AUSTIN?The Texas State Board of Education’s vote to adopt changes to social studies curricula has supporters affirming what they say is academic balance brought to left-leaning subject matter, while critics are crying foul over alleged downplaying of church-state separation, among other things.

In a 9-5 vote along party lines, the GOP-dominated board adopted the standards that will guide instruction in Texas public schools for nearly 5 million students and determine content for future textbooks and standardized tests. Texas is influential in the textbook market because it buys or distributes about 48 million books annually, influencing textbook content nationally.

The board, in maintaining most of the changes initially approved in March and ratified with the May 21 vote, refused some suggested revisions to social studies standards, opting to retain requirements that students learn about historical notables such as Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison and adding language about significant political ideas, including the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” cited in the Declaration of Independence.

Among the board’s more controversial changes is a requirement that students “compare and contrast” the doctrine of church-state separation?rooted in U.S. Supreme Court rulings?with First Amendment language that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….”

Some conservative groups such as the Liberty Institute (formerly the Free Market Foundation) defended the requirement while Americans United for Separation of Church and State labeled it the product of a “right-wing fundamentalist bloc” on the board.

Board member Mavis Knight (D-Dallas) argued the requirement implies that Supreme Court rulings tying church-state separation to the First Amendment are illegitimate, while former board chairman Don McLeroy (R-College Station) said students should weigh “the current view of separation of church and state with the actual language in the First Amendment,” the Dallas Morning News reported.

Thomas Jefferson, who was removed from a list of leading Enlightenment philosophers in world history standards, was restored to that list, joining Voltaire, John Locke and others. McLeroy had argued Jefferson was not a leading Enlightenment thinker but a product of those philosophers.

Jefferson also remained in the American history curriculum, though there was outcry after false reports he had been removed from the standards altogether.

At board meetings late last year, references to Christmas and Rosh Hashanah were reinserted into the standards after attempts by a revision committee of educators and historians to scuttle them in favor of Diwali, a five-day Hindu festival. Those changes remained in the final standards approved this month.

Earlier, the board rejected attempts to change date references of A.D. and B.C. to C.E. and B.C.E. (common era and before common era, respectively), despite contention from board member Mavis Knight (D-Dallas) that C.E. and B.C.E. are now standard in academic circles.

The new standards also added references to:

?free market economist Milton Friedman, who heavily influenced Ronald Reagan’s supply-side approach to economics, as a notable contributor to economics.

?the idea of “American exceptionalism”?that American ideals are different and unique from other nations.

?America as a “constitutional republic” rather than a “democracy.”

?major political ideas in history including inalienable rights, the divine right of kings, social contract theory, and the rights of resistance to illegitimate government.

Texas reviews standards in given subjects every 10 years.

The state’s major papers, including the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman, criticized the new standards, with the Dallas paper hinting that the fight might not be over. It editorialized May 26 that several new board members who take office Jan. 1 should “work fast” to overturn the changes, even though, it admitted, textbook publishers would be hesitant to wait on even more changes.

The board drew wide media attention last year when it ratified new science standards requiring biology students to “analyze, evaluate and critique” scientific theories, “examining all sides of scientific evidence” with “critical thinking.”

In my August 2009 TEXAN column I addressed my intentions as a member of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF). I stated that the most pressing need for the Southern Baptist Convention was spiritual awakening. This has not changed. The majority of the GCRTF progress report unveiled at the SBC’s Executive Committee in February was devoted to spiritual needs. Unfortunately, the practical proposals affecting structural change seemed to overshadow for some the call for revival.

My prayer is that individual Southern Baptists will submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of life. This would generate fervor for souls, holiness in lifestyle and sacrificial giving. Also, I pray for Southern Baptist churches to be faithful to the whole counsel of God. This would be evident in theological fidelity, in practical expressions of Christ-likeness, and in an unselfish giving toward penetrating lostness. If individual Southern Baptists and Southern Baptist churches experience a spiritual awakening, the SBC will have a spiritual renaissance.

PRACTICAL MATTERS

Even with a new spiritual vibrancy, there are practical matters in the SBC to address. These practical matters have spiritual implications. The local church is headquarters. Associations, state conventions and national agencies cannot tell a local church what to do. Local church messengers work through a difficult process to influence national agencies. The mechanics of cooperative ministry in the SBC is messy. Working together we must find a way to accomplish the Great Commission. The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has attempted to help churches find a way.

There are hot buttons in the GCRTF report. After many listening sessions the progress report was modified to help NAMB get better focus without unintended negatives. The term “Great Commission Giving” simply replaces the title of “total mission expenditures” on a reporting form. The GCRTF proposal strengthens the position of the Cooperative Program by highlighting CP as the preferred way to give to Southern Baptist causes.

The task force is presenting a vision that begins a process of moving more personnel and funds to penetrate the greatest lostness. There is lostness everywhere. With limited resources and seemingly unlimited lostness, we must prioritize our assets.

Texas has 24 million people with the vast majority lost. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention cannot reach all the lost people in Texas, much less in North America or around the world. However, we have strong churches, a praying people, and a focused state convention that plans to present the gospel to every person in Texas.

We want to share as much as possible with the greater underserved and unreached areas of North America and the world. The SBTC sends on 55 percent of the Cooperative Program budget to national and international causes through the SBC. We are preparing to relinquish $600,000 NAMB is investing in Texas through our partnership so others who have less opportunity to hear about Jesus may do so.

The executive committee of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Executive Board voted unanimously to endorse the GCRTF report (Read the committee’s resolutions on pages 2-3). The Executive Board was polled. They expressed their opinion by all respondents approving the committee’s action. By the grace of God and the cooperative giving of God’s people through the churches of the SBTC, we will more than recover the funds we give away. Let’s take care of Texas and join others to reach the world.

DALLAS?Forty-one students were awarded bachelor of arts degrees, 19 students earned the master of arts and one received master of divinity during the 35th annual commencement exercises of Criswell College on May 8.

Michael A. Deahl was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by the school’s board of trustees, recognizing distinguished service in the cause of Jesus Christ. Deahl was commended for 30 years of service at First Baptist Church of Dallas, including 21 years of which he served as a deacon and 12 years on the school’s trustee board, the last five as chairman.

Deahl also was recognized for serving as a trustee of LifeWay Christian Resources, on numerous committees of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and as a member of the board of directors for the Kelly Green Evangelistic Association.

A graduate of the University of Wyoming with a degree in business and the University of Wyoming College of Law with a juris doctorate degree, Deahl began his legal career in Dallas in 1980 and became a founding partner of Powell Coleman & Arnold LLP in 1995.

He and his wife, Susan, have one daughter.

In presenting the honorary degree, Criswell College Interim President Lamar E. Cooper Sr. commended Deahl’s service.

David L. Henderson, a board-certified psychiatrist recently was named to the Hope for the Heart counseling chair and serving as professor of psychology and counseling, offered the commencement address. He encouraged graduates to use the day “as a check point, to stop and take a breath, reflecting on the Lord’s faithfulness.”

Quoting Isaiah 66:9, Henderson said. “These are days that confirm to us the promise God gave, ‘I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born.'” He compared the scrolls certifying their degrees to the stones the Israelites set as monuments to God’s faithfulness. “The purpose is the same, to never forget that the God who brought you in is the God who will bring you out. The God who led you to this present place is the God who will sustain you in the future that awaits.”

ALBANY, New York?There are more Russian-speaking people in New York than any other state. And the Russian Church of Albany (SBC) is reaching those who settled in that capital city, where the Hudson Baptist Association and the church have both benefited from a $100,000 grant from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Russian Church of Albany is the daughter congregation of Cross Road Church, which was one of the first Southern Baptist church plants in the area. After meeting for three years in a Unitarian facility, Russian Church of Albany bought, for about $90,000, a building just three blocks from Albany’s capitol building. The fledgling flock managed to scrape together some money. However, a no-interest loan from a Jewish man helped seal the deal. Formerly a church, the facility was serving as a nightclub when the Russian flock bought it.

Stepping out on faith, their own labor and money, and borrowed money, too, the Russian believers gutted the place, removing four tons of debris. After renovating the interior?which included adding a previously non-existent balcony?and constructing a fresh, exterior faæade over tired looking bricks, the young church had spent almost $250,000.

Under the leadership of Sergej Katko, the church’s pastor, the congregation intentionally bought a building close to where most Russians in Albany live. That’s why they also fashioned the building to reflect a cultural center with a coffee shop atmosphere, the likes of which are found in many cities and neighborhoods across Eastern Europe. “This means it’s not a ‘Sunday morning only’ church,” said Sean Pierce, the Hudson Association’s director of associational development, who added that the strategy helps reach unchurched Russians.

“One Russian immigrant was walking down the street and saw the church’s sign in his own language, knocked on the door, and upon entering, said, ‘I want to be a part of what’s going on here,'” Pierce related. U.S. Census data show that the church is the only Russian-speaking Southern Baptist church in New York state.

Immigrants in the U.S. are very effective networkers, Pierce explained. And since New York City is the major port of entry for Russian immigrants, “the Russian Church of Albany and Pastor Katko have unique and significant opportunities to be missionaries to their own people throughout the state,” Pierce said.

In addition to reaching Muslims and Jews from Russia, and other Russians, too, the church was also instrumental in an avowed atheist’s conversion to Christ. At the church’s dedication service, she shared how the church’s influence pointed her toward God.

EMPOWERMENT, NOT ENABLEMENT

Upon completing the renovation, members had to repay their loans. But because the church was financially overextended, local banks wouldn’t approve a debt repayment loan. However, the church dug deep, and through sacrificial giving and other donations they whittled the debt down to $50,000.

And thanks to a no-interest loan from the Hudson Baptist Association, Russian Church of Albany paid all its remaining debt. However, without the $100,000 grant from the SBTC for Hudson Association to start a foundation, the church still would be strapped.

“This is a great story of money empowering a church and not simply enabling them,” Pierce said. “These hard working people did it themselves on faith,” he added, saying that the SBTC and the association “were able to resource them at a critical point of their need. What the SBTC has helped us do is to aid church plants to procure their own viable facility so they can develop community identity and establish ongoing ministry.”

Still a pioneer area for Southern Baptist work, the Hudson Baptist Association has about 30 congregations. Only 10 have their own buildings, Pierce said. The others are paying an average rental fee of $3,000 a month, which makes it almost impossible for small congregations to do much else. “Most are able to service a mortgage payment, but they lack the down payment banks require,” Pierce said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story is based on interviews with Paul Thompson, one of the 10 Baptists held in prison in Haiti.