LIVINGSTON?It was just past 8 a.m. when the chainsaws started buzzing outside a small house along a country road south of Livingston, about 80 miles northeast of Houston.

Moments earlier, amid swarming mosquitoes and the dew common on September mornings in the Southeast Texas woods, a prayer went up among six men that God would honor their work and keep them safe.

For these men?team leader Gary Hunt, Wes Sherman, Mike Thibodeaux, Steve Classen, David Morgan and Mike Wertz?sharing the love of Christ begins with generators and power equipment.

The men were among several dozen chainsaw crew members representing the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s disaster relief (DR) ministry in Livingston the week following Hurricane Ike.

The downed trees and widespread power outages in rural Southeast Texas provided opportunities for the SBTC disaster relief teams, along with DR volunteers from the Arizona Baptist Convention, to ease the discomfort for many affected by Ike’s widespread destruction.

The prayer scene in front of the rural home was repeated a dozen times or more as the chainsaw crews began their long workdays.

Hunt, a welder from Longview, was serving in his sixth hurricane with the SBTC’s DR ministry.

“I understand a lot of guys can’t take off at the drop of a hat,” Hunt explained. “I’ve gone outside my home church [Macedonia Baptist in Longview] and we’ve found people who can serve in this way.
This team right here is the largest team we’ve had since we started with Hurricane Charley in August 2004.”

Macedonia has its own DR mini-bus to transport people and equipment for chainsaw ministry.

Removing a large tree blocking a driveway or resting on a house often provides an opportunity to talk about spiritual things, Hunt said.

Prayers for spiritual success among the SBTC teams were tangibly answered several days into the effort.

One man, a recipient of an SBTC assessment team that had come to his home to see the damage, prayed to receive Christ as he lay in bed stricken with terminal pulmonary disease.

Bob Caudill, a member of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, and Wayne Rackley, a member of
First Baptist Church, Van Alstyne, were invited by the man’s wife to talk with him after Caudill asked to see damage from inside the home, something the men rarely do.

Rackley said the decision to look inside was providential.

“Something just led Bob to go in and see the tree from the inside,” Rackley said. “The guy could not even get out of bed. He doesn’t have very long to live.”

Caudill, a retired teacher and coach who had been trained in the FAITH Sunday School evangelism strategy, talked to the man named James after his wife insisted the men see him. The wife is a believer, but she was worried about her husband, Caudill said.

“He knew that God had watched over him and extended his life to that point for a reason,” Caudill said. “I explained that reason?that I was there to share with him the hope and assurance found only in Jesus Christ.”

After Caudill explained the gospel, the man agreed he needed the salvation Caudill spoke of, and Caudill led him in a prayer of salvation.

“The only thing we’re doing here is earning the right to share the gospel,” Caudill said.

“I hear guys say ‘you could not pay me enough to do this work, but it gives me the right to share the gospel and that makes it all worth it.'”

Julian Moreno, the pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Uvalde, said he was happy to be serving alongside the SBTC chainsaw teams despite his falling from the roof of a house on Sept. 18, breaking his wrist and cracking three ribs.

Moreno sat on his cot in the warehouse where the DR teams were staying, smiling as he recalled his inaugural disaster relief service after Hurricane Rita in 2005.

Despite his mishap, Moreno said he would continue to volunteer in DR work because “you are helping people at the critical times of their lives. Most of these people can’t afford to pay someone to do what we do.”

For Marsha Stutts of Central Baptist Church in Livingston, helping the chainsaw crews by organizing assessment requests is a ministry that hits close to home, she said.

“Three years ago when we had Hurricane Rita, it was just overwhelming,” Stutts said. “That’s when we did the DR training.

“This time, we knew a little more about what we were facing. It’s amazing the number of people who come to help.”

The 57 DR volunteers in Livingston included 18 from Arizona, including Steve Bass, executive director of the Arizona Baptist Convention. The Arizona team was feeding volunteers and some people in the community?about 500 meals a day?by buying food at a local grocery store while they waited four days for a truckload of food to arrive.

“Texans have always been a great help to us,” Bass told the TEXAN. “Our ministries benefit from the Cooperative Program, a lot more than we ever put in, and we know where it comes from.”

George Yarger, the chainsaw teams’ communications task force director and pastor of Harper Baptist Church in Payne Springs, was one of several pastors among the 39 SBTC volunteers.

Yarger got hooked on DR, he said, after he volunteered for disaster relief “yellow cap” training following Hurricane Katrina. He figured if he volunteered, his church members would take the lead. Instead, the next day he was on his way to Baton Rouge, La.

“Disaster relief takes you out of your comfort zone where only God can help you,” Yarger said.

“That’s why people come back from mission trips totally changed. They lose their culture and they let God use them. DR is like that.”

“Barbie and Ken are broke” is the fact of the matter, says Dave Ramsey, author of best-selling books “The Total Money Makeover” and “Financial Peace Revisited.”

Ramsey hosts The Dave Ramsey Show, a financial-advice radio show that airs on more than 350 mostly secular radio stations. He also developed a biblically based seminar called Financial Peace University (FPU) that has been used by more than 15,000 churches nationwide, according to Jason Barmer, a Team Leader of Financial Peace at The Lampo Group Inc., Ramsey’s consulting organization.

High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin is beginning its third segment of FPU, which is one of the classes they offer as part of their “Life Institute.”

Otis Fields, a church elder and the FPU coordinator, said, “The people who have gone through it have changed the way they think about money. It has improved marriages because money is always a point of contention. Couples and individuals learn how to set financial goals, and how to communicate about money. You learn to make an agreement up front?to tell your paycheck where it’s going to go.”

The 13-week curriculum teaches seven chronological “Baby Steps” to begin a journey to Financial Peace, including:
?Saving $1,000 to start an emergency fund;
?Paying off all debt using the “Debt Snowball”;
?Growing savings to cover three to six months of expenses;
?Investing 15 percent of household income into Roth IRA’s and pre-tax retirement;
?Starting a college fund for children;
?Paying off your home early;
?Building wealth and giving;

Fields explained that step one, the emergency fund, is to prevent having to charge unexpected expenses on a credit card. Once that fund is established, the next step is to pay off your smallest debt as quickly as possible, then apply the money allocated for that debt toward the next smallest debt.

“That’s how it snowballs up,” he said.

“It is a step-by-step process for getting out of debt, and staying out of debt so that you can give more to the kingdom if you want to,” Fields added.

As each step is completed, finances are freed up to work on achieving the next step. At one point in the course, Fields reported that in an exercise, his small group of 10 almost filled a half gallon container with cut up credit cards.

“It was amazing how many credit cards we had!” he said.

In the last semester that Tate Springs Baptist Church of Arlington offered FPU, 15 couples paid off a cumulative total of $84,000 in debt, said Associate Pastor Adam Harwood.

“It has served as discipleship for our members in the area of financial stewardship, as well as outreach. We don’t view it as only for our members?it has kingdom reach and folks from other churches are able to benefit,” he said.

“God has blessed the church and giving is strong here?we can’t really correlate any change in giving.But we do know that when couples are able to pay off debt and begin savings, if they hadn’t been giving before, they will give because that is something Ramsey emphasizes.”

Though FPU is not a Bible study, it is an application of biblical principles. On his website, daveramsey.com, Ramsey quotes about 75 Scripture passages of 800 that he says relate directly to the handling of finances. Attendees purchase a kit for use during the course that contains the book, a workbook, audio CDs, budgeting resources, and envelopes for an envelope system of controlling spending in each area. At each session, students watch a video presentation by Ramsey, then break up into discussion groups.

Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen is beginning a fourth semester of FPU.

“We’ve been drawing people in from our community,” said coordinator Carol Kemp. “They hear Dave Ramsey on the radio, and look on his website to find a location for FPU. That’s how some of them find us.”

Recently the church hosted a one-day Total Money Makeover seminar led by a financial trainer from Ramsey’s organization. About 200 from the community attended, and nearly 25 couples there signed up to be part of the new session of FPU.

Barmer reported: “More than 650,000 families have completed FPU at their workplace, church, military base, nonprofit organization or community group, and are working toward debt freedom and ‘financial peace.’ We have had 50 churches go through the Momentum workshop. Most of them arelaunching the program this month or next.”

Momentum, Barmer explained, is an 18-24-month church-wide initiative tocreate aculture of generosity within the church. According to the website, the program is an intense discipleship training on the lordship of Jesus Christ that teaches church leaders how to create healthy budgets, fund projects debt-free, and eliminate debt. Using FPU as a cornerstone, church members learn how to manage personal finances so they can “beat debt, build wealth, and give like never before.”

Barmer said, “Any family can benefit from FPU. The class covers practicaltopics like insurance, investing,college planning, and real estate. Whocan’t improve what they do with at least one of those topics?”

For more information on Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace University, or Momentum, and to view, free of charge, the first FPU lesson, go to daveramsey.com/fpu/church.

HOUSTON?Houston pastor John Morgan, popular Christian financial counselors such as Dave Ramsey and the late Larry Burkett, and seminars such as those by Crown Financial Ministries, all base their advice on the biblical wisdom of debt-free living.

The answer to the question of what should be done with a person’s assets once he is debt free varies from advisor to advisor, but the fundamental principle is clear: owe nothing to anyone but God.

With an abundance of Scripture supporting such a notion, Christians may find it difficult to deny the wisdom of such counsel. But, as Morgan noted, even the most trusted consultants can consider such a life application impractical and unreasonable.

But is it?

As a member of Sagemont Church, Roy Guel knew well the teachings of his pastor and the biblical admonitions with regard to taking loans. After twice participating in Morgan’s Financial Freedom seminar, Guel and his wife, Patsie, dedicated themselves to living debt free.

Guel, a successful printing and advertising-marketing business owner, and Patsie, a grade-school teacher, had accumulated the standard debt associated with home ownership, car notes, and the raising of four children. But they felt convicted to live by a standard set by God, not Wall Street.

Living debt free would also make a job transition go all the more smoothly. As his family was becoming unchained from the burdens of consumerism and the debt it incurs, Guel was answering a call he had put on hold. The son of a church planter, Guel said he had always felt a pull at his heart for sharing the gospel but he chose another career path believing he could serve the Lord just as ably in the secular market.

From 1985-2000 Guel operated his business in Houston, adding a branch in Addison. But the time came for him to make a decision to expand the company to other cities or sell it all and go into the ministry. Guel said he could have made many excuses for continuing with the expansion of his business. After all, he was making good money that could be used by God. He and his wife were raising godly kids and Guel was actively involved in lay ministries at the church.

But he realized, “I was just negotiating with him. God didn’t want my money, he wanted me.”

Guel finally relented but he knew the transition could have a significant lifestyle impact on his family.
From accomplished businessman to a church staff member, Guel knew money was going to be an issue. When he told Patsie he had decided to go full-time into the ministry, she began crying and asked, “What took you so long?”

That’s when Guel “put out the fleece.” In an effort to minimize the changes that were about to take place for his family, Guel boldly asked God if they could stay in their home. If they didn’t have to move, the kids would be able to stay in their schools and neighborhoods.

“We wanted to keep things as close to the same as possible,” he said.

Paying off their debt took discipline. But Guel said the downsizing was actually a lot less painful than people might think.

“The hardest part,” he said, “was getting off that consumer merry-go-round.”

Having to have the newest gadgets, expensive cars, and the latest fashions didn’t really matter in the end. Guel said he saw people his age with all the “stuff” but not a great deal of joy. Guel is convinced the blessings of the Lord come without trouble. Debt causes trouble of its own.

But how does a parent sell the idea of downsizing to four young kids? No more cable. Fewer outings to the movies. Little to no eating out.

“We went on a television fast,” Guel said. One week without TV. “Once we survived that, we did a 30-day fast.”

By the time the plug was pulled on cable, no one really missed it. They were used to spending evenings playing, talking, or doing school work. Weekend nights were movie night. Guel said his kids have grown up seeing a lot of musicals.

The Guel family turned to Scripture for their inspiration in their efforts to become debt-free. Letting go of the “appetites of this world” as mentioned in Philippians 3 and reading through Proverbs numerous times, gave them the encouragement they needed to remain disciplined. That discipline along with the sale of his business and some stocks and bonds enabled the Guels to cancel all debt?even the note on their 3,800-square-foot house.

They had been able to make a substantial down payment on the home because they had paid off their previous home using the same financial commitment. The proceeds from the first house were put into the second and the Guels were in the process of paying it down as soon as they moved into it. This made the final pay-off more manageable.

Once the business was sold, Guel volunteered for one year as the missions ministry coordinator for Sagemont Church, the position he felt called to fill. He joked that he ended up putting in more hours as a volunteer than as a business owner. While he was working without financial compensation, Patsie went back into the classroom and the family lived off of her teacher’s salary and the savings put away after clearing all debt.

Guel eventually moved into the missions staff position at Sagemont and Patsie continues to teach. They continue to live by God’s admonition to avoid all debt all the while paying everyday bills and putting two of their four children through college.

“God wants us to be a conduit for his blessings,” Guel said. “When we’re encumbered by debt it’s a hindrance and an anchor.”

For more than 40 years Bob Eklund has helped pastors, lay leaders, church members and congregations not only attain financial stability but have a spiritual renewal in the process.

Eklund is the SBTC’s financial ministry consultant and operates Eklund Stewardship Ministries, which provides biblically based programs on personal financial freedom, church financial freedom, and capital fund-raising.

Pastor Johnny Funderberg of First Baptist Church, Pampa, has used Eklund’s capital fund-raising services in the past. He recalled, “The highlight to me of his program is its spiritual nature. You don’t feel like it’s a financial campaign?it’s more like a revival.”

Tim Guthrie, vice president of Eklund Stewardship Ministries, said, “What pastors are afraid of sharing is the one thing that will set their ministry free, and that is stewardship.”

Guthrie noted some of the many resources offered through the ministry.

“‘Children of Privilege’ [written by Eklund] is an adult workbook study that walks through the very basic foundations for biblical stewardship. It starts at the very beginning and talks about a life of simple obedience and how that can change everything,” Guthrie said.

In the book Eklund states: “As part of a society of excess, there are certain responsibilities we must accept. We exemplify the word ‘consumers’ with our wasteful daily habits.” The study calls for realigning personal money management skills so that frugality, preparation, sharing with others, leaving an honorable legacy, and glorifying God are the results.

“Money Matters Made Easy” is another workbook study available through the Eklund group. Guthrie noted, “It’s easy for anyone to apply and do. It’s a guide book for husbands and wives or single adults, and very practical. It’s a quick read that will tell them some things they can immediately do to see an improvement in their financial situation.”

A one-day seminar, “God’s Plan for Financial Freedom,” teaches God’s ownership, God’s principles for handling money, and God’s plan for giving. According to the website (Eklundmay.com), the seminar has helped families avoid bankruptcy, has helped to save marriages, has helped restore the lordship of Christ in lives, and has been a catalyst for giving to increase in churches 20-25 percent.

On the consulting side, Eklund Stewardship Ministries provides leadership in capital campaigns and a review service that can help churches become better stewards at their fixed expenses. Capital campaigns begin with a Spiritual Foundations Weekend, a prayer and faith event that leads a church to discover God’s will.

Randy Capote, pastor of South Park Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, has used Eklund twice for capital campaigns; most recently to raise about $500,000 for some extensive renovations.

“That’s some hard money to raise,” Capote said, adding, “People are more likely to give for new construction.”

Capote said he appreciates that Eklund begins with the “Spiritual Foundations Weekend,” which Capote estimates that about 70 percent of his Sunday morning crowd attended.

“It was very well done. He [Eklund] keeps it on the Scripture and provides a biblical model to everything he does. His premise is that spiritual revival is first and foremost, then the money will follow.”

“Bob does a session on money management, personal finances, and getting out of debt. That was very well received. People really appreciated that aspect,” Capote added.

According to Capote, the campaign beat the industry average in its capital raising.

“Bob’s predictions played out consistently. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s a good man. I’d use him again.”

Noting other services through Eklund Stewardship Ministries, Guthrie reported that their partnerships with church suppliers can save churches 20-30 percent on equipment and furnishings.

“And the savings in fixed expenses means more is available for ministry,” Guthrie said.

“We can take care of finances top to bottom. We train in spending plans, a new approach to budgeting. We do financial policies, and leadership solutions, train staff in budgeting and spending plans, and help them with vision casting. We can do it at about 20 percent of what other consulting groups do it for because it is a ministry,” he noted.

Guthrie has worked in stewardship ministry for more than 10 years and was introduced to it all by Bob Eklund.

He recalled, “I was a young whippersnapper and wet behind the ears. He trained me at my first pastorate to do a capital campaign. We kind of grew together. It has been an incredible journey.”

Other ministry consultants include five pastors who have led the way to biblical stewardship in their own churches.

When asked what he thought needed to change most in the thinking of Southern Baptists about financial matters, Guthrie stated, “Too many churches budget without ever asking how much of our monies are being spent to actually reach people. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What does our budget say about our priorities as a church?’ We spend more money on copiers than on reaching children. We spend more on mowing the yard than on taking care of senior adults.”

He said the best method of presenting the stewardship message is by bringing in people to teach their leaders.

Guthrie said, “Lots of pastors are not living it, therefore they don’t teach it. And it hasn’t been taught it in college or seminary.”

Guthrie knows, because he frequently gets calls from pastors on the verge of bankruptcy.

In recent years, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary began to reverse the tide for the stewardship education of future pastors by endowing a faculty chair of stewardship?the first of its kind in the United States. The endowed chair was named after Bobby and Janis Eklund.

For more information about Eklund Stewardship Ministries, call 1-800-321-5154, or visit eklundmay.com.

HOUSTON–Houston Baptist University officials are hoping for power to be restored to the campus this weekend. If so, students will be permitted to return to their residence halls on Saturday, Sept. 20, and classes will resume Monday.

In the meantime, the university has encouraged students who have stayed in the area after Hurricane Ike to assist at the End Hunger Network, a food distribution charity near the city’s downtown area.

About 75 students had arrived there to work on the morning of Sept. 18, Martha Morrow, HBU assistant vice president for communications, told Baptist Press.

On campus, staff members in various offices in the Brown Administrative Complex are relocating from the heavily damaged facility, Morrow said. Some will have temporary offices in the new University Academic Center, which opened this year to house HBU’s honors college and art department. Other staffers will work from a range of locations, from portable trailers already on campus to storage closets that are being converted into makeshift offices.

Examination of the Brown complex and the adjoining M.D. Anderson Student Center, which form a quadrangle, has not been competed, Morrow said, noting that the demand for engineers is extensive in Houston in the wake of the hurricane.

“We’re not the most severely damaged place in Houston by far,” Morrow said. HBU took “a significant hit,” but in seeing the extent of damage elsewhere in Houston and on the Texas Gulf Coast, “you realize that you’re still pretty blessed.”

The initial damage estimate at HBU from Hurricane Ike ranges from $8 million to $10 million, President Robert Sloan reported on the university’s www.hbu.eduwebsite Sept. 15. The tally “is expected to rise,” Sloan noted, “as building and infrastructure inspections continue throughout the coming weeks.”

Among the HBU administrative staff moving to temporary locations are those in the admissions, registrar, financial aid, communications and spiritual life offices, the bookstore and post office.

By comparison, the university’s residence halls weathered the hurricane well, Morrow said.

Without power at the campus, HBU’s technology capabilities have been curtailed, ranging from e-mail to accessing information stored on the university’s computers. Only the www.hbu.eduwebsite remains operational because its computer server is located elsewhere in Houston. The university’s emergency alert telephone/text message system also has functioned well, Morrow said. Administrative staff members currently are working from laptop computers and cell phones.

HBU’s Brown Administrative Complex and M.D. Anderson Student Center are the oldest facilities on the campus, which opened in the early 1960s. The university currently has 2,500 students at its 154-acre campus just southwest of downtown Houston. Hurricane Ike came at a time when HBU had enrolled a record freshman class of 475 -? twice the number from two years ago -? and hired 30 new faculty members, Morrow said.

Millions living along the upper Texas Gulf Coast and north into East Texas on Tuesday were still without electricity after Hurricane Ike swept through Friday night and Saturday, causing the biggest power disruption in Texas history, state officials said.

Eighteen counties, mostly rural counties east and north of Houston, reported 75-100 percent of residents without power on Tuesday morning, according to the website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Additionally, about 2 million Houston area residents remained without power on Monday night, the Houston Chronicle reported.

President Bush was preparing to tour the upper Texas coast on Tuesday.

Disaster relief response from Southern Baptists continued as teams from multiple states, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and Texas Baptist Men fed evacuees and cleared debris.

More than 100 Southern Baptist disaster relief units from several states are serving along the Gulf Coast and farther inland, with SBTC volunteers continuing relief for hurricane evacuees in Tyler, Livingston, Lufkin, Port Arthur and Huntsville through feeding and chaplaincy, said SBTC DR Director Jim Richardson.

Ike’s wide and destructive swath was “catastrophic,” Richardson said, spreading its damage east of Galveston into Louisiana and north into deep East Texas along much of the same area that Hurricane Rita devastated in September 2005.

Noel Vargas, pastor of West End Baptist Church in Galveston, was in College Station, Texas, on Monday, staying at a Motel 6 as he and his family waited to return to Galveston.

He told the TEXAN by e-mail that reports from people there say the West Side buildings were damaged, “but I don’t know how bad it is,” Vargas said.

“Our street was flooded so I think our home got flooded as well. My family is doing good.? Please keep us in your prayers.”

David R. Brumbelow, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Highlands, Texas, just east of Houston near the Houston Ship Channel, chose to stay home rather than evacuate, chronicling his experience in several pages of notes.

Brumbelow said his church and home sustained some damage, but his decision not to stock up on more food nor to retrieve his generator that was 75 miles from his home early last week was a mistake; he spent Sunday night at the church because his home was still without power.

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HOUSTON?Hurricane Ike scarred Houston Baptist University with an estimated $8 million to $10 million in damages, HBU President Robert Sloan reported on the universityís website Sept. 15.

The damage estimate “is expected to rise,” Sloan noted, “as building and infrastructure inspections continue throughout the coming weeks.”

Sloan recounted: “The campus has suffered significant wind and water damage to a number of buildings, but hardest hit were the M.D. Anderson Student Center, a longtime favorite gathering place for students, and the Brown Administrative Complex.”

He continued: “The Student Center housing a campus eatery and coffee shop, Husky Central admissions offices, Spiritual Life and Student Life offices, our band hall, and the University Bookstore; our television studio; and offices in the Brown Administrative Complex have all suffered significant wind, water and structural damage. A number of classrooms in other buildings suffered some wind and water damage. Uprooted trees and broken limbs are scattered across the campus landscape.”

Another Baptist-related entity in Houston, the J. Dalton Havard School for Theological Studies of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, escaped damage from Ike’s fury.

“As far as our classrooms and our library, we’re in good shape,” reported Denny Autrey, dean of the SWBTS Houston campus. However, some flooding was found in the sanctuary and choir room used by Park Place Baptist Church on the campus.

Both Houston Baptist University and Southwestern’s Havard campus, like much of the greater Houston area, remained without power Sept. 16, with no word yet when it will restored.

At HBU, classes were cancelled Sept. 15-16, with the website noting, “No students are being allowed on campus until further notice. Classes will resume as soon as conditions permit.”

At the Havard campus, classes have been cancelled from Sept. 15-19.

Sloan, in his message on Houston Baptist University’s hbu.edu website, reported that “approximately 60 HBU students and emergency personnel who took shelter on the campus during the storm escaped unharmed.”

“Our campus can be rebuilt and repaired,” Sloan reflected, “but I think we all walked away from this experience with a greater appreciation for the everyday blessings of God.

“We urge HBU alumni and our friends across the country to include Houston Baptist <st1:PlaceType w:st="on"