
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/21/2003

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Head of postwar effort arrives in Iraq; Baptist leaders defend evangelical aid
by Michael Foust
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The retired general who will head postwar reconstruction efforts in Iraq arrived in Baghdad April 21 as debate continues over plans by evangelicals to assist in relief in the war-torn country. 

Retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Jay Garner landed at the former Saddam International Airport in Baghdad nearly two weeks after coalition forces toppled the capital. He said his first priority is to restore such services as electricity and water. 

"What better day in your life can you have than to be able to help somebody else, to help other people, and that is what we intend to do," the Associated Press reported Garner as saying. 

The country is in need of an influx of volunteers to help in assisting relief efforts. A story in Baptist Press April 17 quoted the International Mission Board's John Brady as saying Iraq presents a unique opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ. 

"We in the church are the body of Christ," said Brady, who coordinates IMB work across the Middle East and northern Africa. "It is through us that He wants to work in this troubled part of the world. 

"There will be both an urgency and an opportunity inside Iraq after the war. This will be a narrow window of opportunity and we must begin getting ready now." A checklist of steps that need to be taken before volunteering to serve in Iraq is available on the IMB's website at: <a href="http://going.imb.org/vim/main/default.asp">going.imb.org/vim/main/default.asp</a>. 

The fact that Southern Baptists and other evangelicals -- such as Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse organization -- intend to assist with relief efforts has drawn worldwide attention. The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., for example, quoted Walter Brueggemann, religion professor at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., as saying, "Without impugning the motives of these people, what it amounts to is another thrust of Western imperialism. 

"I think it is exactly the wrong time and the wrong place. I don't care what they say, what they're after is to impose their faith on that culture. In the best of times, that's insensitive, and in this worst of times it's just absurd," Brueggemann said. 

But Southern Baptist leaders have defended the need to serve Iraqis in the name of Christ. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, recounted on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" April 16 how his family and his church are preparing "family food boxes" -- packed with various food items -- that will be sent to Iraqis in need. 

"Our family is busily putting this together as thousands of other Southern Baptist are, because ... we follow a Savior who told us that we are to feed the hungry," he said. "We are to clothe the naked. 

"&#91;W&#93;e're doing this to help people who are hungry and we're not going in there ... to do an evangelistic crusade. But if they ask us -- if they ask us why we're there to do it -- we're going to tell them &#91;it's&#93; because we love them &#91;and&#93; because Jesus loves them." 

Land added that "if we're asked we will tell people that we're there because our Savior has told us to come in and to treat our neighbors as ourselves...." 

Another Southern Baptist leader, R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., pointed out that the Christian faith crosses ethnic lines in an interview with Time magazine. 

"The secular world tends to look at Islam as a function of ethnicity," Mohler said, "which means seeking to convert these people to Christianity is an insult to them. But Christianity is a trans-ethnic faith, which understands that Christianity is not particular to or captured by any ethnicity, but seeks to reach all persons. 

"The secular world tends to look at Iraq and say, well, it's Muslim, and that's just a fact, and any Christian influence would just be a form of Western imperialism. The Christian has to look at Iraq and see persons desperately in need of the Gospel. Compelled by the love and command of Christ, the Christian will seek to take that Gospel in loving and sensitive, but very direct, ways to the people of Iraq." 

Religious freedom, Mohler added, is needed in Iraq. 

"It would be an appalling tragedy if America were to lead this coalition and send young American men and women into battle, to expend such effort, to then leave in place a regime that would lack respect for religious liberty," he told Time. "I think one of the major Christian concerns, and one of my personal concerns, is to see religious liberty, religious freedom &#91;take a prominent position in&#93; the vision of freedom that America holds up to the world."
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Boots for 3,000 orphans give glimpse of Jesus' touch to his disciples' feet
by Jennifer Davis Rash
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (BP)--Jesus provided the primary example of humble servanthood when He washed the feet of His disciples prior to the Passover Feast, which marked the nearing of His crucifixion. 

Members of an Alabama church experienced a taste of what that might have been like when they traveled to Moldova late last year. 

A team of seven from First Baptist Church, Russellville, including pastor Gene Balding, helped fit more than 3,000 orphans from 24 children's homes with winter boots. 

"It was the most powerful thing I've ever seen in my life," said Balding, choking back tears as he reminisced memories of the missions experience. "We saw God pick us up and carry us." 

Noting that team members sized the children's feet, removed their current shoes and socks and placed the new boots on their feet, Balding said, "Handling somebody's feet is such a privilege. 

"The children came in with sad looks but went out with big smiles," he said. Enduring frigid cold temperatures during the winter, many of the children had inappropriate shoes and socks, Balding said, noting most of their socks had holes in them and many of the shoes were thin and worn. 

"We gave each child a pair of boots, two pairs of socks, a banana and a Beanie Baby," Balding explained with a twinkle in his eye and smile stretching across his face. "This was my first overseas missions trip ever ... and the first for the church," he said. "We were out in the middle of nowhere and some miraculous things happened. The team came back transformed." 

Not only did the church quickly raise the $10,000 to purchase the boots in Moldova, it exceeded the goal. Church members also gave almost $10,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, which was nearly $3,000 more than their goal of $7,000. "I am seeing a difference in the church," Balding said. "Members are already asking where we're going next. 

"We've changed our focus. We are now all about hands-on missions," the pastor said. 

First Baptist partnered with church members from First Baptist Church in Kingwood, Texas, for the missions trip. "The pastor of the church is an old Navy friend and very active in missions," Balding said. "He has been going to Moldova for a while." 

The team worked with the local Baptist churches in the area and were able to share the Gospel as representatives of those churches. "The mission was conducted in partnership with the Moldovan churches so that they would receive all the credit for helping relieve some of the nation's suffering. Such alliances create good will for local churches as well as open the door for ongoing ministry and mentoring by their congregations," church member Lynn Suddith noted. 

Balding said the team also worked with Children's Emergency Relief International (CERI), a division of Baptist Child and Family Services. Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, CERI has an office in Chisinau, Moldova. "CERI immensely assisted us by coordinating all the details," said Balding, who stayed in the home of a local pastor. 

"I also saw Lottie Moon dollars at work," Balding said. "I stayed in a Lottie Moon house. I slept in a Lottie Moon bed. I rode in a Lottie Moon van. I ate Lottie Moon food. 

"I am sold on Lottie Moon," Balding said. "The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering greases the rails for ministry. It facilitates the way for people to come to minister."
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(BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: MEASURING UP, REMINDER OF JESUS and MINISTRY AFOOT.


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Prof from former Soviet bloc: 'no gray area' in serving Christ
by Lauri Arnold
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--A new faculty member at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will be teaching students about sharing the Gospel in the midst of persecution. Suffering for the name of Christ is a subject he knows all too well. 

John Moldovan -- Southwestern's first faculty member from the former Soviet bloc -- once languished in a Romanian prison cell fearful of what might happen to him and his family. Communist police officers, he said, tortured his body, mind and soul, and he eventually collapsed from the pressure. 

Only his faith in Christ sustained him and absolved his fears. 

"As I came back to my senses, I realized that fear -- that paralyzing, crushing fear -- was gone," Moldovan, recently elected as associate professor of evangelism and intercultural studies by the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary's trustees, said during an April 15 chapel service. 

Moldovan told of growing up in communist Romania where he struggled to follow in the Christian heritage of his grandfather and father. His grandfather had converted from Russian Orthodoxy to the Baptist faith while imprisoned in a Russian camp during World War I. He later was sentenced to death by drowning because of his zeal to spread the gospel, but was able to escape. 

His father also was an "effective and uncompromising Baptist minister" who was regularly persecuted for his faith, Moldovan said. In fact, his faith in Christ led to his assassination. 

"My father was killed in what we have seen as a 'staged accident' just as he left the church," Moldovan said. 

Exposed daily to the "gospel of Marxist Leninism," Moldovan's teachers also pressured him to abandon his faith. His file at school was labeled "SON OF A BAPTIST PASTOR." 

"I was mocked by teachers and students alike," he said. "At one point, I came to resent the fact that God allowed me to be born in a Christian family, even worse the son of a Baptist minister." 

But at the age of 17, Moldovan accepted Christ as his personal Savior. He was then forced to attend school Monday through Saturday and even on Sundays for "additional indoctrination." He managed to go to church, but tried at the same time to please the communist authorities. 

"I was still somehow paralyzed by fear," Moldovan said. "I believed in Jesus Christ. I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, and yet picking up that cross and following Him on that narrow road of suffering was probably too much. I lacked courage when He called me to be a witness." 

Moldovan said the Christians in Romania during that time did not have Sunday Schools, theological books, tracts or discipleship materials, but several Christians began meeting in private homes for times of prayer and Bible study. It was during those meetings that Moldovan became convicted of his sin of fear. 

"I was set free not only to believe in Him, but to take that narrow road, the road of the cross," Moldovan said. "I was truly liberated, not only in sharing my testimony, not only in preparing messages -- preaching, teaching, engaging in evangelistic work -- but free, free to enjoy life." 

Moldovan's ministry and that of his fellow believers exploded as they all sought to take the Gospel to young and old alike, he said. In fact, his refusal to stop his ministry and cooperate with the secret police during a revival in 1973 and 1974 resulted in several arrests, threats, interrogations and even torture. 

In 1980, he was imprisoned for the last time. He and another believer were tried and forced to serve as their own legal counsel. Authorities pressed them to give up their Romanian citizenship and, when they refused to do so, the authorities revoked it and gave them a deadline to leave the country. 

"We parted ways, arrived in Rome, and in 10 days we were accepted as refugees in the United States," Moldovan said. 

He and his family arrived in New York City and wondered what was next, but he soon was asking friends for recommendations of seminaries where he could build upon his theological education. A 1965-model car was donated to the family, and they made the trip to Fort Worth, Texas, "at the high speed of 40 miles per hour." Moldovan earned a master of divinity degree and Ph.D. from Southwestern in 1987 and 1994, respectively. 

During his days of study, numerous atrocities occurred in his homeland. He said he left 20 of his disciples in Romania and they worked to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some were arrested and some were killed, but the work continued. 

"So powerful was the gospel, it penetrated all the circles," Moldovan said. In the fall of 1989, he recounted, the secret police went to arrest a Reformed Hungarian pastor in Romania, but the pastor's congregation took a stand and said they would have to be arrested with him. The crowd continued to grow and the stand went into the night. The police called for reinforcements and later opened fire on the crowd. 

"It was a massacre that night," Moldovan said, but in the days to come the incident sparked the dictator's apprehension and execution for numerous crimes. The people were set free and, on Christmas Day 1989, celebrated in the streets. 

"I want you to understand that the Gospel is such a powerful action," Moldovan said. "I do not stand for a political party. I do not stand for a club. I do not stand for an association, but I stand as a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's the highest honor someone can have." 

Fearless leaders are needed for the 21st century, Moldovan said, noting, "There is no gray area. Pick up the cross. Identify with Him, with His Gospel, with His Kingdom." 

Moldovan has served as an adjunct professor at Southwestern since 2001 and as chair of the department of missions and evangelism at Criswell College in Dallas since 1992.
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: JOHN MOLDOVAN.


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Academic chairs at SEBTS to honor Charles Page, Dorothy Patterson
by Jerry Higgins
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary's board of trustees unanimously voted to establish the Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology and Dorothy Kelley Patterson Chair of Women's Studies during their April 14-15 meeting on the Wake Forest, N.C., campus. 

Page, in addition to his years of a leader within the Southern Baptist Convention and as a pastor of key churches, has spent the last seven years battling multiple myeloma, a deadly form of bone marrow cancer. 

"I am just so very grateful for this opportune moment to do this," Southeastern President Paige Patterson told the trustees. "We don't have a more faithful friend and supporter than Dr. and Mrs. Page." 

Patterson added that Page, who is pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., "has been such a phenomenal example of how a believer ought to undergo suffering and has literally prevailed over it." 

The Pages were recognized and the chair announced during a morning service on April 15 in Binkley Chapel. They were visibly moved at the outpouring of love they received at the dedication service, where they also were given the President's Award for outstanding service and support of Southeastern. 

"Every time I step on this campus, I am thrilled all over again," Page told the assembled crowd. "This has become one of the world's greatest seminaries, without question." 

In addition to the new academic chairs for Page and Dorothy Patterson, wife of seminary President Paige Patterson, trustees also approved three endowment accounts to help students: the Barbara and Cula Griggs Aid Fund, the Southeastern Baptist Seminary Women's Auxiliary Aid Fund and the George and Ann Harvey Aid Fund. 

In other business, four professors who have been teaching at Southeastern were unanimously elected to the faculty. They are: 

-- Michael Travers as professor of English. 

-- George Chok as assistant professor of theology. 

-- David Hogg as assistant professor of church history. 

-- Phyllis McCraw as assistant professor of English and composition. 

In his report to the trustees, Patterson noted that Southeastern is completely clear "for all intents and purposes" for the next 10 years with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Association of Theological Schools accreditation boards. Patterson reported that as of this semester, the Ph.D. program has been officially moved off of preliminary status. 

Patterson also reported that Southeastern is currently halfway toward the $16.5 million first-year goal of the overall $50 million Scholarship on Fire! Campaign. Describing the trustees and faculty as 100 percent committed to the project, he said the early portion of the campaign will be completed by December, despite recent economic conditions across the country. Once that part of the campaign is completed, ground can be broken for a new student center. 

The first question Patterson received after his report, from trustee Steve Felker of Colonial Heights, Va., concerned the departure of Ken Hemphill from the presidency of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas to become the national strategist for the SBC's Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative. Felker said he had heard a rumor that Patterson was approached to take the job. 

"The healthiest thing in the Southern Baptist Convention is the rumor mill," Patterson said to howls of laughter from the trustees. "It's often not accurate but it's healthy. ... The rumor mill is incorrect. I have not been approached by the &#91;SWBTS&#93; search committee about the position. Mrs. Patterson and I are supremely happy at Southeastern. Southwestern has many great choices &#91;for president&#93;." 

After the trustees meeting, Patterson expressed his great appreciation and admiration for Hemphill. 

"Dr. Hemphill has a great love for the churches," Patterson said. "He has a penchant for bringing the churches and theological education together." 

In other action, trustees: 

-- Unanimously approved a budget of $17.95 million for the coming year, a 1.79 percent increase over the current budget. 

-- Promoted five faculty members in rank: David Beck from associate professor of New Testament and Greek to professor of New Testament and Greek; Bill Brown from assistant professor of evangelism and church planting to associate professor of evangelism and church planting; Fred Williams from assistant professor of history and languages to associate professor of history and languages; Bart Neal from professor of Christian education to senior professor of Christian education; Derry Hodge from instructor of speech and preaching to assistant professor of speech and preaching. 

-- Approved a sabbatical leave for John Hammett, professor of systematic theology. 

-- Affirmed a total of 36 new courses in the doctor of ministry, master's and college programs. They approved various degree revisions of the master of arts in church music, master of divinity with church music programs, and master of divinity with international church planting and master of divinity with North American church planting programs. 

-- Affirmed master's courses in epistemology and selected topics in philosophy of religion. They also affirmed new college courses in introduction to sociology and The Early Republic, 1798-1848. 

-- Re-elected current trustee officers: chairman, Timothy Lewis of Troy, Ill.; vice chairman, Jimmy Jacumin of Connelly Springs, N.C.; secretary, Jim Goldston of Raleigh, N.C.; and treasurer, Philip Mercer of Columbia, Md.
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Charles Page: 'alive because of prayer,' wary of a 'cold heart'
by Jason Hall
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated the dedication of the Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology on April 15 with a triumphant tone in a chapel service featuring a message from the chair's namesake. 

Page is a Southeastern graduate, longtime denominational leader and pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. His wife, Sandra, was a Southeastern trustee for several years. 

Page, who has spent the last seven years battling multiple myeloma, a deadly form of bone marrow cancer, said he has fought back by God's grace. 

"I am convinced that I am alive today because of prayer," he said. "I believe strongly in the healing touch of God." 

The Pages were visibly moved at the outpouring of love at the dedication service, where they also were given the President's Award for outstanding service and support of Southeastern. 

"Every time I step on this campus, I am thrilled all over again," Charles Page told the assembled crowd, which included trustees who were at the seminary for their meeting. "This has become one of the world's greatest seminaries, without question." 

Friends and supporters of both the Pages and Southeastern are funding the chair, which entails raising $1 million to fully endow a chair in a given academic field. Endowment proceeds are then used to pay the faculty chair holder's salary and other expenses. 

Southeastern has one fully endowed chair, the Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism held by evangelism expert Alvin Reid. The holder of the Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology has not been selected because the chair needs $200,000 to be fully endowed. 

In introducing Page, Southeastern President Paige Patterson commended Page for his longtime loyalty to the seminary, as well as the gentle spirit in which he has carried out a lifetime of ministry. 

"In the whole world, there is no more deeply profoundly humble man than Dr. Charles Page," Patterson said, adding that Page is one of the most gifted preachers in the Southern Baptist Convention. "I have never heard Dr. Charles Page when he didn't bless my soul." 

Page, in his message, preached from Isaiah 6 on the importance of hearing and acting on the call of God. He challenged the students to fear only one thing as they embark on ministry -- a cold heart. 

"I have a fear of a cold heart," Page said. "May I always be excited about &#91;God&#93; and what &#91;God&#93; called me to be." 

Maintaining a hot heart, Page said, depends on daily confession before the Lord and a sincere commitment to go whenever and wherever God leads. 

Page recalled that when he decided to surrender to God's call and leave a career of high school athletic coaching and attend Southeastern, he was called a fool by the high school's administration. 

"I'd rather be a happy, joyful fool in the center of God's will," he said, "than to own the universe."
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: PAGES APPLAUDED.


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Guidelines posted for submitting resolutions at SBC in Phoenix
by Staff
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

PHOENIX (BP)--Detailed guidelines for submitting resolutions to be considered by the 2003 Southern Baptist Convention Resolutions Committee have been posted on the SBC website, <a href="http://www.sbc.net">www.sbc.net</a>. 

To access the guidelines, click "SBC Annual Meeting 2003, Phoenix AZ" atop the sbc.net site, then "Resolutions" on the left side of the annual meeting's webpage titled "KingdomFirst," then "How to submit a resolution." 

New Resolutions Committee procedures approved during the 2002 SBC annual meeting in St. Louis will be implemented for the June 17-18 annual meeting in Phoenix. 

The changes to SBC Bylaw 20 for the committee procedures include: 

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

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

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

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

-- If a properly submitted resolution is not forwarded by the Resolutions Committee to the SBC annual meeting, a two-thirds vote of messengers would be required to bring the proposed resolution to the convention floor. 

Mike Hamlet, pastor of First Baptist Church, North Spartansburg, S.C., and a former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, has been named by SBC President Jack Graham as this year's Resolutions Committee chairman. 

The other nine members of the committee appointed by Graham, in alphabetical order, are Jim Butler, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Southhaven, Miss.; Craig Christina, pastor of First Baptist Church, Duncan, Okla.; Penna Dexter, radio talk show host and member of Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano, Texas; J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church, Durham, N.C.; Randy Hahn, pastor of Colonial Heights Baptist Church, Colonial Heights, Va.; Russell Moore, assistant professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky.; Brandon Thomas, minister to young couples, First Baptist Church, Euless, Texas; Dale Wallace, an attorney and member of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, Ala.; and Calvin Wittman, pastor of Applewood Baptist Church, Wheat Ridge, Colo.
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He sees innovative churches as key for urban America's transformation
by David Roach
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Jim Herrington is intent on tapping the potential of new urban churches to transform entire cities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Herrington left a comfortable position as executive director of Houston's Union Baptist Association to plant a church in one of the city's most unreached areas. He began the new work in an area with a church-to-population ratio of one to 40,000, Herrington told attendees at an urban church planting conference at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. 

In cities where churches are seeing transformation, two things were clear, Herrington said. "One of them was that in every city that was being transformed, the whole body of Christ was working together. The other thing that was clear was that a saturation church planting movement always accompanied transformation." 

In 1995, these observations about the success of urban church plants led Herrington to begin a church plant of his own in Houston. 

"God began to stir up in me this deep, burning conviction that somebody needed to go to those places and stake out some land and say, 'The church is no longer simply going to give this over to the enemy,'" he said. "'We are going to stake out some ground here, and we are going to occupy this land one day at a time, one person at a time, one church at a time.'" 

Thus, Herrington and his wife, Betty, sold their suburban home and moved to Houston's Montrose area -- a neighborhood with more than 6,000 homeless children and an active homosexual community -- to plant a church. 

Soon after Herrington's arrival in Montrose, though, he realized he was in an extreme situation demanding an innovative strategy. Eighty percent of the people in Montrose had never read a Bible, Herrington estimated. And some had never even heard the name of Jesus. 

"I have people in my church who, until they came to our church, didn't know the name of Jesus," he said. "It's hard for me to believe you can live in this culture and have that be true, but it's not the just one or two. There are a number of folks in the church I pastor who have never heard the name of Jesus until they came to that church." 

This radical ignorance of Christian doctrine in the community combined with a deeply embedded cynicism toward organized religion convinced Herrington that a network of house churches was the most effective way to reach Montrose. 

"Unchurched people who know the church are so hostile and cynical in the community that I live in," Herrington said. "Folks were not going to come to the traditional church. A combination of understanding our context, some conferencing that we were doing, and some people that the Lord brought to us along the way were all things that influenced and impacted the decision we made to do house churches." 

He started with just one house church, but that number quickly multiplied as Herrington began to connect with the people of the community. 

"We started with one," he said. "We went from one to two and two to three, and we have five now. We think we're going to launch another one this summer and maybe another one in the fall." 

One of the reasons these house churches have been so successful, Herrington said, has been their ability to connect with the painful situations people are experiencing in Montrose. 

"Almost everyone we're reaching comes out of the drug, sex or alcohol culture that is Montrose," he said. "They're almost all poor, but they all grew up in middle-class homes. They're poor because of their drug and alcohol and sex addictions." 

As people came into the network of churches, Herrington said he started them on a plan of radical discipleship -- a plan he urges all churches to follow. 

"We're trying to produce a kind of person with a Christian worldview who can live in a culture that is fallen and wicked and decadent and trying to undermine everything that Christ is about in the world today. 

"If you're not crystal clear about what you're trying to produce when you're making disciples, then it is pretty unlikely that they're going to be able to stand in the face of what our culture calls them to and seduces them with." 

Regarding other church plants, Herrington urged students to "plant counter-cultural churches." 

"We have got to plant churches that recognize that we live in a decadent, evil, wicked generation that is dominated by greed, manipulation, pleasure and materialism," he said. 

"Don't plant a church unless you plant it with the view to transformation of the city."
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FIRST-PERSON: Raising commitment among lay leaders
by Rick Warren
Date: April 21, 2003 - Monday

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (BP)--One of the ways I believe you can assess whether your church is maturing spiritually is this -- the standards for leadership keep getting tougher as time passes. You keep turning up the heat every year, requiring a deeper level of commitment to Christ and spiritual growth. 

For instance, when Saddleback first began, our only requirement for serving in children's Sunday School was that you had to be a warm body. Over the years, we've tightened the requirements considerably! We have done the same thing with our lay pastors, our musicians and other ministry positions. 

Every time you raise the standards for leadership, you bring everyone else in the church along a little bit. A rising tide raises all the boats in the harbor. 

Focus on raising the commitment of your leadership, not those who are the least committed in the crowd, nor even the semi-committed in your congregation. Whenever you raise the standard of commitment for those who are in the most visible positions of leadership, it raises the expectations among everyone else. 

You must ask people for commitment 

If you don't ask people for commitment, you won't get it. You have not because you ask not. It's amazing to me that many community organizations require more from participants than local churches do. If you've ever been a Little League parent you know that when your child signed up to play, you were required to make a major commitment in terms of providing refreshments, transportation, trophies and victory parties in addition to attendance. There was nothing voluntary about it! It was required if you wanted to participate. 

One of the most helpful things a church can do for people is to help them clarify what commitments they ought to make and what commitments they ought to decline. The reason we have so many weak Christians today is because they are half-committed to two dozen causes rather than being totally committed to the things that really matter. 

For many people the barrier to spiritual growth is not lack of commitment, but over-commitment to the wrong things. Jesus pointed this out in the Parable of the Sower: "The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature" (Luke 8:14). People must be taught to make wise commitments. 

Ask confidently for a big commitment 

Study how Jesus asked for commitment. He was always clear and confident when he asked for it. He was not at all reluctant to ask grown men and women to drop everything and follow Him. This is an interesting phenomena: The greater the commitment you request, the greater response you will get. 

People want to be committed to something that gives significance to their lives. They respond to responsibilities that give life meaning. They are attracted by a challenging vision. They want to be a part of something worthwhile. 

On the other hand, people are unmoved by weak appeals and pitiful requests for help. Jesus knew this when he said in Luke 14:33, "Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." His challenge was total commitment. 

Some pastors are afraid to ask for a big commitment, fearing they will drive people away. But people do not resent being asked for a big commitment if there is a great purpose behind it. People respond to passionate vision, not need. 

That's why most stewardship campaigns don't work: They focus on the needs of the church rather than the vision of the church. If people were really motivated by organizational needs, then every time a need was presented it would immediately be met. 

Be specific in asking for commitment 

Another key of developing commitment is being specific. Tell people exactly what is expected of them. At Saddleback Valley Community Church we ask people to commit to Christ, then to baptism, then to membership, then to the habits for maturity, then to ministry, and finally to fulfilling their life mission. 

We have developed four covenants that spell out exactly what each of these commitments include: 

* A Membership Covenant. 

* A Maturity Covenant. 

* A Ministry Covenant. 

* A Missions Covenant. 

Each one is very specific about what is expected and required at that level of commitment. Instead of saying, "Be committed to Christ," explain specifically what that involves. 

Explain the benefits of commitment 

Another key to developing commitment in people is to identify the benefits of it. God does this. So many of the commands in Scripture have promises attached to them. I once did a study of the promises attached to God's commands to be generous. We always end up being blessed whenever we're obedient. 

Explain the personal benefits, the family benefits, the benefits to the body of Christ and society in general, and the eternal benefits of committing to spiritual growth. People really do have an innate desire to learn, to grow and to improve. 

But sometimes you must awaken that desire by stating your learning goals and growth objectives in terms of the value and benefit. At Saddleback, we do this at the beginning of each Class 101, 201, 301 and 401. We say, "Here's what this class will do for you." We also clearly explain the benefits of committing to each of the four covenants. 

Build on commitment rather than toward commitment 

Even though you tell people where you are taking them (by challenging them with a big commitment), you start with whatever commitment they are able to give. Begin with an initial commitment regardless of how weak it may seem. 

It is also OK to break big commitments into smaller steps and lead people gradually along. We challenge people to make a commitment and then grow into it. It's like choosing to become a parent. Very few couples feel competent to parent before they have their first child. But somehow -- after the decision is made and a baby is born -- the couple grows into their parenting role.
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Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of "The Purpose Driven Life" and "The Purpose Driven Church." He also is the founder of Pastors.com, an Internet community for ministers.



