
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-05/25/2016

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 Mo. appeals court orders foundation's return
by Missouri Baptist Convention & Baptist Press Staff
Date: May 25, 2016 - Wednesday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) -- The Missouri Baptist Convention's governance of the Missouri Baptist Foundation must be restored, the Missouri Court of Appeals - Western District ruled May 24.
The decision is among an array of court proceedings stemming from actions by breakaway trustees of the foundation, with $150 million in assets, and four other Missouri Baptist Convention entities in 2000-2001.
The appeals court ruling, announced by Chief Judge Alok Ahuja, upholds all facets of an October 2014 judgment by the Circuit Court of Cole County ordering the restoration of foundation governance to MBC-elected trustees.
The foundation appealed the trial decision to the Missouri appeals court, which heard arguments in September 2015 and handed down its decision May 24 to end some 15 years of control by a self-appointed, self-perpetuating trustee board. The foundation may appeal the ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court -- its final option after repeated setbacks in the lower courts.
The appeals court, in its ruling, stated that “the Convention has standing to challenge the Foundation's disregard of provisions of its organizational documents which gave the Convention the right to review and approve any amendments."
The court cited a 1994 charter of the 70-year-old Missouri Baptist Foundation defining it as “a charitable corporation" under Missouri statutes “to support the mission of Missouri Baptists by 'developing, managing and distributing financial resources … as the trust service agency of the Missouri Baptist Convention.'"
Repercussions for the breakaway foundation included Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees voting unanimously in 2003 to remove about $877,000 in funds and re-invest those funds with the Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma.
“We are so grateful for the court's decisive ruling," said John Yeats, the Missouri convention's executive director. “We are eager to welcome the foundation back into the MBC family, and we look forward to a smooth transition in governance for the benefit of all investors."
The appeals court also left standing a lower-court ruling on attorney's fees and costs for the litigation. The trial court had ordered the foundation to pay the convention's legal fees and costs, finding intentional misconduct on the part of the trustees of the breakaway board.
Church Mutual Insurance paid the MBC $5 million to settle the fee claim in January 2015.
In 2001 the board of the foundation broke from the MBC, changing its charter in violation of a charter clause requiring MBC consent. The purported amendments declaring its board self-perpetuating also violated MBC governing documents.
After months of seeking private reconciliation and even binding Christian arbitration -- all of which the self-perpetuating board rejected -- the MBC sought a declaratory judgment for a judge's interpretation of the law and documents as a last resort to return the foundation to Missouri Baptists.
“Our prayer, and our humble desire before God, is that the foundation's self-appointed board would graciously acknowledge the court's ruling and end the prolonged legal battles that have been a distraction to the MBC's mission of transforming lives and communities with the Gospel," Yeats said.
The Missouri Baptist Foundation was one of five MBC subsidiary corporations which broke from the convention in 2000-2001 by changing their charters to create self-perpetuating trustee boards. The other breakaway entities are the 1,300-acre Windermere Baptist Conference Center along the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri Baptist University, The Baptist Home retirement center and Word & Way newsjournal.
Although the breakaway Windermere board continues to exist, the conference center deeded about 970 acres to a lender about 10 years ago in lieu of foreclosure, leading to the 2014 recovery by the MBC of 970 acres for $1.6 million, a heavily discounted price.
Convention court action continues for recovering Missouri Baptist University and The Baptist Home retirement center. Both entity's charters contain a consent clause similar to the foundation's, so the May 24 appeals court ruling may be vital to the resolution of the other cases.
The Word & Way has been replaced by The Pathway as newsjournal of the convention.

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FIRST-PERSON:   Loving the misfits
by Jonathon Duke
Date: May 25, 2016 - Wednesday

VILLA RICA, Ga. (BP) -- The term "misfit" has always been close to my heart and perhaps that is because deep inside I know that I am a misfit. I am a misfit who is loved by God, but I am still a misfit.

If you are unclear as to what exactly a misfit is, think of the claymation TV movie "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" from a few decades ago. In the movie Rudolph spent some time on the Island of Misfit Toys. The fictional toys on the island all had some flaw or distinction that made them unfit as Christmas gifts. The island in the movie was a place where those toys found a home with other misfit toys.

The island presents a picture not too different from what the church is called to be. The church should be the place where any and all people are welcome. There must also be an understanding that in some way or other each person is a misfit. Our flaws, shortcomings and mistakes cause us to miss the mark of perfection, but God is still able to use us for His glory.

Student ministry can be a great example of this dynamic at work in God's Kingdom. Our youth groups, just like our church congregations, are filled with all kinds of people. In the mixture of diverse personalities and life experiences that make up a student ministry, there are also some students who require an extra measure of attention.

It may be the student who tends to live on the fringe of what is accepted behavior or the student who struggles to connect socially, but they are the ones who can get lost in the crowd if youth leaders are not careful.

Over the past few years I went from being a minister who worked with a few dozen students on a regular basis to one who now has over a hundred students who are part of my current ministry. As the number of students in my care multiplied, I also realized that the number of students who struggle to connect has also increased.

A healthy student ministry must acknowledge the differences that make a student unique while also determining the best way to minister to that individual.

In addition to those students, I encountered others who are dealing with some physical, emotional or spiritual issue that can easily lead to them feeling like an outsider. These students have become a passion of mine, and therefore I think a greater amount of discussion needs to exist among student pastors to help us minister to those who feel like misfits.

I love the story in Scripture of the blind beggar that Jesus healed (Luke 18:35-43). In the story there are a great crowd of people who were following Jesus, but there was one man left out of the experience because of his blindness. The crowd not only failed to see the opportunity to minister to the man, they rebuked him and asked him to not bother Jesus.

However, the Master acted differently. Jesus commanded that the man be brought to Him and then Jesus ministered personally to him. After his encounter with Jesus, the man followed Jesus with the rest of the crowd who praised God for what they witnessed.

This story offers the perfect picture of what our ministries should look like. We may have a dozen people or several hundred in our care, but we must not overlook the ones who need a personal touch. The students who need a personal touch from us will vary and change during the evolving seasons of ministry, but we must keep an eye out for them at all times. There will be students who struggle to participate, and others who are limited because of their own inadequacies or circumstances.

How can a youth leader get the student who is an introvert to connect with his or her small group in a way that facilitates the development of relationships? How can we make facilities and activities accessible to students who have some type of disability? How can we be sensitive to the emotionally complex feelings that many students experience during their adolescent years?

My prayer is that each minister, volunteer and group leader will have a heart for those students and make an extra effort to personally connect with them. There is no blanket approach that can cover all the specific issues our students are facing, and that is why encouragement among student leaders is needed. We should look for opportunities to dialog about our experiences of ministering to those who are loners, eccentrics – the misfits.

With more conversations about the students who feel like misfits, perhaps we can see more and more of them becoming the catalysts that cause the rest of the crowd to praise God for what He is doing.

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The 'forgotten' mark young couple's ministry
by Kathie Chute
Date: May 25, 2016 - Wednesday

SACATON, Ariz. (BP) -- As soon as Eric Gibbs stepped onto the Tohono O'odham Nation, one of the largest Native American reservations in the country, he felt a love for the people there.

"After seeing the needs of that community, I knew my time in Arizona would be more than just a week," Gibbs said of the short-term mission trip he took as a college student, a trip he didn't think much about beforehand.

Gibbs returned home to finish his degree and continue his service as a youth minister. But he and his wife Brittany began to pray about relocating to Arizona for long-term ministry.

Brittany said she and Eric "always thought that we would take mission trips with our churches and lead mission trips with youth but never thought much about being 'missionaries.' Over and over again, &#91;God&#93; has made it known that this is His will." 

After graduation from college, Eric and Brittany were accepted as church planters through the Mission Service Corps of the North American Mission Board. In 2010, the young couple moved with their two children to Sacaton, Ariz., a town of about 1,500, and settled into a reservation near the Gila River to begin a ministry among Native Americans. 

"I feel called to pastor forgotten people groups," Gibbs said. "This kind of calling often leads to planting churches in places that can be rather closed off."

Gibbs is pastor of First Pima Baptist Church in the Gila River Reservation and also works with two church plants on local reservations, including one in the Tohono O'odham Nation, which saw 16 baptisms last year. In addition, Gibbs serves as regional director for Ethné Global Services, a nonprofit organization initiated by Alan Karr, a professor of church planting at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, to work with African refugees in Phoenix, many of whom are from the Congo.

The Gibbs' calling has dramatically changed the family. In addition to the two children they brought to Arizona, Eric and Brittany have adopted a daughter from the Repubic of Congo, adopted two Native American sons and brought in foster children from local reservations. They are certified foster parents by Tribal Social Services, one of the few local couples with that distinction. The children have allowed the family to build relationships with both the African and the Indian communities. 

Gibbs said they are simply "living on purpose" as they continue to seek God's will for their lives. 

"We are an ordinary family that God has called to carry out an extraordinary mission," he said. "We are missionaries called to live and serve among the Native American tribes in Arizona. God has also called our family to adopt." 

Another significant step was to enroll for classes at the Arizona Campus of Golden Gate Seminary.

"I knew Golden Gate had a campus in Arizona when I moved out here, but I didn't think it would be possible for me to attend," Gibbs said. "But I was connected with scholarships that allowed me to study without a financial burden and to finish without taking any breaks."

He completed the master of missiology degree in 2015 and was awarded the Golden Gate Church Planting Award.

"I feel like I am a better leader, pastor, husband, father because of my time at Golden Gate," Gibbs said.

"I didn't know how much I didn't know," he said of how his studies strengthened his calling "to relate to and minister to other cultures."

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All need religious liberty, Baptist, others contend
by Tom Strode
Date: May 25, 2016 - Wednesday

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Religious leaders with widely diverse views called for freedom for all faith groups, not just their own, in a May 23 panel discussion sponsored by the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. 

Southern Baptist, Roman Catholic, Mormon and Muslim representatives explained to an audience on Capitol Hill why their faith perspectives support universal religious freedom despite the distinctions in their beliefs.

"Our differences are too important to be adjudicated by the state or to be applied through pressure," said Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore, who explained he thought he could speak for the entire panel in making such an assertion.

Religious freedom, Moore said, is "about having the freedom and the opportunity to be genuinely different, to be able to genuinely respect one another and to be able to have disagreements with one another, including about issues that we believe are of ultimate, ultimate significance, while at the same time saying, 'These are not matters of coercion, and we do not need a government referee to come and settle those issues.'

"A religion that needs cultural or political pressure behind it," he said, "is a religion that has lost faith in its deity."
 
The event -- titled "Christianity and the Common Good: Religious Liberty and Human Flourishing" -- was the latest in the Capitol Conversations series of panel discussions sponsored by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). It came at a time in American life when evangelical Christians and Catholics are among those receiving government pressure to violate their beliefs to use their services for same-sex weddings and Muslims are sometimes facing hostility in reaction to terrorist acts by Islamic extremists.

Each of the panelists explained his faith's basis for supporting freedom for all religious adherents.

"I am a genuine, creedal, evangelical Christian," said Moore, the ERLC's president. "I believe that no one goes to heaven except through explicit faith in Jesus Christ. 

"That's the reason why I don't think that we ought to be harassing our Muslim neighbors or marginalizing our Muslim neighbors," he told participants. "We can either love our Muslim neighbors and speak to them or we can scream at them. We can't do both of those two things at the same time."

Hamza Yusuf -- president of Zaytuna College, a Muslim liberal arts school in Berkeley, Calif. -- said the normative Islamic tradition he is a part of teaches: "Every religious tradition is to be treated with human dignity."

Quoting the ancient saying of an imam, Yusuf said, "People are either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity."

Dallin Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said religious freedom always has been a "paramount priority" for Mormons.

Citing Jesus' command to His disciples to love one another, Oaks said Mormons understand "whatever freedom we claim and advocate for ourselves we extend to others."

"We should walk along the path shoulder to shoulder to secure our ability to go our own way when we come to the intersections we have in our doctrine," he said.

William Lori, archbishop of Baltimore and chairman of the ad hoc committee on religious liberty of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said his church sees religious freedom "as a universal right because it is also a transcendent endowment given to human nature."

The Catholic Church has a "decidedly international look" at the issue because of the Vatican's diplomatic relations with countries throughout the world and the church's dialogue with other religions globally, he said.

Catholics try "to use our freedom to serve the common good," Lori said.

Evangelicals and other religious adherents can overcome an appearance they are seeking only their own interests by being aware of infringements of others' freedom, Moore said.

"We need to identify and see where others are receiving pressure and persecution and marginalization, and stand up for one another," Moore told attendees at the evening event. When a city council in the Bible Belt attempts to bar a mosque, evangelicals need to stand against such government action, he said.

In a world with about 1.6 billion Muslims, "a statistically insignificant number" are violent extremists, Yusuf told the audience gathered in a Capitol Hill hotel. "The Muslims in this country are by and large an extremely law-abiding group."

About 80 percent of Muslims in the United States do not even practice Islam, Yusuf said. "They are much more American than they are Muslim."

In an election year in which both of the apparent major party candidates are at least suspect on the issue, advocates for religious freedom face a "massive task" regardless of the election results, Moore said. Religious liberty proponents should "work to build collaborative majorities sometimes issue by issue rather than administration by administration," he said. 

Societies that protect religious freedom do best at serving the needy, often through the work of religious groups, and are more likely to protect other liberties, Ryan Anderson said while speaking as part of a second panel that addressed how religious liberty benefits human flourishing.

Such states also possess more civic harmony, less strife and greater voluntarism, said Anderson, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Kristen Waggoner, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), said laws adopted after the Supreme Court's 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage and the enforcement of sex discrimination measures are being used "as weapons against the cake baker or the florist" who conscientiously objects to using her talents in support of a same-sex ceremony. 

ADF is unaware of any case being litigated in the United States in which an individual "has been denied a good or service simply because they identify as gay or lesbian," Waggoner said. Alternatives are available in each circumstance in which a florist, baker or photographer objected to providing services for a gay wedding.

Also speaking on the human flourishing panel was John Inazu, associate professor of law and political science at Washington University in St. Louis.

The latest Capitol Conversations event, which was the fifth held in the last 10 months, followed ones on same-sex marriage and religious liberty, Planned Parenthood and the sanctity of human life, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the Supreme Court and abortion.


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Native American, Liberian tie missions to Ed.D. degrees
by  Harper McKay
Date: May 25, 2016 - Wednesday

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) -- Often the call of the Great Commission brings to mind a missionary taking the Gospel to the unreached or a church planter in places where churches are few. How often, though, do people connect the Great Commission with education?

Jennifer Barnett and David Tokpah certainly make that connection -- Barnett with Native Americans and Tokpah with the people of Liberia, Africa.

Both received their doctorate of education (Ed.D.) degrees this spring at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Ed.D. is an advanced degree that prepares leaders in educational ministry, focusing on both the theory and practice of education within churches, schools and university settings. Southeastern's Ed.D. program offers concentrations in higher education, K-12 education, denominational leadership and Christian ministry. 

For Barnett, the Ed.D. program allowed her to gain a stronger knowledge of education and theology while continuing to serve her Native American community in Shawnee, Okla.

"I wanted to study something that would be useful for my people and the churches I serve in ministry," Barnett said. "My call to ministry is to serve native peoples and help native believers grow, mature, serve effectively and know how to share the Gospel effectively."

Barnett is minister of education at Indian Nations Baptist Church in Seminole, Okla., where she seeks to provide young adults with opportunities to develop leadership skills and gain ministry experience. She also chairs the board of the Indian Falls Creek Baptist Assembly, which provides family camps with programs for all ages.

"&#91;Jennifer&#93; has special skills in mentoring college students, Native American students like herself and students from around the world," Ken Coley, director of Southeastern's Ed.D. studies and professor of Christian education, noted.

Tokpah, senior pastor of New Covenant Methodist Church in Hamilton, N.J., and chaplain mentor for Vitas Hospice of New Jersey, chose the Ed.D. program because of his desire to contribute to Christian education in his Liberian homeland.

"I plan to help Christian- and church-related higher education institutions in Liberia analyze their financial sustainability strategies in order to continue providing quality education from a Christian perspective without disruption," Tokpah said. 

Tokpah's aim is to work with church leaders and policymakers in Liberia to ensure that Christian institutions can avoid shutdown in times of political instability, donor fatigue and delayed tuition payments.

The ultimate goal, Tokpah said, is "for these higher education institutions to have complete freedom to design their curricula based on their core values and to have the ability to train men and women who will recognize Jesus Christ as Lord."

"David Tokpah has sacrificed a great deal to complete his doctor of education, traveling from New Jersey to Wake Forest each time he had classes," Coley said, referring to Southeastern's campus in North Carolina.

"In addition, he spent eight weeks in his native Liberia to conduct original research -- interviews with presidents and other administrators in several of that nation's Christian universities," Coley said. "Upon his graduation he and his family will return to Monrovia, Liberia, for a ministry in educational leadership. We are so proud to have participated in David's preparation for God's calling."

Barnett and Tokpah were drawn to Southeastern's Ed.D. program because of the quality of education and connection to ministry coupled with the opportunity to remain in their current ministries as they completed their degrees.

"I received a lot of support and felt very encouraged by the faculty in the Ed.D. program," Barnett said. "You appreciate the personal care and thought they have for you. Even though I'm not on campus, they did everything they could to help me succeed and graduate."

"I ... not only want&#91;ed&#93; to attend a school with quality professors, academic rigor and lots of opportunities," Tokpah said, "I wanted to attend a school with a strict Christian worldview integrated with core courses to help me grow and make disciples for Christ and for the transformation of the world."

For information about Southeastern's Ed.D. program, call 919-761-2490 or email edd@sebts.edu. 

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Publicity surrounding Chibok girl's escape questioned
by Diana Chandler
Date: May 25, 2016 - Wednesday

JOS, Nigeria (BP) -- The escape of a Chibok schoolgirl from Boko Haram is being exploited by the Nigerian government as an accomplishment in efforts to recover more than 200 girls still missing in the 2014 abduction, sources told Baptist Press.

The Nigerian government has used the escape of Amina Ali Nkeki to create photo opportunities for good publicity internationally, while skirting the ongoing tragedy that the government has not recovered any of the missing girls, Open Doors USA's advocacy director Kristin Wright told BP.

"It seems to be much more important to the Nigerian government to make good headlines around the world than it is to actually find the Chibok girls," Wright said.

Not only that, but details revealed in publicity after Amina's escape don't correlate with the facts of the Chibok kidnapping, Nigerian relations expert Adeniyi Ojutiku told BP, and raise speculation that Amina might not have been among the Chibok girls kidnapped in 2014.

"What is happening is the whole Chibok girl thing has been so highly politicized, that it's difficult to discern the truth from fabrications," he told BP. "There seems to be so many discrepancies in the story and those discrepancies make a person believe that the whole thing may have been stage managed. That's my concern."

The chief discrepancy is in Amina's age, 17, and her identity as a student in the first year of senior secondary school (SS1), Ojutiku said. Students abducted in April 2014 were all in the third year (SS3) and had been called back to school from vacation to take a required physics exam. All other classes were away from school on vacation during the raid, he said.

"She said she was not of the class level of the people taking the exams. She was in SS1. She could not have been &#91;called&#93; back to take an exam that she was not qualified to take," Ojutiku said. "At 15 &#91;her age at the time of the kidnapping&#93; the appropriate class level was SS1, and she actually said that she was in SS1. How could she have been among the group of SS3 students? They were recalled from their homes specifically to take a physics exam."

The details of her road to freedom, whether she actually escaped on her own or was aided by the government, also vary, Ojutiku said.

"People have speculated that the government may have created a story around her to appear that they are really doing something to rescue the girls," Ojutiku said. "When you fabricate a lie there are always things that you overlook that will eventually point people to the fact that it's a lie. But the truth is just something that stands always, by itself."

Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls from the boarding school in the mostly Christian town of Chibok during a raid in the early morning hours of April 14, 2014, but as many as 60 of the girls escaped during the journey into the Sambisa Forest. An estimated 219 remained missing.

Ojutiku, a Southern Baptist in Raleigh, N.C., leading the Lift Up Now grassroots outreach to his Nigerian homeland, was on a 10-day business trip to southern Nigeria when Amina was discovered, but he did not travel to northeastern Nigeria during his visit.

Wright, based in Washington, met with some of the fathers of the Chibok girls during a September 2015 visit to Jos in the country's middle belt. Amina's father, now deceased, was not among that group, but is among at least 18 parents who have died since the kidnapping, Wright said.

"Two years have gone by and these girls are still missing and their families are dealing with that loss, that agony of not knowing every single day," Wright said. "Visiting with the fathers was just deeply emotional. One man told me he wakes up every morning wondering where his daughter is at."

Open Doors USA welcomes the news of Amina's wellbeing, but is advocating for the safe return of those still missing.

"It is great news for this girl and for her family, but when you think of this unconscionable outrage that for more than two years these girls, over 200 of them have been held, there's really not a cause for celebration," she said. "This is a time for us to soberly step back and think about the fact, these girls have been missing for over two years. What are you going to do to bring them home?"

Open Doors USA has launched a petition (at live.opendoorsusa.org/petition/) to encourage U.S. President Obama to visit Nigeria and issue a statement advocating for the girls' release. Thousands have signed the petition that will be available a few more months, Wright said.

"There are many captives of Boko Haram and the government is actively seeking to rescue captives, whenever they are able, but the reality is that none of the Chibok girls, until Amina, have been rescued," she said. "And that's something that the world wants to hear about. The world is waiting to know what will happen to the Chibok girls, and we've had one escape."

Wright was encouraged by the faith expressed by the girls' fathers, who are hopeful for their daughters' safe return.

"A lot of men told me that they do have hope that they'll see their daughters again and that they'll be reunited," Wright said. "And that's one reason why I do feel incredibly grateful and optimistic about Amini Ali's escape. And the fact that she was able to make it home and be reunited with her family is incredible."



