Month: February 2021

Lorick elected to succeed Richards as SBTC executive director

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Board, in a special meeting at the convention’s Grapevine offices on Sun., Feb. 21, voted unanimously to confirm Nathan Lorick as the SBTC’s second executive director, succeeding Jim Richards. 

Mark Hogan, SBTC executive board and search committee chairman, called the meeting to order  and introduced guests, including Lorick’s parents and wife, Jenna.  SBTC senior staff were also present.

The roll call revealed 12 board members attending via Zoom.

“I personally never have been part of a group, men and women, where I felt the presence of God so powerful and so present, every time we had a meeting and a call,” Hogan said, thanking the search committee for its efforts and all board and staff for their prayers over the last three months of the search.

Caleb Turner, search committee vice chair and assistant pastor of Mesquite Friendship Church, formally presented Lorick’s nomination. 

Hogan praised the efficiency of the search committee, which began meeting immediately after Richards formally announced, Nov. 11, that he would be stepping down.

“We were able to hit the ground running,” Hogan recalled, inviting the committee to join him at the podium and give their reasons for Lorick’s selection.

Kie Bowman, SBTC president and pastor of Austin’s Hyde Park Baptist Church unable to attend the meeting because of car trouble, spoke first via Zoom.

Although he had no preconceived choice for Richards’ successor, Bowman said that during the interview process it became “obvious” that “Lorick was the man. He is smart. He is passionate about evangelism. He has a phenomenal mentoring relationship with Jim Richards. He knows the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention which will make the transition … as smooth as only God can make it and heaven can arrange it.”

Carol Yarber of Athens, one of three lay persons on the search committee, recalled Lorick’s time as her pastor at First Baptist Malakoff. Yarber praised Lorick as a man of “integrity” and a “visionary” who took a church of 120 to almost 500. 

Of Lorick’s selection, Yarber said, “God did this, we did not do this,” explaining that after numerous meetings and the consideration of many resumes, search committee members were asked to narrow their choices to three candidates.

“We all came back with one,” Yarber said, “Nathan Lorick.”

Search committee members Todd Kaunitz, pastor of Longview’s New Beginnings Baptist Church; Loui Canchola of McAllen’s Baptist Temple; Robert Slavens, a layman from Houston’s First Baptist, and Nathan Lino, pastor of Northeast Houston Baptist church, also praised the choice of Lorick.

Richards, who served as an ex officio non-voting search committee member, thanked the men and women for their work.

“It was a joy to watch them as a silent participant,” Richards said.

Richards lauded Nathan as convictional regarding the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 and biblical inerrancy, compassionate for the lost and believers alike, and capable in terms of skill set and life experience.

He then read the account of Moses and the commissioning of Joshua from Numbers 27, before inviting Lorick to speak.

Lorick began by acknowledging his wife and family.

“I am humbled,” Lorick opened, before describing his salvation as a child and recommitment to Christ at 17 after a time of “running from God.”

Later, at 24 he became one of the youngest pastors in the SBTC and soon served on the executive board.

“Even if you choose not to call me, this process has been the greatest honor of my ministry,” Lorick told the board.

Lorick was called shortly after by a unanimous vote of the executive board and greeted by a standing ovation.

“I never thought it would be possible to be able to follow your hero,” Lorick said of Richards after accepting the appointment, telling the outgoing director and his wife, June, “I am forever changed because of you two.”

“I still have a lot to learn. You’ll be on speed dial,” he added.

Lorick said in closing, “I’m humbled. I’m honored. … I can’t wait to be home.” 

Lorick will become SBTC executive director-elect on April 1 and serve under Richards for three months before becoming executive director, according to a succession plan approved by the board last year. Richards will continue in an advisory role through the remainder of 2021. 

For Lorick, executive director of the Colorado Baptist General Convention since 2017, the new role heralds a return to Texas and the SBTC, where he served as evangelism director from 2012-2017. In addition to ministering in multiple Baptist churches in Texas as a student pastor and interim pastor, he was also senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Malakoff and Martin’s Mill Baptist Church.

A graduate of East Texas Baptist University, Lorick earned Masters of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary (now the Rawlings School of Divinity). In addition to his pastoral ministry, Lorick has been active in denominational work, including serving on the SBTC Executive Board from 2006-2012 and as a trustee of the International Mission Board from 2010-2017.

In comments to the TEXAN prior to the Feb. 21 vote, Richards said of his successor’s appointment: “Nathan Lorick is a man who has been prepared by God’s gracious providence to lead the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. I have watched him as a young minister, observed him when he was an executive board member and now joyfully transfer the mantle of leadership on his shoulders.”

In endorsing Lorick for the SBTC position, Calvin Wittman, who chaired the search committee that brought Lorick to Colorado in 2017, commended the candidate’s blend of pastoral and convention experience that enabled him to understand “how a state convention should operate” and “how pastors think, lead and respond to the state conventions.”

In comments to the TEXAN prior to his election, Lorick said he was “excited to come back and serve the churches of the SBTC.” Acknowledging the significance of the task ahead, he expressed confidence that “with the help of the Holy Spirit, a great team, and the partnership of churches … great days are ahead for the SBTC” and expressed gratitude to the search team, executive board, Richards and SBTC churches.

Saying he was “eager to start the journey together,” Lorick added, “I believe we have yet to see what God can do when we are unequivocally focused on the mission together. It is my conviction that through prayer, evangelism, church planting, and the Cooperative Program, the SBTC is poised to see an advancement of the gospel across Texas like we have never seen before.” 

Lone Star Ties: Wyoming church planting gains ground for the gospel

CASPER, Wyo.—It’s a February morning in central Wyoming and Tyler Martin is trying to keep his nose hairs from freezing.

Wyoming winters are notoriously brutal, not so much for the cold and snow, but for the winds that cut across your face and literally take your breath away. They aren’t particularly bad this day, even though the mercury has settled at 1 degree, minus 11 with the wind chill. Temperatures stayed low enough that what remained of a 500-lb. elk Martin harvested remained safely in the bed of his ’03 Ford F150 for more than two weeks.

“It hasn’t even started to stink,” Martin said, laughing. He was able to get 125 pounds of meat from the animal for himself, his wife Ashley; daughter, Ava Grace (3); son Michael (1.5) and the baby on the way.

The native Texan has had to learn to work within his surroundings since arriving two years ago from Fort Worth to plant Outfitter Church in Bar Nunn, a town of 3,000 just north of Casper. If it’s not the cold, it’s working in an environment with a frontier mindset and very little biblical literacy. Like other pastors, he’s tasked with taking a timeless message and communicating it in timely ways.

A land of church plants

Outfitter Church is among several planted under the guidance of North American Mission Board catalyst Chris Sims, who is still helping churches get off the ground. In early February, Sims met with two dozen people at a community center in the town of Shoshoni for the launch meeting of a seventh plant, Wind River Church.

“They were spiritually hungry,” Sims said. “Most of them are from local ranches and are seeking a place to worship.”

A native Arkansawyer, Sims had a management career with Walmart and Sam’s Club before sensing a call to the ministry. He had lived in Casper in the mid-1990s to open a Sam’s Club, so he knew the area and culture.

Quin Williams, executive director for the Wyoming Southern Baptist Missions Network, was pastor of Boyd Avenue Baptist Church in Casper when Sims arrived to plant his first Wyoming church, sponsored by Boyd Avenue.

“When Chris goes through a community, any community, he sees the opportunities to plant a church or churches there. This is just the way he is wired,” Williams said.

Last fall, Wyoming Baptists added a line item to the budget for Wyoming dollars to be used towards church planting in their state, augmenting funds from traditional partner NAMB.

Don Whalen, church planting strategist for Wyoming Baptists, cited the unique challenges of establishing new churches throughout the state: including distance and the declining presence of mainline denominations.

“The distance of our communities is often measured by hours of travel rather than miles,” Whalen said, adding that more than 60 communities have no church at all. 

“Nearly 25 percent of our Wyoming Southern Baptist Mission Network churches are, or were, new church plants within the last 15 years. Many of those plants have become strong, multiplying churches,” Whalen said.

Uniquely suited

As for Outfitter Church, Bar Nunn is one of the wealthier communities of the state. Most driveways have a combination of a four-wheel drive vehicle, camper and four-wheeler or snowmobile—or all of these. Many residents see weekends as the time to get away to the lake, mountains or campground, especially in the summer.

To that end, Outfitter has its regular services on Wednesday nights. “It’s your Sunday morning-type service,” Martin said. “We have music, preaching and everything.

“We wanted to fish when fish were in the river,” he said of the unorthodox meeting time and local lifestyles. Since starting with 10 people on Oct. 16, 2019, the church has grown to 50 and baptized 16.

“We’ve seen significantly more professions of faith than that, but we want to be patient with our baptisms and see the fruit,” he said, adding that concepts like repentance and salvation are new to many.

The name of Martin’s church was chosen with its community in mind.

“I wanted it to relate to the culture and be a place any lost man would feel comfortable being at. Everybody hunts in Wyoming, and I felt this would connect with lost men in our community. That’s been the case 100 percent,” he said.

“The whole purpose of an outfitter is that if someone isn’t equipped to hunt, the outfitter equips them for it. Our church is equipping people to pursue Jesus relentlessly and make disciples.”

The church is home to new believers and many who had been drifting in the faith, unable to find a Bible-teaching congregation. “We’ve seen a lot of disconnected Christians begin truly pursuing Christ and walking with him,” Martin told the TEXAN.

Texas connections

Born and raised in Crowley, Texas, Martin said he is grateful for the involvement from the Lone Star State in his Wyoming church. Texas churches partnering with Outfitter include several affiliated with the SBTC: Longview’s Mobberly and Woodland Hills Baptist; First Baptist Bloomburg; First Baptist Van Alstyne; Bear Creek Baptist, Avinger; Oak Ridge Baptist, Marietta; and Piney Grove Baptist, Atlanta.

Mobberly, which began partnering with Outfitter in 2020, sent an encouragement team that year and assisted in producing a video telling the church’s story. Mobberly plans to send a dozen volunteers north to help with a sports camp outreach at Outfitter this summer.

Texas churches have also sent volunteers to help with various outreaches: summer missions projects, car washes, movie nights, barbeque dinners.

Beast Feast—an annual dinner sponsored by Outfitter for men in the Bar Nunn area—draws its share of Texas volunteers who help distribute invitations and enjoy fellowship with the Wyomingites over brisket and pulled pork. In 2020, a speaker regaled the crowd of 120 with hunting stories and shared the
gospel.

Outfitter is not Martin’s first congregation. While in college at East Texas Baptist, he pastored Bear Creek Baptist, making “incredible connections” with fellow SBC pastors in the area.

“I knew I knew nothing,” Martin said of his early days in ministry. “A handful of pastors took me under their wing and taught me how to pastor.”

Following seminary at Southwestern, Martin and family headed to the Cowboy State, which, although far from the Bible belt, seems to be a place that fits.  

This article also contains reporting by TEXAN staff.

87th Texas Legislature

AUSTIN—The 87th Session of the Texas Legislature convened Jan. 12, less than a week after rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol building and federal law enforcement warned of similar attacks against state capitols. Against that backdrop and COVID-19 mitigation protocols, the legislature opened without incident and with the usual flurry of bills.

The Texas Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, the public policy advisory arm of the SBTC, began filtering through those bills to determine how they adhere to SBTC priorities.

In a Jan. 25 letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, the committee wrote, “We are specifically praying for you and the entire legislature to seek the wisdom of God and know his ways as you promote what is good and restrain what is evil.”

Austin pastor Nathan Loudin chairs the TERLC. He and committee advisor Cindy Asmussen spoke with the TEXAN in late January about the issues the committee will promote on behalf of the SBTC’s 2669 member churches.

While the committee seeks to influence lawmakers, Loudin, pastor of Milwood Baptist Church, urged individual church members to engage their local legislators on these issues.

“I think church member participation in the legislative process matters,” said Loudin. “I think it’s one thing for our committee to write a statement and be active. It’s another thing for members of 2600 churches to be active.”

In the midst of pandemic-related disruptions, the SBTC legislative priorities change little through the years. They concern the dignity of human life as it relates to religious liberty; sanctity of life; gambling; gender identity; the family, education, and parental rights; orphan care; sex trafficking; and economic freedom.

The following are some of the bills and issues that stood out to Asmussen and Loudin from the early submissions.

Sanctity of Life

Thirteen abortion-related bills had already been submitted by late January. Loudin noted House Bill 1171 filed by fellow SBTC pastor Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney. The bill would require the appointment of an attorney or guardian “to represent an unborn child during a court proceeding authorizing a pregnant minor to consent to an abortion.”

Rep. Candy Noble, R-Murphy introduced a bill prohibiting the use of tax dollars for the “logistical” support in procuring an abortion. That includes transportation and lodging. Asmussen said the bill targets Austin’s practice of using city taxes to provide transportation to and from abortion facilities.

Freshman Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, filed two pro-life bills. Passage of House Joint Resolution 80 would allow Texans to vote on a constitutional amendment “clarifying the Texas Constitution does not secure or protect the right to an abortion or require the expenditure of public money for an abortion.”

She also filed HB 1165, or the “heartbeat bill,” prohibiting abortions after the detection of the unborn child’s heartbeat. At least eight states have heartbeat bills awaiting implementation, pending the outcome of lawsuits brought by pro-abortion advocates. The U.S. Supreme Court could hear arguments this year in at least one of those lawsuits. 

Sex Trafficking

In a broader pro-life message, the TERLC called sex trafficking “modern slavery” and called for increased awareness of trafficking and the recruiting methods of traffickers.

“The ever-expanding and increasingly mainstream pornography industry and online activity of perpetrators who pursue minors and seek ever-younger children from its lucrative films, videos, and printed materials, drives the demand for child sexual exploitation,” the committee said in its letter.

They called for policies that protect the vulnerable and prosecute perpetrators.

Gender Identity

Identity politics and resulting laws threaten parental rights and submit children to harmful medical procedures the committee said.

Rep. Celia Israel disagrees.

The Austin-area representative and founder of the Texas House LGBTQ Caucus filed HB 560 that requires licensed counselors to affirm a children’s “perceived or actual” gender identity and sexual orientation. The bill would prevent counselors—and the parents who seek their expertise—from using all of their resources when assessing a child’s needs and prescribing a course of action.

Israel’s bill requires counselors only affirm a child’s stated sexual orientation and gender identity and “support a child undergoing gender transition in accordance with established standards of care.”

Several states already have laws requiring such treatment.

“Some states and courts are allowing children to determine their sexual and gender identity, regardless of the parents’ beliefs,” the letter states. “We affirm that gender is determined by God alone and is not influenced by man or open for selection or alteration.”

To counter Israel’s legislation, Rep. Steve Toth, R-Spring, filed HB 68. It designates as “abuse” medical treatments that attempt to “change or affirm a child’s perception of the child’s sex, if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex as determined by sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles.”

“I would like to see more than just conservative Christians, at this point, coming out and saying, ‘Making these policies is right for children,’” said Asmussen. “Children are not old enough to make this life-changing decision for themselves.”

Debates about transgenderism are “hot topics.” Loudin and Asmussen are concerned that too many people, including lawmakers, are unwilling to step into the fray. But on Inauguration Day President Joe Biden forced the issue onto Texas legislators.

Biden signed an executive order that makes gender identity a protected class under civil rights law. Opponents of the order argue it allows people access to sex-specific spaces and activities that confirm with their gender identity, not their biological sex.

For example, boys who identity as girls must be allowed to compete on girls’ sports teams. Where school districts across the nation have allowed this, the boys consistently win. The female athletes complained in a lawsuit that forcing them to compete against boys shuts them out of high stakes competitions and subsequent scholarships—and violates Title IV of the Civil Rights Act. 

With Senate Bill 373, Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, hopes to provide a defense for Texas athletes against Biden’s order. The bill would prohibit school districts and open enrollment charter schools from allowing a student to “participate in any interscholastic athletic activity…that is designated for the biological sex opposite to the students’ biological sex as assigned at the student’s birth and correctly stated on the student’s official birth certificate.”

Orphan Care

As identity politics, especially as it relates to LGBT issues, becomes a more prominent issue in the Texas Legislature, faith-based foster care and adoption agencies continue to work under legal threats by LGBT advocates who demand the groups abandon their biblical standards for child placement. The Equity Act, legislation pending in Congress, would require all foster care and adoption agencies accept gay, lesbian and transgender clients as prospective parents.

The TERLC encourages lawmakers to protect faith-based agencies and draft policies that “assist and incentivize the adoption of orphaned children and encourage more faith-based programs for children in foster care.”

Religious Liberty

Protecting individuals and faith-based organizations from religious discrimination is interwoven throughout the TERLC legislative priorities list. Government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic tested First Amendment liberties, especially for churches. Initial coronavirus mitigation protocols included shuttering churches, including in Texas.

Although Texas houses of worship were allowed to reopen in April, religious leaders feared the precedent set would be cited to justify more shutdowns during the next declared disaster.

Representatives Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, and Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, introduced legislation limiting the role of executive actions during a crisis.

House Joint Resolution 47, authored by Krause, proposes a constitutional amendment limiting the power of the governor to issue executive orders during a declared crisis. The legislature must be convened if the order, along with the crisis, extends beyond 30 days.

Shaheen’s bill, HB 525, declares “a religious organization is an essential business at all times in this state.” Governing authorities “may not prohibit a religious organization from engaging in religious and other related activities or continuing to operate in the discharge of the organization’s foundational faith-based mission and purpose” or “during a declared state of disaster order a religious organization to close or otherwise alter the organization’s purposes or activities.”

HB 525 allows religious organizations to sue for damages.

Gambling

An effort to legalize casino gambling under the guise of funding windstorm insurance for coastal communities has been introduced. Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, authored bills legalizing casino gambling in “certain coastal areas.” Revenues would help fund “residual windstorm insurance coverage and catastrophic flooding assistance in those areas.” House Joint Resolution 26 is a constitutional amendment proposal. HB 477 would regulate casino gambling.

“State budget demands will test the resolve of elected officials to provide for our needs without succumbing to the temptation to depend upon revenues from casino gambling, video lottery terminals, Daily Fantasy Sports and expanded lotteries to meet legitimate budget needs,” the TERLC said in its letter.

Loudin called gambling “biblically indefensible.”

Other attempts to broaden gambling in Texas are ongoing and Daily Fantasy Sports is especially concerning to the SBTC because of its accessibility.

In a resolution, the SBTC stated, “We believe Daily Fantasy Sports is online gambling made easily available on every smart phone.” The resolution exhorted churches to educate their members “about the damages of gambling and minister to those caught in gambling addictions.”

Economic Freedom

Gambling would only exacerbate the economic hardships Texans face during the pandemic Loudin said. In its policy statement the TERLC urged lawmakers to “consider as essential the freedom to work and earn an income from oppressive regulations, high tax rates, and lockdowns.”

The SBTC anticipates marriages will suffer under the economic stress.

“We beseech you to make the preservation of the family unit a top priority as you lead public policy efforts.”

The Family, Education of Children and Parental Rights

The legislature should “protect parental rights in the upbringing of children,” especially in areas of religious beliefs, education and medical and psychological care,” according to the TERLC.

“Those issues are older and deeper and closer to home, pre-COVID,” Loudin said.

But for parents struggling to school their children at home, the pandemic has highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the educational system. They have become more aware of how and what their children are taught said Asmussen.

Beating the Same Drum?

Loudin and Asmussen recognize the SBTC runs the risk of appearing concerned about only a few issues like abortion and religious liberty. But those issues are fundamental to the broader issues of life and liberty, so that shoring up the foundation of these during each legislative session is imperative.

“The matters of what is a boy and a girl? What is a baby in the womb? What is religious liberty? They are so pressing and so central that they really demand a lot of our time,” said Loudin. 

“Sometimes, for Christians, we get tired of being known as ‘religious liberty-abortion-people.’ And we get kind of exhausted banging the same drum every single year. But they are so fundamental to God’s ideas for flourishing in the world that it’s worth beating the drum another year. Christians shouldn’t be ashamed of that.” 

Nine Texans head to international mission field; IMB trustees meet

GLEN ALLEN, Va.—The scene was simple but God used it to speak to Charles and Greta* and changed their lives forever.

Picture this: A woman stood in a remote African village with a basket. A fresh harvest of grain sat at her feet. She just finished threshing and pulling out the grain—all by hand. She placed the grain in her basket and tossed it in the air. The chaff floated off to the side as the good grain fell back to the basket.

“It was a visual picture of God separating the wheat from the chaff,” Charles explained. “Our hearts were broken as we realized first-hand the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

The Texas couple were among 33 missionaries appointed by the IMB Feb. 3 to go to the nations and share the gospel. The virtual sending celebration was streamed from Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Glen Allen, Virginia. Twelve states were represented by the newly appointed missionaries, serving in eight of IMB’s nine affinities. Four Texans—Charles and Greta and Matt and Chelsea Bowen—were part of this February Send Celebration. 

Five other Texans were sent in a similar November celebration—Aaron and Olivia Bragg,* Hayley Jones* and Elliott and Sara Watkins*.

Charles and Greta did not use their real names as part of the event due to security issues surrounding the place and people they will work with. They will serve among the Sub-Saharan peoples. It’s an area that the IMB said has 19,133 people die each day without Christ.

“We are going to Sub-Saharan Africa to evangelize the lost and equip local believers,” Greta said.

Matt and Chelsea Bowen will head to the Americas for their new ministry opportunity. They are being sent by their home church, Cana Baptist in Burleson. IMB President Paul Chitwood told the virtual audience that he was grateful for the support of all Southern Baptist churches. Through these churches, the IMB is able to send and sustain missionaries serving all around the world. For the Bowens, Cana Baptist helped pave the way for their call to the nations.

Matt explained that they moved to Texas to go to seminary. They knew they were called to ministry but had no idea what that would look like. Through opportunities and interactions at their church and seminary, they found a passion to reach people of different nations with the gospel.

Chelsea excitedly added, “Now we get the privilege to live and work among the [Americas] people. We will have the opportunity to be a witness to them daily.”

Every IMB missionary works among a designated people group, a population of people who share a language, history or culture. The IMB has categorized the world into nine major affinity groups, a collection of people groups with a shared culture and often a shared language.

All five Texas missionaries sent during the November celebration are serving among affinities and people groups that do not allow them to use their real names due to security. Hayley Jones will work among the European peoples. Elliott and Sara will serve among the North African and Middle East peoples. Aaron and Olivia Bragg will work in East Asia.

The Braggs will use medical and business skills to open doors. Aaron recalled that when they went off to college, they both openly pursued the “vision of the American dream.”

“We desired to make a name for ourselves and to be successful by the world’s definition of success,” he admitted.

Discipleship through a college ministry took hold of their lives. Olivia said through that, the Lord revealed his desire for the couple to make his name known among all people.

“Now, we will use my medical skills and Aaron’s business skills to gain access to people who have never heard the gospel,” she added.

Available job positions for each affinity were shown after the individual missionary testimonies during the virtual celebration. Positions available include a missions mobilizer for the European affinity, a media strategist for the Central Asian Affinity and a church planter for the Deaf affinity.

Chitwood concluded February’s Sending Celebration with a challenge and encouragement. He asked those watching to consider their role in fulfilling the Great Commission and offered thanks for Southern Baptists’ partnership in sending the 33 missionaries commissioned.” The IMB hopes to mobilize 500 missionaries by the year 2025 in partnership with local churches.

Visit imb.org/send to learn how churches can send missionaries like these nine Texans. Downloadable missionary prayer cards are also available.  

*Name changed due to security

The IMB also contributed to this article.

Jesus loves you, Tom Brady

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—One of my favorite bands from high school, Christian alt-rock supergroup The Lost Dogs, had a song on one of their albums titled “Jesus Loves You, Brian Wilson.” In a style reminiscent of the Laurel Canyon sound of which Brian Wilson (and his Beach Boys) were musical pioneers, the Lost Dogs sing about how influential Wilson has been for them and how heartbreaking it was to discover Wilson’s struggles with mental health. The song is both mournful and encouraging. It’s a tribute and a lament.

You may not know anything about Brian Wilson or resonate with the struggles of musical heroes, but I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced your own version of this hopeful mourning about a public influence or hero. I’d actually forgotten about the Lost Dogs’ ode to Wilson’s troubled genius for a while until I began reading all of the public wrestling with the legacy of basketball great Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash a little over a year ago. For whatever reason, the song popped into my mind.

For Christians of a certain age, Bryant represented athletic genius. He was for many the greatest (or almost greatest) who ever played the game. And yet there were those shadows from his past too. It complicates the mourning.

But I think the Christian’s adulation of public greatness is always complicated—or should be. Like the rest of the world, with hope and aspiration we appraise the work of politicians and pop stars, country singers and quarterbacks, and we celebrate success. And there’s a touch of worship in it. Sometimes more than a touch.

Nowhere is this more evident perhaps than in our reverence for athletes. Evangelicals are not as taken with movie stars or politicians (as a class) to the extent that their neighbors are, but we do love our athletes. The most notable example of this is of course Tim Tebow, who turned a stellar college football career into a disappointing NFL career without losing the favor of American evangelicals because of his faith and family values. But we do it with unbelieving athletes as well.

They represent the best of us. They carry on their backs the projection of our selves. We wear clothing with their names on it. We sing their praises on social media. We buy their products. If they so much as mention anything positive about God, we invite them to speak at the men’s retreat and hire a ghostwriter for their Christian book deal.

God’s people have always had an inordinate bent toward strongmen, and athletes are the strongmen who have emerged from among us. (“I went to high school with Shaq!” “My cousin’s boyfriend’s veterinarian saw Tiger Woods at Starbucks!”) If there are any stars Christians will sell their left lung to meet, it would be sports stars.

My favorite athlete of all time is quarterback Tom Brady, who today is basking in the satisfaction of cementing his GOAT status with a decisive Super Bowl win over the favored Kansas City Chiefs. I love Tom Brady. But my love for him is complicated. He is not a believer in Christ. He is undoubtedly an idolater of his sport. And as with all idolatry, the gods will let you down in the end. The clock is ticking on Tom. The greatest QB of all time is still good even at 43. But for how long? I fear for Tom Brady.

A few years ago, when Brady only had three Super Bowl rings, he was on 60 Minutes, and he said this: “Why do I still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what it is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.”

Interviewer Steven Kroft asked him, “What’s the answer?”

Brady responded, “I wish I knew. I wish I knew.”

Brady has seven championship rings now. None of them was the answer. You and I know that. I hope that reality is dawning on my favorite athlete. Because bodies wither and rings fade, but there is a word that stands forever.

This was something I didn’t see in a lot of the evangelical tributes to Kobe Bryant a year ago – a fear for his soul. Certainly bringing up the possibility of his lacking a profession of faith in Christ at the time of fresh grief would be inappropriate. But it should haunt us.

Do we love these heroes? Or just what they do for us?

Is it possible we care about the stats, the talent, the influence, the success, even the legacy, but not their souls?

In the chorus to “Jesus Loves You, Brian Wilson,” the Lost Dogs tell Brian about the Man who can meet his needs and bring him peace. They want their hero to meet the real Hero.

As my generation gets older, our heroes will continue to fall (in more ways than one). Michael Jordan is going to die. LeBron James is going to die. Patrick Mahomes is going to die. Tom Brady is going to die. And what will it all be worth if we only cheered for their trophies on a shelf? “What does it profit a man,” Jesus asked, “to gain the world but lose his soul?” I fear this weightier business does not inform much of our adulation of athletes.

Let’s keep cheering. Sports are fun and a common grace. Let’s keep rooting for our teams and for our favorite players. Competition can be sharpening and athletic greatness is a testimony to the Creator’s design and artistry. But let’s remember all people are image-bearers – when they fail and when they succeed, when they’re in their prime and when their time is up. Will Christians only contribute to that which for the sports star will only dry up? Or can we carry them further? Athletes are more than the avatars of our tribal loyalties. They are men and women who need prayer far more than praise.

And Tom, if you’re reading this – Jesus loves you. When you get to the end of all you can do and realize it will never be enough, he will be there, more than enough for you.

This article originally appeared at https://ftc.co/.

Churches respond to needs during record cold

KILLEEN  As the overwhelming majority of the country experienced a blast of Arctic air, Southern Baptists joined others in helping weather the cold.

Several Texas churches are serving as warming shelters after a spike in the power grid put millions in the dark, and more to the point, without heat.

Deacons Pete Nichols, Robert Wheat and David McGinnis haven’t left Skyline Baptist Church in Killeen since Sunday afternoon (Feb. 14). In that time, they’ve been maintaining the church’s gym as a warming shelter alongside a handful of city employees.

“We have a place for them to stay and aren’t going to push them out the door in this weather,” said Nichols, a native of upstate New York who hasn’t seen temperatures this low since moving to Killeen 28 years ago.

At least 15 have died from the winter storm that sent temperatures plummeting for days and crippled travel with ice and snow. Those deaths have occurred from crashes, but also carbon monoxide poisoning from attempts to stay warm as well as a tornado that struck coastal North Carolina.

Approximately 35 people, including four families, are staying at the church. Last year Nichols, Wheat, Senior Pastor Ashley Payne and his wife Stephanie attended training sessions that certified Skyline as a shelter for emergencies.

“The city has a building for that use but had to close it down due to a sewage problem,” Nichols said. “So, they called the church. We have staff members staying overnight with the city employees as well as an armed police officer. Our security team is present too.”

On Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 15-16, the church provided breakfast and lunch. And the city’s soup kitchen will be at Skyline for the next three days.

Tuesday, Feb. 16, First Baptist Farmersville Pastor Bart Barber will sleep on the couch in his office as part of the crew of church members hosting seven families on its campus. One of the biggest requests, he said, has been for hot showers.

“A lot of people are fighting a battle with freezing pipes,” he said. “When the sun comes up, they may take an hour to come to the church, get a hot shower, eat a hot bowl of soup and get a respite before going back home.”

Church members Larry and Kerrie Patterson needed a place after their electricity went out. When they asked Barber about staying at the church, he said sure, then congratulated them on being the shelter managers. “Every volunteer we have serving is either a staff member or volunteer/client,” he said.

Preparation for the cold temperatures began earlier for many congregations. In Oklahoma, Pastor Duncan Blackwell of Bethel Baptist Church in Anadarko told The Baptist Messenger that those steps are designed “to share the light of Jesus in our community in this challenging time.”

Bethel Baptist Church in Anadarko, Okla., is providing snacks, blankets and other supplies for people sheltering on the church’s campus during bitterly cold temperatures.

“We knew this bitterly cold weather would be hard on the homeless in the community, as well as other people who are vulnerable in a situation like this,” he said.

Initial discussions over how to provide food, perhaps through a soup kitchen, quickly grew on social media to include others’ involvement from the community. Bethel’s campus would serve as the shelter, with area churches helping supply items such as blankets, coats, pillows, fitted sheets, air mattresses and food.

At least one salvation came about from the effort, Blackwell said.

“One person who was staying with us had no power. She showed up the first three nights of the kitchen and then stayed [at our church shelter] Saturday night. We planned to livestream our service and invited all there to attend. She and others came to the service. God moved in her heart, and she repented of her sin and professed faith in Jesus Christ.”

First SBTC African American consultant dead at 77

FORT WORTH—Rainey Matthews Jr., a long-time pastor in Texas, died Feb. 12. Matthews was born in Fort Worth and started New Life Complete in Christ Baptist Church (later In Divine Order International Church) in that city. He also served as the SBTC’s first consultant for African American churches. 

Matthews moved to Michigan as a teenager and later became an amateur boxer before turning to pastoral ministry in 1996. 

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards worked closely with Matthews and said of his ministry, “Rainey Matthews served the Lord Jesus Christ through his local church and the broader Baptist family through the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. His many contributions to Christ’s kingdom will be revealed when we all gather at Jesus’ feet!”

Casey Perry, former senior staff member for the convention, met Matthews when he was pastoring in East Texas and Perry invited him to preach for his church. They became close friends. “After I was chosen to serve as Minister/Church Relations director for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, I asked Pastor Rainey to serve as a consultant with our department,” Perry said. “We went to many churches together doing information meetings. It did not matter if they were predominantly Caucasian or African American churches. We did not see race; we saw brothers and sisters in Christ. That was all we needed to do the work of our Lord. It is my prayer that that same spirit will continue among God’s people.”

Matthews was preceded in death by his parents and by his wife Tharetha. He is survived by his wife Barbara, seven children, 27 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. 

At press time Matthews’ memorial service was scheduled in Arlington for Feb. 27. 

Churches celebrate first Baptist missionary and Black 18th Century pastor George Liele Feb. 7

CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP) – It’s not lost on First Baptist Church of Charleston Pastor Marshall Blalock that had Black missionary George Liele visited the church during his 18th century ministry, he would have been required to worship from the balcony.

In advance of Sunday’s (Feb. 7) inaugural George Liele Church Planting, Evangelism, and Missions Sunday on the Southern Baptist Convention calendar, Blalock delivered today’s (Feb. 3) virtual devotion from the church balcony, focusing on Liele. A former slave, Liele was the first Baptist missionary abroad.

“I doubt George Liele ever worshiped here in the Charleston church, but it is likely he would have stood in the gallery of the Savannah church back in the day,” Blalock told Baptist Press. “This Sunday in worship we will honor the memory of the first Baptist missionary, an enslaved man who came to Christ, became a church planter in Georgia and South Carolina, then as a free man went to Jamaica to lead a movement that saw thousands of enslaved African people come to Christ.”

First Baptist Charleston, founded nearly a century before Liele’s ministry began in 1782 in Jamaica, is among churches marking the day Sunday with educational resources from the International Mission Board, exhortation and a special offering for international missions.

At The View Church in Menifee, Calif., Pastor Gregory Perkins will include in all three Sunday services video presentations of Liele’s life and ministry. While Perkins is in the middle of SBC Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd’s Ten Percent stewardship teaching series, Perkins will modify Sunday’s segment to focus on Liele. He’ll use part of Liele’s teaching in the Caribbean as an illustration.

“We are making it George Liele Day at The View,” said Perkins, a board member of the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) of the SBC, the group that successfully advocated for Liele to be officially recognized on the SBC calendar,

with the support of IMB. “In all three of our services, we’re going to have via video, a presentation of who George Liele is, why he is important not only to missions work more broadly, but specifically to African American congregations, given that he was literally the first missionary. We’re going to open him up and give special tribute to him.”

In 1775, Liele became the first ordained African American Baptist preacher in the U.S. and planted in Savannah, Ga., the First African American Baptist Church, officially constituted in 1777 and still active today. He sailed to Kingston, Jamaica, in 1782 and planted a church there.

The View’s special George Liele offering will be donated to IMB on behalf of The View and NAAF. Also Sunday, The View’s youth ministry will announce an international missions project they’ll participate in this year in honor of Liele, to be designated the George Liele Project. Previously, youth there have participated in World Changers and taken mission trips to Ghana.

“We are really excited to support this partnership with the IMB,” Perkins said of the Liele emphasis. “I hope it will open up our SBC family to understanding that African Americans have a long and storied commitment to global missions. And we’ve not just been the beneficiary of services, we have been the provider of them.”

At First Baptist Church of Crestmont in Willow Grove, Pa., February has long been dedicated to missions. Proceeds of February’s mission offering are already slated to provide food and water for several villages the church adopted in Nigeria a decade ago, to support a Martin Luther King, Jr. chapel at Abington Hospital in Abington, Pa., to fund an MLK scholarship to Abington’s Dixon School of Nursing, and support other church initiatives.

Leaving that offering in place, First Baptist Crestmont will celebrate George Liele in July, the only month on the church calendar that was not already dedicated to a special emphasis, Pastor Jerome Coleman said. The church added Liele to its calendar in 2020, making this July the church’s second recognition of Liele. The Liele offering supports NAAF’s missionary outreaches.

“We just decided to do it in a month where we didn’t have any extra offerings and put the emphasis on (Liele),” Coleman said. “I think it’s important for us to recognize that the first Baptist missionary was George Liele. I think it’s very important for us to recognize that before Lott Carey, before all of these persons that we recognize before Annie Armstrong, before all of these persons there was George Liele.

“George Liele simply wasn’t recognized because there was no official sending organization. And I find that interesting because I don’t think the Holy Ghost has to work through any official human organization to anoint somebody, to send them.”

Liele’s ethnicity and former enslavement also hindered his recognition, Coleman said.

“But if anybody’s really looking at this in terms of the providential hand of God,” Coleman said, “you can’t help but see God’s hand on George Liele.”

Empower Feb. 22-23 updates

IRVING  Registration is underway for Empower. The 2021 evangelism conference will be held at the Irving Convention Center Feb. 22-23 as an in-person event at reduced capacity as mandated by current COVID-19 guidelines. The reduction in capacity at the convention center has resulted in a few changes to the line-up of speakers. The women’s session has been canceled, but in its place are newly added breakout sessions covering a wide variety of topics. The updated agenda and sessions are listed online at sbtexas.com/empower. Individuals who are unable to attend in person can reserve a free digital ticket to join the main sessions.

Freedom Hill: A replant that works

SAN ANTONIO—Freedom Hill Church in San Antonio is what Doug Hixson, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention director of church planting, calls a “unicorn,” a replant so rare it had only a one percent chance of working out in the first place, pastor Ryan Napier said.

God called Napier to plant a church in 2018, and while that was in the beginning stages, he ended up filling the pulpit of Eisenhauer Road Baptist Church—once a bright light in San Antonio drawing more than 800 people—for a couple of Sundays. The church had dwindled to below 50 people, and after he preached, several members asked Napier to be their pastor.

“I was like, ‘I appreciate that. I’m humbled by that, but I’m already a pastor of a church plant, and this is what God has called me to do.’ Basically, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’” Napier told the TEXAN. 

A deacon at Eisenhauer Road asked Napier if he had considered replanting a church. “I told him, ‘I have no idea what that means. I don’t even know if that’s a thing.’”

Napier called Hixson, who told him replanting means a church has to vote to dissolve on paper “and then give all their stuff to the church plant,” Napier recounted. Thus, chances of success are slim. 

The church plant core that Napier had been preparing by leading a Bible study in his home continued to plan a launch for September 2019. Meanwhile, Napier went back to Eisenhauer Road and explained what a replant would entail. 

“I said, ‘I’m willing to back up and then take another run at the starting line.’ … Long story short, 55 days after the first day that I preached there, they voted yes to do that,” Napier said.

“We went from 25 people meeting in my house for a Bible study to 70 people overnight. We went from no place to meet to 10 acres of land and a 32,000-square-foot campus.”

Eisenhauer Road also had a sizable staff and ran a licensed daycare. “It was mind-boggling,” Napier said, comparing the experience to Star Wars where “the stars go from little dots to lines because they’re going so fast. That’s what it felt like. We went into hyper-speed.” 

The SBTC helped extensively with the transition, Napier said, walking the church through the considerations and training to make the replant happen. Hixson reminded Napier, “This doesn’t happen. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” the pastor remembered.

“I was like, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just following God, and whatever God tells me to do, that’s what I’m doing. He’s just blessing it,” Napier said. “I don’t have this crazy wisdom or all the answers to all the questions. I just know that God called us to start a church, God provided a place for us to meet, and here we go.” 

Something Napier wants to be careful to do at Freedom Hill is to honor the fact that the current congregation has a stable foundation to build upon “because of the sacrifice, the blood, sweat and tears of the people of Eisenhauer Road Baptist Church.” 

Napier was born and raised in Houston, and for 10 years he traveled with the gospel music group Paul’s Journey, leading worship in churches across the country fulltime. He served as worship leader and assistant pastor at his home church for several years before becoming a church planter. He and his wife, Angela, have two children.

Freedom Hill Church got up to 110 people by the end of last February. They were seeing people saved and baptizing people. Then COVID hit. The replant never really had an official launch date, Napier said, because they had been planning that for the springtime, near Easter. 

Throughout the pandemic, the church has been ministering to people much like other churches—offering online services and making disciples through Zoom. 

Part of the foundation of their ministry is a strong commitment to the Cooperative Program, and though they’re a small congregation, they forward 10 percent of all receipts through the Southern Baptist Convention’s plan for supporting missions and ministry.

“What a way to be a part of a bunch of different things,” Napier said of CP, “and it doesn’t matter the size church you are. We can be involved in the same things that the megachurches are involved in. It may not be as big of a dollar figure, but it’s a good percentage of what’s coming in here. 

“We’re able to make those investments, and obviously, it’s going to pay big dividends because many people are going to get to hear the gospel because of that, many people are going to come to Christ because of that, many people will get help because of that,” the pastor said.