
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-11/01/2005

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Hopes for Bush presidential library at Baylor buoyed by location, institutional values
by Gregory Tomlin
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

WACO, Texas (BP)--Administrators at Baylor University are awaiting announcement of the future location of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Archives with subdued confidence that the Waco, Texas, campus will land the project.

Baylor remains in the race for the library with three other institutions -- the University of Dallas, Southern Methodist University, also in Dallas, and a consortium of schools, including Texas Tech University, in Lubbock. But Baylor is the only one that can offer the library project what it needs: land and easy accessibility.

The Baptist university stands ready to provide more than 150 acres of land to the library and its accompanying museum. Added to that is the university’s location, virtually equidistant from San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, the major population centers in Texas.

“Seventeen &#91;million&#93; of the 21 million people who live in Texas live within a 200-mile radius of Baylor University,” said Tommie Lou Davis, chief of staff in the office of Baylor University Chancellor Robert Sloan. “That position offers us what the other campuses cannot: location and accessibility for a large portion of the people of Texas.”

Davis said she is confident that a presidential library in Waco could easily attract some 600,000 visitors in the first year, much like the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark.

The vision for the Bush library on the Baylor campus began nearly 10 years ago, long before George W. Bush was elected president and even before “Baylor 2012,” Sloan’s sometimes controversial plan to elevate Baylor to the status of a tier-one university. President Bush also has ties to the university, having been awarded an honorary doctorate while he was serving as governor of Texas.

Sloan, in an interview, said, “Although this vision for the library antedates 2012, it is consistent with the effort of 2012, that of building a great tier-one university. It will offer Baylor University visibility, a path for outreach, and an unparalleled opportunity for research.”

In what could be described as one of Sloan’s more brilliant moves as Baylor’s president, the embattled leader hired three of the nation’s top consultants in the business of presidential libraries before Bush was first elected in 2000. He said that when the race for capturing the library began in earnest last year, other schools attempted to hire the consultants away. “To their credit, they stayed with us,” Sloan said.

The consultants hired by Baylor were Don Wilson, former director of the George Bush Presidential Library Center in College Station, Texas; John Fawcett, who served as director of the presidential library system from 1987-94; and Terry Sullivan, an expert in online archiving.

“They were persuaded that we had the makings of a great proposal,” Sloan said.

Staffers from Baylor visited all of the presidential libraries around the country, Davis said, noting the best characteristics of each of the libraries, such as the educational outreach program of the Truman library, and then incorporating them into the university’s 178-page proposal. That proposal outlines land use; university programs that would support the museum, archives and oral history project; and the university’s mission statement and the imperatives of Baylor 2012.

An event out of Baylor’s control also contributed to its hopes for the library. When President Bush purchased a ranch a short distance from the Waco campus, locating the facility at Baylor seemed logical. “When they bought the property in Crawford, that was a big boost to our hopes,” Sloan said.

But Sloan sees Baylor’s institutional values as the main reason the university is high in the running for the library, citing as examples the school’s church-state studies program and the Center for Religious Inquiry Across the Disciplines.

“The placement of the library here would be a great point of pride for Baptists, but it is larger than any one group,” Sloan said. “It goes beyond Baylor. It is an affirmation of the state, the values that the president holds, and the values held by the people who love Baylor.”

“A faith-based institution such as ours easily aligns with George W. Bush’s vision for government,” Davis said. “George W. and Laura Bush impress me as the people who are inclusive of others. That is the kind of place that Baylor is -— welcoming.”

Sloan also said a presidential library at Baylor would affirm the place of Christians in American political life, as well as the position of the Christian university.

“Such a library speaks volumes to all of us about the importance of public service. Sometimes people want to withdraw from public involvement, but a presidential library on a private, faith-based campus would be a real affirmation of the need to be involved,” Sloan said.

“As for its position on the campus of a Christian university, it shows that they are an important part of the total fabric of higher education in the American experience. Christian universities bring diversity to the table,” he said.

If the presidential library lands at Baylor, Sloan said he would be proud, but he quickly deferred any notion that he should receive credit, or that the presence of the library would validate his presidency, which ended after he resigned under pressure from regents earlier this year.

“Presidents come and go, but what should abide is the institution’s character and mission,” Sloan said.

Davis said she anticipates that a great celebration at Baylor will ensue the day the announcement of the library’s location is made. She likened the campaign for the library to last year’s NCAA women’s tournament.

“We’ve made it to the final four. We want to be just like the Lady Bears. We want to finish the job,” she said.

Sloan and Davis said they hope the site chosen for the George W. Bush Presidential Library will be announced by the end of the year.
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Group calls for American Girl boycott, says alternatives exist
by Michael Foust
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A pro-life group Nov. 1 called for a boycott of the popular American Girl doll and book series during the Christmas shopping season, saying the company's ties to an organization supportive of abortion rights and lesbianism are unacceptable.

The Pro-Life Action League's announcement came three weeks after it first spotlighted American Girl's partnership with Girls Inc., a nonprofit youth organization whose advocacy statement supports legalized abortion, contraceptive access and assistance for girls exploring their "sexual orientation." Prior to 1990, Girls Inc. was known as Girls Clubs of America.

For each $1 "I Can" bracelet American Girl sells, the company has pledged to donate 70 cents to Girls Inc. In addition to the proceeds netted from bracelet sales, American Girl -- a subsidiary of Mattel -- has promised to donate $50,000 to the organization. The "I Can" bracelet was launched in September as a way of encouraging girls to "follow their dreams." The American Girl doll and book series is popular among young girls.

"We hope to show American Girl that there are a number of us who really care about what is right and who are offended by their affiliation with Girls Inc.," Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Ann Scheidler told Baptist Press.

Conservative Christians, she said, need to "put our money where our mouth is … and not spend money with American Girl."

Another pro-family group, the American Family Association, has urged concerned citizens to contact American Girl and express their disappointment.

Scheidler and other conservative leaders have urged Christians to explore alternatives to American Girl. Two of the more popular ones are A Life of Faith dolls (www.alifeoffaith.com) and the Beautiful Girlhood Collection (www.visionforum.com/beautifulgirlhood).

"We asked people to call &#91;American Girl&#93;," Scheidler said. "We know they got tons of calls, and we know that we had some impact because they took the I Can project off their home page."

Already, the controversy has led a Catholic school in Wisconsin to cancel an American Girl Fashion Show, the Associated Press reported. Frank Malloy, pastor of St. Luke School in Brookfield, wrote to parents, saying, "The cost is too high. Our integrity isn't for sale." Only 60-65 of the shows are held throughout the U.S. each year, and the school could have raised more than $10,000, AP said. The shows involve young girl models carrying dolls and wearing the same outfits as the dolls. 

Although American Girl has yet to return phone calls from Baptist Press, it released a statement in September, saying, "We are profoundly disappointed that certain groups have chosen to misconstrue American Girl's purely altruistic efforts and turn them into a broader political statement on issues that we, as a corporation, have no position."

The company also maintains the money it gives to Girls Inc. benefits programs for education and leadership that are separate from Girls Inc.'s advocacy.

"That just frees up the money that is already in the bank to spend it on whatever project Girls Inc. wants," Scheidler said. "You can dedicate $50,000 or $100,000 to academic pursuits, and then whatever money you've got, put it into your sex-ed programs that support condoms for teenage girls."

Young girls, Scheidler said, are being introduced to Girls Inc. through the "I Can" bracelets.

"It really concerns us about the whole concept of drawing girls from American Girl -- who are little girls -- into this whole agenda of the Girls Inc. organization," she said. "The more and more I look into it, the more questionable it is. There are many areas on that website that give you a clear indication that they have a radical agenda."

Girls Inc.'s website includes a "Bill of Rights" which states girls have the right "to accept and appreciate their bodies." According to Girls Inc., that right also includes abortion.

"We recognize the right of all women to choose whether, when, and under what circumstances to bear children," an advocacy statement on the website states. "Reproductive freedom and responsibility are essential to other rights and opportunities, including pursuit of education, employment, financial security and a stable and fulfilling family life. Restrictions of reproductive choice are especially burdensome for young women and poor women. Girls Incorporated supports a woman’s freedom of choice, a constitutional right established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade."

The Girls Inc. advocacy statement, adopted in 2000, also vows to fight "homophobia."

"We recognize that any sizable group of girls includes those who face issues related to their sexual orientation or that of a family member and who face discrimination based on this sexual orientation," the statement reads. "Girls have a right to positive, supportive environments and linkages to community resources for dealing with issues of sexual orientation."

The statement says that abstinence should be the "first choice" but that girls should have "convenient access to safe, effective methods of contraception."
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Millions donated for SBC disaster relief providing ministry
by Mickey Noah
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, more than 25,000 separate donations totaling more than $18 million have poured into the North American Mission Board -- so many that the Southern Baptist Convention entity has hired temporary help to process the gifts. Nearly $10 million of that amount has already been sent to the devastated areas to minister to needs of individuals and Southern Baptist churches and to share Christ.

Most of the checks have been in the $25-$100 range and often come with notes expressing concern for hurricane victims and usually include a “God Bless You” to Southern Baptists for their unprecedented disaster relief efforts the last two months in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama and Florida.

Individual donations have been as little as two quarters taped to an index card and as much as half a million dollars. One woman inserted a $5,000 check into an envelope -– without a note or instruction of any kind -– and simply scribbled NAMB’s address on it and mailed it. Another individual sent a personal check for $10,000.

One note from a California mother indicated that her little girl had collected $231 by asking friends to forego presents at her recent 9th birthday party.

Another envelope included $90 with a note written in pencil in the unmistakable scrawl of a child, saying that she hoped the hurricane “peopil get hellp. I hope they get bedder.”

Contributions have arrived from every state in the union, and not all donors were Baptists or even believers.

Significant contributions also have been sent by churches, associations, state Baptist conventions, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and other SBC entities, but also from banks, corporations, clubs and foundations.

Many of the non-Southern Baptist gifts resulted from a series of fundraising letters sent on NAMB’s behalf to 300,000 people who had given previously to conservative political causes. The fundraising agency based in Virginia is owned by a friend of NAMB development officer Claude Rhea.

“My friend called a couple of weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the coast, and said he’d like to help us raise funds for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief,” Rhea said. “He believed that many who were not Southern Baptist would welcome the opportunity to give to a Christian organization that was ministering to millions if they only knew about us -– especially when 100 percent of every gift goes directly to meeting needs.”

Rhea said the letters generated more than three-quarters of a million dollars and the administrative cost of the mailings was paid from NAMB operating expenses, not disaster relief monies.

So what are the gifts being used for?

“The North American Mission Board has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on food, fuel, lodging, communications, building materials and other immediate needs for victims, families, churches, pastors, relief workers and others in the affected areas,” explained Robert E. “Bob” Reccord, president of NAMB. “And, we’ve sent over $9 million dollars to our mission partner state conventions in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas because they’re the ones who know the needs better than anyone else.

“For instance, we just sent checks for $2.5 million each to Mississippi and Louisiana and last week we sent checks for half a million dollars each to the two state Baptist conventions in Texas, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention,” Reccord said. “I talked with both their executive directors and told them those funds epitomize our interdependence as Southern Baptists. We depend on each other to be able to minister and witness to those around us. Cooperation is the key to Southern Baptists and nothing has demonstrated that cooperation like disaster relief.”

With official hurricane season continuing until the end of November and the multi-year rebuilding just starting, Southern Baptist relief efforts remain in high gear.

Contributions for disaster relief may be sent to state conventions, associations or churches responding to the effort or to NAMB. Donations to Southern Baptist Disaster Relief may be made online, www.NAMB.net, or by calling1-866-407-6262. Contributions also can be mailed to the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, North American Mission Board, Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368-6543.

Disaster relief information including downloadable videos are posted regularly at www.NAMB.net.
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Blessed at the outset, church remains grateful for CP
by Karen L. Willoughby
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

ALBUQUERQUE (BP)--First Baptist Church of West Albuquerque doesn’t participate in the Cooperative Program out of obligation, but to pass on the blessing, as pastor Tim Marrow puts it.

Originally named Taylor Ranch Baptist Church, the congregation was birthed with Cooperative Program gifts and has given back at least 10 percent of its offerings from the beginning.

With its 10th anniversary, the church began increasing its CP Missions gifts upward a quarter of a percent every other year.

"It's 11.5 percent at present; in January it'll be 11.75 and our goal for 2008 is 12 percent," Marrow said. "God has blessed us so much, we just feel like we could do more than just give a tithe."

Every church can be a part of helping fulfill the Great Commission through the Cooperative Program, Marrow said. "Because we support the Cooperative Program, our church supports more than 10,000 missionaries. And not just missionaries, but our six seminaries and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission too."

As part of its Great Commission focus, First Baptist disciples and equips its members and provides ways they can reach out to those who live in the rapidly growing area west of the Rio Grande River.

Nearly 400 people gather for Sunday worship at 7:30 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m., with Bible study for all ages at 8:30 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.

During the school year, while children are in choir on Sunday evenings, adults meet in a variety of discipleship small groups, such as "Running the Rapids" for parents and grandparents of teens, "When worldviews collide," "Wild at Heart," and a Beth Moore study: "He speaks to me."

About 150 youngsters participate in a midweek AWANA program, including many whose families don't go to church. 

Recent local missions projects include gathering sleeping bags and backpacks filled with toiletries to be given on an as-needed basis to the homeless and collecting cleaning products for the Baptist Children's Home in Portales, N.M.

And, in its Operation Penetration initiative this year, church members are aiming to distribute 20,000 yellow door-hanging bags with information about the church and the positive difference God can make in people's lives. The contents also include children's activity pages, tracts and a Purpose-Driven Life booklet.

"We've worked it through the Sunday School," Marrow said. "We started with 5,000; the idea was that 100 people could take 50 bags each. That worked, so we thought we'd do 5,000 more."

First Baptist of West Albuquerque now plans to set out an additional 10,000 yellow bags by Easter in other local areas west of the Rio Grande, the pastor said.

"People have been very receptive to receiving them," Marrow said. "We have received first-time guests as a result -- and God blesses us as we go, because even people we don't visit find their way here. When you look at the parable of the soils, especially from Mark 4, that's what we're doing: touching as many people as possible."

When the church was started, all its members lived in the same zip code. Today, members live in 17 zip codes; each of those zip codes are part of Operation Penetration.

Mission trips help First Baptist members touch even more people. For at least four years, teens from the church have participated in World Changers construction missions projects. Adults and youth three times have gone to Bangkok, Thailand; the pastor has gone to Moscow.

"Albuquerque has a population of 480,000, or 600,000 in the surrounding area," Marrow said. "That's not many compared to Moscow's 12 million and Bangkok's 9 million. You catch a greater vision of the lostness of mankind when you realize how few of the people in huge cities like these have a personal relationship with Jesus.... It gives people a greater sense of the need for reaching people for Jesus Christ and reaching as many as you can when they go on these mission trips."

Sunday School classes at First Baptist of West Albuquerque reach out in additional ways, such as serving a meal for single moms, dishing up a meal for homeless residents and helping through Samaritan's Purse and Angel Tree programs. And for seven years, the church has participated in the GROW Sunday School outreach program -- God Rewards Our Work -- which includes writing cards, making personal visits and sharing evangelistically.

"We've been able to put many hooks in the water, evangelistically speaking," the pastor said.

"It all comes back to the Great Commission,” he noted. “Even in our new members' luncheons and orientations, I talk to them about the Cooperative Program. I explain it to them and let them know the importance of cooperating with our Southern Baptist brothers and sisters.... Every church has its own identity but &#91;the Cooperative Program&#93; is something every Southern Baptist church can be a part of, so that every person has an opportunity to hear the Gospel before Jesus returns."
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Cooperative Program giving meets budget at outset of fiscal year
by Staff
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Contributions through the Cooperative Program in October met the Southern Baptist Convention’s CP Allocation Budget for the first month of the new fiscal year, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Morris H. Chapman.

The $15,886,642.51 received in October is $64,537.93 above the $15,822,104.58 budgeted, or 100.41 percent of budget to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America.

The $15,886,642.51 received in October, however, fell 7.97 percent compared to the first month of the SBC’s last fiscal year, in October 2004 when $17,263,172.52 was received, a difference of $1,376,530.01.

In designated giving, the $3,552,248.47 received in October was $350,810.80 above the $3,201,437.67 received in October 2004, an increase of 10.96 percent.

On Sept. 19, the SBC Executive Committee, acting ad interim on behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention, voted unanimously to use beyond-the-budget Cooperative Program contributions for SBC national causes during the first quarter (October, November, December 2005) of the fiscal year in three areas of extraordinary need among Southern Baptists in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

One-half of the total is earmarked for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (to aid faculty and students recover from losses and to help rebuild the campus), one-fourth will go to the three state conventions most affected by the hurricane (to keep ministers in the field and to assist churches in recovery) and one-fourth to the North American Mission Board (to support the extensive hurricane disaster relief operations).

The Executive Committee also voted to use beyond-the-budget Cooperative Program contributions received for last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, in the same manner -– sending $12,496,728.55 to aid in recovery needs from the massive destruction in late August.

The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists' method of supporting missions and ministry efforts of state and regional conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Cooperative Program total includes receipts from individuals, churches, state conventions and fellowships for distribution according to the 2004-05 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.

Designated contributions include the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund and other special gifts.

State and regional conventions retain a portion of church contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program to support work in their respective areas and forward a percentage to Southern Baptist national and international causes. The percentage of distribution is at the discretion of each state or regional convention.
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United Methodist high court defrocks lesbian pastor
by Staff
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

HOUSTON (BP)--Conservatives within the United Methodist Church won two crucial victories regarding the issue of homosexuality when the denomination’s Judicial Council ruled that a lesbian minister should indeed be defrocked and a pastor who had refused to allow an unrepentant homosexual to join his congregation should be reinstated.

The decisions were handed down in conjunction with the court’s Oct. 26-29 fall meeting in Houston and set the tone for the immediate future of the Methodist church, indicating it might not dash down the path to unrestrained liberalism that other mainline denominations such as the Episcopal Church USA have taken.

In a 6-2 decision, the Judicial Council reversed an appeals court ruling and restored the original trial court verdict in the case of Irene Elizabeth Stroud, an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Germantown, Pa., who disclosed to her congregation that she was participating in an active homosexual relationship.

A clergy trial court last December convicted Stroud of violating church law, which forbids the ordination and appointment of “self-avowed practicing” homosexuals. The court rescinded Stroud’s credentials, and she moved into a lay leadership position at the church. But an appeals committee for the denomination’s Northeast Jurisdiction overturned the jury’s decision in April, ruling that the church’s policies regarding homosexuality were contradictory.

“The Northeast Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals erred in reversing and setting aside the verdict and penalty from Rev. Stroud’s trial,” the Judicial Council said in its eight-page ruling, according to a release by the United Methodist News Service Oct. 31.

The appeals committee was without jurisdiction in its interpretation of the denomination’s Book of Discipline to establish a new standard of doctrine contrary to the existing rules, the court said, and the original trial court “correctly stated the law of the church.”

In response to the ruling, Stroud said in a telephone interview with the news service that she “will continue to stay in the United Methodist Church and work for change. Today’s decision shows that the existing discrimination in the United Methodist Church is clear. There’s no room to be in denial about that. But if you stay in the relationship, there is opportunity for conversation.”

The Judicial Council also said the Book of Discipline does not ban people with same-sex orientation from the ministry; it only bans those who act on those desires just as it bans heterosexuals who practice their orientation in prohibited ways such as outside the bounds of fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness.

In the second major case dealing with homosexuality, the Judicial Council ruled 5-3 that pastors in the denomination do have the power to decide who becomes a member of a local church after a Virginia pastor was placed on involuntary leave of absence for refusing to allow a homosexual man to move his membership to the church.

Ed Johnson, pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church in South Hill, Va., was placed on involuntary leave without pay in June after he kept a man from joining the church roll because the man would neither repent nor seek to live a different lifestyle, according to the Methodist news service.

The court said the Book of Discipline “invests discretion in the pastor-in-charge to make determination of a person’s readiness to affirm the vows of membership,” and they ordered that Johnson be immediately reinstated to the status he held before being placed on leave of absence, including all salary and benefits retroactive to July 1.

Mark Tooley, director of The Institute on Religion and Democracy’s program for United Methodists, said in an Oct. 31 news release, “Thankfully, the Judicial Council has upheld the clear meaning of United Methodism’s standards on marriage and sex, which have been repeatedly ratified by the church’s governing General Conference every four years since 1972.”

He added, “Undoubtedly, some in the declining regions of the church will continue to try to find ways to circumvent church law,” referring to Methodists in the Northeast and West Coast, where membership is swiftly falling. “The debate over this issue will certainly continue for some years. But the future of the church, whose membership is increasingly international, belongs to the theological orthodoxy and historic Christianity.”
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Colo. convention celebrates half-century of ministry
by Claudean Boatman
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (BP)--“Days of Glory: A Place Where the Past and the Future Meet in the Living Present” was the theme of the Colorado Baptist General Convention’s 50th anniversary meeting. Applewood Baptist Church in Wheat Ridge hosted the Oct. 21-22 sessions as well as the Bible/Pastors Conference Oct. 20.

Convention speakers included longtime Colorado pastor Lewis Adkison; Robert E. (Bob) Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board; Thom Rainer, president-elect of LifeWay Christian Resources; and Reggie McNeal, director of the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s leadership team.

Dennis Jernigan, a noted worship leader, and Larnelle Harris, a popular Christian artist, provided music for the meeting.

Reccord, McNeal and Michael Wright, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lone Tree, led the Bible/Pastors Conference.

On hand for the CBGC’s anniversary and convention business were 268 messengers representing 90 Colorado Baptist churches. A large number of guests also attended.

A “Voices from the Past” celebration Friday morning featured founding members of the convention and those who were part of the convention’s early days. Truett McGregor spoke by video of starting a church in Fort Collins in 1955. Bob Lawrence, who retired from the CBGC in 1984, shared how he was called to help begin the Northern Plains Convention in 1967 where he served for seven years before returning to Colorado.

Joe Cherry, the second camp manager of what was then called the Ponderosa Southern Baptist Assembly (now Ponderosa Retreat and Conference Center), said the greatest thrill of his service was seeing children come to faith in Christ.

Nicy Murphy shared her thoughts about the Colorado convention through a letter read by Mark Edlund, CBGC executive director. Murphy was the state’s first Woman’s Missionary Union executive secretary, and the Colorado State Missions Offering is named in her honor.

Jernigan focused attention on God throughout the day, and Harris, joined by a mass choir, led in upbeat worship during the evening celebration.

In the executive director’s report Friday evening, Edlund said, “We are a strong conservative state convention free of division and controversy. This is the wonderful legacy we Colorado Baptists of today have been given.

“Fifty years ago,” he added, “at this October meeting, our convention was birthed by about 40 constituted churches in Colorado meeting at the First Southern Baptist Church in Colorado Springs. This afternoon we talked about the present. The CBGC has never been stronger.”

The convention is debt-free, Edlund noted, also listing such advances as Ponderosa’s completion of a waste management system bringing the conference center into compliance and on good terms with the county and the Rocky Mountain Campus of the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary now being accredited with 80 students.

Edlund challenged Colorado Southern Baptists to leave a legacy of “thousands of lives radically changed by Christ.” He referred to the 2020 Vision adopted by the CBGC in 2003, which he said is the total saturation of Colorado with the Gospel of Christ.

Throughout the meeting, the importance of the Cooperative Program and the involvement of laypersons in ministry also were affirmed.

Messengers approved a $3.7 million budget, including forwarding 29.25 percent of Cooperative Program receipts from Colorado churches for national and international missions and ministries, up from the current 29 percent.

Three churches were approved for credentialing: Hope Valley in Aurora, CenterPoint in Littleton and Matthew’s House in Durango.

Doug Lohrey, CBGC associate executive director, reported that the Baptist Foundation of Colorado continues to grow healthier and that foundation money is being invested conservatively and being used to help churches.

New officers were elected by acclamation: president, Charlie Jones, pastor of Fellowship of the Rockies in Pueblo; first vice president, Darrin Crow, pastor of Heart of Junction Church in Grand Junction; second vice president, Sean Cole, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Sterling; recording secretary, Ginger LeBlanc, executive secretary at the CBGC; and associate recording secretary Katee Goode, ministry assistant at the CBGC.

Four resolutions were presented and approved by messengers. One honored those Southern Baptists who began work in Colorado more than 50 years ago. Another resolution pledged prayer for President George W. Bush and elected officials as they selected the next Supreme Court justice, who was subsequently named Oct. 31.

Next year’s annual meeting will be Oct. 16-18 at Fellowship of the Rockies in Pueblo.
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Charles Page’s 9-year battle with cancer ends at age 66
by Art Toalston
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP)--Charles Page, a pastor whose battle with cancer drew prayer support from far beyond his North Carolina church, died Oct. 28 at his home in Charlotte, N.C. He was 66.

Page was pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlotte.

The Charlotte Observer recounted, “... it was his nine-year struggle to hold off cancer that probably moved more people to prayer than any one sermon. Since being diagnosed in 1996 with multiple myeloma -- cancer that develops in the blood -- Page struggled to the pulpit for as many Sunday mornings as he could to share God's word. Some Sundays he leaned on a cane and couldn't shake hands afterward for fear of infection, his wife &#91;Sandra&#93; serving as his careful and loving bodyguard.”

Page had led the 3,500-member downtown congregation since 1991 and from 1982-85, punctuated by the pastorate of First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.

In 2003, he was honored with the naming of the Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. He is a graduate of the seminary and his wife is a former trustee.

He was a vice president of the trustee board of the Southern Baptist Convention’s former Christian Life Commission (now Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission) in the mid-1990s. He resigned as a trustee the year after his diagnosis.

Page learned of the cancer prior to a mission trip to Russia and subsequently underwent four bone marrow transplant operations, the latest earlier this year, at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy in Little Rock.

At the time of his diagnosis, deacon chairman Harry Stegall suggested that church members pray for Page’s healing every time they saw a UPS truck, reminding them of the “Urgent Prayer Support” the pastor needed.

“Dr. Page further challenged us to pray not just for him, but also for another person who is in need of God’s help,” the church’s website recounts.

Page continued working and preaching when not sidelined by chemotherapy, at times making pastoral visits by telephone from his Arkansas hospital room. Guest preachers filled when needed; church members “stepped in to fill every gap,” as the website put it; and the congregation continued to grow.

“Through this entire process, Pastor and People have fallen more deeply in love with God and one another,” the website stated prior to his death. “The example of Dr. Page’s faith in God is inspiring to thousands of people, in the church, in the area, and around the nation. We admire Dr. Page as a man of God who walks daily with God and is filled with the Holy Spirit.”

In addition to his wife, Page is survived by two sons, David, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, and Robbie, pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Charlotte.

The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, at First Baptist in Charlotee.

Memorials may be made to the Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology at Southeastern Seminary; First Baptist Church’s Congregational Health Ministry; or the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy.
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Book autographed by Billy Graham helps prof restore library
by Gary D. Myers
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

ATLANTA (BP)--Preston Nix had only been at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary one month when Hurricane Katrina inundated the campus with water. A newly appointed evangelism and preaching professor, Nix lost everything –- his home, his books and 30-plus years of sermon notes.

Nix’s sister, Amber Pendleton, wanted to do something special for her brother during this time of hurt and displacement. Knowing her brother’s high regard for the work of Billy Graham, Pendleton contacted the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association seeking an autographed copy of one of the evangelist’s books.

Graham’s correspondence secretary, Carol Segerstrom, gladly sent an autographed copy of Graham’s classic work “How to be Born Again.”

But Segerstrom did not stop there. Despite Graham’s continuing health problems, he and his staff chose a selection of books from his personal library to send to Nix.

In a note that accompanied the books, Graham’s assistant wrote that the Graham organization wanted to do more but could only give a gift of this nature to one person.

“I &#91;re&#93;started my library with a signed copy of ‘How to Be Born Again’ and some of Billy’s own books,” Nix said. “I’m so grateful.”

Nix came to the seminary after serving 11 years as pastor of Eastwood Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla. He also has served churches in Texas. Nix was appointed to serve as associate professor of evangelism and preaching and director of supervised ministry in July.
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FIRST-PERSON: Homosexuality in theological perspective, part 2
by R. Albert Mohler Jr.
Date: November 01, 2005 - Tuesday

Editor's note: This column is the second in a four-part series on homosexuality and the Bible.


LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--The issue of homosexuality is a "first-order" theological issue as it presents itself in the current cultural debate. Fundamental truths essential to the Christian faith are at stake in this confrontation. These truths range from basic issues of theism to biblical authority, the nature of human beings, God's purpose and prerogatives in creation, sin, salvation, sanctification and, by extension, the entire body of evangelical divinity.

Put bluntly, if the claims put forward by the homosexual movement are true, the entire system of the Christian faith is compromised, and some essential truths will fall.

Lest this be seen as an overstatement, consider the issue of biblical authority and inspiration. If the claims of revisionist exegetes are valid, then the very notions of verbal inspiration and biblical inerrancy are invalidated. But the challenge is yet deeper, for if, as the revisionist interpreters claim, Holy Scripture can be so wrong and misdirected on this issue (to which it speaks so unambiguously), the evangelical paradigm of biblical authority cannot stand.

As is the case with most ideological campaigns directed to the church, the homosexual movement comes complete with a well-defined hermeneutic. In fact, politico-ideological crusades which aspire for influence within the churches must develop and articulate what I will term a hermeneutic of legitimation, designed to provide at least the appearance of biblical sanction. Thus, biblical interpretation becomes contested territory between rival worldviews.

The homosexual movement has employed a well-documented hermeneutic suspicion toward biblical texts which address homosexuality. Their efforts have been to prove that the actions proscribed in biblical passages (notably Genesis 19 and Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) do not refer to consensual homosexual acts, but to homosexual rape and prostitution. Or, when this effort is crushed on the shores of reality, to suggest that though the passages do speak of homosexual acts, they reveal a patriarchal and oppressive bias that must be rejected by the contemporary church. Furthermore, it is commonly argued, Paul did not know of the reality of homosexual orientation, and thus Romans 1:26-27 must be read as if it referred to homosexual acts on the part of otherwise heterosexual persons.

The net result of this hermeneutic of legitimation has been confusion in the churches. It has become the standard and politically correct perspective assumed in most sectors of the academy, and it is increasingly prevalent among members of the mainline Protestant denominations. Disappointingly, a number of evangelicals have been taken in as well.

An early attempt at revising the church's view of homosexuality was undertaken by D. Sherwin Bailey in "Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition," but the most influential work came 25 years later with the publication of "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality" by John Boswell, a professor of history at Yale University. Similar proposals have come from figures such as John J. McNeill, a former Jesuit expelled from the order for his views on homosexuality. The most significant recent contribution to this debate is L. William Countryman's "Dirt, Sex, and Greed."

The revisionist hermeneutic, as applied to Romans 1:26-27, has been employed to argue that the text means something quite different from the church's traditional interpretation. By employing circumventions, circumlocutions, and contortions, the text's meaning is revised so as to negate its judgment upon homosexuality.

The critical issue used as a hermeneutical device by the revisionists is the concept of sexual orientation. The modern "discovery" of sexual orientation is used to deny the truth claim clearly and inescapably made within the biblical text. For example, in regard to the Romans text, Janet Fishburn of Drew University Theological School argues: "Yet, some biblical scholars point out that this passage can only refer to the homosexual acts of heterosexual persons. This is because the writers of the Bible did not distinguish between homosexual orientation and same-gender sexual acts. If this distinction is accepted, the condemnation of homosexuality in Romans does not apply to the sexual acts of homosexual persons."

Similarly, New Testament professor Victor Paul Furnish argued that since Paul was unaware of the modern concept of homosexual orientation, his rejection of homosexuality must itself be rejected: "Not only the terms, but the concepts of 'homosexual,' and 'homosexuality' were unknown in Paul's day. These terms like 'heterosexual,' 'heterosexuality,' 'bisexual' and 'bisexuality,' presuppose an understanding of human sexuality that was possible only with the advent of modern psychology and sociological analysis. The ancient writers were operating without the vaguest idea of what we have learned to call 'sexual orientation.'"

Just how far some are willing to go in an effort to contort the biblical text is made clear by Countryman. Again, the issue is the construct of sexual orientation: "Homosexual orientation has been increasingly recognized in our time as a given of human sexuality. While most people feel some attraction to members of both the same and the opposite sex and, in the majority of these, attraction to the opposite sex dominates, there is a sizable minority for whom sexual attraction to persons of the same sex is a decisive shaping factor of their sexual lives…. To deny an entire class of human beings the right peaceably and without harming others to pursue the kind of sexuality that corresponds to their nature is a perversion of the gospel." 

These statements indicate the general approach taken by revisionist scholarship and the ever-widening scope of the revisionist sweep. The hermeneutic of legitimation has been stunningly effective in forming a culture which accepts homosexual behavior and denies binding authority to clear biblical injunctions. But this trend is not limited to mainline Protestantism and liberal Roman Catholicism. Some who claim evangelical identity also share the same revisionist methodology and conclusions. In an article published in the evangelical journal "TSF Bulletin," Kathleen E. Corley and Karen J. Torjesen argue that: "It would appear then that in Paul issues of sexuality are theologically related to hierarchy, and therefore the issues of biblical feminism and lesbianism are irrefutably intertwined.... In the end, it would seem that if the church is going to deal with the issues of sexuality it is also going to have to deal with hierarchy. We need to grapple with the possibility that our conflicts over the appropriate use of human sexuality may rather be conflicts rooted in a need to legitimate and traditional social structure which assigns men and women specific and unequal positions. Could it be that the continued affirmation of the primacy of heterosexual marriage is possibly also the affirmation of the necessity for the sexes to remain in hierarchically structured relationships? Is the threat to marriage really a threat to hierarch? Is that what makes same-sex relationships so threatening, so frightening?"

The arguments appeal to modern therapeutic constructs such as the hypothetical sexual orientation and use these to call into judgment the meaning of the biblical text. The essence of the complex revisionist arguments comes down to this: either the biblical texts do not proscribe homosexuality, but have been misconstrued by an oppressive heterosexist and patriarchal church to deny homosexuals their rights; or, the biblical texts do proscribe homosexuality, but are oppressive, heterosexists, and patriarchal in themselves, and thus must be rejected or radically re-interpreted in order to remove the scandal of oppression.

What must be transparently clear by now is that these revisionist methodologies and hermeneutics of legitimation deny the truth status of Holy Scripture. The passages are not merely re-interpreted in light of clear historical-grammatical exegesis -- they are subverted and denied by implication and direct assault. But few revisionists are as direct in their assault as William M. Kent, a member of the United Methodist Committee to Study Homosexuality. Kent asserted that "the scriptural texts in the Old and New Testaments condemning homosexual practice are neither inspired by God nor otherwise of enduring Christian value. Considered in the light of the best biblical, theological, scientific, and social knowledge, the biblical condemnation of homosexual practice is better understood as representing time and place bound cultural prejudice."

But Kent is not alone. From the theological academy, Robin Scoggs puts his position plainly: "Quite clearly ... I cannot in conscience accept the view that makes biblical injunctions into necessarily eternal ethical truths, independent of the historical and cultural context." Strikingly, Gary David Comstock, university Protestant chaplain at Wesleyan University argues: "Not to recognize, critique, and condemn Paul's equation of godlessness with homosexuality is dangerous. To remain within our respective Christian traditions and not challenge those passages that degrade and destroy us is to contribute to our own oppression.... Those passages will be brought up and used against us again and again until Christians demand their removal from the biblical canon or, at the very least, formally discredit their authority to prescribe behavior."

Evangelicals must lay bare the nature of this assault on the integrity and authority of the biblical text. Christianity stands or falls upon the validity and integrity of the revelation-claim made by Holy Scripture. This challenge must be met directly and publicly, and evangelicals must call the exegetical bluff put forward by the revisionists. The foundational assault must be addressed. The confessing church must not be intimidated, coerced or compromised by the revisionists.

As theologian Elizabeth Achtemeier asserted: "The clearest teaching of Scripture is that God intended sexual intercourse to be limited to the marriage relationship of one man and one woman." A clear reminder of what is at stake comes, interestingly enough, from Robin Lane Fox, a secular historian: "As for homosexuality, Paul and the other apostles agreed with the accepted Jewish view that it was deadly sin which provoked God's wrath. It led to earthquakes and natural disasters, which were evident in the fate of Sodom. The absence of Gospel teaching on the topic did not amount to tacit approval. All orthodox Christians knew that homosexuals went to Hell until a modern minority tried to make them forget it."

Of course, "all orthodox Christians" knew that all unrepentant and unredeemed sinners go to Hell, and unrepentant homosexuals were in a very large company. But only in modern times have revisionists tried to suggest with seriousness that the Bible is unclear on the issue of homosexuality and that the church must forfeit its traditional -- and exegetically inescapable -- understanding of the relevant biblical texts. The "modern minority" identified by Fox has been, nonetheless, stunningly successful in confusing the Church.
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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.



