
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-03/19/2009

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Naming of Sudan envoy greeted by Land, Graham
by Staff
Date: March 19, 2009 - Thursday

WASHINGTON (BP)--President Obama's appointment of a special envoy for Sudan drew commendation from evangelical Christian advocates for peace in the strife-torn east African country.

Obama named retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration March 18 to serve as the U.S. representative in the effort to gain peace in Darfur, the country's western region that is engulfed in a government-backed, genocidal campaign, and to produce complete implementation of a treaty between Khartoum and the people of southern Sudan.

"I applaud the president for appointing a special envoy to focus on this critical crisis," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "I think it is critically important that we give our government's full and immediate attention to doing everything we can to avoid a human catastrophe of horrendous proportions in Sudan."

Franklin Graham, president of the evangelical relief organization Samaritan's Purse, applauded Obama's decision.

"This is a critical time in Sudan and it is important for the United States to do as much as possible to help the millions of people whose lives hang in the balance because of the ongoing crises there," Graham said in a written statement. "My prayers go out to both the president and General Gration that God would grant them wisdom as they navigate the complexities of Africa's largest nation."

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan panel on which Land serves, also commended the naming of an envoy. In February, USCIRF reiterated its call for a special envoy for Sudan in making a series of policy recommendations for peace in that country.

The crisis in Darfur deepened March 4, when Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir ordered at least 10 humanitarian aid organizations out of the country. Bashir's action came after the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands, issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"Sudan is a priority for this administration, particularly at a time when it cries out for peace and for justice," Obama said in a written statement announcing Gration's appointment. "The worsening humanitarian crisis there makes our task all the more urgent.

"General Gration's personal and professional background, and his service to the country as both a military leader and humanitarian, give him the insights and experience necessary for this assignment. He knows the region, has broad experience and has my complete confidence."

Gration grew up in the Congo, where his parents were missionaries.

During the last six years in Darfur, Khartoum military forces and Arab militias backed by the government have instituted ethnic cleansing against African Muslims, resulting in the killing of about 400,000 people, as well as rampant torture, rape and kidnapping, USCIRF has reported. About 2 million Sudanese are homeless in Darfur and another 250,000 are in refugee camps in Chad and the Central African Republic, according to USCIRF.

While Darfur's crisis involves conflict between Arab Muslims and African Muslims, a civil war of more than 20 years that ended in 2005 involved a genocidal campaign by the militant Islamic, Arab regime in Khartoum against Christians and animists in southern Sudan, as well as moderate African Muslims. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that closed that war has yet to be fully implemented.

In his March 18 announcement, Obama said the United States will work with both sides to bring about enforcement of the treaty. USCIRF called for the new envoy to focus on CPA's implementation.

Samaritan's Purse is providing humanitarian aid in Darfur and is reconstructing church buildings destroyed during the civil war in southern Sudan. It was not one of the relief organizations expelled by Bashir.

Sudan is one of eight regimes designated by the U.S. State Department as "countries of particular concern," a label reserved for the world's worst violators of religious liberty.

USCIRF is a nine-member panel selected by the president and congressional leaders. It reports to the White House and Congress on religious freedom overseas. 
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Compiled by Baptist Press Washington bureau chief Tom Strode.


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Black churches partner to reach the world
by Staff
Date: March 19, 2009 - Thursday

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--As a growing minority within the Southern Baptist Convention, African American Southern Baptists are needed to play pivotal roles in reaching the world with the Gospel, says David Cornelius, African American missional church strategist for the International Mission Board.

Congregations such as North Buffalo Community Church in New York and Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax Station, Va., are taking lead roles in supporting missions through a series of mission trips and prayer initiatives.

There are about 3,800 African American Southern Baptist congregations in the United States and nearly 50 African Americans serving as IMB missionaries.

SHARING GOOD NEWS

North Buffalo Community Church in New York has organized several trips to West Africa, Middle America and the Caribbean to work with Southern Baptist personnel as part of becoming an Acts 1:8 church -- one that commits to a comprehensive missions strategy in their community, state, continent and world. 

Years before the church took its first international missions trip, senior pastor William Smith heard of a longstanding prayer request for an African American missionary couple to help reach a particular people in Suriname.

Years later, while serving as an International Mission Board trustee, Smith shared an elevator with Courtney and Arleen Street from Maryland, who were in Richmond for a missionary candidate conference.

The pastor asked the couple where they were going to serve. When the Streets told him they were headed to Suriname, Smith became emotional as he shared the prayer request he'd heard long ago.

The Streets were "God's handpicked missionaries in answer to a 25-year-old prayer request," Smith says.

"I remember him with tears in his eyes," Courtney says. "He got very excited because God had answered prayers for Suriname."

The chance meeting between the missionaries and Smith grew into a missions partnership.

"Brother Bill became one of our biggest prayer supporters," Courtney says. "He led two volunteer trips to Suriname and certainly made a tremendous impact on the lives of the Surinamese."

Appointed as missionaries in 1997, the Streets recently relocated to Antigua.

PASSION FOR MISSIONS

At the beginning of each year, Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax Station, Va., makes a faith budget for their mission work, which has included trips to West Africa and Brazil.

"We trust that if God calls, He will provide the resources," says Michael Coppedge, the church's director of missions. "We pray about what God has for us to do, who to partner with."

About five years ago, Antioch began a partnership with Southern Baptist missionaries Keith and Deborah Jefferson of Brazil. Since then, a team from the church has gone overseas at least once a year.

Mission teams in Brazil can openly share the Gospel through preaching in parks or showing the "JESUS" film, Coppedge says. In West Africa, they found that relational evangelism -- sitting down for coffee or a meal -- was the best sharing technique.

"We discuss God, religion, their idea of how to get to heaven as opposed to how we believe," Coppedge says. "Basically, we just share Jesus."
--30--
Reported by the international bureau of Baptist Press. To learn more about African American missional church strategy, contact David Cornelius at 1-800-999-3113, ext. 1422.


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Ministers' wives share 'Between Us'
by Polly House
Date: March 19, 2009 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The life of a man in the ministry can be taxing to say the least, but what about life for his wife?

About 300 ministers' wives from across the United States and as far away as Japan met at a "Between Us Ministers' Wives" conference March 12-13 in Nashville, Tenn. The women's events area of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention organized the gathering, which preceded a Beth Moore Living Proof Live event for ministers' wives.

One of the best reasons to be there, one wife said, was to see she was not alone.

By and large, the ministers' wives said they were happy to be married to men on church staffs. "I felt like I knew what I was getting into because he was already in the ministry when we got married," one wife said. "I married the man, but got the ministry along with him."

Chris Adams, LifeWay's senior lead women's ministry specialist, described ministers' wives as special women. "They deal with all the issues that being married involves, but in a fishbowl," Adams said. "Then, if they have children, they may feel like the church is looking at her, expecting her to be a perfect mother of perfect kids. That's a lot of pressure for anyone."

Adams said LifeWay had wanted to host the Between Us conference top help equip ministers' wives for some time. "We thought having it in conjunction with the Living Proof Live event for ministers' wives was ideal. I think the women agreed," Adams said.

A panel of ministers' wives, past and present, opened the event, including Becky Badry, director of women's missions and ministry for the Colorado Baptist General Convention and a chaplain's wife; Rachel Lovingood, a writer, teacher and student pastor's wife from Hendersonville, Tenn.; and Leighann McCoy, author, coordinator of prayer and women's ministries and pastor's wife from Thompson's Station, Tenn., sat on the panel. Three LifeWay staff members also were on the panel: Pam Case, who also is a pastor's wife from Nashville; Karen Alexander-Doyel, also an author and pastor's widow from Lenoir City, Tenn.; and Jennifer Landrith, also a conference leader and pastor's wife from Hendersonville, Tenn.;

Among the issues they listed that ministers' wives face:

-- "I'm really lonely."

-- "Who can I trust?"

-- "How do I raise my kids in ministry?"

-- "What do I do about all these other women who love and adore my husband?"

-- "There's so much criticism."

-- "Church members always want me to be a messenger from them to my husband."

The panel members offered advice based on their own experiences and wisdom:

"Never forget that you are the absolute best, perfect minister's wife for your church," Alexander-Doyel said, "because God specifically placed you there. It's no accident you are where you are."

"Remember that you are only responsible for you. I can't control anyone else's spiritual growth, passion or anything. Seek God first every day," Lovingood said.

"Be real. Be who God designed you to be," Landrith said.

"Every day when something hard comes up remember that there will be something awesome on the other side," Case said.

"Your first call is to walk with God. Your second is to take care of your husband and your family. Your third is to the ministry," Badry said.

"Wear only waterproof mascara," said McCoy, getting a hearty "amen" from the crowd.

Small breakout sessions during the Between Us conference ran the gamut from laughing at yourself to dealing with difficult people.

Alexander-Doyel, in a session on making Sunday the best day of the week, counseled, "You have to get ready for Sunday": "Start on Monday thinking about getting clothes ready, getting your house clean &#91;and&#93; getting an after-church lunch plan. If you are ready for Sunday on Saturday afternoon, you can have your day of rest and worship."

McCoy, who led a session on laughing a little, said it can help ministers' wives keep their sanity in various situations that come up in church. "You have to be willing to laugh at yourself and at all the truly bizarre situations that will come up in your life with your church," McCoy said. "And you need to have a friend who will laugh with you!"

Badry reminded the wives at her session that ministers rely on their wives for comfort and support.

"You know him as a man, a husband and a father," Badry said, "but do you know him as a minister? Ministry is not an occupation -- it's a calling. He probably feels like he's always running for office."

During a closing question-and-answer panel time, one young wife asked, "How do you handle being jealous of your husband's time?"

Lovingood said, "We have to have some parameters, of course, but we also have to remember that ministry is a 24/7 job. You need to develop some cues to let him know that you need him. Never forget, though, that you are his wife and you have a relationship with him that nobody else has."
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Polly House is a corporate communications specialist and editor of Facts & Trends magazine at LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. To find out more about LifeWay's outreach to ministers' wives and to sign up for the ministers' wives community, go to www.lifeway.com/women and click on "ministers' wives" under "helpful resources."


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RESOURCE: Bible study aids pastors' wives
by Polly House
Date: March 19, 2009 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Jennifer Landrith and Rachel Lovingood decided to begin a Bible study for staff wives.

As they explored possible resources, "too many of them just said what to do," said Landrith, whose husband David is senior pastor at Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn. "&#91;N&#93;ot many of them said anything about how to live as a minister's wife. We obviously wanted to use the Bible as our foundation for the book, but as we began working, we decided the need was for a Bible study, not a book of advice."

Then, said Lovingood, whose husband Jeff is student pastor at the church, "When we got into it, we decided if this were good for our ministers' wives, it'd be good for other ministers' wives too."

The aim of the Bible study, as Lovingood put it: "To encourage wives with the Word. We want it to be empowering, real and relevant."

The result: "In Our Shoes," published by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Landrith and Lovingood were among the featured speakers at the "Between Us Ministers' Wives" conference hosted by LifeWay's women's events area March 12-13 in Nashville, Tenn. The event preceded a Beth Moore Living Proof Live event for ministers' wives.

One of the key topics Landrith and Lovingood address in the Bible study is the "calling" on the life of a minister's wife.

"Some people don't really like the word 'calling,'" Landrith said. "We tend to think about calling in terms of how our husbands decided on their particular jobs. But the word 'calling' applies to all believers."

Landrith and Lovingood categorize a minister's wife's calling into four descriptions:

1. A specific calling -- The woman felt a clear, distinct call to ministry.

2. A general calling -- The woman felt called to serve but didn't know specifically in what capacity.

3. An unexpected calling -- The woman was surprised by the call to ministry.

4. An impersonal calling -- The woman saw the calling to ministry as her husband's job that doesn't apply to her.

"How she views her calling is going to influence how she views her role," Lovingood said.

The women also address a list of "hot topic" questions, such as the financial strain that can come with serving in ministry; developing friendships with other women in the church; and balancing home life and church participation.

In its eight chapters, In Our Shoes addresses the blessings and influence unique to a minister's wife. In addition to the Bible study material, it provides helpful information on everything from buying deacon gifts to cooking for unexpected company.

It also gives suggestions on connecting with other ministers' wives by means such as hosting a monthly party for the staff wives in the church; planning a community-wide dinner, picnic or tea for ministers' wives; forming an online community; or creating a ministers' wives book club.
--30--
Polly House is a corporate communications specialist and editor of Facts & Trends magazine at LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Access the "In Our Shoes" blog at http://inourshoesthestudy.wordpress.com/.


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Pastors' wives called too, Beth Moore says
by Erin Roach
Date: March 19, 2009 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Ministers' wives can fall victim to the aggravations of ministry or they can take hold of freedom by realizing they are called to ministry themselves, Bible study author Beth Moore told a group of ministers' wives March 13-14 at Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.

Focusing on the Book of Galatians, Moore laid out six pairs of what she called "aggravations" and their "alternatives" associated with being the wife of a minister in today's church. A recent blog entry by her daughter called on people to sum up their lives in six words, so Moore was inspired to state each of her points in six words.

1. Aggravation: Ministry by default. Life-long misfit.

"If you see yourself as being in ministry by default, you will spend the rest of your life feeling like a misfit. I promise you that," Moore said. "We're shooting ourselves in the foot when we get it in our head that 'I wasn't the one called to this ministry. You were.'"

When they don't feel called, such women find themselves in misery. And when misery visits ministry, Moore said, a woman can repress those feelings or rebel -- or a combination of the two.

"Repression will make you sick, and rebellion will make you stupid," she said. "We can't act like we're not the ones who were called."

Alternative: Chosen by God. Have holy fit.

"God is not sorry He chose you," she told the approximately 1,200 women in attendance. "He has good taste. I am chosen by God. I have a holy fit."

2. Aggravation: Seek their approval. Become their slave.

Too often pastors' wives find themselves in a role they can't possibly succeed in, Moore said, especially when they feel like everyone is watching them and they must be good at everything they're asked to do in the church. 

Alternative: Seek God's approval. Find your peace.

Believers are never less needy than when they find God sufficient, she said, and women will do well to look to God for approval instead of looking to others. Pastors' wives should discover where God wants them to serve and then let everything else go.

3: Aggravation: Work with people. Expect titanic problems.

"Are we getting cranky? Are we getting short with people, almost in a perpetual bad mood? We need refreshment. Something needs to change," Moore said. 

In the trenches of church work, a pastor's wife can easily feel overwhelmed by the burdens of people in the church, Moore said, mostly because a pastor and his wife are expected to be involved in so many lives. And too often, she said, ministers' wives get burned and vow not to trust people again. That leads to isolation.

"Overwhelmingly, the thing that ministers' wives most said troubled them was loneliness," Moore said, referring to responses given on her blog. "I bet that did not surprise anybody in this room."

Alternative: Choose to trust. Not to rust.

"We've got to have some best friends. You have got to have friends. Blogging and Facebook and Twittering will not cut this for you," she said. "Women were made for deep friendships. I love my blog community, but they're not going to force me to change and come in and be what I need in my dark hour. I want somebody to laugh with. I want someone I can look across the table at Starbucks to. 

"If we use that stuff as a replacement for real relationships, we will find ourselves depressed because we were made for the real thing. Do not give up on friendships, girls," Moore said. "Take the risk again. Put yourself out there again. Don't protect yourself from your own fellowship, or we will be depressed and we will have despair. Women were made to befriend other women. It's our way. We're miserable without it."

4: Aggravation: Trade your bondage. Keep your chains. 

Another problem ministers' wives face is a tendency to trade one stronghold for another, Moore said. For instance, a woman might trade a sexual addiction for a food addiction because the latter is more socially acceptable in the church. But the chains will remain, she said. 

A stronghold is a mental preoccupation, Moore said, what the mind wanders to when it's not disciplined by the Spirit. But no stronghold has permission to overcome a believer, she said, and God wants His children to live in freedom.

Alternative: Don't ignore. Get restored, then restore.

"I do not care how much you serve your church. I do not care if your husband is a senior pastor. Listen to me. Get yourself in the Word," she said. "I don't care how busy you are. Let go of something else and get yourself in in-depth Bible study. I'm not talking about whose &#91;Bible study&#93; it is. I'm just talking about get yourself in the Word, and I mean heavy duty because it is only Scripture that's going to tear down those strongholds. 

"Do you have 20 Scriptures that live in your head that you could call up at least in paraphrase form at any time? I'm asking you to get 20 Scriptures in your head that you can call up when you are so undone at someone you do not know what to do -- when someone has criticized you or criticized your husband, or when your husband has said something to you," Moore said. "We need to be able in that moment &#91;to say&#93; one right after another. 

"The only offensive weapon you have against the devil is the Word of God," Moore added. "That's it. Do not tell me any reason why you cannot be in the Word. You do not have that luxury, girls. You don't have it. I don't either."

5: Aggravation: Sow the flesh. Reap the dregs. 

"Before we leave this place today, you and I are going to be called to the high road," she said. "Fight the good fight. We're going to stay up on our feet and we're going to fight clean. We're going to keep the faith. Let other people be ugly without us."

Alternative: Sow the Spirit. Reap the life.

The only way for a believer to change what she reaps after she has sown is to repent and embrace the crucified life, Moore said. 

"We really have been called to holy living. We really have. Be somebody else's example. Be their refreshment. You're not going to be perfect. I'm not going to be perfect," she said. "But let them get into the deepest part of our lives and find that we are dang consistent, that we are who we seem to be."

6: Aggravation: Lose what counts. Watch misery mount. 

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love, Moore said.

"This is everything I live for, for one woman who has never been in the Word of God to go pick up a Bible and it changes her life," she said. "That's everything to me. To me, that is what counts. Have we lost touch with what counts? When we do, we've had it."

Alternative: Keep the King the Thing: Jesus.

"Let everything else fall away and rediscover 'Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves me,'" Moore said. 
--30--
Erin Roach is a staff writer for Baptist Press.


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A new pro-life battle: designer babies
by Penna Dexter
Date: March 19, 2009 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Medical science has ushered in a brave new world in childbearing. A fertility clinic in Los Angeles recently announced it was ready to offer would-be parents designer babies.

After a public outcry, the clinic reversed course, but the fact that it even was considered is appalling.

L.A. Fertility Institutes, which currently screens embryos for certain diseases and even offers gender selection services -- unethical as those are -- put the word out it expected a "trait-selected" baby to be born next year. Dr. Jeff Steinberg, who runs the clinic, dubbed his service "cosmetic medicine."

This, though, is no face-lift.

His clinic's website advertised the opportunity for parents to make "a pre-selected choice of gender, eye color, hair color and complexion, along with screening for potentially lethal diseases."

British fertility expert Gillian Lockwood warned against "turning babies into commodities you buy off the shelf." At first Steinberg deflected the ethical arguments, saying, "It's time for everyone to pull their heads out of the sand." 

But the clinic drew so much publicity and criticism, it pulled back. Its website now says the clinic has suspended its "eye and hair color program."

The technology to pre-select ones offspring's qualities has been around since the 90s, but most doctors are squeamish about treating babies as commodities. This fertility process was developed to screen out diseases. Then, fertility experts began to screen for quality-of-life-diminishing disorders like blindness, deafness or mental retardation. Next came gender selection. Now there's this possibility for trait selection. 

The technique for all of this is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, PGD. It's described in a widely-circulated Wall Street Journal article titled, "A Baby Please. Blond, Freckles -- Hold the Colic." Here's how it works: A woman's eggs are fertilized with sperm in a lab. A cell is then removed from each embryo and tested for a certain genetic disease, gender, and the biomarkers associated with the desired traits. Embryos free of the disease, or holding the desired traits, are implanted in the mother's womb. 

There are multiple ethical questions, including: What happens to the spare embryos? The ones carrying diseases or disorders are likely to be discarded. The Wall Street Journal's hypothetical baby is female with green eyes and blond hair. So what does a couple do with their brown-eyed brunette male embryo? Discard him? Freeze the embryo hoping someone who prefers those qualities will adopt him?  

There were people ready to take advantage of the clinic's "trait selection" service. Several signed up for Dr. Steinberg's services. And gender selection is in full swing in this country. Infertility specialist Daniel Potter says the top reason American women pursue high-tech gender selection is "the unrequited longing for a baby girl."  

Some countries, like the UK, ban sex selection. The U.S., though, does not. Congress ought to take this up, and add a ban on trait selection. The war to protect the sanctity of life has a new battlefront.
--30--
Penna Dexter is a conservative activist and frequent panelist on "Point of View" syndicated radio program. Her weekly commentaries air on the Bott and Moody Radio Networks. She also serves as a consultant for KMA Direct Communications in Plano, Texas.



