Month: March 2008

SBTC relief team ministers to Hurricane Felix victims

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua?She listened intently, cocking her head sideways, hoping that the sounds would create a mental picture since her clouded eyes no longer allowed her to see. Blind for 14 years, widowed for four years and four children still dependant upon her care placed this Miskito woman at the top of the SBTC disaster relief team’s list of needy villagers.

The team’s efforts in February will serve as a model for future teams who will attempt to build 75 homes for those most in need in the region of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, where Hurricane Felix ripped across the pine savannah of the northeast region of the Central American country last fall.

SBTC disaster relief (DR) volunteers followed the directions of Mike Lene of Labelle Baptist Church, who served as lead builder on the trip. The simple plans for a 16- by 20-foot, three-room, elevated wood house were developed by missionary Jim Palmer to reflect the local culture.

The blind woman continued to listen intently to the noisy surroundings as the 10-man team from Texas worked. She had been without her home since Sept. 4 when Felix hit.

She told the team leader through a translator, “The wind tore the roof off and sucked everything out of the house. I took the children to the nearest tree and tied them to the tree to keep the wind from taking them away.”

The blue tarps and heavy white plastic sheets covering the surrounding shacks with “USAID” printed plainly across the various makeshift huts indicated the area had been visited by many humanitarian aid groups.

The building projects caught the attention of the villagers and earned their respect because they saw the houses being built, not for the politically connected, but for those who truly were the “least of these,” as one volunteer described them.

“We asked the village elders who were the most needy,” explained Palmer, a missionary with the SBC’s International Mission Board. “We told them we would provide all the building material and labor to build homes for those who were unable to work for themselves or had no means of helping themselves. The elders actually chose who would receive the new homes.”

The first home completed was for a widow with three children. She moved into the home before the windows and doors were completed. All she could say was, “Thank you,” repeatedly.

Paul Morrow, DR volunteer from Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, said, “God is good! If we can help missionaries and pastors spread that simple truth, the foundation is laid for the future.”

The stark poverty of those living in Santa Marta became the focal point of the SBTC team. Frank Bailey, who was often surrounded by the Nicaraguan children who flocked to him, said, “As long as I live, I will never forget how much joy a simple balloon can give.” His sentiments were echoed by Ron Maxey of Mobly Baptist Church who said that he was on this trip because he loved to help people.

The team was housed in tents that leaked whenever it rained and dripped condensation during the cool nights. The night long squeal of pigs, barking dogs and loud music kept the team from getting much rest. Trouble with heat exhaustion and diarrhea also plagued some of the members, but the work had taken on urgency, especially for the blind woman. Despite chronic equipment failures, wood that had been milled with a chain saw and strength-sapping heat, the team pressed on.

When strong rains flooded the creek separating the blind woman’s home site from the builders who were camped in the backyard of the local Baptist church, another home was started for an elderly couple who had no family to assist them and failing health. The hot sunny days that followed allowed the blind woman’s house to be completed early the next week. After guiding her through each room while she felt every wall and window, the woman excitedly burst out in her Miskito tongue, “I am so happy, I can laugh!”

Doug Scott of Westside Baptist Church in Atlanta, Texas remarked: “We have been blessed with so much, not that I think I can ever repay God, but it would be selfish for me not to give my time to this project. I can’t speak Spanish or Miskito, but I can look into their eyes and see the joy they have watching their mansion being built.”

Jack Wilkins, volunteer from the Pine Forest Baptist Church in Onalaska, said, “It is good to see personally what our missionaries are doing and how much respect the locals have for them.”

Paul Easter of Cason Baptist Church, Cason added, “Some are called to be pastors, some missionaries, but I was called to be a mission volunteer. If I can’t go two weeks without the comforts of home so I
can to share my time with others, then I would be the one doing without.”

The team included three pastors who settled into various tasks as the work continued. Julian Moreno, pastor of Primera Bautista Iglesia in Uvalde, served as the Spanish interpreter. The local interpreter spoke Miskito, Spanish and Creole English.

Pastor Bill Fondren of LaBelle Baptist Church in LaBelle told the team that “being an instrument of God who can have a radical impact by doing the simple is what ministry is about. This work is something anybody can do.”

As the fourth house was completed, the widow who received the house exclaimed to her friends standing by, “Look at all my brothers who have come to help me when I had no one else.”
The team closed out the week by completing two more homes, installing electrical wiring and building a dozen pews for the local Baptist church.

For more information on Project Unto The Least of These in Nicaragua, e-mail Jim Richardson, SBTC disaster relief director, at jrichardson@sbtexas.com.

?Larry Shine is the pastor of Pine Forest Baptist Church in Onalaska and a veteran disaster relief team leader.

Group’s religious views may hinder its degree accreditation

DALLAS?The Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research’s (ICR) drive to get its online master of science education degree accredited by the state of Texas has brought a new round of wrangling in the nationwide controversy between materialistic and creationistic science.

“We’re teaching the same science as other schools,” ICR CEO Henry Morris III said. “We even use the same textbooks in a lot of cases. ? Really, what else can you do at the chemistry table?”

The difference, Morris said, is that students who study with ICR get a biblical theology and are exposed to a Christian worldview in addition to core science curricula.

The state board will have a public hearing on ICR’s request for accreditation April 24. According to published reports, there has been a flurry of activity on both sides of the issue to sway the board’s decision, including an editorial against accrediting ICR’s degree program in the science journal Nature.

The magazine noted that ICR teaches a literal Genesis flood and “the creation of fully functional major groups of animals.”

“For the last 25 or 30 years, the scientific establishment has decided that science equals naturalism. That is, all of science must begin with the idea that there is no God,” Morris said. “That’s just not true. But the effect has been similar to telling the same lie 100 times?eventually people begin to believe it.”

The master of science education program has been offered through ICR since 1982, and until last year was accredited through the Transnational Association of Colleges and Schools (TRACS). When ICR moved from California to Texas in 2007, the school had to apply for accreditation through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board because Texas does not recognize TRACS accreditation.
Morris said about 80 percent of the students who completed the program did so in order to teach in a Christian school.

“We’ve had about 20 percent who are believers who came back to school to kind of get our perspective on things,” he said. “But the Christian school movement has been steadily moving in the direction of getting more accreditation from the states, which requires that the teachers who work there get their degrees from accredited institutions.”

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Edward Pauley has been offering “fraternal advice” to the Dallas-based institute as they navigate the accreditation process. Pauley said the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board sent a team to inspect the program and they came away impressed, but opponents of creationist science charged that the school would be teaching religion as science.

“When the folks got back to Austin, they gave a favorable report, but immediately began getting a ton of heat from people who are opposed to ICR’s petition on ideological grounds,” Pauley said. “At one point, there was a proposition floating around to let them offer a degree in creationism. It only got ugly when the word ‘science’ was involved.”

Morris said the last round of hearings in January brought out the worst in some of the institute’s opponents.

“There were people writing editorials in newspapers that asserted that if we got our accreditation people wouldn’t want to come to school or teach in Texas because the state would be a laughingstock,” he said. “Most of their arguments are of this kind, and frankly, I don’t find them convincing. I would imagine that if we get our accreditation, things will go on as usual in other institutions.”

In January, Morris sent out a request for prayer and petitions to the board on behalf of the institute’s programs.

“It almost seems like those petitions just fired up the other side more than they were already,” Morris said.

Far from being merely an academic debate, Morris said he sees ICR’s mission as crucial to enabling Christian parents to help their children form a biblical worldview by getting the same message from the church, the school and at home.

“All of the things we normally worry about as evangelicals in the public square come down to not having a biblical understanding of life and the value of it,” he said. “Our children are better equipped to make good decisions when they understand that they are children of God rather than thinking they are children of accidents.”

NO EXCUSES: Deaf challenged to share faith

HOUSTON?When the music ended in the gym-turned-worship center, all was quiet?no shouts of “Amen!” and no applause. Instead, hands rose in the air and shook, giving silent praise. Those same hands, moments earlier, sang out in worship during the Deaf Empower Evangelism Conference last month.

Coordinated by SBTC deaf ministry consultant Aric Randolph, the conference drew 925 participants during three days at Houston’s Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church. The number in attendance doubled from last year’s conference that drew fewer than 500. Randolph said the success of the 2008 Deaf Empower Evangelism Conference indicates similar events, on a smaller scale, are needed throughout the state.

Randolph, who is deaf and pastor of New Life Deaf Fellowship in Fort Worth said, via e-mail: “I see [the goal] of the conference as being two-fold. One: empowering the deaf throughout the state of Texas to be effective witnesses of Jesus Christ;two: empowering the local church (where we have the conference) in uniting together and to be a lighthouse of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their community.”

According to statistics, those who are deaf, using sign language as their language of communication, are one-fourth of 1 percent of the U.S. population.

Those attending the conference came from across Texas and as far away as St. Louis, Mo. Some of those attending the conference came from just north of Houston at the Healing Hands Ranch (HHR), a halfway house for deaf male ex-prisoners newly released from the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

One of the residents of HHR, Steven, 22, was attending his second Deaf Empower Evangelism Conference and said he appreciated the focus on communicating to the deaf in sermons, worship, and workshops.

Speaking through sign language interpreter Peggy Carpenter, Steven said growing up in a church of people who could hear, the worship service and sermons meant little or nothing to him because he did not understand what was said. But with the aid of deaf ministries like Healing Hands Ranch and the conference, Steven said his faith has grown and his desire to learn more and go back to school can actually occur.

For the deaf, learning and growing in their faith can be a struggle without consistent assistance from an interpreter, said Allan, 51, also a resident at HHR. But after learning from the guest speakers at the conference, the ex-prisoner said he is determined to change his life, be strong, and study the Bible.

“That’s what’s so beautiful here. It really does help with our faith walk,” he said.

The conference offered workshops, praise and worship sessions, theme interpretations, guest speakers and worship teams from New Life Deaf Fellowship and Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church.

Randolph told the TEXAN, “Many Christians, not only the deaf, have become so complacent with their lives and are not a witness for Jesus Christ,” he said.

He admitted that the language barrier between the hearing and the deaf can cause communication problems when sharing the gospel, but it should never serve as an excuse for not doing so at all.

“Yes, that is often the excuse for not witnessing ? the language barrier. With technology today, we can overcome many barriers. We need to understand that it is God who draws the people to himself and all we need to do is tell them about Jesus Christ. When we do the work that God has commanded us to do, he will take care of changing lives.”

Having volunteered for many years as a coach for his son’s baseball team?an all-hearing team?Randolph said, “I personally did not see this as a communication barrier … I did my best with the ability I had. I believe when we do our part, God is faithful to do his part.”

Pastor John Lovas of Canal Boulevard Baptist Deaf Church in New Orleans, using sign language, spoke during the Saturday morning session. Addressing the theme of “The Harvest,” Lovas admonished the conference attenders to not be lukewarm Christians who think churches are established to meet their needs. The “on fire” Christians, he said, believe the purpose of the church is to serve God?going out into the community and drawing people to him.

Not unlike other churches, deaf churches can become social clubs, Lovas said.

“They were like deaf clubs,” Lovas said of deaf churches in the New Orleans area when Canal Boulevard Baptist Deaf Church was established in 1996. “It takes time to go from social club to fellowship.”

Lovas admitted that the growth in deaf churches can be slow due to communication challenges. Hearing people, he said, can witness to and disciple 12 people a year (if so inclined) while a deaf individual may only reach two.

But if each of those two deaf converts then witness to two more unsaved deaf people, the number of salvations would continue exponentially.

“Stop living with the expectation that the church is there for me. It takes time and devotion” to grow a church.

Lovas never allowed for the language difference between the hearing and the non-hearing, even within the deaf community, to be an excuse for not witnessing. He told the mostly deaf audience that although they do not have an audible voice they should never be silent about their faith.

Citing James 2:14-20, Lovas said Christians are commanded to share their faith in how they live, in the deeds they do.

“We need to stop being lazy and stop taking advantage of the salvation we have. Repent and change your ways to be pleasing to the Lord.”

Although to the deaf the world is silent, Lovas said, “There is nothing to be gained from a silent faith.”

Odessa to modify Bible class curriculum

ODESSA?The attorney for a Texas school system calls a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union “a great victory” for the district’s elective Bible course.

The Ector County Independent School District in Odessa has agreed to modify the curriculum in settling an ACLU lawsuit that charged the curriculum with unconstitutionally promoting conservative, Protestant Christianity.

Part of the settlement reached between eight parents represented by attorneys for the ACLU and People for the American Way, and the school district, represented by Liberty Legal Institute in Plano, requires that a school board-appointed committee develop a new curriculum by June 1 for review by the school board, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported the day after the March 5 settlement.

“This is a great victory for ECISD and the community,” Hiram Sasser, Liberty Legal’s director of litigation, said in a statement. “ECISD will continue to offer a Bible course, it will be a curriculum of its own choosing, it may use portions of any existing curriculum as a resource, and the Bible will be the main textbook for the course.”

Sasser said the committee could pull from several sources, including the current curriculum, to develop a new one that meets state standards.

Mediator Hesha Abrams of Dallas said, “With hard work, and good people working together, we were able to forge a solution that works for this community. I am grateful for the trust that the parties placed in me allowing for a creative solution.”

Meanwhile, an attorney for People for the American Way, Judith Schaeffer, was quoted by the paper as saying, “The goal of the lawsuit was achieved in this settlement. This is the relief plaintiffs were asking for in the litigation.”

Schaeffer added, “We will all be monitoring this.”

A Texas law that took effect in September allows school districts to offer Bible courses on the Old and New Testaments if at least 15 students request it.

The school district said about 40 students are enrolled in the Bible course at two high schools.

In 2005, the Ector County board commissioned a committee to review available Bible curricula. The committee endorsed one developed by the Virginia-based Bible Literacy Project, but the board chose the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools material, which the lawsuit said was “improperly designed to promote religious instruction.”

Both curricula have endorsements from evangelical Christian leaders. Southern Baptist Chuck Colson, theologian and author Os Guinness and WORLD magazine columnist Gene Edward Veith have written favorably of the Bible Literacy Project’s textbook?as have mainline Protestants, some Jewish groups and First Amendment watchdogs.

Others, such as the late D. James Kennedy and Pentecostal pastor John Hagee, endorsed the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools curriculum.

But Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, repeatedly has said Bible courses in public school classrooms invite problems.

“It is a dangerous move to place public schools in the business of teaching about religion and the Bible. We need to ask ourselves, ‘Do we really want the state to teach our children the Bible? Do we want the Bible marginalized as simply a fine history and literature text?’ If teachers set out to teach the Bible objectively, how do they teach the resurrection? Inevitably, their methods would offend those who are devout Christians. Yet, if they taught the resurrection from a Christian perspective, it would offend those who are not.”

Women challenged to have biblical foundations

SPRING?Developing an effective women’s ministry goes beyond offering the latest topical Bible study. Shirley Moses, SBTC women’s ministry consultant, wants to see women working in their congregations to minister to needs and educate women at a deeper level with an end goal of producing “proven disciples.”

That was the theme of the third SBTC Women’s Ministry Leadership Forum held Feb. 22-23 at Houston-area Spring Baptist Church in Spring. Regional conferences are scheduled for April and September in Odessa and Corpus Christi, respectively.

Moses’ desire to see women equipped with Scripture and guidance on how to implement and maintain ministries seems to have struck a chord within SBTC churches, if attendance at the leadership conference is any evidence. What began three years ago as a meeting of 85 women in the convention’s Grapevine headquarters has multiplied five times with 430 women attending in Spring.

In addressing the closing assembly, Moses asked the women if they were disciples of Christ, content in their salvation, or “proven disciples” who were bearing fruit. Referencing John 15, Moses said, “The purpose of all true ministry to God is to bear fruit in his name, in his power, and for his glory. I’m not talking quantity of fruit but the quality of the fruit.”

Moses asked the women’s ministry leaders gathered for the conference if they were producing disciples within their congregations or just maintaining what had been passed on. Over the next two to three years through the Women’s Ministry Leadership Conference and Regional Women’s Ministry Conferences, Moses said she would urge women to draw deeper from the well of God’s Word.

At the conference, guest speakers Shaunti Feldhahn and Martha Lawley addressed the women about the need to mend and establish healthy relationships at home and surrender completely to the Lord before stepping out into ministry, presumably with the Lord’s blessings.

Feldhahn, author of “For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men,” admitted that she was not a Bible scholar, but a former Wall Street analyst. It is her talent of analyzing substantive studies with regard to relationships between men and women, in the light of Christian
doctrine, that enables Feldhahn to offer advice, she said.

When the relationships in a woman’s life are “off,” Feldhahn said everything is off, even her relationship with Christ.

She said, “We all know we can be useful, but the ideal is: Don’t go to the altar until you’ve made peace with your brother.”

It is the wisdom in the opening verses of Proverbs 24 that Feldhahn wanted to impart?”By wisdom a house is built? through knowledge its rooms are filled.

Lawley, author of the Bible study “Attending the Bride of Christ: Preparing for His Return,” urged women to comprehend what total surrender to Christ means.

Too many Christians, she said, settle for “partial surrender,” chiseling out a cubbyhole in their souls where God is placed, consigning him to a portion of their lives, not the whole. Such “cultural Christians,” Lawley said, live their day-to-day lives peppered with Christ for good measure. Instead, Lawley stressed, Christians must learn to completely empty themselves and be filled, first and foremost, with the Holy Spirit by whom every aspect of their lives, including ministry, is directed.

Moses said it is the cultural Christian she wants to transform. With a deeper comprehension of the Word of God comes an ability to better discern what his will is and to carry it out in the arena of women’s ministry.

Attendees came from across the state to glean from the speakers and workshop directors. With about 20 different breakout sessions to choose from, women heard speakers on a wide variety of subjects from personal enrichment to apologetics. Such offerings included: “Discerning the Full Impact of God’s Call and Your Ministry: Spiritual Giftedness and Relational Styles,” “Defending your Faith: Evidence for the Resurrection,” and “A Biblical Strategy for Kingdom Women.”

A group of women from First Baptist Church in Whitesboro said they enjoyed attending the conferences because of the breakout sessions. Over boxed lunches the women discussed what they had learned from the different workshops they attended.

Each said they liked the discussions on conflict resolution in the church. Acknowledging that no congregation is ever completely free from such troubles, Teri LaQuey said she appreciated the biblically sound advice that was given. They received some insight on how they can better reach the women inside and outside their church and how to discover and minister to the needs of those women.

April Flanagan said she valued gaining insight on how to reach women on the fringes of the church?those who attend church but do not become involved. An intentional, one-on-one relationship must be created in order to draw those women into ministry and help them discover where they can serve.

The women of South Side Baptist Church in Abilene said the conference was a confirmation for them of where God was leading their ministry. Desiring to create cross-generational relationships and mentoring partnerships, the women found more than one workshop and speaker addressing that very subject.

Shana Shuler said South Side Baptist has so many ages and seasons of women that she wanted to make sure she was not focusing on only those within her age group.

Moses said the depth of knowledge and variety of subject matter represented by the ministry team that presents at the workshops gives women like those from Whitesboro and Abilene resources for standing firm in their faith and gaining an even deeper relationship with the Lord.

She asked, “I know as leaders you offer your women Bible studies. But do your women know the basics of their faith?”

To make her point, Moses recalled an incident that occurred soon after her own salvation in 1991. She had been invited to attend church by a friend. This woman, Moses said, had been a member of her church for a number of years. But when it came time to take the Lord’s Supper, Moses leaned over and asked what the elements represented and her friend said she did not know.

With such a lack of depth in spiritual understanding, Moses asked the conference if the women of the churches represented would be easily swayed.

Citing a New Age style self-improvement book, “The Book of Miracles,” endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and highlighted on her website, Moses urged women to have a better understanding of Scripture to better discern the things of God. The book refutes the existence of sin and claims “my salvation comes from me.”

It is the well-intentioned actions of those who are trusted and admired, such as Winfrey, that can easily lead women astray, Moses noted.

To make her point, Moses read 2 Timothy 3:6, “For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passion always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of truth.”

Baptist schools share insights at meeting

LEAGUE CITY?Administrators and teachers from Baptist-related Christian Schools across Texas gathered for two days at Bay Area Christian School to develop leadership skills and discover strategies aimed at improving the education their students are receiving.

Freddie Cullins, administrator of the host school, chaired this year’s convention, which attracted 320 Texas educators who selected from over 75 seminars.

“Our challenge is to lead students to both hear and obey God’s Word,” Cullins told convention participants as he described the theme of “Building on the Rock” taken from Matthew 7:24-27.

He outlined the process of teaching God’s truths, serving as an example of obedience, and providing opportunities to serve God and others as teachers and administrators demonstrate that their faith is real.

Now in its 52nd year, the Texas Association of Baptist Schools has 50 member schools, most of them affiliated with Southern Baptist churches. They range in size from the five students of Alpha Omega Christian School in Leonard to Prestonwood Christian Academy’s 1,457 students in Plano. Prestonwood’s Larry Taylor served as the keynote speaker.

The importance of a Christian worldview was underscored in many of the seminars through an explanation that ideas have consequences, the problems of religious pluralism, and the effect of a postmodern society. Teachers also gained understanding of students and families from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon and Jewish backgrounds.

A discussion of Christian art contrasted self-expression and self-realization while another seminar addressed the need for competitive athletic programs to be Christ-centered. Techniques were explored in areas of reading, writing, language arts, learning centers, study skills, time management and memorization. Other seminars dealt with management software, retirement plans, and accreditation.

Ed Gamble, Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools executive director, encouraged teachers to make allies of students’ parents as they help them train “virtuous warriors” through the biblical goals God outlines in Scripture. Gamble, speaking on biblically integrated teaching, explained that superficial Christian schooling has little impact on a student’s worldview.

The Texas Association of Baptist Schools meets annually to provide inspiration, information, and encouragement to persons teaching in the member schools. Current officers include President Sandra Phelps of Hyde Park Baptist Schools in Austin, Vice President Jake Walters of First Baptist Academy in Dallas, and Secretary Jill Roberts of Levelland Christian School.

The Accreditation Commission of the Texas Association of Baptist Schools was formed in 1985 to provide for the accreditation of non-public schools. For more information, contact Executive Director/Treasurer Randy Wood at 254-710-4944. Information about SBACS is available at sbacs.org or by calling 407-808-9100.

Church network seeks broader cooperation

ARLINGTON?A diverse group of evangelical pastors and laity, including several Southern Baptists, have announced the formation of a new Antioch Network of Churches to cooperate in fulfilling the Great Commission without requiring conformity on secondary doctrinal matters.

In a news release issued after an inaugural March 2-3 meeting in Arlington, Southern Baptist pastors involved in the network said it would be an additional connection for churches “to partner with like-minded believers as the Spirit leads.”

The group of 50 people, including 42 pastors, met at the invitation of Dwight McKissic Sr., pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, and Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla.

McKissic, who resigned as a trustee of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth last year, and Burleson, who resigned as an International Mission Board trustee in January, were critical of the boards for what they described as a narrowing of doctrinal parameters for service in SBC entities.

During the opening session in Arlington, Burleson moderated a discussion about doctrinal parameters for the network, which he said require simplicity and clarity, the news release said.

“A consensus doctrinal statement is needed to affirm our passion for Jesus Christ and the good news about his person and work,” Burleson said, according to the news release. “Because we treasure church autonomy, we respect churches that go further in their doctrinal statements, but it is unnecessary for a network of autonomous churches who desire to cooperate in ministry to expect conformity on tertiary doctrinal matters.”

The group affirmed the following purpose statement:

“The Antioch Network of Churches will serve Jesus Christ by encouraging fellowship and ministry cooperation between churches of diverse denominational heritage and by affirming the autonomy of local churches to partner with like-minded believers as the Spirit leads. We are thankful for and intentional about retaining our preexisting identities, yet we do not suppose that those identities preclude our joint ministry with others who share our passion to proclaim the gospel.”

Another Southern Baptist, Paul Littleton, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Sapulpa, Okla., presented a paper on emerging church models and noted the need for multi-ethnic churches as a witness of the power of Jesus Christ.

The news release said Ralph Emerson, pastor of Rising Star Baptist Church in Fort Worth, led the discussion about an organizational structure and strategy for the network that included “bold gospel proclamation and application.”

The network named an exploratory leadership team to finalize the confessional framework and coordinate long-range plans, the news release stated. The 12-member team will meet in April and includes six African Americans, six Anglos, and men and women.

An initial confession drafted by the Antioch Network was offered, though it may include later changes, the news release said. The doctrinal statement said:

“We affirm the authority, sufficiency, reliability, and consistency of God’s infallible revelation in both the Words of Holy Scripture and the Person of Jesus Christ. We affirm that the one true God exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that these, being one God, are equal in deity, power, and glory. We also affirm both the full humanity and deity of Jesus Christ.

“We affirm Christ’s virgin birth, His substitutionary death for sinners, His resurrection from the dead, His second coming, and His gift of eternal life to all who are in relationship with Him by grace through faith alone.

“We affirm that God has ordained the proclamation of the gospel message by His people in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is both the Gift of God to the church and the Giver of diverse spiritual gifts.
We also affirm baptism as the public testimony for those who have come into covenant with Jesus Christ in Lord and Savior.

“We affirm that persons apart from a relationship with Christ will face God’s judgment.”

McKissic resigned from the trustee board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary last June, citing “too much mental, physical, emotional and even spiritual energy” spent on his role in a conflict over speaking in tongues and private prayer language at the seminary.

McKissic in a Southwestern Seminary chapel sermon in August 2006, said he speaks in a private prayer language and criticized the International Mission Board’s policy, now a guideline, on refusing prospective missionaries who speak in tongues.

Subsequently, the seminary refused to post audio of McKissic’s sermon on its website and later the trustees, with McKissic’s sole dissent, voted that Southwestern staff would not advocate private prayer language or charismatic practices nor hire faculty who did.

Burleson resigned from the IMB trustee board Jan. 30 after the close of the trustees’ meeting in Gainesville, Fla.

Burleson’s contention with the board began with his opposition to a policy it passed in 2005 prohibiting the appointment of missionary candidates who spoke in tongues or a private prayer language. The policy was later modified to a guideline. Burleson also opposed a policy restricting appointment to candidates who received believer’s baptism in a church that taught eternal security.

On his Internet blog, Burleson answered questions related to the new network, noting the network could include paedobaptists (those who sprinkle or effuse) as well as churches that practice believer’s baptism by immersion because the network is not a denominational organization.

“The NETWORK only fosters cooperation between churches through fellowship, equipping and partnership; but the LOCAL CHURCH maintains ultimate authority,” Burleson wrote.

New network to foster cooperation across denominations, ethnicity

ARLINGTON, Texas ?A diverse group of evangelical pastors and laity including several Southern Baptists laid the groundwork during meetings March 2-3 for a new network of churches that will be a “vehicle to help mobilize and resource churches to fulfill the Great Commission.”

In its inaugural meeting at a hotel in Arlington, Texas, the Antioch Network of Churcheswill be an additional connection for churches “to partner with like-minded believers as the Spirit leads” without requiring conformity on “tertiary doctrinal matters,” SBC pastors involved said, according to a news release from the network.

The group of 50 people, including 42 pastors, met at the invitation of Dwight McKissic Sr., pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, and Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla.

McKissic, who resigned last year as a trustee to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, and Burleson, who resigned his appointment to the International Mission Board trustees in January, were critical of the boards they served for what they said was the narrowing of doctrinal parameters for service in SBC agencies.

During the opening session, Burleson moderated a discussion about doctrinal parameters for the network, which he characterized as requiring simplicity and clarity, the press release said.

“A consensus doctrinal statement is needed to affirm our passion for Jesus Christ and the good news about his person and work,” Burleson said, according to the press release. “Because we treasure church autonomy, we respect churches that go further in their doctrinal statements, but it unnecessary for a network of autonomous churches who desire to cooperate in ministry to expect conformity on tertiary doctrinal matters.”

The group affirmed the following purpose statement:

“The Antioch Network of Churches will serve Jesus Christ by encouraging fellowship and ministry cooperation between churches of diverse denominational heritage and by affirming the autonomy of local churches to partner with like-minded believers as the Spirit leads. We are thankful for and intentional about retaining our preexisting identities, yet we do not suppose that those identities preclude our joint ministry with others who share our passion to proclaim the gospel.”

Another Southern Baptist, Paul Littleton, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Sapulpa, Okla., presented a paper on emerging church models and noted the need for multi-ethnic churches as a witness of the power of Jesus Christ.


The press release said Ralph Emerson, pastor of Rising Star Baptist Church in Fort Worth, led the conversation about an organizational structure and strategy for the network that included “bold gospel proclamation and application.”

The networkelected an exploratory leadership team to finalize the confessional framework and coordinate long-range plans, the release stated. The 12-member team will meet in April and includes six African-Americans, six Anglos, and men and women.

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