
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-10/25/2005

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Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, dead at 92, found strength in Scripture, church
by Art Toalston
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

DETROIT (BP)--Rosa Parks, a laywoman who, at the forefront of the civil rights movement, found strength in the 23rd Psalm and other passages of Scripture, died of natural causes Oct. 24 at her home in Detroit.

Parks, 92, died just a few weeks shy of the 50th anniversary of her Dec. 1, 1955, arrest for refusing to surrender her seat to a white man on a segregated bus –- an event that sparked the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott and the rise to national prominence of a local pastor: Martin Luther King Jr., then of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama’s capital city.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, a member of First Baptist Church in Ashland, said the state “joins the nation in mourning as we mark the passing of a remarkable life.” Riley ordered the flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff in Parks’ honor until sunset on the day of her funeral.

“Rosa Parks will always be remembered as a courageous woman who quietly confronted injustice, and in so doing, she changed a nation,” Riley said.

One of her favorite Bible passages was the 23rd Psalm.

“During my school days, the 23rd Psalm was part of our devotions, when we had devotions in school,” Parks, an African Methodist Episcopal church member and former seamstress, commented in the mid-1990s. “And at church it was one of the favorite psalms that we enjoyed reading and thinking about.

“During the time of our boycott, we did much praying and we had mass meetings at the various churches, where people would come in and testify and relate their experiences,” she continued. “It was very helpful that we had the churches and could gather strength from one another and encourage each other to continue the struggle throughout that long year of boycotting the buses.

“I look back on those days and remember the Spirit within us and our faith and hope that things would be better, and I still have that faith,” Parks said. “When we face any obstacle, any discouragement, that faith is a strong attribute to have.”

Gary Frost, executive director of the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association and a former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “Through the years, I’ve admired the gentle strength and the humble resolve of Sister Parks.

“She is much more than a symbol of nonviolent protest. She is the epitome of a peacemaker,” said Frost, who played a pivotal role in the Southern Baptist Convention’s adoption of a racial reconciliation resolution in 1995.

Robert Anderson, immediate past president of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention, said of Parks’ 1955 arrest, “It was the bus ride that ended up changing history.... From that small act of defiance came a big act of deliverance, which would lead to the Supreme Court case in which they ruled segregation in public transportation to be illegal and unconstitutional.

“That began to affect other things,” said Anderson, pastor of the Baltimore-area Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown and a member of the SBC Executive Committee. “If it’s wrong there, on the bus, then it’s wrong in schools, it’s wrong in restaurants, it’s wrong in other places.”

Parks’ stance “not only helped blacks throughout the country but also helped everybody,” Anderson said. “If one person is not receiving justice and is not treated fairly, and it’s supported by the law, then that destroys all levels of justice.”

Anderson said he hopes “that the attention given to Sister Rosa Parks in honor of what she has done and how God has used her in the civil rights efforts in the United States of America might be one of those signposts to remind us that racial reconciliation is still an important function. We’re not quite there yet in all of our racial acceptance of one another and working together and ministering together -- and being on mission together. Maybe this occasion might prompt us again to say, What more can we do to further racial reconciliation in the body of Christ? Particularly even among Southern Baptists.”

Sid Smith, retired director of the Florida Baptist Convention's African American ministries division who held numerous posts in Southern Baptist life during a 40-year career, said Parks was “a giant for civil rights who appeared on the scene at exactly the right time. Her courageous defiance of Jim Crow tradition on a segregated Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955 sparked the most successful movement for human rights in American history and launched the unparalleled career of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Although she and her family were subsequently driven out of Montgomery by harassment, difficulty in finding work and death threats, she maintained her commitment to equality for the rest of her life in her new home in Detroit,” Smith recounted. “History rewarded her with the title: Mother of The Civil Rights Movement.

“Once vilified for civil disobedience, she was later recognized as the recipient of the nation's highest awards: the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. This gentle seamstress stood on principle for right and proved that sometimes one person can make a difference even if they have to stand up by sitting down.”

Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery who has been involved in an interracial pastors’ group for seven years, said Parks was “motivated by her faith in Jesus Christ. She destroyed barriers and built bridges of reconciliation. Her Christian model is worthy of our emulation.”

Toward that end, Wolf and other pastors in the “John 17” interracial group, reflecting Jesus’ prayer for unity in the Gospel of John’s 17th chapter, have organized “The ONE Movement,” to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the bus boycott.

The campaign already has distributed more than 10,000 black and white bracelets signifying a commitment to racial reconciliation and it will distribute throughout the city 10,000 4-foot by 2-foot crosses with a black hand and a white hand joined together in the center of the cross.

Also among the campaign’s initiatives during the coming year marking the bus boycott’s 50th anniversary: black and white churches sharing meals together to build relationships. First Baptist, a church that closed its doors to blacks in the 1960s, already has shared Wednesday evening meals with three local black congregations. Now, instead of the doors being locked, Wolf said, “the hinges have been blown off.”

“Our prayer has been that in the same way Rosa Parks translated her moment into the civil rights movement, we are praying that our moment will become God’s movement,” Wolf said. “Our goal is racial reconciliation, because reconciliation ushers in revival,” the pastor said, citing Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17 “so the world may believe.”

Also responding to Baptist Press’ requests for comment on Rosa Parks’ life were:

-- Rick Lance, state missionary/executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, who described Parks as “a towering figure during the Civil Rights period of American history. She represents the sacrifice of seemingly ordinary people who did extraordinary deeds in the name of justice and liberty. Her simple act of courage became the spark which lit the fire of the Civil Rights movement. Behind the iconic leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. stands the enormous contribution and influence of Rosa Parks. She never sought fame or recognition; nonetheless, her name is synonymous with all which is good in the quest for freedom and individual rights. People in Alabama and in the U.S., as well as individuals all around the world, join her family in mourning her passing.”

-- Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist newsjournal, who noted, “In the providence of God, He used an unassuming woman named Rosa Parks as the catalyst to force Alabamians and all the people of the South to face the negative side of our culture. It was her courage that caused the whole nation to reexamine and renew its commitment to the belief that all people are created equal. She became the symbol of strength and dignity standing against the evils of discrimination, privilege and entitlement. Her faith in God and the message of churches in the black community reminded us that God created all people in His image. Her life caused Christians to face the gap between confession and practice. Her experience changed culture and society in Alabama. We are better because of her.”

-- Mark Croston, current president of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of East End Baptist Church in Suffolk, Va., who said, “God used Rosa Parks as a catalyst for justice. By sitting in silence, she fulfilled the Christian role of being the salt of the earth, and we are all indebted to her for her life and work.”

-- Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission who was instrumental in the SBC’s 1995 racial reconciliation resolution, who said, “Rosa Parks was a great woman who was committed to uncovering wrong and doing right. She said her act of civil disobedience was simply a result of being tired of the unfair treatment of black Americans. Rosa Parks stated it was her faith in God that gave her the strength and courage to persevere in a culture that denied basic human rights to African Americans. Throughout her life, she demonstrated a quiet and dignified strength in standing for justice and equal rights for all Americans.

“She will be forever remembered as a pioneer in the struggle for civil rights. Her efforts, combined with those of many other Americans, black and white, led to full citizenship for millions of African Americans and began a needed transformation of our nation.... Mrs. Parks’ resistance to the unfair treatment of black Americans did not begin in 1955; she was put off a city bus in 1943 because she boarded that bus through the front door, not the back door where blacks were supposed to enter the vehicle. I am grateful for her indomitable spirit in the struggle for freedom and justice and for her unflagging dedication in calling our nation to close out the ugly era of racial segregation and to heed the biblical truth expressly stated in our nation’s Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. All Americans owe Mrs. Parks and other civil rights pioneers a great debt for their courage, standing against the evils of segregation and making it possible for us to live in a society committed to racial reconciliation and justice.”

The bus in which Parks took her stance has been restored and is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.
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Hurricane Wilma leaves 6 million without power, 5 dead
by Staff
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

NAPLES, Fla. (BP)--Hurricane Wilma inflicted widespread damage in South Florida, leaving residents there with the tasks of clearing debris, ridding homes and businesses of water, repairing power lines and rebuilding damaged structures while Southern Baptists took their places of service alongside them.

The storm, which is being called the worst to hit Broward County since Hurricane King in 1950, is responsible for at least five deaths, 6 million people without electricity and damage estimated between $6 and $10 billion in South Florida, according to the Associated Press.

Residents sought generators, chain saws and other supplies and officials were distributing ice, water and food in the state’s three most populous areas -- Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties -- AP said.

Florida Baptist Convention assessment teams traveled to the affected area Oct. 24 to determine the best locations for feeding units and recovery teams, according to a report by the Florida Baptist Witness. Supplies and equipment were loaded on two Florida Baptist feeding units, which had only returned to the state the previous week following deployments to Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Feeding units from the Florida convention were expected to arrive at First Baptist Church in Naples, McGregor Baptist Church in Fort Myers and locations near Fort Lauderdale, the Witness said.

Brenda Forlines, director of Florida Baptist church and community ministries, told the Witness she was concerned about migrants living in Immokalee, LaBelle and Belle Glade as a fellow staff member was assessing their needs.

“These are people who have no place to go and are without means to help themselves,” she said. “Many of these live in trailers on rural roads with no access to food, water and supplies.”

At First Baptist in Naples, the youth building and gym were significantly damaged by water, reported pastor Hayes Wicker, president of the Florida Baptist State Convention, who had spent part of the night sheltered in a walk-in closet with his wife and 15-year-old daughter.

Falling asleep amidst sleeping bags and flashlights, the trio huddled together while winds at more than 100 mph slammed foliage and tree limbs against the walls of their home.

Wicker said he felt compelled to board up his post–Andrew fortified home and stick around in case he was needed. “I didn’t feel right as captain of the ship to abandon it in a time of trouble,” he said. “My wife and I both felt we should be here. We feel our trust is in the Lord and he is our refuge and strength.”

McGregor Baptist sustained major roof and water damage to its 60,000-square-foot facility, the Witness reported, including large patches of the roof torn away and water soaking the carpet in the 2,200-seat sanctuary. Even so, the church is planning to house disaster relief workers in its gymnasium.

“We will persevere,” Richard Powell, the church’s pastor, said. “Pray for the people who have much more serious damage than we do. Our biggest prayer is that in everything God would allow us to advance His Kingdom even through a mess like Wilma.”

The steeple was torn off First Baptist Church of Belle Glade, punching a hole in the ceiling and allowing water to pour inside.

“We’ve been devastated,” Gary Folds, pastor of the church, told the Witness. “We are hit hard.”

At First Baptist Church in Lake Worth, the roof was damaged and windows were shattered on a rebuilt facility that was only recently dedicated after being heavily damaged last year. Also, $6,000 worth of newly installed playground equipment was swept away.

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.

Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization for the North American Mission Board, said it’s 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.”

A Category 3 hurricane, Wilma first struck Florida just south of Naples with 125-mph winds early Oct. 24 and moved quickly across the state within seven hours, marking the state’s eighth bout with a hurricane in the past 14 months.

Three of South Florida’s major airports were closed because of the storm, including Miami International, which is a major hub for American Airlines and was disrupting travel nationwide, The Miami Herald reported.

Officials in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have imposed a curfew on residents while cleanup efforts continue and at least 10 people were arrested for looting. Traffic lights were down throughout South Florida and Miami’s Metrorail system sustained significant damage, halting service for at least 48 hours, according to The Herald. Florida Power & Light reported the worst outage in its history and said power restoration could take up to four weeks because of serious infrastructure damage.

Despite the challenges, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush remained optimistic about the recovery process.

"It's working the way it's supposed to," he said.

Among the homes damaged in Davie, Fla., was that of David Paulison, acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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, at 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.
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Compiled by Erin Curry, with reporting by Barbara Denman of the Florida Baptist Convention’s public relations division and Joni B. Hannigan of the Florida Baptist Witness newsjournal.


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Amid N.O.'s needs & tumult, police officer buoyed by faith
by Keith Manuel
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

NEW ORLEANS, La. (BP)--Watching as rooftops peeled off adjacent buildings and debris tumbled down the street, Sgt. Don McCoy of the New Orleans-area Gretna Police Department, relied on his faith while waiting patiently for Hurricane Katrina to die down enough to get back on the streets to protect his city.

“The wind sounded almost like a train,” McCoy said. “I’ve never heard wind howl like that before.... Telephone poles were going back and forth. Then the power went out.”

McCoy, along with his wife and son, watched the destruction through the plate-glass windows in the lobby of the Gretna courthouse as if they were at home watching a catastrophe on the evening news. Instead, they were living it.

McCoy’s first faith challenge came when people needed food and water after the storm. “It was heartbreaking to a lot of these people to tell them we had no idea when food and water were coming,” he said.

The next challenge came when looters started to take advantage of evacuated businesses and homes. “We were so limited with officers,” McCoy recounted. “We would try to send officers to one area to protect the businesses and while we were taking care of that &#91;the looters&#93; would be breaking into something else. It was just non-stop for a while there.”

One practice started by Deputy Chief Charles Whitmer to encourage the officers was a role call prayer.

“The prayers got us going,” said McCoy, a Royal Ambassadors boys’ leader at Calvary Baptist Church in New Orleans. “It got us lifted up and we started looking forward to the hope of the future for the community. I’ve seen people, that I don’t know if they had a lot of religious belief or not, actually sitting there talking to the Lord. They were saying, ‘Lord, help us to get through this time.’”

Because of the lack of utilities, food and drinkable water, McCoy’s family went to Dallas after the storm. “The biggest thing I learned was to rely on &#91;God&#93;,” McCoy reflected. “The hardest thing I had to do was to say goodbye &#91;to my family&#93; because at the time we had no idea when they could come back. All I could do was pray that they would be safe and get to Dallas with no problems. In about 30 minutes, a calmness came over me and I knew they would be fine.”  

During the period after the storm, tragedy struck the Gretna Police Department. Sgt. Sue Laughlin died accidentally as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust of a generator. 

Before the storm McCoy had applied for a sergeant position, but he has struggled with the way the opening became available. “I felt so bad, because I ended up getting the position because of her untimely death. Every day I hear people talk about how they miss her. She was really one of the sweetest ladies. She would go out of her way to do things for you. She went out of her way to take care of &#91;my wife and son&#93; ... when I first went to the streets to start patrolling.

“It’s been pretty hard,” he continued, in reflecting on Laughlin’s death. “I mean, I wanted sergeant pretty bad, but I didn’t want sergeant any way by this means.”

To honor the life of Laughlin and to help his team at the courthouse heal, McCoy designed a ribbon for the officers to wear. The idea, stemming from McCoy’s military background, has a hurricane symbol, a blue line representing the police force, and Laughlin’s badge number, 38, emblazoned on it.

Opportunities to plant the seed of salvation and to share what Jesus means to him came to McCoy as officers from around the nation came to help his department.

And he was able to do tangible things for people in his community who were hurting. The third time he took food and water to a handicapped woman, he felt led to pray for her. Together, they prayed for her needs and for braces for her legs that the storm destroyed.

“Sure enough, one of the girls we work with, her husband is a doctor, he managed to get her new braces,” McCoy said.
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Intelligent Design defense begins in Pa. school trial
by James Patterson
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

HARRISBURG, Pa. (BP)--Intelligent Design is based on provable, scientific evidence, a key witness testified as attorneys for a Pennsylvania school board began their defense of a policy attempting to balance the teaching of Darwinian evolution.

As a great-grandson of evolutionist Charles Darwin looked on, Lehigh University professor and author Michael Behe told the packed courtroom that he was not aware of any research done “in a detailed and rigorous fashion” showing “how immune systems or their irreducibly complex components could have arisen through natural selection and random mutation.”

Intelligent Design, which holds that living things are so complex they must have been created, is at odds with Darwin’s theory which posits that all life, including humans, shares a common ancestry and developed over millions of years through random mutation and natural selection. Evolution also contends that man evolved from apes.

Behe said Intelligent Design theory allows for the existence of a designer in light of the “purposeful arrangement of parts,” for example, in complex biochemical processes such as blood clotting, which can’t be explained through the theory of evolution. It makes no difference that the designer is not identified, he said.

The trial began Sept. 26, almost a year after 11 people whose children attend or plan to attend Dover, Pa., schools, filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the Dover Area School Board’s decision to tell students about the existence of Intelligent Design was a backdoor attempt to bring religion into the classroom, violating what they see as the constitutional separation of church and state.

The case of Kitzmiller v. Dover is the first time a court has considered the validity of Intelligent Design and whether it can be part of a public school science curriculum. The case represents the first court review of evolution in nearly 20 years.

Matthew Chapman, Darwin’s great-great grandson who sat in the courtroom during Behe’s testimony Oct. 17, doesn’t think that evolution should still have doubters. “I don’t even think it’s about Darwin anymore.... I think Darwin has been used as a demonizing symbol,” Chapman told the Chicago Tribune. A director and screenwriter, he is making a documentary about the trial and writing about it for Harper’s magazine.

The Dover school board adopted a policy in October 2004 that requires teachers to read the following statement to ninth-grade science students before they commence study of chapters 15-17 in their biology textbook:

“The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is part.

“Because Darwin’s Theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The Theory is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is not evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.

“Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin’s view. The reference book, “Of Pandas and People,” is available in the library along with other resources for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves.

“With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the Origin of Life to individual students and their families. As a Standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on Standards-based assessments.”

The school board, after three weeks of being pounded by plaintiffs, opened its case with Behe, a fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, as its first witness. Behe, who wrote the chapter on blood-clotting for “Of Pandas and People,” said in court that bacterial flagellum, a self-propelling entity encased in a cell, along with processes such as blood-clotting, suggest an irreducible complexity that bear the mark of a designer.

“Intelligent design relies on physical, empirical, observable evidence from nature plus logical inferences,” Behe noted. Eric Rothschild, an attorney for the plaintiffs, grilled Behe during three days of cross-examination. Despite the plaintiffs’ attempt to link Intelligent Design with creationism, Behe said creationism is “180 degrees different from Intelligent Design, a scientific theory which makes no reference to the Bible or a divine creator.”

Rothschild pointed out to Behe that most major scientific associations in the country support evolution and reject Intelligent Design. “Your own university has taken a position against Intelligent Design,” Rothschild said. He presented a statement to the court by Lehigh’s biology department that it is “unequivocal in its support of evolution” and “intelligent design has no basis in science.”

Behe countered that while various science organizations have gone on record as opposed the teaching of Intelligent Design in public schools, they “misunderstand and mischaracterize Intelligent Design.”

“It’s the nature of the bureaucracy, I think, to issue statements like this,” he said.

During the second day of his testimony, Behe said, “When you start putting constraints on science, science suffers.” On several occasions, the biochemistry professor compared the scientific community’s resistance to Intelligent Design with the way it shunned the Big Bang theory, which was first proposed by a Belgian priest in 1927.

Students, Behe told the court, deserve the opportunity for exposure to another theory, such as Intelligent Design, so they can “look at the data in a couple of different ways.”

Behe continually hammered on the most oft-repeated criticism of evolution, that it has too many gaps. For example, the Lehigh professor has written extensively about the immune system of vertebrates or things with backbones.

There has been no evidence on how the immune system has evolved, Behe testified. Taking issue with him, Rothschild presented Behe with a binder that contained 58 peer-reviewed articles on the evolution of the immune system and asked him if they represented adequate evidence in support of evolution.

“I’m not confident the immune system arose through Darwinian causes,” Behe responded.

On Thursday, Oct. 20, Dover Area School District Supt. Richard Nilsen testified that he didn’t recommend Of Pandas and People as a science textbook, as some school board members had wanted, because teachers complained that it was outdated, contained some faulty science and was too high of a reading level for 9th graders to comprehend. Eventually, Nilsen said, the board and faculty agreed to make it a reference book.

The plaintiffs are represented, pro bono, by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Separation of Church and State and the Philadelphia law firm of Pepper Hamilton. The school district is represented, for no charge, by attorneys from the Thomas More law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. The non-jury trial is being argued before U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III.
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Health savings account option available via GuideStone in ’06
by Staff
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

DALLAS (BP)--GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention will make available for 2006 a new qualified high-deductible health plan (HDHP) with an accompanying health savings account (HSA).

GuideStone’s Health Saver 2600 health plan is designed specifically to meet the requirements of a federally qualified HDHP. By enrolling in the Health Saver 2600 plan, eligible employees of Southern Baptist churches and organizations can open an HSA through Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (Highmark).

An HSA is a special tax-advantaged savings account similar to an IRA but intended only to be used for medical expenses. This new “consumer-centered” approach to healthcare is available to people whose only health care coverage is provided through a qualified HDHP like GuideStone’s Health Saver 2600.

“While national healthcare costs continue to rise, GuideStone has been able to hold down rate increases for many of its participants,” said Douglas D. Day, executive director of benefit services at GuideStone. “In 2005, over 40 percent of our Personal Plans medical plan participants received a rate decrease and over 55 percent will receive a rate decrease for 2006. In fact, GuideStone’s Personal Plans medical plans have had zero percentage medical inflation for the past two years compared to 12-14 percent per year for the insurance industry.

“GuideStone is continuing to seek new ways to help our participants save money,” Day said. “HSAs encourage individuals to become more involved in their healthcare decisions by giving them more control over their healthcare dollars and greater incentive to spend those dollars wisely.”

Since the deductible (or amount one has to pay before HDHPs begin to cover benefits) is high, establishing an HSA to self-fund out-of-pocket healthcare expenses may help consumers save money.

“Because the Health Saver 2600 has a high deductible, $2,600 for an individual and $5,200 for a family, you pay a lower monthly rate than you would for a health plan with a lower deductible,” Day explained. “As a Health Saver 2600 participant, you can choose to withdraw money from your HSA to pay healthcare expenses as they incur or you can choose to accumulate funds in the account for future healthcare needs.”

HSA account holders are able to choose how to invest their account dollars, whether they need ready access to their contributions or want to consider longer-term growth potential. GuideStone participants who open an HSA through Highmark will invest their HSA monies in GuideStone Funds, a family of Christian-based, socially screened registered mutual funds representing virtually every major asset class, style and security diversification.

HSAs provide tax advantages to the account holder. Contributions and earnings are exempt from federal income taxes, and distributions also are tax-exempt as long as they are used for eligible medical services. Every year, the money not spent will stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA. Unused amounts remain available for later years, and because the account is owned by the individual, not the employer, an individual can keep his HSA if he changes employers.

To encourage individuals to get the important preventive care they need, federal law allows HDHPs to offer “first dollar” coverage for certain preventive care services. GuideStone’s Health Saver 2600 plan pays 80 percent of the cost of eligible preventive care services received from a Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO network provider. Participants do not have to meet the individual or family deductible before the plan begins to pay benefits for these services.

In addition to HSAs, GuideStone also offers health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). This employer-sponsored arrangement reimburses employees tax-free for eligible healthcare expenses not covered by the employee’s health plan. This allows employers to transition to lower-cost, higher-deductible health plans to save money. By using the HRA to pay a portion of its employees’ increased out-of-pocket expenses, the employer can offset the higher deductible of the plan for its employees.

“When individuals are given more control over how to spend their own money on healthcare, they make better decisions,” Day said. “We believe consumer-directed healthcare like HSAs and HRAs will become a popular option for individuals and employers looking to save money on healthcare.”
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For further information, including a prospectus outlining the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of GuideStone funds, call 1-800-262-0511 or visit www.GuideStone.org.


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FIRST-PERSON: Standing up to American Girl
by Dorothy Kelley Patterson
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--American Girl ranks right up there with motherhood and apple pie, and yet the company is reportedly being assaulted by “conservative activists” for their support of an organization that endorses liberal causes. This outcry, however, is not limited to “conservative activists." It extends to parents and grandparents and to all Americans who want not only to protect Judeo-Christian values but also to see these values implanted in the lives of their children.

American Girl has responded to its accusers with indignation. They do affirm that the profits from a wristband emblazoned with “I Can” are directed to Girls Inc, a national non-profit organization, “inspiring girls to be strong, smart, and bold” in the choices they make (see www.girlsinc.org). What are these “strong, smart, and bold” girls to do?

Girls Inc. encourages young girls to seek personal rights or empowerment to achieve their own dreams -- a dangerous pursuit, especially for young and vulnerable girls who have not been grounded in values of character and principles of virtue. The promotion of “self-esteem” is not necessarily innocent or beneficial, especially with modern influences. Should “self-image” be subject to and bound by the “God-image” received at creation? 

Do parents or society have the responsibility to equip girls with a value system for making their choices helpful and rewarding to them personally? Should girls be encouraged to make their choices in view of responsibility to society and even to the Creator God who graciously bestows life and ultimately controls the world and all within it? Should the choices of young girls include the offer of lesbianism, or contraceptive devices for promiscuous behavior, or abortion because of an unwanted pregnancy (options that are noted in a carefully worded document on the Girls Inc. website)? 

Despite their claims to altruism, Girls Inc. has a clearly defined political agenda. Endorsement of an organization by every definition of integrity should rest on agreement with clearly stated objectives of what it supports. Companies like American Girl spend their money as they choose, but consumers who make that possible are free to examine how those profits are spent. Responsible parents and grandparents would be foolish to give their daughters and granddaughters products from a company supporting what they abhor and believe dangerous for their children. 

Ultimately the issue is not an “I Can” bracelet; the real issue is integrity. I have purchased many products from American Girl, including matching Christmas dresses for my granddaughters and their American Girl dolls. They use American Girl roller bags with their dolls strapped in on our trips. Yes, my granddaughters are big fans of American Girl products. This is precisely the reason I must remove these products from their vulnerable lives and replace them with something wholesome and pure IF the corporate team at American Girl decides their targeted constituency is something other than people who want Judeo-Christian values to be encouraged and not attacked. 

This hill is one on which I am willing to die. This cause is one for which I intend to fight. I believe other mothers and grandmothers will join me in digging in their heels and voicing a resounding “no” to any product, however innocent on first glance, with the potential to undermine what we spend time and energy and resources to build up in the lives of our children.

Is there a solution? Yes, indeed!

-- Give the people at American Girl a chance to step up to the plate. Write them, call them or email them with your concerns. If they genuinely are interested in providing products invested with values, let them consider our concerns and respond appropriately.

-- If they ignore the concerns, convictions must direct our pocketbooks. Return unused products; refuse to support what has any potential to harm our girls. 

-- Choose another product to build character, teach history and bring delight to our girls. Two alternatives -- The Beautiful Girlhood Collection (www.visionforum.com/beautifulgirlhood/) and A Life of Faith (www.alifeoffaith.com) -- include exquisite dolls with clothing, books and other accessories. 

The privilege of rearing and nurturing precious girls is awesome indeed and worthy of our finest efforts. I am delighted to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to purchase products that build up and edify my granddaughters. But I refuse to be patronized and risk any deception that might prove devastating to my girls.
--30--
Dorothy Kelley Patterson is professor of theology in women’s studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.


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FIRST-PERSON: Developing a full-throttle faith
by Jack Graham
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

<i>Editor's note: Beginning in November, Jack Graham's column will run twice a month.</i>


PLANO, Texas (BP)--We live in a culture that continues to push the envelope to become more and more immoral. In the midst of this disintegration, why do Christians seem to have such a small and seemingly insignificant impact?

Millions of people consider themselves Christians saying they believe completely in the Word of God, but they often compromise its truth and are often weak, disengaged, and disinterested. 

The New Testament tells us of the fishermen and tax collectors -- common and ordinary men -- who were so infused with the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room that their actions would leave an everlasting imprint. The disciples acted upon this extraordinary transformation, and in an immoral culture much like ours -- full of paganism, false worship, idolatry, sexual immorality and more -- they rocked the world and turned it upside down for Christ. 

How can you and I turn the world upside down and influence people for Christ? One word -- passion. Jason and other passionate believers in the city of Thessalonica were brought before rulers of the city and accused of declaring Jesus as king rather than Caesar. The Bible says the evil mob cried out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6).

They made an impact on their city, despite the persecution they faced, and led many to believe that Christ was King. We need the same fuel, fire and energy that made such an impact on early followers of Jesus. Fortunately, it is very available and accessible.

In Acts 1:7-8 Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

They were given a seemingly impossible task when Christ commanded them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel against all odds and obstacles. Their faith was small, but Christ empowered them with the Holy Spirit and energized them with His passion for sharing the Message.

There are two conversions every believer must go through. We must first get out of the world, and then go back into the world. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we must be distinctively different from the rest of the world. While non-believers (and sometimes carnal believers) may entice you to participate in worldly things, it is our duty as Christians to determine whether we will separate from their ways in our words, actions, thoughts and attitudes.

Secondly, believers must go back into the world with the Gospel of Christ. Our culture has become increasingly anti-Christian, often in the name of tolerance. The alarm is ringing but many Christians are punching the snooze button. It is time to wake up, get filled up with the Spirit of Christ, and get going with the Gospel message.

Our task doesn’t lie somewhere in the future -- it is right here and now. But know this: you have God’s power available. The great evangelist D.L. Moody said, “You might as well try to hear without ears, see without eyes, and breathe without lungs as to witness or live without the Holy Spirit.”

Do you have a maxed-out, full-throttle faith in Christ? Do you engage the world with an uncompromised obedience to the Word of God? Do you express a courageous, confident faith in the Son of God -- the redeemer, risen, reigning and returning King and do you embrace complete surrender to the Spirit of God?

As Christians we are bold in our faith, not because we’re arrogant, but because we know the truth and can’t help but proclaim it. We couldn’t stop this story of Good News if we tried. Fired and fueled by the Spirit of God to take the Gospel around the world, we must make sure we have the passion of Jesus Christ and a full-throttle faith living in us.
--30--
For more information on Jack Graham, visit www.jackgraham.org. The website contains Graham's sermons in audio and video format, as well as an online store with resources. Visitors also can sign up for "A Daily Word from Pastor Graham."


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FIRST-PERSON: Making evangelism good news again
by John Avant
Date: October 25, 2005 - Tuesday

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--One of the enemy’s greatest lies is that people are not open to the message of Jesus. Most Christians are fearful that the people they talk to will be offended if they bring up spiritual things. Actually, I find this to be the most spiritually open time of my life. 

But don’t take it from me, just turn on the television. Every other show is dealing with spiritual issues. "Ghost Whisperer," "Lost," "Supernatural," "Night Stalker," "Medium" and so many more. They are all asking the questions for which the Bible has the answers. Granted, most of them are a long way from biblical truth, but why should we be surprised at that if we are not engaged in the conversation! 

Acts 1:8 tells us that we will receive power when the Spirit comes on us, and that we will be His witnesses. Do we believe that? Then we should wake up every day expecting that the power of God will be at work all around us, drawing people to Himself, making them open to His love. Then the only question will be whether we will share the Good News or miss out on all God could do with us.

I believe that our pastors have to lead out in making evangelism good news again. When pastors are honest, most admit that they don’t share Christ very often. It is easy for all of us to claim that we are too busy with other important things. I don’t think too many pastors would be busier than James Merritt -- a former SBC president, a great family man, a speaker all over the country and the pastor of a booming church. But he is not too busy to share the Good News and to look for God’s open doors to do it.

James and I found ourselves on a plane together a few weeks ago. When we landed in Nashville we took a taxi together. Our cab driver told us he was a Muslim. His name was Mamadou. Now it would have been so easy for James to assume that this Muslim man would not be open. But James simply asked him what he believed about Jesus. Mamadou immediately began to tell us how he had become disappointed with Islam because of terrorism. Someone had given him a Bible in French, which excited him because he reads French. But he did not understand what he was reading. 

James and I proceeded to do tag-team witnessing all the way to the hotel. When we arrived, our new friend pulled over and continued the conversation. James pulled no punches. He told Mamadou that he could not follow both Mohammed and Jesus. Mamadou lifted his hands up to pray and said, “I believe in Jesus!” I prayed with him and he became our brother!  

Mamadou called me a few days ago. He is going through follow-up material in French. Now do you think James and I will be quiet about this? We’re telling this story everywhere. That’s the way it is with evangelism. It’s so much fun that you never get over it. And the incredible fact is that God is moving all around you today -- opening doors in the hearts of people who are waiting to hear, waiting for you to walk through the open door into their hearts and lives. Thanks James, my friend, for setting an example for all of us. Let’s join him and make evangelism good news again.
--30--
John Avant is vice president for evangelization at the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.



