Month: February 2011

NAMB trustees approve sweeping changes

ALPHARETTA, Ga.?Trustees of the North American Mission Board approved sweeping changes Wednesday, Feb. 9, altering the focus, strategy, leadership and organizational structure of the Southern Baptist entity. The changes come almost five months to the day after trustees voted last Sept. 14 to approve Kevin Ezell as NAMB’s president.

The package of changes approved by trustees involves four primary areas: NAMB’s national strategy; a regional approach to how NAMB will do its work; an organizational restructuring that will align NAMB’s staff chart with its new strategy; and four new vice presidents who will give leadership to key ministry areas.
“This is a massive overhaul,” Ezell said. “We believe it’s going to be an historic overhaul.”

STRATEGY SHIFT: ‘SEND NORTH AMERICA’
NAMB’s national strategy?titled Send North America?will focus on mobilizing missionaries and churches for evangelistic church planting. Once churches or potential missionaries have connected with NAMB, after an assessment, NAMB will provide any needed equipping and training before the missionary or church enters the mission field.
Evangelism and leadership development will be integrated throughout the process.

“Sending” churches that partner with NAMB will have a broad range of participation options, up to and including starting a church themselves. Smaller churches can participate in clusters with other churches. All will be encouraged to send mission teams, volunteers and other resources to directly help and partner with church planters on the mission field.

Both sending churches and new church plants will be expected to contribute to Southern Baptists’ Cooperative Program and to minister in a manner consistent with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.

“This entire strategy points everything we do toward assisting churches in planting healthy Southern Baptist churches,” Ezell said. “Our desire is to mobilize thousands of Southern Baptists to be engaged in church planting.”

He added, “Right now there are four percent involved, our initial goal is to see 10 percent of churches involved in evangelistic church planting.”

REGIONAL FOCUS
The Send North America strategy will take on a regional focus. NAMB trustees approved a new approach to the board’s work that will divide North America into five regions: Northeast, South, Midwest, West and Canada. Each region will have its own vice president who reports directly to Ezell and will work closely with state Baptist convention leaders in that region.

Ezell said state leaders have been an integral part of shaping the new direction for NAMB, and that he is thankful for the lengths state executives have gone to work with him.

“We relate with 42 state association executives. It’s vital we work together?not because we have to but because we want to. They have been incredible. They, too, have a heart to reach North America and they all have a heart for reaching the underserved areas,” he said.

Ezell noted that 80 percent of NAMB’s funding to states already goes to unreached regions and when money starts shifting from Southern states to unreached areas, that percentage will go even higher.

As NAMB funding to Southern states is reduced, Ezell said state leaders will be able to direct that money to specific unreached regions of their choosing. NAMB activity in the South will continue, Ezell said, noting, “We’d be very remiss if we did not continue to invest in the South and plant churches in those areas.”

Ezell indicated NAMB hopes to have new integrated strategic partnership agreements signed with each state convention by the end of March.

NAMB will prioritize its efforts in 50 population centers throughout North America. The initial 25 cities are New York, Washington/Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the Northeast; in the South, Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans; in the Midwest, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, Cleveland and Indianapolis; in the West, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Denver; and in Canada, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

NEW LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Trustees also approved four candidates for vice presidents Ezell presented for a vote: Jeff Christopherson, vice president, Canada region; Steve Davis, vice president, Midwest region; Larry Wynn, vice president, evangelism; and Aaron Coe, vice president, mobilization.

Ezell said he would cover the Northeast and West regions until vice presidents can be found. Richard Harris and Carlisle Driggers will be NAMB’s ambassadors to the South region until a vice president can be named. Harris is a retired NAMB vice president who served as NAMB’s interim president in the year leading up to Ezell’s election. Driggers is the retired executive leader of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

Six work groups?all focused on the overarching goal of evangelistic church planting?will exist at NAMB’s Alpharetta office: evangelism, mobilization, equipping, ministry controls, communications and missions support.

Other NAMB ministries such as Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, mission education and social ministries remain but will be more specifically focused on supporting the evangelistic church planting process.

Ezell said there are “some very positive things already happening,” referring to budget reallocations that will put millions more in funding on the field for missionaries.

“To put $9 million more dollars to missions on the field in just six months, that’s much faster than the SBC directed.”

Wrapping up the trustee meeting, Tim Dowdy, chairman of NAMB’s trustees and pastor of Eagles Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga., said, “One of the things I really sense from talking to you [trustees] is a lot of excitement about our new direction. It is thrilling to be on the right road headed down the right path?ready to impact America with the gospel. Our president has done a fantastic job of getting us in the right direction.”

ANNIE ARMSTRONG EASTER OFFERING: Couple labors in vast Calif. mission field

BENICIA, Calif.?Attending a beginning sign language course as part of the deaf ministry at 38th Avenue Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Miss., in 1979, Howard Burkhart III liked his teacher so much he married her.

Because of Tina McMillan (Burkhart) and her attentive pupil, Howard?both students at the University of Southern Mississippi at the time — untold hundreds of the hearing and hearing-impaired from Mississippi to California have not only been taught how to communicate, but how to accept Christ as their Savior.

Today, the Burkharts’ ministry?based in Benicia, Calif., just north of San Francisco?extends far beyond the deaf community, although that remains their first love. Howard, 52, is a church planting strategist in the San Francisco Bay and San Diego areas and a missionary for the North American Mission Board (NAMB).

In fact, Howard and Tina are only two of more than 5,000 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® (AAEO) for North American Missions. They are among the NAMB missionaries featured as part of the annual Week of Prayer, March 6-13, 2011. With a theme of “Start Here,” the 2011 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $70 million, 100 percent of which benefits missionaries like the Burkharts.

“The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering makes everything possible,” Burkhart said. “It puts missionaries on the field, provides ministry funds, provides Bibles, church planter training, support for new churches and allows for special projects that are critical. AAEO is our lifeblood, our lifeline and our future.”

After both graduating from Southern Miss and enrolling at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the Burkharts became aware of the huge need for pastors and missionaries to work with deaf people.

Howard would later become missionary to the deaf in California, where the Burkharts have lived and ministered for the last 27 years. From 1988-2000, Howard taught classes through Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary for the hearing-impaired so they could learn to be pastors, teachers and other ministry leaders. It was the first opportunity for deaf people to get seminary education at the diploma level.

“Deafness is its own culture,” he said. “It has its own language, its own grammar, its own social structure. Deaf people tend to marry other deaf people.” At the same time, Burkhart says today’s technology has empowered many deaf people, enabling them to become more part of mainstream society.

Why do the hearing-impaired need special ministries aimed at them and their needs?

“You’d think they could choose from a hundred different churches but they can’t. They have to go to a church where there’s either a pastor to the deaf or where there’s a competent interpreter. And when deaf people need pastoral care, they call the interpreter, so the interpreter often becomes their pastor and advocate,” Burkhart explained.

“For hearing-impaired Americans, English is their second language. Sign language is their first language,” he said. “For deaf people from other countries, English is their third or fourth language.”

And not only does Burkhart work with hearing-impaired Anglos, he also ministers to the deaf in other people groups, such as Hispanics, Asians and Koreans. It’s not commonly known that each nationality has its own unique deaf signing language?for instance, Koreans have their own. So signing is different across different cultures and languages.

Burkhart said one of his “joys” is to return to churches he helped start years ago, and one of his favorites is New Hope Community Church in El Monte, Calif.

“Going back there and knowing that probably more than 50 deaf people there now have a relationship with Jesus?and many of them are serving and leading in the church?makes for an exciting day,” he said.

Burkhart said the deaf ministry at New Hope is very multi-ethnic, with nine or 10 countries represented. Out of 30 or so deaf people in attendance, only three or four are Anglo or Caucasian.

“Deafness trumps ethnicity, so if you ask a hearing-impaired Indonesian, they’re going to say they are deaf first and Indonesian second.”

Steve Lucero, pastor to the deaf at New Hope, is the father of a deaf son, Leo, who pulled him into deaf ministry. “When Leo was born, I asked, ‘Well, Lord, why did you give me a deaf son?’ It was a big question in my heart and mind.”

At the time of Leo’s birth, Lucero and his wife, Linda, already had a hearing son. And although Lucero was successfully climbing up the career ladder with Safeway, he would later leave the business world and go into deaf ministry?partly because of Leo and partly because of Howard Burkhart.

“We were going to Howard’s night class to learn religious signing,” Lucero recalled. “He was very patient as he taught us. He also was an encourager and gave us the confidence we needed to do deaf ministry.

“If it weren’t for Howard, we would have been stuck,” Lucero admitted. “That was 25 years ago and I still love him dearly and so do the deaf (at New Hope).”

Beyond the hearing-impaired, California?Burkhart’s mission field?is home to some 37 million people and if a country, it would be the 34th largest nation in the world. More than 200 languages are spoken in the Golden State. About 40 percent of the population speaks another language or are bilingual at home.

“In several cases, California is home to a nation’s largest ethnic population outside its home country,” he said. “In other cases, we may have more people living here from a country than who actually live back in that country.”

Burkhart strategizes and works with other church planters to start churches in the San Francisco and San Diego metro areas trying to reach a number of people groups?Indonesians, Romanians, Mongolians, Burmese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Russians and Brazilians. He also coordinates and leads 10 basic training events a year for 60 California church planting teams.

“Everybody needs Jesus. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what language you speak, where you came from or where you live. Everybody needs Jesus and it’s our job to communicate that in a language they can understand.

“We would ask Southern Baptists to pray for us because we need to identify a Japanese church planter for San Diego and several Vietnamese church planters for 10 churches that need to be planted in California. We also need partners for several new churches being planted in the San Francisco Bay area.”

Miami-born Howard and Tina?a Jackson, Miss., native who grew up in Alabama?are the parents of two children, Nathan and Victoria. Howard also asks Baptists to especially pray for Victoria, only 18, who has been seriously ill with a rare, debilitating neurological disease, leaving her mostly homebound for the last six years.

“I grew up in Miami and if you’d told me growing up that I would be a missionary in California working among the Burmese and Karen, deaf people or the other language groups I work with, I would have said, ‘never in a million years.’ But God had a work for me to do and he is completing it in me,” Burkhart said.

“It’s hard work, it takes people, money, mission teams and partners. It takes a lot of people to reach a community for Christ.”

IMB presidential candidate offers experience as missionary, pastor, denominational leader

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.–Tom Elliff of Oklahoma City is the unanimous nominee for the president of Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board, according to information released Feb. 17 by search committee chairman Jimmy Pritchard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Forney, Texas.

The full board of trustees will consider the recommendation when they come to Dallas March 15-16 for their next meeting.

Noting that Elliff emerged as the committee’s clear and unanimous choice in January, Pritchard said in an IMB statement: “Throughout the process, we talked to some great and godly men, but we just could not get a sense of God’s peace about any one of them. When Dr. Elliff’s name came before us, we had a subtle sense of God’s Spirit speaking to our hearts. That may sound mystical, but that’s really what happened. … Every one of us senses that God spoke and said, ‘This is the moment you’ve been praying for. Here is your man.'”

One year out from having served as a senior vice president at IMB, Elliff has focused on a writing and speaking ministry centered on spiritual awakening, while continuing to do field personnel orientation for missionaries.

Throughout the 16-month search, the selection of a candidate with missions experience was presumed to be a given. Not only did Elliff serve as a Southern Baptist missionary in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, he focused his last church on sending a steady stream of volunteers overseas and personally led crusades in 16 countries.

Elliff’s pastoral experience further strengthens his resume and marks a return to historical precedent. The board’s first six presidents, spanning the first century of its ministry, were pastors without overseas missionary experience, though two had been home missionaries. The next four–M. Theron Rankin, Baker James Cauthen, R. Keith Parks and Jerry Rankin–had served as international missionaries. Of these only Cauthen had pastoral experience.

Elliff served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1996 to 1998 and was an early leader in the SBC’s conservative theological resurgence. A longtime advocate for strong families, Elliff chaired the SBC’s Council on Family Life and appealed for passage of an amendment to the Baptist Faith and Message in 1998 to include a biblical definition of the family. Many of the nine books he has authored focus on themes related to marriage and family.

He also participated in associational and state convention ministries and served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference.

If approved by the board next month, there will be no administrative learning curve for Elliff in succeeding Jerry Rankin, who retired last summer. Elliff served under Rankin as senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations from 2005 to 2009, teaching Baptist theology to missionary candidates.

In 1993 Elliff was identified by a Richmond reporter as the choice of a presidential search committee filling the vacancy after Parks resigned. Months later they recommended Rankin, who was then elected and served for 17 years.

Elliff’s pastoral experience includes two Arkansas churches in Warren and Little Rock before completing his bachelor’s degree in history at Ouachita Baptist University in 1966, and two Texas churches in Dallas and Mansfield, Texas before completing his master of divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1971. He also pastored Eastside Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla., which quadrupled in attendance during his decade there, served two years at Applewood Baptist Church in Denver, and most recently First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, Okla., from 1985 to 2005.

A native of Paris, Texas, Elliff was saved in the summer of 1951 during an outdoor crusade in Fordyce, Ark., and baptized the next fall at Bethany Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo. A third-generation pastor, both of his brothers also serve as ministers.

He earned a doctor of ministry degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and received two honorary doctorate degrees?the Doctor of Sacred Theology from Southwest Baptist University and the Doctor of Divinity from Mid-Continent Baptist Bible College. Southwestern Seminary gave him the distinguished alumni award in 2008.

While praying about goals for the growing Tulsa church, Elliff sensed God calling him into missions, he told Baptist Press in 1981. His wife Jeannie shared a similar conviction days later. “On the logical side it might seem that this is foolish,” he shared with BP. “But when God says do it, you do it, especially if you’ve preached that all your life.”

The Elliffs moved their family of four children to southern Africa to fulfill his assignment as a general evangelist. After two years of ministry, his service was cut short when an automobile accident involving his wife and children resulted in critical injuries to one daughter and required extensive reconstruction surgery.

In his more recent assignment at IMB, he was asked to nurture missionary families and encourage their spiritual growth in U.S. conferences and in overseas settings; teach ecclesiology and Baptist doctrine to new missionaries in training; promote missions involvement among Southern Baptist pastors and churches; train and equip overseas Baptist leaders, advise in IMB mobilization efforts and mentor the board’s administrative leadership team.

Elliff’s wife has partnered alongside him since their marriage in 1966 and has ministered as a Bible study teacher in churches where he pastored.

Remarking on God’s leadership when first called missionary service, Elliff stated, “If any man could get to the place in his life where all he wanted for his life was simply all God wanted for his life, then all his life he’d have all he wants.”

Pritchard said Elliff has lived in “many different worlds” in Southern Baptist life.

“He has heard God’s call to missions as a field missionary. He has pastored some of our best churches. He was president of our convention for two years. He worked at the vice presidential level with IMB. So he is uniquely prepared, his integrity is unquestioned, and I believe that he will be able to help connect all of our entities together. He has a great relationship with our seminary presidents and with the North American Mission Board.

“We just see so many indicators that he is God’s choice. Through the process God has spoken to him also, and we are enthusiastic. We are standing with complete and total unanimity. We are very confident that God’s hand is on Dr. Elliff at this time to lead IMB. We’re excited, and we can’t wait for March to get here to make our presentation to the full board.”

Reached for comment, Elliff asked Southern Baptists to pray for him, his wife and family—and for IMB trustees as they consider his nomination.

“Both Jeannie and I were incredibly humbled when the search committee approached us,” he said. “Obviously, we would not have moved forward to this moment had we not spent a great deal of time in prayer seeking the face of the Lord. Now we feel humbled once again that they are going to present us to the board. Along with all the members of the board, we would just encourage people to pray with us during these days.”

Elliff said his discussions with the IMB presidential search committee initially came as a surprise.

“We love missions and we’ve given our hearts to it, but this was not on our radar screen,” he said. “It has just driven us to our knees in prayer. We certainly couldn’t do this if we didn’t sense the Lord’s leadership to do it. But we recognize that God speaks not only to individuals but to groups of people. We’re confident that he will have his way as the board deals with this.”

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Testimonies show women gifted, used in local church

“I just always thought God wanted to use me,” Connie Doughty explained in reflecting on 56 years of ministry. As members of Calvary Baptist Church in Longview gathered early this year to pay tribute to the 74-year-old woman, their testimonies described her eagerness to encourage and nurture others in their faith.

As churches across Texas grow beyond being led by a single staff member, more of them are giving consideration to hiring women to serve in roles other than that of pastor.

“I never did think women didn’t have a role to serve God,” Doughty told the TEXAN. “I just thought I was supposed to prepare and obey God’s will for my life,” explained Doughty in describing what led to her church asking her to serve on staff.

She first served in a range of circumstances?leading a chaplaincy program for women while her husband was stationed in England, helping a mission church when they relocated to North Dakota, and finding opportunities to mentor students while working in the president’s office of LeTourneau University.

Within weeks of joining Calvary Baptist 37 years ago, Doughty was asked by her pastor to teach a women’s Sunday School class. She joined the staff in 2000, directing the preschool ministry.

“Then suddenly I had the title of women’s ministry leader. That way I could mentor and teach and train young women. I was in Utopia,” she said. “Children, women, mothers and daddies would come to me because I had their child and they trusted me.”

Along the way the pastor asked her to pick up responsibility for directing adult discipleship as well. Even after health challenges forced her to cut back to volunteering, she recently accepted an assignment to coordinate the church’s prayer ministry,

“As a woman I was never confined, but I did the things that women can and should do. I’ve always been free to serve,” she stated. “God called me, set me aside, and he anointed me.”

“Many women have been properly educated and equipped to add great value to the ministry of the church,” said Debbie Stuart, who serves as a women’s ministry trainer for LifeWay Christian Resources and directs women’s ministry at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.

As a confessional fellowship of churches?unusual among state conventions?that have embraced the Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal statement, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention churches aren’t likely to call women as pastors. The BF&M clearly states that Scripture limits that assignment to men. And yet, the experience of women in SBTC churches across Texas reveals that local congregations still recognize the BF&M stance that “both men and women are gifted for service in the church.”

The challenge comes in applying the biblical principles laid out for both genders to the changing structure of the church, according to Randy Stinson, president of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and dean of educational ministries at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

In an article titled “Women in Ministry: Practical Application of Biblical Teaching,” he and co-author Christopher Cowan wrote of the need to relate the unchanging truths of Scripture to contemporary ministry circumstances.

Complementarianism, affirmed by the most recent BF&M revision, is the view that men and women have been created equally in God’s image but have different, complementary roles. Egalitarianism is the view that men and women have been gifted identically so that no role is limited to one sex.

“The first-century church did not have the various ministry positions, both inside and outside the local church, that are present in our Christian communities today,” Stinson said.

Because opportunities for leadership arise organically within a changing church structure, the authors carefully distinguish between leadership positions that provide authority and spiritual direction to other believers and leadership positions that provide administrative or coordinating efforts.

“In this latter case, one need not necessarily exercise authority over individuals in order to be designated the ‘leader’ of a specific ministry,” the authors write, citing the example of a children’s leader in the local church. “This may require her to coordinate the efforts of men who serve as teachers of children. But this appears to be consistent with Scripture, provided that her position does not require her to teach or exercise authority over these men.”

Erin Griffith’s ministry has just begun as the children and student minister at Bridgeway Baptist Church in McKinney. “My position of children’s minister consists of leading, teaching, encouraging, discipling, and setting up events for the kids from ages 5-12,” said Griffith, who is pursuing a master of arts in Christian education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. “Because it is such a small church I am able to do a lot of one-on-one relationship building with the kids and some of the women in the church.”

But even in her role as children’s minister, Griffith is careful to remain inside the scriptural boundaries for women serving in the church.

“There is a young gentleman of about 19 who helps me with the kids in Sunday School. He loves the kids and loves to help, but ? I wondered, ‘Am I crossing the lines by having him in there with me and learning from me?'” Griffith said. “I consulted Scripture, prayed and asked godly counsel about it. Whenever he has any ideas for the kids, he asks me. I give my thoughts, but I defer to the pastor,” she added. As the pastor hears her thoughts and gives the final decision, she finds they avoid any problem of stepping beyond boundaries of pastoral authority.

Niki Hays serves as minister of education and youth at Monument Baptist Church in Deer Park, having completed her master of arts in Christian education from Southwestern’s Houston campus. Gender has never been an issue or limiting factor in her service, she told the TEXAN. “In fact, I think being a female youth minister has at times put parents more at ease,” she said.

“My only agenda as a female youth minister is the same as that of my male colleagues?to serve the Lord through training and discipling young people,” she added. Currently, her church is in the midst of a study to help parents recognize their responsibility to train and disciple their children.

“Often parents want me, as the youth minister, to be the person responsible for their child’s spiritual development,” Hays said. “That is not how God designed it. Parents are the spiritual leaders for their children and my job is to come alongside parents and teach them how to do it.”

Lezlie Armour serves as minister of missions at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston where she oversees all community andglobal mission efforts.

“I am responsible for getting people involved in missions, whether it be to serve locally or to go on amission trip.” She also directs all of the missions organizations, including ESL ministry to internationals, adult mission groups, Royal Ambassadors, Girls in Action and Mission Friends.

While women have been at the forefront of missions lay leadership in Southern Baptist life, Armour said, “Staff leadership in missions has only had the man’s perspective in nearly all churches. Usually a woman’s discernment on some issues is very different than a man’s. I think it is wonderful when a leadership team can have both male and female views.”

As dean of the women’s programs and associate professor of women’s ministries, Terri Stovall is one of many women who serve as instructors or professors among Southern Baptists’ six seminaries. Teaching courses for women pertaining to discipleship, evangelism and women’s ministry in the local church, Stovall said the women at Southwestern understand and agree tha

King James Version at 400

CARTHAGE?Among all the English translations of the Bible, the King James Version has stood the test of time and influenced Western literature, culture and Christianity like no other.

To mark the 400th birthday of King James’ 1611 translation of the Bible, the Greater East Texas Baptist Association is sponsoring a week-long celebration, culminating with a two-day event at Southside Baptist Church in Carthage March 11-12.

Carson C. Joines, mayor of Carthage, issued a proclamation declaring the week of March 7-12 as “Celebrating 400 Years of the King James Version.”

Kicking off the celebration will be the Panola County Ministerial Alliance, whose president, Wade Harmon, is coordinating a public reading of the Psalms and New Testament in the local courthouse, Monday through Thursday, March 7-10. Members from several churches will serve as readers.

Numerous scholars of world renown and noted pastors will cap the KJV celebration at Southside Baptist Church in Carthage, where Kirby Hill is pastor, with a dinner and conference on Friday, March 11 from 1-9 p.m., and with lectures on Saturday, March 12 from 9 a.m. till noon.

Keynoting the Friday dinner at 5 p.m. is James O. Combs, longtime editor of the Baptist Bible Tribune, and later, the National Liberty Journal. Reservations for the dinner are required through Southside’s church office at 903-693-6397, or online at southsidecarthage.com. Cost for the dinner is $10.

“Anyone, no matter what version of the Bible they use, will benefit from this celebration,” Hill told the TEXAN. “This event will be informative as well as inspiring.”

The celebration of the KJV is more than just birthday homage, Hill said. The historical background of the Bible will be examined as lectures will highlight “the road we have traveled, and the sacrifices that were made to get the Bible into English?the blood that was shed, the cost that was paid from Wycliffe to Tyndale,” he said.

John Hellstern?retired pastor and co-founder of The Living Word National Bible Museum?will bring a first-edition King James Bible, and will lecture regarding the KJV’s reliance on William Tyndale. Hellstern’s remarks will entail Tyndale’s linguistic expertise, Greek scholarship and translation skills.

From his Living Word Museum, Hellstern recently placed under the curation of the Dunham Bible Museum at Houston Baptist University some 3,000 biblical texts that span hundreds of years. The documents trace the development of the Bible from some of its earliest maunscripts to ancient KJV editions and beyond.

Harold Rawlings, noted author and Bible collector, will lecture from his book, “Trial By Fire: The Struggle to Get the Bible into English.” Rawlings’ lecture details the early history of the English Bible from John Wycliffe’s version in 1382 to the KJV in 1611.

Rawlings’ lecture will answer such questions as:

  • Why was it once a capital offense in England to own or read an English Bible?
  • Which translators were burned at the stake for their efforts?
  • Why were John Wycliffe’s bones exhumed and burned 44 years post-mortem?; and,
  • Why did all early English Bibles, including the 1611 KJV, have 80 books, not 66?

Among items for display by Rawlings is a Dead Sea Scrolls fragment, a 13th-century Latin Bible, an Erasmus Greek/Latin New Testament, a 1563 First Edition of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, and the world’s smallest printed Bible.

Hill, the host pastor, will speak regarding the KJV’s preface. “Hardly any reader of the King James Version today even knows that it has a preface,” he said. “The preface is important because many of the same controversies surrounding modern translations were also faced by the translators of the KJV. Whenever the question of Bible translations come up, other questions are still going to be asked today, just as in 1611.”

Eric Greene, pastor of Thomson Memorial Presbyterian Church in Centreville, Miss., will address the theological art in the original print of the KJV, which Greene says was used “as a tool to communicate and teach biblical doctrine. Pastors and parents will see various applications from a few drawings that are each worth a thousand words.”

Greene will also show the use of art from ancient mythology, “which should stir some thoughts on how Christians should relate to a pagan culture,” he added.

Other event speakers for the weekend include Criswell College President Jerry Johnson; and Jay McCasland, the Greater East Texas Baptist Association’s director of missions.

SBTC passes 2,300 affiliated churches

The affiliation of three churches during the last week of January increased to more than 2,300 the number of churches joined with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Primera Iglesia Bautista of Alvin, Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church of Dallas and Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin pushed the convention beyond the 2,300 mark.

The pastors of the respective churches offered the following comments.

Johnny Calvin Smith of Mount Moriah: “We are truly grateful to God for such a gracious opportunity to be a part of the SBTC family. In seeking out affiliation, we were encouraged by the doctrinally firm, focused and loving stance threaded throughout all ministries. We look forward to partnering with the SBTC to continue fulfilling our mission to exalt God, edify the body of Christ, equip the saints for service, and evangelize the lost.”

Kie Bowman of Hyde Park: “Hyde Park Baptist Church has aligned with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention as a way of doing ministry with other Southern Baptist churches in Texas. We feel at home with the purposes and calling of the SBTC. We believe our giving through, and cooperation with the SBTC, reflects our commitment to the Lordship of Christ, the inerrancy of the Word of God, and our desire to evangelize lost people everywhere.

“We look forward to serving the Lord with the other churches of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and we are glad to be a part of the family.”

Oscar Toledo of Primera Iglesia Bautista, Alvin: “Our church considered affiliation with the SBTC because of their conservative position towards the Word of God and, furthermore, of the Christian faith. Because of our salvation experience and Christian life we believe and confess the divine inspiration of the Scriptures according to their inerrancy and infallibility. The Word of God is our point of reference in him, his salvation, his church, the human race and all the realities that are connected to the human existence. Negating the Scriptures would be negating God and his revelation.”

The SBTC began in 1998 as a confessional fellowship of approximately 120 churches committed to a minimal set of doctrinal parameters rooted in biblical inerrancy, the Cooperative Program missions funding mechanism, and an emphasis on missions and evangelism with limited bureaucracy.

Sonogram bill among emergency items for 82nd Texas Legislature

AUSTIN?Gov. Perry added to a list of emergency items in the state House a bill requiring women in Texas to undergo a sonogram prior to having an abortion, placing it on a fast-track for early consideration in the 82nd Texas Legislature.

Perry announced his intention to hasten the bill’s consideration on Jan. 22 at the annual Texas Rally for Life in Austin commemorating the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationally.

Emergency status allows the House and Senate to consider the bill within the first 30 days of the session.

“Under this legislation, introduced by Sen. (Dan) Patrick (R-Houston) and supported by House members like Rep. (Geanie) Morrison (R-Victoria) and Rep. (Kelly) Hancock (R-Fort Worth), a woman seeking an abortion must be given a sonogram, ensuring she understands the full impact of her decision,” Perry told the rally, according to a news release on the governor’s website. “A decision that can scar her, physically and otherwise, for the rest of her life. When you consider the magnitude of that decision, ensuring someone understands what’s truly at stake seems a small step to take.

“Those of us here know that when someone has all the information, the right choice, the only choice, life becomes clear.”

In his speech, Perry lamented the estimated 81,000 Texas children aborted annually. “That’s a staggering statistic and it’s simply unacceptable,” he said.

Kyleen Wright, president of the Texans for Life Coalition, predicted the bill’s passage after a similar bill passed the Senate in 2009 but failed in the House.

“We will pass a comprehensive sonogram bill this session because of its strong support from the leadership and the members of both the Senate and the House. We are thankful for Gov. Perry’s emergency declaration because it helps ensure its passage before budget and redistricting issues overwhelm the legislature.”

“Abortion advocates are always urging us to trust women on this issue. Well, it’s high time we trusted them to have all the information before they make this forever decision affecting themselves and their babies,” Wright added.

Other emergency items announced by the governor are protecting private property rights and addressing eminent domain, abolishing Texas “sanctuary cities,” requiring voters to present proof of identification, and legislation to provide for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Interim IMB president answers strategy questions

Editor’s note: The Jan. 31 edition of the Southern Baptist TEXAN featured a book review of “Reaching and Teaching: A Call to Great Commission Obedience,” by Southern Seminary missions professor David Sills. The book mentioned the International Mission Board at points, but without directly addressing IMB strategy. So the TEXAN asked Clyde Meador, interim president of the International Mission Board, to answer a few questions related to how the board carries out its worldwide mission. The search for a new IMB president is ongoing.

TEXAN: Explain how the IMB employs the “2-percent reached” figure in evaluating where to distribute/redistribute its people and resources?

MEADOR: A generally accepted (by the evangelical missions community) definition of an unreached people group is a people group in which fewer than 2 percent of the population are evangelical Christians. That is one among many data that are used to determine priority in placing personnel. The reason that datum is important is that, if 2 percent of a population are evangelical Christians, there is reason to think that those believers can pick up the responsibility to continue to evangelize that people group. Of course, that is only one of many factors to be considered in prioritizing the assignment of personnel.

Currently, just over half of the people groups with whom IMB personnel are working are classified as unreached, while just under half of the people groups with whom our personnel work have more than 2 percent evangelical Christians among their population.

TEXAN: Do you foresee changes to how the 2-percent figure is used in determining reached and unreached people groups?

MEADOR: No, for we see this as an important factor to consider in determining the placement of personnel. Again, this is by no means the only factor considered.

TEXAN: What is the discipleship strategy for new converts won by IMB missionaries?

MEADOR: The strategy for discipleship varies greatly from place to place, depending upon the resources and situations peculiar to that place. In every circumstance, there is a desire and effort to see that believers are discipled. More than a million believers are being discipled currently in ongoing Bible studies related to our work, while about 57,000 are reported as being personally mentored.

Discipling and training opportunities are continually being developed, with a clear realization that a church planting movement can just as well be called a leadership training movement. The approach to discipleship that is probably being used more than any other by our personnel at this time sees 18 months as the targeted, intentional discipleship involvement time with a new believer. A basic emphasis of discipleship is teaching believers to obey?knowledge without obedience does little.

TEXAN: What benchmarks does the board use to consider an international convert equipped for carrying on the ministry?

MEADOR: We take what we understand to be the approach of the New Testament, where a person is expected to be a witness immediately after he comes to faith. As that person is discipled, and practices what he is taught, he grows in being able to minister to others.

TEXAN: How has the belief by some that Jesus cannot return until all people groups hear the gospel influenced the IMB’s strategy?

MEADOR: The emphasis on taking the gospel to every people group on earth is based upon the clear command of our Lord that all peoples are to be discipled, baptized, and taught to obey; the consistent testimony of Scripture that Abraham and those following him will be a blessing to all peoples; the clear word of Revelation that believers will come from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

The urgency to make the gospel available to every people group has much to do with the fact that a large number of people groups still do not have real access to the gospel; that at least 60 million people will die this year; that many, many millions of them will have had no opportunity to hear the gospel. How long can we leave those people groups without the gospel? How many times must others have an opportunity to hear before we give opportunity for those to hear the first time?

We do not see that what we do or don’t do controls the return of our Lord. The words of our Lord in Matthew 24:14, Mark 13:10, and Luke 24:47 are intriguing, but not the foundation of strategy.

TEXAN: If a discrepancy arose between the board’s statement on what a local church is and an instance on the field where church planters were skirting that (none is known; this is hypothetical), what is the IMB’s protocol for such a scenario?

MEADOR: The personnel involved would be corrected by their leadership, and expected to respond to that correction. Also, anytime there is any question whether a “church” is really a church, that group is not included in any statistical reporting that we do.

No shortcuts to biblical faith and practice

All confessions of faith will leave some arguments unsettled. Our Baptist Faith and Message certainly does and you see it reflected in this issue’s discussion of women in local church ministry. You’ll notice that the participants all sought to base their beliefs and practice on what the Bible says, even though they found different nuances within the same verses. Perhaps a person can escape those quandaries within the bounds of his own head but certainly not in a broader dialog. God has not chosen to settle every debate and curiosity that arises within his people.

Our confession of faith affirms, for example, the personal and visible return of Christ but does not specify the order of the events. Some are more certain of the details and order of things, according to their favorite eschatological views and might wish that we would corporately “take sides.” But would doing so truly define the doctrine and practice of Southern Baptists? I think it wouldn’t.

Regarding the role of women in the church, the BF&M tries to say as much as the Bible does say and as little as possible of what the Bible does not. Our statement says nothing about ordination of deacons or ministers. It says nothing about deaconesses or lady youth ministers. It refers only to the role of pastor. We know who the pastor is. He’s the one who preaches from your pulpit or live video feed each Sunday. He’s the spiritual leader of your congregation. He’s the husband of not more than one wife. Southern Baptists have said that this person should not be a woman because passages like 1 Timothy 2 indicate this. That’s it, and I think that’s enough to say. It’s apparently enough to raise the ire of other evangelicals and some Southern Baptists, though they very rarely have women pastors either.

You see, we weren’t trying to define “nice” or “Christian” or “orthodox” or even “Baptist” in this document; our goal was to describe, within the bounds of what is also Baptist, orthodox, and Christian, the doctrinal and practical consensus of autonomous Southern Baptists, specifically as it relates to the various para-church ministries we’ve built together.

We should keep trying to understand God and his Word more completely, but we avoid shortcuts that settle things that he has not. God has not told us all he knows or all that we think we’d like to know.

It is in the taking of shortcuts that we make one of our most persistent mistakes in the settling of hard questions. Our desire to succeed should not trump biblical authority as we decide what we should do. My biggest concern related to those debates of our age that will not be settled by a useful confession is pragmatism. The temptation to solve difficult puzzles by means other than biblical rots the core out of many well-begun ministries.

Doing things “because they work” rather than from conviction or biblical interpretation may be fine when you’re picking a lawn service but it rarely leads a church to a better form of governance, to name one example. A primary explanation that some denominations give for an episcopalian (bishop-led) form of governance is practicality. I can see that. How much simpler some things might be if someone with authority over both pastor and congregation could mediate disagreements. Doesn’t it sound tempting to have an experienced professional find your next pastor for you? The more top down our governance is, the more potentially efficient it can be. After all, didn’t the apostles have that kind of authority relationship with churches? And it can be inconvenient to seek biblical guidance regarding the doctrines that lead us to local church autonomy. Do all redeemed and Spirit-indwelt people have access to the holiest place or is it just the highest ranking religious professionals? We shouldn’t ask, “does it work?” until we are confident that we’ve discerned what is right. They can be vastly different things.

Pragmatically based faith and practice can also be contextualization run wild. The “why” we do things often becomes temporal or rooted in one subculture. If that happens, we’ve gone from timeless principles leading to contemporary practice, to temporary principles leading to enculturated priorities. This situation is behind churches or denominations for whom the most important thing they do is based on what’s on the cover of Newsweek this week (e.g. nuclear proliferation, global cooling, overpopulation, women’s liberation, homelessness, global warming, world famine, climate change, homosexual rights, etc.)?they scamper from one cause to another, solving nothing.

Following our own wisdom also tempts us to draw universal principles out of good things we’ve seen happen in our own very unusual places during unusual times. We write a book, other people who desire to lead such an exciting ministry attempt to apply these newly timeless principles in their settings and we all wonder why it doesn’t turn out the same. Inappropriately pragmatic churches, liberal or successful, are always behind the ball in their pursuit of what others declare relevant.

Proverbs 14:12 warns us that there is a way that makes sense to us but doesn’t turn out well. If we only do what seems right or what works in theory, we’re a merely human organization, no better and actually worse than any other civic group. I say we are worse because we claim to be more by calling our group a church. Apart from the headship of Christ and aside from his revelation in Scripture, we’re just a group of well-meaning guys who sing too much.

There’s a sense in which we’re all tempted toward a too-human ministry. We preach or teach as though we know what will work in the lives of individuals, families, churches and communities. We just don’t know that; neither do we know what they need. God knows that and his Holy Spirit regularly uses biblical preaching to do work where the preacher never knew the need.

Our ministry is mostly pragmatic if we pursue perceived needs. We’re missing something if we only do those things that a club full of lost people could have figured out just the same. If we preach the Word and seek God’s will in the whys and hows of our ministries, we’re ahead of the ball because God knows where it’s going.

Despite perceptions, younger women seek seasoned mentors

PORTER?”Older women either have retired from ministry with women, or they think the younger women do not want to hear from them. But the younger women are saying just the opposite. They strongly desire for older women to just be friends with them and share experiences they have had that the younger are about to face.”

Chris Adams, the senior lead women’s ministry specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources, offered her observation in a recent interview with the TEXAN, having addressed the future of women’s ministry at last year’s Women’s Ministry Forum hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

The collaborative work of the generations has been one of the most challenging and rewarding elements of fostering women’s ministry within Southern Baptist churches. Adams is convinced the different generations can work together toward a common goal.

To facilitate the inter-generational cooperation, this year’s Women’s Ministry Forum will feature a panel discussion featuring younger women and how they interact with the women in their churches.

“In years past, boomers made up the large majority of women’s ministry; however, that has changed,” Moses said. “As I travel around our state, I find more and more that women’s ministry is attracting all ages. I’m so pleased to say that our older and younger women alike are finding a place together in women’s ministry.”

The panel discussion addressing “Leadership Realities” is a feature she is especially looking forward to as the issue has been on her heart for some time.

“Older women are excited to hear what these younger women have to say about women’s ministry,” Moses said. “My goal is to promote a seasoned leader who will mentor a younger woman.”

She models this priority by having younger women on her state leadership team. “We have seen a real growth in the number of younger women coming to our training.”

Just as women’s ministry today differs from what it was a generation ago, Adams said it continues to transition, reflecting the influence of an up-and-coming generation.

From a single-faceted focus on missions and service to a multi-faceted approach that includes Bible study, ministry, outreach, missions, evangelism, worship, and other elements, Adams sees women’s ministry evolving again as the younger generation steps up.

The goal of women’s ministry?to harness the gifts, skills, and resources of women to advance God’s kingdom?does not change with the evolution, she said, but the means to the end does.

At the local church level, Adams has observed that those in the decision-making roles are between the ages of 35 and 55. Instead, she encourages having all ages represented in leadership positions to ensure “we are not missing a pocket of women who need to be ministered to and who need to minister to others.”

There have been struggles within local church ministry to women, Adams and Moses admitted. Relinquishment of leadership roles by older generations, misinterpretations of motives, and poor communication are leading causes of setbacks. But, for the most part, Adams and Moses agree that there is a desire within the generations to work together for a common goal and establish meaningful relationships along the way.

“We still need to help women in leadership understand the younger women and bring them along,” Moses said, “but I’m very encouraged by what I hear from the hearts of those in leadership.

“There is a real movement taking place among the boomers (and the generation before) to reach out to the younger women. I see a desire in the older generation to find and walk with younger women. I believe, with all my heart, that we need to educate women about the different generations and provide many opportunities to bring the younger and older leaders together,” said Moses.

Both women see the role of women in the church and community outlined in Titus 2, calling on women of all ages to encourage and hold one another accountable. And though more women are seeking post-graduate degrees from seminaries to enhance their knowledge of Scripture and its application in the church, the older women of the church have a great deal of life experiences and wisdom to share as well. And they are eager to do so, said Adams and Moses.
The tenets of Titus 2 should be the foundation for all that women do, Adams said.

“God has instructed more experienced women to pour into the lives of younger women. We don’t have a choice since this is God’s mandate to us! It needs to be a lifestyle we model and teach to women. It can be a formally developed ministry as well. But it’s not optional.”

Moses added: “I think both groups of women are coming to understand that the younger woman desires a deeper level of friendship. It is encouraging to me to see these two groups of women moving toward this kind of relationship. It is for this reason that I encourage my [Boomer] age group to find those younger women and take them by the hand and journey with them.”

Adams and Moses said the women’s ministry conferences and forums hosted in Texas and around the nation provide the perfect setting for women of all generations and from churches of all sizes to share ideas, and encourage and challenge one another.

“Leaders love being challenged, inspired and equipped to do what God has called them,” Adams said. “They love to worship together. Also they find it helpful to network with others who are or have been where they are. They love sharing and hearing ideas and challenges. Most of all they love the practical help they get from a leadership conference.”