
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-08/18/2009

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800-plus profess Christ at Sturgis motorcycle rally
by Keith Collier
Date: August 18, 2009 - Tuesday

STURGIS, S.D. (BP)--As motorcycle engines roared, more than 4,200 leather-clad motorcyclists and their friends at the 69th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally heard a three-minute testimony of how Christ could radically change their lives. Just for listening, they also were given a chance to win a brand new, black Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

For the fourth year in a row, the Sturgis Motorcycle Giveaway sponsored by the Dakota Baptist Convention and North American Mission Board used volunteers from across the nation to give personal testimonies Aug. 3-8 about how they met Christ and to invite rally-goers to invite Him into their lives. By the end of the week, 835 people made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. 

For one week in August each year, the small, quiet towns of the South Dakota Black Hills transform as approximately 500,000 motorcyclists and wannabes descend on the region for the bike rally. The atmosphere promotes raucous parties and sinful living, but it is into such darkness that God calls Christians to shine the light of Christ.

In 2006, the DBC decided to do something about the sea of lostness. 

"We talked about wanting to put together some kind of intentional evangelism event at Sturgis," Garvon Golden, the convention's associate executive director, said. "We felt that if our two states are drawing such a large crowd of people from all over the world, we have the responsibility to try to share Christ with these folks and have some type of evangelistic presence."

Partnering with evangelist Ronnie Hill of Texas, the DBC staff decided to use the motorcycle giveaway to draw people to the booth so the staff and volunteers from the Dakotas and across the nation would have the opportunity to share the Gospel.

"You have to start with relevance," Golden said. "You have to start with something that's going to get their attention, something that's going to make them stop and say, 'Yeah, I'll listen to you for three minutes.'"

Regardless of his or her response to the testimony, each individual was allowed to fill out a raffle ticket for the Harley.

"Our main focus is to share with people the Gospel," Golden said. "We have no problem with Christians signing up for the motorcycle. We just want to be able to share with people who have never heard the Gospel and we try to make sure we have an opportunity to do that."

Jim Pratt, area missionary for the Siouxland Association of Southern Baptists in eastern South Dakota, said each witnessing opportunity was a chance to plant a seed.

"I was hellbound and was going to bust hell wide open, and God used some people in a similar fashion to love me, and their love allowed me to hear the message," Pratt said. "Up to that point, I wouldn't listen to the message because I didn't feel that it was genuine. So, I'm hoping that people will see that we're genuine.

"Sometimes people are hurting, and they don't realize it," Pratt said. "They're trying to find satisfaction in everything but Christ -- whether it's motorcycles, alcohol, drugs or relationships -- but the only satisfying relationship is with Christ."

David Badger, a member of the F.A.I.T.H. Riders Motorcycle Ministry, saw Sturgis with new eyes this year as he shared Christ with people who came to the booth. Although he had been to the rally many times before, this was the first year he came as a Christian.

"This is the first year I've come with Christ in my heart," Badger said. "The other years I came, I should have been one of the ones walking into this tent. I've been on both sides of the fence. I've done alcohol. I've chased women.... I didn't care about people. Now I care about them."

Follow-up for those who prayed to receive Christ is a high priority for Golden and his team. Names are sent to the Evangelism Response Center at NAMB, which in turn sends the names to churches in the areas where the people live. Golden also sends names to state evangelism directors.

This year, Calvary Baptist Church in Rapid City, S.D., hosted three evening events during Sturgis designed to encourage and disciple new believers. Sponsored by several Set Free churches in the Dakotas, Montana and Colorado, these events provided a Christian environment with free food, music and a discipleship-based message.

The DBC enlisted nearly 200 volunteers to help with this year's rally. Several state conventions, including the Georgia Baptist Convention, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and the Conservative Baptists of Virginia, offered financial support, and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma sent trained chaplains to minister to and pray with vendors throughout the week.

Golden said he is thankful for the support of Southern Baptists from across the country and is excited about the growing number of churches and individuals from the Dakotas who volunteered.

"One of the things that we're hoping to see happen over the next few years is that more of the people from our own churches in the Dakotas will become involved in the ministry," Golden said. "I'm looking for the day when we can devote two full days of just Dakota people working the booth and sharing Christ. We've already been talking about that among our regional and area missionaries to try to pull people from our own churches to be a part."

David Kirchoff, a 23-year-old college student from Gillette, Wyo., won the motorcycle.
--30--
Keith Collier writes for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. To learn more about the motorcycle ministry, visit sturgisbikegiveaway.com.


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Ministry to bikers conveys Gospel message
by Staff
Date: August 18, 2009 - Tuesday

STURGIS, S.D. (BP)--Groups from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and LifeWay Christian Resources were among those ministering in Christ's name at the 69th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.

SOUTHWESTERN

Students and faculty from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary joined the Hellfighters Motorcycle Ministry in street evangelism, bike parking and a free gas giveaway July 31-Aug. 8 in order to share Christ with bikers from around the world who attended the rally.

"It was awesome to see so many groups, from different walks of life, partnering together to share the Gospel for the week," Adam Covington, a recent Southwestern graduate and president of the Hellfighters chapter in Fort Worth Texas, said. 

"We had bikers, seminary students and church members on their first mission trip ever, all here with the same mission: to seek out the lost and introduce them to Jesus Christ. It doesn't get more exciting than that."

Hellfighters, founded by Richard and Gina Headrick in Laurel, Miss., runs The Mission at the Cross, a facility used to meet the physical, mental and spiritual needs of the underprivileged. Located only blocks from downtown Sturgis, the mission served as a base for ministry for 130 volunteers during the week. 

Teams traveled on motorcycles and in cars to various stops in the Black Hills to engage people in personal evangelism. The region boasts many popular, scenic rides and towns, including Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, the Badlands and Deadwood. At stops along each of the routes, teams passed out Gospel tracts and Bibles as they shared Christ.

Hellfighters also operated a parking lot in downtown Sturgis, where bikers could park for a donation. As people parked their motorcycles, students and volunteers shared Christ with them. Donations were given to the Mission at the Cross and local churches to use in ministry to children and the homeless throughout the year.

On Aug. 7, Hellfighters sponsored a gas giveaway at a station in downtown Sturgis. After purchasing $1,000 worth of gas, they filled up people's bikes as they shared the Gospel with them. 

When people asked why they would give away free gas, teams responded, "We want to show you God's love. Just like we are freely paying for your gas, Jesus Christ freely gave His life to pay the debt of your sins." More than 20 people prayed to receive Christ during the gas giveaway.

OKLAHOMA

Keith Burkhart of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma said God moved among more than 50 chaplains from Oklahoma who volunteered at the bike rally.

For the fourth year in a row, the Sturgis Motorcycle Giveaway used volunteers from across the nation to give personal testimonies about how they met Christ and to ask rally-goers to invite Him into their lives. By the end of the week, 835 people made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. Just for listening to a testimony, everyone was given a chance to win a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

"The decisions in the evangelism tent weren't quite as high as they have been, but we had more than 800 for the week and more than 4,300 Gospel presentations," Burkhart, a family and men's ministries specialist, said. "Out of that, our Oklahoma folks led 149 people to the Lord."

Burkhart was among a large group of F.A.I.T.H. Riders who received training as chaplains and then worked in Sturgis, Custer, Keystone and Hill City during the week ministering to vendors, rally attendees and local residents. 

"Our chaplain work made me a believer," Burkhart said. "I was a bit unsure of the difference we would make, let's say, at the beginning, but in the end, I was blown away by the impact it made. People's lives were touched, and it really showed me how valuable chaplaincy is.

"We went into Custer, Keystone and Hill City and of course worked the streets of Sturgis as well. We ministered to a lot of local of people and we won those little communities over. It was so special. We were so well received in the stores and out in the street."

The ministry expanded into a local hospital when a vendor in Custer had a need.

"One of the vendors in Custer had an emergency situation, so we spent some time with her," Burkhart said. "She said, 'We do the circuit, travel all around and do all the motorcycle shows and we've been around various motorcycle ministries, but you guys are just different and so much better.' We got a lot of great compliments like that."

Burkhart said as exciting as it was to see how the ministry changed the lives of those in South Dakota, it was just as exciting to see how it changed the lives of the Oklahomans who went.

"The most exciting thing was seeing people lead someone to Christ for the very first time and what it did to change their life," he said. "We had several who had never led anyone to the Lord before who led up to 15 to the Lord that week, and they're changed forever."

Don Hunter, pastor of Grand Boulevard Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, led the Oklahoma chaplaincy ministry to Sturgis for the third straight year.

"God was awesome to us," he said. "The numbers were down as far as decisions go, but the vendors were happy. People were busier this year. And we were up in the number of people we were able to contact."

Hunter said the number of overall contacts made by the chaplains increased by at least 200 over last year, although he was still compiling his report.

He said the chaplains' impact was immediate this year as they talked with vendors and other people.

"We had a lot of requests to pray with folks on the spot, not just to take a prayer request to do later. They asked us, 'Will you pray with me right now?'

"Also, a good third of them wanted to talk about the Lord as we went about our daily encouraging with them," Hunter said. "Our work went beyond the usual seed planting that we usually do and moved into the actual harvesting stage this year. We had some folks who really got on fire for the Lord during the week."

Hunter said the door is opening wider every year. 

"I had calls from at least a half dozen vendors before the rally even started wanting to know if we were going to be there this year. They wanted to see us again. It's encouraging to know they want us there every year."

LIFEWAY

Ron Chandler and Mark King of LifeWay Christian Resources led a team of 16 employees on a mission trip to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally. Six of them rode their motorcycles up to South Dakota, and three of the team members loaded their motorcycles on a trailer for the trip. 

The LifeWay group worked in the Sturgis Motorcycle Giveaway tent sponsored by the Dakota Baptist Convention and the North American Mission Board. The team also prayerwalked the streets of Sturgis for a couple of hours each day and gave away 3,000 Biker New Testaments paid for by contributions from LifeWay employees.

Chandler, manager of the direct sales section at LifeWay, first heard about the ministry a couple of years ago and attended by himself. Last year, he took King, director of LifeWay's direct marketing department.  

"We came back and talked it up, and several other people started getting excited about going, and it just kind of mushroomed from there," Chandler said.

The two men tried to prepare the team for what to expect, but Chandler said the other members still were surprised by how warmly the crowd embraced their efforts.

"I think they were surprised at the number of people who came into the tent and the positive responses they got from the people," he said. "Everybody since they've come back has expressed the feeling that they had a really good experience, and I'd say most of them want to go back next year."

LifeWay, marking the first time it had sent a team to minister at the rally, paid half the cost of the trip and allowed the employees time off work. 

"It was a really good trip. We had a good experience," Chandler said. "The one thing I think we didn't prepare them well for was the intensity of the three-hour shifts. 

"When you're in the tent, it's one person after another coming in and you're sharing with them," guiding them in prayer or getting them signed up for the giveaway," he said, "and as soon as you're finished with one, there's somebody else there waiting for you. Three hours sounds like a short shift, but it's very intense."
--30--
Based on reports from Keith Collier of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bob Nigh of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger and Erin Roach of Baptist Press.

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Motorcycle wreck helps rider find purpose
by Brian Koonce
Date: August 18, 2009 - Tuesday

COLUMBIA, Mo. (BP)--Dennis Thompson was very angry as he drove his motorcycle away from the bar. That's all he remembers, and even that is only a half-memory. 

The only thing Thompson clearly remembers from that night in 2001 is "going to sleep" -- dreaming that God banished Him from heaven and waking up in a hospital bed. 

Thompson's right arm, right leg and eyesight were gone.

A co-worker had been getting on Thompson's last nerve, to the point that he couldn't take it anymore. He had stormed out of the workplace in St. Louis, Mo., telling his boss that he had to leave or he would beat the co-worker "to death." Thompson had jumped on his motorcycle and gone barhopping to blow off some steam, leaving the last bar at about 10:30 p.m. When he drove the wrong way through a construction zone, a car hit the motorcycle head on. The impact threw Thompson 175 feet. When the paramedics reached Thompson, they thought they were looking at a dead body.

"They were calling for the body bag when I started breathing again," Thompson said. "It was just like I was sleeping. I had a dream that a big hand came down, picked me up and was holding on to me. When I woke up I was in the hospital and they told me I had been in an accident."

Thompson had awakened two months after the wreck. During that time, Thompson's heart stopped four times. He went through 156 units of blood -- more than 18 gallons. His internal organs were so bloated and swollen from the trauma that they had to open his chest to give them more room. The doctors put his chances of surviving at less than one percent.

"Twice they called my family in to take me off life support," Thompson said, "but my mom couldn't do it. The Lord was protecting me."

His weight down from 180 pounds to 110 pounds, blind, weak and facing a major physical handicap, Thompson began the year-long process of physical therapy and moved in with his younger brother in Columbia, Mo. After a year or so, he bought his own place and moved out on his own.

"I knew that God was there at that time," said Thompson, who had grown up in a "very Christian" Lutheran family in Minnesota. "And I knew He had saved me and given me the strength to make it this far. But there was something more God wanted."

Enter John Ellis.

Ellis had met Thompson a few years before the accident, when he was a pilot based out of Columbia and Thompson was the technician who kept his plane in the air. They shared a common love for aviation and motorcycles. Thompson soon left Columbia for St. Louis.

While Thompson was in rehab in Columbia, Ellis heard about his accident and decided to go pay him a visit.

"I didn't know the extent of his injuries," Ellis said. "I didn't know how he would act. When I walked in he recognized my voice and the first thing he asked me was about my motorcycle. He wanted to talk about motorcycles! Before the accident, I'd say Dennis was pretty typical of the worldly young man, but when I walked out of there that day, there was something different. He was excited about life."

That excitement was contagious, and God began to work on Ellis to disciple Thompson.

"I was going through a change in my life," Ellis said. "I felt God was talking to me about something I needed to do in my life regarding discipleship. The first thing that came to my mind was Dennis. So I called and asked to see if we could have lunch."

"He wanted me to start coming to this church in Jeff City, this Baptist church," Thompson recalled. "I'm like, you know, I'm a Lutheran. I don't really want to be a part of these crazy jumping-up-and-down Hell-and-damnation Baptists."

Every week Ellis came by to visit Thompson and invited him to Concord Baptist Church in Jefferson City, where Ellis had been a member since 2006. Ellis gave Thompson an audio New Testament, but he wasn't interested. Finally, he agreed to go to church with John, "just to get him off my back."

"At first I was a little shaky, but I started feeling at home pretty fast. That made me think that maybe I should give this audio Bible a shot, you know?" Thompson said. "Once I started 'reading' it, I couldn't get enough. I was reading it eight hours a day, over and over again. I was going through the whole New Testament in less than a week. It really convicted me. I knew it was the truth."

Thompson was baptized at Concord in 2007, with Ellis by his side. He and Ellis met one-on-one every week for 16 weeks with an aim toward discipleship, both men growing deeper in the Word in the process. Ellis and Monte Shinkle, Concord's pastor, looked at the material from their study and determined it would be a good program for the older Christians in the church to come alongside new or younger believers. That program began in January.

"This is the first time I've seen our people really grab on to something like this," Shinkle said. "We need more disciplers, but I think it has the greatest possibly to succeed, largely because of John's passion and experience with Dennis."

Thompson and Ellis still meet, even though they finished the 16-week study months ago, Ellis said. 

"He has helped me immensely. I can't tell you who the mentor is, I learn so many things from him," Ellis explained. "We all judge people by their appearance, car, clothes. Dennis can't see their face, but looks at their heart the way God looks at us. Everybody whose life he touches seems to be inspired by him."

Shinkle agreed, saying "Dennis is a joy to his pastor."

"He lost his eyes, but he hasn't lost his vision," he said. "I sense in him a growing disciple in love with the Lord." 

It sounds cliché, but Thompson hasn't let his injuries or the ever-present pain stop him from living his life, not by any stretch of the imagination. He is married, works full-time with his brother in Columbia and is an avid sportsman, picking off his latest turkey this season from 160 yards out (with the help of some specialized equipment and a spotter). He still uses his mechanic's skill to restore classic cars. Since the accident he has rebuilt a '67 Mustang, a '23 roadster and a '53 Willys pickup. He and his brother even rebuilt the crashed motorcycle, which sits in his garage today.

"I still ride on the back of it sometimes," Thompson said.

He admits that there were times after his accident that he wasn't so joyful, that he was angry with God -- but not necessarily for the loss of his limbs or sight.

"When I first woke up, I thought He'd kicked me out of heaven," Thompson said. "I thought I was so bad a person He booted me out. There's not much worse feeling than that. It wasn't until later that I realized that wasn't the case. 

"It's not such a bad sentence, being here," Thompson continued. "It's not the body, the things we can't do or even the things we can do that matter. When you feel that the Lord is walking with you and know He's carrying you on His back, how can you be sad? I realized that there was something that He had planned that I didn't know about. Maybe I still don't. Maybe He just wants to show His power and grace through me."
--30--
Brian Koonce is a staff writer for The Pathway (www.mbcpathway.com), newsjournal of the Missouri Baptist Convention.


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Group: India religious liberty monitored
by Staff
Date: August 18, 2009 - Tuesday

WASHINGTON (BP)--The government of India could have avoided it, a Christian leader in the Asian giant said.

It: India's designation as a country deserving "close monitoring" of religious freedom abuses -- a "watch list" designation announced by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

John Dayal, president of the All India Christian Council, said the USCIRF designation could have been avoided "if several thousand Christians were still not in refugee camps, if the killers were still not roaming scot-free and if witnesses, including widows, were not being coerced."

Dayal's comments were referencing attacks against Christians by Hindu extremists in the eastern Indian state of Orissa last year.

As recounted by USCIRF: The murder of Swami Saraswati by Maoist rebels in the Kandhamal district on Aug. 23 "sparked a prolonged and destructive campaign targeting Christians in Orissa.... These attacks largely were carried out by individuals associated with Hindu nationalist groups, and resulted in at least 40 deaths and the destruction of hundreds of homes and dozens of churches. Tens of thousands were displaced and today many still remain in refugee camps, afraid to return home."

USCIRF chair Leonard Leo, in an Aug. 12 news release, stated: "It is extremely disappointing that India, which has a multitude of religious communities, has done so little to protect and bring justice to its religious minorities under siege." Leo said USCIRF's Aug. 12 watch list designation and the release of a 12-page report marked "the one-year anniversary of the start of the anti-Christian violence in Orissa."

"India's democratic institutions charged with upholding the rule of law, most notably state and central judiciaries and police, have emerged as unwilling or unable to seek redress for victims of the violence," Leo said.

Although USCIRF issues its annual report each May, this year's section on India was delayed because the U.S. panel had requested visas to visit India during the summer. The Indian government, however, declined the request. India is the only democracy to have blocked a visit by USCIRF, which had been requesting entry since 2001. More than 20 other countries, including China, Saudi Arabia and Russia, have allowed the commission to enter.

According to a USCIRF news release: "... the deficiencies in investigating and prosecuting cases &#91;of religion-related violence in India&#93; have resulted in a culture of impunity that gives members of vulnerable minority communities few assurances of their safety, particularly in areas with a history of communal violence, and little hope of perpetrator accountability."

USCIRF "recommends that the Obama Administration urge the government of India to take new measures to promote communal harmony, protect religious minorities, and prevent communal violence by calling on all political parties and religious or social organizations to publicly denounce violence against and harassment of religious minorities, women, and low-caste members, and to acknowledge that such violence constitutes a crime under Indian law."

A statement by India's Foreign Ministry, as reported by Reuters, rebuffed the USCIRF action: "India, a country of 1.1 billion people, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of religion and equality of opportunity to all its citizens who live and work together in peace and harmony. Aberrations, if any, are dealt with promptly within our legal framework, under the watchful eye of an independent judiciary and a vigilant media."

Dayal, in comments quoted by Compass Direct News, lamented, "Unfortunately, nothing really impacts the government of India or the government of Indian states. The state, and our social conscience, seems Teflon-coated. The patriotic media and political sector dismiss international scrutiny as interference in the internal affairs of India, and a beaten-into-submission section of the leadership of religious minorities assumes silence to be the best form of security and safety."

Robin Ratnakar David, president of the Christian Legal Association in India, told Compass that one year after the violence in Orissa only six people have been convicted in just two cases of rioting, while several suspects were acquitted in four such cases. (Compass is a news service that reports on persecution of Christians worldwide.)

David said the 2008 violence could have been prevented if Indian officials had brought to justice those responsible for previous mayhem in the Kandhamal district in December 2007 when at least four Christians were killed, as many as 730 houses and 95 churches were burned and thousands were left homeless.

The USCIRF news release noted that violence against India's Muslims also was a factor in the watch list designation, specifically citing the 2002 upheaval in the Indian state of Gujarat in which more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. USCIRF recounted that India's National Human Rights Commission "found that the Indian government not only failed to prevent the attacks against religious minorities, but that state and local officials aided and participated in the violence." USCIRF subsequently recommended that India be designated among "countries of particular concern" for the most severe of religious liberty abuses. That designation was removed in 2005.

"In both Orissa and Gujarat, court convictions have been infrequent, perpetrators rarely brought to justice and thousands of people remain displaced," USCIRF stated.

In Orissa, compared to USCIRF's estimates of the violence, Compass reported that more than 100 people were killed and 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions were burned, according to the All India Christian Council and the Christian Legal Association. Compass reported in July that 750 cases have been filed in various police stations in Orissa concerning last year's violence.

In addition to India, other countries on USCIRF's watch list are Indonesia, Egypt, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Cuba, Russia, Belarus and Laos. Recommended by USCIRF for designation as countries of particular concern are China, Burma, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Nigeria, Eritrea and Iraq.

Although USCIRF makes recommendations for the CPC list, only the State Department officially gives countries that designation. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named only eight countries as CPCs in January 2009: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

The bipartisan commission's responsibility is to advise the administration and Congress regarding the conditions for religious liberty overseas. The president selects three members of the panel, while congressional leaders name the other six. The State Department's ambassador at large for international religious freedom serves as a non-voting member of the commission 
--30--
Compiled by Baptist Press editor Art Toalston. The USCIRF report on India can be accessed at www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2667&Itemid=1.


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In first vote, Sotomayor joins liberal bloc
by Michael Foust
Date: August 18, 2009 - Tuesday

WASHINGTON (BP)--New Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sided with the court's liberal bloc in her first public vote Monday in a case in which the justices refused to halt the execution of an Ohio man.

Sotomayor, on the losing end of the 5-4 vote, would have granted a stay of execution to 33-year-old Jason Getsy, a hit man who was convicted in the 1995 murder of Ann R. Serafino, 66, and the attempted murder of her son, Charles Serafino. Getsy's guilt was not in doubt, as his lawyers were seeking to have the high court consider the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal injection law and for Getsy's sentence to be reduced to life in prison. The court's conservative bloc, though, refused, and the court issued a two-paragraph order simply saying that Getsy's request was denied and that Sotomayor, along with Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer would have granted the stay. During the court's most recent term, Stevens acknowledged in an opinion that he believed the death penalty was unconstitutional. 

Getsy, who was 19 at the time of the crime, was executed Tuesday morning.

Although it's only one vote, liberal groups hope it's an indication that Sotomayor will side with them on key issues. Her previous record on the death penalty is fairly thin, although she did in 1998 refuse to strike it down as unconstitutional, saying the issue was up to Congress and the Supreme Court, where, of course, she now sits. She is President Obama's first nominee to the high court.

Getsy and an accomplice entered Ann Serafino's house in 1995, targeting only Charles Serafino, although he was paid to kill any witnesses, too. Serafino's mother was home. Prosecutors said Getsy hit her in the head with a gun, opening a four-inch gash, and then shot her twice. He had already shot Charles Serafino, who played dead and survived.

Getsy was sentenced to death for the crime, although the man who paid him $5,000 for the hit-job, John Santine, was spared the death penalty and received 20 years to life. Santine and Charles Serafino were in a dispute over a landscaping business. 

Critics of Getsy's sentence said it was unfair to give him the death penalty when the man who paid him for the crime received a lesser sentence. In 2006 a three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Getsy's death sentence, but the full court, in a 2007, 8-6 vote, restored the sentence. 

In July of this year the Ohio Parole Board, in a 5-2 vote, recommended that Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland halt the execution and instead give Getsy life without parole. Getsy was unfairly singled out for the crime, the board said.

But on Aug. 14 Strickland rejected the board's recommendation, saying that Getsy should be executed.

"Substantial attention has been focused on the different sentences imposed upon Mr. Getsy and his co-defendant, Mr. Santine," Strickland said in a statement. "Mr. Getsy and Mr. Santine had different roles in the murder. The fact that Mr. Santine was not sentenced to death is not, by itself, justification to commute Mr. Getsy's sentence. Mr. Getsy's sentence was based on his conduct and based upon our review, which included consideration of the differing Santine and Getsy sentences, I do not believe executive clemency is warranted."
--30--
Michael Foust is an assistant editor of Baptist Press.


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FIRST-PERSON: Spiritual lessons from Vt.'s mist
by Terry Dorsett
Date: August 18, 2009 - Tuesday

BARRE, Vt. (BP)--On most mornings I start my day with a long walk. I live on a hill in Vermont overlooking a valley, and I often walk "up the mountain" and am rewarded with awesome views of God's creation. 

I pray as I walk, talking to the Lord about whatever is going on in my life. I often ask God to help me share my faith with those around me. One day earlier this year I started my walk earlier than normal and the mist was still hanging in the valley below. But as I walked, the sun began to come out and the mist began to lift. At first it was only a few strings of mist that began to rise up and dissipate. But as the morning progressed, more and more mist began to burn off. 

By the end of my four-mile journey the mist had completely disappeared and the sky had become bright and sunny. The valley below was completely transformed from a place of shrouded in mist to a place of sunshine and light.

In my talk with the Lord that day I realized that just as the sun slowly burned the mist away, the Son is also slowly burning the spiritual mist away from the valleys of Vermont where I have invested the last 15 years of my life. Spiritual enlightenment seldom happens all at once. It seems that in my own life and in the lives of the people I share my faith with, spiritual enlightenment comes slowly as we grasp one spiritual concept at a time. It is like a spiritual mist covering the mind which must slowly disappear until suddenly the fog is gone and the Son is burning so brightly that one wonders how we could have ever missed Him in the first place.

It is easy to be fooled into the thinking that the mist is so thick and pervasive that it will never go away. But bit by bit and tendril by tendril, the mist loses its battle with the sun. Likewise, the spiritual mist that blinds the eyes of so many in my beloved Vermont will eventually lose its battle with the Son. One day His light will transform the valleys of Vermont from places shrouded in the mist of spiritual confusion into places filled with the Light of the Gospel.

Would you join me in praying for the mist to rise and the Son to shine in the lives of America's least religious state?
--30--
Terry Dorsett is director of the Green Mountain Baptist Association. For information, visit VermontBaptist.org.


