
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-02/14/2006

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Strife over cartoons clouds Islam’s image
by Olivia Tulley
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Tensions over whether Islam is a religion of peace or violence continue to fester, as anger and violence over a set of political cartoons continues worldwide.

“This cartoonist has done with a drop of ink what &#91;Satanic Verses author&#93; Salmon Rushdie was not able to do with hundreds of pages of material,” said Emir Caner, dean of The College at Southwestern in Fort Worth, Texas, and coauthor of the book “Unveiling Islam.”

A Danish daily newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, originally published 12 cartoons depicting Muhammad in September. Anger and violence erupted in numerous countries in January when the cartoons were republished, initially in a Norwegian newspaper followed by other European papers. Though the Danish paper apologized for any offense caused to Muslims, it defended the printing of the drawings as legitimate freedom of speech.

Among the cartoons is an image of Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. Muslims are traditionally barred from any depictions of Muhammad in order to prevent idolatry.

The reaction to the cartoons has gone a long way to prove exactly what the Danish creator intended to illustrate, Caner said. “He wanted to demonstrate to some extent that ... Islam is militant in nature, and they have fulfilled the prophecy themselves,” Caner said. “Fairly or unfairly, they have done so.”

The underlying question of the Danish cartoons, Caner said, is not whether they are offensive but, rather, whether they are profane. A distinction exists, he noted, between the provocative that offends and the profane that defiles.

“If you have seen the cartoons, they are offensive, but they are purposefully offensive,” Caner said, “They are provocative, not profane.” Caner said he believes the Danish cartoonist intentionally wanted to create a discussion on the nature of Islam.

Caner pointed out that in the midst of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther used political cartoons as a tool to instigate provocative discussion about the Catholic Church, in what was at that time a vastly illiterate Europe. 

“&#91;Our response&#93; has to consider the question of whether there is any truth in there, and any purpose in drawing such a cartoon,” Caner said.

Central to the heated debate is the question of freedom of speech, which European media have cited in response to ongoing violence and threats of violence against them. Mideast analyst Daniel Pipes, in a Feb. 7 article in the New York Sun, argued that “peoples who would stay free must stand unreservedly with Denmark.”

Caner was raised as a Muslim in America before he accepted Christ in 1982 and he noted that American Muslims currently find themselves in “the most difficult of situations,” on the one hand defending the freedom of speech and religion they are given in America and on the other hand defending their Islamic faith.

Yet American Muslims aren’t the only ones facing difficult questions. Media throughout America have had to make critical decisions relating to the cartoons, particularly whether to broadcast or print the cartoons themselves. Caner noted that some networks were willing to broadcast images of Andres Serrano’s image of the cross soaked in urine years ago -- something obviously offensive to Christians -- yet the media have been unwilling to broadcast the cartoon images that are so offensive to Muslims.

“What is that going to teach someone who incites violence on the Muslim side, the more militant Muslims, but that they can get their way if they burn enough embassies or incite enough violence?” Caner asked.

For what is perhaps the first time, western media has had to deal with freedom of speech and its clash with Islam, Caner said.

“The question now becomes to the secular media, ‘Do you have the guts to stand for what you believe, as we believe as Americans -- freedom of speech -- and are you willing to pay a costly price in order to secure that value?’”

Caner believes Islam will now be touted more than ever as a religion of peace, but careful thought should be given to whether Muhammad himself was a peaceful man and whether he began a religion that is peaceful.

“I think the ultimate answer to that is, on both counts, no,” Caner said. “Muhammad was in charge of at least 83 military expeditions. When Muhammad dies in 632 A.D., all of his disciples go to war.”

The more literally the Koran is read and followed, Caner said, the more militant its Muslim reader should become. By contrast, the more literally the Bible is read, the more peaceful its Christian reader should become.

“The fundamentalist Christian, the one who believes in the fundamentals of the faith, did not react in the same way to the urine-dipped cross, as it were, as a fundamentalist Muslim did &#91;to the cartoon images&#93;,” Caner said.

Caner recalled the response to the NBC show, “The Book of Daniel.” Though Christians were upset by the show’s irreverent depiction of Christianity, they reacted by writing letters to NBC and to the show’s sponsors, prompting the show to be pulled from the NBC lineup.

“We exercised our right without forbidding their right,” he said.

Pipes noted in his Feb. 7 article that Muslims routinely publish cartoons far more offensive to other faiths than the Danish cartoons were to the Muslim faith.

“Will westerners accede to a double standard by which Muslims are free to insult Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, while Muhammad, Islam and Muslims enjoy immunity from insults?” Pipes asked.
--30--
Olivia Tulley is a Dallas-based freelance writer who lived two years in Northern Africa before pursuing a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies.


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Involvement in Atlanta Olympics fuels their outreach in Italy
by Erin Curry Roach
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

TURIN, Italy (BP)--Twelve volunteers from the South Carolina Baptist Convention intend to spark interest in the Gospel among the thousands from around the world now in Turin, Italy, for the Winter Olympics.

“We are taking two teams. One team is going during the first half of the games and the other will be coming in the second half,” Eric Spivey, associate pastor and minister of Christian formation and missions at the Baptist Church of Beaufort in Beaufort, S.C., told Baptist Press. “We have 12 folks who are going, six from our church and six from around the state of South Carolina, all mixed in between those two different teams.”

South Carolina Baptists developed an affinity for Olympics ministry in 1996 when the games were in Atlanta, Spivey said. Volunteers from the state have gone to most Olympics since then, including four teams at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

In Italy, the volunteers will work with More Than Gold, an organization that coordinates the work of Protestant churches for ministry and dissemination of the Gospel during the Olympics. The first team traveled to Italy Feb. 8 and will stay until Feb. 18, and the second team’s trip will be Feb. 17-27.

“The primary church that we’re working with there is the Waldensian church,” Spivey, leader of the first team, said. “It is the largest Protestant congregation in Italy, and there are probably more Protestants in that part of Italy than any other part of Italy.”

Because Protestants are such a small percentage of the population in Italy, a precisely planned ministry similar to what happened in Salt Lake City hasn’t quite come together, Spivey said. 

“There will be some established ministries that our volunteers will work with, most likely in the ministry of hospitality,” he said. “I know there will at least be two hospitality sites that we’ll help to staff as volunteers, both in the city of Torino &#91;Turin&#93; as well as in the mountain venues. We’re also hoping to work with some of the Protestant congregations to have opening ceremony festivals, so hopefully we’ll be working actually in some of the congregations in some of the communities.”

Spivey, in an interview before his team’s departure, said he did not yet know what hospitality ministry would entail in Turin, but in the past volunteers have set up sites in high-traffic areas and provided something for free, such as bottled water, hot chocolate, Bibles and creative arts including face painting and balloon twisting.

“In Salt Lake City we gave away a lot of water all over the different Olympic venues, primarily because it was a high mountain, desert community and there was always the possibility of dehydration,” Spivey said. “We had a lot of success giving out water even though it &#91;was very&#93; cold.”

The teams will use two key evangelism tools that are popular among those who minister at the Olympics: the More Than Gold trading pins and the interactive pocket guides. Both will be available in English and Italian, Spivey said.

“&#91;The pins&#93; are incredible pieces that people just love,” he said. “We give them as gifts to people we meet, and it’s a way of being able to share our faith with someone in a very easy, straightforward way. That began to be used in the ’96 games.”

The other tool that was first implemented in 1996 is the interactive pocket guide, which includes a listing of all the Olympics sports and who won in the past years and a way to keep track of who wins this year, Spivey said. At the back of the pocket guide, a Gospel presentation corresponds with the design on the trading pins.

Southern Baptists ought to be grateful for the leaders at the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board) who led the way in Olympics ministry by envisioning and developing specific evangelism tools for the Atlanta games, Spivey said.

“The ideas that they developed in ministry there are still some of the main pieces of ministry that have worked for each one of the Olympics since then,” he said, mentioning specifically the trading pins and pocket guides. “... It was Southern Baptists that came up with the ideas and developed the prototypes.”

Such tools, Spivey said, are incredibly helpful in “winning the right to be heard.”

“As the Olympics ministries came into their own, Southern Baptists were the ones who helped make that happen,” he said. “Ideas like hospitality centers and community festivals and those kind of things -- Southern Baptists helped lead the way and were the cutting-edge folks who helped make those ministries happen.”

Though Southern Baptists can be thankful that some of their own were innovative in their means of spreading the Gospel, the Great Commission is still an unfinished task. And in addition to sharing Jesus with individuals from around the world who will gather in Turin, Spivey said he hopes the evangelical volunteers who converge on the city will be an inspiration to those few Christians who will remain once the crowds are gone.

“One of our real hopes is that not only as the games come into Torino but as the influx of Christians come into Torino there will be a strong movement of God’s Spirit working inside those local congregations -- both in strengthening them through the fellowship and strengthening them in a chance of doing some new types of ministry and outreach that maybe haven’t been done before,” he said. “So there are a lot of opportunities there for God to work.”
--30--


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Stretch beyond marketing, EKG leader exhorts churches
by Lauri Arnold
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Too many people are in churches today for the convenience of church membership rather than out of conviction for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, said Kenneth Hemphill, the Southern Baptist Convention’s national Empowering Kingdom Growth strategist.

Hemphill, addressing a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel service, cautioned against clinging “to our traditions just because that’s the way we’ve done it.”

Change can have merit, he said, adding a key qualifier: “I’m suggesting that to change the structure or the style of a church, you must begin with its affection. It has to have an affection for the lordship of Christ and for the nations.”

Hemphill, who travels across the country encouraging churches toward a “Kingdom” focus, recounted that he was part of the church growth movement for about 30 years. Though there have been positive outcomes from the movement, he said there also have been some downfalls.

“First of all, I think we became very mechanical,” Hemphill said during his Jan. 25 visit to the Fort Worth, Texas, campus. “We focused on methods and marketing strategy, and we forgot the message and the spirit of God.”

The Kingdom-focused church worships the living God, he said, whereas he sees marketing as having created a selfish church.

“We went out and told everybody, ‘This is what the church is going to offer you,’ and we forgot to tell them what Jesus had already offered them and what they can offer Him through the church,” Hemphill said.

The EKG leader also sees a spirit of competition that has crept up among churches rather than a spirit of cooperation.

“If we’re going to reach the nations,” Hemphill said, “I promise you it’s going to take a cooperative strategy and not a competitive marketing contest.”

A close look at the Book of Acts, Hemphill said, can reveal how churches can be Kingdom-focused and thus realize growth that glorifies God each step of the way.

He noted several characteristics of the churches in Acts that today’s churches should carefully note and model:

First, he said a Kingdom-focused church is one of proclamation.

“When you are infected with proclamation, this is what bubbles forth from you,” he said. “It’s not a memorized outline; it’s a passion and conviction of your heart.”

Additionally, the Kingdom-focused church realizes the necessity of a global strategy, which begins with the Acts 1:8 challenge to be Jesus’ witnesses from one’s immediate surroundings to the ends of the earth, Hemphill said. Believers in Jerusalem, he noted, began a church in Antioch, which in turn sent Barnabas and Saul to other areas.

“If you want to see your church develop a passion to reach its Jerusalem, you’ve got to give them a heartbeat for the world,” Hemphill said. “If you give them a target big enough, they’ll start hitting it. The target is the world; when we begin to shoot for the world, you can reach it all.”

A Kingdom-focused church, Hemphill continued, strives for a cooperative strategy. Church growth, he noted, is not about expanding your own territory but expanding the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom-focused church, for example, will seek to shatter prejudice and unite people, he said, pointing to the church in Antioch, where Jews and Gentiles came together as believers in Jesus Christ and set aside their prejudices.

“If you want to see your church become a Kingdom-focused church, something has to happen that cannot be explained by your marketing strategy or your methods,” Hemphill said.

Another key component of a Kingdom-focused church, he said, is that it practices fellowship and sound doctrine. The church is a “family of faith that enjoys one another’s company and meets one another needs,” he noted.

On the other hand, “you may draw a crowd without sound doctrine,” he said, “but you cannot build a church.”

And a Kingdom-focused church experiences supernatural power through focused prayer, Hemphill said. He turned to the account in Acts 14 when Peter and John were released from jail and went immediately to a prayer meeting.

“How did they know there was a prayer meeting going on?” Hemphill asked. “It’s because that was natural to the church. That would have been the place to go. They knew that if they were in prison the church was there praying.”
--30--


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Travel to SBC in Greensboro spans airline, auto options
by Staff
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)--Good options are available for both airline and automotive travel to the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2006 annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C., John R. (Jack) Wilkerson, vice president for business and finance and convention manager of the SBC Executive Committee, has noted.

Wilkerson said air travel for the SBC’s June 13-14 sessions in the Greensboro Coliseum can be arranged either for Greensboro’s Piedmont Triad International Airport, which is served by most major airlines, or the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which is served by Southwest Airlines and other carriers. Most Greensboro-area hotels offer free shuttle service to and from the airport.

But Wilkerson noted that “Greensboro’s significant geographical proximity, one day’s drive for many Southern Baptists, makes personal transportation attractive.”

Memphis, Tenn., Orlando and Tampa, Fla., Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala., and Indianapolis are within a 700-mile radius of Greensboro, as are New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Most Greensboro-area hotels offer free parking, Wilkerson noted, and the Greensboro Coliseum offers three- and four-day parking passes for the 5,000 parking spaces adjacent to the facility.

Wilkerson said shuttles again will be available to and from most Greensboro-area hotels to the coliseum for the SBC sessions and for Sunday-Monday events such as the Pastors’ Conference and Woman’s Missionary Union sessions. Hotel shuttle tickets will be available at the coliseum for $10, with children 12 and under riding free with parents who purchase tickets.

New and expanded childcare and children’s conferences have been planned for the Greensboro meeting, with registration information available at the annual meeting section of the SBC’s www.sbc.net website.

Local activities and tours also are being planned for the messengers and their families for Wednesday afternoon, June 14. Details also will be posted on www.sbc.net as they become available.

Online registration for churches sending messengers to the annual meeting opened Feb. 1, with details also at www.sbc.net. Last year, the third year for the online service, 79.2 percent of messengers to the annual meeting in Nashville registered online, up from 57.2 percent for the 2004 annual meeting in Indianapolis. The traditional registration method also will be available for those churches unable to use Internet access, with registration cards available from state convention offices.
--30--


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Fly fishermen reel in fellowship & faith
by Staff
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

GLORIETA, N.M. (BP)--Wooly buggers, nymphs, strike indicators and sink tips. Praise and worship, Bible study and prayer.

What do these terms have in common? Absolutely nothing to the man on the street. But for participants at the first-ever fly fishing conference at LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center, it meant fun, fellowship and lots of fishing.

Nearly 40 ministers, musicians, businessmen and salesmen -- some with extensive fishing experience, others with none -- traveled from as far away as Maine to fish, share and have a relaxed time of fellowship with other fly fishing enthusiasts at LifeWay's new "Glorieta Adventures" retreat.

Jason Cruise, pastor of Belmont Heights Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., an avid sportsman and founder of the Tennessee Outdoor Network, planned the fall event and led the nightly Bible studies. Focusing on various men in the Bible, Cruise used their example to encourage participants to become "real men" for God.

Cruise also encouraged any ministerial support staff, deacons and church leaders to "encourage your pastors in whatever they like to do," be it fishing, hunting or any other outdoor recreational activity, as a means "to take other lost men out with them as ministry and witness."

Each morning at 6:15 a.m. after a hearty breakfast at Glorieta's Chuckwagon Cafe, the men tied knots and leaders, talked dry flies versus nymphs, and prepared their equipment for a day on the water. Breaking into small groups, the men headed to various New Mexico waters -- some staying close, others driving for three hours or more to get to their favorite location. All returned by 7:30 p.m. for a time of singing, worship and Bible study.

Ron Pratt, national event planner for LifeWay Conference Centers, said "Glorieta Adventures" is a new LifeWay ministry geared to sportsmen.

"Our goal is to provide a place for men to deepen their relationship with God, as well as strengthen their relationships with other men through outdoor adventures," Pratt said, adding that he hopes each of the outdoor conferences will become an annual event expanded to LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center outside Asheville, N.C.

LifeWay Adventures slated this year include the second fly fishing conference, Sept. 27-29, and a "Pastors Masters Golf Retreat," Sept. 25-27, both at Glorieta, and an elk hunting retreat in Colorado.
--30--
For further information about LifeWay Adventures, go to LifeWay.com/flyfishing or contact Pratt at (615) 251-2065.


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FIRST-PERSON: A film celebration of Black History Month
by Phil Boatwright
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP)--In celebration of Black History Month, allow me to point out some films featuring African-Americans that have taught as well as entertained.

-- "The Defiant Ones" (1958). Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier star as escaped chain gang prisoners in this adroit look at racism and how hatred dissolves as they begin to unite.

-- "Down In The Delta" (PG-13, 1998). A Christian mother sends her substance-abusing daughter to relatives down South. There, she learns about responsibility and the importance of family. Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman, Jr., Wesley Snipes, Loretta Devine.

-- "Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner" (1967). Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier. The subject is interracial marriage. The movie has three outstanding performances from three of my favorite actors. Still, as I have always maintained, a great performance is not reason enough for seeing a movie. What’s being said and how it’s being said should be a factor when choosing a film nowadays. “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” discusses race relations, a relevant subject, and does so without abusing the viewer with hostile language or explicit sexual situations. Caution: there are a few expletives.

-- "Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored" (PG, 1996). Al Freeman, Jr., Phylicia Rashad, Leon, Richard Roundtree. A distinguished effort from first-time film director Tim Reid about black life in the South between the '40s and '60s. Advances the importance of family and biblical teachings. (No abusive language other than a Ku Klux Klan member using the N-word; a knife fight, but no one is injured; a brief scene featuring dancing girls in a tent show). 

-- "Sounder" (G, 1972). Award-winning performances from Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson highlight this stirring story of a black sharecropper’s family battling injustice and poverty. Truly marvelous.

-- "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962). This Oscar-winning screenplay by Horton Foote of the Harper Lee novel about rural life, justice, honor and bigotry as seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl stars Gregory Peck. Brook Peters is superb as the humble black sharecropper wrongly accused of molesting a white woman.

-- "Waterproof" (PG-13, 2001). From the folks at Cloud Ten Productions (producers of films geared toward families) comes a gentle drama concerning redemption and forgiveness. After a merchant is shot in a store robbery by an 11-year-old, the boy’s distraught mother stumbles upon the crime scene. Not wanting her son to be caught by police, yet worried about the old man’s condition, she takes them both to her religious mother’s home in Waterproof, La. Combining humor and drama, the story is very involving, with nice performances from Burt Reynolds, Whitman Mayo and April Grace. It contains some dynamic scenes in a black church, with a touching altar call and a baptism. Compelling and spiritually rewarding.

-- "The Gospel" (PG, 2005). A semi-autobiographical film about the transformative power of faith and forgiveness, The Gospel is a contemporary drama packed with the soaring, soulful sounds of Gospel music. Set in the impassioned world of the African-American church, it tells the story of an R&B star (Boris Kodjoe) whose chart-topping albums have earned him fame and wealth, but whose decadent lifestyle has estranged him from his father (Clifton Powell), the bishop of his hometown church. When his father becomes ill, the young man returns home and comes face to face with his beliefs, and, ultimately, himself.

The Gospel deals with spirituality, something most filmmakers shy away from when attempting a story about healing and passion. One moment at the end especially touched me, as we see a young man coming forward during an altar call. I found tears coming to my eyes because it was an honest depiction of a soul professing an acceptance of Christ. That’s a powerful concept, one rarely addressed in the cinema. (There is some drinking and mild language; the lead, having grown up in the church, becomes a rock star –- to emphasize this, there is a brief scene of him doing a music video surrounded by scantily clad female dancers gyrating to his music -– but the filmmaker is not attempting to exploit, but merely depict the world of secular entertainment.)

-- "America’s Heart & Soul" (PG, 2004). Documentarian Louis Schwartzberg captured both the unparalleled beauty of the U.S. and the incomparable spirit of its people in this compelling portrait of America. Some of the vignettes will cause your sides to ache from laugher, while others will bring a tear to your eye. (I found nothing objectionable or exploitive. The intent of the filmmaker is to present a positive view of what America is and what it can become.)

-- "In America" (PG-13, 2002). Needing to start their lives over after the accidental death of their two-year-old son, a man and wife and their two young daughters move their family from Ireland to New York. While in their new homeland, they must adjust to American ways, at the same time attempting to heal. But it is the downstairs artist (Djimon Hounsou -– nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar) who truly helps the family see what they have taken for granted. He is a tortured soul, a man alone, envious of what his new neighbors have been given -– each other. When the little girls come to his door at Halloween, seeking treats, he is so moved by their sweetness and energy that he reconnects with his spiritual roots and passes on his revelations to the wounded family. While outright need for Jesus Christ is not mentioned, the film makes it clear that there is something more to life than our mental and physical existence. And although the father is angry with God, the ending offers the prospect that he is on the road to a spiritual healing. (We see the parents in a sexual situation. There were two obscenities and four minor expletives, but I caught no misuse of God’s name. One violent scene has a junkie pulling a knife on a main character; though disturbing, it does not end tragically.)

-- "Bill Cosby –- Himself" (PG, 1983). Bill’s insights on marriage and children highlight this very funny stand-up (and sometimes sit down) routine. But perhaps the funniest bit is his take on a trip to the dentist. I rank this routine right up there with Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First.”

-- "The Preacher’s Wife” (PG, 1996). An overworked pastor gets help from a classy angel. In some ways it outshines the original, "The Bishop's Wife," especially when it comes to proclaiming the Gospel message (through songs). Whitney Houston is a one-note actress, but for those who like her music, you won’t be disappointed. Denzel Washington is cool, and Courtney B. Vance is exceptional as the neglecting father and husband. Replete with moral teachings concerning marriage, home life, faith, and the fact that we can make a difference. (There is one mild expletive; the grandmother smokes, but the angel chastises her, "Our stay here on earth is precious" -- an excellent indictment against smoking; the Scrooge-like character drinks, but alcohol use is not glorified). 

-- "The Climb" (2002) concerns two mountaineers (one black, one white) forced to team up as they ascend Mt. Chicanagua, a dangerous Chilean alp that tempts the most astute of adventurers. With different backgrounds and views on life, their struggle with each other becomes as daunting as the mountain itself.

What impressed me most was the script’s delicate inclusion of the Gospel message. After the success of the comical road picture "Road To Redemption," which gained the highest decision rate of any televised Billy Graham movie to date, World Wide followed with an outdoor adventure that reveals an innate need for Christ’s salvation. 

-- "The Rosa Parks Story" (2002). Angela Bassett starred in this made-for-TV movie (now on DVD). A drama based on the life of Rosa Parks, it explores the experiences in Mrs. Parks’ childhood and early adult life that helped shape her philosophy of “quiet strength” that resulted in her historic moment of peaceful defiance on a segregated bus in 1955. This marked the first time Mrs. Parks participated in a screen adaptation of her life.

Ms. Bassett gives a multi-dimensional performance as a dedicated wife and Christian woman who took a stand against an insidious evil -– bigotry and segregation. I have a favorite scene that I wish would have been more fully developed. At one point Mrs. Parks is placed in jail. There are two hardened prostitutes in the cell. At first they are cynical and she is frightened. After the scene changes and then returns to the jail cell, we see the three women praying in a circle. Nothing more is said or made of this wonderful moment. It’s like code. Like the sign of the fish. We know that she has affected these two women and has prayed that they would know Christ. Will “secular” viewers pick up on this message? I’m not sure, but it touched me. It reminded me that we can affect the lives of others, if only we will remain open to the Holy Spirit.

There are several positive messages, including teaching from the Bible, praying for others, the lead has a humble spirit, and some whites are portrayed as helping blacks to right the wrongs of racial prejudice. It’s an absorbing production.
--30--
Phil Boatwright reviews films from a Christian perspective. For other reviews, visit his website at www.moviereporter.com.


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FIRST-PERSON: Making evangelism good news again
by John Avant
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--God is on the move these days. I am beginning to see it nearly everywhere I go. As I write this, I am in Alaska for their state evangelism conference. The week before I was in Missouri for theirs. 

In both of these states God is doing something unusual through college students. Students have felt led to gather and pray and read the Scriptures together in preparation for the conference. Now, these are not student conferences. They are mostly attended by pastors, staff members and adult laity. But these students are taking the lead in prayer. And in both states we have had the best conference in memory. The presence of the Spirit of God was unmistakable. There was repentance and joy and unity, and we left as a mission force to the unreached as Jesus intended us to be. 

We should not be surprised at this, because God has always used students in mighty ways. Jan. 22 was the 11th anniversary of what some call the Brownwood Revival. It began in Brownwood, Texas, but it was really a movement among students across North America. And it, too, began with a group of students, from Howard Payne University, who prayed all night and sought God for revival in our church and on the campus. 

God answered those prayers and at one point, according to Bill Bright, there were over a hundred college campuses in a major revival movement. I have never gotten over what happened in those years. The results of it changed me and continue to change lives across the world as those students have spread out everywhere, taking the power of God with them. And now, just maybe, there seems to be a fresh move of God among college students again. In fact, in Missouri, the students who prayed all night did so on Jan. 22, the anniversary of the Brownwood outbreak, though they did not know it at the time!

What will revival look like if God uses students to bring it again? I don’t know the mind of God on this, but I have to think that a massive movement of evangelism will be at the very heart of it. A post-modern generation of students have been nursed on the sour milk of relativism and pluralism. Ultimately, this leads to despair –- to a philosophy without hope, without direction, without truth. And no generation will stay in that barren place for long. Students are hungry again.

I saw it in the eyes of a new friend who is a student at American University in Washington, D.C. I met him on a plane. He is not a Christian but has read 14 Christian books in the last two months! He said that a group of his friends “are what they call born again,” and that they keep praying for him and talking to him. I asked him if he thought it could be an accident that God sat him beside the guy who leads evangelism for the largest mission agency in North America? He didn’t accept Christ. But he had a hard time believing that could be a coincidence. He is open. And so is nearly everyone, especially students. We are ripe for the next Jesus Movement. I wonder, if it comes, will we as Southern Baptists support it and resource it this time, or will we chip away at it with our usual criticism because it is not like what we have done before? You know, I am starting to believe that enough Southern Baptists are getting so tired of fighting over lesser issues than the Word of God, that we actually just might join God the next time He moves. Wouldn’t that be something to see? And don’t be surprised if it starts with these wonderful praying students.

Next week in this article, you will hear from Mark Lydecker, our brand new director of collegiate evangelism at the North American Mission Board. He couldn’t be coming at a better time. Pray for him, and for all of us who love and work with students, that together we will make evangelism good news again.
--30--
John Avant is vice president for evangelization at the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.


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IMB exec. committee proposes revising action on Burleson
by Tammi Reed Ledbetter, Southern Baptist TEXAN
Date: February 14, 2006 - Tuesday

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--Trustees of the nine-member International Mission Board executive committee will recommend at the March 20-21 meeting in Tampa that trustees reverse a Jan. 11 motion asking the Southern Baptist Convention to remove Wade Burleson of Enid, Okla., as a trustee.

IMB trustee chairman Thomas Hatley of Rogers, Ark., told the Southern Baptist TEXAN the committee determined that the matter of disciplining a trustee can be handled internally. Meeting Feb. 10 in Atlanta, the committee reviewed the Burleson matter and acted unilaterally to offer the new plan.

The committee includes the chairman, first and second vice chairmen, recording secretary and chairmen of the board’s five primary standing committees.

Hatley is informing trustees of the proposal through e-mail Feb. 15, with an official news release anticipated Feb. 16.

“As a board, we continue to affirm our missionaries, our president and our staff, and we stand with them in leading Southern Baptists to reach the harvest fields of our world,” Hatley told the TEXAN, newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

In several weeks, Hatley said he will release a comprehensive explanation of the board's earlier decision to assess missionary candidates regarding private prayer language and baptism, giving the historical and theological framework. Misinformation disseminated through informal weblogs caused confusion in the minds of some Southern Baptists, he said. He hopes a more detailed accounting of the timeline and rationale for those standards will help separate those issues from the matter of Burleson's personal conduct as a trustee and answer questions that have arisen.

When the original action proposing Burleson’s removal was announced Jan. 11, Hatley said the board first explored other ways to handle the impasse with the Oklahoma pastor, who also is the immediate past president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

“The decision to seek removal was based on broken trust and resistance to accountability, not Burleson’s opposition to policies recently enacted by the board,” the official Jan. 11 statement read. At various intervals of the Jan. 9-11 meeting, Burleson posted updated reports on his weblog, or “blog,” of his interaction with trustees, refusing trustee requests to stop the practice out of concern that inaccurate and confidential information was being disseminated.

Burleson said he used the weblog to express his concerns to a broader Baptist constituency, believing potential missionaries could be held back due to the new criteria and accusing certain trustees of “political power plays” and private caucuses.

Since November, Burleson’s weblog and several others have maintained frequent discussion of the issues. Many of the weblogs include feedback from online readers rallying to the embattled trustee’s defense and calling for a large turnout at the annual meeting of the convention in Greensboro, N.C., June 13-14 to vote against his removal.

Burleson, on his weblog Feb. 12, stated, “Trustee leadership has been very communicative with me these past three weeks, and I appreciate their hearts in dialogue. I have been asked to prayerfully consider shutting down this blog. Let me be clear. I have said, from the beginning, if I can be shown where my blog violates any policy or procedure of the IMB I will cease blogging immediately. In all fairness to my fellow trustees, blogging by a trustee is something new, and for everyone&#91;’&#93;s benefit I am considering possibly ending the blog until an official policy on blogging can be established in the &#91;upcoming IMB trustee&#93; meeting.”

With the initial wave of e-mails and letters opposing the action against Burleson subsiding, Hatley told the TEXAN that he was beginning to receive many letters expressing appreciation for the stand taken by trustees.

The policy on private prayer language regards the practice to be outside the norm of Southern Baptist doctrine and states that candidates holding to the conviction or practice eliminate themselves from consideration. The guideline related to baptism expects candidates to have been baptized in a church that practices believer’s baptism by immersion alone; does not view it as sacramental or regenerative; and embraces the doctrine of eternal security of the believer. Both the policy and the guideline feature an exception clause to allow for special situations to receive review.
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