Baptist Press Stories for Feb. 21 2012
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     Task force: Keep legal SBC name, but adopt informal name, 'Great Commission Baptists'
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37224

     TASK FORCE'S REPORT: Transcript
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37225

     Fentress & Patterson: Descriptor would benefit African Americans, ethnic groups, non-Southerners
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37226

     Page warns of serving with wrong motives
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37227

     Report: Iran may be set to execute pastor
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37228

     Segregation, tragedy, yet blessings prevail
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37229

     FIRST-PERSON: 5 ways to avoid temptation on social media
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37230

     FROM THE STATES: Texas, Ark., Va. evangelism/missions news
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37231

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Task force: Keep legal SBC name, but adopt informal name, 'Great Commission Baptists'
By Michael Foust
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37224

<i>Originally posted Monday, Feb. 20. Updated 1:10 p.m. Eastern Thursday, Feb. 22 with updated estimate of members present for vote.</i>

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- The task force appointed to study a possible name change of the Southern Baptist Convention is recommending the convention maintain its legal name but adopt an informal, non-legal name for those who want to use it: "Great Commission Baptists."

<div style="float:left;margin:0 10px 5px 0;"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/37184501?byline=0&portrait=0" width="300" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></object></div>The report Monday (Feb. 20) ended weeks of speculation by Southern Baptists and fellow evangelicals as to what the task force would do. The convention was formed in 1845, and a name change was first proposed in 1903, although one was not adopted then, or since.

The task force was appointed by Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright.

"This is an issue that just won't die," task force chairman Jimmy Draper said in presenting the task force's recommendation to the Executive Committee, which approved the recommendation Tuesday, sending it to SBC messengers for a vote at the June annual meeting in New Orleans. With about 70 Executive Committee members present, only about six members voted in opposition. 

The name "Southern," Draper said, is a barrier to the Gospel in some regions of the country. 

The recommendation would mean that the legal name of the convention would remain "Southern Baptist Convention" and could be used by any church which wishes to use it. But other SBC churches could call themselves "Great Commission Baptists" if they wish. Draper said the new term would be a "descriptor." 

"We believe that the equity that we have in the name Southern Baptist Convention is valuable," Draper said during the task force's recommendation. "It is a strong name that identifies who we are in theology, morality and ethics, compassion, ministry and mission in the world. It is a name that is recognized globally in these areas."

[IMG=31961@right@250] Draper continued: "We also recognize the need that some may have to use a name that is not associated with a national region as indicated by the word 'Southern.' We want to do everything we can to encourage those who do feel a name change would be beneficial without recommending a legal name change for the convention. We believe we have found a way to do that."

The goal from the beginning, Draper said, "was to consider the removal of any barrier to the effective proclamation of the Gospel and reaching people for Christ." 

Website URLs already have been secured, the task force said, in case the convention approves the informal name.

Changing the legal name, Draper said, would have been fraught with problems.

"We believe that the potential benefits of a legal name change do not outweigh the potential risks that would be involved in a legal name change," Draper said. "Changing the name of the convention would require a great cost in dollars and in energy, and would present huge challenges legally that create a multitude of issues. The value of a name change does not justify the risks involved.

"At the same time, we are concerned about the negative perception that the word 'Southern' may carry in certain geographic areas of North America. But even there, the opinions are mixed on this issue. From leaders in non-Southern states, one-half of those we heard from reported that it would be a benefit to them to change the name, but the other half said it would not be a benefit. It is true that the leaders of African American and other ethnic Southern Baptist churches indicated that it would be helpful to them."

Keeping the legal name while using an informal, non-legal name would be a "win-win" situation, Draper said.

Two task force members spoke to the Executive Committee regarding the report: Ken Fentress, pastor of Montrose Baptist Church in Rockville, Md., and Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

"Why am I Southern Baptist?" Fentress asked. "This is a question that I've been confronted with several times over the years, and it's probably true that most African Americans are Southern Baptist despite objections of many in the larger black Christian community." 

The convention's ties to slavery upon its founding in 1845 are a barrier to some in the African American community, Fentress said, saying the name "Southern Baptist" is "full of meaning, significance and history.

"For many African Americans, our reasons for being Southern Baptist are theological -- not cultural, not political, not geographical," Fentress said. "... I am a Southern Baptist specifically because of the theology for which the Conservative Resurgence stood." 

The 2009 SBC Annual Church Profile report showed that 6.5 percent of SBC congregations were predominantly African American while an additional 12.5 percent reflected other ethnic identities.

The SBC name, he said, has been "a source of difficulty for church planters ... serving in areas outside the American South." It also "has been a source of difficulty among African Americans precisely because of its identity and the history of the Confederacy."

During Tuesday's discussion about the report in the Executive Committee, Darrell Orman -- an Executive Committee member who was staunchly opposed to a name change last fall -- said he supported the recommended. He called it a "brilliant Solomonic compromise." Orman is pastor of First Baptist Church in Stuart, Fla. 

"We have an opportunity," Orman said, "to keep our name and fortify 'Southern Baptist Convention,' and we have an opportunity to extend an empathetic hand to some of our other brothers and sisters in Christ and say, 'I love you and I'm sensitive to your situation. It's not just about me in South Florida or Georgia or Alabama or Mississippi. It's all about you, too.'"

Borrowing an illustration from Draper, Orman likened the "Great Commission Baptists" descriptor to the "good hands" phrase used in Allstate advertisements. People know what "good hands" references, Orman said, but it's not the name of the insurance company.  

Paige Patterson, a task force member and president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Executive Committee members Monday he has favored a name change of the convention for a while, saying the convention is no longer regional and that "Southern" is offensive to some.

The report, he said, is one that "satisfies my conscience on all levels to a degree I never thought possible. I support it enthusiastically."

Patterson also urged Southern Baptists to discuss the issue with charity in coming months.

"If at the end of the process, you do not agree, that is fine," Patterson said. "But may we agree that we will debate and decide the issue without recourse to a discussion of motives and intentions of the heart which only God can see and know."

At a news conference, Draper said that in recent history, messengers have not been given a report explaining the rationale behind the argument for a new name.

"I don't think Southern Baptists, at large, ever really saw the bigger picture, and when we came to the conventions, the vote was usually an emotional vote," Draper said. 

The task force, Draper said, is praying that when messengers come to the convention in June "the people [will] at least have a background on which to make a decision." 

"We're not stipulating that anybody do anything," Draper said of a church's usage of a name. "Already, Southern Baptists can do anything they want to do. But it really would very helpful ... to so many that have become disenchanted [that] if they use a name other than Southern Baptist, Southern Baptists said, 'That's OK.'"

The task force believes "Great Commission Baptists" can be trademarked, Draper said.

The usage of the term, Wright emphasized, is purely voluntary.

"Every entity, every state convention, every local church is just going to have to decide how they can best use the phrase 'Great Commission Baptists' as a way of communicating to the world who we are and what our mission is."

Added Draper: "It can become a rallying call."

Frank Page, president of the Executive Committee, was asked by one Executive Committee member if adoption of the recommendation would necessitate a change in the SBC logo. Page said the logo "would not have to change," but that "we would do everything that we could" -- if messengers approve the recommendation -- "to put that descriptor as part of our publications, as part of our publicity." 
--30--
Michael Foust is associate editor of Baptist Press. 

-- End of story --


TASK FORCE'S REPORT: Transcript
By Staff
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37225

<i>Originally posted Monday, Feb. 20.</i>

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: Jimmy Draper, chairman of the task force that studied the question of changing the name of the Southern Baptist Convention, presented the following report to the SBC Executive Committee during its Monday night (Feb. 20) meeting. The task force was named by SBC President Bryant Wright last September.</i>

[IMG=31963@right@120]We thank the president [Bryant Wright] for giving us the privilege of serving on this task force concerning the possibility of changing the name of the Southern Baptist Convention. We have recognized that our role is not official. We are making recommendations for the president to consider in this matter. We fully understand that any potential change in the name and identification of the Southern Baptist Convention would not succeed without the support of the Executive Committee and the formal vote of the Convention itself.
	
We have had the benefit of having the reports of the three previous studies which were made in the last fifty years. I wrote all of our State Executive Directors and Entity Presidents of the Convention to seek their suggestions and input. We received much input from individual Baptists and Baptist organizations in this process. We actually received over 535 names for consideration of any potential name change, and for the sake of posterity, I will provide them as an attachment to the written copy of this report that we will provide to Baptist Press.

Our one desire from the beginning was to consider the removal of any barrier to the effective proclamation of the Gospel and reaching people for Christ. This is an issue that just won't die. In fact, the first attempt to change the name was in 1903. Over the years since then, it has been presented to the Convention in one form or another 13 times. We felt that this is an issue that needed resolution so we could move forward with full energies to present the Gospel around the world.

We believe that the rationale for our recommendations should be widely presented to Southern Baptists for their full understanding of all the ingredients to this matter. Once that is done the issue will be decided by the Convention itself.

We understand that our recommendation does not obligate any person, church or Baptist entity to do anything. There is no connectionalism in Southern Baptist life, no hierarchy to dictate to the many facets that make up Southern Baptists. There is no action of the Convention itself which binds any part of Southern Baptist life to comply. Our commitment together is always voluntary. 

From our discussions we have drawn some specific conclusions:

The name Southern Baptist Convention is a worldwide brand that identifies who we are. It speaks of our theology, our morality and ethics, our compassion, our ministry and mission in the world. Two things have occurred since the last study was made in 1999 that confirm this fact: the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

These two events thrust the incredible ministry of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts to the front page of public awareness. Recovery efforts in New York following 9/11 were marked by New York residents asking for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams specifically because of the thorough way they fed people, restored property and conducted themselves with kindness, integrity and energy. The same was true in New Orleans after Katrina.

The equity we have in the Southern Baptist name is enormous today. We believe that the potential benefits of a name change do not outweigh the potential risks that would be involved in a legal name change. Renaming the Convention would require a great cost in dollars, in energy, as well as re-branding the name to recapture the meaning that our name now represents. The value of the name change does not justify the risks involved.

At the same time, we are concerned about the negative perception that the word "Southern" may carry in certain geographic areas of North America. But even there the opinions are mixed on this issue. From leaders in non-Southern states, one-half of those we heard from reported that it would be a benefit to them to change the name, but the other half said it would not be a benefit. It is true that the leaders of African-American and other ethnic Southern Baptist Churches indicated that it would be helpful to them.

So how do we proceed to gain a win/win situation for the entire Convention? How can we retain the value of the Southern Baptist Convention brand and at the same time give opportunity for those who desire a different name in their area of ministry to have an acceptable way to do so? How could we remove an obstacle to reaching people for Christ and at the same time stay true to who we are? The name "Southern Baptist Convention" tells who we are, but it does not tell what we do.

We believe we have found a way to do that. We recommend to President Wright that the legal name of the Southern Baptist Convention not be changed for the reasons we have stated and for reasons detailed in previous studies. We further recommend that the SBC adopt an informal or "non-legal" name that could be similar to a descriptor or auxiliary name that would be approved for use by those who would prefer a different name. This would allow us to maintain the strong value of the Southern Baptist Convention name and at the same time suggest an alternate name for those for whom it would be beneficial.

I want you to hear from two of our task force members. Dr. Ken Fentress is pastor of the Montrose Baptist Church of Rockville, Md. He is one of the most gifted pastors in our Convention and has some deep convictions about this issue. After he speaks to us, Dr. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will share his thoughts on this matter.

[Fentress and Patterson speak [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37226]speak[/URL], then Draper resumes.]

Let me summarize again our conclusions. We believe that the equity that we have in the name Southern Baptist Convention is a strong name to identify who we are in theology, morality and ethics, compassion, ministry and mission in the world. It is a branded name that is recognized globally in these areas. We also recognize the need that some may have to use a name that is not associated with a national region as indicated by the word "Southern." We want to do everything we can to encourage those who do feel a name change would be beneficial without recommending a legal name change for the Convention. We believe we have found a way to do that.

Tonight we are suggesting to the president that he make the following motion to the Executive Committee:

RECOMMENDATION: That the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention report to the Convention meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 19-20, 2012, that it declines to study or develop a plan and implementation strategy for the adoption of a new name for the Southern Baptist Convention for all the reasons mentioned in the report issued on February 20, 2012, by the SBC president's name change task force, as well as those in the 1999 report of the Executive Committee on the same subject.

And, further, that the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention recommend to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in New Orleans, June 19-20, 2012, that those churches, entities and organizations in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention which may desire to utilize a descriptor other than the term "Southern Baptists" to indicate their relationship with each other and their involvement in the Southern Baptist Convention and its ministries, use the descriptor "Great Commission Baptists," a phrase commended as one fully in keeping with our Southern Baptist Convention identity, and

That the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention report to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 19-20, 2012, that it will study ways in which the use of the phrase "Great Commission Baptists" might be protected and preserved for use by those churches and institutions which find its use beneficial and will assess how using the phrase in various ways in its communications and publications might be helpful to those groups.

We deeply believe that if the phrase "Great Commission Baptists" is regularly used in publications and promotions of the Southern Baptist Convention, as well as in state conventions, associations and churches, that it would provide an identification that not only tells who we are, but what our mission as Southern Baptists is -- the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

This is our prayerful report to the president. Thank you for allowing us to report this to him and to you during your Executive Committee meeting tonight.
--30--
In addition to Jimmy Draper, the other members of the task force are:
-- Michael Allen, senior pastor of Uptown Baptist Church in Chicago.
-- Marshall Blaylock, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C.
-- David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
-- Tom Elliff, president of the International Mission Board.
-- Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board.
-- Ken Fentress, senior pastor of Montrose Baptist Church in Rockwell, Md.
-- Micah Fries, senior pastor of Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Mo.
-- Aaron Harvie, lead pastor of Riverside Community Church in Philadelphia, Pa.
-- Susie Hawkins, speaker, Bible study teacher and missions volunteer from Dallas.
-- Fred Hewett, executive director of the Montana Southern Baptist Convention.
-- Cathy Horner, Bible teacher and pastor's wife from Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C.
-- Benjamin Jo, pastor of Hana Korean Baptist Church in Las Vegas.
-- R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
-- Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
-- Bob Sena, retired director of Hispanic resource development and equipping in the North American Mission Board's church planting group.
-- Roger Spradlin, co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, Calif., and chairman of the SBC Executive Committee.
-- John Sullivan, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention.
-- Jay Wolf, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.



-- End of story --


Fentress & Patterson: Descriptor would benefit African Americans, ethnic groups, non-Southerners
By Staff
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37226

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- The following remarks by Maryland pastor Ken Fentress and seminary president Paige Patterson were part of the Feb. 20 report to the SBC Executive Committee by a task force that studied the possibility of a name change of the Southern Baptist Convention and proposed the option of Southern Baptists also calling themselves "Great Commission Baptists."

Fentress, senior pastor of Montrose Baptist Church in Rockville, Md., and Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth, Texas, were members of the task force appointed by SBC President Bryant Wright last September.

[IMGONLY=31965@left@180]The Executive Committee, on Feb. 21, approved the task force recommendation for presentation during the SBC's June 19-20 meeting in New Orleans.

Fentress' remarks appear first, followed by Patterson's.

KEN FENTRESS

What's in a name? Depending on whom you ask, there may be a number of different answers to this question. Names can indicate identity, mission, philosophy, theology, history, purpose, etc. Names are important because they identify and distinguish us from others. The name 'Southern Baptist' is filled with meaning, significance, and history. Why am I Southern Baptist? This is a question that I've been confronted with several times over the years. It is probably true that most African Americans are Southern Baptists despite the objections of many in the larger black Christian community. Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. recently summarized the history of the founding of our convention in 1845. In his eloquent recitation of the issues that led to the establishment of the SBC, we learned that the founders intended for the name to identify with the Confederacy in the years leading up to the Civil War. This signifies that the name has not only been a source of difficulty for church planters serving in areas outside the American South but also that the name has been a source of some difficulty among African Americans precisely because of its identity with the Confederacy.

For many African Americans, our reasons for being Southern Baptist are theological, not cultural, political, or geographical. While we must acknowledge that theology does intersect with culture and politics, we must also recognize that sound Christian theology takes priority over culture and politics. I am Southern Baptist specifically because of the theology for which the conservative resurgence stood. I was saved at 16 years of age in a predominantly black Baptist church in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. Everything that congregation taught me was consistent with the theology of the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention. I was taught the doctrine of the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. I was taught the total sufficiency of the Gospel. I was taught the value of sound biblical theology and sound biblical preaching. 

This foundation in sound theology led me to Criswell College where I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies and Southern Seminary where I earned the Master of Divinity degree. It also enabled me to complete my M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

There are two important theological reasons why we have been engaged in a discussion of a potential name change for the SBC: 1) The progress of the Gospel through evangelism; and, 2) The progress of the Gospel through racial reconciliation. The fact that we are having this discussion is good because it signifies the progress of the Gospel. For only the Gospel has the power to save sinners and sanctify Christians of every race, tribe, language, and background. The Gospel alone has the power to enable us to reach people of every nation, race, tribe, language, and background. Milton Vincent, in his book, "A Gospel Primer for Christians," states that the power of God in its greatest density is found inside the Gospel. The Apostle Paul writes, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). And if we remain true to the teachings of the Gospel, we shall surely overcome prejudice, racism, and hatred. The Gospel alone enables us to overcome the stain of a racial history that is still painful for some and shameful for others. This progress of the Gospel will have an undeniable impact upon non-Christians all over the world. Removing impediments to Gospel-driven evangelism and reaching across historic barriers in order to achieve Gospel-driven reconciliation is precisely what progress is all about. The progress of the Gospel brings people to God while also bringing them together. I pastor a congregation that has 30 plus different nationalities of people, not to mention our school and child development center where we have children from five continents (including North America and Canada). Nothing demonstrates the progress of the Gospel more than the dissolving of racial barriers. This kind of progress of the Gospel speaks a very powerful message to our critics who would say, 'They're trying to change their name, but they're still the same old convention.' If they are referring to our theology, yes, we are the same. But if they are referring to how we apply our theology to the issue of race, we had better not be the same, if we want to honor God.

This task force has attempted to give a prayerful, thoughtful, honest, deliberate, and in-depth investigation into these matters with the utmost integrity under the seasoned leadership of Dr. Jimmy Draper. When the non-Christian world sees a convention that has been known for tremendous missionary enterprises, Gospel propagation, Christian publications, theological education, disaster relief, and Christian discipleship and influence, not only on the American landscape, but on a global landscape; when they see a convention examining itself in light of the very Bible it believes; when they see a convention seeking to honor Jesus Christ in the way it presents itself to the world, they will be profoundly impacted for time and eternity. These are positive things that indicate to the world that the SBC is not declining or dead, but simply in the process of allowing the Gospel to reform and revive us for ministry in the 21st Century. In spite of the racial history of this convention, the Gospel is propelling the SBC forward and there are many people of color who want to be an important part of what God is doing through this convention. The glory of God is in these things. 

The recommendation that is being presented to the Executive Committee is very important in demonstrating to Southern Baptists and to the world that we are serious about fulfilling the Great Commission as Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:18-20. As a member of the task force I wholeheartedly support the recommendation that has been submitted to President Bryant Wright.  

So, despite any cost to African Americans, Latinos, Asians, or to people of color in general who are Southern Baptists, we are committed to the progress of the Gospel. We are committed to the total sufficiency of Scripture. We are committed to sound biblical theology for the 21st Century. We are committed to biblically shaped evangelism and discipleship. We are committed to the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). We are committed to the Great Commission as Southern Baptists. We are Great Commission Baptists.

PAIGE PATTERSON

When President Bryant Wright telephoned late last year asking me to serve on a committee to provide counsel to the president about a change in name for our beloved Convention, my initial thought was, "Mr. President, why do you hate me?" My life has been spent, too much of it, in controversy, which contrary to popular wisdom, I thoroughly despise. In fact, my life verse has become Jeremiah 15:10: "Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me."

My love for and devotion to this fellowship that we call a Convention and to its churches and mission causes is by now, I hope, apparent. Soon, if God wills, I will attend my 60th annual meeting without a miss. While I seek neither sympathy nor applause, my family has paid a high price for faithfulness as we understood it to Christ, the Bible, and to the faith of our Baptist Fathers. For 36 years, I have led three different institutions to train your missionaries, pastors and evangelists. For 55 years I have faithfully preached the unsearchable riches of Christ mostly in Southern Baptist churches and mission points. Haltingly and often poorly, I have sought to be a personal witness to the saving grace of our Lord.

So what is your point, oh hoary with years? Just that in the pedestrian words that I am about to utter, I sincerely hope that my motive and intentions are pure even should you find my logic flawed. From my vantage point in the forced march to the summit of Nebo, the twin concerns that rivet my heart are seven billion lost people on this globe and the care of the churches that serve as the launch pads for the dissemination of the Gospel. 

Since I was a boy-preacher somewhere back in the Pre-Cambrian era, I have been concerned that Southern Baptists needed to change our name. Every time the issue arose, I cast a losing vote contrary to that of some of my dearest friends. The logic that appealed to me then was as simple as the mind that assessed it. (1) We were no longer regional and (2) If the regional moniker were an offense, a barrier to some, used in turn by the Enemy to keep them from Christ, then we should remove the barrier. 

Please note what I did not say. While I recognize that some of our own are offended by our Southern Baptist history of sometimes fierce clashes, of our moral stands against abortion, gender confusion, the dissolution of the family, the devastating effects of gambling and alcohol on our families and the social order, and even belatedly the more politically correct, but in this case biblically correct stand against racism, while I regret that any are offended, I view all of this as noble, even if in our flesh we were sometimes ignoble in our approaches to these issues. 

Neither do I think that the name on the shingle has much to do with evangelistic success. History is replete with the objections of the establishment to the evangelization of the lost. When God's people seek His face for His mighty hand to move and then when they witness as though they were in the fourth quarter, I know for a fact that the baptismal waters will be stirred far more frequently than Bethesda.

Consequently, I am not ashamed of the Southern Baptist name. Indeed, I love and treasure it for what it represents in terms of doctrine, ethics, shared mission, response to human need, and world mission endeavor. But my brothers and sisters, if at least a descriptor could be found which focused on the nature of our mission, how could that be a bad omen?

The recommendation which our distinguished Baptist statesman, Dr. Draper, will now bring is one that satisfies my conscience on all levels to a degree I never thought possible. I support it enthusiastically. I have just two requests of you my brethren. First, let us seek God's face with ardent supplication to see if the committee's report is an amazing solution given by the Spirit of God. Second, if at the end of the process, you do not agree, that is fine. This is why you are a Baptist, a dissenter, and why I am not your bishop, cardinal or pope. But may we agree that we will debate and decide the issue without recourse to a discussion of motives and intentions of the heart which only God can see and know. 

Whatever the outcome, I remain confident for the future. The gates of hell will not conquer the church of Jesus the Christ. The Spirit and the Bride say come. Southern Baptists say come. Let whosoever wills come and slake his thirst with the water of life. Such remains the mission of Southern Baptists until Jesus comes.  
--30--

-- End of story --


Page warns of serving with wrong motives
By Erin Roach
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37227

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Drawing from the example of the older brother in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, Frank Page advised Southern Baptists to examine their motives as they consider altering the name by which they're known.

[IMG=31966@right@250]"Is what we're doing going to enhance the chance that a little girl in Beijing will hear the Gospel or a little boy in Quebec will hear the Good News for the first time?" Page told Executive Committee members Feb. 20 in Nashville, Tenn. "What is our motive? Let's ask that over and over."

Page, president of the Executive Committee, spoke just before a task force charged with exploring a name change for the Southern Baptist Convention delivered its long-awaited report. 

Most preachers and scholars focus on the prodigal in the parable, Page said, but there are two other characters in the story who receive scant attention.

"When Jesus spoke these words, those who listened knew He was speaking to the publicans and the sinners. They were delighted that He would preach at them," Page said. "Perhaps they thought they had escaped notice when He kept on going and went from preaching to meddling as He talked about the older son and the father."

The older brother had some commendable qualities, such as being a hard worker and being conscientious, Page said.

"We've got to admit those are some great qualities that we admire and appreciate in anyone," he said. "On the outside, he looked good. Many of us are like that, aren't we? On the outside things look quite fine, but inside things are not quite the way they ought to be."

Though the older son served diligently and obediently, inside there was a wrong motive. Sometimes Southern Baptists find themselves serving with wrong motives, Page said.

"This brother served out of a motive of pride. It was one of the failings of this older brother. He had a great testimony of service and doing a good job, yet his heart was not in his work and he was always dreaming of how good a job he was doing. His work was not a labor of love that would please the father," Page said. 

"When we serve out of pride, there's neither love for the Lord nor love for others. It's all about getting attention for ourselves."

Verse 30 conveys the older brother's complaining spirit, Page said. He was upset because of what his younger brother had done, squandering his inheritance with prostitutes.

"When we serve out of a motive of pride, we rejoice in the failings of others," Page said.



Fear can be another motive, he said, with believers sometimes fearing the disapproval of others. The father wanted the older son to celebrate and be glad, but when believers are preoccupied with fear, they are unable to be glad. 

Believers also can be motivated to serve because they seek rewards, Page said.

"Friend, let me tell you, I see that motive everywhere I go: 'What's in it for me?' In verse 29 we see the answer. He proclaims his faithfulness in serving over the years. He extols the virtue of his service. 'I'm in this to get something for me.' 

"Let me tell you, when we serve out of seeking reward, there can be no maturation. There can be no growing," Page said. "When we serve out of seeking reward there will never be the joy of serving the Lord out of sheer joy.

"I've stated many times the only hope our convention has is a Holy Ghost revival. That revival also must be an alteration in our motives as well as a personal look at who we are and where we are," Page said.

Southern Baptists must always consider their motives for anything they do or don't do, he said, particularly with a possible name change. 

Page also drew attention to the father in the parable. The father allowed his son's wandering by giving him the ability to choose his course.

"The Father allows that, doesn't He? He allows us sometimes to go our own way and finally I hope we realize like the younger boy who came to his senses. The older boy never did," Page said. "We come to our senses and say, 'God, why am I doing what I'm doing? Do I really believe in partnering with each other for the Gospel, or is my agenda the most important agenda?'

"I hope and pray you'll sense a new wind blowing in the Executive Committee and in all of our entities that we're doing this together. Whatever we do, we do to build up each other. We've heard that mentioned over and over. Let's put it into practice," he said.

The parable makes clear that the father cares about the son's wandering, Page said. The father is not working hard, ignoring, but is standing with open arms waiting for his son to come home.

"I'm convinced He's waiting for the Southern Baptist Convention to come home. I'm convinced of it. We can change the name, but if we don't change how we act, it will do no good," Page said. "... I believe our Lord will celebrate when Southern Baptists say, 'It's time we do what we do for the right reason.'"
--30--
Erin Roach is assistant editor of Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

-- End of story --


Report: Iran may be set to execute pastor
By Staff
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37228

TEHRAN (BP) -- Iranian officials may have issued an order to execute a pastor at the center of a high-profile case that has drawn international attention, according to a legal group that has followed the case.

The statement asked for Christians worldwide to pray.

[IMGONLY=31545@left@90]The American Center for Law and Justice Tuesday (Feb. 21) quoted its sources as saying pastor Yousef (also spelled Youcef) Nadarkhani could be executed at any time. Nadarkhani was convicted and sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity.

"Pastor Youcef’s situation -- an innocent man convicted and sentenced to death for becoming a Christian -- has not been this dire since we first brought his case to your attention last year," the ACLJ said on its website. "It is unclear whether Pastor Youcef would have a right of appeal from the execution order."

The ACLJ statement said simply, "We are hearing reports from our contacts in Iran that the execution orders for Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani may have been issued."

A second group that monitors religious liberty, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), released a statement saying the situation is dire. Nadarkhani's lawyer, CSW reported, is "is trying to confirm reports that the Iranian authorities have decided to execute the pastor."

"There are grave concerns that the death sentence could be carried out at any time without prior notification and that the authorities will merely announce it later, a practice that is not uncommon in Iran," CSW said.

Said ACLJ, "There has also been a disturbing increase in the number of executions conducted by the Iranian regime in the last month."

Western leaders have spoken out for Nadarkhani. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement in December calling for Nadarkhani and several other prisoners of conscience worldwide to be released "immediately and unconditionally."

The case dates back to 2009 when Nadarkhani was arrested after complaining that his son was being taught Islam in school. He eventually was sentenced to death by the court of appeals. In 2011 the Iranian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence but ordered a lower court to examine whether Nadarkhani was ever a Muslim -- a fact essential to determine whether he left Islam for Christianity. But that lower court in Rasht, Iran, found that although Nadarkhani was never a practicing Muslim he remained guilty of apostasy because he had Muslim ancestry.

In September, he was given four chances to recant his faith in court and refused each time. His case then was referred to the ayatollah. The American Center for Law and Justice reported one of his court exchanges.

"Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?" Nadarkhani asked.

"To the religion of your ancestors, Islam," the judge reportedly replied.

"I cannot," the pastor responded.
--30--
Compiled by Michael Foust, associate editor of Baptist Press.

-- End of story --


Segregation, tragedy, yet blessings prevail
By Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37229

PLANT CITY, Fla. (BP) -- Maxie Miller Jr. remembers the time when the men in his neighborhood sat on their steps and prayed no bombs would hit their homes.

[IMG=31967@left@120]"I grew up in the bombing. I grew up with segregation," Miller said. "I remember when I got shot and Daddy got me to the hospital and we didn't know who was going to be my doctor."

Miller, the Florida Baptist Convention's strategist for the African American church planting team, doesn't just know about the fight for civil rights in America, he lived it in Birmingham, Ala.

Just 12 years old when his young friend, Denise McNair, was tragically killed in a church bombing during the civil rights movement, Miller went on to be one of six black students at an all-white Birmingham high school.

The smiling, gentle, Vietnam-era veteran admits what shaped him more than civil rights or even his military experience was a fear of his momma -- and his reliance on God.

Growing up in Birmingham, there were two major institutions, the school and the church, and "no young black child escaped those institutions," Miller recalled. "You are in school and you are in church."

And for Miller, both institutions involved his family.

"They were good Christian parents," Miller said of Maxie Sr. and Lillian (Lois) Miller who raised him in the historic African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church. His father, a church steward, played the piano by ear and sang in the choir, along with his mother, who "still sings in the choir in heaven," Miller said, noting she "graduated" to heaven when she died in 2005.

"My mother was something else," Miller said fondly. "I grew up during a time where Momma would get you for what you did, anywhere at any time."

Miller said it was impossible to escape from the "long arm of the law" with his mother working in his school's lunchroom. His father was equally strict and would threaten, "'Son, I'm gonna get you, but when I get you, I'm gonna get you for old and for new.'"

"You would rather get Momma because she would get it out of the way," Miller smiled.

Hands-on parenting and grandparenting, he said, is lacking in much of today's culture.

"I'm not sure today that young people can say their father and grandfather were in the Lord and that they saw and witnessed their faith," Miller said. "I respect my dad and my granddad. My parents were not perfect people, but they did not give us something that they didn't have. They had Jesus.

"They didn't say, 'Go to church.' They went with us. They had the Lord," Miller said. "I always wish somehow that God would allow me to be just half the person my dad is in my life, to be as good as my dad. He's impacted me a lot and I try to pass it on to my children."

CHURCH IN BIRMINGHAM

Growing up in the church was expected in the 1950s and '60s. Churches cooperated so that Vacation Bible School was virtually a summer-long event with no two churches holding VBS at the same time throughout the city. Youth days, when young people in the church presided over every aspect of the worship service, allowed them opportunities to develop leadership.

"Youth days and VBS as a child were very important to me," Miller said. "I gave my life to Christ when I was about 11 years old."

It was during one of the youth days, on Sept. 15, 1963, when the church bombing took place and four girls were killed, including Miller's friend Denise. "It affected all the youth in the community," Miller said soberly. "I'll never forget that." The two families have remained close through the years.

The church buttressed the authority and discipline in young people's lives. Whatever his parents said, the preacher inevitably would back it with his words. "The role model was across the table from Mom and Dad, not on the basketball court or on the television."

Still, young men will be young men and on Labor Day when he was 15 years old Miller defied his mother's instructions and went to his cousin's home where the unsupervised boys found their uncle's gun.

"We were playing with it and it shot me in the side," Miller recounted. "It was the first time that I saw the pain and hurt in my daddy's eyes because of his child as he carried me down the steps into the ambulance."

Bleeding and in pain, Miller said he only remembers lying on a gurney in the hospital's hallway while it was determined whether the family had insurance and who would be the attending doctor. He said his dad remembers him being "bold" and grabbing onto a doctor's hand as he walked by to ask to help. "That same doctor became my doctor for the rest of my days there," Miller said.

The bullet did extensive damage, causing him to lose his gall bladder and part of his intestines -- and for a while, doctors thought he might never walk again -- but "it also brought all of our families closer together," Miller said. "It was a valuable lesson I learned about being obedient, and almost to the point of losing my life."

PERSEVERENCE

That same spirit of boldness, tempered with humility, after his first year at all-black parochial high school led him to be one of the first six black students at all-white Ramsay High School.

Things got rough again at the end of his junior year. An academic evaluation revealed Miller was a "square peg" in a "round hole," he said. "They said it would be best for me to drop out and take a trade because, they said, 'he's not smart enough to graduate' and not even smart enough to go to high school," Miller said.

He told his dad, however, he was going to stay in school.

"My mother said, 'I don't care what the district said' -- and people listened to her," Miller said, so he enrolled at the all-black Parker High School for the next year.

During summer school, he found a high school sweetheart, Brenda. The two went to the movies and dances, had an innocent relationship during his senior year and, by the time he graduated, were engaged.

After a few false starts away from home, in 1971 he convinced the Air Force to accept him in spite of the damage the bullet had done when he was a teen.

"I joined the Air Force because I got tired of Momma being on my case…," Miller said. Instead of his mother being upset, which is the reaction he sought, she laughed and told him, "That's great. It'll make a man out of you."

The tears came later, with healthy reminders for Miller to not forget his "training."

Miller recalled his grandfather's words: "'Boy, don't you forget where you're going; don't forget where you come from; and don't mess up the Miller name.'"

"Go to church," his momma said.

Miller, who earned the nickname "Ironhead" from his father, didn't obey.

Opting to learn food services in an on-the-job training slot in the Air Force rather than to handle guns, something he had issues with since the shooting, he landed an assignment in Loring, Maine, and prayed he would never have to join the war in Vietnam.

"I really got wild," he said.

Back in Birmingham, Brenda believed her fiance had forgotten about her, and when he finally came to visit for Christmas, she handed him back his ring. "I was so crushed. I was hurt," Miller said. But with a heavy dose of pride in the way, "I didn't say, 'Please take it back.'"

"Providentially, God had other things in my life for me to learn," Miller said.

At a Gospel service at the base, Miller renewed his commitment to the Lord and in 1973 married a woman he had met in Maine, Barbara, and had two children, Maxie III and Natasha. After eight years, he finally left food service to become an instructor in OJT for the remainder of his 20-year military career.

At MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., Miller said the Lord "kicked up" his responsibilities a notch and he became involved in leading Bible studies for boys at correctional facilities, taking youth trips with St. John the Baptist Church in Tampa and singing in the choir.

"I was saying I have more flaws in my life," Miller said. "The Lord was saying I need to do more for Him."

He acknowledged a calling to ministry at his uncle Joseph Miller's church in Albany, N.Y., where he preached his first sermon and was licensed and then went on earn two bachelor's degrees, one from Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas, and the other from Saint Leo's College in Tampa.

Meanwhile, Miller never stopped thinking of a childhood conversation he had with his dad "when segregation was so bad." Looking at a big sign for Howard College on a grassy knoll along Lakeshore Drive in Birmingham, Miller made a comment about the facility and told his dad, "I want to go there when I grow up." About the Baptist-affiliated school, eventually renamed Samford University, Miller's dad replied, "Yes, son, it is pretty, but you won't be able to go there because blacks are not allowed to attend there."

FAMILY TRAGEDY

In 1991, when Miller finally returned to Birmingham after a 20-year military career, he barely noticed the cultural changes -- instead he was focused on taking care of his wife, who had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor in the late '80s but had continued to suffer seizures.

With Natasha in the 11th grade and Maxie III in the eighth grade, Miller wasn't ready for retirement. One day after "almost" getting a job similar to his military occupation, his pastor, John T. Porter, at Sixth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, told him he had been considered as the assistant pastor. While Miller's hopes rose, Porter dashed them by telling him he couldn't have the job because he didn't want to "pigeonhole" him.

"I just wanted to be a good husband and take care of my wife and family, that's all I wanted to do," Miller said, tears welling in his eyes. "I walked to my car and cried, 'Why can't I get a break? Somebody just give me a break. Can't I get a break?' The Lord says, 'Go back in his office and say, 'Thank you for looking out for me.'"

Still on the hunt for a job, but with a deep desire to continue growing in ministry -- something his wife encouraged -- Miller finally enrolled at the divinity school of the college that once would have been off-limits. And while he was at Samford's Beeson Divinity School, "Anytime I needed finances, Pastor Porter was there; anytime I needed anything for school, Pastor Porter was there."

Returning home one afternoon after helping Porter conduct a funeral, Miller said he discovered his daughter washing dishes and his wife had died in her sleep. "It was a hot summer day," Miller recalled, retelling a heartbreaking story of his daughter finding her mother's lifeless body

Barbara had told him the last church that interviewed him was the one he would get. He told her he wasn't interested in pastoring after a previous interview soured when he learned they thought he and his wife were "too close" during the interview process.

"My first ministry begins with my wife," Miller said. "I cannot be the first minister that God wants me to be anywhere if I am not the first minister at home. I accept the challenges that God sends my way in that same light.

"God gave me this person and this family, and how I deal with them and love them and serve them and be with them reflects also on how I am supposed to be in the church," Miller said. "I can't be what I am out there until what I am first in my home. I don't apologize for that."

A week after Barbara was buried, Friendship Baptist Church in Birmingham called. Barbara had predicted correctly as they had circled the block around the church and prayed together only weeks before. This would be Miller's church for the next four years until he received his master of divinity degree from Beeson and began to pastor Mount Olive Baptist Church in Plant City, Fla.

UNEXPECTED NEW BEGINNINGS

The whole community turned out for Barbara's funeral, Miller said, including Brenda. A schoolteacher and longtime family friend, she had also been there to greet Barbara the first time Miller preached.

"What happened was we got married a year after Barbara died," Miller said. "I look back over my life, I think I've done a few good things and I've made a lot of blunders, but God had blessed me to marry the only two people I've every really loved."

Miller and Brenda made a new start in Plant City in 1996 where he learned more about Southern Baptists, eventually bringing Mount Olive, a National Baptist church, into dual alignment with Southern Baptists. He became a Sunday School growth consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention in 1997 and was named director of church planting for the convention's African American ministries division in 2002. He became the division's interim director after the 2006 retirement of the late Sid Smith.

Miller was named the division's director in 2007, with responsibilities for planning, conducting and evaluating ministries to African Americans and serving as a liaison to other Baptist African American denominations. Last year, he became the strategist for the convention's African American church planting team in addition to receiving a doctor of ministry degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary last year.

"When I got called to preach I would do everything to learn about God," Miller said, adding, "I do what I can to help people learn. I give away books and Bibles today. I believe you ought to pour in people's lives."

Miller credits his parents and his granddad, Pastor Porter and Florida Baptist Convention leaders, including Executive Director-Treasurer John Sullivan, as having made a "great investment" in his life.

"I believe the reason why we get where we are going is we remember where we come from," Miller said. "We know the people who have helped us get where we are. So I never want to let those people down."

For a man who wasn't supposed to finish high school, Miller said he is humbled by what God has allowed. "I was one of the few blacks that graduated from the seminary; I somehow made it through a doctorate at New Orleans," he said. "When I look back on my walk with the Lord, God is still pruning me, encouraging me.

"My blessings naturally came from God, and what I am came from God," Miller said. "I know the One who is perfect," he said of Jesus, "and He has impacted my life greatly."
--30--
Joni B. Hannigan is managing editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, on the Web at www.gofbw.com.
-- End of story --


FIRST-PERSON: 5 ways to avoid temptation on social media
By Terri Stovall
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37230

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) -- Social networking -- few things have so defined and shaped our culture. From Facebook to Twitter to Pinterest, it seems like everyone who is anyone has one, if not multiple, ways to stay connected. Whether it is looking at pictures of family celebrations, grandparents keeping up with grandchildren, businesses and ministries promoting themselves or reminiscing about old friends and flames, social media is today's yellow pages, white pages, yearbook, family album and party line -- all rolled up in one.

Through them the Gospel has been proclaimed, many a woman has been mentored, and relationships have been strengthened. Conversely, social media sites offer a method of connection that tickles our desire for instant gratification and provides a glimpse into the lives of others, often leading to damaging and destructive consequences.

The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers has been in the news in the past couple of years, highlighting the use of Facebook as either a cause of infidelity and subsequent divorce or as a way to build a case for divorce. While reports are mixed as to whether social media is playing an increasing role in marital infidelity and divorce, it is clear that this new way of connecting with people can be used for good and for bad.

Whether it's reconnecting with an ex-boyfriend, private interaction with a co-worker, or making personal info about your life open to an acquaintance, sites like Facebook offer daily opportunities for a downward spiral.

As Christians who seek to follow after God's own heart and want to protect our marriages and our families, we must determine our personal boundaries when it comes to social networking.  Only if we place hedges of protection and accountability around us are we guarded.

Two reminders:

1. Scripture is clear that "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7). Jesus brings this in to real-world living when he says, "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28). He further expounds in Matthew 15 that all words, actions and deeds flow from what is already in the heart. If we begin to wonder what our lives would have been like "if only," we open the door to emotional infidelity. If we fantasize, visualize or imagine what it would be like to be with someone else, we have been unfaithful to the covenant marriage relationship. For women especially, emotional affairs happen long before any physical boundaries are crossed.

2. Ephesians 5 instructs wives not only to submit to their husbands but also to respect their husbands. For many men, respect is the strongest love language around. Comparing your husband to other men, even if he does not know about it, is a form of disrespect. Disrespect will begin to lay fault lines in the foundation of any marriage.

There are ways to use social networking for good and keep a hedge of protection in place. First and foremost, you and your husband should covenant together that you will do all that you can to protect your marriage from anything that could come in to steal, kill and destroy it. This includes innocent things like Facebook and Twitter.

We must remember that no marriage is so safe that we can let our guard down. 

Based on the commitment to protect your marriage and family, consider these practical suggestions to help you live that out:

1. Use the Internet in public. It is good practice for your family to make Internet access on a computer placed in a public part of the home, such as the living room or kitchen. Using the computer in more private areas such as a study or bedroom can easily provide an opening where temptation can seep.

2. Joint account. Create a joint account with your spouse or, at the very least, make sure you know each other's password. Yes, you both trust each other; yet this simple accountability can often be all that is needed to make us stop and consider our actions. Once one person has something to hide, only trouble can follow.

3. Mutual friending. Do not friend anyone of the opposite sex that is not also a friend of your spouse's. If a friend of yours requests to be a Facebook friend, only accept the invitation if your spouse is friends as well. Single gals, consider this when you friend-request a married man. If a married man sends you a friend request, check if you're friends with his wife. If not, be sure to take the initiative of accountability and friend-request her, or just decline the married man's request.

4. Make yourself unavailable. Keep logged off in the online chat arena.  In order to do online chat, even with your girlfriends, you have to make yourself available or "online." This opens the door for men to initiate online chat with you, which is never appropriate, and can provide for some awkward situations. The solution is never to be available for online chat.

5. Unplug. If you find yourself still struggling with boundaries and getting too close to the line, just deactivate your account. Maybe it is time for a little old fashioned face-to-face time with your husband, your children and your friends, rather than electronic words on a screen.

Perhaps after reading this, you realize that you've gone outside the boundaries of wisdom in social networking. What if you have already crossed the line?

1. God heals and redeems. We serve a God who loves us with an everlasting love. Admit to Him that this is a desire that you have and its enticement is strong. Confess that love for Him is better and that you place this desire at His throne. Ask Him to forgive you, to cleanse you and to restore the damage that you have done to yourself and the relationships around you. Then take the steps necessary to guard your heart and mind from future indiscretions.

2. Find an accountability partner. Enlist someone who can be a true accountability partner for you, who can ask the tough questions about your Internet use, your marriage and your relationships. Find someone to whom you can be completely transparent and who will challenge you to take steps towards holiness rather than helping you figure out how close to the line you can be.

3. Disconnect from all social media sites. If someone is an alcoholic, he cannot have access to alcohol. If someone is a drug addict, she better do all she can to limit access to drugs. While you might be saying, "But I am not addicted to Facebook!" if you cannot control your use of social media, you are, at some level, addicted. Pull the plug and remove what is causing you to stumble.

Social media is a great way to stay connected to friends and family. Through a tweet of 140 characters we can give encouragement to a discouraged friend. Through pictures posted on Facebook we can relive the fond memories of a recent celebration. However, social media can also be a gateway to destructive behavior that tears down and separates. It all depends on the user.
--30--
Terri Stovall is dean of women's programs at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She co-authored the book "Women Leading Women." This column first appeared at BiblicalWoman.org, a blog of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

-- End of story --


FROM THE STATES: Texas, Ark., Va. evangelism/missions news
By Staff
Feb. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37231

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: From the States, published each Tuesday by Baptist Press, relays news and feature stories from state Baptist papers and other publications on initiatives by Baptist churches, associations and state conventions in evangelism, church planting and Great Commission outreach, including partnership missions. Reports about churches, associations and state conventions responding to the International Mission Board's call to embrace the world's 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups also are included in From the States, along with reports about church, associational and state convention initiatives in conjunction with the North American Mission Board's call to Southern Baptist churches to broaden their efforts in starting new churches and satellite campuses. The items appear in Baptist Press as originally published.</i>

Today's From the States features reports from:
Southern Baptist Texan
Arkansas Baptist News
Proclaimer (Virginia)

Pastor seeks to reach second-
generation Asians on campus --
English speakers prefer Western service
while retaining some cultural identity, pastor says.
By Jerry Pierce

DENTON, Texas (Southern Baptist Texan)--The aroma of native foods wafting through the hallways from the church kitchen foretold that something important would follow.

For the English-speaking young adults in the church auditorium -- most of them miles from the comfort of family and friends -- a hot Sunday lunch and fellowship with other Korean-background believers filled an important need following corporate worship.

But unlike the Korean Baptist churches Pastor Sung-Jun Shim attended growing up, worship services at Risen Church in Denton are in English. A jeans-clad music leader played guitar on a recent Sunday, helped along by three other young adults in a praise chorus belting out contemporary staples such as Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name."

Shim's sermon, from Luke 9:23 on dying daily to follow Jesus, was thoroughly expositional and served up with cultural references that would have connected with nearly any other English-speaking evangelical church around.

These English-speaking Asians, mostly collegians from nearby University of North Texas and Texas Women's University, have largely assimilated, for better or worse, into the culture of the West. They often prefer an English-language service and worship music they hear on their iPods, but still wish to retain some cultural identity.

Congregations such as Risen Church, planted this summer by Denton Korean Baptist Church with help from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, fill a niche for second-generation Asian young people at a pivotal time in their lives. They are charting more than just careers, Shim said.

He is praying that more and more traditional Korean churches will aim to reach second-generation Asians -- lest they lose them -- by planting English-speaking Asian congregations.

Prime locations for such churches are urban centers that attract young professionals, and college towns. Denton, on the northern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, is a college town, with UNT and TWU within blocks of where the church meets.

BETWEEN TWO CULTURES

Shim understands the stresses of straddling two cultures as an Asian student on an American college campus.

After high school on Long Island, Shim put his ministry calling on the shelf to pursue "success in life," as he termed it, at State University of New York-Albany, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1998 and came away with a Jonah-like change of heart. At a school celebrated for its partying, Shim said his four years there "were a very dark and dissatisfying time."

Unable to keep running from the ministry calling he said he received in middle school in South Korea, Shim took his degree and ran toward Fort Worth.

He married his wife, Won Hee Choi (also an economics major, at SUNY-Stony Brook) and moved the couple to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Shim earned his master of divinity while Won Hee also took a few classes. They then moved to San Francisco, where he took a second master's degree at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary before serving several years on the staff of Hayward Korean Baptist Church in the San Francisco Bay area.

Shim, in his mid-30s, is young enough to relate well to collegians, and among the student bodies at UNT and TWU, the Asian student populations are growing, he said.

Denton Korean Baptist Church, which owns the building where Risen Church meets, believed in the mission so much it moved its services to 2 p.m. on Sundays so Risen Church could meet at 11:15 a.m.

"The fact that Dr. Kim (Hyoung Min Kim, pastor of the sponsoring church) gave up his prime meeting time shows a tremendous conviction and his kingdom mindset to reach second-generation Asians as well as other internationals at UNT and Texas Women's University," said Steve Lee, Nehemiah Professor of Baptist Church Planting at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.  

Lee said some second-generation Asian churches are flourishing, but there is always a challenge to be met in reaching the next generation.

David Alexander, an SBTC church planting associate, said second-generation churches reflect the assimilation that occurs.

"Today, the second generation is assimilating much faster to the American culture than in previous years. But many second-generation people still have a love for their parents' nation and culture and strong ties to their families. Therefore, while operating in English as the heart language of the church, the church wishing to reach 'second gens' often needs to celebrate the ancestral culture of the people it reaches," Alexander said.

But second-generation churches focused on a single demographic group, Alexander said, tend to grow more slowly because there are fewer potential members.

"This is where many multi-ethnic churches succeed, because they reach second gens who are used to living amidst multiple cultures and the church is able to highlight the various different cultures through alternating worship styles, preaching techniques, leadership styles and cultural events where no one culture outshines the rest," Alexander said.

"A few planters like Sung Jun Shim have a passion for this generation and are gifted in being able to move in and out of the focal cultures," Alexander added. "Many second-gens who become planters have the uncanny ability to move in and out of multiple cultures and are able to quickly understand varying worldviews."   

BUILDING BRIDGES

One way Risen Church is building bridges with unchurched or disconnected Asians is a new ministry it is calling New Elements Kids. The program, which takes elementary-aged kids through an overview of the Bible, is being run on Saturdays at the church facility immediately following something called "Korean school."

Shim explained that in most communities where a sizeable Korean population lives, the community will form a Korean school one day a week to teach the children of immigrants about their Korean culture and heritage. The programs are not church related, but churches often host them because of convenience.

In Shim's case, it helps that the principal attends Denton Korean Baptist Church.

Korean school is held from 9-noon every Saturday, and New Elements Kids is offered for an additional two hours following lunch.

"We are reaping the benefits of being connected to the Korean school," Shim said. "It provides the parents another two hours to run errands and it is a golden opportunity to insert into the hearts and minds of elementary students what the Bible teaches in a holistic view."

Also, Risen Church should hear soon the status of its application to host a Bible study on campus at UNT. The Bible study will adapt the New Elements material for collegians, Shim said.

MAKING SACRIFICES

Kim, the sponsoring church pastor and also an SBTC ministry facilitator for Korean/Asian Ethnic Groups, said he realized the need to reach Asian collegians meant finding a qualified young pastor called to such an endeavor. Upon discovering Shim, his church accommodated the new work.

Kim said he envisions not just Korean or Asian believers worshiping at Risen Church, but eventually he would like to see an international church develop that reflects the diversity of the two campuses.

Risen Church, he said, could be a springboard for that.

In the meantime, Shim is continuing towards getting a presence on the UNT or TWU campuses, by hosting Bible studies.  

The core membership of Risen Church is yet small: about 15 people, plus a few visitors week to week. Almost all are of Asian descent but not all Korean, Shim noted.

Shim shares Kim's vision of one day expanding to be a multi-ethnic congregation reaching not only Asians but many others also.

"We always say among our core group that our door is wide open. But that is hard to do. Our DNA and our leadership reflects our Asian heritage. But not just Korean. We have had several Vietnamese students attending. Last Sunday we had a Japanese student and another Vietnamese student. We have had several Chinese as well."

Shim said a Hispanic student attended for a few weeks but hasn't been back.

"It's hard to break that cultural barrier but in the long run we'll hopefully transcend that and become a church where every ethnic group can worship and feel comfortable."

Although the church is still small, Shim said he believes the core group is ready to get bolder in its witness.

"About six or seven of them are now teaching others how to be disciples. We are in the process of witnessing and discipling others. By year's end, hopefully all of them will be making disciples."
--30--
This article originally appeared in the Southern Baptist Texan (texanonline.net), newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Jerry Pierce is managing editor of the Southern Baptist Texan.
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New church plants make gains: Arkansas
baptisms up 3 percent in 2011
By Lisa Watson

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Arkansas Baptist News)--With 91 percent of churches reporting, baptisms among Arkansas Baptist churches are up 3 percent from 2011.

The Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) evangelism and church growth team distributed a report outlining ABSC-affiliated churches leading in baptisms during the ABSC's 2012 State Conference on Evangelism and Church Growth, held Jan. 23-24 at First Baptist Church, Sherwood. Sonny Tucker is team leader.

Among top baptisms in the state are several new church plants that were started since 2009. Victory Ministries, Clarksville, a predominantly African-American congregation, led the new churches with 49 baptisms. 

James Bell, pastor of Victory Ministries, Clarksville, said God has blessed the ministry "greatly."

He said God used an illness in his life to change his life's direction and give him a "revelation" to start the church. 

"Demographics and research results indicated that it was a horrible idea," he said. "But my God is able.

"He gave me a vision, mission and equipped us with the people and passion to touch people from all over Arkansas," he continued.

Bell said his membership has continued to grow and the church is praying for their own sanctuary.

Mountain Top Cowboy Church, Heber Springs, was second on the list with 39 baptisms reported. "Cowboy churches," a growing segment among Arkansas Baptist church planting work, placed in third and fourth places and in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Brad Curtis, pastor of Mountain Top Cowboy Church, said what makes his ministry unique is that most of the people the church is reaching are 45 years old or older, adding he recently baptized two men in their 70s.

The church meets in a cattle sale barn. Curtis said more than 400 people have attended each worship service for several Sundays.

"It's amazing what the Lord is doing in our church," he exclaimed. "You can't explain it until you experience it."

Tucker said the success of these diverse church plants like Victory Ministries and Mountain Top Cowboy Church is a reflection of "Arkansas Baptists who are reaching out to ethnically and socioeconomically diverse people" with the gospel of Christ.

Tucker pointed to "intense prayer efforts" among churches that have led to the salvations and subsequent baptisms of people in the state.

Cross Church, Springdale, the largest Southern Baptist church in the state, led overall top baptisms with a reported 1,082 people baptized in 2011. Rounding out the top five churches leading in baptisms were First Baptist Church, Rogers, 282; The Church at Rock Creek, Little Rock, 239; Brand New Church, Harrison, 153; and Valley Baptist Church, Searcy, 140. 

Emil Turner, ABSC executive director, said the report was encouraging. 

"God has been good to our churches and allowed us to avoid some of the downward trends that are impacting our country," he said.

"Dr. Tucker and his team are among the best in the nation at promoting and encouraging evangelism, and the churches of Arkansas care about the souls of lost people," he continued. 

"Our smaller membership churches are not dead, and our new church starts do not merely 'trade sheep,' but they reach lost people," he said.

Tucker agreed, noting the "unsung heroes" in the state who pastor in smaller churches in out-of-the-way places. 

"They are faithful and evangelically intentional in reaching people for Christ," he said.
--30--
This article originally appeared in the Arkansas Baptist News (http://www.arkansasbaptist.org), newsjournal of the Arkansas Baptist Convention. Lisa Watson is associate editor of the Arkansas Baptist News.
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Reaching Central
Asians through football
By Cliff Jordan

RICHMOND, Va. (Proclaimer)--At different moments in my life, I have felt God calling me to action, but I hesitated because the pieces weren't in the right place yet. In my mind, there is a logical order to follow, and when you get things out of order, difficulty usually ensues. When I felt God calling us (Movement Church) to a large city in Central Asia, I realized I needed to pay more attention to His call than I did my preparations. Our desire was to begin intentional church planting work there. Unfortunately, the groundwork for that plan hadn't been laid yet. Rather than waiting, we decided to move in any way we could and trust He knew how to open the right doors.

What started out as a desire to plant churches to see people far from God coming to know Him, turned into a football camp -- not quite what I was envisioning, but those are the doors that opened. At our church, we constantly talk about joining God at His work, moving where He is already moving, and this was a prime example—a teachable moment for us.

For two years, we have been building relationships with local believers and putting on an excellent football camp. The workers with whom we serve there are now serving as the head coaches of a team made up of Central Asian young men. Each camp we do builds those relationships and deepens their credibility among the team, which helps develop more bridges for the Gospel to be shared. The coaches aren't the only ones who get to share. There is something about going to battle on the football field that connects players at a deep level, so our relationships with the players have deepened and grown into genuine friendships. It is in those relationships that we get to share the Good News of Jesus. We are all "friends" on Facebook with the team members and have had many opportunities to freely share the truth of Jesus to them because of the relational connection we have developed.

Our first year was primarily football related, but this year I led half of our team into the city to discover non-football-related opportunities for our church to take part in. As we searched the city for additional opportunities, God opened a door right in front of us. When you join Him where He is already working, that seems to happen very often. One of the head coaches began to share his heart for another part of the country.

He had been burdened for a city a few hours away from where we were that contains three distinct unengaged and unreached people groups. In this city of two million, there are four known believers. The worker wants to move there and take part in intentional church planting work. He invited Movement Church to be part of the coalition of churches to help in that work! We will shift our focus from the larger city to this smaller city when the doors are opened for this man and his family to make the move. This is the type of work we have always wanted to be involved in, and it is exciting to see the Father bring the Good News to people who have never heard.

The biggest thing I am learning is just to go and let the details figure themselves out. If our little church plant can be involved in what God is doing globally, then any church of any size can get involved in the mission of God around the world. You don't have to have it all figured out—you just need to move where God is moving and be comfortable not knowing all of the details. One thing I can tell you for sure is that God's plan is bigger and better than anything you can dream up, so stop trying. Just join Him in what He is doing to draw all people to Himself.
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This article originally appeared in the Proclaimer (http://www.sbcv.org/proclaimer), newsjournal of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. Cliff Jordan is a church planter and pastor of Movement Church in Richmond, Va.

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