While views on same-sex “marriage” have appeared in the editorial pages of many secular newspapers in recent weeks, only a few Baptist college papers have dared an opinion. In at least one instance, the perspectives of student journalists and college administrators clashed over whether homosexual couples should be allowed to marry.

Baylor University’s Lariat editorial board expressed support for the City of San Francisco’s lawsuit against the State of California, agreeing by a vote of 5-2 that “homosexual couples should be granted the same equal rights to marriage as heterosexual couples.”

Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. quickly issued a response stating the view of the five student journalists does not reflect the views of the administration, faculty, staff, Board of Regents or Student Publications Board that oversees the Lariat. Sloan also speculated that the Lariat’s stance runs counter to the majority of Baylor’s 14,000 students and 100,000 alumni.

“Espousing in a Baylor publication a view that is so out of touch with traditional Christian teachings is not only unwelcome, it comes dangerously close to violating University policy,” Sloan said, referring to the prohibition against “advocating understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching.”

The staff editorial favoring the right of homosexuals to marry was based on the concept of equal protection under the law. “Without such recognition, gay couples, even those who have co-habitated long enough to qualify as common law spouses under many state laws, often aren’t granted the same protection when it comes to shared finances, health insurance and other employee benefits, and property or power of attorney rights.”

The students further argued, “Like many heterosexual couples, many gay couples share deep bonds of love, some so strong they’ve persevered years of discrimination for their choice to co-habitate with and date one another. Just as it isn’t fair to discriminate against someone for their skin color, heritage or religious beliefs, it isn’t fair to discriminate against someone for their sexual orientation.” The editorial writers closed with the question: “Shouldn’t gay couples be allowed to enjoy the benefits and happiness of marriage, too?”

The Student Publications Board released a statement March 2 after determining the Lariat editorial violated university policy as defined in the Student Handbook as well as student publications policy. According to the publications policy, “Since Baylor University was established and is still supported by Texas Baptists to conduct a program of higher education in a Christian context, no editorial stance of Student Publications should attack the basic tenets of Christian theology or of Christian morality.”

The board statement concluded, “Clearly, the editorial published on Feb. 27 is inconsistent with this policy. The guidelines have been reviewed with the Lariat staff, so that they will be able to avoid this error in the future.”

Sloan provided an assurance to Baylor constituents, stating, “While we respect the right of students to hold and express divergent viewpoints, we do not support the use of publications such as the Lariat, which is published by the University, to advocate positions that undermine foundational Christian principles” by which Baylor operates.

Letters to the Lariat’s March 2 issue offered diverse reactions, including one student questioning “this paranoid fear of opposing views” which he suggests is “another instance of the somewhat stultifying atmosphere of Baylor in which deep questions concerning faith and the secular world are often brushed aside with the ‘correct’ Christian answer.” A letter from Michael McCarty praised the Lariat’s “rare act of journalistic independence” though “brow-beaten into acquiescence.”

Another student disagreed with the editorial while questioning the “license for censorship.”

Baylor alum Keith Janes expressed disappointment toward students who wrote the editorial, adding, “There are plenty of liberal schools for you all to go to, maybe it’s time you left so our Baptist heritage can stand.”

Louis Moore of Hannibal Books in Garland believes the Baylor newspaper’s editorial was “totally inappropriate because of the context of what the school stands for and its Baptist heritage.” Moore, who served as Lariat editor from 1968 to 1969 and later worked as a Houston Chronicle reporter and denominational editor, said the experience prepared him for the realities of working in a professional world as a journalist.

“I understood the freedom of journalists, but I also understood the limitations due to context. I did not have the freedom to run wild and do whatever I felt I needed to say.” Because he was expected to be measured in his editorials, Moore said, “It taught me and others to think beyond just reacting emotionally and running an opinion. The Lariat went way beyond where it needed to be. I was stunned to read about it in the Dallas Morning News.”

Several Baptist colleges offered students the opportunity to take opposing points of view on the subject of same-sex marriage, including Georgetown Coll

AQUILLA?The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and Texas Baptist Men (TBM) signed a statement of cooperation Feb. 27 that spells out how the two groups will work together during disaster relief operations.

Texas Baptist Men entered into a fraternal relationship with the SBTC last spring to facilitate cooperation in responding to disasters and other related endeavors. TBM receives budgeted funds from the Baptist General Convention of Texas as a BGCT affiliate ministry but is independently governed.

The SBTC-TBM agreement includes no budgeted SBTC funding. A majority of TBM members are in SBTC-affiliated churches, which makes it prudent for the SBTC and TBM to work together, said E. Gibbie McMillan, SBTC mission services associate.

“This is a very important first step in the process of cooperation and in fulfilling the fraternal partnership we have with Texas Baptist Men,” McMillan said.

During a disaster situation, Baptist men’s groups nationwide typically operate under an incident commander appointed by the North American Mission Board and in cooperation with the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

McMillan said about two-thirds of the TBM roster represent SBTC church members.

The agreement, signed by McMillan and Leo Smith, newly elected TBM executive director, was formalized during TBM’s annual meeting at Latham Springs Baptist Encampment in central Texas.

McMillan said the meeting drew more than 100 men and is an annual retreat for TBM business, training and leadership development.

The SBTC’s mission services department oversees the recently formed Texas Baptist Builders ministry, one cooking unit and three chainsaw crews with three or four more planned, McMillan said.

“What we’re trying to do is complement what TBM does and not duplicate what they do,” McMillan noted.

The agreement states each entity has full authority to decide what disaster relief work it will engage in and each will keep the other informed of disaster relief activities, including training, promotions, and availability and deployment of units. Additionally, each will work within uniform disaster relief guidelines outlined in SBC and NAMB materials.

McMillan said the SBTC has planned a disaster relief “basic orientation” course March 29 at Crossroads Baptist Church in Azle. For more information, call McMillan at the SBTC office, 972-953-0878.

BRYAN?Can a church small in numbers impact college students in a big way? Mike Curry, pastor of Christ’s Way Baptist Church in Bryan, thinks so.

Though only four years old and surrounded by much larger churches ministering to students at Texas A&M University and Blinn College, the church still felt God’s call to begin a ministry to collegians. “We basically had nothing in the way of programs to offer to university students, yet God was sending a small group of six to eight to worship with us,” Curry said. “God began to burden my heart for this group.”

Curry began teaching a college Sunday school class himself, which sometimes had only two or three in attendance. “The greatest difficulty of [a new collegiate ministry] is in the beginning numbers,” Curry said. “When you have a small group and a part of them go home for the weekend or on break at Christmas, it leaves a hole. During those times, it is important to stay focused and to keep others focused on the fact that God is laying the foundation first.”

After contacting the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s collegiate ministry consultant, Kevin Ueckert, Christ’s Way received a collegiate intern, Jeff Herrington. Herrington spent the first semester teaching basic spiritual truths to the group. Through Herrington’s ministry, the college group has grown to about 20.

Curry said a small church like Christ’s Way can reach students effectively.

“Not every student is looking for a large church with an abundance of programs,” he said. “Some need a smaller family setting and an opportunity to serve. Therein, God opens the door of opportunity for small churches like Christ’s Way. We are averaging about 100 [church members] in Sunday school, yet we have begun a university ministry.”

“Several [students] have told us how blessed they are because they have been received as a part of a family,” Curry continued. “They are welcomed and given the opportunity to use the gifts and talents that God has given them. They need that opportunity for their own growth.” Furthermore, the church has become a “home away from home” for the college students it reaches. “Sometimes the students will say, ‘I just needed a hug,'” Curry said. “Now that might sound mighty simple, but if you’ve ever been away from your family, you know the time comes when you need that kind of family interaction.”

Meanwhile, Christ’s Way has not only reached students, but the students have impacted the church in a very meaningful way. “We receive the blessing of their youth, vision, excitement, talents and willingness to serve, just to mention a few of the blessings,” Curry said. “And God uses them to stretch us in our vision, in our willingness to minister.”

The SBTC’s Ueckert said bearing this kind of fruit is not unusual for any church dedicated to reaching college students, and he recognizes Christ’s Way in Bryan as a great example of this simple truth. “If a church shows any iota of concern for students and gives them a little bit of opportunity,” Ueckert noted, “there’s going to be some level of students that jump in with both feet, and they will impact a church.”

Ueckert also lists several other reasons to reach out to students, as Christ’s Way has. These include the great need for students to learn from the church about marriage, family, discipleship, and other vital topics at this crucial time in their lives. “Students want to be shaped into who they want to be by people who are getting there,” he said.

Another reason to minister in this way is the need of students to understand living as part of a church body, so that they will be significant members of their future churches after graduation. And Ueckert noted that even during their college years, students’ opportunity to serve can be as great as any other portion of the church.

Even if it is primarily to students returning home for the summer or to only a small group of collegians, nearly every church has the potential to reach college students?and should attempt to do so, Ueckert said. “College students are in a position in life where they are making the biggest decisions of their lives. If we as a church of God do not proactively help them follow Christ in those moments, they are not going to connect with the church in the future.”

While some churches may fear their size, style, or lack of resources will discourage student attendance, Ueckert believes collegians are looking foremost for authenticity. Christ’s Way’s staff often connects with students at Sweet Eugene’s, a coffee shop near to the Texas A&M campus.

“They like real, genuine, sincere people,” he observed. “They want to feel like they enter a place that is genuine. From the preaching, to the music leading, to [everything else], they’re more concerned with how genuine this place feels than with whether or not this place is perfectly their ‘style.'”

BLUE RIDGE?Can a small church in this small North Texas town change the world? It’s a colossal task, but that’s not stopping the men at First Baptist Church from trying?starting in Blue Ridge.

For this to happen, it would take a miracle akin to the conversions on the Day of Pentecost. It would start with the church spending time in our “upper rooms” becoming more like Christ. And becoming more like Christ can be summed up in one word: discipleship.

Every Sunday morning before Sunday school, Pastor Johnnie R. Jones leads a discipleship group of about 15 men with this goal in mind. They use a program, created by The Amy Foundation, called “Each One Bring One.”

According to the website www.EachOneBringOne.com, “the concept [of the curriculum] is simple: when disciples become disciple-makers, our churches will start growing again.”

Participants in the discipleship program are encouraged to invite a new man to the group approximately every two months. Thirty-two potential new discipleship participants result when one participant practices “each one, bring one, each year” over a five-year period.

Jones said he liked the material because the program’s main goal is to “impact our culture.”

“I’ve never found a [discipleship] curriculum with this approach,” Jones said.

Jones said some of his own congregation initiated the idea of a men’s Bible study.

“This began right after Promise Keepers last fall,” Jones said. “Some of the men came back and approached me and asked: ‘Is there any way we can meet with you for Bible study?'”

And so the study began.

Before the first class met, Jones told his wife he would be encouraged if six men were truly interested in discipleship. The first week about 25 men showed up. Since then attendance has dwindled slightly to about 15 or 16. Ages vary among the participants, but Jones said most are in their 30s and 40s.

Although participation in the group is voluntary, Jones requires a bit of extra effort to be involved. “I told them from the beginning that I was busy enough on Sunday,” Jones said. “But if you’re willing and you’re interested in growing and becoming a disciple, to reach your neighbor or someone else, then you’re welcome here.

“I made them write the names of five people they would pray for and invite to the meetings. And at least three of those had to be within traveling distance to the church,” Jones said. He also asked the men to complete the assignments in the workbooks and participate in the class discussions.

Jones said instead of an entire hour of lecture he asks the group: “What do you have?” He said he believes students will get more out of a lesson if they participate. “The meal tastes better when you cook it yourself,” he said.

The discussion time lasts for about 30 minutes, then the men break into small groups for discussion and prayer. These smaller groups are lead by team captains. Jones said he stays in contact with the team captains each week to find out what the men are thinking.

Jones hopes to take the group through four workbooks with each book broadening the disciple-making ripple. Each workbook contains 10 lessons. Jones said he walks through one lesson about every two weeks.

The four workbooks are:

• “Discipling My Self: Steps to Personally Becoming a Disciple.”

?”Discipling My Family: Ways to Make Disciples in Your Family.”

• “Discipling My Congregation: Actions to Take to Focus the Local Church on Disciple-making.”

• “Discipling My Neighborhood: Ways to Connect with Your Neighbors and Make Disciples.”

Lessons offer students practical ways to use the Bible to impact their culture. For example, Jones said the current lesson encourages the men to read a popular book on today’s culture and discuss the book with a friend. It a

FORT WORTH?Bruce Edwards, SBTC creative arts specialist, coordinated the first creative arts training event in SBTC history Feb. 13-14 at Southwestern Seminary. The meeting emphasized gaining skills and tools for use in worship, for building the church, missions, and evangelism.

Breakout sessions at the retreat taught numerous evangelism methods. Bruce Chadwick, an illusionist, led several sessions on using sleight of hand to share the gospel, educating church members about God’s character and works.

Faith Brady, a clown, helped show how clowning can attract people to the message of a loving God. Brady demonstrated the skill of using make-up and props to assist in the development of an effective character; she also taught ministry methods and ideas for using this form of outreach. Ferrell Marr, a puppet ministry expert, shared innovative ways to make puppets and use them in ministry.

The Company, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary drama team, led various breakout sessions and the full drama team led in a dinner theater. The drama team demonstrated how to use a dinner theater ministry in a local church for sharing the gospel.

Edwards is the education and children’s minister at First Baptist Church of Lakeside near Fort Worth. He has long recognized the potential for using creative arts in ministry in the places he has served and leads creative arts ministry conferences for LifeWay Christian Resources, said Ken Lasater, SBTC church ministry support associate.

“We are fortunate to have someone of Bruce’s caliber, with his expertise and desire, to help coordinate areas of this ministry,” Lasater said. “He is a gifted man. He loves the Lord and loves people, and wants to encourage churches to develop a wide range of methods to reach the lost and build the church.”

Lasater said more Creative Arts Retreats in Worship and Missions are planned. For information about next year’s event, call Ken Lasater at the SBTC office, 972-953-0878, or e-mail him at kenl@sbtexas.com.

A new website of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission?iVoteValue.com?offers answers to common questions about voting and even offers a quiz that purports to show which political party matches one’s views.

In a link titled ‘Why Bother?” the questions include: “Does my vote rally matter?” and “Does the president have any real influence on the direction of our nation?”

On the latter question, the website gives the following response:

“Yes. Consider the fact that the person elected President will appoint Federal Judges, and perhaps Supreme Court Justices, who will serve for life and influence faith and family issues for a generation to come. Consider the power and the reach of the Judiciary in the following examples:

• The Federal Appeals Court which recently ruled that public school students’ recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because it contains two words: “Under God.”

• The U. S. Supreme Court, which recently opened the door to homosexual marriage when the majority declared state laws against sodomy illegal and essentially established homosexuality as a constitutional right.”

The site also offers a legal do’s and don’t’s link for pastors as well as voter registration resources and candidate contact information for every state.

The site urges web surfers to register to vote, register friends to vote, vote values, and pray.

Christian voters may also find the National Right to Life Committee website helpful. Information on important sanctity of life legislation can be found, as well as voting records and contact information on political office holders, at www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/.

LEWISVILLE?Over three decades as pastor of Lakeland Baptist Church in Lewisville, Ben Smith has waged a battle or two for righteousness in his city on the fringe of northwest Dallas.

The first one?an election 25 years ago over local liquor options, got on the ballot but was voted down in the election, 2-1. Since then, the liquor issue has come up several times but has never taken hold, something Smith accounts to all-night prayer vigils and committed church members taking responsibility for their community.

He recalled once a local pastor showing up at his church at 2 a.m. to pray. “The Lord’s been so gracious to us. I attribute a great deal of that to prayer,” he said.

“God has ways of doing things if you let him work,” Smith said.

There was the sexually-oriented “warehouse” off Highway 121 that left Denton County, thanks to Christians such as those at Lakeland taking a stand; the owners promised not to relocate in Denton County. The massage parlors are also gone, thanks in part to Smith and his congregation.

Smith noted that when a petition, such as is used in liquor option issues, is circulated in hopes of making the ballot, the church gets a public record list of the petition authors and begins praying for them by name. They even contact them personally, telling them they are being prayed for and expressing the church’s views.

Lakeland has regularly printed fact sheets when moral concerns arise, “telling the truth about what alcohol does, what pornography does, sexually-oriented businesses. We get facts and data and we publish that information in a factoid, and we distribute it to the preachers so they can use it in their sermons and put them in the newspaper?just telling people the truth.”

In an election, a useful tool is the yard sign, which is effective if the message is clear and issue focused, Smith said.

Also, “I believe it’s every pastor’s responsibility to have the businesses of his city and key leaders of his city on his e-mail address list,” Smith noted. “It’s better to work with these guys than to have to fight them. I share information with them. I never, ever attack their person. It’s always an issue, never a person.

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in high places. That’s where you have to fight the battle.”

PLANO?In less than eight months American voters will go to the polls to elect a president. A few questions worth asking might be:

• Why is electing a president such a big deal?

• Why would anyone want to be a part of politics?

• If politics is a dirty game, should Christians aspire to hold political office?

• Should Christians even vote?

On the last one, political strategist Ralph Reed says yes.

Reed, speaking in January at an Elevate 2004 Conference sponsored by Southern Baptists and hosted by Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, told the group of young Christians in attendance they have a responsibility to be involved.

“A lot of people ask, ‘How can you be involved in a business as dirty as politics?'”

Reed answered using the analogy of a house with broken water pipes. Our government is not completely corrupt, Reed contended, it just has some malfunctioning parts.

“That broken water pipe is threatening the foundation of that house,” Reed said. “If you don’t do something about it, it’s going to flood the foundation. It’s going to weaken the soil around it. And the whole house is going to come crumbling down.”

Believers have two options, Reed said. They can choose to stay in the house and not fix the pipes because they might get dirty under the house. Or, they can get under the house, repair the pipes and save the house.

“Don’t think for one minute as a Christian that you can stay cloistered in your own safe churches and schools and homes and not engage the broader culture, that you can be protected from the broken water pipe that is threatening the survival of our culture,” Reed said. “Eventually, it will find you.”

For Reed, politics is a calling.

He became involved in politics before he was a Christian. So, Reed said, he has played the game from both sides. As a political strategist before his salvation, Reed said he played to win at all costs. But since his conversion, he has had a chance to see and be a part of elections where people stood by their convictions.

“I have had the privilege and the honor ? to see people who got in touch with the talents and abilities they had been given and combined it with their faith in God and made a real difference in touching every life that they came in contact with through the love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ,” Reed said.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Reed and radio talk show host Janet Parshall explained to the audience the importance of getting involved in the “culture war” and how to become involved in the battle.

Huckabee, a former pastor, said Christians today should be “thermostats instead of thermometers.” Thermometers only check the temperature around them, Huckabee said, adding, “A lot of people?particularly in politics?are nothing more than thermometers.” These “thermometers” take an opinion poll to get the “pulse of the public” and based on the poll state the position they’re going to take, he explained.

Huckabee said God is calling more people to be thermostats instead of thermometers. Thermostats were made not just to read the temperature, but to move the temperature and make it what it ought to be.

He offered two suggestions in becoming a thermostat and changing the climate of the culture. First, Huckabee said, a Christian should stand by his convictions no matter the consequences

“Convictions are not your preferences or your likes versus your dislikes.” Huckabee said. “These are things that you so genuinely believe in ? you’re willing to be left alone and have your friends walk away because these are things you’re simply not going to compromise.”

For Christians, these convictions should be based on the word of God, Huckabee said. Some absolutes are unchanging. Huckabee listed some of his unchangeable convictions?sanctity of life, helping the poor, and honesty.

Second, Huckabee said Christians should “serve compassionately” to get ahead in this culture war. “Jesus did not come to be served, but he came to serve,” Huckabee told the group.

Huckabee told of his 12 years of pastoring churches before he became involved in public life. When he first made the decision to go into politics, some of those in the church questioned his decision. According to Huckabee, some of these people believed the only ministry options were pastors, song leaders (they didn’t have music leaders) or foreign missions. Everything else was considered secular work?not a calling.

“Where did that nonsense come from?” Huckabee asked. “Folks, you don’t have to get a payche