Texan Digital • Dec. 2, 2013 • Issue #21

December 2, 2013 • ISSUE 21

SBTC’s international relief team venturing into villages off the main roads of typhoon-striken Philippines

LOTTIE MOON CHRISTMAS OFFERING FOR INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS – MORE INFO

Gary Ledbetter

Imagination as a very Christian thing “Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” — 1 Corinthians 2:9

I

don’t see this verse as a “Keep Out” sign so much as a dare to get closer to seeing in my heart some of things the Lord has prepared for us. The effort lifts me and it is not always unsuccessful.

Although we are not to spend our days woolgathering, our meditations on the Scripture can easily and should often lift us to heaven— a place we can only see in our imaginations.

The first couple sinned against God because they had a failure of imagination. Eve imagined something that was a deception and Adam imagined the wrong thing when he rebelled against the only prohibition in paradise.

Later, Eve went through her days and to her grave in hope of one of her sons crushing the serpent’s head.

What was God doing when he invited childless Abraham to look at the stars in the dark desert and think of his offspring as being uncountable? What was Abraham doing when he believed that the God who had been faithful in his experience would do even this amazing thing? Abraham was led by God to imagine what was to come, and to live his life in that hope.

The sin of Israel at Kadesh Barnea was likewise a failure of imagination on nearly everyone’s part. Ten of the twelve spies that visited the longed-for promised land could see the challenge but could not see victory. Caleb and Joshua could see it.

The work of the prophet during the exile was to picture the day when God would forgive and restore the people to their homes, and to foretell the King who would lead the people forever. Why do the words of Isaiah remain our favorite Christmas verses? They, written to people with scant joy, beautifully promise One who would be God-with-us, Wonderful, Counselor, the everlasting Father.

These joys and promises live first in the mind of a person before, long before, they live in our physical sight. In fact, Hebrews 11 beautifully praises those who “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.” Each of these, very serious and practical people, based their lives on imagining as real those things they did not yet possess, whether it was a physical homeland, progeny or eternal joy and rest in “a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

It was not a theologian who first offered me this perspective on Christian thinking. It was an odd Anglican scholar. By the time I’d heard of C.S. Lewis, he was dead 10 years. Later I learned that he died the same day that President Kennedy was killed. No man has done more to extend my imagination to those things God has prepared for those who love him.

I’ve come to see the work of salvation and promise of glory wonderfully told in the story of a great lion who died and rose again, and later in the tale of an English academic who traveled to Mars and Venus. My maturing mind saw great theological insights, and joy and longing and hope—just a bit more of those things God has prepared for me.

In the flurry of articles about the 50th anniversary of Lewis’ death on Nov. 22, my favorite was the cover story in Christianity Today by Michael Ward of Houston Baptist University. He quotes Lewis as saying that imagination is the organ of meaning; reason is the organ discerning truth. We must first understand the importance of a thing, and that is not done by mere sight or science. That’s what the man born blind did when Jesus told him to wash the mud off his eyes in the pool of Bethesda. He imagined seeing and deemed it desirable above all things; then he decided the promise of Jesus was true. And his eyes, first his physical and then his spiritual eyes, were opened. But it started in his imagination, in his heart.

To me, gratitude and faith require that we both understand and examine what God promises and does. I’m grateful for those prophets who highlight the significance of both ways of seeing revelation. C.S. Lewis had the rare gift of showing both our hearts and our heads what he was learning of God.

Contents

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2

Moore, in letter, holds to ENDA opposition Nothing has changed for Southern Baptists’ public policy entity when it comes to the Employment Nondiscrimination Act—it still opposes passage of the controversial proposal despite efforts to address religious freedom concerns.

5

Kan. officials destroyed Planned Parenthood records—twice

11

Paper delivered on little-known inerrancy debates

13

2

ERLC, GuideStone fight for pastors’ housing allowance The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and GuideStone Financial Resources stand together in opposition to a ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin, who ruled unconstitutional a provision in the U.S. tax code that allows for ministers to deduct their housing allowance

Kansas government officials destroyed abortion records for Planned Parenthood not just once but twice, further undermining prosecution of the organization, it was revealed Nov. 10.

During the tumultuous period of the 1980s and 1990s within the Southern Baptist Convention, theological conservatives and moderates clashed over the topic of biblical inerrancy. At the forefront of this struggle on the side of the conservatives was Paige Patterson, then president of the Criswell College in Dallas.

Lubbock residents celebrate closing of two Planned Parenthood locations

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COVER STORY: In isolated Filipino villages, typhoon victims welcome SBTC’s international rapid relief team

Social media and news programs around the world are filled with images of relief teams making their entrances into Filipino communities devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, but hundreds more villages in extremely isolated areas have yet to see any relief vehicles at all.

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

Two facilities in Lubbock once owned and operated

by Planned Parenthood have now been acquired by a non-profit organization that will continue offering women’s health services—but not abortions—at one of the facilities.

Contributing Writers Bonnie Pritchett, Tammi Reed Ledbetter, Jane Rodgers, Norm Miller, Keith Collier, Michelle Tyer To contact the TEXAN office, visit texanonline.net/contact or call toll free 877.953.7282 (SBTC)

COVER PHOTO • MAKING PLANS. Scottie Stice, assistant director of disaster relief for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, discusses relief priorities with Baptist pastor Nabanglo Driz. His wife, Fely Driz (right), counsels a local woman whose house was one of many in Mabunao village that were badly damaged.

Briefly //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// MOORE, IN LETTER, HOLDS TO ENDA OPPOSITION

MESSIANIC JEW FACES ISRAELI DEPORTATION

Nothing has changed for Southern Baptists’ public policy entity when it comes to the Employment Non-discrimination Act—it still opposes passage of the controversial proposal despite efforts to address religious freedom concerns.

Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), reiterated Southern Baptists’ continued opposition to the proposal in a Nov. 19 letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner. The Employment Non-discrimination Act (EDNA) would grant workplace civil rights on the basis of homosexual, bisexual or transgender status.

The Senate passed ENDA Nov. 7 in a 64-32 vote, but the House of Representatives has not voted on the legislation.

Boehner is opposed to the bill and has refused to bring it to the House for a vote.

In his letter, Moore thanked Boehner on behalf of Southern Baptists for his opposition to ENDA despite calls from the bill’s advocates for him to hold a floor vote. Moore also told the speaker that Southern Baptists remain opposed to the bill in spite of attempts to enhance religious liberty protections in the measure.

“We do not believe it is in the interest of our country for government officials to make bad legislation better, but rather, to oppose any and all legislation that restricts religious freedom, marginalizes free speech, and destabilizes the pursuit of a healthy pluralism,” Moore told Boehner.

The ERLC, as well as some other foes of ENDA, point to the threat to the conscience rights of employers as a major problem in the proposal. The bill’s promotion of a view of sexuality that not only conflicts with Christianity but harms human prosperity is another reason for its opposition, according to the ERLC. Moore told Baptist Press in a written statement, “I’m not for any injustice, but ENDA doesn’t remedy anything. The bill is ambiguous and riddled with dangers for conscientious objectors to the sexual revolution. We’ve seen, in the very recent past, so-called accommodations to religious liberty that were no such thing. That’s why we oppose ENDA outright.”

In reaffirming Southern Baptists’ view of ENDA in his letter to Boehner, Moore said the ERLC opposes the legislation “while also upholding the dignity of our fellow [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] citizens and the command of our Lord Jesus to love our neighbor.”

An Israeli immigration judge has ordered the deportation of a Messianic Jew who was arrested for taking part in a Jews for Jesus evangelistic campaign in southern Israel, according to a report by Morning Star News, a leading monitor of international religious freedom issues.

Barry Barnett, 50, a London-based worker with Jews for Jesus, was ordered on Nov. 24 to leave Israel by Dec. 3. Barnett was volunteering at Jews for Jesus’ “Behold your God Israel” campaign around the city of Be’er Shiva when he was arrested Nov. 20 at about 4 p.m.

Baptist Press sought comment from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism via its Atlanta office. As of press time, the Israeli agency had not responded to Baptist Press’ query.

Dan Sered, Israel director for Jews for Jesus, said Jews for Jesus would fight Barnett’s deportation. If the order is not overturned, there is a risk it will become a legal precedent that could be used to expel missionaries or any expatriate engaging in religious activities deemed unacceptable by the Israeli government—or by government officials acting alone.

Barnett’s wife Alison told Morning Star News that six immigration control officers took Barnett from Be’er Shiva, about 80 miles south of Jerusalem, to an immigration office just outside of Jerusalem. Barnett was held there for several hours without charge, then transferred to an immigration-holding unit of a prison near Tel Aviv. He spent four days in jail before his court hearing Nov. 24.

Sered said the presiding judge at the hearing ruled that Barnett was not allowed to engage in “missionary activity” while in Israel.

“But the global ethics code for tourism, which the state of Israel signed and even advertises on its own Ministry of Tourism webpage, states that tourism for the purpose of exchanging religious beliefs is not only valid but also should be encouraged,” Sered said.

“Therefore, his deportation and arrest by the state of Israel was done without a real legal cause.”

The Israeli immigration officers who arrested Barnett seized a banner he was holding with the evangelistic team. Julia Pascoe, UK branch leader for Jews for Jesus, said there was nothing inherently offensive on the banner. The banner read, “Salvation equals Jesus.” It also had a telephone number to contact Jews for Jesus.

2 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SOMBER AFTER FATAL SHOOTING As police continue their investigation into reasons behind the fatal shooting of a Liberty University student on Nov. 19, a spokesman for the school called the mood on campus somber and prayerful.

“We dedicated a portion of this morning’s weekly convocation service (Nov. 20) to remembering all of those affected by this tragedy,” said Johnnie Moore, vice president of communications.

“That includes the family and friends of [victim] Joshua Hathaway, the police officer and all others who are especially heartbroken.”

Hathaway, of Lubbock, Texas, was shot during an early morning fight with a campus security officer, according to news reports.

Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. called the event “traumatic” during a news conference. He said the university was doing everything in its power to cooperate with the Lynchburg Police Department’s investigation.

“We’re providing professional counseling services to our students,” a somber-looking Falwell also said. “We are deeply saddened by what has happened.

It’s impacted our entire community in ways that we are just beginning to understand.”

Moore said Liberty has licensed counselors who are normally available to students and additional faculty from the Center for Counseling and Family Studies have been made available.

At the convocation service, Falwell encouraged students to seek counseling, whether it concerned struggles related to Hathaway’s shooting or other issues.

“No one knows what was going through Joshua’s head,” said Falwell, according to a report in the Lynchburg News & Advance.

“I urge you to get help. Don’t wait ‘til it boils over.”

An affidavit from the Lynchburg Police Department said the 19-year-old Hathaway lived across the street from the dorm, where students have set up a memorial to him.

Police Detective Collin Byrne said that

Hathaway approached a Liberty security officer, saying he had been robbed and someone stole his White Pontiac (later located in the dorm’s parking lot).

“The security officer then began to investigate Hathaway’s complaint but Hathaway then pulled out a hammer from his clothing and assaulted the officer,” Byrne said in a search warrant issued for the victim’s campus records.

Byrne, recounting a conversation with Hathaway’s roommate, said Hathaway reportedly had displayed unusual behavior in recent days.

According to a report from Texas in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Hathaway was class salutatorian and one of the first 11 seniors to graduate last May from Southcrest Christian School, affiliated with Southcrest Baptist Church.

A Lubbock TV station reported that Hathaway’s mother is a teacher at the school. Superintendent Linda Merriott told KCBD that many students and faculty were grieving the loss.

“I loved this young man and believed in him and would do just about anything to help him,” Merriott said. “Our country has lost a young man who loved the Lord with all his heart [and] who worked hard to achieve and succeed. He was a young man who had the heart of others in mind.”

Others also described Hathaway as a good student, including Susie Driscoll, who was one of his junior high teachers at Southcrest.

Driscoll told the News & Advance he was a “brilliant” student and fluent in Spanish, which he had used on a trip to Peru. She said he helped a ministry there that serves homeless children.

“Josh [was] a really great kid,” Driscoll said. “We are devastated.”

SIX PLEAD GUILTY IN GOSNELL CASE Six people pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their work at a notorious Philadelphia abortion clinic and have agreed to testify against Kermit Gosnell, owner of the Women’s Medical Society.

The latest, Tina Baldwin, 46, pleaded guilty Nov. 14 to conspiracy, participating in a corrupt organization and corruption of a minor, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. All six have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, and some have pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the deaths of a 41-year-old woman and children killed after being born alive.

Gosnell, 70, has been charged with eight counts of murder—one in the death of the woman and seven in the deaths of viable, fully delivered babies.

Gosnell is already serving life without parole in the murder of a baby killed outside the womb in a botched abortion.

Those babies were only some of hundreds at least six months into gestation who were killed outside the womb after induced delivery at the clinic, a grand jury reported. Gosnell destroyed most of the files, limiting prosecution to only seven cases, the report said.

Gosnell, his wife and two others still face trial on the latest charges, according to the Inquirer.

DECEMBER 2, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 3

MORE THAN 700 BABIES SAVED DURING 40 DAYS FOR LIFE More than 700 unborn children were saved from abortion during 40 Days for Life’s fall campaign.

As of Nov. 16, the 40 Days staff had received reports of 732 unborn babies protected from abortion during its latest campaign, Sept. 28 to Nov. 6.

More than 5,000 unborn children have been saved from abortion since the 40 Days effort began in Texas in 2004. The effort went national in 2007.

The semi-annual campaign—which focuses on peaceful, pro-life prayer vigils outside abortion clinics—was held this fall at a record 301 sites in the United States and overseas.

Among the reports received from participants in the latest campaign: —In Sharonville, Ohio, a woman stopped in her car and spoke to a 40 Days volunteer outside an abortion clinic. “She thanked me for praying,” the participant said. “She said that a few days earlier she was driving by and

was considering an abortion. She has five boys and is pregnant with a girl.

Her husband of 20-plus years has left her.” She told the 40 Days participant, “Never feel that what you are doing is in vain. It was your prayers that changed my mind and saved my little girl and me.”

—In Austin, a teenage couple went to a clinic for an abortion they hoped to obtain by means of a judicial bypass

that would enable the girl to avoid informing her parents. A 40 Days participant told them about their unborn child’s development and the alternatives and resources that were available. They entered the abortion clinic, however, only to leave shortly thereafter “with smiles of joy and satisfaction. They decided to not have an abortion,” the volunteer said.

KAN. OFFICIALS DESTROYED PLANNED PARENTHOOD RECORDS—TWICE Kansas government officials destroyed abortion records for Planned Parenthood not just once but twice, further undermining prosecution of the organization, it was revealed Nov. 10.

Johnson County District Attorney Stephen Howe said former state Attorney General Steve Six destroyed in 2009 copies of the same documents that were shredded in 2005 by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), according to World News Service (WNS). Howe revealed Oct. 21 the KDHE had destroyed the 2003 abortion records for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which is located in Overland Park, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City.

At Howe’s request, Judge Stephen Tatum dismissed 23 felony counts of falsifying abortion reports and 26 4 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

misdemeanor charges. Because of the destruction of the records, the “legal hurdles are insurmountable” to prosecute Planned Parenthood on those charges, Howe told Tatum, WNS reported. A hearing on 58 misdemeanor charges of illegal late-term abortions and refusing to test for viability is set for Feb. 22.

Former Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline filed the charges in 2007. Kline had received records from the KDHE in 2003 during an investigation of Planned Parenthood in his role as Kansas’ attorney general.

He later gained copies from Planned Parenthood but said they differed from the ones provided by the state.

The Shawnee County sheriff’s office in Topeka will investigate Six’s destruction of the documents at the current attorney general’s request, WNS reported.

“Guilty people destroy evidence.

Really guilty people destroy evidence twice,” said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, according to WNS. Then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a staunch abortion-rights defender who rejected legislative efforts to enact stricter regulation of abortion clinics, appointed Six. The KDHE’s shredding of the records took place during Sebelius’ administration. She is now secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

—Briefly section was compiled from staff reports and Baptist Press

ERLC, GUIDESTONE UNITED IN PROTECTING PASTORS’ HOUSING ALLOWANCE The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and GuideStone Financial Resources stand together in opposition to a ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin, who ruled unconstitutional a provision in the U.S. tax code that allows for ministers to deduct their housing allowance, the ERLC said in a news release.

The plaintiffs in this case are the Madison-based Freedom from Religion Foundation and the defendants are U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel. This ruling affects clergy in the Western District of Wisconsin.

Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said of the ruling: “The clergy housing allowance isn’t a government establishment of religion, but just the reverse. The allowance is neutral to all religions. Without it,

clergy in small congregations of all sorts would be penalized and harmed.”

At this point, the housing allowances of pastors remain unaffected. Because the ruling has been stayed by the judge until the appeals are exhausted, pastors and church organizations will not be affected.

O.S. Hawkins, president of Guidestone Resources, also commented, stating: “Although this particular case does not have immediate impact, we know that pastors and others in ministry are facing challenges in our very own nation as never before. This decision, while not unanticipated, is sadly symptomatic of our culture today. We count it a privilege to be an advocate for those who have given their lives to ministry—and we will not forsake our mission to undergird those who so faithfully serve our churches and ministries.”

Both the ERLC and Guidestone

have been carefully anticipating this challenge. Judge Crabb issued a similarly antagonistic ruling against the National Day of Prayer and The Freedom from Religion Foundation has filed similar lawsuits, which have been struck down. Nevertheless, both organizations will be vigilant in protecting this exemption in the tax code.

Moore continued, “The judge in this case has a history of issuing similar decisions. We will continue to fight to protect the housing allowance, because we believe clergy are essential for flourishing, vibrant communities.”

Passed into law by Congress in 1954, section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code allows “ministers of the gospel” to exclude some or all of their ministerial income—as designated by their church or church-related employer—as a housing allowance from income for federal income tax purposes.

DECEMBER 2, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 5

Supreme Court: Texas abortion law may stay in effect, for now

By Jerry Pierce WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court on Nov. 19 ruled 5-4 that a Texas law regulating abortion may stay in effect pending a ruling by a federal appeals court early next year.

At issue was a provision of House Bill 2, passed last summer, requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within a 30-miles radius of the procedure.

The law was to go into effect on Oct. 29, but U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled on Oct. 28 that the hospital privilege requirement placed an unconstitutional “substantial obstacle” before women seeking abortions.

The state appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, where a three-judge panel disagreed with the lower court, arguing the state would likely prevail on the constitutional merits of the case, thereby placing the law into effect.

The appellants in the case, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Surgical Health Services, et al., quickly turned to the Supreme Court, which took up the case on Nov. 11.

The full 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in January. The Nov. 19 ruling holds the law in place until then, but either side may appeal next year’s ruling to the Supreme Court, which appears likely.

Writing the concurring opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia asserted that the dissenting parties failed to argue against the 5th Circuit’s reasoning on the “most critical” factors of their decision—that the state would likely prevail on the merits, and that the state would suffer a type of “irreparable harm” by failing to have its laws enforced.

But Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote the dissenting opinion, argued that a disruption of “the status quo” as it relates to abortion in Texas warranted a vacating of the appellate court’s ruling because it would “substantially reduce access to safe abortions in Texas.”

6 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

On the constitutionality of the hospital privileges requirement, Breyer wrote that it is “a difficult question.

It is a question, I believe, that at least four Members of this Court will wish to consider irrespective of the Fifth Circuit’s ultimate decision.”

Scalia countered that reversing the 5th Circuit’s ruling “would flout core principles of federalism by mandating postponement of a state law without asserting that the law is even probably unconstitutional.

Reasonable minds can perhaps disagree about whether the Court of Appeals should have granted a stay in this case. But there is no doubt that the applicants have not carried their heavy burden of showing that doing so was a clear violation of accepted legal standards— which do not include a special ‘status quo’ standard for laws affecting abortion.”

Abortion providers have said the law would force the closure of more than a dozen abortion clinics because its doctors could not attain hospital privileges. The state has argued a compelling state interest in protecting its citizens.

“These are commonsense—and perfectly constitutional—regulations that further the state’s interest in protecting the health and safety of Texas women. And we are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that HB 2 will remain in effect,” Lauren Bean, spokeswoman for Attorney General Greg Abbott, said in a statement.

Abbott is the likely GOP nominee in next year’s governor’s race.

Abbott’s likely foe, Democrat state Sen. Wendy Davis, who gained notoriety for her 11-hour filibuster against HB 2, countered, “Clinics will close and women’s health will be hurt because of this law. This is an abuse of power by politicians in Austin. I trust women to make their own decisions and will continue to work to make sure that women and mothers are safe and have access to adequate health care.”

Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Lib-

erty Commission, said of the decision: “In this case, the Supreme Court is right not to mess with Texas. The courts have slapped back even the most minimal regulation, much less restriction of abortion by the states. We have a long way to go to protect our unborn neighbors, and their mothers, from the predatory abortion industry. But the Court’s decision here is a good sign.”

Many others commented on the ruling via press statements or on social media sites.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said: “This is good news both for the unborn and for the women of Texas, who are now better protected from shoddy abortion providers operating in dangerous conditions. As always, Texas will continue doing everything we can to protect the culture of life in our state.”

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said via Twitter, “The Supreme Court will allow #HB2 to take effect during legal proceedings. Devastating news—but this fight is far from over.”

Kyleen Wright, president of Texans for Life Coalition and a Southern Baptist, tweeted, “Very pleased that #HB2 can be enforced with its added protections for both babies and their moms!”

In addition to the hospital privilege requirements for doctors, the law prevents abortions beyond 20 weeks post-fertilization and requires doctors be present to monitor the administration of abortion-causing drugs, such as mifepristone, commonly known as RU-486.

DECEMBER 2, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 7

TEXANS BRINGING

HOPE THROUGH BAPTIST GLOBAL RESPONSE

In isolated Filipino villages, typhoon victims welcome SBTC’s international rapid relief team.

By Caroline Anderson CEBU, Philippines

ocial media and news programs around the world are filled with images of relief teams making their entrances into Filipino communities devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, but hundreds more villages in extremely isolated areas have yet to see any relief vehicles at all.

These villages are tucked away in northern Cebu’s rolling hills, down winding, bumping roads barely wide enough for vehicles to traverse. They are the kinds of villages sought out by Southern Baptist relief efforts.

Several weeks after the storm, the recovery task in the cities and towns is monumental and millions of dollars in relief aid is flowing into those efforts. Many smaller com8 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

MINISTRY OF PRAYER. Larry Shine (second from left) and Scottie Stice (right) of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and Filipino Baptist pastor Nabanglo Driz pray with Leonilo Liquigan, who lost his house in Kantubaon amid the typhoon.

IMB PHOTOS BY HUGH JOHNSON

LEFT WITH SCARS. Fely Driz, wife of a local Baptist pastor, examines a village boy’s injuries before applying antiseptic ointment. He ran outside during typhoon Haiyan and was struck in the face by a flying sheet of tin roofing. When his mother took him to the nearest medical clinic, they were turned away without treatment because the family was too poor to pay.

munities, however, must fend for themselves.

People in out of the way areas often are neglected for one to two weeks in the aftermath of a major disaster, said Larry Shine, a member of the four-man BGR rapid assistance team sent to Cebu Island. The team’s goal is to go into areas not highlighted in the media and partner with local pastors to bring effective aid to neglected communities.

Shine, pastor of Pine Forest Baptist Church in Onalaska, Texas, and Scottie Stice, pastor of Southwest Texas Cowboy Church in Uvalde, Texas, traveled Nov. 16 to the ministry area of Filipino pastor Nabanglo Driz.

First visitors They were the first people to visit three mountain villages after the typhoon. On a rural road, their van

FATHER & SON. A father and son lean against their badly damaged house as a Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Task Force team discusses urgent relief needs with local residents of Mabunao, a village in Tabuelan municipality.

passed a sign tacked to a post that read “Help Us.” The houses in this area are perched on hilltops, meaning they were more exposed to Typhoon Haiyan’s ferocious winds. People in these villages are still living in their collapsed homes. One family with a 1-monthold baby is trying to shelter in a badly damaged hut not even tall enough for someone to kneel in.

To get relief supplies, the villagers must hike out to the main road and hand-carry the goods back down windy, bumpy paths.

In one village the team visited, the five concrete houses of Leonilo Liquigan and his extended family look as if a wrecking ball came through. Liquigan said people in the village came to his home because it was concrete and stronger, but even his concrete home couldn’t withstand the storm.

DECEMBER 2, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 9

He said he knew they needed to leave the area, but they had nowhere to go.

Since his village has been without electricity, Liquigan said he’s cooked coconuts and taken the oil and inserted a wick to make candles. Shine holds Liquigan’s hand and prays a blessing over him, asking God to “bring order where there is chaos.”

Survivor with a scar In the village of Kapilya, 5-yearold John Carl Ulila plays with a plastic lid, a metal bolt and a rock.

He does not have any toys. He is a survivor, but one who will forever bear a scar.

During the typhoon, a flying piece of corrugated tin hit Ulila and cut his nose and cheek—coming dangerously close to his eye. His mother took him to a medical clinic but was referred to a more expensive clinic his family could not afford.

They came home without any medicine.

Stice noticed Ulila’s eye when he arrived at his home. He gave Ulila’s mother antibiotic cream to treat the wound.

Driz identified Kapilya as one of the neediest villages out of the nine he serves. There are 30 families in Kapilya, where a house church meets each week for worship. The gazebo they meet in was destroyed by the storm.

The closest water reservoir to Kapilya is 11 miles away. The village’s water system operates off of a pump and because the electricity is out, the water is too. Right now, Ulila’s mom says they are collecting rainwater to drink. Stice and Shine discussed having a pump station to help bring water closer.

Later that day, Shine, Stice and 10 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

“The best ministry is to come build the house, share with her and tell her why you came and built the house. With this project, I believe there will be more fruit.”

—LARRY SHINE, A MEMBER OF THE FOUR-MAN BGR RAPID ASSISTANCE TEAM SENT TO CEBU ISLAND

Driz discussed how to handle aid relief and sharing the gospel with women in the area who aren’t as open. “The best ministry is to come build the house, share with her and tell her why you came and built the house,” Shine told Driz.

Driz believes this distribution project will open doors to the community. Many people close their hearts when they see him approach with a Bible, Driz said. Showing Christ’s love by helping the hurting is a bridge to sharing the gospel.

“With this project, I believe there will be more fruit,” Driz said.

Cowboys and pastors Over a dinner of rice and vegetables, Shine showed Driz photos of his guns and the deer he has shot in the backyard of his East Texas home. Stice showed pictures of his horses on his West Texas ranch.

Driz talked about one of his favorite movies—Rambo—and how he enjoys detective movies because of the suspense. The men talked about what fish the U.S. and the Philippines have in common.

For the evening, they were just men—talking about hunting and movies.

Later that evening, Driz, Stice and Shine sat down and continued their discussion about the areas they visited. Shine asked questions to help Driz to think through the rebuilding process and what resources they

would need.

He encouraged Driz to use Filipino church members to deliver the relief supplies.

“By using an existing network, it is more effective,” Shine said. “The church is the best network in the world.”

Filipino churches know the people and the culture—and will be there after all the international aid workers and media have left, Shine said.

“What Western churches can do is provide the financial aid resources he [Driz] doesn’t have,” Shine said.

Shine encouraged Driz and his church to train others and then encourage them to pass the knowledge on—an approach to humanitarian aid that facilitates church planting.

The discussion then moved to what to include in relief kits—items every Filipino family must have in their kitchen to survive—and how best to transport the goods. Shine asked Driz to make himself available to minister to the families while others of his team are distributing supplies.

Driz, Stice and Shine formulated a plan for aid relief and packets to be delivered the following week. BGR will purchase supplies for the relief packages with funds donated by supporters in the United States and elsewhere.

“We have full confidence in your ability to do this,” Shine told Driz.

Want to help? Click here.

ETS paper revisits two debates in early years of SBC inerrancy struggle For those paying attention, PattersonSherman and Patterson-Chafin debates brought key issues of ‘Battle for the Bible’ into focus.

By Keith Collier

D FORT WORTH

uring the tumultuous period of the 1980s and 1990s within the Southern Baptist Convention, theological conservatives and moderates clashed over the topic of biblical inerrancy. At the forefront of this struggle on the side of the conservatives was Paige Patterson, then president of the Criswell College in Dallas.

Two significant debates occurred between Patterson and moderate leaders in 1981—one with Cecil Sherman on Feb. 11 and the other with Kenneth Chafin on June 6.

Jason Duesing, vice president for strategic initiatives and assistant professor of historical theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, presented research on the two debates Nov. 12 in a paper titled “Debating Paige Patterson: 1981 Southern Baptist Inerrancy Debates with Cecil Sherman and Kenneth Chafin.”

“On a denominational level, for Southern Baptists, the Inerrancy Controversy of the late 20th century was the greatest and most violent collision that denomination had ever seen,” Duesing said.

“In 1981, two theological debates took place that revealed the ideas at stake in this war over truth. These debates allowed the ‘people in the pew’ to see the extent of theological disparity that existed between the average Southern Baptist and the existing Southern Baptist leadership.”

Citing audio of the debate as well as personal correspondence between Patterson, Sherman, and others, Duesing provided new insight on the Patterson-Sher-

Jason Duesing, assistant professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, presents a paper to the Evangelical Theological Society on two little-known debates that occurred in 1981 on the issue of inerrancy within the Southern Baptist Convention. The debates involved SWBTS President Paige Patterson, who debated North Carolina pastor Cecil Sherman and Texas pastor Kenneth Chafin.

man debate, which went unreported in the denominational press. He also addressed the much-publicized Patteson-Chafin debate at the annual convention of the Religion Newswriters Association of America just prior to the meeting of the SBC in Los Angeles.

As a result, Duesing said, these two debates “allowed Southern Baptists to see firsthand what the moderate leadership really believed about the Bible, and it propelled them to action.

“Over the next 20 years, conservatives led a recovery of theological integrity in the denomination’s agencies and seminaries. For the moderates, the highly organized plan of the conservatives proved too much to master, and they simply grew weary of debating Paige Patterson.”

Duesing presented his research at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Baltimore on Nov. 19. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Evangelicalism, Inerrancy, and the Evangelical Theological Society: Retrospect and Prospect.”

During a question-and-answer period following Duesing’s presentation, one student asked if the current debate in the SBC over Calvinism could result in DECEMBER 2, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 11

a split similar to what was seen over the issue of inerrancy in the 1980s.

“Southern Baptists have always discussed Calvinism at some level, and admittedly the rhetoric has increased in recent years,” Duesing said. “And depending on which state convention or association you go to, you’re going to find differing perspectives on that even now.

“I don’t think, personally, that it’s the type that will create another rift or a split.

I don’t think it’s anywhere near this level of anything like [the inerrancy controversy]. It appears to be the case that there is a younger generation coming who know what they believe about this, whether Calvinist or non-Calvinist, but that really isn’t the top-tier concern for them. I choose to be hopeful about that in terms of whether it will lead to a greater split.

“Partly, too, speaking of what’s going on in the greater culture, I think we’re coming to a place where we’re really not going to have a whole lot of time to sit around and fight about things like that. … We’re going to be looking around for any Southern Baptist who will stand with us on religious liberty issues and other kinds of things. I don’t think we’re going to have a lot of time in the future to really let Calvinism be as divisive as perhaps it appears

to be right now.”

Duesing’s paper can be accessed online here. A video of his presentation is available here.

A series of Baptist Press archives related to that era are accessible through the following links: http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5058,09-May-1980.pdf http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5203,06-Feb-1981.pdf http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5271,08-Jun-1981.pdf http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5128,19-Sep-1980.pdf http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5133,01-Oct-1980.pdf http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5135,03-Oct-1980.pdf http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/5266,22-May-1981.pdf

12 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

To some, ministry becomes boring and ineffective. The annual statewide Empower Conference is designed to challenge, inspire and motivate believers to take the message of Jesus Christ everywhere. You will find the preaching and music inspirational and can connect with other pastors and ministry leaders.

sbtexas.com/empower2014

Lubbock residents celebrate closing of two Planned Parenthood locations

By Rob Collingsworth LUBBOCK

Two facilities in Lubbock once owned and operated by Planned Parenthood have now been acquired by a nonprofit organization that will continue offering women’s health services—but not abortions—at one of the facilities.

Generation Covenant, a Lubbock non-profit specializing in adoption services, announced on Nov. 7 that its new division, Generation Healthcare, is now offering non-abortion women’s medical services at the former Planned Parenthood facility at 14 Briercroft Office Park in Lubbock.

A second facility at Indiana and 67th Street was Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic. Once it is renovated, it will serve children with learning challenges, according to a statement released Nov. 7 from Generation Covenant.

Generation Covenant was founded by adoption attorney Merinda K. Condra, who will serve as Generation Healthcare’s CEO, the statement said.

Southern Baptists in Lubbock who have been involved in the pro-life movement for decades said that the closing of Planned Parenthood in Lubbock is monumental.

In 1992, Dorothy Boyett began spending Thursday mornings at one of the two Planned Parenthood sites in the city, speaking with women who were seeking abortions.

“I would stand on the sidewalk and try to talk to women who came and hand them pro-life information,” Boyett said. “At first there was no resistance from the

“My good friend Judy joined me on the sidewalk, together with several others, and we began to experience harassment from not only the abortion facility but from most of the businesses in the cul-de-sac” —DOROTHY BOYETT

people in the abortion facility. However, that began to change after a while and they began to try and counter our efforts.”

Over the last 20 years, Boyett has been arrested three times for taking a stand outside the facility that provided abortions. According to her and others, the facility itself was off-limits to those who would stand outside to protest.

“My good friend Judy joined me on the sidewalk, together with several others, and we began to experience harassment from not only the abortion facility but from most of the businesses in the cul-de-sac,” she said.

“I not only wanted to save babies but also witness to the mothers and family members,” Boyett explained.

Boyett’s persistent attitude spread, and others joined in. Skeet Workman was one of those who was influenced by Boyett’s initiative.

Workman, a member of Southcrest Baptist Church, attributes her first exposure to the pro-life movement to attending an International Women’s Year Conference in 1977. It was there that she and her husband, Don, first became aware of the feminist movement, which promoted federally funded abortion.

Coming home shocked from what they had been exposed to, they quickly joined with friends to establish Eagle Forum of Lubbock, a local affiliate of the national Eagle Forum organization promoting conservative values.

The Workmans attended the Southern Baptist Convention in Houston in 1979 and began introducing prolife resolutions. As the Conservative Resurgence gained steam in the 1980s in the SBC, the hard work of people DECEMBER 2, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 13

such as the Workmans began paying dividends.

It was in 1991, while teaching a Sunday school class at Southcrest, that Workman met Boyett for the first time. The two women found common ground in their passion for pro-life activism, and not long after, Boyett introduced Workman to the work she had begun outside of the Planned Parenthood location.

“I taught a Sunday school class of women at Southcrest Baptist Church starting in 1991,” Workman explained. “I met Dorothy Boyett and she was a member of my class.

She began going to the abortion clinic sidewalk and witnessing to the women. I would go also from time to time, and she and I went other places in Lubbock to share the gospel.”

Lucy Eade, another Lubbock resident and a member of Victory Life Baptist Church, also joined Boyett and Workman outside the Planned Parenthood location over the last 15 years.

“I would stand on the sidewalk and pray for the women going in and encourage them to choose life for their baby instead of choosing abortion,” Eade said.

Eade also explained that one of her most vivid memories of her pro-life activism in Lubbock happened at that location last January during a memorial that marked the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

“Pro-life advocates in Lubbock organized a memorial urging those who value the sanctity of life to remember the innocent children by placing items at the Nurturing Center site next to Planned Parenthood,” Eade said. “People were encouraged to express their sorrow for tragic deaths by placing items such as candles, flowers, stuffed animals, toys, balloons and notes or messages. Participants were also 14 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

“If another abortion facility opens in the future, then I will do what every Christian should do in standing against the shedding of innocent blood. The first below-freezing day that I don’t have to stand on the sidewalk will be a welcome relief.”

—DOROTHY BOYETT

encouraged to pray silently at the memorial site.”

Now that the clinics are closed, the women expressed cautious optimism.

“The closing of both Planned Parenthood businesses will certainly make a difference in my life and those on the South Plains,” Boyett explained. “However, there will still be much to do for the three pro-life pregnancy help centers in town.”

Condra, the adoption attorney and CEO of Generation Healthcare, said in a written statement, “Our mission is to make certain that preventative screenings and routine health care services are available to all women.”

In a statement announcing the transfer of the former Planned Parenthood facilities to Generation Covenant, the organization said it would offer birth control and screenings for breast and cervical cancer, diabetes and blood pressure problems.

It plans to offer pre-natal care in the future, the statement said.

On abortion, Condra, who once served on the staff of former Democrat Congressman and abortionrights supporter Chet Edwards of Waco after graduating from Texas A&M, told the website EverythingLubbock.com, “It’s just not who we are. That’s not part of our mission.”

“We’re not a political organization,” she added, according to the website. “We’re not an abortion— pro or against—organization.”

According to the organization’s website, Condra is a two-time adoptive mother with years of experience in adoption law, which gives some pro-lifers hope that Generation Healthcare will stick to preventative care and keep Planned Parenthood at arm’s length.

With two Planned Parenthood locations closing simultaneously in Lubbock, it appears at least for now that Lubbock is free of abortion clinics.

Boyett added, “If another abortion facility opens in the future, then I will do what every Christian should do in standing against the shedding of innocent blood,” Boyett said. “The first below-freezing day that I don’t have to stand on the sidewalk will be a welcome relief.”

Generation Healthcare said that the clinic facility is open now, while the other site—formerly Planned Parenthood’s abortion facility in Lubbock—will undergo renovations and be opened in the future as The Institute for Creative Learners, which will help children with atypical learning styles develop “stronger academic skills and greater selfesteem.”

New app drills students for Scripture memory competitions 2014 Bible Drill tournament dates have been set for March, finals for April

By Sharayah Colter LUBBOCK

Students have long-since begun using their smartphones and tablets to read the Bible, and now, thanks to the Georgia Baptist Convention, they can use them to study for Bible Drill as well. The convention announced the launch of the new, 99-cent app in late October.

Maria Brannen, state missionary in discipleship/spiritual renewal for the Georgia convention says the app allows users to review books of the Bible and current verses through a host of different features.

“Kids are digital natives and this is a great way for them to have an opportunity for study at home during the week,” Brannen told the Georgia Baptist Convention’s communication department.

The app, available for iPhone and iPad, comes pre-loaded with the current cycle of verses and allows users to add their own additional verses. Verses have been loaded into the app in King James Version, Holman Christian Standard Version and English Standard Version—three versions officially accepted for Bible Drill competitions.

Emily Smith, women’s and children’s associate for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, says that the app will benefit Texas drillers as they prepare for competitions as well.

“It is broken by age groups and Bible versions, which allows children and students to study at their fingertips,” Smith said. “It has a flashcard option that will benefit children and students as they prepare for competitions.”

Bible Drill—originally developed in the 1920s—is

designed for children and teens in grades four through 12, and anyone can participate, as individuals or as church groups.

Smith said Bible Drill is an integral part of the discipleship process for children and students. “[Bible Drill] truly engrains not only the words [of] Scripture but where they are located,” Smith said. “I remember memorizing Scripture as a child but have a hard time recalling where it is found years later. That’s what’s makes Bible Drill stand out. Not only does it teach children and students to memorize Scripture, but [it] teaches them to locate where it is found in the Bible. It’s a hands-on approach to learning God’s Word.”

As the students enter high school, they also have the option to participate in the Speakers’ Tournament.

“The Speakers’ Tournament is a great tool in helping provide an opportunity for high school students to improve overall communication skills and orally present a four- to six-minute speech which expresses their biblical convictions,” Smith said. “It is an important ministry to have for children and youth in teaching biblical truths.”

The dates for spring Bible Drill competitions have been set. Regional tournaments will be held March 28-29 at First Baptist Church of Euless; April 11-12 at Spring Baptist Church in Spring; and April 11-12 at Redbud Baptist Church in Lubbock. The SBTC State Finals will be held April 26 in Grapevine at the convention office.

For more information on the SBTC’s Bible Drill program, visit sbtexas.com/bibledrill. For more information about the Bible Drill app, visit https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bible-drill/ id706273921?mt=8.

DECEMBER 2, 2013 TEXANONLINE.NET 15

Mike Gonzales

Ser Un Buen Líder

M

uchas veces nuestras iglesias no crecen o no van avanzando como deben porque carecen de buenos líderes. Debemos ser buenos líderes que sean aprobados por Dios y esto lo vemos claramente en II Timoteo 2: 14 y 15 que dice: “Recuérdales esto, exhortándoles delante del Señor a que no contiendan sobre palabras, lo cual para nada aprovecha, sino que es para perdición de los oyentes. Procura con diligencia presentarte a Dios aprobado, como obrero que no tiene de qué avergonzarse, que usa bien la palabra de verdad.”

Vemos que un buen líder se basa en la Palabra de Dios. Fuera de la Palabra de Dios, el líder de Dios va a caminar mal, va a perder su camino, y peor va a perder su congregación. Pero si el buen líder sigue la Biblia podrá vencer y hacer grande cosas para el Señor.

Un buen líder de Dios va mostrando algunas características espirituales.

1. Primero un buen líder de Dios tiene una relación correcta con su Dios. Él va leyendo la

16 TEXANONLINE.NET DECEMBER 2, 2013

Palabra de Dios y va buscando tiempo para meditar en ella cada día. Si el líder de Dios hace esto siempre va tener victoria aún en las luchas. Muchas veces estamos tan involucrados en nuestros ministerios, en nuestras familias y las cosas de cada día que dejamos la lectura diaria de la Palabra de Dios a un lado. Es parte de nuestra vida cotidiana buscar y guardar ese tiempo que vamos a tener a solas con nuestro Dios.

2. Segundo un buen líder de Dios sabe alimentar y guiar las ovejas del Señor. Así como un pastor del campo sabe que es necesario llevar a las ovejas a los pastos buenos para que sean alimentadas y sabe también que es necesario proteger a su rebaño de los peligros del campo; así es con el líder de Dios de la iglesia de hoy. Un buen líder de Dios sabe alimentar a su congregación basándose en la Palabra de Dios y siempre va exhortándoles de los peligros que hay en este mundo.

3. Tercero un buen líder de Dios es un líder humilde. Hay momentos que el siervo de Dios tiene que mostrar firmeza pero también debe expresar un espíritu de humildad.

En Hechos 20:19 en la primera parte de ese versículo Pablo nos exhorta diciendo: “... sirviendo al Señor en toda humildad ...”

Dios está buscando este tipo de líderes espirituales que puedan guiar a nuestras iglesias para hacer la obra de Él en nuestras comunidades. Seamos esos líderes espirituales que proclamemos las grandezas de Dios a un mundo perdido y que animemos al pueblo de Dios caminar con el Señor siempre.

—Mike Gonzales es director de los Ministerios Multiétnicos de la SBTC.

Southern Baptists of Texas Convention | sbtexas.com/sent