The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/14/2000 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- New VP, college name approved in Southeastern trustee meeting by Melissa King Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees elected Waylan Owens as vice president of institutional effectiveness and assessment and a new name for the the seminary-related college during their April 10-11 meeting at Wake Forest, N.C.

Seminary officials said the creation of the new vice presidential post was necessary to meet requirements mandated by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, one of the seminary's accrediting agencies.

Owens came to Southeastern in 1998 as special assistant to President Paige Patterson. He currently serves as assistant professor of pastoral ministry and also is responsible for directing a self-study of the seminary in preparation for the reaccreditation process required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2002.

"SACS will be looking at our own self-study and wants to know our goals for every part of the seminary and if we are meeting those goals and using the results in planning sessions for improvement," Owens told the trustees.

Under the new administrative post, Owens will oversee the seminary's department of institutional effectiveness and assessment, as well as its information systems and internal communications divisions, while serving as a liaison to the accrediting agencies.

In the name change, Southeastern Baptist Theological College will become Southeastern College at Wake Forest. The new name will allow the college to develop independently of the seminary, without altering the structure, governance or purpose of the college, officials said.

Trustees approved the addition of another degree program for the college -- a major in secondary education specializing in English and social studies, to be added pending faculty approval. The college currently offers a bachelor of arts in biblical studies with a double major or minor in the history of ideas.

Administrators said the secondary education major is being added to help meet the growing need for teachers in private Christian schools.

Beginning in January 1995 as a two-year college with 26 students before expanding into a four-year undergraduate program, Southeastern College at Wake Forest enrolled nearly 400 students this spring.

Trustees also approved a $14.8 million budget for the 2000-2001 fiscal year, beginning Aug. 1, an increase of $1.7 million over the current $13.1 million budget.

Trustees and Southeastern's Board of Visitors participated in a dedication service for the newly renovated Stephens-Mackie Hall, a professorial office complex which opened in the fall of 1999.

In October 1999, trustees voted to add the name of Gerald K. and Jean Stephens of Morganton, N.C., to the building, formerly named Mackie Hall. The Stephenses provided the lead gift helping to launch the restoration project.

Constructed during the seminary's second decade of existence and originally dedicated in 1968, Mackie Hall originally was named in honor of George C. and Kathleen Mackie of Wake Forest, N.C.

The late George Mackie was a distinguished physician who devoted his life to the well-being of students at Wake Forest College and Southeastern Seminary. His wife, now Kathleen Lake, was honored as a creative leader for her participation in the beautification of the seminary campus.

Formerly housing the seminary's student center and bookstore, the building now accommodates 25 faculty offices, four secretarial modules, two conference rooms and a commons area for the faculty.

Kathleen Mackie Lake and family, as well as Gerald and Jean Stephens and family were honored at the dedication along with several donors and project participants.

"Jean and I along with our family are so grateful to the trustees for honoring us by adding our family name to this beautiful building," Stephens said. "We know and understand that our gift toward this building came from our heavenly Father. For some reason he's chosen us to be his vehicle for that gift. The Lord chooses and empowers whom he will for his work. [We ask] that you place the honor where it should be placed."

In other business, trustees amended their articles of incorporation to name the Southern Baptist Convention as the sole member of the corporation of Southeastern Seminary.

President Patterson said the amendment of the seminary's bylaws was necessary to ensure that the school's governing authority remains with its board of trustees while at the same time protecting the Southern Baptist Convention's rights as owner of the seminary.

To date, five of the SBC seminaries have amended their articles of incorporation in like manner at the request of the SBC's Executive Committee.

Patterson said the revised articles of incorporation protect the SBC from losing control over the direction of its seminaries. "Many [Baptist] universities have bolted from their state convention," Patterson said. "The Executive Committee does not want to see that happen with the seminaries."

Patterson said the amended articles of incorporation render future boards of trustees "unable to pirate the institution from the SBC."

Trustees approved a new fee schedule that will increase tuition from $90 per credit hour to $105 per credit hour for seminary courses. For college students, tuition will increase from $100 per credit hour to $140 per credit hour.

Patterson said the astronomical growth of the seminary has forced the school to update its technology and student housing. Other additional operational costs cited by Patterson included funding the school's upcoming accreditation, estimated at a cost of $250,000.

"We are currently at about 2,100 students, and I believe summer will bring us close to 2,200," Patterson said. "There is no other alternative. We must provide for needs that are essential to ensure the education of our students. We must prepare as many students as we can to share the gospel of Christ."

Trustees approved promotions for three faculty members and accepted the retirement of another.

William E. Brown, currently instructor of evangelism and church planting and Nehemiah Project director, was elected assistant professor of evangelism and church planting. Alvin L. Reid, associate professor of evangelism and holder of the Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism, was named professor of evangelism.

Andreas J. Kostenberger, currently associate professor of New Testament and editor of The Journal of the Evangelical Society, will hold the title professor of New Testament.

Josef L. Solc, assistant professor of theology and missions on the college faculty, has been named to the seminary faculty as associate professor of evangelism and missions.

The retirement of Ben S. Johnson, senior professor of music, was announced to trustees to be effective at the end of the semester. Trustees honored Johnson for his 40 years of service to the seminary with the title of professor emeritus. Johnson plans to continue to teach at Southeastern on an adjunctive basis.

"Ben Johnson came to Southeastern in 1959 and began teaching in 1960," Patterson said. "He has learned to love the new crew and has served Southeastern faithfully for 40 unbelievable years."
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Seminarians learn Baptist history from diverse cultural experiences by Staff Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP)--Leaders in ethnic Baptist life from across the western United States helped Baptist history come alive to students during a recent class at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. "We are committed to spreading the fact that Baptist history deals with all cultures," said Rodrick Durst, associate professor of historical theology, who taught the Baptist history course at the Mill Valley, Calif., campus. "It cannot be limited to any one culture no matter its historical significance." Durst, who also serves as the seminary's academic dean, chose to veer away from straight lecture sessions in the weeklong intensive course by inviting leaders from African American, Native American and Hispanic Baptist churches. "We met Baptist history in living makers and shakers," Durst said. The class itself had an interesting cultural mix, encompassing church life to a class that also had a cultural mix -- Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, African Americans, Anglos and a German student who is a missionary in Malawi. Among the speakers was James Coffee, pastor of Community Baptist Church, Santa Rosa, Calif., which in 1951 became the first African American church to affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention. He said histories usually cite First Baptist Church, Anchorage, Alaska, as the first, but the Santa Rosa church joined a few months earlier, plus Alaska wasn't yet an American state in 1951. "The agreement was that the news couldn't hit the media at the time," Coffee told the class. "We didn't integrate in protest. There were many hard feelings about it, and we got lots of flak from higher-ups in the state and national conventions. We were never dually aligned. It was more by default." When a small group of African Americans started attending a white church there, Coffee said the pastor didn't mind so much, but the church did, so they started a mission. "Not knowing anything, we organized into our own church, so we've always been Southern Baptist," he said. "But our church is probably the most purely integrated church in the nation now. We don't like to be called a black church, and I'm not a black preacher. You're not white or Asian or German. You're a gospel preacher. I'm a black man, but the gospel doesn't know any color." Emerson Falls, director of Golden Gate's Rocky Mountain Campus in Denver and a member of the Sac and Fox Native American tribe, told the class that despite all the missions efforts toward Native Americans since the 1600s, 92 percent of them today are not Christians. "Still, if we took any kind of ethnic baptisms and offerings out, the Southern Baptist Convention might be in decline," Falls said. "Ethnic fellowships are now a part of Baptist life." The low response rate among Native Americans to Christ today probably stems from the cultural trappings that usually accompany mission work targeted to them, Falls said. "The strategy for missionaries became a matter of living among Native Americans and teaching them how to be civilized by the American definition," he said. "When building churches, they were very European in making long, narrow rows when Indians sit in a circle. Old pictures show Indians wearing coats and ties with short hair. Paternalism began to grow, and response began to decline." Falls said that Roger Williams had a Native American member of his church in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1670. "His and his followers' approach in evangelism was contextualization -- not to make Europeans out of Indians," Falls said. "Native work flourished when missionaries contextualized it. Also from the beginning, Native Americans were impressed with the true gospel when all the cultural baggage was taken out." Christobal Dona, pastor of White Road Baptist Church, San Jose, Calif., said ministers must understand certain things about the Hispanic culture to reach them. "About 90 to 95 percent of us come from Roman Catholic backgrounds, and that puts a strain on our tactics, methods and strategies and our way of doing things," he said. "The idea of receiving Christ is a problem," Dona said, "because in communion, they open their mouths and stick their tongues out, and the priest feeds them the wafer. At that moment, in their interpretation, they are receiving Christ. So when I ask them if they want to receive Christ, they say they just did it on Sunday." Commitment and credibility also are big issues with Hispanics in the church. "I tell my leaders that there is not a word in the Spanish vocabulary like commitment, but now they're going to be committing themselves to make the best attempt to work on their lives, characters and tongues," Dona said. "There's so much competition that you have to lie to survive, and it's easy to lie in order to promote ourselves or get points." Coffee said he grew up going to an integrated high school and has held many associational and state Baptist offices, often breaking the race barrier. But reconciliation between and among the races is still an unmet goal, he said, noting, "Integration is not reconciliation." "Martin Luther King Jr. said that laws don't make you love anyone, but they'll keep you from lynching them," Coffee said. "Reconciliation, though, comes from the heart, and you can never have reconciliation without equality." Racism is cross-generational and always taught, Coffee said. "We're all recovering racists," he said. "Unlearning racism is like un-ringing a bell. It's not a 100-yard dash, but a marathon. When dealing with racism and prejudice, you have to have a tough skin." Community Baptist Church joining the Southern Baptist Convention was almost like a "best-kept secret," Coffee said. "We'd become like an illegitimate child that looks more like you than the ones you have. No one likes to be reminded of how things were because they don't want to remember. Southern Baptist leaders of that time kept their heads in the sand about it." Falls said that outreach to Native Americans by Baptists was successful until the strong European belief that "to be Christianized is to be civilized" permeated their ministry. "When Christianity came to the Indians, there was cultural baggage like making them cut their hair and speak English," he said. "The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Cherokee and Creek tribes in the Southeast managed to coexist peacefully with the whites and formed indigenous, contextualized churches that kept their culture in tact, though they adopted some Western ways." After society forced Native Americans onto reservations in the 1870s, Southern Baptists began sending missionaries to live among them, Falls continued. But a growing paternalism led to a decline in church growth. "There are 700 Southern Baptist churches with Native Americans," Falls said. "But most of them are small because there are still issues that go back to the missionaries. There is division over how contextual the churches need to be. A lot of it still has a European bent to it." Even a "Four Spiritual Laws" approach to Native American evangelism isn't as effective, Falls said. "We see the circle as a symbol of life, and every aspect of life is within that circle. Health is wholeness, and in that circle are the physical, psychological, social and spiritual. If you're physically not well, it affects all the others. "Native American beliefs, like many other faiths, believe life revolves around pleasing God or the gods and gaining his or their favor. But in Scripture, God reaches down to us. Jesus Christ brings wholeness. Unfortunately, usually meaning gives way to subsistence in ministry to Native Americans, and we answer questions that they don't ask." Dona said though Hispanics may speak Spanish as a common root language, they are very diverse culturally and linguistically depending on the country they come from. Some Hispanic churches major too much on nationality, Dona said. "But in my church, it doesn't make a difference where you're from," he said. "I'm an American citizen, but I'm also a Mexican from Nicaragua. But do I belong to El Salvador, which means the Savior? ... The leader of the church sets the pace. He can either make tremendous importance of nationality or make none." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dobson: Culture of death 'continues to flourish,' 1 year after Columbine by Staff Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)--The culture of death that fueled the Columbine massacre "continues to flourish," Focus on the Family's James Dobson said April 13 in a statement circulated nationally by PRNewswire.

Twelve students and a teacher were killed and numerous others were wounded by two classmates at Columbine High School, Littleton, Colo., April 20, 1999.

"We've seen virtually no change in society's glorification of death and violence," Dobson said. "If anything, we've witnessed a rise in the barrage of dark, hopeless and annihilative images and words churned out by TV, movies, music, Internet websites and video games.

"When will America wake up to the reality that media moguls are more concerned about their bottom line than they are about ravaging the hearts and souls of an entire generation?" Dobson asked.

Dobson also took note of the cheapening of human worth, citing the sale of fetal body parts and that "life -- in the womb and outside of the womb -- can be legally snuffed out in the name of personal freedom and convenience."

"When death is an accepted and natural part of everyday existence, is it any wonder that many teens don't see snatching a life as any different than ripping off a car stereo?" Dobson stated.

"As long as the cultural elite can keep our nation focused on a red herring like gun control, they relieve parents from the responsibility of healing empty hearts, wounded spirits and the numbed consciences that lie behind these senseless acts of violence," Dobson continued.

"If America persists in trumpeting a philosophy that excludes notions of absolute right and wrong, Columbine-like violence will likely happen again and again. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold [Columbine's teen killers who then committed suicide that day] didn't develop a taste for murder and mayhem in a vacuum; they were heavily influenced by what we as a society taught them."

Dobson noted that the days when the culture shielded children from harmful images and exploitation are long gone.

"Today if you offer solutions reflecting morality and decency, you're called an 'alarmist,' a 'censor' and told to keep your 'intolerant' beliefs out of the public square," Dobson said.
"How many more children will kill children before parents wake up and defy a system that exalts economic prosperity and personal freedom over maintaining healthy marriages and families? When will society see the consequences of worshiping 'celebrity' at the expense of goodness and truth? And finally, in the aftermath of Columbine, what reasons do we give our children to live; how have we conveyed their inestimable worth as human beings created in the image of God?"

Dobson counseled: "Let's vow today to set the highest standards of ethics and morality for our children, and to protect them, as much as possible, from the darkness around us. We can't make America perfect, but we can make it a much better and safer place through prayer, sensitivity and a renewed commitment to the principles upon which this republic was founded."
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Senate panel votes to ban gambling on amateur sports by Tom Strode Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday WASHINGTON (BP)--A Senate committee has given the go-ahead to legislation that would prohibit gambling on Olympic, college and high school sports.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved by voice vote April 13 the Amateur Sports Integrity Act, S. 2340. The bill would prohibit any government entity from sponsoring, operating, advertising, promoting, licensing or authorizing any type of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, on amateur sports.

"Legalized gambling on kids is wrong," said Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., the bill's chief sponsor, in a written release. "They should not be reduced to a point spread and a spectacle for wagering. By closing the Las Vegas loophole and banning college sports gambling completely, we will end a practice that has exposed college athletes to unwarranted pressure, bribery and corruption."

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has expressed support for the ban.

The impact of the bill would be felt most notably in Nevada, the only state where gambling on college sports is permitted. Wagering is not allowed in Nevada, however, on contests involving in-state schools.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D.-Nev., decried the bill, as did the American Gaming Association, the lobbying organization for the country's leading commercial casinos. Bryan called the committee's failure to approve some amendments he offered "hypocrisy," according to The Washington Times.

The panel rejected a Bryan amendment that would have established the national minimum age for gambling at 21 years of age.

The committee approved a Bryan amendment to require colleges to report information and to develop enforcement policies on illegal gambling, as well as one to eliminate promotional sweepstakes and giveaways based on amateur sports events.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which issued a report last June, recommended bans on amateur sports gambling and under-21 betting.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association and other amateur sports organizations are strongly pushing the ban. The NCAA forbids athletes at its member schools from placing any kind of bet on college or pro sports and from giving information to anyone who bets on a sports event. It has been shaken by a series of gambling scandals at NCAA schools in the 1990s, including point-shaving incidents in Arizona State basketball and Northwestern basketball and football. Both scandals involved heavy, legal betting at Nevada sports books, according to the NCAA.

About $2.3 billion was bet last year in Nevada sports books, with one-third of that amount wagered on college sports, according to the NCAA.

The ban's sponsors hope the bill's presence in Congress will have two additional effects: 1) That states will appeal to the Nevada Gaming Control Board to not allow gambling on college athletics in their borders and 2) that point spreads on college games will not be published in newspapers. Most major newspapers publish the point spreads of college football and basketball games. The Washington Post is an exception.

The bill also directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to do research on the use of performance-enhancing drugs by amateur athletes and on the methods of detecting their use.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- God's 'big picture' encompasses all believers, IMB's Gilbert says by Brett Champion Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Jesus Christ is the central person in God's plan and deserves to be worshiped by all the people of the earth, Al Gilbert said April 12. "He is the one worthy to take the scroll and break the seals," said Gilbert, who preached from Revelation 5:4-9. "Why? Because he purchased for God with his blood those from every tribe and tongue and nation and people." Gilbert, special assistant to the president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, spoke at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as part of the seminary's first Great Commission Week. Other featured chapel speakers during the week included D. James Kennedy, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Kevin Cosby, pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. In addition to the chapel services, representatives from the IMB and North American Mission Board were on hand to consult with students about ministering on the mission field. Also part of the April 12 chapel service with Gilbert was a live telephone interview with a Southern Seminary student* who is a church planter in Senegal working with the Wolof people. "Here there is no biblical understanding of who God is, what sin is, who Christ is and what repentance is," he said. "Although the Wolof are a very religious people, they know nothing about the true nature of God." Thus, he attempts to reach the Wolof people by telling them stories from the Bible. "Step by step, brick by brick, the foundation is laid for an understanding of the gospel," he said. Another guest during the chapel service was Fred Deegbe, president of the Ghana Baptist Convention and pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Accra, Ghana. Southern Seminary is planning to participate in a mission partnership with Ghana, and the seminary community took the opportunity to recognize Deegbe for his work there. "We are excited at what God is doing and the wonderful opportunity we have to partner with this great seminary to aim at theologically educating our people," Deegbe said. "So, even as we lead them to Christ, we mature them into discipleship, that we will multiply the ministry of Christ until he comes. We thank you for your prayers, your partnership. We look forward for a great future working for the master." Gilbert began his message by asking, "What is the most important part of a jigsaw puzzle?" then answering, "The most important part is the box top -- it's the picture." Without the box top the puzzle is just a mixture of strange colors and pieces that are difficult to understand and to put together, Gilbert said. "Most Christians I meet have never seen the box top of the purposes of God," he said. "They've never seen that God has a global and eternal plan." The focal figure in that plan is Jesus Christ, Gilbert said. "The central person, the Lord Jesus, deserves to be worshiped by all the peoples of the world," he said. "Jesus always has been and always will be the central person in the plan of God." Part of the problem with understanding God's global purposes may lie in a misunderstanding of language, Gilbert said. He admitted that he used to think of the word "nation" in the Bible as merely a political entity on a map. He pointed out, however, that in New Testament Greek the word for "nation" is "ethnos," which is really a people group and not just a geographical area. Such an understanding opens people's eyes to see the big picture, Gilbert said, that God is concerned about the souls of every person in the world. Many of those people God blesses, Gilbert said, so they may be a blessing to others in the world. "He never blesses us so that we can sit around and be blessed," he said. "He's blessed us to bring those worshipers with us to the throne." Gilbert also said God works through the church, and the "big picture" -- that the Great Commission was given to every believer and every church -- should prompt Christians to ask God what they should do to be a part of his plan. Even though God hasn't called all Christians to be vocational missionaries, pastors and church leaders have a special responsibility to lead their congregations to be part of God's plan, Gilbert said, adding, "I challenge you, don't give up the passion for the Great Commission simply to those who go and live there." --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Grappling with youth issues likened to pointing youth away from hell by Robyn Little Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--The wrestler enters the ring with a sense of anticipation and fear facing a foe who should not be battled alone. The battle is not one of glamour and show but one in which a loss means the loss of a soul.

"The Ultimate Wrestling Challenge," Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's 32nd annual Youth Lab April 6-8, addressed the battle that all who minister to youth face.

Through seminars and sermons, the conference used its theme verse, Ephesians 6:12, to emphasize that the youth minister's wrestling match is not against flesh and blood but against the powers of darkness youth encounter in the world today.

In keeping with its wrestling theme, the conference included exhibition matches by wrestlers from the Christian Wrestling Federation of Dallas.

The conference also included for the first time "Youth Track," a workshop for teenagers who want to be involved in ministry in their youth groups.

Teamwork is a key strategy youth ministers should use to fight the spiritual battle against the problems facing their youth, keynote speaker Greg Matte of Breakaway Ministries in College Station, Texas, told the 303 youth ministers and teenagers at the conference.

He advised youth ministers to make a team of staff, workers and students who have the same ministry vision and will work toward a common goal.

Citing biblical "teams" like David and his mighty men and Jesus and his disciples, Matte said, "There are not a lot of Lone Rangers in the Bible."

The apostle Paul was also a team player, Matte added. "Paul had a bunch of teams," he said, noting Paul's addresses to many of his "team players" at the end of his epistles.

Having a ministry team benefits both the minister and those he includes, Matte added.

"We want to involve [those in the church] because we are a body of Christ from the top to the bottom," he reminded the conference participants, adding that a team ministry allows for one person's strengths to compensate for another person's weaknesses.

Team ministry means more than one person can lead it, Matte said, citing a ministry coordinated by only the youth minister can be a major downfall.

One of the jobs of the youth minister is to find others to run the ministry with him, Matte said.

"Pray for God to raise up people," he said. "As you begin to give it away, God will bring you people that will undergird your weaknesses."

Comparing a ministry team to a baseball team, he said, "When we don't let the body of Christ support us, we're on the pitcher's mound [with no one else in the field]."

Matte said ministers need a good catcher, which he defined as people who are involved in the ministry and the minister's life, such as a spouse and family.

"So often we run off to ministry instead of running with" others in ministry, he said.

In addition to being team oriented, a strong ministry should also be an overflow of the minister's walk with God, Matte said.

This way, the minister can witness God breathing wind into the ministry, he said. "Wind comes in our ministry though prayer," he said. The wind helps propel the ministry like wind in a sail, and it is evidence of a ministry centered on God, he said.

"God is in our corner so that his messages might be fully proclaimed," Matte said. "It is not all about you, it's all about him. Quit trying to get God to bless your ideas. Find out what his are."

Responding to recent occurrences of school violence and other tragedies in America today, Chris Perry, minister of youth at Central Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ark., discussed with youth ministers how to handle crisis situations.

Perry was a youth minister in Jonesboro when two boys, 11 and 13, shot and killed four fellow students and a teacher in May 1998.

Although shootings like the one at Jonesboro are the extreme, Perry said youth face crises every day that must be understood so they can be reached for Christ.

"The single greatest crisis for adolescents today is they are destined for hell," he said.

Noting that the two greatest needs of the heart are to be loved and to love, Perry said by reaching young people with the unconditional love of Jesus and love from the minister, the youth minister can meet their needs.

"Salvation solves many problems," he said.

In addition to salvation, youth ministers need to help young people deal with problems in other ways, Perry said.

His suggestions included taking young people to a morgue or the scene of a recent fatal car accident to help them see the reality of death; mentoring young people to help prevent problems from occurring; and making sure young people experience a feeling of protection and neutrality when they are at church.
--30--
-------------------------------------------------------------------- North America's 'massive need' prompts NAMB worker's call for fresh thinking by Rodney E. Penn Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday KANSAS CITY, Mo.--"North America is the only continent in the world where Christianity is not growing," said David Putman, leadership training associate with the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.

"How are we to respond to the massive spiritual needs of North America?" asked Putman April 11 at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Mo.

One extreme would be to ignore it by doing business as usual, Putnam said, borrowing from Albert Einstein: "Insanity is doing the same old thing the same old way and expecting different results."

A second response, Putnam told a chapel audience, is found in Psalm 20:7, "Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God."

Explaining that Christians often trust in large membership rolls, leadership, agencies and institutions, he said, "If we're ever going to experience the renewal and awakening that we need in North America it is going to be a God thing."

Christians must recognize anew the power in the gospel, Putnam said. "I sense that it's easy as a believer to forget that the power is in nothing else but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps we need to remember that the power is not in the messenger."

Preachers nevertheless should communicate "a hearable gospel," Putnam continued, noting, "There are two kinds of fields out there, sowing fields and harvesting fields," as reflected in Romans 10.

The challenge, he said, is that "we often assume by attitude and method that we are in harvesting fields."

But, he said, "We must first plow, seed and water the fields before we can reasonably expect to gather a harvest.

"Unfortunately, most churches just sit back and wait for people to come play on our court," Putnam said.

Underscoring the need to preach the gospel "in season and out of season," Putman said, "Most of us have been trained and understand how to preach it in season; bring the flock together, bring the crowd together."

By focusing on ministry "out of season," however, those who are hungry for the bread of life can be helped, he said.

"Are we willing to invest ourselves and pay the price, no matter what the cost, to love lost people unconditionally?" Putman asked.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- House proposals seek to protect unborn, newly born children by Tom Strode Date: April 14, 2000 - Friday WASHINGTON (BP)--Measures calling for the protection of unborn and newly born human life have been introduced in Congress.

Rep. Tom Coburn, R.-Okla., submitted a resolution expressing Congress' opinion human life is present legally when a heartbeat and brain waves are detectable and such human life is protected by the U.S. Constitution. The sense-of-the-Congress resolution would not be binding.

On April 13, a day after Coburn announced his resolution, Rep. Charles Canady, R.-Fla., offered a bill to protect babies who are completely expelled from their mother, including those who survive abortion. The Born-alive Infants Protection Act seeks to make sure all babies who survive birth are treated as persons under federal law.

Coburn's resolution addresses a legal issue stemming from the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade opinion legalizing abortion. In its decision, the court said it would not determine when life begins. The practical effect of the ruling, however, was to legalize abortion throughout all stages of pregnancy.

The resolution says a heartbeat can be detected 24 days after conception and brain-wave activity at 41 days.

Coburn recently told Baptist Press, "I wanted the Supreme Court to have to choke on it, because what they said was: 'We don't know when life begins.' And what I'm saying is: 'You may not, but we certainly know how to measure when it's present.'"

His resolution also says death is legally defined in every jurisdiction in the country "as the irreversible cessation of spontaneous cardiac activity and brain-wave activity."

Coburn, a physician who has delivered more than 3,500 babies, said in a written release, "If our laws respect the laws of nature in recognizing death, they must also respect the laws of nature in recognizing life.

"Brain waves and a heartbeat are to unborn children what human blood was to slaves -- an undeniable mark of their humanity. Denying the humanity of the unborn after brain waves and a heartbeat are detectable is the moral equivalent of slave-owners denying the humanity of their slaves."

Canady's legislation targets a practice that has been reported increasingly in recent years -- the refusal to treat or even the willful killing of babies who survive abortion. He cited an April 10 incident in Sydney, Australia, in which a doctor denied treatment to a baby girl after she survived an abortion. She lived for 80 minutes while the hospital staff waited for her to die, Canady said.

The bill would not affect any abortion procedure or change the standard of care for newborns, he said.

Southern Baptist bioethicist Ben Mitchell lauded the congressmen for their "moral courage and stalwart defense of human lives."

"The barbarism of our culture makes it necessary to spell out in detail what is protectable human life," said Mitchell, a consultant for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "If a member of Congress cannot agree that if the brain and heart of a baby in her mother's womb are working she has a life worth protecting, that member should be ashamed and be replaced. Similarly, if our legislators cannot agree that all infants born alive should be protected, they ought to quit their jobs today. They are not fit to lead a nation of free people.

"Jesus said, 'Whatever you've done to the least of these little ones, you did it to me.' How we treat our 'little ones' is an issue of great moment. Either we honor them by protecting their lives or we demean our humanity by permitting their destruction."

Mitchell is assistant professor of bioethics and contemporary culture at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill.