FORT WORTH—A new Ph.D. in world Christian studies is being developed at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, after trustees approved it in their Oct. 18-19 meeting. Contingent on accreditors approving it, the innovative program is likely to attract the interest of international missionaries who would be able to remain on the field while completing requirements.

Acting provost Jason Duesing described the 44-hour degree as the school’s first modified residency format offered in their Ph.D. program.

Students come to the Fort Worth campus for several weeks each year, completing the remainder of their work through mentored seminars via online resources.

In addition to attracting missionaries, Duesing said the program would also provide an opportunity to train professors in other seminaries around the world who lack accredited faculty. “They are able to enhance their own schools, but it also allows us to extend our influence by training a generation of faculty who will train generations of pastors and churches all around the world.”

The thesis-driven degree is expected to be more challenging than the traditional Ph.D. that is earned while studying on campus, he added. Through anticipated partnerships with two global seminaries, students will teach classes monitored by a Southwestern mentor and local professor.

“Whether it’s the prospect of a missionary from the IMB or another evangelical group, an aspiring scholar who wants to teach at a seminary overseas or a national pastor, what this does is enhance Southwestern’s ability to extend our conservative theology and evangelical perspective on Scripture all over the world from right here in Fort Worth,” added Anthony George of Orlando, Fla., chairman of the academic administration committee.

In what was the shortest plenary session in memory, the board spent just over an hour hearing reports and also voted to allow access to $3.8 million of the $8.3 million in excess operating reserves to fund completion of the chapel. While donations have covered the full expense of construction, an equal amount given in the form of stock is not available until it is sold. When that occurs, $3.8 million will be repaid to the reserve fund.

The board also approved graduates for fall 2011 commencement, elected recipients for the 2012 B.H. Carroll and L.R. Scarborough awards, accepted audited financial statements for the past year and recommended Russell Freeman of Allen to serve on the board of the Southwestern Seminary Foundation.

Trustee Chairman Hance Dilbeck of Edmond, Okla., reminded the chapel audience of the need to cultivate, articulate and celebrate a call to ministry. Preaching from Ephesians 3:1-7, Dilbeck said Paul’s description of “a calling to be a minister of the gospel” provides needed focus.

“You’ll have any number of different titles. You might be called a pastor, a minister of youth, a minister of children, a missionary or a professor, but no matter what title you’re given, it’s important that day by day in Christian ministry you understand yourself to be primarily a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

As they gain more knowledge and experience, Dilbeck told students people will begin to expect more of them.

“If you’re not careful, you’ll spend your days giving people everything except what they really need—the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Trustee wives participated in a luncheon meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary, hearing testimonies of students who participated in preaching revivals and ministering in churches across the nation during their spring break. The Revive This Nation effort reported over 14,000 people coming to know Christ.

Several students enrolled in women’s programs described their effort in “boldly voicing his wisdom for her world” through their involvement in launching a new website at biblicalwoman.com.

Seminary first lady Dorothy Patterson challenged the women present to follow the example of Jehosheba, “a godly woman who decided it was her time to step up to the plate.” Patterson was citing the story from 2 Kings 11 of hiding the young prince Joash from Queen Athaliah’s effort to destroy all of the royal heirs to the throne, including her own grandsons.

“This woman was so committed to God’s purposes that she put it all at risk, hid that baby and then when he was age 7 this young prince was put on the throne.” Though not all of his reign was commendable, Patterson said he revived the nation for a time after being guided by Jehosheba’s husband, Jehoiada the priest.

After hearing testimonies from two students who participated in the Revive the Nation effort, Patterson asked participants to consider their own roles in reviving the nation.

“Sometimes it’s from your own home, sometimes it’s going out to do some special task for which God has anointed you, sometimes it’s giving of your energy or resources, sometimes it’s giving time on your knees to intercede and pray and ask God to bring revival,” she said.

“We all have our various responsibilities, but make it a point to get on your face before the Lord and ask, ‘What can I do? How can I undergird the kingdom?’”

Widely applied no-bullying rules in public schools coupled with advocacy from gay and lesbian organizations have made some public schools a hostile environment for those who criticize homosexuality, even in a non-threatening manner.

One example in Texas: In September, a Fort Worth high school student stated in German class that his Christian convictions led him to believe homosexuality was wrong. The teacher chided him for his comment and sent him to the office, where he was given three days in-school suspension by an assistant principal. The school principal later overturned the suspension, but the case brought media attention and questions about the First Amendment rights of students.

Whether by direct intimidation by peers or school districts or the desire of students to get along, Christian students may shy away from discussing the issue. To complicate matters, some Christian teens and young adults do not have a firm conviction on the issue, which youth pastor Harlie Raethel of Houston’s First Baptist Church said amounts to tacit approval.

“They are scared. They don’t want to be politically incorrect,” said Michael Newman, founder and director of Christian Coalition for Reconciliation in Houston, a ministry created to help individuals leave the homosexual life through the power of Jesus Christ.

Newman, who lived as a homosexual until God intervened, said there is intense pressure on young people to affirm homosexuality. Those born since 1990 have been told through many outlets that homosexuals “are born that way” despite the lack of empirical evidence for such a claim. They have seen the entertainment industry portray homosexuality as normal and prevalent. For this generation homosexuality is not a moral but a civil rights issue.

Claiming homosexuality as a matter of civil rights shifts the responsibility from the individual to society, said Elizabeth Svetlik, an Exodus International representative for a Houston-area church. And students who would proclaim biblical truth about homosexuality are hard pressed to do so without being accused of promoting “hate speech.”

Svetlik, 36, struggled with same-sex attraction from her teenage years through her mid-20s and understands the turmoil students face—some as young as intermediate school age. But she also knows there is a message of redemption those students need to hear and the Christians on campus can make or break the relationships in which the message is proclaimed.

What made Svetlik’s personal experience especially untenable was the fact that she was a Christian raised in a Christian home.

She said, “Part of what messed me up…. I knew this was not right. I knew.”

No one had to tell her that homosexuality was wrong. But what she wanted to hear was that all humans—not just homosexuals—are fallen and in need of redemption.

Svetlik knew 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “…homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God,” she recited. But in all of her years of struggles she does not recall anyone continuing through verse 11.

“Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
Svetlik pointed out, “God has been healing homosexuals forever.”

And it is her hope to be a part of that process. Svetlik is married and teaches grade school music. She will receive her master of arts in professional counseling from Liberty University upon completion of her practicum and internship.

She said Christians get too caught up in trying to win an argument instead of letting the Holy Spirit’s power work in the lives of others. She said, “What I’ve come up with is that the Holy Spirit does a better job of convicting than we do.”

When students are asked what they think about homosexuality, Svetlik suggested they respond with truth and grace by saying, “I do not believe that is God’s best. I want to strive for what is best for me.”

But organizations dedicated to the affirmation and promotion of homosexuality are being established on intermediate and high school campuses across the country. In these student clubs teenagers struggling to come to terms with their sexual identities are being encouraged to embrace homosexuality.

Svetlik said that if she had been told to accept “the fact” that she was a lesbian she would have been devastated.

Students who identify themselves as homosexual and those who champion their cause need to know there is another option. Most students who have same-sex attractions have deep-rooted issues that also need to be addressed. They need to know that giving up and giving in is not the answer.

But these students, like all teenagers, want desperately to belong, to be accepted. If the only voice they hear is the one affirming a perceived bent toward homosexuality, then often that is the direction they turn.

In too many cases, said one pastor, the students are not only running toward the voices of acceptance, but from voices of condemnation.

George Jacobus, college minister at Central Baptist Church in College Station, said, “I think so often, especially with evangelicals, we are quick to call out a sin and then shun them. It isn’t what God would have us do.”

Being a friend to those struggling is the simplest way to share the truth about redemption. Students should not be ashamed to associate with homosexuals as they seek opportunities to witness to them, he said, recalling that Jesus was not embarrassed to be seen speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well.

He emphasized that the goal must remain to offer God’s restoration to homosexuals and others questioning their sexual identity.

Christian students will avoid the monikers of “hater” and “bully” as they live out the love of Christ in the lives of others. Svetlik urged students to understand that same-sex attraction is not a choice. It is a very real feeling. The sin is not in the temptation but in the choice to act upon the temptation, she said. And instead of striving to make their homosexual peers heterosexual, students can emulate the goal of Exodus International by striving to help those with same-sex urges walk holy before God.

Newman said Christian students can befriend their homosexual peers on campus without condoning their actions. He said students can walk through their struggles with them.
“God can use that to touch their hearts,” he said.

He urged Christian students to be bold in their faith and not be intimidated by those who would call them “bullies.”

“Don’t be in fear. Fear doesn’t come from God,” he said.

Can early intervention help a young person who has homosexual inclinations, thoughts, or curiosities, even those who have begun to experiment sexually?

According to author Don Schmierer, the answer is a convictional yes. In fact, Schmierer’s 2003 book “An Ounce of Prevention: Preventing the Homosexual Condition in Today’s Youth” (Promise Publishing Co., 227 pages), is a plea for action to parents and influential others who know young people in danger of stumbling headfirst into what Schmierer says is sexual identity deception wrought by “a constellation of causes.”  

Schmierer, a minister and counselor who has worked in military and campus settings, wrote the book with help from writer Lela Gilbert and his friend “Cody,” an ex-homosexual who became a Christian and founded one of the pioneer AIDS hospices in Northern California.

Schmierer traces a progression of events, beginning with same-sex attraction leading to what he terms a “homosexual condition” and potentially a “homosexual lifestyle” where one embraces that identity and behavior.

The contributing factors for homosexuality, Schmierer writes, often begin with feelings of being outside the larger peer group. Add to that a toxic mix of such things as exposure to pornography, sexual and/or emotional abuse, alcohol and drugs, domineering or permissive parenting, name-calling, sensitivity or physical differences in boys or perceived “butch” behavior in girls—the list is manifold.

For many youngsters at risk for eventually identifying with homosexuality, increasing social acceptance, even encouragement of it from school counselors or respected peers, makes the task of helping disoriented young people more daunting.

“The proclivities that lead to various high-risk behaviors—alcohol and drug abuse, anorexia and bulimia, sexual addictions and aberrations—can be identified early and addressed before their self-destructive habit patterns have severely marred or destroyed the lives of those at risk,” Schmierer writes. “The same is clearly true of same-sex attraction. The sooner it is identified and addressed, the more likely a preventative approach is to be successful.”

More than behavioral modification, Schmierer writes, the end game for Christian believers is to see people transformed inwardly by the saving and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The church must provide supportive, loving environments for all kinds of broken people—recovering homosexuals included, he argues.

Schmierer recounts the category change of homosexuality as a deviant behavior and psychological disorder in the first six decades of the last century to an affirmed and applauded behavior.

Helpful real-life anecdotes throughout the book help paint a picture of the pathology of experiences leading to same-sex attraction and/or gender confusion. Also, five major studies that sought but failed to show biological cause for homosexuality are examined.

The book includes endorsements from Ken Canfield of the National Center for Fathering and Jim Burns, president of YouthBuilders.

For parents of children who have physical or emotional struggles or are at risk for being ostracized by peers, this book would be a vital resource alongside the biblical command to “get wisdom” (Proverbs 4:7).

The book is available by online booksellers or by visiting Schmierer’s ministry website—hisservants.net—where $8.50 covers the book and shipping.

Austin television station KVUE featured Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers doing clean-up work following the wildfires in Bastrop.

SBC Today: What do you think are the greatest challenges confronting the SBC?

Dr. Richards: Other than a spiritual awakening, perhaps one major challenge to the SBC is cooperation. The monolithic structure of the Southern Baptist Convention is long gone. We no longer have the stack poles of uniform Sunday school literature, hymnody, or Training Union. As we made huge strides in diversifying to reach people for Christ we changed some aspects of our convention. This is not necessarily bad. However, we must find commonalities to share in order to stay together.

Read the rest of the interview at SBC Today

Ya se aproxima la fecha de nuestra Convención de los Bautistas del Sur de Texas (SBTC), que se llevará a cabo los días 14 y 15 de noviembre en Irving.  El domingo, día 13 de noviembre tendremos nuestra Sesión en Español a las 6:00 PM en el Grand Ball Room en la cuarta planta del Centro de Convenciones de Irving localizado en 500 West Las Colinas Blvd, Irving. Yo os animo que canceléis vuestro culto de la tarde para que podáis asistir y apoyar este gran evento.

El lema de nuestra sesión será: “Orando y Enviando” La Escritura clave está basada en Hechos 13:2-3. Tendremos dos mensajes de inspiración. El primero será por el Rev. Armando Vera de la Iglesia Cristiana Alianza de Pharr que estará compartiendo sobre el tema: “Orando”.  Y el segundo mensaje será por el Rev. Gilberto Corredera de Prestonwood Baptist Church en Español de Plano que nos exhortará con el tema: “Enviando”.  El grupo de alabanza será guiado por el Hermano Rubén Martínez de la Iglesia Bautista Central de Terrell.

También, os queremos anunciar los eventos evangelísticos del “Crossover” que la SBTC ofrecerá el día sábado, 12 de noviembre de 2011. Tendremos la participación de tres iglesias Hispanas que ofrecerán un block party para su comunidad.

• La Primera Iglesia Bautista de Irving de 10:00 AM a 1:00 PM • 934 Oakland Drive, Irving
• La Primer Iglesia Bautista de Grand Prairie de 1:00 PM a 4:00 PM • 201 Freetown Road, Grand Prairie
• La Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida de Irving de 5:00 PM a 8:00 PM • 1548 E. Shady Grove Road, Irving

Recordad que siempre deseamos que cada iglesia bautista participe en el Programa Cooperativo de nuestra convención así juntos podemos compartir el mensaje de Cristo aquí en Texas, en Estados Unidos y alrededor del mundo.