The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/11/2000 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern Baptist church membership nearly 15.9 million, up from '98 by Charles Willis Date: April 11, 2000 - Tuesday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Membership in Southern Baptist churches registered an increase in 1999, after the 1998 total that marked the first decline since 1926.

The new total of 15,851,756 is an increase of 122,400 or 0.78 percent, according to figures from the Annual Church Profile (ACP).

Baptisms registered an increase of 12,078 or 2.97 percent, for the third consecutive year of baptisms above 400,000. The 1999 total of 419,342 tops the 1997 total of 412,027 and the 1998 total of 407,264.

In spite of the increase in Southern Baptist church membership, the 15.8 million total remains slightly below the all-time high of 15,891,514 members reported in 1997.

The ACP is compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention from church reports routed through local Baptist associations and state conventions.

Cliff Tharp, constituent information coordinator at LifeWay, said he feels last year's membership decline "likely was impacted by affiliation and data collection issues.

"With an increasing trend of churches moving away from traditional affiliation patterns toward greater variety in their affiliations, we have found greater challenges in seeing that everyone is counted and counted only once," Tharp observed.

Similarly, he said this year's totals for three areas -- Discipleship Training, Woman's Missionary Union and Brotherhood -- have been affected by submission by some state conventions of data that is not comparable to ACP criteria.

In addition to church membership and baptisms, other increases were reported in total tithes and offerings and special gifts, $7,259,074,765, a 5.38 percent increase. Of that amount, undesignated receipts totaled $5,607,034,479, an increase of 3.43 percent. Total receipts were $ 7,772,452,961, a 4.30 percent increase.

Sunday morning worship attendance increased 0.36 percent from 5,398,692 in 1998 to 5,418,348 in 1999.

Sunday School enrollment dropped slightly from 1998's total of 8,147,939 to 8,147,457 for 1999, a 0.01 percent decrease.

Music ministry enrollment/participation dropped by 165,643 persons or 9.04 percent to a total of 1,666,949.

The three areas affected by differences in reporting methods among some states showed declines, with totals possibly affected by those methods:

-- Discipleship Training enrollment/participation dropped 51,316 or 22.12 percent to 1,976,309. The 1998 total of 2,537,625 was the highest enrollment for the program since 1965.

-- Woman's Missionary Union enrollment declined by 81,705 or 8.24 percent to 909,527.

-- Brotherhood enrollment/participation for 1999 was 445,057, down by 80,598 or 15.33 percent.

Totals in two categories -- value of church property and church-type missions operated by churches -- also represented decreases from 1998, but data was not reported by all states.

(BP) chart comparing 1999 and 1998 statistics is available in the BP Photo Library. Chart title: '99 STATISTICS.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Europe, Middle East Baptist leaders confer with IMB on unfinished task by Mike Creswell Date: April 11, 2000 - Tuesday DORFWEIL, Germany (BP)--If Christian visions converge, won't miracles multiply?

That was the hope as more than 130 key Baptist leaders from some 50 countries across Europe and the Middle East met with Southern Baptist International Mission Board leaders for an Accelerating World Evangelization conference.

The IMB's top leadership came from Richmond, Va., to describe for the Baptist leaders how the board basically is reinventing itself around a global vision of bringing more of the world's lost peoples to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

European and Middle Eastern leaders attending the April 1-5 meeting near Frankfurt, Germany, were quick to echo this vision and pledged to work with Southern Baptist missionaries in exploring new ways of working together.

The AWE conference was the third of six such meetings IMB leaders will hold around the world this year as they seek to enlist Baptist understanding and active participation for what they are generally calling "New Directions."

Avery Willis, IMB senior vice president for overseas operations, told the gathering that New Directions began three years ago when he and other leaders saw they were not keeping up with God's plans to reach the world. "Some of it was [because of] our own bureaucracy," he said.

"As we began to look again at what God is saying to us, we saw there were some things we needed to come back to," Willis said. "New Directions is a return to a biblical mandate." Holding up a Bible, he told the conference, "This is what we want our missionary manual to be."

Basic New Directions concepts that have emerged include:

-- a strong emphasis on prayer support.

-- focusing on people groups wherever they are instead of organizing by countries.

-- missionaries who work in teams to plan comprehensive strategies for sharing the gospel with entire people groups.

-- lay training programs that enable new believers to move quickly into church leadership roles.

-- working in cooperation with "Great Commission Christian" missions partners.

-- working and praying for God-led church planting movements to begin.

-- a general "whatever it takes" approach to sharing the gospel, despite social, political, cultural or other barriers.

Some Baptists registered disapproval that the IMB had not consulted with them sooner. "I want to begin by apologizing for not communicating this to you sooner and not coming to explain what it's about," Willis told the conference.

Two Baptist leaders reminded IMB administrators that European Baptists also sponsor overseas missions work on several continents and that, on a per-capita basis, they sponsor twice as many such missionaries as do Southern Baptists. Rankin commended them for their missions commitment, acknowledging that Southern Baptists allot only 2.6 percent of their resources to missions.

Italian Baptist leader Martin Ibarra told IMB leaders in a closing session that Italian Baptists share the vision of proclaiming the gospel of salvation to every people in the world and that they would study how to encourage a church planting movement within Italy. Italian Baptists will look at training their people for a New Directions kind of focus, he predicted.

"The Holy Spirit has touched me personally," said Lebanese Baptist pastor George Saba, "and I am going home with a new vision. I will share it with my convention."

"We have 300,000 Muslims who live with us! We are a drop in the sea!" Saba declared. He invited the IMB to join them in a new partnership to train Arab Baptist missionaries to help evangelize the Middle East. Baptist leaders in Jordan also would support such a venture, Saba said.

Slovenian Baptist leader Martin Hlastan told the conference he arrived tired, sick and ready to resign as a pastor and evangelist.

"But the Lord has renewed me. He has changed completely my decision," he told IMB leaders. "I will continue to evangelize wherever the Lord will send me. You have a wonderful vision; we have the same vision."

Several Baptist leaders reported on work in their countries, from Scotland, which has seen Baptists decline from about 22,500 members after World War II to about 15,000 members today, to the Ukraine, which has seen explosive church growth in the past decade.

Church planting movements are cropping up from Cuba to Cambodia to China, the IMB's Rankin told the conference.

"Folks, I want to tell you tonight, God does not need the International [Mission] Board. God does not need Southern Baptists. God doesn't need you," Rankin said. "His purpose is going to be fulfilled because God is sovereign.

"But how tragic, how utterly tragic, if we should forfeit being the ones God will use to share his purposes and share his message with a lost world!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern Baptist family of Navy pilot, listed MIA 27 years, finds closure by Debbie Moore Date: April 11, 2000 - Tuesday COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)--Carole Hall has waited 27 years for her Navy pilot husband, Cmdr. James Wayne Hall, to come home from Vietnam. The war officially ended 25 years ago this month. Jim is home now, though not the way Carole secretly had hoped while she courageously persevered for nearly three decades, raising their three children and welcoming two grandchildren into the world.

Carole finally was able to lay his bones -- and her dreams -- to rest April 7 in Arlington National Cemetery, with full military honors, after DNA testing positively identified her husband's remains among those turned over to U.S. officials by the Vietnamese.

"I know what's in that box because I have a picture of what's in that box. It's a box of bones," Hall said. Yet as she laid red roses on his casket and stood with her three now-grown children -- Julie, who had just turned 15 when her father died; Jeff, who was 11; and John, who was 10 -- she could not hold back her tears, for "it was the closest I've been to Jim in 27 years."

CNN's "World News Today" carried a feature on Hall the evening of April 7.

Originally from Oklahoma, the Halls moved to Jacksonville, Fla., for Jim's first assignment. They faithfully attended First Baptist Church in Jacksonville and served in several areas of lay leadership, including the music ministry and home visitation.

Carole's visitation partner was Shirley Lindsay, wife of her pastor, the late Homer Lindsay Jr. "She was my Sunday school teacher and I was the outreach leader. We backed all over Jacksonville," Hall said, remembering the times they got lost together trying to find a church prospect's home.

Cmdr. Hall was an A-7 pilot when he was shot down. He was on his second tour of duty in Vietnam, in Squadron VA-86 aboard the aircraft carrier America.

On Oct. 28, 1972, Carole Hall saw a military vehicle pull into her driveway. "Nothing prepares you for that," she said, although military spouses realize there is always the possibility of news coming back that their loved one has been killed in action, become a prisoner of war or been declared missing in action.

"I was thinking, 'Maybe Jim was just shot down, but he's been rescued, or he's been injured, but he's OK,'" Carole recalled. But for her, the letters MIA were all she and the children had.

That afternoon as she went for a walk by herself, "The Lord gave me 2 Timothy 1:7, 'For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.'" She said she discussed with the Lord "things he already knew," such as, while believing she was a pretty good mother, "I thought I'd make a really lousy dad." She told God she was just going to trust him to help her and to keep her healthy.

In 1974, she heard the POWs were being released and sent home. She was told to "just watch the TV" to see if her husband might get off one of the airplanes. She and the children watched intently every time there was word of another group flying back to the States, but they never saw him.

The next year, three years after receiving the MIA notice about her husband, she felt a need to get a new start. She said she prayed earnestly about what to do. "I felt like we should get closer to family because what Mr. and Mrs. Hall would have of Jim would be in their grandchildren," Carole said.

She literally studied the possibilities, all around the United States, then, "The Lord led us to choose Colorado," she said. She finally selected Colorado Springs because of the military facilities available and because "at that time it wasn't too large!" They did not know anyone in the whole state, let alone their new neighborhood.

"She is an incredible woman of virtue," said her pastor, Jay Badry. As soon as they got settled, she took the children to find a new church home, First Southern Baptist Church of Colorado Springs. All along, Badry said, Hall faithfully has served not only her local church and state Baptist convention as a pianist, but also as a Bible study leader in the Precept courses, an intensive study for laypeople. "She has taught literally hundreds of women," despite her own personal pain, and "raised three wonderful children on her own to mature adults," Badry said.

There were some dark and difficult times, and it wasn't easy, Hall admitted, "but I never was fearful." She said she always knew she was never alone, for God was with her.

"I walked on in faith, and I knew that God may be the only one who knew where Jim was," she said. "My prayer was that Jim met the Lord in the air."

She credits her "precious relationship with the Lord" for carrying her through the years. "He's always been so very real to me and so very much a part of my life," she said. "Having that strong faith to lean on has held me up."

"She never pitied herself," Badry emphasized. "She is a very mature woman spiritually. She is a woman who has huge faith in the Lord and lives that faith out in ministry to others on a daily basis. That's what has held her together all these years in the face of this adversity."

Upon hearing the news of the positive DNA match, Badry went to his deacons and other church leaders and said, "If [the apostle] James tells us the true and undefiled religion is to minister to the widows and orphans in their distress, then this is what we're about." He encouraged those who had the ability to attend the memorial service and stand by Carole Hall and her family on April 7.

Thinking only about 10 relatives and friends would be able to be there for the service, Hall was joyfully amazed when she saw more than 100 people gathered from across the country, including not only about a dozen relatives, but also at least 24 people from her church, First Southern Baptist Church of Colorado Springs; Sam Cotter, interim executive director of the Colorado Baptist General Convention, on behalf of all Southern Baptists in Colorado; and, most surprisingly, at least 25 of Cmdr. Hall's former squadron mates. Until this time the shipmates of VA-86 had never been able to get together for any type of reunion because of their heartfelt pain over "this unfinished business," one shipmate told Badry.

"Navy is family," Carole Hall said. "There is a real sense of community. It's a close-knit group," especially those who serve together on carriers, she said.

As the family and friends of Cmdr. Hall stood amid the breathtaking view of nearly a quarter million graves of Americans buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Carole Hall somberly yet proudly watched as the horse-drawn caisson made its way to the burial site. As she listened to the sharply jolting sounds of the 21-gun salute, then the mournful sounds of the trumpeter's military taps, she clutched to her heart the flag that so recently had clung to her husband's coffin.

"I don't take this privilege lightly at all," she said, feeling compassion for the more than 2,000 American families whose loved ones are still listed as "missing in action."

Navy jets flew overhead in the missing-man formation. But Carole Hall now knows exactly where her dear husband has been all these years, safe in the arms of Jesus.

(BP) photos available by calling the office of the First Southern Baptist Church, Colorado Springs, Colo., at (719) 633-4625.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- National Geographic retracts boast of dinosaur-to-bird 'missing link' by Lee Weeks Date: April 11, 2000 - Tuesday WASHINGTON (BP)--An independent group of scientists has described as unfounded National Geographic Society's report late last year of "a true missing link in the complex chain that connects dinosaurs to birds."

A panel of paleontologists and ornithologists released their findings April 6, confirming speculation by outside scientists that National Geographic Society's media blitz touting a feathered dinosaur fossil lacked independent scientific confirmation.

The panel was convened by National Geographic after a number of media reports, such as one in USA Today, questioned the supposed discovery.

Further examination by the scientists of the fossil has revealed that it is a composite of at least two different animals. The fossil was smuggled into the United States from China and was sold for $80,000 to the owner of a dinosaur museum in Monticello, Utah, before it eventually landed in the halls of the National Geographic Society in Washington.

While National Geographic Society attempts to restore its credibility in the wake of the dinosaur-bird fossil flap, scientists at two Baptist universities say the fiasco could have been avoided had standard scientific protocols been followed.

"Publishing the report in National Geographic before subjecting it to the scientific peer-review process showed very poor judgment," said David A. DeWitt, assistant professor of biology and associate director of creation studies at Liberty University, Lynchburg, Va. "In their zeal to provide evidence for their belief that dinosaurs gave rise to birds they short-circuited the scientific process."

Wayne Wofford, director of the Edward P. Hammons Center for Scientific Studies at Union University, Jackson, Tenn., said, "National Geographic will pay a heavy price for their over-zealousness. It will take them a long to time to re-establish the trust of the scientific community and the public."

In a six-page color spread, complete with artist's drawings, photographs and diagrams, National Geographic's November 1999 issue reported that the "Archaeoraptor," supposedly a 120-million-year-old bird-like creature with the tail of a meat-eating dinosaur, had been discovered in a fossil unearthed in the remote Liaoning Province of China.

The fossil had also been showcased before more than 100,000 people, the majority of them children, at the National Geographic's Explorers Hall in Washington between Oct. 15 and Jan. 21.

By late January, with the dinosaur-bird link controversy in the media, National Geographic promised to publish a correction in its March issue.

In March, National Geographic published a letter, of less than 90 words, written by Xu Xing, one of the scientists who originally examined the "Archaeoraptor," in the magazine's "Forum" section

In the letter, Xing writes of comparing the fossil to another "feathered dromaeosaur" and concluding, "Though I do not want to believe it, Archaeoraptor appears to be composed of a dromaeosaur tail and a bird body."

DeWitt and Wofford said National Geographic could have restored its credibility sooner by publishing the correction more prominently in the magazine in light of the hype it gave to the announcement last November of the alleged discovery.

"People who were looking for the retraction couldn't find it," DeWitt said. "A letter to the editor is not the usual way to handle an error of this magnitude."

National Geographic editor Bill Allen said the magazine plans to publish a story in the fall that looks at the whole sequence of events involving the fake fossil.

"I hope people are going to view what we do here in the overall context," Allen told the Associated Press, "so that the one aberration is not going to damage our reputation in the long run."

DeWitt said he hopes National Geographic and the scientific community at large has learned a lesson about flying off the handle with public announcements of discoveries before having them confirmed by independent researchers.

"It seems like National Geographic is being much more careful and rigorous in handling the retraction than they were in the initial report," DeWitt said. "Perhaps if they were as cautious from the beginning, they wouldn't have created such a mess."

But Wofford is careful to point out that the scientific process worked, "though belatedly so."

"It was scientists who raised the concerns about the validity of the fossil. ... The scientific community is for the most part a self-policing entity," Wofford said. "Maintenance of credibility is crucial for the whole community."

DeWitt noted he is concerned that the scientific community's predisposition toward evolution too often takes precedence over objective scientific research.

"Many scientists are so convinced that Darwinism is correct that they can't even see the plain evidence that contradicts it," DeWitt said. "Because they only look for evidence that supports the theory, they can be easily duped. The Archaeoraptor incident shows what can happen when scientists fail to consider alternative explanations."

DeWitt said the Archaeoraptor hoax will now be preserved in history along with a "growing list of evolution and fossil fakes" such as:

-- "Nebraska Man" -- In 1922, scientists heralded a fossilized tooth, reported to be 1 million years old, as the "missing link" in human evolution. The tooth was presented as evidence for evolution in the 1925 Scopes Trial. Later it was discovered that the fossil was that of pig's tooth.

-- "Piltdown Man" -- For nearly 50 years scientists believed they had discovered evolution's missing link in a portion of a human skull that had been pieced together with the jaw of an orangutan. Later it was learned that the teeth had been filed down to look more human-like.

-- "Haeckel's Embryos" -- Ernst Haeckel, a German developmental biologist, drew pictures of embryos of a fish, frog, chicken, pig and human to illustrate evolutionary history common to all of these species. Despite the revelation that the drawings of the various species had been deceptively altered, the drawings may still be found in biology textbooks today.

-- "Peppered Moth" -- In England, scientists' conclusions that darker-colored moths perched on tree trunks were better camouflaged from predatory birds than lighter colored moths was dispelled when it was revealed that photographs of the moths had been staged because the moths do not rest on tree trunks.

"One has to wonder how many other fossils are also composites of different animals," DeWitt said. "Since these professional scientists were so easily fooled, perhaps we should question how extensive such fossil mishaps are. They are probably more common than we think."
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Easter cookie recipe provides learning experience for kids by Staff Date: April 11, 2000 - Tuesday ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--A simple recipe can be a great way to involve children in the Easter story and teach them about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

This recipe for Easter cookies comes with a special message perhaps best used the night before Easter (or any time throughout the year).

The original author of this recipe is unknown; most recently it appeared in the March-April 2000 issue of On Mission magazine published by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.

For these Easter cookies, you will need:

1 cup whole pecans

1 teaspoon vinegar

3 egg whites

pinch salt

1 cup sugar

1 large plastic zip bag

wooden spoon

mixing bowl

cookie sheet

wax paper

tape

Bible

Next, preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (this is important -- don't wait until you're half done with the recipe).

Place the pecans in a large plastic zip bag and let the children beat them with the wooden spoon to break them into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested, the Roman soldiers beat him. Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 teaspoon of vinegar into a mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar. Tell the children the eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into both hands of each child. Let the children taste it from one hand and brush it from the other hand into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27.

Say: "So far the ingredients are not very appetizing." Add 1 cup of sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us. He wants us to know and belong to him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity God sees in those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in the broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto a wax paper-covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven off. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66.

Go to bed (Make sure the oven is off). Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.

Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow. On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Nelson Price announces retirement after 35 years of ministry in Ga. by Todd Starnes Date: April 11, 2000 - Tuesday MARIETTA, Ga. (BP)--Nelson L. Price, the longtime pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church, Marietta, Ga., and a former Southern Baptist Convention vice president, announced he will retire from the pulpit this November.

Price, 68, has been the senior pastor at Roswell Street since Nov. 1, 1965. Under his ministry, the suburban Atlanta congregation has grown to approximately 9,000 members.

While he hasn't made any immediate plans for his retirement, Price told Baptist Press he is taking a step of faith. "I've prayed for nine years about this," he said. "I trust the Lord will continue to give me speaking engagements but I do plan on staying in Georgia. I've been so fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful community."

Price's April 9 announcement shocked many members of the congregation. "I've truly loved this church," Price said. "The unity and the love are so rare and refreshing that it has been such a blessing to be a part of."

Price said a pastor search committee has already been approved and the committee will soon meet to determine a course of action in selecting a new pastor.

The Georgia pastor currently serves as the chairman of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' national board of trustees.

In 1977, Price was invited to preach the inaugural message before President Jimmy Carter and his Cabinet. He has also preached the inaugural message for Georgia Gov. Joe Frank Harris.

Active in state and national denominational work, Price was elected first vice president of the SBC in 1991 and also has been president of the SBC Pastors' Conference. He was president of the Georgia Baptist Convention from 1982-83 and currently is a board member of The Christian Index, Georgia's state Baptist paper. During his ministry, the church has been one of the top five in the state in Cooperative Program giving.

The Sunday morning worship service at Roswell Street is broadcast nationally on FamilyNet.

Price is a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Mercer University and Hannibal-LaGrange College.

The Mississippi native and his wife, Trudy, have two daughters and four grandchildren.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Pete & Jo Ann Butler honored for helping students 'find their voices' by Tammi Reed Ledbetter Date: April 11, 2000 - Tuesday KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--With more than 25 years of local church experience before coming to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1983, A.L. "Pete" and Jo Ann Butler's service provided "the launching pad for worldwide ministry," observed Midwestern Old Testament professor Al Bean.

Bean and other seminary, church and denominational leaders gathered in the Kansas City, Mo., seminary chapel with more than 170 friends and family to honor the Butlers April 7 upon the retirement of Pete Butler as professor of church music and the retirement a year earlier by his wife, Jo Ann Butler, as associate professor of church music.

Though stepping down from leadership of the music program, Butler will continue to teach as a senior professor of music.

The establishment of the A.L. and Jo Ann Butler Music Scholarship was announced by assistant church music professor Lee Hinson as part of the retirement celebration and presentation of gifts by the seminary, faculty wives auxiliary and music faculty.

Bean explained that the music program of Midwestern was formed "by the hands and hearts of these two choice servants of God" who were enlisted after 23 years of music ministry at First Baptist Church, Ada, Okla., and two and a half years at First Baptist Church, Madill, Okla.

Bean spoke of their contribution of new hymns and "soul-touching music sung in the President's Home for faculty Christmas parties to a cappella music on the bus to Minneapolis" during a faculty retreat.

Former Seminary President Milton Ferguson echoed that sentiment, thanking the Butlers for "17 years of exemplary leadership combining excellence in musicianship with compassion and competence in ministry." Ferguson commended their demonstration of "artistry in worship leadership, excellence in choral and organ performance and superb skills in church-staff relationships.

A "reunion choir" of 52 current and former members of Midwestern Singers presented three hymns under the direction of Pete Butler, including two of his compositions, "Hallelujah! What A Savior!" and "O Bethlehem!" on which his daughter Donna collaborated.

Various students from current and former classes thanked the Butlers for "helping students to find their voices" and instilling in them the conviction that every church is important no matter what the size because of the opportunity to touch lives.

The teaching of the Butlers extended to seminary wives as Jo Ann Butler taught groups of students a rapidly acquired technique for playing the piano, as well as sessions on hospitality and appearance. Pete Butler added his perspective in a session on church-staff relationships designed to help wives avoid unnecessary conflict. During his long tenure in Ada, Butler served with six pastors. The Butlers also served part-time at Nall Avenue Baptist Church in Prairie Village, Kan., during their first four years of ministry in Kansas City, and they continue as members there.

Four music students entertained the audience with "Soliloquy in the Key of B" which included two movements relating the teaching styles of each of the Butlers.

Reflections on the dedication of the Butlers to their family were shared by R.G. Huff, minister of music at First Baptist Church, Independence, Mo., and a longtime family friend. Huff said that the Butlers' daughters, Cindy and Donna, who attended the program, "attributed much of their parents' success to the fact that they put family first."

"It was during the morning coffee time that Pete and Jo Ann met face to face with each other and their God and made the decisions of life," Huff said. He told of the daughters being "home schooled in music education" as preparation for each of them leading children's choirs in their own churches.

While traveling with an Oklahoma Baptist University choir to the Orient, Huff said the Butlers' daughter, Cindy, attended First Baptist Church of Hong Kong and came to realize that "her dad's ministry literally stretched around the globe." Without knowing the composer's daughter was present, the congregation sang her father's rendition of "Redeemed" in Chinese while American guests joined in English.

Both of the Butlers received their undergraduate degrees from Oklahoma Baptist University where they met and sang in the Bison Glee Club. He received his seminary education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky while she completed a master's degree at East Central University in Oklahoma and later taught on their music faculty for 15 years.

They are frequent workshop leaders at Glorieta (N.M.), Ridgecrest (N.C.) and Windemere (Mo.) Baptist conference centers. A member of ASCAP, Pete Butler is a composer with four hymn tunes included in the newest Baptist Hymnal and several published anthems and children's songs. He served as second vice president of the Oklahoma State Baptist Convention, vice president of the SBC Church Music Conference and received an honorary doctorate from Southwest Baptist University.

Jo Ann Butler's reputation as a children's choir authority was noted by James Steel of Chorister's Guild as he referred to her as one of the publisher's most popular writers. She has written more than 200 articles, units and other curriculum materials, including four books for the Baptist Sunday School Board (now known as LifeWay Christian Resources) and many pieces for Choristers Guild and other periodicals.

"The Butlers' contributions to music have gone far beyond Baptist life," Steel said. "You have taught us by your own example to sing for we cannot be silent."

After Butler joined the faculty at Midwestern to establish a church music program, his wife taught part-time at both Midwestern and William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., before joining the seminary faculty full-time. The master of church music degree was approved in 1991 through the groundwork laid by the Butlers.

William Jewell College's music department chairman, Don Brown, borrowed a line from Missouri hymn writer Eva Lloyd to thank the Butlers for having "mirrored His redeeming Son" in their time and talents. Other denominational leaders from Missouri and Kansas were present to show appreciation for the Butlers' ministry.

The Butlers have been honored with the W. Hines Sims Award from the SBC Church Music Conference, the Honorary Music Faculty Award from William Jewell College and the Geneva Casebolt Award from Southwest Baptist University. Recently, they have been selected to receive the Distinguished Music Alumni Award from Oklahoma Baptist University and the Honorary Alumni of the Year Award from Midwestern Seminary.