The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-10/15/2012 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Jason Allen elected as Midwestern's president by T. Patrick Hudson Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday UPDATED 9 p.m. Oct. 15 KANSAS CITY, MO. (BP) -- In a 29-2 vote, Jason K. Allen has been elected by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees as the school's fifth president. The vote took place Monday (Oct. 15) during the trustees' bi-annual meeting in Kansas City, Mo. Allen, 35, comes to Midwestern from Louisville, Ky., where he served as vice president for institutional advancement at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and as executive director of the Southern Seminary Foundation. He had concurrently served as senior pastor of Carlisle Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville. Midwestern's new president, who assumed the seminary's helm effective immediately, noted his thoughts upon being elected. "I think the key word that defines my state of heart is first that I'm honored," Allen said. "I'm honored by the trust this board has overwhelmingly placed in me." Allen said he and his wife Karen "both have sensed unmistakably the Lord's leadership these past several months that has come to fruition and completion in many ways today. I intend to lead in building a seminary that serves all Southern Baptists, that is committed to the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, and by God's grace, will find a seminary that the vast majority of Southern Baptists are both proud of and pleased with." Allen added that throughout the process God has placed a great love in his and his wife's heart for everything about Midwestern. "Over the last several months, the Lord has given us a love for people we are yet to know and a seminary we are yet to reside at," he said. "We are zealous to get there and invest our lives to the Midwestern Seminary community and to see God do a great work within that community." Trustee chairman Kevin Shrum voiced excitement and confidence in the trustee vote to bring Allen on as Midwestern's leader. "We couldn't be more pleased to announce the election of Jason Allen as the fifth president of Midwestern Seminary," Shrum said. "In addition to a tremendous student body, a fine faculty and a great staff, we now have a new president that will help us embark on a new phase in the history of Midwestern. So, we are very excited about moving forward, about the future, and about what God is going to continue to do at Midwestern." Shrum is pastor of Inglewood Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn. Allen, as a member of Southern Seminary's executive cabinet since January 2006, has been vice president of institutional advancement since 2009 and was executive assistant to the president from 2006-09. He also has taught courses in personal spiritual disciplines, pastoral ministry and preaching at Southern since 2007. Emphasizing that during his administration Midwestern will be "absolutely committed to the Great Commission," Allen outlined his approach to leading the seminary into the future. "We are a denomination of the Great Commission," Allen said. "This will be a seminary of the Great Commission, and I will be a leader that leads the seminary to fulfill the Great Commission." Allen added that he foresees two specific ways of achieving this climate. "We want to build a robust campus community culture," Allen said. "It will be marked by godliness, fellowship, a place that every square inch of the campus is family friendly and a place where there is a sense of Great Commission commonality and a sense of being here to train to learn to serve the local church." Secondly, Allen said he intends for Midwestern to be known as "the school that is steadfastly committed to serving the local church." "I want every faculty member, every aspect of the curriculum and everything we do to have a laser-like focus on serving the churches, and specifically the churches within the Southern Baptist Convention," Allen said. Allen, in other ministerial roles, has been senior pastor of Muldraugh Baptist Church in Muldraugh, Ky., and has worked in varying positions at churches in Alabama and Kentucky since 1998. He holds Ph.D. and master of divinity degrees from Southern and an undergraduate degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala. Allen and his wife have five children, Anne-Marie, 9; Caroline, 8; William, 7; Alden, 5; and Elizabeth, 4. Allen was officially announced as a nominee on Sept. 5 by Midwestern’s presidential search team. That team was led by Bill Bowyer, who spoke of the confidence the team had in nominating Allen. “Dr. Allen has broad and insightful experience into the inner-workings of a seminary,” Bowyer said. “That, coupled with his gracious manner, his loving heart and his pastoral spirit -- he’s going to make a perfect match for Midwestern and we’re anticipating wonderful days ahead.” Bowyer, who pastors Crossroads Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., added that things setting Allen apart from the other candidates included his previous seminary experience and answers during hours of discussion about numerous matters pertaining to the seminary, but ultimately it was the leading of the Holy Spirit. “Prayer, fasting and following the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit led us to him to the point that seven of us unanimously agreed that ‘This is the man God set aside for us at Midwestern Seminary,’” Bowyer said. Shrum concurred and added that the entire selection process hinged on the team’s willingness to listen to a number of seminary constituencies to learn what was desired in the next leader. From there, the search team formulated a presidential profile. “We weren’t operating in a vacuum because we had been listening to what students, faculty and personnel were saying,” Shrum said. “Those inputs helped guide us in the search, and we felt like Dr. Allen addressed a lot of those issues.” Midwestern Seminary has been in search of a successor to R. Philip Roberts since his resignation in February. Robin D. Hadaway, the Seminary’s professor of missions, had served as interim president since Feb. 10. Trustee leaders spoke high praise for what Hadaway accomplished in the interim. “Dr. Hadaway combined the right skills at the right time for this transitional period,” Shrum said. Bowyer added that Hadaway “has done a masterful job at the seminary. He will be very helpful in making it a very smooth transition to hand the presidential baton to Jason Allen. So, we’re deeply indebted to you, Dr. Hadaway.” --30-- T. Patrick Hudson is director of communications at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Brian Koonce, staff writer of The Pathway (mbcpathway.com), contributed to this article. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Battle against abortion mandate now includes SBC ethics entity by Tom Strode Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention's religious freedom entity has joined the legal battle against the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate in the first case to reach a federal appeals court. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief filed Oct. 12 that asked a federal appeals court to reverse the dismissal of two lawsuits against the controversial requirement under the 2010 health care law. The brief supports challenges by Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school in suburban Chicago, and Belmont Abbey College, a Roman Catholic institution in North Carolina, to the mandate that employers provide workers with health insurance that covers contraceptives and abortion-causing drugs. The ERLC -- and 10 other evangelical organizations -- joined by invitation in a brief filed by Christian Legal Society (CLS) in support of the colleges' appeal on religious liberty grounds to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. More than 35 suits have been brought against the mandate, but the D.C. Circuit is the first appeals court to consider such a challenge. Oral arguments will not be held until after the final briefs are filed in mid-November. Though resistance to the mandate has been portrayed widely as Catholic in nature, ERLC President Richard Land said the case demonstrates the opposition is much more diverse than one religious body. "This particular case is vitally important both because of the nature of the appeal concerning a very narrow definition the government is following for religious employers and secondly because of who is involved in the suit," Land said Monday (Oct. 15). "One of the most prestigious evangelical colleges in the world in Wheaton College -- of which Billy Graham is a graduate -– is one of the participants in the suit, which demonstrates this is not 'just' a Catholic issue, but it is an issue of religious freedom across the board for all people of faith -- Protestant, Catholic and otherwise." The ERLC is not the first Southern Baptist institution to join the court fight. Three Baptist schools -- Louisiana College, Houston Baptist University and East Texas Baptist University -- have filed lawsuits against the mandate. Federal courts have yet to rule in those challenges. The lawsuits seek the overturn of a rule by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that includes -- in coverage paid for by employers -- drugs defined by the Food and Drug Administration as contraceptives, even if they can cause abortions. Among such drugs are Plan B and other "morning-after" pills, which can prevent implantation of tiny embryos, and "ella," which -- in a similar fashion to the abortion drug RU 486 -- can act even after implantation to end the life of the child. The CLS brief endorsed by the ERLC says the HHS mandate fails to protect religious liberty, arguing the rule's definition of "religious employer" is too narrow and departs from the country's tradition. The ERLC and other critics of the mandate's religious exemption have decried it as inadequate since a final rule was issued in January. The religious exemption in the rule is insufficient to protect religious hospitals, schools and social service ministries as well as some churches, critics have pointed out. "By sharply departing from our nation's historic, bipartisan tradition of respecting religious conscience, the Mandate poses a serious threat to religious liberty and pluralism," the friend-of-the-court brief says. The mandate's definition of "religious employer" is narrower than a standing definition under federal law and violates both the establishment of religion and religious free-exercise clauses in the First Amendment, according to the brief. The brief also says the mandate defies the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act which bars the federal government from burdening religious free exercise unless it has a "compelling interest" and uses "the least restrictive means" in advancing that interest. "Forcing religious employers to fund contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs is hardly the least restrictive means of achieving the government's purported interests," according to the brief. "This is a solution in search of a problem. No one seriously disputes that contraceptives are widely available." The mandate also contradicts longstanding conscience protections in the abortion arena, the brief says. Since the same year the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion (1973), Congress has protected the conscience rights of health care workers and institutions that objected to participating in abortions or sterilization, according to the brief. Congress also has banned most federal funding of abortion. Though the 2010 health care law says it is not to affect conscience protections regarding the performance of or funding for abortion, the HHS mandate "tramples religious employers' conscience rights and thereby discredits the time-honored commitment to respect religious conscience rights in the health care context," the brief says. The mandate's heavily criticized exemption for a church or church-like body covers a nonprofit that: (1) Has the "inculcation of religious values" as its purpose; (2) primarily employs people who agree with its religious beliefs; (3) largely serves people "who share [its] religious tenets" and (4) is "a church, an integrated auxiliary of a church, a convention or association of churches, or is an exclusively religious activity of a religious order," according to the Internal Revenue Code. Many congregations "would deem it a violation of their core religious beliefs to refuse help" to those who have different religious beliefs, according to the brief. "The government seems bent on casting the narrowest net possible, in order to protect the fewest religious employers possible," the brief says. "In so doing, the government penalizes religious congregations for helping society's vulnerable without regard to their religious beliefs." In September, the D.C. Circuit consolidated the Wheaton and Belmont Abbey cases and expedited their appeal after federal courts ruled the lawsuits were premature. The abortion/contraception mandate went into effect Aug. 1, but the Obama administration expanded its one-year "safe-harbor" from that date for religious objectors to include all nonprofit religious entities. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents both Wheaton and Belmont Abbey, told the D.C. Circuit the schools already are suffering harm. "The safe harbor's protection is illusory," Becket Fund General Counsel Kyle Duncan said after filing the appeal. "Even though the government won't make religious colleges pay crippling fines this year, private lawsuits can still be brought, schools are at a competitive disadvantage for hiring and retaining faculty, and employees face the specter of battling chronic conditions without access to affordable care." In addition to the ERLC, others signing onto the CLS brief included the Christian Medical Association, Prison Fellowship, National Association of Evangelicals, Patrick Henry College, Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, Association of Christian Schools International and Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance. Other friend-of-the-court briefs also were filed on behalf of Wheaton and Belmont Abbey Oct. 12, including those by: -- Thirteen states: Texas, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, Colorado, South Carolina and Idaho. -- Six pro-life medical organizations, including the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. -- American Center for Law and Justice and Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. -- Catholic University of America, as well as the archbishop and Catholic Charities, both of the Washington, D.C., archdiocese. -- Eagle Forum. Organizations have been filing legal challenges to the HHS mandate seemingly weekly. Among others suing the federal government are Hobby Lobby, Christian publisher Tyndale House, Colorado Christian University, Geneva College, Priests for Life and the EWTN Catholic television and radio network. --30-- Tom Strode is the Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- In Peruvian slum, clean water opens hearts by Emily Pearson Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday LIMA, Peru (BP) -- "Please, can you help us?" The woman's plea was the first thing Quentin and Gina Roberts heard as they entered an inner-city slum in Lima, Peru. What they found shocked them. Lean-to shacks and cracked adobe homes lined a narrow, dirt path in the small community of Rosario de Fatima. There was no water system; the 350 residents used large buckets to collect their sewage. The buckets sat in the sun, covered with pieces of cardboard or empty egg cartons. Once they were full they were emptied into a large hole at the neighborhood's entrance. Beside the hole was a large sink -- the only place in the community with running water -- where the residents washed their clothes. Edith Caballa, the neighborhood president and lifelong resident there, said living without running water was nearly unbearable, especially in a community so small and crowded as Rosario de Fatima. But today the community's unsanitary conditions are mostly a memory. "We had no water system. We brought buckets with our waste and just poured it in the hole. Then we would wash out the buckets and use them to bring water back to our home for drinking and cooking," Caballa recounted. "That was every single day. And there were so many of us and so much waste, there were fights and people insulting each other. It was very hard." The Robertses, as International Mission Board missionaries to inner-city Lima, have shared the Gospel and started Bible studies throughout the city. Connections they made in one of their Bible studies brought them to Rosario de Fatima where they hoped to begin another outreach. But they quickly realized the dire water situation provided an opportunity to be Jesus' heart, hands and voice to the community. "I'd never seen anything quite like that," Gina Roberts said. "I've been places where they didn't have bathrooms, like in rural areas. But in the city there are no trees, no place to dig a hole, no rocks to hide behind. People living there had no sense of dignity.... [T]hings were just totally exposed to everybody. There was a lot of sickness because of it. Our hearts were totally broken by this place." Thousands of Peruvians in downtown Lima live in quintas like Rosario de Fatima -- individual slums that range from small neighborhoods to large apartment buildings. Sometimes as many as 900 people live in a community without a single bathroom. "They live very close together," Gina said, "and that breeds social problems as a result." With financial help from Southern Baptists, the Robertses arranged for a water system to be installed throughout the community. The $15,000 project took nearly two years to complete. Every family was then responsible for installing a bathroom in their home. Today, about half of the houses have bathrooms. Some residents still use outdoor disposal systems but each family has a private area that can be cleaned using the water that is piped just outside every home. During the water project, the Robertses started a Bible study in the community. About 20 people meet to learn God's Word every other Friday night. Although the Robertses still attend, Peruvian believers from the community now lead the study. "It's sometimes hard," Quentin reflected, "but you have to find that balance between demonstrating God's love in people's physical needs and, then, meeting more than just those needs. Jesus fed the hungry, but there has to be a spiritual component." Caballa said since the water system was installed, many community members are more open to hearing the Gospel from missionaries who cared enough to help. She attends the Bible study and encourages others to join. "I was very far away from the Lord for a long time before the [missionaries] helped us," she said. "I didn't have the kind of Bible study that I have now. Little by little, I have been growing in the Word through these studies. "The neighborhood is still a little bit rough around the edges," she added. "We have a lot of work to do. But now it has a great advantage because it has the water system. It was very tough for us. But now, thanks to the [Robertses], things have changed. We have the Bible study, and we have water. "Thank God those days are over." --30-- Emily Pearson is an IMB writer living in the Americas. -------------------------------------------------------------------- TRUSTEES: NOBTS to begin 3 online degrees by Gary D. Myers Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- In an effort to make theological education more accessible, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees approved three fully online graduate degrees during their fall meeting Oct. 9. The board also voted to launch a new master's degree extension center, a doctoral teaching site and four certificate training sites. Until recently the main accrediting agency for seminaries and divinity schools, the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, had not accredited fully online degrees. In a historic move this summer, ATS voted to approve online delivery for narrow types of graduate degrees. The three degrees approved by the NOBTS trustees, the master of arts (biblical studies), the master of arts (theology) and the master of theological studies, fit the ATS requirements for online degrees. "We have a passion to make theological education both useful and accessible," NOBTS President Chuck Kelley said after the meeting. "With the decision of our accrediting agency to allow entirely online degrees, we are now able to add these options to our ministry training cafeteria." Kelley reiterated the seminary's commitment to offer a wide range of training options designed to fit the needs of God-called men and women. He said the seminary hopes to continue developing new accessible training options. Two of the degrees, the master of arts (biblical studies) and the master of arts (theology), already are offered at NOBTS in a traditional classroom format. Many of the courses currently are available online and since ATS has already approved NOBTS to offer these degrees, the seminary can begin offering an online-only version immediately. The MA (biblical studies) and MA (theology) degrees are not for everyone. They are advanced degrees and require significant prerequisites to qualify, including an earned undergraduate religion degree. Because of its rigorous academic quality, it is designed to prepare students for doctor of philosophy studies. The third online degree option, the master of theological studies (MTS), is a different type of degree. It focuses on general biblical, theological and historical knowledge and is designed to offer a basic level of training where no other option exists. NOBTS Provost Steve Lemke said the degree was developed for missionaries, pastors in pioneer areas and church planters who are far from a seminary or a seminary extension center. Lemke emphasized that the degree is not a replacement for more comprehensive ministry training degrees like the master of divinity. The MTS does not qualify students for doctor of ministry or doctor of philosophy studies without significant academic leveling work, Lemke said. The MTS degree is new at NOBTS and will require ATS approval before it can be offered. Seminary officials hope to obtain approval in time for a fall 2013 launch. Trustees also approved a revision in the urban ministry specialization in the master of divinity program to provide more options for students to receive practical urban missions training through internships and mentoring. In other curriculum actions, trustees approved a partnership with the University of Southern Mississippi which will allow NOBTS students to be dually enrolled in a seminary degree plus, through USM, a master of social work (MSW) degree. The seminary has been working for years to establish its own MSW program. While it will take several more years and significant funding to establish a program at NOBTS, the partnership opens the door for NOBTS students to earn the MSW degree that is required for licensure in social work. Pending final approval by USM administrators, NOBTS students will receive priority acceptance to the USM program and will be able to take courses at the university's Hattiesburg, Miss., campus on Mondays or on Monday and Tuesday evenings at USM's Gulfport, Miss., campus. A partnership with William Carey University, a Baptist college in Mississippi, also was approved to offer alternative teacher certification courses on the NOBTS campus. While the program will be conducted by WCU, NOBTS students or their spouses will now have the opportunity to obtain a teaching license during their time at seminary and will receive a significant discount in tuition from WCU. This will assist bivocational ministers and church planters by supplementing their income from small churches. Trustees approved a new graduate extension center in Olive Branch, Miss., a doctor of ministry/doctor of educational ministry training site in Spartanburg, S.C., and four new certificate training sites. Longview Heights Baptist Church will host the graduate center in northwest Mississippi just south of the Memphis, Tenn., metro area. A group of pastors in that area requested NOBTS to provide training, offering both the standard master of divinity and the newly revised urban missions specialization. First Baptist Church in Spartanburg will host the new doctor of ministry and doctor of educational ministry training site. Classes will be delivered to the Spartanburg site through compressed interactive video (CIV). Kelley said these degree programs help pastors and church staffers hone their ministry skills and promote excellence in ministry. "The professional doctoral program at our seminary is designed for pastors and church staff members who want to kick their ministry up a notch by strengthening and enhancing their ministry skills and knowledge," Kelley said. "We are grateful for a new partnership with Dr. Don Wilton and the people of First Baptist Spartanburg. When the seminary and the local church work together, everyone wins." Two new certificate sites in Florida will offer the church leadership certificate. The Pasco Baptist Association site will meet at two locations, the associational office in Lutz, and Lighthouse Baptist Church in Holiday. The other Florida certificate training site is hosted by the Church by the Glades in Coral Springs. Trustees also approved two Georgia certificate training sites -- one at New Calvary Baptist Church in Atlanta and another at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Jonesboro --to offer the church leadership certificate. Trustees voted to approve the next step in the development of the seminary's archaeology program. Thus far, NOBTS has excavated the Gezer Water System through partnerships with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. To obtain its own permit and to meet credentialing standards for the Israel Antiquities Authority, NOBTS must establish a partnership with an archaeology lab. To that end, NOBTS trustees approved a plan to seek a cooperative agreement with the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University. The non-binding agreement, pending approval by Mississippi State, will include access to the lab at the Cobb Institute and opens the opportunity for future training and research collaborations between the two schools. Kelley announced the three appointments during the meeting. Jody Dean, instructor in Christian education, will serve on the faculty as a presidential appointment. Norris Grubbs was appointed to serve as associate provost for extension centers and enrollment management and Ron Pate will serve as director of the seminary's Birmingham extension center. Dean, a current NOBTS doctor of philosophy student, brings significant church ministry experience to his new role. Before coming to NOBTS at the start of the fall semester, Dean served as minister of students at First Baptist Church in McComb, Miss. He earlier had served in various church and ministry roles before joining the FBC McComb staff in 2009. He also served as an adjunct faculty member for the seminary's Leavell College. "Mr. Dean has demonstrated his ability to effectively lead in the classroom environment during the years he has been at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and as such is an excellent choice as a presidential appointment," said Bob Welch, chairman of NOBTS' division of Christian education ministries. "He is the first faculty selection that has completed all his post-secondary work at NOBTS and will bring to the Christian education division a unique perspective of that odyssey as well as the multiple ministry positions he has held during that time." Trustees also approved initial planning for construction of a 3,500-square-foot homeschool/community building. The administration may now commission an architect and begin feasibility studies for proposed locations. Trustees will give final approval on the design, location and the cost of the building at a later meeting. --30-- Gary D. Myers is director of public relations at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dakota Baptists honor retired pastors by Fred MacDonald Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday RAPID CITY, S.D. (BP) -- The Dakota Baptist Convention honored 11 retired pastors and their wives during its 28th annual meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in Rapid City, S.D. Messengers approved a 2013 budget of $1.2 million, down $35,976 from the previous year. They also made constitutional changes and adopted resolutions on the upcoming national election and a renewed commitment to personal soul-winning. The theme of the meeting was, "Renewing our Partnership in the Gospel," based on Philippians 1:3-6. A total of 75 messengers and 67 guests registered during the meeting Sept. 27-28. David Wheeler, evangelism professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., presented a series of Bible studies. Steve Lindsay, president of the Dakota convention, and Garvon Golden, Dakota Baptists' new executive director, preached convention sermons. A highlight of the meeting was the recognition of 11 couples with a combined total of more than 350 years of service to churches in North and South Dakota. Golden said the men and their wives had illustrated partnership in the Gospel by "planting their lives in the Dakotas." Each couple was given a carved bison made from North Dakota coal, which "symbolizes resilience," Golden said. After honoring the pastors, Golden introduced new pastors and staff to the Dakotas and then asked the longtime servants to gather around the new staff and pray over them. Of the $1.2 million approved for next year's budget, nearly $750,000 was designated for planting churches. Anticipated Cooperative Program giving from Dakota Baptist churches for 2013 is $275,000, and the amount of CP receipts forwarded for national and international ministries remains unchanged at 16 percent. The convention does not designate shared Dakotas/SBC expenses. The change to the constitution involved clarifying requirements for seating messengers. The requirement that churches be members of associations to seat messengers was removed, and the requirement that giving through the Cooperative Program be "at least quarterly" was changed to "regular giving." Throughout the two days of meetings, Wheeler delivered four Bible studies focused on obedient sharing of the Gospel. The idea of a "gift of evangelism" is not found in Scripture, Wheeler said. It is a requirement of every believer. "Our purpose is to glorify God in all things," Wheeler said, "and our mission is to join Christ on mission by daily living out the Great Commandment and daily living out the Great Commission." Wheeler added, "It's not about going to church. It's about being the church." Messengers approved three resolutions. The first expressed appreciation to the host church. Calvary was the first church established by Southern Baptists in South Dakota. The second resolution said "our current society and government are seeking to eliminate" many of the nation's cherished religious freedoms. It called on Christians to "pray for the upcoming election" and "participate in the election by voting biblical values." The resolution also affirmed a 2012 Southern Baptist Convention resolution "to defend the God-given and constitutionally guaranteed right of every American citizen to worship God freely in thought, word, and action, according to the dictates of his or her conscience." The third resolution flowed from the challenge of Wheeler's Bible studies to engage in personal evangelism. The resolution called on Dakota Baptists to "be obedient in faithfully and intentionally sharing the love and gospel of Jesus Christ." Two sermons were delivered during the meeting. In the president's message, Lindsay spoke on overcoming the trap of becoming discouraged, disheartened and disillusioned. Focusing on Galatians 6:9-10, he said, "You can be weary or not be weary. It's a choice." Golden, who was named executive director of the Dakota convention in March, thanked Dakota Baptists for their confidence and for the love that he and his wife Cindy experienced during their decades of service in the Dakotas. He commended the spirit of the annual meeting, saying, "I'm grateful this hasn't just been business; it's been fellowship." Golden then laid out his vision for the future. "The Dakotas is our responsibility. It's our time to touch the Dakotas." The messengers elected Lindsay to a second term as convention president. Also reelected were Jeff Musgrave, pastor of First Baptist Church in Langdon, N.D., as vice president and Kathy Osborne, a member of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Grand Forks, N.D., as recording secretary. For the first time in many years, the convention elected an assistant recording secretary. Karen Holmes, a member of First Baptist Church in Wolsey, S.D., was chosen for the position. The DBC Executive Board met briefly during a break in the annual meeting to elect officers for the coming year. John Flowers, pastor of Living Hope Baptist Church in Fargo, N.D., was elected to a second term as board chairman and Marion Davis, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Aberdeen, S.D., was reelected vice chairman. --30-- Fred MacDonald is an evangelism strategist for the Dakota Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Scripture dislodged prof from infant baptism by Benjamin Hawkins Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) -- Seminary professor John Yeo wants his students to stand confidently under the authority of Scripture, a stand he made by abandoning the practice of infant baptism. When Yeo was presented to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as a newly elected assistant professor of Old Testament, he signed the seminary's book of confessional heritage in August, agreeing to teach in accordance with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. But in 2007 Yeo was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America when he took a faculty position at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta. Although baptized as a boy after his profession of faith in Christ, Yeo taught infant baptism as part of the covenant theology he had embraced within the Reformed tradition. But he began to doubt this doctrinal system when he was teaching his students about the new covenant mentioned in Jeremiah 31: "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33-34). While discussing the passage in class, Yeo taught that "believers in the new covenant were to receive the sign of the covenant, meaning that only true believers were in the new covenant." As Jeremiah 31 teaches, all those in the new covenant will know the Lord. One student, a Baptist who sat in the front row of Yeo's class, immediately noticed the implications of this interpretation. "I guess he was shocked and beside himself," Yeo said, "because he said this out loud: 'You're a Baptist' -- in front of the whole class." After class, the student explained to Yeo how his understanding of Jeremiah 31 supported Baptist views. In the following months, as Yeo searched God's Word, he became convinced he could not support infant baptism with Scripture. "I was now faced with a dilemma because my son was getting out of the infancy stage, and as a member of my presbytery [the Presbyterian Church in America], I was duty-bound to have my son baptized," Yeo recounted. But his conscience was bound to the inerrant Word of God. Yeo knew well that Scripture should have supreme authority for every believer. In fact, Yeo's doctoral dissertation, titled "Plundering the Egyptians: The Old Testament and Historical Criticism at Westminster Theological Seminary," traced the gradual decline of belief in biblical inerrancy among some scholars there throughout the 20th century. Standing under the authority of God's inerrant Word, Yeo set aside his Presbyterian ordination and his career at Reformed Theological Seminary. He later shared his story with administrators at Southwestern Seminary and trustees elected him to the seminary's faculty in April 2012. As a professor at Southwestern, Yeo wants his students to see Christ from every section of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi. The "central message" of Scripture, written by dozens of authors over hundreds of years, is "Jesus and what He did for our redemption." "And that proves to me that this is more than just a human book," Yeo said. "I want my students to actually put all of their confidence in Scripture. They don't have to shrink away or be ashamed to be conservative or even to be labeled 'fundamentalists.' We're training up ministers for the pulpit ministry, for the Gospel ministry, and I want them to be able to stand confidently upon the Bible and to preach it as the authoritative Word of God." --30-- Benjamin Hawkins is senior newswriter for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas (www.swbts.edu/campusnews). -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: 7 functions of state conventions by John Yeats Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP) -- Baptist state conventions are not the church. State conventions are nowhere in Scripture. Only the local church was given by Christ to fulfill the purpose of His Kingdom. Local Southern Baptist churches, though, autonomously have decided to cooperate, and one of the best ways of achieving such cooperation is by affiliating with a state convention. Consequently, state conventions can play a vital role in assisting churches and associations as they fulfill ministries under the direction of Christ. So what are the unique things that state conventions do to help churches and associations carry out their assignments for the Kingdom of God? Here are seven: 1. Sound the trumpet. In Old Testament times, leaders in a particular jurisdiction were given the privilege, the permission and the power to convene the people -- to sound a trumpet and assemble the people for a common purpose. Old Testament prophets were called on to assemble the people. Joel 2:15-16 says, "Blow the trumpet in Zion; set apart a fast, a day of restraint and humility; call a solemn assembly. Gather the people...." In the Book of Acts there are examples of leaders who assembled to make determinations about various issues facing the early church. Church history bears record of numerous councils formed by church leaders from various geographic locations for the purpose of seeking wisdom and determining perspective. There are times when the people of God need to be convened to consider the purposes of God and how to collectively fulfill the mission. In the context of Southern Baptist life, this is the role of the state convention. No one church or national entity can summon the people called Southern Baptists who live in a particular state or region. The state convention can do so because of a principle called "jurisdictional leadership." Here is how jurisdictional leadership works: Churches summon their local members. Associations call together the people that live in their particular area. State and regional conventions call Southern Baptists living in that jurisdiction together to determine the protocols of their cooperative ministries. Southern Baptist leaders call together Southern Baptists on a national scale to determine the scope and practice of the national and international ministries. Every level has the power to convene the people. Southern Baptists use the term "leadership" rather than jurisdictional "authority." Southern Baptists have a history of resistance to hierarchical structures in our ecclesiology. In Southern Baptist life, there are four levels of jurisdictional leadership founded on the Acts 1:8 model. Every level cooperates in shared ministry. Every level values the other levels for the significant contributions they make to the work of the Kingdom. There is the sense of partnership and fraternity, not dominance, over each other. Effective state conventions understand that part of leadership means they work with the associations to convene the people in a local area to accomplish a particular goal. State convention missionaries do this with an attitude of service and partnership, not authoritarianism. Effective national entity leaders understand that partnering with state convention leaders maximizes the capacity to encourage the people in a given jurisdiction to join in an initiative. This is sometimes referred to as consensus building, a vital component of organizational life. The state conventions convene the people in their respective jurisdictions at annual meetings for the primary purpose of reporting on the previous year and setting the goals and policies for cooperative work in the future. The state convention also networks with its churches and church leaders through personal relationships, writing, events, supply preaching and other methods of communication to tell the story of God at work in and through the cooperative churches in their jurisdiction. This is part of how we do our work as cooperating Southern Baptists. Somebody must lead the cooperative work in a state or region. State conventions and their respective state missionaries have that particular assignment. 2. Strengthen churches. State conventions are only as strong as the churches in their jurisdictions. Effective church leaders are perpetually engaged in strengthening their local congregation in the seven functions of a local church. Those seven functions are worship, evangelism, discipleship, leadership, stewardship, ministry and missions. State convention leaders are constantly equipping church leaders with the tools for improving these functions. This makes for stronger churches and healthier ministries that impact local churches, local associations and the greater cooperative global work. State conventions assist churches with leadership training and organizational structuring so that local churches become more effective in evangelizing, disciple-making and congregationalizing. 3. Support pastors and servants of the Lord serving the local church. The most important key to healthy, evangelistic and missions-minded churches is effective leadership. State conventions facilitate the work of pastors and staff members by providing leadership training, strategic planning and personal mentoring initiatives. It doesn't matter if the pastor is in a traditional congregation or a congregation birthed in the last six months or six years. Leadership equipping is vital for 21st century ministry. When relational trauma erupts in a congregation or association, the state convention is a primary resource for navigating the potential hostilities. Most state conventions have some level of coordinated care ministries for pastors and staff members who experience forced termination. Many local churches turn to the state convention for the training of search committees, transitional leadership and resumes for potential candidates. State conventions ought to have a goal: No church without a pastor. No pastor without a friend. 4. Start churches. Every New Testament church is a Great Commission church. Every church with effective evangelism, discipleship and missions ministries is engaged in starting new churches. Churches start churches, but who coordinates the churches that are ready to be part of launching a new church? Who works with churches and associations to launch churches, equip the leaders and develop standards and benchmarks of accountability? That work is one of the primary tasks of the state convention. The state convention synergistically works with multiple churches, associations and a pool of church planters to strategically facilitate churches planting churches in a state or region. One exceptional model for this is the state convention in Ohio that has planted more than 200 churches in the past 14 years. One church alone cannot begin to do that. Even national church planting networks comprised of mega-congregations do not have the kind of track record reported by this one Midwest state. State convention missiologists, who constantly study the demographics, partner with local churches and associational leaders to probe strategically into new areas of ministry that have the greatest potential to help churches plant churches. 5. Send the light to the nations. In multiple spheres, state conventions are involved in sharing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. One of the ways a state convention does this is through its promotion, collection and distribution of Cooperative Program mission funds received from churches. This requires careful accounting and clear protocols so that funds from churches are moved through the state convention and on to national entities. National entities are dependent on the faithful and trustworthy work of state conventions to fulfill their ministry assignments. Another way a state convention sends out the Gospel light is through strategic planning of multigenerational ministries. Only a small minority of churches has the capacity to provide multigenerational and multi-people group ministries. Such a task can be overwhelming for the majority of local churches, so state conventions orchestrate ministries with churches and associations to accomplish this goal. For example, every university campus in North America needs an evangelical Gospel outreach and discipleship ministry that helps students become evangelized, missions-oriented and congregationalized. State conventions coordinate Baptist Collegiate Ministries so that a comprehensive, on-campus ministry exists. State conventions also facilitate missions networks for volunteers. Whether coordinating trained Disaster Relief teams or Baptist Builders, state conventions harness the willingness of volunteers from multiple congregations to make a difference for the sake of the Gospel. Since state conventions have a particular geographic area to reach with the Gospel, they facilitate strategies to reach every people group residing in that particular jurisdiction. It doesn't matter if that people group has a particular ethnic composition or speaks another language or lives within the parameter of a prison. State conventions partner with local churches and associations to reach all the peoples. Another component of this aspect of state convention work is that of promoting special missions offerings (state, national and international). Through the network of Southern Baptists in a particular state, promotional materials as well as training and motivational events are provided. These encourage individual Baptists and their churches to use special offerings for the purpose of reaching the state, the nation and the ends of the earth with the Gospel. 6. Synchronize the work of entities. The organizational work of cooperative churches is an amalgamation of state and national entities that are constantly working together toward Great Commission goals. Whether it is a state Baptist liberal arts college, the International Mission Board, an associational camp, student work on a college campus, equipping conferences, disaster relief ministry or children's services, there must be a "sychronizer." This is so that institutions avoid duplication of ministries and minimize holes in the safety net. The state convention, through its leadership, is the organizational "touch point" that promotes fraternal relationships between churches, associations, state convention entities and national ministries. This is so that Great Commission ministries are accomplished with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. "Fraternal" and "partnership" are important words that characterize the working relationships between a state convention and the associations and state entities in its jurisdiction and between a state convention and Southern Baptist Convention entities. This factor is one of the reasons we have the Cooperative Program. Instead of every church, every association and every state and national ministry acting independently, we have learned we can synchronize our work and accomplish far more for the glory of our God than we could ever do on our own. 7. Shine the light in the public square. State conventions have a powerful cooperative voice in state legislatures for good and right. Any legislator will tell you that in a congressional hearing, a person representing an individual church does not carry the same weight of influence as a person sharing the perspective of 1,900 churches. Cooperating churches shine a greater light in the public square. There are special interest groups in every state using state laws to bend the culture away from biblical principles and to regulate the activities of churches. For example, municipalities and states are desperately looking for revenue. There is a move in state government to remove the exemption of ad valorum taxes on church property. If this were to pass, one can only imagine the financial impact on existing and potential new churches. A state convention of cooperating churches has enormous influence to help legislators keep church properties off the tax rolls. There was a day when legislators and governmental administrations respected the domain of churches. They understood the invaluable contribution churches made to a community's infrastructure. In many places that perspective has evaporated with the growing secularization of the culture. The state convention is the most effective and efficient means of addressing a state's moral, social, regulatory and liberty issues with prudence and strategic statesmanship. The question is not whether we are pro-life. The issue is, "What does God say?" Psalm 139 is clear. Every life is precious and sacred. The soil of our land is stained with the blood of 60 million innocent children sacrificed on the altar of humanistic choice. How long will God extend mercy on our nation for this atrocity? How do state conventions, associations and churches work together to make their states abortion-free? We won't do it sitting on our blessed assurance. We must stand up. We must stand up together. So what do state conventions do? State conventions serve at the direction of cooperating Southern Baptist churches. Churches assign to state conventions larger scale functions that are more than what a single church can do. State conventions work with small and large churches and local associations to fulfill those functions. The beauty of Southern Baptists is that no matter the size, every church is valuable. Every association has worth. Every state convention is needed. Every SBC entity has an immeasurable role to play in the Kingdom of God. We must count everything as loss for the sake of the Cross. It's how Southern Baptists do our work, now and until we hear the trumpet call pronouncing the Day of the Lord. --30-- John Yeats is executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention and recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- BP Ledger, Oct. 15 edition by Staff Date: October 15, 2012 - Monday EDITOR'S NOTE: BP Ledger carries items for reader information each week from various Southern Baptist-related entities, and news releases of interest from other sources. The items are published as received. Today's BP Ledger includes items from: California Baptist University Campbellsville University Calif. Baptist students hear proponents for Obama & Romney RIVERSIDE, Calif. (California Baptist University) -- Nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts Hugh Hewitt and Leslie Marshall verbally clashed Oct. 10 at California Baptist University, debating the 2012 presidential election, the economy, foreign policy and domestic policy. Regarding the economy, Marshall spoke from a liberal point of view regarding President Obama's attempts toward "working from the middle class out." She went on to say that people would vote as a result of how they "feel" about the nation's deficit rather than based on specific numbers. Hewitt, from a conservative perspective, addressed Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's private sector experience and the 50 percent unemployment or underemployment rate college graduates have faced under the current administration. "President Obama does not trust the private sector," Hewitt said. "Romney does because he is from the private sector." During a discussion of foreign policy, Marshall, whose son was adopted from Pakistan, said she favors withdrawing U.S. troops from the Middle East. "Are [Middle Easterners] hating us more because we are there?" Marshall asked. Hewitt, however, criticized President Obama's self-proclaimed foreign policy attempts to "lead from behind," preferring Romney's plans to be a "quiet but determined strength." When the discussion turned to social issues such as abortion, Marshall attacked Romney for switching views after deciding to run for president as a Republican. "As a Democrat, I consider choice of what I do with my body something the federal government shouldn't be involved in," Marshall said. Hewitt countered Marshall's position, taking the side of the nation's Roman Catholic population. "It's the wrong thing to do in America to tell Catholics they have to sterilize patients in their hospitals and provide the morning-after pill," Hewitt said. The discussion ended with a question-and-answer session for audience members. The day also featured a live broadcast of the Hugh Hewitt Show during which CBU students had the opportunity to participate. ********** Campbellsville campus revival: 20 professions of faith By Tanner Royalty & Lucas Pennington, student newswriters CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (Campbellsville University) -- Twenty students made professions of faith at Campbellsville University during a chapel service and three-day campus revival with evangelist Neal Hatfield, director of the Uplands Reach Conference Center. Many more made decisions to rededicate their lives to Christ, Ed Pavy, director of campus ministries, said. "Jesus Christ, who exactly is he?" Hatfield asked at the Campbellsville University weekly chapel service Oct. 3. "He is factual." Hatfield quoted Paul's writing in 2 Timothy 1:12: "That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day." Paul knew, believed, and was convinced of everything Jesus said and did. "The work of Jesus is a fact," Hatfield said. There were many witnesses, and His work continues today. He said, "Look at my life, and the radical way I was changed. That is something that can't be denied. You can't meet the Son of God and walk away the same. He changes lives." Hatfield also said the cross and the tomb are factual. "Thousands of people died on the Roman cross, so we know of its existence. There is also an empty tomb that exists today where Jesus was once laid," Hatfield said. "Dig deep, search and try to uncover the factual evidence of Jesus Christ and you will." Hatfield said Jesus' love is a fact. He used John 3:16-17 to reveal this: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." He said we cannot earn our salvation, and even if we could that we wouldn't. Hatfield said, "Christ loves me in spite of what I've done…embrace the facts." Hatfield also spoke throughout the week in a campus revival, focused on bringing CU students closer to God. On Thursday evening, Hatfield asked students if they knew for sure they were a man or woman of God's Word. He focused on how a person may think he or she is going to go to heaven after death, but how some of them people haven't completely accepted God into their hearts. Hatfield said, "The saddest thing is knowing someone who thinks they are on their way to heaven but in reality they are on their way to hell." He said in order to be accepted into God's Kingdom you have to not only believe in Jesus Christ but you have to repent to Him. You have to accept God into your heart and let Him know your problems and ask Him for help. Hatfield gave a real-life example of one of his own family members who hadn't truly given herself to Jesus Christ. His daughter-in-law, Becky, always thought she was going to heaven but never really thought any further than that until his son witnessed to her and she accepted Christ into her heart. Hatfield said he "believes pride will send a multitude of people to hell" because people with pride are not fully giving themselves to Jesus Christ; their pride is so strong they don't repent or ask forgiveness for what they have done that is of sinful nature. Hatfield said, "Know with great confidence that you have eternal life." --30--