and came in anyway.
match instead. It worked.
That night, Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas
When Luter became pastor of Franklin AvHearns were bigger draws than God. "I had
enue Baptist Church in New Orleans in
35 men in my home that night," Luter said,
1987, he knew it would be difficult to get
"when I couldn’t get five to come to the
men involved in the African-American conchurch. But what else could I expect. These
gregation.
"We had very few men active in the church, guys were sinners … and they were good at
it!"
and most of them were old," Luter said.
Out of that group, five men were at church
"More than 95 percent of the membership
the next Sunday. But, those were five who’d
was women and children."
never been before. When Luter introduced
For two years, Luter
tried different methods them, the women applauded. They were excited and the men were proud. The next week
to reach out to the
the men came back and
brought friends with them.
"Your sons and daughters
Today, about 30 percent
of
Luter’s congregation is
will never be what they
men.
haven’t seen."
"We started out with a
wish
and a prayer," Luter
— Fred Luter
said. "But while it is a
struggle to get men, it’s
husbands, fathers and
even a bigger struggle to keep them commitsons of the women in
ted."
the church, hoping to
Luter’s commitment to men’s ministry isn’t
get them to come.
just so he’ll have male company in the church.
Nothing worked.
"I’m convinced that God’s design and desire
"Finally, I started
from the very beginning was for men to lead,"
looking at what the men liked to do," he said. he said. "In the Garden of Eden, God gave
"I saw that sports was a big attraction. I talked Adam work -- a job and responsibility -- beto my wife, and decided to order a pay-perfore he ever gave him a wife."
view boxing match, then invite the men to
The struggle now, Luter said, is how to encome to our home to watch the fight on telecourage the men who have come back to
vision."
church to go back and be leaders of their
He invited the men and they came. "My
homes and families.
wife had made a lot of food so we were ready.
He told the story of a man who, for years,
Then, here the men came, carrying their sixhad sent his family to church while he stayed
packs and wine coolers."
PHOTO BY KENT HARVILLE
M
44
Facts & Trends
Men’s
ministry
home. "He’d stay home, watch the game
and drink his beer," he said.
"One day, the man’s 12-year-old son
announced he wasn’t going to church
anymore. When his dad told him that,
yes, he was too going with his mother,
the son told him, ‘No, I’m going to go to
hell with you.’"
Luter said the man got up, got dressed
and went to church with his family and
has been a faithful member ever since.
"Your sons and daughters will never be
what they haven’t seen," Luter said.
Luter said it’s crucial to show men respect. Robert Coverson, pastor of Second
Chapel Hill Baptist Church in Detroit
agreed: "Women follow us because they
like us. Men follow us because they respect us."
Respect is one character trait Luter said
he always shows the men in his church.
"They have to see that before they will
listen to you."
Aaron Hilliard, a member of Luter’s
church who is involved in the men’s ministry, said Luter’s character drew him into
the church. "With him, it’s about the
master, not about the pastor. That kind
of humility is great."
Luther led a conference on "Reaching
Men" during Black Church Leadership
Week at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference
Center. The week was co-sponsored by
LifeWay, the North American Mission
Board, GuideStone Financial Resources
(formerly the SBC Annuity Board) and
Woman’s Missionary Union. About
1,300 people attended. Next year’s Black
Church Leadership Week will be July 1822 at LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center near Santa Fe, N.M.
We recommend:
• Stand Firm magazine
• The Man God Uses:
Moved from the Ordinary to the Extraordinary - Member Book
• Drawing Men to God
- Men's Ministry Manual
• A Men’s Ministry for
the Small Church
These and other resources are available
through customer service at lifeway.com and
(800) 458-2772 and
from LifeWay Christian Stores at lifewaystores.com and (800)
233-1123.
Three powerful and handy-sized tools at one low price!
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but why would you want to when you can
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Leaders
Sunday school
12 tips for developing Sunday
school leaders who teach for
spiritual transformation
By Wayne Poling
D
We recommend:
• Called To Be Holy by
Rick Melick
• Teaching Adults: A
Guide for Transformational Teaching —
Leader Training Guide
by Rick Edwards
This and other resources are available
through customer service at lifeway.com
and (800) 458-2772
and from LifeWay
Christian Stores at
lifewaystores.com and
(800) 233-1123.
46
Facts & Trends
o you find that your Sunday school
might need some renovation to get
on the right track? Here are 12 things
you can do to lead your Sunday school
leaders to teach in a way that transforms
lives:
1. Get to know the leaders of your
Sunday school. Do they view teaching
as imparting information or are they
seeking to bring about spiritual transformation in the lives of their class members?
2. Talk with your teachers. What do
they see taking place in the lives of their
members as a result of the teaching and
ministry of the Sunday school class?
What changes would they like to see?
3. Help your teachers understand
that they teach out of the freshness of
their relationship with the Lord. They
must be experiencing spiritual transformation themselves to be truly leading
their class members in teaching that leads
to spiritual transformation.
4. Pray for each teacher by name.
5. Recognize and encourage teachers.
Let them know they are making a difference. Emphasize the influence teachers
have on the spiritual lives of others. Say
“thank you” in a variety of ways.
6. Watch how your teachers relate to
their class members beyond Sunday
morning. Do they see their members in
their homes, talk with them on the telephone and take an interest in the families
and personal concerns of their members?
7. Educate your congregation on
how people are transformed through
the teaching and relationships of Sunday school. Lift up examples of lives
that are changed.
8. Lead teachers to expect to see lives
transformed through the teaching that
takes place.
9. Use every tool possible and every
opportunity available to train your
leaders — not just in methods, but also
on the life-changing teaching relationships they have.
10. Help teachers know pupil characteristics, interests, needs, the ways
they learn and the most effective ways
to teach for spiritual transformation.
11. Provide the tools teachers need
in order to teach effectively — curriculum, equipment, teaching aids, preparation aids, etc. Train workers on the proper use of curriculum and other resources.
Help teachers understand how to prepare
to teach.
12. Use Sunday school leadership
meetings as an opportunity to plan for
the transformation of lives as you
focus on mission, relationships and
the teaching of your Sunday school.
One final word of encouragement: The
strongest influence you can have on the
leaders of your Sunday school is for you
to be experiencing the transforming
power of Christ yourself.
Wayne Poling is
FAITH/Sunday School
ministry specialist at
LifeWay.
This & That
news briefs
Senior adults will
'Celebrate Life' in St. Louis
S
enior adults from across the country
will gather in St. Louis April 24-26,
2005, for the LifeWay-sponsored National Senior Adult Convention.
The conference theme -- Rejoice in the
Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
(Philippians 4:4, Holman CSB) -reflects the joyful and energetic event.
The week will include messages, music
and a 1,000-voice choir presenting the
legendary musical “Celebrate Life” by
Buryl Red and Ragan Courtney.
This year will mark the beginning of
the National Senior Adult Convention as
an annual event. “We started in 1990
with plans to do the event every five
years,” said Larry Mizell of LifeWay's
adult enrichment events area, who coordinates senior adult events. “But the
events have been so well received by
senior adults and we've had so many
requests for having them more often, we
decided to make this an annual event.”
The price for the event is $70 per
person. To register, call (800) 254-2022.
For more information, go to www.lifeway.com/events.
T
he 10th anniversary of True Love
Waits, a sexual abstinence ministry
of LifeWay, culminated in the shadow of
one of the ancient world's most impressive ruins, and once a site of sexual indulgence.
Co-founders Richard Ross and Jimmy
Hester called on the youth of the world
to make a stand for sexual purity by
remaining sexually abstinent until marriage. The event was staged in Athens,
Greece, during the Summer Olympics at
the Dora Stratou Theatre located on a
hill adjacent to the Acropolis, site of the
Greek Parthenon. In addition to challenging those in attendance, the call to
purity was Web cast through
www.truelovewaits.com.
Another aspect of the event was the
arrival in Athens of more than 460,000
commitment to abstinence cards from
youth in more than 20 countries, including 200,000-plus from South Africa.
Several thousand more pledges were
made but the cards were unable to arrive
in Athens prior
to the event.
True Love Waits
team members
were informed of
the additional
cards through email.
The reason for
having the event
in Athens during
the Olympics
was to both celebrate the past 10 years and the more
than 3 million American youth alone
who have made an abstinence pledge
through True Love Waits and to raise
awareness of a biblical approach to abstinence. True Love Waits began in
response to requests from teenagers and
their parents for some way to express
their beliefs that people should remain
sexually abstinent until marriage.
PHOTO BY MATT JONES
True Love Waits has Olympic debut
Kelli Dees, a student at
Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary,
prays over some of the
more than 460,000 True
Love Waits commitment
cards with the Parthenon
behind her.
November/December 2004 47
Resources
just released from LifeWay
Broadman
& Holman
◆ So You Want to be in
Pictures? A Christian
Resource for ‘Making It’
in Hollywood
by Ted Baehr
Ted Baehr is an entertainment industry professional
and a committed Christian
who knows the pressures and
opportunities unique to people of faith
in the precarious
world of
show business. So You
Want to be
in Pictures?
will show
Christians
how to use
their faith to
change the
culture of
Hollywood and
mass media
entertainment.
Readers will
learn from
Christian industry professionals
how to develop
their screenwriting, acting,
directing, producing, and
behind-the-scenes interests to
make Hollywood and the
world a better place. Releases
Nov. 15. Paperback. B&H
product # 0-8054-3192-6;
$14.99
◆ The Religions Next
Door: What We Need to
Know about Judaism,
48
Facts & Trends
Hinduism,
Buddhism, and
Islam -- and
what Reporters
are Missing
knowledge? Augustine to
Freud will help
readers see how
psychological perspectives are in
harmony with
by Marvin
Christian
theologiOlasky
cal perspectives, and
The Religions
where
they someNext Door will
times
conflict.
educate readers
Releases Nov. 1.
about world
Paperback.
B&H
religions that
product
#
0-8054the media often misrepresent.
3146-2. $14.99
Our neighborhoods are
full of religious diversity
these days, but the media
would have us believe
they all hold different
variations of the same
tenets. But this isn’t so,
and it is in those missed
details that serious and
grave injustice is done
to the American people
by the misreporting of
religion. Releases
◆ Experiencing God:
Nov. 1. Paperback.
Knowing and Doing the
B&H Product # 08054-3143-8; $14.99 Will of God; 15th
◆ Augustine
to Freud: What
Theologians
& Psychologists
Tell Us About
Human Nature —
and Why
It Matters
by Kenneth Boa
Kenneth Boa examines
what six prominent theologians and eight renowned
psychologists believe and
teach about human needs.
Where do they agree about
human nature? Where do
they disagree? Are their differences based on scientific
Anniversary Edition
by Henry T. Blackaby &
Claude V. King
God reveals Himself to
each of us in special ways, so
our perception of Him is
unique. The original edition
of this book
already has helped
millions of believers renew and revitalize their love for
the Lord by seeing
His love for us.
Experiencing God is
designed to help
each of us recognize our own per-
sonal relationship with God
as He reveals His divine plan
and comes alongside us to
accomplish His work
through us. Releases Nov. 1.
Hardcover. B&H product
# 0-8054-3200-0; $19.99
◆ Perspectives on
Spirit Baptism
edited by Chad Brand, contributors: Ralph Del Colle,
H. Ray Dunning, Larry
Hart, Stanley M. Horton and
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
Perspectives on Spirit
Baptism presents in counterpoint form the basic common beliefs on spirit baptism
which have developed over
the course of church history
with a view toward determining which is most faithful to
Scripture. Each chapter will
be written by a prominent
person from within each tradition -- with specific guidelines dealing with the biblical, historical and theological
issues within each tradition.
Releases Nov. 1. Paperback.
B&H product # 0-80542594-2; $19.99
◆ The Glory and Honor
of God, Volume 2 of the
Previously Unpublished
Sermons of Jonathon
Edwards
edited by Michael
D. McMullen
Famed Puritan
preacher Jonathon
Edwards is forever
known for his sermon “Sinners in
the Hands of an
Angry God,”
though that is
Resources
just released
only one of hundreds of sermons of great merit. Michael
McMullen has compiled a second collection featuring 20
more sermons preached by
Edwards that never before
have appeared in print.
Releases Nov. 1. Hardcover.
B&H product # 0-80543135-7; $24.99
◆ Lost Boy No More
by Abraham Nhial and DiAnn
Mills, foreword by
former President
Jimmy Carter
Lost Boy No More
tells the incredible
true story of
Abraham Nhial who
found himself
orphaned as civil war
in his homeland of
Sudan ravaged his
entire village because
they refused to
embrace Islam. His journey is
one of a perilous walk along
with 35,000 lost boys of
Sudan who fled to Ethiopia.
Abraham and others like him
made it to the border but hard
times were not over as he
endured the refugee camps of
Ethiopia. Abraham becomes a
lost boy no more when he discovers real salvation through
Jesus Christ. Lost Boy No More
gives a history of Sudan and
the persecution of Christians
by Islamic militants. Releases
Nov. 15. Paperback. B&H
product # 0-8054-3186-1;
$12.99
◆ A Diary of Revival and
A Pictorial History of
Revival: A Centenary
Celebration of the 1904
Welsh Awakening
by Kevin Adams and Emyr
Jones, foreword by Selwyn
Hughes
Using biography, newspaper
accounts and eyewitness testimony to place the events in
context, A Diary of Revival
takes extracts from young
evangelist Evan Robert’s diary
between September and
November 1904 to paint a picture of the struggles and victories in the great Welsh
Awakening. A Pictorial History
of Revival is a companion volume to A Diary of Revival
bringing a visual
dimension into this
exciting move of
God. Both release
Nov. 15. A Diary of
Revival, Paperback.
B&H product # 08054-3195-0;
$14.99. A
Pictorial History of
Revival,
Hardcover. B&H
product
# 0-8054-3194-2; $24.99
LifeWay church
resources
◆ Heads Up Adult
Undated Study Pack,
Volume 1.4
This quarterly bundle offers
church leaders an easy and
affordable way to preview all
of LifeWay’s most current
undated adult studies in one
convenient package. Each new
volume includes one copy of
most new adult member books
(not including language
resources) published during
the corresponding quarter for
far less than if purchased separately.
Volume 1.4 will feature: The
Grace and Truth Paradox by
Randy Alcorn; The Search for
Significance, Revised Edition by
Robert McGee; A 40-Day
Experience, EKG: The
Heartbeat of God by Ken
Hemphill; Extraordinary
Marriage by Rodney and
Selma Wilson; and The Acts
1:8 Challenge by Nate Adams.
Plus, Heads Up Volume 1.4
also includes copies of two
popular women’s studies: Get a
Life by Vicki Courtney and
Beth Moore’s When Godly
People Do Ungodly Things.
(Limit: One per church.)
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319840-4, $34.95
For more information
or to place an order,
call (800) 458-2772
or visit us on the Web
at lifeway.com.
LifeWay Christian Store
customers can call
(800) 233-1123 or go to
lifewaystores.com.
◆ The Purity Principle:
God’s Safeguard for Life’s
Dangerous Trails
by Randy Alcorn
These days Americans, even
many Christians, are likely to
live by the principles of pleasure rather than purity. But
according to Randy Alcorn,
founder of Eternal Perspective
Ministries and author of The
Purity Principle, a new shortterm discipleship study for
adults, God’s will could not be
more clear than in 1
Thessalonians 4:3. Through
four intensive sessions of
study, Alcorn examines the
hows and whys of remaining
sexually pure, and why such
attitudes and behaviors are
essential, not just physically
and emotionally, but spiritually as well.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 1-41582014-7, $6.95
◆ VBS 2005 Ramblin’
Road Trip Sampler
Inside a fun, camper-shaped
nylon zippered bag you’ll find
everything you need to get
your own VBS road trip
rolling, including sample Bible
study leader guides and learner
guides for all six age groups-babies through preteen; separate “Rotation Guides” for all
November/December 2004 49
Catch the New Wave in VBS
Club VBS™ joins LifeWay’s already popular VBS line by
offering an alternate theme that comes with everything you need to
do VBS for up to 50 kids in one convenient pack!
Slide into your flip-flops, grab your pail and shovel, and
head for oceans of fun with Club VBS: Beach Blast™. During
each activity-filled dig site, kids will learn about God’s faithfulness as
they head to the sandcastle site for Bible study, and then on to the
crafts, recreation, and snack huts for even more fun.
Club VBS is available year-round and offers churches an exciting
and easy-to-implement, two-hour VBS plan. Use it once a week for ten
weeks of full-tilt fun or for spring or fall break.
Order your Club VBS: Beach Blast All-in-One Pack (1-4158-2084-8 •
$279.99) today! Go to www.lifeway.com/clubvbs, call 1-800-458-2772,
or visit the LifeWay Christian Store serving you.
Promo #B494A99
www.lifeway.com/clubvbs
Resources
just released
four learning and activity centers--music, missions, crafts
and rec and snacks; a fullcolor, two-sided promotional
poster; promotional DVD;
and a copy of the VBS 2005
catalog for reference.
Plus, the Sampler also features one copy of each of the
following resources: LifeWay’s
newest FamilyArcade Game
CD-ROM, the VBS 2005
Music for Kids CD, a Ramblin’
Road Trip New Testament
(Holman CSB); our
Destination parents brochure,
and the Becoming a Christian
tract (Holman CSB).
Several new resources are
included, such as the all-new
Decorating Made Easy book, a
copy of our Administrative
Guide for Directors and sample
copies of both the adult and
youth learner guides for
Lifeway’s VBS 2005 curricula.
In all, more than a $100 of
materials for only $54.99!
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319374-7, $54.99
◆ VBS 2005 Sampler Bag
Available Dec. 1.
LifeWay
church
resources
# 0-6331-9928-1, $10.99
◆ VBS 2005 Ramblin’
Road Super Sampler
To get the most of your VBS
journey, you won’t want to
travel light. And the Ramblin’
Road Trip Super Sampler is
ready to go when you are.
Packed in a durable, zippered nylon bag shaped like an
RV, it’s loaded with everything
you’ll find in the Sampler--and
then some. Featured resources
include worship rally pack,
music rotation and musical
CD, preschool music CD, and
sample leader packs for both
3s--pre-K and middle children.
Plus, there are sample copies
of a number of promotional
items and accessories, such as
an inflatable gas pump, invitation postcards, follow-up postcards, doorknob hangers, window signs, our Ramblin’ Road
Trip logo magnet, a floating
key chain, VBS 2005-themed
Post-it notepad, and decoration punch-outs.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319891-9, $169.99
◆ VBS 2005 Super
Sampler Bag
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319932-X, $19.99
◆ VBS 2005 Musical
Promo Pak
Rev up your Ramblin’ Road
Trip with this upbeat, uplifting
new musical. Each year, thousands of churches use
LifeWay’s annual VBS musical
as an exciting kick-off event or
as a way to invite parents to
church after VBS is over. This
value-priced Promo Pak previews this summer’s musical
journey. Includes one copy of
both the musical score and the
music for kids CD. (Selected
audio excerpts also available
for listening online at
www.lifeway.com/yourvbs.)
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319801-3, $10.99
For more information
or to place an order,
call (800) 458-2772,
or visit us on the Web
at lifeway.com.
LifeWay Christian Store
customers can call
(800) 233-1123, or go to
www.lifewaystores.com.
◆ VBS 2005
Administrative Guide for
Directors
Novice and experienced VBS
directors alike will appreciate
this step-by-step guide to VBS
planning, conducting, evaluating, and follow-up. Also
includes a CD-ROM with
printable, customizable forms.
One copy is included in both
the VBS 2005 Sampler and
Super Sampler. Order extras
VBS 2005 Ramblin’ Road Super Sampler
November/December 2004 51
“I will make you a great nation,
Available June 2005
I will bless you,
The PatriaRchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
by Beth Moore
B
I will make your name great...”
eth brings her dynamic teaching and passion for God’s Word to her latest Bible study—The Patriarchs:
Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Taken primarily from Genesis, chapters 12–50, Beth provides
fascinating details from the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. She explores important concepts such as blessing,
covenant, and promise and how they forever shaped the lives of these patriarchs. Through this remarkable study,
participants will discover God's pursuit of relationship and the unfolding of His earthly plan: How through one nation—
and ultimately one man—all people on earth will be blessed. The Patriarchs is full of twists and turns, ruin and
redemption, revelation and mystery—and offers fresh insights into how a holy and perfect God continues to seek us
out, both in times when we are at our best as well as our weakest and worse.
Resources for The Patriarchs include:
Member Book 01 0-6330-9906-6
$14.95
02 0-6331-9753-X
$6.95
Leader Guide
Audio CD
03 0-6331-9754-8
$39.95
04 0-6331-9763-7
$199.95
Leader Kit
After more than 20 years of writing and speaking, Beth Moore is among the most respected
Christian leaders. Through her life-changing Bible study resources and dynamic nationwide
seminar events, Beth continues to guide women everywhere to a richer, more satisfying
relationship with the Lord by teaching them how to love and live God’s Word.
Now Available!
Enjoy: A Thirst-Quenching Look at Philippians
by Tianne Moon
Enjoy offers an enduring biblical perspective on true joy. The reality of everyday life can
erode the feeling of happiness—unless a foundation of joy is already in place.
Tianne Moon leads participants on a six-week, verse-by-verse look at Philippians with
the core teaching segments on DVD. An important benefit of Enjoy is that it will be
helpful to women who are new to church and to Bible study. This new study introduces
women to Bible study tools and encourages them to apply those tools to their study, thereby discovering keys to the joy of daily living in Jesus Christ.
The Leader Kit includes a copy of the Member Book with leader guide; and overview, teaching, and
discussion segments, plus bonus interviews on two DVDs. The Member Book provides 15-20 minutes of daily personal
study, five days each week. (6 sessions)
Member Book
Leader Kit
05 0-6331-9841-2
06 0-6331-9842-0
$11.95
$149.95
Tianne attended Baylor University and The University of Texas, where she graduated with a degree
in physical therapy. She also graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in
biblical studies.
After practicing as a physical therapist for eight years, Tianne became spiritual development
coordinator for Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas. Her responsibilities include coordinating
women’s ministries and developing adult Bible study teachers and curriculum. Her passion for Bible
study was ignited when others equipped her to unwrap this beautiful gift for herself.
Living Your Life as a Beautiful Offering: A Bible Study Based on the Sermon on the Mount
Available December 2004
by Angela Thomas
Based on A Beautiful Offering, author Angela Thomas encourages
women to rekindle their hearts by returning their lives to God. How
can an imperfect life reflect back to God a true gratefulness for His
love? Jesus knows we are not perfect, but He also knows that we are
made perfect in Him, if only we will come and surrender to Him daily.
Drawing insights from the Sermon on the Mount, Angela clearly outlines to
women how Jesus gives us His compassionate instruction for everyday
living and then wraps His teaching with the promise of His blessing.
Resources for Living Your Life as a Beautiful Offering include a workbook with a
leader segment in the back. The Leader Kit contains one workbook and two DVDs.
In addition to workbook discussion, video segments featuring Angela Thomas are
designed to be viewed each week. (7 sessions)
Member Book
Leader Kit
07 1-4158-2089-9
08 1-4158-2092-9
$10.95
$149.95
Angela Thomas is a woman in desperate pursuit of God. As a single mother of four, her determination to know God
on an intimate level and her dedication to studying the Bible have taught her many truths—some discovered
through tears and some in times of joy. Angela has the uncanny ability to be transparent, make readers laugh, and
whisper to them about their most personal fears and heartfelt dreams.
Fingerprints of God: Recognizing God’s Touch on Your Life
Available March 2005
by Jennifer Rothschild
Jennifer’s new interactive Bible study, Fingerprints of God, exposes
the wonder of God’s touch upon our lives. Women will discover that
when they experience God’s touch, they will recognize six things:
honor, intimacy, shelter, guidance, redemption, and refinement. And
just like clay in the skilled hands of a potter, God’s touch molds us and
shapes us from glory to glory.
Women will find this study encouraging, practical, engaging, and challenging.
This new interactive Bible study includes a Member Book and Leader Kit. The
Member Book includes personal daily reading and learning activities to complete between the video group
sessions. The Leader Kit consists of a Member Book, leader helps, and two DVDs with segments to view in
a group session. (7 sessions)
Fingerprints of God Member Book
Fingerprints of God Leader Kit
09 1-4158-2088-0
10 1-4158-2090-2
$10.95
$149.95
Diagnosed with a rare, degenerative eye disease at age 15 that would steal her
sight, Jennifer’s dreams of becoming a commercial artist and cartoonist faded.
Instead, words and music replaced her canvas and palette. Now an author and
speaker, Jennifer relates with wit and wisdom her challenges that resonate with
women from all walks of life.
He Speaks to Me: Preparing to Hear from God
Available April 2005
by Priscilla Shirer
A common question many Christians ask is, “How can I know when God is speaking to me?” In
Priscilla’s upcoming study, He Speaks to Me, she draws life lessons from the account of God
speaking to Samuel in 1 Samuel 3. Priscilla uses this beloved Bible story to show that God speaks
to Christians and how we can discern His voice and position ourselves to respond.
In He Speaks to Me, participants will discover how God spoke to Samuel, Samuel’s response, and
how He speaks to believers today. They will be encouraged to listen and respond to God’s voice.
By listening to God’s voice and obeying Him, women will experience spiritual growth, Christian discipline, and the desire to serve. (7 sessions).
He Speaks to Me Member Book
He Speaks to Me Leader Kit
11 1-4158-2093-7 $10.95
12 1-4158-2094-5 $149.95
Priscilla Shirer’s heartfelt desire is to see women better understand who they are in Christ by hearing the
uncompromising truth of Scripture. She is the daughter of Tony and Lois Evans, and is married to her best
friend, Jerry Shirer. The couple lives in Dallas with their two sons, Jackson and J.C.
To find out more about these exciting new studies or for a list of enrichment events
featuring these authors, visit www.lifeway.com/women.
new authors, popular topics–ready for you to preview!
Living Your Life as a Beautiful Offering:
A Bible Study Based on the Sermon on the Mount
Angela Thomas
Fingerprints of God: Recognizing
God’s Touch on Your Life
Jennifer Rothschild
He Speaks to Me:
Preparing to Hear from God
Priscilla Shirer
The Patriarchs: Encountering the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Beth Moore
Enjoy: A Thirst-Quenching
Look at Philippians
Tianne Moon
To order visit www.lifeway.com, call 1.800.458.2772, or visit your LifeWay Christian Store.
Promo # B476B99
as needed. This replaces the
Director’s Planning Guide.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319948-6, $9.99
◆ VBS 2005 Tools
Online
New for 2005, this electronic resource available
helps leaders plan and finetune program details and
final touches to run smoothly. With VBS Tools Online,
you’ll be able to register participants online, enter data,
make classroom assignments, determine your VBS
rotation schedule, print
mailing labels, and manage
bulk e-mail. For more details
or to order, visit www.lifeway.com/vbstools. This is
only available by on-line
purchase.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 1-41582121-6, $29.99
◆ Club VBS: Beach
Blast All-in-One Pack
Club VBS joins LifeWay’s
already popular VBS line by
offering an alternate theme
that comes with everything
you need to plan and implement a VBS program for up
to 50 kids (10 preschoolers
and 40 children).
Featured resources in this
convenient pack include: an
administrative guide (with
CD-ROM); age-graded
leader and learner guides; a
worship rally DVD with
music and related resources;
plus posters and other promotional materials.
Club VBS features an easy
to implement two-hour
schedule, curriculum for
babies-6th grade, assorted
accessories and year-round
availability. Offer it during
spring or fall break, or offer
it one night a week for ten
weeks of full-tilt summer
fun.
For 2005, our Club
VBS theme is Beach Blast:
Celebrating God’s
Faithfulness, and our
motto is “God is faithful. I
can dig it!” Look for an
exciting new Club VBS
theme every year. For more
details, log onto www.lifeway.com/clubvbs.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 1-41582084-8, $279.99
◆ Fuel: Igniting New
Life with God’s Story
Today’s youth are assailed
with hundreds of messages
every day--on television, in
magazines, even via their cell
phones.
That’s why we
created Fuel, the
cutting-edge
video-based series
designed to
recount the entire
Bible--from
Genesis to
Revelation--in
chronological
order over a twoyear period. Each of the
Prices increase for spring 2005 materials
P
rices for Sunday school literature, magazines, devotionals,
bulletins and dated music will increase an average of 3.2 percent
beginning with the spring 2005
quarter.
“We have worked hard to minimize this impact to our churches
because we know how they squeeze
the most ministry impact out of
every dollar in their budgets,” said
Jim Johnston, interim director of
LifeWay's marketing area. “We
know because we do the same thing
in the churches we personally
serve.”
56
Facts & Trends
Actual production costs for LifeWay have risen significantly. The
price of paper alone on which LifeWay's magazines, devotionals, bulletins, dated music and Sunday
school literature are printed has
risen 17 percent this year.
“We know many of our churches
are now involved in budget planning process for 2005,” Johnston
said. “We know the price of LifeWay products may impact planning,
so we want the churches to have information so they can make adequate budget plans for their resource needs in their 2005 church
budgets.”
eight volumes (a new one
releases each quarter) in this
powerful undated curriculum provides material for 12
sessions. Daily Scripture
readings are suggested for
the students so that they can
follow up with personal
exploration of the study passages.
◆ Fuel: Igniting New
Life with God’s Story,
1.2 (DVDs & CDROMs)
Each volume includes two
DVDs and three CD-ROMs
with presentation and
teacher preparation materials
for 12 chronological Bible
lessons.
For each session, the DVD
contains an introductory drama,
montage or music
video, an introduction by teen hosts,
and one of the great
stories of the Bible
vividly retold by an
experienced communicator.
Plus, on the CD-ROMs,
small-group teaching plans
are provided, along with
audio tracks, leader helps,
and printable student handouts designed to supplement
the study. Available Dec. 1.
LifeWay church resources
# 0-6331-9960-5, $149.95
◆ Small Group Leader
Edition 1.2 (CD-ROMs
only)
Available separately for
each volume, the Small
Group Leader Edition
includes all three CDROMs with teacher preparation tools and teaching
resources.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319966-4, $9.95
Resources
just released
◆ Vital Skills
Filled with stories and
imagery today’s teens understand, these flexible, four-session Bible studies are designed
to help 7th-12th graders
understand the attitudes and
abilities necessary to
live an
effective
Christian
life.
Every
quarter
brings three
new topical
resources. The
self-contained
weekly lessons
and the
straightforward lesson
plans make it
easy for
students and
leaders. (4 sessions each)
Vital Skills:
How to Pray
Using
Scripture
by Cynthia Hopkins
LifeWay church resources
# 0-6331-9402-6, $12.95
Vital Skills: How to Build
Strong Friendships
LifeTrak Vol 5.2 for Older
Youth
by Karen Dockrey
LifeWay church resources
# 0-6331-9440-9, $12.95
The Bible study emphases
for this quarterly resource will
focus on spiritual gifts and discernment. A seasonal emphasis
on Christmas also is provided.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319484-0, $29.95
Vital Skills: How to Be a
Campus Missionary
by Chad Keck
LifeWay church resources
# 0-6331-9456-5, $12.95
Available Nov. 1.
◆ LifeTrak, Volume 5.2
With separate editions for
grades 7-9 and 10-12, LifeTrak
focuses specifically on problems and concerns relative to
each age group. There are
nearly 16 full quarters of
lessons to choose from and can
be used on Sunday morning or
at other times--such as retreats,
camps, and outreach Bible
study settings.
LifeTrak Vol. 5.2 for
Younger Youth
Featured topics include the
sanctity of human life and
gender identity development.
Plus there’s an in-depth character study of people in the
Christmas story.
Available Dec. 1. LifeWay
church resources # 0-63319489-1, $29.95
◆ Everything You Need to
Know to be a Teenager
For more information
or to place an order,
call (800) 458-2772,
or visit us on the Web
at lifeway.com.
LifeWay Christian Store
customers can call
(800) 233-1123, or go to
www.lifewaystores.com.
Designed especially for sixth
graders, these Bible study
resources are a great way to
make the problematic
preteen-to-teen transition just a little bit
easier--and help prepare them to become
Christian youth. Part
of an ongoing, undated curriculum series.
Preteen Handbook,
Vol. 11
LifeWay church resources
# 0-6331-9417-4, $4.95
Leader Guide, Vol. 11
LifeWay church resources
# 0-6331-9410-7, $9.95
Resource Box, Vol. 11
LifeWay church resources
# 0-6331-9420-4, $59.95
Available Dec. 1.
✁
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November/December 2004 57
lifeway.com/news
Stories about ministry.
Stories about life.
Sunday school on Thursday
night? Discipleship at a coffee
shop? Evangelism during a
Saturday morning weight
workout? Absolutely!
Church resources leaders
give A’s to Q’s about how
these trends are happening
everywhere in a new series
at lifeway.com/news.
See new click-thru photo galleries along with downloadable news and past issues of Facts & Trends
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Facts & Trends is published by LifeWay Christian
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November/December 2004
ISBN: 9-9999-0233-5