2000 April

fellowship!

Newsletter of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Vol. 10, No. 3

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CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal Editor David Wilkinson

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Managing Editor Phyllis Thompson

Changing Kids Lives Forever

Assistant Editor Rachel Gill

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Kosovo Volunteers European Baptists and 10 Tell Stories of the New Millennium Horror Stockholm Accords: Stop 21st Century Genocide

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CBF Mission To network, empower, and mobilize Baptist Christians and churches for effective missions and ministry in the name of Christ.

CBF Launches Web Site Armed with New Capabilities

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Phone 770.220.1600 Fax 770.220.1685 ●

E-Mail fellowship@cbfnet.org

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fe l l ow s h i p ! is published 10 times a year

by The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Inc., 3001 Mercer University Dr. Atlanta, GA 30341-4115.

Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, GA, and additional mailing offices.

USPS #015-625 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to “fellowship!” Newsletter, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, P.O. Box 450329, Atlanta, GA 31145-0329.

Assuming, of course, you’re among the 60 to 70 million Americans who browse the World Wide Web via the Internet.

A new edition of the Fellowship’s web site, www.cbfonline.org, was

launched in March, offering an expanded array of features, including new colors, new links and expanded content.

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Web Site www.cbfonline.org

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he World of CBF is now only a click away.

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www.cbfonline new edition of the Fellowship’s web site, www.cbfonline.org, was launched in March offering an expanded array of features, including: a new design with bolder colors and more legible type fonts. expanded content generated by an integrated database. a retooled site structure designed to be more interactive, straightforward and user-friendly. four new site tools: a search engine, shopping cart, sign-up membership form and a CBF email link, each accessible from any page. an improved online store with descriptions of CBF resources and a secure process for credit card transactions. e-mail subscription services accessible from the home page, including a “Fellowship Friday” email newsletter and “Prayer Associates,” an intercessory prayer community that focuses on CBF missionaries and the people among whom they live and minister.

“Fellowship Forum,” with “Viewpoint” commentaries about current issues in Baptist life, regular contributions by Coordinator Daniel Vestal and a weekly “By George” column by (continued, top, page 3)

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(continued from page 1) CBF’s web site currently attracts 1,600 to 1,700 persons or “unique users” a week, a figure CBF leaders hope will improve dramatically with the new features.

The web site, says CBF Communications Coordinator David Wilkinson, is “an integral part of our goal of engaging Baptist Christians and churches in the life of the Fellowship through multi-faceted and integrated communications and marketing initiatives.”

“We want ‘CBFonline’ to be a convenient connection to the resources and relationships Baptist Christians and churches need to fulfill the mission God has given them,” he says. “Our vision is to become the preferred online resource for mainstream Baptists in America. And we’re trying to accomplish that with a strategic, ‘leanand-mean’ approach that optimizes our limited personnel resources.”

“In the online world, content is king,” adds Wilkinson. “The Fellowship’s web site will provide users with content that is succinct, current and relevant.” f !

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On the Cover — The new home page is bolder, easier to read and use. It can be reached by a mere click of a mouse from any page on the site.

W E B W O R L D : CBF’s new web site organizes hundreds of pages of content into six major areas: Community, Classroom, Forum, Missions, Newsstand and Resources. New site tools on every page throughout the site also enable users to send an email message to CBF offices, preview and order resources in the CBF e-Store, or sign up to be a part of the Fellowship movement. The site was developed by a four-member team — web development specialist David Young, a former CBF Global Service Corps missionary, of Birmingham-based CrossCultural Communications; web designer Elizabeth Lawler of Iris Interactive in Louisville, Ky.; Alin Pop-Vicas, CBF’s information systems administrator; and David Wilkinson, CBF communications and marketing coordinator. CBF Associate Communications Coordinator Phyllis Thompson will team with Wilkinson to plan and edit content for the site.

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Pastor Journeys Through Web to Find Fellowship Home hilip Hester was a good shepherd seeking a place for supporting and asked him to become pastor,“It was an his flock when he found the CBF web site. “It repreeasy decision,” he says.“I was called by God to preach.” sented everything we had become,” the San Diego, Calif., The question then became, how could he lead his conpastor says of his introduction to the Fellowship. gregation of former Presbyterians, Methodists, EpiscoHester had been owner and CEO palians, and nearly every other denomination, into a larger of a multi-million dollar marketing group that would reflect what they firm in Houston, before resigning to truly believed? become a student at Southwestern That’s when he turned to the Seminary. While there, he worked World Wide Web. After studying as director of communications and information about the Fellowship at produced award-winning publicawww.cbfonline.org, he contacted Nettions for other religious groups in working Coordinator Bill Bruster to the area. learn more. A few months later, Then an unexpected offer came North Star Community Church from Southern California. The San became the first CBF congregation Diego Southern Baptist Association in Southern California. ■ asked him to sign a year’s contract — by Phyllis Thompson, to start churches. Using his backmanaging editor; photo by David ground in marketing, Hester develWilkinson oped a strategic approach that T H E W E B L I N K : Pastor Phillip worked. He started 13 churches.

Hester made connections with CBF When one of them, North Star after finding its home page on the Community Church, became selfWorld Wide Web.

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CBF Web Statistics Hits site-wide per week

8,655

Average hits per day

1,236

Page accesses per week

8,015

Average page accesses per day

1,149

Unique users per week

1,643

Length of average session

12 minutes

Most active time of day

3:00–4:00 p.m. EST

NOTES: Figures are averages for a four-week period in January/February. Statistics exclude “administrative” users, such as site administrators and CBF staff, who log on frequently.

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Dallas pastor George Mason. a newsstand area with current news and information about CBF life. an online version of fellowship! newsletter. “quick links” from the home page to CBF partner organizations such as seminaries and theology schools, Baptist news publications and providers of church resources. expanded archives with indexes to previous articles and commentaries. ■

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Most Popular Pages ost-requested pages during the month of February, excluding the home page:

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1 ChurchLink. More than 150 churches have listed their web sites in this directory.

2 PartnerLink. Links to CBF’s ministry partners, including a dozen seminaries and theology schools.

3 Unreached Peoples.

Profiles of 19 ethnolinguistic people groups among whom CBF missionaries live and minister.

4 What’s New. Eliminated on the new site, since new content is automatically displayed on the home page. ■

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Meet PASSPORT in Orlando ASSPORT, a CBF partner organization, is a national Christian youth camping program with an emphasis on missions. Its goals: provide youth with fresh encounters with Christ build self-esteem in youth build community present the whole gospel have fun!

PASSPORT’s annual youth convention will be held jointly at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, and the Walt Disney World resort in Kissimmee, Fla. Convention events include worship, parties and break-out sessions.The Disney day offers a morning study about religious freedom and an afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. Evening worship will be followed

by Disney fireworks.

Cost per person: $135.00. Parents can attend the CBF General Assembly while youth attend the PASSPORT Convention.

For information: Passport, Inc. 1752 Frankfort Ave. Louisville, KY 40206 www.passportcamps.org or admin@passport camps.org. Relay, a quarterly newsletter for youth ministers, is a publication of Passport, Inc. relay@passportcamps.org

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Changing Kids’ Lives Forever ual providing Bible study, worship aids and training in how be open and sensitive to people different from themselves. Leaders are also required to make on site-visits before training youth.

Reeder believes this was a vital part of her group’s experience. Some teens were not ready for such intense work or demands on their time. “We lost some along the way,” she says, “but it was worth it. Those who stayed really wanted to go.”

Mitchell’s second goal is to provide good missions sites. Developing a fulfilling schedule that keeps youth busy is paramount, he says.

The Harrells are experienced missions group facilitators in Kenya and East Africa. “We are under no illusions,” says Sam Harrell. “The greater impact is on those doing the visiting. We are thrilled to see North American kids change their perspectives after rubbing shoulders with African counterparts. Our hope is that those who visit and interact here are forever changed by what they have seen, done and learned.” f !

— by Rachel Gill, assistant editor

N N A I R O B I , K E N YA , T E E N A G E R S from North Carolina exchanged ideas with English-speaking African teens. From elders, they learned about the intricacies and values of another culture. From orphan children in the slums, they learned about suffering.

Their experience came through Missions Exchange (MX), a youth missions program jointly sponsored by CBF and Passport, Inc., a Christian youth camping program based in Louisville, Ky. In Nairobi, CBF missionaries Sam and Melody Harrell hosted 13 teenagers and five adults from Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, Fayetteville, N.C. “It was the best missions experience we’ve ever had,” says youth minister Susie Reeder. “It trained our teenagers to be missions-minded for the rest of their lives.”

It’s this kind of life-centering experience that new MX Director John Mitchell would like all teenagers to have. At MX, Mitchell’s first goal is to provide good training. Youth leaders study a man-

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PASSPORT: Hands-On Missions

ASSPORT, INC., IS A SUMMER camp ministry for teens founded in 1993 by David and Coleen Burroughs with a start-up grant from CBF of Florida.

Since that time, it has evolved into an exciting, ecumenical camp experience where youth come to grow spiritually and have fun.

At PASSPORT, campers spend afternoons doing hands-on missions projects. Colleen Burroughs’ parents were missionaries in Africa. “My mother took me with her to visit the poor and needy, people who were not like me,” she says. “I didn’t always like it. But I got the point. Our kids get it, too. At the beginning of the week, some of them don’t want to work on missions projects. But by the end of the week, they don’t want to go home.”

“Youth Camping with a Mission,” PASSPORT’s theme, has guided the organization into its eighth year. In 1993, there were 165 campers. In 2000, campers will number more than 4,000. Most

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camps are held on college campuses from North Carolina to Florida to Colorado.

At camp, youth learn that worship involves everything from foot washing to liturgy. Leaders guide campers beyond introspection to serving Christ in the world. Women serve as camp pastors every other year, teaching youth that God’s call to ministry is not limited by gender.

The Burroughs founded PASSPORT because of their deep commitment to CBF. More than 80 percent of youth come from CBF churches.

Campers’ offerings go to CBF missions projects.

In 1998, $12,000 went to Jordan to buy milk for Bedouin people. In 1999, more than $24,000 went to CBF Albanian refugee relief, the average gift more than $7.00 per camper.

“For teenagers, that’s a lot of money,” says Grace Powell Freeman, CBF associate coordinator for mission operations. “I think that pretty well speaks for itself.” f !

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MX: Missions on the Move issions Exchange is the result of a partnership formed to meet a need expressed in a 1995 article in CBF’s newsletter for CBF youth volunteer opportunities.

As founders and directors of PASSPORT, Inc., Colleen and David Burroughs helped give focus and structure to the request.With PASSPORT’s emphasis on “Youth Camping with a Mission,” missions projects had always been integral.

After discussions about direction and possibilities with the CBF global missions leaders, the Burroughs developed Youth Mission Exchange (YMX) and began enlisting and training volunteers and finding missions sites.

Recently, YMX shortened its name to Missions Exchange, or MX. But its goals remain the same: Connect well-trained, context-educated groups to ministry sites.

Meet needs of CBF missionaries and others requesting volunteers.

Facilitate an exchange of youth groups doing missions.

In the summer of 1996, Youth Missions Exchange sent 15 volunteer groups to do inner-city ministries in the U.S. In 1999, 45 churches took 1,241 volunteers to 14 sites, including one in Nairobi, Kenya.

For summer 2000, MX Director John Mitchell has 13 sites confirmed with a goal of 1,200 volunteers.

He is also considering using volunteer groups next fall. ■

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C LO C KW I S E F R O M T O P : In Nairobi, students held recreation times for street kids. At the Charlotte, NC, airport, the group was eager to begin their journey.

Colleen and David Burroughs have been involved in CBF missions since the movement began and both were part of the Young Leaders Retreat recently held in Atlanta. With Nairobi street children youth found that holding and touching met a great need for kids who often have no one to love them. Nairobi photos by Susie Reeder. PASSPORT photos by Phyllis Thompson.

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A Missionary’s Prayer Request hen Baptists in the United States pray, I would like for them to think about the Lampungese children.

We recognize the elementary school children here because of their uniforms—red skirts or shorts and white tops.

One day we were leaving town around 6:15 a.m. and saw the children on their way to school. About half of them were carrying machetes—girls and boys alike. I thought maybe they were going to cut the grass or hack down a shack in back of the school.

Still, I was amazed that small children were being allowed to carry these very sharp implements. As we looked closer, we realized they were miniature machetes, custom-made for children.

I asked an Indonesian friend about it. “Oh, those are all Lampungese children,” she said. “They have learned from their fathers to carry a machete so people know: ‘don’t mess with me.’”

Please pray for them.

And pray that we will find a way to get a foot in the door of a school, a neighborhood, a village, so that these children will hear that the love of God is more powerful than revenge. ■

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— by a missionary to the Lampungese

The Lampungese: A Left-Behind People

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he has had opportunities to talk about his faith, OR THOSE CALLED TO SHARE he has yet to see one Lampungese come to faith their faith in Christ, Indonesia’s Lampung in Christ.

Province is not an easy place to be. There CBF missionaries are careful to protect their is no church of Lampungese believers, no identities and details about their missions efforts Bible in the Lampungese language, and until 1995, no mission organizations with full-time missionaries specifically focusing on the Lampung people.

Because the province is strongly entrenched in Muslim culture, both its people and government are hostile to any Christian evangelism.

The Lampungese, with a population of more than two F I S H I N G : Lampungese fishermen admire the day’s catch. Fishing and farming are the mainstays of their daily lives. million, are one of the largest of because of the persecution of new believers. One the 22 “unreached people groups” among whom Christian, traveling with his family, was surroundCBF missionaries live and minister. Missionaries ed by Muslim youth. The family escaped but the have identified only a handful of Lampungese car was set on fire.

Christians. Those few are outcasts.

Lampung Province is located on the southern “A Lampungese tip of Sumatra, one of the largest of many islands who becomes a that make up Indonesia. Bound together by culChristian is rejectture and religion, the Lampungese work primarily ed by both family as fishermen and farmers. Once a strong majority, and community they are now a cultural minority through an infuand is no longer sion of immigrants from overpopulated Java. Lagconsidered to be ging behind their new neighbors in education Lampungese,” says and technology and desperately afraid of losing a CBF missionary, both language and culture, they call themselves a who has worked “left-behind people.”

F R O M I N N O C E N C E T O R E A L I T Y: with the people Fiercely protective of their cultural identity, four years. While Lampungese children learn quickly to defend themselves.

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Narrative Works in Cloth

A People Divided

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he Lampungese are a diverse people group with several sub-groupings and a number of different dialects.The official motto of Lampung province is “One Earth,Two Cultures/Customs.” This refers to the two cultural divisions of the Lampungese: the Pepadun or “ritual throne” group and the Non-Pepadun or “non-ritual throne” group.

Their historical use of a ritual throne and also a modern use of the throne in weddings and other ceremonies designate these groups.

The Lampungese can also be divided geographically.The Abung are mountain people with a history of head hunting and raiding.

The Pubian and Peminggir are both lowland groups whose livelihood is fishing and shipping agricultural goods.

Their province is in a strategic area, linking Sumatra with the economically booming island of Java.

the Lampungese are not only wary of outsiders, but also often react violently to their advances. “We want them to know we’re not here to make them do anything,” says a CBF missionary. “We try to focus on individuals, while at the same time developing tools of ministry and projects to which individuals will be open.

“We have to earn a hearing from these people,” he continues.

“We must listen to problems and help them discover solutions.” A godly Christian lifestyle, he believes, often speaks as loudly as words and is more readily accepted by Lampungese. When people meet an accepting, loving and forgiving Christian, they are curious.

Although the Lampungese consider themselves Muslim, many of their daily customs duplicate animism—a belief in spirits. For instance, when one child became ill, the father took him to the local witch doctor. When a missionary brought medicine to cure the illness, the man was amazed that a foreigner would be so kind.

But in Indonesia’s current climate of fear of and intimidation of Christians, missionaries must always be careful of saying too much.

Underscoring that judgment is the recent burning of a Javanese evangelical church. “The pastor had shared the gospel at a local campground,” says a CBF missionary. “The next day the government showed up asking questions. Soon after, a truck full of people came to town only long enough to burn the church and cut down all the trees. Before leaving, they scratched a stark message on the remaining wall of the church building: ‘You are brave if you return.’

“Our churches at home need to know that we cannot be traditional evangelists here,” she says. “Our work has to be one-on-one, and it requires a good bit of creative thinking.” CBF missionaries nevertheless “believe people are being called to faith in Jesus,” one assures. “Our job is to be patient and discover how God can use us to help that come to pass.” f ! — By Rachel Gill, assistant editor

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Fried Bananas & Coconut

with coconut and serve while hot.

If you want to add a special touch, top with a scoop of ice cream, drizzle with chocolate sauce, and sprinkle coconut on top.

4 firm bananas 1 1/2 tbsp. flour 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup shredded coconut 2 tbsp. sugar 2 tbsp. butter, melted

Serves 4 To order Breaking Bread in a World Without Borders, a free global missions cookbook with recipes representing unreached people groups, call (888) 801-4CBF (4223) or visit the CBF e-Store at www.cbfonline.org.

Peel bananas, cut into halves lengthwise.

Combine flour, sugar and eggs; coat the bananas.

Saute for five minutes on both sides in melted butter. Sprinkle

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oven ship cloths have been used in the past to confirm ties between families. A certain type of ship cloth, called tapis, is also significant during rituals, life crisis ceremonies and marriages.These magnificent narrative works express the life and the world unique to the Lampungese, with motifs of ships, shrines, human and animal figures.

Related resources: Read online profiles on 19 unreached people groups among whom CBF missionaries live and minister. Go to “Unevangelized Peoples” in the Missions area at www.cbfonline.org.

Order “Reaching the Unreached: The Lampungese People.” Call (888) 801-4CBF (4223) or order online at the CBF e-Store at www.cbfonline.org.

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A People Entrenched in Islam lthough they are staunch Muslims, however, the Lampungese maintain some pre-Islamic beliefs in spirits and ghosts.

Islam is the official religion, but it is sometimes a mask for old and new forms of folk religion.

Although their language is not frequently heard outside of conversations between Lampungese, it is estimated that well over half of all Lampungese still speak their native language.

The Lampungese have no Bible in their language, but many can read the Indonesian Bible. ■

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20th Century Genocides he 20th Century was the bloodiest in history with an estimated 170 million murdered by their own governments including: 1.5 million Armenians murdered in Ottoman Turkey 3 million Ukrainians starved to death 25 to 62 million Soviets killed by leader Joseph Stalin 6 million Jews and 6 million Gypsies and Slavs killed under Hitler’s regime 25 million Chinese killed during China’s “Great Leap Forward” purge 1 million Nigerians killed in civil war 1.5 million Bengalis killed by East Pakistan 2.5 million, mostly Mayan Indians, killed in Guatemala 1.7 million Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia’s “killing fields” 800,000 Rwandans killed in war 10,000 ethnic Albanian Kosovars killed by Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic and his forces 2 million killed in Sudan by fundamentalist Muslim forces 1.6 million North Koreans killed by current government forces Source: Greg Stanton, director of the Washington-based Campaign to End Genocide. Stanton will lead a breakout session on genocide during the CBF General Assembly in Orlando. ■

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Conference Explores Ways To Stop Horrors of Genocide hand accounts of atrocities and worldwide statistics of genocide, “we wanted to take a positive approach,” said Bryant. “Ethnic cleansing is manmade and we can end it.”

Chosen to draft the accords were Washington State Supreme Court Justice and grandson of slaves, Charles Smith, and John Jonnson, a Baylor University professor originally from South Africa.

“Some may think we’re foolish to say we can solve this problem,” said Derek Davis, director of the Dawson Institute. “But I think we’re cowards if we don’t do something.”

O E O Z AWA T O L D H O W H I S sister died in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. Martin Selak described how 35 members of his family died in the Holocaust while he was rescued just before his own execution.

These were but two first-hand accounts of genocide that participants of “Reverence and Reconciliation: A Healing Response to Ethnic Cleansing” heard during a three-day meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. The purpose of the event was to address current issues of ethnic cleansing and find ways to end them. It involved 44 participants of all religions and races from 14 nations. Representing CBF were missionaries Arville Earl and Lonnie and Fran Turner and administrative staff member Ben Bryant.

Among actions proposed were a second meeting this summer and production of a document on ethnic cleansing and reconciliation called the “Stockholm Accords,” which will be signed in mid-August.

Roots for the meeting, sponsored by Baylor University’s J.M. Dawson Institute for ChurchState Studies, Global Strategies—an international organization working for personal and civil liberties—and The Church of Sweden, actually began when Doug Tipps, pastor of First Baptist Church of San Marcos, Texas, became concerned about ethnic cleansing while on a mission trip to Romania five years ago. There, he walked down a street where Christian students had been killed

by Ceausescu’s forces. “I just stood looking at pictures of students others had placed there as a memorial and I wept,” he said. “I became involved.” Tipps, now president of Global Strategies, coordinated the conference.

While much of the conference dealt with first-

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W E S H A L L O V E R C O M E : During closing services, participants joined hands to sing the spiritual that unites the oppressed worldwide.

The Stockholm Accords will be the first document of its kind in the 21st century, said Tipps.

Hopes are that after conference participants sign the documents, governments and individuals from around the world will follow. The document will be also be posted on the World Wide Web. But conference organizers admit the accords will be meaningless unless signers are committed to abiding by them. Turner, who works with the diplomatic community in Washington, D.C., noted that 80–90 percent of the conventional weapons used around the world are provided by the big five nations who sit on the United Nations Security Council. “It’s one thing to sign documents and another to uphold them,” he said. f !

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European Baptists and the New Millennium: ‘ Who are we?’

Worship and European Baptists articipants discussed Baptist worship at length, drawing criteria from the New Testament and exploring differences across Europe. All expressed a desire to find their own types of worship instead of adopting, without guidance and prayer, the practices brought to their countries by western missionaries.

“We certainly did not set out to produce a standard pattern of Baptist worship across Europe,” said Jones, “but rather to take further a dialogue about authentic worship formed on biblical models.” ■

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Participants discussed the influence of culture, UROPEAN BAPTISTS ARE FACING the role of cross-cultural missions, ethics and the new millennium with the same queslifestyles, worship practices and organizations of tion many Baptists in the United States unions and churches. are asking: Who are we?

IBTS Rector Keith During the InternaJones noted that some of tional Baptist Theologithe issues discussed cal Seminary (IBTS) have, in the past, caused meeting held earlier this disagreement among year in Prague, Czech Baptist groups. Others Republic, European Baphave become less distist Union Presidents, tinct over time; others pastors and leaders from have been challenged by 16 countries and 40 theinsights from the wider ological schools gathered Christian community to ponder who they are and some are being and where they are headundermined by national ed. Owned by European and cultural customs.

Baptists, IBTS is one of “In some places Baptists CBF’s partner schools. no longer want to lay The weeklong conferclaim to a distinct ence was one in a series identity,” he said, “but for the year 2000, all of are content to be subwhich will concentrate merged in a wider on strategic issues facing evangelicalism.” f !

European Baptists. The A R E T I R E M E N T S U R P R I S E : John David and next meeting, to be held JoAnn Hopper were recently honored upon their at IBTS in May, will R U S S I A N B A P T I S T S : Petr Konovalchik and retirement as missionaries at the International Pavel Belkov traveled from Moscow to particifocus on missions and Baptist Seminary.They were two of the first mispate in the IBTS conference.

—IBTS photo sionaries CBF appointed. Photo by Phyllis Thompson evangelism.

Conference Results — articipants listed key themes that will help them develop a contemporary restatement of Baptist identity: • Baptist churches draw their life and witness from Scripture under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

• A Baptist church is a local gathering of born-again believers.

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• Baptist churches should all have a radical missionary character.

• The whole congregation has a responsibility to discern the will of God as the whole people of God. • Believer’s baptism should lead to membership in the local church and to resolute discipleship.

• Baptist churches engage in interdependency and

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cooperation.

• Baptist churches discern gifts of leadership and set people apart for those tasks in communities where all are engaged in ministry.

• Biblical believer’s baptism should not be repeated. The marks of believer’s baptism are that it is in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and is by immersion within the context of the church. ■

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Participating Countries lbania, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Holland, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine and the United States. ■

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Albanian Relief Funds BF has received $650,000 in gifts from churches and individuals for Kosovo relief. The money has been used by the CBF Albanian missionary team to feed, clothe, house and otherwise assist thousands of Albanian refugees. ■

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Kosovo: Volunteers Honored; Tell Stories of Horror

Each day, the Banners prepared 70-pound boxes containing a two-weeks’ supply of canned beef, rice, flour, sugar, dried beans, cooking oil, pasta, vitamins, powdered milk and cookies.

As volunteers took food to families and restored houses in burned-out villages, the question refugees asked most often was if volunteers were afraid. Ernie Banner’s reaction was a resounding no. “We weren’t in Pristina very long,” he said, “before we had the shield of God and the shield of the community around us. Many told us the enemy would have to get through them before they could get to us.”

A spirit of love, not fear, pervaded work. While distributing food, a team from Virginia visited a village where refugees were living in tents and cooking over open fires in a cold downpour. With hugs and tears, a CBF volunteer handed her umbrel- K O S O V O : Because the military prese office sought volunteers who would no la to a refugee woman. To another, she gave her rain slicker. To a woman wearing flip-flops, she gave her shoes. Then with her husband’s permission, she took his shoes to a man in worn house shoes.

In Atlanta, volunteers agreed that it was enough to listen and to cry with refugees, even when they could not understand their words. f !

— by Rachel Gill, assistant editor

E A R S O F S O R R O W, G R AT I T U D E and love flowed freely as Kosovo volunteers told their stories during a debriefing held recently by CBF’s Global Missions Office.

The couples were clearly an answer to prayer, said CBF missionary Don McNeely who coordinated the effort. Because Kosovo was overrun by military, it was imperative to find workers who Thank You, From would not be intimidated by their presence. In less than a week after CBF asked for help, Tony a Friend in Kosovo and Ricki Buesing, Carter and Pauline Tucker or my dear friends, and Ernie and Sue Banner, all retired from miliErnie and Sue [Banner], tary careers, volunteered. At a luncheon held in The time has come, you appreciation of their work, each couple was to leave us and to return given a plaque expressing CBF’s appreciation and in your land, to be with a copy of journalist Tom Brokaw’s book, The your family. I know maybe Greatest Generation Speaks. it was not like at you have The Banners worked with volunteers in a in your country but what warehouse, packaging items for distribution and it is so important you with your hands, with hearts, delivering food to villages. In Gjakova, the Tuckwith loves and everything, ers coordinated carpenters working to winterize worked to Albanian people homes through a CBF partnership with Samarinot to feel so hard the life tan’s Purse, a humanitarian organization founded after the war. Ernie and

by Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. From Sue, I don’t have words Skopje, Macedonia, the Buesings met 68 incomhow to show you how ing volunteers, shepherded them through milimuch I respect and love tary red tape and drove them over long and danyou and also I will miss gerous roads to feed, clothe and house refugees. you. I am happy when I see The returning refugees were mystified by you, you love made me to what the Serbians had done think different to them, but even more mysfor life. It will be hard for me to tified by the volunteers. “I say to you goodtold them we had come bye and my because God loves us and heart will cry. I you,” said Tony Buesing. will remember Their response was often, ‘I’ll you with loves, have to think about this God uncle Ernie and of love.’” aunty Sue. ■ — C LO C KW I S E F R O M T O P In Gjakova, once a city of an unedited L E F T: Ernie Banner, Ricki 70,000 residents, 6,000 peoletter from a Buesing, CBF missionaries ple were murdered, another young Albanian Helen and Don McNeely,Tony 1,500 young men were woman Buesing, Carter and Pauline either killed or imprisoned.

Tucker and Sue Banner following a CBF luncheon in their Yet people were friendly and honor. Photo by Terry Walton open.

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Reflections on Daily Life Excerpts from the journal of Ricki Buesing, who with her husband, Tony, was a volunteer coordinator in Kosovo.

Dear Family and Friends,

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am sending you my journal entries so you will know what we are doing. Please take this offering, understanding it isn’t edited for grammar, spelling or purity of heart. These are difficult days.

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ehicles and soldiers are everywhere. The roads are checker-boarded with holes where mine removal teams have made the roads safe again. Ali, our driver, says the farmers, if they have any left, set their animals loose in the fields. A very primitive detonation device. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a farm animal in the past five hours.

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efore they burned the houses, they killed two women. A third woman, pregnant, had her baby carved from her belly. Now a family lives in the stench of burned-out buildings — 13 in one sooty room. The children look sweet, friendly and pale. I suspect they are anemic. If only we had vitamins.

In this place we are loved because we are Americans. In this place they were despised and murdered because they are Albanians.

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can’t sleep tonight. I am pondering prejudice.

All the misery we see here came from it. When and how does prejudice first show its ugly face? I think of Sandburg’s poem: the fog creeps in on little cat feet. Surely prejudice creeps in on little cat feet; subtly, silently filling a heart until there is zero visibility and all one can see is hate.

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ence in Kosovo is so prevalent, the Fellowship’s global missions ot be intimidated by weapons and soldiers.

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tatistics show 67,000 homes are unlivable.

Right now it’s warm. In six weeks, Kosovo’s vicious winter will set in. So, if there are no crops, no jobs, no money, and the houses aren’t winterized, what’s next?

We’ve heard so much about revenge killings.

These people have no strength or means for such activity. They think of their dead, their hungry children and what the uncertain future must hold.

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Thank You, From Samaritan’s Purse ’m writing to let you know what a blessing your volunteers are to the people of Gjakova, Kosovo, and what a blessing the help of CBF is to the work of Samaritan’s Purse.

Your volunteers have stepped into the villages where the people of Kosovo are working, rolled up their sleeves, and are standing shoulder to shoulder with them.This provided one of the most effective witnesses of Jesus’ love that I have seen.While putting roofs on houses and preparing shelter for people through the winter, they have shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed.The CBF volunteers are tremendous laborers in the field, and have truly impacted the lives of perhaps thousands of people.

While we all like to see immediate fruit come to harvest, we never know how God will use the seeds we sow.

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Ken Isaacs

stood, today, in a place of burned out despair Director of Projects and hopelessness. The odor still lingers in my Samaritan’s Purse nose and on my clothes.

Where was God during all this? How will the message of a God who loves them fall on the ears of these hearts filled with such sorrow?

God is not too late.

Today I saw Shelia and Arville Earl (CBF missionaries to the Albanians) hold- O N T H E F I E L D : Tony and Ricki ing and listening and help- Buesing shepherded volunteers ing. There it is. It is this through military red tape, helping them feed, clothe and house love, unconditional, that refugees. will win them in time.

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Atlanta Team Supports CBF im Strawn is one of 39 full- and part-time employees who comprise CBF’s leadership and support team.

Since December 1996, the Fellowship has leased office space on the second floor of the McAfee School of Theology building on Mercer University’s Atlanta campus.

A staff directory is included in the “About CBF” area at www.cbfonline.org. ■

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Former Radio Mogul Joins CBF Team

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I M S T R AW N D O E S N ’ T need to work at CBF. Not for money, at least.

His quiet, unassuming manner belies the fact that after owning and selling two successful radio companies, he retired at age 57 and could have lived a leisurely life doing whatever he wanted. Instead, he now serves as associate coordi-

His discomfort with retirement caused Strawn to reevaluate what he wanted from life.

“I’m a financial person,” he explains. “That’s my expertise.

So it’s easy to get misplaced values. My goal had always been the bottom line — to make money. I did that. And I associated what I did with who I was.”

D O L L H O U S E : Jim Strawn spent as much time making a dollhouse for his three-year-old granddaughter, Leah, “as most people do building a house,” he says.

nator for mission finance.

After retirement, “I quickly found out it was nice to have someplace to go,” he says, then smiles shyly, “other than the Old Hickory House to meet the guys for breakfast.”

But when Strawn sought a new career, he learned lessons in humility. “You talk about God giving signs,” he says, “but you don’t think about those signs as being closed doors. I was having doors closed.”

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So Strawn decided to look for a new career—but with a different bottom line. He took computer classes “to keep my mind alert.” He talked to friends, including CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal, who had ordained Strawn as a deacon.

“We have plenty to do over here [at CBF],” Vestal told Strawn.

Soon, Strawn had agreed to work at CBF in a support position. There was no glitz, not even an office. But as the former radio mogul sat in his cubicle, “I felt I could use what skills I had to really help.”

When Global Missions Cocoordinator Gary Baldridge approached him a few months later about becoming associate coordinator for mission finance, Strawn was completely taken aback: “It was totally out of the blue, but the more he talked, the more it just felt right.”

Strawn succeeds John Deal, who is taking sabbatical and will retire next year.

In his new role, he will manage missionary budgets, among other responsibilities.

“The thing I most look forward to is helping the missionaries,” Strawn says. “I just hope I can cause the people on the field not to focus on mundane things, or money worries, so they can do what they were called to do.

“It feels good to be part of something that’s really making a difference.” f !

— by Phyllis Thompson, managing editor

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U R I N G W H AT C B F Global Missions Co-coordinator Gary Baldridge said “may be the most important meeting for the future of the CBF movement,” the first-ever CBF Young Leaders’ Retreat, a group of more than 100 persons under age 40, gathered in suburban Atlanta to discuss their roles in the Fellowship’s future.

Participants voiced concerns about CBF with an emphasis on two issues: lack of diversity among CBF supporters and fear of CBF becoming a retooled version of the old Southern Baptist Convention.

Another concern was that many CBF leaders have been so hurt by two decades of SBC conflict that their wounds may have stifled the organization’s growth. Said one participant, “we don’t want our bitter roots to produce bitter fruit.”

However, most participants seemed to emerge from the retreat feeling positive about their role in CBF’s future. They also reached consensus on five initiatives their group wants to implement in CBF life: • Push the Fellowship as an organization to be more inclusive on all levels.

• Encourage greater involvement by younger people at all levels of CBF leadership.

• Ask CBF’s Coordinating

Council and state CBF organizations to improve the under40 representation among elected leadership to at least 25 percent within the next few years.

• Add an under-40 staff member to CBF’s leadership team to work specifically with emerging generations in CBF life.

• Create a Young Leaders’ Network for encouragement, fellowship and coalition-building among younger CBF supporters.

Participants resolved to meet again at the CBF General Assembly, June 30–July 1, in Orlando and to plan another gathering in 2001. f !

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Retreat Steering Committee Members im Baucom, pastor of Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church in Lynchburg,Va. David Burroughs, president of Passport, Inc., in Louisville, Ky. Matt Cook, director of admissions for Baylor’s Truett Seminary Scott Erwin, pastor of Raritan Valley Baptist Church in Edison, N.J. Stacey Simpson, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Edison, Ga. For more information, contact Scott Erwin, steering committee leader, at: RvalleyBC@aol.com. ■

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Truett at a Glance ples, believes the new facility is “a symbol of the fact that the work of training ministers for Christian leadership is HAPPY CROWD OF long-standing. A building isn’t more than 300 witnessed a a seminary but a building can dream become reality, as Baylor say to the world — ‘we’re here University broke ground to stay.’ Hopefully, even when recently on a $17 million, the building is completely fin64,000-square-foot facility for ished, the seminary Truett Seminary. Truett is and its students will one of 11 seminaries and continue to be ‘under theology schools that partconstruction.’ ” ner with CBF. The complex fea“This is a day many of tures a 550-seat chapel, us have imagined, disgreat hall, teaching cussed, dreamed about and chapel, class and meetprayed for,” said Truett ing rooms, and faculty Dean J. Bradley Creed. “But and administrative we’ve now come to the offices. The proposed stage in the life of this chapel spire, towering young seminary where A N E W T R U E T T: An artist’s rendering shows more than 100 feet, having facilities of our own the projected design for the seminary’s new home adds a new dimension is no longer just a dream or at Baylor University.The most prominent feature to the Baylor skyline. f ! a nice idea. It is an of the $17 million building will be its 100-foot absolute necessity.” chapel spire.

Baylor Breaks Ground on Truett Seminary

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Fundraising for the seminary complex began in November 1997 with a $5 million gift from John and Eulah Baugh of Houston. Construction is expected to begin later this year.

CBF’s Gary Parker, who relates to partner schools as coordinator for Baptist princi-

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Location: Waco,TX First convocation service: Aug. 28, 1994, at First Baptist Church, Waco, with 51 students Enrollment today: more than 200 Degrees offered: doctor of ministry, master of divinity, joint master of divinity degrees in music and social work Dean: J. Bradley Creed ■

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Faces and Places Center for Christian Ethics names director obert B. Kruschwitz has been appointed director of Baylor University’s Center for Christian Ethics, effective June 1. He is currently chair of the philosophy department at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky.

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Wiggins Named 20th Century Baptist Leader orman Wiggins, president of Campbell University, was named one of North Carolina’s most influential Baptist figures of the 20th century by the Biblical Recorder, weekly publication of North Carolina Baptists.

Campbell’s divinity school is a CBF partner institution.

Others among the list of 29 honorees included evangelist Billy Graham and R.G. Puckett, former editor of the Recorder. ■

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More on Moran — To read the entire package of stories, link to the Baptist Standard from CBF’s home page at www.cbfonline.org, then go to the Feb. 23 issue in the paper’s archives.

Also: Read Marv Knox’s related “Viewpoint” commentary on page 16.

For a packet containing Daniel Vestal’s “Open Letter to Roger Moran” and a brief video, call (888) 801-4223. ■

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Paper Devotes Series To Moran Campaign

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HO IS ROGER Moran? And why does he keep attacking the Fellowship?

The Texas Baptist Standard decided to explore the accusations and the man behind them after materials from Moran’s Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association began circulating widely in Texas, primarily as part of a campaign to enlist churches for the new Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, established as an alternative to the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

For several years, Moran, a businessman who serves on the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, has published and distributed voluminous “research” accusing Baptist individuals and organizations of liberalism, often by linking them to “hot button” issues such as homosexuality and abortion. Those links, the Standard noted, “generally involve at least two or three degrees of separation, such as a Baptist leader serving on the board of an interfaith agency alongside another non-Baptist board member who supports homosexuality.”

CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal told the Standard that Moran’s guilt-by-association tactics in his assault on leaders of the Fellowship and other Baptists “would be reprehensible even in the world of hardball secular politics.”

“Can you imagine the head-

writes, ‘The SBC has no leaders calling for the ordination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons.’ And then in the right-hand column, he writes, lines if an SBC leader were to ‘But CBF does.’ launch these kinds of vitriolic “The list goes on to include attacks against Methodist 15 accusations of liberal ideoloChristians or Presbyterian gy shunned by the SBC but Christians?” he asked. “I think allegedly embraced by CBF.” there would be a proverbial Last year Vestal publicly stampede as convention leaders called for Moran to stop the tried to distance themselves “relentless and unwarranted from this kind of behavior. Yet attacks.” He also published a the reckless assault by Moran lengthy response to Moran’s and others on the people and charges, including this appeal: churches of the Fellowship con“The repeated insinuation and insult contained in your materials is that the real mission of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is to promote the gay-lesbian lifestyle, abortion on demand and even child pornography. You constantly suggest that CBF has ulterior motives and hidden agendas of all kinds, G U I LT BY A S S O C I AT I O N : Roger Moran has rather than the published and distributed many articles accusing one we boldly Baptist individuals and organizations of liberalism. declare in our CBF has been one of his targets. mission statement. These tactics are mistinues unabated.” guided, harmful and wrong.”

The Standard reported that Vestal admonished Moran one of Moran’s “most notori“to put an end to these attacks, ous” pieces, called “A Look in to publicly apologize for the Contrasts,” attempts to characharm you have done and to terize in broad terms what the seek reconciliation with these SBC “stands for” and what the Christian brothers and Fellowship “stands for”: sisters.” f !

“In the left-hand column he

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Doing Missions

Earthquake Relief for Turkey

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A S T Y E A R ’ S D E VA S tating earthquakes in Turkey left thousands homeless and without basic necessities for living. In response to an appeal for aid, CBF individuals and churches gave $47,000 for earthquake relief.

The goals of the project were to: • Show the love of Christ to the families who survived the earthquakes.

• Purchase and distribute room heaters and gas fuel to 129 families.

• Identify special needs of women and children and mobilize help for them.

Behind the Numbers

• Show the concern of American believers to ordinary citizens.

• Open the hearts of government officials to consider humanitarian aid for the needy.

• To involve CBF in projects which exemplify ideals of corporate business and citizenship.

“We are responsible for our neighbors in need,” the missionary ended. “Strangers from another country showed them love.

Your donations showed them the love of Christ.” f !

English Teachers Needed for China Mission

W E L C O M E R E L I E F: CBF individuals and churches gave $47,000 for earthquake relief in Turkey. Rescue workers unload supplies bought with the funds.

Percentage of growth among evangelical Christianity compared to the world’s population,

3.5

Baptists give more, on average, to the churches they attend than do members of any other Protestant denomination.

Baptist adults donate $28.85 each week, compared with an average weekly contribution of $23.50 for persons of other denominations.The number of church members totals 1.898 billion, compared to 1.3 billion who attend services. Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity is growing fastest; 482 million belong to such movements and 680 million can be described as “Great Commission Christians.”

(Source: Barna Research Group Survey)

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religious group and the only movement growing significantly through conversion.

(Source: U.S. Center for World Mission researchers) billion The number of Islam followers, followed by 786 million Hindus, 362 million Buddhists, 225 million members of tribal religions, and 102 million members of “new religions.”

(Source: U.S. Center for World Mission researchers)

1.215

Figures, Facts & Stats

making it the world’s fastestgrowing religious movement.

The number of evangelicals in the world is 645 million— about 11% of the earth’s population. Christianity is both the fastest-growing major

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hose wishing to proclaim the gospel in China while teaching English to nationals have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity through a special summer program. China Project Volunteer Coordinators Ann and David Wilson are recruiting volunteers for CHINA 2000, which will last from July 3 through August 6.

Through lifestyle witnessing, English teachers have the potential of reaching thousands with the gospel.

The cost of the trip is $2600 ($2400 if the total is paid before April 10) and includes transportation, lodging, meals, airport exit fees, a Chinese visa, medical insurance, and orientation in China.

A deposit of $250 is due

by April 10. For more information and registration, call Marie Moore at 1-800-352-8741. ■

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million The number of Americans that consider themselves “nonreligious;” 151 million say they are atheists.

(Source: American missions statistician David Barrett)

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Mozambique Relief BF is working through missionaries, Mozambican Baptists and other relief organizations to provide assistance to the millions left homeless by recent flooding. If you would like to help, send checks clearly marked Mozambique Relief to: CBF P.O. Box 101699 Atlanta, GA 30392

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Coming Attractions May 1 Preaching Lectures

Winston-Salem, NC Sponsor: Divinity School, Wake Forest University Theme: "The Sermon,The Preacher, and the People: Signs in a New Century" Contact: Divinity School (336) 758-3748 or divinity@wfu.edu June 29–July 1 General Assembly

Orlando, FL Location: Orange County Convention Center Theme: Living Missions Contact: Connections (800) 262-9974 for hotel reservations Details: An 8-page information insert on the 2000 assembly is included in this issue. Additional copies are available from CBF Resources while supplies last. Call (888) 801-4CBF (4223).

P. O. Box 450329 Atlanta, GA 31145-0329 Address Service Requested

his presentation — are major weapons used to “prove” certain Baptist leaders are “liberal.”

Guilt by association is not new. One prominent Baptist served on an organization called the Council for National Policy with Joseph Coors, scion of the brewing family. When a journalist connected O E S FA C T N E C E S S A R I LY L E A D the two men negatively through their affiliation to truth? Do pieces of verifiable inforwith the council, the Baptist leader called foul. mation always direct toward accurate “Just because I am a member of an organization conclusions? with several hundred people and one person hapThe Baptist Standard recently took an pens to be in a certain business does not align in-depth look at a group of documents me with the business of that person,” Paul highly critical of CBF and the perPressler, a prime leader in the SBC, son who prepared most of them, wrote in his autobiography. “That is a Roger Moran, president of the gross form of guilt by association.”

Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Just as Pressler’s affiliation with Association.

Coors does not mean Pressler affirms the Managing Editor Mark Wingfield Viewpoint use of alcohol, Baptists’ occasional secspent time with Moran, his allies and ond-, third- and fourth-degree relationships with his adversaries in Missouri. Wingfield also anapeople who hold other theological views does not lyzed Moran’s material and asked a libel attorney mean they are liberal. to review it. He interviewed several who were — Excerpt from an editorial by Marv Knox, ediMoran’s targets, as well as Moran’s strongest tor of the Baptist Standard, weekly newsjournal for collaborator in Texas.

Texas Baptists (see related story, page 14). To read You may ask why we would devote so much the entire editorial, link to the Baptist Standard from space to a Missouri layman and his claims. The the home page at www.cbfonline.org, then go to the answer is simple: To do less would be negligent.

Feb. 23 issue in the paper’s archives.

The material generated by Moran — particularly a document of about 20 pages and a videotape of

Mountain of Facts, Molehill of Truth

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