April 16, 2014 • ISSUE 28
‘So devout.
But for what?’ +THE GAMEPLAN AIMS TO
TURN EVANGELISM ‘MOMENTS’ INTO MOVEMENT
+HISTORIC MEMPHIS CHURCH
RESCUES ARLINGTON HOOPS TEAM
Engagement with unreached, unengaged people group in India confirms to SBTC team that needs exceed resources.
Gary Ledbetter
Maybe it’s complicated and maybe it’s not
T
he Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s latest effort to whitewash their sepulcher is puzzling. Knowing that most evangelical Christians find their work pretty repulsive, the country’s largest abortion provider has trotted out their chairwoman, Alexis McGill Johnson, who describes herself as a Christian, to tell us that abortion is “complicated.” Everyone who is shocked to hear a pro-abortion liberal Christian describe the killing of more than a million unborn children a year as “complicated” raise your hand. No one? Me neither. Mrs. Johnson is only saying what liberals, liberal Christians, liberal Baptists and even liberal Texas Baptists have been saying since 1973. Perhaps we should stipulate that unmarried pregnancies, single motherhood and unfit parents are a big, complicated mess. Will that move the dialogue on to explaining the sordid source of Planned Parenthood’s power and income? When asked about the greater success Planned Parenthood has had drumming up abortion business in minority communities, the chairwoman pointed out not only is this also complicated but it is also a civil rights issue comparable to the Voting Rights Act. In an effort to downplay the abortion business Planned Parenthood does, she pointed out that only about 10 percent of their business is abortion. Why then does this industry leader raise and spend millions to build giant abortion clinics; why do they turn out thousands to disrupt the Texas Senate’s deliberations? As I suggested last year in a TEXAN column, it may be because this mere 10 percent of their business actually generates a third of their income. I remind you that it was not Planned Parenthood’s right to hand out condoms, refer people to actual doctors for breast exams or even give terrible, anti-family advice that was
at risk when Texas passed a bill to require higher medical standards for the state’s abortion industry. It was the ability of substandard clinics to make money from abortions— even late-term abortions that dispatched a thousand orange-shirted protestors, and a gubernatorial campaign. But let’s look at 10 percent for a moment. What percentage of abortions are late-term each year? The answer is 1.5 percent. Those 15,000 or so human beings sound like a worthy cause for pro-lifers but piddling business for abortionists. And yet, they fight as though this small percentage matters. What percentage of Americans identify as homosexual? Gallup says 3.4 percent but some say it’s higher, though not 10 percent. And yet that portion of our population has launched a hundred court cases and now will likely force some Americans out of business and cost others their jobs. What would you say about a man who spends 90 percent of his weekly 119 waking hours feeding the hungry and volunteering in a pediatric cancer clinic, but the other 11.9 hours as an arsonist? How about a florist or baker who gladly accommodates 97 percent of her customers who want help with a wedding but who will not accept the 2 or 3 percent who want to have a samesex ceremony? What are her chances? No one is mollified by hearing that Planned Parenthood manages to set the industry standard for abortion but with only 10 percent of their customers. Nothing could be further from relevant. A big thanks to ChristianPost.com for running this interview. It shows how incredibly clueless American radicals can be. Those who were pro-abortion before reading the story will say, “See there!” And those who were not will say, “So what?” I guess it also points to the huge span of beliefs called Christian in our day. We know that but it’s a little startling when we see someone use casually a term that for us holds a very specific and holy meaning. Perhaps there is a cynical use of “Christian” in this case. Pro-lifers have no reason at all to muddy the meaning of the word; the chairwoman of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America has more to gain if she can shave off a few undecideds. She didn’t say anything about abortion that an atheist couldn’t have said. It’s complicated, yes. It’s all about rights and freedom, yes. But attaching the term “Christian” added nothing to the same rhetoric proabortion America has been using for decades. “Complicated” doesn’t mean that same thing as “tragic” or even “difficult,” by the way. Sometimes it’s very difficult to do or live with the right decision. Often, taking the right path will make our lives much messier. I’m not sure the difference between right and wrong, or life and death, is always complicated in itself. But when it is, alive and dead are still the same outcomes. Feeling conflicted about it is of very little use.
Contents
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Keller evangelist Gott to preach in Ukraine The Ukrainian crisis has kindled an interdenominational prayer movement in the nation, said a Keller-based evangelist who ministers there and is scheduled to preach there this month.
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March Mercy: Bellevue Baptist gives Arlington Baptist College hoopsters a memorable assist While the rest the nation was up to its elbows in busted March Madness brackets last month, the Arlington Baptist College basketball team may have gotten the assist of the year from Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis.
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Bubba Watson shot a three-under-par 69 on last Sunday at Augusta National, cruising to his second Masters championship in three years. An outspoken Christian, he took to Twitter following the win and proclaimed himself “blessed.”
The GamePlan aims to turn evangelism ‘moments’ into movement Nathan Lorick’s prayer is that “God would take a moment and turn it into a movement”— the movement being a cycle of Great Commission events, namely praying for, evangelizing and discipling converts in a New Testament model.
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Masters winner Watson ‘incredibly blessed’
Your marriage and the Easter story You likely know the story: God caused a “deep sleep” to fall on Adam and then took one of his ribs and fashioned Eve out of it (Genesis 2:21-22). There is an incredible typology embedded into this event about the true message of Easter.
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COVER STORY: ‘Devout, but for what?’ India trip reminds mission team of great gospel need Regardless of age, gender, race or stage of life, the impact of an overseas mission experience can be jarring, heartbreaking and life changing. An SBTC mission team’s India trip was all of that and more.
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 Sharayah Colter, Staff Writer Russell Lightner, Design & Layout Stephanie Barksdale, Subscriptions Contributing Writers Bonnie Pritchett, Paul F. South, Jared C. Wellman, Tom Strode To contact the TEXAN office, visit texanonline.net/contact or call toll free 877.953.7282 (SBTC) COVER PHOTO: Ryann Mathews of Garland hugs an Indian mother and her children during a recent mission trip.
Briefly //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// HBU HOSTING FAITH IN PUBLIC SQUARE Three prominent voices in the public square— from the United States Senate, academia, and journalism—will discuss “Faith and Freedom in the Public Square” at 7:30 p.m. on May 2 (Friday) in the Morris Cultural Arts Center at Houston Baptist University. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Houston, HBU President Robert Sloan and journalist Marvin Olasky, editorin-chief of World News Group. They will share candid thoughts about the role faith has played in each of their careers. They will also discuss the state of religious freedom in America and abroad. Warren Cole Smith of World Magazine will facilitate questions from the audience and from Twitter participants in the final segment of the program. The evening is presented by World Magazine, Hashtag Productions, and the new Center for Law and Liberty at HBU. R.J. Moeller of Hashtag Productions said the purpose of the event is to bring together concerned citizens and public figures for a thoughtful conversation about how people of faith engage with the public square in an increasingly secular society. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $20 for general admission seating and $100 for a limited number of VIP reserved seats, which include a pre-event catered reception with the speakers at 6:45 p.m. and a photo opportunity with Cruz.
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OKC PASTOR TO BE NOMINATED FOR 2ND VP Oklahoma City pastor Hance Dilbeck will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June, a former SBC president, Johnny Hunt, has announced. Dilbeck has been the pastor of the 4,600-member Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City since 2003. “Pastor Hance is a man that loves God and his Word, the church and the nations,” said Hunt, pastor of the Atlanta-area First Baptist Church Woodstock. “He has a great experience as a leader and pastor, a strong passion for the Great Commission, a sweet love for Southern Baptists and an unyielding commitment to denominational unity.” Dilbeck has been in the pastorate 20-plus years. Prior to Quail Springs, he served seven years as pastor of First Baptist Church in Ponca City, Okla. “Pastor Hance has particularly demonstrated an unmatched love for the Hispanic population and the Cooperative Program,” Hunt said. “Dilbeck is helping to fuel a Hispanic church planting movement.” Hunt said Dilbeck has been called the American “Hispanic” pastor by Hispanic church planters. This year, Hunt said, Quail Springs is involved in planting 14 Hispanic churches in North America. Last year, the church set aside $1 million to plant Hispanic churches and contributed over $3.7 million to the Cooperative Program in support of Southern Baptist missions and ministry in Oklahoma and around the world. “That is the kind of missionary and denomination commitment
that we want to see among our pastors and leaders,” Hunt said. Dilbeck is a two-time graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning a master of divinity degree in 1992 and a doctor of ministry in 2002. His undergraduate degree in religion is from Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU), where he serves as adjunct professor of preaching. In addition to the pastorate, Dilbeck has been the featured preacher for Falls Creek Youth Camp; chairman of Southwestern’s board of trustees; and chairman of OBU’s trustees. Dilbeck and his wife Julie have been married for 28 years and have three grown sons, D.H., Dax and Leighton. Other SBC officer nominees announced to date are Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas for president, and Clint Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., for first vice president.
KELLER EVANGELIST GOTT INVITED TO PREACH IN UKRAINE Keller-based Michael Gott International evangelistic outreach drew a crowd to this church in Kiev, Ukraine, in February. Gott is returning to Ukraine this month for a series of sermons, including an April 27 service marking a national day of mourning for those killed in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in February. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL GOTT INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES.
The Ukrainian crisis has kindled an interdenominational prayer movement in the nation, said a Southern Baptist evangelist who ministers there and has accepted an invitation from Ukrainian Baptists to preach on a national day of mourning in Kiev. Ukrainian Christians believe only God can protect the nation from Russian control in the midst of upheaval that led to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in February, said Keller-based Michael Gott, who has been ministering in Ukraine nearly 40 years. “The churches, the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, the evangelicals, the Baptists and the Pentecostals are now having prayer meetings together, asking God to intervene in their nation’s history—and it is an atmosphere of holy desperation,” Gott
told Baptist Press. “They are saying, ‘God if you don’t help us, we’re down the tubes. We’re facing a collapse of our whole nation.’ “What [the revolution] has caused is an amazing thing,” said Gott, who spends up to six months a year in Eastern Europe. His latest trip to Kiev was in February and March of this year through his Michael Gott International evangelistic association. Gott is scheduled to preach an April 27 sermon commemorating the estimated 100 people killed when Yanukovych was ousted from power. Details are still being finalized for the event expected to draw up to 50,000 Ukrainians and to be televised nationally, the result of the new government declaring the service an official religious and cultural event, Gott said.
BLOOD MOONS HYPE MISGUIDED, PROFS SAY Televangelist John Hagee’s prediction that a series of “blood moon” lunar eclipses signals a “world shaking event” is a misinterpretation of the Bible, two Southern Baptist professors said. The San Antonio pastor’s prediction “ignores” a common style of writing in the Bible known as “apocalyptic literature” that “frequently contains cosmic imagery” to describe significant spiritual events. In apocalyptic literature such figures of speech are not meant to be interpreted “in a literalistic manner,” Ben Merkle, associate professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., told Baptist Press. A rare sequence of four consecutive complete lunar eclipses—known as a tetrad—began April 15 and will conclude in September 2015. This tetrad is especially significant, Hagee said, because each eclipse will occur on a Jewish holy day: April 15, 2014 (Passover), Oct. 8, 2014 (Feast of Tabernacles), —Briefly section was compiled from Baptist Press reports
April 4, 2015 (Passover) and Sept. 28, 2015 (Feast of Tabernacles). Previous tetrads coincided with expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Israel’s statehood in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967, Hagee said. Bruce Gordon, associate professor of the history and philosophy of science at Houston Baptist University, said that apart from the star God placed over Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem, “the whole business of discerning ‘signs in the heavens’ related to human affairs smacks either of astrology or pointless speculation about eschatological prophecies in Scripture,” he told BP. “Of course, Christ will return someday and creation will be made new,” he said. “The wise course of action is not to speculate about various ‘signs of the times,’ however, but rather to keep your spiritual house in order and give stronger emphasis to Jesus’ pronouncement that ‘about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father’ (Matthew 24:36).”
MASTERS WINNER WATSON ‘INCREDIBLY BLESSED’ Bubba Watson shot a three-under-par 69 on last Sunday at Augusta National, cruising to his second Masters championship in three years. An outspoken Christian, he took to Twitter following the win and proclaimed himself “blessed.” “I want to thank everyone for the support, encouraging words & congrats that have poured in this week!” he tweeted. “I feel incredibly blessed.” Watson, of Bagdad, Fla., identifies himself on Twitter as “Christian. Husband. Daddy. Pro Golfer.” Only 16 other golfers have won multiple Masters titles, including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson. “It’s overwhelming,” Watson said after the win. “To win twice, to be with those great names. ... A small-town guy named Bubba now has two green jackets. It’s pretty wild.” Watson won by three strokes over Sweden’s Jonas Blixt and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth of Dallas. Before he teed off for his final round, he pledged prayer support for a follower on Twitter, tweeting, “Praying for you!” Weeks earlier he tweeted an endorsement of the movie “Son of God,” saying, “Just watched the movie Son of God. Best interpretation of the life of Jesus through a movie!! #DiedForOurSins.” APRIL 16, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 3
DEVASTATING MILESTONE REACHED IN SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
SBC AGENCIES URGE COURT: UPHOLD MINISTER HOUSING ALLOWANCE
As Lebanon registered its 1 millionth Syrian refugee in early April, the United Nations labeled it a “devastating milestone.” Four years after opening its borders to Syrians fleeing war, Lebanon struggles to hold the weight of the new population that calls it home. The small nation alone holds nearly half the 2.5 million registered refugees who have fled from Syria to five neighboring countries—Lebanon, Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan and Iraq. And 2,500 new names are being added to the total in Lebanon each day, but that does not touch the total of people affected by the war. The UN estimates that a total of 9 million refugees—documented and undocumented—have fled Syria, with 6.5 million displaced within the war-torn country. “The key word is ‘registered,’ meaning registered with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees),” Rick Gladson*, a Christian worker serving among Syrians in Lebanon, said. “I think everyone in the country would tell you there are many more than 1 million Syrian refugees here.
Three entities of the Southern Baptist Convention have called for a federal appeals court to overturn a decision invalidating the ministerial housing allowance. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the International Mission Board (IMB) signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief with a diversity of religious organizations in the important church-state case before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The brief, filed April 9 by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, urges the Seventh Circuit Court to reverse a federal judge’s November 2013 opinion invalidating the portion of a 1954 federal law that allows clergy to exclude for federal income tax purposes a portion or all of their gross income as a housing allowance. GuideStone Financial Resources, the SBC’s financial and health benefits entity, also signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the housing allowance. It joined with other denominational benefit boards as part of the Church Alliance, which filed its brief April 10. In her November decision, Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that the allowance violates the First Amendment’s prohibition on government establishment of religion but blocked enforcement of her opinion until the appeals process is complete. The Obama administration appealed Crabb’s decision to the Seventh Circuit. The Becket Fund brief endorsed by the ERLC and IMB tells the appeals court the ministerial housing allowance is both equitable and admirable. Eliminating the allowance, the brief contends, would “need-
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
4Pray for the Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, that they would encounter the love of Christ in their desperation and find their brokenness healed and restored by the gospel. 4Pray for those responding to the needs of these refugees, that they would have wisdom on how to provide aid and how to share the gospel boldly. 4Find out more about volunteering with Syrians here. 4Contribute to BGR’s Syria Crisis Fund here.
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By Tom Strode
lessly entangle courts in religious questions; create discrimination among religions; and insert the government into important decisions about the relationship between a church and its ministers.” Under the federal income tax system, some housing costs are primarily for “the convenience of the employer,” not the employee. As a result, such costs are not considered income. Among those who receive such benefits, in addition to ministers, are members of the military, workers living overseas and employees of educational institutions. The ERLC/IMB-endorsed brief contends the ministerial housing allowance “equalizes treatment of ministers and non-ministers.” In addition, the brief says the allowance acknowledges the unique circumstances of clergy, who often must live near the house of worship, use their home for ministry and be available at all hours. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), based in Madison, Wis., sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding the housing allowance. Those joining the ERLC and IMB on the Becket Fund brief were Greek, Russian and Serbian Orthodox churches, two Islamic centers and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Judge Crabb’s decision was no surprise. In 2010, she ruled the National Day of Prayer violates the establishment clause. A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court unanimously struck down Crabb’s ruling the following year. The appeals court ruled FFRF did not have standing to bring the lawsuit. The case is FFRF v. Lew and Koskinen. Jacob Lew is secretary of the Treasury, and John Koskinen is commissioner of the IRS.
The GamePlan aims to turn personal evangelism ‘moments’ into a movement By Jerry Pierce NATHAN LORICK’S PRAYER IS THAT “God
would take a moment and turn it into a movement”—the movement being a cycle of Great Commission events, namely praying for, evangelizing and discipling converts in a New Testament model. “Imagine church members going from not actually sharing their faith at all to now discipling someone they led to Christ by walking them through the process of knowing Christ and then making him known,” Lorick, evangelism director at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, explained. It’s called “The GamePlan”—not a program, Lorick emphasized—but an initiative to get churches and families on mission together in reaching lost friends and family members with the gospel and following up in discipleship. Tasked in his role with helping SBTC churches evangelize their state, Lorick said the appeal of The GamePlan is its simplicity and intentionality. The materials needed are minimal—a card or refrigerator magnet with five blank spaces for names is all a participant needs. The plan consists of: 4identifying five lost people, 4committing to pray daily for them, 4planning for a moment of sharing the gospel message with them, 4presenting the gospel, 4plugging in the new believer to a local
Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Chan Gailey (left) speaks with SBTC Evangelism Director Nathan Lorick about the importance of sharing the gospel during the Empower Conference in February. The time with Gailey was used to introduce The GamePlan, an SBTC evangelism initiative for churches and families.
church for baptism and discipleship. Lorick rolled out The GamePlan during the Empower Evangelism Conference with the help of Chan Gailey, former college and NFL head coach with numerous teams, including the Dallas Cowboys. Sometimes churches, and even pastors, lose their urgency for sharing the gospel outside the church walls and need a renewed focus to help them, Lorick said. “This gives a pastor a simple way to get his people excited again about sharing their faith with others in a way that creates a buzz in the congregation and within families as moms and dads and their kids pray daily together over a list of people God has placed on their hearts. This initiative, especially with its sports theme, has a wide appeal,” Lorick said. The GamePlan materials include brochures with football, basketball and baseball themes in English and a soccer theme in Spanish. There are also refrigerator magnets and pocket cards with five blanks for the names of the people each participant is praying for. Lorick said he is praying that those “moments” that lead to conversions will add up to a movement across Texas as people begin identifying and fervently praying for the lost and discipling them as reproducing believers. He knows of churches that are planning tailgate parties to kick off the initiative. Being intentional is a significant part of effective evangelism, he noted. “Imagine a pastor asking his church members, ‘Who are your five? Who are you praying for?’ And, ‘How can I pray for them?’” The SBTC evangelism team is available to help churches implement the initiative. To order The GamePlan materials, visit sbtcwebstore.com. For more information on the initiative, visit sbtexas.com/evangelism. The SBTC evangelism team may be reached toll free at 877-953-7282 (SBTC). APRIL 16, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 5
Trip to India convinces SBTC team:
More support needed to enhance gospel work among largely unengaged region By Bonnie Pritchett
egardless of age, gender, race or stage of life, the impact of an overseas mission experience can be jarring, heartbreaking and life changing.
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Jim Richards, 61-year-old executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and Ryann Mathews, a 22-year-old student and daughter of an SBTC pastor, were part of an SBTC group that traveled in March to India to labor alongside Southern Baptist workers and local pastors in witnessing and preaching among Hindus and Muslims. A veteran of more than a dozen mission trips around the world, Richards’ experiences far exceed those of Mathews,
who was traveling abroad for the first time. Despite the disparity, the Holy Spirit similarly moved them as the team grieved for the desperate physical and spiritual poverty of the Indian people and reflected on widespread shallowness in churches back home. “It was absolutely heartbreaking to see the people blinded. It makes the pages of the Old Testament just leap to life,” Richards said. More must be done to reach the lost with the gospel, Richards and
“The people are so religious, so devout. But for what? It broke my heart. They have a god for everything. Jehovah God has everything!” —RYANN MATHEWS Mathews agreed, and to rouse American churches from indifference. That goal may seem insurmountable in places like India, where the government forbids evangelism, Christian converts are ostracized by their families and Christians make up less than 2 percent of the population in a nation of 1.2 billion people. The dark spiritual condition was profoundly evident in the deplorable living conditions of India’s street people and their veneration of carved images in a Hindu temple ceremony. The SBTC team sadly watched as worshipers presented offerings to a lifeless statue while their fellow Hindus, living in squalor, begged in the streets for daily needs. “The people are so religious, so devout. But for what?” Mathews asked. “It broke my heart. They have a god for everything. Jehovah God has everything!” Yet amid the darkness shine small points of light—namely, several International Mission Board workers and about 50 native church planting pastors. Answering the call by IMB President Tom Elliff to adopt Unreached and Unengaged People Groups (UUPGs), the SBTC joined hands with the missionary in southern India, partly due to the convention’s relationship with a North Texas church plant reaching Indian immigrants. This was the convention’s second trip since adopting the IMB couple about four years ago. The team appraised the effectiveness of the partnership and provided resources in the form of preach-
5Tony Mathews, pastor of North Garland Baptist Fellowship, visits with a group of Indian pastors during the SBTC’s mission trip there in March. 4SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards teaches the pastors from the book of Revelation.
ing, mentoring and encouragement. “A people group is unreached when the number of evangelical Christians is less than 2 percent of its population. It is further called unengaged when there is no church planting strategy consistent with evangelical faith and practice under way,” according to the IMB website. Richards said it is imperative that Texas churches and associations join the effort in engaging and reaching the lost overseas. While the IMB pays salaries and some ministry expenses, there are few financial reserves to fund specific projects the missionaries undertake. The SBTC has helped fund projects through the India Baptist Society—including the construction of a multi-purpose facility used by the missionary and the pastors—and facilitated an ongoing connection with national workers. Richards spent two days in one region teaching pastors. Some traveled 8-10 hours and slept on the meeting room floor just for the opportunity of training and fellowship. Mathews spent her week “just genuinely loving on” street children and their parents. Witnessing the nature of their existence was physically, emotionally and spiritually overwhelming, she said. Fascinated with India since high school, Mathews said she believes her mission opportunity was divinely orchestrated. Her father, Tony Mathews, pastor of North APRIL 16, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 7
“I see the shallowness of the church in America. It grieves my heart that we take Jesus flippantly.” —JIM RICHARDS Garland Baptist Fellowship and a seasoned mission-team volunteer, did not try to soften the reality his daughter would experience. “Whatever preconceived ideas you have about missions, throw them out,” Ryann Mathews said. “I
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was broken. Totally.” Richards said: “Observing people who have never been on a mission trip is like watching a light being turned on. A person’s entire countenance changes when they see the lostness and needs of others in some very difficult places.”
thing less tangible yet far more valuable—her freedom. During her visit, Mathews had frequent opportunities to engage a young Muslim mother who made saris for the women on the SBTC team. “I would tell her ‘Jesus loves you’
The team returned to the states with a renewed burden for the lost abroad and at home. Having fellowshipped with Christians whose lives and livelihoods are threatened if they heed the Great Commission, Richards said, “I see the shallowness of the church in America. It grieves my heart that we take Jesus flippantly.” Mathews said she has no shame or guilt for her material possessions as some do after witnessing dire poverty. Instead, she realized she had taken for granted some-
and ‘He died for you,’” Mathews recounted. At the end of the week the woman gave each team member a handmade bookmark on which she had written, in Arabic, “Jesus is Lord.” Mathews said she believes the woman wanted to profess Christ but was afraid of the repercussions. The consequences of conversion, for Muslims and Hindus, can mean being ostracized from their families, losing their jobs, even death. Hindus, who believe in millions of
manifestations of their one god Krishna, must fully process the concept of one God for all people before placing their trust in Christ. When they do, Richards said, “They are repenting of all other gods and that Jesus Christ is the one and only true and living God.” Each trip supports Christians in the mission field, emboldens the volunteers’ witness at home and sparks in them the desire to return to the field. Mathews said she knows she will go back but not when. On their last day of ministry in the streets, the mother of a toddler to whom Mathews grew especially attached asked Mathews when she would come back. “I’ll try in a year” was all Mathews could think to say. Crestfallen, the mother replied, “That’s too long.”
5Children at a Baptist school worship together, led by their Indian teacher. 6 The squalor of strewn-together materials make up the shelters many of the Indian poor call home. Amid the poverty, Southern Baptist workers are helping to bring hope temporally and eternally in an otherwise hopeless culture.
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In India, Baptist workers bring hope to hopeless slums By Bonnie Pritchett
EDITOR’S NOTE: *The names of the American workers living in India have been changed to protect their work. eneca Calhoun did not feel right leaving. For one week she had labored in the slums of a largely unreached region of India, pouring herself into the lives of women and children and an American couple called to minister there. To return to the United States without knowing when she would be back broke her heart. “One lady didn’t want me to leave. She wanted to leave with me,” Calhoun told TEXAN Digital. She was one of seven SBTC volunteers who traveled to India to assist the couple and about 50 indigenous pastors. The tearful Indian woman was a recent convert to Christianity— risky in a country dominated by Hindu and Muslim prohibitions. Anti-conversion laws and familial ostracism puts all new believers, especially women, in harm’s way. And in the slums women and children suffer at the hands of abusive husbands and fathers who often drown their own despair in alcohol or give their pre-pubescent daughters in marriage to adult men. Yet into those dire circumstances Ben and Sara* speak hope, drawing people into the light of Christ one at
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5A young boy and his mother peer out of their tent shelter in the slums of India.
a time in a land of 1.23 billion souls. “This is a dark place. Satan definitely is working here,” Sara said via email. The couple has served five years in the region. “People here worship 330 million gods of stone. To see one come to (Christ) is such a thrilling experience.” The SBTC has partnered with Ben and Sara and the India Baptist Society for the past four years. The midMarch trip was the second involving convention representatives. Although it was her second trip to the region, Calhoun was nonetheless moved by the deep spiritual depravation. Given the opportunity to minister to middle-class and poor women, Calhoun recognized the same needs in them all. “I could see the hurt in some of these women’s eyes. And the pain,” she said. And for those without any mate-
rial means, the suffering is only compounded. In the cities’ slum regions—squalid plots of land crammed with makeshift homes pieced together from scavenged scraps of tarps, cardboard, and, if fortunate, sheet metal—living is barely preferred to death for many of the women. “It is a common practice for husbands to beat their wives. I’ve patched up several women who have come to me with bruises and cuts. The women are very sad here. They easily talk of dying and how good it will be to get out of their troubles. They only stay alive for their children,” Sara said. Alcohol serves to fuel the violence. Ninety percent of the men in the slums are alcoholics who spend the wages for their manual labor on their addiction, Sara said. If their wives earn money it is confiscated
to buy more alcohol instead of food for the family. But Sara and the SBTC team of women were a welcome contrast last month. They graciously entered a tent home offered for an intimate gospel meeting, which was quickly filled to overflowing with women and children. A small grass mat, put out for the guests, covered the dirt floor as Calhoun’s head brushed the tarp ceiling. As was her routine, Sara told Bible stories and led the humble assembly in songs and prayers. Calhoun, who couldn’t help noticing how young the mothers were, watched as they listened intently and mimicked the worship, not fully comprehending but learning. Sara said she parlays the spiritual teaching into academic and vocational education. “The lack of education makes such a difference in how both the children and the parents think,” she explained. “It’s a vicious circle to break—getting the kids in school and teaching them there is more than just slum living.” Benefiting most from the education are young girls who, if of no economic value to their families, will be given in marriage to adult men. As of this writing in mid-April, Sara and Ben called for prayer partners to intercede on behalf of an 11-year-old girl pledged in marriage by her parents to a 21-year-old man. Ben said March had been a wonderful month for the girl. She had completed the English curriculum with excellent marks and her English was progressing rapidly. But the first of April the girl’s mother
took her from the city school to a Hindu temple in their home village 12 hours away and pledged her in marriage. Although illegal, the ceremony is culturally binding. Ben said he could pay police to intercede on the
and Ben. Children come for meals, lessons, showers (with lice shampoo) and hugs—lots of hugs. “When they’re there they smile all the time,” Calhoun said. In an effort to teach young girls a marketable skill and protect them from the ravages of childhood marriage, Sara started a sewing class. With only one machine and five students, lessons are taught by a “dear Muslim friend,” including even the teacher in the overarching gospel lesson being taught at the Center in word and deed by Sara and Ben. The needs of the people they serve are overwhelming. Sara said there are days when she just goes home and has a good cry. Calhoun witnessed the strain but also the incredible resilience. She said she would return repeatedly to encourage her friend and the women she met. Meanwhile, she said she will minister in prayer from Texas. Sara said she feels those prayers. “Without it, we can do nothing. Often I feel so tired and discouraged, and then I think of those back home who are praying for us. I feel those angels lift up my arms and give me the push I need to get back in the battle.” In addition to prayer, the greatest resource the couple has for reaching the lost in India is its own people. “If we can win some and train some—then pray over that work— we believe God will use them to do the work. This culture is so steeped in rituals and traditions that an American can’t break. Only (God) can change them.”
“If we can win some and train some—then pray over that work—we believe God will use them to do the work. This culture is so steeped in rituals and traditions that an American can’t break. Only (God) can change them.” child’s behalf. But the family could counter with a bribe to maintain the contract. “The law is what you pay it to be,” he said. Pleading for intercessory prayer, Sara in an email newsletter: “This child has not even ‘matured’ yet, but will be married off soon! [She] is a true believer in Christ and has renounced Hindu idols and worships Jesus only. Frankly, she is fearful, worried, and does not want to be married. Her pitiful plea to us was, ‘Auntie, I am too little. I don’t want to be married.’ But we are asking God to intervene.” The religious and cultural hierarchy of the predominantly Hindu society relegates the slum residents to the margins of society where they have no hope in this life or beyond. But those seeking relief from mere survival find sanctuary in the Help and Hope Center, a house-turnedmulti-purpose facility led by Sara
APRIL 16, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 11
Alvord church touts CP’s global impact By Sharayah Colter ALVORD
Hopewell Baptist Church, nestled a few curvy miles off Highway 287 in North Texas, is a modest church. It offers a nursery as needed, has one Sunday School class and fits all its announcements on a small corkboard outside a two-stall bathroom that the pastor and his wife clean themselves. But for Hopewell Baptist, small would be a misnomer. The church operates on a bigvision mindset, taking decidedly large strides in supporting missions and ministry through the Cooperative Program—the collective giving arm of Southern Baptists. As a church, members of Hopewell have committed to pass 10 percent of their annual budget through the CP via the Southern Baptists of Texas and Southern Baptist conventions—all in an effort to extend their reach beyond their community to the far corners of the globe. Pastor Timothy Pigg, a Florida native and master of divinity student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, says Hopewell members realized that on their own, they could not do much in the battle to win souls globally, yet they also knew they were not excepted from the Lord’s instructions in Matthew 28 to go into all the world proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. From where they sat in a 12 TEXANONLINE.NET ARPIL 16, 2014
Hopewell Baptist Pastor Timothy Pigg and his wife Jessica see the Cooperative Program as an opportunity to extend the mission of the 140-year-old church beyond the town of Alvord.
small white church situated just up the hill from a cow pasture and an unmarked railroad crossing, it seemed their influence was somewhat limited. “We do not have the financial resources to do what the church at Antioch did with Paul,” said Pigg, who grew up the son of an associate pastor now serving at First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla. “As a smaller church, we cannot financially support a full-time missionary, but we recognize our Great Commission obligation to make disciples of all nations. We were stuck in a quandary.” The CP, however, has provided Hopewell a chance to make big waves for Christ, even from their rather remote and out-of-cellularrange location. “We decided that partnering with other like-minded churches would allow us to impact the kingdom of God in ways that would otherwise be impossible,” Pigg said, explaining that increasing their contribution
through the CP served as part of the solution to the church wanting to up its efforts in missions and evangelism. Pigg said the church also takes Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offerings in answer to God’s call to sacrificial giving. “Another reason why I support giving through the CP is that is allows me to teach my members the importance of unity and cooperation,” Pigg said. “The nature of the CP is churches working together to accomplish one goal. As a pastor, I want a spirit of unity to undergird every ministry we do as a local congregation. The CP allows me to remind my members how we have been called to a greater service for God that involves our cooperation.” 140th anniversary celebration In keeping with the church’s big vision was the service it held April 6 commemorating Hopewell’s 140th anniversary. The celebration, which coincided with CP Sunday—a
“The CP allows sized potluck. Pigg day churches make me to remind my said a normal Sunday a concerted effort to members how service runs about 30 recognize the value people—double the of the Cooperative we have been Program and emcalled to a greater average attendance from little more than phasize their conservice for God a year ago when the tinued and fervent that involves our church called Pigg as support of Southern cooperation.” its pastor. Baptists’ giving Before preaching channel—included a sermon by Southwestern Seminary from John 3, Patterson commended the church for its longevity and President Paige Patterson and music led by Don Wyrtzen, Southwest- also for its faithful giving through the CP, which not only funds misern church music professor, and sionaries but also substantially Leo Day, church music dean. underwrites the preparation of Dorothy Patterson taught a wommissionaries, pastors and church en’s Sunday School class, and SBTC Minister-Church Relations Associate leaders in the convention’s six seminaries. Ted Elmore presented a plaque of “By your faithful giving and commendation on behalf of Execusharing with other churches all tive Director Jim Richards and the across the state of Texas and far, convention for Hopewell’s faithful far beyond, in your giving to a comministry over the past 140 years. mon missionary fund, what you Nearly 100 people packed into have done is to make it possible for the two sections of pews for the Timothy Pigg and this young man celebration and then converged on the fellowship hall to share a Texas- and that young man and several
others I see around here, all the way back to this young man [Patterson], for us to go to seminary at a third of the cost,” Patterson said. Reduced education costs for students, Patterson said, equate to ministers and missionaries free to go wherever the Lord calls them without mountains of educational debt. This means, he explained, that those the Lord has called can begin their service with immediacy and focus. That service, Patterson said, is an extension of the ministry of Hopewell Baptist Church, among thousands of others, as it financially and prayerfully backs those serving as the Lord’s hands worldwide. “You have 5,200 career missionaries—that’s the largest mission force in all of the history of Christianity—in 2,000 years of Christianity—you have 5,200 missionaries representing you out there on the field in 138 countries,” Patterson told the congregation. “We have all those people scattered throughout the world that represent you and that represent me. Thank you, church, for what you have done across the years.” Pigg said he prays the milestone in the life of Hopewell Baptist Church will stoke fires that have been burning among their body for the past 140 years into a furnace that will propel ministry and revival in Wise County, and thanks to the CP, the whole world. “My prayer is that the 140th anniversary service serves as a catalyst for the next 140 years,” Pigg said. “There is still much to be done for the kingdom of God, and I could not think of two people [Patterson and Day] who would celebrate God’s past work and challenge us to go forward with greater fervency to study and know God’s Word, than these two men.” APRIL 16, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 13
SWBTS trustees approve new apologetics master’s degree By Sharayah Colter FORT WORTH
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees approved the formation of a Board of Visitors and elected new faculty members, among other business, at a meeting on the school’s campus April 9. The Board of Visitors acts as purely an observatory and feedback-supplying body, and its members have no legal responsibility or authority to the seminary. “They don’t have any oversight over the campus,” said Steven Smith, Southwestern’s vice president of student services and communications. “What they do is they come and they look around and generally gain awareness themselves of what’s going on, on campus, and they’re able to give us feedback. It’s one more avenue to engage people who are not formally or vocationally in the ministry, necessarily, and for them to come on to our campus and see what we’re seeing everyday.” Pending approval by the seminary’s accrediting agencies, students may soon have another degree program from which to choose when they begin studying at Southwestern. The trustees voted to approve a master of arts in Christian apologetics degree as well as a certificate in the same field of study. Provost Craig Blaising said interest in apologetics has been piqued among laypeople and academics alike and continues to be on the rise, especially among many students studying in the College at Southwestern. The creation of a degree focused on that area seemed a natural response to that interest, he explained. “With the interest that has been communicated to us, we felt the time was right to go ahead and create this degree, as well as the certificate, because the certificate is there for maybe laypeople who have interest in apologetics, science and culture and who want to focus and get some training in that area.” Though approved in concept by the trustees, the degree will still have to go through the approval channels of the accrediting agencies before students can begin the new degree. Faculty elections The trustees also voted to elect four professors to the seminary’s faculty: Paul Gould as assistant pro14 TEXANONLINE.NET ARPIL 16, 2014
fessor of philosophy and Christian apologetics; Craig Kubic as dean of libraries; Vern Charette as assistant professor of preaching; and Keith Loftin as assistant professor of humanities. Additionally, the board voted to endow the Jesse Hendley Chair of Biblical Theology and elected Blaising to occupy it. Matt Queen, assistant professor of evangelism, was elected to fill the L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism, also known as the Chair of Fire, formerly held by Patterson. “Due to Matt Queen, this place is a different place than it was three years ago,” Patterson told the board early in the meeting, before the professor’s election to the chair. “Matt Queen has done exactly what I asked him to do. I told him, ‘I don’t care what you teach, I just want you to electrify this campus with evangelistic outreach. I want there to be only two kinds of people that set foot on Southwestern’s campus: those who are soul winners and those who are desperately ashamed of themselves and miserable because they’re not going to get involved in it.’ And he has done that unbelievably. The longer he is at it, I see how big of a failure I was during my first eight years here, and my hat is off to him, and I thank God for the others who have joined him.” Officer elections The trustees made elections to their own board as well, voting to select Steve James to serve a second term as chairman, Bart Barber to serve as vice chairman and John Brunson to serve a second term as secretary. Budget and other business Trustees approved a $35.1 million budget for the seminary for the 2014-15 fiscal year, a slight increase over the $32.9 million budget approved for 2013-14.
Church near Fort Hood bends knees in prayer By Jerry Pierce KILLEEN
The congregation of Skyline Baptist Church in Killeen, near the sprawling Fort Hood Army post, has seen tragedy before. On the Wednesday night after a lone gunman at Fort Hood killed three people and injured 13 others before turning the gun on himself, the church gathered like they always do midweek—albeit with a few members missing from a basewide security lockdown—and bent their knees on the church auditorium carpet in prayer. Army Maj. Kevin Thompson, a signal officer at Fort Hood, serves as co-interim pastor of the church along with an Army chaplain, also from the base, and left the post about 20 minutes before the shooting at the hands of a soldier reportedly being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Once at the church, a 25-minute prayer service, heavily focused on the April 2 shootings, preceded the Wednesday night Bible study. “It was kind of conversational and people were telling details of conversations they had with those they knew on the base or the latest of what they had heard on the news,” Thompson said. “Generally we were praying for the victims and their families and that somehow God would find a way to prompt people to call out to him through this incident, no matter how horrific.”
Thompson said the prayer time, as usual, involved groups of two or three gathered together, pleading in prayer. Church members said they knew of no one from the church who was shot, but the unit of one of the church members was directly affected by the tragedy. “There’s going to be a lot of anguish, particularly this time,” Thompson said, alluding to past incidents at the base, including the 2009 massacre by Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is awaiting the death penalty for killing 13 people and injuring 32. “From a spiritual standpoint, pray that people realize that you never know when your time is,” Thompson added, “and that they would trust Christ before it is too late.” Elaine Clark, a longtime Killeen resident and former Killeen school counselor, was at her usual post— teaching AWANA to a meager children’s crowd at Skyline. About half of the children and adult volunteers were absent because they live on Fort Hood— home to more than 45,000 soldiers, families and personnel—and weren’t able to leave, she said. “Children have questions and they need to be answered,” said Clark, who noted that last night, appropriately, they were studying and memorizing 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Explaining to a young girl the importance of knowing God is always in control, even in danger, the girl responded to Clark: “You know God sent Jesus to die for that man,” the girl said of the shooter. “That just spoke to my heart how God speaks even to these little ones in these terrible times,” Clark said. A Facebook user, Clark said she has a community of friends she’s in frequent contact with who have ties to Killeen and Fort Hood, and that prayers are being sent up for the survivors, the families of the victims, and for the family of the shooter. “That family has a lot to go through and I’m sure they will have questions that will never be answered.” She related the fear she said pervades the base in times like these to her own experience of surviving a nighttime intruder who was chased out of the family home years ago by her husband. “It was a long time before we felt safe again,” she said. “Considering Fort Hood is a home for so many people, it makes you question that you’ll ever be safe again.” Clark said prayers are needed for children in the Killeen-Fort Hood area, that “they would cross paths with people who will share Jesus with them and that God loves them and he is with us even when we are afraid. … They don’t have to be afraid with Jesus as their friend.” APRIL 16, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 15
MARCH
MERCY
By Paul F. South ARLINGTON
WHILE THE REST THE NATION was up
to its elbows in busted March Madness brackets last month, the Arlington Baptist College basketball team may have gotten the assist of the year from Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis. Call it March Mercy. In the rainy, cold pre-dawn hours of Sunday, March 16, the Patriots were heading home from Circleville, Ohio, where they lost in the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II finals to Ohio Christian University. Then, a dreadfully long, somber 16 TEXANONLINE.NET ARPIL 16, 2014
Bellevue Baptist gives Arlington Baptist College basketball team a memorable assist
bus ride got a lot longer. At about 5 a.m. on a dangerous stretch of Interstate 40 between Nashville and Memphis, two rear tires blew out on the Patriot team bus. What Arlington Baptist President D.L. Moody called “a modern-day Good Samaritan story” began with a bang—actually two. On that isolated patch of interstate highway known to locals as a “no-man’s land,” the school’s athletic director and basketball coach, Cliff McDaniel, went to work trying to find help for his marooned team. “I called every wrecker company, called every tire service. I called 911,” McDaniel said. “A state trooper stayed for about two minutes,
said he couldn’t help us, and left. I couldn’t believe it.” Then, the story took a bright turn. “We tried every avenue we could, so we called Dr. Moody. He got online and called Bellevue’s help line and they said they’d take care of it. Within about 30 minutes, Bellevue showed up in a charter bus, took us to breakfast, then took us to Sunday School and one of their church services. Then they fed us lunch, and while we were there, they fixed our bus and sent us on our way.” Bellevue staffer Kevin Haley, the church’s administrator of facilities and grounds, led the church’s efforts to help the Arlington Baptist team. The team just wanted out of
the cold and rain and away from the treacherous road. Two 18-wheelers nearly hit the Arlington bus, so for safety’s sake, the kids left the bus to stand in the cold rain. But Haley, along with Bellevue’s college and young adult singles pastor, Will McKay, went the extra mile. At the church, Pastor Steve Gaines calls it “intentional hospitality.” But it’s been a part of the fabric at Bellevue since at least the late Pastor Adrian Rogers’ tenure at the church. Providence intervened twice for the Arlington Baptist team. While coaches tried unsuccessfully to round up two replacement tires for the bus, Bellevue again came to the rescue. Haley asked the church’s maintenance shop to check for two tires the size Arlington needed. While no
area tire shop could meet the need, Bellevue had two brand new tires just the right size. “It’s definitely a God-thing,” Haley said. Ironically, shortly after the blowouts, McDaniel told his players that God would show himself faithful. “I just kept telling them, ‘This happens for a reason,’” McDaniel said. “God has a plan and he’s going to take care of us.” His road-weary team was skeptical. “They were like, ‘Let’s see it.’” But afterwards, “The kids were in awe,” McDaniel said. “In the Sunday School hour, a couple of our kids gave testimony about what Bellevue had done for us. I think just as the church ministered to us, our guys ministered to them.” Haley agreed. While it was not a routine Sunday, blessings over-
flowed for all involved. For their part, the Arlington team will carry the memory of their breakdown longer than the score of the 2014 title game. McDaniel, who has been around ministry his entire life and is the only basketball coach in the five-year history of the program, said he gained a valuable lesson for the years ahead. He called Bellevue “the most gracious church I’ve ever been in,” adding, “I think more than anything, it taught me to take a little bit more time to see the needs of others and go the extra mile in the name of Christ.”
NORTH AMERICA COMES TO SOUTHWESTERN DURING CHURCH PLANTING WEEK FORT WORTH—During the annual North American Church Planting emphasis week on campus, March 25-27, Southwestern Seminary students learned that the desperate need for churches is not just overseas but also in America. Stephen Davis, vice president for the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) South Region, said the need for churches is not obvious to those living in the Bible Belt, where there is a Southern Baptist church for about every 3,000 people. But other areas of the country especially need Southern Baptist churches. “It’s easy to think that life is like this everywhere else,” Davis cautioned students in chapel March 25. But NAMB and church planters look elsewhere to places such as Canada, where there is only about one Southern Baptist church for every 118,000 people. In the northeastern United States, statistics indicate one for every 36,000 while the Midwest has one for every 15,000 people. But NAMB has not let those numbers discourage them. “It’s some of the greatest opportunities we’ve had to penetrate the lostness of North America,” Davis said. “It’s an exciting time. … We’re equipped, and we’re ready to send you.”
APRIL 16, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 17
Jared Wellman
Your marriage and the Easter story
Y
ou likely know the story: God caused a “deep sleep” to fall on Adam and then took one of his ribs and fashioned Eve out of it (Genesis 2:2122). There is an incredible typology embedded into this event about the true message of Easter. The sleep in which Adam enters is well described as a metaphorical death. Adam didn’t physically die, but his “deep sleep” made it appear as if he did. It was symbolic of it. The idea, therefore, is that Eve was able, and only able, to live because Adam, in a sense, died. His “deep sleep” foreshadows the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf. Christ died on the cross and was pierced in his side for his bride (John 19:33-37); Adam “died” and was pierced in his side for his bride. Like Jesus, Adam gave of himself so that his bride could live. And similar to Jesus, Adam rose from his “death” to live again with his bride. But the message doesn’t stop here. Immediately after this event Moses writes: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” The term “one flesh” has permanence. It suggests marriage is designed to last a lifetime, which is an incredibly important notion. There is a theological concept called “the perseverance of the saints” that conveys this thought well. This doctrine teaches that “once saved, always saved.” This is to say that, once a person has been “married” to Jesus, that Jesus will never divorce him. This is because once a person accepts Jesus, he and Jesus are like “one flesh.” And like literal flesh, it cannot be divided. In Ephesians 5:32 Paul says that this idea of “one flesh” is a “great mystery” and that he is speaking about “Christ and the church.” This conveys how a marriage, when 18 TEXANONLINE.NET ARPIL 16, 2014
functioning properly, can serve as a testimony for the gospel. So marriage represents more than a lifelong earthly relationship between a husband and a wife. It illustrates God’s everlasting relationship with the church, a relationship that nothing can divide. Paul writes: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 37-39). Not long ago a woman in our church lost her wedding ring, which she had for more than 50 years, and was understandably devastated. She found it, but she could have easily gone down the street and purchased a new one. Losing the ring, for this woman, meant losing the testimony of her marriage. While losing it held no affect on the union of her marriage, it was important because it testified of her marriage in a way that no other ring could. By itself, marriage is an amazing institution. But we cannot forget what it represents. We should value the meaning of marriage as a testimony of God and his people. When a husband sacrificially loves his bride, that bride is empowered to live for her husband. And this love points upward to what Easter Sunday is all about—a sacrificial love brought about by a savior named Jesus Christ for his bride the church. And this is a “ring” that can never be lost! Clearly, this is why divorce so devastates. Divorce is more than a piece of paper allowing you to legally separate from your spouse. It completely destroys God’s witness. It communicates the exact opposite of God’s relationship with his church. It tells the world that there are things that can separate God’s love from his bride instead of the biblical truth that there aren’t. God has had every reason to divorce mankind. He instead decides to unconditionally and sacrificially love us. This is well showcased after Adam and Eve’s disobedience in Eden, when he took an innocent animal, slayed it, and used its skin to cover their shame, which, like Adam’s proverbial death, points towards Jesus—the Resurrection and the Life. Have a wonderful Easter. —Jared C. Wellman is the pastor of Mission Dorado Baptist Church in Odessa. This article is adapted from his book “Marital Roles.”