FORT WORTH?The day after announcing his retirement as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ken Hemphill released a statement acknowledging that many people had expressed “conflicted feelings” relating not only to his departure, but for two professors whose tenure status remains unsettled.

“Grief, anger, confusion may be just a few” of the “conflicted feelings,” Hemphill said in the April 8 statement that also was recorded on the seminary’s telephone extension 8250. “Such feelings are not only related to my departure but have been elicited by concern for Drs. Bullock and Stookey.”

Karen O. Bullock is a professor of church history and serves as associate dean of the Ph.D. program. Stephen M. Stookey is an associate professor of church history. Some students have expressed concern that no action was recommended regarding tenure for the two professors at the recent board meeting.

Hemphill said the seminary has a process of tenure review that is being followed. “Any of us have the right to differ with the conclusion reached, but none of us should judge the motives of those involved. No man can see into the heart and God’s Word prohibits such human speculation.”

He praised both professors for having made a great investment in the lives of numerous students. “I encourage each of you to tell them of your love for them, and to relate to them the impact that they have had on your life,” Hemphill stated.

Academic Affairs Committee Chairman Denny Autrey of Lindale, Texas, said, “There was no report from administration” offered to the trustees regarding tenure for any faculty member. Thus, no action could be taken in regard to tenure for the two professors, he explained.

“The provost did present an updated proposal concerning tenure for all faculty,” Autrey told the Southern Baptist TEXAN. “That was discussed with academic affairs and the bylaws committee,” he said, adding that the full board received copies of the proposal.

The board voted to review the manner in which tenure is granted to faculty and report on the review at the next semiannual meeting of trustees. “We will revisit that issue in the fall meeting,” Autrey confirmed.

Hemphill said in his release, “We cannot publicly discuss the specifics of any personnel matter. This serves both the interests of the individual and the institution.” He went on to commend the two professors for having made “a wonderful investment in Southwestern,” stating that they “will always be a part of our legacy.”

He added, “I know them well enough to know that they share my conviction that God works through every circumstance for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. I know they will continue to serve God faithfully. Such is their character and calling.” He told those interested in the situation, “You will best honor them by being faithful to your calling.”

Hemphill said, “In days of difficulty and challenging circumstances we can either become bitter or beautiful. As you crush a rose petal you serve only to release its beautiful fragrance. I pray that would be true for all who are feeling somewhat crushed by recent events.”

He spoke of having read in John 12:27-28 of Jesus glorifying God the Father at a time when his own soul was troubled. “Jesus had a singular focus. Glorify thy name,” Hemphill recounted, adding, “The ringing answer from the Father, ‘I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.'” He urged others to “stay the course” and glorify God’s name in the process.

DALLAS, Texas–After three sleepless nights of sitting alone in the dark “stewing” over injuries due to a near-fatal motorcycle accident, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention President George Harris picked up a large-print Bible commentary. With a magnifying glass he read Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Harris realized that his Nov. 23 motorcycle accident, temporarily leaving him without sight and the ability to speak, was strikingly similar to the near-death experience King David endured urging him to pen a song of “thanksgiving for deliverance from death” found in Psalm 116.

At a recent SBTC Executive Board meeting, Harris, who recently retired from the pastorate of Castle Hills First Baptist Church in San Antonio, shared his testimony and results of his accident.

During a ride through the hill country in South Texas, Harris saw the taillights of other cyclists in front of him blink on. In what he describes as “reflex,” he stepped on his brake, failing to use his hand brake as well.

“Before I knew it I’d lost it,” Harris recounted. “Life becomes meaningful when you see your bike crossing the guard rail, and you aren’t on it. I had enough sense to know I wasn’t going to ride that motorcycle to its end, so I let it go. But the minute I hit the ground, I catapulted in the air and came down on my face.”

Harris suffered 84 broken bones in his face with the roof of his mouth breaking in four different places. His teeth were pushed back, his eyes were pushed down into his head and his skull was fractured. Other than injuries to his face, Harris sustained no other injuries. He noted that even his jacket went unscathed.

Harris spent 17 days in the hospital and another eight weeks at home recovering from the accident and numerous reconstructive surgeries to implant 11 facial plates.

Although he stood before the board without a scar on his face, Harris said the weeks following his release from the hospital would bear the fruit of much pain and confusion.

“At home, I wrestled with the tracheotomy, and I had difficulty breathing. I couldn’t speak and couldn’t see because my eyes were damaged. For eight weeks I slept in a recliner” Harris said, adding that he was “perplexed with God.”

“One night I couldn’t sleep, and I was having a talk with the Lord. I said ‘Lord I don’t see where Rom. 8:28 has anything to do with this,” he said referring to the verse which states, “All things work together for good.”

“’Lord, this is the way I feel, allow me to say this. Either I don’t love you or you have something you really want to show me in all this.’ I was angry. I couldn’t sleep, talk, eat. That night I sat there and stewed with the Lord,” he said. “The next night the same thing. I hated nights, because it seemed every night was a month long.”

It was on the third night that Harris finally heard an answer from God. Reading Psalm 116, he saw God working in the life of David in a similar situation.

“I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live.” Psalm 116:1-2:

Harris said he realized the Lord heard and answered his internal cries for help during the aftermath of the accident by sending two men. One man traveling with the church group was a policeman from San Antonio.

“He knew I was in critical condition and put pressure on my face and neck to hold the bleeding down,” he said, adding that the off-duty officer called an ambulance as well. “That guy took one look at me and knew I needed to be air-vaced. That young policeman probably kept me from bleeding to death.”

While en route to the hospital via a helicopter, Harris said a young doctor knew Harris would probably not survive unless an emergency tracheotomy was performed.

“God again heard my cry. He took an old practice that many of the doctors didn’t know about. He pried my mouth open and crammed [the trache] down my throat, and he performed a tracheotomy on my throat in the hall,” Harris said. “I came to the realization that the Lord loved me, and I was going to call upon him the rest of my life.”

“The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and he saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” Psalm 116:6-7

After experiencing the mercy and grace of God referred to verses 3 and 4, Harris said he recognized that “God had to bring us down to a lowness before we can ever rise to what he wants us to do.”

“We are nothing without him. We need to quit relying upon our degrees, finances, and talents. It’s only when we become so low that he is able to reveal to us his attributes – his graciousness, faithfulness, mercy,” he said.

Harris also noted that in verse 12 David is unsure of how to respond to such mercy and grace.

“In the final outcome, David says ‘I’ll take up the cup of salvation.’” Harris noted. “Salvation is not just forgiveness of sin – it is preservation from our difficulties.

Along with the sovereign had of God, Harris also expressed appreciation to his wife, Lynda, who also sustained him with loving care at home.

“Did you know there is a difference between taking a vow and paying a vow?” He asked, referring to verse 14 which states “I will pay my vows to the Lord.”

“For about eight weeks she paid those vows, listening to me cough, cleaning my trache, rushing me to the hospital. That was the ‘for worse’ part of the vow,” he said. “The psalmist says ‘I’ll pay my vow.’ He has come through the death experience.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am your servant.”  Psalm 116:15-16a

Harris said that even while he was in flight to the hospital he felt the presence of God.

“I never felt fear, even when two guys said ‘We’re going to lose him.’ I sensed the presence of God,” he said, adding that the presence of God would prepare him for the dark nights ahead during his recovery phase in which Harris would “discover what I had preached and heard about and talked about.  I’m not interested in going to somebody’s church for cultural performance of religion where there is not power or presence of [God.]”

Although Harris has regained his eyesight and ability to speak, the months following the accident rendered him unable to fulfill many speaking engagements.

“I’d been very busy. I haven’t had an open date from June to Nov. and had 18 engagements that I had to cancel, but God laid this on my heart and I am no longer open to taking engagement.” he said.  “I’d rather sit in the dark, blind and mute and meeting with [God] than to go through the motions of playing church.  The ritual of going through church had left my soul empty.  Those nights, instead of being angry with God, I experienced something in 50 years of ministry I hadn’t experienced—the power of prayer and the sweetness of being still.”

AMARILLO, Texas?Spring Break Trip. Those words automatically paint a mental picture of a place where the ocean is blue, the sand is white and the sun seems to shine 365 days a year, far away from work and school.

Mission Trip. These words focus our mind’s eye on ministering to people in a strange land where languages and customs make sharing the gospel a challenge.

For most people these two types of trips aren’t even mentioned together in planning sessions. Spring Break is a time to get away from school. Missions Trips are meant to get away and practice the Great Commission across the globe. Some youth ministries, however, are beginning to look for ways to use the yearly weeklong respite from school and work to do something productive, something that could affect eternity.

The youth group at Lifeway Fellowship in Amarillo decided to spend their Spring Break sharing the love of God, not in a jungle, but in their own backyard working with Second Baptist Church. Chris Hurt, student pastor at Lifeway Fellowship, said the group has participated in mission trips before, including a trip working in the inner-city of Dallas-Fort Worth. This year the group stayed at home to conduct a sports camp to attract young children and teens to the church to learn about sports, discipline and the love of Christ.

The groups arrived at the church each morning, split up and canvassed the neighborhoods around the church to invite kids to come and participate in the camp. During the day, the kids worked on different soccer and basketball skills by participating in basic drills ? ball handling, dribbling, passing, etc. After the drills, the campers gathered for a time of Bible study where the gospel was presented.

Hurt said he was pleasantly surprised by the turnout of the camp, with about 40 attending each day. But by the end of the week that number swelled to about 200.

After lunch, the group of 40 Lifeway Fellowship students and sponsors made their way to the next mission project. From 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. the group ministered to residents at the Amarillo Garden Community apartment complex. The group spent a few minutes at the beginning canvassing the area, inviting kids to come and be a part of the Backyard Bible Club. Their mission for the BBC was the same as mission efforts across the world: make the love of Jesus known to those who may not know.

“We went out and played with the kids and told them about Jesus,” Hurt said.

The Lifeway group was one of three different groups on six properties across town the same week. Jeff Parsons, multi-housing ministry facilitator for the Amarillo Baptist Association, said this was the first year for Spring Break mission efforts in Amarillo. The multi-housing ministry is about a year-and-a-half old. Last year, Parsons said, the ministry wasn’t ready to do this type of mission work. This year they were ready to give the local kids a chance to minister.

Hurt said his group took a mission trip to St. Louis last year. The destination of the trip was kept secret from the kids to spice things up a little. Campers weren’t told the location of the mission trip until it was almost time to go. When this year’s Mystery Mission Trip signups began, kids rapidly signed up.

“You should have seen their faces when we told them we were staying in Amarillo,” Hurt said. As the week went on, however, he said the group was glad they decided to stay home.

As with any mission trip the week wouldn’t have been complete without a little rest and relaxation. On Friday the group was rewarded for the service with a trip to Oklahoma City, where the group went to one of the area malls and enjoyed time off with one another.

The sacrifice the kids made proved to be fruitful. Hurt said over 30 kids made some type of decision for Christ at the Second Baptist Sports Camp. Four others made decisions at the Backyard Bible Club at the apartment complex.

Since the mission, some group members have returned to the complex to check on the children that attended the week’s events. Both groups seemed to find some satisfaction in the interaction.

Sarah Cullum is a 19-year-old college student at Amarillo College. She wants to be a social worker, which she believes is her calling. Cullum grew up at Lifeway Fellowship. As she prepares for her career by taking classes in school, Cullum knew that she needed some hands-on experience that a trip like this could give her.

Her job was to help with the arts and crafts with the kids at the apartments. But her job responsibilities weren’t limited to gluing construction paper hands on paper plates. She wanted to show God’s love to the kids. “We just loved on the kids and played with them,” Cullum said.

Cullum said she was surprised when the first group of 40 kids showed up that first day. She wasn’t expecting quite that big a turnout. It surprised her at the willingness of the kids at the apartment community to participate in the festivities.

“The kids jus

IRVING, Texas ? Equipping women to implement successful women’s ministry programs in local churches is the key to meeting needs and revitalizing the spiritual walk of women. As the theme “Make me, mold me,” attests, the 2003 regional conferences hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention encouraged Texas Baptist women to allow God to create and shape their ministry.

The first of its kind, the convention offered three separate conferences for women: Mar. 7 at Ameila Baptist Church in Beaumont; Mar. 28-29 at Parkhills Baptist Church in San Antonio; and Apr. 11-12 at First Baptist Church in Post, Texas. Registration for the event totaled over 500 women from across the state including 135 in Beaumont, 278 in San Antonio and 111 in Post.

“We are trying to help women understand at the local church level [how] to organize themselves not only to meet the needs in their church, but also in their communities,” said SBTC Women’s Ministry Consultant Shirley Moses on a KBMT Channel 12 News report during the Beaumont conference, adding that women’s ministries is not a new concept. “Women have been ministering to other women since the beginning of time.”

During the Mar. 28-29 conference in San Antonio, Moses added that even though God has always used women in the church, there is something special about the nature of God’s movement among women today.

“Women are beginning to branch out and do things in ministry that even 10 years ago they wouldn’t have thought they’d been able to do,” Moses said. “[God] wants to do something through you to be a part of his kingdom. And being part of that is indescribable. If you ever once experience it, you’ll be there when he calls.”

Moses encouraged women to be obedient to the call of God in creating a personal ministry at home, in their neighborhood or in the local church. Using Jeremiah 18:6, which states: “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in mine,” Moses used the acronym M.O.L.D. to illustrate to women “how to get in shape for ministry.”

Making the right move

The first letter in the acrostic signifies an initial response to God’s call.

“Ladies, you are going to have lots of opportunities to disciple the women around you and help them to get in shape for ministry,” Moses said, noting that Jeremiah “made the right move” when God said “Arise” to the prophet.

Moses stated that a call can often be discerned by burdens placed on a woman’s heart.

“What has God given you a burden for? Write down the first thing that comes to your mind. Is God asking you to lead a Bible study or is he asking you to join the choir? Or maybe working with the children or possibly be involved in a mentoring relationship in your church?” she asked. “So when you hear that still small voice telling you to make a move, God is saying ‘I’m getting ready to do something. Will you make the right move and join me in doing something around you.

Obedience

Referring to the Jeremiah 18:3-4 and the process of creating pottery, Moses said the beauty of the pot depends of the ability of the clay to yield to the potter’s hand. “Have you ever seen someone making pottery? He moves the wheel with his feet, but he never takes his hand off of the clay. The most important quality of the clay is that it yields and yielding is the very first step in our lives toward obedience,” Moses said. “We must learn that God is there. He wants to help us, but he is not going to do it until we learn to yield and obey.”

Moses said her first test of obedience in shaping herself for ministry came not long after she became a Christian. Burdened to start a Bible study in her home church, Moses petitioned the board of deacons to purchase 80 books for a women’s study.

“They didn’t really believe I’d be able to get rid of all 80 books, but they allowed me to do it. I started publicizing it, and I knew the Lord wanted me to take it to the community,” Moses recounted. “The day before the Bible study, I [handed out] 79 books.”

Moses said she still felt God stirring in her heart that one more book needed to be given away. As she was walking out the door to lead the study, her phone rang.

“It was the girl down the street said she said, ‘Shirley,

When secular reporters write about women in ministry in the context of Southern Baptist life they don’t bother calling Susie Hawkins, Simone Monroe or Kathy Sibley. Instead, they pick the rare woman who pastors what is typically a small congregation with few ties to the SBC. That phone call will provide comments about male-dominated leadership oppressing and silencing women who make up the majority of the 16-million member denomination.

If you had a chance to hear from the three Texas women who spoke at a recent Criswell College forum, you’d hear about the opportunities they’ve had to minister to groups small and large, locally and internationally, influencing women and men. Between the three women, they recounted 30 different types of ministries they have conducted in the context of Southern Baptist life.

“Women participate equally with men in the priesthood of all believers,” stated Monroe, an administrative assistant at Criswell College. “Their role is crucial. Their wisdom, grace and commitment are exemplary. Women are an integral part of our Southern Baptist boards, faculties, mission teams, writer pools and professional staffs. We affirm and celebrate their Great Commission impact.”

“Few subjects have generated as much heat, though often with as little light as the subject of the proper role of women in ministry,” stated Kathy Sibley, a former Southern Baptist missionary who now serves as assistant to the president of Criswell College. “For us, the starting point for any discussion is not societal standards or cultural norms?it is the authoritative Word of God.”

The three women cited their own ministries that involved music, hospitality, mission education, administration, discipleship, mentoring, evangelism, radio and television broadcasts, Christian education, church planting, retreat ministry, teaching, writing, counseling and work with students. “We have also served as wives, mothers, grandmothers, students, missionaries, pastors’ wives and on church staffs as pianists, young married ministry director and women’s ministry directors,” Monroe told the audience of students.

The overwhelming passage of a revised Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal statement in 2000 drew increased media attention to the role of women in ministry within the SBC. While the revision affirmed women as being “gifted for service in the church,” reporters and critics zeroed in on the clarification that “the office of senior pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

“Nowhere does it say that women can’t proclaim the gospel,” explained Hawkins in an earlier interview, careful to distinguish between women serving in an authoritative pastoral role and women proclaiming the gospel.

“In our own Southern Baptist tradition we have the obvious examples of missionaries Lottie Moon and Bertha Smith who were used greatly by God.” Answering those who use Mary Magdalene as an example of a female spiritual authority, Hawkins reminded, “She was their co-laborer, their partner in spreading the gospel.”

When the BFM Study Committee on which Hawkins served specified the restriction on the office of senior pastor, they chose not to comment on women performing a preaching role outside of local church life.

“Upon the discussion of the issue of women in ministry, I am eager for others to know that the men on the committee were more than willing to hear the women’s perspective.”

In her presentation at Criswell College, Hawkins reminded listeners that when Shubal Stearns influenced early Baptists in America with his preaching at Sandy Creek, his sister Molly Stearns Marshall was also delivering sermons on the frontier before and after the Revolutionary War. Much of missionary heroine Lottie Moon’s church planting efforts in China involved proclaiming the gospel, and yet, she anxiously discipled newly converted men who could assume leadership of local churches.

International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin retraced the steps of Moon throughout China and wrote an account of his study of her life. “It is very clear and well-referenced that as Lottie Moon went on itinerant witnessing tours to the villages, teaching the Bible and yes, probably preaching, that she would not allow any men to be present.” That didn’t prevent men from being saved through her ministry, Rankin noted, as they listened through the window to her message.

He added that Moon called upon a male Chinese evangelist to work alongside her, performing baptisms of converts and other pastoral roles. “Nothing prevents a woman from engaging in any kind of church-related ministry,” he said, noting the scriptural restriction against holding a church pastorate as the only limitation.

When Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land needs an example of a woman ministering scripturally he cites Shannon Royce who serves as the ERLC’s legislative counsel and director of government relations. Royce’s mother, Barbara O’Chester, a Southern Baptist pastor’s wife from Austin, developed a model for retreat ministry that has been embraced by Southern Baptists.

EL PASO?Paul Harvie considers herself blessed to have grown up in a Christian home where she was taught to pray from an early age. “As I grew older and studied the Bible myself, I came to realize God’s amazing promises.” She believes prayer is powerful and effective because God promised to answer prayer. “God cannot lie. We can count on Him!”

A lifetime of personally experiencing the power of prayer strengthened her belief in the immeasurable potential of prayer. So when the prayer coordinator of El Paso’s Exciting Immanual Baptist Church learned that her son would be deployed to Iraq, her natural response was to recruit scores of people to pray for him.

“Almost daily, I pray Psalm 91 for David, inserting his name in the text and reminding God of His wonderful promises to those who love Him,” Harvie said. “Many times a day I claim God’s promise that ‘no weapon formed against David shall prosper,” she added, drawing from Isa. 54:17

As the mother of an Army captain stationed with the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, Paula Harvie knows the comfort of having fellow believers committed to keeping a prayer shield of protection over American troops. “I’ve seen profound gratitude in the eyes of young soldiers in our congregation. They find it very reassuring to know that their home church will cover them with prayer.” The anxieties of loved ones are replaced by the peace that passes all understanding, she said.

Months before the war broke out, the church began interceding for troops, families, the nation and the Iraqi people. A special prayer board lists the names and pictures of family members and friends who have been deployed. Members are encouraged to participate in an hour of prayer on Sunday afternoons or stop by on their way to work during weekday mornings. “These special times are wholly devoted to the war with Iraq, the welfare of our troops and their loved ones, wisdom for our leaders and revival in our nation.”

Harvie recognizes that America is an imperfect land. “We have much need for humbling ourselves before God and asking for forgiveness for our national sins.” Still, she views the current conflict as a just war, adding, “t1:country-region>America is the instrument of God’s judgment on an evil leader and his wicked cronies.” She believes God has given the nation “resources, manpower and opportunity to carry out his judgment on a diabolical regime.”

The sacrifice her son is expected to make to liberate people that don’t always seem to appreciate those efforts caused Harvie anguish during the darkness of a long night just after the war had begun. “In fact, these people hate our sons so much that they take every chance they get to insult them, attack them and kill them,” she determined.

“As I was reflecting on the unfairness of it all, the Lord reminded me that he, too, sent his Son to liberate hateful, mean-spirited people who didn’t want to be liberated from the tyrant who was holding them in bondage, either.” Those ungrateful people treated God’s Son unfairly, too, she added, ultimately killing him.

“Suddenly I understood a deeper dimension of Romans 8:8,” she said, quoting, “‘But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while were still sinners.’ The human race treated the Son of God no better than the Iraqi death squads have treated our troops. But God loves them as much as he loves us. He wants people everywhere to know his love and to experience his liberation from the worst tyrant of all, Satan.”

As soon as the conflict is over, Harvie said, “The Church needs to flood Iraq with Christian businessmen, construction workers, engineers, teachers and medical personnel who will demonstrate through their professional skills the compassion of God to a broken nation desperately in need of his love.”

Harvie is aware that the intensifying hatred of the Muslim peoples toward America could make it difficult for American missionaries to share their faith in those lands. That calls for prayer to change the hateful atmosphere. “When our church prays for Iraq, we always pray that God will open that land to the gospel and that from Iraq the good news of Jesus Christ will spread to the other nations of the Middle East. We’re asking God for a spiritual breakthrough and a harvest of souls unparalleled in the history of missions.”

Before her son left for Kuwait and Iraq, she encouraged him and his Christian friends to prayer walk those nations as they served their country. “I said they should consider themselves God’s missionaries on special assignment and to claim for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the very lands their feet would tread!”

LEWISVILLE, Texas ? Combining medicine and ministry, Ray Bandy, M.D., sees his calling as both physician and preacher as interrelated as Matthew 4:23 described Jesus’ ministry. “And Jesus went about…preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.” Bandy serves full-time as senior pastor-teacher at Trinity Southern Baptist Church in Lewisville, as well as medical director for the Lewisville-based Christian Community Action Adult Health Center.

“Medicine and ministry are tremendously interrelated because the illustrations and applications in healing the body and healing the soul are inseparable,” Bandy said, adding that the patients he treats at the health center are “walking, talking sermon material.”

In addition to medical healing, Bandy has been used to cause some spiritual healing by helping resurrect a church seven years ago; a church that had failed in three prior attempts of starting. Two years later, the church increased in size forcing it to double its education space. In 2001, the church completed a new auditorium.

“We started with only six cars in the parking lot and maybe 15 to 16 folks coming. Both the Denton Baptist Association and the Baptist General Convention of Texas were thinking about selling it, but the church wanted to keep going.”

Now the church has a clean bill of health, humming along about 225 in worship and an average of 180 in Sunday School.

A heavenly call

At age 45, Bandy admits that his calling into a dual career wasn’t always so clear. Growing up on a farm in southwest Missouri, Bandy was saved at a revival at age seven and was raised in a Christian family.

He describes his mother as a dedicated Christian and a strong Bible student who raised five children who all now serve in Southern Baptist churches today.

But a call into the ministry? “I never even had a thought about becoming a preacher.” Instead, he wanted to play baseball. He earned a full scholarship to Crowder College. During those years, Bandy said he realized he “wasn’t going to be the next Mickey Mantle,” and began praying about what God wanted him to do. Since he had a talent and love for science, he studied medicine. Leaving behind his baseball scholarship, Bandy transferred to Southwest Baptist University Bolivar, Mo., where he received an academic as well as spiritual education from dedicated Christians.

It was on a Sunday evening during the middle of the worship service that Bandy had an experience never to be repeated but also never to be forgotten. To this day, he can explain it no other way than God sent him his undeniable calling. “During the service, a spiritual being, maybe an angel or messenger from God, appeared to me above and in front of me and said ‘You are going to preach.’ I heard a literal voice and it shocked me. I looked around because I thought surely others saw it and heard it but no one else did.”

Being a man of science, Bandy states it is ironic that God would use such a supernatural way to call him into something he’d never even considered. “I can’t explain it, other than as a result of that experience, I know I cannot ever give up on my call. The force of the command was so strong that it has never been a question of whether or not God has called me to preach.”

For eleven years, Bandy assumed God was calling him into medical missions. He finished his medical studies at the University of Missouri Medical School, did his residency and taught at the University of Oklahoma specializing in infectious diseases and tropical medicine. He then attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and while in Fort Worth, he met his future wife, Jan.

The vision clarified

While he was in a private practice in Medical City, Dallas, Denton Baptist Association contacted Bandy to serve as pastor. It was then God began to unveil the medicine and ministry vision. For 15 years, Christian Community Action Founder Tom Duffy and others had been praying for a doctor to begin a medical clinic for the poor. With the donation of a 2,500-square-foot building, he and a nurse and a physician’s assistant began seeing patients one afternoon a week.

It’s easy now for the Bandy’s to see the call of the Lord, but seven years ago it was a major decision the couple made to go to a church that had, in baseball terms, already struck out three times previously.

Without regret, Bandy honestly admits both ministries have been at various times personal struggles. “We’ve sacrificed time, talent, money, everything to see these go successfully. Jan has had to do double duty,” he said. “I believe I am a better man as a pastor of a small church and providing medical help for free, than I was as a private physician…and I think Jan would agree with that,” Bandy said,

DALLAS?During services on March 23, the congregation of First Baptist Dallas celebrated God’s faithfulness in their Rising Together capital campaign to raise $48 million for the Criswell Center, a new multi-use facility.

Since October 2002, the church has collected cash gifts totaling over $8.3 million, and received pledges for $21.8 million over the next three years, for a total of $30.2 million to-date for the campaign. An anonymous donor pledged $4.8 million (10% of the goal), which will be released in cash when the pledge and cash total reaches $43.2 million.

“All of this has been accomplished in less than one year?only through the power and blessing of God being poured out on our church family, and to His glory!” said Lori Swarner, communications coordinator.

The new Criswell Center will occupy the site of the current Criswell Building plus replace an adjacent parking lot at the intersection of St. Paul and Ervay streets in downtown Dallas. The eight-story facility will house underground parking, an atrium entrance and fellowship mall, the Legacy/Heritage Center, two chapels, a media room, a bookstore and coffeehouse, educational space for 1000 people, a new dining facility, office space, a prayer tower, and room for expansion, among other benefits.

Pastor Mac Brunson began communicating the vision God laid on his heart for First Baptist Dallas back in April 2002. Beginning with a call to prayer, Brunson urged his congregation to not rest in the great history of the church, but to once again become burdened and broken for the lost.

The capital campaign was officially kicked off on May 5 at the Dallas Convention Center. According to Jim Ward, the church’s executive administrator, the message was further communicated through a series of townhall meetings and meetings in 78 individual homes to answer questions.

The first giving phase of fund raising took place from October through December in which 3 special offerings were collected. The commitment phase took place from January through March 2003. Church-wide education and inspiration lead to the commitment Sunday on Feb. 23. The Rising Together Celebration on March 23 was the first big reporting day, and an opportunity to begin giving toward the three-year commitments.

The emphasis, which changed slightly due to the Iraqi conflict, still included celebrative music and a video presentation that “rolled in the totals in reverse,” stated Swarner.

Brunson’s sermon focused on the war, and he led his congregation in a time of prayer for our nation, its leaders, and the people of Iraq. “It’s hard for us to do much celebration. As a church we are to bear the burdens of our country,” he said.

The next step in the campaign is to follow up with families who haven’t yet pledged. “Our goal is for 100% participation from our families,” stated Ward. “Once we have the $48 million in cash and pledges then the construction date will be determined,” he said.

The 50-year-old Criswell Building will be removed. According to the campaign web site, www.risingtogether.org , “As much woodwork and stained glass as possible [from the Criswell Building] will be placed in the new building. Most furnishings and paintings from Dr. Criswell’s office will be placed in the Legacy/Heritage Center. ” W. A. Criswell, who passed away in January 2002, served as the church’s pastor from 1944 until 1993, and as pastor-emeritus and chancellor of the Criswell College until his death.

In Brunson’s Rising Together message, he reminded the congregation that Criswell “longed for the next generation to know the inerrant word of God.”

In order to take the message to future generations, Brunson believes the church must think differently than it has ever thought before.

“You’ve got to understand church not in your terms, but in their terms [the terms of the next generation],” he stated at the new building presentation.

“People come through a front door, and that will speak volumes. Then they’re looking for a place where they can get to know you intimately. If they get there, then they’re accepted. That’s what that building’s going to help us do.”