IRVING—The missionary zeal of the early church is inspiration for this year’s annual meeting and Bible Conference of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, scheduled for the Irving Convention Center, Nov. 13-15.

The theme for the annual business session of messengers, Monday and Tuesday of that week, is “Praying + Going” and comes from Acts 13:2-3: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

The theme is closely tied to last year’s theme, “Praying & Listening,” which was followed by numerous prayer and listening sessions across the state earlier this year.

The SBTC Bible Conference immediately precedes the annual meeting, and will feature regional and national speakers and pastors (See related story page 8).

“‘Praying + Going’ is more than a theme,” SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards wrote in a column for Texas Baptist Crossroads. “It is a lifestyle for the Jesus follower. As we seek the Father’s face we will hear the Spirit’s voice telling us where we should go to share the Good News about the Son. God has a people in your community, state, nation, and the world for you to embrace. Jesus is coming. It could be today. Let’s get going before he returns.”

Each session of the annual meeting will focus on a different area of missionary engagement, from pockets of lostness in rapidly changing Texas to unreached peoples halfway across the world.  

One focus sure to be addressed in sermons and in ministry reports is the challenge from the SBTC Executive Board for Southern Baptists in Texas to adopt 1,000 of the approximately 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups worldwide. That challenge came after the SBTC board in August granted $1 million in surplus funds through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions.

Closer to home, “The Christian culture that once provided a framework for our nation is fading” and “Texas is no longer only belt buckles and cowboy boots,” Richards remarked.

“There are 200,000 Asian Indians, thousands of Bhutanese refugees and an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Texas. The mega-cities are rapidly becoming gospel-free zones by default. We have our work cut out for us,” he added.

SBTC President and Odessa pastor Byron McWilliams will preach his message to the convention on Monday night, Nov. 14. Nathan Lino, pastor of Northeast Houston Baptist Church in Humble, will preach the convention sermon on Tuesday morning, Nov. 15.

Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and the founder of 9Marks Ministries, is the guest preacher during the closing session on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Tickets to luncheons Nov. 14-15 are available for purchase online at sbtexas.com/am11 or by calling the SBTC office toll-free at 877-953-7282 (SBTC).

Deadline to submit resolutions to the SBTC Resolutions Committee is close of business Nov. 4. Members of SBTC-affiliated churches may submit resolutions by email to lrice@sbtexas.com or by mail to Lane Rice, 4500 SH 360, Grapevine, TX 76051. Resolutions must be accompanied by the author’s contact information and church membership.

Childcare will be available by reservation only for birth through age 9. Shuttle service will be offered between the convention hotel and the Irving Convention Center, 500 West Las Colinas Blvd., in Irving.  

For additional information on the annual meeting and messenger registration, visit www.sbtexas.com/am11/.

IRVING—This year’s pre-convention SBTC Bible Conference will focus on “Impacting the Next Generation” Nov. 13-14 at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas in Irving.

Bible Conference President Terry Turner, pastor of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church, said the conference theme will be based on Deuteronomy 7:9-10: “So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, but who pays back those who hate him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve!”

Concerned that many young adults are not remaining faithful to local church involvement, Turner said, “We’re doing everything we can to equip pastors, parents and churches to be able to make a difference in the lives of young people, as well as being able to manage our families and making the family a strong nucleus.”

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13 with worship by the choirs of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church and First Baptist Church of Euless.

Speakers include Kurt Bruner, pastor of spiritual formation at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall and John Meador, pastor of First Baptist Church of Euless.

John Trent, president of Strong Families, will be featured at this year’s Ministry Café at 11:30 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. with music by Gina Cooper.

Trent has authored and co-authored more than a dozen books, including “The Blessing,” “The Language of Love,” “Heartshift,” “Breaking the Cycle of Divorce” and “The 2-Degree Difference.” Cost for the meal is $5 and reservations may be made online at sbtexas.com/AM11 or by calling 817-552-2500.

A women’s luncheon featuring Tammie Head, a Bible study leader from Houston’s First Baptist Church, will be offered as well.

The afternoon session resumes at 1:15 p.m. with messages from Gregg Matte, pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church, H.B. Charles Jr., pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., and Alistair Begg, senior pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, whose Scottish brogue is heard internationally on the Truth for Life broadcast.

The Southwestern Chamber Chorale led by Tom Song will provide music for the closing session.

Serving along with Turner are Alex Gonzales, pastor of Hickory Tree Baptist Church in Balch Springs, as first vice president, and Scott Gray, pastor of Sycamore Baptist Church in Decatur, as second vice president.

BASTROP — Raymond Edge, pastor of First Baptist Church of Bastrop, said he had planned to preach from Psalm 46:1-7 — a refuge passage — on the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. But the ferocious wildfires in Bastrop County the previous week left his church feeling far removed from 9/11 remembrances.

“That had become so far away because right now this is what we are living,” Edge told the TEXAN on the afternoon of Sept. 11.

In Bastrop County, 1,554 homes and 35,000 acres had burned as of Sept. 12, with more expected to be reported as authorities allowed displaced residents to re-enter neighborhoods. The fire was about 60 percent contained, the Texas Forest Service reported.

Statewide, 250 or 254 counties remained under burn bans as the extreme drought continues across the southern plains.

Edge said he was able to draw some of his message from the original passage but focus on his church and community. Psalm 31:1-4 became the source of the sermon title, “In you, oh Lord, I put my trust” — a passage in which the Lord is a “rock of refuge.”

Pastor Adam Espurvoa of Iglesia Bautista Emanuel in Bastrop spoke from his own experience and God’s provision. He quoted Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.”

Espurvoa and his congregation mostly live in rural Bastrop County on acreages surrounded by pine trees. All of the 300 pines on his lot burned as the fire circled his house.

“I can touch the [outside] wall of my house and touch the ground where the fire stopped,” Espurvoa said.

River Valley Christian Fellowship Pastor Cody Whitfill, who lost his house in the fire, said 16 families in his church of 400 people lost their homes.

“My thoughts are to emphasize that our hope is Christ,” Whitfill said prior to Sept. 11 services.

In addition to a disaster relief team from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention preparing meals for emergency responders and evacuees, as well as providing shower trailers and laundry units, members of River Valley also began feeding people the day after the fires began and ended that week serving 15,000 meals.

The affect of the Bastrop County fires on churches was still being assessed, pastors said. Five-thousand people had been displaced, though some of those have returned to their neighborhoods.

Most of the congregation of Iglesia Bautista Emanuel was sleeping in the church building because roads to their homes were blocked by police each night due to looting, Espurvoa said. The area was also without electricity.

The pastor, his wife Eva, and eight senior members of the church, left Bastrop Sept. 12 for the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment in central Texas to participate in an already scheduled senior retreat. Espurvoa, 73, considered staying behind but church members encouraged him to go for some much-needed rest.

Edge said FBC Bastrop spent their usual Sunday School hour in a time of fellowship and prayer. Just having the chance to talk and cry together meant a great a deal to them, he said.

Espurvoa was able to find some humor in the somber atmosphere as he noted, “I’ve been preaching for 49 years. This is the first time I’ve preached in blue jeans and tennis shoes. All my suits are smoked up.”

The pastors said some of their families were away from home when the evacuation alert was given. Other barely escaped.

Edge told of a man from his church who was taking a Sunday afternoon nap when his son, who lived next door, came to the house to get him out. The man looked out the window to see a wall of fire heading directly toward his home. The two families had only time enough to get in their cars and drive away as flames leapt up on both sides of the road to safety.

Edge has pastored at FBC Bastrop for 15 years and drawn close to the families he has watched grow up in the church. The first week of the fires he cried for and with his congregation. Then, he added, God would renew his strength so he could continue to minister to so many who were hurting.

“More than anything else I have asked God to let me help with spiritual needs,” he said.

Redd said the members of Living Stones Church are looking after each other. The church is a 40-member plant less than a year old. Those who worked to plant the church also planted their sister church, River Valley Christian Fellowship.

Redd said it was important for the church to take care of their own membership first before trying to initiate or involve themselves in a ministry project right away. The time will come for that, he said.

At FBC Bastrop SBTC feeding, shower, and laundry units were set up and the congregation worked to clear a church-owned building for use as an evacuation shelter.

Jason Bray, a staff member of River Valley Christian Fellowship, who is coordinating the church’s meal ministry, said Texas-owned H.E.B grocery chain has donated substantially to feeding evacuees.

Espurvoa said he wants to ensure his congregation is cared for so they can help others too. The Austin Baptist Association has delivered water and groceries to the Bastrop churches. He said some of the donations collected by his church members have then been given to their own relatives and neighbors. As his members graciously share their provisions with others, Espurvoa said they will be a witness of the grace and mercy of Jesus.

The SBTC feeding unit at FBC Bastrop prepared 260 meals on Sept. 9 and 985 meals on Sept. 10. The hot meals were delivered via Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) to people in a shelter in Paige, Texas, and to some people sifting through remains of their homes.

The number of meals prepared declined significantly Sept. 11 as people began to move out of shelters. The feeding crew has not been given new orders but Edge anticipated clean-up crews beginning work soon.

A second SBTC feeding unit was deployed to First Baptist Church of Magnolia, north of Houston, where firefighters worked to get another wildfire under control. That blaze, which covered portions of Montgomery, Grimes and Waller counties, had scorched 22,000 acres and destroyed almost 100 homes. The feeding crew had served about 1,000 meals a day for firefighters and evacuees there.

AUSTIN—A federal district judge blocked enforcement of a Texas law passed in May requiring women seeking abortions to undergo a sonogram at least 24 hours prior to the procedure and to hear the baby’s heartbeat and a description of the baby’s physical features from the abortion provider.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin wrote that the law, which was to go into effect Sept. 1, “compels physicians to advance an ideological agenda with which they may not agree, regardless of any medical necessity, and irrespective of whether the pregnant women wish to listen.”

Elaborating on his Aug. 30 injunction ruling, Sparks wrote the law’s requirements expand beyond medically necessary information and “are unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment right to be free from compelled speech.” Specifically, Sparks argued the First Amendment rights of doctors and patients are violated in the law’s requirements that doctors show the patient an ultrasound of the baby, make the heartbeat audible and give a verbal description of the child.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a notice of appeal in the case shortly after the decision was announced.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who signed the bill into law on May 19, lamented the ruling.

“Every life lost to abortion is a tragedy and today’s ruling is a great disappointment to all Texans who stand in defense of life,” Perry wrote. “This important sonogram legislation ensures that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying, and understands the devastating impact of such a life-changing decision. I have full confidence in Attorney General Abbott’s efforts to appeal this decision as he defends the laws enacted by the Texas Legislature.”

The case may gain even more attention as Perry vies to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. Recent polls show Perry ahead of other GOP candidates.

Those hailing the injunction included the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), which filed a class action lawsuit challenging the law in June on behalf of Texas abortionists and their patients. CRR is an international player in the abortion-rights movement.

CRR’s president and CEO, Nancy Northup, said in a statement, “Today’s ruling is a huge victory for women in Texas and a clear signal to the state legislature that it went too far when it passed this law. Politicians have no business telling doctors how to practice medicine or meddling in women’s private medical decisions.”

But Elizabeth Graham of Texas Right to Life wrote on the group’s website that the judge “accuses both the plaintiffs and defendants of waging an ideological war in his court room, yet he had done exactly that by enjoining the main points of the sonogram law.”

The law ensures “that women receive all the medical facts prior to making a life-changing decision to abort an unborn child. To delay this law taking effect is to further jeopardize the health of women entering abortion clinics,” Graham wrote.

Under the Texas law, a woman must be aware of the option to see her unborn baby via sonogram. It requires the person performing the sonogram—a physician or certified sonographer—to describe the dimensions of the baby and the existence of the baby’s arms, legs, and internal organs, including a heartbeat.

Women living in counties of fewer than 60,000 people or beyond 100 miles of an abortion facility and those in a life-threatening medical emergency are exempted from the 24-hour waiting period. Rural women would instead have to wait only two hours. Also, in cases of rape, incest or fetal abnormality, women could refuse hearing the verbal description from the sonogram.

In January, Perry placed the bill on emergency status at the start of the legislative session, which gave it priority consideration over other bills. It became effective upon his signing.

DALLAS—Criswell College trustees renewed a three-year affiliation agreement with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, affirmed plans for an undergraduate program in church planting and revitalization, and approved the school’s adoption of an unengaged people group  as part of a larger Southern Baptist initiative.

Meeting Aug. 26 at the Dallas school, the trustees also voted to promote Joe Thomas from dean of students to vice president of student services, and Barry Creamer from associate professor of humanities to professor of humanities. Creamer has also served as director of online education.

SBTC AFFILIATION
The affiliation agreement with the SBTC is for the calendar years 2012-2014 and requires ratification by governing boards of both bodies. The SBTC and Criswell have been affiliated since 2001. Under the agreement, Criswell would receive 3.25 percent funding from the SBTC’s Cooperative Program budget. In 2011, the school’s SBTC CP allocation is $364,755.

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards told the trustees his hope was for a five-year affiliation term in the future. The SBTC is “expressing a high confidence on the part of our Executive Board, and we foresee a long-lasting commitment to the college,” Richards added.

Criswell College is the only four-year college affiliate of the SBTC. Jacksonville College, an associate degree-granting school based in Jacksonville, Texas, is also affiliated. The SBTC has a fraternal ministry relationship with Houston Baptist University, which includes no budgeted funding.

CHURCH PLANTING DEGREE
The development of the church planting and revitalization bachelor’s degree program might be the first of its kind.

“The best way to evangelize North America is to plant new churches,” Criswell President Jerry Johnson told board members. He said the school would be working closely with the SBC’s North American Mission Board and the SBTC church planting team in developing the program.

Asked by one trustee to comment on the stewardship of planting new churches while existing churches with buildings flounder, Johnson said the data are clear that on average new churches far exceed existing churches in evangelistic success. Even so, the revitalization component of the new program would also help focus energy on existing churches that desire to renew their vibrancy.

The discussion brought comments from several other trustees, including McKinney pastor Jeff Nyberg, who leads a church planting ministry, and Denver, Colo., pastor Calvin Wittman, both of whom reiterated the effectiveness of biblically sound church plants.

“I think we could be a go-to place for church planting organizations,” Johnson added.

PEOPLE GROUP ENGAGEMENT
After hearing a charge via video from International Mission Board IMB President Tom Elliff, trustees approved the school’s adoption of an unengaged people group as part of the IMB’s initiative to take the gospel to 3,800 unreached and unengaged people groups worldwide.

Elliff has challenged each Southern Baptist church to adopt at least one of these people groups, and the SBTC, after giving a $1 million gift through the IMB’s Lottie Moon Offering last month, challenged its churches to adopt 1,000 of the 3,800 people groups.

Pornographers and soft drinks companies have managed to engage many of these people groups with their wares. “Shouldn’t we want them more than they?” Elliff asked.
“While [Criswell College] is not a church, we have the resources,” Johnson said, in students and faculty to help get the gospel to one of these unengaged groups.

PRESIDENTIAL REPORT
In his report to the trustees, Johnson told the board the school continues to be, “above all else,” about “the saving of the lost” and “sending laborers into the harvest” in the spirit of its founding. He said fall enrollment, as of Aug. 26, was 311 students, with that number expected to rise slightly as late enrollment ensued.

Also, the certificate in the W.A. Criswell Great Doctrines of the Bible is now being offered as an online course, with public enrollment beginning in October.

Criswell plans to host an evangelistic block party on Nov. 12 in tandem with the SBTC’s Crossover evangelism effort, Johnson reported. They will have bounce houses and give away school supplies and coupons for turkeys. The area around the school is an intersection of affluent urbanites and low-income families, Johnson said.

Johnson said the school’s use of web-based technology and social media continues to grow. A Criswell College web app is now available for Android mobile devices, and Apple is in the process of approving Criswell apps for its mobile devices. A Criswell blog, forchristandculture.com, is online also.

At the trustees’ previous meeting, they took the first steps in a potential move of the campus to a location that could facilitate more growth. Johnson said the search for property is continuing.

In other business, trustees:

• amended bylaws limiting to three the number of trustees from a given church (inaugural trustees would be exempted), and limiting the chairman to two consecutive one-year terms.
• authorized the trustee chairman to appoint a three-person committee “to clarify all doctrinal requirements in our documents”; and
• adopted a revised five-year strategic plan.
• The five-year plan requires ongoing evaluation and affirmation by trustees, Johnson explained, and is helpful in Criswell’s standing with its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

Among other things, the plan includes expanding curriculum offerings, developing distance education and doctor of ministry programs, and improving the school’s physical structure.

The SBTC Church Library Convention is being held Oct. 6-8 at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin. The theme for the conference is “A Calm Port for Life’s Tempests” based on Psalm 107:29.

The keynote speaker for the event is fiction writer DiAnn Mills. 

The cost for the event is $75 which includes lunch on Thursday and Friday and also a Friday evening banquet and conference materials.

You may register for the event at sbtexas.com/library.

EULESS—A conference titled “Confident Christianity: Proclaiming the Certainty of Christ in an Age of Unbelief,” is planned Nov. 4-5 at First Baptist Church of Euless and will feature some of the top Christian apologists.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a better group of speakers,” said Bruno Molina, SBTC language evangelism associate and a certified apologetics instructor (CAI) through the North American Mission Board.

The conference is being jointly sponsored by the SBTC, Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., the Confident Christianity ministry and FBC Euless.

“I think Christians need to be better equipped to ask the right questions of people who are increasingly skeptical of truth claims, so that they cause them to examine what they believe and in turn have an opportunity to explain why Christians believe what they believe,” Molina said.

Speakers include philosopher and apologist J.P. Moreland of the Talbot School of Theology at Biola and the author of more than 30 books, and Craig Hazen, director of Biola’s master’s program in apologetics and editor of the philosophy journal Philosophia Christi.

Other speakers include Molina; Michael Keas, SWBTS professor of history and philosophy of science; Brett Kunkle of Stand to Reason; Mary Jo Sharp, a Houston-based apologist and frequent women’s speaker; Clay Jones, assistant professor of apologetics at Biola; Rudy Gonzalez, SWBTS vice president of student service and former director of interfaith evangelism at the North American Mission Board; and Melissa Travis, a biologist who is pursuing graduate apologetics studies at Biola.

“In today’s educational environment, there is an overwhelming need for Christian education,” says Dwayne Oxner, principal at Ridgewood Christian School in Port Arthur. He told the TEXAN that God’s instruction in Deuteronomy 6 for parents to teach their children is more than just a suggestion to teach biblical concepts.

“It’s a directive to instruct and impress God’s decrees and laws upon a nation, their children and their children’s children.”

By teaching from a Christian statement of faith, Oxner said every student and parent recognizes “we are on the same page” spiritually. “We are not automatons nor are we a Christian country club. We are simply like-minded believers who desire that our children learn and acknowledge God’s decrees and laws.”

In contrast, Christian parents of children enrolled in public schools may find themselves having to counter what was taught in the classroom.

“When our children go home talking about class, our parents do not have to reprogram them because they’ve been taught that the universe just happened,” he explained. “Our parents are able to acknowledge and reinforce the truth.”

Ridgewood was begun in 1998 by Ridgewood Church and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools (SBACS) as well as the Texas-based National Association of University Model Schools (NAUMS).

A RESOURCE, NOT A REFUGE
“A lot of people think Christian school is an escape from the world, saying the kids are sheltered and need to face the real world,” added David Wilson, pastor of Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock. When he presented the vision to launch Southcrest Christian School in 1993, the primary reason was “to keep God in everything,” he recalled.
The school notes on its website that “SCS education is not a refuge from, but rather, a resource for a rapidly changing world.” 

“I have a lot of public educators in our church, but their hands are tied as far as what they can teach from a biblical worldview. There needed to be an alternative—not a reaction, because there are people who would like to have their children taught a biblical worldview and still get a quality education.” 

Instead of trying to hide and escape the world, Wilson said the school is preparing students to face the world from a Christian perspective, preparing them to handle real life with substance. “It’s not Vacation Bible School. Our kids have done well on testing and have no trouble entering the steps above them,” he added.

From meeting in four rooms with combined grades that first year, Southcrest Christian School has leased additional space in nearby Cumberland Presbyterian Church to accommodate growth. Now at an enrollment of 280, the school will host its first graduating class in 2013 as this year’s juniors become seniors.

In addition to SBACS, the school is affiliated with the Association of Christian Schools International and is awaiting word of accreditation through the Texas Association of Baptist Schools (TABS).

National statistics show a 10-15 percent decline in enrollment in Christian schools over the past three years, according to Ed Gamble, national executive director of SBACS.
“Most Christian schools operate close to the mark. They don’t have extra cash lying around,” he said recently in an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness.

Some Southern Baptist churches are making hard decisions about whether to continue supporting a Christian school when faced with their own funding challenges. With a current enrollment of 80 students, Oxner has seen that number remain consistent at Ridgewood.

“I can tell you that many other schools are being forced to close their doors due to lack of enrollment and financial shortfalls,” Oxner said.

Both Ridgewood Church and Southcrest Baptist Church allow their schools to operate rent-free, providing a substantial savings in operational expenses. Parents participate in annual fundraisers to provide additional income for the schools.

Oxner said southeast Texas has handled the economic downturn better than most areas of the country, but added, “Most of our parents are already making significant sacrifices and many simply could not afford a tuition increase.”

“I do sometimes think, ‘If they went to public school I wouldn’t have to pay for this,’” shared Zulema Escobedo, whose three children are enrolled at Ridgewood. When she hears of a friend or family member whose child is being taunted or hates going to school, she said she’s reminded it’s a good investment, citing the academic environment and character development.

Escobedo turned to Ridgewood 10 years ago when her daughter was being harassed by another kindergarten girl wanting to express her affection. “They said there’s nothing we can do,” citing the 5-year-old’s freedom to express herself.

When her children are complimented on their behavior by people they meet in restaurants and stores, she is quick to credit Ridgewood for reinforcing the values she and her husband have taught.

SBACS reports over 600 schools operating nationwide with some relationship to Southern Baptist churches, including 178 in Texas, though some of those offer only preschool education. Since private Christian schools often affiliate with more than one organization there is overlap between the 23 Texas schools relating to NAUMS, 42 schools that make up TABS and 258 schools that are a part of ACSI.

GRAND PRAIRIE—Southern Baptist pastor J.D. Stewart remembers a time when the Bible was a commonly referenced resource in public schools.

“Now we’ve got a whole generation that has no idea what the Bible is about,” he told the TEXAN, emphasizing his concern at the lack of biblical literacy.

Stewart, who pastors Westridge Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, has served on his local school board since 2008. He said he sees new opportunities to teach today’s students about their religious heritage in a way that is legally protected and even encouraged by Texas lawmakers.

With the passage of state legislation four years ago, Texas public high schools have the option—it is not mandated—of offering an elective English or social studies course on the Bible and its impact on the history and literature of Western civilization. If no Bible course is offered, school districts must “inbed literary and historical references into existing courses,” a guidelines sheet accessible at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website shows.

What’s clear, according to TEA standards, is that religious literature is now a part of the required enrichment curriculum. Whether biblical allusions are covered when studying Shakespeare or Herman Melville on the one hand, or a Bible class is offered on the other, instruction in “religious literature” including the Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament must be given.

One of Stewart’s lifelong friends is training teachers how to lawfully and appropriately teach about the Bible and the Judeo-Christian tradition across the curricula and in all grade levels. Through the Grand Prairie-based Innovative Solutions for Better Education, Larry Dozier provides online instruction that fulfills continuing professional education requirements for Texas public school educators.

As a former teacher in Arlington and Grand Prairie schools, Dozier said he observed “a lack of acknowledgement in history books and classrooms of the Bible’s influence on anything in America.” In 2006 he coordinated an effort between South Grand Prairie High School and Mountain View Community College to offer the first dual-credit Bible elective in the country.

“The tenacity and perseverance I saw in Larry 40 years ago still comes through in this project,” said Stewart, referring to the online instruction for enrichment and elective courses on the Bible. “If you want to know your heritage, this is where to go,” he added.

Launched in August, the course serves as a practical guide to the influence of the Bible on American culture, featuring 350 pages of cultural and historical documentation including 60 videos, 30 interactive maps, charts, timelines and e-tours, as well as 20 musical selections.

Eric Buehrer, president and founder of Gateways to Better Education, narrates much of the instruction, building a foundation for the importance of religion and moral development. “A lot of people are surprised to find state standards expect students to learn about the Bible, the Judeo-Christian heritage and its influence on civilization,” he explained.

Through an interview with legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, teachers learn to focus on the study, appreciation, information and influence of the Bible as opposed to seeking a commitment to a particular faith. The course also addresses the religious liberties of students and the cultivation of character.

Inclusion strategies are offered to make the Bible applicable to teaching history, language arts, science, mathematics, economics and health. Another session advises how to address the holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Hanukah and Passover.

Teaching students about the importance of the Bible and Judeo-Christian history is appropriate and lawful, Buehrer said, because it is culturally accurate, academically expected and legally supported, as well as being morally imperative.

In addition to helping state certified teachers earn CEU credits, the materials at BibleCultureIt.com are available to private and homeschool teachers looking for resources about the influence of the Bible on American culture.

At least two textbooks are available for public schools offering a Bible course. “The Bible in History and Literature,” published by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, and “The Bible and Its Influence,” published by the Bible Literacy Project.

Both books carry endorsements from conservative evangelicals, with “The Bible in History and Literature” focused more on how the Bible influenced early America, and “The Bible and Its Influence” offering a summary of what the Bible claims about itself from Genesis to Revelation and interspersed with relevant cultural and historical references.
(A review of “The Bible and Its Influence” at BibleCultureIt.com by Bible prophecy teacher Chuck Missler accuses it of having “liberal tendencies.” It gained endorsements from conservatives such as Charles Colson, Vonette Bright and Joseph Stowell, and was co-authored by an evangelical Christian, Chuck Stetson, but it also has been endorsed by some liberal groups.)

More information on “The Bible in History and Literature” is accessible at bibleinschools.net. Information on “The Bible and Its Influence” is available at bibleliteracy.org.