
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/12/2005

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Gallup: Marriage amend. support at all-time high of 57 percent
by Michael Foust
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Nearly one year after same-sex "marriage" was legalized in Massachusetts, support for a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution appears to be at an all-time high, according to a new Gallup poll.

The poll found that by a margin of 57-37 percent, adults favor amending the Constitution to protect the traditional definition of marriage, thus banning "gay marriage." It is a significant increase from last July, when only 48 percent said they favored a marriage amendment.

It is the highest support for a marriage amendment since Gallup began asking the question. The previous high was 53 percent in February 2004.

"Nationwide, there appears to be growing support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as only between a man and a woman," Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, wrote in an online column.

Amendment support comes at a time when a slew of states are passing their own constitutional marriage amendments. Thirteen states passed amendments last year, and Kansas followed by passing one in early April. All total, 18 states now have marriage amendments. They have proven popular, passing with an average of 70 percent of the vote. A marriage amendment has never failed at the ballot.

Massachusetts' high court sparked the backlash in November 2003 when it issued its ruling legalizing "gay marriage." The ruling took effect May 17. The amendments on the state level ensure that state courts won't hand down a similar ruling. But because they can be overturned in federal court, traditionalists and conservatives support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Gallup poll of 909 adults, conducted March 18-20 and released in April, asked Americans if they favored or opposed "a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman, thus barring marriages between gay or lesbian couples."

Gallup also asked adults their general views of "gay marriage." The organization divided the sample in half, asking a differently worded question to each group.

One group of adults (a sample of 443) was asked if they thought "marriages between homosexuals should or should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages." Sixty-eight percent said they opposed same-sex "marriage," 28 percent said they favored it. It is the highest opposition to "gay marriage" in the Gallup poll since 1996.

The second group (a sample of 466) was asked, "Which of the following arrangements between gay or lesbian couples do you think should be recognized as legally valid -- same-sex marriages, civil unions, but not same-sex marriages, or neither same-sex marriages nor civil unions?" Twenty percent said they supported "gay marriage," 27 percent civil unions and 45 percent neither.

Homosexual groups have objected to Gallup's use of the term "homosexual," saying it is pejorative and should be replaced with "gay and lesbian." While all of Gallup's questions on the subject don't use the term "homosexual," some do. The marriage amendment question used "gay" and "lesbian."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) contacted Gallup recently about the concern, Newport said.

"Gallup's response to this criticism is twofold," Newport wrote in an online article. "First, these are trend questions. The wording we use was developed years ago when Gallup first asked the questions. The ability to monitor change over time is based on holding everything constant except time, particularly the question wording. If we changed the wording and then found a change in responses, we wouldn't know if the change was due to the change in wording or an actual change in people's attitudes. That doesn't mean Gallup never changes question wording, but we are very careful when we do.

"That leads to the second point. It is reasonable to consider changing a trend question if there are significant and widespread objections to some element of the initial question wording. Although GLAAD is a reputable advocacy group for gay and lesbian causes, it certainly cannot claim to represent the views of all gay and lesbian Americans -- any more than AARP can claim to represent the views of all older Americans.

"Ideally, we would like to have survey data allowing us to measure attitudes toward the term 'homosexual' among all gays and lesbians. But reliable surveys of the nation's gay and lesbian population are hard to come by."

The marriage amendment in the U.S. Senate is Senate Joint Resolution 1, and in the House it's House Joint Resolution 39. 
--30--
For more information about the national debate over same-sex "marriage," visit <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage">http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage</a>

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College students are valuable assets, Passion's Giglio says
by Erin Curry
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Sometimes college students are lumped into one big category, but the truth is they vary vastly from school to school and region to region, Passion movement leader Louie Giglio told Baptist Press during Gospel Music Association Week in Nashville, Tenn., April 9-13.

"I'm incredibly encouraged by what I've seen not only in the United States but around the world," Giglio said. "I came from England on Wednesday and I was with 1,000 college students there from most all of the major universities in England and they had such a passion for God and such a passion for their campuses. We had a prayer time the last morning and they prayed for a half-hour out loud -- all of them at once. And they were seeking God so earnestly for their campuses and crying out. When you see that happening, you can't help but be encouraged."

But like so much in life, the current status of college students has a flipside: Millions of them are not seeking God.

"I think the Kingdom of God is way bigger than we think and I think we're doing good but there's so much that still needs to be done," Giglio, a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, said April 11. "My heart breaks for the 80 percent of the 16 million college students in America that don't know Christ. But yet I rejoice that I can name 100 schools where there is a big band of believers who are really sold out to seeing something great happen on their campus for His fame. So I'm encouraged, but in no way is the challenge diminished. The task is still huge."

Giglio, who has spent more than two decades in collegiate ministry, and his wife, Shelley, organized a team of worship leaders with the goal of calling the collegiate generation to a purpose in life much greater than themselves beginning with the first Passion gathering of 2,000 students in Austin, Texas, in January 1997. Major Passion conferences in 2000, 2003 and 2005 followed, as did several Passion worship albums and other resources that have spread the vision of a generation living for God's renown.

Giglio voices unique insights from his Passion perspective into what college students are seeking and how they can be reached for Christ.

"Honestly, all churches could take a big huge swing at doing better at campus ministry," he told BP. "I've been around college students and church-based ministries for a long time, and college students are notoriously cheap and a lot of people who are running churches think, 'These guys don't tithe and they're freeloaders and they move around -- they're here one semester and two semesters later they're at another church already and they migrate around town -- so let's don't focus on them. Let's focus on the young couples who have the jobs who can give the money, who can keep running the church and who can work in the church.'

"I get that, but I also think there's an untapped resource in college students that if I was a pastor of a local church and there were college students anywhere near me, this would motivate me more than anything: They are already going somewhere," Giglio said, noting that each college student, whether he or she finishes school in four years or six or more years, will enter fields like business, government, education, medicine or entrepreneurship within a few years.

"If I can invest for the sake of the Kingdom something in them, I get free exportation of our vision and message to the whole world because they're going to then carry it where they're going for free," he said. "They're not going to charge me to carry whatever it is God deposits in their life. So it's kind of a tradeoff: 'OK, maybe you're not rich and you're not going to support the church, but you're going to carry free for us our message to the ends of the earth.'"

The second thing local pastors should realize is that a church must be relevant in order to reach college students, Giglio said.

"I know that's kind of an overused word, but college students are living in a pretty real place and they want the Gospel in a language they can understand. They don't want form. They want substance. They want to be challenged with a cause that's greater than anything else they've ever seen before. They don't want to show up at something that's perfunctory and everybody stands up and sits down and we do this and we do that and we call that church," he said. "They want something that's living and vibrant that sort of reaches into their heart and says, 'This is going to demand everything you've got, but it's going to be worth it.'"

Giglio said college students today are not denominationally biased and they don't care whether a church is Southern Baptist or Methodist or Lutheran as long as the church is challenging them with the Gospel in a relevant manner.

"They don't have anything at stake. They're free agents, and they're looking for the Gospel, for teaching, for truth, for worship and for cause," he said. "Obviously, I want that to be evangelical, and I want that to be conservative evangelical. I don't care if the expression is a little more charismatic or not charismatic. I want the teaching to be solid. But the label doesn't matter to them anymore. And I'm not sure it should, really, at the end of the day. It's the name of Jesus that we're all trying to lift up and all kinds of churches are doing a great job of that.

"I know Southern Baptist churches that are doing a great job of reaching college students, and I know some that aren't doing a good job of reaching anybody," he said.

Looking toward the future of the Passion movement, Giglio hopes to focus more on the students living outside the Bible belt and outside what he termed "the Passion belt" -- places like New York City and Boston, where Passion stepped out on faith by hosting two historic gatherings in the past 18 months and saw capacity crowds.

"There are places where Passion can go and it makes sense. People will come and show up. But there are other cities that &#91;other ministries avoid&#93; because they're not sure they can afford it or people will come or they've not tried it before," he said. "We found God's favor in doing that. It's risky because you sort of have to take a financial step of faith and it's risky because you don't know if anybody's going to come, but we've found favor in that. So we're really leaning forward right now toward some other cities -- not only in the United States -- where we want to go and sort of be an outpost for Passion."
--30--
To learn more about the Passion movement, visit www.268generation.com.


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'Passion: How Great is Our God' album captures live worship
by Erin Curry
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--More than 11,000 college students gathered in Nashville, Tenn., in January for Passion '05. They were led in worship by Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, the David Crowder Band and others, and now the power of those moments has been captured in a "Passion: How Great is Our God" CD.

The album releases April 12 and contains 13 live songs including the Crowder Band's "No One Like You," the classic hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" and Hall's "Marvelous Light."

Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion movement and a main speaker at Passion '05, told Baptist Press his hope for the album is that it will make God happy.

"These songs are all about Him and they're all for Him. As simple as that sounds, sometimes it's hard to keep that in focus and I lose sight of it," he said April 11. "But that's my main hope tomorrow that He'll be really happy.

"Sometimes I even jump over that to, 'I hope people get this and it really changes their life.' But then I thought, 'Well, we do want to change people's lives, but the songs really aren't about people. The songs are all about God and the songs are about calling people to give Him what is His, which is all of their lives in worship.' And I hope that happens tomorrow. I hope a lot of worship comes to Him and He's really happy in every state in America tomorrow and wherever it has trickled out to the world already."

Passion '05 drew the collegiate generation from more than 1,000 campuses across the nation and the world to Nashville's Gaylord Entertainment Center Jan. 2-5 for community and family groups, prayer journeys, breakouts and main sessions featuring speakers like Giglio and authors Beth Moore and John Piper.

On the final night of the conference, Giglio had asked the students to return to Gaylord in silence, with reverence for God, preparing for worship. They filled the streets of downtown Nashville with what Giglio called an eerie sense of anticipation, and within minutes a crowd had gathered at the entrance to the arena, filling the plaza and spilling over into the streets for blocks.

"Officers on horseback looked on with stunned expressions. Bands in many of Nashville's famed Broadway Street country bars ceased playing as partygoers curiously emptied into the streets to witness the rare and peculiar sight. Restaurant patrons did the same, leaving their meals to walk out among the quiet masses and investigate the silence," he said.

"Some students kneeled as they waited for the arena doors to open. Others stood without uttering a sound, hands lifted in adoration and prayer. A sense of the presence and otherness of God hung thick in the air. And for a moment the heart of the city stood still."

After the experience of Passion '05, Giglio told BP the team wonders whether the conviction, emotion and sense of surrender can be repeated when they return to the same venue for Passion '06 next January.

"It's just one of those things you walk away from and you're just stunned. You're grateful. You're moved," he said. "All of your prayers have been answered and some of your expectations have even been exceeded in the sense of what God did. And I don't know about you, but sometimes I just want to put a big Ebenezer rock down on that and say, 'Let's just let that be the end right there. That was pretty amazing.'

"But fortunately, God's mercies are new every day and His faithfulness is great and we haven't even scratched the surface of what He wants to do. So we're very excited. I could not help but walk past the Gaylord when I got here yesterday and my heart sort of sank a little bit with gratitude and I just stood there on that plaza and I thought about all those kids standing out there on that last night in silence just offering their lives quietly before the Lord. I got pretty moved by it all over again," Giglio said during Gospel Music Association Week in Nashville April 9-13.

So when people pick up a copy of How Great is Our God, Giglio hopes they'll experience the power of who God is and what He can do in their lives, similar to how He showed His character at Passion '05.

"When we worked on these records, we worked incredibly hard to make them musically great but at the same time allow them to carry the power we felt when we were together," he said. "I think this record does both of those things, and I want people that weren't at Passion '05 to feel like they were and to sense the power and to feel God's presence in their lives, whether they're in their car, in their home or in their dorm room somewhere and for it to really get down in their heart and start changing the way they think about life.

"And if that can happen, then we've done more than just make a great record or sell a bunch of records, which we're happy with doing either one of those two things," Giglio said. "I have to be honest -- we'd be happy selling a lot of records, but that's not really at the end of the day the point. The point is that people's lives would be changed."
--30--
To learn more about the Passion movement or to register for Passion '06, visit www.268generation.com.


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Prayer: No. 1 issue in churches, survey of leaders shows
by Staff
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A LifeWay Christian Resources survey of more than 1,300 evangelical leaders from around the world revealed that the need for consistent and passionate prayer in church and personal life is the No. 1 issue in today’s churches.

The April 11 announcement of prayer as the No. 1 issue culminates a LifeWay e-business initiative to ask evangelical ministry leaders from a variety of backgrounds to rank the “Top 10 Issues Facing Today’s Church.”

“This project was an opportunity for us to learn what challenges churches are facing,” said Gary McClure, LifeWay’s e-business marketing manager. And it will provide data with which the Southern Baptist entity can have “the opportunity to propose effective biblical solutions to those issues,” he said.

The LifeWay unit compiled information and multiple resources addressing each issue and has posted the materials online. For the complete survey results and reports addressing all the ranked issues, visit www.lifeway.com/top10.

LifeWay’s e-business department began the two-month online research project last November by distributing thousands of e-mails throughout the United States and world asking ministry leaders to cite top concerns in their churches. 

From the initial list of responses, the 20 most frequently submitted answers were sent back to all the ministry leaders who responded to the first round of e-mails. During December, these leaders used the same Internet survey tool to rank their top 10 from among those 20 issues.

The resulting list of 10 issues includes such diverse topics as abortion (no. 10) and evangelism (no. 4). But it was prayer that ministry leaders cited as the most pressing concern in their churches. 

“In order for today’s church to remain strong in the midst of an evil society, it must be a praying church,” said Gary Butler, a survey participant from Gospel Lighthouse Church in Anadarko, Okla.

“If we as believers ... want to see the same mighty move of God that the early church saw, we must pray just as the early church did. Show me a praying Christian and church and I will show you a victorious Christian and church.”

According to the survey’s final results, the top 10 issues were:

1. Prayer: The need for more ongoing, passionate prayer in both personal and church life.

2. Discipleship: The need for involvement of every believer in being continually transformed into the image of Christ.

3. Leadership: The need for clear, biblical vision and direction by church leaders.

4. Evangelism: The decline among Christians in personal sharing of the Gospel.

5. Doctrine/Worldview: The growing pressure to compromise principles to make truths more palatable to an audience. The widening influence of explicitly anti-Christian culture and negative influences on the church.

6. Apathy: The seeming lack of personal interest, support and enthusiasm from the pews for the work of the church.

7. Marriage: The negative effects on families that result from divorce, adultery, etc.

8. Relevance: The seeming inability of the church to answer questions one has living in the "real world."

9. Homosexuality: The rising social pressure to accept same-sex behavior and relationships.

10. Abortion: The church's lack of an effective response to 30-plus years of legalized abortion.
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98-year-old’s insights yield ‘Prayers of the Heart’
by Leigh Pritchett
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

PELL CITY, Ala. (BP)--Eunice and David George Milligan welcome a visitor into their home with the warmth of lives spent well in the Lord. In a decidedly Irish brogue, Milligan tells his wife they should offer “this lady a cup of tea.”

The two speak often of the divine hand at work in their lives and how it could only have been God who brought them together.

Married for not quite eight years now, their playful banter is reminiscent of newlyweds. He is 98; she is 84. Both were missionaries; both were prayer partners before they became life partners.

Now, their ministry is intercessory prayer. They spend an hour or more daily interceding for people and concerns from across the world. “We keep them on our prayer list,” Eunice Milligan said. Her husband held up a notebook, listing those they have prayed for.

So it was only fitting that Milligan should write a book of prayers, titled “Prayers of the Heart.”

The endeavor took about a year to complete. “It was hard work,” Milligan said. “Prayer is a battle.... It’s much harder to write them than say them.” Yet, he said, it was a special time, one of spiritual growth through intimacy with God.

His wife, herself an author (“Simply His: A Missionary Story of Love, Commitment, and a Willing Heart” coauthored with Pam Waddell), was determined that her husband’s book would be published before his 98th birthday last December.

The impetus for the project came when Evan Zeiger, the associate Sunday School teacher in the class the couple attends at First Baptist Church in Pell City, Ala., suggested that Milligan -- the designated “pray-er” in the group -– write a book of prayers.

“I think it’s by popular demand that he say &#91;the&#93; benediction in our class,” added Harold King, the Sunday School teacher. “If there’s anyone who can talk with the Lord, it’s him. You can tell in his prayers.”

Yet, they are not just words. They are exemplary of Milligan’s walk, King said. “He lives the life.”

In the book’s introduction, Milligan’s daughter -- well-known author and conference leader Esther Burroughs -- remembers her father’s prayers:

“Early one morning ... I heard my father’s voice. Being inquisitive, I crossed the hall to peep inside &#91;the study&#93; and see who was my father’s guest. I saw this ‘Kodak moment.’ I’ll never forget it. My father was on his knees ... with the Word of God open ... praying the Psalms to God. I can still hear his voice broken in love for God and intimately conversing with God. My father was ... and is to this day, a man of prayer.”

The book covers an array of topics, such as giving thanks for chastening, offering gratitude, standing in awe, seeking refuge, blessing the nation, confessing and receiving compassion and mercy.

Milligan, a father of five whose ministry has spanned 67 years, said the prayer life of his first wife, Neva, influenced his book. She kept notebooks of prayers and answers. He said she taught him how to pray.

And, a long time ago Milligan learned to approach God with Scripture. So “about 90 percent of &#91;the book&#93; is Scripture,” he said.
--30--
Leigh Pritchett is a correspondent for the The Alabama Baptist, online at www.thealabamabaptist.org.


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Estimated 3 million watch Falls Creek special in Okla.
by Staff
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--In a final goodbye to the 76-year-old tabernacle at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, an estimated 3 million viewers across Oklahoma and in north Texas tuned in for a worship service recorded live during the final week of last summer’s activities.

Falls Creek’s new 7,000-seat amphitheater is slated for completion in early May as a key part of the “For the Sake of the Call” capital campaign that has received more than $20 million in contributions.

The telecast, aired March 28 on CBS affiliates in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Wichita Falls, Texas, was billed as the largest mass media evangelistic outreach in Oklahoma Baptist history.

The day after the one-hour special, which featured communicator Scott Dawson, vocalist Jami Smith and the comedy team of The Skit Guys, more than 140 calls had been received via the toll-free number posted on the screen, and at least three of the callers made professions of faith. Meanwhile, one salvation decision and three recommitment decisions were made online at www.oklahomalife.com, while three salvation decisions, one recommitment and two requests for prayer were recorded at two other response sites.

“The impact of the broadcast will be felt for many months to come,” said Ray Sanders, Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma communications specialist, “as students are encouraged to attend Falls Creek and viewers gain interest in our local congregations.”

Potential viewers were encouraged to host parties and invite lost friends to watch the broadcast with them. At a party in south Oklahoma City, about 15 college- and career-age youth gathered at the home of Randy and Rhonda King, members of Wilmont Place Baptist Church, to watch the special.

After it was over, most of the young people talked about what Falls Creek has meant to them over the years. Several, including Emily King and Brandon Lovelace, committed to special service there, King to missions and Lovelace to music ministry, while Luke McCabe said his life was changed there when he realized he had been putting other things in his life before his relationship with God.

Emily King recounted how much her life was changed at Falls Creek. “Most of us grew up in church, and if it can change our lives, think what it can do for those who haven’t been in church.”

Since its opening in 1917, more than 1.8 million people have attended Falls Creek activities, including 45,000-plus students and sponsors last summer. More than 200,000 professions of faith have been recorded and, according to the conference center’s website, “More missionaries have experienced their call to a lifetime of service at Falls Creek than at any other place on the face of the earth.”

The Falls Creek special is slated for rebroadcast at noon April 16 on the same CBS affiliates.
--30--
Adapted from reporting by the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, online at www.baptistmessenger.net.


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FIRST-PERSON: A leap of faith
by Ginger Plowman
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

OPELIKA, Ala. (BP)--Nausea swelled in my gut as I watched her tiny legs climb the 150-foot staircase. Why anyone would want to experience falling through the sky only to be yanked back up into the air by a bungee cord -- just before splattering all over the concrete -- is beyond me. Everyone enjoys a good thrill ride from time to time, but bungee jumping, in my opinion, is taking it a bit too far. Especially when the thrill-seeker is my eight-year-old daughter, Alex.

"Are you sure you want to do this, honey?" the concerned man in the ticket booth asked. "We do have go-carts and bumper boats that someone your age might find more enjoyable." 

With chin up, hands planted firmly on her hips, and a stubborn look of determination that I recognized all too well, my petite, blond fireball assured the man that she was brave enough to jump. 

"Well, if you get scared and change your mind when you get to the top, you can always climb back down," the gentleman urged as he handed her the ticket.

"Don't worry, I won't," Alex shot back.  

And somehow, I knew she wouldn't.

"Have you ever lost anyone?" my husband asked the man. 

"Not yet, but we've only been opened for three weeks," the man replied with a grin.

That was reassuring.

Reaching the top, Alex didn't even hesitate. As her little body leaped from the platform and she plummeted from the night sky with screams of excitement, I thought, "Lord, what's it going to take to thrill her when she's 16?" Then it hit me that thrill-seeking definitely can be used for God's glory. "Father, may she find this much delight in taking leaps of faith that please You," I whispered.

Like Alex, Peter had a longing for adventure. When the disciples' boat was being tossed about by threatening winds, they became alarmed. Adding to the anxiety of an already frightening situation, their fear level peaked when they saw a man walking on water toward the boat. The man was Jesus. That's when Peter seized the opportunity for an ultimate thrill. Peter requested that Jesus call him to walk on water. Peter's desire to walk on water in spite of his fear was based not only on his passion for adventure, but his passion to obey God in an adventurous way.  

When Jesus told Peter to come, he leapt from the boat without hesitating. Matthew 14:29-31 records, "... Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'"

Some might say that Peter failed in his faith. However, our ideas of success and failure may not be the same as Jesus'. After all, Jesus favored the mite-giving widow, but not the religious elite. Peter may have failed in the eyes of the public, but he was the only one who experienced walking on water. He was also the only one who felt Jesus lift him up.

Peter took a risk. He took a leap of faith. As a result he experienced a grand adventure with Jesus. The other disciples missed out on that adventure. They didn't learn the valuable lesson of trusting Jesus that Peter learned that day because they weren't willing to take the leap.
--30--
Ginger Plowman, author "Don't Make Me Count to Three," is the founder of Preparing the Way Ministries, for which she speaks at women's events, parenting conferences, and homeschool conventions across the country. You can visit her website at www.gingerplowman.com.

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FIRST-PERSON: The meek shall inherit Malibu
by Russell D. Moore & Robbie Sagers
Date: April 12, 2005 - Tuesday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--In Malibu, Calif., people don't talk about Mel Gibson, Jennifer Aniston or Barbra Streisand. Instead, they refer to their fellow citizens as "Mel," "Jennifer" and "Barb." And so it is only natural that the mayor of the coastal city just goes by his first name, "Winston."

The average household income of Malibu probably is more than the GDP of some countries. But that doesn't mean that the city isn't bustling with the impoverished, including a sizable homeless population. And Winston isn't your typical "Mayor Moonbeam," speaking about social justice for the homeless at cocktail parties. Instead, Winston is repulsed by those who will sign on for campaigns for global economic justice but can "hardly get involved with the poor here." 

Winston is with the homeless and the impoverished on virtually a daily basis, helping with economic emergencies and, even more important, learning names and listening to the homeless as people who share a common image of God. Winston says his mission to the homeless is rooted in the ministry of Jesus: "Jesus walked around and helped a lot of people, and that's my thing: To be like Jesus you've got to walk around and help people." 

But there's one more thing that you should know about Winston. 

When he walks into a room people stop to stare -- but not because of any pervasive fame or striking good looks. Winston himself is homeless. Every night he is without a home or a bed on which to sleep, and every morning he wakes up thinking about how he is going to eat that day. The people of Malibu never elected him mayor, but the homeless of that city call him their mayor nonetheless. This may be because he does for them all the things they think a mayor should do. Above all, they know their appointed "mayor" is out to serve their best interests, whether they know yet what those may or may not be. 

The tongue-in-cheek title of an unknown impoverished man living in anonymity against the backdrop of one of America's richest cities ought to remind American Christians of an ancient -- but often forgotten -- biblical truth. James tells us that care for the poor is not a matter of pity, but rather of eschatology. After all, James writes, Christians' hyper-attention to the wealthy ignores the fact that God has chosen the poor who are rich in faith to be "heirs of the kingdom" (James 2:5). 

This is Jesus' point when He notes that the one who is faithful in little shall be given responsibility over much (Matthew 25:23). The issue here is ruling over the universe in a restored new creation. The New Testament churches were reminded not to assume that God apportions ruling responsibility on the same basis as the present world system. 

Perhaps the homeless of Malibu intuit just such a truth: Winston ought to be governor of something. Nothing could seem farther from reality in a culture obsessed with wealth and celebrity -- especially in a state that elects mayors named Eastwood and governors named Schwarzenegger. 

But the churches should listen to Winston's title, even as they pray for the day in which the triumphant King Jesus will give us all a new name (Revelation 2:17) and a new sphere of responsibility over some aspect of the universe. Perhaps then we will all call Winston "Mr. Mayor," or something even better. 

Until then, let's remember that how we treat the aged and newly unemployed contractor or the lady collecting cans along the highway tells us more than simply what we believe about "charity." It tells us what we believe about the Kingdom of Christ. So let's guard our hearts against a celebrity culture that values glitz and cache. And let's keep in mind that the meek shall inherit the earth. And that means they inherit Malibu, too.
--30--
Russell D. Moore is dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Robbie Sagers is a student in the school of theology at Southern Seminary and an intern with Moore.



