
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/13/2006

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Orthodox scholars: gospel of Judas not a Christian document
by Michael Foust
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The gospel of Judas is helpful in understanding early church heresy but should be viewed as false writings and not comparable to the biblical Gospels, conservative scholars say.

A group of scholars and translators announced in early April the document’s discovery, disclosing the find just before a special about the manuscript aired on the National Geographic Channel. National Geographic billed it as a "lost gospel." 

Christians long have known about the gospel of Judas and considered it heretical -- even though they didn't have an entire copy. Much of what previously was known came from an early church father, Irenaeus -- a hero of church history who was bishop of Lyons and lived in the second century -- who wrote a work titled "Against Heresies," in which he called the gospel of Judas "fictitious history."

The newly discovered document was dated to around A.D. 300, although it likely is a copy of an earlier manuscript, scholars said. 

Unlike the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the authorship of Judas is not tied to the name it bears. Also, unlike the biblical Gospels, Judas promotes an early heresy known as Gnosticism, a movement that tried to corrupt the teachings of Christ in the early church. In a nutshell, the gospel of Judas makes Judas a hero, and not a traitor. Orthodox scholars say the gospel of Judas is not Christian at all, but simply heresy.

"The finding of the manuscript is important because we now have a manuscript that we didn't have for 1,700 years, but this manuscript will not change what Christians believe," James M. Hamilton Jr., assistant professor of biblical studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's Houston campus, told Baptist Press. "I have two volumes of 'New Testament Apocrypha' on my shelf that we have had for a long time now, and the fact is that only scholars read this stuff. The canon has long been decided, and the discovery of a Gnostic book is not going to re-open the question."

The discovery of the gospel of Judas should lead believers to "praise God for preserving the books of the Bible he wanted us to have," Hamilton said.

In fact, the gospel of Judas isn't the only surviving early manuscript that wasn't included in the New Testament. There are other Gnostic documents, as well as some documents written by early church fathers, that survived. Chief among the orthodox documents is 1 Clement, written by Clement the bishop of Rome, possibly in the first century. 

But none of the "extra" documents rises to the level of Scripture, orthodox scholars say. The 27 books of the New Testament were recognized as Scripture by the early church primarily because of their association with an apostle. The only books not written by an apostle are Mark, Luke, Acts, Hebrews and Jude. Luke and Acts were written by Luke, who was associated closely with the Apostle Paul. Mark had close ties to Peter, and Jude was the brother of the Apostle James and possibly a half brother of Jesus. Although it is not known who wrote Hebrews -- some have thought it was Paul -- it was accepted as Scripture by the early church based on its internal qualities and obvious divine inspiration.

"Archeological finds of the last century have only confirmed that the early church fathers gave us accurate accounts of false teachers," Alan Branch, vice president for student development at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., said. "The gospel of Judas is typical of other Gnostic gospels written during the second and third century. As &#91;the early church father&#93; Origen said, 'The church has four Gospels. Heretics have very many.' The church has never denied or attempted to cover up the fact that other groups circulated fallacious gospels. The Gnostic gospels are second- and third-century forgeries. Pagan thought hijacked Christian terminology and used the name 'Jesus' as a vehicle for a pagan worldview."

Gnosticism was a heretical teaching that salvation came through a secret knowledge. Supposedly, Judas was a transmitter of that knowledge. According to Gnosticism, matter was evil and was created by the Old Testament God, who also was evil. Spirit, though, was good. In the gospel of Judas, Jesus tells Judas, referring to the other apostles, "But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." The "clothes" reference presumably referred to Jesus' body.

"Theologically, the gospel of Judas is a false gospel representative of the Gnostic tradition," Malcolm Yarnell III, associate professor of systematic theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, said. "... Christ’s bodily resurrection is also denied. Christianity has had heresies or false gospels with us since the apostles began preaching. This is why Paul warned Christians to utterly reject false gospels in Galatians 1. The false gospel of Judas is an interesting historical find, but should not be placed on the same level as Scripture."

Likewise, Michael D. McMullen, associate professor of church history at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., believes the gospel of Judas has value for learning about heresy.

"&#91;I&#93;t reminds us that the early church was built on Scripture, and that heretics like the Gnostics were a real threat to the Gospel ... and that present-day heretics will continue to use such a document to attack the very same inerrant Scriptures that God has given," McMullen said. "But the real truth is that Gnostic ideas will forever remain at an infinite distance from the truth of the biblical Gospel."

Hamilton, the Southwestern Seminary professor, wondered what would happen today if a "newly discovered" document was found from the American Revolution.

"Let's say the document was written by someone loyal to Great Britain, and let's say that it suggested that George Washington asked Benedict Arnold to betray the American cause," Hamilton said. "Given that the facts are well-established, and given that the sympathies of the author of this document are clear for everyone to see, would this document change our understanding of American history?

"I think not, and I think the same is true of the gospel of Judas."
--30--


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Univ.'s homosexuality stance puts pharmacy school at risk
by David Winfrey
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. (BP)--The University of the Cumberlands expelled a homosexual student April 6, sparking reactions on and off campus, including some state legislators who called for the Baptist-affiliated university to forfeit public funds for a pharmacy school.

Jason Johnson, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., told WLEX-TV and the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper that Cumberlands officials asked him to leave the university because of his homosexuality.

Johnson had posted personal information on the website MySpace.com stating he is homosexual and dating a male student at another college.

Without referring to Johnson specifically, Cumberlands President Jim Taylor issued a statement April 7 that the university's students are held to a higher standard.

"Students know the rules before they come to this institution. We've followed our policies and procedures in keeping with our traditional denominational beliefs," Taylor's statement notes. "University of the Cumberlands isn't for everyone. We tell prospective students about our high standards before they come. We are different by design and are non-apologetic about our Christian beliefs."

A slightly differently worded statement released to WLEX-TV added: "There are places students with predispositions can go such as San Francisco and the left coast or to many of the state schools."

Cumberlands' 2005-06 student handbook states, "Any student who engages in or promotes sexual behavior not consistent with Christian principles (including sex outside marriage and homosexuality) may be suspended or asked to withdraw."

Mike Colgrove, vice president for student affairs, said he couldn't speak specifically to this case but that discipline issues are handled when they come to the attention to university officials.

"When it comes to discipline, we don't go out looking for any of this stuff," he said. "When this comes to our attention, that's when we follow up on it.

"What we're trying to do is ... maintain a Christian environment that is conducive to learning," he added.

Johnson told the Herald-Leader that Cumberlands officials specifically cited his MySpace website biography before expelling him.

On his website, which includes photos of young men kissing, the Lexington native notes plans to transfer to the University of Kentucky next semester.

"I'm very excited about being at home more often, and living in a bigger city and not having to go to Cumberland," he writes. "I am so ready to be out of here. When you get to the point where you almost wish that your school will kiick (sic) you out, then you know you've got it bad."

On Monday, April 10, some students wore protest T-shirts on campus that read, "Jesus Loves My Gay Friends."

In Frankfort, some state legislators suggested the university should not receive state funds for a planned pharmacy school.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the state budget includes $10 million for helping with construction of the building and another $1 million for student scholarships at the yet-to-be created pharmacy program.

Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, D.-Lexington, an openly homosexual member of the General Assembly said that if the funding was kept, "we will have a state benefit that is only available to heterosexuals."

The school's policy regarding homosexuality could place it in conflict with the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. According to the Herald-Leader, the only group that accredits U.S. pharmacy schools requires policies that ban discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, lifestyle, national origin or disability. The revised guidelines, which take effect on July 1, 2007, add "sexual orientation" as one of the prohibited types of discrimination, the paper noted.

Kathy Stein, D.-Lexington, called on Cumberlands to forego the $11 million in state funds because its policy conflicts with the national accreditation standards.
--30--
David Winfrey is news director for the Western Recorder, newsjournal of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, online at www.westernrecorder.org.



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Beeping Easter egg hunt ready for visually impaired kids
by Grace Thornton
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)--David Hyche has spent more than two months helping people hunt for answers to the Alabama church fires.

Hyche supervised the investigations as resident agent in charge for Birmingham's Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office. As the fire cases were wrapping up, he and his church, with help from his crime-solving colleagues, began planning a different sort of hunt -- an Easter egg hunt for visually impaired children.

I've seen it done before in large cities like Washington, D.C., where they have beeping eggs for visually impaired kids to hunt," said Hyche, whose 19-month-old daughter, Rachel, is blind. "It's expensive to do so it's not done very often."

But Hyche, a member of North Shelby Baptist Church in Birmingham, had good help at his fingertips.

"I asked the guys from the Hoover and Birmingham police bomb squads to come help, and they agreed before I'd even gotten the request fully out," he said.

Officers swarmed the fellowship hall at North Shelby Baptist March 28, quickly falling into an assembly line of wiring batteries, circuitry and pulsating beepers together and drilling holes into 50 plastic eggs so that the intermittent beeps could be heard.

"We tried a few of the eggs out with Rachel before today, and anything she didn't destroy she thoroughly enjoyed," Hyche said with a laugh. He turned to the group and shouted, "My daughter is quality control and will be here in a few minutes to see if yours pass the test," prompting a laugh among the officers.

"I can imagine that it's not really fun to be visually impaired and go to an Easter egg hunt," Birmingham Sgt. Errol Culpepper said. "These eggs hopefully will help them be able to enjoy it."

Hyche said when he thought of the project, he'd had his daughter in mind as well as the other children in his church and community who aren't able to enjoy normal egg hunts. And getting the church on board with a separate hunt for visually impaired children in conjunction with their usual Easter egg hunt was a breeze -- North Shelby Baptist already reaches out to those with special needs, Hyche noted.

"God has given us three visually impaired children in our church, and they are fully integrated and active in our church," pastor Allan Murphy said, noting that since Rachel and another family's twin 9-year-old girls came to North Shelby Baptist, church members have been trying to give special attention to their needs.

The church has also become more sensitive to opportunities to minister to blind children and their families through the Alabama Association for Parents of children with Visual Impairments (AAPVI), a support network Hyche has established.

AAPVI "has helped open our eyes to the needs," Murphy said.

The congregation has since been exploring ways to reach out. Sunday School and Mother's Day Out teachers offer tactile learning opportunities and lavish attention on the children, Hyche said. The church even has a multi-volume Braille Bible on hand.

And of course, there's the Easter egg hunt, which will be held April 15 at a home near the church.

"It's pretty difficult for a visually impaired child to find Easter eggs ... well-meaning children will put their hands on the egg for them, and that doesn't allow for the free participation, creativity and competition that kids love about Easter egg hunts," Hyche said. "This will allow them to do it on their own."

The "sighted" children will hunt first and then play on inflatables while the visually impaired children have the hunt all to themselves.

A helper will go with each child to disable the beepers and replace them with candy.

"Families of visually impaired children have needs that are unique, and we are trying to serve and understand those specific needs in the best possible way to give them support," Hyche said.
--30--
Grace Thornton is assistant editor of The Alabama Baptist, online at www.thealabamabaptist.org. For more information about the Alabama Association for Parents of children with Visual Impairments, visit www.aapvi.org.


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Associational Crossover serves as model for ‘Everyone Can’
by Erin Roach
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--More than 700 volunteers from a single Baptist association knocked on nearly 7,000 doors to share the Gospel in a Tennessee community April 8, and Bobby Welch believes it was a key event in the grander scheme of accomplishing the goal set forth in the “‘Everyone Can’ Kingdom Challenge!” for evangelism.

“Crossover Cookeville” was modeled after the evangelism event that has for years preceded the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, but Welch, president of the convention, said it went a step further by tying into the associational baptism rallies he challenged each Baptist association to conduct.

“I think Cookeville -- as well as what we’re seeing happening now with associational baptism rallies across the country but overwhelmingly in North Carolina -- is giving clear indication that our people are beginning to see the value and rediscover the spiritual synergy of uniting in their common effort for evangelism,” Welch told Baptist Press.

After a day of knocking on Cookeville doors in inclement weather, volunteers from the Stone Baptist Association returned to their churches the following morning to share the excitement with their congregations. Then 800 of them packed the auditorium of First Baptist Church in Cookeville on Sunday night to celebrate the results of their efforts.

Most of the service was televised in the city, and about 20 people made professions of faith and others made some sort of spiritual decision during the service.

“It was really something. We had hundreds of people who got down on their knees and committed themselves to go out and try to share the Gospel with other people,” Welch said.

The event drew more Baptists than any associational event in the last 28 years, said Frank Hickman, the association’s director of missions. It also drew members of a majority of the association’s 41 churches, which include a Hispanic and a Chinese mission congregation.

At last year’s SBC annual meeting in Nashville, Welch launched an initiative to see 1 million baptisms within the convention between Oct. 1, 2005, and Sept. 30, 2006 -- the “‘Everyone Can’ Kingdom Challenge!” for evangelism. Then he urged local Baptist associations to join together to do their part in reaching people for Christ by holding at least two associational baptism rallies.

“I’m seeing this almost every night in North Carolina,” Welch said, drawing a parallel to the Cookeville rally and similar gatherings he has been attending in the lead-up to the SBC annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C., June 13-14.

In an interview with Baptist Press regarding the Cookeville initiative, Welch recalled his words during his first news conference after being elected president of the convention in 2004 as well as a crucial message he had painted on the bus used for his 50-state tour that year.

“If you’ll remember all the way back to Indianapolis, in that press conference I said the failure of the convention is its inability to create unity of purpose that in turn generates spiritual synergy for the sake of evangelism,” he said. “And remember it said on the side of the bus, ‘Do all you can with all you have where you are now.’ Well, that is everybody getting on the same page and doing what they can in their Jerusalem and then putting it together. I think what we’re seeing now is they are getting this. They are beginning to focus.”

Welch made clear that people throughout the convention mostly understood the concept of doing all they can with all they have, but now they’re putting it into practice at a greater rate.

He pointed to North Carolina, where about 95 percent of the state’s 80 associations have made commitments to be part of the unified effort to witness to, win and baptize 1 million people.

“That’s phenomenal. That’s one state,” he said. “And this didn’t come down as some edict from on high -- this came from a grassroots conviction of pastors and people in these associations that we will do better if we rise together, and they are! That’s exhilarating to me.”

Cookeville, Welch said, is “a fresh new dynamic to the whole idea of unifying as an association in baptism rallies. Cookeville was a Crossover effort by an association. That adds a whole other component.

“Here what we probably have in front of us now are the pieces to the next part of this puzzle to reach these million baptisms,” he said. “That is, I right now fully expect that there will be associations who will now go out on Saturday and do their own Crossover in their own association, go on Sunday and tell the story and then some of them Sunday night will meet at a public spot and have an outdoor baptism rally. I fully expect that to happen.”

What happened in Cookeville could easily happen in Wyoming or Texas or California, Welch said, and the folks there have helped cast a vision for churches across the nation to combine a local Crossover effort with a baptism rally to create more synergy in the effort to reach people for Christ.

“This is so exciting,” he said. “We are now seeing fresh and new associational life as it was always meant to be among the churches of a community. This is bringing back a unity of purpose, and the unity of purpose is bringing back a unity of excitement and the thrill of being a critical part of a larger whole. That’s groundbreaking in some of these associations.”

If every association in every state makes the same commitment that North Carolina has, Welch said, and if they follow through with associational Crossovers and associational baptism rallies, the opportunities for expanding the Kingdom of God are limitless.

“This has the possibility of becoming an absolute national blaze for revival,” he said. “It really is starting to happen.”
--30--
With reporting by Connie Davis Bushey of the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector.


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On mission for Jesus: Annie Armstrong’s Easter Story
by Shannon Baker
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

BALTIMORE (BP)--Some call her “indefatigable.” John Roberts calls her “indomitable.”

Roberts is pastor emeritus of Woodbrook Baptist Church, formerly known as Eutaw Place Baptist Church, where Annie Walker Armstrong spent three-fourths of her life in ministry.

Beginning his ministry at Eutaw Place in 1959, Roberts followed Armstrong’s pastor, W. Clyde Atkins, in the pastorate. Though he never met the woman who is the namesake of the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, her legacy has left an impact on his church, on Baltimore, and beyond.

Who is this indomitable Annie Armstrong?

Born in 1850 in the industrial port city of Baltimore, Armstrong, or “Miss Annie” as she was affectionately known, attended Seventh Baptist Church, which at the time met at Paca and Saratoga streets (the current site of the Shrine of Saint Jude).

At Seventh, Armstrong was baptized at the age of 19 and shortly thereafter joined more than 100 members from Seventh to pioneer a new work -- Eutaw Place Baptist Church -- at Eutaw Place and Dolphin Street. There, Armstrong remained an active member for nearly 70 years until her death in 1938.

Describing Armstrong as “a tall, stately, outspoken, strong-willed leader,” author Bobbie Sorrell credits Armstrong’s Harvard-educated pastor, Richard Fuller, for building her deep convictions about missions.

With his preaching described as “logic on fire,” Fuller’s passionate southern lawyer roots paved way for his influence in framing the Southern Baptist Convention; he preached its first annual sermon. Fuller thus gave Armstrong and others an insider’s view into the birth of the denomination.

At the local church level, Armstrong taught in the Infant class (also called the Primary Department, for children up to age 12) for 50 years. All the while, she maintained an interest in ministering to mothers, immigrants, the underprivileged, the sick, African Americans, Indians and, later in life, her Jewish neighbors.

Accordingly, she worked at the Home of the Friendless, where she served on the board of managers for more than 20 years.

She started the Ladies’ Bay View Mission, at the site of today’s Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, which was formerly known as Baltimore City Hospital.

Armstrong’s ties to Baltimore were even more numerous. Her great-great-great grandfather was Henry Sater, who built the first known Baptist church in Maryland. A childless widower at 50, Sater later married Dorcas Towson, of the family whose name lives on in the community of Towson, who became Armstrong’s great-great-great grandmother.

Like most Baltimoreans, Armstrong lived in row homes -- on North Calvert Street with her parents James Dunn and Mary Elizabeth Armstrong and later on McCullough Street when her father died. In her elder years, she moved to Cecil Apartments, which adjoin Eutaw Place Baptist Church.

Not only did Armstrong embrace Baltimore with the love of Christ, but her reach also extended to the uttermost parts of the world. Most notable are her efforts in missions education and missions support.

In 1880, in her first prominent leadership position, Armstrong served as the first president of the Woman’s Baptist Home Mission Society of Maryland, which involved women in supporting the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention. The society’s first priority locally was forming an Indian school and ministering to Chinese immigrants. The organization also provided support for work in Cuba and New Orleans.

Armstrong later became the corresponding secretary of the Maryland Mission Rooms, later called the Mission Literature Department, SBC. This department served as a missions library and reading room and ultimately became a publisher and distributor of missions literature.

Beginning in 1888, Armstrong led in framing the constitution of the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention. She served as corresponding secretary -- a position equivalent to executive director today -- until 1906, always refusing a salary for the work she did through WMU to further the Gospel.

Without today’s technology, Armstrong wrote letters by hand to all the Southern Baptist foreign societies. On one occasion, she asked them to contribute to the first Christmas offering, which resulted in enough money to send three -- not one, as had been hoped -- missionaries to assist Lottie Moon in China.

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions, so named at Armstrong’s recommendation, has raised more than $2.6 billion for overseas missions to date.

In 1895, Armstrong led the WMU to contribute $5,000 to help alleviate the Home Mission Board’s $25,000 debt and prevent the withdrawal of missionaries from their mission fields. In response, WMU instituted the Week of Self-Denial as a time of praying for and giving to home missions. Since that time, a week of prayer and a home missions offering have continued. In 1934, the offering was named the Annie Armstrong Offering.

To date, the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions has generated more than $1.1 billion.

Armstrong also assisted organizations for Negro Baptist women and children and published literature for them.

“To me, Miss Armstrong was a symbol -– a marvel at what a woman could do. She fired my soul,” wrote Nannie Burroughs, corresponding secretary of the Woman’s Convention, auxiliary to the National Baptist Convention.

Year after year, Armstrong came up with new ways to get missions information out to the churches, to stir up missions efforts and to raise more prayer support and money for missions. In her later years, she took up the cause of the Church Building and Loan fund, enabling struggling congregations to build a church home.

Armstrong resigned from WMU in 1906 in opposition to the inclusion of WMU’s training school with a men’s seminary in Louisville, Ky. It was her belief that the organization could not devote attention to missions and women’s work in churches while raising funds to manage a school. She also disagreed with the establishment of a salary for the organization’s officers.

Armstrong died in 1938, the year of WMU’s 50th anniversary. She was buried at Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore, in the same cemetery as John Healey, the Second and Fourth Baptist Church pastor who started the first Sunday School in this country and Richard Fuller.

How did she do it all? Roberts, Woodbrook’s pastor emeritus, asked the same question. 

Those who knew Armstrong personally told him she had an intense prayer life that gave her real spiritual energy.

“It comes down to dedication, to doing your best in every category of ministry, with dedication, energy and prayer support,” Roberts also noted, recalling an adage of Fuller, who resolved “never to insult the Master with indolent preparation or superficial and ineffectual performance.”

“Fuller’s high standards surely influenced Miss Annie,” Roberts said.

That quality of Christian service shouldn’t be misunderstood as elitism, but instead should stress the importance of using all our faculties to do the very best for the Lord, Roberts said.

“Through her steadfast prayer, her focused determination and her willingness to put her faith into action, Annie Armstrong modeled for us the difference one person can make when she is obedient to allow God to work through her,” said Bob Reccord, current president of the North American Mission Board. 

“So much of the International Mission Board’s work depends on the generous and faithful giving of Southern Baptists to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and we have Annie Armstrong to thank for creating the offering,” agreed Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board. “Annie’s legacy to the IMB began with a single missionary, Lottie Moon, and today, because of her tireless effort and passion for reaching the lost, the number of missionaries overseas has grown to more than 5,000.”

One of Armstrong quotes still inspires: “The future lies all before us ... shall it only be a slight advance upon what we usually do? Ought it not to be a bound, a leap forward, to altitudes of endeavor and success undreamed of before?”
--30—-


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Beyond an Easter Offering: Annie Armstrong’s lasting legacy
by Shannon Baker
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

BALTIMORE (BP)--Nearly 70 years after Annie Armstrong’s death, there’s still plenty to say about her legacy to Southern Baptists.

Such as:

-- “It is impossible to calculate the difference &#91;Miss&#93; Annie has made in our denomination, our continent and the world. She was dedicated to doing what she could and God has combined that effort with millions of other Southern Baptists through the years. Each one of us, doing what we can, in obedience to God’s Word can still have a mighty impact on this world.” –- Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board.

-- “Although Annie Armstrong’s name is synonymous with the North American Mission Board, she is one of our heroes too. About half of our missionaries’ total financial support comes from the Cooperative Program and the remainder comes through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. That simply would not be possible without the Lottie Moon offering and, ultimately, without the contribution of Annie Armstrong in establishing this tremendous giving fund.” -– Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board.

-- “Seventh Baptist Church has a great heritage. We are excited that Annie Walker Armstrong heard the Gospel, accepted the free gift of salvation and subsequently was baptized through our ministry. Our mission is to continue equipping the next generation of ‘Annie’s’ as we take the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ to Baltimore City and beyond.” -– Ryan Preston Palmer, pastor of Seventh Baptist Church and trustee of the North American Mission Board.

-- “WMU has a rich history of engaging people in the mission of God. The first corresponding secretary of WMU set the stage for what our organization would become. Annie Armstrong was nicknamed ‘Strong Arm’ because she had the strength and determination to do whatever was necessary to get a new organization off the ground. Not only did she get WMU ‘off the ground’ but through her efforts WMU led the way in focusing attention on missions education, tithing, concern for native Americans, immigrants and others in the local church.” -– Wanda Lee, executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union.

-- “What I think is so interesting is that the folks at Eutaw Place and Seventh &#91;Baptist&#93; churches didn’t see her as a saint, but as a growing Christian, as they were.” -– Maryan Brown, a former historian for the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware.

In numerous ways, Annie Armstrong continues to show the power of one person. Her early efforts to raise money for missionary support has blossomed to nearly $3.7 billion for SBC mission causes.

And the impact of her efforts in the last century can still be felt on Baptist life today, especially in the following ministries:

-- Founder and President, Ladies’ Bay View Mission

Armstrong started the Ladies’ Bay View Mission, an organization that cared for the poor, located on the site where Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center now stands.

-- Corresponding Secretary, Woman’s Home Mission Society of Maryland

The Woman’s Home Mission Society of Maryland was formed after Armstrong and other women called a meeting of Baptist church representatives to cooperate with the Home Mission Board’s causes. As president for 24 years of this organization, Armstrong led support in projects in New Orleans, Cuba, among Chinese and German immigrants in Baltimore, and with African American women in their church work.

-- Corresponding Secretary, Missions Rooms

Armstrong became the corresponding secretary of the Mission Rooms in Baltimore. Sponsored by the Maryland Baptist Union Association (the predecessor to the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware), the missions library and reading room ultimately became a publisher and distributor of missions literature for the Southern Baptist Convention. The work was given to the SBC Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources) in the early 1900s.

-- Corresponding Secretary, Woman’s Missionary Union

Armstrong became the first corresponding secretary (a position equivalent to today’s executive director) of the Woman’s Missionary Union, an auxiliary of the SBC, which formed in Richmond, Va., and whose headquarters were located in Baltimore from 1888-1921. “Go Forward,” a rally cry synonymous with Armstrong’s personal efforts, was adopted as WMU’s first motto. WMU is now based in Birmingham, Ala.

-- Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions

Armstrong and Lottie Moon proposed a Christmas Offering to raise money to send single women to China to work with Moon. Enough money was raised to send three missionaries instead of just one. This offering became the precursor to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions, so named at Armstrong’s recommendation, which has raised more than $2.6 billion for foreign missions to date.

-- Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions

Armstrong proposed the first Week of Self-Denial and an offering for home missions. Renamed after Armstrong in 1934, the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions has accumulated more than $1.1 billion to date.
--30--


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Outbreak of revival still stirs their souls 30-plus years later
by Ken Walker
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

<i>EDITORS’ NOTE: The following three stories focusing on an outbreak of revival in Easley, S.C., during the early 1970s are part of a monthly Baptist Press series to explore and describe how individuals, churches, associations and conventions exhibit a passion for Christ and His Kingdom.</i>


EASLEY, S.C. (BP)--Although 30 years have passed since its peak, those who were involved in a revival that spread across a wide region are still celebrating its impact.

According to those involved, a revival in Easley, S.C., began soon after a Christian coffeehouse opened in 1970. The outreach was organized by Southern Baptist layman Terry Ballenger and his wife, Greer. 

“It was some golden days for my wife and me,” said Ballenger, communications manager at Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative near Easley. “We look back at what happened with a sense of awe. Jesus just showed up.”

Louisiana pastor Larry Thompson, one of the first converts, said the move spread to Easley High School and led to numerous area revival services. 

From there, he said it spread to nearby Anderson and North Greenville colleges (now universities) and eventually to areas of Georgia and North Carolina. 

The excitement also led Ballenger to charter two buses to take approximately 80 students to “Explo ’72” in Dallas, an evangelistic-oriented event organized by Campus Crusade for Christ.

No one tracked the number of conversions. Still, participants say because of the revival several dozen people are in fulltime Christian work today. Hundreds more are faithful church members.

Each Christmas season, 15 to 30 participants gather in Easley to reminisce about the revival and celebrate what God has done.

Dale Ellenburg, vice president for academics at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary near Memphis, Tenn., likens what happened to a late 1850s revival that originated with a prayer meeting called by businessman Jeremiah Lanphier.

“It was an unexplained, spontaneous moving of the Holy Spirit that has put people in ministry throughout the past 30 years -– dozens of them,” Ellenburg said. “It was amazing.”

“I’ve never gotten over it,” said Thompson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Westlake, La. “I’ve never gotten over the Bible and seeing people saved. I get frustrated when it doesn’t happen. I have an intense desire to see revival come again.”

Ballenger, who found a closer walk with Christ through Campus Crusade while in college, organized a Sunday evening home Bible study for Easley teens that went by the name “Christians Unanimous.”

The Bible studies circulated to various participants’ homes before later settling in a hut in a city park that had once been home to a Boy Scout troop.

It became known as the coffeehouse because they brewed coffee in the beginning. Ironically, when no one drank any, they stopped serving it after six months, Ballenger said.

Thompson recalled how young people -– many dressed in 1970s “hippie” style clothing -– painted the hut’s walls black and added Scripture verses in fluorescent colors. The verses would glow when the youth turned on a black neon light.

The primitive furniture and fireplace contributed to a casual atmosphere that drew crowds of high school and college students, Thompson said.

The coffeehouse was open Thursday and Friday nights and Sunday evenings after church.

After fellowship, Ballenger would call for quiet and teens would be expected to read or study the Bible. This would be followed by prayer, testimonies and music, Thompson said. “Then we would hit whatever restaurant would let us scrounge there,” he joked.

“We were always free to let the Holy Spirit lead,” Thompson said. “Sometimes on Sunday there would be a guest speaker, but more often than not there was a teen doing preaching or teaching.”

These early sparks quickly spread to Easley High School, where morning Bible clubs formed. In addition to drawing dozens of students, the clubs led to revival meetings at the high school and other locations.

While Christian speakers gave anti-drug or other positive messages in school assemblies, they would invite students to return to evening revival meetings, Thompson said.

“A bunch of us were asked to do youth revivals,” Thompson said. “I was 18 years old, in blue jeans, preaching at First Baptist churches across the state and people were getting saved constantly.

“It wasn’t just at church and youth rallies. Many of us led people to Christ in classes, at restaurants and at football games. It was natural for me to get a knock on the door at 2 or 3 in the morning and someone who had been a Christian for one or two weeks would say, ‘Joe needs to get saved. Can you tell him how to do that?’”

Although known as the leader, Ballenger said he wasn’t that spiritually mature when the revival began.

When standing-room-only crowds materialized a year after the coffeehouse opened, Ballenger recognized God was doing something special.

“I helped as I could but I had to grow myself,” Ballenger said. “That ministry encouraged me and helped me get deeper in my faith. I got deeper into the Word and understanding the Old Testament and how it’s important to the New Testament.

“All those things brought me to a better understanding of how to live as a Christian. The discipline of a daily quiet time is something I practice to this day.”

Despite the excitement, the revival ebbed in the latter half of the 1970s, something Ellenburg called natural.

“Revivals and great awakenings don’t last,” Ellenburg said. “They’re not supposed to; you can’t stay in perpetual revival. God graciously sends them for times of refreshing.”

Measured against societal changes of the past 35 years, though, the question is whether the coffeehouse is a viable model for other communities that would like to see a youth revival.

While Ballenger thinks it is possible, he said it won’t be simple to replicate, particularly because of life’s hectic pace.

For example, he mentioned how Easley used to come to a standstill because almost everyone went to high school football games on Friday nights; today, however, that isn’t as common because of other distractions, such as video games, the Internet, cable TV and mega-malls.

Still, Ballenger pointed out that young people still hunger for spiritual growth and answers to life’s perplexing problems.

Whether a coffeehouse or another venue or strategy, Ballenger said, “It would be up to us as believers, especially those of us who want to see young people get off on the right foot, to figure out what that is.”
--30--


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Revival at a coffeehouse still fuels their ministry
by Ken Walker
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

WESTLAKE, La. (BP)--The revival that drew Larry Thompson to Christ as a 17-year-old continues to influence his ministry long after he left South Carolina for pastorates in four other states.

“These are the kind of things I have attempted all through my ministry,” the pastor of First Baptist Church in Westlake, La., said. “I’ve often said that I’ve based my ministry on teaching the principles of revival, just in case the Holy Spirit decides to do it again.”

In particular, Thompson retains a strong desire to see others accept Christ. This spark was lit by his conversion in the early days of a revival that began in Easley, S.C., and a youth conference that summer sponsored by the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

In addition to lessons from the conference on prayer and personal Bible study, Thompson attended sessions on how to share his faith. By Thursday of that week, he had led his first convert to Christ and by Sunday, two dozen more.

And he wasn’t the only person from Easley who led numerous people to Jesus, Thompson said.

Reflecting on the revival, the pastor outlined four primary traits that characterized it:

-- An intense dedication to the Word of God.

Counting Sunday and Wednesday nights, some participants were involved in Bible study five nights a week, Thompson said.

“Most of us carried the Bible everywhere,” Thompson said. “A lot of us got ridiculed because of that.”

-- An intense desire to see other people come to Christ.

The people involved in spreading the revival knew they needed to lead their friends, co-workers and others to Christ, so they prayed and witnessed together, Thompson said.

-- An intense boldness.

Thompson said once when a girl at school heard a group of football players swearing, she shouted, “Stop it! That’s my Father you’re talking about!”

As a result, the starting quarterback accepted Jesus as his Savior as did several other players, Thompson said.

-- Intense loyalty.

The youth who were experiencing revival identified with each other as fellow Christians, not a denominational entity, Thompson said.

“There was nothing we wouldn’t do for each other,” he said.

Others called into ministry because of the Easley Revival have similarly fond memories, such as Dale Ellenburg, vice president of academics at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary near Memphis, Tenn.

In addition to his academic credentials, Ellenburg has served in pastoral roles for 24 of the past 31 years. 

Currently serving as a preaching associate at Kirbywoods Baptist Church, Ellenburg attributes his love of the pulpit to the spiritual fire that touched him as a teenager.

“In 1975 I surrendered to ministry because of the spiritual excitement at the coffeehouse,” Ellenburg said, referencing the initial gathering point in Easley where the revival began. “And after 31 years in ministry, I haven’t seen anything like it.

“To this day I love teenagers and desire to see another revival among teenagers. God’s done it before. I hope He’ll do it again.”

Although he accepted Christ at the age of 9, as a teenager Ellenburg said he had strayed from God and embraced a rebellious lifestyle.

That is, until he went to the coffeehouse.

“Those people talked about a relationship with Christ that was so fresh and real,” Ellenburg said. “I had never experienced anything like that.

“Those folks led me to a firm rededication of my life &#91;to Christ&#93; that is as much a hallmark as my salvation at 9.”

Although he went to one of the earlier home Bible studies with a girlfriend, he didn’t visit the coffeehouse until after they broke up and a football teammate invited him.

From that night on, the Holy Spirit began working in his life, Ellenburg said.

While he recommitted his life to Christ at a meeting where evangelist Bob Harrington spoke, Ellenburg said he wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for the coffeehouse group.

“At first the area churches were afraid of us,” Ellenburg said. “But little by little they began to realize &#91;that the leader&#93; Terry Ballenger was the real deal. He wasn’t going to let that thing get out of hand theologically.”

At the time, Ellenburg said, no one realized the length and breadth of what God was doing.

Looking back, he calls it “remarkable” that several dozen people from a small town are scattered across the world in ministry positions.

Terrell Peace agreed, saying the number of participants who followed that path was disproportionate to the size of Easley, about 10,000 then (approximately 18,000 today).

“The thing I never thought about that much was the inspiration and leadership of the Holy Spirit and leading people into ministry,” said Peace, director of teacher education at Huntington University in northeast Indiana.

An engineering major at Clemson University when the revival started and a member of Easley’s Brushy Creek Baptist Church, Peace was a frequent coffeehouse speaker.

Still, Peace was close to enrolling in graduate school for further engineering studies when he sensed God calling him to a different occupation, which Peace attributes to the revival’s influence.

Finally, Peace took a day off to pray and list the pros and cons of engineering versus ministry. The latter won out; Peace spent three years with Campus Crusade for Christ before enrolling in seminary.

“All the pros for grad school were monetary and all the pros for ministry were eternal,” Peace said. 

“I don’t know that I ever connected the dots to that whole revival thing. We had a couple guys who went into ministry with the Navigators, some to Campus Crusade for Christ and a lot into churches.”

Peace ultimately chose an educational path. After earning his master’s and doctoral degrees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, he taught in its religious education school for 11 years.

Eight years ago Peace moved to Huntington, a small school sponsored by the United Brethren in Christ.

Though no longer in a Southern Baptist environment, Peace said one reason the revival occurred is because people were willing to set aside denominational labels.

“I think we’ve lost some of that willingness to see the larger body,” Peace said. “I think our desire for uniformity rather than unity is a barrier to that kind of movement.”
--30--


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Multitude of laypeople testify to revival’s lasting impact
by Ken Walker
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

EASLEY, S.C. (BP)--For layman Terry Ballenger, a gratifying result of the revival that broke out in Easley, S.C., in the early 1970s is hearing the preaching of those who were called into the ministry and how their spiritual gifts have developed over the years.

Ballenger, communications manager at Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, is equally pleased with the vast numbers now serving as deacons, Sunday School teachers and Christian influences in the workplace.

After listing examples in nursing, accounting and the federal government, Ballenger said, “You’ve got folks like that I can name right and left who went into secular work like me.

“In 1970 I saw myself going to seminary. I told my boss when I came here, ‘I’m giving you one year and if I feel the Lord calling me, I’ll have to go.’ But I never felt the Lord calling me.”

Ballenger isn’t fond of the notion that God’s call refers primarily to becoming a pastor, missionary or Christian educator.

He noted that the tendency to see pastors as a church’s primary witness leads to members expecting the pastor to do all hospital and home visitation when not all pastors have that gift.

“My prayer is more people in the church will get involved in ministry,” Ballenger said. “When the church is the church, that takes the load off the pastor so he can spend his time praying and studying and preparing sermons.”

A pair of church members touched by the Easley revival are among those who have lived out this call over the past 30 years.

Cathy McQueen, who has worked in a variety of occupations, including currently managing a prison industry for the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said she shares her faith whenever the opportunity arises.

“If we relied on the pastoral staff to do everything, it couldn’t be done,” McQueen said. “My calling has been to be what I can, to be where I can, where God wants me.”

McQueen, who often led spiritual discussions at the coffeehouse in Easley where the revival began, noted that it couldn’t be identified with Baptist, Presbyterian or with any other denomination.

“It was Jesus-centered,” McQueen said. “I honestly do not think I would be where I am in my faith had I not had that when I did.

“If people don’t have a group to bond with, it’s like trees in a forest,” she added. “If one is alone, the wind could blow it over. But if it’s in a cluster, the wind may blow off a few branches, but it won’t fall.”

Then attending Glenwood Baptist Church in Easley, McQueen was a student at the University of South Carolina when the revival broke out.

Though active with Campus Crusade for Christ, McQueen often drove home on weekends to attend coffeehouse meetings.

“The coffeehouse ministry and all it entailed felt like a safe place,” McQueen said. “The early ’70s was a different time; there was a lot going on. What Terry and Greer &#91;Ballenger&#93; did to hold that together was mind-boggling.

“They gave a lot -- to give us the foundation they did. I feel like we’ve been their children because they never had any children. They were willing to answer a call they heard and give us the freedom to find our own call.”

Members of Northside Baptist Church in suburban Columbia, S.C., for 24 years, she and her husband have been Sunday School teachers, choir members and athletic coaches while raising three children. However, because of serious parental illnesses in recent years, they dropped such activities to act as caregivers.

Such strains help McQueen appreciate the spiritual lessons she gleaned from the Easley revival.

“There are times I feel the pull of that foundation,” McQueen said. “Even if things get rough, I can pull back and center myself. That truly is what keeps my life together.”

Gene Odom, a veteran in sales who now works with an executive search firm in the Atlanta area, has been an active church member ever since the Easley revival.

He and his wife attend an interdenominational church where they are active in two small groups. Over the years he has been a Sunday School teacher, youth leader and hosted home Bible studies. The Odoms also started a Young Life outreach while living in Edwardsville, Ill.

Odom grew up at Park Street Baptist Church in Easley and first attended college at Anderson University, then a junior college.

When the revival spread from Easley to Anderson, Odom and a friend formed a music and speaking team that traveled to various high schools, including his alma mater.

“Once I went down there I was hooked,” Odom said of the Easley coffeehouse. “It was a mainstay in the community.”

The revival had a key impact on his life, Odom recounted. While attending the “Explo ‘72” evangelistic event in Dallas with a group from Easley, he met a group from Greenville (Ill.) College, where he had been invited to play for the baseball team. And he met a couple there who offered to help pay for his schooling since Greenville didn’t offer athletic scholarships.

After enrolling at the college, he met his wife.

“This was a turning point in my spiritual career,” Odom said of the chain of events that led him to Greenville. “Next to my salvation, the best thing that happened to me was meeting my wife.”

The coffeehouse also showed him the reality of following Christ in daily life, after previously having seen numerous church members act one way on Sundays and differently during the week.

However, at the coffeehouse, kids had a chance to fellowship in a setting that proved to be authentic, Odom said, noting, “I had an opportunity to see people live their faith during the week, not just on Sunday,” Odom said.

“That has stuck with me all my life. I believe that’s why all our &#91;three&#93; kids love the Lord. We are no different this afternoon than on Sunday.”
--30--


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WORLDVIEW: The resurrection power of changed lives
by Erich Bridges
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--A young man in China heard about Jesus Christ from a friend and decided to follow Him as risen Lord and Savior.

But first he had a question for his Christian friend: “Who told you about Jesus?”

The friend told about the believers who had led him to faith, but the young man wasn’t quite satisfied.

“Well, who told them?” he persisted.

The conversation continued along that line until the Christian friend realized something anew: The life, death and resurrection of Christ are the most important events in history, but the Good News still reaches hearts and minds primarily by word of mouth. One person shares with another -– day by day, generation by generation.

“Relational introductions &#91;to the Gospel&#93; must go all the way back to Jesus’ time,” he later reflected. “We all owe our thanks to somebody before us.”

Think about that. Because the earliest followers of Christ -– those who walked with Him personally –- faithfully spread the Gospel in the days after He rose from the dead, that same message is now sweeping China in one of the greatest ongoing expansions in church history.

America needs the Good News, too. “Tell His Story” is the theme for this year’s Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions. The offering (goal: $56 million) will support thousands of Southern Baptist missionaries assigned by the North American Mission Board as they reach out to the estimated 244 million spiritually lost people in the United States and Canada.

But they can’t do it alone. North American missions, like international missions, is the task of every believer. And it’s personal. Telling His story is telling your story. How has Christ’s resurrected life changed your life? How is He living through you? You can’t share what you don’t have.

The historical case for the resurrection of Christ is solid and compelling. But many people would reject it even if they were presented with enough hard evidence to satisfy a district attorney. The evidence of your changed life, however, is harder to refute. If you love someone others despise, serve someone others oppress, listen to someone others ignore, you will soon find someone who wants to know why you are different.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, observes that the people most receptive to spiritual things tend to fall into two categories: those in transition (new marriage, new job, new school, new town) and those under tension (illness, marriage problems, divorce, financial crisis, alcohol/drugs, problem children, etc.). That covers a big chunk of the population. Sure, they may mock your Christian faith the first time they hear it. But they’ll respond to your life when they see Jesus in you -– and sense Him reaching out to them. 

The early Christians shook the Roman world with their courageous testimony about Jesus -– and the testimony of their radically changed lives. In our day, Chinese Christians and Muslim-background followers of Jesus are shaking their worlds. So are hosts of local believers and mission workers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They don’t just believe in the resurrection; they live it.

“Please pray with us that the Gospel will be shared broadly through the Easter season,” asks a Christian in a major Chinese city. “Very few Chinese have any knowledge or understanding of Easter. Pray that during this time believers will clearly proclaim the message of a risen Savior who takes away the sins of the world to their family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. Pray that literally thousands of people in our city will ‘see Jesus’ for the first time this Easter season.”

Let’s pray the same prayer for our own cities this Easter. It’s time for many more of our neighbors to see the risen Savior in us.
--30--


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FIRST-PERSON: Resurrection: history or hoax?
by Kevin Shrum
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Let’s begin with some sarcasm. If Dan Brown (author of the "The Da Vinci Code") hadn’t appeared, we poor Christians never would have known the "real story" concerning the life, death and supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here’s the scoop according to Brown and like-minded authors (such as Bart Ehrman, John Dominic Crossan and Elaine Pagels): The real story of Jesus has been cloaked by time, inaccurate history, church conspiracies and secret societies. 

And what are the "newly discovered, long-hidden truths" about Jesus of Nazareth that we have not been privy to? Here’s a short list: He was married to Mary Magdalene, sired children who subsequently fled to France, never claimed to be God, conspired with Judas in betrayal and was crucified but not bodily raised from the dead. 

What these liberal revisionists leave us with is a religious radical who happened to compile a body of moral teachings and had the good fortune of garnering a large following that believed the ridiculous notions of his divinity, spiritual authority, miracles, sacrificial death for sinners and his resurrection from the dead.

What are we to think about the gospel of Judas, secret codes, etc.? 

Here’s what we can know about Jesus Christ. First, the most reliable sources of history concerning the life and ministry of Jesus are the four gospels. Why? It is because we have more reliable documents that affirm the veracity of the Gospels than almost any known ancient document. Either an eyewitness apostle wrote the entire New Testament or a close associate of an apostle, meaning that the information we have in the Gospels is first-generation information. This is unlike the second- and third-generation Gnostic writings purporting to be gospels that arose from attempts to skew the story of Jesus already affirmed by the early church.

What about Jesus’ claim to be God? Were these redactions of later Christians, or were they legitimate claims? 

Jesus did claim to be God. In John 8:58 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I Am.” For Jesus to use that little phrase "I Am" is a direct reference to Exodus 3:14, where God gave Moses His identity card for Pharaoh’s consideration. To claim to be ‘I Am’ was a direct correlation to claiming to be God. And this is just one example of Jesus’ divine claims. 

Was Jesus bodily raised from the dead, or was it merely the dispirited egos of the disciples that were raised from the deadness of depression after Jesus’ death? Does it matter? Yes, God raised Jesus from the dead and it does matter.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”  He added in verse 19, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” So, it does matter. If Jesus did not conquer death, we remain under the curse of sin and are to be pitied for believing such a thing.

Jesus was God, said God-like things and performed many miracles. He was betrayed by Judas, abandoned by His followers, crucified by all sinners. Further, he was raised from the dead and appeared to many. He ascended to the Father where He now intercedes for sinners. Praise His name. He rules and reigns. He is RISEN!
--30--
Kevin Shrum is pastor of Inglewood Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.


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FIRST-PERSON: The roses will bloom again
by Christian George
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)--The venerable R.G. Lee preached, “The roses will bloom again,” from the pulpit of First Baptist Church in New Orleans, during the early 1920s.

Today, as the city of New Orleans rebuilds in the devastating wake of Hurricane Katrina, these prophetic words, uttered over three-quarters of a century ago, continue to offer hope.

Lee, born in a log cabin on Nov. 11, 1886, became one of the most renowned preachers in the modern Christian world. He served in a number of pastorates, including Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., but he had strong ties to the Crescent City. As pastor of FBC New Orleans, he witnessed over 1,000 new members come to his church, mostly by baptism. He also strongly supported the Baptist Bible Institute, which later became the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. 

In 1948, messengers elected Lee to the first of three consecutive terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and by the end of his life, millions of people revered him as one of the greatest Baptist preachers since Charles Spurgeon.

R.G. Lee was not immune to violent and uncertain times. During his lifetime, the United States saw five gruesome wars. Against this backdrop of darkness, Lee championed the light of God. During his ministry in New Orleans, he preached “The Roses Will Bloom Again,” a sermon that still offers encouragement in the face of the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina tore through the city of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. When the storm subsided, broken levees resulted in flooding most of New Orleans. In the end, the catastrophe was enormous: Lives were lost and families displaced; property damages tallied in multiple billions. It looked like the roses would never bloom again.

Lee’s former church was among the first congregations to provide relief efforts after Katrina struck. 

Working in cooperation with the Salvation Army and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, church members brought hot meals into the flood zone, gutted flooded homes and cut trees away from damaged buildings. Prayers, volunteers, and financial gifts are welcome as First Baptist Church continues to be the hands of Christ for the city of New Orleans.

“It excites me greatly that God’s people have been so engaged since the storm occurred," said David Crosby, current pastor of First Baptist Church in New Orleans.

Crosby and his church started the Baptist Crossroads project, the first building blitz in the New Orleans flood zone. Partnering with Habitat for Humanity, FBC New Orleans has raised more than $3 million and recruited more than 3,000 volunteers to build 40 new homes in the Upper Ninth Ward of the city, an area heavily affected by the storm.

“Our evangelism in the past has been mighty in words,” Crosby said, “but this is a chance to be mighty in deeds. There are great doors of opportunity here for the Gospel, and we need to live the Gospel and do the Gospel.” 

“I am excited to see God’s people everywhere responding to the call,” Crosby said, “and I am certainly hoping that they will not forget New Orleans.”

R.G. Lee once said, “The disciples thought the roses would never bloom again when they knew that Jesus was in the grave. But the roses did bloom! And after the stress, after the stress and storm, the roses bloomed. After the storm, the sun shone. And after the night, the dawn. And after the trial, the glory ... the roses bloom again!”

“Our only real hope is in Christ,” Crosby said. “All our building efforts are futile unless we build in Him. I want this city to be rebuilt by God’s people so that He will receive the glory for what happens here, and so that there will be a new spiritual foundation undergirding the new city of New Orleans.”

R.G. Lee died in 1978, but his words still remind us that hope hangs on the horizon. Thorns are not without their roses, and pain is not without its purpose. The winter is gone, the spring is here, and the Crescent City will smile once more. Indeed, the roses will bloom again. 
--30--
Christian George is a preacher and writer, pursuing an M.Div. at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama.


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FIRST-PERSON: Foolishness during the Easter season
by David Nelson
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--My mother taught me that if what I had to say was foolish, then I ought to keep my mouth shut. At the time, I didn't realize that she was teaching me the simple wisdom of Proverbs, that foolishness is to be avoided and wisdom is to be embraced.

So it is in the Scriptures that foolishness is to be left unspoken and left undone. That is, not only are Christians to avoid speaking foolishness, they are also to avoid doing foolishness. The man who hears God's Word and does not obey it is a foolish man (Matthew 7:26). Jesus contrasts the way of wise living with the way of foolish living in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25.

But there is a foolishness that demands to be spoken. It is not a foolishness associated with the wisdom of the world, rather it is the foolishness associated with the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:21-22). This is "the folly of what we preach to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21). It is "the foolishness of God" (1 Corinthians 1:25) that is rooted in the cross of Jesus Christ and the "weakness of God" that comes "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:4) whenever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is faithfully preached. It is a foolishness "wiser than men" and a weakness "stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25). 

Christians must speak about such foolishness, about the "foolishness of the cross" (1 Corinthians 1:18), which utterly confounds the foolish wisdom of men. The problem is that too often the church creates its own "foolishness," which obscures the divine word that the world desperately needs to hear. 

Last spring the Glassport Assembly of God, located near Pittsburgh, Pa., put on an Easter program in which the Easter bunny was whipped in an attempt to show how Jesus was crucified. The show attracted not only the ire of several parents who attended with their children, but also the attention of national media.

Patty Bickerton, the youth minister at the Glassport church, who portrayed the bunny in question, answered critics, "The program was for all ages, not just the kids. We wanted to convey that Easter is not just about the Easter bunny, it is about Jesus Christ." 

Whatever the intentions of the church, and it seems they were good, this all comes off as so much, well, foolishness. But it is foolishness of the wrong kind. Now we have the world objecting not to the foolishness of the cross but clamoring about the foolishness of the church.

If the Apostle Paul came to Corinth without "lofty speech or wisdom," can we not see the wisdom of coming to the world without such sorry attempts at cleverness and entertainment? Are the Gospel and the Holy Spirit so powerless that we need to put off the simple preaching of the cross and to put on such ridiculous affairs?

This isn't engaging with our culture, it is capitulating to our culture. And I fear that it's happening far too often in churches that rightly wish to communicate the saving message of the Good News about Christ and the cross. 

The Easter bunny whipping may be an extreme example, but it reflects the too frequent use of silly promotions and kitsch programs that appear foolish to the world not because of the cross, but because they are indeed foolish, reliant on human wisdom to the betrayal of the divine. 

I understand my mother's advice about foolishness in the right context now that I am older. I understand that human foolishness ought to be kept quiet, whether it's my own personal foolish thinking or whipping the Easter bunny in a passion "show." But I also understand that divine foolishness must be spoken.

I pray that during the season in which we focus especially on the passion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ that we discern the distinction between different kinds of foolishness. And I hope we resolve to be known not for our own foolishness, but to be known for God's foolishness, the foolishness of the cross.
--30--
David Nelson is associate professor of theology and senior associate dean at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.


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Bob Reccord resigns as NAMB president
by Staff
Date: April 13, 2006 - Thursday

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Bob Reccord resigned this morning (April 17) as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board.

Reccord was the focus of a special March 23 trustee meeting in which a 19-page report by a trustee task force was discussed. The report dealt in large measure with various issues related to Reccord’s leadership of the mission board.

Reccord has been NAMB's president since its founding in 1997 as part of the Southern Baptist Convention's restructuring, called "Covenant for a New Century."

Trustee chairman Barry Holcomb, in a statement released April 17, noted that Reccord “has sought to provide leadership that was both consistent and visionary.”

“... Contrary to some opinions, Dr. Reccord is in no way being asked to resign, let alone forced to resign,” Holcomb said, noting that Reccord “is taking this step for what he feels is best for Christ’s Kingdom.”

“While others might have placed their own personal well-being ahead of what was best for NAMB, Dr. Reccord is doing just the opposite,” Holcomb said. “I believe that this is one of the strongest evidences of his personal character and integrity. He has a strong love for our missionaries, for those who work within NAMB and for our Trustees. And so taking the high road of leadership on behalf of our missionaries, our agency, and our convention, he is resigning today as President.”

Holcomb, an Alabama pastor, added that Reccord “has aptly noted that in convention life, entrepreneurial leadership and denominational requirements may be at odds with one another. This is no one’s fault -- it is simply a reality.”

Holcomb also noted that both a financial audit and the trustees’ task force report revealed no ethical problems related to Reccord’s leadership of NAMB.

“Read in a vacuum, one might leap to the conclusion that nothing positive has happened at NAMB over the past nine years. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, any impression gleaned from our report that suggests that the Trustees are either unaware or unappreciative of the many strong accomplishments at NAMB by our President or our people is incorrect. I believe I speak for our board when I say that we are very grateful for the wonderful ministry that has been accomplished by our missionaries and our staff, under Dr. Reccord’s leadership.”

The report by the nine-member trustee task force contained recommendations that were adopted by the full board stipulating that Reccord would work under several sets of "Executive Level controls."

Among the concerns of the trustee report was the outsourcing of media work without a bidding process to a firm owned by a friend of Reccord. The trustee task force said no conflict of interest had occurred but the arrangement had left the board open to such an accusation.

The task force report also stated that Reccord had "underdeveloped his relationships" with state Baptist conventions and their executive leadership.

Concerns over Reccord’s leadership initially were voiced in a Feb. 16 article by Georgia Baptists' newsjournal, The Christian Index.

Reccord was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va., from 1992 until his selection as NAMB’s president in 1997. Earlier he had served as senior pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., and co-pastor of Carmel Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. He also is a former director of leadership training for Evangelism Explosion International.

NAMB primarily was formed in 1997 in the SBC restructuring’s merger of the former Home Mission Board, Radio and Television Commission and Brotherhood Commission.
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The full statement by Barry Holcomb, chairman of the North American Mission Board’s trustees, follows:

As Chairman of the Board of Trustees, I stand here today with Dr. Reccord to say “Thank You” for nine years of tireless service to the North American Mission Board. He has faced what have been at times overwhelming challenges during the founding years of a new agency. With the help of the Lord, the great staff of NAMB, and the many Trustees who’ve served throughout the years, Dr. Reccord has worked to integrate the Brotherhood Commission, the Radio and Television Commission, and the Home Mission Board into what is now known as the North American Mission Board. As an agency we’ve seen growth in many areas, including increases in our church planting efforts that have brought into Southern Baptist life over 12, 250 new congregations, a significant increase in mission personnel and the dramatic increase and impact of our disaster relief work.

Through the years, we’ve had our share of challenges that accompany any new organization. As a Board and as an agency, we’ve had important decisions to make related to the BFM 2000, our chaplains ministry, and even the status of some of our cooperative agreements. Through it all, Dr. Reccord has sought to provide leadership that was both consistent and visionary.

Several weeks ago, an article appeared in the Christian Index here in Georgia that called into question the effectiveness of NAMB under Dr. Reccord’s leadership. While it is disappointing at the way in which this was handled by the Index, I respect the right of Southern Baptists to ask hard questions of its agencies. In response to the article, Dr. Reccord requested that two independent studies be done. The first was a financial audit by the respected firm, Capin Crouse LLP. They examined all financial records of NAMB thoroughly and determined there to be a clean financial bill of health and Dr. Reccord had done nothing unethical in the way he oversaw finances as President. 

The second study Dr. Reccord requested was an investigation into the claims raised by the article in the Index about NAMB. He asked me to appoint a task force of Trustees to do this. I convened a meeting of eight Trustees, who spent many hours talking with employees at NAMB and examining the pertinent issues. The task force report, which was released publicly to communicate to Southern Baptists that at NAMB we have nothing to hide about the way we work and function, found that at a number of points the article was inaccurate. Those inaccuracies were clearly identified in the report. In a couple of other areas, the task force made some recommendations for policy changes at the Board. That being said, however, I want to remind everyone today about the purpose and nature of the report. The task force report was designed solely to respond to the issues raised by the Index. As such, it was a very factual response that reflected the findings of the task force. Read in a vacuum, one might leap to the conclusion that nothing positive has happened at NAMB over the past nine years. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, any impression gleaned from our report that suggests that the Trustees are either unaware or unappreciative of the many strong accomplishments at NAMB by our President or our people is incorrect. I believe I speak for our board when I say that we are very grateful for the wonderful ministry that has been accomplished by our missionaries and our staff, under Dr. Reccord’s leadership.

As I reflect on the findings of the report, there are several things that I want to say. First, I’m grateful to the Trustees who worked on the report, and those who adopted it. Second, I’m grateful that their report, like the financial audit clearly stated that there was no evidence that Dr. Reccord had done anything unethical in his role as President. I believe that important fact has been lost in all of the conversation and articles written about the report. Dr. Reccord’s integrity is strong and solid today, and I want to emphasize it clearly. Third, I want to thank Dr. Reccord for responding as a leader should. It is a rare individual indeed who can face the issues he has faced without lashing out in anger and frustration. Dr. Reccord has exhibited the fruit of the Holy Spirit as he has patiently and lovingly responded to the issues. He has taken responsibility for the things that occurred on his watch, and he has been willing to make corrections where they were needed. Fourth, and finally, I’m grateful that together we have walked through this challenging time with grace and dignity. 

Contrary to some opinions, Dr. Reccord is in no way being asked to resign, let alone forced to resign. First, he is taking this step for what he feels is best for Christ’s Kingdom. While others might have placed their own personal well-being ahead of what was best for NAMB, Dr. Reccord is doing just the opposite. I believe that this is one of the strongest evidences of his personal character and integrity. He has a strong love for our missionaries, for those who work within NAMB and for our Trustees. And so taking the high road of leadership on behalf of our missionaries, our agency, and our convention, he is resigning today as President. 

Dr. Reccord referenced the second reason he is making this decision in his personal statement. There are times in the life of every agency when changes are made, not on the basis of crisis, but in large part on the basis of vision. Dr. Reccord has aptly noted that in convention life, entrepreneurial leadership and denominational requirements may be at odds with one another. This is no one’s fault—it is simply a reality. There is no question God has some special things in store for the next chapter of this “out of the box” thinker. 

As Dr. Reccord steps in a new direction it is with a strong love for NAMB and its mission force. That being the case, I’m glad to announce that he will be serving as a liason Ambassador between NAMB and Promise Keepers this year as he speaks at their events. NAMB and Promise Keepers entered into an agreement earlier this year to work together to mobilize workers for the rebuild that continues to take place in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina. I’m thankful that Dr. Reccord has the opportunity and the desire to challenge Christian men across America to invest their time and talents alongside Southern Baptist disaster relief efforts. Such collaboration will be the answer to the prayer of many who were ravaged by the storms.

In conclusion, I want to say how thankful I am for the opportunity I’ve had to work with Dr. Reccord here at NAMB. We as a Board are grateful for his faithful ministry, his visionary leadership and for the many ways God has used him. I’m grateful for the way God is using both he and Mrs. Reccord all across America to challenge Christians to be On Mission right where they are and to lead a life that supports their commitment to Christ. We are grateful for his passion to challenge young people in the workplace to understand that they are “made to count.” And we are grateful that God is expanding his opportunity for ministry exponentially today. Dr. and Mrs. Reccord, please know that our prayers are with you during this time of transition. We believe that God will continue to use you both in mighty ways throughout his kingdom.



