
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/07/2005

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Conn. Senate passes same-sex civil unions bill; opponents hope it's defeated in House
by Staff
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

HARTFORD, Conn. (BP)--Bucking a nationwide trend, the Connecticut Senate passed a same-sex civil unions bill April 6 with ease, but opponents held out hope that it still could be defeated in the House.

The bill would make Connecticut the second state in the country to legalize same-sex civil unions and the first to do so voluntarily. Vermont's legislature legalized civil unions following a court order.

Civil unions grant homosexual couples many of the same legal benefits of marriage without using the word "marriage." California has something similar but calls them "domestic partnerships."

The bill passed the Connecticut Senate, 27-9, receiving support from 21 Democrats and six Republicans. Six Republicans and three Democrats voted against it.

It now moves to the state House, where it is favored to pass before going to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who has indicated her support for civil unions.

Rell and Senate Republicans favored amending the bill so that it explicitly bans same-sex "marriage." Connecticut has no such law. But such an amendment failed on a 23-13 vote.

The margin in the Senate is veto-proof. Opponents, though, hope the bill either is defeated in the House or that Rell vetoes it and the House fails to override her veto.

"We believe we have a very good chance to stop this in the House," Brian Brown, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, said, according to the Hartford Courant.

The newspaper reported that the bill's supporters say they already have the votes for passage in the House.

"This is just the beginning of an ever-widening circle of rights toward more inclusion, not less inclusion," state Sen. Bill Finch, a Democrat who supported the bill, said, according the Connecticut Post.

Even though the bill is groundbreaking, many, including Finch, vowed to continue fighting for same-sex "marriage." A "gay marriage" bill failed to make it out of a committee, although a lawsuit in state court seeks same-sex "marriage" legalization.

"It's a good compromise and I'm proud to be a part of it," Finch said. "This is great, it's historic, but it's not equality."

Conservatives and traditionalists oppose the bill and say civil unions are virtually identical to same-sex "marriage."

"This is marriage by a different name. This is same-sex marriage by a different name," Brown said, according to the Associated Press.

Brown is urging Rell to veto the bill, assuming it passes the House.

"If she truly believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, she has to veto this bill," he said.

The bill passed one day after Kansans overwhelmingly passed by a margin of 70-30 percent a state constitutional amendment banning both same-sex "marriage" and civil unions.

Kansas became the 18th state to pass a marriage amendment; many of them also ban civil unions. The amendments have passed with an average of 70.2 percent of the vote, with only two (Michigan and Oregon) receiving less than 60 percent support. Three more states will vote on marriage amendments next year, and approximately 15 others are considering them.

Apparently, Connecticut voters oppose same-sex "marriage," even though they support civil unions. A Quinnipiac University poll released April 7 showed Connecticut voters opposing "gay marriage" by a margin of 53-42 percent but supporting civil unions by a 56-37 percent margin. The opposition to same-sex "marriage" is three points higher than it was last June, while the support for civil unions is three points lower. The poll of 1,541 voters was conducted March 29 to April 4.
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For more information about the national debate over same-sex "marriage," visit www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage.


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Welch meets Nashville mayor, voices prayer for city & SBC
by Michael Foust
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch met with Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell April 5 and asked him to pray for the convention in the weeks leading up to the SBC’s June 21-22 in the state’s capital city.

Welch and Purcell met in the mayor's office alongside Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, and James T. Draper Jr., president of LifeWay Christian Resources, for about 30 minutes.

"Southern Baptists have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the city of Nashville," Welch said afterward, adding that he wants to make the relationship "stronger and stronger."

Purcell, a professing Christian, will deliver the city's welcoming remarks at the annual meeting in Nashville, while recording artist Ricky Skaggs, a Southern Baptist, will deliver the convention's response.

During the meeting the men paused to allow Welch to pray for Purcell in his work as mayor and to pray for the city and the upcoming SBC meeting. Welch also asked Purcell for his prayers for the SBC sessions.

"This part of the world has some of the most loving and gracious people in all of the United States and the world, and we want to foster that relationship," Welch told Baptist Press. “I wanted to personally meet and say hello to the mayor, since he is going to give our welcome."

Welch is pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., but moved temporarily to Nashville in late February to speak to area churches and encourage participation in the convention -- specifically in the Crossover evangelistic thrust set for June 18, when thousands of people will take to the streets to spread the Gospel.

"I think we have the potential of having one of the most thrilling meetings we've had in a long, long time," he said.

Welch will move back to Daytona Beach in early May. By then, he will have spoken to around 100 churches and groups throughout middle Tennessee.

"My heart's desire for this meeting is that the pastors and the people of these churches will feel … encouraged because, after all, the Southern Baptist Convention is made up of pastors and people in local churches," Welch said.

"My going out there &#91;to speaking engagements&#93;, moving around to large places and small places, and places that are rural and places within the city is to try to communicate the fact that we're all important in the Kingdom of God and in this convention."
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Resolutions Committee appointed for Nashville SBC meeting
by Staff
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--SBC President Bobby Welch has named the members of the Resolutions Committee who will serve during the June 21-22 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn.

Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., appointed Gene Mims, interim pastor of College Heights Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tenn., as committee chairman.

Welch’s other appointees, in alphabetical order, are:

-- Penna Dexter, radio talk show host and member of Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano, Texas.

-- T.C. French, pastor of Jefferson Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, La.

-- Gary Ledbetter, editor of the Southern Baptist Texan, Dallas, and member of Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, Texas.

-- Greg Mathis, pastor of Mud Creek Baptist Church, Hendersonville, N.C., and a member of the SBC Executive Committee.

-- Jeff Moore, pastor of First Baptist Church, Altus, Okla., and a member of the SBC Executive Committee.

-- Barbara O'Chester, member of Great Hills Baptist Church, Austin, Texas.

-- Joseph Rogers, pastor of First Baptist Church, White House, Tenn.

-- Ida South, retired educator, member of First Baptist Church, Mathiston, Miss., and a member of the SBC Executive Committee.

-- David Wilson, pastor of Judson Baptist Church, Nashville, Tenn.

The committee’s composition must include at least two members who served the previous year, with Dexter and O’Chester meeting this requirement. Bylaw 20 has long required that the committee include at least three SBC Executive Committee members. This year they are Mathis, Moore and South.

The naming of the Resolutions Committee in early April is in keeping with an amendment to SBC Bylaw 20 approved during the 2002 SBC annual meeting in St. Louis, which also entailed various changes to the resolution submission procedure. The changes include the following:

-- Proposed resolutions may be submitted as early as April 15 but no later than 15 days prior to the SBC annual meeting, giving the Resolutions Committee a two-week period in which to consider submissions. Resolutions may no longer be submitted during the annual meeting.

-- Proposed resolutions must be accompanied by a letter from a church qualified to send a messenger to the SBC annual meeting certifying that the individual submitting the resolution is a member in good standing.

-- Proposed resolutions preferably should be submitted by e-mail or mailed to the Resolutions Committee in care of the SBC Executive Committee. The drafts must be typewritten, titled, dated and include complete contact information for the person and his or her church.

-- No person will be allowed to submit more than three resolutions per year.

-- If a properly submitted resolution is not forwarded by the Resolutions Committee to the SBC annual meeting, a two-thirds vote of messengers would be required to bring the proposed resolution to the convention floor.
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All resolutions adopted by the SBC can be searched and read on the Web at http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/AMResSearch.asp.


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Elliff imparts Seven Pillars for strong families at Southeastern
by Kyle Smith
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--After he witnessed his parents divorce after 43 years of marriage, Tom Elliff could not bear to watch another marriage end in divorce. His search for answers led him to seven principles from Scripture that he now imparts to every couple he counsels before marriage, principles for fostering strong, secure and Christ-centered marriages.

Elliff, pastor of the Oklahoma City-area First Southern Baptist Church in Del City and chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s former Council on Family Life, brought his “Kingdom Families” conference to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary April 5. Elliff also is a former SBC president.

More than a thousand students and guests heard Elliff’s “Seven Pillars” approach to building strong families based on God’s Word that the SBC adopted in 2002 with its Kingdom Families initiative.

His Seven Pillars are: honoring God’s authority, respecting human life, exercising moral purity, serving the church, using time wisely, practicing biblical stewardship and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When these principles are in place in a marriage, Elliff noted, “You couldn’t blow that marriage up with dynamite. If not, you couldn’t keep it together with Super Glue.”

If the results of Elliff’s ministry are any indication, the principles he shares from God’s Word are working. In his 30-plus years of premarital counseling, he knows of only three couples he has counseled who have ended their marriages in divorce.

The key, Elliff said, was his decision not to marry couples without making sure that they were believers and that they intended to live their lives according to the principles of God’s Word.

“I had to decide,” Elliff said, “if I was going to marry everybody that came down the road or follow God’s Word. I had to decide whether I would be part of the ceremony or invest myself in the couple’s life.”

For Elliff, the choice was clear, and the results have followed. He encouraged the seminary audience that they, too, could cultivate God-honoring marriages and families in their churches with the understanding that no marriage can be successful if the couple does not know Jesus as Savior.

“You can go to all the marriage conferences,” he said, “but as far as I’m concerned, you’re on a journey to nowhere with anybody &#91;that you counsel&#93; if they don’t know Jesus as Savior. It all begins with knowing Christ personally. When you’re born again, you have the very first, but most essential, element for a good marriage. Once you do, there’s no problem God can’t fix.”

Elliff’s seminar also covered such topics such as communication, forgiveness and proper decision-making, ingredients that must be in place if a marriage is to commend the Gospel. He challenged students to make honoring Christ the goal of their marriages and building strong churches the goal of their ministries.

“Your family can become the most winsome, telling testimony of what it means to know Jesus on your block,” Elliff said. “Your church can become known as a haven for people’s lives that have been lacerated by divorce. You grow strong churches by growing strong families.”
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3 deans, 17 new faculty elected by Southwestern trustees
by Gregory Tomlin
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary elected three deans and 17 new faculty members during their April 4-5 meeting at the Fort Worth, Texas, campus.

Trustees also voted to designate the seminary's new school of evangelism and missions as the "Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions."

Ted Stone, a trustee from North Carolina, brought the motion to name the school in honor of the longtime faculty member, describing Fish as "humble and self-effacing," but noting, "I know in my heart that more foreign missionaries, home missionaries, more educators and more pastors have sat at the feet of Roy Fish than any other evangelism professor.

"He is sending out students who have a lasting burden for lost people," Stone said.

"The motion I have made is not to name a building. It is to name a school and its programs. I know Roy Fish has fanned the flame of evangelism in the hearts of thousands and thousands and they have gone out and won millions for Jesus Christ," Stone said. "Some people say that evangelism has died. I can tell you it has not died in the heart of Roy Fish or those whom he has taught."

The seminary's three new deans will oversee The College at Southwestern, the seminary's new undergraduate institution; its new Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions; and the school of church music.

"I don't know of another time when three deans have been elected in a single day," Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson said.

Emir Caner, a former Muslim, was elected dean of The College at Southwestern. Born the son of a mosque leader in Columbus, Ohio, Caner later became a follower of Jesus Christ. After completing his master of divinity degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and doctor of philosophy degree at the University of Texas at Arlington, he served as associate dean of Southeastern's undergraduate institution.

Caner, 38, is a sought-after speaker and author or coauthor of several books, including "Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs," "More than a Prophet: An Insider's Response to Muslim Beliefs about Jesus and Christianity," "Out of the Crescent Shadows: Leading Muslim Women into the Light of Christ" and "Christian Jihad: When We Killed in the Name of Christ."

Patterson said that The College at Southwestern would grow into a "large college" under the leadership of Caner, whom he characterized as a "colorful figure." Caner also will serve as professor of history.

Trustees elected Keith Eitel as the first dean of the Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, which is set to admit its first students this summer. Eitel is well-known in missiology circles. His book, "Paradigm Wars: The Southern Baptist International Mission Board Faces the Third Millennium," has been an influential work in the continuing discussion about how the world's largest international missionary-sending organization approaches its task.

Eitel, 50, is a former career international missionary who has extensive experience in pastoring churches in addition to his academic career. He comes to Southwestern from Southeastern Seminary where he has been a professor of Christian missions since 1992. His appointment at Southwestern includes an assignment as professor of missions.

Eitel holds a doctorate of theology degree from the University of South Africa; a doctorate of missiology degree from the Chicago-area Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; a master of arts degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas; and a bachelor of arts degree from Dallas Baptist University.

Stephen Johnson, 29, was elected dean and associate professor of music in the seminary's school of church music. Johnson and his wife, Michelle, both completed their doctorates in music arts in 2004. Johnson currently is assistant professor of composition at The Master's College in Santa Clara, Calif.

Johnson was the winner of the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmaster's Association composition competition in 1998. He also was selected as the winner of the 2004 Klienman Competition Contest. He is a member of the American Composers Forum, Society of Composers, Inc. and BMI.

Johnson holds a doctoral degree from the University of Southern California; master of music degree from DePaul University in Chicago; and a bachelor of music degree from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

The remainder of the new faculty members will fill posts at the seminary's Fort Worth, Texas, campus, at the Havard School for Theological Studies in Houston, and in The College at Southwestern.

"You have the faculty in place that the seminary will need for the future," Patterson told the trustees. "They are a unique group, a group of scholars committed to writing on two different levels -- for the academy and for the local church."

Patterson reported on the health of the seminary in his semiannual trustee report. He said the spiritual nurture of the students at the seminary is progressing. "Spiritual nurture is an area where you are never fully satisfied, but students are in high gear," Patterson said. "On the whole you will find them an excited group, ready to go on mission for the Lord."

The students, Patterson said, have taken up the challenge of going to Cuba, Siberia and to the Nyika people of Zambia. In Cuba, students will focus on developing leadership for the Eastern and Western Baptist conventions in the country. Patterson said all of the international mission trips have a full complement of students ready to travel.

Dorothy Patterson reported that the renovations and expansion of Pecan Manor, the president's home, have been completed. The work was made possible by a donor in east Texas.

"Cooperative Program dollars are not going to the addition.... Not everyone understands the value of hospitality. But we must exhibit a spirit of New Testament hospitality on this campus."

She called the president's home "as open a house as you will find on the earth."

The trustees' institutional advancement committee nominated three couples to receive the seminary's L.R. Scarborough Award. The awards will be given to Edwin and Inez Crawford. Edwin Crawford, who died last year, served as the seminary's director of development from 1974-83 and was instrumental in obtaining funding for the seminary's Houston campus and the recreation aerobics center on the Fort Worth campus.

The award will also be given to Carlyle B. Hayes and Stanton Nash and their wives. Carlyle Hayes served as director of development from 1988-92 and Nash served as director of planned giving from 1981-92.

"These gentlemen are being recommended for this award because all three, after completion of their employment as fulltime development officers, continued to visit with donors at their own expense, encouraging those donors to continue effective contributions to the seminary," said Jack Terry, vice president of institutional advancement.

In other business, trustees:

-- re-elected David Galvan as trustee chairman; T. Van McClain as vice chairman; and R.E. Smith as secretary. "I am always humbled by your trust," Galvan said. "I never forget who I am and where the Lord brought me from. We are really all here by grace. I thank you for your trust."

-- approved a new master plan that would locate the center of the campus at the Robert Naylor Student Center, and which calls for a new chapel and pedestrian mall at the center of campus.

-- adopted a budget of $34.25 million for the 2005-06 academic year, an 8.55 percent increase from the previous year. "We have gone up with the college and other programs, but I believe it is a valid and appropriate budget for the next year," said Greg Kingry, vice president of business services.

-- approved changes to the master of arts in lay ministry and doctor of ministry degrees. Changes to the doctor of ministry program include the revision of majors, the development of yearlong seminars and cohort or mentoring relationships, and a single fee for the entire doctor of ministry program. The program fee covers the cost of the entire program for four years.

-- approved changes to the master of arts in theology degree curriculum, and approved an extension center in Bonn, Germany, where the degree will be offered.

-- approved the curriculum for The College at Southwestern. The curriculum is available at http://college.swbts.edu.
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Former Muslim, El Salvadoran, among 17 new SWBTS faculty
by Brent Thompson
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary elected 17 new faculty members during the trustees’ April 4-5 semiannual meeting on the Fort Worth campus.

The faculty members will serve in all six of the seminary’s schools. New deans for the seminary’s undergraduate college, the school of evangelism and missions and the school of church music were among the 17 faculty members elected.

Following a trend of appointing professors with international perspective, the faculty elected included a Turkish-American church historian, a native of El Salvador, an immigrant from India, two professors from Germany and a professor of education who is a native of South Korea.

THREE DEANS

Emir F. Caner, 38, was elected as the first dean of The College at Southwestern and will also serve as professor of church history. Caner, whose family emigrated from Turkey, was raised a Muslim by a mosque leader in Columbus, Ohio. Caner presently serves as associate dean of the College at Wake Forest, the undergraduate institution of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina.

Keith Eitel, 50, was elected dean of the newly established Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions. He also will serve as professor of missions. Eitel currently serves as professor of missions at Southeastern Seminary.

Stephen P. Johnson, 29, was elected dean and associate professor of music in the seminary’s school of church music. Johnson previously served as assistant professor of composition at the Master’s College in Santa Clara, Calif.

SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

Seminary trustees elected Gerardo Alfaro, 43, as associate professor of systematic theology. Alfaro is the first El Salvadoran to be appointed to the seminary faculty.

Alfaro currently is the director of master programs and a professor in the doctor of theological education program at Seminario Teológico Centroamericano (Central American Theological Seminary) in Guatemala City. In addition to teaching at the graduate level, his ministry experience includes service as associate pastor of La Iglesia Biblica de Cristo Viene in Dallas and as a youth pastor to churches in Guatemala.

Alfaro holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in sacred theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, a master of theology degree and a bachelor of systematic theology degree from Central American Theological Seminary, a bachelor of social science degree from University Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala and a diploma in biblical studies from The Salvadoran Bible Institute in El Salvador.

Two German professors elected to the faculty of Southwestern Seminary’s extension center in Bonn, Germany, are Friedhelm Jung, 47, as professor of systematic theology and Helmuth Pehlke, 62, who was appointed professor of Old Testament.

Jung has served as pastor of The Baptist Church in Bornheim in Bonn, Germany, for the past four years. He has been a professor of German, biblical Greek and church history at the Bibelseminar in Bonn and instructor of Greek at the University of Marburg (officially Philipps-Universität Marburg), the world’s oldest Protestant university.

Jung holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Marburg and the equivalent of a master of divinity degree from St. Chrischona Theological Seminary in Basel, Switzerland.

Pehlke, 62, chairs the department of Old Testament at Freie Theologische Akademie in Giessen, Germany. He was the senior editor of a 42-volume commentary on the Old Testament and has translated several English publications into German, including Eugene Merrill’s “Kingdom for Priests.” Pehlke attended Dallas Theological Seminary, where he earned both a master of theology degree and a doctor of theology degree.

Ishwaran Mudliar, 39, was elected assistant professor of Old Testament. He immigrated to America from India with his family as a 2-year-old child. His family was Hindu but he became a Christian at age 20 and soon after followed God’s call into ministry.

Mudliar returned to India and obtained a bachelor of arts degree from Union Biblical Seminary in Pune, India. He also earned a master of divinity degree from the Chicago-area Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a master of arts degree from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He anticipates completing his Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and northwest Semitic philology at Johns Hopkins this May.

Mudliar has served as an associate pastor of family ministry and outreach and a youth minister. He is currently instructor in Old Testament at Bethel University of the East in Dresher, Pa.

Jason Kenneth Lee, 34, from Shreveport, La., was elected associate professor of church history. Lee currently serves as associate pastor of theology and discipleship at Broadmoor Baptist Church in Shreveport. He previously taught church history at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeastern Seminary.

Lee holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland; a master of divinity degree from New Orleans Seminary; and a bachelor of arts in religion degree from the University of Mobile in Alabama. He is the author of “The Theology of John Smyth.”

Thomas Vann, 58, was elected associate professor of pastoral ministry. He has been teaching at Southwestern Seminary under presidential appointment for the past year.

A former U.S. Army chaplain, Vann holds a doctor of philosophy degree in foundations of education from the University of South Carolina, Columbia.

In addition to completing courses at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School in Fort Jackson, S.C., and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Vann holds three master’s degrees: a master of strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., a master of education from Wayne State University in Detroit and a master of arts in New Testament from Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Mars Hill College in North Carolina.

SCHOOL OF EVANGELISM AND MISSIONS

In addition to the election of Keith Eitel as dean, two more faculty members were elected to the newly established school of evangelism and missions.

Danny Forshee, 40, an evangelist from Keller, Texas, was elected associate professor of evangelism. Through the Danny Forshee Evangelistic Association, Forshee has preached all over the world and has spoken before gatherings of pastors, missionaries, business executives and military personnel.

In addition to having taught evangelism at The Criswell College, Southwestern Seminary and Southeastern Seminary, Forshee has been a pastor, assistant pastor of personal evangelism and youth minister.

Forshee holds a Ph.D. and master of divinity degree from Southwestern Seminary and a bachelor of arts from the University of Mobile.

Trustees elected Tony Maalouf, 50, as associate professor of missions. He has been teaching Islamic studies and missiology at Southwestern under presidential appointment for the past year.

Born in Damascus, Syria, Maalouf was raised in Lebanon the son of a Greek Orthodox father and Catholic mother. He became a Christian through the witness of a friend from Rwanda while he was conducting research toward a Ph.D. in microbiology.

Maalouf holds a master of theology degree and Ph.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the author of “Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God’s Prophetic Plan for Ishmael’s Line.”

THE COLLEGE AT SOUTHWESTERN

Seminary trustees added four faculty members to The College at Southwestern in addition to the election of Emir Caner as dean.

David Paul Bertch, 60, was elected professor of humanities. A resident of Fort Worth, Bertch served at different times as interim president, dean of students and professor of Christian education at the Tyndale Theological Seminary in the Netherlands from 1985-90. Most recently, he has been curriculum director and lead instructor for the Caleb Institute and an adjunct faculty member in the school of education at Texas Christian University.

For more than 30 years, Bertch has been a representative for The Navigators at the area and state level. He is the author of several books, including “The Dynamic Dinosaur of Faith’s History: An Overview of the Personalities, Ideas and Events of the Last 2000 Years” and “Back to the Ancients and True Christian Education: Restoring the Lost Tools of the Liberal Arts.”

Jonathan Kim, 41, was elected associate professor of education. Since 2001, Kim, 41, a native of South Korea, has served as the director of Southwestern’s undergraduate and lay theological studies program. That program has now been subsumed into The College at Southwestern.

Kim has taught at Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., Dallas Baptist University and Southwestern. He has pastored or been on the ministry staff of churches in Texas and California. For two years, Kim was an English instructor and acting chaplain for the Korea Air Command and Staff College in Seoul, Korea.

Kim holds a master of arts in religious education degree and a Ph.D. from Southwestern and a bachelor of arts degree from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo. He has authored or translated into Korean several books and articles, including the Korean translation of “The Prayer of Jesus” by Kenneth Hemphill and the article “Korean Churches and Cultural Mandate” in “21st Century Christian Education of the Korean Baptist Churches.”

Trustees elected Gregory S. Smith, 42, as assistant professor of Bible. Smith currently is assistant to the associate vice president for doctoral studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and children’s pastor at the First Baptist Church of Sellersburg, Ind.

Smith anticipates completing his Ph.D. at Southern Seminary this May. He holds an advanced master of divinity degree from Southern Seminary, a master of arts degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a bachelor of science degree from Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, Institute for Biblical Research and Society of Biblical Literature.

Donald J. Wyrtzen, 62, was appointed as professor of music after serving during the current year under presidential appointment. A talented musician and prolific composer, Wyrtzen has been a vice president at The Benson Company, editor-in-chief at Zondervan’s Singspiration Music, chair of the music department at Dallas Bible College and for 10 years was instructor in hymnology at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Wyrtzen is completing his doctorate in music through the Oxford Graduate School in Dayton, Tenn. He holds a master of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a bachelor of science degree from The King’s College in New York City. He was awarded the Gold Medallion Book Award, ECPA and Angel Media Award for his 2004 book, “A Musician Looks at the Psalms.” 

SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONAL MINISTRIES

Max Barnett, 69, was elected professor of collegiate ministries in the school of educational ministries. Barnett is an accomplished Baptist Student Union director whose ministry has spanned more than 50 years. He has successfully grown and nurtured college student ministries on the campuses of Texas A&M in College Station and University of Oklahoma in Norman, the largest public universities in those respective states.

Barnett holds a bachelor of science degree from Texas A&M and a master of divinity degree from Southwestern. He is the author of “A Guide for Making Disciples on College Campuses.”

HAVARD SCHOOL FOR THEOLOGICAL STUDIES, HOUSTON

Benjamin B. Phillips, 34, was elected assistant professor of systematic theology. Phillips has served as an adjunct professor at Southwestern and Dallas Theological Seminary for the past year.

Phillips holds a master of divinity degree and Ph.D. from Southwestern and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Maryland in College Park. For five years he was senior pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Rhome, Texas. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, American Academy of Religion and the Evangelical Philosophical Society.
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Cliff Barrows shares crusade memories at seminary hymn sing
by Jeff Robinson
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Cliff Barrows will never forget the evening that Billy Graham’s Gospel invitation led the famous evangelist to fear for his safety.

Graham had just finished preaching the Gospel message in a stadium in Budapest in the late 1980s. As the opening notes of “Just As I Am” began, a majority of the 80,000 attendees made a beeline for the platform.

Many sprinted. Some jogged. Others walked at a rapid pace. Graham began to fear for his safety. Graham workers sought to meet the literature demands of the throng.

“It frightened Bill,” Barrows said. “In fact, he tried to stop them. He did say, ‘Stop!’ through the interpreter. They just jammed so tight. We had no way of getting to them with the literature.

“We had prepared thousands upon thousands of packets with the `Beginning with Christ’ Bible study and the Gospel of John and the decision cards in little plastic bags with a pencil so if it rained they would be protected. We literally stood on the platform and threw the material to the people. They were reaching up and grabbing it. It was just a very moving thing.”

Barrows, 81, worship leader for the Graham crusades for six decades, along with longtime Graham pianist John Innes and organist Don Hustad shared such crusade memories during Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s ninth annual community hymn sing March 21 in Alumni Memorial Chapel on the Louisville, Ky., campus.

Barrows served as music leader for the hymn sing while Innes played the piano and Hustad the organ, with more than 1,000 people in attendance.

Innes, who joined the Graham team in 1965, said his most memorable crusade moments have come during Graham’s many evangelistic efforts overseas.

“I remember when we were in Moscow one night when the Red Army chorus sang and then when the invitation was given, a lot of those guys in the chorus came forward,” Innes said.

“That was incredible when you think about the history of the place, and here we were in the middle of Russia. It was moving that in these other cultures, the Gospel was preached and people responded with such incredible fervor and in such large numbers.”

Barrows donated a large collection of hymnals to Southern Seminary in 2003 at the behest of Hustad, who has served for more than 30 years as professor of church music at Southern.

Barrows, who began working with Graham in 1945 during his days with Youth for Christ, recalled a crusade at Olympic Stadium in Berlin in 1954, less than a decade after the fall of Hitler and the Third Reich.

At the conclusion of his sermon, Graham asked all who wanted to trust in Christ for salvation to stand. More than 50,000 Germans rose to their feet. Believing they misunderstood his instructions, Graham asked the crowd to sit down. After setting forth the Gospel and the cost of discipleship more clearly, Graham again asked those seeking Christ to rise. Again 50,000 stood.

A bit frustrated, Graham seated them again and attempted to give clearer instructions and, again, more than 50,000 came to their feet, Barrows said.

“It was incredible,” Barrows said. “Billy was convinced that he had not been clear the first two times but it became evident by the third time that they understood the Gospel.”

Hustad joined the Graham team in 1960 and remained until 1967, the year he joined the faculty at Southern Seminary. Hustad had taught music at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for many years when he received the opportunity of join the Graham team. He spent seven years playing fulltime for Graham crusades and another 15 playing part-time.

“Every individual who has had such an invitation understands that none of us is worthy of such a privilege,” Hustad said. “For one thing, it contributes much more to our own development than we can possibly bring to it.... It was a great privilege to be part of the Graham team.”

Barrows and Innes also spoke of Graham’s favorite crusade hymns, naming “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “And Can It Be” at the head of the evangelist’s list.

While the 86-year-old Graham has battled Parkinson’s disease and other health problems for much of the past decade, Barrows said he is set for yet another crusade later this spring, scheduled for June 24-26 in New York City. It will be the latest in what has become a series of “final crusades” for Graham, Barrows said, laughing.

“He just had a checkup at Mayo Clinic and his mind is keen, his voice is strong and his mental being is well,” Barrows said. “The doctors have been encouraging to him that he must be able to get along much better in the days to come. He is excited about anticipating one more crusade.

“We have had eight ‘last’ crusades because over the years I thought Bill would not be able to do another one ... but we are anticipating the next crusade in June 24-26 in New York City.”
--30--


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WORLDVIEW: John Paul II & lessons for evangelicals
by Erich Bridges
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Warned of the power of the Roman Catholic Church in lands he plotted to enslave, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin once famously sneered, "How many divisions does the pope command?"

Enough divisions, as it turned out, to help bring down communism in Europe. Divisions -- not of soldiers and tanks -- but of faith, courage and the hunger for freedom.

Their general: an unarmed Polish freedom fighter named Karol Wojtyla. 

He survived the near-destruction of his beloved Poland by the Nazis, only to see it colonized by the communists. He saw his Jewish friends and Catholic university professors sent to Auschwitz -– the factory of death near his hometown -- and other concentration camps. 

Alone in the world after the deaths of his parents and only brother, he pounded rocks in a limestone quarry under Nazi rule, gaining rough worker’s hands and hard muscles. He risked his life daily by studying secretly for the priesthood, helping shelter Jews and resisting Nazism as a member of an underground drama group. Athlete, poet, playwright, actor, scholar, intellectual, mystic -- he bloomed like a flower in a prison yard. 

After ordination as a priest, he quickly rose through the clerical ranks as bishop, archbishop and cardinal in the 1950s and ‘60s –- all while courageously (and cleverly) jousting with the ruling communist government that sought to stamp out all religious life in Poland.

This was the man who returned to Poland in 1979, a quarter-century after Stalin’s death, as Pope John Paul II. He stood before a million Poles at an outdoor Mass in Warsaw and declared his lifelong motto, "Be not afraid!" 

It electrified the world, shook Communist Party bosses all the way to the Kremlin and signaled the beginning of the end of Soviet rule in Eastern Europe -- and eventually Russia itself. Even an assassination attempt against him (likely coordinated by Eastern European intelligence services) didn’t stop the march he led toward freedom. Other potent allies would join him: Lech Walesa and the Solidarity worker movement, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the Germans who brought down the Berlin Wall, dissidents and human rights activists and Christian believers throughout the continent. 

But John Paul cracked open the door. 

"Without this pope, it would be impossible to understand what happened in Europe at the end of the 1980s," said a man who should know -- former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who presided over the dismantling of the Soviet Union and its empire.

"The tree was rotten," John Paul later said. "All I did was shake it."

Is it any wonder that this man was not intimidated in later years by the Western elites –- inside and outside the Catholic Church -– who tried to browbeat him into submitting to their unoriginal notions of "progress"?

Like the great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, his philosophical soul mate and fellow survivor of communism, John Paul recognized that the West’s unfettered selfishness, secularism and greed threatened the human soul just as much as the atheistic totalitarianism he had battled for decades. The tree of Western relativism was just as rotten as the East’s godless tyranny -– and just as desperately in need of redemption. 

One of the hallmarks of John Paul’s papacy, according to Frank Bruni of The New York Times, was his "steadfast refusal to accept that certain modern practices should be deemed morally correct just because they were popular."

Better to lose the world, John Paul reasoned, than to give in to it. But he had no intention of losing it: John Paul was the missionary pope. He traveled to 129 countries, spoke eight languages fluently and possessed a nodding acquaintance with scores of other tongues –- all in order to spread the Catholic faith.

Millions of Protestants and evangelicals loved him for his zeal, his personal warmth and his unyielding stand for human dignity, the sanctity of life and many other moral convictions they share. 

Following John Paul's death, Billy Graham declared he was "unquestionably the most influential voice for morality and peace in the world during the last 100 years.... His extraordinary gifts, his strong Catholic faith and his experience of human tyranny and suffering in his native Poland all shaped him, and yet he was respected by men and women from every conceivable background across the world.... His courage and perseverance in the face of advancing age and illness were an inspiration to millions -– including me."

In admiring John Paul, there’s no need to gloss over the theological differences between evangelical Protestantism and his traditional brand of Catholicism. They remain almost as profound as the differences between Martin Luther and the popes of his day. For all his ecumenical impulses, John Paul himself certainly didn’t gloss over them.

Evangelicals find salvation in Christ by grace through faith alone, and find revealed truth in the Word of God. John Paul found his truth in Christ as revealed through the Roman Catholic Church, its sacraments and traditions, the papacy itself -– and a lifelong, mystical devotion to Mary. 

But there’s a great deal evangelicals can learn from this amazing man. A few essentials:

-- Christianity is the global faith, not a national or regional religion. 

John Paul didn’t travel the world incessantly just to see the sights. He realized at the beginning of his papacy that the growth and future of the church had moved south to Latin America and Africa and east toward Asia. So he went there to evangelize, while simultaneously working to "re-evangelize" the traditional centers of Catholicism. 

Non-Catholics don’t realize that his globetrotting remained controversial inside the Vatican. Many bishops and cardinals wanted him to stay home like other popes, administer the church bureaucracy and take care of the flock. 

How many local pastors can relate to the pressure to ignore missions?

-- Young people are the key. 

John Paul, even in his declining years, exerted a magnetic attraction on youth the world over. Even in secularized America and Western Europe, they flocked to him in their millions. It wasn’t just that he was a kindly father figure. He confronted them with the challenge and call to life purpose they are looking for in a purposeless age: Sacrifice your selfish desires, live in holiness, serve others. 

"Christ is looking for young people like you!" he said, pointing his finger at his youthful listeners like Uncle Sam recruiting fresh troops.

Are we evangelicals issuing the same bold challenge to our children -- or tickling their ears with sanctified entertainment in hopes they won’t abandon our churches altogether?

-- Stand firm against the watering down of the truth.

We conservative evangelicals like to think we're guarding and practicing the true faith while liberal Protestants hop on whatever social bandwagon the world drags by. Are we for real, or are we posers? Examine the ministries you emphasize, the cars parked outside your sanctuary, the ways you spend your spare time. You live what you believe, said Peter Lord; everything else is religious talk.

-- Suffering becomes holy when we accept it as a gift of God.

John Paul earned the right to preach this maxim -– and he lived it to the end. He saw believers persecuted and killed for their faith almost from the beginning of his life, and found meaning in their pain. What about us? Do we seek the way of the cross wherever it leads, or do we seek the comforts of our safe, affluent culture?

-- Every life has dignity and eternal worth, from conception to natural death -- and beyond. 

That includes the unborn and the born, the young and the aged, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, the children of God and the lost. Do we live every day and treat every person we encounter in light of this truth?

Ponder these things as a giant of modern history departs from our midst. 
--30--
Erich Bridges is a senior writer with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board whose column appears twice each month in Baptist Press.


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FIRST-PERSON: Coincidental? Certainly not
by Mark Coppenger
Date: April 07, 2005 - Thursday

EVANSTON, Ill. (BP)--If a sparrow cannot fall from the sky without God’s knowing it, how much more does He attend to the operations of taxis and their riders. And God is not just an observer; He coordinates the circumstances so that there simply are no coincidences. 

Let me give four fresh examples connected to my weekly run to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to teach a night course.

First, a Nigerian seminary student who drove me to the Louisville airport supplied the missing piece for a puzzle I’d been trying to assemble. One of our church members just got a job in New York City, and he was asking about evangelical churches there. I’d asked a few people for suggestions, and someone mentioned a Baptist church up on 57th Street, not that far from where the man would be working. I thought I was told “Trinity,” but I just couldn’t track it down. I used several Internet search engines to no avail. And then my SBTS driver came to the rescue.

It’s a long way from Nigeria to that Manhattan church in question, but he had made it there just the same. Serving as a computer specialist for a brokerage firm across from the World Trade Center, he had gone to this church regularly. Turns out, the name was Calvary, not Trinity. It also turns out this student was on the scene on 9/11, and he had quite a story to tell about that.

Back to the church. My driver asked me if I had heard of Stephen Olford -– a famous expository preacher -- and, of course, I had. Well, he was once pastor at Calvary, which stands right across from Carnegie Hall, just south of Central Park. Then my Nigerian friend added that the new pastor, David Epstein, was a fine fellow as well. It was sounding good.

Then the boss of the website I served called a few of us to New York for a huddle, and I found myself in Midtown Manhattan the day after getting back from Louisville. On a break, my wife, Sharon, and I ran by Calvary Baptist and got some material. Two days later, I was back at my church, Evanston (Ill.) Baptist Church, where I passed it along to the fellow about to leave us for NYC. One of our deacons, the registrar at Kendall College, recognized the church and volunteered that its pastor had been an excellent teacher at his alma mater, Capital Bible Seminary in Washington, D.C. Check and mate.

Now, I can’t say this is the right church for this recent grad from Kellogg School at Northwestern University, but I am convinced that God engineered my making this suggestion. Of course, I’ll check out the SBC options in the area, but I think we’ve made a good start, thanks to God’s linking me up with a Nigerian who came to Southern Seminary via New York’s financial district.

Second example. In a previous column I wrote for the Illinois Baptist newsjournal, I talked about President Bush’s reference to the Koran in his second inaugural speech. The day I wrote it, I spent about half an hour in the Koran, making sure I had my citations squared away. Years ago, I spent a fair amount of time working through the Koran, and I’ve glanced at it from time to time since then, but those occasions are rare. Rare, but not incidental.

That same day, I flew to Louisville, and caught a cab from the airport. (The good folks on campus usually meet me with a student driver, but I had thrown them a curve with a late flight change.) As we made our way up I-65, I asked him where he was from. It was Mauritania, a Muslim country in West Africa. The conversation then moved to his brand of Islam (Sunni), to my brand of Christianity (Baptist), and to our differing views of Jesus (merely a prophet vs. the Son of God). Then he asked me a question that brought God’s providence to my mind immediately –- “Have you ever read the Koran?” My answer: “Yes, I was reading it this morning, specifically Surahs 3 and 4.” (Thank you, Lord!) After recounting what I had read, I asked if he had ever read the Bible, and he said he hadn’t. I pointed him to the Gospel of John, and he knew the burden to read it rested on his shoulders. After all, I had been reading his book. I didn’t mention that I hardly ever read his book. He didn’t ask me that. Now one might say, “It just so happened you had read the Koran that day,” but there was no “just so happened” about it. 

Third example. Another cab from the Louisville airport a week later. Again, I “wasn’t supposed” to be in a cab, but once again I had confused the student scheduler with a late plane change. My “wasn’t supposed to” soon showed itself to be a “was supposed to” as our taxi conversation developed. As we compared backgrounds, I learned that the driver’s mother had been secretary to the first president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. Well, having been the third president of Midwestern Seminary, I had a “small world” moment. With 6.6 billion people on earth, and a planetary circumference of 25,000 miles, this world is overwhelmingly big to finite folks such as you and me. But for God, it is a very small world, and he has no trouble at all putting people together in uncanny ways.

Now, I don’t know the purpose of our meeting. Perhaps it was to help remind the driver of his roots. Perhaps it was to encourage me to write this column. Whatever it was, our meeting was no accident.

I’m often reminded that I’m living in a theme park, where the theme is God’s utter sovereignty. In that connection, let me note that walking through New York’s LaGuardia Airport one Friday evening, I spied a copy of Technology Review at a newsstand. There on the cover was a long-bearded Cambridge University scientist who believed he could lengthen human life spans to over a thousand years. The headline was “Live Forever?” I couldn’t resist it. I was working on a sermon from Genesis 5, where Seth’s progeny, including Methuselah, were listed. When I opened the magazine, the table of contents labeled this fellow “Methuselah’s Prophet.” I bought the magazine and used it in a sermon illustration two days later. I’m telling you, I was supposed to spot that magazine. That’s the way God works.
--30--
Mark Coppenger is pastor of Evanston (Ill.) Baptist Church and distinguished professor of apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Reprinted from the Illinois Baptist newsjournal.


