The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-10/24/2005 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hurricane Wilma response begins: Baptist disaster relief units readied from 15 states by Mickey Noah Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--As Hurricane Wilma churns into the Atlantic Ocean, Southern Baptists’ disaster relief network is once again mobilizing volunteers and relief units to the hardest-hit areas of Florida. Ten disaster relief kitchens from Florida, Alabama, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee and Texas were staged at Lake Yale, a Florida Baptist Convention state camp 30 miles northwest of Orlando along with a feeding crew from the California Baptist Convention to work in the American Red Cross’ “Spirit of America” kitchen. Still other disaster relief units in South Carolina, North Carolina, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas and New York are on standby status. “We know landfall occurred at Cape Romano, so we’re now talking to the Red Cross, The Salvation Army and the Florida Baptist Convention to determine where needs are the greatest. Then we’ll make assignments,” said Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization for NAMB. “Obviously, we know there will be a need for disaster feeding units in the metro areas affected by Wilma,” Burton said. “But it’s always a little trickier and takes a little longer to decide what rural areas need relief units.” Burton said it’s also too early to estimate how many volunteers will be deployed to the hurricane-affected areas. “The reality is that there is a fatigue factor in dealing with these hurricanes,” he said. “The disaster operations center is now in its 60th day of operation. We’ve had three major hurricanes -– Katrina, Rita and now Wilma. “But we’re fortunate that as Southern Baptists, we have 30,000 trained volunteers, and some state conventions have done rapid training to produce even more volunteers. If this were football, we’d say we have a lot of depth on the bench,” Burton said. “We’ll be calling on our volunteers, through the state conventions, to step it up another notch for Wilma.” Since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast eight weeks ago, NAMB’s disaster operations center has coordinated the work of more than 7,000 volunteers representing 41 state Baptist conventions. According to NAMB estimates, the work of these 7,000 volunteers in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita translates into 104,000 “volunteer work days” valued at more than $14 million. Through the deployment of 360 disaster relief units -– more than half of the Southern Baptists’ fleet of 600 -– these volunteers have prepared more than 9 million meals for hurricane victims and workers; completed more than 12,000 cleanup jobs; cared for 7,300 children; and provided nearly 60,000 showers for victims and workers along the hard-hit Gulf Coast. "Having prepared more than 9 million meals in the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita aftermath, the response to Hurricane Wilma is sure to push us well beyond the 10 million meal count for this year,” Burton said. “That is clearly unprecedented, and reason for each of us to pause and give thanks to God for the amazing opportunity given to Southern Baptists through disaster relief ministry." Southern Baptists run the third-largest disaster relief operation in the country, behind the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. With the official hurricane season continuing until the end of November and dangerous new hurricanes like Wilma still possible, monetary contributions to Southern Baptist relief efforts are still welcomed, Burton said. Contributions to disaster relief may be sent to state conventions, associations or churches responding to the effort or to the North American Mission Board. Donations to Southern Baptist Disaster Relief may be made online, www.NAMB.net, or by calling 1-866-407-6262. Contributions also can be mailed to the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, North American Mission Board, Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368-6543. A webcast briefing about Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts is available at www.NAMB.net. Disaster relief information is posted regularly at www.NAMB.net/dr. Wilma roared ashore about 22 miles south of Naples, Fla., as a powerful Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds, leaving at least one person dead and 2.2 million homes without power. By mid-afternoon, the hurricane had passed quickly over Florida and moved into the Atlantic, where it was expected to keep its distance from the coastline as it headed north. President Bush declared 20 counties in Florida major disaster areas as the region was pummeled by the eighth hurricane to strike or brush Florida in 14 months. One man was killed by a falling tree in Coral Springs, and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warned people to remain indoors as long as possible, according to CNN.com. The hours after the storm, he said, are “when many people tragically lose their lives.” Federal Emergency Management Agency officials were most concerned about the 78,000 residents of the low-lying Florida Keys, where less than 10 percent of the population heeded evacuation orders. About 35 percent of Key West was flooded due to a powerful storm surge, the Associated Press reported, and the police chief there said the flooding was “more extensive than we’ve seen in the past.” Once winds died down, rescuers were being sent out to help those who were stranded as streets turned into rivers. Key West International Airport suffered severe damage, The Miami Herald reported, and the runway was under at least three feet of water. “We have a real disaster here,” Key West Police Chief Bill Mauldin said. “We are in sad shape right now.” As much as 10 inches of rain and tornadoes were forecast for parts of central and southern Florida, AP said, and Gov. Bush reported that four tornadoes had touched down early Monday, including one that struck at the Kennedy Space Center. The National Guard was on alert and FEMA was ready to send in military helicopters and 13.2 million meals ready to eat, AP said. According to The Herald, significant damage was evident along the Florida Keys, in Broward County and in parts of Miami-Dade County. Office buildings in Fort Lauderdale and Miami sustained serious damage, the newspaper said, and windows were shattered in high-rise buildings. Every hospital in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties was running on generator power, The Herald reported, and four blocks of the elevated Metrorail system in Miami fell 30 feet to the ground. Throughout South Florida, roofs were severely damaged, water mains were broken, trees were toppled and traffic lights were down. Hurricane Wilma officially made landfall at Cape Romano just before 6:30 a.m. Monday before taking a path roughly along Florida’s Alligator Alley including the populated areas of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Before reaching the United States, Wilma was responsible for three deaths in Mexico and 13 more in Jamaica and Haiti as it passed through the Caribbean. The storm battered Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula for two days, leaving significant damage in the resort town of Cancun, where troops and federal police were working to control looting and stranded tourists searched for ways to return home, according to AP. Wilma also wrought havoc in Cuba, where its eye wall caused most of downtown Havana to be submerged in water as much as six feet deep in some places and people were being rescued from windows and rooftops, CNN.com reported. Officials in Havana shut off electricity in advance of the storm. This is a record year for Atlantic hurricanes as the total number for 2005 has reached 22 and for the first time ever authorities have run out of names and implemented the Greek alphabet, beginning with Tropical Storm Alpha off the coast of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The storm was expected to dissipate and not threaten the United States. --30-- With reporting by Erin Curry. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilma’s path across Caribbean sends missionaries into action by Julie McGowan Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday MÉRIDA, Mexico (BP)--Four days after Hurricane Wilma crawled across Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Mexican nationals and tourists still wear wet clothes as they search for food and clean water. They are desperate for the necessities of life –- such as one little girl’s need for asthma medicine. Two-year-old Sophie, the daughter of a Mexican Baptist youth minister, lives with asthma. She needs special medicine -– medicine that International Mission Board missionary Doug Millar has in hand. However, a five-foot wall of water at least a mile wide separates Millar from little Sophie in Cancún. He asks Southern Baptists to pray that God will part the flood waters so Sophie can access the most basic of human needs: air. Listen to Millar’s prayer request for Sophie “Our main concern at this point is just the health and safety of people, to get food and water -– primarily just keeping folks alive,” Millar said. Hurricane Wilma pounded the Mexican coast on Oct. 22, a Category 3 storm with 125-mph winds that claimed at least eight lives in Mexico and more than a dozen in the Caribbean. The center of the storm passed directly over Cozumel Island before making landfall near Playa del Carmen, south of Cancún. International Mission Board personnel in the area are safe. They and their local Baptist partners already have begun efforts to bring basic relief in the form of water purifiers, rice and beans. Food staples have been purchased using Southern Baptist World Hunger & Relief funds and will be warehoused in the Baptist churches in Mérida, Cancún and Playa del Carmen. They also will provide clothing and housing supplies. “We have had major destruction, not only in the poor areas, which normally in a flood would have tragedy, but also, even in the main hotels in the hotel zone,” Millar said. “There was a 30-foot [wall of] water that went across the hotel zone into our bay that devastated the area. “It looks like Louisiana,” he added, noting that Hurricane Wilma’s slow path across the peninsula intensified the damage. Millar and his wife, Darla, have served nine years in Cancún; they have worked in Playa del Carmen only three weeks. The Millars hope to return to their home Oct. 24 to see if it still stands. An electric company employee told them residents could be without power for months. “I know there are a lot of terrible things happening around the world, and people are weary of hearing about it,” Millar said. “But the truth is, we’re just praying that somehow God will bring some good out of disaster. So first, just pray that we can be a testimony, and that we will have the faith that God can bring something good out of bad.” Southern Baptists’ gifts through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering make it possible for IMB personnel to live around the world, on location and ready to help in times of crisis. Millar asked Southern Baptists to also give specifically to the relief efforts. “These people have been walking around for four days now in wet clothes, and many of them have lost everything,” he said. Millar also asked people to pray: -- for the people of the Yucatán Peninsula who are suffering in the wake of the storm. -- that God will part the waters so Millar can deliver Sophie’s asthma medicine. -- that believers in Mexico will be good witnesses of Jesus’ love, and that God will unite the Christians. Hear Millar’s message to his prayer supporters. -- that people will give to relief efforts. -- for people who have lost loved ones through the storm. To financially aid the people of Mexico, checks for “MAC Hurricane Relief” (MAC is the Middle America and the Caribbean region of the International Mission Board) can be sent to the International Mission Board, P.O. Box 6767, Richmond, VA 23230. To give online, go to www.imb.org/worldhunger, select “Give Now” and give through the General Relief Fund. One hundred percent of the gifts will go for relief aid. Listen to Millar’s entire message to his personal prayer network --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Campus police chief leads worship for crews at seminary by Benjamin Hawkins Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Decked out in his police uniform with a pistol at his hip, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s police chief, Barry Busby, does not look like a pastor. But he is. On Oct. 9, Busby gathered about 15 relief workers together in the seminary’s Martin Chapel for worship and Bible study. They called it the “Church in the Quad.” The next Sunday, attendance swelled to nearly two dozen in the original chapel at the seminary. Although spared from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, the chapel was without air conditioning, so the doors had to be propped open. The fledgling Church in the Quad is “a visual reminder that ‘the church’ is not a building,” Busby said. “That’s what I preached on ... that I am not building a building. I’m building people. I’m building disciples for the glory of God, and the door is wide open to anybody and everybody.” In his sermon, Busby drew attention to the brightly lit steeple of nearby Leavell Chapel that every night glows like a beacon from the seminary to the dark post-Katrina New Orleans skyline. He said the steeple should remind believers to be the light of the world just as Christ had taught His disciples. Busby also reminded the workers that light, when it shines into darkness, will reveal sin. But people need to see their sin before they can find the Savior, he said. Busby compared his dual roles as a police chief and church pastor to a metaphor in Psalm 23. “The 23rd Psalm talks about the rod and staff that comfort me, and what it’s talking about is discipline and protection,” Busby said, referring to both the holstered gun he wears each day and the Bible he uses to teach his congregation. Busby was committed to the relief effort at New Orleans Seminary even before floodwaters covered most of the campus. With less than two hours of sleep, Busby hurried back to New Orleans from Bay St. Louis, Miss., the Saturday before the storm struck the southern coast of Louisiana. He had been at a meeting of “Out of Range,” a group of men who had fasted and prayed for each other throughout the summer. Busby waited out the storm on the New Orleans Seminary campus. Katrina passed, leaving the seminary with relatively little structural damage. But then the levees failed, and Busby woke to find 18 inches of floodwater covering the first floor of his home in the seminary’s new Staff Village housing complex, where he and his family had moved only two weeks before the storm. With 10 years’ military experience, Busby said that, as a seminary leader, it was his “military duty to be the last one to leave campus.” Busby returned to the seminary two weeks later to assess the effects of the flood. A crew of workers and contractors was assembled over the next few days. Since then, Busby has overseen security at the seminary and provided spiritual guidance for the workers who reside at the campus. Long hours and tough days are the norm. It is a challenge balancing restoration, personal business and preaching. But, despite the long hours, Busby feels like God has called him to the seminary for “such a time as this.” “Now that we’re in the recovery phase, there’s no doubt in my mind that I’m still supposed to be here -– providing leadership, providing the guidance and, now, being able to pastor the contractors and workers in the community. Just an awesome opportunity,” Busby said. Those who attend the Church in the Quad are in New Orleans from as far away as West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois and Colorado. They have a variety of spiritual backgrounds. One of the workers hadn’t been to church in eight years, Busby said. “It’s been a fantastic response.” Busby said. The men who had attended the service were trying to make disciples, he said, and they were trying to be more respectful toward others. “I’ve got guys as rough as the day is long, and they’re coming back and telling me, ‘Hey man, I’ve been doing what you told me to do. I’ve been telling everybody about the church and trying to be a lighthouse in the city.’” Busby prays that the Church in the Quad will grow and reach out to the community around the seminary. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing [for people] to come back to,” Busby said. “It’s unfortunate ... I would love to open it up to some of our neighbors ... but ... not yet.’” As for Busby, he will remain at New Orleans Seminary until the work is finished. He hopes his family will be able to join him soon. His wife and children are living in Ackerman, Miss., in a house provided by the same church where the Busbys were married. For now, Busby is enthusiastic, trying to “run with perseverance the race that’s set before” him. “It’s frustrating. It’s stressful. But I know Who is there,” Busby said. “‘What man intends for evil, God intends for good.’ I just keep hanging around to see what happens next ... Each and every day I wake up with excited anticipation about what’s going to happen....” --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- N.C. Conservatives discuss budget in meeting at seminary by Norm Miller Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--In the first of four regional meetings sponsored by the Conservative Carolina Baptists Oct. 20, the proposed state convention budget and the committee on nominations process were key topics of discussion. The meeting -- which was held to help conservatives prepare for the annual meeting of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina -- was held at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest. The BSCNC meeting will take place Nov. 14-16 in Winston-Salem. Consuming most of the hour-long meeting was discussion on the budget. Greg Mathis, a former convention president, defended the proposed BSCNC budget, which seeks to keep the four optional giving plans in place instead of returning to a single-option plan. Mathis served on the convention’s budget committee and currently serves as pastor of Mud Creek Baptist Church in Hendersonville, N.C. Ted Stone of Durham, N.C., is expected to offer a motion at the annual meeting to revert back to the single-option giving plan. That single-option plan would exclude funding for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (Va.) and other bodies not in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention. “You have to decide whether you want to take a chainsaw approach to whatever you think is wrong with the budget, or like a surgeon, where you take something that’s smaller and more precise to it," Mathis said. “The problem with a chainsaw approach is that a lot of things you might not want to affect would be affected. Maybe some good things you wouldn’t want to hurt might be hurt. And so, I’ve never chosen to take that route,” Mathis said. “I would hate to see Fruitland hurt,” Mathis said. Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute in Henderson, N.C., gets 5 percent Mathis said. But Bill Tomlinson, pastor of Arlington Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, N.C., said that under Stone's proposal, Fruitland would "get more than it gets now." “I personally am opposed to four giving plans,” Tomlinson said. "I don’t think we’ll ever have unity in this convention [with four giving plans.] For years and years now, we’ve been picking away saying, ‘We’re going to make these changes. Be patient, be patient, be patient.’ And the changes never really come.” Stone, a trustee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a board of visitors member at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., says he wants to strengthen the relationship between the state convention and the SBC. “In the name of harmony, we have encouraged division and thwarted our impact of doing missions together,” he previously told Baptist Press. “As much as we love our Christian brothers and sisters who have negative attitudes toward the Southern Baptist Convention, the ‘let’s pretend’ game being played by some with the budget is doing more to harm the Lord’s work than it is to heal the breach." Since 1991, North Carolina Baptists have endorsed four optional giving plans from which churches can choose. The plans were created from dissatisfaction among some state leaders about the conservative direction of the Southern Baptist Convention. Presently the Southern Baptist Convention receives 32 percent in Plan A (the original CP plan) and Plan D. The SBC receives only 10 percent under Plan B and nothing under Plan C, which instead allots 10 percent to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group that broke away from the SBC because of disagreement with the election of conservative leaders. Plans A, B and C give 68 percent to the state convention budget, while Plan D trims the state allotment in favor of special ministries and Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute. Stone’s motion proposes a 65/35 percentage split, with the smaller percentage going to the Southern Baptist Convention. His proposal will earmark funds for Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute not less than the total amount allotted to the smallest Baptist college in North Carolina. Last year, a similar motion by Stone failed on a show of ballots. “Ever since we went away from having just one budget and began to have optional budgets, every year somebody wants to change back,” Mathis said. “It’s been difficult to find ways to work together here in North Carolina.” Mathis said that "conservatives in particular seem to be most bothered ... [by] budget C, where no money is given to the Southern Baptist Convention." He noted that conservatives are particularly opposed to plan C because under it, money given to the CBF is counted by the state convention as Cooperative Program money. He said under the new budget, money given to the CBF would not count as CP money. The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists' method of supporting missions and ministry efforts of state and regional conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention. Conservatives say it is wrong to count CBF money as CP giving because the Cooperative Program was founded to support SBC causes, and the CBF was formed out of disagreement with the SBC. Paul Berry, pastor of Grainger Baptist Church in Kinston, N.C., said the new budget doesn't go far enough. "I don’t see your proposal doing anything, except maybe hastening the day for the churches that want to go with the CBF will finally go that way," Berry told Mathis. Mathis said another “significant” aspect of the proposed budget is that over a two-year period, gifts to the Southern Baptist Convention would be increased by one-half percent. The same increase is also slated for the CBF in the proposed budget. Mathis said in order for the CBF increase to be removed, a messenger at the upcoming annual meeting would have to offer a motion amending the budget. He said such an amendment was offered at the BSCNC board of directors meeting but was defeated. “I certainly expect somebody to stand up and amend that, as they did at the board of directors” meeting, he said. Mathis also addressed a matter concerning the Alliance of Baptists. This summer, the state convention's committee on nominations refused to consider nominees for boards if they were members of Alliance of Baptists-affiliated churches. The Alliance of Baptists -- formed out of a disagreement with the conservative direction of the SBC -- is an organization that “pretty openly embraces homosexuality,” Mathis said. The Alliance of Baptists also endorses "gay marriage." The committee on nominations did not approve those suggested nominees, “and rightfully so,” Mathis said. “It is a matter of pleasing the messengers of the Baptist State Convention that they’ll find acceptable the people that go on our boards and our agencies and institutions," he said. Jeff Long, chairman of the committee on nominations, said the committee on nominations acted well within it assigned guidelines as outlined in the convention's bylaws. Long is pastor of the Parkway Baptist Church in Gastonia, N.C. Mathis also introduced Stan Welch, pastor of Blackwelder Park Baptist Church in Kannapolis, N.C., and Ricky Speas, pastor of Old Town Baptist Church in Winston Salem as the conservative candidates for president and first vice president, respectively. Barry Nealy, director of missions for the Three Forks Baptist Association, is the candidate for second vice president. According to the Conservative Carolina Baptists’ website, the organization was organized in 1987 and is “committed to preserving our Southern Baptist heritage in North Carolina." "We recognized the unbalanced leadership of our state convention and began a process to change the status quo. Today we live in a different state," the website says. "Conservatives are in the majority and moderate churches continue to fade into the sunset.” --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- LIFE DIGEST: Senate stem cell vote delayed until 2006; Mo. clinic closes; inmate obtains abortion with state’s help by Tom Strode Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday WASHINGTON (BP)--The Senate apparently will not vote until next year on legislation that would liberalize President Bush’s policy barring federal funds for stem cell research that destroys embryos. Sen. Arlen Specter, R.-Pa., sponsor of a bill to permit grants for research on embryos stored at in vitro fertilization clinics, announced Oct. 21 Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had promised to bring the measure up early in 2006. Bob Stevenson, Frist’s communications director, said the majority leader had not made a final commitment to Specter, but the two have reached an understanding there will be a vote early next year, The New York Times reported. After Frist stunningly endorsed legislation in late July undercutting the Bush policy, it appeared the Senate would vote on the measure shortly after it returned in September from a five-week recess. No such vote occurred, and Specter threatened to attach the bill to a spending measure. He eventually decided not to with much Senate business remaining this year and a promise from Frist for a vote next year, according to The Times. The delay is a hopeful development, a pro-life bioethicist said. “This is actually good news,” said C. Ben Mitchell, a consultant for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and a bioethics professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in suburban Chicago. “Were the Senate to vote today, it would get it wrong. Perhaps by next year, we will have convinced more of the senators that human embryos do not have to be killed for stem cell research to go forward.” Bush, whose policy allows funding for research only on embryonic stem cell lines already in existence prior to his 2001 announcement of that rule, has pledged to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. Specter has said he thinks he will be able to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary to override a veto, but an override appears unlikely in the House of Representatives. The House approved the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, H.R. 810, with a 238-194 vote in May. At this point, the extraction of stem cells from an embryo, normally in the first week of life, requires the tiny human being’s destruction. Embryonic stem cell research has failed to produce any successful therapies in human beings and has been plagued by the development of tumors in lab animals. Meanwhile, research on stem cells from non-embryonic sources has produced treatments for at least 65 ailments, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research. These include spinal cord injuries, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and sickle cell anemia. Many opponents of embryonic stem cell research contend the House-approved bill providing funds only for research on leftover IVF embryos is the first step in a path that will lead to the cloning of embryos for research purposes. Stem cells are the body's master cells that can develop into other cells and tissues, providing hope for the treatment of numerous afflictions. In addition to being extracted from embryos, the cells may be found in such non-embryonic sources as bone marrow, fat and placentas, as well as umbilical cord blood. ONE LESS CLINIC -– The sole abortion clinic in Springfield, Mo., has closed, leaving southwest Missouri without an abortion provider. The board of Springfield Healthcare Center voted Oct. 19 to cease operations, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Clinic administrator Michelle Turner-Collins denied the decision was based on a new state law restricting abortion or on threats, a poor safety record or finances, according to the newspaper. Turner-Collins told the News-Leader, however, “They’re saying that the environment here in Missouri is so hostile that it’s just so difficult to continue to jump through the hoops that they keep putting forward.” A new Missouri law, which has been temporarily barred from enforcement, requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic, according to the News-Leader. The doctor at the Springfield clinic did not have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, the newspaper reported. The clinic asked 10 to 15 doctors in Springfield, as well as some outside the city, to perform abortions, but all rejected the requests, Turner-Collins told the newspaper. “Wow,” Dave Plemmons, chairman of the Springfield chapter of Missouri Right to Life, told the News-Leader when he learned of the clinic’s closing. “They’re tired of fighting. We’re really pleased. We consider this a big blessing, for whatever reason it occurred.” The nearest abortion clinics for women in southwest Missouri now are in St. Louis; Columbia; Fayetteville, Ark.; Wichita, Kan.; and Overland Park, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City. The Springfield clinic’s closing continues a trend that has occurred for more than two decades. Since 1982, the number of sites providing abortions has been declining. As of 2000, there were 1,819 abortion providers, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute. In the same year, 87 percent of United States counties did not have an abortion provider, AGI reported. PRISON BABY ABORTED -– A Missouri inmate had an abortion Oct. 20 after winning a court battle to overcome a state law. The unidentified woman, who was about 17 weeks pregnant, had the abortion in St. Louis, about 80 miles from a Vandalia, Mo., prison in which she is an inmate, the Associated Press reported. She had said she could pay for the abortion but could not afford transportation. Prison officials refused to assist her, citing a Missouri law that bans state money from funding abortions. After the state rejected her request, the inmate filed suit. Federal judge Dean Whipple ruled Oct. 13 the state must assist her in acquiring the abortion. Upon appeal, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block the abortion. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, however, who oversees emergency appeals from the Eighth Circuit, temporarily blocked the abortion Oct. 14, providing the entire high court the opportunity to respond. On Oct. 17, the Supreme Court issued an order announcing it declined to review the lower court decision, clearing the way for the abortion. The high court's order came without comment on the merits of the case and without any recorded dissent, Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, “remains disappointed in the court actions that compelled the state’s involvement,” Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson told AP. The cost for fuel and two guards to escort the inmate was about $350, according to AP. The abortion took place at a Planned Parenthood clinic, according to LifeNews.com. --30-- With reporting by Michael Foust of Baptist Press and Allen Palmeri of The Pathway, newsjournal of the Missouri Baptist Convention. -------------------------------------------------------------------- New Orleans-area church ready for next post-Katrina challenges by Sherri Brown Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday BOUTTE, La. (BP)--The kitchen is closed. The burners are packed away, the tents are folded, the volunteers are gone and the trucks have left the parking lot at West St. Charles Baptist Church in Boutte, La. The time has come to regroup and start planning a different kind of post-hurricane ministry at the church just outside of New Orleans. Five days after the Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and floodwaters began to rise in New Orleans, West St. Charles Baptist Church opened its doors to a feeding team from the Missouri Baptist Convention. Not long after the Missourians launched into feeding thousands each day, Red Cross volunteers began to arrive. For six weeks, the church -- with an average Sunday attendance of just more than 100 -- housed a rotating group of about 50 volunteers. “We were removed from the disaster. We did not experience total devastation that so many experienced,” said Chuck Lowman, pastor of West St. Charles. “We’ve been focusing on how we can minister to those serving the community. The Missouri Baptists and the Red Cross volunteers were the ones going out in the community.” But church members soon discovered ways to serve, preparing “special” meals for the volunteers, including Cajun specialties like jambalaya and red beans and rice. They also found a ministry among Red Cross volunteers. “Many of the Red Cross volunteers were unchurched. Usually [when working at a disaster] they stay in motels,” Lowman said. “This was the first time for many of them to actually live together. They learned to work together, but they also saw what the church was doing.” One Red Cross volunteer confided in Lowman that she hadn’t been in church for many years because she had lost confidence in the church. “But seeing all this changed her mind,” Lowman said. “I’ve been able to pray with three or four of the Red Cross workers. Some needed to hear the Gospel again. Some just needed to be redirected.” With the thrust of post-Katrina relief changing, Lowman already has answered calls from volunteers wanting a place to stay while they work at nearby churches. He expects to do that a lot in the coming days. But he also wants to send members from West St. Charles to nearby churches to work as well. “In the long term, I pray that this is going to give us a greater local mission focus. This has opened the neighborhood’s eyes to what Baptists are all about. Baptists are seen as a church that reaches out to people, regardless of their beliefs. I hope they continue to see that in us,” the pastor said. “We’re open to whatever God brings us,” he said. “We’re forever changed.” --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Second generation syndrome by James T. Draper Jr. Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Gary Inrig wrote a wonderful book entitled "Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay"(Moody Press, 1979) which was a detailed study of the book of Judges. One of the issues he quickly raised in the book was what he called "The Second Generation Syndrome." In that early chapter of his book he discussed the difficulty of passing on our vision and convictions to our children and grandchildren. It is a daunting and challenging task for any parent, and it is rare for the faith of parents to be handed down to succeeding generations. The book of Judges in chapter 2 graphically describes this challenge: "The people worshipped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works He had done for Israel.... After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel. The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshipped the Baals and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt." Inrig writes, "The second generation has a natural tendency to accept the status quo and to lose the vision of the first generation. Too often the second-generation experience is a second-hand experience. Church history is filled with examples of it, and sadly, so are many churches. The parent’s fervor for the Lord Jesus Christ becomes the children’s formalism and the grandchildren’s apathy." What caused the children and grandchildren to lose the vision of the parents? Inrig continues: "They knew about His deeds. But they did not know Him or acknowledge Him. They had lost touch with God. Here we come to the heart of the second-generation syndrome. It is a lukewarmness, a complacency, an apathy about amazing biblical truths that we have heard from our childhood, or from our teachers." This underscores to us the great difficulty in seeing succeeding generations follow in the spiritual footsteps of their first-generation Christian parents. To see godly children of godly parents is something that happens frequently, but to see generation after generation follow in that heritage of faith is difficult to discover. I am a man most blessed of God as I look toward my approaching retirement on Feb. 1, 2006. My strong godly heritage goes back at least to my grandparents. My grandfather was a Baptist preacher for 54 years. He and my grandmother were married for more than 50 years. My father was a Baptist preacher for 36 years until his death at the age of 52. He and my mother were married 33 years. My parents had three sons. All three of us became Baptist preachers. Our marriages have been centered in the Lord and our children all have followed in the pattern of faith first revealed in my grandparents. My oldest son, Randy, is a committed layman and often preaches in the pulpit of his church when his pastor is absent. My youngest son, Bailey, is a Sunday School teacher and faithful member of his church. Both are ordained deacons. My daughter, Terri, married a minister and they have served in local churches for the last 20-plus years. Carol Ann and I have six grandchildren. All of them have a personal relationship with Jesus and they love the Lord. Our 22-year-old grandson, Kyle, and our 16-year-old grandson, Wes, have both surrendered to the Gospel ministry. What an incredible blessing it is to have experienced five successive generations walking in the grace and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ! How did it happen? What has been the secret? I can only venture some observations about our family. -- The Bible was honored and revered in each generation as being the completely reliable and inerrant Word of God. -- Never have any of us ever heard our parents fighting, shouting at each other, or in any way mistreating one another. Love, kindness and grace were lived out before us and are present in each of these generations. Such things are "caught" more than "taught." -- Regular involvement at all church services (and usually all activities) was a given in our lives. We never knew we had a choice, yet we never felt we were made to attend! -- We were taught compassion, kindness and generosity. Each of our homes has been havens for friends and others to whom we ministered. Tithing and much more was a practice in our homes. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive! -- Integrity, consistency and obedience to God have been the characteristics of each family. We all learned early on to stand for what was right and to oppose what was wrong. And we learned to do it in a strong and firm, yet kind, way. Convictions don’t have to brutalize others! -- Christian morality and biblical ethics were and are practiced and lived out in our homes. Consistency has always been a strong character trait in our families. "Do as I say and not as I do" has never worked! "What you see is what you get" is a good descriptive phrase for our families. We have never been good at putting on airs or pretending to be something we are not. -- Daily fellowship with the Lord and drawing strength from His Word continues to be a strong pattern in our lives. We can’t make it one day without Him! He said, "You can do nothing without me" (John 15:5). -- Forgiveness and grace has always been the pattern. All of us understand that we are frail and sinful and in need of forgiveness and grace, so we learned to forgive others as we ourselves need forgiveness. By keeping this at the forefront of our lives we have avoided family squabbles, disputes and divisions that are so often seen. Our family really enjoys being together. -- All of these things are wrapped up in our unswerving conviction that the Lord Jesus Christ has a plan for our lives and we have found our fulfillment in Him. I am proud of my family and my family heritage. My dad once told me, "The debt we owe to the past is to leave the future indebted to us." I am deeply indebted for the godly heritage I received and I pray that it will be passed on not just to two succeeding generations but many more. God’s greatest gift to us is our families. Let each of us make sure we have continued or begun a legacy of faithfulness for our children and grandchildren. --30-- James T. Draper Jr. is president of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Is the sanctity of human life an outdated concept? by R. Albert Mohler Jr. Date: October 24, 2005 - Monday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Peter Singer has seen the future, and it does not include the sanctity of life. To be more specific, Singer presents his argument about the future in a forum published in the September/October 2005 edition of Foreign Policy. The magazine asked a number of leading intellectuals to suggest what ideas, institutions and features of contemporary life will be left behind as human beings rush into a bold new future. As Peter Singer sees it, confidence in the sanctity of human life must be abandoned in order for humanity to be redefined in the new millennium. Singer is no stranger to controversy, of course. He currently serves as Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the Center for Human Values at Princeton University. The very fact that Peter Singer holds a distinguished chair in the field of bioethics at a major American university should signal all morally sensitive persons that the world of academia is in big trouble. Singer attracted international attention and controversy with the publication of his 1975 book, "Animal Liberation." Then a professor at LaTrobe University in Canada, Singer argued that the concept of animal species is, in itself, "as irrelevant to moral status as race or sex." As he explained his own position, Singer argued that "all beings with interest are entitled to equal consideration." In other words, animals should be accorded equal rights with human beings, and the very fact that an individual is a member of the species Homo sapiens does not mean that individual is entitled to human rights and the presumption of a right to live. In other words, every human being is not necessarily a human person. "During the next 35 years, the traditional view of the sanctity of human life will collapse under pressure from scientific, technological, and demographic developments," Singer asserts in his Foreign Policy essay. "By 2040, it may be that only a rump of hard-core, know-nothing religious fundamentalists will defend the view that every human life, from conception to death, is sacrosanct." Looking over the last several months, Singer argues that the year 2005 "may be seen as the year in which that position [the sanctity of human life] became untenable." In his view, controversy over embryonic stem cell research, the acceptance of human cloning experiments by South Korean scientists and the tortuous controversy over Terri Schiavo may lead to a basic change in American public opinion. Singer believes that technological developments will "drive this debate" and lead to a new understanding of the human organism -- an understanding that accepts a basic distinction between a human body and a human person. "Hence, a decision to remove the feeding tube will be less controversial, for it will be a decision to end the life of a human body, but not of a person," he explains. Singer is also confident that the acceptance of euthanasia in Europe -- including the euthanasia of newborns, young children and the elderly -- will lead to a growing acceptance in the United States. "As we approach 2040, the Netherlands and Belgium will have had decades of experience with legalized euthanasia, and other jurisdictions will also have permitted either voluntary euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide for varying lengths of time." Thus, "This experience will puncture exaggerated fears that the legalization of these practices would be a first step toward a new holocaust. By then, an increasing proportion of the population in developed countries will be more than 75 years old and thinking about how their lives will end. The political pressure for allowing terminally or chronically ill patients to choose when to die will be irresistible." Singer is consistent in asserting that the sacredness of human life is an outmoded and morally useless belief. In a notorious commentary published in the July 1983 issue of the journal Pediatrics, Singer began by offering a similar prophecy: "The ethical outlook that holds human life to be sacrosanct -- I shall call it the 'sanctity-of-life view' -- is under attack. The first major blow to the sanctity-of-life view was the spreading acceptance of abortion throughout the Western world." In 1983, Singer was serving as professor in the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University in his native Australia. Nevertheless, his article in Pediatrics incited controversy in the United States. After all, Pediatrics is the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In his commentary, Singer argued that infanticide or euthanasia should be seen as morally acceptable under certain conditions. As a matter of fact, he implied that infanticide could well be a morally superior choice when compared to a decision to allow some infants to live. Consider this chilling statement: "If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog or a pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality, self-consciousness, communication, and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant." Singer's point is clear -- a dog that is able to communicate in a rudimentary way is superior to a human infant who lacks an equal ability to communicate. In his book "Practical Ethics," Singer argues, "The fact that a being is a human being, in the sense of a member of the species Homo sapiens, is not relevant to the wrongness of killing it; it is, rather, characteristics like rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness that make a difference. Infants lack these characteristics. Killing them, therefore, cannot be equated with killing normal human beings, or any other self-conscious beings." Ponder that statement carefully, for it is a manifesto for killing human infants. Furthermore, Singer presses his case to make clear that he is not limiting his argument to the killing of infants who lack the potential to develop such qualities. "This conclusion is not limited to infants who, because of irreversible intellectual disabilities, will never be rational, self-conscious beings," Singer clarifies. As in his argument for abortion, Singer asserts "that the potential of a fetus to become a rational, self-conscious being cannot count against killing it at a stage when it lacks these characteristics." Singer would accept a basic assumption of a right to life only for those beings he judges to have a capacity to envision a future. He would grant the status of human personhood only to those human beings who are able to communicate, to relate to others and to possess what he would stipulate as a minimal understanding of self-consciousness in time. In short, Singer would grant a healthy dog a greater claim on life than a healthy human infant or an elderly person with Alzheimer's. But more recently, Singer has courted controversy with his argument that human sexuality should be liberated from any moral limits except consensuality. In an interview with Marvin Olasky of World magazine, Singer asserted that he sees "no moral problem" with necrophilia. He has argued that human beings and animals may be able to have "mutually satisfying" sexual relationships. What he terms "zoophilia" should be illegal, he says, only if it involves cruelty. Singer's appointment to a prestigious chair in bioethics at Princeton University led to worldwide controversy. Publisher Steve Forbes took a public stand and pledged to end all financial contributions to his alma mater "so long as Peter Singer remains a tenured professor there." Nevertheless, Princeton's president, Harold T. Shapiro, defended Singer's appointment. In a statement published in the Princeton Weekly Bulletin on December 7, 1998, Shapiro defended Singer's academic credentials. He went on to argue: "But the test in making any faculty appointment is not whether we agree with the findings of a professor's scholarship; the test is the power of the professor's intellect and the quality of his or her scholarship and teaching. An important part of our purpose as a university is to ask the most difficult and fundamental questions about human existence, however uncomfortable this may be." That may sound like lofty academic discourse, but we should note carefully that this argument excludes any consideration other than a potential professor's intellect and teaching ability. President Shapiro cannot possibly stand by this argument, for it would require him to hire professors who would be proponents of theories, worldviews and ideologies even he would surely find morally reprehensible. When President Shapiro tries to explain that Princeton serves "these central purposes of a university by appointing faculty members like Professor Singer whose work is intellectually astute, morally serious, and open to engagement with others," he is defining "morally serious" in a manner that is seriously deficient. Singer understands what is at stake. "We can no longer base our ethics on the idea that human beings are a special form of creation, made in the image of God, singled out from all other animals, and alone possessing an immortal soul," he argues. "Our better understanding of our own nature has bridged the gulf that was once thought to lie between ourselves and other species, so why should we believe that the mere fact that a being is a member of the species Homo sapiens endows its life with some unique, almost infinite, value?" Singer dismisses the Christian confidence in the sanctity of human life as "religious mumbo-jumbo" that must be discarded. In the case of Professor Peter Singer we face the quintessential warning of where the modern, secular evolutionary understanding of humanity must lead. Unless we believe that human beings truly are "a special form of creation, made in the image of God," we will inevitably slide into the moral calculations and frightening ideology of Peter Singer and those who share his worldview. Peter Singer thinks he has seen the future, and he writes with renewed confidence that the sanctity of human life is an idea that will soon be discarded. Christians now face the urgent responsibility to prove him wrong. --30-- This column was adapted from Mohler's weblog at www.albertmohler.com. Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. For more articles and resources by Mohler, and for information on "The Albert Mohler Program," a daily national radio program broadcast on the Salem Radio Network, visit www.albertmohler.com.