The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/06/2000 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Partial-birth abortion ban approved, faces third veto by Tom Strode Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. House of Representatives again voted overwhelmingly to prohibit a gruesome procedure known as partial-birth abortion, but a third, and final, veto from President Clinton apparently awaits.

The House voted 287-141 April 5 in favor of the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act. Although supporters of the bill garnered nine fewer votes than the last time the House acted on the ban, they still managed a two-thirds majority, the total necessary to override a presidential veto.

The Senate, however, adopted a similar bill in October but fell short of a two-thirds majority.

Twice previously Congress has passed the ban on an abortion method that involves the killing of a nearly totally delivered baby, but Clinton vetoed the bill both in 1996 and '97. In both cases, the House gained the two-thirds necessary for an override, but the Senate fell short.

Southern Baptist ethics agency head Richard Land said he is "delighted the House has once again overwhelmingly passed a ban of partial-birth abortion, which is a euphemism for infanticide." He said he is grieved the Senate was unable to pass the ban by a veto-proof margin.

"President Clinton has vowed to veto this measure once again," said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "We should all pray that God will convict the president, and he will repent and sign this legislation. If he does not, he will someday answer to a far higher authority than the court of American public opinion for the shameful act of vetoing this legislation."

Some pro-life advocates already have begun looking forward to next year, when a president who would sign the bill might be in the White House after this year's election.

"With a pro-life president, we could ban this brutal practice ... without needing a two-thirds majority," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, in a written release.

Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has said he would sign a partial-birth abortion ban, but Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic candidate, has not.

Opponents of the ban criticized House proponents for election-year politics in bringing it to the floor.

The procedure, which became public knowledge in the early 1990s, is typically performed in the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy. As practiced by some abortion doctors, it involves the delivery of an intact baby feet first until only the head is left in the birth canal. The doctor pierces the base of the baby's skull with surgical scissors, then inserts a catheter into the opening and suctions out the brain. The collapse of the skull enables easier removal of the dead child.

Rep. Charles Canady, R.-Fla., the author of the bill, said during floor debate, "This House has the responsibility to do everything in its power to put an end to this practice which has no place in a civilized society. We cannot in good conscience sit idly by while such deeds are being done under the protection of the law."

The measure approved by the House is slightly different than previous versions, including the one adopted by the Senate last year. It was modified to address the reason some state bans have been struck down in court. Because some courts have ruled the ban could cover other late-term abortion methods, more precise language was used to distinguish this procedure from others in which the child dies before removal or is dismembered and removed in pieces.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments April 25 in the appeal of Nebraska's partial-birth ban that was struck down by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Though 27 states have passed bans similar to previous federal versions, only eight are in effect, according to NRLC. Most have been blocked or struck down by courts.

In the latest House action, 209 Republicans, 77 Democrats and one independent voted for the ban.

An attempt by pro-choice members to gain a vote on a bill banning late-term abortions was blocked. The legislation would have allowed exceptions for the procedure to be used for reasons beyond the life of the mother and would not have covered the fifth and sixth months, when most partial-birth abortions are performed.

The vote on the partial-birth ban in the Senate last year was 63-34, but two pro-life senators were absent. The last time the House voted on the ban was in 1998, when the count for an override was 296-132.

There are no verifiable figures for the frequency of such abortions, but it has been estimated the procedure occurs at least 3,000 to 5,000 times a year in the United States.

A new element of the partial-birth abortion debate is the trade in fetal tissue and body parts that has been uncovered in the last year. The procedure has enabled researchers to have access to better tissue than is available through other methods used at abortion clinics, supporters of the ban say.

Clinton and Gore are both members of churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Clinton's 1996 veto of the partial-birth ban prompted Jim Henry, then SBC president, and 11 former convention presidents to ask the president in a letter to "repent of your veto."

The SBC passed a resolution at its 1996 meeting supporting the legislation and disapproving of Clinton's veto.

In May 1997, Tom Elliff, then SBC president, and nine former presidents sent a letter to Clinton asking him to reconsider his "continued defense of the killing of living premature babies by the brutal partial-birth abortion method."
-------------------------------------------------------------------- If British approve cloning, impact to be widespread, bioethicist says by Tom Strode Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday WASHINGTON (BP)--Great Britain's apparently impending approval of the cloning of human beings for the purpose of medical research will cause repercussions throughout humanity, a Southern Baptist bioethics specialist predicts.

A panel is prepared to recommend the British government drop its ban on the "therapeutic cloning" of human embryos, according to a London newspaper. The Cabinet is expected to endorse the recommendation, thereby giving approval to the cloning of embryos for experimentation that researchers hope will result in cures for a variety of diseases, according to a London Daily Telegraph article in The Washington Times.

Extracting cells from a clone for research will result in the embryo's destruction, however.

"We don't have the sophisticated technology necessary to clone human organs without destroying a human life," Ben Mitchell, a biomedical consultant for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Baptist Press. "This is all speculative science. It's a scientific crap-shoot, and the stakes on the table are human lives."

The British panel studying the issue has determined the potential benefits outweigh ethical questions, according to the Daily Telegraph report.

"The potential is enormous," a source on the panel told the newspaper. "This could allow us to regrow a heart muscle or bone marrow, and that is not a threat to humanity. It is too early to say whether it will work, but if the research is illegal we will never know."

In a commentary on the likely recommendation, Mitchell wrote, "[C]reating a human being for the purposes of killing that person for another human being's health ... sounds an awfully lot like cannibalism, only worse.

"If human cloning is permitted in the [United Kingdom], soon the United States, Japan and a host of developed countries will no doubt follow. A decision to kill one group of very young human beings will almost inevitably mean other human beings will be sacrificed for the health of those who can afford the technological fix offered by the burgeoning world biotechnological industry.

"Then one day, like the world court at Nuremberg, we will rediscover our moral compass and declare those who committed such acts to be heinous criminals," Mitchell wrote. "This time, however, it may not be the powerful nations of the West who hold court. It may be the less well-off nations of the Southern hemisphere who hold accountable the men and women who thought the intellectual and technological seduction of reproductive cloning was just too tantalizing to resist."

Nuremberg was the location in Germany of the post-World War II trial of Nazi criminals.

After reports surfaced last year of private groups in the United States seeking to clone embryos for research, Mitchell called for Congress to prohibit human cloning in this country. Federal funds may not be used for human cloning, but Congress has not enacted an overall ban.

Mitchell is assistant professor of bioethics and contemporary culture at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Cuban Baptist leader, SBC's Land differ over Elian's return to dad by Art Toalston Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The president of the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba, Leoncio Veguilla, has added his voice to returning Elian Gonzalez to his father.

The leader of the Southern Baptist Convention's ethics agency, Richard Land, meanwhile, has taken the opposite stance.

Veguilla's opinion was reported April 5 by the ChristianityToday.com Internet site, while Land voiced his views on the crisis surrounding the 6-year-old Cuban boy during the "For Faith & Family" broadcast of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission March 29.

Also joining the side of returning Elian to his father is a leading conservative congressman, Steve Largent of Oklahoma, who penned an op-ed piece for The New York Times April 4.

The father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, arrived in the United States April 5 with the intention of reclaiming his son, who was rescued at sea on Thanksgiving morning after his mother perished in an ill-fated boat escape from Cuba.

"I do not think that he should be returned automatically to Cuba," Land, the ERLC's president, told Baptist Press April 5, "and certainly not against his will."

"His mother died to bring him here," Land said on the March 29 broadcast. "Biological fatherhood does not confer completely overriding rights over anybody else, including Elian. Elian is a human being, Elian is a child, Elian is an individual." The boy should not be considered "the property" solely of his father, Land said.

"His mother has a say here from beyond the grave," he continued, "and I believe that the family is saying, 'Look, the mother wanted him there.'"

If Elian's father wants to be with his son, Land told his listeners: "Let the father come here. Let the father sacrifice for the rights and the wishes of the boy the same way the mother sacrificed by giving her life to bring this boy to freedom."

Addressing the Clinton administration's insistence that Elian be returned to his father, Land asked, "Don't they understand what freedom is all about? Don't they understand what this boy's wishes are all about? That he has some right to say what happens to him, that his mother has some right to say what happens to him."

Also on the broadcast, Land noted that ABC News decided against airing a portion of an interview with Elian saying he did not want to return to Cuba. The interview was conducted by ABC's Diane Sawyer earlier in the month. Land criticized ABC's rationale for not airing Elian's wishes because the clip could fuel people especially in Miami's Cuban community who are adamant that Elian should remain in the United States.

"Fidel Castro is the one who decided to make this an issue," Land told Baptist Press April 5, citing a Wall Street Journal editorial that day as the latest to recap telephone records showing Elian's father was aware in advance that his son was with his former wife in an attempt to flee Cuba.

"Juan Miguel Gonzalez is not a free man," Land said of the father's subsequent pleas for his son's return. "No one in Cuba is a free man, except Fidel Castro."

Land continued: "Mr. Castro has already declared that as soon as Elian returns to Cuba he will be treated by government psychiatrists to undo the damage done to him in America. That sounds like brainwashing to me.

"The issue of whether Elian stays or returns to Cuba should be decided in a family court in the United States where people are free to express their true feelings and where free and independent psychiatrists can testify as to what is in the best interest of Elian, not just his father or the family in Miami," Land said. "Elian's best interest should be the paramount factor here."

Veguilla, meanwhile, in visiting the United States in March, witnessed the criticisms being leveled by Miami's Cuban community against Elian's father and relatives in Cuba as unfit to care for the boy.

Nevertheless, Veguilla told ChristianityToday.com, "The boy should come back to Cuba. ... When Elian grows up, let him decide what he wants to do."

The Christianity Today writer, Mackie Landers, noted that "interviews with Havana pastors and national church leaders reveal that most evangelicals share Veguilla's opinion."

Landers described Veguilla as "no Castro cheerleader. In 1965 he began serving a five-and-a-half-year sentence for alleged ties to the CIA. In 1994, secret police arrested his son, Eliezer, and accused him of the same ties. Police ordered Eliezer Veguilla to confess or he would face a live bear he could see through a screen in his roach-infested cell. Later, state agents placed him before a firing squad for a mock execution. He was released and left Cuba in 1995 to live in the United States."

ChristianityToday.com's report also noted that the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba is not a member of the Cuban Council of Churches, describing the latter as "the pro-government counterpart to the U.S. National Council of Churches."

"As a pastor, grandfather and father, I'd want my children and grandchildren to be where I am," Veguilla told ChristianityToday.com, voicing doubt about the various charges from Miami's Cuban community leveled against Elian's father and the family in Cuba.

Hector Hunter, a superintendent in the Cuban Assemblies of God, told ChristianityToday.com, "For the good of the child, not for politics, it's better for him to be with his family. I think whatever person in the same situation would say the same, independent of who controls or governs. The father should be taking care of him. I believe that because of the trauma this child has endured, for the loss of his mother, he should be with his father to console him. I believe that most people in the church would say that."

Juan Cuevas, a pastor with the Evangelical League of Cuba in Havana Province, told the CT writer, "It doesn't make sense that he's there. He's with a great-uncle he's only seen once in his life. It's terrible. He should come back to Cuba because his father is here."

Olguita Perez, Cuevas' wife and mother of their three children, told ChristianityToday.com, "They've turned a simple problem into a political problem on both sides. ... In the United States he's going to have economic opportunity, but people forget about the spiritual growth of the child. In Cuba, you have a hard time resolving economic problems. But what about the spiritual part? Only God and the family can develop a good life for a child. Most in Cuba believe this."

Recounting that her own father abandoned her when she was a baby, Perez said she has never met him, though he still lives in Cuba, and she grieves the void in her life. "For this reason, although I may not have riches, I would have wanted to have been raised nowhere else but by my father," Perez said.

One pastor, who spoke with the CT writer on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals to his denomination for expressing his opinion, said he fears for the boy's emotional health following the harrowing voyage in which he saw his mother die and he spent two days alone tied to an inner tube.

"Children ought to be with their parents, but I understand now if Elian comes back, he's going to suffer greatly because of the huge change," the pastor said. "If he had come back in those first days, it would have been good. But now it's been more than three months. I believe it's going to be very, very conflictive for him to return. It has to have affected him greatly. Also, these months of cameras, judges and journalists -- it all has to have affected his life."

Steve Largent, in his New York Times op-ed piece, wrote, "Some conservatives see this case as a long-sought opportunity to stick a finger in the eye of Fidel Castro." Describing himself as "second to none in my dislike for Mr. Castro's totalitarian regime," the Republican congressman nevertheless maintained, "But let's be reasonable. Elian is a little boy who has lost his mother and desperately needs his father.

"This is a family issue, first and foremost," Largent wrote.

In The Washington Post the same day, however, Jorge Masetti, a former agent of Cuba's Americas Department now living in Paris, wrote, "Within Cuba -- and this is the crucial point -- the return of Elian will not be seen as an act of justice by the U.S. government but rather as yet another victory for the bully-boy tactics of Fidel Castro.

"This is why the dictator is trying to recover Elian," Masetti wrote, "to convert him into a different kind of symbol -- a symbol of the Revolution, even though for that to happen, Elian would have to renounce his mother, the family in Miami that took care of him and even, in fact, his father, Juan Miguel. Because upon returning to Cuba, he will not belong to his family. He will be another son of the Revolution."
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Okla. House pushes for 'one God as the creator' in science texts by Jerry Pierce Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--The Oklahoma House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill April 4 that includes an amendment requiring state-approved science textbooks to acknowledge "one God as the creator of human life in the universe."

But a conference committee will likely strip the language from the bill, state Rep. Jim Reese, author of the amendment, told Baptist Press. Senate Bill 1139 would add requirements for a state textbook committee that drew controversy last November after approving an evolution disclaimer for science textbooks.

Oklahoma's attorney general in January ruled the committee exceeded it bounds in approving the disclaimer.

Two bills introduced by Reese to establish the textbook committee's right to approve such disclaimers have died in committee.

His April 4 amendment was an attempt to represent the views of most Oklahomans, whom he said polls have shown to believe in a Judeo-Christian creator.

Also added to Senate Bill 1139 was an amendment, introduced by Rep. John Wright, giving the textbook committee authority to insert a "one-page summary, opinion or disclaimer" in any state-approved textbook.

Rep. Barbara Staggs, a Democrat and House sponsor of the bill, told an Oklahoma City newspaper she will remove Wright's amendment in conference committee.

Staggs could not be reached Thursday for comment.

"I think this bill was intended to kick off some of the current members of the textbook committee," said Reese, a Republican.

The bill, before amended, would have disallowed second terms for committee members, who serve three years. It also would require the committee to include at least two certified elementary school teachers and two certified secondary school teachers.

Rep. Abe Deutschendorf, a coauthor of the bill, said the purpose of the bill was to provide balanced representation from both elementary and secondary school officials. He said he agreed with the textbook committee's disclaimer and has no problem with creationism being taught in public schools.

Deutschendorf, a Democrat and member of Trinity Baptist Church, Lawton, said he voted for Reese's "one God as creator" amendment "but it won't pass constitutional muster."

Reese, however, said if his amendment is rejected on constitutional grounds, "they are going to have to take a wrecking ball to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Lincoln Memorial" and other sites because God's name is mentioned numerous times on federal landmarks.

If removed, the bill's amendments can be reattached only by a House majority voting to send the bill back to conference committee with instructions to retain the language.

"Hopefully, members will support me to reject the conference committee's report," Reese said.

In November, the state textbook's committee's disclaimer drew support from Oklahoma Baptists and criticism from a church-state separation group and some Oklahoma education leaders.

The disclaimer called evolution a "controversial theory" and disputed its presentation as "fact."

Last year, Kentucky removed the word "evolution" in favor of "change over time" in its classrooms, and Kansas officials have excluded evolution questions from state tests.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Broadcasters, SBC's Land defend Dr. Laura against homosexual protest by Todd Starnes & Art Toalston Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday MANASSAS, Va. (BP)--The National Religious Broadcasters has come to the defense of syndicated radio psychologist Laura Schlessinger, whose upcoming television program has drawn angry protests by homosexual activists.

NRB President Brandt Gustavson wrote a letter to Paramount Television encouraging the company to stand firm against homosexual activists' protests of Schlessinger's show, which is slated to begin Sept. 11. The NRB encompasses more than 1,250 Christian communicators in the United States.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, in late March encouraged telephone calls to Paramount in support of Schlessinger during the agency's "For Faith & Family" radio broadcast. Paramount's number is (323) 956-5000.

Gustavson, in a letter to Paramount executive Kerry McClugage, wrote: "Of course, in these days of political correctness anybody who dares to say some decisions are right and some decisions are wrong will be subjected to a barrage of criticism. This is precisely what has happened to Dr. Laura. The logic these protestors are using clearly doesn't make sense."

Land told Baptist Press, "Dr. Laura is a strong voice for traditional Judaism and as such does not condone the homosexual and lesbian lifestyles as healthy or normal. What we are witnessing is an attempt to intimidate and threaten Paramount Television into canceling Dr. Laura's scheduled syndicated show by radical homosexual groups who are attempting to suppress her right to express her convictions.

"Dr. Laura has every right to express her views and Americans have every right to hear them," Land continued. "It can only serve to provide some balance to the radical homosexual propaganda machine which so dominates national entertainment and media outlets."

Schlessinger's radio show reaches an estimated 20 million people through 500 stations in the United States and Canada. Paramount executives said her television program will feature the same type of material featured on the radio program and that has homosexual activists in an uproar.

Paramount said 85 percent of the country's television markets have signed up her hour-long program, despite the protests.

On March 10th, Schlessinger issued an apology to homosexuals saying she never "intended to hurt anyone or contribute in any way to an atmosphere of hate or intolerance."

"Regrettably, some of the words I've used hurt some people, and I am sorry for that," she said in a prepared statement. "Words that I have used in a clinical context have been perceived as judgment. They were not meant to characterize homosexual individuals or encourage others to disparage homosexuals."

Homosexual activists said Schlessinger's statements that homosexuals can change their behavior is intolerant.

However, Gustavson said the homosexual activists are the ones practicing intolerance. "The logic these protestors are using clearly doesn't make sense. To say Paramount should silence Dr. Laura for her lack of tolerance is on its face intolerant," Gustavson wrote. "Such twisted logic should be rejected as laughable and the issue put to rest."
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Baptist deacon's crazy games point teens to faith in Jesus by Michael Leathers Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday CARBONDALE, Ill. (BP)--To understand what makes Brian Lukes tick, all you have to do is read the handwritten note from his teacher on his third-grade report card. "Brian would be better served," she wrote to his parents, "if he concentrated more on his studies instead of organizing games for everyone else."

If only his teacher could see the 46-year-old today. He's still orchestrating games, undoubtedly wilder and crazier than any ideas he had ever conceived for his childhood comrades. These games are part of a regional youth event sponsored each year by First Baptist Church of Cobden, Ill., where Lukes is a deacon, and held in Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's Student Recreation Center. Lukes is the assistant director of facilities and intramural-recreational sports at the center.

The event features 10 games all linked by a common spiritual theme; this time around it's "God's Miracle Games 2000," and each game revolves around a miracle in the Bible. The imaginative activities spring from Lukes' passion to see teenagers have a real relationship with Jesus Christ rather than going through the motions at church.

During the course of this year's games, which began Friday evening, March 17, and went on til nearly 3 on Saturday morning, one team of youth hopped into paddleboats two at a time in the center's indoor pool. Pedaling furiously underneath a spray of water, they crossed to the other side to retrieve a stuffed animal in the Noah's Ark game. The more animals they brought back before time ran out, the more points they received.

Nearby at the indoor track, teens played a game that mirrored the men in the Bible who broke through a roof so their paralytic friend could get to Jesus. Four youth lowered a dummy on a stretcher to their teammates on the track below. They ran with the dummy around the track, shouting out exuberant praises that the makeshift mannequin had been healed, as part of a timed relay.

And over at a racquetball court, more youth frantically rewrote Christian lyrics to "Louie, Louie" -- other groups opted for "Twist and Shout" -- while choreographing a performance to be videotaped and shown later. Props and costumes -- a drum set, toy guitars and a saxophone, plastic microphones and kazoos -- littered the court.

All this spirited chaos takes about seven hours to run its course, the product of three to four months of intense planning. As the high-energy rally inches closer each year, Lukes admitted he sometimes wonders if he's crazy to put so much energy into it. But "the Holy Spirit won't let it go," he said. About 90 adults -- 65 from First Baptist, Cobden, and 25 from the visiting churches -- staffed God's Miracle Games 2000, with Lukes and Rich Moberly, First Baptist's youth director, working together as coordinators.

The rally is in its 12th year, starting out as an open-rec all-nighter to give the church's teens something to do. It soon evolved into an organized recreational event, which later incorporated a central spiritual theme.

Some of the past themes have taught teens about the real meaning of Christmas, the reality of the resurrection and that there is no such thing as luck, Lukes said. First Baptist, Cobden, commits $1,500 to the outreach, with donations and an admission charge picking up the rest of the costs. Students came from 10 other churches, including Methodists, Catholics, Pentecostals and Nazarenes.

After serving 65 pounds of sloppy Joes and 250 baked potatoes to hungry teens, this year's event opened with worship and singing, led by a contemporary group called Seven Days, and an evangelical message from John Windings, pastor of a church in Olmstead who also is a deacon at First Baptist, Cobden.

Windings told the teens that miracles were not just events that happened a long time ago in the Bible, but still happen today when people turn their lives over to Jesus Christ. Five youth made decisions to become Christians at that time; two others who would make their commitments during the course of the games would join them. Many other Christian youth rededicated their lives to God.

To keep the games organized, workers divided the youth into 10 teams. Each team started at a different game, rotating to a new one every 20 minutes when an air horn trumpeted the signal. Often starting out with a brief devotion, each game had an assigned memory verse that youth had to recite during most of the games to earn points.

As part of a game that reflected the time when Peter caught an abundance of fish in his boat after obeying Jesus, the teens first watched a clip from the widely used "Jesus" video depicting the biblical account. Then they marched to two canoes in the pool, taking turns casting a net into the water to try and snag plastic-foam cylinders, red and blue plastic boards and two bobbing duck decoys -- the latter being top point prizes. "We need more ducks!" a frantic team captain, Leslie Chapman of First Baptist, Cobden, screamed at her young teammates. "Go for the ducks!"

Another game, based on Jesus feeding 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and some fish, was a timed relay race. A team member ran to the end of a gym, recited the memory verse and raced back with a basket of sandwiches that team members had to eat before going back for another helping. It sounds simple enough, but the catch was in the ingredients. Sardines and peanut butter were wedged between some bread slices. Others contained Tabasco sauce and pickles. Each team ate five loaves of bread and a couple of fish sandwiches. And one adventurous soul, Danny Ingold of First Baptist, Cobden, earned bonus points for his team by volunteering to swallow a live goldfish.

In a take on a haunted house, youth crawled and worked their way through a maze of black plastic draped throughout a darkened room. Distorted, metallic music blaring through speakers enhanced the creepy atmosphere. Waiting for them in the center, in an eerie lair filled with chemical fog and green light, was a wild man possessed by a legion of demons, before Jesus had healed him by sending the demons into a herd of kamikaze swine. The sight of the man-matted hair, tattered shorts and self-inflicted wounds courtesy of stage makeup-frightened several youth.

At the end of the course, the teens could kiss a baby pig, rousted from his slumber for each group, for a whopping 500 points. They also earned points for reciting their memory verse while imitating Porky Pig.

The most meaningful game on the program for Lukes wasn't even a game at all. The stop, called "No Greater Love," was in the dance studio, where Lukes waited with a set of metal spikes. Asking the teens to hold the spikes for at least 30 seconds, he showed them another clip from the Jesus video, in which Jesus was whipped and beaten, carried his cross to Calvary and was nailed into place by Roman soldiers.

That was the price Jesus was willing to pay to atone for the sins of everyone, Lukes said. "Did you hear John ask you to become a Baptist? No," he said, referring to the message earlier in the evening. "Did you hear John ask you to become a Catholic? No." Christianity is more than belonging to a manmade denomination, he said, challenging them "to look inside of you" to see if they had surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ.

As everyone lowered their heads and closed their eyes, Lukes urged the teens to raise their hands if they wanted to become Christians. Slowly, one young man lifted his hand into the air. A counselor walked up to him and led him out of the room. Two more raised their hands when Lukes asked for Christian teens to lift their hands if they wanted to rededicate their lives to God.

After all the games were wrapped up, the teens and most of the adults -- the others were busy cleaning up the aftermath -- met for the final rally. Some youth rested their drowsy heads on the long tables as a large-screen TV played the music videos conceived in the racquetball court. After the top three teams received their prizes, the seven youth who had given their lives to Jesus Christ came forward, greeted by thunderous applause, in unison, from their peers.

For Lukes, that's what these games are all about. And now that it's all over, he can sit back and relax. Except his mind is already racing with ideas for next year's games based on God's promises.

Additional photos posted in the BP Photo Library. Photo titles: LUKES INTO IT and TEST TUBES. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Case for the resurrection presented to 'ladies and gentlemen of the jury' by Rebecca Megli Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary students were addressed as the "ladies and gentlemen of the jury" as Michael Whitehead provided evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

Whitehead, interim president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has practiced law in Kansas City, Mo., for 25 years.

Before making his case, Whitehead explained how Harvard law professor Simon Greenleaf came to the realization in the mid-1800s that the resurrection of Jesus is true. Greenleaf, who authored a three-volume treatise on the law of evidence, was one of the foremost lawyers of the century. As an agnostic, he saw no credible evidence that there is a God until he was challenged by students to apply the rules of evidence to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Greenleaf took the dare, and set out to prove the simple premise that "dead men stay dead."

To demonstrate how Greenleaf came to his conclusion, Whitehead asked his chapel audience March 30 to act as the jury and to treat the gospel accounts as eyeball witness testimony given by deposition in a courtroom on the legal issue of "what happened to the dead body of Jesus?" Whitehead explained that the rules of evidence allow deposition testimony, even of dead witnesses, as well as "ancient documents more than 20 years old" under exceptions to the hearsay rule.

Calling his "first witness," referring to John 19:38-42, Whitehead noted the "preparations" of the body of Jesus. The passage outlines the burial custom of the Jews -- strips of linen were wrapped around the body interwoven, in this case, with 100 pounds of spices. Basically, Jesus' body was in a 100-pound body cast, Whitehead said.

The next witness was Mark, who stated in chapter 15, verse 46, of his deposition that Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb sealed with "an extremely large stone" that would take 20 men to move. Whitehead quoted lawyer-engineer J. Frank Morrison that the rock may have weighed one and a half to two tons. These were the "protections" given to the body of Jesus, Whitehead noted.

The third witness was Matthew, chapter 27, verses 62-66, regarding the "precautions" taken by Jesus' enemies. Highly trained Roman guards guarded the tomb and the seal of Rome was affixed to the stone. The death penalty was certain for any trespasser and for the guard unit if the seal were ever broken.

Yet, in spite of the preparations, the protections and the precautions, the facts in evidence are that the stone was rolled far away from the entrance on the Sunday morning, and the body was gone. So, Whitehead asked, "What happened to the body?"

The first theory ever offered was labeled by Whitehead as "the body snatchers theory," that the friends of Jesus must have stolen the body. In fact, Matthew's "deposition" was cited that the guards later testified that "while they were asleep" the disciples stole the body. Whitehead called the guards' story "bought and paid for testimony" because it is "self-impeaching." The guards said they were asleep, so how could they know what happened? But if they were asleep, they failed at the guard and would die.

A second theory was called the "swoon theory," made popular by the book, "The Passover Plot." The theory, as recapped by Whitehead, holds that maybe Jesus didn't really die but was drugged so he would look dead. He was put in the tomb, where the cool air revived him. He then escaped from the tomb and was mistaken for a risen Savior.

But, Whitehead asked, what about the testimony in John 19:33-34 that Jesus was pierced in the side with a spear, and that blood and water flowed out? Modern physiologists know this is proof of death, Whitehead said, adding that the Roman guards were professional executioners who knew death, and Jesus was dead.

Beyond this, the swoon theory ignores the other facts in evidence regarding the 100-pound body cast left behind on the slab, the two-ton boulder and the equivalent of a Green Beret unit guarding the tomb and the Roman seal with their lives, Whitehead said.

The resurrection theory, based on the disciples' testimonies, is the only one that fits all the facts and evidence, Whitehead said.

The disciples died martyrs' deaths to attest to their testimony that Jesus was dead on Friday and alive again on Sunday and for 40 days thereafter, Whitehead said. Jesus said he did it because he is God, dying for man's sin, offering resurrection life eternally for all who will receive him, Whitehead recounted.

When Greenleaf realized that the evidence proves Jesus is God, he received Christ as Savior and Lord and it changed his life, Whitehead said. "If Jesus was alive again in 33 A.D.," Whitehead concluded, "he's alive today because he is God. You can receive him by repentance and faith. That will change your life and that is the message of Easter."

Megli is a newswriter at Midwestern Seminary.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- From SBC leaders to local churches, new vocal group gains a hearing by Bryan Cribb Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Paige Patterson probably doesn't get serenaded from hotel balconies often. Neither do the Boyce Singers often sing to Southern Baptist Convention presidents.

But last September, a chance encounter with the SBC president provided this group of vocalists from the James P. Boyce College of the Bible in Louisville, Ky., with a rare concert opportunity. Standing on an overhang of a Lynchburg, Va., hotel, the Boyce Singers presented Patterson with an a cappella performance.

"We introduced ourselves, and we ended up singing one of our songs for him," said Jason Cummings, student leader of the Singers. "After we finished we prayed for Dr. Patterson and his leadership. ... It was a great privilege to minister in this way."

Since their formation in August, though, the ministry of these seven singers from the undergraduate school of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has extended far beyond impromptu performances. In fact, the students have lifted voices and spirits everywhere they've performed.

"The team has a threefold purpose," explained Cummings, of Kansas City, Mo. "One is, first and foremost, to honor and glorify Christ in everything we do. Two is to edify and minister to the local church. And three is to recruit others for the harvest."

Now on almost a weekly basis, students Cummings, Rachel Condon, Tiffany Halbin, Chris Lasley, Chad Pearce, Alicia Ruark, Nicole Sparling and music director Eric Campbell seek to fulfill this threefold purpose in churches across the country.

Their ministry has already reached seven states through 25 performances just this academic year. And their impact on individuals has been nothing short of spectacular, said David Adams, dean of students for Boyce College and director of the Singers.

"Scores have responded to invitations in a variety of settings -- some for salvation, some for the call to ministry, many to make things right in their relationship with God," Adams said. "God using the group has been very inspiring."

Though they perform for all ages, their concerts have specifically targeted teenagers in local congregations. Through performances at youth rallies and numerous churches, the team has seen the lives of several youth changed dramatically.

"Having a team come into a church like that brings a new set of faces to a youth group," said Sparling, of Fairborn, Ohio. "People ask you questions about things that they may not ask other people who are there all the time."

One rally in particular resulted in several youth dedicating their lives to full-time ministry. This fits perfectly with the team's third goal -- recruitment of workers for the harvest.

Adams hopes the Singers' efforts "will translate into the team being used of God to see new students come to our school."

In fact, last year's team recruited a current Boyce Singer after a concert in Wichita, Kan.

The Singers do not limit themselves to ministry to youth, though. They have sung at several seminary events, including chapel services and a church planting fellowship.

The team has also had some rather unusual singing opportunities, including their performance to Patterson. Most recently, the Singers appeared for one hour on WJIE-FM -- a Louisville Christian radio station.

These unique opportunities do not divert the Singers from their principle passion -- ministering to the church.

"When you minister in a local church, you have a limited number of people that you can reach," Sparling explained. "But when you're on the road you have a lot more people around you."

"We hope that as a result of the team's ministry believers will be blessed and a love for the church affirmed," Adams added.

To minister in churches, the team travels extensively -- sometimes hitting the road for three or four weekends a month. This strenuous touring schedule can test the time management skills of even the best students.

"I'm graduating in May, and I'm getting married in June, and I'm in the Singers," Sparling said. "It's hard, but you know what, it's worth it because you have such an active ministry."

The team members' travels also allow them to minister to host families.

"Early in the year, one of our team members who was staying at a host family actually led one of the youth in that home to the Lord," said Halbin, of Bluford, Ill.

Adams has had the opportunity to go along on many of the Singers' trips. In these settings is where he witnesses the team's true colors.

"The lives of the members is what has been the greatest blessing," said Adams, who has traveled to four different states with the Singers. "As I have gotten to know each member, I have seen in them a genuine love for Christ and a desire to be used by him.

"Their ministry on the platform is merely an outflow of their walk with Christ. I feel very humbled to have been given the opportunity to minister with them in a variety of settings."

Though the Singers are booked for the remainder of the year, anyone interested in scheduling a concert for next year may contact Cummings at (502) 897-4190 or (502) 897-4534.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- First-ever worship congress held by Latin American Baptists by Wendy Ryan Date: April 06, 2000 - Thursday NITEROI, Brazil (BP)--More than 2,000 pastors, musicians, theologians and laypeople from 18 countries packed First Baptist Church, Niteroi, Brazil, for a first-ever Latin American Baptist congress on worship, March 15-18.

The meeting included worship filled with vibrant praise and searching questions on worship styles, including content and music.

Also, the congress provided the setting for a reconciliation between two Brazilian Baptist bodies that formerly had been divided over their differing worship styles.

The congress was sponsored by the Baptist World Alliance's study and research division and the Union of Baptists in Latin America.

When the congress concluded, "The Niteroi Declaration on Worship" adopted by the participants asked Latin American Baptist churches to center their worship "upon God and His glory" and music leaders to constantly seek for "true Christian worship."

Each day, three different styles of worship were modeled -- traditional, contemporary and renewal/charismatic. Various aspects of worship were addressed in afternoon workshops. Each evening service was a blend of classical, gospel and contemporary songs, liturgical dance, Latin American indigenous music and preaching.

Nilson Fanini, BWA president and pastor of the host church, set a theme in the opening address that was repeated daily. "Nothing can be done without Jesus in the center," he said.

"We do not worship traditions or styles, we worship Almighty God," said Tony Cupit, director of the BWA study and research division, who urged the participants "not to demonize the way others worship."

"We may not embrace each style," Cupit said, "but let there be no worship wars. Let us celebrate that God by his Spirit has given others insights on worship."

Tomas Mackey, a theology professor at the Baptist seminary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, laid a theological foundation for worship. "To worship is to be conscious of God," Mackey said, "to open our hearts to his voice, do his will, obey his Word."

Worship "lifts up our lives to God and causes us to recognize our dependence on God," Mackey continued, describing worship as seeking and finding. "In adoration we seek and God allows us to find him. This is not just a philosophical thought, it is an experience," Mackey said.

Jorge Aguillera, a professor at the Baptist seminary in Lima, Peru, said the Holy Spirit equips the church as an instrument of worship. Prayer and praise are essential ingredients of worship, he said, cautioning against worshiping a particular form of worship and using personal experiences to translate the Bible.

Roberto Alves de Souza, president of the Baptist Seminary of Southern Brazil, urged that more attention be paid to worship in theological seminaries. Seminaries need to teach a biblical view of worship, he said, noting that God is looking for worship that embodies spirit and in truth.

Preaching at the contemporary worship service, pastor Wander Ferreira Gomes of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pointed out that contemporary worship, which is more informal, "does not exclude Bible." While the order of worship is important, believers must not worship the order because the Holy Spirit will sometimes change the order, Gomes said, describing the service as a vehicle of communication with the living God.

Rosali Ramirez, a Guatemala City pastor and president of the Union of Baptists in Latin America, who spoke at the traditional celebration, said love is "the foundation of our worship, and that includes love for God and for those he has created."

Samuel Escobar, a professor at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary near Philadelphia and president of the United Bible Societies, gave an overview of Baptist worship. All of Baptist worship has been influenced by the worldwide movement of worship in the Wesleyan, Lutheran and even the Catholic Church, said Escobar, a native Peruvian.

Escobar pointed out that the history of hymns evidence the particular renewal emphasis of the authors. For example, Methodist Charles Wesley wrote hymns that reflected his powerful conversion experience, while Calvinists emphasized the Psalms since they were the songs of God and not humans.

Rather than focus on forms of worship, Escobar said the church needs to find ways to respond to such modern-day challenges as the great interest in religion that is not necessarily Christian as well as new religions.

Denton Lotz, BWA general secretary, said there is a mighty force of the Holy Spirit moving all over the world, and he reminded the congress that governments cannot prevent worship. Although many believers do not have the freedom to worship, they do so anyway, because no human institution can deny the movement of the Spirit in the life of the church and believers, Lotz said.

Lotz described two kinds of worship, priestly and prophetic. Priestly worship is praise and worship to God while prophetic worship speaks the Word of God and brings people to repentance, Lotz said, noting, "Baptists must bring both celebration and prophesy together.

"Celebration without proclamation becomes emotionalism and proclamation without celebration becomes rationalism," Lotz said.

One of the most memorable moments of the congress came in a reconciliation between two Brazilian BWA member bodies.

Thirty-five years ago, 14 churches of the Batista Nacionales Churches (National Baptist Convention) were expelled from the Baptist Convention of Brazil because of their different worship style influenced greatly by the charismatic movement. Fanini welcomed the president of the convention, Eneas Tognini, in the very church where they had been voted out.

The Batista Nacionales became a BWA member in 1997 and today has 3,000 congregations with 200,000-plus members.

"This is a historic moment," said Fausto Aguiar de Vasconcelos, BWA vice president and pastor of First Baptist Church, Rio de Janeiro, who welcomed Tognini to the pulpit. "I remember as a boy 14 years old, sitting in the back of this church with my parents, when the convention expelled Tognini's group."

Said Tognini, "I believe what is happening is a miracle of the Holy Spirit, because we don't see it as two conventions, only one, the Brazilian convention."