The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-11/03/2005 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTION 2005: Maine conservatives hope to 'veto' sexual orientation law November 8 by Michael Foust Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday EDITORS’ NOTE: This is the first in a three-part series previewing the Nov. 8 election. AUGUSTA, Maine (BP)--When Maine citizens go the polls Nov. 8, they will have the chance to do something conservatives in other states can only dream about doing -- vetoing a "sexual orientation" law passed by the legislature. Maine is one of a handful of states that allow citizens to gather signatures in an attempt to override laws passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. In Maine, it's called the "people's veto." This time around, the issue is a new state law that gives homosexuality civil rights status by placing "sexual orientation" alongside age, religion, race and other classes in state law. Under the new law -- which was signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci in March -- a person cannot be discriminated against in employment, housing, education or public accommodations on the basis of their sexual preference. A "yes" vote on Question 1 would repeal the law -- something which has been done twice before. In 1998 Maine citizens vetoed a similar law, and in 2000 the legislature sent a proposal directly to the people, who rejected it. Conservatives are particularly troubled by how "sexual orientation" is defined under state law: "Sexual orientation means a person's actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity or expression." So, what does that mean? Tim Russell, legislative liaison for the pro-family group Christian Civic League of Maine, said the definition could be far-reaching in protecting various classes of homosexuality -- including cross-dressers. "What this means is that it would permit a man to show up at work or school in a dress and makeup and use the women's room and the shower facilities," Russell told Baptist Press. Although the law protects churches, it does not protect the religious freedoms of individual citizens -- for example, a Christian business owner or a Christian landlord. Under the law, a Christian landlord who owns only a handful of apartments and wishes to rent them to married couples could be forced to rent to two homosexual men. "At what point does society decide where somebody's rights stop and somebody else's rights begin?" Russell asked. Conservative groups argue that the law puts the state on the wrong side of a controversial issue -- whether homosexuality is an unchangeable characteristic. A statement on the conservative Coalition for Marriage's website says homosexuals already "enjoy the rights granted to all citizens" and that it is "fundamentally wrong to elevate a chosen behavior, sexual or otherwise, to the status of a legally protected minority." Coalition for Marriage, which is the pro-family group in Maine opposing the new law, points to the thousands if not millions of people who have left homosexuality altogether. According to the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign, 16 states, including Maine, and the District of Columbia have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation." Question 1 was placed on the ballot when two groups -- the Christian Civic League of Maine and the Maine Grassroots Coalition -- collected 56,600 valid signatures, which was more than the 50,519 required. Russell says he fears the new law -- if not vetoed -- will lead to legalized "gay marriage" in the state. "There's no doubt in my mind that that is exactly what this is for," he said of the law. "And that's the issue across the country -- if you look at the states where they have the sexual orientation laws on the books." Massachusetts, where "gay marriage" is legal, has a "sexual orientation" law, as do Connecticut and Vermont, both of which have adopted same-sex civil unions. Civil unions provide most of the legal benefits of marriage. Maine conservatives have limited options in preventing the legalization of "gay marriage." A marriage amendment would protect the natural definition of marriage, but state law says constitutional amendments must initiate within the state legislature, which thus far has been cold to the idea. Although Maine conservatives defeated the "sexual orientation" proposal in 2000 -- by a margin of 51-49 percent -- the landscape has since changed. Maine's neighbor to the north -- Canada -- legalized "gay marriage" this year, while its New England neighbors also have granted homosexuals the legal benefits of marriage. Polls show the conservatives losing on Question 1. In addition, Russell said the "other side is outspending us exponentially." But Russell isn't giving up. In 2000, polls also showed conservatives losing in the weeks leading up to the election. Russell hopes history repeats itself. --30-- -- Additional information about the vote in Maine is available at www.coalitionformarriage.net. -- For more information about the national debate over "gay marriage," visit http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage -------------------------------------------------------------------- Religious persecution signals other abuses, Land says by Tom Strode Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday WASHINGTON (BP)--The suppression of religious liberty signals that other freedoms are threatened in a country or region, Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land said at a bipartisan conference on human rights. Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, joined members of Congress and other experts in a Nov. 1 meeting at Georgetown University aimed at fostering unified efforts across political and ideological divides to solve the problems of religious persecution, human trafficking, genocide and refugees. Among the panelists at the half-day conference were Sens. Hillary Clinton, D.-N.Y., and Sam Brownback, R.-Kan.; Rep. Frank Wolf, R.-Va.; former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; and Wesley Clark, retired Army general and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. Speaking to an audience largely consisting of Georgetown students, Land said he believes religious freedom “is, to use an overworked phrase, the canary in the coal mine. Whenever religious freedom is being denied, whenever religious freedom is being abused, it is like the canary in the coal mine. It is a danger signal that there are other severe problems in that society that are either present or getting ready to take place.” The persecution of Christians and other religious adherents “is waxing rather than waning in the world,” Land said, “and it’s not going to get better without the active engagement of the United States. It seems to me to be a sad but true reality in the 21st century that without American leadership, a lot of these situations are not going to be actively addressed.” Such problems have been, and need to be, addressed through bipartisan and multi-religious cooperation, Land and other panelists said. To do so, organizations must overcome the fear the legitimacy they have with their constituents will “rub off” on groups they “fundamentally disagree [with] on a lot of other important issues,” Land said. Brownback, who joined Albright in convening the conference, said the goal of the event was “to build relationships and coalitions that have not previously existed.” “There are a lot of topics we don’t agree on,” said Brownback, who has championed Senate initiatives on at least some of the issues discussed at the conference and has been mentioned as a potential Republican president candidate in 2008. “There are a whole bunch of topics we do agree upon, and you can focus on either set that you want to.” Each side “brings a perspective, and each brings a bucket of assets to it, so together we can’t be beat,” he said. “Separated, we’ll get less done, far less done, in this process.” Land cited several instances where cooperation across party, ideological and religious lines has succeeded, including: -- The International Religious Freedom Act (1998). -- The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000). -- The Sudan Peace Act (2002). -- The North Korea Human Rights Act (2004). -- And, on a domestic issue, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (2000). Bipartisanship, however, is at a low point in his experience, said Wolf, who is in his 25th year in the House of Representatives. “This town has very little, very little of it,” he said. Brownback named at the close of the meeting a list Albright and he had made of the five leading humanitarian crises in the world or –- as an aide to the former secretary of State put it, Brownback said -– the “top five worst places to wake up in the morning.” The list consisted of: (1) Darfur, the region of Western Sudan where about 400,000 have died and about 2.5 million have been displaced in the last three years during conflict with the government-sponsored militia; (2) North Korea, the Asian country where the communist regime is guilty of the widespread repression of human rights; (3) Burma, a Southeast Asian country ruled over by a military junta that is guilty of religious persecution and other human rights violations; (4) the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the African country in which it is estimated more than 30,000 people die each month and 2.2 million are displaced, and (5) Northern Uganda, where the Lord’s Resistance Army has abducted what has been estimated to be more than 21,000 children and turned them into soldiers. Counting all forms of trafficking, there are 27 million people globally in slavery, according to a National Geographic estimate, said Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission. That estimate is more than the number of people extracted from Africa in 400 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, he told the audience. He said sex trafficking victimizes about one million new children each year, according to UNICEF. Clinton and Brownback were on the trafficking panel moderated by Haugen. The issue of human trafficking and slavery “is one that needs much greater public awareness, attention, advocacy and outrage,” Clinton told the audience. “[W]hen we think about the strides and the progress that we have made, which I believe is commendable, in the last 10 years, we have to admit that we have a very, very long way to go.” Clinton, who appears to be the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, said there needs to be extra protection for victims who aid police, stricter requirements in the United States’ trade agreements with countries where trafficking is a problem and a greater effort to turn public opinion against trafficking in countries where it is culturally acceptable. “We even have diplomats who come here to Washington and import their own slaves,” she said. Brownback appealed to the students in the audience, telling them they “can’t ignore” these problems. “I don’t want you to be comfortable at this conference,” he said. “I want you to leave this planning conference and say, ‘You know, look, this is going on in my world today, and I have the capacity to do something about it,’ and you do. ... you can change somebody’s life. You can give them life where they have none....” Land asked, “And why should we do this? Well for me, as a Christian, I am commanded to love my neighbor as myself, that when anyone is suffering anywhere in the world and is not being allowed basic human rights, my responsibility is to do something about it. And secondly, as an American, there’s also a scriptural principle that to whom much is given, much is required.” Albright and Wolf addressed the issue of refugees and displaced people, which are estimated to total 33 million worldwide. Clark and David Gompert, research professor at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy, discussed putting an end to genocide. David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, joined Land on the panel about protecting religious freedom. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilma’s first responders include 36 Fla. convention staffers by Barbara Denman Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)—Among the first responders to Hurricane Wilma: 36 Florida Baptist Convention staff members who were dispatched to assess damage and meet needs in South Florida. They have visited churches, contacted pastors and surveyed migrant communities. They have served as volunteer coordinators, spiritual counselors and radio communicators. They answered phones, set up commodity distributions, assessed damage, located housing for volunteers and dispensed emergency funds. Within the first week, more than 50 churches had been surveyed, with assessments continuing throughout the hurricane zone. John Sullivan, the convention’s executive director-treasurer, said he was most affected by the desperate needs of migrant workers. “The crops have been destroyed, so they have no income,” he said. “They have no place to live because their homes have been destroyed. They have no papers, so they can’t get help from the federal government. It is going to be a long haul for these migrants.” Ministries to the migrants are being established under the direction of Brenda Forlines of the convention’s church and community ministries, who will be setting up commodity distribution to assist the families amid the crisis. The resiliency of the region’s pastors also was noted by Sullivan as he drove across the region. “Our pastors are very optimistic,” he reported; many of them have patched and repaired what damage they could and have cleaned up their church facilities for worship services. Saying the “worst I have seen is in Belle Glade,” Sullivan commended pastor Gary Folds for his response to community needs. “There is a lot of devastation all around the church, but Gary is on top of everything.” Two Florida Baptist operations centers have been established at First Baptist Church of Naples and at Pembroke Road Baptist Church in Miramar. From these locations, recovery, cleanup and chainsaw volunteers will be directed toward the hardest-hit areas. Leading the convention’s coordinated response in the two locations are Cecil Seagle of the Florida convention’s missions division and Fritz Wilson of Florida Baptist Men, while a team of six ministry assistants provides clerical support. Convention staff members Lewis Miller of the Sunday School department and Maxie Miller of the African American church planting department coordinate volunteers and volunteer housing. Wilson said volunteer teams with ladders, hammers and hand tools are needed along the east coast of South Florida to help put blue plastic on homes. Meanwhile, he noted, “The need for tree cutting is very low.” A number of the Florida staff members had only just returned disaster relief efforts along the Gulf Coast when they were dispatched to South Florida, These include Wilson; Rick Lawrence of the church planting department who helped coordinate volunteers in Mississippi and Louisiana and Hugh Cater of new work assistance who coordinated short wave communications. At least six staff members serve as on-site liaisons between churches that are hosting feeding sites and mobile kitchens from across the SBC, responding to needs of both. Among the staff members assessing the damage and needs of churches are three from the convention’s language division, Raul Vazquez, Frank Moreno and Josephe Gaston, who are visiting language churches. Larry Elliott of the church planting and revitalization department is coordinating chaplaincy needs. Among staff members who helped provide coordination between the agencies responding to Wilma’s aftermath, Eddie Blackmon, Florida Baptist Men, was stationed at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Ga., to help coordinate feeding units; Roy Saint was stationed at Florida’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee; and Leon White, retired missions director for the West Virginia Baptist Convention and a former Florida Baptist Convention employee, has been stationed in the Orlando American Red Cross operations center. Cindy Goodwin of the women’s mission and ministries department, and staff were in South Florida to make plans to provide childcare at First Baptist Church at Pompano Beach. But when power at the church returned, the need lessened. “Our staff is absolutely the best,” said Sullivan, “I couldn’t have asked for better response.” Volunteers interested in helping with the recovery are asked to call the convention’s command centers at (904) 588-2102, 588-2103, 588-2104, 588-2106 or 588-2107. Financial contributions to help Florida churches rebuild and assist in the recovery process are accepted by checks designated for “Hurricane Wilma relief” payable to the Florida Baptist Convention, Business Services, P.O. Box 5579, Jacksonville, FL., 32247. Credit card donations can be made by calling 1-800-226-8584, ext. 3049. --30—- Barbara Denman is director of communications for the Florida Baptist Convention. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern Baptists dispute media reports & blogger claims as 'absolute falsehood' that disaster relief teams withheld water by Jennifer Davis Rash/Alabama Baptist Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)--No thirsty person went without water, and no water went to waste, Tim Bridges, pastor of First Baptist Church in Clewiston, Fla., said in response to media reports that claimed differently when a shipment of water distributed by Anheuser-Busch caused confusion Oct. 28. The inaccurate information also is circulating among Web bloggers. Keith Hinson, public relations associate for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said, “It is an absolute falsehood to suggest —- as many irresponsible bloggers have —- that the Baptist volunteers withheld the basic needs of life from Floridians impacted by the hurricane. Contrary to misinterpretations of news reports, no one was denied access to water.” Alabama Baptist disaster relief volunteers set up a feeding unit in Clewiston Oct. 26 following Hurricane Wilma’s swipe across Florida Oct. 24. From the site, meals are cooked and distributed in the community by the Red Cross or through feeding lines on-site. Bottles of water are not necessarily a guarantee at these sites, said Vernon Lee, who was in charge of the feeding unit Oct. 29–Nov. 3. “We don’t hand out commodities like ice, water, etc.,” said Lee, a member of White Springs Baptist Church in Rainbow City, Ala. “We just cook.” But if water is available, then the volunteers give it out, he noted. When the Anheuser-Busch truck arrived, the Red Cross officials allowed the water to be unloaded even though the area was not designated as a distribution site, Lee explained. Volunteers cooking and handing out food were a mixture of Alabama Baptists; members of First Baptist; and Red Cross volunteers. The Anheuser-Busch logo on the cans of water “was huge” and bothersome to some of the Clewiston church volunteers, Bridges said. “I didn’t want to send out a mixed message. “All that was said was that First Baptist Church [Clewiston] people would not be the ones handing it out,” he explained. “We didn’t refuse the water. Others were giving it out. “We were handing out water [supplied by Southern Baptists] hand over fist,” Bridges said. He noted that Wal-Mart across the street had water, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was set up next to Wal-Mart with water to give away and the city’s civic center nearby was distributing ice and water. So, even if the water at First Baptist in Clewiston had run out, people were not going without water. But the non-Anheuser-Busch water did not run out, Lee said. “I would have no problem giving the people the [Anheuser-Busch water] if they were thirsty but they were not thirsty.” In fact, he said the original supply of water, including the Anheuser-Busch water, lasted through the morning of Nov. 2. “There was water for them to take ... and the opportunity to get [the Anheuser-Busch] water if they wanted it because it was made available,” Lee said, noting he thinks most people prefer bottled water to canned water anyway. Both Lee and Bridges emphasized that no one went without water and it is unfortunate that the local media misunderstood the facts. “We are preparing upwards of 12,000 meals a day,” Lee said. “The city is tickled to death to have us here. We have received cards and letters from people who come through the line, thanking us. “It is sad for us to take a black eye over something that was silly,” he said. “But if the First Baptist Church [in Clewiston] and the people in this town are happy, then we’ve done our job.” “All of our folks have worked as hard as they could,” Bridges added. “It was an awkward moment as we were getting set up and the Busch water came into the picture.” But to clarify all the inaccurate reports, “there was plenty of water available,” Bridges emphasized, and “no one was turned away.” --30-- Jennifer Davis Rash is managing editor of The Alabama Baptist, online at www.thealabamabaptist.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------- His veterinary practice yields ministry on Miss. Gulf Coast by Keith Manuel Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (BP)--Ministering to people through their pets is a part of Walter Mullen’s everyday veterinarian medicine practice. Since Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Mullen’s efforts have quietly intensified. “I am much more content being behind the scenes doing something for somebody than being up front and noticed for doing it,” Mullen said. One of the veterinarian’s behind-the-scenes ministries in the aftermath of Katrina involved trips to Starkville, Miss., a five-hour drive one-way, to retrieve food and water for more than 80 pets that families had entrusted to his care as they were evacuating the region. Mullen, a member of First Baptist Church in Ocean Springs, views boarding pets as an opportunity for ministry because, tragically, one of his clients died when she would not leave her dog during the storm. “She drowned. They found her holding her dog,” he said. “She was the quintessential, pleasant grandmother-figure.” Reflecting on the tragedy, he said, “It kind of sobers you up. It was something where we could have helped her.” Since the storm, he has made sure the pets received the care they need, often by making adjusting his fees for the owners depending on the devastation of their personal property. One unique way of adjusting his fees has been asking a client who escaped damage in the hurricane to write a check payable not to him for the veterinary service but, instead, to another client who lost everything. Mullen lives in the house he grew up in Ocean Springs. It is almost four feet off the ground and approximately 25 feet above sea level and yet water flowed under the home. Although he faired well, many of his neighbors did not, including his 95-year-old grandmother, with no visible sign of her home left on her lot. “Acts of service has been the biggest part of my ministry,” Mullen said. “I have had to clear a lot of glass and debris for my grandmother and our neighbors.... I found several things of hers that she [lost during the storm]. We also found some World War II medals for another neighbor.” Mullen’s wife, Jan, stated that one of their staff from the veterinary practice became a Christian during her evacuation from the Gulf Coast. “[Walter] has been a good witness to his staff. [The employee] came and told him after the storm that she became a Christian because she knew he was a Christian too,” Jan recounted. “He gave her some guidance about finding a church home and getting involved in a Bible study.” One of Mullen’s favorite Bible verses, Proverbs 3:5-6, has manifested itself in his life in the days after the storm. “Do you know why the storm came? No,” He reflected. “Do you know why you lost your house? No. But, if the trust is there, if the faith is there, you know that whatever happens, God is going to be there with you.” --30— -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ind. Baptists urge state legislators to pass marriage amendment by Staff Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday MUNCIE, Ind. (BP)--Among the resolutions passed at the 47th annual meeting of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana at the Muncie Horizon Convention Center in Muncie, Ind., Oct. 24-25 was a measure calling on state legislators to pass a marriage amendment for a second time so that the issue can be presented to voters. The Indiana legislature passed a marriage amendment earlier this year, completing the first step of a lengthy three-step process. It must pass again during the next elected legislature before going to voters, which would be 2008 at the earliest. The House passed the amendment this year, 76-23, the Senate, 42-8. The amendment bans "gay marriage" and prevents the "legal incidents" of marriage from being given to unmarried couples. “Lead ‘Em In,” based on Luke 19:10, was the convention’s theme, drawing a connection to Southern Baptist Convention’s yearlong “‘Everyone Can’ Kingdom Challenge” to reach 1 million baptisms. “God made us to be relational and in community,” Mark Hearn, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis and president of the convention, told messengers, using Mark 2:1-12 as his text. When Jesus is in the house, people will be drawn in, he said, and believers need to trust God’s promises and expect Him to act. “The greatest miracle Jesus will perform in any life is forgiveness from sin,” Hearn said. “Each one reach one!” A total of 220 messengers representing 92 churches approved a budget of $4,466,236, which is a 1.2 percent increase over the current year. The convention anticipates Cooperative Program receipts of $2,643,938 and will utilize 67.2 percent of the CP receipts in the state and forward 32.8 percent to SBC national and international missions and ministries, up from 32.5 percent during 2005. Mark Hearn, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis, was re-elected president. Alan Scott, pastor of Cline Avenue Fellowship in Highland, was elected first vice president in a ballot with one other nominee, Rick Hillard, pastor of Eastlake Baptist Church in Crown Point. William Bailey, pastor of Parkside Baptist Church in Columbus, was elected to the position of second vice president with no opposition. Sandra Irick, a member of Vann Avenue Baptist Church in Evansville, was re-elected recording secretary, and John Reeder, minister of worship at Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis, was elected convention music director. Indiana Baptists will continue mission partnerships with the Eastern Ukraine, Mexico and the Florida Baptist Convention. The convention bylaws were revised and adopted unanimously, creating the opportunity for more messengers to participate in the state convention. A 14-member nominating committee was created so that every associational area is represented. Messengers approved a new system for electing executive board members so that every associational area has at least two board members plus additional board members based on the number of churches up to a maximum of six board members. They also clarified that a “cooperating church” with the state convention is one that makes a contribution to the Cooperative Program budget or the state missions offering, along with basic annual church profile information. Messengers were informed that Allen Haynes, the state’s disaster relief coordinator, had trained more than 500 Indiana Baptists in disaster relief and Indiana churches have sent several teams and given more than $150,000 to help state conventions that experienced natural disasters this past year. Scott Miller, pastor of Graceland Baptist Church in New Albany, Ind., delivered the annual sermon, challenging the messengers to have a world vision, which requires a paradigm shift to realize that it’s “all about Him, and it’s all about them.” Miller said God calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because of His covenant promise to save people from all people groups of the earth, and God has so richly blessed America in order that its citizens might share with a lost, hungry world. Kevin Ezell, pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., brought a message on “Keeping Your Heart Clean and Your Hands Dirty,” challenging messengers toward personal evangelism, realizing that the Gospel is simple, the message of the cross should dominate all ministry, and that the power for witnessing is not in human persuasion but in divine persuasion. Steve Davis, executive director of the Indiana convention, spoke about “How to Encourage a New Christian -- First Steps,” based on Acts 2:41-47. Davis challenged pastors to place a greater emphasis on helping new Christians take the first steps of discipleship, which include baptism and church membership, prayer, Bible study and sharing their faith. “If God is to allow Southern Baptists to baptize a million people in 2005-06, then we will need to recapture the importance of baptism and church membership,” he said. “Jesus has called us to make disciples, not just decisions. The Christian life isn’t easy, but it’s easier when we encourage new Christians to take the first steps of discipleship.” In addition to the resolution on marriage, messengers called on state legislators to repeal all forms of gambling in Indiana, and they expressed appreciation for Old Town Hall Baptist Church in Muncie and the East Central Baptist Association for hosting the annual meeting. The 2006 annual meeting will be Oct.23-24 at Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- N.M. Baptists emphasize ‘Building the Family’ by John Loudat Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday BLOOMFIELD, N.M. (BP)--Baptists from throughout New Mexico rallied around the theme “Building the Family” during the 94th annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico. The convention drew 302 messengers and 97 guests representing 113 of the BCNM’s 315 churches and 31 missions, which have approximately 63,000 resident members. It was "just like attending an old-fashioned revival meeting," James Semple, acting executive director, said of the Oct. 25-26 sessions at First Baptist Church in Bloomfield. CROSSOVER Semple, who commutes to Albuquerque each week from his home in Dallas, took over executive director duties March 1 upon the retirement of Claude Cone, who had led the convention the previous 20 years. Semple said "the most blessed part" of the BCNM gathering took place during the afternoon that the convention was not in session, referencing the "Crossover: Hope Is Knocking" evangelistic effort in four communities of New Mexico’s Four Corners area Oct. 26. More than four dozen New Mexicans took advantage of the opportunity, knocking on 375 doors -- 115 of which were answered -- and sharing the Gospel with 46 people -- four of whom prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. "It went very well," Aztec pastor Kevin Parker said. "It exceeded my expectations." ‘BUILDING THE FAMILY’ The convention's theme, "Building the Family," was emphasized throughout the two-day, four-session meeting. Just two days after his final Sunday as pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City, Okla., former Southern Baptist Convention President Tom Elliff kicked off the New Mexico meeting, asking, "How seriously do you take this issue of praying for your family....?" Reminding them that the greatest single work of a believer is prayer, the International Mission Board's new senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations expounded upon issues believers must face if their prayers for their families are to be effective. James Eaves, an evangelism professor emeritus from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a former pastor of New Mexico Baptists' first church -- First Baptist in Albuquerque -- continued exploring the theme during his Bible studies. Noting the responsibilities of every member of a ministers' family Tuesday evening, he explained the importance of healthy church families the following morning. The convention's final session consisted of a gospel music concert by the Annie Moses Band, which includes members of a Christian family from Nashville, Tenn., and a final challenge by Eaves, who showed from Scripture that the key to the revival and renewal that Christians long for is repentance. FAMILY MINISTRIES New Mexico's Baptist family celebrated what God is doing through fellow workers in their disaster relief ministry and partnership missions. "New Mexico has stood up and is standing today where few states have dared to go," New Mexico disaster relief's "white hat" coordinator John Dillender of Loving reported. "I want to thank you, New Mexico, for your generosity to disaster relief," which, he said, enabled the relief ministry to purchase and activate a childcare unit. When the first team of volunteers left the state for the Gulf Coast in response to Hurricane Katrina Aug. 29, the feeding unit had a capacity of 10,000 meals. Dillender said the unit's capacity had increased to 15,000 during the two months it had been deployed, first in Mississippi and, since mid-September, in Slidell, La., near New Orleans. By Oct. 31, the unit was on its way home after completing its assignment and being deactivated. As the BCNM wraps up the first year of its three-year mission partnerships with Southern Baptist representatives in the state of Maranhao in Brazil and the city of Birmingham in England, New Mexicans heard reports from each locale. Matt Sellers, student pastor at First Baptist Church in Rio Rancho, reported that members of the construction and evangelism teams that went to Maranhao recently saw 757 people make professions of faith in Jesus Christ. The plea from Southern Baptist worker Gary Bishop, who serves in England's second-largest and second most ethnically diverse city, was “Pray for us. We feel like we are in a fight every day of our ministry.” In Birmingham, where the vast majority of the people are Muslim, Hindu or Sikh, “this is a real fight,” he said. BUSINESS Each item of business presented during the two brief business sessions passed with little discussion and no opposition. Messengers from Church at the Butte in Elephant Butte, Glenwood Baptist Church, Liberty Church in Albuquerque and Mountain Vista Church in Farmington were seated for the first time at a BCNM meeting upon a recommendation from the credentials committee at the beginning of the meeting. Jay McCollum, president of the convention and pastor of First Baptist Church in Gallup, and Randy Aly, first vice president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Jal, were re-elected to second one-year terms. Joining them during the coming year will be Bob Brittain, second vice president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Thoreau. The three were the only nominees for the respective positions. Messengers approved the largest budget in the convention's history. The 2006 budget will require $3,772,225 in Cooperative Program receipts from churches, an increase of $108,986, or 2.98 percent, over the amount called for in the current budget. Most of the increase covers a 2.5 percent increase in salaries for BCNM employees. After the exception of $64,567 for exempt obligations (post-retirement benefits, church-retirement plan, Baptist Building note and notes payable of $81,000 less additional lease income of $16,433) is applied, 30.5 percent of the Cooperative Program receipts will continue to be forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention for national and international missions and ministries. The remaining 69.5 percent, $2,576,822, along with additional income of $1,351,173 from various sources -- Baptist New Mexican subscriptions and advertising, Baptist Building rental income, and the SBC's North American Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources --will be used to support a total operating budget of $3,927,995 for mission work in New Mexico. Messengers also approved an amendment to the BCNM bylaws that charges the convention's policy and personnel committee with the responsibility of proposing a procedure for the election of future executive director search committees. RESOLUTIONS Five of the six resolutions approved by messengers were statements of appreciation and support. By approving the recommendation of the convention's resolutions committee, messengers expressed their gratitude to First Baptist and Calvary Baptist churches in Bloomfield for their hospitality during the pre-convention and convention meetings. They also expressed their appreciation for and committed themselves to prayerfully support the Americans and their families who are defending freedom around the world; New Mexico Baptists involved in disaster relief ministries; the BCNM's executive director search team and the next man God wants to lead New Mexico Baptists; and BCNM staff members. Messengers also approved a resolution committing themselves to personal soul-winning, in obedience to Christ's command and in response to SBC President Bobby Welch's “‘Everyone Can’ Kingdom Challenge!" to "Witness, Win and Baptize ... One Million" people during the current church year, which began Oct. 1. Leading worship were Jeff Petillo from First Baptist Church of Farmington, Lamar Morin and the praise team of First Baptist Church in Bloomfield and the New Mexico Singing Churchmen under the direction of BCNM music Ministries Director David Red. Next year's annual meeting is scheduled for Oct. 24-25 at Central Baptist Church in Clovis. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: The weekly New Orleans pastors’ meeting by Joe McKeever Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Each Wednesday, pastors/ministers in the New Orleans area have been meeting at First Baptist Church of LaPlace for fellowship and information. Around 50 of us gather there each time, but it's never the same group. On Wednesday, Nov. 2, a young pastor who serves a non-Southern Baptist church in Kenner addressed the group. "I've been in this area for nine years, and I've been impressed with the work of Southern Baptists. I know what you believe and it's the same thing my church stands for. After Katrina hit, I did not see any of my denomination's people down here at all. The first people on the ground were Southern Baptists, and they're everywhere, ministering in Jesus' name. It's outstanding. “And I want my church to be a part of that,” the pastor said. “So I am here, officially requesting to join the Southern Baptist Convention." Everyone applauded. We may have lost 30 or more churches from the Hurricane Katrina, but we just gained one! (We'll deal with the details at another time, and explain how one goes about becoming a member church in the SBC.) The pastor brought a laugh of understanding when he added, "I would have been here a couple of years earlier, except I was waiting for one key deacon to go to heaven." After the prayer time, our two-and-a-half-hour meeting was jam-packed with one person after another rising to address the group. Disaster relief workers talked about cleanup, building people about permits, and financial people about insurance and loans. One pastor gave a report that Franklin Graham will lead a two-day festival at the New Orleans Arena, next to the Superdome, on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 28 and 29. Another spoke of plans to invite all the "first-responders" to a banquet or barbecue to show them proper appreciation for all they did to secure the city. Others told of the counseling available for those having trouble dealing with this crisis. On and on it went. I felt sorry for Lynn Gehrman, the one who was trying to get it all down in the minutes. The First Baptist Church of Covington, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, has invited our ministers and spouses to have our Christmas banquet in their facilities as their guests, no charge. We gladly accept and agreed on Monday night Dec. 5. One of the most heartening things I heard was a simple word about our weekly meetings. A denominational worker told the group how he was serving a church in South Florida years ago when a hurricane did massive devastation. "We did not have weekly gatherings like this,” he said. “Each pastor was pretty much on his own, and it was tough. Within a year, most had bailed out and gone to other places. I want to commend you for getting together like this." We started these weekly sessions during the evacuation, the first being Wednesday, Sept. 14, at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., when 20 of us drove from every direction to meet. We've not missed a Wednesday since. I have found myself wondering how much good we were doing, looking to the attendance as a clue. But probably the best gauge is that when the meeting is dismissed for lunch at 11:30 sharp, no one leaves. Some are still standing, talking, 30 minutes later, still not having eaten. Something important is taking place here. One speaker said, "There's a verse of Scripture that comes to mind: 'As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.'" Everyone nodded. No one told him we've heard that verse from Proverbs 27:17 at every meeting, without fail. We keep discovering the truth of our ministry to and dependence on one another. One of our chief failings in the days before the hurricane was the isolation of our churches and pastors, and the resulting insulation of our church members. But God is showing us a better way. We've received so much from God's people from one end of the country to the other and even beyond, none of us will ever brag again about our independence. We are so dependent on the Lord and so inter-dependent with each other, we've found a far superior way to live and minister. No one knows yet what our churches in the new New Orleans will look like. But we are determined to be part of a new Team of God, partners with one another and with all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. We have received so much from so many. We will be eternally in debt. Which is just fine, because a wise man once said, "No one unwilling to be eternally in debt can ever be a disciple of the Lord Jesus." --30-- Adapted from a weblog by Joe McKeever (www.joemckeever.com), director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Homosexuality in theological perspective, part 4 by R. Albert Mohler Jr. Date: November 03, 2005 - Thursday Editor's note: This column is the fourth in a four-part series on homosexuality and the Bible. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--How will evangelicals respond to the challenge of the homosexual movement? And how will the evangelical church respond to those persons struggling with homosexuality? These are critical questions that, when answered, will indicate the larger direction of the evangelical movement. First, evangelicals must establish our understanding of homosexuality on the Bible and rest upon an undiluted affirmation of biblical authority. The Bible is unambiguous on the issue of homosexuality, and only a repudiation of biblical truth can allow evangelicals to join the moral revisionists. Our only authority for addressing this issue is that of God as revealed in Holy Scripture. We can speak only because we are confident that the one sovereign God and Lord has revealed Himself and His will in an inerrant and authoritative Scripture. On the basis of that revelation, we cannot fail to speak and to confront the spirits of the age. We do so with confidence that the Christian claim to truth in the incarnation of the Son and the inscripturation of divine revelation is superior to any other claim to authority. Christians must neither cringe nor cavil in the face of secularism and its ideological manifestations. We must deconstruct the deconstructionists, turn the hermeneutic of suspicion upon the revisionists, and bear undiluted witness to the Gospel and the Christian worldview. Therefore, we speak about homosexuality because we speak on the basis of divinely revealed truth. Our own ideas and conceptions of homosexuality are not authoritative -- our duty is to understand the mind and intention of God. At this point we must address another evangelical temptation. A growing number of evangelicals are shifting the debate over homosexuality and attempting to base their arguments on natural law. Their motive is clear -- the assumption is that natural law reasoning will carry greater and broader cultural influence than arguments based explicitly upon divine revelation. The problem must be admitted. Explicitly theological arguments are increasingly declared "off limits" for cultural and political discourse. The dominant media culture and legislative processes seem impervious to moral discourse rooted in the Christian worldview. Perhaps, it is argued, natural law will provide a via media, a middle way between secularism and theism. Evangelicals must, of course, affirm both general revelation and existence of natural law. God has most certainly revealed Himself in intelligible ways through the created order and the human conscience. But as Paul made so clear in Romans 1, the knowledge imparted by this authentic natural revelation is sufficient to damn, but not to save. Christianity bases its claim upon special revelation in both Holy Scriptures and the Incarnate Son, Jesus the Christ. The moral order God has implanted in His creation is tangible, evident and undeniable. Yet in contemporary America, as in Paul's discussion in Romans, human beings reject that knowledge and suffer the consequences. My warning on this issue is two-fold. First is the matter of theological principle. To revert to natural law reasoning is to retreat from the high ground of the Christian truth claim. In order to meet secular demands, the Church would shift its argument from the unassailable ground of Holy Scripture to the contested terrain of nature and the cosmos. This is what, in another context, F. A. Hayek termed "a fatal conceit." From such an abdication there is no recovery. Though evangelicals and conservative Roman Catholics will find themselves compatriots in the cultural struggle, it is not possible for evangelicals to adopt natural law reasoning as a basis for moral argumentation and remain authentically evangelical. Natural law reasoning may provide a point of conversation and serve as a means of introducing the revealed law, but it cannot stand as a mode of evangelical moral discourse and reasoning. But for some, it may seem that a step back from the special revelation of the positive law (as compared to natural law) is explained as a means to a greater end. Once a consensus or point of contact with the secular culture has been established, it is claimed, the discussion can be shifted to positive law and the Christian worldview. This raises the pragmatic warning: This strategy does not work. The cultural elites and generations raised in the aftermath of the sexual revolution are no more moved by natural law arguments than by explicitly Christian assertions. Natural law reasoning is no more welcome in Congress or among the media than a recitation of the Ten Commandments. Furthermore, there is no common understanding in elite circles as to what the natural law would require. A reflection on the congressional hearings for the confirmations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas should make this reality abundantly clear. Natural law arguments are not culturally compelling. Evangelicals should not hesitate to illustrate arguments from Scripture with allusions to nature and the natural order. But the order of ethical reasoning is critical: Evangelicals can turn to nature as illustration after basing the moral argument on Scripture. At its best, the evangelical temptation to turn to natural law reasoning is an attempt in a difficult cultural context to establish a moral consensus. But this strategy will not succeed. At its worst, this temptation represents a repudiation of the Gospel and an abdication of evangelical faith. Our trust must be in the Sovereign God who is the Creator and Sustainer of all. He alone holds the prerogative to define and limit sexuality. It is one of His good gifts to His creatures, who in their rebellion have contorted and degraded His gift. Evangelicals must affirm that God has defined sexuality, and that our duty is to follow His command. This means that evangelical Christians must with increased effectiveness uphold the biblical model of sexuality. We must affirm its goodness without embarrassment, give thanks for the gift and its enjoyment, acknowledge without hesitation that God intended sexual relations for pleasure as well as for procreation, and never retreat from the clear biblical teaching that sex is intended only for the context of committed and monogamous heterosexual marriage. The model of sexual wholeness, lived daily in the lives of millions of families and couples, will bear eloquent testimony before the world -- even when it is ridiculed. We must learn to address the issue of homosexuality -- and other difficult sexual issues -- with candor, directness, and unembarrassed honesty. This is not an hour for prudish denial. To fail at the task of speaking clearly and directly to this issue is to fail to speak where God has spoken. We must also acknowledge that the only inhibiting force in the world which limits the range and extent of sexual perversion is common grace. But for the continuing presence of common grace, the world would slide into even more degraded darkness. For that grace we must be thankful. But the issue of homosexuality affords a unique opportunity for the confessing church to bear witness to particular grace as well -- to give witness to the Gospel as the only means of salvation and of Jesus Christ as the sole and sufficient Savior. Salvation and repentance must be preached to homosexuals -- and to heterosexuals as well. East of Eden, not one of us has come before God as sexually pure and whole, even if we have never committed an illicit sexual act, much less a homosexual act. Our ministry to homosexuals is not as the sinless ministering to sinners, but as fellow sinners who bear testimony to the reality of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel always comes as both judgment and grace. But the last word must always be grace. Our duty is to tell the truth about homosexuality -- to name it as Scripture names it. But our responsibility hardly ends there, for our next task is to speak the word of grace, and to present the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ as our substitute, by whose blood we have been bought with a price. To the homosexual, as to all others, we must speak in love, never in hatred. But the first task of love is to tell the truth, and the sign of true hatred is the telling of a lie. Those who genuinely love homosexuals are not those who would revolutionize morality to meet their wishes, but those who will tell them the truth, and point them to the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. --30-- This column was adapted from Mohler's weblog at www.albertmohler.com. Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. For more articles and resources by Mohler, and for information on "The Albert Mohler Program," a daily national radio program broadcast on the Salem Radio Network, visit www.albertmohler.com.