For the week of July 1, 2004 ‘My dad is the greatest’   A fourth-grade student in Swartz has received a scholarship to a Louisiana Baptist summer camp by turning in the prize-winning essay about "Why my dad is the greatest." Grant Griffith sent in a one-page essay about his father, Gary, as part of a contest sponsored by the Louisiana Baptist Men’s Ministry. The contest was part of an effort to promote mentoring relationships between fathers and sons. The winning essay read as follows:   "My dad is the greatest because he reads the Bible to me, and if I have a question, he will answer in a way that makes me understand it better. He buys me things when it is not a need; it is a want. He takes me fishing when he is busy or when he has tons of work. He keeps me away from trouble; he stands up for me and protects me from dangerous things. He makes me lunches and breakfast in the morning. He goes to my ball games and plays racquetball with me. This is why my dad is the greatest, and he loves me a lot."   Louisiana members   A pair of Louisiana Baptists have been elected to serve on the 2004 Southern Baptist Convention Committee on Nominations. Committee on Nominations … [Read more...]

Sunday, the people of our nation celebrate its independence. In 1776, the people living in the British colonies of America were bold enough and committed enough to declare their independence from the British Empire. Sunday, the people of our nation celebrate its independence. In 1776, the people living in the British colonies of America were bold enough and committed enough to declare their independence from the British Empire.   It is doubtful that more than a few people dared dream that the handful of sparsely populated colonies would grow to become the mightiest, wealthiest country on earth in just two centuries.   The founding fathers laid a great foundation for the infant nation’s growth. They knew that freedom from was valuable only as it was free to. They knew the nation had to be free from British rule so they could be free to become what many of them believed was God’s destiny for the nation.   This editor is not an ardent student of United States revolutionary history, but it does seem that grassroots early Americans did not dream as intently about what they would become as about what they would not be. They would not be subjects of a King living across the ocean; they did … [Read more...]

Just three months after losing her hus-band and being seriously injured in Iraq, Carrie McDonnall is telling people who feel called to a dangerous task for the kingdom that they had better go. Just three months after losing her husband and being seriously injured in Iraq, Carrie McDonnall is telling people who feel called to a dangerous task for the kingdom that they had better go.   "We have to keep going to the hard places," McDonnall said during a recent interview. "We have to keep going to the violent places. God’s call was not just to go to the places that were easy."   McDonnall was the lone survivor from a March 15 drive-by shooting in Iraq in which her husband, David, and three fellow Southern Baptist International Mission Board workers were killed. The five while traveling in northern Iraq as part of efforts to provide a water ministry to people.   Weeks later, still recovering from her wounds, McDonnall said she hopes people do not look at her and decide not to go to places like Iraq.   "I hope this fires people up, not that they say, ‘I can’t go. Look at her, look at the tragedy in her life,’ but rather say, ‘Look how God has overcome this,’" she … [Read more...]

Rose Nanyonga’s faith pilgrimage has been a journey of transformation - from an African witch doctor-in-training to a nursing student in Dallas. Rose Nanyonga’s faith pilgrimage has been a journey of transformation - from an African witch doctor-in-training to a nursing student in Dallas.   She now attends nursing classes and works as an intensive-care nurse, a striking departure from her beginnings as a witch doctor’s acolyte in Uganda.   She still is uncertain how her father was able to get her approved for witchcraft training, which usually is restricted to males. But she knows a witch doctor’s prophesy before she was conceived played a part.   "My mother had four sons and no daughters, so, she was taken to the witch doctor," Nanyonga recalls. "My father was on the verge of turning her out because daughters were valued for the dowry they would bring at marriage. The witch doctor told my mother she would have a girl, and she would be significant to the family."   Her training as a witch doctor began when she was about 8 years old, just after her mother died. Nanyonga’s family went to great expense, but they knew if she succeeded in training, as a female witch doctor, she … [Read more...]

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees apparently will decide in October how to handle the issue of sole membership. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees apparently will decide in October how to handle the issue of sole membership.   They could accede to a request from convention messengers and adopt the sole membership model of corporate structure.   They also could agree to do what they proposed to do in April - go to the 2005 convention with two options, one of which would be the sole membership model.   The issue of sole membership and the seminary has become a touchy one.   The seminary is the last entity (other than the SBC Executive Committee) to adopt the model, which is designed to tie agencies securely to the national denomination by making the convention the sole owner.   Seminary leaders have agreed to take steps to tie the entity to the convention. However, they have raised questions about the sole membership model. Essentially, they express fears that it could violate historic Baptist polity by opening the possibility of centralized control and that it will not work under unique Louisiana law.   Southern Baptist … [Read more...]

It appears that ministers of all types, who are good people, are being sacrificed at the altar of trendiness and convenience. It appears that ministers of all types, who are good people, are being sacrificed at the altar of trendiness and convenience. They are not accused of wrongdoing or impropriety - they were victims of "a different direction" syndrome.   How sad.   When this occurs, I would hope that congregants would make certain their churches do the right thing in seeing that these ministers are treated fairly.   Benjamin Harlan, Professor Southwestern Seminary Fort Worth, Texas … [Read more...]

Note: Just prior to the start of last month’s Southern Baptist Convention, some 600 persons gathered for a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the conservative resurgency. The following two articles relate to that anniversary. Note: Just prior to the start of last month’s Southern Baptist Convention, some 600 persons gathered for a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the conservative resurgency. The following two articles relate to that anniversary.   Twenty-five years ago this summer, some 15,000 Southern Baptists gathered in Houston for their annual meeting.   That 1979 convention featured a special mission emphasis (Bold Mission Thrust) as well as a sermon by evangelist Billy Graham. However, today, the meeting is best remembered for one thing - the beginning of the conservative resurgence.   Messengers elected then-47-year-old Adrian Rogers with 51 percent of the vote on the first ballot, marking the first of a long string of conservative victories and signaling the denomination’s shift to the right.   But it did not happen overnight.   From 1979 to 1990, conservatives and moderates struggled for control of the denomination, nominating opposing … [Read more...]

Southern Baptist women were challenged recently to spend the next two years focusing on - and helping - the poor. Southern Baptist women were challenged recently to spend the next two years focusing on - and helping - the poor.   Southern Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union leaders unveiled the organization’s new "Project HELP: Poverty" during their recent annual meeting in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis.   The goal of the effort is to connect churches to people’s needs, organizers said.   Through Project HELP, Woman’s Missionary Union identifies a social and moral issue and then ties in national projects to address it through the course of two years.   "How much do you love Jesus?" Kentucky WMU President Cathy Chinn asked women at the recent annual meeting. "Because the amount of love you have for him determines how much you love others."   Project HELP: Poverty will use the recently published book "Breaking the Cycle: Issues Affecting Poverty" by Cathy Butler as its primary resource.   Through the effort, WMU leaders will encourage churches to adopt local, national and international action plans during the next year, … [Read more...]

For the week of July 15, 2004 Cooperative Program   Gifts through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program totaled $13.1 million last month, a decrease of $1.9 million (12.7 percent) from the previous June. Nine months into the convention’s fiscal year, gifts total $142.8 million, an increase of almost $3.8 million (2.7 percent) from the same time last year. The total also stands $6 million (4.4 percent) ahead of budget at this time. Meanwhile, designated gifts total $19.1 million last month, a decrease of $734,102 (3.7 percent). Overall, designated gifts total almost $171.7 million, an increase of $22.2 million (14.9 percent) from the same time last year.   New Orleans Seminary   The executive committee of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees approved two missions initiatives and a doctoral specialization in a recent meeting. Trustees voted to support missionary training by approving a tuition discount for returning Journeyman and International Service Corp missionaries. The discount is designed to help returning workers to prepare for additional missionary service. Trustees also approved a new 25-hour graduate certificate in missions. The certificate is designed … [Read more...]

A step back in time: In June, East Bayou Baptist Church brought members and area residents back in time - all the way to the first-century world of Capernaum that Jesus knew so well A step back in time: In June, East Bayou Baptist Church brought members and area residents back in time - all the way to the first-century world of Capernaum that Jesus knew so well   The small boy approached the robed man wandering through the Jewish marketplace with a purpose - and a question - in mind.   "Are you the Jesus from heaven?" he asked the man.   The man replied that he was.   The small boy leaned in with his primary question then - "Did you see my granddaddy in heaven?"   No, the man was not really Jesus - and the encounter between the two did not take place in a real first-century Jewish marketplace.   But for hundreds of Lafayette residents, what was presented at East Bayou Baptist Church on four June nights was as real as it could get - a detailed depiction of first-century Capernaum, complete with a full-scale marketplace where Jesus himself walked.   Held in a multi-purpose facility, East Bayou members erected an elaborate set of shops and … [Read more...]