The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-08/24/2016 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Weakened witness' stayed on mission to the very end by Brian Koonce/Missouri Pathway Date: August 24, 2016 - Wednesday EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul Koonce, who is featured in this story, is the father of Pathway Assistant Editor Brian Koonce. CHIFUNGA, Malawi (BP) -- Paul Koonce was weak and exhausted. Barely able to stand, it took two assistants to get him from the truck and into Avant Baptist Church at Chifunga in Malawi, Africa. Though unable to get in and out of the rickety chair on his own, he still sat up straighter and grew stronger as he began to preach to the people gathering on the dirt floor. Through Koonce's favorite Chichewa interpreter, he began to tell the story of Job. As the director of missions for Washington-Osage Baptist Association based in Bartlesville, Okla., Koonce had led 20 trips to the tiny eastern Africa nation. Along with pastors and students in the association, he helped plant 85 Baptist churches there, and saw thousands come to faith Christ. Though he was diagnosed with aggressive liver cancer last fall and was severely weakened by chemotherapy, it was a priority for him to return to what he thought of as his second home. His doctors reluctantly cleared him to make the trip, and on May 29 he and a team of 14 set off on the journey across the Atlantic. He started out strong, but as each day passed Koonce got weaker, and he needed more help. As Koonce began to speak at Chifunga, Michael Vallandingham, pastor of Eastern Heights Baptist Church where Koonce was a member, pulled out his iPhone and began videoing what he felt might end up being the man's final sermon. "Job told his friends, 'I don't know why this is happening to me, but I know God is faithful and that I can trust Him,'" Koonce told the people sitting on the hot, dusty floor of the church. "He continued to get sicker, and more problems came to him. His friends told him he might as well curse God and die. Then Job said this -- and this is very important -- 'even though He slays me, yet I will trust in Him.'" No matter what situation we may go through, we should not lose our faith." "It was like he was getting to preach his own funeral," Vallandingham said. The Anchor holds In the months leading up to the trip, Koonce guessed it would be his final journey to Malawi. Though he was adamant to his family he was not giving up and planned to return home and continue battling cancer, he knew God may have other plans. "I'm heading to Malawi as a poor, weakened witness and if I don't return, I'm going home to see my Savior," Koonce wrote in a letter to friends before his trip. "This battle with cancer is the biggest storm I have faced but I am at peace and confident that the Anchor that has sustained me all my life will continue to hold no matter what comes. I believe the Anchor will continue to hold until I complete His will. "It's God's call and my response to a lifetime of blessing from God," he continued. "I can do no less. I'm praying for a good trip and all will go well, but if not, it is an honor to give my life serving Him. This is not a light decision nor a foolish choice. This is my obedience to the Lord." Koonce grew weaker as the trip drew to a close. More than 100 lbs. lighter than he'd been on his visit the year before, he had to be carried up the stairs to board the plane home. Once back in Oklahoma, his physical condition continued to go downhill. He was in and out of the hospital a few times, but never fully recovered from the trip. He died at home July 10, a month shy of turning 62. Three days later, before a crowd of 500 people, his wife, son and daughter asked that the video of him preaching at Chifunga be played. He did indeed get to preach at his own funeral. 'It has been an honor' It was a fitting capstone to a ministry that lasted 40 years. After graduating from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Koonce pastored several churches in Oklahoma and Missouri before accepting the call as Washington-Osage's director of missions in 1998. He led the association to Malawi the first time as part of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma's partnership with the International Mission Board there. He instantly fell in love with the "warm heart of Africa" and continued going long after the official partnership ended. He led mission trips to Leon, Mexico and other locales, but it was Malawi that captured his heart. "I never dreamed that God would grant me the privilege to share the gospel in Africa," Koonce wrote in his letter. "Malawi completely captured my heart. Over the past 18 years, God has allowed our association to plant churches, send men to seminary, provide education for key leaders, provide food in times of famine, establish two feeding centers for widows and orphans, and see thousands truly saved and baptized in a stream, Lake Malawi, or a muddy puddle. It has been an honor to be part of each one." The love was mutual. At least three churches in Malawi held simultaneous funerals, and Charles Malekano, Koonce's interpreter for 18 years, sent a letter to be read at the "official" funeral. "Paul was not just a friend, he was part of our family; we shared ideas and planned together how we can serve the Lord in Malawi," Malekano wrote. "Malawians will remember him ... Paul Koonce counted lost people more important than himself up to the last time of his life." Three Chiefs Koonce's reoccurring presence in Malawi made him somewhat of a celebrity there, and the news in October that he was sick and might not be able to return spread quickly throughout many churches. One group dedicated themselves to praying for his healing once a week on top of a mountain. Three chieftains at the base of the mountain observed the constant praying, and began asking questions; they were curious about the Gospel, but said they wanted to hear it from Koonce himself. "These chiefs represent hundreds of their people who refuse to hear the gospel unless I come and share it," Koonce wrote in his letter. "This is why I must go. God has called me to go. The people have been so faithful to pray for me, and I must honor their prayers and go share with those who do not know God." He met with them, and in answer to prayer, each of the three accepted Christ and gave permission and land to plant churches in their villages. "It was a honor to get to be with him on his last trip to Malawi," Vallandingham said. "It was hard. Why would someone leave his family and modern medicine while he was fighting cancer? I wondered if he really understood the risk he was taking. But God allowed him to go through that difficult time for more than nine months to help us be strong in our faith. When part of the team he brought to Malawi went to the mountaintop, Paul was with me at the bottom of the mountain. He cried, he cried for us not for himself. He kept saying 'God is good all the time.'" -------------------------------------------------------------------- Boys become men, then seniors in VBS by Connie Davis Bushey/Baptist and Reflector Date: August 24, 2016 - Wednesday HARRIMAN, Tenn. (BP) -- Sanny Bowman, Jack Bowman and Don Alford participated in the first Vacation Bible School of Caney Ford Baptist Church in 1936. Eighty years later, they are still attending VBS at the church in Harriman, Tenn. In fact, they have only missed a few years of VBS among them, mainly because of military service. Sanny has attended 78 years, Jack has attended 77 years, and Don 78 years. The Roane County News reported on their VBS tenure and also reported on the church's 80th consecutive year of VBS. The attention is deserved. Over the years neither the church nor the three men have wavered in their commitment to VBS, said pastor Taylor Phelps. Even one year when the church didn't have a pastor VBS was still held, he noted. This year, members built a huge aquarium in the back part of the sanctuary to support the LifeWay Christian Resources VBS theme, "Submerged." Caney Ford Baptist draws about 60 people on Sunday mornings but saw a total of 68 attend VBS and one child make a profession of faith. The church's VBS is held in the evenings and includes an adult class. Caney Ford Baptist was one of the first churches to hold VBS in Roane County though it was a small, rural church, said Phelps. In the 1920s Standard Publishing produced the first VBS plans, he noted. The congregation was encouraged and prepared to hold that first VBS by the wife of the director of missions there in 1936. Sanny Bowman, 86 years old, and Don Alford, 86, were 6 years old and Jack Bowman, 84, was 4 at that first VBS -- and they remember it. Jack, though the youngest, recalled he made a belt out of a wooden cheese box. He and Sanny are brothers, and Don is their third cousin. "We didn't have anything to do except stay at home," recalled Sanny, noting they all grew up on farms and helped with farm chores. "It was a real treat," he said. "Country boys had never … done anything like Vacation Bible School," said his brother, Jack. "It was real fun," agreed Don. He recalled, "When it came to church, there wasn't any doubt about what you were going to do." His family managed a 300-acre farm. "We milked the cows and got ready for church on Sunday morning. We never scheduled any work on Sunday." "We never thought about not going," Sanny said. VBS was an important part of their spiritual development, the trio noted. Jack made his profession of faith as a child during a VBS and Don made his "right after a VBS," he said. When they were about 15 years old, Caney Ford Baptist moved the VBS program to the evenings and has always served a meal before the activities. As young adults Don served in the military during the Korean Conflict including a stint of 10 months in a tent in South Korea and Sanny served in the military in Washington, D.C. Both missed VBS at Caney Ford during those periods. Jack, a state legislator from 1967-76, also missed VBS a couple of years. Back at home they started their families and brought them to Caney Ford Baptist, including its VBS. Now they enjoy seeing their grandchildren attend VBS. Over the years, Don and Sanny were ordained as deacons. The Bowman brothers operate S.L. Bowman and Sons John Deere dealership. Don worked at a cable TV company for 30 years. Jack's wife Miriam began teaching Sunday School which she has continued for about 50 years. Sanny's wife Barbara is church secretary and has served for 58 years and Don's late wife Lorna was the long-time pianist. Don is his pastor's visiting partner and Sanny and Jack are always just a phone call away "when I need anything," Phelps added. "They mean a lot to the church in general and they're a blessing to me personally." The trio not only attended this year's VBS but they worked. Don and Jack take care of the trash and Sanny rings the church bell to keep the schedule. Sanny added that "I mostly heckle my friends." Vacation Bible School was important "to the young people during that time and is important today" because if children don't learn about their need for a faith, it is less likely that they will become Christians as young adults and "after 30 it's almost nil that you will reach them," said Sanny, as Jack and Don nodded in agreement. "We need to hold it so the parents can bring the kids," Jack said. "Bible school is the main thing in church and Sunday School," added Don. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Anybody's guess by Randy L. Bennett Date: August 24, 2016 - Wednesday BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (BP) -- Have you ever wondered how some people seem to know more about what is happening in the church than anyone else? At this year's Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, I was told in no uncertain terms that one of the candidates for SBC president would win on the first ballot. Who can know that? Was the source of the prediction a reliable person? He was well-connected in the convention. Was it possible he had some kind of secret knowledge? It certainly seemed so. Was there conviction in his voice? Yes. Did things work out as he stated so boldly? Not even close. This tiny episode is an example of what I call "the power of the guess." I left St. Louis thinking about the many times I have heard a guess stated as fact. I am currently serving on the California Southern Baptist Convention's executive director search committee. One of our members shared at our first meeting about a telephone call he received. According to the committee member, the caller knew about the six candidates we were interviewing and gave his prediction of who would be selected and why. As a group we just laughed. We haven't received any resumes and certainly haven't interviewed anyone yet. The committee is busy creating a profile of the candidate and selecting a group of ethnic leaders to walk alongside us as we prepare to receive resumes and talk to possible candidates. There was no truth to what the caller told our committee member. Back in the mid-'80s, the personnel committee at a church where I was pastor approached me about some problems with our part-time music director. Some strange things were happening in his personal life that concerned many of the members. The outcome was the committee decided to terminate the worker. Although I did not disagree with the committee, I had almost nothing to do with the process (except in having trained the committee and releasing them to do their job). A few weeks later I learned that two or three families were angry at me for firing the music director. Their story was that I wanted the person to be terminated so my oldest brother could serve as the music director. I actually laughed out loud at the thought of my brother coming to work for me. He is the older brother in every way, including the fact that he would never serve "under the leadership" of his baby brother. Where had the idea come from? Who started telling people this theory? It didn't take long to find out. Even though the individual was way over 6 feet tall, I looked him in the eye and asked why he was telling people his version of why the staff person was released. Apparently about two months prior to the termination my brother had sung at our church for some special event. It has always been very rare for us to worship together on a Sunday since we both have served on church staff all our adult lives. Whenever I get the chance I ask him to sing. My brother's singing and the staff person's termination had nothing to do with each other except in the mind of this man. He simply guessed at my motives. His guess hurt the church and those he enraged by sharing his opinion that was not based on any facts. His guess hurt me as well. Is it possible that much of the gossip that travels from person to person in the church is based on a personal guess? Once the guess is stated out loud with boldness and confidence, people decide if it is feasible. If so, they simply decide to believe the guess even though they have no direct knowledge of the situation. Over the years my jaw has dropped dozens of time when people prescribed a motive for something I did that simply was untrue. I've even been criticized for doing things I never did. Someone guessed why I did something, or guessed that I did something, and shared it authoritatively as fact and those around them believed them. In our crazy "People Magazine" world of talking heads, we are accustomed to making value judgments and guesses about why people do what they do all the time. Is it possible we are wrong? Is it possible that mind reading doesn't really exist and that the experts don't really know what is going to happen either? Only God is omniscient. Only God knows what is in the heart of each person. It may be fun to speculate why something happens or why people behave as they do, but we simply do not know the answer until we ask. Let's be careful that we don't share our guesses as truth. We must remain humble and open to the actual truth rather than substitute truth with our best guess. And what a blessing it is when a church member comes to you for the actual truth rather than blindly choosing to believe a guess. -------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC DIGEST: BGR now ECFA-accredited; WMU names staffer for boys; Calif. foundation to relocate by BGR, WMU & BP Staff Date: August 24, 2016 - Wednesday Baptist Global Response receives ECFA accreditation NASHVILLE (BP) -- Baptist Global Response has received accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. According to the council, ECFA accreditation is based on the organization's Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship and its "model of biblical accountability." In bestowing its seal, ECFA certifies that BGR has demonstrated financial accountability, transparency, sound board governance and ethical fundraising in its daily operation. Established in 2006, BGR is a nonprofit disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization that responds to critical needs arising from both chronic conditions and natural disasters. It strives to connect people in need with people who care as a way of demonstrating God's love to the world's most vulnerable. "It is important to us and our donors to be able to show that BGR is a trustworthy and well-run organization," Executive Director Jeff Palmer said. "This accreditation by ECFA is a great affirmation of our organization, practices and policies," and BGR is "honored to have it." Palmer, recapping the scope of BGR's work, reported, "BGR works with Southern Baptist churches to rapidly respond to international disasters as well as address long-term issues of poverty and hunger with well-planned mercy ministries. In 2015, BGR helped implement 282 relief and development projects in 64 countries. This impacted 4,192 communities, with 173,000 people in need receiving food assistance through BGR programs, 252,000 gaining access to clean drinking water and 105,000 receiving compassionate health care. All of this was done in a way that helped people both physically and spiritually." Those interested in partnering with or donating to BGR can find out more through ServantMatch, a new feature on the ECFA website that matches people looking for giving opportunities with ECFA-approved nonprofit organizations that might interest them. Established in 1979, the ECFA evaluates Christian nonprofits, churches and ministries and endorses those that meet its Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship. For more information about the ECFA accreditation process or for a list of accredited members, visit www.ECFA.org. Ministry consultant for boys named by WMU BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Zachariah Seanor has joined the staff of national WMU as ministry consultant with responsibilities for the growth and development of missions education for boys through Royal Ambassadors (RA), WMU's missions program for boys in grades 1–6, and Challengers, for boys in grades 7–12. Carol Causey, director for WMU's Missions Resource Center, said, "[Seanor's] personal knowledge from being raised in RAs along with his training in education and missions make him uniquely equipped for this position. We look forward with great anticipation to his contributions." Seanor has served as chaplain and interim dean of student life the past year at Live Oak Classical School for grades 7–12 in Waco, Texas. He served as associate director of student recruitment for the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Waco from 2013–2015 and minister of students at Taylor's Valley Baptist Church in Temple, Texas, from 2012–2013. Seanor holds a master of divinity degree from Truett Seminary with a focus on missions and world Christianity and an undergraduate degree in secondary education from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. He and his wife Haley have relocated to make their home in the Birmingham area. Calif. Baptist Foundation to relocate FRESNO, Calif. (BP) -- The California Baptist Foundation's board of directors has voted to relocate the entity's principal offices from Fresno to Ontario in 2017. The action was taken during the directors' Aug. 19 meeting and was part of a three-pronged recommendation to also restructure and rebrand the 64-year-old organization which serves California Southern Baptist Convention congregations. The plan calls for the foundation to lease 6,000 square feet of space from Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention which has relocated its main campus from Mill Valley to Ontario, Calif. The recommendations were presented after a six-month study by the entity's Future of the Foundation Task Force. The timing of the move is still in the planning stages but is expected to occur by the end of 2017. Foundation President Philip Kell recommended the creation of the task force after becoming convinced that God was "opening doors of opportunity" which could help the foundation better serve California churches and have a greater Kingdom impact. "I believe we are at a crossroads moment, a moment when operational circumstances have intersected with providential opportunities which could propel us into God's preferred future for His foundation," he said. Kell reported that the foundation plans to maintain a presence in Fresno even after the relocation. Foundation executives are in conversation with the California convention about securing a portion of its Ministry Resource Center to house several foundation employees to serve central and northern California. The recommendation came after the task force determined that almost 60 percent of CSBC churches are located in Southern California while only 22 percent of the foundation's church clientele are there. "We are clearly underserving our churches in the south, and with offices in Ontario and Fresno we will not only be better able to serve our churches, but also be better able to coordinate our efforts with key ministry partners such as CSBC, California Baptist University in Riverside, Gateway Seminary and local associations." The recommendation authorizes Kell to put the foundation's Fresno building up for sale and finalize a lease for the space from Gateway and the California convention's offices in Fresno. The recommendation also called for Kell and the task force to present more detailed relocation, restructuring and rebranding plans at the directors' February 2017 board meeting. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ERLC's Duke top candidate for Montana exec by Diana Chandler Date: August 24, 2016 - Wednesday BILLINGS, Mont. (BP) -- Religious liberty advocate Barrett Duke has emerged as the top candidate for executive directorship of the Montana Southern Baptist Convention. Bruce Speer, heading the MTSBC eight-member search team for the post, said Duke will receive the team's unanimous recommendation for the executive directorship at the group's annual meeting this fall. "We did an exhaustive study of qualifications needed and interviewed five excellent candidates. And Barrett was head and shoulders above all other candidates we interviewed," Speer said Aug. 23. "His experience both as a church planter and working closely with leaders in our government, we felt was an excellent combination to provide us the leadership we are looking for in our state." Duke, vice president of the Washington, D.C., office for Public Policy and Research of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and director of the ERLC Research Institute, told Baptist Press he appreciates the chance to get closer to the local church. "I am extremely excited about the opportunity to serve Montana Southern Baptists in this role," the former Colorado church planter told BP. "I am deeply moved by the genuineness of the pastors and churches I have met since we started this conversation. There are many very godly, dedicated men and women serving the Lord in that great state. My wife and I would consider it a blessing to work with them." Duke will be recommended to the MTSBC executive board for the post Sept. 8 and to messengers at the Montana annual meeting in October, Speer said, describing Montana Baptists as "extremely delighted and pleased" that God has brought Duke to serve in the state. He characterized Duke as "a man of great integrity." Duke would lead the convention of about 135 churches in a state where less than 1 percent of adults are Southern Baptists and 38 percent of adults never or seldom attend church, according to the Pew Research 2015 Religious Landscape Study. "Ever since my days planting and pastoring a church in Denver, Colo., the West has held a special place in my and my wife's [Denise] heart," Duke told BP. "The lostness across the West is heartbreaking, and the number of churches in comparison to the number of lost people burdens us deeply. "We would consider it a great privilege and blessing to be able to return to the West and serve Montana Southern Baptists as they work to fulfill God's calling to win the lost, make disciples, and serve as salt and light," he said. "God has already joined our hearts to theirs." He would serve as the MTSBC chief operating officer, the treasurer and chief financial officer, the official director of MTSBC work and ministries, the director and supervisor of MTSBC staff and North American Mission Board missionaries in the state, and the editor of the Montana Baptist electronic newsletter. ERLC president Russell Moore described Duke as "a man of conviction, humility and Christ-likeness." "It has been my joy to serve with him at the ERLC, and Southern Baptists have benefited from 20 years of his leadership here," Moore said. "Montana Baptists will be served well by this remarkable Christian leader." Duke would replace Fred Hewitt, who is retiring in October from the executive director's post he has held nearly nine years. As leader of the ERLC's advocacy arm, Duke communicates Southern Baptist convictions to elected and public officials, including President Obama, Congress and their staffs to encourage sound public policy. Duke is a founding fellow of the ERLC Research Institute, overseeing research on pressing moral and religious liberty issues, and working with a group of 70 distinguished fellows. A former pastor, he is also active as a teacher, preacher, speaker, writer and editor, and holds a Ph.D. in religious and theological studies from the joint doctoral program of the Iliff School of Theology and the University of Denver. He and his wife attend church in Annapolis, Md., and have three grown children. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Chaplains relay 'glimpses of hope' amid flood crisis by Marilyn Stewart Date: August 24, 2016 - Wednesday BATON ROUGE, La. (BP) -- The catastrophic flooding in south Louisiana is quite different for Southern Baptist chaplains in the National Guard than anything they have seen before and, at the same time, all too familiar. Brigade Chaplain Page Brooks, a New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary faculty member serving with Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, said even though record rainfall and flooding didn't come from a named storm, the devastation is much the same. "This reminds me of other natural disasters, the sense of loss, of panic, and hurt that Louisianans have experienced before," Brooks said. "There's just such surprise." Upwards of 31 inches fell in a day's time in the hardest-hit areas of Livingston Parish, according to an Aug. 16 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report. Brooks said some evacuees reported rushing from their homes as water came in; others had less than three hours to prepare. Some lived in places that had never flooded before. National Guard chaplains care for the caregivers, such as first responders who plucked people out of raging water and rescued people off rooftops. Of the chaplains led by Brooks from Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, one was not activated -- Chaplain Thomas Fletcher, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Baker and an NOBTS alumnus, whose home and church had flooded. "It's brutal. It's absolutely devastating," Fletcher recounted of the flooding that invaded the homes of about half of Faith Baptist's church members. Fletcher watched from the second story of the church educational building as the water rose inside the parsonage and the worship center before a boat dropped off a senior adult neighbor, a disabled woman from Brazil and her daughter at the church. Before the water crested, the group at the church had swelled to 10. The last few years have been difficult for Faith Baptist materially and emotionally, Fletcher said, recounting that a financial crisis had drained the church's resources, forcing them to forego flood insurance and put off needed structural changes to the physical plant. "We were in a rebuilding process already," Fletcher said. With mounds of debris continuing to grow in front of each home on the street, Fletcher spoke in simple words of the magnitude of the task ahead. "It's a big problem," the pastor said, requesting prayer. "We've got a big God." Weathering the storm Chaplain Phil Smith, an NOBTS alumnus, made his rounds at an evacuee shelter at the River Center of Baton Rouge asking soldiers and airmen at work, "How are you doing?" His job, Smith said, is to help servicemen and women remain resilient. Using Scripture such as Jeremiah 31:3, Hebrews 13:5-6 and Romans 8:28, Smith reminded those in his charge that God loves them and keeps His promises, a truth that crosses all belief systems and denominations, particularly in crisis situations. Smith pointed to hurts and disappointments in his own life that he didn't understand at the time but God used later to bless him and to prepare him for his job as a chaplain. "In my own life, when God took away good things, I found out He was making room for the best things," Smith said. Helping those caught in a crisis situation requires an approach tempered with wisdom and patience, chaplains report. Rather than saying "it's only things" or "at least you are safe" to those impacted by flooding or other disasters, Smith advised using questions such as "Is your spouse safe? Are your children safe?" to help victims keep things in perspective and find their way to hope. Brooks cautioned that those in a crisis situation may "relive" past disasters or unresolved heartache may resurface when a new crisis arises. "This may bring up past loss," Brooks said. "People may cycle through grief and loss again and they will need to be given the space and time to do that." Brooks praised the relief effort, noting that disaster relief operations have run smoothly and that communities, families and churches across Louisiana have come together to help. "Everyone needs a sense of hope," Brooks said. "This is where the church comes in with the Gospel, with chaplains, with people caring for one another. The small acts of taking food or helping someone in their home, praying with someone, those small acts provide little glimpses of hope along the way in the process of recovery." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sexual identity report lauded as pastor resource by David Roach Date: August 24, 2016 - Wednesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- A report by two Johns Hopkins psychiatry scholars debunking myths about homosexuality and transgenderism has been cited by a pastor who specializes in mental health care issues as a valuable aid for ministry to those struggling with sexual identity. "The article represents some of the most clear-headed thinking that I have read on the volatile subject of sexual identity," said Tony Rose, who chaired Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank S. Page's Mental Health Advisory Council. "The tenor of the authors is worthy of being imitated. "I am in agreement with the article's stated primary concern -- the unusual amount of traumatic mental and emotional health experiences found among the population of humans who struggle with sexual identity issues," Rose, pastor of LaGrange (Ky.) Baptist Church, told Baptist Press in written comments. "The church could learn from this model of compassion and seek to meet this observable need." The three-part report in the fall edition of The New Atlantis journal by Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh, both of the psychiatry department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, draws on more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific studies and argues: -- The idea sexual orientation is "an innate, biologically fixed property of human beings -- the idea that people are 'born that way' -- is not supported by scientific evidence." -- The "elevated risk" among homosexual and transgender individuals "for a variety of adverse mental health outcomes" cannot be explained fully as the result of "social stressors" like discrimination and harassment. -- The idea that gender identity is "an innate, fixed property of human beings that is independent of biological sex" is not supported by scientific evidence. Mayer, the report's lead author, writes in the preface that he "strongly support[s] equality ... for the LGBT community" and that the report "is about science and medicine, nothing more and nothing less." McHugh previously has expressed public skepticism regarding the effectiveness of gender reassignment surgery in improving the mental health of people suffering from gender dysphoria -- the condition of not feeling at home in one's God-given body in terms of gender. Rose said "pastors should take the time to read this article for several reasons. One reason is to observe the skill of serious research from an objective perspective. It appears the authors worked hard to keep personal preference from getting in the way of their research findings." Alan Branch, a Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary ethics professor whose book "Born This Way?" draws similar conclusions to Mayer and McHugh, told BP, "A careful review of research on homosexuality will demonstrate that the church should not change its biblical stance that sex is designed by God to be experienced in a heterosexual and monogamous marriage. "Christian mercy demands both that we stand firm on the biblical stance while showing mercy to those who desire to overcome homosexual temptation and live as a faithful disciple following biblical sexual ethics. But mercy does not mean we compromise what God's Word says. If God's Word is true, compromise would be the most unmerciful thing we could do," Branch said in written comments. He added, "The 'born this way' claim is an inaccurate and truncated description of findings to date." Among other conclusions of Mayer and McHugh's report: -- Studies of identical twins "make clear that genetic influences cannot be the whole" cause of same-sex sexual attraction, though genetic factors likely play a role. -- Without further research, "the idea that sexual abuse may be a causal factor in sexual orientation remains speculative." -- "Compared to the general population, non-heterosexual and transgender subpopulations have higher rates of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and suicide, as well as behavioral and social problems such as substance abuse and intimate partner violence." -- "Almost nothing is well understood when we seek biological explanations for what causes some individuals to state that their gender does not match their biological sex." -- "There is little scientific evidence that gender identity is fixed at birth or at an early age" or that an individual can possess the brain of one sex and the body of another. -- It is "especially troubling" that "drastic interventions" like hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery "are prescribed and delivered to patients identifying, or identified, as transgender," including children. -- "The majority of children who identify as the gender opposite their biological sex will not continue to do so as adults." Mayer and McHugh close their report by arguing, "Everyone -- scientists and physicians, parents and teachers, lawmakers and activists -- deserves access to accurate information about sexual orientation and gender identity. "While there is much controversy surrounding how our society treats its LGBT members, no political or cultural views should discourage us from understanding the related clinical and public health issues and helping people suffering from mental health problems that may be connected to their sexuality."