The Committee on Order of Business has approved the following policy regarding exhibit space at the SBTC 2004 Annual Convention:

Entities that are approved for exhibit space at the SBTC 2004 Annual Meeting are (subject to available space): SBTC Ministries, SBC Agencies, entities related to the SBTC by fraternal relationship, affiliated and working relationships, Baptist Associational Ministries and any host church.

Other entities desiring booth space may submit that request in writing prior to July 1, 2004 to the attention of Joe Davis in the SBTC Office.

All exhibitors are to be in agreement with the SBTC Constitution and Bylaws.

Fund raising or sales will not be allowed in the exhibit area.

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention staff moved to a new address, 4500 State Highway 360 in Grapevine, on April 5.

A public dedication service is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 22 at the SBTC campus, on the west side of SH 360 just south of Grapevine-Euless Road. Cole-Dolton Inc. provided project management for the 30,000 square-foot, two-story structure on 3.7 acres. The architectural firm was H.L.M. Design Inc. and the construction contractor was C.D. Henderson & Associates.

The building committee included: Ed Ethridge, chairman, director of missions at North Texas Baptist Association; Denny Autry, pastor, First Baptist Church of Lindale; Randy Davis, pastor of Lifeway Baptist Church, Amarillo; Mike Deahl, deacon at First Baptist Church, Dallas; and Keet Lewis, layman, Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano.

Please note the following addresses for correspondence: SBTC Building, 4500 State Highway 360, Grapevine TX 76051; P.O. Box 1988, Grapevine TX 76099-1988. The new phone number is 817-552-2500; the new fax is 817-552-2501.

Trial still used by some as valid proof that evolution stands up to critical testing.

By Kay Adkins

TEXAN Correspondent

The Scopes “monkey” trial of 1925 did little to settle a matter of justice, but it did set the stage for what would become the most recognized worldview showdown in U.S. trial history. Between the satirical news coverage of the trial and its mythical stage and screen portrayal in the 1960 movie “Inherit the Wind” (a film still often used as an educational tool in schools), the images of ignorant religious zealots still cloud the minds of many.

How did the misdemeanor charges against a little-known teacher named John Scopes become the focal point of media attention that year? How did his trial become the O.K. Corral between evolutionists and creationists, and Christians and agnostics of the day? What evidences were presented by the defense for the case of evolution, and has that evidence endured?

Setting the Stage

The story begins with a Tennessee law–the Butler Act–which forbade public school teachers to teach “any theory that denies the story of Divine creation of man as taught in the Bible.” Enter the newly-formed American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] to test the law with the intention of having it repealed.

Football coach and math teacher John Scopes had substituted as a biology teacher for two weeks. Through an ACLU newspaper advertisement and the coercion of a prominent Dayton, Tenn., citizen, Scopes was recruited and arrested to become the ACLU pawn. John D. Morris, president of the Institution for Creation Research, states in an online article, “John Scopes, on trial for teaching evolution (contrary to Tennessee law), didn’t actually do so until after the charges had been filed. Then he did so in the back seat of a car, just to be sure he had committed the proper crime.”

Former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, a Christian, accepted an invitation to be part of the prosecution team. Bryan had been known since 1904 as an opponent to the theory that man evolved from an ape-like ancestor. In a published oration, “The Prince of Peace” he stated, “The mind is greater than the body and the soul is greater than the mind, and I object to having man’s pedigree traced on one third of him only–and that the lowest third.”

Bryan feared the social implications of Darwin’s theory. In “On The Origin of Species,” Darwin explained his theory of natural selection as being “the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.” Bryan believed such an understanding would lead to some human races viewing themselves as superior to others. He also feared the spiritual implications, stating, “Because I fear we shall lose the consciousness of God’s presence in our lives.”

Clarence Steward Darrow, an agnostic and one of America’s premier criminal attorneys, volunteered his services to defend Scopes, and to present scientific evidence supporting evolution as well as his own anti-God agenda. After his stringent objections, first to the prayers prior to each day’s proceedings, and then to the court room presence of a Bible with a sign reminding people to read it, Darrow delivered a list of scientists and theologians to testify for the defense. The judge ruled their testimonies to be irrelevant to the charge being tried–that Scopes taught evolution against Tennessee law–but they were allowed to testify outside of the jury’s presence for the benefit of the appellate court.

Evolution Evidence?

Evidences presented at the trial supporting evolution relied heavily on fossils–human or human-like skeletal remains. Kirtley Mather, geology department chair at Harvard, testified:

“There are in truth no missing links in the record that connects man with the other members of the order of primates. Such facts . . . can be explained only by the conclusion that man has been formed through long processes of progressive development, which when traced backward through successively simpler types of life, each living in more remote antiquity, lead unerringly  to a single primordial cell.”

Some of the fossil evidences used in the trial have since been discredited, but others are still important to the evolutionist arguments.  The Piltdown man, discovered in 1912, was hailed in more than 500 dissertations as a missing link until 1953 when suspicions confirmed it a fake.  A human cranium and an orangutan’s jaw had been deliberately joined together.  The teeth of the ape had been filed down to give it a more human appearance.  Java Man, discovered in 1891, consisted of a human femur, an ape-like skullcap, and three teeth.  The skullcap has since been identified as that of an extinct gibbon, and the femur identified as human.  The gibbons and humans likely co-existed in the region of the discovery.

Heidelberg Man, Neanderthal Man, and Rhodesian Man, while typically classified as homo sapiens, or fully human, are still important to the evolutionist debate.  Some scientists still classify Rhodesian Man (the older of the three) in the sub-human homo erectus species.

In his book “Darwin on Trial,” Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson concedes that, “there may also have been an intermediate species (homo erectus) that walked upright and had a brain size intermediate between that of modern men and apes.”  But noting the fact that scientists cannot explain the “mysterious leaps” necessary “to produce the human mind and spirit from animal materials,” he states, “it is reasonable to keep open that the putative hominid species were something other than human ancestors, even if the fossil descriptions are reliable.”

Another fossil-related assertion made by an expert witness in the Scopes Trial was that, “Fossil remains show clearly that birds evolved from flying reptiles.”  Since then the dino-bird theory has taken many blows such as:  bird fossil remains that predate reptiles from which birds were to have evolved, birds with features which their alleged ancestors did not possess, and other stark anatomical differences.

In “Darwin on Trial,” Johnson reports that paleontologists had deemed their main dino-to-bird fossil evidence, that of Archaeopteryx, as a “dead end.”  But, he said, more recently discovered bird fossil specimens have features that seem to be intermediates between Archaeopteryx and some modern birds.  Johnson states, “Possibly birds did somehow develop from dinosaur predecessors, with Archaeopteryx as a way station, but even on this assumption we do not know what mechanism could havd produced all the complex and interrelated changes that were necessary for the transformation.”

Other evidence asserted at the Scopes trial related more to anatomical studies.  Vestigial organs, body organs that appear to have no purpose (such as tonsils, and the appendix), had been considered evidence of a distant ancestor to the human race.  The trial transcripts state that eh human body has at least 180 vestigial structures.  Since then, uses have been noted for almost every one of them.  Also, some organs considered to be vestigial do not even exist in some species alleged to be ancestors of humans–a critical error in logic for this argument.

The “biogenetic law,” stating that embryos develop through past life forms in a mother’s womb, was found to be erroneous.  For example, what scientists thought were gill slits in a human embryo, they now recognize as the early stages of the middle ear and two glands.  What was thought to be a vestigial tail scientists now know to be the tailbone use to support backbones, muscles and our posture.

Drawings used to support the biogenetic law were discovered to be grossly misleading, and unfortunately still turn up in science textbooks.  Johnson states, “That embryos actually recapitulate adult ancestral forms–that humans go through fish and reptile stages, for example–was never borne out by the evidence and embryologists quietly discarded it.  Nonetheless, the concept was so pleasing theoretically that generations of biology students learned it as fact.”

Guilty Verdict–A Victory for the Defense

The Scopes jury did not hear the expert testimony, but the portion of the trial they did hear amounted to an ambush on faith by the defense.  On the seventh day of the trial, Bryan agreed to undergo questioning on the witness stand with the understanding that Darrow would reciprocate.  In an article entitled “Scopes Trial Scoop:  The Trial Gavel Heard Round the World,” Dr. Richard Cornelius of the Bryan College English Department stated, “For about two hours Darrow hammered away at his Christian counterpart with questions ranging over some fifty topics.  Some of Darrow’s questions were impossible to answer:  ‘Do you know about how many people there were on this earth 3,000 years ago?'”

Darrow never had to fulfill his end of the bargain.  Following Darrow’s interrogation of Bryan, the judge struck Bryan’s testimony from the records.  Having no other witness or evidence to present, Darrow conceded his client’s guilt.  The jury was charged to render a guilty verdict.  For the prosecution, a guilty verdict upheld the law and set a precedent for keeping the theory out of the education system.  For the defense, a guilty verdict was the desired opportunity to have the case heard in a higher court.

The Scopes case was taken before the Tennessee Supreme Court, where the conviction was overturned on a technicality, and both sides were asked to not re-file.  The trial itself went away quietly, but it is still noted as media victory for evolutionists.  According to Cornelius, it was also a catalyst for the founding of more than 100 creationist associations.

Outbreak 2K4 aims to equip SBTC students for ministry leadership.

Do you feel the burn? Tom Cottar, student ministry associate of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, is praying several hundred students this July will feel it the way the prophet Jeremiah did and spread its heat when they return to their campuses next fall.

“Outbreak 2K4: Feel the Burn,” the SBTC’s student leadership event, is scheduled July 12-16 at the University of North Texas in Denton.

Its theme is from Jeremiah 20:9: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.”

This is the second year for Outbreak, a leadership camp not grade-level oriented and focused on equipping students for answering tough questions in a post-Christian culture and being salt and light to their peers, Cottar said.

The event will deal with basic Bible doctrines and also include some “culturally relevant issues” such as homosexuality, creation vs. evolution, Islam, and “Jesus-style” servant leadership. It will also include character studies of Moses, David and Nehemiah, ministry to fellow students, and basic life skills.

Separate curricula are specified for first-year and second-year Outbreak participants regardless of grade level, Cottar noted.

Second-year students will be able to participate in a one-day missions project on Thursday of the camp.

“Our philosophy has always been that leadership, the fruit of leadership, always shows itself in ministry and in missions and that our students need some dirt under their fingernails,” Cottar said. “They need to get out and get their hands dirty and get involved in those kinds of things.

“Unfortunately, we’ve taken the stance that teenagers are the church of the future when they ought to be the church of right now. They ought to be involved in ministry right now?not just being told that’s something they can do down the road.”

Aubrey Spears, who was camp pastor last year, has accepted an invitation to return this year. Ross King and Band will lead the students in musical worship.

Last year’s event drew 263 students. Cottar said he would love to see 500 and expects about 400.

On-campus housing and meals are included in the enrollment fee, which is $189 per student through April 15 and $199 from April 15 – June 12.

“Of course, we’ll have the standard wild and crazy recreation during the day,” Cottar noted.

Also scheduled is a youth camp in Commerce, July 26-30; the inaugural SBTC preteen camp June 1-4 at Latham Springs; and the annual Youth Evangelism Conference July 16-17 at The Criswell College in Dallas.

Registration packets and more information can be had at www.planetstudents.org or by e-mailing Cottar at tomc@sbtexas.com.

• For the third time in two years, Southern Baptist workers have died in the midst of their work. Again, the murders were in the name of a religion desperately wanting to be known for peaceful intentions. To be fair, Muslims have also been victims of terrorism in Iraq and other places. Man-made religions can never understand that death does not intimidate Christian workers. Our future is certain and in the hands of a God who lives and reigns.

• The Missouri Baptist Convention has experienced a set-back in its efforts to reclaim five rogue agencies. The five essentially cut the convention out of their governance a couple of years ago (but still expected convention funding) and have been involved in legal disputes since then. The MBC’s cause is just but by no means certain to prevail. You can read the details of the matter elsewhere. The point we must remember here is that no remedial effort can compete with knowledgeable, ongoing supervision of institutions over which we have some governing role. That applies to our churches, our civil institutions, as well as to our denominational entities. We should not build or fund institutions that we are unwilling to hold accountable. We definitely should not fund those who are unwilling to be accountable.

• Remember that we are at war. A year after open hostilities began in Iraq, we still have troops on the ground there and in several other countries. Our interest in them and prayers for them should be constant and not just prompted by the news reports of bombings and ambushes.

Collegians can bless church with time, talent and freedom, SBTC consultant says.

“If a church is located in an area where college students live and exist, that’s reason enough” to begin ministering to those students, said Kevin Ueckert, collegiate ministry consultant for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Ueckert compares college students’ value for a church to that of senior adults, because their lack of time constraints and ability to serve provide great potential service in a congregation.

“College students have a great deal of freedom and not nearly as much responsibility as many segments of the church,” Ueckert said. “They create incredible servants in the body. And they can bless the life of a church almost like no other group.”

This has been the experience at Gardendale Baptist Church of Corpus Christi, where the SBTC aided in beginning a collegiate ministry over the last two years. Shortly after being called to the church, the church’s pastor, Micah Davidson, began to be burdened to reach out to the 10,000 college students in the Bay Area. Through what Davidson said was “a series of events that only God could orchestrate,” he connected with Ueckert and shared his vision to reach college students in the Corpus Christi area.

“We agreed it needed to be done,” Davidson said, “and we also agreed it would take a special person to pull it off. Over the next several months we began to pray for a leader to emerge who would spearhead the strategy.”

One of the SBTC’s available resources, an intern program, provides leaders for such endeavors. Through equipping, encouragement, and financial support, the SBTC partners with churches to facilitate the start of collegiate ministries. While the convention often locates these interns, it can also help train someone commissioned by the church itself.

The solution to Gardendale’s own search for a collegiate leader was Greg Darley, a recent graduate of Clemson University in South Carolina. Despite participating in a Fellowship of Christian Athletes ministry that served as many as 1,200 students weekly, Darley found himself yearning to minister to students through a church.

“The SBTC has been a huge part in my coming to Gardendale and Corpus Christi,” Darley said. “They are helping financially to have me here, but more important than that are the people ? to help me. There are some other pastors and college ministers that are available when I need advice or have questions.”

This networking, which Darley described as “an indispensable asset,” is another important benefit the SBTC provides for both new and established church collegiate ministries. “One of the things that we are trying to do,” Ueckert said, “is develop a good network, connecting churches with churches that are reaching students.” In particular, he said, he wants to connect various church leaders who have a passion for university ministry. “We really want to create a network of pastors, so that pastors who want to reach students can talk to pastors whose churches are reaching students.”

This emphasis on connecting senior pastors comes from Ueckert’s belief that they are vital in creating a successful church ministry to collegians. “I think the first key ingredient is a pastor who believes in reaching students. I don’t know of any church that’s effective in reaching college students that doesn’t have a pastor who believes in reaching college students.” By connecting pastors of churches ministering in this way with pastors who would like grow their own student impact, the SBTC establishes a powerful network for encouragement, training, and cooperation.

Likewise, even well established ministries can benefit from the support of the SBTC’s help in networking, Ueckert said. “I don’t know of a single ministry that exists in our state that doesn’t in some way need to be sharpened, and there’s probably somebody else in the state that’s doing something that could sharpen them. And we want to help facilitate some of that.”

Beyond the internship program and networking, the SBTC also provides many training opportunities.

“We do have seminars and workshops that we can provide on-site that can be led and taught by those who know college ministry,” Ueckert said. Or, if a church has simple questions, consulting can be provided. The SBTC can “help people know what to do and how to do it, one way or the other,” he noted.

In May, the SBTC will host its first collegiate workers workshop, called “Collegiate Ministry Link,” to aid networking among those congregations that are interested in reaching students or already ministering to collegians.

The workshop will be at T Bar M Ranch in New Braunfels, and free accommodations and meals will be provided to participants (with some restrictions). Through sessions by experienced colle

DALLAS?The spring 2004 edition of the Criswell Theological Review (CTR) tackles “open theism,” the belief that God’s knowledge is limited and that he changes his mind about things based on human circumstances. This aberrant theology has made inroads into evangelicalism, especially into the seminaries, said CTR Editor Alan Streett, professor of evangelism and pastoral ministry at The Criswell College.

CTR is the first academic journal to examine and address the openness issue as it relates to the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) controversy over whether to expel some of its members who embrace openness.

Two exclusive interviews with Darrell Bock and Norm Geisler, past presidents of the ETS, reveal how scholars can hold diametrically opposed opinions on the issue. Bock, a New Testament professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, believes ETS, as a society, is inclusive enough to embrace members with different orthodox theologies as long as they hold to inerrancy broadly defined. A different perspective is offered by Geisler, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and past president of ETS. Geisler resigned after the ETS members voted to sustain the membership of Open Theism proponents Clark Pinnock of McMaster Divinity School in Canada and John Sanders of Huntington College in Indiana.

An article by Boyd Luterand Emily Hunter McGowin, “From Bad to Worse,” examines the theological implications of Pinnock’s open theism. Pinnock responds, followed by further response from Luter and McGowin.

Douglas Huffman’s article “Some Logical Difficulties in Open Theism” shows that despite how well-intentioned open theists are in attempting to explain why God “changes his mind” or why some of his prophecies “seemingly fail,” they are logically inconsistent in their analysis, he writes.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary theology professor Bruce Ware takes aim at the faulty theological base of openness in his article “Robots, Royalty and Relationships.”

For TEXAN readers a one-year subscription to Criswell Theological Journal is available for $15 and a two-year subscription is $25. Write to: CTR, 4010 Gaston Ave., Dallas, TX 75246 and indicate you read about the offer in an SBTC publication.

BORGER?t1:place>First Baptist Church in the 14,000-population town of Borger helped more than 1,600 people who entered the church’s benevolence ministry facility, called Living Water Ministries, in 2003. And since the ministry began in late 2002, 143 people have prayed to receive Christ, the ministry reported.

Deacons at the church wished to provide practical ministry to their area’s needy, and after a church member donated a building, which the deacons renovated, Living Water Ministries was born.

The ministry’s guiding Scripture, board chairman Conny Moore said, is Isaiah 61:1-3: “Bring good news to the afflicted, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to prisoners, comfort to all who mourn.”

A special projects offering administered through the ministry drew $6,000 and six other area churches signaling their intent to give monthly or yearly offerings to help with the ministry, Moore noted in a letter about Living Water.

Everyone who comes to the ministry is presented the gospel using the Four Spiritual Laws and volunteers must be born again and are trained to share the gospel.

“Whenever a person requests funds or clothing, or if they just come in and we can’t help them, that person is always asked if they know Jesus as Lord and Savior,” Moore wrote.

In 2003, the ministry gave 3,639 food baskets and $18,529 in financial assistance to needy families.

Public invited to dedication service Thurs., April 22.

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention staff is now operating at its new address, 4500 State Highway 360 in Grapevine. The move was completed April 3 and staff occupied the offices of the three-story building on April 5.

A public dedication service is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 22 at the SBTC campus, on SH 360 just south of Grapevine-Euless Road.

With the move, mailing addresses have changed. Please note the following addresses for correspondence.

• SBTC Building:

4500 State Highway 360
Grapevine TX 76051

• Rented Post Office Box:
P. O. Box 1988
Grapevine TX 76099-1988

The current SBTC telephone numbers?972-953-0878 and toll free 877-953-7282?will remain operational for an interim time period. The permanent phone is 817-552-2500; the new fax is 817-552-2501. These will be operational on April 5.

ABILENE?When Southern Baptists of Texas Convention women get together, the result is encouragement, equipping, and fun, said several women who attended the SBTC’s Regional Women’s Conference in Abilene last month. The two-day conference, with the theme “The Lydia Principle: A Life with Purpose,” headlined by ministry leaders from churches throughout Texas, offered West Texas women an opportunity to learn more about the importance of women’s ministry in the church. The West Texas event was one of five regional conferences scheduled in Texas this year. Conferences were held March 26-27 in Corpus Christi and April 2-3 in Arlington. Future meetings are scheduled April 30-May 1 at East Paris Baptist Church in Paris and Sept. 24-25 at San Jacinto Baptist Church in Amarillo.

Brenda Greer is a member of the SBTC Women’s Ministry Team and helped her church, South Side Baptist, host the recent Abilene conference. “The goal for these conferences,” she said, “is to equip women for ministry in the local church.” This year’s theme is “The Lydia Principle: A Life with Purpose,” based on the example of Lydia in Acts 16.

For as many ladies as possible to attend, Greer said the event is “designed to fit easily into the weekend schedule of most women.” Beginning with registration on Friday evening, the conference lasts less than 24 hours?but much is accomplished.

Each conference’s schedule includes both large-group and “breakout” sessions led by women from a team of seven experienced speakers. Three corporate sessions include worship time and messages that focus on using one’s God-given abilities and living with godly purpose.

Three smaller sessions allow for choices among a wide range of seminars, with topics that include combining home hospitality with evangelism, group accountability, and effectively using the Bible in ministry to others. Each of the themes discussed, Greer explained, is meant to help “women who are either already involved in women’s ministries within their local church, or women who desire to begin a women’s ministry.”

“These speakers,” she said, “are women who have had firsthand experience and are actively participating in women’s ministries in their own church as well as some who are serving on the state level. Most importantly, they are women who know the challenges of balancing their faith, home, families, and ministries. They are all ? in tune with the lives, priorities, and responsibilities of today’s women who desire to serve within their churches.”

One attendee to the Abilene conference, Shana Shuler, said the program blessed her in many ways. Shuler, who is involved in her own church’s ministry to women, noted that the event offered her and other women new perspectives, a push forward in their faith, and encouragement to fulfill their purposes for the Lord.

Shuler also said the conference effectively ministered to and uplifted the ladies who attended, making it easier for them to return to their churches and minister to others. She said she liked the speakers’ insistence on growing in personal relationship with the Lord. “Every speaker I heard spoke strongly of daily prayer and reading of God’s word,”

One benefit Shuler and Greer both noted in the Abilene conference was the joy of joining with other women in pursuit of similar goals and the same God.

“My favorite part of events such as this is always standing back and watching sisters in Christ love on each other,” Greer said. “The chatter, laughter, tears, hugs, and smiles are all a part of being daughters of the Most High God. How it must bless his heart to see his girls learning from and loving each other.”

Not only are such encounters joyful, Greer noted that connections made at the SBTC’s Regional Conferences “also offer women the opportunity to network with other women in the area who might be of help in beginning or maintaining a women’s ministry.”

Greer said emphasizing ministry to women within a congregation blesses the whole church. “When a church experiences a vibrant, growing women’s ministry, the results will not only occur in the lives of the women personally, but marriages and families will be enriched and impacted for the cause of Christ.” Greer said that the SBTC has much to offer churches in this area, the most valuable asset being the women on the state leadership team. These women, including Greer, are “trained and ready to help any church begin and develop a women’s ministry of their own,” Greer said.