The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-11/07/2002 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Former drug addicts, 68 & 28, find common bond for ministry by Lauri Arnold Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Philip Barber was determined; if he was going to be a drug addict for the rest of his life, he would be the best drug addict possible. But the compassion of a stranger and the understanding of a new friend forever changed the course of his life. Barber's experimentation with drugs began at age 12 when he smoked marijuana for the first time. Years later he was so desperate for cocaine that one evening he stopped his car in the rain and filled a syringe with water from a puddle in order to inject the drug into his system. "That is the hell from which the Lord has brought me," said Barber, now 28 and an undergraduate studies student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Barber's pilgrimage of faith began in 1997 during Crossover Dallas, an evangelistic outreach designed to canvass the city prior to the Southern Baptist Convention. Barber was unaware of the evangelistic emphasis and was exposed to it in an unusual way. When a Dallas police officer arrived at Barber's home to break up a dispute between him and his neighbor, the officer "didn't interrogate me and he didn't beat me up," Barber said. "He shared Christ with me." The officer also invited Barber to his church but didn't tell him the guest speaker was a former drug addict. Ted Stone, a 68-year-old Southwestern Seminary trustee, had by 1997 been active across the country for 20 years speaking about his own experiences with drugs and his freedom from addiction through Jesus Christ. "I didn't know he was going to be speaking about drug abuse," Barber recounted, "or I probably would not have gone." As Stone spoke of how he had walked across the country in 1996 to share the message of hope for eventual recovery from drug addiction, Barber was impressed. But what Stone said that affected Barber most was something he had not dared to believe was possible. "He said he was no longer a drug addict, that he was recovered forever by the grace of God," Barber said. "That remark was Galilean. Up to that point I had always been told that the earth was flat, that once you're a drug addict you're always a drug addict." Barber's worldview changed that day, he said, and hope was planted in his heart. "I got hope in 1997," Barber said. "I didn't get clean in 1997, but as a result of the hope that was seeded in my life I am clean today and I am pursuing a ministry and studies at Southwestern." Stone, who was told by the police officer that Barber might be attending the service, sought out Barber. The two formed an immediate bond. "We hit it off right away in spite of our age difference because we had a lot of [common] things in our backgrounds," Stone said. Barber accompanied Stone on his second walk across the United States in 1998, hopeful that months spent with Stone on the walk would cure him of his addictions. He returned to the Dallas area intent on staying clean. But when he returned to Dallas, "I fell flat on my face just almost immediately." The same scenario would be played out again in 2000 when Barber accompanied Stone on his third walk across America and again returned to drugs. "I was afraid Philip was going to die because you could look at him and realize that something was really wrong," Stone said, noting that his concern for Barber led him to cancel speaking engagements for the first time in more than 20 years. But Stone knew well the struggles Barber was facing, having spent four years in prison in the early 1970s as a result of his own addictions. "[God's] immeasurable grace made it possible for me, years ago in the early 1970s in prison, to make a change in the direction of my life," Stone said. Barber had come to know Christ years before, but sobriety for him began on Sept.10, 2000. He has been drug-free since. "If it were to be said a thousand times in a thousand tongues it would still be understated what I experienced that day," Barber said. "Suffice it to say that I have been to the gates of hell and at the last possible moment, when I least expected it and least deserved it, the Lord reached down and snatched me right out of the devil's pocket." The craving for drugs left Barber but the effects of the drugs lingered, Stone said. "Philip didn't get well even then because it took months and months for his mind to clear out," Stone said. "In fact, I was afraid he was going to kill himself." That wasn't such a preposterous option at the time, Barber said. One effect of the drugs was extreme paranoia, even to the point where he thought Stone -- then a trusted friend of three years -- was plotting against him. Barber recalled telling Stone one day on the way to lunch that he didn't believe he could wake up another day in such a state. "I was ready to move beyond that mental deficiency and could find no relief for it," Barber said. Stone's response was simple, but immense. He suggested they pray about it, and he got out of his car and dropped to his knees in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Barber followed Stone's example and the two cried out to God together. "I want to tell you that from that instant, my mind was freed," Barber said. Today Barber serves as vice president of Ted Stone Ministries and Stone House Ministries, an evangelistic organization led by Stone that targets those suffering from substance abuse. Stone and Barber travel throughout the United States speaking and the two have amassed a mountain of literary work on the subject of drug abuse. They have written for various publications, including Light, published by the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; HomeLife magazine of LifeWay Christian Resources; and SBC Life, the newsjournal of the SBC Executive Committee. They also write a regular column for Baptist Press, which appears on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Stone and Barber also have written two books, "The Drug Tragedy: Hope For The One Who Hurts" and "The Drug Tragedy: Hope For The One Who Cares." "Philip has become a very important part of this ministry," Stone said, noting that even while Barber pursues a seminary education he continues to speak several times a month. Barber also works on the ministry's written materials. Stone said he and Barber also have a bond that supersedes the discrepancy in their ages. When Stone's fourth walk across America was delayed because he was diagnosed with cancer last July, Barber was with Stone while he underwent surgery, in which doctors believe was a successful surgery to remove the cancer. "Philip was right there with me through those days, when I was operated on until he came back to get started back at school." Stone said he and Barber have often been compared to Paul and Timothy in the Bible, but Stone said that it isn't always clear who is Paul. "Sometimes I think Philip is a lot like Paul and I'm Timothy learning from him." But Stone is an integral part of Barber's life. Barber said that although he has fallen many times and although it took him a while to get well, Stone was there to see him through. "One thing that I have learned from Ted is that not only must you get up when you fall, but you must go on," Barber said. Stone had the privilege of baptizing Barber and called it a "blessed event." He also delivered part of the message at Barber's ordination service this past summer at Barber's church, Temple Baptist in New Bern, N.C. "I've had the feeling ever since I met Philip that God had his hand on Philip's life and that God was going to use him in a very specific way one day," Stone said. Barber said that it was because of his connection with Stone that he has been able to meet and get to know a wealth of godly Southern Baptist men and women. "The love of Christ has been modeled through so many Southern Baptists that I just feel privileged to be in their entourage, to be in their company," Barber said. Barber is planning to pursue a master of divinity degree after completing his undergraduate studies at Southwestern. Meanwhile, Stone is still planning a fourth walk across America following his recuperation from surgery. And both Stone and Barber have much yet to share. "We found out about the grace of God not by reading about it in a book, not by hearing about it from somebody else," Stone said. "We found out about the measure of the grace of God from what he showed us in person in our lives." --30-- (BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: DUO AGAINST DRUGS and TED STONE & PHILIP BARBER. -------------------------------------------------------------------- IMB/Wycliffe link could speed Bible translation by 100 years by Mark Kelly Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday DALLAS (BP)--A new missions partnership could accelerate by 100 years the translation of the Bible for the estimated 1 billion people who still do not have God's Word in their own language. Leaders of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and Wycliffe International announced the agreement Nov. 1 in Dallas. Under the new plan, the IMB will appoint missionaries to fill needs for translators, share more information about church planting and translation projects and coordinate strategies for taking the gospel to unreached people groups. About 3,000 language groups have no access to the good news of God's love. At the current pace, translations for all of them could not be completed until 2150. "We have such a great need to get the Bible into the languages of the people around the world," said Avery Willis, senior vice president of the International Mission Board. "Everybody deserves to have the Word of God in the language they love, the language they cry in and get mad in and rejoice in. "If we are going to communicate the gospel to these last people groups, the Bible has to be translated into their languages." As many as 400 million people speak languages for which no one is even trying to translate the Scripture, said John Watters, Wycliffe International's executive director. "We have been asking ourselves what would it take to give every language community some access to God's Word by 2050," he said. "That would cut 100 years off the translation process that's already going on. "That's overwhelming. In fact, we recognize it is impossible for us. But it is not impossible for the Lord of the harvest. That's why partnership is critical. That's why we've been talking with the IMB about ways to effectively and cooperatively work together for the glory of God." Watters spoke to IMB trustees during their Nov. 1-3 meeting in Dallas. His presentation followed a daylong meeting of Wycliffe's and the IMB's overseas leadership. Top leaders of the two groups had met at IMB headquarters in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 30. Wycliffe's 5,000 missionaries have helped translate the New Testament into more than 500 languages and currently have another 1,400-plus projects underway. Their translations of Bible stories and the Gospel of Luke speed the process of getting the gospel to people groups through Chronological Bible Storying and the JESUS film. The group's role as a Bible translation organization makes it an ideal partner for the IMB's focus on evangelism and church planting, and recent meetings between leaders of the two organizations have moved their relationship to a new level, said IMB President Jerry Rankin. "The partnership the IMB has had with Wycliffe has been a wonderful synergy of working together," Rankin said. "With John's vision and encouragement, we are now strengthening our partnership and pushing it out to the mission field." Missionaries report that when people groups hear God's Word for the first time ever, lives are changed: -- About 13,000 people in one isolated people group were exposed to the gospel for the first time after the "Jesus" film was translated into their language, said Dickie Nelson, leader of IMB work in the Caribbean Basin region. About 425 made decisions for Christ and the first 82 believers were baptized in October. -- One old man who was among the first ever to hear the gospel in his own language told a missionary: "When you shared with me, my heart said, 'That's it! That's what I've been waiting for!'" said Bill Bullington, leader of IMB work in the West Africa region. -- A girl who was afflicted by evil spirits got worse after a traditional religious leader used a spell to help her, said John Brady, leader of IMB work in the northern Africa and the Middle East region. Her father, however, had recently received a Bible in his own language. When he prayed to "the God of this book," she was delivered -- and her father gave his heart to Christ. -- When the Bible was publicly read for the first time for one people group, their leader exclaimed, "God speaks my language!" -- and every adult present decided to follow Christ, said Gordon Fort, leader of IMB work in the Southern Africa region. Watters called for Christians to pray that God would call out missionaries to tackle the challenge of translating God's Word for people groups that have never heard it. "There are 500 or 600 million Christians in the world who take the Word of God seriously and have a heart to share it," he said. "All we're asking him to do is raise up 20,000 people in the next 25 years to see that God's Word is translated into all the languages of the earth. "We rejoice to have the IMB as a partner in this effort," Watters said. "We look forward to the future we see in Revelation 5 and 7, where the Lion of Judah is also the Lamb of every tribe, language, people and nation." --30-- (BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: PARTNERS. -- Want to help translate the Bible for unreached people groups? E-mail initial.contacts@imb.org. -- What can you do overseas? http://going.imb.org/whatcanido.asp. -- Wycliffe USA: http://www.wycliffe.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------- $290 million budget a 'God-sized' challenge, IMB trustees told by Mark Kelly Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday DALLAS (BP)--Trustees of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board adopted a $290.1 million budget for 2003 during an Oct. 31-Nov. 3 meeting in Dallas that included the appointment of 95 new missionaries -- the second-largest group of long-term workers ever appointed in a single service. Trustees also announced their personal pledges to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, passed resolutions of appreciation for two missionaries who died in service, were told about a new partnership to speed up Bible translation and heard President Jerry Rankin challenge myths about the IMB that are being spread in some Southern Baptist circles. While the 2003 Fiscal Resources Strategy Plan is the board's largest budget ever, it also represents a serious tightening of expenditures to free every possible dollar for support of the rapidly growing number of new missionaries, said David Steverson, IMB vice president for finance. The basic budget of $268.8 million represents an increase of $5.89 million over 2002; the $21.3 million challenge budget represents an increase of $4.3 million. The budget anticipates a $6.5 million increase in giving through the Cooperative Program, the Southern Baptist Convention's unified budget. It also plans for a $21.3 million increase in Lottie Moon Christmas Offering receipts. Those numbers represent "a God-sized challenge" for Southern Baptists because gifts from Southern Baptist churches are not keeping pace with the amazing numbers of people answering God's call to overseas missionary service, Rankin said. "It is very, very challenging to match the unprecedented growth we are experiencing in the missionary force and new opportunities we are having around the world with the giving patterns of Southern Baptists and the Lottie Moon offering falling short of its goal in 2001," he said. The record $113.7 million Southern Baptists gave to the offering in 2001 fell short of the $120 million goal. The offering's basic goal this year is $125 million, with a challenge goal of $10 million. Offering receipts will have to increase 18.7 percent ($21.3 million) to meet the need created by the surge of new missionaries. On top of that, the budget provides for a net increase of only 150 new missionaries in 2003, but IMB leaders expect that number to be 400 or more, said IMB Executive Vice President John White. "The financial challenge we face this next year causes us to recognize our absolute and total dependence on God," White told trustees. "But we are confident God will provide through Southern Baptists what we need when we need it, not sooner than we need it but not later either." The 2003 financial plan is a "faith projection," Rankin said. "We find ourselves for the first time having to consider restricting the flow of missionaries to the field because Southern Baptist giving has not been growing as quickly as Southern Baptist going," he said. "But we are pressing on in faith, trusting that when we are obedient to answer God's call to missions, he will be faithful to give Southern Baptists a vision for providing the financial resources we need." 'IT BEGINS WITH US' Trustees heard a report that employees in the board's Richmond, Va., home office had pledged $164,719 to the Lottie Moon offering, an average gift of $455 each. Trustees responded by making their own pledges on the spot, totaling $64,875, an average of $954 each. "It was a thrill to see the Richmond staff, from the lowest salary band to the highest, commit nearly $165,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering," said Billy Hoffman, the IMB's director of development. "And it was exciting to see God move among the trustees to promote generous giving too." Spread out among the 6.4 million families of the whole Southern Baptist Convention, the average gift to the 2001 Lottie Moon offering was $17.76, Hoffman said. "If the 6.4 million families in Southern Baptist churches follow the example of the IMB staff, the 2002 offering will total more than $2.9 billion dollars," he added. "If they follow the trustees' example, it will reach $6.1 billion -- almost 50 times the goal. Can you imagine the unreached people groups that kind of offering would touch? "Since 9/11, all Southern Baptists need to rethink their commitment to international missions," he added. "The world will not be improved with political or military solutions. We must provide the resources to fund the biblical strategy to share the good news of Christ with all peoples." The climax of the trustee meeting was the appointment of 95 new missionaries in a Sunday evening service at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. The new workers were the second-largest group in the board's 157-year history -- the largest group being the 118 appointed a year earlier in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. And four of the next five largest appointment services rank among the 10 largest in IMB history. The astounding growth in career missionary appointments is directly related to the large numbers of Southern Baptists serving in shorter-term assignments, said Lloyd Atkinson, vice president for mission personnel. "Much of the unprecedented growth in appointments is the result of God calling many to long-term service while they are serving for two or three years in the International Service Corps, Journeymen and Masters programs," he said. "In fact, 51 percent of those appointed in the service had already served with the IMB for at least two years." BIBLE PARTNERS The International Mission Board is moving to a higher level of partnership with Wycliffe International, which has about 5,000 missionaries working on Bible translation projects in more than 1,400 languages, trustees learned. The new missions partnership could accelerate by 100 years the translation of the Bible for the estimated 1 billion people who still do not have God's Word in their own language. About 3,000 language groups have no access at all to the good news of God's love. At the current pace, translations for all of them could not be completed until 2150, Wycliffe Executive Director John Watters told the trustees. "We have been asking ourselves what would it take to give every language community some access to God's Word by 2050," Watters said. "That would cut 100 years off the translation process that's already going on. "That's overwhelming. In fact, we recognize it is impossible for us. But it is not impossible for the Lord of the harvest. That's why partnership is critical. That's why we've been talking with the IMB about ways to effectively and cooperatively work together for the glory of God." Under the new plan, the IMB will appoint missionaries to fill needs for translators, share more information about church planting and translation projects and coordinate strategies for taking the gospel to unreached people groups. DISPELLING MYTHS Communicating the truth about IMB missions strategies and what God is doing through Southern Baptist missionaries is difficult in a world of self-serving spin, media distortions and Internet myths, Rankin told the trustees during his president's report. "Whether information is deliberately distorted or not, we live in an environment in which myths often take on a life of their own," he said. "The philosopher William James said, 'Nothing is so absurd that, if repeated often enough, will be believed by the masses.'" Rankin spoke to five falsehoods about the International Mission Board that are making the rounds in Southern Baptist circles. "Some of these myths have been and continue to be repeated to the point that they are believed, often very innocently by those who are gullible to believe whatever they hear, but also by others who seem to have little interest in the truth," he said. "It is regrettable that some prefer to hold to distorted perceptions when it seems to serve their presuppositions, even when evidence to the contrary is presented. "I will not presume to attribute motives to publications and individuals that propagate these and other myths," Rankin said. "I would like to think it is simply due to ignorance rather than to any self-serving purpose of disseminating misinformation. "Perhaps William James was right ... but God has given us a passion for bringing all the peoples of the world to saving faith in Christ, and we will continue to be driven by that vision and share with truth and integrity what God is doing through the IMB." (The list of the five myths and the full text of Rankin's replies follow in a separate article and are available online from the IMB at http://www.imb.org/learn/news/story.asp?id=846.) APPRECIATION In other business, trustees adopted resolutions of appreciation for two missionaries who died in service. The resolutions expressed "deep appreciation for faithful service to God through this board" and pledged "special prayer support for the family during the days ahead." One resolution was adopted for R. Lee Pursley, 39, a missionary videographer who died July 20. A native of Atlanta, Pursley is survived by his wife, Nancy, and their two children, Kathryn, 4, and Matthew, 10 months. The second resolution praised a missionary who served as the strategy coordinator for one of the world's toughest-to-reach people groups. The missionary, who died unexpectedly this past summer at age 60, was not named publicly because of security concerns. The trustees also learned about the release of $1.3 million that funded 59 hunger and general relief projects that included emergency food packets, aid for malnourished mothers and children, agriculture training, seed packets, materials for house reconstruction, job skills training for refugees and water purification. Hunger and relief projects are funded by gifts from Southern Baptist churches. Every dollar given goes 100 percent to ministry expenses. In personnel matters, trustees approved the transfer of four missionary units (eight people) to new fields and longevity salary increases for two units (four people). They granted emeritus status to two missionaries: Rosanne Branan, who has served 32 years in the Philippines, and Alma Rohm, who has served 53 years in Nigeria. Trustees also voted to accept the resignations of 19 missionary units (32 people) and terminated three missionaries. Three of the unit resignations cited the board's request last January that they affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message as a factor in the decision to resign. That brings the total of BF&M-related resignations to 16 units (32 people). A total of 5,480 missionaries currently are serving through the International Mission Board. The next meeting of the IMB trustees will be Jan. 23-25 in Phoenix. A missionary appointment service will be held Jan. 24 at North Phoenix Baptist Church. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- IMB PRESIDENT'S REPORT: 5 myths about the International Mission Board by Jerry Rankin Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday EDITORS' NOTE: In a report to trustees of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board during their Oct. 31-Nov. 3 meeting in Dallas, President Jerry Rankin listed five myths making the rounds about the International Mission Board in some Baptist circles. The text of Rankin's report follows. DALLAS (BP)--It is a challenge to communicate the realities of IMB mission strategies and what God is doing among such a large dispersed constituency as the Southern Baptist Convention. We live in an environment in which information is suspect. There seems to be a perception that media shapes the news with self-serving spins, and messages from large institutional organizations amount to little more than promotional hype. Attempting to communicate the truth of what God is doing through the IMB and the integrity of our motives and decisions is not always welcomed and applauded by the conventional thinking of our post-modern society, nor is it necessarily respected by those among Southern Baptists who are not supportive of the conservative direction of the denomination. Whether information is deliberately distorted or not, we live in an environment in which myths often take on a life of their own. A myth is defined as "a collective opinion or belief that is based on false premises or is the product of fallacious reasoning." Myths have become commonplace throughout Southern Baptist life for years, and that is not likely to change. It is often said that the conservative resurgence is all about power and control rather than theology. Theological positions and practices being advocated by factions that readily depart from the clear teaching of God's authoritative and infallible word indicate otherwise. But the reality is that the massive majority of Southern Baptists really do adhere to the inerrant word of God and the commitment to the fundamentals of our faith as reflected in the conservative resurgence. The very nature of our denominational polity defies power and control accruing to any individual or group. Another myth would have us believe that the defining doctrinal characteristics of being a Baptist are the priesthood of the believer and autonomy of the local church while ignoring the reality that these two tenets of our faith do not stand in isolation but are contingent on what is truly our historic foundational beliefs, the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the absolute authority of God's inerrant word. It is not my intent today to expound on these and other prominent myths related to the Southern Baptist Convention, but to seek to dispel some of the prominent myths that continue to be propagated about the International Mission Board. I am reminded of a quote from philosopher William James in regard to these just mentioned and others. He said, "Nothing is so absurd that if repeated often enough will be believed by the masses." Some of these myths have been and continue to be repeated to the point that they are believed, often very innocently by those who are gullible to believe whatever they hear, but by others who seem to have little interest in the truth. It is regrettable that some prefer to hold to distorted perceptions when it seems to serve their presuppositions, even when evidence to the contrary is presented. What are some of these myths? #1. It is often said that the International Mission Board is no longer interested in seminaries, hospitals and other institutions and is mandating that all missionaries leave these assignments to be church planters regardless of their calling and training. Before refuting this misinformation, it should be pointed out that the purpose of our mission task is to bring a lost world to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The greatest potential for doing that is in accord with the basic purpose that my predecessor introduced to the IMB of "evangelism that results in churches." Whatever the assignment of missionaries, the ultimate purpose is to be a witness to the lost and bring into existence indigenous, multiplying churches. Social ministries, medical work, publications, theological education are all assets, if not essential, to effectively evangelizing a lost world. They not only have an inherent value in their ministry, but are platforms for accessing lost populations and discipling and strengthening the churches. When these institutions were begun many years ago, it was envisioned and planned that they would one day be nationalized and fully supported by the local convention of churches. Those efforts have been successful on our historic mission fields. Recent inquiries have revealed that only four missionaries out of more than 5,000 were asked to move out of institutional assignments because they had long ago been designated for national leadership. We are appointing more seminary teachers, medical personnel, teachers and social workers than ever before. But they are not continuing in roles that would propagate patronizing dependence of historic mission institutions, as some would advocate, but are using their calling and skills to push back the last frontier of an unevangelized world. #2. Another myth says that since "New Directions" in 1997 all decisions are handed down by administrators in Richmond and field missionaries have less involvement in decision-making. People obviously have short memories. It wasn't too long ago when a Global Strategy Group of high-level administrators in Richmond formulated strategies and annual goals for the whole world. Implementation and accountability flowed through area directors who were IMB staff administrators. Yes, there was strong leadership given to reconfiguring our overseas organization in 1997 to provide for growth, more balanced administrative services and allow for geographic, cultural and strategic affinity. Staff administrators were replaced by on-the-field, regional leadership teams who are missionary peers. The large bureaucratic mission organizations were replaced by localized people group teams in which frontline missionaries shared ownership of strategies and were accountable to each other rather than to a hierarchy of leadership. Administrators in Richmond cast the vision, but never has decision-making been so decentralized and missionaries had more freedom to fulfill their calling. This myth seems to be based on the perception that the IMB should support missionaries to go and do whatever they want to do without any coordination or accountability. We may have operated under the Biblical pattern in the past of "everyone doing what is right in their own eyes," but if we are going to be faithful in reaching a lost world, the rebellious children of Israel cannot be our mode. There must be servant leadership that will give direction, maintain focus, and create an organizational environment of synergy and passion for the main thing. #3. There is a myth circulating that the IMB has changed its way of counting missionaries to inflate statistics. Related to this is the myth that we are emphasizing short-term missions and no longer interested in career missionaries who plant their lives in an incarnational witness. The reality is that we are counting missionaries the way they have always been counted. Those serving for two years or longer as journeymen or in International Mission Corps assignments have always been fully supported by the IMB and included in the missionary count, consistent with other mission agencies. While the percentage of career missionaries has declined, this does not represent a decline in the number of long-term missionaries. In fact we have had record numbers of career missionaries appointed three of the last four years, and this year almost 50% more long-term missionaries will be sent out than last year. We have had such an increase in career candidates we recently had to increase our number of personnel consultants from eight to ten; they are currently working with more than 3,000 candidates active in the appointment process. Apparently those propagating this myth would advocate restricting the multitude of Southern Baptists who are being led of God to serve two or three years, enabling us to vastly multiply our witness and also to free up career missionaries for cutting edge assignments while they coordinate the masses of volunteers, provide support services as well as filling primary strategic assignments. Should we ignore the evident trend in society toward mobile, flexible short-term service and deny the call of God in the lives of thousands to be involved in impacting a lost world in order to maintain an arbitrary proportion between short-term and long-term personnel in our missionary force? How long does one have to live among people to be an incarnational witness? In the last two years 43% of those appointed to career missionary service had already served for two years as a journeymen or with ISC; restricting these assignments would clearly diminish the potential of filling long-term personnel needs. #4. There is a myth that says the Southern Baptist Convention is more interested in doctrinal conformity than missions as its unifying and driving priority; that the IMB is simply looking for churches to support its bureaucratic programs rather than serving the churches. It is hard to understand how such a distortion would be believable by anyone willing to recognize and acknowledge the facts. Not only have we had record numbers of missionary appointments eight out of the last nine years, this will be the second consecutive year more than a thousand new missionaries have been appointed. In the last two years short-term volunteers have increased more than 50% from 21,000 in 1999 to 34,000 in 2001. Support for missions through the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has reflected unparalleled growth in record levels for the past eight years. Simultaneously the IMB has more than tripled the unreached people groups being penetrated with the gospel in just the last five years, is seeing exponential growth in new churches being started and reporting more than a thousand new believers a day being baptized. That is not exactly a picture of missions no longer being the focus and priority of Southern Baptists. The fact is, Southern Baptists have realized that this kind of missions and evangelistic impact can only be made, not by embracing diversity and theological relativism, but by adhering to the doctrinal foundations of our faith. For nine years I have been saying, "It is not the responsibility of the International Mission Board to do missions on behalf of Southern Baptists; the Great Commission was given to every church, every believer and every denominational entity. Our role is that of a servant and an enabler to facilitate churches being involved in our missions task." The SBC was restructured in 1997 for the explicit purpose of "facilitating churches to fulfill the Great Commission." Some are advocating that the idea of a denominational entity serving churches is new and unique, but we have been saying to churches for years, "Tell us what God is leading you to do, and we will help facilitate that to have a more effective result through providing personalized ownership of the mission task and working in partnership." Over a thousand local churches have now joined our Global Priority network, partnering with their missionaries, adopting unreached people groups, involving their church in prayer strategies and volunteer projects. #5. I could go on and on, but a final myth I would like to dispel says, the IMB has unlimited reserve funds that it refuses to spend while appealing for massive gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This myth has become so widespread that it is even believed by many who are friends and supporters of the IMB. This is apparently a result of deliberate or uninformed reading of our audit and balance sheet. Reserves are not identical with investments nor are they endowments such as those accumulated by our educational institutions. The IMB invests every dollar that flows through our books in a stewardship of resources provided by Southern Baptists. What does that large figure of more than $300 million dollars, identified as reserves or investments on our audit report, really represent? It represents $38 million obligated to mission budgets that are on their way to the field, $42 million in global capital through which we provide housing and cars for more than 5,000 missionaries without impacting limited operating budget resources or missionary support, and $18 million in self-funded medical coverage. It represents $26 million in life insurance provisions and $109 million as the actuarial value of post-retirement benefits required. It represents $50 million in contingency funds, less than 20% of our annual budget for crises and emergencies, and $34 million in endowment restricted by donors to specific designated purposes. Is there anything remaining that represents a pool of available reserve resources? No! Contrary to the awareness of many, we have spent more than $60 million over the last four years from reserves to expand our Missionary Learning Center, provide for technological needs into the 21st century, and to continue sending out more new missionaries than the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and our allocation from the Cooperative Program would cover. With these expenditures, and the current decline in the stock market, the International Mission Board has no margin of reserves that are available for any purpose beyond a $10 million operating reserve maintained by board policy. I will not presume to attribute motives to publications and individuals that propagate these and other myths. I would like to think it is simply due to ignorance rather than to any self-serving purpose of disseminating misinformation. I do know that it is unlikely my report will dispel the myths and opinions based on false premises and fallacious reasoning. Perhaps William James was right when he said, "Nothing is so absurd that if repeated often enough will be believed by the masses," but God has given us a passion for bringing all the peoples of the world to saving faith in Christ, and we will continue to be driven by that vision and share with truth and integrity what God is doing through the IMB. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: To a missionary hero & friend few will ever know by name by Digory Kirk* Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--I was standing at an airport ticket counter when my cell phone rang and I got the news: My friend had died. He had called his wife earlier to say he was fine and soon would be heading home from a journey abroad. Three hours later he was dead from a heart attack. Not him! So few have dedicated themselves to reaching the lost people group he loved so much. I heard myself crying, "Lord, please raise him from the dead!" I was in shock. I can't remember anything about the trip that day. My thoughts raced. One minute I wondered if he was really gone. The next, I began reflecting on the way he worked. My friend was a Southern Baptist missionary. He served among one of the world's toughest-to-reach people groups. With his wife, he recruited a team of 19 mission workers and four Great Commission Christian organizations. We formed a true "people team": mission advocates in the United States, field workers, local brothers and sisters in Christ -- all sharing a vision to spread the gospel among this large and needy group. My friend had experienced the best and the worst on the mission field for almost 25 years. His family had moved more than a dozen times and lived in five countries -- learning new languages each time. He once surprised me by shedding a tear when I thanked him for having served in the Vietnam War. In the 1990s, his primary people group contact -- a pastor -- was martyred for his faith in Christ. It was as if my friend had died with him; his depression lasted for months. Colleagues overseas and in the United States prayed for and ministered to my friend. His eventual recovery was driven by a godly passion for those who destroyed the life of his friend -- and nearly stole his own. My friend lived with a prayer on his lips. He traveled to minister among his people group as often as possible. He recruited dozens to go on prayerwalks and spend hours on their knees pleading for the salvation of the lost. Souls saved and new churches growing out of spiritual darkness were the regular subjects of his excited phone calls and urgent e-mails. My friend believed in acronyms. Once he gave me a bright yellow cap with the letters "WIT" embroidered on the front: "Whatever It Takes." That was his way of life. My friend's funeral was a celebration. The tributes lasted nearly three hours. His wife and children were amazed at the love that poured forth. Eulogies were given by Christian workers from four nationalities, all without exposing their identities -- a must in today's environment of missions in hostile places. Lives had been changed, previously unreached people had received God's Word in record numbers, diverse personalities had been united by the leadership of our friend. He had constantly expanded his circle of friends and co-workers. He not only wanted you to know of a need; he wanted you to become emotionally and spiritually involved. His address book was more important than his busy calendar. Southern Baptists must understand that for mission work among unreached peoples to continue, a missionary's personal identity cannot always be revealed -- in life or in death. For me, though, this death was very personal. Because of my friend, the unreached people group he loved so deeply has become my own deep commitment and priority. My friend finished well. If the Lord doesn't return before your time comes, you too will die doing something. Are your current priorities worth your life? --30-- *"Digory Kirk" is used here as a pen name of an International Mission Board colleague who worked closely with the late missionary, neither of whom can be identified without causing jeopardy for their work. -------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC president highlights EKG to Annuity Board trustees, staff by Curtis D. Sharp Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday DALLAS (BP)--Southern Baptist Convention President Jack Graham challenged trustees and staff of the Annuity Board to "max out" for God during their Nov. 4-5 meeting in Dallas. Graham emphasized the SBC theme "Empowering Kingdom Growth" in speaking from Matthew 6:33 during a Monday evening service recognition dinner for employees. "To be Kingdom Christians we must exalt our King Jesus Christ, empower Kingdom growth, establish Kingdom families, expand our Kingdom witness and expect Kingdom glory," said Graham, pastor of the Dallas-area Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. During their business sessions, trustees unanimously approved a 2003 operating budget and heard officer reports on various facets of the board's work. Board President O. S. Hawkins reminded trustees of the plight many churches and pastors face in a period of declining markets and a national healthcare crisis. "We are facing a national healthcare crisis. Many of our participants are facing significant rate increases in their medical plans. While we cannot control the financial markets, we are determined to continue to find ways to enhance the financial security of our participants," Hawkins told trustees. John Jones, chief operating officer, reported on successful efforts to undergird the board's primary business objectives and the eight business drivers, or key tactics, for implementing the objectives. Citing examples of how the staff has worked to support the business drivers, Jones told trustees, "We are pleased with the successes we have had in positioning our organization to provide superior customer service to those we are privileged to serve. "We continue to aggressively manage costs in our products and services," Jones continued. "For example, the [administrative] cost for a health program such as the Annuity Board offers normally averages over 15 percent. The Annuity Board's health program cost averages only 12 percent. More than ever before, we are focused on finding solutions that will provide products and services to help us achieve our mission." George Tous van Nijkerk, chairman of the board, presided as trustees approved a 2003 budget of $53.1 million, a 3 percent increase in spending and operations over 2002. The Annuity Board receives no Cooperative Program funds for operations, but pays all expenses from an advisory fee on the investment funds available to participants. All Cooperative Program money received by the board is paid as relief grants to needy retired ministers or denominational workers or their widows. John West of Alabama, chairman of the trustees' insurance committee, reported on enhancements to the health programs that will be implemented Jan. 1. Transition is underway to a new third party administrator (TPA). Whereas in the past, only 70 percent of medical plan participants had access to discounts, expanded networks through the new TPA arrangement will make discounts available to 90 percent of participants, West said. A well baby care benefit will be added to other wellness benefits that are already offered in the medical plans. For participants who are looking for a lower cost plan, a fourth level of the comprehensive medical plan will be available. This plan will have higher deductibles and co-pays with a premium that is 55 percent of the level one premium. West also reported on the declaration of a dividend in the amount of $200,000 to be paid to the Annuity Board's endowment program from the Southern Baptist Convention Managing General Agency, Inc. (the MGA). In 1988 the Annuity Board established a subsidiary known as the Southern Baptist Convention Managing General Agency, Inc., to assist Southern Baptist churches and organizations in obtaining property and casualty insurance. Since 1991, the MGA has had a contractual relationship with GuideOne Insurance of West Des Moines, Iowa. Dividends and charitable contributions from the MGA are paid to the board's relief program, which benefits hundreds of retired ministers, missionaries and their widows. Since the inception of this relationship, more than $2 million has been provided to the board's endowment program. Trustees received a valuation report of the Fixed Benefit Fund, which provides annuity payments to annuitants receiving Plan A benefits and certain fixed annuities. While recipients of commercial fixed annuities do not normally receive an increase in benefits, the Annuity Board has granted seven increases to annuitants since 1990. Three of these increases were 10 percent increases while four were 5 percent increases. The most recent increase was a 5 percent increase granted at the beginning of 2001. Each year the Fixed Benefit Fund is valued and if there is sufficient margin, an increase is granted. The financial markets' low performance during the past 12 months has not provided sufficient margin to consider an increase for 2003. The trustees' relief committee, chaired by Eugene Hawkins of Texas, approved applications for 1 two-month grant, 2 three-month grants, 6 two-year monthly grants and 2 two-year expense grants. Forty-six applications were declined for being outside relief guidelines. Ninety-nine individuals were added to the relief assistance roll during the third quarter. In action approved earlier this year, trustees approved steps to combine the supplemental assistance program and the Adopt An Annuitant program into a single program. As a result of this action, many relief participants' benefits more than doubled. Maximum supplemental assistance grants are $200 per month for single persons and $265 for couples. Other action by the relief committee included approving a $200 Christmas check for each relief recipient on the roll Dec. 1. Funds to provide the special Christmas check are made possible through the endowment program of the Annuity Board. In other action, trustees approved amendments to the board's retirement plans to comply with recent legislation and approved a resolution commending recent action by Omni Hotels to encourage Christian values by removing adult literature and videos from its hotels. The next scheduled meeting of Annuity Board trustees will be Feb. 24-25 in Dallas. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Seminarians help plant churches amid Seattle's spiritual void by Michael Foust Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--When Southern Baptist Theological Seminary student Shane Critser talks about Seattle, he uses a somewhat startling analogy: Imagine an unreached people group -- in America. It may be somewhat of a stretch, but his point is still valid: The Pacific Northwest is in need of church planters and missionaries. Critser and a team from the Louisville, Ky., school traveled to Seattle hoping to make a difference. Their main task in the summer venture: assisting those North American Mission Board church planters already located in the Seattle area. The Southern Seminary team members performed door-to-door evangelism and research. They held free car washes and block parties. Along the way the team members also prayerfully considered a key question: Was God calling them into church planting? There were no public decisions for Christ, but they realized the trip was worth the effort in planting seeds of faith. "There's an overall spiritual deadness feeling you get that you just don't understand here in the Bible belt," said Critser, Southern Seminary's coordinator of missions activities. The latest religious data by the Glenmary Research Center underscores Critser's point. The researchers found that -- when including all religions -- Oregon and Washington are the two least churchgoing states in America. Seattle is one of the cities receiving intensive focus by the North American Mission Board. The area is part of NAMB's Strategic Focus Cities initiative, which is a long-term effort to take the gospel to the nation's largest cities. One church planter told Critser, "I'm not working with people who reject the gospel because they know it and don't agree with it. I'm working with people who have never heard the gospel." Southern Seminary missions professor Mark Terry led the trip. "It's a very different culture there," said Terry, the A.P. and Faye Stone Professor of Christian Missions and Evangelism. "The people there are indifferent to religion -- especially the younger people. The young adults just don't see that religion plays any role. Three percent of the population there is actively involved in church. "It's not that they're antagonistic. They're just apathetic. They don't see the point. ... The church planters say that a lot of people go to that area ... because there are so few churches. They're really looking for a secular environment in which to live. It's a lot different from Louisville in terms of its religious culture." The Southern Seminary team assisted several church planters but spent most of their time with two new churches: Discovery Church in Tacoma and Lakeside Community Church in Bellevue, both in the greater Seattle area. In a nutshell, team members were there to serve the local pastor, assisting in whatever way they were needed. They conducted door-to-door evangelism. They prayerwalked. They handed out "Jesus" videos. They worked in a soup kitchen. At one location team members helped a pastor move his office. Another time the group repaired a fence at a pastor's house. "He's doing all of this by himself, and he just doesn't have time," Critser said of the pastor. "We fixed his fence so that he can sell his house." In door-to-door surveys with Discovery Church in Tacoma, they helped the new pastor learn more about his community. They also held a block party where residents learned about the church and heard the gospel. "We'd walk around, knock on doors and say, 'The church is going to have this. Come on out. There's free food,'" Critser said. "We'd do the physical part of it -- grilling the hot dogs and hamburgers, serving the food and sharing testimonies." The task at Lakeside Community Church in Bellevue was similar, with team members sharing their faith through door-to-door evangelism. They also held a free car wash -- something that automatically gave the church a good name. "From what the church planters told me ... one of the most effective things was the servant evangelism and the car wash," Critser said. "People are still talking about this church that did this free for no reason." He said the people would ask, "Why are you doing this? Do you want any money?" Critser said group members would respond by simply saying, "No. We're just trying to share the love of Christ and let you know Lakeside Community Church is here to serve you." The car wash, he added, "would open up the door to share Christ with those folks." The goal was to get the driver out of the car to make evangelism a bit easier. Car owners were also given free bottled water and Gatorade. "We spent about eight hours washing 50-plus cars -- which means that we had 50 contacts with people which you don't have if you knock on doors," Critser said. "Where are they going to go? ... Some of our team was assigned the Gatorade so they could talk while we were washing the car." Critser said the trip met its goals. Team members provided much-needed assistance to local pastors, shared the gospel and also explored their own call into ministry. "Until you get on the field, you really don't know what it's like, so you're learning practical aspects of church-planting," he said. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLDVIEW: 2003: Time to let teens step out of 9/11's shadow by Erich Bridges Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Have Southern Baptists finally emerged from the long, fearful shadows of Sept. 11? One answer to that question will come in the next few months, when our own missionaries around the world begin finding out whether we're willing to send our young people to help them spread the gospel. Southern Baptist missionaries worldwide have requested more than 4,000 high school students to serve alongside them in 35-plus projects next year -- primarily through M-Fuge International and International World Changers, the youth mission programs coordinated by LifeWay Christian Resources and the International Mission Board. The students -- if they sign up -- will go to Latin America, Europe, Russia, Africa, Asia, the Middle East. They'll serve on "the front lines of lostness, utilizing their gifts, abilities and eagerness to find and create ways to communicate the message of Jesus," says Kelly Davis, IMB consultant for youth mobilization. "Missionaries have identified strategic ways that high school students can assist them to reach the people that God has called them to." In Ecuador, youth volunteers will distribute medical kits, hold kids' clubs and use sports ministry to reach out to the Quechua people. In Moscow, students will hold a youth camp for Russian teenagers. In Jordan and Lebanon, they will teach English and use creative ministries to reach specific communities with the message of Jesus. In Western Europe, they'll seek to reach some of the millions of immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East -- people who have little access to the gospel in their home countries. Youth involvement in international mission projects nearly doubled in the year before 9/11, from 2,200 teen volunteers in the year 2000 to 4,200 last year (mostly in the pre-9/11 spring and summer). But after the attacks, numerous projects were cancelled for lack of participation. This year's international teen volunteers will total around 2,000, Davis projects. Thank God for each one of those 2,000 faithful young followers. Thank God for the courage and trust it took for their parents and churches to send them into a world seemingly filled with new threats and dangers. But how many youth volunteers stayed home -- not necessarily because of their own post-9/11 anxieties, but because of the concerns of their elders? None of the youth mission projects shelved in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks was cancelled by a missionary concerned about the security or safety of young volunteers, Davis says. The stop signs went up much closer to home. As one youth pastor put it, his church had "joined the masses of other churches that have chosen to live in fear instead of by faith." "Even in the most 'tense' locations overseas, missionaries were still saying, 'Y'all come,'" Davis reports. But they ran up against media-fueled perceptions in the United States that entire global regions were unsafe because of events in a few specific locations. Such perceptions are "almost impossible to battle," Davis says. "It's like telling someone not to go to Idaho because there was an explosion in New York." That's not to say that safety is guaranteed. It isn't, anywhere -- not overseas, not at home. "We're in perilous times," admits LifeWay's Mark Robbins, who coordinates M-Fuge International projects. "But if the Great Commission is to be fulfilled, we will have to be risk-takers. This is not the time to be worried about what 'might happen' if we go. We need to be more worried about what might happen if we fail to go. We have thousands of risk-takers -- missionaries -- around the world who have gone to serve and represent us. They are asking that we send our students. Will we heed the call?" More than 40 percent of the world's population is under age 25. In some countries, particularly in the developing world, the under-25 cohort tops 60 percent. Who better to reach them for Christ, ask Robbins and Davis, than young people who know him? "This generation of high school students is not content to sit on the sidelines and hear the stories of others doing ministry," Robbins says. "Youth know no boundaries and see no barriers. They are idealistic. This is why I believe youth are a major key to world evangelization. The doors are open. Missionaries are asking for young people. Youth ministers are eager to go and the students that they lead will follow courageously. "What we need now are parents, churches and pastors willing to support and encourage their involvement." Your youth probably have come to terms with 9/11. Have you? --30-- For information about 2003 projects with International World Changers and M-Fuge International, call 800-999-3113, ext. 1355, or visit www.thetask.org\youth. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Creation & history by Hal Ostrander Date: November 07, 2002 - Thursday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--God's truth is a unified and comprehensive unity, testifying to God as the Author of all truth. These truths -- revealed in the Bible and through nature itself -- are neither at odds with each other nor incapable of being understood as God intended. Questions related to the how of God's work of creation are still shrouded in mystery. How can something be made out of nothing? This question demonstrates the limitation of human understanding, but of this we can be certain: There is a complete and wholesome harmony between scriptural truth and the truths of creation, properly understood. All truth is God's truth. An urgent consideration enters the picture at this point. To cut to the chase, historicity now becomes the major player in this interpretive game. Meaning what? Meaning that if theologians or scientists deny the historical truth of the Genesis creation account, then human speculation assumes the position of authority. In essence, those who deny the historicity of the biblical creation account assert that the Scriptures aren't clear enough about particular creation matters, or worse, that they aren't accurate in all they assert. To borrow from the apostle Paul -- may it never be! Make no mistake about it, the creation narrative of Genesis is both factual and reliable. There is no compromise of historical integrity in its claims of history nor its representation of the physical world. Nevertheless, Moses' elegant description of creation isn't linked directly either to the methodologies utilized by secular historians or to the experimental method prized by scientists. Nevertheless, claims to space-time history are sufficiently and factually sketched out for us both in terms of accuracy and quantity of detail. Those who would deny the historical integrity of the biblical account reclassify the biblical texts as myth, saga, fable, legend or some other literary form. All of these conjured descriptions are thoroughly insufficient as ways to approach the character of Genesis as the Word of God. Furthermore, we must trace the impact of such biblical subversions upon the scope of redemptive history. When this point of view becomes one's operative assumption, the clarity and trustworthiness of the creation account is seen as crucial to the proper understanding and interpretation of Genesis 3-11. While descriptions of these events suffer at the hands of skeptical thinkers and moderate-to-liberal interpreters, the long history of Genesis studies numbers legions of followers advocating a "they-really-happened" approach as well. This is where the faithful church is found. Were Adam and Eve specially created as the first human pair? Absolutely. The text of Genesis 1:26-28 clearly upholds this interpretation. Imagine for a moment when Adam, then Eve next, each opened their eyes to existence itself for the first time. What kinds of thoughts and feelings would have been rushing through them? It's impossible to know, but no other human beings have ever experienced such an awesome state of affairs. The unity of the human race -- all the progeny of Adam and Eve -- is unequivocally taught in Acts 17:26, Romans 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22. And it almost goes without saying that to posit a direct creation of Adam and Eve is to reject outright any conception of theistic evolution. Was there a literal historical fall, a fall caused by the disobedience of Adam and Eve to God's command not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Yes, because to interpret the meaning of Genesis 3 allegorically, as opposed to historically, is to disregard the very entrance of sin into the world by means of human culpability. And the rest of the story, as we know, tells us how the entire human race was plunged into sin and ruin by our first parents' mutual sin against God. If you picture our world as it is now with all its cultural and technological trappings stripped from our immediate presence, then it's not so difficult to picture, in contrast, a sinless pre-fall world wherein sinless existence was the order of the day -- sheer existence in God's presence with a simple test of obedience facing Adam and Eve; a test they failed willfully despite the tempting wiles of Satan. A global flood wrought by God as punishment for a world wicked beyond imagining, with only eight persons surviving the floodwaters by living on a gargantuan ark for roughly a year? A tower built to reach the heavens, its construction interrupted permanently by a God who transformed a postdiluvian world's single language into many to scatter them across the face of the globe? Abram, son of Terah, chosen by God to bless every nation and family of the earth through the Messiah to come? Each and every one a historical event. As John MacArthur puts it, "All sorts of theological mischief ensues when we reject or compromise the literal truth of the biblical account of creation and the fall of Adam." As a true statement, MacArthur's insight serves ably as the historical starting point for true and responsible creationist theologies. --30-- Ostrander is associate dean and associate professor of Christian theology at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.