March 6, 2013 • ISSUE 5
HERE WE STAND
Up the road in Oklahoma City, the president of Hobby Lobby stores says amid showdown over federal abortifacient mandate, “God is up to something. We’re just along for the ride.”
+ WHAT SEX CAN NEVER BE churches + Multi-site buck convention, but they are far from cookie-cutter
Contents 2 4
Having less money The answer to most of the problems that trouble our sleep begins in our own hearts. Why can’t economic concerns be that way too?
Methodist men urge Scouts: Keep standards The General Commission on United Methodist Men has joined conservative voices urging the Boys Scouts of America not to open its membership to homosexuals.
6
COVER STORY
Inside Hobby Lobby Facing $1.3 million daily fines for disobeying HHS mandate, arts & crafts chain plows headfirst into God’s sovereign plan because this is “God’s company,” family says.
14
What sex can never be In the real world, a husband must interact with his wife first outside the bedroom and then inside the bedroom. It requires something of both parties. God designed it this way.
3-5 Briefly 9
Criswell adds online master’s degree Criswell College recently made available a fully online master’s degree to complement their on-campus degree plans.
10
Multi-site churches are far from cookie cutter At least 17 SBTC churches have extended their reach with multi-site ministry while trying to maintain a commitment to the New Testament church.
TEXAN Digital 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 Jerry Pierce, Managing Editor Russell Lightner, Design & Layout Stephanie Barksdale, Subscriptions Contributing Writers Stephanie Heading, Michelle Tyer, Art Toalston To contact the TEXAN office, visit texanonline.net/contact or call toll free 877.953.7282 (SBTC)
Gary Ledbetter
Having less money
I
don’t talk about money much in this space. For one thing I don’t have all that much and secondly, I’m not even a gifted amateur at handling it. Our national dialog is focused there, however. Ads, opinion pieces, political speeches, and pleas for charity can’t avoid the phrase “in these troubled financial times.” And yes, most of us have less than we did last year. Any cost-of-living increase we received has been gobbled up by tax increases, gas increases, more expensive food—it seems from here as if everyone else gets enough to stay even, but not the folks I know. For that reason, political campaigns are all about creating jobs, only modestly raising taxes and government spending, and a better standard of living for the working class. That part is truly background noise. I’m not presently confident that anyone in elected office has the solution for national prosperity. I do think I know some of the answers for those of us who live with the reality of our nation’s financial disorder. I think the electorate is more the problem than the elected. How we live is what makes all the difference. First, we are generally well off. Matthew 6:1934 addresses what we need in a way intended to comfort us and reset our priorities. We can focus on the kingdom of God because he will care for our food, shelter, and clothing. When we add mini-mansions, satellite TV, more clothes, entertainment, and tasty junk food to the mix, we are beyond the promises of God. At the retail level, much stress is caused by absurd definitions of enough. Second, most of us aren’t that industrious. Yes, we are busy and stressed but we aren’t productive in the way that typified communities two generations back. Proverbs is full of admonitions to work hard (18:9 and 28:19, for 2 TEXANONLINE.NET MARCH 6, 2013
example) and 2 Thessalonians 3:10 gives a pointed instruction for work as it impacts order in the church. Third, we borrow too readily. Families do it, churches do it, state conventions do it—we become slaves to our lenders. One large ministry I heard of hopes to sell a building worth nearly as much as they owe on it. The interest is a ministry robber and the mentality behind credit is sometimes at cross purposes with our message of trust in the Lord. Fourth, we are generally stingy. This I say of the most generous nation in the world. We give billions when a tsunami or earthquake or flood crushes a neighbor but we also spend more billions on pornography, overeating, and even wholesome-ish entertainment. Few church members tithe (some can’t because of debt) and non-church members give little to anything beyond themselves until someone tugs at their hearts with a celebrity infested telethon. Most Americans spend more on entertainment in any year than we give to any charitable cause. There is another way we voters are a big part of the problem. We seem to think that flood, drought, and profligate spending should not impact our standard of living. If a brave politician says, “We don’t have enough money” and then removes something that would have enriched us—a defense contract, raise in benefits, or whatever—he will likely be turned out of office whether he did the right thing or not. Some of our leaders know the truth of our financial state and dare not do anything effective. Our own financial habits make responsible behavior by our leaders catastrophic. Many of us wish our government would learn to live on less; far fewer are willing to do so themselves. Again, I don’t know what the magic pill is for our economic woes but I’m pretty sure someone, many someones, will experience hardship in the implementation of any effective plan. Christians can model responsibility on the retail level because we shouldn’t be as heavily invested in either the here or the now. Most of us can live more simply than we do. Nearly all of us can spend a little more time working with our hands for our own prosperity and that of others. Paying off debts is tough but we can learn to stop taking on debt—Christian leaders and institutions should model that. And we can give away more than we do. Cash will devalue and our stuff will depreciate, but putting wealth to work for kingdom causes can bear fruit beyond our imagining. I’m not discouraged by the “sequester” or even by the prospect of a lean retirement. I’m convicted to avoid being an idle whiner in a land of corrupting luxury. The answer to most of the problems that trouble our sleep begins in our own hearts. Why can’t economic concerns be that way too?
Briefly
Mexican death cult gaining followers
NORTH AMERICA
Arkansas legislators override gov’s abortion ban veto The Arkansas Senate voted Feb. 28 to override Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of a ban on abortions at 20 weeks after conception that is based on evidence a baby in the womb experiences pain by that point. The Republicancontrolled Senate voted 19-14 along party lines following a 53-28 vote to override by the Republican-controlled state House Wednesday. Abortions in the state now will be limited to 20 weeks after conception in most cases. The law provides exceptions in
cases of rape, incest or to save a mother’s life. Beebe, a Democrat, rejected the bill Feb. 26 though seven states have enacted similar legislation. In a veto letter, he contended the measure “would squarely contradict Supreme Court precedent.” Beebe also expressed concern about the cost to Arkansas taxpayers to defend the law in court. The Arkansas bill follows a model bill drafted by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) that is known as the Pain-capable Unborn
Gov. Mike Beebe
Child Protection Act. Mary Spaulding Balch, NRLC’s director of state legislation, applauded the votes to override Beebe’s veto. “Basic compassion for human life demands that this legislation be enacted all over the country,” Balch said.
The Mexican death cult La Santa Muerte is reportedly gaining followers in the United States. A March 4 report by the Associated Press says among new devotees are “immigrant small business owners, artists, gay activists and the poor.” The TEXAN reported on this phenomenon spilling over onto U.S. soil two years ago. One missionary working along the border said at the time, “It’s affecting a lot. First of all, they teach their followers they cannot talk to us. We are Christian, we are their enemies, they are taught. Secondly, they try to attack us in different ways. As a missionary here, they have threatened me, written notes. I’ve been on their watch list. It is spiritual warfare.” The AP story quotes a 35-year-old actor as stating that he landed roles on the cable series “Breaking Bad” and the 2008 movie “Linewatch” after being introduced to the saint of death by a Mexican folk healer. “All my success ... I owe to her,” he said of La Santa Muerte. “She cleansed me and showed me the way.”
Methodist men join conservative voices on Scouts issue The General Commission on United Methodist Men has joined conservative voices urging the Boys Scouts of America not to open its membership to homosexuals. The commission in February sent a letter to Wayne Brock, Boy Scouts of America chief Scout executive, urging the group not to implement proposals being considered at the BSA’s annual meeting in May to open Scouting leadership and membership to homosexuals. The Methodist organization also is calling on Scouting to revitalize its relationship with the faith community. “More time is needed for the 50 United Methodist Annual Conferences and the thousands of United Methodist churches to research in a thought-
ful and prayerful manner exactly what this change might mean,” the letter reads. “We would further ask that this be the beginning of a new relationship between BSA and the faith communities that provide over 70% of the units and 62% of the membership in BSA. Ongoing work must grow from this experience as BSA and their ministry partners seek ways to implement a new, strengthened, faith-filled response to the Scout Oath and Scout Law.” More than 40 other faith denominations and conservative groups have voiced similar concerns, including the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, the International
Communion of Evangelical Churches, the American Family Association and the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute. The SBC Executive Committee in February adopted a resolution urging BSA leadership to stand on moral ground and reject the change to the BSA’s admission policy. MARCH 6, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 3
SBC NORTH AMERICA
Obama admin: Marriage no longer state issue The Obama administration abandoned its states’ rights position on marriage on Feb. 28 by asking the Supreme Court to overturn California’s Proposition 8, and in the process it laid the legal groundwork for legalizing gay marriage nationwide. The friend-of-the-court brief by the Obama Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to overturn California Prop 8, the 2008 voter-approved amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. The department stopped short of calling for gay marriage in all 50 states, although it urged the justices to use a form of review called “heightened scrutiny” that likely would result in gay marriage legalization from coast to coast. The brief was released the same day that Attorney General Eric Holder, in an interview with ABC News, called gay marriage the “latest civil-rights issue.” The Justice Department could have a high hurdle convincing a majority of the court to apply the necessary legal standards to sexual orientation. Four criteria must be met. It must be shown that: Gays and lesbians have “suffered a significant history of discrimination in this country.” “Sexual orientation generally bears no relation to ability to perform or contribute to society.” “Discrimination against gay and lesbian people is based on an immutable or distinguishing characteristic.”
1 2 3
CP 3.15% above budget; slightly under 2012
Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries are 3.15 percent above the yearto-date budgeted goal, but 1
4 Gays and lesbians are a “minority group with limited power to protect themselves from adverse outcomes in the political process.” Meanwhile, Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, called for prayer over the issue. Speaking to Executive Committee trustees and state executives, Page urged his hearers to “Pray first and foremost that God’s will be done,” to “plead for God’s mercy rather than his justice,” for “supernatural wisdom for those who argue for the constitutionality of these two laws,” that “those who argue against biblical truth will be ensnared in their own pride and taken captive by their own conceits,” and also, to “pray God’s Word back to him.” Page closed his call to prayer by quoting the entire chapter of Isaiah 59 as a “most fitting text for us to pray as we intercede on behalf of our nation.” He noted that the Isaiah passage acknowledges God’s might, his ability and his willingness “to rescue our land from imminent moral peril.”
percent behind contributions received during the same period last year. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee received $2,468,495.77 through Feb. 28, including receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2012-13 SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget, Executive Committee President Frank Page said. Receipts totaled $80,801,829.12, or 103.15 percent of the $78,333,333.35 year-to-date budget. If the SBC exceeds its annual budget goal of $188 million, IMB’s share would increase to 51 percent of any overage in CP allocation budget receipts. Other SBC ministry entities would receive their adopted percentage amounts and the SBC operating budget’s portion would be reduced to 2.4 percent of any overage.
4 TEXANONLINE.NET MARCH 6, 2013
Planned Parenthood has tough February dure and sent Byer home with pain
eral health care law popularly known
clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo., forc-
A doctor at a Planned Parenthood
pills, she said. A portion of her unborn
as Obamacare, a Planned Parenthood
ibly aborted a baby and left part of the
child’s body remained within her body
spokeswoman told The Register.
child’s body inside the mother, ac-
without her knowledge, however.
cording to a new lawsuit.
Two days later, she went to the
Jenifer Bowen, executive director of Iowa Right to Life, said, “It would be
emergency room at Penrose Hospital
ironic if Planned Parenthood fought
against Planned Parenthood of the
in Colorado Springs. She underwent
so hard for Obamacare and the pub-
Rocky Mountains, alleging an un-
an emergency D and C.
licly funded birth control mandate
Ayanna Byer, 40, filed suit Feb. 6
named doctor at the clinic performed
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood of
and had to lay off or cut the hours of
an abortion on her in November even
the Heartland announced it would
their own staff to keep from paying
though she told him she had changed
close two of its centers in Iowa, in-
the additional benefits required by
her mind, according to the Alliance
cluding one that provides abortions.
Obamacare.”
Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing her. When she did not receive anesthetic, Byer said she did not want to proceed with the abortion, according to the suit. The doctor told Byer it was too late and began performing the abortion with a vacuum machine in spite of the lack of anesthetic. After about seven minutes, he halted the proce-
The group said Feb. 20 it would
With the latest closings, Planned
close its centers at Fort Madison and
Parenthood of the Heartland will have
Spencer, according to The Des Moines
19 clinics in Iowa and seven combined
Register. The Spencer clinic provides abortion services. Planned Parenthood closed three abortion clinics and another center last year, according to Iowa Right to Life. The action was motivated partly by new regulations under the 2010 fed-
in Arkansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Planned Parenthood Federation of America reported its affiliates performed a record 333,964 abortions during 2010-11, the most recent reporting year.
INTERNATIONAL
IMB strategist says Middle East ‘is stirring’ John Brady, the newly appointed head of IMB’s global strategy office, introduced trustees to the one who will fill his former shoes as the strategy leader for the Northern Africa and Middle East peoples (NAME) affinity, Jack Logan*. “NAME is stirring, the nations are raging. If you watch
Though he wasn’t a believer, Kam began surprising relief
the news, you can’t miss it,” Logan told trustees. “The Arab
workers with a unique “announcement” as he entered
Spring is more than a season, it’s a new reality,” he said,
refugees’ homes. “Are you dead or alive?” Kam would ask,
adding that God is using the chaos to open doors for the
telling families that the relief workers were there to share
gospel.
“how they could have life.”
Refugee work has provided some incredible encounters,
“We need to reset our expectations,” Logan said. “They
Logan said, explaining that NAME personnel are “constant-
are most often defined by past experience or present reali-
ly coming in contact with people whom God is already pre-
ties. But our expectations should be defined by what we
paring to receive the gospel. He is orchestrating events and
believe God will do. And he is up to something that we’ve
circumstances that we could’ve never imagined before.”
never seen before, and he’s doing it in the driest, darkest
Logan shared a story about a man named Kam* who was
and most dangerous places. Pray that we would believe.
helping a Southern Baptist relief team distribute food
Pray also that we would have people who would rise up,
and hygiene kits to refugees. Kam served as the team’s
count the cost ... and follow after Christ to these difficult,
guide, taking them to homes where help was needed most.
difficult places.” MARCH 6, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 5
INSIDE
HOBBY LOBBY By Art Toalston OKLAHOMA CITY
obby Lobby has been pushed to the front lines of a monumental battle over religious liberty just when the arts and crafts chain is aiming to open a Bible museum near the U.S. Capitol in Washington. “God’s up to something,” Steve Green, Hobby Lobby’s president, often says. “We’re just along for the ride.” Hobby Lobby’s founder—Green’s father, David—has publicly stated the company will not obey a federal mandate to provide employee health insurance that covers abortion-causing drugs. The 530-store chain could face government fines amounting to $1.3 million a day if the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services forces its will on Hobby Lobby and numerous other privately owned businesses lead by Christians who regard abortion as the taking of innocent life. Steve Green, meanwhile, is leading Hobby Lobby’s plan to open a museum showcasing many of the 40,000 Bible artifacts in The Green Collection secured by the family’s company over the past three years. The museum and accompanying research center will be housed in 400,000-500,000 square feet renovated from two office buildings two blocks from the Air and Space Museum and a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The yet-unnamed museum could open as early as the fall of 2016. Green spoke about the court battle and the museum to editors who visited Hobby Lobby’s headquarters, its sprawling manufacturing plant and four distribution centers on the outskirts of Oklahoma City during the Association of State Baptist Publications’ Feb. 11-14 6 TEXANONLINE.NET MARCH 6, 2013
Facing $1.3 million daily fines for disobeying federal mandate on abortion pills and contraceptives, arts & crafts chain plows headfirst into God’s sovereign plan because this is “God’s company,” family says. annual meeting. Asked if the HHS mandate, if ultimately enforced by the courts, could cost Hobby Lobby its solvency and its vision for a Bible museum, Green said, “I don’t have the answer to that. All I know is that we’re in good hands. I anticipate that it’s going to be a long battle. “And what and where God directs this, I don’t know.” Hobby Lobby, in its suit against the HHS mandate, remains in federal appeals court among dozens of companies objecting to the abortion insurance requirement. “We haven’t gotten to the merits of the case,” Green said of the Hobby Lobby suit. “This is just asking for the injunction. ... “Even if we get a no” on the merits of the case—if two appeals courts issue “two different rulings— and there have been on the injunction—then it’s more likely that the Supreme Court would make a ruling on it. That’s probably, at earliest, a couple of years down the road,” Green said. Asked how Hobby Lobby’s supporters can pray for the company, Green requested prayer “for the wisdom to say the right things and not say what we shouldn’t be saying. I think that we’re pretty clear. We know what our answer is. “Pray for our government leaders,” Green added, “and the judges who are going to make the decisions, that exactly what God wants, happens.” Green said it is difficult to tell whether Hobby Lobby’s customers have been affected by the company’s stance against the HHS mandate. “We get a lot of support ... people that are very supportive and then there are some that are very angry,” Green said. “It’s a very volatile issue and we hear from the two extremes. On average, I would guess that our customers are more supportive.”
In sales, “last year was a great year” for Hobby Lobby, Green said, acknowledging, “... We’re in the news a lot. People are thinking about us and they’re wanting to be supportive and they come out. That could be a part of it.”
Bible museum The Green Collection, which will be showcased at the museum in Washington, has become the world’s largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts since Green’s first purchase in November 2009. “We didn’t buy them because we’re collectors; we bought them because we wanted to tell the Bible story,” Green said, reflecting a sense of ministry from more than 25 years of placing God first in the family business. “The material we have to make a museum with trumps any museum that’s there [in D.C.],” Green said. “Our story is the most incredible story to be told.” The Green Collection includes: 4the world’s second-largest private collection from the Dead Sea Scrolls (10 fragments) and the largest private collection of Jewish scrolls, spanning more than 700 years, including Torahs that survived the Spanish Inquisition and Torahs confiscated by the Nazis that were recovered in various concentration camps. 4the largest portion of Scripture in the closest form of the Aramaic that Jesus would have spoken, along with the first Gospels in Arabic. 4a third-century fragment from the oldest known text of the Book of Romans and a fragment that scholars are examining to determine if it contains the earliest
Hobby Lobby President Steve Green holds the first “legal” Bible version printed in America, the Aitken Bible, which was commissioned by Congress during the Revolutionary period. Prior to this, the British commissioned all English Bibles. This Bible is one example of a world-renowned collection of rare Bibles and biblical manuscripts the Green family of Oklahoma City will use to tell the Bible’s story in a state-of-the-art museum on prime property in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of the Green Collection). Pictured is a copy of “The Newe Testament” William Tyndale Bible, dated 1536. This image contains the opening to the Gospel of Luke, which includes a ¼ page woodcut illustration of the apostle (accompanied by the traditional symbol of the bull/ox) writing the book. (Photo courtesy of the Green Collection).
reference to Romans 4:23-5:3 and 5:8-13. 4the earliest known nearcomplete translation of the Psalms from Hebrew to Middle English. 4a copy of Wycliffe’s New Testament, a large portion of a Gutenberg Bible, a large fragment of a Tyndale New Testament and a sizeable collection from the original printing of the 1611 King James Bible. 4early tracts and Bibles of Martin Luther, including a littleknown letter Luther wrote the night before his excommunication from the Catholic Church. Currently, part of the collection, a 20,000-square-foot traveling exhibit called “Passages,” is in Charlotte, N.C., and will go next to Colorado Springs, Colo. Green said the museum in Washington will have three sections with state-of-the-art museum technology—the history, the impact and the message of
Bible. The goal of the history section, Green said, is “to show that the Bible we have is true.” With each new archaeological discovery, “it supports what the biblical narrative tells us.” Critics claimed, for example, that people called Hittites in the Bible never existed— until archaeological evidence proved otherwise, Green said. “While we can’t prove everything in the Bible is true, archaeological evidence points that what we do have is true,” he said. The Bible’s impact, meanwhile, has been “an impact for good” throughout history, “from science, education, government, family, music, art, literature, on and on and on,” Green said. “... There will be those who argue that religion has caused all the problems in our world,” Green acknowledged. “’If we could just get rid of religion’ is what an atheist would say. There are plenty MARCH 6, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 7
of examples where men have taken this book and misinterpreted it and used it for their own ill intent. “But don’t blame the book for man’s wrong use of the book,” Green said. “... [W]hen we read this book and we apply this book to our lives, it will be good for us individually and for us as a society— for mankind in general.” The Bible’s message, as the museum will express it, involves the “story line that this book tells ... that God did create man, he gave us choice, we walked away from him and were in need of a Savior, and he sent his own Son to pay the price for our sin. “You don’t have to believe it,” Green said, “but that’s its story.” It’s especially a story for people “who have never understood, read, known what the Bible says. They may have it on their shelf but they’ve never read it. We want them to go away from this section saying, ‘Oh, so that’s what the Bible is all about.’” A person who knows nothing of the Bible will be able to tour the museum and leave with at least “a cliff notes version of the Bible says,” Green explained.
Family gives business to God Green said it became clear to his father in 1985 that Hobby Lobby ultimately is not his company. “That was the year that he got the family together and said, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to make it.’” Whenever the business faced financial difficulty, Green’s father David “always had a way of figuring it out,” as Hobby Lobby expanded beyond its fledgling beginning in 1972 as a 300-square-foot art supplies store in Oklahoma City. “But he got to a point where he couldn’t figure it out. He said, ‘God, if you want us to survive, you’re going to have to do it. “It became very real to him this was God’s company,” Steve Green recounted. 8 TEXANONLINE.NET MARCH 6, 2013
“The next year we had double profits—almost double our [previous] best year.” Ever since, the elder Green often has said, “This is not our company, we’re just stewards of it. So, literally, we’re along for the ride.” As the company grew, Steve Green said, “I can remember thinking to myself … ‘Oh, this is not just my job, this is my ministry.’” The company now has 22,000 employees nationwide, 13,000 of them full-time earning a minimum of $13 an hour, well above federal minimum wage. Some 3,500 employees work at Hobby Lobby’s 5 million square feet of company offices and manufacturing/distribution space in Oklahoma City. In family discussions, Steve Green said, they’ve talked about three options, or “opportunities,” for whenever a trial arises. “It could be ‘averted,’” Green said, citing the experience of Daniel in the Old Testament when he was asked to violate his faith by eating the king’s meat. “He appealed and the problem was averted.” “It could be ‘delivered,’” Green said. “Daniel, at a later time in his life, had to go to the lions’ den, and he was delivered. “The third option is that it can be ‘suffered,’” Green said. “Christ went to the cross. All the disciples were martyred but one. We have an original ‘Foxe’s Book of Martyrs’ that has story after story after story of those who gave their lives. “Sometimes it’s to suffer,” Green said, noting yet again, “We’re along for the ride.”
Criswell adds online master’s degree By Michelle Tyer DALLAS
Criswell College recently made available a fully online master’s degree to complement their oncampus degree plans. The degree includes 36 hours of classes that can be completed in eight-week sessions. Four students currently are participating in the master of arts degree in Christian studies (MACS) that was accredited in the last couple of months. “You get the same quality of learning over eight weeks that you get in 16 weeks,” said Scott Shiffer, who began leading the development of the program in November 2012. Anyone who has completed an undergraduate degree and takes a research seminar offered at Criswell can enroll in the program. Shiffer explained that the program is perfect for those wanting to further their education or even to just study theology more but who do not live near a seminary. “They want to be able to offer something to missionaries,” Shiffer said. “Something to people in churches outside the area.” The program is similar to oncampus classes in that professors help the students and they set deadlines, Shiffer said. But it is also more flexible for those who are full-time ministers or missionaries. Students can also decide if they want to take sessions simultaneously or spread them out through the year. “They can work at their own pace,” Shiffer said. Curtis James, the worship leader
at Criswell and a part of Common Belief Ministries, decided to take part in the program as soon as it became available. “It’s perfect for your typical minister who’s working 50 hours a week at his church and can’t go on campus,” James said. With his ministries, James travels around the state to assist churches and is not able to stay in one place to take classes. “It’s helpful for me to be able to get online at 11 o’clock in a hotel room and do my schoolwork,” James said. Each eight-week course contains eight units, each providing a written lecture, textbook readings and an assignment such as class discussion, a quiz or project. James said having a professor ready to help is an advantage that his undergraduate online classes did not always provide and adds a new dimension to the program. “There’s something about the accountability of a professor being there on campus as a part of the Internet program,” James said. “You have somebody you can literally pick up the phone and call.” Those professors can be contacted easily over the phone or through email, James said. And they usually respond quickly. But James also said the Internet program is not just an easy way to get the degree. “I don’t think it’s for everybody,” James said. Barry Creamer, vice president for academic affairs and professor of humanities, agreed, noting: “We do expect the online MACS to appeal to all kinds of students. But it is
specifically designed for working adults who are involved in ministry vocationally or as volunteers, but who are typically unable to attend class or relocate in order to receive a theological education.” Shiffer said the degree program—which offers classes such as philosophy of religion, biblical hermeneutics and personal evangelism—is text-based. This is helpful for two of the four online students who are deaf. James said the teaching method of Criswell College drew him to the school and their new program. “I think their primary focus is to prepare the students for ministry,” James said. “Not merely to teach them knowledge.” James said translating that ministry focus into the online program is unique and admirable. Shiffer said Criswell does plan on making their online program just as efficient in training students as the classes on campus. “We intend for it to be a very high-quality program,” Shiffer said. “Anything the student would learn in a classroom they will learn online.” Anyone interested in the program can find more information at Criswell College’s website: criswell.edu. MARCH 6, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 9
Multi-site churches buck convention, but they are far from cookie-cutter By Tammi Reed Ledbetter Whether it’s Sunday School at Calvary Baptist in Beaumont, senior adult choir at Spring Baptist Church near Houston, RAs and GAs at Bannockburn Baptist in Austin, disaster relief teams deployed by Fielder Road Baptist Church or TeamKid offered by Broadview Baptist in Abilene, there are ministries most Southern Baptists are familiar with no matter where you go. Now there’s another trait that these five churches have in common—multi-site ministry. At least 17 churches affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention have extended their reach to their community, region or even other states, all the while keeping their commitment to teaching the Word of God to new audiences. “By definition, multi-site involves starting a site somewhere other 10 TEXANONLINE.NET MARCH 6, 2013
than your current campus,” explained Scott McConnell in his book “Multi-Site Churches.” While many of the “goals, experiences and characteristics” look similar to church planting, McConnell said, “new sites and church plants are traveling different routes that require different vision, resourcing, and style of leadership.” The earliest adopter of the multisite model among SBTC churches was Second Baptist Church in Houston, pastored by Edwin Young. In 1999 a second campus was launched, with additional sites developed to the north, south and Cypress areas of Houston during the past decade. In another area of Houston, Metropolitan Baptist Church launched a second site four years ago known as The Met @ Fry Road in Cypress. “An expanding vision to be one church in multiple locations means we are devoted to one mission, one
set of core values, one strategy, and one church body, but meeting in multiple locations,” The Met website explains. Begun as a mission in 1990, Fellowship Church in Grapevine offers three identical services, with campuses in Plano, the arts district of downtown Dallas, and the museum district west of downtown Fort Worth. The pastor’s Saturday night message is videotaped and transmitted to the other campuses the next morning, with live music provided and a campus pastor in place. That technology allowed Fellowship to open three more campuses beyond the state—two in Miami and one in Columbia, S.C. Most often, a multi-site church will designate campus pastors to shepherd believers at the local site while delivering the senior pastor’s message at the original campus via video. Exceptions to that approach are found at Hyde Park Baptist in
Austin, Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen, South Jefferson Baptist in Mt. Pleasant, Spring Baptist in Spring, and the Church on Rush Creek in Arlington. At South Jefferson Baptist, the associate pastor preaches in Spanish to a crowd of about 80 people at the second campus known as El Buen Pastor. Beaumont’s Calvary Baptist Executive Pastor Gary Rothenberger Jr. explained, “The screen is great, but I think people still like to hear preaching in person. You can’t just put up a screen and tell people to come in and watch it,” he said. “Otherwise, they’ll just watch a service on TV. You have to have a campus pastor that does everything else that a pastor does and develop relationships through connection groups.” The Prosper campus of Prestonwood Baptist Church grew out of a desire to reach people in an area of rapid growth, but also increased the likelihood that members traveling from that direction would bring neighbors and extended family. When they began looking at a site 19 miles north of the original
“The screen is great, but I think people still like to hear preaching in person. You can’t just put up a screen and tell people to come in and watch it. ”
campus, church leaders realized there were 2,000 members living midway between the two sites, providing a large base of people to join the launch of a new campus. Broadview Baptist Church in Abilene added a west campus in 2006, reaching out to an area near Dyess Air Force Base and several mobile home communities. Attendance at the main campus averages more than 500 while the west campus draws about 70 people each Sunday. StoneWater Church in Granbury launched in 2005. About 75 to 100 people were coming from nearby Glen Rose to the new church start, prompting the church to consider starting a new site in that area. StoneWater launched with a goal of planting 10 other churches in coordination with SBTC. White helped the first five in Cleburne, Weatherford and Stephenville, Wills Point and a Hispanic campus in Granbury transition to autonomous congregations with full-time leadership. While Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi is one of the fastestgrowing churches in the country, Pastor Bil Cornelius has also led the way in traditional church planting, teaming with SBTC to launch Brazos Fellowship in Bryan/College Station and Revolution Church in Schertz, as well as launching other plants in Texas, California, Colorado, Georgia, and Florida, and 40 churches planted in India. LakePointe in Rockwall is another example of a megachurch committed to church planting, working alongside other churches to launch autonomous churches in other states and countries.
Since the 1980s Houston’s FBC has worked with more than 75 local congregations all over the city, encouraging and revitalizing their ministries as part of a local missions effort. So when they launch the Sienna campus this Easter, the revitalization of Grace Church pastored by Jeff Rees will continue that priority. In addition to the downtown campus near the University of Texas, Austin Stone Community Church has two other sites offered on the south and west sides of the capital city. “Having more and smaller worship gatherings with the same theology, vision and leadership will allow us to continue to grow wide as well as deep,” according to the church website. Of the 17 multi-site churches studied, four are among the top 30 in Cooperative Program giving through the SBTC while four gave nothing in 2012. A few, like the Met use the majority of their mission dollars to partner with a variety of mission organizations. Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington has a long history of being engaged in missions in the local community and abroad. Its new East Arlington campus maintains a priority of being multi-ethnic and multi-generational led by campus pastor Ender Palencia-Sanchez. “We’re not going to become a monument,” noted Fellowship Church Pastor Ed Young. “We’ve had momentum for 20 years. We’re a movement and it’s not going to stop.” MARCH 6, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 11
Luter: What did it take to change you? SBC president expounds on the power of the gospel to save. IRVING
Fred Luter brought Sunday morning fire to his Monday night sermon at the Empower Evangelism Conference on March 4, waxing forcefully about the gospel’s power to save. “When Ann Landers and Dear Abby run out of advice, the Word of God will still be standing. When the palm reader runs out of palms, the Word of God will still be standing … When Jerry Jones runs out of football coaches, the Word of God will still be standing,” shouted Luter, the Southern Baptist Convention president, preaching from Paul’s declaration in Romans 1:16-17 that he wasn’t ashamed of the gospel. Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, briefly mentioned his role as SBC president and asked for continued prayer. “I want to honor you well. I want to honor my church well, but most of all I want to honor God well.” He is the first African American president in the history of the SBC, founded in 1845 in a split with northern Baptists over slavery. Luter said Romans 1:16-17—“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’”—shows the transforming power of the gospel to save all kinds of people through faith. The believer’s mandate is to share it with a lost world, especially one living in what appears to be the last days before Christ’s return. “You don’t have to be Bible scholar to know we are living in the last days and perilous times,” said Luter, noting senseless violence, rampant abuse, marriage and family breakdown, disrespect for authority and sexual immorality. Despite the culture thinking these things are the inevitable norm, “I’ve come all the way
from New Orleans to tell you that nothing could be right if it’s biblically wrong.” Mindful of the world’s sins and woes, Luter asked his audience, “What did it take to change you in your BC days?” before Christ. “What did it take to change your life? … Somewhere along the line you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Noting the Bible’s teaching that Jesus Christ is the same “yesterday, today and forever,” then “if he can do it in Paul’s life, in your life … why can’t the same gospel do the same thing in the same way in the days we’re living in.” “In other words, if the gospel changed you, why can’t the gospel change those knuckleheads out there?” Luter exclaimed. Four things about the gospel are clear in the passage, he said. First, the gospel is personal because it is directed at individual hearts. “Sometimes it seems that sermon is meant just for you,” Luter said of the convicting power of the message. At Franklin Avenue, Luter said he encourages his people to let the worship be personal. Remember, “it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” Also, the gospel is powerful; it is the “the only thing that can penetrate years of sin and save a lost soul.” For the drug addict, the homosexual, the gangbanger, the “hoochie mama,” the rebellious teenager, “no matter what they’ve done, the gospel can save their lives,” said Luter, explaining that he ministers “in the ‘hood.”
“No matter your race, your background, whether you’re from uptown, downtown, your town, my town … they can receive the gospel.”
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“The gospel is powerful because it can set you free!” The gospel is also practical because it is powerful to save the Jew and the Greek. “No matter your race, your background, whether you’re from uptown, downtown, your town, my town … they can receive the gospel.” Skin color doesn’t matter to God either, Luter said. “The only color God is concerned about is the color red, because of the blood. Nothing but the blood of Jesus … What can wash me white as snow? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!” Furthermore, the gospel is persistent, saving people from “faith to faith.” God’s Word is critical if the nation would be transformed, he said. When everything else has failed, the Word of God will stand. There are some things in the culture for which he is ashamed, he said, noting abortion, government infighting, petty differences among church members, “the number of preachers who don’t practice what they preach,” some of the filth teenagers and others are watching daily. But, “There is something I’m not ashamed of—the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation!” Luter shouted in closing his message.
SENT Conference aims to challenge By Stephanie Heading Most pastors know that living out the challenge of the Great Commission is not a one-man job. It takes pastors and church members working together to reach those around the corner and around the world with the gospel of Christ. But getting the local church to catch the vision of evangelism can be difficult. That’s where Living SENT 2013 comes in, providing resources to help pastors and laypeople lead churches to develop a passion for missions. Living SENT 2013 is April 26-27 at First Baptist Church of Euless and features pre-conferences, conferences, and workshops, designed to inspire believers to embrace the challenge of Acts 1:8 to become “witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” “I have attended SENT three times, and I feel like it is one of the premiere missions events in the nation,” said Shawn Kemp, SBTC ministry facilitator. “I think pastors, mission leaders, and everyday Christ-followers who want to be more effective in their mission efforts, whether in their own neighborhood or around the globe, should attend SENT.” For more information about Living SENT 2013, including complete preconference, conference, and workshop information and registration requirements, visit sbtexas.com/sent. MARCH 6, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 13
Jerry Pierce
What sex can never be
A
movement begun by Florida pastor Jay Dennis to enlist 1 million men to commit to living porn-free is a notable and badly needed effort at taking back some territory in a spiritual war that is decimating the sexual psyche of our culture. This raw sewage is running through your church on some level, the pollsters tell us. Satan can’t lay claim to the Christian, but he can render him harmless. In the digital age, pornography is hell’s preferred M.O. for this. Know this: every Christian man with a pulse is a target of the enemy in this war. We are kidding ourselves if we think we’re not. And wives, it has very little to do with you. It is an idolatrous sexual greed that attempts to make sex— great gift that it is—into something it could never be. In the real world, a husband must interact with his wife first outside the bedroom and then inside the bedroom. It requires something of both parties. God designed it this way. But not so with porn. Statistics from a nearly seven-year-old study showed that 50 percent of self-identifying Christian men and 20 percent of Christian women were addicted to pornography. (We won’t deal with the whole “Shades of Grey” novels for women. For more on that, read here.) And these numbers were before the market explosion of smart phones and devices. Dennis told his state newspaper he believes the figure is likely 80 percent. I hope not. And among boys, the trend for first-time exposure to pornography is getting younger. I’m a father of two sons and a daughter, and I am worried about all three for different reasons. Will my daughter find a God-honoring man who hasn’t been damaged by the twisted 14 TEXANONLINE.NET MARCH 6, 2013
For many of us men, will we finish strong in our walk with God, opting to resist the lure of cheap sexual release that leaves users empty, guilty, and spiritually bruised? The alternative is to leave no legacy worth emulating. content that is common on the Web? Will my boys be able to withstand the pressure of raging teenage boy hormones and the normal curiosity that comes with being a young man, but in a sex-saturated age? For many of us men, will we finish strong in our walk with God, opting to resist the lure of cheap sexual release that leaves users empty, guilty, and spiritually bruised? The alternative is to leave no legacy worth emulating. And as it is with all lust, it never satisfies; it grows stronger in its pull over time much like a desert mirage that keeps fooling a thirsty traveler. But if God’s Word is true—and I believe it is—then we can be transformed (Romans 12:1-2), we are more than overcomers (Romans 8:37), and such were some of us (1 Corinthians 6:11). Living those realities require some things. Primarily, men and women desperately need to grasp what their relationship with God was meant to be. We are to desire God more than the love of a woman or a man, more than the most sensual pleasures imaginable, more than earthly success, more than power, more than applause. When a man makes a conscious decision to say yes to sexual lust, he has said to his Creator, I choose to worship my flesh over worshiping you. Same with all deliberate sin. I love John Piper’s concept of “Christian hedonism”—that we must pursue and treasure God with abandon of all else. We were created for pleasure, Piper insists, it’s just that we can’t find any kind that lasts—save for one. “Pleasure is not God’s competitor, idols are,” Piper says. “Pleasure is simply a gauge that measures how valuable someone or something is to us. Pleasure is the measure of our treasure.” We must develop a taste for God, for the godly affections. And it is developed. There are no 90-day wonder boys in God’s army. The more this is practiced, the more we desire him. Only he can displace those devastating idols lodged in our God-shaped vacuums.
“Knowing that as individuals we can give a little bit, and that little bit will go into a pool of resources that can be spread across the world to change lives—THAT is absolutely amazing. I encourage all to give through the Cooperative Program. It will be a blessing that will last forever. —TONY MATHEWS, PASTOR North Garland Fellowship Baptist, Garland
JESUS TOGETHER, BUT
GETTING THE GOSPEL OF
CHRIST TO THE LOST PEOPLES OF THE WORLD IS DAUNTING
WORKING THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS
Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Toll free 1.877.953.SBTC (7282) www.sbtexas.com MARCH 6, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 15