The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-03/15/1999 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Huckabee invites churches to ‘adopt’ welfare families by Trennis Henderson Date: March 15, 1999 - Monday LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP)--Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has announced the formation of a private, nonprofit foundation through which congregations across the state can help the needy move from welfare to work.
Outlining plans for an Arkansas Faith and Families Foundation to a gathering of more than 150 religious leaders, Huckabee said the new initiative will seek to encourage “every single congregation in Arkansas to participate in assisting welfare families in the transition from dependency to self-sufficiency.”
“The main focus,” he added, “ is to encourage churches, synagogues, faith groups from all over this state to adopt a welfare family -- it’s as simple as that.” He said congregations that choose to participate in the voluntary program “will become a point of contact, a point of networking, an informational resource” for families in need, providing such services as mentoring, budget planning, nutritional advice, job-search training, tutoring, child care and transportation.
Acknowledging government’s “inability to deal with the chronic problem of people who have become dependent upon programs created by the government to help them,” he said the “real answer” to such problems is in the “faith sector.”
“We’ve been placed here with a responsibility not only to do for ourselves, but to do for others,” Huckabee told the religious leaders at Governor’s Mansion. “The highest expression of faith is to serve others in an unselfish way.”
Arkansas Baptist State Convention President Greg Kirksey was among those present for Huckabee’s Feb. 25 announcement. “I’m excited that we’re looking at a possible partnership,” Kirksey said. “I believe we can do more together than we can separately.”
Huckabee said if each of the state’s 7,000 congregations would “adopt one welfare family,” the program could impact most families in the state currently receiving welfare assistance.
“Government will always operate in the sterile environment in which government is required to operate,” Huckabee said. “You can do something that government can’t do -- you can put your arms around people and you can tell them you love them.”
Alluding to concerns about church-state entanglement, Huckabee said, “This foundation is in no way going to impede your capacity to minister in the manner in which you wish to. You will be able to carry your message as clearly and as directly as you wish. The unique thing is that you’re going to be able to help them not only have bread for tomorrow, but to have the bread of life that will last them for eternity.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Experiences in witnessing shared in panel discussion by Macon Fritsch Date: March 15, 1999 - Monday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--"Many of us wind up either feeling very guilty that we aren't witnessing, or witnessing to everything that moves and feeling like we're bumbling because we don't know what to do," said Cornelia Williams, an adjunct professor of Christian education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
"You see a rushing crowd of people going down a river, drowning, and you don't know how to help them and you're desperate," Williams said of the often-frustrating feelings Christians have regarding personal evangelism.
Williams was among several panelists discussing evangelism at the Louisville, Ky., seminary's Pendergraph Women's Ministry meeting March 9. The Pendergraph Women's Ministry meets monthly to foster fellowship and learning for women at Southern.
An effective witness is a prepared witness, said Troy Bush, a Ph.D. student at Southern. He said Christians should focus on "being a witness, and not doing witnessing.”
"Being a witness focuses on who we are in Christ," he explained. "Doing witnessing often focuses on simply what we do, how we do it and what we say. These things are important, but they are subservient to who we are in Christ."
Bush noted several ways Christians can become and remain an effective witness: saturation and meditation in the Word of God and prayer based on that saturation and meditation. He also recommended fasting, keeping a spiritual journal or diary and utilizing evangelism resources.
Moving the discussion from preparation to application, Chandi Millet compared sharing the gospel in some situations to making a quantum leap across the Grand Canyon.
"Sometimes it's not the gospel that's so hard to share, but oftentimes it is how to bring up the gospel without feeling like it is an awkward transition," she said.
Millet, a second-year master of arts in missiology student at Southern, emphasized how important it is to think through the gospel message and stick to the basics. Avoiding religious jargon while witnessing is a must because many non-Christians are not familiar with theological terms, she said.
She also offered several hints on how to broach the topic of evangelism with others through a list of indirect questions that should help put people at ease. An immediate question about personal salvation causes some to raise their guard. She suggested using less-threatening questions, such as: "Would you describe yourself as a spiritual or religious person?" "Growing up, did you and your family go to church?" or "Who has had the greatest influence in your life?"
Millet illustrated the need to clearly share at least one seed of gospel truth with people by telling about a brief witness she shared with a hotel employee. The employee asked Millet why she was at the hotel. As Millet talked about the marriage conference she was attending, she shared how thankful she was that God designed marriage. She said if it were up to her, she would somehow ruin it because she was selfish.
"I have no idea what God was doing in her, but she looked at me and her eyes welled up with tears and she hugged me and said, 'Thank you so much.' Although I only had a few minutes with this woman, I was able to share with her that God is holy, he has a plan, and I can't measure up to it by myself," Millet said.
Concerning evangelism in the workplace, Vicki Rainbow, wife of associate professor of Christian education and leadership Jon Rainbow, reflected, "When we are at work, we are there for the Lord, not for man. You need to think about daily who it is that you work for," she said, citing Colossians 3:23.
Rainbow exhorted listeners to view their jobs "as a chance to make Christ attractive to fellow workers." Being the best worker possible and respecting the authority of those in supervisory positions are two ways she discussed that can help Christians be the kind of worker from whom co-workers would want to hear about Jesus.
Women in the meeting also heard how to witness to those who are difficult to get along with.
"Have you prayed for that person? Have you asked God to allow you to see that person through His eyes? Have you shown that person love?" asked Rainbow, who is also the administrative assistant to Southern's vice president of institutional advancement.
She assured that God would open up doors for an effective witness to "difficult people" as long as Christians sought his guidance.
Certified financial planner and former Southern Seminary trustee John Michael talked about starting Bible studies with non-believers in his workplace, saying that God's Word can convict people of their need for a Savior. He gave seven suggestions for starting an evangelistic Bible study in one's home:
-- Start with two Christian families, a host family and a leader family.
-- Be sure that one of the families consists of laypeople with secular connections.
-- Do not fill up the study group with active church members.
-- Invite various friends and families to attend, hoping for at least two or three unchurched families to participate.
-- Encourage whole families to attend, including children 10 years old and older.
-- Encourage a "lone" believer in a family to bring unsaved family members.
-- Split the group in two if it gets too large.
Michael also suggested going through the Gospel of John verse by verse to help start a Bible study. Through the gospel, it is easy to emphasize Christ as the way of salvation and becoming a disciple of Christ through a "changed life," he said.
"The purpose is to intentionally show people what it means to be saved and what it means to become a follower of Christ," Michael said.
Michael himself was saved through an evangelistic Bible study to which some of his friends had invited him.
Williams concluded the session by telling about the distressed people in Liverpool, England, who anxiously awaited news about those on the Titanic. Signs were finally put up in the street near White Star Station that read "Known to be saved" and "Known to be lost."
"Tonight, as we go home, we need to think about who would be on this list, 'Known to be lost,' and what we can do about it. We not only have a responsibility, we have a privilege and a joy to try to win them to Christ."

Fritsch is a newswriter at Southern Seminary.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Expository preaching advocated to help church regain its voice by John Gaskin Date: March 15, 1999 - Monday KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., advocated a time of honest March 12 at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“Despite our accomplishments, statistics and resources of which we [evangelicals] boast, we have had very little impact upon our culture,” Ascol said. “The church has lost its voice.”
Ascol presented statistics revealing there is no discernable difference between the morality of evangelicals and those who make no profession of religion. “We have sold a nation cheap grace for so long that grace no longer matters in a person’s life,” he told a chapel audience at the Kansas City, Mo., seminary.
According to 2 Timothy 3 and 4, Ascol said, the solution is preaching. “Preaching is God’s ordained means for accomplishing God’s ordained purposes throughout the world. Whatever else may be done, this always must be done.”
The Apostle Paul’s instructions to Timothy could only mean expository preaching, Ascol said. “The absence of true expository preaching,” he said, “betrays a lack of conviction in the Bible’s authority and sufficiency, no matter how loudly a man may profess his allegiance to the Word.”
According to the text, Ascol said Timothy faced desperate times in Ephesus, both outside and inside the church, including a resistance to truth. Today, Ascol said, is also such a “grievous season.” Paul’s solution, Ascol said, was not a new plan or some new strategy, but rather, to order one’s life and ministry by the Word of God.
“Paul was committed to the authority of the Word of God and he placed his confidence in it,” Ascol said.
Because it is the task of the preacher to show what is in the Bible, Ascol encouraged Midwestern students to study and discipline themselves to become effective, faithful expositors. “Pastors must make it their primary duty and churches must insist upon it.”
To be an expositor, Ascol said, means becoming a theologian. “Sound doctrine belongs to the church. We must measure all thoughts and conclusions by the standards of the Bible.”
If the church is again to have an influence on our culture, Ascot asserted, “Then we need men who can say, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”