IMB TRUSTEES ENDORSE STREAMLINED STRATEGY TO EMPOWER LIMITLESS MISSIONARY TEAMS 7
APRIL 2015
SBC PRESIDENTS SEND LETTER TO OBAMA OVER ISIS
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SBC ANNUAL MEETING PREVIEW
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Newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention N MORE NEWS AT TEXANONLINE.NET
LOVE FOR MISSIONS
ONE IN A MILLION:
Keller church realizes ‘the more we give, the more we have to give’
Evangelism initiative challenges churches to reach 1 million homes with gospel by 2018
by Karen L. Willoughby Baptist Press
Keith Sanders, pastor for the last 10 years of First Baptist Church in Keller, describes the church’s love for missions as “almost a wildfire out of control.” Nearly every month, a First Baptist Keller member participates in a short-term mission trip; the congregation is about to begin its fourth church plant; and its Cooperative Program giving has more than tripled over the last seven years, Sanders said. “The Lord has blessed our church tremendously, financially,” Sanders said. “We see a relationship between our willingness to give away and God’s blessings. We have found the more we give, the more we have to give.
By Keith Collier
KELLER
See KELLER, 10
Managing Editor
Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Evangelism Director Nathan Lorick believes Texas churches are poised to see the most comprehensive statewide evangelism effort in the history of the Lone Star State. During the SBTC Empower Conference in February, Lorick presented the “One in a Million” evangelism initiative, casting a vision for SBTC churches—large and small—to reach one million homes with the gospel over the next three years. “The One in a Million campaign is about a strategic approach to bringing our coalition of 2,500 churches together in one sacred effort to share the gospel in one million homes,” Lorick told the TEXAN.
5On a mission trip in Nepal, Lawrence Duhon, associate pastor of missions and evangelism of First Baptist Church in Keller establishes contact with the unreached Dhimal people group. PHOTO BY FBC KELLER 4Lawrence Duhon, at right, associate pastor of missions and evangelism at First Baptist Church in Keller helps baptize a young Yalunka woman during a church mission trip to Mali. PHOTO BY FBC KELLER
MOVEMENT OF GOD
WEST TEXAS CHURCH EXPERIENCES ‘GOSPEL REVOLUTION’ 100 people make professions of faith over course of a month By Tammi Ledbetter Special Assisgnments Editor ODESSA Calling it “a sweet movement of God,” no other explanation makes sense to Byron McWilliams when asked to explain the number of people taking a stand for Christ as the invitation is being offered at First Baptist Church of Odessa.
McWilliams was in the audience in Baltimore last June to hear fellow pastor John Meador of Euless preach at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Meador challenged pastors to get a plan to share the gospel and lead their people to a field in their own communities where it needs to be sown. See ODESSA, 2
To accomplish such an ambitious task, the SBTC will sponsor two-day regional trainings where pastors and local church members will learn the personal evangelism method “Can We Talk?,” which was developed by John Meador, pastor of First Baptist Church in Euless. Meador’s church has seen an explosion of people coming to faith in Christ as a result of implementing the strategy in 2013. See 1 MILLION, 2
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right now. It doesn’t matter who is around you. Pride does not enter into it.” On the day after he returned CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 from India, McWilliams shared That’s when McWilliams dewith his congregation the imcided to attend training in Euages of the people he had met less to learn how to implement and told their stories of turning the evangelistic strategy “Can from idolatry to embrace the We Talk?” that Meador had gospel of Jesus Christ. been using in his own church to He shared the outline from train 300 people in 24 weeks to “Can We Talk?” with the acroshare their faith. nym for gospel to refer to G for “That first night I went out, God’s character revealed in his and God allowed me to lead a grace, mercy and justice; O for woman by the name of Felicia the offense of sin before God; S to the Lord, and the next night for the sufficiency of Christ in I led Emberto,” McWilliams told saving anyone; P for the need the TEXAN. for a personal response; E for —BYRON MCWILLIAMS, “I called my music ministers the eternal urgency; and L for PASTOR OF FIRST BAPTIST and said, ‘We’re fixing to do our life transformation. CHURCH OF ODESSA Christmas celebration, and I’ve “I felt the Holy Spirit saying, got our invitation.” ‘Give an invitation like you did With more than 1,000 people in India,’” McWilliams said. Inattending over the course of stead of the usual pattern of infour performances, McWilliams their decisions, uncertain as to viting people to come and talk opened each program by setting whether they understood. privately with a minister, Mc“Three different times I said, Williams told those who needup the stories of Felicia and Emberto and then came back to ‘If you don’t understand, just ed Jesus in their lives to stand. share the commitments they sit down,’ but they didn’t. They One by one they rose until 51 made and give an invitation for refused to sit down because people were standing. they knew exactly what they people to respond. A week later he asked the “We had 104 people saved at were doing. An interpreter told congregation to recite each the Christmas celebration, and me they realized they were re- point represented in the acrothat’s kind of where it started,” nouncing their Hindu gods and nym, and together they recalled goddesses and turning totally all a person needs to know McWilliams said. Then, during the first weeks to Jesus.” to present the message of the When Meador presented the gospel. Once again, the pastor of January, McWilliams joined Meador in India to lead two gospel at the pastors’ confer- asked those who recognized conferences for pastors and to ence in India, he was convinced their need for Jesus to stand preach throughout villages in an invitation should be offered. publicly and another 20 people remote areas. Both men shared Twenty-six of the pastors stood responded. The following Sunthe gospel in every preaching and 34 wives professed faith in day another 20 stood up at the Christ, McWilliams recalled. context. close of the service, and then “They were standing in front nine the week after that. “When it was time for a response I asked them to stand,” of all their peers saying Jesus “It’s an incredibly simple McWilliams explained. “I Christ is Lord of their lives. gospel presentation that anywatched men and women bro- We didn’t say if you want to one can do,” McWilliams said. ken by their sin and the gospel be saved come talk to me on “I called on them to stand, and the side and we’ll deal with it they did.” stand up and come to Christ.” At times he found him- privately. No, if you want to be McWilliams has challenged self trying to talk them out of saved stand up for Jesus Christ every member of the church
1 MILLION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
After being trained, participants will put their newly learned evangelism strategies into action as they go out and share the gospel. They will also develop a plan to train other church members and reach their communities for Christ after they return home. Registration for the trainings is $150 per person. Any staff member or church member can attend the trainings, but the SBTC will supplement $100 for senior pastors of SBTC churches, reducing their cost to $50. Lorick believes the One in a Million strategy “has the potential to be the most effective strategic evangelism effort in the history of Texas.” Recent census data estimates nearly 9 million households in the state, yielding a population of 26.5 million or greater. Studies show that nearly 7 out of 10 Texans do not have a personal relationship with Christ, which tallies to more than 18 million people.
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“THE GREATEST POWER ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH—WHETHER YOU’RE IN ODESSA, TEXAS, OR ANYWHERE IN INDIA—IS THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. I DON’T SEE REVIVAL COMING UNLESS WE HAVE A GOSPEL REVOLUTION. LET’S NOT JUST PRAY ABOUT IT. LET’S DO IT.”
Still, Lorick says, faithful prayer and intentional evangelism could produce an abundant spiritual harvest if workers are willing to labor in the fields. He has already seen it happening in churches across the state. “Imagine what Texas would look like if we joined together to
L O N E POPULATION OF TEXAS:
charge the gates of hell with the good news of Jesus Christ,” he said. “This can only be done by intentional evangelism.” “However, we must have pastors willing to be trained, to train their churches and to give their people a platform to share the gospel.
S T A R
to go through training to practice sharing the “Can We Talk?” outline. “The staff of this church cannot win Odessa to Christ,” he told the congregation. “Why would you not want to share what is most important to God with somebody else?” he asked. More than 75 people are participating in the first training opportunity this year. Thirty of them are divided into 10 teams
“I am asking our churches to seize this moment. Let us join together in one focused effort to penetrate the darkness with the gospel and see Texas changed forever.” For more information, including registration for trainings, visit sbtexas.com/oneinamillion.
L O S T N E S S
26.5 million
NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS: LOSTNESS:
FBC Odessa Pastor Byron McWilliams baptizes Brittany Thisted during a Sunday morning worship service. Thisted’s sisters, Tiffany and Stephanie, were also baptized. PHOTO BY FBC ODESSA
8.9 million
68.49% (NEARLY 7 OUT OF 10 TEXANS)
APPROXIMATELY 18.1 MILLION
that follow up on visitors. The rest stay behind fervently praying for those who are sharing the gospel. “The greatest power on the face of the earth—whether you’re in Odessa, Texas, or anywhere in India—is the gospel of Jesus Christ,” McWilliams said. “I don’t see revival coming unless we have a gospel revolution. Let’s not just pray about it. Let’s do it.”
DID YOU MISS STORIES FROM LATEST TEXAN MAGAZINE? u Coastal Community: Church planter revives dying church on Galveston Island u At the Movies: ‘Do You Believe?’ is powerful follow-up to ‘God’s Not Dead’ u Column: What does homosexuality have to do with abortion? Subscribe for FREE: texanonline.net/subscribe
R E G I O N A L u April 26-27 • First Baptist, Euless u May 15-16 • Tabernacle Baptist, Ennis u Aug. 21-22 • Lakeside Baptist, Canton u Sept. 18-19 • First Baptist, Odessa u Sept. 27-28 • First Baptist, Euless u Oct. 23-24 • First Baptist, Euless
T R A I N I N G S u Nov. 20-21 • West Conroe Baptist, Conroe u Dec. 6-7 • First Baptist, Euless Registration: $150 per person $50 for senior pastors of SBTC churches
Visit texanonline.net/digital or scan the QR code above to read all the archives.
APRIL 2015
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2015 SBC annual meeting theme, artwork announced SBC Life
The theme for the 2015 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Columbus, Ohio, will be “Great Awakening: Clear Agreement, Visible Union, Extraordinary Prayer,” according to SBC President Ronnie Floyd. Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in Springdale, Ark., requested that the Committee on Order of Business commit the entire Tuesday evening session to a time of prayer and worship. “Can you imagine the impact of Southern Baptists coming together in clear agreement and visible union at one place at one time?” he asked during the committee’s meeting in Nashville on Sept. 24. “It will be an amazing thing for God’s people to unite in extraordinary prayer for revival and spiritual awakening,” he said. Drawing from Jonathan Edwards’s 1747 book, An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People, in Extraordinary Prayer, for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth, which some revivalists believe helped spawn the First Great Awakening in
America, Floyd has issued a “Call to Columbus,” challenging Southern Baptists to converge on Columbus to transact the business of the convention and to engage in the “most important business of all”— beseeching “the throne of grace for revival and spiritual awakening.” “I believe the annual meeting in Columbus will be a milestone in the life of the SBC,” committee chairman Andrew Hebert, pastor of Taylor Memorial Baptist Church in Hobbs, N.M., said. “Our time together will be laser-focused on prayer, awakening and the mission to which God has called us. “The meeting will climax with a Tuesday night national prayer gathering of Southern Baptists for the next Great Awakening led by our president, Dr. Ronnie Floyd. If you are a Southern Baptist or any other believer who cares about the future of the church, our nation and reaching the world for Christ, you will not want to miss this,” he said. Julio Arriola, global worship pastor at Cross Church, will lead in worship through song. The 2015 annual meeting will be June 16–17 in Columbus, Ohio.
Floyd names Committee on Committees Baptist Press COLUMBUS, Ohio SBC President Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church, in Springdale, Ark. has announced appointments to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Committee on Committees in accordance with SBC Bylaw 19, which calls for providing notice to Southern Baptists of the appointees no later than 45 days in advance of each year’s convention. The Committee on Committees will assemble in Columbus just prior to the SBC’s June 16-17 annual meeting to nominate members of the Committee on Nominations who, in turn, nominate trustees for the boards of SBC entities. SBC Bylaw 19 also provides that the Committee on Committees “shall nominate all special committees authorized during the sessions of the convention not otherwise provided for.” The Committee on Committees has 68 members, two from each of the 34 states and regions qualified for representation on boards of SBC entities. Floyd named Bryan Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church, Roanoke, Va., to serve as chairman of this year’s Committee on Committees. Committee members are: ALABAMA Marilyn Foley, Spring Hill Baptist Church, Mobile; Buddy Champion, First Baptist Church, Trussville ALASKA Todd Burgess, First Baptist Church, Eagle River; Brent Williams, True North Church, Anchorage
ARIZONA Scott Gourley, The Way Fellowship Church, Peoria; Brett Carlson, Mountain Ridge Church, Glendale ARKANSAS Tom Hatley, Immanuel Baptist Church, Rogers; Bill Elliff, The Summit Church, North Little Rock CALIFORNIA Ryan Blackwell, First Baptist Church, San Francisco; Anthony Dockery, St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church, La Puente COLORADO Bryan Barley, The Summit Church, Denver; Missy Kintzel, Applewood Baptist Church, Wheat Ridge FLORIDA Matt Crawford, First Baptist Church, Sebring; Trey Brunson, First Baptist Church, Jacksonville GEORGIA Fred Evers, Northside Baptist Church, Tifton; Jeremy Morton, First Baptist Church, Cartersville HAWAII Maria Ogle, Ocean View Baptist Church, Ocean View; Steve Gray, First Baptist Church, Wahiawa ILLINOIS Adron Robinson, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Country Club Hills; Patrick Pajak, Tabernacle, Decatur INDIANA Nathan Millican, Oak Park Baptist Church, Jeffersonville; Autumn Wall, Living Faith Church, Indianapolis KANSAS-NEBRASKA Derrick Lynch, Blue Valley Baptist Church, Overland Park, Kan.; Faith McDonald, Lenexa Baptist Church, Lenexa, Kan. KENTUCKY Garnetta Smith, Highview Baptist Church, Louisville; John Mark Toby, Hillvue Heights Church, Bowling Green
LOUISIANA Stewart Holloway, First Baptist Church, Pineville; Diane Nix, First Baptist Church, Covington MARYLAND-DELAWARE-DC Bucas Sterling III, Kettering Baptist Church, Upper Marlboro, Md.; Zach Schlegel, Capital Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C. MICHIGAN Nathaniel Bishop, Eastside Community Church, Harper Woods; Wayne Parker, Merriman Road Baptist Church, Garden City MISSISSIPPI Eric Hankins, First Baptist Church, Oxford; Chip Henderson, Pinelake Church, Brandon MISSOURI Malachi O’Brien, The Church at Pleasant Ridge, Harrisonville; Brad Graves, Calvary Baptist Church, Joplin NEVADA Greg Fields, Nellis Baptist Church, Las Vegas; Kristie Pitman, Hope Baptist Church, Las Vegas NEW ENGLAND Matt Chewning, Netcast Church, Beverly, Mass.; David Um, Antioch Baptist Church, Cambridge, Mass. NEW MEXICO Alan Stoddard, First Baptist Church, Ruidoso; Elio Barrios, Taylor Memorial Baptist Church, Hobbs NEW YORK George Russ, Ebenezer Mission Church, Oakland Gardens; Salomón Orellana, Iglesia Bautista El Buen Pastor, Hempstead NORTH CAROLINA Mike Daniels, Hickory Grove Baptist Church, Charlotte; Brundi Crawford, Biltmore Baptist Church, Arden
NORTHWEST Brian Smith, Calvary Baptist Church, Burlington, Wash.; Mark Ford, First Baptist Church, Longview, Wash. OHIO Travis Smalley, Lakota Hills Baptist Church, West Chester Township; Rich Halcombe, Jersey Baptist Church, Pataskala OKLAHOMA Félix Cabrera, Iglesia Bautista Central, Oklahoma City; Alex Himaya, TheChurch.at, Tulsa PENNSYLVANIA/SOUTH JERSEY K. Marshall Williams, Nazarene Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa.; John Cope, Keystone Fellowship, North Wales, Pa. SOUTH CAROLINA Paul Jimenez, First Baptist Church, Taylors; Karyn Wilton, First Baptist Church, Spartanburg TENNESSEE Kim Tucker, Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova; Jon Akin, Fairview Church, Lebanon TEXAS Chuy Avila, El Encuentro Baptist Church, El Paso; Glynn Stone, Mobberly Baptist Church, Longview UTAH-IDAHO Paul Thompson, Eastside Baptist Church, Twin Falls, Idaho; Ray Sparkman, Central Valley Baptist Church, Meridian, Idaho VIRGINIA Bryan Smith, First Baptist Church, Roanoke; Tammy Ethridge, Liberty Baptist Church, Hampton WEST VIRGINIA John Freeman, Calvary Baptist Church, Chapmanville; Will Basham, New Heights Church, Milton WYOMING Mark Porter, Happy Jack Country Church, Cheyenne; Zachary Edwards, Life Point Church, Cheyenne
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RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN TEXAS Gary Ledbetter Editor
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’ve jokingly told friends that Texas will be the Alamo—a place for a last stand—for social conservatives in America. I was joking, but I wasn’t kidding. Conservatives in Texas can see Santa Anna’s scouts on the horizon. Already we’ve lost skirmishes in Houston, San Antonio and Plano as the combination of cynical politicians and low voter turnout gave those significant cities ordinances to ensure privileged status to some based on their sexual behavior or self-determined gender(s). Five pastors in Houston had sermons and correspondence with church members subpoenaed by the city administration because the pastors protested the ordinance. And of course we’ve had the usual selection of cheerleaders being forbidden from putting Bible verses on banners, nativity scenes being banned from county courthouses and other “mundane” challenges to the religious practice of citizens.
These things have occurred even though Texas already has a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which requires a “compelling governmental interest” before “substantially burdening a person’s free exercise of religion.” The “equal rights” ordinances being passed in Texas cities will substantially burden the religious liberty of those who do not celebrate the triumph of sexual license in our culture. I frankly believe they were intended to do so. And our RFRA will not protect us any more than it restrained the Houston city attorney from threatening pastors with legal action because of what they preached. Christians may win future legal fights regarding their exercise of religion, but we will be challenged because the laws are in place to challenge our rights, and no one has declared equal rights laws unconstitutional. Those ordinances are contrary to the spirit of the constitution, but we need the letter of our rights spelled out. We’re not surprised then that the issue of religious liberty arose in this session of the
“THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FREEDOM OF WORSHIP AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.” Texas legislature. Senator Donna Campbell has introduced SJR 10 with the intent of adding what is essentially the language of RFRA to the Texas constitution. “Secular Texas,” an organization whose name says it all, sees a threat to the anti-religious aspects of the equal rights ordinances. They call Senator Campbell’s bill “redundant” but also a threat to the city ordinances … so maybe it’s not redundant. Its inclusion in the state constitution may give religious liberty a status not currently respected by some local politicians. Representative Scott Sanford of McKinney has introduced HB 3567 aimed at ensuring the rights of churches and clergy to decline participation in ceremonies that violate “sincerely held religious belief.” This threat to the religious practice of church-
es and pastors is imaginable rather than imaginary. Representative Sanford is perhaps helping Houston, Plano and San Antonio understand the limits of equal rights ordinances that will sprout unintended consequences like spring dandelions. It is also a statement that evangelical Christians do not really trust the good intentions of anti-religious people who talk a lot about toleration and freedom. It is easy to imagine that we are not to be the objects of toleration when push comes to shove, as it already has in Houston. I’ve said this before, but it’s pertinent here: There is a difference between freedom of worship and religious liberty. Any secularist will allow us the right to go into our buildings, shut the door and preach what he considers foolishness. Sure, they may want to ban us from some neighborhoods, forbid us from renting school property on the same basis as other community groups, tax our land and receipts, and maybe remove our children from such toxic nonsense, but for now we can affirm what we want in private. However on Monday through
Saturday, we’d better toe a rationalist line if we want to teach science in public schools, supervise people in public service, do business with the city of San Antonio or bake wedding cakes. It’s not an overreaction to introduce legislation in advance of harsh curtailments of religious liberty. It isn’t redundant to make constitutional a right that the effort’s critics say is not really being challenged anyway. It is being challenged, and we see a shift in culture moving our direction. Was it premature for William Travis to fortify broken walls at the Alamo and range his big guns before Santa Anna was even in sight? Of course not. He knew the fight was coming, and he’d heard the nature of the war as it had already played out in other places. The last year in Texas has given biblical Christians a reason to brace themselves for an attack. We can argue about how imminent that attack may be, but it is delusional to deny that religious liberty is at least being threatened. These two bills in the Texas legislature deserve our support. We’ll need them sooner or later.
Chicken or Egg: Obedience or Awakening? Jimmy Pritchard SBTC President, Pastor at FBC Forney
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he thirst for spiritual awakening continues to express itself through the SBTC’s regional Pastor Prayer Gatherings across our state. We are not quite at the halfway point of praying in all of Texas’ 18 regions, yet we have experienced powerful times of prayer. I encourage you to make every effort to be a part of the prayer for spiritual awakening coming to your area. I sometimes have difficulty understanding the balance, timing and relationship between obedience and blessing. It’s sort of like the chicken/egg dilemma; which came first? Do times of blessing bring obedience or does obedience bring
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times of blessing? To bring that dilemma to the issue of revival, renewal and awakening, does obedience introduce times of awakening or does awakening result in seasons of obedience? To believe that we are to pray and sit around until the fire falls before we step into obedience fails to pass the “smell test.” However, going out on our own without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to make us successful woefully falls short as well. It seems we cannot have one without the other; both are somewhat simultaneous. We pray and obey while we trust the Spirit to be at work. As Southern Baptists we have a built-in mechanism to help us on the obedience side. We call it the Cooperative Program. Let me explain. The promise of our Lord in the Great Commission to be with us always is connected
Jim Richards, Executive Director
Contributors:
Gary K. Ledbetter, Editor Keith Collier, Managing Editor Tammi Ledbetter, Special Assignments Editor Sharayah Colter, Staff Writer Gayla Sullivan, Circulation Manager Russell Lightner, Layout & Design
Karen Willoughby, Jimmy Pritchard, Jeff Iorg, Jason Duesing, Waylan Owens, Kevin Ueckert, Jaye Martin, Mike Lawson, Barry Creamer, Denny Gorena, Bonnie Pritchett, Jane Rodgers, Shawn Hendricks
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to the premise that we should always be involved in making disciples of all nations. Should we expect the presence, power and provision of the Holy Spirit if our lives and ministries are not attached to making disciples of the nations? I think not. God is not about making any of us successful or famous but about making his son famous. As we embark on the same track, he will be with us. Make no mistake about it. The Cooperative Program is about making disciples. For those of us who attended a Southern Baptist seminary, it helped us financially. For those on the mission field, it pays their way (Ask any missionary, and they’ll be quick to tell you). We are in a season during which the Cooperative Program is under scrutiny by those wishing to make it better. I’m all for it. There are also those who wish to radically
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change it. If there is a better way for us to fund the ministries of disciple making than what we have undertaken together through our state and national conventions, I’m all for that as well. But until that way is discovered, I’m all in for CP. I encourage you to get all in as well. Every spiritual awakening has been preceded by prayer and obedience. There have been no spiritual awakenings that did not produce lasting results from obedience by those touched by the quickening of the Spirit. As we continue to pray and obey, and as awakening comes, I am convinced that one of the lasting results will be a great increase in the amount of our offerings given to ministries that are making disciples of the nations. Our mechanism, our delivery system is in place. We call it the Cooperative Program.
PA S T O R P R AY E R G AT H E R I N G S : DAY S O F P R AY E R A N D FAST I N G APRIL 13 | FBC Mt. Vernon (Pepper Puryear) APRIL 29 | Hyde Park Baptist, Austin (Kie Bowman & Dante Wright co-hosting) MAY 4 | FBC Bowie (Mike Henson) MAY 18 | FBC Farmersville (Bart Barber) JUNE 8 | FBC Moody (J. Tom Shelton) JUNE 25 | Central Baptist, Bryan-College Station (Chris Osborne) sbtexas.com/prayer
The Southern Baptist Texan is the official newspaper of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, P.O. Box 1988, Grapevine, Texas 76099-1988. Toll-free 877-953-7282, Phone 817-552-2500, FAX 817-552-2520. Email:
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Letters to the editor should be limited to 250 words and should refrain from personal attacks. Submit by email to
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Individual subscriptions are free of charge within Texas. A $10 per year donation is requested for out-of-state subscriptions. Email changes to
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APRIL 2015
OPINION
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CP SHINES LIGHT IN DARK PLACES Jim Richards Executive Director
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ith all the bad news swirling around, it is always refreshing to hear good news. Of course the good news of the gospel lifts us every time we hear it or share it. Southern Baptists are seeing exciting movements of God that should encourage us. Even in times of challenge, we can be optimistic. Baptisms have declined in the Southern Baptist Convention for decades, but SBTC Evangelism Director Nathan Lorick has a plan that will take personal witnessing to a new level. The goal is to reach one million Texas homes with a gospel presentation. Through prayer, training and obedience we can see a sweeping move of God across our state. Texas is experiencing unprecedented population growth. Immigrants and people from other states are moving here in large numbers. The church-to-population ratio has dropped dramat-
ically, but churches and planters are answering the call of God. There are more church planters in the SBTC assessment process at this time than ever before. We must start new churches in areas of tremendous need. Religious liberty is also being threatened. The traditional definition of marriage is on the verge of being replaced in the public arena. Southern Baptists are having discussions on sexuality from a biblical perspective, and more followers of Christ are living out their convictions about marriage. The SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is on the job helping us face these issues. Biblical illiteracy is rampant in American culture. Criswell College, Jacksonville College, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and five other SBC seminaries are training preachers, teachers and church leaders to reverse this trend. We can rejoice that God is using these schools to raise up more people of the Book. While many places around the country are experiencing racial turmoil, ethnic diversity is being modeled in the SBC and SBTC. More non-Anglos
“WE ARE PRIVILEGED TO BE A PART OF GOD’S PLAN. WE PARTICIPATE BY GOING. WE PARTICIPATE BY GIVING.” are involved in decision making, leadership and roles of authority than ever before with a continued commitment to broaden non-Anglo participation. We are beginning to “Look Like Heaven” in our churches and denomination. In North America and around the world there is unrest. Internationally the majority of people have little or no access to the gospel. SBC and SBTC have seen unengaged people groups in South Asia, South America and Africa introduced to the Lord Jesus. Likewise, God is changing
CP SUNDAY | APRIL 12 Resources can be found at whatiscp.com, sbtexas.com or by calling 817-552-2500 and asking for CP information.
hearts in Montreal, Salt Lake City and the Dakotas through the faithful witness of his people. Through partnering with the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board we shine the light of the gospel into dark places. Financial instability is ever present. Charitable giving has declined. But the SBC and SBTC have defied the norm because God’s people are giving more. Cooperative Program giving is at an all-time high through the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The SBTC is number one among state conventions in percentage giving to the SBC at 55 percent. The SBTC is number three behind Alabama and Georgia in total CP dollars. Similarly, the SBC has seen a turn-
around over the last couple of years in percentage and dollars. More CP means more can be done for the kingdom. It’s easy to be discouraged by news reports, but I choose to be encouraged by the testimonies I hear. God’s Spirit graciously produces spiritual fruit. We are privileged to be a part of God’s plan. We participate by going. We participate by giving. No one person or church can accomplish it all. One way we do the work of God together is giving through the Cooperative Program. April 12 is CP Sunday. If you can’t observe it on that day, consider taking time on some other day to share with your church the good news about what God is doing through the SBTC and SBC!
Staying in the Bay Area Jeff Iorg
President of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary
I
n an open letter to the community recently, leaders of City Church San Francisco recanted their biblical stand on homosexuality and agreed to welcome same-sex married couples as members. This church has been a strong evangelical congregation in San Francisco, looked to by many as a model for convictional ministry in a challenging setting. Their announcement was a bad day by the Bay. The justification for their action was particularly troubling, even insidious. They claim they are taking the Bible seriously but have found new ways to interpret the Bible which justify—even mandate— their position. They carefully articulate their position as being biblical, not a rejection of biblical truth but a redefinition and clearer understanding of it. They have invented a new hermeneutic to support their experience-driven conclusions that several thousand years of biblical interpretation has been wrong. The decision by City Church is not really about sexuality; it’s about biblical authority. The crux of the matter is this:
PERHAPS YOU MISSED THE SECOND PART OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT— WE ARE ALSO BUILDING A NEW CAMPUS IN THE BAY AREA. Does the Bible define morality or does our experience define morality? The answer to that question has far more significant implications than affirming any form of sexual behavior. The gospel itself is at stake. If the Bible is wrong on defining sinful behavior, then why should we assume it’s correct when it also prescribes the solution? Over the past few months, much has been made of our decision at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary to relocate our primary campus to
Southern California. Perhaps you missed the second part of the announcement—we are also building a new campus in the Bay Area. We are staying in the Bay Area, with a significant investment in a new campus, to support the churches here who continue to submit to biblical authority and honor the historic understanding of the Christian faith (and its Old Testament Jewish heritage). We will be sharing the first architectural drawings of our new Bay Area Campus soon. It is a beautiful symbol of our commitment to shaping leaders who expand God’s kingdom in one of the most challenging ministry settings in North America. It’s also evidence of our commitment to staying by our historic convictions as we train leaders for the challenging work we have to do in this part of God’s world.
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PAIGE PATTERSON: 40 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION of any sizeable stature on our part but because we are, in fact, Jason G. Duesing standing on the shoulders of Midwestern Seminary these giants. Significant, though, in this epoch of change was the vehicle in Some figures in history ac- which Patterson carried out his complish the work of multiple ministry of influence and dislifetimes within a single life. cipleship. Not often considered Like the resplendent Martin is that Patterson has shaped a Luther in the 16th-century generation principally from the Reformation, some leaders unique post of the presidency of function at a capacity that schools of theological education wearies the rest of us just in for four decades. the thinking of it. Yet, scores of On Feb. 24, 1975, 40 years lives have benefited from what ago, Patterson was elected as these great men did with the president of what would betime that was given to them. come Criswell College in DalWhen a future history is writ- las. From the age of 32, Patterten of the triumphs and travails son built that school not only of the Southern Baptist Conven- into a premier training center tion of the late 20th and early for future ministers—but also 21st century, there is no debate for future leaders in the Southwhether the name Paige Patter- ern Baptist Convention for deson will have a sizable number cades to come. of entries in that volume’s inAfter 17 years in Dallas, Patdex. For at the time when this terson went to serve as presiconvention of churches was dent at Southeastern Baptist undergoing a theological cri- Theological Seminary in Wake sis, God provided many timely Forest, N.C. The reformation of leaders, and one of the giants that school is a story fit for the among them was Patterson. cinema, and the transformaRegularly, the hinges of his- tion of the eastern seaboard of tory’s precarious moments churches, new and old, to this have turned on the coura- day can be traced back to the geous actions of great men. For recovery of that institution for those of us impacted by their theological good. imprint, we recognize that we At age 60, when many thought see the world, and God’s work Patterson would certainly retire in it, more clearly, not because in North Carolina, he agreed to
THE LEADERSHIP OF PAIGE PATTERSON LEVERAGED FROM THE PRESIDENCIES OF THESE THREE SCHOOLS HAS REFASHIONED THE LANDSCAPE OF SOUTHERN BAPTIST AND EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION.
return to Texas as president of the century-old Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he continues to serve. There, too, he has helped reshape and fortify a school to which Southern Baptist churches can, with confidence, send their young men and women for quality training and theological preparation. The leadership of Paige Patterson leveraged from the presidencies of these three schools has refashioned the landscape of Southern Baptist and evangelical theological education. Here are just three examples. First, Patterson was an educational innovator long before the advent of the Internet required us all to think outside
the box. From creative missions platforms that accelerated students to the ends of the earth, to a legendary ability to cultivate faculty and administrators who go on to shape their fields and lead other institutions of significance, Patterson refashioned the paradigm for what a college and seminary president could be and do. Patterson’s educational philosophy has always been more pastoral than clinical, but amazingly without sacrificing academic quality. During the 1990s when the trend was to decrease the amount of biblical languages required for a master of divinity degree, Patterson increased the minimum hours of Greek and Hebrew and his school grew while others plateaued. Finally, in a post-recession era of crumbling investments and hesitant donors, Patterson here, too, has redrawn the map of the status quo, this time in terms of evangelical fundraising. At a time when Christian schools without sports programs and minimal endowments are closing their doors, Patterson has seen exponential growth for his school in every category of giving. The simple fact is that if, with the aid of Marty McFly’s Back to the Future time machine, we were able to go back 40 years and alter the future impact of
Paige Patterson on theological education and return to 2015 as observers, those of us trained in Southern Baptist schools or serving now in theological education would not recognize our world or ourselves in it. The truth is that as Southern Baptist colleges and seminaries prosper today, it is in large part due to the fact that we are able to see more clearly and do our ministry more effectively having built upon the transformative work of Paige Patterson. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he instructs those believers to “honor such men” who have served God and the Gospel well (Philippians 2:29). On the occasion of 40 years as a president, Patterson’s decades of service are worth contemplating, imitating and honoring. How grateful I and many others are for the privilege of standing on the shoulders of this giant. Any strides forward in theological education today are due in large part to Patterson’s four-plus decades of transformative leadership. Congratulations, President Patterson. Jason G. Duesing, provost at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., previously served 12 years with Paige Patterson in a variety of roles at Southern Baptists’ Southwestern and Southeastern seminaries.
Officiating weddings ‘So I can minister to them’ Waylan Owens Southwestern Seminary
This is an open post to pastors and to all ordained ministers who hold firmly to the Scriptures, to those who believe that the Bible is our final standard on marriage and sexuality and that homosexual marriage clearly is not biblical. The time of testing is here. However the Supreme Court rules on the matter, marriage between two men or between two women is here to stay. Legislators have found little strength to fight this movement, and it will not go away. So, pastors, now is the time to be sure you are prepared. Do not be fooled. As homosexual marriage is legalized, pastors will have to come face to face with reality and answer this question: If I have married people without requiring biblical standards, based upon the
fact that I then could minister to them, how can I not do the same for homosexual couples? I believe that many will begin to answer the question with the same old answer: I perform weddings without applying biblical standards so that I can minister to the couple. This will happen first in liberal churches and in churches in which significant members have children who have declared as homosexuals. But I fear it will spread. And as it spreads, pastor, if you try to draw the line at homosexuals, you will be attacked as homophobic and worse, especially if you are not applying a consistent biblical standard to everyone. I have lived long enough to watch it happen. As a boy, I knew that Southern Baptist pastors never would marry couples who lived together and pretty much never performed weddings for those who had been divorced unless the pastor could be convinced of truly biblical exceptions to that policy. By the time I was a teen, divorce was becom-
ing more prevalent in the church, and pastors began to pay less and less attention to the biblical nature of the divorce(s) of the individuals who wanted to remarry. As my teen years turned to college and seminary years, a movement happened among pastors who began to argue in chorus that they must perform weddings of those committing fornication without requiring repentance and of the divorced without questioning the biblical nature of the divorce, so that they would have a chance “to minister to the couple.” Early on, the phrase “share the gospel” was substituted for “minister,” but since it was pretty apparent that agreeing to perform a wedding was not necessary simply to share the gospel, the argument morphed to the broader idea of “ministry.” Today, it is not too difficult to find Southern Baptist ordained ministers who perform weddings without much reference to biblical teachings on mar-
IF PASTORS HAVE NOT APPLIED BIBLICAL STANDARDS TO WEDDINGS PRIOR TO THE LEGALIZATION OF HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE, THEY WILL HAVE A MORE DIFFICULT TIME APPLYING THEM AFTERWARDS. riage and sexuality or to the application of those teachings to individual couples, based on the idea that we dare not “drive” someone away from our church and that we have opportunity to “minister” to them. Of course, the question could be raised that if we are not “ministering” repentance and conformity to the authoritative Word of God, just what are we ministering? But that is not the point here. My point is that if pastors have not applied biblical standards to weddings prior to the
legalization of homosexual marriage, they will have a more difficult time applying them afterwards. You might not be old enough to remember when pastors argued things like, “Others may marry people from unbiblical divorces or couples living in fornication without calling for their repentance, but I never will!” I am old enough to remember that. Once, many cried words like these, but as the pressure mounted, many gave in and took on the ministry argument over the biblical arguments. Pastor, are you ready to stand against the pressure that is coming to give in to performing weddings between homosexuals, pressure to perform their weddings so you can minister to them? And are you applying biblical standards for marriage and sexuality to everyone already? Waylan Owens serves as the dean of the School of Church & Family Ministries at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
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IMB trustees endorse streamlined strategy to empower limitless missionary teams
People gather in prayer over a new missionary during an IMB appointment service at Sagemont Baptist Church of Houston, Feb. 25. During the meeting, IMB trustees appointed 25 new missionaries to serve around the world, joining a total missionary force of approximately 4,800. PHOTO BY CHRIS CARTER/IMB
By Tammi Ledbetter Special Assisgnments Editor HOUSTON International Mission Board President David Platt has gained approval from trustees to reset and realign the strategy and structure of the missionssending entity “to empower limitless missionary teams to make disciples and multiply churches among unreached people for the glory of God.” In his Feb. 25 report to the board, Platt said, “Our gospel is too good and our God is too glorious for us to do anything less than everything we can do to send an ever-increasing, Spiritfilled, Christ-exalting mission force of laborers going into the harvest fields for the glory of God. With no objection or discussion, board members approved the administration committee’s recommendation that a simplified structure be established with five major components of the organization covering strategy, mobilization, global engagement, training and the combining of operations and finance. Resulting changes eliminate several vice presidential level positions, while giving current leaders an opportunity to serve elsewhere within the IMB. Platt began his report by quoting the instruction in Matt. 9:35-38 to pray that God would send laborers into his harvest. “So what if he does?” he asked. “Will we be ready to help them get there, or are we actually going to turn them away?” The IMB president shared two sets of numbers to describe the “intolerable” situation of turning away qualified missionary candidates. Field personnel have declined from a high of 5,600 in 2009 to a current level of 4,800 and the expectation of a drop to 4,200. “The reason in part is the second number—$20,800,000—the amount we spent last year over what we brought in—almost $21 million in the red. By God’s grace there were ways to cover that,” Platt added, an apparent reference to property sales that
offset budget shortfalls in recent years. He said there are fewer missionaries with lower ministry budgets. “We’re not even able to support the ones we have now, much less be able to send out more. This is not tolerable,” Platt insisted. “We all know the need is too great and our God is too great to turn laborers away from the harvest,” he said, describing situations throughout the world that demonstrate openness to the gospel. Platt intentionally steered away from calling his plan a re organization. “Just the sound of that word causes people to go into convulsions,” he said. “It’s not an altogether new strategy but a reminder of what God has called us to do and who the Lord is calling us to be.” While he affirmed greater giving to the IMB funding channels of the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, Platt said, “We don’t need to make decisions that open the door for 100 more people to engage the unreached for the gospel. We need to make decisions for tens of thousands to engage the unreached for the gospel.” The 25 new missionaries approved for appointment that night at Sagemont Baptist church of Houston were the smallest group to be commissioned in many years. Platt described the current means of deploying Christians and churches to unreached people as too narrow. “We need to blow open that funnel and create as many pathways as possible.” Full-time, paid missionaries will continue to be a part of the personnel strategy, but new pathways must be pursued that utilize professionals, students and retired people who do not require full-time
IMB President David Platt addresses the agency’s trustees with a proposal “to reset our strategy and realign our structure so that as we ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His field, we will be ready when He does.” Trustees unanimously approved the proposal during their Feb. 24-25 meeting in Houston. PHOTO BY CHRIS CARTER/IMB
support, he stated. “What is our alternative? To keep telling people no?” The board affirmed Platt’s selection of Vice President John Brady whose title shifts from global strategy to global engagement. Zane Pratt continues serving as vice president for global training, a role to which he was elected last November. The divisions of logistics, personnel and finance will be
combined under operations and finance with a new leader to be recommended. Current vice presidents—Randy Pegues in global logistics support, David Steverson in finance and Tom Willliams in global personnel— will be stepping into new roles, Platt said. A new vice president for mobilization will be hired as Ken Winter returns to local church ministry. Gordon Fort, current senior vice president of prayer and mobilization, will work directly with Platt and Executive Vice President Sebastian Traeger to relate to key IMB partners and constituents as prayer is “infused across this entire strategy,” Platt said. Some of the assignments of the office of global strategic mobilization led by Vice President Scott Holste will fold into global engagement with others involving new pathways for service moving to Platt and Traeger. Holste will work in one of these two areas. The streamlined approach to be crafted over the coming
months will not compromise what Platt praised as “the stability and security our personnel have in some of the most difficult places in the world.” He said he wants to explore how to provide “high value support while freeing up resources” to spread the gospel. “We need a strategy that does not cap our number of missionaries merely based on how much money we have,” Platt added. Expanding on his call for limitless missionary teams, Platt said there is biblical precedent for sending people out in teams and “practical reasons why it is best not to send individuals to isolated places alone.” Furthermore, Platt expressed a desire to provide “gracious accountability to those we send out” and promote “flourishing families and healthy teams.” Platt’s call for realignment makes no change to the IMB’s task of making disciples and multiplying churches. “We don’t have the prerogative to change our mission,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we at the IMB personally and directly have to reach every unreached people group in the world,” urging Southern Baptists to remember they are not the only ones God is using. “By God’s grace the Great Commission does not rest on the shoulders of the IMB.” As IMB empowers Christians and churches to engage unreached people, Platt envisions a strategy that can be reproduced through national partners throughout the globe. “We want to equip them to do the exact same thing,” he said, describing the process of making disciples and planting churches that call and train believers to engage other groups. “Let’s pray, let’s fast, let’s plead
for God to raise up more laborers for his harvest field, and let’s actually believe he’s going to answer,” Platt said, preparing to “set the sails for God to empower limitless teams of missionaries who will make disciples and multiply churches among unreached people for the glory of his name.” Texas trustee Byron McWilliams of Odessa, who chairs the board’s strategy committee, said the change in organizational structure will serve to “empower the missionaries at the field level” and position them better to accomplish what Southern Baptists have appointed them to do in reaching the nations for Christ. “President David Platt has recommended that the organizational structure of the IMB be streamlined for greater impact on the front lines for our SBC missionaries,” McWilliams told the TEXAN. “Over time, the field support structure has become top-heavy, leading to a very cumbersome chain of command and less effectiveness in the trenches. As a trustee with many years of corporate business experience before being called to pastor, McWilliams said he welcomes these changes. “Empowerment with proper accountability is a truer model of the early church’s missionary expansion than what we have experienced in recent years. I’m very pleased and look forward to the number of missionaries serving around the world beginning to increase rather than remaining on the downward trend we’ve been on for the past five years.” Regarding Platt’s call for new pathways of service, McWilliams said, “It will take us partnering across many new and expanding fronts for us to reach this world.” He recognizes a growing number of Southern Baptist churches have a strong desire to send their own missionaries, saying, “We must partner with them, or we will lose them completely.”
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I CP The Cooperative Program supports a number of Southern Baptist agencies, including the North American Mission Board, the International Mission Board, six Southern Baptist seminaries, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the Executive Committee. We asked Texans serving as trustees of these entities to share why they appreciate this unique gospel-funding mechanism.
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CP GIVES ERLC UNENCUMBERED VOICE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Southern Baptists who already care about public policy and moral issues ranging from religious liberty and the sanctity of human life to immigration reform and race reconciliation understand the important role played by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The fact that many don’t only adds more gravity to the commission’s work. The ERLC is pivotal in influencing public policy in D.C. and throughout the country and just as central to informing believers about the ethical issues underlying the otherwise confusing debates about those policies. Influence-for-sale is an unfortunate but somewhat inherent feature of the American political landscape. Because the ERLC is able to operate on its relatively small share of Cooperative Program
receipts within its charter to speak both to and for Southern Baptists on issues of such importance, it is not beholden to the influence of donors with potentially diverse motivations. Making it possible for the ERLC’s leaders to speak and act free from the incumbent and often distracting obligations of fundraising is one of the CP’s best outcomes. It has never been more important for the ERLC to lead without encumbrance. Religious liberty, the platform from which believers are able to address every social and private ill, is threatened from every side. Southern Baptists have done a great thing by creating and continuing to provide for an organization with the kind of influence—and the specific influence—wielded by the ERLC.
BARRY C REAM ER
President of Criswell College in Dallas and serves as a trustee of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
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FUTURE LEADERS APPRECIATE SACRIFICE OF GIVING TO CP The Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention funnels much more than just dollars to our seminaries. Every single dollar represents a value far greater than what is seen on the surface. For every student who attends our SBC seminaries the Cooperative Program reduces the personal cost of their seminary education. That alone is a tremendous benefit and a wonderful attraction for students to consider our seminaries, but the benefit is much more than reduced costs. Every student personally experiences the benefits of cooperation, planting seeds into the lives of future church
leaders, which will someday bear the fruit of cooperation in the local church. What church thrives without the benefit of large percentages of people cooperating together for the sake of the gospel? Through the CP, students are also provided a compulsion toward humility. Certainly we all want humble servant leaders in the church and the constant realization that many other people are working hard and giving sacrificially so that students can benefit from a season of learning and study promotes humility in our future leaders. For the professors at the seminaries the Cooperative
K E V IN U E C K E RT
Pastors South Side Baptist Church in Abilene and serves as a trustee of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Program reminds them that as employees of SBC seminaries they are part of a much bigger team, unified under a common banner, serving not just the students in the classroom but the entire convention. This brings a level of accountability that helps breed excellence in our professors. And for the seminary as a whole, the Cooperative Program instills the benefit of being identified as a servant of the local church. SBC seminaries, because of the Cooperative Program, are tied to the reality that they are really dedicated servants of the local church. Through the CP, our seminaries are regularly encouraged to
be concerned about their own institution specifically because of the chief concern for the local church. The CP binds our seminaries together as partners, working together for the sake of the church and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The value of the CP for our seminaries can be determined as simply a dollar figure, but failing to recognize what those dollars truly represent will lead to a misrepresentation of the value. The true value of the CP is far beyond the dollar and can only be measured by the celebration of heaven as the kingdom of God advances for the glory of Jesus Christ.
APRIL 2015
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CP PROVIDES PRACTICAL METHOD FOR DOING KINGDOM WORK Last Sunday as the church gathered, I put an envelope in the offering plate. In that envelope I had placed a check that would represent my offering to my Lord. I did that as a normal part of my worship of God, who has given so much to me and for me. While the offering was given as unto the Lord, the practical impact of the actual dollars is almost beyond comprehension. Because of the vehicle implemented through the Southern Baptist Convention known as the Cooperative Program, those dollars will be distributed like countless seeds across a furrowed field, reaching literally to the ends of the earth. Like most Christians who give, I normally do so without considering the entirety of the vast spectrum of opportunity provided by those dollars. It is valuable for us to take some time on occasion and really understand the magnitude of Cooperative
Program influence. I know of no way to support so many causes and meet so many needs at once other than through the Cooperative Program. Having been involved in Baptist life at almost every level, I can attest that money given through this channel provides support for multitudes of kingdom causes. Where else can you give a dollar and have part of it support the theological education of a seminary student, and then perhaps later have part of that same dollar send that same student to a foreign place to proclaim the good news of Christ without having to worry about raising support? What other method of funding exists which at once provides opportunities to plant churches in our own country and then would come alongside those churches to assist them in planting other churches at a later point? The Cooperative Program indisputably offers a wonderful,
practical method for doing kingdom work. In considering the validity of the Cooperative Program there are a couple of major themes that must be visited. First, the biblical nature of this method is clear. As the early church was finding its legs, Paul spent much of his time moving around the countryside receiving funds to support other ministries that were struggling. Offerings collected to provide for needs were a very regular part of early church life. This is essentially the theory of the Cooperative Program. Offerings are received that are meant to support the entire work of the kingdom. A second consideration is the great benefit of this method. If I give a dollar to my church, a portion of that dollar is forwarded to my state convention. The money gathered there is apportioned for essential ministry across the state, with part of it then being
sent on to the Southern Baptist Convention. Those dollars are then prayerfully distributed throughout the many ministries approved by the convention. This allows me to be connected in ministry with believers all over this planet. Our collective effort then allows one of the greatest tangible opportunities for believers to live out the Great Commission. I gladly contribute my offerings to my church knowing that some of every dollar I give will find its way onto some foreign field, or into a seminary classroom, or will support a startup ministry here in the United States. I gratefully add my voice of support and encouragement for churches to support the Cooperative Program as much as possible. I enthusiastically share in the celebration of victories as the lost are won to Jesus and lives are enriched in so many ways through my investment in the Cooperative Program.
M IK E L AW SO N
Pastors First Baptist Church of Sherman and serves as a trustee of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.
IMB
COMBINED EFFORTS ENABLE OBEDIENCE TO GREAT COMMISSION The last few years I have been able to serve as an International Mission Board trustee. Never have I been so blessed to be part of the Cooperative Program. While I have spent my life in Southern Baptist churches and learned much in our seminaries, it has been my joy to see and understand IMB and CP as an insider. When you look at Southern Baptists, our greatest strength is that we cooperate together because of the Great Commission. When we give, we are able to assist churches to mobilize, train and support missionaries to engage unreached people groups around the world. While we are not the only global sending agency, we are the one that rises to the top in evangelism and discipleship training. We are the one to whom many want to connect as we teach men and women to cross cultures and start reproducing churches all over the world.
The world is rapidly changing, and IMB is now responding quickly by streamlining the missionary sending process and making every CP dollar count. Our new president has hit the reset button, and while we have always followed God’s lead, we are now even more sensitive to the ways we need to change in order that we might maximize every penny given. Because of security issues, we are careful not to explain where our people serve, but rest assured, IMB takes seriously the call to reach every nation with the gospel. Because of CP and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, we are reaching people through any and every means, including helping people through global disaster relief, responding to people hurt by sex trafficking, and so much more. We are better together, and I thank God for the wisdom of combining our efforts to be obedient to the Great Commission.
JAYE M A RT IN
Member of Houston’s First Baptist Church, leads an evangelistic ministry and serves as a trustee of the International Mission Board.
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CP SUPPORT PROVIDES RESOURCES TO SHARE GOSPEL WITNESS I have had the privilege of serving in Southern Baptist churches for nearly 30 years now. And throughout my ministry, I have heard about the Cooperative Program over and over again. Quite frankly, I cannot keep myself from loving the idea of the Cooperative Program because of the success that it has had for so many years. Because of it, our Southern Baptist Convention has been able to send thousands of missionaries literally around the world. Men, women, boys and girls alike are receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior because of the faithfulness of IMB and NAMB missionaries and through other services that the Cooperative Program funds. And because of this, I wholeheartedly support Cooperative Program giving. I believe that the Cooperative Program is the best means available to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. Through the Cooperative Program, our church has been able to come alongside missionaries, church planters and disaster relief efforts not only through our giving to the Cooperative Program but also by connecting with churches and individuals around the world. We have over 30 people trained in disaster relief. We have helped to sponsor a church plant in Boston, Mass. We have resources through the different agencies of the Southern Baptist Convention that are made available through Cooperative Program proceeds to better witness and share the gospel. For these reasons I wholeheartedly support and agree with having the Cooperative Program.
DEN N Y GOREN A
Pastors First Baptist Church of Leonard and serves as a trustee of the North American Mission Board.
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First Baptist Keller’s interest in planting churches has also grown with its commitment to missions. “Church planting in the CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 West is originally what I “I believe in the Great Com- thought the Lord wanted me mission. The Cooperative Pro- to do,” Sanders said. “But in gram is simply a tool to obey God’s sovereignty, he has me the Great Commission. We have holding the rope for others.” seen from our mission trips that So far, those “others” are First when the missionaries have Keller’s church plants that the ability to stay on the field— have grown into Blue Mounrather than returning to the U.S. tain Baptist Church in Baker to plead for more financial sup- City, Oregon, where about 120 port—how much more can be people attend Sunday services; accomplished for the Lord.” Desert Ridge Baptist Church in When Sanders became pas- St. George, Utah, where more tor in 2005, he hired Lawrence than 80 attend; and Foundation Duhon, a former missionary to Baptist Church in North Euless, Albania, as associate pastor of Texas, launched in September missions and evangelism. 2014. Additionally, a church “He has a great heart for mis- plant scheduled to begin this sions,” Sanders said of Duhon. year in St. Marie, Montana, will “He developed a unified strate- be the only church in the town. gy we’re still working with. We St. Marie was known as the went from a Christmas offering Glasgow Air Force Base until to a year-round Global Impact it closed in 1976 and its 10,000 Offering. That increased our residents scattered. The nearly mission giving 10-fold within abandoned site is being utilized just a few years.” to meet the need for housing The congregation of about for Bakken oilfield workers, and 1,300 Sunday morning wor- about 600 people have moved shippers also adopted an un- there so far. reached people group in West First Baptist Keller is in the proAfrica and has ministered and cess of purchasing an abandoned evangelized there as often as six church for the price of taxes times a year. owed. Members plan to renovate “We’ve seen many, many of the building in time to launch serthose people come to faith in vices in the fall of 2015. Christ,” Sanders said. “It was “Our goal is to plant a church great for our church because every three years,” Sanders said. we asked [the congregation] “Our M.O. is that we don’t want to pray, and upon [the mis- to have satellite churches; we sion team’s] return, the church want them to be autonomous heard what God had done. churches. That led to a real spark in in“We don’t rush in, because terest in missions.” we don’t have all the answers,
During a church mission trip to Mali, First Baptist Church of Keller member Keith Arnett shares the gospel with two Yalunka women. PHOTO BY FBC KELLER
but our people are very open to be used by God,” Sanders said. “We’re ahead of the one-everythree-years pace we set nine years ago, and I hope we will continue to outstrip that.” Strong relationships with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary help First Baptist Keller expand its Kingdom growth, Sander said. “One of the best decisions we ever made as a church was to go to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention,” Sanders continued. “SBTC has always given more than 50 percent of its receipts to missions through the Coopera-
tive Program. That is the thing that most attracted us.” For 15 years, the church has hired seminary students as interns, to give practical experience that complements the theological education they receive. Sanders himself was a seminary intern at First Baptist Keller years before his pastorate there. “We feel an obligation to these young men, to help them, because all of us on this staff [have] been assisted by others,” Sanders said, adding that with the church’s proximity to the seminary, “we feel God expects us to help.”
In the last 10 years, First Baptist Keller has produced pastors who have served in 14 states, Sanders said, and the congregation is energizing its emphasis on discipleship. “You’ve got to keep the base strong so you can send people out,” Sanders said. “We’ve been going through the book of Acts for three years here on Sunday mornings. That’s where you really see missions. I don’t have to be the Holy Spirit to tell people this is what they ought to be doing. The Holy Spirit will take the words [of the message] and apply it to people’s lives.”.
Cooperative Program giving trends upward as churches and state conventions show support By Tammi Ledbetter Special Assisgnments Editor
Local pastors in Southern Baptist churches, state conventions spread across the country and the president of the Southern Baptist Convention are declaring an increased confidence in the Cooperative Program. If the first quarter report of contributions to the SBC CP Allocation Budget is indicative of a trend, the ministries and missions Southern Baptists value stand to gain greater funding. Year-to-date contributions received by the SBC Executive Committee for the Cooperative Program totaled $64,702,035 between October 2014 and January of this year. That represents an amount that is 4.81 percent above the year-to-date budgeted projection and 2.97 percent above contributions received during the same time frame last year.
The convention-adopted budget is distributed 50.41 percent to international missions through IMB, 22.79 percent to North American missions through NAMB, 22.16 percent to theological education, 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget, and 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. A 2014 survey conducted by the SBC Executive Committee shows an increase in confidence among pastors that the Cooperative Program supports ministries and missions valued by their churches—moving up to 81 percent from 73 percent in a 2012 survey that asked the same questions of pastors. On the state level, 23 state Baptist conventions have increased the portion of Cooperative Program receipts forwarded to Southern Baptist Convention missions and ministries this year, moving toward the goal of a 50/50 allocation between state convention
“GIVE THEM THE VISION OF REACHING TEXAS, REACHING AMERICA, REACHING THE WORLD FOR CHRIST, AND I’M TELLING YOU THEY’LL BUY INTO THAT.” —Ronnie Floyd
causes and SBC causes. That demonstrates continuation of an upward trend spanning several years. The Baptist Convention of Iowa and the Nevada Baptist Convention joined the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention as the only state conventions that forward half or more of CP receipts from local churches to the SBC without a “shared ministries” calculation. The SBTC, formed in 1998 with
a 50/50 division from the start, moved to allocating 55 percent of undesignated receipts to the SBC in 2008. SBC President Ronnie Floyd of Springdale, Ark., told a luncheon crowd at the SBTC Empower Conference that the story has never been better in terms of what is happening through giving to the Cooperative Program. “We need to celebrate that we are reaching the unreached peoples internationally. We are strategically planting gospel churches nationally and internationally. We are preparing the next generation of pastors, missionaries and scholars effectively. We are extending compassion through hunger and disaster relief ministry dynamically. We are engaging the culture, always lifting high the cause of religious liberty globally.” Floyd challenged those present to return to their churches, telling the story of what God
is doing. “Give them the vision of reaching Texas, reaching America, reaching the world for Christ, and I’m telling you they’ll buy into that.” Connection Community Church in Rowlett bought into the value of the Cooperative Program from the day the church was planted in November of 2010. Growing from 31 people meeting in a house to an average attendance of 475 to 500, Pastor Shane Pruitt sees the congregation as a child of the Cooperative Program. “Somewhere some church in south Texas gave to the Cooperative Program and invested in these lives that are being changed here in Rowlett,” Pruitt said. “It’s in the DNA of our church that we realize we are a beneficiary of CP giving and see the benefit of giving toward that so that the story can continue in other places in Texas and around the world.”
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YOUNG COUPLES DISCOVER TITHING AS ONE OF ‘MARKS OF A DISCIPLE’ By Tammi Ledbetter Special Assisgnments Editor HUNTINGTON Before approving a budget for the coming year, members of First Baptist Church of Huntington know that they must commit to give as God has directed them. “It’s one of the marks of a disciple,” explained Pastor Darryl Smith as he led a panel discussion on tithing last year in preparation for a vote on the 2015 budget. The East Texas church traces its history to 1901 after a revival team from nearby Lufkin held a brush arbor meeting on Main Street. A week later a group of people met to organize a Baptist church that has remained focused on the task of making disciples ever since. “The way we deal with money is an accurate barometer of
how we deal with God,” Smith shared. “Tithing is an acknowledgment that God is Lord over all our life.” The church’s steady commitment to giving 13 percent of undesignated gifts to the Cooperative Program extends its ministry well beyond the local community of Huntington to reach around the world. The church’s contributions in 2014 placed it among the top 100 CP contributors in the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention which recorded $78,529 in undesignated gifts. This year Smith invited several couples who are in their 20’s to offer testimonies of how they had adopted the practice of tithing in recent years. “The future of the church is dependent upon this generation,” Smith told the congregation. “If we as a church do not teach
and encourage and inspire the 20-somethings and 30-somethings to say, ‘God needs to be God of my finances,’ then you look at the church 20 or 30 years down the road and we are in trouble.” The young adults acknowledged the value of incorporating a tithe into a family’s budget. “When we get paid and then we spend it and let it go out of the checking account and don’t pay attention, that’s when it seems to be tight,” one man noted. “If I’m complacent it just goes and I don’t tell my money where to go. But when I budget, it goes in line with how God wants us to be good stewards of our money,” he shared. Good stewardship is encouraged through the testimonies of missionaries invited to speak to the church. This year’s
world missions offering goal surpassed the $10,000 goal to raise $18,000 for international, North American, state and associational missions. In addition to local ministry and mission trips to Mexico and Muldova, First Baptist Church of Huntington adopted a people group in West Africa four years ago. “We go
four or five times a year with two or three people,” Smith told the TEXAN. “ “Missions involvement is a key for getting them to buy into missions giving. “They know where the money’s going,” Smith said. “Our members feel more invested as far as supporting the Cooperative Program.”
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over same-sex marriage in the Baptist church,” Dwight McKissic, co-coordinator of the National Baptist Fellowship of Concerned Pastors, said at a March 17 press conference in Nashville.
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BAPTIST BRIEFS Full versions of these stories and more can be found on Baptist Press: bpnews.net
JO ANN LEAVELL, WIFE OF FORMER NOBTS PRESIDENT, DIES Jo Ann Paris Leavell, wife of the late Landrum P. Leavell II, former president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, died March 6 in Jackson, Miss., following an extended illness. She was 83. “Jo Ann Leavell was a perfect complement to her husband as a pastor’s wife and president’s wife, sharing his passion for evangelism, missions and ministry,” NOBTS President Chuck Kelley said.
SULLIVAN DONATES LIBRARY TO BAPTIST COLLEGE OF FLORIDA A collection of at least 6,000 books was donated by John Sullivan to the Baptist College of Florida upon his retirement as executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention. The gift represents a 60-year accumulation of printed pieces and written documents collected by Sullivan since his days as a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas. The collection includes rare Bibles, numerous biblical commentaries, sermon series by various distinguished biblical expositors and volumes on the pastoral ministry and the Christian life.
KENDRICK BROTHERS: FIGHT BATTLES THROUGH PRAYER
ing prayer for revival around the country since his election last June, and this year’s annual meeting theme is “Great Awakening: Clear Agreement, Visible Union, Extraordinary Prayer.” “We’re very grateful [for the SBC’s focus on prayer],” Stephen, producer/ co-writer of the film, told Baptist Press while promoting the brothers’ fifth film in Nashville at the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention in February. “And we believe that for such a time as this that Southern Baptists need to unite and prioritize prayer above everything else,” he said. Both men shared how prayer has impacted their lives and how they hope War Room will prompt more churches to bathe all of their decisions in prayer.
NEW ORLEANS CHURCH GRIEVED BY YOUTH MINISTER’S ARREST A prominent New Orleans church took prompt action to dismiss a youth minister accused of sexual abuse of a teenage girl and to begin the healing process within the congregation. David Crosby, pastor of First Batist Church in New Orleans, told local media that Jonathan Bailey was fired and escorted off church property Feb. 9, the day that allegations were reported to him and to police of sexual misconduct by Bailey with a 14-year-old girl in First Baptist’s youth group. Bailey, 33, was charged Feb. 23 with indecent behavior with a juvenile and was freed on bond. He was arrested again on sexual battery March 4 after the youth disclosed additional details of Bailey’s improper contact with her. Bond was set at $35,000. If convicted, Bailey could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison without parole or probation, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune daily newspaper.
BAPTIST COLLEGE ‘GROUND ZERO’ IN GAY MARRIAGE DEBATE
The Southern Baptist duo, of Kendrick Brothers Productions, acknowledged they picked a good time to promote and release their latest film, “War Room,” focusing on the power of prayer. Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd has been urg-
Amid continued objections to American Baptist College’s invitation of samesex marriage advocates to speak on campus, concerns have been raised that the historically black institution may be violating the governance structure established by its legal charter. “For reasons only known in the heavenly realms, American Baptist College has” become “ground zero for this battle
SWBTS AT 2/3 MARK FOR COLLEGE-MISSIONS BLDG.
Funding for a new building for the College at Southwestern and the Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has reached the two-thirds mark for the cost of construction. The seminary received a $12 million lead gift from Harold and Patricia Mathena of Oklahoma City in October and a $1 million challenge grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation in February. An additional $3 million in gifts and pledges place the overall total at $16 million raised thus far. The 73,000-square-foot building is tentatively named Mathena Hall.
‘I WOULD HUG HIM,’ SAYS FLORIST OF GAY ACCUSER
sbtexan
com) reported TTU would be closing its doors at the end of this semester. The merger will be finalized April 30, pending the approval of the Transnational Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits both universities.
RICK BREWER TO LEAD LOUISIANA COLLEGE
Trustees of Louisiana College have elected Rick Brewer as the college’s 9th president. They announced their unanimous decision during a special called meeting March 5. Brewer will begin his duties April 7. He is a New Orleans native, and his father attended seminary there. He grew up mostly in North Carolina, and for the past 28 years has called Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, S.C., home. “We believe this is an answer to prayer,” Brewer said during a press conference following the board meeting. “We believe God has been in this from the very beginning.
REGISTRATION OPENS FOR SBC ‘GREAT AWAKENING’
A Southern Baptist florist does not regret her nine-year friendship with a homosexual man who won a lawsuit against her after she refused to design floral arrangements for his gay wedding, she told Baptist Press. “If Rob [Robert Ingersoll] walked in the store today, I would hug him and catch up on his life,” Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash., told BP. “The same faith that tells me that I can’t be a part of Rob’s wedding is the same faith that tells me to love him as Christ does.” Stutzman, a 70-year-old member of Richland Baptist Church in Richland, had provided floral arrangements for Ingersoll and most recently his friend Curt Freed on numerous occasions. But she refused in March 2013 to use her gifts and talents to design flowers for their wedding. She was found guilty Feb. 18 in Benton County Superior Court of violating the couple’s U.S. and state civil rights, and was held personally liable for the couple’s damages and attorney fees, putting her at risk of losing her business and personal holdings. Backed by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Stutzman is appealing the case, and is prepared to take it to the nation’s highest court.
TENNESSEE TEMPLE TO CLOSE, MERGE WITH PIEDMONT The trustees of two Baptist colleges, Tennessee Temple University and Piedmont International University, voted unanimously to merge the institutions March 3. The announcement comes a day after The Chattanoogan (Chattanoogan.
Registration for messengers and local hotels has opened for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio’s capital city. The June 16-17 sessions will be themed “Great Awakening: Clear Agreement, Visible Union, Extraordinary Prayer.” Registration for the Columbus meeting once again will offer an online opportunity for churches to register their messengers at sbcannualmeeting.net. Registration also is open for preschool child care and children’s and youth programs in conjunction with the annual meeting.
BGCT TRANSGENDER RESOLUTION: GENDER IS ‘GIFT OF GOD’ A resolution on transgender issues, declaring gender is determined biologically, not psychologically, was adopted by the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Executive Board during its Feb. 23-24 meeting in Dallas. The resolution was considered at the request of several Texas Baptist university presidents who stated the need to apply for a Title IX exemption from the U.S. Department of Education in dealing with accommodations for transgender students. Their application would be strengthened with a statement from the BGCT addressing the issue, the presidents had noted. Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive any federal assistance. The Department of Education added transgender persons last year as a protected class in Title IX regulations. The Executive Board resolution was approved without opposition, upholding the Bible as the authority for faith and practice for the BGCT and its institutions.
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Hope expands ministry to include former Planned Parenthood abortion clinic By Bonnie Pritchett TEXAN Correspondent BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION
Although vacant for more than 18 months, the building at 4112 E. 29th Street in Bryan still bears the mark of its former occupants. In one room the port for a suction hose protrudes from a wall. Built into the opposite wall is a carousel—its cold, stainless steel housing transferred the convenient disappearance of the “product of conception” to a biohazard waste container in the adjoining room. And, in the middle of the linoleum flooring, a brownish, square stain—like a crime scene chalk outline— gives evidence of the recently removed surgical table where countless women succumbed to the abortionists work. And yet hope abounds. In what used to be the abortion procedure room of the Planned Parenthood Bryan Health Center, passages of Scripture now fill the walls and floor. Words of life flow from that room, down hallways, into room after room, all penned by a band of believers who spent 15 years prayerfully and peacefully seeking an end to abortion in the Brazos Valley. On August 1, 2013, God granted their petition, and the Planned Parenthood clinic closed its doors. Within days pro-life advocates laid out their fleece once again. “It had always been a prayer that God would give us this building,” said Tracy Frank, executive director of Hope Pregnancy Centers of Brazos Valley (HPC), a pro-life medical resource center serving College Station. But purchasing the former abortion clinic just to make a statement would not be a responsible use of donors’ money nor a faithful execution of the
HPC mission. Over the next year a purpose for the building and a means of funding a nonprofit extension of HPC fell into place, and on Oct. 30, 2014, the pro-life ministry purchased the former abortion clinic. “We didn’t spike the football. I didn’t want to ruin it for any other pregnancy center to do this,” Frank said. Instead she talked about redemption. What was once a place of death and grief would be transformed into a source of life. The room where abortions were performed will soon reverberate with the gospel message as the intake room for HPC’s new ministry—a clinic for the free testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). As client information is collected, volunteers will share the gospel and God’s plan for human sexuality. HPC has operated quietly and effectively for 30 years in College Station, home to the 59,000-student Texas A&M University and nearby Blinn College, providing pro-life care and pregnancy support to abortion-minded and lowincome women and families. More vocal and publicly engaging pro-life ministries sprang up to counter the influence of the newly established Planned Parenthood clinic in 1998. The Coalition for Life opened an office just a few doors down from the abortion clinic. From that ministry the 40 Days for Life campaign, which has grown to an international campaign of intercessory prayer and counseling in front of abortion clinics, was conceived during prayer around a table that now sits in what was the abortion provider’s conference room. Seated at the table on an overcast day in March was the 40 Days for Life board of directors. Two years earlier they
5During a prayer vigil around this table, Coalition for Life members birthed the idea of 40 Days for Life, a pro-life organization credited for the for closing of the Bryan Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. The table now sits in the conference room of the former abortion provider. From left are 40 DFL board member Linda Gutierrez Edge, 40 DFL National Director David Bereit, Dave Sterrett, HPC Executive Director Tracy Frank, 40 DFL Campaign Director, Mark Spearman, and Matt Britter. 4Former abortion procedure room where pro-life advocates have inscribed the walls and floor with Scripture. The floor stain marks the location of the surgical table and the steel carousel in the wall transferred the aborted fetus to the biohazard waste container in the adjoining room. PHOTOS BY BONNIE PRITCHETT
would have been arrested for trespassing just for walking up the clinic’s driveway much less entering the front door. HPC quietly supported the ministry’s work but avoided the spotlight. Despite the prayerful, non-confrontational tactics required of all 40 Days for Life volunteers, pro-life advocates cannot shed the harsh characterizations foisted upon them by pro-abortion advocates. Frank said, “We didn’t want to give potential clients the perception that we were singleminded and judgmental.” But a partnership was established. Women counseled outside the abortion clinic were sent to HPC or one of the other local non-profit organizations providing pro-life services to abortion-minded women. When the abortion clinic shuttered Frank desired to redeem the use of the building for the ministry of the gospel.
Research indicating 15-24year-olds diagnosed with STDs are the least likely to seek treatment convinced Frank and the HPC donors that they had found their new ministry. Helping young adults in crisis—be it for an unplanned pregnancy or a distressing STD diagnosis—will allow HPC to meet needs while sharing the gospel and God’s plan for sexual purity. The STD clinic Testing 4 You, or T4U, will allow HPC to extend its ministry without having to relocate its well-established pregnancy center at 205 Brentwood in College Station. Donations, a bank loan and no-interest loans from two local supporters funded the purchase but have left the HPC ministry in debt. In order to offset operating the 6,000-square foot facility, all tenants, including T4U, will pay rent to HPC. Other tenants include HPC supporters and pro-life husband and wife doctors Haywood Robinson
and Noreen Johnson as well as Stuart Quartemont, a College Station physician who will process the STD tests as part of his medical lab business. HPC officials anticipate opening the clinic in early April. The first time Frank walked through the building it was with the real estate broker. The experience was surreal. Stuffing any emotional reaction down deep, Frank let her administrative side take control. But then she attended an event for donors and those who prayed for the clinics’ closure. They roamed the halls of the building praying and writing Scripture verses upon the walls and floors. Remodeling work continues to change the appearance enough to blur the memory of any client who came here for an abortion. Walls will be painted and floors resurfaced. But underneath it all remains the power of God’s word offering healing and hope.
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Senior adults an untapped resource for churches, Barnes says By Jane Rodgers Texan Correspondent GRAPEVINE Older adults are the fastest-growing demographic in Texas, SBTC senior adult associate Billy Barnes says. Barnes has served as senior adult pastor at New Braunfels First Baptist Church for the past 16 years and hopes his new position with the SBTC will engage seniors statewide in significant ministry.
CHURCH POSITIONS PASTOR u Northwood Baptist Church is accepting resumes for pastor. Please mail to Pastor Search Committee, Northwood Baptist Church, 3224 N.E. Stallings Drive, Nacogdoches, TX 75965 or email
[email protected]. u Prairie Lea BC in Prairie Lea is currently searching for a FT or bivocational pastor. Posting end date is May 1, 2015. Please send resumes to Prairie Lea Baptist Search Committee, c/o Brian Parmer, P.O Box 152, Fentress, TX 78622. u FBC El Paso seeks FT pastor to serve at a Hispanic church plant located in Anthony, NM, with a core group of 30. Must speak Spanish, preferably bilingual. Experience in Baptist life as a church planter, preferably seminary degree; willing to live in the church community. Send resumes to FBC El Paso, Attn: Edgardo Martinez, 805 Montana, El Paso, TX 79902 or
[email protected]. u Dolores Southern BC in Southwest CO is seeking a bi-vocational pastor our church according to God’s will. We are a small but strong church with plans to grow. We seek a pastor who is able to help us spread God’s Word by demonstrating a strong foundation in prayer, preaching and teaching skills, and ministry to the congregation and the community. Email resume to:
[email protected] u FBC Calvert seeks FT pastor. Seminary and pastoral experience preferred but not required. Send resume to Pastor Search Committee, Tammy Clark, FBC, P.O. Box 65, Calvert, TX 77837 or email
[email protected]. u Calvary BC, Las Cruces NM seeks FT senior pastor. Calvary has an avg attendance of 500 each Sunday with three morning services. For the position description and instructions for sending a cover letter, resume and additional information, please go to www. cbclascruces.org or contact pastors@ cbclascruces.org or 575-522-7900. u FBC Kountze, conservative SBC church, seeks FT pastor with seminary and 5 yrs. experience. Desire a family man with theological conviction, vision for growth and heart for missions. Position requires leadership in all facets of the worship ministry of the church. Send resumes to Attn: Gerald Anders, FBC, 100 Monroe St., Kountze, TX 77625. u FBC Corrigan is seeking a FT pastor. Please send resumes to The Pastor Search Committee, 103 N. Collins St., Corrigan, TX 75939, or
[email protected]. u The Believers’ Fellowship in Corpus Christi is a Baptist, Bible-centered church seeking a PT senior pastor. The church has been serving the community for over 13 years with an average weekly attendance of 70-80. Looking for experienced (5-10 years) pastor. Seminary degree preferred. Send resumes to Search Committee, The Believers’ Fellowship, 4420
With life expectancies now in the mid-80s, senior adults remain an untapped resource for kingdom work, according to Barnes. “[SBC president] Ronnie Floyd has called on Southern Baptists to reach 1,000,000 people for Christ. Senior adults can be a big part of that. They have the time, resources, knowledge and expertise,” Barnes said.
“Seniors need to do ministry in church and community. They can have a mission field right where they are. They don’t have to go to Timbuktu.” Barnes joined the SBTC in November and has already assisted churches of all sizes in South, Central and North Texas to develop programs. “Most large churches already have senior adult programs and ministers,” Barnes explained.
S. Staples, Corpus Christi, TX 78411. Please visit our website at www.tbfcc. org and/or email us at
[email protected]. u Latexo BC, a strong SBTC congregation in East Texas community with great school district seeks bi-vocational pastor with strong commitment to building relationships, passionate about visitation, expository preacher, mission minded and leads by example. Average AM attendance of 60 & great growth potential. Prior experience & seminary degree preferred. Salary plus 4BR parsonage. Resumes to P.O. Box 1007, Latexo, TX 75849. u Very small Southern Baptist church in eastern CO seeks bi-vocational pastor. We are a Bible-believing church and are praying for the man God has in mind to serve our congregation. We are in a very rural, farming community 90 miles east of Denver. Parsonage is available. Please contact Baptist Country Chapel, P.O. Box 12, Lindon, CO 80740; email
[email protected] or leave a message at 970-383-2434. u FBC Loraine seeks bi-vocational pastor in small West Texas community of 600. Candidate should exemplify strong spiritual leadership, be missionminded and preach the inspired Word of God. Brick parsonage (3BR/2BA) provided. Send resumes to PO Box 369, Loraine, TX 79352. u Immanuel BC in Monahans seeks FT pastor that will consider bi-vocational in a small community in West Texas. We are pastor-led and deacon-served with a ministry team run church, mission minded. Parsonage (3BR) provided near church. Send resume to: ATTN: Pastor Search Committee, C/O Immanuel Baptist Church, P.O. Box 1865, Monahans, TX 79756. u FBC Lecompte, LA is seeking a bi-vocational pastor. Lecompte is 15 minutes south of Alexandria, LA. Please send resume to First Baptist Church of Lecompte, Attn: Pastor Search Committee, PO Box 1070 Lecompte, LA 71346.
u Southside Baptist in Carthage seeks PT interim worship leader for blended worship Sunday AM/PM and Wednesday PM. Some experience preferred. Please send resumes to kgetsay@ gmail.com or fax 903-693-5425. u Southside BC in Paris seeks FT minister of music. We have a blended worship service of hymns and choruses. Will also work with youth service on Wednesday night and lead youth band. Send resumes to Southside Baptist Church, 790 Jefferson Road, Paris, TX 75460 or email to Pastor Billy Norris at
[email protected].
MUSIC u FBC Henrietta is seeking a FT minister of music/senior adults. Parsonage and salary dependent on experience and qualifications. Send resume to
[email protected]. u St. Joe BC is seeking a PT minister of music. This person must also be willing to assist with youth activities. We are conservative in theology and practice; we love to sing hymns and have traditional style worship. Please contact Pastor Ben Hokanson for more details. brobenhok@rocketmail. com or call 325-513-0255. u First Baptist Church of Murphy seeks a bi-vocational music minister for blended worship services. Those interested in applying for this position should send their resume to music@ fbcmurphy.com. u Bi-vocational music minister needed at New Hope BC in Cleveland, Texas. Blended worship style. If interested, send resume to 13200 FM 2025, Cleveland, TX 77328.
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COMBINATION u FBC Tomball is accepting resumes for a FT education/discipleship pastor. Please send resumes to lyndahoot@ fbctomball.org or First Baptist Church, Attn: Lynda Hoot, 401 Oxford St., Tomball, TX 77375. u FBC Friona is looking for a godly, teachable, qualified man to serve as FT youth & education minister. FBC Friona is a loving congregation of about 120 on Sunday mornings, many young families. www.fbcfriona.com. Send resume to pastorbretthoyle@ gmail.com or call 806-250-3933. u East Side BC of Haskell is looking for a FT music/student minister. Compensation TBD but includes a parsonage. Resumes may be sent to
[email protected]. YOUTH u Calvary BC in Republic, MO is accepting resumes for a FT minister to students. Send resumes to
[email protected] or P.O. Box 421, Republic, MO 65738, Attn: Search Team. For more information, call 417-732-1405. u Hillcrest Baptist Church of Nederland seeks FT student pastor (associate pastor). $45K plus full health insurance. Please submit resumes to
[email protected]. You may also mail to Attn: Youth Pastor Search, 3324 Park Drive, Nederland, TX 77627. u Carey FBC in Childress seeks a bivocational youth minister to lead 6th12th graders on Sunday & Wednesday, mission trips and camp, and lead them in participating in our outreach program. Salary BOE, housing provided. Send resumes to Search Committee, Carey 1st Baptist, 7394 Loop 328, Childress, TX 79201 or email pastor@ carey1stbaptist.com. More information found at carey1stbaptist.com. u Kentuckytown BC is looking for a PT youth minister. Kentuckytown is located approximately 30 miles north of McKinney. Please contact Dr. Greg Allen at 903-364-2194 or send resumes to Kentuckytown Baptist Church, P.O. Box 723, Whitewright, TX, 75491 or email to
[email protected]. u FBC Rusk seeks FT youth pastor called of God to the gospel ministry with a passion and desire to serve Jesus and develop, promote and coordinate a balanced program of activities and discipleship ministry to students. Send resume to trena@ ruskfbc.com or Rusk FBC, Attn: Youth
After phone conversations to determine needs, Barnes visits the church and then offers counsel regarding leadership teams and methods of involving members. “The faster you get more people involved, the faster your ministry will grow,” Barnes said. “Church is a family of faith. The friendships made at church are often the most meaningful relationships in a senior adult’s life.” The 62-year-old West Texas
Pastor Search Committee, PO Box 258, Rusk, TX 75785. CHILDREN u FBC Paris seeks FT children’s minister to meet the needs of the children in our church and community. Send resumes to FBC Paris, Attention Tommy Turner to P.O Box 489 Paris, TX 75461. u FBC Searcy seeks FT preschool ministry coordinator. A bachelor’s degree in a related field and experience working with children/young families are preferred. Email resumes to linda@ fbcsearcy.org or mail to FBC Searcy, Attn: Linda Stake, 105 S. Spring St, Searcy, AR 72143. u Immanuel BC of San Angelo is seeking an ordained minister to serve as our minister to children. Ministry would include children from birth to 6th grade. We have an active, growing church and community. Send resumes to IBC, Attn. Tommy Richardson, 90 E. 14th St., San Angelo, TX, 76903 or email:
[email protected]. OTHER u FBC Brownsville seeks interns for the following PT positions: missions intern, education intern and pastoral intern. These positions may be combined for the right person. Seeking FT summer missions volunteer as well. Contact Steve Dorman at
[email protected] or (956) 542-5334. u Gregg Baptist Association, Longview, TX, seeks resumes for Director of Missions. Must have a heart for encouraging and networking churches (both SBTC and BGCT). Will provide administration and leadership to fulfill the vision of the GBA. Resumes accepted until May 30, 2015. Send to: Carolyn Anderson,
[email protected], or 121 Gilmer Rd., Longview, TX 75604. u Dr. Steve Bain, pastor of The Believers’ Fellowship Church in Corpus Christi will be retiring June 2015. Steve has served as pastor of churches in TN, MS and TX over the past 36 years. He has been the pastor of TBF since October 2001. He will be available for pulpit supply, interim pastor service and workshops. You may contact him at
[email protected]. southeasttexasdesign.com
ANNOUNCEMENT u Nassau Bay Baptist Church invites all former members and guests to join us for our 50th Anniversary Celebration April 25 at 2 p.m. and April 26 at 10:30 a.m. From our home in the Houston/Galveston area to points around the globe— and even to the moon—God has allowed us to proclaim his Word. For that we are grateful. For details go to nassaubaybaptist.org or call NBBC at 281-333-3844. NBBC is located at 18131 Nassau Bay Dr., Houston, TX 77058.
native and New Braunfels resident of 27 years is excited about helping churches’ senior adult ministries. The SBTC has scheduled four conferences for senior adults: March 17 at FBC Katy; March 19 at the SBTC offices in Grapevine; Sept. 10 at FBC New Braunfels; and Sept. 24 at Mobberly BC in Longview. For more information, see sbtexas.com/senioradults or email Barnes at BBarnes@ sbtexas.com.
ANTIOCH AWARDS These churches, in collaboration with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, served as a primary sponsoring church for a new church plant in 2014. u Arlington Park Baptist Church, Arlington
u Bannockburn Baptist Church, Austin
u Brazos Pointe Fellowship, Lake Jackson
u Cedar Bayou Baptist Church, Baytown
u Church of the Way, Plano u Denton Korean Baptist Church, Denton
u FBC, Corrigan u FBC, Crystal Beach u FBC, Keller u FBC, Porter u FBC, Seguin u FBC, Winnsboro u Iglesia Bautista Genesis, El Paso
u Impact Country Church, Burleson
u Kaleo Community Church, Fort Worth
u Lakeside Baptist Church, Canton
u Nahnum Church, Carrollton u New Hope Baptist Church, Cleveland
u Normandale Baptist Church, Fort Worth
u Paramount Baptist Church, Amarillo
u Primera Iglesia Bautista, Pflugerville
u River Valley Fellowship, Bastrop u Timber Ridge Church, Stephenville
u Village Parkway Baptist Church, San Antonio
u Vista Church, Heartland u Westridge Baptist Church, Grand Prairie
u The South Asia Now Conference will be held April 26-28 at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. Sessions will provide a deeper understanding and practical skills in evangelism, discipleship, church planting and training, particularly relating to reaching South Asians whose heritage or home is India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka or the Maldives. For more information visit southasianpeoples.imb.org/NOW.
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SBC PRESIDENTS SEND OPEN LETTER TO OBAMA By Shawn Hendricks Baptist Press NASHVILLE In an open letter, Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd, along with the support and signatures of 16 former SBC presidents, called on President Obama to “take the necessary actions now” against ISIS terrorists. “Since ISIS is a continuing threat to world peace in a way unknown to us since the Nazis of World War II, we humbly call upon you to use the influence and power of your distinguished office to take the necessary actions now in this urgent hour to bring an end to these human atrocities,” the March 1 letter said. “The abuse, brutalization, and murder of children, women, and men that is occurring before the world calls our country to lead forward to bring this to an end.” The open letter comes in the wake of numerous reports of ISIS killings that include the beheading of 21 Egyptians— reportedly Coptic Christians—the death of an American aid worker, and a Jordanian pilot being burned alive. And ISIS captured more than 200 Assyrian Christians Feb. 23. Women, children and elderly were among those taken captive during an ISIS attack on villages near Tal Tamer in northern Syria, according to a CNN report. SBC Executive Committee President Frank S. Page said he is often asked
about the ISIS threat. “People are frightened, people are concerned. We need [President Obama] to act and to act decisively,” he said. “I join with the other SBC presidents in supporting our current [SBC] president’s call to action.” James T. Draper Jr., a former SBC president, said decent nations all over the world should be outraged at ISIS’ barbaric actions that are a threat to everyone. “I don’t think America can avoid taking leadership in it,” Draper said. “It’s who we are, and it’s an opportunity for us to take the lead in something that should be widely embraced by other nations.” During a Feb. 16 report at the semiannual SBC Executive Committee meeting in Nashville, Floyd told Southern Baptist leaders they “must speak for those who are unable to speak up for themselves.” Southern Baptists “need to stand for the children, the women and the men who are being brutalized and abused and murdered globally, all in the name of religion,” Floyd said during his EC report. “We need to champion, as Southern Baptists, religious liberty globally.” In the open letter to the president, Floyd told Obama that Southern Baptists are praying for him. “Mr. President, just as Esther led forward for the deliverance of the Jews in her day, we believe you also ‘have come to the kingdom for such a time as this,’“
he wrote. “You have been given an historical moment to lead in protecting the people and the principle of religious freedom in the world. We are praying for you to have wisdom and courage in this hour.” Other past SBC presidents who signed the letter include Bailey E. Smith, Charles F. Stanley, Jerry Vines, Morris H. Chapman, H. Edwin Young, Sr., James B. Henry, Tom Elliff, Paige Patterson, James Merritt, Jack Graham, Johnny M. Hunt and Fred Luter. See full text of open letter below. March 2, 2015 Dear President Obama: Since ISIS is a continuing threat to world peace in a way unknown to us since the Nazis of World War II, we humbly call upon you to use the influence and power of your distinguished office to take the necessary actions now in this urgent hour to bring an end to these human atrocities. The abuse, brutalization, and murder of children, women, and men that is occurring before the world calls our country to lead forward to bring this to an end. As you do this, please know that we are not only praying for you, but assure you that you will have the unequivocal support of the vast majority of America’s largest, and some say most multi-ethnic and multi-lingual, Protestant denomination in America. The world will applaud
your courage and compassion as you defend those that Scripture calls “the least of these.” Mr. President, just as Esther led forward for the deliverance of the Jews in her day, we believe you also “have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” You have been given an historical moment to lead in protecting the people and the principle of religious freedom in the world. We are praying for you to have wisdom and courage in this hour. These former presidents of our Convention join me, the current President of the Southern Baptist Convention, in making this humble, but urgent appeal to you. Sincerely and Prayerfully, Ronnie Floyd, President Southern Baptist Convention Bailey E. Smith, 1980-1982 James T. Draper, Jr., 1982-1984 Charles F. Stanley, 1984-1986 Jerry Vines, 1988-1990 Morris H. Chapman, 1990-1992 H. Edwin Young, Sr., 1992-1994 James B. Henry, 1994-1996 Tom Elliff, 1996-1998 Paige Patterson, 1998-2000 James Merritt, 2000-2002 Jack Graham, 2002-2004 Bobby Welch, 2004-2006 Frank S. Page, 2006-2008 Johnny M. Hunt, 2008-2010 Bryant Wright, 2010-2012 Fred Luter, 2012- 2014
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WIFE OF IMPRISONED PASTOR LEADS MUSLIM WOMAN TO CHRIST By Sharayah Colter Staff Writer
Naghmeh Abedini, whose husband Saeed Abedini continues to be held in an Iranian prison for sharing his Christian faith, explained to attendees at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Empower Conference that for her and her husband, evangelism is simply a matter of going after the one lost sheep. Naghmeh shared her testimony during a women’s session and a main session of the evangelism conference, Feb. 23. The night before she spoke, Naghmeh had already arrived in North Texas for the evangelism conference. When she heard that a group from First Baptist Euless, which hosted the conference, would be going out to share the gospel through their Can We Talk? program that night, she decided to forgo her warm, dry hotel room and join the group. At one of the handful of houses the group visited, a Muslim woman answered the door and told them her husband was at the mosque. While some might assume the Muslim woman would have been the most closed to the gospel of all those they encountered, Naghmeh said the opposite was true. “The Muslim was the most open person out of the five, six or seven houses we went to,” said Naghmeh, who converted to Christianity from Islam as a young girl and later served as a missionary to the Middle East as an adult. “There’s the harvest, but we’re not seeing it.” She reminded attendees that Jesus did not say to pray for a harvest. The harvest is already there, she said. Instead, Jesus said to pray for laborers. The Abedinis have tried to embody the
type of laborers to which Christ refers in Scripture—laborers willing to leave everything behind, even things as precious as family, freedom and life, to go after one more person whom Christ wants to save. Naghmeh said Saeed has been a prolific witness for the Lord in the Iranian prison and has seen so many place their faith in Christ that officials have had to continually move him in hopes of keeping him quiet. Nothing they do or threaten, though, keeps Saeed from sharing the news that Naghmeh says changed her husband’s life. “I’m proud of him,” Naghmeh said. “He knows that sharing the gospel in the prison could cost him his life. In Iran the penalty of evangelism is death. Outside of his desire to see his babies and to see his wife and for his freedom, he desires that one more person would come to know Christ. “As I was in the cold last night, I was thinking of all the things I have learned from Saeed and about the heart of God for that one sheep.” It is that one sheep that drives Naghmeh forward, fueling her to abide in Christ and to love in a way that draws people to her Lord. “I don’t care about having 30,000 in my church,” she said. “I care about going after that one sheep.” The Muslim woman Naghmeh met on the frigid and wet night before the conference was one of those lost sheep who found new life in Christ. Naghmeh said the woman told her children to sit down and listen and shared about all the people she wanted to tell and bring to church. Over the last two and a half years that Saeed has been imprisoned, Naghmeh has been afforded opportunities to meet with government officials around
Naghmeh Abedini, whose husband has been imprisoned in Iran for more than two years for sharing his Christian faith, shares her testimony during the 2015 Empower Conference. PHOTO BY ALLEN SUTTON
the world on behalf of her husband. Recently, she met with President Obama. “I sat down with our president, and I just knew I had a few minutes to either beg him for Saeed’s release or to share God’s love, and I knew why I was there,” Naghmeh said, noting that she chose the latter. Naghmeh said she fights fear and anxiety each day and sometimes cannot even get out of bed before spending several hours praying, reading Scripture and listening to worship music. Sometimes that means waking up at 4 a.m. But through the days and weeks and years since her husband’s imprisonment, the Lord has upheld her and given her the peace to trust the his hand, no matter the outcome. She said she has learned what it means to abide in Christ. Evangelism is not so difficult as people think, Naghmeh said. It doesn’t require huge plans or programs or lots of money and great strategies; it is not complicated or hard. It simply requires people who are convinced that Jesus is real, who
realize their every breath is dependent on his existence, who love God and love others, and who put aside everything they thought they deserved to tell other people about the Jesus they know. Naghmeh said she sees this kind of faith in her husband. “I couldn’t be any more proud of my husband to be in the hands of radicals and still share, (even) knowing that this means he may never see our family again,” she said. Even as she prays that the Lord will use Saeed’s gospel witness in prison and her witness to the millions who have heard Saeed’s story, Naghmeh is also grateful for others’ prayers to bring her husband home and to reunite her family. “When someone tells me, ‘We are praying for your family. We are praying for Saeed,’” Naghmeh said, “it is more valuable to me than if they had handed me one million dollars.” However, more valuable, she said, is seeing one lost sheep come to faith in Christ.
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS OF TEXAS CONVENTION
2015 EXHIBIT Evangelist Ronnie Hill (left) receives the Roy Fish Lifetime Achievement in Evangelism Award from SBTC Evangelism Director Nathan Lorick during the Empower Conference, Feb. 24.
QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
Approved exhibitors at the SBTC Annual Meeting include (subject to available space) SBTC ministries, SBC agencies, SBTC ministry relationships (under the oversight of the Ministry Relationships Committee of the Executive Board), Baptist associational ministries, and any host church. All other entities desiring booth space must submit their request in writing to Joe Davis at the SBTC, prior to June 1, 2015. Entities or individuals may share exhibit space with approved exhibitors only with the approval of the Committee on Order of Business. For profit entities that have no formal relationship with the SBTC shall not be granted exhibit space. All exhibit material must be in agreement with the SBTC Constitution and Bylaws, which includes the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. Mark Moore (left), pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Canton, receives the W.A. Criswell Lifetime Achievement Award in Pastoral Evangelism from SBTC Evangelism Director Nathan Lorick at the Empower Conference, Feb. 25. PHOTOS BY ALLEN SUTTON
Fund raising or sales that do not conflict with SBTC priorities will be allowed in the exhibit area.
