ARE BAPTISTS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AT PRAYER?
PAGE 17
July 28, 2015 • ISSUE 52
Collegiate Interns Engage Texas Campuses with the Gospel
Keith Collier
Singles in the Age of the Home Run
H
ome run. Long ball. Dinger. Moonshot. Bomb. Going yard. For baseball lovers, the home run in one of the most exciting feats in America’s pastime. My family loves baseball, and our hometown team is the Texas Rangers. Every time a Rangers player crushes a towering shot over the outfield wall, fireworks erupt above the scoreboard and speakers blare the theme from the classic baseball film, “The Natural.” Everyone loves the home run. It can give a team the added boost they need and turn the momentum of a game around completely. Some teams live and die by the long ball, as they say. Their lineups are loaded with players who either hit it out of the ballpark or strike out. While this strategy certainly provides entertainment and a few of these teams have experienced periods of success, most clubs would prefer players who maintain a high batting average, consistently hitting singles and doubles, because this ultimately generates more runs in a game and more wins during the season. There’s nothing really exciting about hitting singles, but a steady string of them can prove more powerful than a home run. In more recent years, teams have executed this style of play—called “small ball”—with great success. This was clearly seen with the last season’s Kansas City Royals. We live in a culture that thrives on fireworks, huge changes, big plays and momentous occasions. We like to be entertained. Major League Baseball’s All-Star Weekend features
a Home Run Derby, not a Batting Average Derby. Often, I’ve heard people refer to sermons with baseball language. Church members remark that their pastor hit a “home run” on Sunday. Pastors languish over the fact that a sermon didn’t live up to their expectations, and they feel like they’ve struck out. One of the best pieces of ministry advice I’ve received has been to focus on hitting singles and doubles rather than home runs. Just like baseball experts would say, if you try to hit a home run every time at the plate, you’ll usually strike out, but if you focus on putting the ball in play, you’ll actually increase your chances of hitting one over the wall. It’s more about patience than power. Long-term, consistently biblical preaching will better produce healthier disciples and churches. In this way, fruitfulness becomes a byproduct of faithfulness, not flashiness. This advice reduces the weekly stress of producing buzz-worthy sermons with tweetable lines and humorous illustrations. It encourages pastors to prioritize explaining and applying the text of Scripture. Pastors begin to realize it’s more important to feed the sheep than to wow them with your wit. Church members leave each week with a better understanding of God and what it looks like to follow him. These singles and doubles help “advance the runners” toward spiritual maturity. This not only applies to preaching but also to a myriad of other avenues of the Christian life. In the church, do we judge the value of our worship
services by whether the Lord “moved powerfully and visibly” or whether the gospel was faithfully preached and Christ was exalted and worshipped? Are we more excited about a great week of VBS or youth camp than we are at the consistent disciple-making of children and teenagers? Certainly we pray for visible demonstrations of the Lord’s power, such as revival, but Jesus’ Parable of the Sower explains that it’s more desirable to have good soil that produces fruit with patience than rocky soil that generates quick growth with no root (Luke 8:4-15). Consistency and faithfulness find value not only in the local church but also in our everyday lives, at work and home. It’s more important to demonstrate daily, sacrificial love toward your spouse than just springing for an expensive date or gift every once in a while. Likewise, epic family vacations have some value, but the week-in, weekout time spent talking with and discipling your children will bear more fruit in the long run. In your own quiet times with the Lord, focus on a steady diet of the Word and prayer rather than being discouraged if you don’t have an epiphany every time you turn the page. Often times, this consistency tills the soil in our hearts that ultimately produces the greatest spiritual growth. Life and faith truly are more about hitting singles and doubles. With this as our focus, we’ll strike out less and see more fruit over the long haul. And who knows, as we are faithful in the small things, we’ll likely experience a moonshot or two along the way.
ISSUE
#52
CONTENTS
JULY 28, 2015
08
05 GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES:
Collegiate Internship spurs evangelism, discipleship & passion for ministry Almost every day of the week, the students who comprise the collegiate ministry at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth gather in groups to share the gospel at seven different college campuses in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. During the past two semesters, the flames of this effort have been fanned into a glowing fire with the addition of a collegiate intern, funded by a grant from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
TEXAN Magazine is e-published twice monthly by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, 4500 State Highway 360, Grapevine, TX 76099-1988. Jim Richards, Executive Director Gary Ledbetter, Editor Keith Collier, Managing Editor Sharayah Colter, Staff Writer Russell Lightner, Design & Layout Gayla Sullivan, Subscriptions
Contributing Writers Rachel Woods, Mark Coppenger
To contact the TEXAN, visit texanonline.net/contact or call toll free 877.953.7282 (SBTC).
sbtexan
texanonline.net
sbtexan
TEXAS CHURCHES SEE MASSIVE BENEFITS FROM COLLEGIATE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Interns serving in local churches across Texas through the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s collegiate internship grant program presented the gospel 435 times and led 56 people to accept Christ as their savior during the 2015 spring semester. SBTC Collegiate and Student Leadership Development Ministry Associate Steve Maltempi called the semester “amazing,” and marveled at the way interns took seriously the task of evangelism in their respective churches and communities.
10
DISCIPLESHIP-FOCUSED INTERNSHIP FURTHER SOLIDIFIES COLLEGE STUDENT’S COMMITMENT TO CHRIST, MINISTRY
Kollin Kahler served as an intern at Beaumont’s First Baptist Church during the Spring 2015 semester. During his internship, Kahler focused on discipling four young men and teaching them what it looks like to follow hard after Christ. Intentional discipleship, Kahler said, solidified his own faith when he was just beginning college.
14
FATHER’S DEATH DOESN’T DETER HAITIAN SIBLINGS
The day before Jude, Barbie and Vanessa—all Haitian siblings—left their home country and their parents to travel to the United States of America where they could complete their high school education, their father reminded them it was the Lord’s plan.
17
COLUMN:
The Republican Party as Jordan
Southern Seminary professor Mark Coppenger shares his views on how supporting the Republican Party is somewhat like supporting the nation of Jordan—not always an ideal option but the best among the ones available.
B
B R I E F LY +
N AT I O N
GAY MARRIAGE: MAINLINE DENOMINATIONS AFFIRM SCOTUS At least three mainline Protestant denominations have celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s nationwide legalization of gay marriage, and others say they are divided on the issue. With a new Associated Press poll suggesting decreased support for same-sex marriage among Americans generally, a watchdog group that monitors mainline bodies said gayaffirming denominations are more progressive regarding marriage than the culture. “By and large, [mainline denominations] have been more liberal than the culture in compromising their sexual standards before the country itself compromised its laws on marriage,” said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Average church members in mainline denominations, Tooley told Baptist Press, are “close to where the nation is as a whole” on gay marriage, but the “governing bodies” of those denominations are
LGBT ORDINANCE AGAIN BEFORE FAYETTEVILLE Residents in Fayetteville, Ark., will once again vote on an ordinance aimed at protecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community Sept. 8. Passed by the Fayetteville City Council in a 6-2 vote June 16, Ordinance 5781 is a revised version of a similar civil rights law originally passed in August 2014 by the council. The law was repealed by a popular vote in December. According to media reports, the new ordinance would “prohibit business owners and landlords from firing or
“certainly much more liberal than the country is.” The AP poll, conducted in conjunction with the German market research organization GfK, found 42 percent of Americans favor legalized same-sex marriage, down from 48 percent in April. The 1,004 adults polled were almost evenly split on whether local government officials with religious objections should be required to issue marriage licenses to samesex couples, AP reported. A majority of those polled (56 percent) said it is more important for the government to protect religious liberty than gay rights. A full 59 percent said wedding-related business owners with religious objections should be allowed to refuse service to same-sex couples. Only 39 percent of those polled said they approve of the Supreme Court’s ruling—a minority that reflects the views of the governing bodies of the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Church of Christ, all of which have affirmed the high court’s decision. Read the story here.
evicting someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It will also provide protections for use of public accommodations, including restrooms.” Ron Lomax, director of missions for Washington Madison Baptist Association in Fayetteville, said churches associated with his association oppose the new ordinance, as they did the old ordinance. “It’s not much different than the first one. It’s worded a little bit different, but the intent is the same,” he said. “We’ll be encouraging our people to vote it down again.” Read the story here.
A single Marine flag stood in place at the orchestra chair where Skip Wells had played the clarinet for many years at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga. Members of the Atlanta-area church took time to pray July 19 for the families of Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, 21, and four other servicemen killed by a gunman who attacked a military recruitment office July 16 a little more than an hour away in Chattanooga, Tenn. “As we held hands and prayed for his family, I lost it,” Callie Jones wrote in a Facebook post accompanying a picture of the orchestra and Wells’ Marine photo. Read the story here.
DUGGARS’ SHOW CANCELLED, FAMILY HELPS DOCUMENTARY TLC has officially canceled the Duggar reality show ‘19 Kids and Counting’ nearly two months after news broke that the oldest Duggar son Josh had molested five girls including four of his sisters when he was a teenager. “After thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with 19 Kids and Counting,” TLC said in a July 16 public 2 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
CHURCH PLACES MARINE FLAG AT SERVICEMAN’S SEAT
statement. “The show will no longer appear on the air.” Parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar expressed thanks to those who’ve assisted them during the show’s nineseason run, and indicated the family would be featured in an upcoming TLC documentary on child sexual abuse, produced in partnership with RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Read the story here.
—Briefly section compiled from Baptist Press, other news sources and staff reports
B +
S A N C T I T Y
O F
B R I E F LY
L I F E
PLANNED PARENTHOOD TOPS TWITTER TRENDS Christians took to social media en masse when news broke July 14 that Planned Parenthood allegedly sold baby parts gained through partial-birth abortions. The news came via a secretly recorded video posted online in which a high-level Planned Parenthood employee discusses casually the organization’s efforts to collect hearts, lungs, livers, and other organs from aborted “fetuses,” which it then sells to research companies. The Center for Medical Progress, which released the July 14 video, released a second video July 21. The second video shows Mary Gatter, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s for-profit Medical Directors’ Council, negotiating a price for “donated” aborted baby parts. In the video, the Planned Parenthood doctor discusses selling “intact specimens” while she eats lunch and jokes that she wants to get the best price for the “tissue” because she wants a Lamborghini. The hashtag #Lamborghini was trending on Twitter after the video’s release July 21. The hashtag #PlannedParenthood trended in the top three nationally Tuesday, July 14, social media expert Marty Duren said, with the online analytics site Topsy.com noting more than 57,000 tweets using the hashtag between Tuesday morning and midday Wednesday (July 15). That total does not include tweets on the same subject that did not employ the hashtag. The social media dustup was provoked by a video released by the nonprofit medical watchdog group Center for Medical Progress (CMP)
showing a Planned Parenthood Federation of America executive discussing the fetal parts business with an undercover investigator posing as a potential buyer. Planned Parenthood claimed they donate the body parts for scientific purposes and do not receive monetary benefit, but CMP countered by publishing an advertisement delivered to Planned Parenthood abortion clinics by a biomedical company stating that supplying tissue is “financially profitable.” Duren told Baptist Press he did not see any Christian posts in social media defending Planned Parenthood. “This was very unified,” Duren said. There was “an amount of anger or outrage” associated with “virtually every single comment, every single tweet.” Among the most active participants in the social media response was Russell Moore, president of Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. He tweeted on the topic more than 25 times in 32 hours. In one day, a commentary he wrote condemning Planned Parenthood’s actions was shared 22,000 times on Facebook and 4,000 times on Twitter, according to the ERLC. Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, received 1,300 retweets in 16 hours when he tweeted, “Sadly, if Planned Parenthood @PPact was selling the body parts of puppies, not aborted babies, the mainstream media would actually cover it.” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Denny Burk tweeted more than 30 times related to Planned Parenthood, sharing statements on the controversy from Republican presidential candidates and telling major media outlets, “The Iran deal is not the top story today. This is.”
At least six Southern Baptist Convention entity heads tweeted about Planned Parenthood. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Daniel Akin commented, “Killing babies for profit in America. Read this and weep.” Among pastors, Bart Barber of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, tweeted that Planned Parenthood “finally found a use for prenatal ultrasound that they don’t oppose.” Bryant Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., tweeted, “It’s like Nazis on how to profit from body parts of Jews. Evil.” Read the story here.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD EXEC. OFFERED HELP, BETTER WAY A prolife advocate and former Planned Parenthood clinic director has written an open letter extending compassion to the Planned Parenthood executive caught on video discussing the sale of baby parts gained through abortion. Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director in Bryan, Texas, wrote in a July 14 open letter published by LifeSiteNews that she opposes abortion but also condemns “hate and vile comments about” Planned Parenthood executive Deborah Nucatola, the subject of the debated video. “We care about you,” Johnson wrote, referencing her nonprofit organization that seeks to help abortion clinic workers leave the industry. “ ... You matter to us. As hard as I fight to save unborn babies, I fight just as hard to save people like you from the grips of the abortion industry.” Read the story here.
JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 3
B
B R I E F LY +
B A P T I S T
B&H CLAIMS 20 AWARDS FROM CHRISTIAN RETAILING B&H Publishing Group dominated the 2015 Christian Retailing’s Best Awards, bringing home more honors than any other publisher. B&H at LifeWay Christian Resources claimed 20 awards, more than anyone has won in a single year since the awards program began in 2001. Winning products included Thom Rainer’s “Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive” and other major releases such as “The Study Bible for Women,” “The Big Picture Interactive Bible” for children, Beth Moore’s “Portraits of Devotion,” and Angie Smith’s “Chasing God.” Read the story here.
GUIDESTONE LOSES ON ABORTION MANDATE GuideStone Financial Resources and the ministries it serves must abide by the Obama administration’s abortion/ contraception mandate or pay crushing fines, a federal appeals court ruled July 14. A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver declined to grant an injunction blocking enforcement of the rule, rejecting arguments by GuideStone and a host of other religious non-profit organizations that the controversial mandate and its accommodation for such entities violate their religious freedom. The mandate requires employers to provide not only contraceptives for their workers but drugs and devices that can potentially cause abortions. GuideStone—the Southern Baptist Convention’s health and financial benefits entity—and its attorneys are considering an appeal to the full 10th Circuit Court or to the U.S. Supreme Court, it said in a news release. The decision is “a setback” but “not the final outcome,” GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said in the release. “This is a disappointing decision, for both religious liberty and for the sanctity of life,” Hawkins said. “This is a day for all of us to bombard the Throne of Grace with petitions for a favorable outcome on appeal, for strength of resolve, for the unborn in this country and for all of our leaders, so many of whom have turned their back on the founding principles of this country.” The loss by GuideStone and its allies is the latest in a series of defeats at the federal appellate level for religious organizations that object to the abortion/contraception mandate. In other recent rulings: 4The Seventh Circuit Court refused July 1 to grant Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school in suburban Chicago, an injunction against the rule while its case proceeds. 4The Fifth Circuit Court declined June 22 a request for an injunction from two Southern Baptist-affiliated schools—East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University—and Westminster Theological Seminary. Read the story here.
4 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
RULING LEADS TO $26M SETTLEMENT IN NAMB CASE A Montana judge’s summary judgement ruling has led to a $26 million insurance settlement in a quadriplegic man’s lawsuit against the North American Mission Board stemming from a 2009 auto accident. Jeremy Vangsnes, who was 21 at the time of the July 2009 accident, was traveling with two of his brothers, Dan, then 24, and Ryan, 19, in an SUV driven by Scott Minear, 20. The rollover crash, which left Jeremy Vangsnes paralyzed and with a brain injury, occurred on Interstate 90 near Belgrade, Mont. The summary judgment ruling was issued by Judge Mike Salvagni of the 18th Judicial District for Gallatin County in Bozeman. The Associated Press on July 14 reported the ruling, which was filed on June 18. In that ruling, the court found that it had been conclusively established that the driver of the SUV “was acting within the course and scope of his agency with NAMB at the time of the accident which caused Jeremy Vangsnes’ injuries” and that, therefore, NAMB could be held vicariously liable for the acts of the driver. Read the story here.
TX SUPREME COURT ORDERS HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL TO ABIDE BY CHARTER City must repeal Equal Rights Ordinance or put it up for city-wide vote in November By Bonnie Pritchett HOUSTON The Texas Supreme Court directed the Houston City Council July 24 to abide by its own charter and repeal the controversial Equal Rights Ordinance (ERO) or put it up to a citywide vote this November. The city has until Aug. 24 to comply or be compelled to do so by the high court. In a rare move, the Texas Supreme Court conditionally granted a writ of mandamus stating that “the legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored.” Last year, Mayor Annise Parker and then-City Attorney Dave Feldman declared “invalid” a referendum to repeal the controversial city ordinance. Petitioners—a racially and politically diverse group of pastors and civic leaders—sued, alleging the mayor and attorney manufactured signature requirements in order to defy the city charter mandates. The court agreed with the petitioners July 24, stating the city secretary, not the city council, is obligated to evaluate petitions. Enforcement of the ordinance is suspended. “Simply put, the City Secretary’s certification started the process outlined in the Charter for reconsidering ordinances following a referendum petition, invoking the Council’s ministerial duty to carry out its obligations,” the court wrote. Acknowledging the plaintiffs were pressed for time, the high court wrote, “Under such circumstances, mandamus has long been recognized as an appropriate remedy when city officials improperly refuse to act on a citizen-initiated petition.”
Read the story here.
\ \ \ \
C O L L E G I A T E
M I N I S T R Y
/ / / /
Collegiate internship spurs evangelism, discipleship & passion for ministry By Sharayah Colter
Almost every day of the week, the students who comprise the collegiate ministry at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth gather in groups to share the gospel at seven different college campuses in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. During the past two semesters, the flames of this effort have been fanned into a glowing fire with the addition of a collegiate intern, funded by a grant from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
The grant program, which launched during the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 semesters, supplied funding for an intern of the church’s choosing with a two-fold goal: (1) spur college students to share the gospel and disciple fellow students and (2) ignite a passion for local church ministry in those the Lord calls to his service. Birchman hired Josh Owens, a recent graduate of the College at Southwestern, as their collegiate intern. Joey Tombrella, the church’s minister to young adults, said the decision to apply for the grant and hire an intern was an obvious and simple choice. “Who wouldn’t want to have more focused help with ministry, especially when the goal is evangelism on the campuses? That is the greatest need,” Tombrella said. “The whole body of Christ benefits and is spurred on when evangelism is full force. People begin to say, ‘Hey, I want that!’ When one group starts sharing, others begin to start
JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 5
sharing and taking risks. Evangelism is contagious!” Owens said “part of living gospel-centered lives is to work side by side for the faith of that gospel,” referencing Philippians 1:27. As a growing Christian and even more so in his leadership role within the college ministry, that has been Owens’ chief aim. “My main roles are to catalyze our students to share the gospel and make disciples on their own campuses and to mobilize the rest of our college ministry to come alongside and encourage each other in the task,” Owens said. “We have students at seven campuses, and at each we want to spur them toward sharing the gospel. We also have a large number of seminary students, and we want to deploy them alongside our students onto these mission fields. We desire to be intentional in the contexts where God has placed us. That will look seven different ways on seven different campuses, but the goal remains the same: to mobilize our students to
6 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
“Who wouldn’t want to have more focused help with ministry, especially when the goal is evangelism on the campuses? That is the greatest need. The whole body of Christ benefits and is spurred on when evangelism is full force. People begin to say, ‘Hey, I want that!’ When one group starts sharing, others begin to start sharing and taking risks. Evangelism is contagious!” — JOEY TOMBRELLA, MINISTER TO YOUNG ADULTS, BIRCHMAN BAPTIST CHURCH
exhaust their lives on the mission fields God’s given them.” Birchman’s pastor, Bob Pearle, shares Owens’ sentiments and sees the collegiate intern grant program as a win-win for the interns chosen to serve and the world of lost people those interns are working to reach with fellow students. “The millennial generation— one of our largest generations— needs to be reached for Christ, and this is a great tool to help [college ministries] reach their generation for Christ,” Pearle said. “The internships are very beneficial because they are helping to guide a young adult into ministry, and they can see first-hand what all it takes in service to our Lord.” Sometimes “what it takes” is faithful, relentless sharing and perseverance, even when responses to the gospel seem few and hearts icy toward the gospel seem abundant. Tombrella recalled an instance that painted such a picture well. “Last spring, Josh and another student went out on the Texas Christian University campus to
“We desire to be intentional in the contexts where God has placed us. That will look seven different ways on seven different campuses, but the goal remains the same: to mobilize our students to exhaust their lives on the mission fields God’s given them.” — JOSH OWENS, COLLEGIATE INTERN, BIRCHMAN BAPTIST CHURCH
share the gospel,” Tombrella said. “They met a student by ‘chance’ (divine appointment), and shared the gospel with him. Although he didn’t receive the gospel, they ran into him other times on the campus that spring. During spring break, our group went to South Padre for Beach Reach, and Josh met him there by ‘chance.’ He would later pray to receive Christ.” Pearle says it is stories just like this that cause the work the Lord is doing through the college ministry of a church to spill out into the rest of the congregation, often spurring people of all ages to be bold in their witness for Christ. “I whole-heartedly recommend this to a church because it encourages the older adults to see what God is doing in the lives of these younger adults,” Pearle said.
Owens says that the time he has spent working alongside Tombrella has done more than help him be a better mobilizer of people; it has has spurred him to follow Christ all the more closely, the natural outpouring of that being a desire to see others do the same. “By his life and words, Joey teaches us to treasure Jesus above all else, and to recognize Christ’s preeminence in all,” Owens said. “These are ancient words, and foundational not just for a gospel conversation but for life. It’s not that Joey never taught me anything more, but he never taught less; and these twin truths are joy sufficient to proclaim Christ to our seven campuses and the 7 billion people they represent.”
JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 7
\ \ \ \
C O L L E G I A T E
M I N I S T R Y
/ / / /
Texas churches see massive benefits from collegiate internship program By Sharayah Colter Interns serving in local churches across Texas through the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s collegiate internship grant program presented the gospel 435 times and led 56 people to accept Christ as their savior during the 2015 spring semester. SBTC Collegiate and Student Leadership Development Ministry Associate Steve Maltempi called the semester “amazing,” and marveled at the way interns took seriously the task of evangelism in their respective churches and communities. “They shared Christ with strangers almost every day,” Maltempi said. “They set a great example for all of us.” In addition to the 56 who accepted Christ, 29 people were baptized, 11 surrendered to ministry, and 109 participated in discipleship of some sort as a direct result of the interns’ work this spring. The convention began the grant program, which allocates $1,800 per semester to individual churches that apply for the program for the hiring of a collegiate intern, with the goal of equipping future ministers with field experience that will not only prepare them for future ministry but further ignite 8 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
“My hope for the program is to mentor young leaders—future SBTC leaders—as they catch the SBTC vision for ministry and missions. They are resetting the bar for evangelism, discipleship, ministry and missions to meet the needs of a new, strange world they call ‘home.’” —STEVE MALTEMPI, SBTC COLLEGIATE AND STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY ASSOCIATE
their passion for the Lord’s work in local churches. “My hope for the program is to mentor young leaders—future SBTC leaders—as they catch the SBTC vision for ministry and missions,” Maltempi said. “They are resetting the bar for evangelism, discipleship, ministry and missions to meet the needs of a new, strange world they call ‘home.’” Maltempi said one of his favorite aspects of the internship program is how simple it is for churches to sign up to participate and to have an intern. The process all begins at the SBTC collegiate internship webpage where information about the grant program and process is posted along with the forms needed to get started.
Justin Edgerly, minster to college, singles and young adults at Calvary Baptist Church in Beaumont, said his church decided to apply for an intern with the SBTC because Calvary had never had a collegiate intern before and the staff knew a great work could be done with that addition to their team. “Even so,” Edgerly said, “my expectations proved too small, given what has actually happened.” Over the course of the fall and spring semesters, Calvary’s intern Tanner Hemmings shared the gospel with more than 60 students on the campus of Lamar University, mentored numerous others and preached his first sermon. Three students accepted Christ as a result of the intern’s work during the two semesters, and eight students shared the gospel for the first time under his leadership. “One of my favorite stories is the story of how [Tanner] took another student with him to share the gospel for the first time Bobtown Road Baptist Church college intern Vallerie Sallee (far in his life,” Edgerly said. “After that experience, right) participated in a mission trip to Africa as part of her ministry. this student then shared the gospel again on his own with a coworker. That coworker then, as a are urgent,” Clift said. “The intern grant provided result, went to church, professed faith in Christ an opportunity to give an individual ministry and returned to work and thanked this student for experience while also greatly influencing the sharing the gospel with him.” effectiveness and productiveness of our ministry. Tyler Clift, the college and young adult For the sake of the gospel spreading to more and coordinator at Wedgood Baptist Church in Fort more college students in Fort Worth, I knew I Worth, served as an intern supervisor as well and needed help. The SBTC intern grant is a vital part of said the program has been a “phenomenal” addition that initiative.” to his church’s ministry. Paul Garcia, pastor of Bobtown Road Baptist Church “It has provided us with an opportunity not only in Garland, already had a working relationship with to make a greater impact in the life of our intern Criswell College students and served as an intern but in the church and community as a whole,” supervisor through the SBTC grant during the past Clift said. “The highlight of having an intern serve two semesters. He said the semesters have been with us during these semesters has been having a both fun and challenging and that he has seen more fellow partner in all aspects of our ministry. The “young life” brought to the church through the opportunities that arose to not only pray together involvement of the church’s intern. for our students but to plan and implement Garcia said he would encourage other churches outreach opportunities were invaluable.” to consider applying for a grant-funded intern for Clift said the financial support given through the future semesters. grant boosted Wedgwood’s capacity to serve and “I would tell a pastor that it is worth his time minister to their church and community while at investment building into that next generation,” the same time equipping a young man for future Garcia said. “I would encourage pastors that ministry work. might not have a college student at their church to “As everyone who does college and young adult consider seeking out a student even if they are a ministry knows, resources are limited yet the needs commuter student.” JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 9
\ \ \ \
C O L L E G I A T E
M I N I S T R Y
/ / / /
Discipleship-focused internship further solidifies college student’s commitment to Christ, ministry By Sharayah Colter
Kollin Kahler played punter for Lamar University’s football team but still made room in his busy schedule to disciple other students. PHOTO BY WILL FRANCE
10 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
Nearly two-dozen churches partnered with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention this spring to bring collegiate interns onto their staffs through a grant funded by the convention. The SBTC designed the grant to come alongside churches throughout the state as they equip leaders within the context of the local church. The goal of the ministry partnership facilitated by the grant funding is to “capture the hearts and minds of future ministers by getting them involved in the collegiate ministries of SBTC churches,” according to the convention’s intern grant ministry webpage. In Beaumont’s First Baptist Church, that is exactly what is happening. Kollin Kahler, a recent Lamar University graduate, served as an intern at Beaumont’s First Baptist Church during the Spring 2015 semester thanks to funding from the SBTC grant, which provides $1,800 of financial support to participating churches. During his internship, Kahler focused on discipling four young men and teaching them what it looks like to follow hard after Christ. Intentional discipleship like he focused upon during his internship, Kahler said, solidified his own faith when he was just beginning college.
elsewhere, pre-med college Kahler said he does not deny “I was really struggling with classes and played punter for or negate the value of group what I believed in,” Kahler said, Lamar’s football team at the Bible studies, but that he simply recalling his freshman year at same time. “Christ didn’t say, sees so much fruit from oneLamar. “I ended up accepting ‘Will you make disciples?’ He on-one, intentional discipleship Christ as my savior, and bam, I said, ‘Go make disciples.’” that he is totally convinced was plugged into discipleship. With his two internships now implementing those types I think that is where we have wrapping up, Kahler will now of close relationships within failed as a global church—we begin serving as the college the church can transform lead people to Christ and then pastor at Beaumont’s First people into committed, soldwe just leave them there.” Baptist, a local football coach, out disciples of Christ. Kahler The men discipling Kahler a weekend snow-cone stand pointed out that usually the challenged him, encouraged worker, a hospital employee and last thing someone says before him and held him accountable a theology school student. None they leave is quite important in Bible study and Scripture of that, though, memory. comes before his “That put me in commitment to be good soil,” Kahler a disciple of Christ said. “That watered and to make more me. I had everything disciples who will I needed to grow as then make disciples a Christian. I said, of other people. ‘Wow, this is what —KOLLIN KAHLER, A RECENT LAMAR UNIVERSITY He says that it looks like to be a GRADUATE, SERVED AS AN INTERN AT BEAUMONT’S because of the Christian. This is FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH internship what it’s about— program through being part of a the partnership family.’” of the SBTC and Kahler said he his church, he is had been involved now better prepared to enter to him or her, and since Jesus, in Bible studies before but that ministry with practical, hands shortly before leaving earth, after being part of a discipleship on knowledge and experience commanded Christians to go group, he realized just how he never could have gained and make disciples, the Lord different the two actually are. from a book. Whether working must have viewed that as a “That’s something that I feel in college ministry or as a like I missed out on,” Kahler said. top priority—a priority he doctor for medical missions, commanded, not suggested, “And now that I’ve had that, I’m Kahler says he is confident his Kahler emphasized. completely sold on it.” internship has better prepared “I make time for discipleship,” So now, Kahler takes his role as him for whatever tasks to which said Kahler, who in addition to a disciple-maker very seriously. the Lord calls him. his internship at the church had “It’s really cool,” he said. another 280-hour internship “Who’s going to say, ‘no,’ to, ‘Hey, will you chase after Christ with me?’ Jesus said to go and make disciples. He didn’t say go Interested in SBTC’s collegiate intern program? have Bible studies. That’s what Visit collegiate-ministry.com/interns we’re called to do.”
“Christ didn’t say, ‘Will you make disciples?’ ‘Go make disciples.’”
JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 11
MORE THAN FOUR-DOZEN LED TO CHRIST THROUGH ENGAGE MINISTRY THIS SUMMER By Rachel Woods
Twelve college students gave their summers this year to engage communities and minister to churches across Texas through the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Engage ministry. Nearly 30 churches hosted Engage teams, and throughout the state, 50 people professed faith in Christ as a result. Three people committed their lives to ministry, and many churches experienced renewal and revival. Three of the 12 students traveled to Lake O’ the Pines Baptist Church in Victory and saw the Lord work throughout their week there. Victor Perez and Isaiah Sierra, of San Antonio, and Hayden Brown, of Flower Mound, shared the gospel in the East Texas town and helped to bring people closer to God. The experience pushed the students out of their comfort zones as they relied upon the Lord to equip and use them. “Going to a new place, not knowing what to expect, really helps you grow and makes you really stretch out, not knowing what to expect and learning how to minister to people that are not just like you,” Perez said.
12 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
Victor Perez preaches during an Engage team revival at Lake O’ the Pines Baptist Church in Victory. PHOTO BY RACHEL WOODS
Perez plans to pursue a degree in biblical studies at a Bible college and eventually wants to become a pastor. “Every church has their difference in what they have going on, and we just come and tailor it to their needs.” he said. Each year, teams of three or four college students spend their summer traveling to churches across Texas to lead vacation Bible school events, backyard Bible clubs and revivals. This serves as a training ground for these students as they prepare for future ministry. The students serving through Engage spend many hours on the road preparing for the challenges ahead, which include countless hours of drive time, meeting new people and preparing worship services. “The point of Engage is to engage the church and the community in Christ and to bring out the heart for Christ and the fire for God,” said Sierra, who mentioned plans to continue in leading worship ministry. Perez, Sierra and Brown spent the week of June 7-11 at Lake O’ the Pines Baptist with Pastor Shawn Thrapp and his church family, holding nightly revivals, inviting people in the community to worship and having fellowship with each other. Each nightly meeting was an invitation to the church to grow closer to God and an invitation to the community to visit and learn more about the church. “Coming here, we saw the church, we saw the people. We’re just three guys—college students—and I was like, ‘God, you just gotta give us the path to
Isaiah Sierra (left) and Hayden Brown (right) lead worship during an Engage team revival at Lake O’ the Pines Baptist Church in Victory. PHOTO BY RACHEL WOODS
“Coming here, we saw the church, we saw the people. We’re just three guys—college students—and I was like, ‘God, you just gotta give us the path to spread the word to your people.’ It’s been a breath of fresh air, a learning experience and a chance to connect with other people of God.” —HAYDEN BROWN, ENGAGE TEAM MEMBER AND COLLEGE STUDENT
spread the word to your people,’” Brown said. “It’s been a breath of fresh air, a learning experience and a chance to connect with other people of God.” When asked his thoughts about Engage and how it affected his church, Thrapp said the set of services had been timely for his congregation. “It wasn’t anything any of us could have planned,” Thrapp
said. “A couple of years ago, we heard at SBC about this student ministry, and just in the last year we began praying about it and contacted Engage teams through SBTC. Now, since hosting these guys, we’ve had several congregation members ask, ‘Why can’t this be something we do every year?’ which is a good thing.”
Interested in Engage Teams for next summer? Visit sbtexas.com/engage
JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 13
Three Haitian siblings enrolled in College at Southwestern plan
to share Gospel with community where their father was
kidnapped, tortured, murdered By Sharayah Colter
14 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
T
he day before Jude, Barbie and Vanessa—all Haitian siblings—left their home country and their parents to travel to the United States of America where they could complete their high school education, their father reminded them it was the Lord’s plan.
“I can still hear the voice of my dad with authority and firmness responding to our repeated question ‘Why do we have to leave tomorrow for the United States of America?’ “‘You are leaving tomorrow because it is God’s plan for you to leave tomorrow,’” Jude recalls his dad saying the day before they left Port-au-Prince.
Yet no one in the family expected the plan to entail the harrowing journey ahead. “None of the five of us knew that that night would have been the last night the five of us were to be together on earth,” Jude says. “Two months later, on the nights of Nov. 22 and 23, 2013, my father, pastor Serléus Simon, president of the Evangelical
Union of Haitian Baptist Churches, was kidnapped in the back yard of our house, tortured, murdered, and his body was dumped in a corn field not far from our private residence. My mother, Margarette Simon, was shot and left to die while the bandits were looting the house.” Jude’s father died. His mother, although badly wounded, survived.
JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 15
Making its way across the ocean and up the Eastern Seaboard to Coastal Christian School in Maine, where the three Simons were studying as international students, the news quickly created an upheaval out of what had moments earlier been an average day. “Confused, my sisters and I were speechless, breathless and full of questions to ask God,” Jude recalls. “I felt [I was] being engulfed by a cloud of darkness bringing to my mind all kinds of thoughts such as hatred, vengeance and the likes. I did not feel like talking to God, to people [or] even to myself. I wished I could become Superman, then fly to Haiti at the moment and destroy all those who have caused so much turmoil in my life.” Little by little, God supernaturally replaced Jude’s anger with peace and forgiveness. “I bowed my knee,” he recalls. “I said, ‘God, you gave, you took away. Blessed be your name.’” Though the gravity of the tragedy is never far from Jude, he said the Lord has allowed him to have eyes that see the bigger picture and a glimpse at the perspective God has from heaven—one he acknowledged does not always make sense to those on earth. Jude says the Lord has worked through their entire journey to bring his sisters and him to America where they can become equipped to return to Haiti to educate the people and continue ministering to them the way their father did up until his death. The three completed their schooling in Maine and then made their way to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where they recently graduated from the English Intensive Program. All three have received scholarships to begin studying in the College at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in August.
16 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
While in Fort Worth, the siblings have been able to live with friends their father made before Jude was ever born—Azer and Johane Lilite— and become part of Travis Avenue Baptist Church, which the siblings consider their “big family.” Jude says the Lord has faithfully demonstrated that his sovereignty extends into every aspect of their lives. “[The Lord] is in control,” Jude says. “He never sleeps, and he never slumbers. He is omnipresent. Nothing can surprise him. He knew he was going to call my father home. He knows he is not failing me despite the greatest uncertainties invading my life.” With this trust in the Lord and his goodness, Jude now sets out to train as a minister of the gospel at Southwestern. “I’m sure that God is calling me to ministry,” says Jude. “Even to go back to the place where they killed my dad, to have a ministry there. They did something bad, but I truly believe God will change everything for his own purpose. “No matter how bad the situation is, we know for certain God never fails his children, and he knows what he’s doing.” Even as he looks forward to returning to Haiti where his widowed mother still lives, Jude says his real hope is in Christ’s soon return. That knowledge, he says, keeps his heart from going “down and depressing.” “This is a big thing to me,” he says. “I know that God saved me, and I will be with him someday.” That is the message Jude has been sharing with international students at TCU and that he will one day share among those whose injustice forever changed his earthly family.
How you can pray for Jude and his family: 4Pray for Margarette, Jude’s mother, who still lives in Haiti and is in need of a heart operation. 4Pray for the vision God has given Jude to go back to Haiti to preach the gospel there as his father did. 4Pray for the three siblings to grow closer to God and each other every day. 4Pray that God would continue to supply all their needs, just as he faithfully has thus far. 4Pray that the students—many of them Muslim—with whom Jude and his sisters have been sharing the gospel at TCU, would come to accept Christ as Lord.
Mark Coppenger
The Republican Party as Jordan
Y
es, I’m suggesting that the Republican Party is kind of like the nation of Jordan. But bear with me as I ramp up to an explanation: A few years back, a disaffected former Southern Baptist pastor wrote a dismissive column for a Louisville freebie mag, the sort of periodical that lives off upcomingentertainment ads and lives for poisoning the town with snarky, ever-so-hip antinomianism. He’d had it with his old knuckle-dragging, gay-bashing, science-disavowing, women-suppressing denomination, which his friends called “the Republican Party at Prayer.” Along with evangelicals in general, we’ve been hit (or honored?) with this for decades, but I was struck by the ensuing letter to the editor from another local pastor who stepped in to defend the SBC. Along the way, he more or less offered a mea culpa for the denomination, declaring that her “marriage to the GOP [was] a tragic distraction from the gospel.” Strong words, but you hear this sort of thing these days, not only from political liberals, but also from the sons of Zion hoping to distance and rescue themselves from what they take to be the pointless embarrassment and offense accomplished by spiritually careless forebears. This political “party at prayer” label has a long heritage. It originated in England, where the Anglicans were called the “Tories at Prayer.” (Some now wonder if
they’re more nearly the “Labour Party at Prayer.”) The expression “crossed the pond” in 1928, when the fortunes of the Democrats’ presidential candidate, Al Smith— the first Roman Catholic to carry any national party’s standard—ran afoul of 4 million German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic voters in the upper Midwest. People began to speak of the Lutherans, in 21 bodies, as the “Republican Party at Prayer.” In the 1950s, the Episcopalians got the label because of their association with staid affluence, that is, until the ‘60s pulled them another direction. Now the mantle has fallen on Southern Baptists, what with their social conservatism. Of course, no denomination should let itself be co-opted by a political party, and we should be wary of ministers who get a bigger “thrill up their leg” from navigating the halls of partisan power than from preparing a gospel message. But I think some of the indignation is overwrought. I recall the words of long-time Southern Baptist leader Herschel Hobbs, who once spoke of a fellow whistling furiously as he scurried through a graveyard at night. His companion asked, “What’s the matter? Are you afraid the dead will hurt you?” to which he responded, “No, I’m afraid they’ll make me hurt myself.” Similarly, I’m concerned that in our scramble to show ourselves not the Republican Party at Prayer, we’ll injure ourselves as well as other good people and causes.
Anyone with a preference for Republican politics is regularly driven to distraction by her elected officials, candidates, pollsters, pundits, operatives, and constituency, whether the disappointers are RINOs, Tea Partiers, Log Cabin dwellers, The Establishment, plutocrats, isolationists, neo-cons, or potsmoking libertarians. And it’s not unusual to hold your nose as you get on board with this or that candidate. Still, it’s a matter of “comparative justice,” not absolute beauty. Think of the nation of Jordan. There are big disconnects with America, not least of which is our preference for racial and religious variety at the presidential level rather than Hashemite kingship. Similarly, most Americans rooted for Israel when they displaced Jordanian troops from the Mount of Olives in 1967. And most find it odd that Jordan is still curator of the Temple Mount, where Muslim buildings predominate and Jews are not welcome. Still, we value this Middle Eastern nation of relative religious liberty, a country that suffers the contempt and incursions of Islamists and has generously received Arab refugees, granting them paths to citizenship, when other surrounding nations have used them as pawns for political intrigue. So one might be excused for preferring Jordan to say Syria or Iran. Let me suggest that Southern Baptists might be forgiven analogously for favoring the JULY 28, 2015 TEXANONLINE.NET 17
Republicans for their closer approximation to her pro-life and pro-traditional-marriage stance. And substantial policies are at stake. Witness the recent Hobby Lobby decision, where five Republican appointees (Roman Catholic, not Baptist)—Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Kennedy and Scalia—stood firm for religious liberty against four Democratic appointees – Ginsberg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor. So it should not be surprising or alarming if Southern Baptists expressed appreciation for the actions of a Republican “Jordanian.” We did that in 1992 in Indianapolis when we invited Republican Vice President Dan Quayle to address the SBC. He had taken a terrible beating from the media for criticizing television’s
Murphy Brown for normalizing outof-wedlock parenting, and we were delighted to give him an attaboy well before The Atlantic ran Barbara Dafoe Whitehead’s article, “Dan Quayle Was Right.” Did this make us the Republican Party at Prayer. No, but it did show that, in this instance, we counted this Republican Party official (an embarrassment to some Republican grandees) a courageous answer to prayer. (BTW, we had earlier criticized, on church-state grounds, the Republican President Ronald Reagan’s decision to appoint an ambassador to the Vatican.) The first political campaign I ever joined was for the 1966 Arkansas gubernatorial election of Republican Winthrop Rockefeller over Dixiecrat segregationist “Justice Jim” Johnson, who’d been endorsed by the Ku Klux
L EA DE R SH IP T R A IN IN G FOR ALL ASPECTS OF MI NI STRY KEYNOTE: ALLAN TAYLOR
Allan is Minister of Education at First Baptist Church Woodstock, Georgia. Allan is the founder of Ember to Blaze Ministries and writes Sunday School Leadership and training material. He has authored three books: “Sunday School in HD”, “The Six Core Values of Sunday School” and “Disciplining and Restoring the Fallen” as well as a DVD series, Sunday School Done Right and his new series, Forward from Here!
Cost: $10 $15
with pre-registration on or before August 10th (includes lunch) at the door (lunch is not guaranteed but is based on availability according to the number of walk-ups)
for more information visit
sbtexas.com/equip
18 TEXANONLINE.NET JULY 28, 2015
MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH YOUR COOPERATIVE PROGRAM GIVING
Klan, who’d refused to shake hands with black folks, and who’d warned us about the potential “mongrelization” of the white race. (Incidentally, “Justice Jim” beat eight-term Congressman Brooks Hayes in the Democratic primary, the same Hayes who was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1957, perhaps making the SBC the Democratic Party at Prayer for a season.) To be sure, Rockefeller’s spiritual orientation was dubious, his marriage record sub-biblical, and his interest in drink problematic, but, as the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, he proved to be just the man to oversee the integration of Arkansas schools. I would have been gratified to see Arkansas Baptists invite him to appear at some event during the campaign summer, for even though I belonged to a relatively “progressive” college church, I had seen racism in play there. For instance, a few years earlier, about two hundred in our fellowship voted (unsuccessfully, I’m glad to say) against membership for a Nigerian brother, “a product of our mission work” who had traveled to matriculate at the local Baptist college. In that context, giving Rockefeller a platform (perhaps a one-time guest column in the state paper) would have been prophetic, for, to quote G.A. StuddertKennedy from another context, “[T] hose were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.” Rockefeller offered strong contrast to those who demeaned “Negroes” (the term of respect in those days). Similarly, today when unborn flesh is cheap in the eyes of one of our two parties, there can be a place to hail some “Jordanians” who champion the dignity of all human life.