supreme court ruling allows texas abortion clinics

Transcription

October 29, 2014 • ISSUE 39
UNA NUEVA
FAMILIA
Anglo church plants Hispanic congregation to reach growing community
SUPREME COURT RULING ALLOWS
TEXAS ABORTION CLINICS TO REOPEN
CITY OF HOUSTON REVISES
SUBPOENA BUT NOT ENOUGH
Gary Ledbetter
You have the right
to remain silent
B
ased on nothing but a decent
imagination, I believe that Houston
Mayor Annise Parker was surprised at
the blowback she is receiving for her
administration’s effort to intimidate pastors who have
spoken against that city’s ordinance giving preferred
status to homosexuals. She doubtless knew that some
disagreed with her, but I think she underestimated
the level of outcry that followed the subpoenas
issued for the sermons and other communications
of five pastors who’d disagreed with her “personal”
campaign to normalize what is not normal. She may
have not intended, as she says, to issue such broad
subpoenas, but I cannot believe she had any regrets
prior to the bipartisan clamor.
Houston’s mayor is one of our current crop of liberal
politicians who sincerely do not understand religious
liberty. To these leaders, we have the freedom to worship in the privacy of our homes and church buildings, but our freedom to live as transformed people in
our weekday life is more inconvenient to a pluralistic
culture. Freedom of worship makes more sense to
them than actual religious freedom.
It seems to me that we have been Mirandized—read
our rights. Are we willing for anything we say to be
used against us in a court of law? We should be, and
we should position ourselves for more direct threats
than the one we see in Houston. One author I’ve been
reading suggests that “homophobia,” which may be
defined in our culture as “disagreeing with popular culture about sexual morality,” could one day be
classed as a psychopathology. Tyrannical regimes
of the 20th century used such a diagnosis broadly
against dissenters of any sort. They were drugged, reeducated or just locked up until they were no longer a
threat to the state dogma. So how do we prepare; how
do we behave wisely in an age when unpopular sermon topics are reasonably seen as actionable by some
public officials?
4Be wise as serpents. One thing that can make
trouble for us is foolish talk. Can you adopt the dis-
cipline of speaking in email, social media, prayer
meetings, sermons and Sunday School lessons in
a way that you’d be willing to see it in the public
record? Because it is part of the public record and
available to those who do not like what you stand
for. This wisdom is James’ counsel in James 3:1.
Carefully draw your lines in the sand. We all need
convictions but sometimes boast of too many—
more than we’ll actually stick to. Avoid boasting of
more courage than you have as Peter did in John
13:37. Think about your priorities. Which things are
more important than your wealth, comfort, physical freedom or even your life? The list will likely be
pretty short. Now stand.
4Be innocent as doves. 1 Peter 2:20 says there is
a difference between suffering for the gospel and
suffering because we forgot or refused to pay our
taxes. Not everything is a conflict over religious
liberty. Peter and John refused to stop preaching in
the face of threats from the authorities, but they
didn’t disdain law and courtesy generally.
4Be at peace with all people, if you can. Some of
us love a fight and others fear it above all things.
Both the bellicose and the irenic among us must
stifle the urge to always respond as we prefer, with
a fist or a hug, as the case may be. Peace with others should be our intent, not at all costs but in most
cases.
4Pray God’s best on would-be enemies. That’s
not the same as praying that they will get what
they want or succeed at what they attempt—we
should be careful about praying those things for
anyone—but God’s best may be conviction, judgment or prosperity. Those determined to oppose
righteous things you do cannot make you hate
them, by the way. They can hate you, but you have
the power to love them.
The current situation in Houston is not the big test
of our era, I predict. It’s startling to see the disdain of
public officials expressed toward Christians in Houston, but this is an early birth pang. To me, it’s a warning to get my own house in order—to consider the
trials of those like Saeed Abedini, even as that situation seems remote from here. If persecution intensifies in the U.S. or if it does not, we are foolish to be too
comfortable or feel too safe in a world that hates our
Lord and his righteousness. This is not our home, and
we are blessed to be reminded of that.
CONTENTS
ISSUE #39
/////////////////////////////////////////////
10
COVER STORY:
UNA NUEVA FAMILIA
Supreme Court
ruling allows
Texas abortion
clinics to reopen
16
14
Jose and Melissa
Medina arrived in the
U.S. from their native
Puerto Rico in January
2012 with their two
young children, two
suitcases and a small
amount of money.
Around this same
time, Normandale
Baptist Church in Fort
Worth desired to start
a Spanish ministry to
reach the growing
number of Hispanics
in its community
but lacked financial
resources and
someone who could
lead the effort. What
God did next was a
“miracle.”
A lawsuit challenging abortion
regulations in Texas is being
fast-tracked through the appeals
process and most likely will end
up before the U.S. Supreme
Court. Attorneys for both sides
of the abortion debate must
navigate uncharted waters
as one provision of the law
has never been effectively
challenged in court.
City of Houston revises subpoena but not
enough, ADF says
After several days of national criticism aimed at the city of Houston
for what critics called an abuse of power, City Attorney Dave Feldman
struck the word “sermons” from a subpoena that ordered five local
pastors turn over their sermons, speeches, and communications with
church members as part of an ongoing legal dispute with the city. The
revision was submitted Oct. 17.
6
Special panel on
‘The Church and
Homosexuality’ added to
Annual Meeting schedule
In light of recent events, a special
panel discussion on ‘The Church &
Homosexuality” has been added to the
Southern Baptists of Texas Convention
Annual Meeting schedule. The panel—
scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 11 from
9-10 p.m. at MacGorman Chapel on
the campus of Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth—
will feature prominent Southern Baptist
ethicists and pastors discussing how
churches should respond to same-sex
marriage legal issues and how to minister
to those with same-sex attraction.
7
‘Great Trip’ to Ecuador
far more than good
weather, friendly folks
Majestic mountain views, balmy weather,
hospitable locals and a room in the only
air-conditioned hotel on the beach would
typically amount to a “great trip.” Those
elements, though, while true of Barry
Calhoun’s recent trip to Ecuador, do not
actually top the list of what made it a
“great trip.”
TEXAN Digital is e-published
twice monthly by the Southern
Baptists of Texas Convention,
4500 State Highway 360,
Grapevine, TX 76099-1988.
Jim Richards, Executive Director
Gary Ledbetter, Editor
Keith Collier, Managing Editor
Sharayah Colter, Staff Writer
Russell Lightner, Design & Layout
Stephanie Barksdale, Subscriptions
Contributing Writers
Rob Collingsworth, Mike Gonzales, Dwayne
Hastings, Bonnie Pritchett, Erin Roach, Alex Sibley
To contact the TEXAN, visit texanonline.net/contact
or call toll free 877.953.7282 (SBTC).
Briefly ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
FLOYD: STAND UP FOR HOUSTON
PASTORS
DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD
FOR PAKISTANI MOTHER
Baptists must let their voices be heard, said Southern
Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd.
Floyd is one of several
speakers from across the
nation slated to speak
Nov. 2 at the “I Stand
Sunday” gathering at
Grace Church in Houston. The event, hosted
by Family Research Council and other partners, will be
simulcast online and was organized in response to five
Houston ministers being issued subpoenas by the city’s
attorney to turn over sermons and other pastoral communications (see story on page 16). Confirmed speakers include Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee;
Todd Starnes of FOX News; Ed Young, pastor of Second
Baptist Church in Houston; Phil Robertson from the hitshow Duck Dynasty; and others. For more information,
visit istandsunday.com.
In spite of protests within
Pakistan and abroad against
the country’s blasphemy laws,
the Lahore High Court upheld
Oct. 16 the death sentence for
a Christian mother accused of
insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad.
Aasiya Noreen, commonly known
as Asia Bibi, is the first woman to be sentenced
to death for blasphemy in Pakistan. The mother
of five was arrested in June 2009 after Muslim co-workers beat her when she refused to
convert to Islam; her death sentence was announced in November 2010.
Read the story from Baptist Press here.
BOKO HARAM TRUCE, GIRLS’
RELEASE UNLIKELY
Divisions within Boko Haram weaken the credibility of
a reported cease-fire announced Oct. 17 to secure the
release of more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped
in April, an expert in Nigerian relations told Baptist
Press.
Nigeria’s military announced the agreement with Boko
Haram in which the jihadists agreed to release the girls,
but many analysts and others questioned the credibility of the announcement after suspected Boko Haram
terrorists raided three communities in Borno state Oct.
18-19. Read the story from Baptist Press here.
JACK GRAHAM NAMED
HONORARY PRAYER CHAIRMAN
The National Day of Prayer Task
Force has named Jack Graham,
who served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist
Convention, as honorary chairman for the 2015 National Day
of Prayer. Graham leads the 37,000-member
Prestonwood Baptist Church, which
includes three locations in the Dallas area.
MICH., S.C. BAPTISTS NAME
INTERIM EXECS
Interim executive directors have been named
by two state conventions: Michigan and South
Carolina.
James “Jimmy” Jones, a Detroit native with
more than 50 years of ministry in Michigan,
is serving as the state convention’s interim
exec, while Richard Harris, a retired vice president from the North American Mission Board,
is the interim for the South Carolina Baptist
Convention.
MCDONALD’S, STARBUCKS
ASKED TO FILTER WI-FI
A campaign requesting that McDonald’s and
Starbucks implement pornography filters in
conjunction with their free Wi-Fi service at U.S.
locations is “righteous” and should receive
enthusiastic support from “people of faith,” a
leader of Southern Baptists’ anti-pornography
initiative told Baptist Press.
2 TEXANONLINE.NET OCTOBER 29, 2014
—Briefly section compiled from Baptist Press, other news sources and staff reports
MORE CHURCHES USING BACKGROUND
CHECKS
An estimated 1-in-5 background checks processed through LifeWay Christian Resources’ program with backgroundchecks.com
reveals a conviction of a felony or other serious offense.
This may be part of the reason why a growing number of
churches use background checks as a way to better protect children and others involved in ministry.
After a six-year partnership between LifeWay and backgroundchecks.com, the number of churches that say they are benefiting
from the screenings continues to grow. Since last year, 50 percent
more churches and organizations have used the service.
MARRIAGE ‘NON-DECISION’ DRAWS
ROE COMPARISON
The Supreme Court’s
refusal to rule on same-sex
marriage amounted to a
stealth version of Roe v.
Wade on the issue, Southern
Baptist ethicist Russell D.
Moore told a national television audience. Appearing on C-SPAN Oct.
14, the president of the
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) said the justices’
decision not to review lower-court invalidations of state laws banning gay marriage “was essentially an under-the-radar Roe versus
Wade for marriage.” Roe v. Wade was the high court’s 1973 opinion that struck down all state bans on abortion.
CITY ORDERS MINISTERS
TO PERFORM SAME-SEX
MARRIAGE
An Idaho city has threatened ministers
who run Hitching Post Weddings with jail
time and fines if they continue to refuse to
perform same-sex marriages. The ministers,
both Christians, say they are committed to
marrying only heterosexual couples and
have denied about 15 requests to perform
same-sex marriages since 1989.
Read the story from World Magazine here.
CHURCH’S WEDDING VOTE
STIRS KBC OPPOSITION
A Kentucky Baptist Convention committee has voted to recommend severing ties
with a Louisville congregation that voted to
ordain people who identify as lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender and to perform
same-sex marriages. The KBC’s Committee on Credentials took the action Oct. 9 in
regard to Crescent Hill Baptist Church.
CATHOLICS’ REVISED
REPORT SHOWS ‘DEEP
DIVISION’
MISSION:DIGNITY PAYOUTS INCREASE
TO RECIPIENTS
Mission:Dignity recipients received a welcome increase in their
October assistance payments with the neediest among them
seeing their monthly grant
amounts grow by 12 percent to $450 for singles
and $600 for couples.
Qualified individuals
receiving the largest
payouts must have at
least 25 years of Southern
Baptist ministerial service
and must meet guidelines
for income and assets.
Eligible recipients with at
least 10 years of full-time,
salaried Southern Baptist service receive $225
per month, if single, and
couples receive $300.
Read the story from
Baptist Press here.
Differences between the interim and final
reports from a meeting of Catholic bishops
in Rome reflect “deep division” within the
church’s hierarchy regarding homosexuality,
a seminary professor has noted.
“Deep division appears obvious,” Jeffrey
Riley, professor of ethics at New Orleans
Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist
Press in written comments. “How broad the
division is difficult to say. ... Some bishops
appear captured by western cultural notions that stress sexual freedom rather than
a freedom that comes by obeying the clear
teaching of Scripture.”
OCTOBER 29, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 3
Thousands watch the large screen outside
a packed American Airlines Center.
(PHOTO BY TREVER HOEHNE/HARVEST MINISTRIES)
Harvest America presents gospel
to sold-out crowd at American
Airlines Center in Dallas
By Rob Collingsworth
A sold-out crowd of 19,000 gathered at the American
Airlines Center Aug. 5 for the third-annual Harvest
America event, which featured live music from
Christian artists MercyMe, For King & Country, and Phil
Wickham and a gospel presentation by Greg Laurie.
Laurie is pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in
Riverside, California, and Harvest Orange County in
Irvine, California. Another 3,900 venues across the
country hosted the live simulcast.
This year, Laurie surprised some by stating that he
believes all roads lead to God. He followed that up,
however, with an important caveat.
“I don’t care if you’re a believer, agnostic or an
atheist. I believe whatever road you’re on, you will
get to God one day and you will stand before God one
day,” Laurie said. “All roads lead to God. But only one
road leads to heaven, and that’s the road through Jesus
Christ.”
While final numbers are not yet reported from all
of the venues, the visible response to the gospel at
American Airlines Center was
significant as more than 1,000
flowed down the aisles to respond to
the message preached by Laurie.
Local churches were asked to
participate in this year’s event
in a number of ways. In addition
to promoting the event in their
communities, volunteers from
local churches were given the
opportunity to visit the Harvest
America website in the days
preceding the crusade and sign up
for various service opportunities,
from ushering to working as
decision counselors.
Stuart Pendell, minister of couples
and assimilation at North Richland
Hills Baptist Church, helped coordinate details for his
church’s participation in Harvest America.
“We were able to go on the website and choose which areas
to serve in, and then our people could select the exact area
where they wanted to be involved. Then Harvest America did
all the training,” he said. “The great thing is that everyone
was utilized—all of our ushers and greeters. Everyone was
involved.”
Prestonwood Baptist Church has served as a simulcast
venue for Harvest America in the past and provided
significant local ground support for this year’s Harvest
America. According to executive pastor Mike Buster, in
addition to providing 118 of the 268 ushers for the event,
two of their laypeople coordinated the prayer ministry that
prayed during Harvest. More than 100 church members and
staff were on hand to serve as decision counselors both in the
venue and among overflow crowds outside.
“I’m so grateful for the way our church family truly
engaged in Harvest America in the weeks leading up to it and
on the evening of the crusade,” pastor Jack Graham said. “We
were blessed to witness the fruits of our labor as hundreds
of people streamed toward the stage at American Airlines
Center to accept Christ as their Savior. To God be the glory!”
Pendell stated that his church is looking forward to being
even more involved next year as Harvest America plans to
host its 2015 event at Globe Life Park in Arlington, home of
the Texas Rangers.
Harvest America held its first nationwide event two
years ago in Southern California, the birthplace of Harvest
Ministries, and last year’s event was held in Philadelphia.
Between the two, the organization recorded a total of more
than 28,000 first-time professions of faith.
For information on this year’s crusade or updates on next
year’s event, visit HarvestAmerica.com.
More than 1,000 come forward to make a profession of faith at
American Airlines Center. (PHOTO BY TREVER HOEHNE/HARVEST MINISTRIES)
Greg Laurie speaks at Harvest America 2014.
Pastor Jack Graham addresses the Dallas crowd.
Special panel on ‘The Church
& Homosexuality’ added to
Annual Meeting schedule
By Keith Collier
BTC ANNUAL MEETING
Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent
ruling to uphold government recognition
of same-sex marriages in more than 30
states as well as the threat to religious
THE CHURCH
+ HOMOSEXUALITY
Ministry + Response
liberty faced by Houston pastors over
Special Panel Discussion
a city ordinance granting civil rights
protections to homosexuals and
Tuesday 9pm - 10pm
transgender individuals, many churches
are left wondering how they should
MacGorman Chapel
respond.
For this reason, a special panel
discussion on “The Church &
Homosexuality” has been added to the
1
2
3
5
6
4
Southern Baptists of Texas Convention
Annual Meeting schedule in November.
ovember 10-11
The panel—scheduled for Tuesday, Nov.
11 from 9-10 p.m. at MacGorman Chapel
tern Baptist
Theological
Seminary
on the campus
of Southwestern
Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth—
will feature prominent Southern Baptist
e info visit
sbtexas.com/am14
ethicists and pastors discussing how
respond to same-sex
Contact thechurches
SBTC withshould
questions
1 Russell Moore 2 Barry Creamer
3 Nathan Lino 4 Evan Lenow 5 Jim Guenther
6 Gary Ledbetter Moderator
817)-552-2500
or [email protected]
marriage
legal issues and how to minister
to those with same-sex attraction.
Panel speakers include Russell Moore,
president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Barry
Creamer, president of Criswell College and host of the
radio program “For Christ and Culture;” Nathan Lino,
pastor of Northeast Houston Baptist Church; Evan
Lenow, assistant professor of ethics and director of
the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement at
Southwestern Seminary; and Jim Guenther, senior
member of the law firm Guenther Jordan & Price of
Nashville, Tennessee, and general counsel for the
Southern Baptist Convention as well as the SBTC.
The panel will be moderated by Gary Ledbetter,
SBTC director of communications and ministry
relationships.
For more information, visit here.
‘GREAT TRIP’ TO ECUADOR
FAR MORE THAN GOOD
WEATHER, FRIENDLY FOLKS
Pastors, SBTC
minister return
from South
American trip
with renewed zeal,
plans for missions.
M
Story by Sharayah Colter | Photos by IMB
ajestic mountain views, balmy weather, hospitable locals and
a room in the only air-conditioned hotel on the beach would
typically amount to a “great trip.” Those elements, though,
while true of Barry Calhoun’s recent trip to Ecuador, do not
actually top the list of what made it a “great trip.”
Calhoun, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention director of mobilization
and fellowship, traveled to the South American country this summer with
a mission team of 14 people as part of a three-month sabbatical allotted to
him by the SBTC. The trip was indeed great in the typical sense, he says, but
“... The team
members want to
return, the leaders
of the town have
opened the door for
us to return and to
share the gospel and
teach English, three
people on the streets
prayed to receive
Christ, one pastor
has already begun
to learn Spanish
by enrolling in a
community college
course, and one
pastor wept on
the plane ride back.”
so many other aspects of the time spent in Quito, Ecuador, made the trip
truly “great”—a response he continually finds himself giving when asked,
“How was the trip?”
“What I mean is that all of the team members want to return, the leaders
of the town have opened the door for us to return and to share the gospel
and teach English, three people on the streets prayed to receive Christ, one
pastor has already begun to learn Spanish by enrolling in a community
college course, and one pastor wept on the plane ride back,” Calhoun said.
“When you get that and all of the 40 people that participated in the English
as a Second Language (ESL) training wanting you back, it’s a ‘great trip.’
When you are tasked to mobilize a state the size of Texas, and you see the
eyes of leaders opened to missions opportunities, most of whom had never
traveled internationally before, it’s a ‘great trip.’ When you have one pastor
say that now he sees the importance of giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas
Offering (LMCO) and the Cooperative Program (CP), it’s a ‘great trip.’”
In November of 2013, the SBTC entered into a three-year partnership with
the Republic of Ecuador in the northwest part of South America with the
purpose of encouraging member churches to adopt unreached, unengaged
people groups (UUPGs). There are approximately 11,250 people groups in
the world. Out of those, more than 6,500 people groups remain unreached.
About 3,000 of those are unengaged, meaning no one is working among
them at all.
This trip set out to make
a dent in that reality and to
move Christians one people
group closer to sharing the
gospel with all nations.
The SBTC, the Southern
Baptist Convention (SBC) and
the Dallas Baptist Association
all worked together to
coordinate the trip to make
it a logistic success and a
spiritual victory. Calhoun’s
own church pastor, Tony
Mathews of North Garland
Baptist Fellowship, who had
previously gone to Ecuador
in 2013, also joined the team
as well as Raymond Perry,
pastor of Trinity Friendship
Baptist Church in Wylie, for
whom the trip was his first
mission endeavor outside the
United States. Perry, who had always been supportive
of the CP in the past, expressed that the firsthand
experience gave him an even better understanding
of the importance of Southern Baptists’ cooperative
giving strategy.
Calhoun said Perry’s response is typical of people
who venture out of the country for the first time in
an intentional missions effort.
“For me, discipleship is about having a heart for
what God has a heart for, and that is the nations
of the world,” Calhoun said. “When people go on a
mission trip for the first time, there is no need to
[convince] them. Simply allow them to experience
it in person, and they’ll develop a heart for the
nations.”
Calhoun said another highlight of the trip that
places it in the “great” category, is that an IMB
journalism team captured much of the trip on film
and will incorporate it into this year’s Lottie Moon
Christmas Offering material. That material will help
churches inform and remind members about the
great need to share the gospel with the peoples of the
world and will motivate them to give and to go.
The ripple effects of the trip will continue
even beyond the work done this summer and the
dissemination of the offering material, Calhoun
said, pointing to the brimming and bubbling over of
greatness coming through the trip.
“We are planning a 2015 Ecuadorian Summit that
will hopefully mobilize other pastors across the
state,” Calhoun said. “Additionally, I am headed to
Houston to train a pastor and some of his members
about mission trips and IMB strategies as they
prepare to go to Ecuador in October. This pastor will
be one of two African-American pastors trained to
lead trips as part of this SBTC partnership.”
Calhoun says they plan to host two or three trips in
2015—ventures he prays will also be “great trips” just
like this recent one.
—With reporting by Dwight Baker
UNA NUEVA FAMILIA:
Anglo church plants
Hispanic congregation
to reach growing
community
J
STORY BY KEITH COLLIER | PHOTOS BY ADAM TARLETON
ose and Melissa Medina
arrived in the U.S. from
their native Puerto Rico in
January 2012 with their two
young children, two suitcases,
a small amount of money and
hopes for Melissa to become a
schoolteacher in Dallas and Jose
to attend seminary in Fort Worth.
However, when those plans never
materialized, the couple was left
waiting on God’s direction.
The Medinas began attending
North Richland Hills Baptist Church,
where church members welcomed
them in like family, helping them
find jobs and a home. Jose began
working as a Spanish-speaking
counselor, where he taught classes
on domestic violence, substance
abuse, and theft prevention.
Medina was also introduced to
Hector Mendez, pastor of Iglesia
Bautista Central in Fort Worth and
church starting center Hispanic
consultant for Tarrant Baptist
Association. Mendez invited him to
serve in his church’s youth ministry
and even gave him occasional
opportunities to preach.
Around this same time,
Normandale Baptist Church in
Fort Worth desired to start a
Spanish ministry to reach the
growing number of Hispanics in
its community but lacked financial
resources and someone who could
lead the effort. So John Mark
Yeats, then-pastor of Normandale,
contacted SBTC Church Planting
Lead Associate David Alexander
for help.
“God is showing us that we don’t need
money, we don’t need spaces, we don’t
need materials; we just need the heart.”
A short time later, Medina
found himself sitting at a table
with Mendez, Alexander and
Yeats to discuss the ministry at
Normandale. All agreed it was a
needed ministry and that Medina
would be a great fit to lead it.
When he was told that the
church had limited funds for the
ministry, Medina simply replied,
“OK. I’ll do it without money. I’m
going to do it for free.” Members
at Normandale, however, insisted
on taking up an offering and were
able to provide some financial
support for Medina and his family.
Medina and his wife started
Normandale Espanol, a Spanish
ministry of the church, in
February 2013. They led a Spanishspeaking Bible study on Sunday
mornings and connected with
Hispanic families involved in
Normandale’s soccer ministry for
children in the community.
Through Medina’s connections
at the counseling center, he also
began to receive referrals for
Hispanic families who could
not afford the services but were
open to free pastoral counseling.
As he counseled families, he
invited them to the Bible study at
Normandale.
Spanish Ministry or Church?
As the group grew, Medina and
the pastors at Normandale were
faced with a choice.
“At some point, we had to make
a decision,” Medina recalls. “Did
we want to be a church, or did we
want to be a counseling ministry?”
Through discussions with
Alexander at the SBTC, they
agreed that the best decision
was to transition Normandale’s
Spanish ministry to a church
plant sponsored through a
partnership with the SBTC and
the North American Mission
Board. They believed this strategy
would best meet the long-term
vision of reaching Hispanics while
avoiding common concerns of a
Spanish ministry becoming overdependent on the Anglo church,
which often results in a lack of
indigenous leadership and weaker
financial commitment among the
ministry’s members.
Iglesia Bautista Una Nueva
Familia—One New Family Baptist
Church—officially launched in
January 2014. Una Nueva Familia
uses Normandale’s facilities,
shares ministries to children
and youth, and maintains a close
relationship with Normandale, but
it is an autonomous church.
In addition to financial
support, the SBTC provides
ongoing coaching, resources and
encouragement to Medina and
Una Nueva Familia. Medina says
the SBTC is “always open to help”
when he calls.
In describing the SBTC’s role,
Alexander says, “We’ve trained
Jose as a church planter. Our
church planter training is
principle-based, so the planter can
take the principles and address
them to their context. Our coaches
are able to help the planter deal
with those contextual issues.”
Pastor Jose Medina
Throughout the year, Alexander
says, “Jose has grown in his
ministerial experience and his
ability to disciple somebody. Those
things will continue to grow as
he gets more experience with the
work.”
Medina uses his training
as a counselor to care for his
congregation.
“I go to their houses, eat with
them, have fun with them. I am
their pastor, but I want them to
see that I care,” Medina says.
Still, the work is not without
its challenges, as Medina strives
to overcome cultural barriers
and to help those from a strong
Catholic background understand
the gospel and what a relationship
with Jesus is really about. Despite
difficult days, he’s encouraged by
lives that have been changed by
the gospel, as church members
shed the problems of their past
and embrace new life in Christ.
As examples, Medina points to
men in his church who are being
discipled and growing as leaders
in the church. He also notes the
17-year-old single mother who
came to faith in Christ at the
church and is now actively connected with her church
family. She was the first person baptized at Una Nueva
Familia, and they’ve seen six others follow in her footsteps
this year.
Rapid Growth
In less than a year, the fledgling Hispanic church has
grown rapidly to around 50-60 people on Sunday mornings.
In fact, they continue to outgrow classrooms at Normandale,
but the limited finances and space concerns don’t seem to
affect Medina, who says, “I just want to see the change in
their lives.”
Medina calls what God is doing in Una Nueva Familia “a
miracle.”
“God is showing us that we don’t need money, we don’t
need spaces, we don’t need materials; we just need the
heart,” Medina says.
“If God touched me to do this, he will open the doors
financially. I tell people not to put up barriers. Sometimes we
put up the barriers.”
If it’s just for one family, Medina says, it’s worth it.
“We’re not thinking in material stuff; we’re thinking in
how God changes lives. When I see families changing, when
I see every Sunday the people are happy, why would we say
we’re not going to do the church because we don’t have
enough space or enough money to pay me per month—that
does not make sense. Jesus didn’t pray in pretty places; he
didn’t charge money to anybody; he did it for free.”
Brent Lightsey, youth and missions pastor at Normandale,
is excited about what God has done over the past year.
“Each week there are 50-60 Spanish speakers coming to
our building, growing in their relationship
with Christ, who were not coming here a
year ago,” Lightsey says. “Our church has a huge desire to reach
our community. The language barrier does
prevent many of us from actually talking
to our Spanish-speaking neighbors about
Jesus, but Iglesia Una Nueva Familia allows
our church a practical way to still impact
our community.”
“Our church has a huge
desire to reach our
community. The language
barrier does prevent many
of us from actually talking
to our Spanish-speaking
neighbors about Jesus, but
Iglesia Una Nueva Familia
allows our church
a practical way to still
impact our community.”
Is Your Church Interested
in Reaching Hispanics
in Your Community?
Reflecting on the picture presented in Revelation
of every tribe, tongue and nation being represented
around the throne of God, STBC Church Planting
Associate David Alexander says, “In heaven, we won’t
have a language barrier, but we still have it here
on earth. As much as we want to be ‘all things to all
people,’ there is a heart language barrier that we will
never get around while we’re here on earth.”
Alexander grew up as a missionary kid in Mexico
and has planted several Hispanic congregations in
Mississippi and Texas. For Anglo churches interested
in reaching Hispanics in their community, Alexander
offers this advice:
4Pray: “Begin to prayer walk the community and
find out who in your church is already building
natural relationships among the community.”
4Try to find bi-lingual people to start Bible
studies: “If God brings in a bi-lingual person
to your staff or to your church, even if that
person has no calling to be a pastor, we all have
the calling to be disciple-makers, so how can
this person help you to begin making disciples
through small group leadership.”
4Develop the core group: “Develop a Spanishlanguage small group that would begin to
morph itself into something larger,” such as a
“celebration service with a teaching time.”
4Determine your end goal: Does the Anglo
church simply want a Spanish ministry as an
extension of the church, or do they want to plant
an autonomous Hispanic church? Alexander
recommends the latter, saying the Anglo church
must allow the Hispanic church to establish its
own identity while also providing mentorship,
encouragement and support along the way.
While Alexander sees the church planting approach
as optimal, he says the Anglo church’s vision for the
ministry and context will dictate the strategies for
reaching Hispanics in its community. Regardless, he
says, the SBTC stands ready to help churches navigate
the ministry.
“We have seen enough of the different strategies
out there that we can come alongside any of our
churches and dialogue with them to see what best
fits their context,” Alexander says. “The whole hope
is making disciples of these other peoples, so how
are we going to do that and then empower them to
multiply themselves?”
Likewise, Brent Lightsey, youth and missions pastor
at Normandale Baptist Church in Fort Worth, offers
advice from his church’s experience in planting
Iglesia Bautista Una Nueva Familia.
“Find a quality leader who speaks Spanish, and step
out in faith,” Lightsey says.
“Make sure your church is ready to make sacrifices
to help them grow. Like any new ministry, there will
be bumps along the road. You have to remember why
you exist as a church. If God wants you to be a light
in your community and your community has a lot of
Spanish speakers, you need to do your best to share
Jesus with them. If you can’t speak Spanish (like
most of our church), then support and partner with
someone who does.”
IF YOUR CHURCH IS INTERESTED IN STARTING
A SPANISH WORK, THE SBTC CAN HELP.
CONTACT DAVID ALEXANDER AT 817-552-2500,
EXT. 233 OR [email protected]
Supreme Court ruling allows
Texas abortion clinics to reopen
By Bonnie Pritchett
A lawsuit challenging abortion
regulations in Texas is being
fast-tracked through the appeals
process and most likely will
end up before the U.S. Supreme
Court. Attorneys for both sides
of the abortion debate must
navigate uncharted waters as one
provision of the law has never been
effectively challenged in court.
As Whole Woman’s Health vs.
Lakey is bandied in the appeals
process, Texas abortion clinics
were opened, closed, and then
opened again since Sept. 1. In
the latest iteration, the Supreme
Court ruled 6-3 that two provisions
of the disputed House Bill 2 (HB
2) cannot be enforced while the
legislation is appealed. The case
is now being expedited. Briefs
should be filed before year’s end
and oral arguments heard as early
as January before the U.S. Court
of Appeals 5th Circuit according
to Denise Burke, an attorney and
vice president for legal affairs for
Americans United for Life, a nonprofit organization that drafts prolife public policy and law.
Burke said she was confident the
contested provisions would stand
up to scrutiny before the appellate
court. But she would not presume
to “read the tea leaves” about a
Supreme Court ruling based on
their Oct. 14 decision.
In its five-sentence statement
vacating the lower court’s ruling,
the Supreme Court named the
dissenting justices, an unusual
move when considering emergency
applications. Justices Antonin
Scalia, Clarence Thomas and
Samuel Alito voted to deny the
hearing. A majority decision to deny
would have left the 5th Circuit’s
judgment in place and all but eight
abortion clinics closed in Texas.
Some of the clinics forced to close
Oct. 3 due to full implementation
of the law began to open again
following the high court ruling.
“The fight isn’t over, but today
we are relieved,” Amy Hagstrom
Miller, owner of Whole Woman’s
Health and a plaintiff in the
lawsuit, tweeted Oct. 15.
The post included her statement
from a New York Times article, “Our
entire Whole Woman’s Health team
is bruised and battered from the year
of battle, but today we all know in our
hearts and minds that it has been
worth it. Tonight, our reality in Texas
was recognized by SCOTUS and they
ruled on the side of Texas women.”
The ruling reinstated an injunction imposed
by Federal Judge Lee Yeakel Aug. 29 halting the
implementation of a provision requiring abortion
clinics meet ambulatory service center (ASC) standards.
The provision was due to go into effect Sept. 1.
Only four other states have a similar provision.
Missouri’s law was challenged and upheld. Alabama
and Pennsylvania ASC laws have not been challenged.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, will
likely roll back the provision in that state Burke said.
Abortion providers claim the ASC regulations—like
the rest of HB 2—are unnecessary and created solely
to make operating abortion clinics in Texas untenable.
But Burke said the provision forces clinics to operate
according to the same standards as other out-patient
clinics in Texas.
Americans United for Life is working with state
legislators across the nation, including Texas, to draft
laws establishing inspection guidelines. Failure to
adequately inspect abortion clinics in Pennsylvania
led to the atrocities of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who
was convicted of murder in May 2013 for killing babies
born alive in his Philadelphia abortion clinic. That
state’s ASC law, established in the wake of the Gosnell
controversy, most likely will not be challenged in order
to avoid bringing to light the lax inspection standards
Burke said.
But Hagstrom and other abortion proponents charge
the ASC laws are purely political and created, not with
women’s health care in mind but with the goal of
closing clinics.
In the Texas lawsuit, Yeakel also ruled the admitting
privileges requirement could not be applied to two
clinics in McAllen and El Paso. The combined impact of
both provisions forced the closure of the two far-flung
clinics imposing an “undue burden” for women seeking
abortions in those regions of the state the judge argued.
And therein lies part of the problem.
“The courts have struggled since [Planned Parenthood
vs. Casey] with ‘undue burden,’” Burke said referring to
the 1992 Supreme Court case establishing the term.
The court’s invention of the term “has created an
unworkable standard,” Burke said. Judges, establishing
their own interpretation of the subjective term, have
issued a myriad of rulings with a host of meanings
for “undue burden.” Burke predicted that somewhere
along the HB 2 appeals process the court is going to be
asked for a concise definition.
She also said courts might also consider access to
abortion facilities outside a state when quantifying
undue burden. In assessing Yeakel’s undue burden
conclusion, the 5th Circuit’s three judges did not
consider the fact that women in El Paso can drive 50
miles to the newly opened Whole Woman’s Health
abortion clinic across the border in Las Cruces, N.M.
Instead they chose to consider the impact of the law
only as it applies within Texas.
Similarly, the same court did not consider the ability
of Mississippi women to obtain an abortion in nearby
states when they refused to apply that state’s admitting
privileges law earlier this year. Application of the law
would have closed Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic.
“I argue that is not what the Supreme Court had in
mind when they argued for the undue burden test,”
said Burke.
The 5th Circuit, she said, will be asked what they
mean by “undue burden.”
City of Houston revises
subpoena but not enough,
ADF says
By Bonnie Pritchett
A
HOUSTON
fter several days of national criticism aimed
at the city of Houston
for what critics called
an abuse of power, City Attorney
Dave Feldman struck the word
“sermons” from a subpoena that
ordered five local pastors turn over
their sermons, speeches and communications with church members
as part of an ongoing legal dispute
with the city. The revision was submitted Oct. 17.
However, attorneys for the pastors said the move was not enough
and nothing short of a complete
withdrawal of the documents would
suffice.
“The city of Houston still doesn’t
get it. It thinks that by changing
nothing in its subpoenas other than
to remove the word ‘sermons’ that
it has solved the problem,” Alliance Defending Freedom wrote in
response to the city’s actions.
The revision was a preliminary
response to ADF’s brief calling on
the Harris County 152nd District
Court to quash the subpoenas. In
the city’s brief, Feldman tried to
justify the original demand calling
the requested material “relevant”
because of the pastors’ involvement
in the referendum process that is at
the heart of the lawsuit.
The petition to repeal a controversial ordinance granting civil
rights protections to homosexuals and transgender individuals
was thrown out by Feldman, who
claimed the signatory process
flawed. The coalition of pastors responsible for the petition sued. The
subpoenaed pastors are not part of
the lawsuit.
“As we have stated many times,
the problem is the subpoenas
themselves; they must be rescinded
entirely,” the ADF press release
stated. “The city must respect the
First Amendment and abandon its
illegitimate mission to invade the
private communications of pastors
for the purpose of strong-arming
them into silence in a lawsuit that
concerns nothing more than the
authenticity of citizen petitions.”
In an attempt to clarify the rea-
“As we have stated many
times, the problem
is the subpoenas
themselves; they must
be rescinded entirely.
The city must respect the
First Amendment and
abandon its illegitimate
mission to invade the
private communications of
pastors for the purpose of
strong-arming them into
silence in a lawsuit that
concerns nothing more
than the authenticity of
citizen petitions.”
soning for the subpoenas, Feldman
stated in the revision, “The nonparty recipients of these subpoenas
assisted in organizing the referendum petition drive and are believed
to have made presentations to
circulators and petition signers
concerning how to complete the petition forms or
other relevant representations concerning the HERO
ordinance or petitions. That information is discoverable and not privileged.”
Criticism over the original subpoena came from
far and wide, including from Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott, who called for Feldman to withdraw the
subpoena.
“Your aggressive and invasive subpoenas show no
regard for the very serious First Amendment considerations at stake,” Abbott wrote in an Oct. 16 letter
addressed directly to Feldman.
News of the subpoenaed sermons broke Oct. 14.
Within 24 hours nationwide blowback began to reverberate in City Hall. In an Oct. 15 press conference,
Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Feldman only
admitted the subpoenas were poorly written and even
blamed their critics for creating the controversy.
When asked why the city attorney she hired deemed
it necessary to subpoena pastors’ sermons, Parker
chuckled and dismissively answered the question.
“Let me just say that one word in a very long legal
document—which I know nothing about and would
never have read—and I’m vilified coast to coast. It’s a
normal day at the office for me,” she said.
Parker went on to accuse her detractors of deliberately misinterpreting the intent of the subpoenas.
Although she claimed ignorance about the subpoenas, a day earlier she posted on her Twitter feed, “If
the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons
are fair game. Were instructions given on filling out
anti-HERO petition?”
Her tweet, which has since been deleted from her
Twitter account, spurred hundreds of responses from
across the nation and political divide. Most disagreed
adamantly with the ideology behind her post.
Critics nationwide called the subpoenas a “fishing
expedition” that will have a chilling effect on anyone
seeking redress with city hall. And the move illustrates
a key objection members of the No UNequal Rights Coalition have with the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance
(HERO)—government intrusion into the life and work
of the local church.
“It certainly serves as another example of the disregard the Parker administration has for the rule of law,
and we knew that the ordinance was placing the punitive power of government over the religious beliefs of
citizens, business owners, property owners and eventually the church,” Dave Welch told the TEXAN.
Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor
Council, is one of the subpoenaed pastors along with
Hernan Castano, of Rios de Aceite; Magda Hermida,
of Magda Hermida Ministries; Khanh Huynh, of Vietnamese Baptist Church, and Steve Riggle, of Grace
Community Church. The pastors are not plaintiffs in
the lawsuit against the city but have been outspoken
in their opposition to the ordinance as members of the
No UNequal Rights Coalition, a racially diverse association of pastors united in their effort to repeal HERO.
Unable to stop its passage by the city council in May,
the No UNequal Rights Coalition was formed to organize a referendum to put the ordinance to a vote by the
city. More than 50,000 signatures were gathered in the
petition drive—far more than the 17,269 needed to put
the issue on the November ballot. City Secretary Anna
Russell certified the requisite number of signatures,
but three days later, with only hours left in the city’s
deadline for certifying the petitions, Feldman summarily disqualified thousands of signatures alleging
they did not meet city charter standards.
The referendum failed and the coalition sued the
city demanding Russell’s certification protocol be
followed. The case goes to trial in January. The subpoenaed sermons and pastor-church member communications are part of the city’s discovery proceedings.
In a call for churches to stand with the Texas pastors,
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President
Russell Moore wrote, Oct. 14, “A government has no
business using subpoena power to intimidate or bully
the preaching and instruction of any church, any synagogue, any mosque or any other place of worship.”
Moore challenged pastors to preach about or at least
address the issue from the pulpit and for all Christians
to pray and educate themselves about the perils of losing religious liberties.
“The separation of church and state,” Moore wrote,
“means that we will render unto Caesar that which is
Caesar’s, and we will. But the preaching of the church
of God does not belong to Caesar, and we will not hand
it over to him. Not now. Not ever.”
SWBTS professor holds classroom
dialogue with Evangelicals for
Marriage Equality co-founder
S
By Keith Collier
FORT WORTH
outhwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
ethics professor Evan Lenow recognized
the risk of inviting Michael Saltsman, cofounder of Evangelicals for Marriage Equality
(EME), to his seminary classroom to discuss whether
evangelicals should support same-sex marriage but
also viewed it as a learning opportunity for those
called to ministry. Lenow and Saltsman dialogued on
the topic in front of Lenow’s Bible & Moral Issues class
at the seminary, Oct. 15.
“It’s humbling to invite someone into my classroom
whose goal is to convince my students that I am
wrong,” Lenow, who holds the traditional view of
marriage, said in an Oct. 14 blog post. “But it is a
healthy exercise for both student and professor.”
Saltsman, who serves as research director at
Employment Policies Institute and vice president of
a research and communications firm in Washington,
D.C., grew up in a conservative, evangelical family. He is
married, and he and his wife have a 2-year-old daughter.
Although he held to a traditional view of marriage in
college, he said, discussions with friends who were in
same-sex relationships and readings on both sides of the
issue caused him to reconsider his position.
“I was very concerned about the way the debate was
moving,” Saltsman said. “On the one hand, I really felt
like this was an issue on a civil marriage point that
the church was wrong on, but on the other hand I was
really concerned about the way that people who had
reservations about abandoning a traditional view of
marriage were being treated.”
This concern led him to co-found EME.
“The idea behind Evangelicals for Marriage
Equality,” Saltsman told Lenow’s class, “was to have an
organization that said you can be a faithful Christian
and a faithful evangelical that supports civil marriage
equalities as the government provides a certain set of
benefits and tax treatments to opposite sex couples
that they would also provide
them to same-sex couples.
But at the same time, that
we could have a respect and
understanding for those folks
who (disagree).”
Saltsman said EME’s board
members—which include
Michael Saltsman
author and former pastor
Brian McLaren, who has
been widely criticized for
his departure from orthodox
Christianity—would largely
identify themselves as
“evangelicals.” When Lenow
asked him to define the term
“evangelical,” Saltsman
Evan Lenow
defined it as someone who
focuses on “the authority of Scripture, the inerrant
word of God, a personal relationship with Christ,
evangelism and sharing the gospel.”
Saltsman said members of EME’s board fall along the
spectrum of views on whether or not homosexuality is
a sin—some believing it is, while others say it is not—
but, he added, “I would count myself as one of the
people who is still undecided on the issue.”
Thus, Saltsman claimed, EME’s argument for civil
same-sex marriage is more a legal position than a
theological one.
Lenow, who serves as director of the Richard Land
Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern,
countered with Scripture he believed clearly defined
homosexuality as sin and asked, “If there really is a
spectrum of belief across your board of advisors—you
actually have people on your board who would say
homosexual behavior is sinful and the Bible clearly
condemns it as sin—how do you get to the point as
evangelicals of saying, ‘This is a sinful behavior that
God judges and condemns, yet we want to support it?’”
“We’re protecting a principle rather than promoting
“The idea behind
Evangelicals for Marriage
Equality was to have an
organization that said you
can be a faithful Christian
and a faithful evangelical
that supports civil
marriage equalities as the
government provides a
certain set of benefits and
tax treatments to opposite
sex couples that they
would also provide them
to same-sex couples. But
at the same time, that we
could have a respect and
understanding for those
folks who (disagree).”
a behavior,” Saltsman argued,
adding that Christians often “stand
for the rights of people who we
either think are heretics or whose
beliefs we don’t believe in.” He said
EME advocates “equal treatment
under the law.”
Lenow pushed back, saying he did
not understand how evangelicals
could give “hardy approval to
something God says is sinful.”
“Is that a theologically consistent
(position to take)?” Lenow asked.
“In a pluralistic, religiously
diverse society such as ours,”
Saltsman replied, “I will always
stand up for equal protection
under the law, even for people who
I disagree with and who disagree
with my point of view.”
Lenow also asked Saltsman to
give his definition of marriage,
to which Saltsman gave two
definitions—the church’s definition
and the government’s definition—a
dichotomy that allows for him to
have one position theologically and
another legislatively.
The two also debated whether
or not recognition of same-sex
marriages would open the door in
the future for other redefinitions of
marriage, including polygamy and
incest.
Saltsman agreed that polygamy
could “denigrate society” but was
dismissive about the potential
for society to accept it, adding,
“Polygamy isn’t even a discussion,”
to which Lenow cited groups
already pushing for acceptance
of polygamous cohabitation and
the potential for polyamorous
relationships with multiple
husbands and wives.
Lenow argued that opening
the door for same-sex marriage
becomes a “slippery slope” toward
other perversions of traditional
marriage. Saltsman said, “In
any place where we draw lines …
there’s always a way you can say
there’s a slippery slope.” He argued
that polygamy does not have
widespread support by the majority
of the population.
The two ended the dialogue
with a discussion of whether
Christian businessmen and
businesswomen should be forced
to offer wedding services and
venues to same-sex couples. Both
agreed this is a religious liberty
issue and that Christians should
not be persecuted for holding to
their religious convictions. Lenow
encouraged Saltsman and EME to
take a stronger stand on this side of
the religious liberty argument.
Following the dialogue, both
Saltsman and Lenow expressed
appreciation for the opportunity to
discuss the issue with civility and
Christian character. Students were
given the opportunity to dialogue
further with the two after class was
dismissed.
“Today’s conversation in Fort
Worth might not have solved the
marriage equality debate, but
it still provided an important
opportunity to explain that it’s
possible to be a faithful evangelical
and a supporter of civil marriage
equality,” Saltsman told the TEXAN.
“I appreciated the back-and-forth
with Dr. Lenow, who initially
proposed this conversation and
was kind enough to host it in his
classroom.”
Lenow expressed appreciation for
Saltsman’s willingness to join his
class.
“Too often those on different
sides of an issue talk at each
other rather than with each
other,” Lenow told the TEXAN.
“This discussion demonstrated
that two people can disagree on a
significant topic and still have a
civil conversation.
“There was a great risk in
bringing Michael Saltsman into
my classroom because he had
everything to gain while I had
everything to lose. However, I am
confident that the biblical design
of marriage is able to withstand
critique from both inside and
outside the church. In addition, my
students need to know what people
on the other side of the debate are
actually saying. I hope my students
benefited from the discussion and
are more prepared to engage in
similar discussions on their own.”
“This discussion
demonstrated that two
people can disagree on a
significant topic and still
have a civil conversation.”
Creamer envisions students
who transform culture
I
By Dwayne Hastings
DALLAS
f anyone left the inauguration
service of Barry Creamer as
president of Criswell College
unsure of the new president’s
direction for the school, they
weren’t paying attention.
The college’s new leader outlined
a vision focusing on equipping
students to be “transformative
agents for the culture” and using
the current facility to its maximum
capability. And he’s confident God
has great plans for Criswell.
“Our objective is to grow our
curriculum and grow our program
so that students are graduating
and influencing the culture for
Christ,” said Creamer, who has
managed the school’s day-to-day
operations since being named as
the school’s chief operating officer
last November.
During an Oct. 2 chapel service
at the Dallas college, Creamer
promised to usher in the same kind
of change the college helped bring
the Southern Baptist Convention
over the last 40 years. The board of
trustees officially installed Creamer
as the school’s seventh president
during the service.
Criswell trustees tapped Creamer
as president in July. The school’s
former president, Jerry Johnson,
left to take the helm of the National
Religious Broadcasters organization
last November. LifeWay Christian
Resources president emeritus Jimmy
Draper served as interim president.
Creamer, who earned his master
of divinity degree at Criswell, holds
Criswell College trustee John Mann congratulates Barry Creamer on his inauguration as president of the
school, Oct. 2. (PHOTO COURTESY OF CRISWELL COLLEGE)
a Ph.D. from the University of
Texas at Arlington. He has served
as Criswell’s vice president of
academic affairs since 2011 and
as a professor of humanities since
2004.
The SBC is Different Because of
Criswell
Criswell College has a rich
history of leadership, Creamer
noted, saying: “We succeeded.
The convention is different; the
seminaries are different. The
denomination is different because
of Criswell College.”
W.A. Criswell, known as the
patriarch of the “conservative
resurgence” in the Southern Baptist
Convention, founded the school
that bears his name in 1970. He was
the longtime pastor of First Baptist
Church Dallas at the time.
Creamer said his desire was to
build on that success by “expanding
our curriculum, strengthening our
campus and transforming what we
are doing here so that we bring that
same kind of transformation to the
culture.”
Creamer’s hopes for the school
are not surprising. He’s well known
in evangelical circles and beyond
as a well-spoken apologist for the
Christian faith and is a leading
voice on cultural and theological
matters. Creamer hosts a radio
program, “For Christ and Culture,”
on KCBI-FM in Dallas-Ft. Worth.
Creamer said he understands
some who look at the size of the
school and do not believe it possible
to have such an impact. Giving
credit to God, he continued, “We
look at where we are, and we think
we can get to the point where we
graduate students who are influential in this culture
and who actually bring about transformation.”
Biggest Need is Alignment
During meetings held on the same day, Creamer told
trustees the college’s biggest need is “alignment,” that
is, “making sure that every part of the school is going
where the whole school is trying to go.”
“We want every person who is serving in any way
on this campus to have in mind that their goal is
to provide every student a way to move forward to
graduation,” he promised, noting there must be
awareness and agreement on the school’s goals among
faculty, staff and students.
Creamer said the administration has reasonable
goals for growth over the next several years, with hope
the school would exceed these goals.
The administration set a benchmark 7-percent
growth rate that envisions the school with a
headcount of 600 students in 8 years and over 1,000
students in 16 years, he explained. The school has
goals to establish a balanced cash flow, driven in part
by the plan to sell non-essential property, freeing
up $400,000 annually that is now dedicated to debt
service.
Creamer said the school must be intentional in its
outreach to churches, prospective students and people
who want to support what Criswell College is doing.
The school also needs to increase its endowment, he
said, noting a strong school is most often built on a
healthy endowment.
Not Just Surviving But Thriving
Creamer said he didn’t want Criswell to be just
another school students can choose from. “For
40 years this school has been at the center of the
denomination,” he said, insisting the school can’t be
content to rest on its laurels.
Creamer said his long-term goal for Criswell was
to be “one of the premier schools in the country with
exactly the same values commitment we have now.”
He said he looks forward to a day in which “people are
begging to get in here” to study so they can excel in
their chosen field.
“It doesn’t matter if we teach well or not,” Creamer
said. “What matters is if students have learned well
and actually are equipped to go out and change the
culture.”
Creamer said recruitment has to improve as well as
student retention, calling the school’s current nearly
80 percent freshmen retention rate “fantastic.”
“We are a totally different type of school than
before,” Creamer said.
“We must refocus our attention on the short-term
intermediate goals we have right now and how we
rebuild our reputation,” he continued, explaining
he hoped his statements wouldn’t be negatively
construed.
“We want people to know we are not just surviving
but that we are thriving. We want to build confidence
in our donors that what they are investing in is long
term, not just immediate survival.”
Plans to Leverage Existing Property
In a change of plans from the previous
administration, Creamer said his plan is to maximize
use of the school’s current campus. He told the
trustees he was confident the college could grow into
what it needed to by remaining in its present location
for the foreseeable future.
“It means we have to leverage our resources to do
that,” Creamer said. “It means we ask someone who
is an expert on what is the best use we can get out of
these facilities so that in 10, 15 or however many years
we are in a good position to do whatever it takes to
become the college God wants to make us then.”
Staying in place makes sense for the school, Creamer
insisted, saying, “Dallas is a good fit.”
“I am not committed to a piece of land. At some point
I think the vision does include a piece of land. But now
the vision is to become a great school,” Creamer said.
Trustees affirmed Creamer’s vision, reversing an
October 2012 vote that gave permission for the school’s
former leadership to consider moving the college
to a “new location.” The trustees’ 2012 directives to
“expand the current college curriculum toward a
university model” and for the school to establish a
“residential campus” remain unchanged.
The school is actively working to sell “nonessential properties” to eliminate the college’s only
remaining debt, Creamer explained. He anticipates
having a detailed proposal available for the trustees’
consideration in the spring. Tentative plans are for
a residential campus with a 180-bed dorm on the
downtown Dallas campus in place for the 2016 fall
semester.
Other Board Decisions
During their meeting, Criswell’s board of trustees
also elected Joe Wooddell as vice president for
academic affairs and Bill Watson as assistant
professor of Greek and New Testament.
Southwestern trustees
stand with Houston pastors,
address admissions policy
By Erin Roach & Tammi Reed Ledbetter
S
FORT WORTH
outhwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
trustees affirmed Houston pastors in
response to subpoenas, clarified how they’ll
address the admittance of a Muslim student
and dealt with various academic matters at their fall
meeting on campus, Oct. 22. After five Houston pastors were given court-ordered
subpoenas for sermons and speeches, Southwestern’s
trustee board urged pastors “anywhere and everywhere
to stand strong on biblical issues” without being
intimidated by courts, politicians or other groups.
“We go on record supporting Southern Baptist
Convention President Ronnie Floyd in his efforts
promoting ‘I Stand Sunday’ on Nov. 2 designed to
bring attention to this matter and support these and
potentially other targeted pastors,” the trustees said.
The board also said they’ll consider changes next
spring to address inconsistencies in the seminary’s
bylaws and the admittance of a Muslim student into
the biblical archeology doctoral program.
“While not compromising the missional purpose”
of the seminary, the trustees aim to “improve
accountability that will allow for flexibility in
pursuing ministry opportunities.”
Trustees approved six faculty to occupy academic
chairs: Karen Kennemur to the Bessie Fleming Chair of
Childhood Education; Steven Smith to the E. Hermond
Westmorland Chair of Preaching; Michael Wilson to the
Fred M. and Edith M. Hale Chair of Prayer and Spiritual
Formation; Mike Morris to the Ida M. Bottoms Chair of
Missions; Frank Catanzaro to the Hope for the Heart
Chair of Biblical Counseling; and Chris Shirley to the
Jack D. and Barbara Terry Chair of Religious Education.
Paige Patterson, Southwestern’s president, noted
that endowed chairs help relieve the pressure on the
seminary’s overall budget—particularly at a time when
Cooperative Program giving is down—
by paying the professor’s salary.
In cases where an endowed
chair provides a sufficient
amount of money, Patterson
said, it may also pay secretarial
support for the professor and may
provide funds for special projects.
Candice Finch
The board also elected three
professors to the seminary’s
faculty: Candice Finch as assistant
professor of theology in
women’s studies; Kelly King as
assistant professor of childhood
education; and Sarah Spring as
assistant professor of English in
the College at Southwestern.
Six faculty members were
Kelly King
promoted from associate
professor to professor: John
Babler to professor of counseling;
Frank Catanzaro to professor of
adult education and counseling;
Johnny Derouen to professor of
student ministry; James Wicker
to professor of New Testament;
Michael Wilson to professor of
pastoral and applied ministry;
Sarah Spring
and Joe Hardin to professor of jazz
and instrumental studies.
Eight faculty members were promoted from
assistant professor to associate professor: Robert
Caldwell to associate professor of church history;
David Hutchinson to associate professor of New
Testament; Karen Kennemur to associate professor
of children’s ministry; Thomas Kiker to associate
professor of pastoral theology; Mark Leeds to
associate professor of systematic theology; Mike
Morris to associate professor of missions; Matthew
Queen to associate professor of evangelism; and Chris
Shirley to associate professor of adult ministry.
In other business, trustees approved several
new degree plans, including a bachelor of music in
performance and a bachelor of music in worship
leadership at the College at Southwestern.
Trustees also approved recipients for the
upcoming B.H. Carroll and L.R. Scarborough Awards
and appointed members to the Southwestern
Seminary Foundation and the board of the Seminary
Development Foundation.
Steven Smith, vice president for student services
and communications, reported a 10 percent
enrollment increase for incoming students in the
fall semester and a 12 percent increase in overall
enrollment, which he said indicates the seminary’s
retention rate is strengthening.
Patterson presented his responses to two items that
were referred to the six seminaries by the Southern
Baptist Convention in June. Regarding a motion for
seminaries to survey the views of faculty and students
about tithing, Patterson declined a survey and said
Southwestern teaches “tithing here very strongly.” “We feel like probably we have actually a better
percent of our faculty and probably even students
that are tithing than is the case in the local churches,”
Patterson said. Regarding a motion for seminary students enrolled
online to receive assistance from the Cooperative
Program, Patterson said online students do get a break
at Southwestern Seminary and the institution’s online
courses “are much more reasonably priced” than those
offered at non-SBC schools. Patterson ended the meeting with a plea for trustees
to attend the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist
Convention next June in Columbus, Ohio. “We have a strong Baptist convention there, but that
is what we have normally called one of the frontier
areas of the country,” Patterson said of Ohio. “You’ve
got your huge cities—Cleveland and other places up
there where we’re trying to do church planting work.
It will be a big, big boost to Ohio Baptists if we can go
in there.” Patterson said he has been urging people to take
their families to the convention and afterward travel
to northern Kentucky to visit the Creation Museum
developed by noted creationist Ken Ham of Answers in
Genesis.
Southwestern receives $12 million
lead gift for construction project
By Alex Sibley | SWBTS
FORT WORTH
Harold Mathena announced in chapel, Oct. 16, that
he is bestowing to Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary a $12 million gift for the construction of a
new building for The College at Southwestern and the
Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions. Other
gifts are already in hand for the project, and this lead
gift will cover roughly half the cost of construction.
The new building will be located on the immediate
west side of Pecan Manor. In addition to housing the
college and the school of evangelism and missions,
Southwestern President Paige Patterson says the
building will contain up-to-date classroom facilities
and a memorial to Lottie Moon, a Southern Baptist
missionary who spent nearly 40 years teaching and
evangelizing in China. The memorial will contain some
of Moon’s belongings as well as her Chinese home.
Patterson says ground could be broken on the new
building as early as the spring of 2015.
To view a rendering of the new building as well
as information about Southwestern’s college and
school of evangelism and missions, visit swbts.edu/
mathenahall.
Mike Gonzales
Ministerios
Hispanos al Día
Y
a se aproxima la fecha de nuestra
reunión Anual de la Convención de
los Bautistas de Sur de Texas (SBTC).
Los días son el 10 y 11 de septiembre
de 2014 en la Capilla del campus de nuestro
seminario Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary en Fort Worth. El lema de nuestra
convención para este año es “Buscad al Señor,
mientras puede ser hallado...” basado en Isaías
55:6-7, 12-13.
Cada año antes de la convención de la SBTC
siempre celebramos nuestra Sesión En Español.
Este año la Sesión En Español será el domingo,
9 de septiembre de 2014 en Truitt Aduitorium
que está localizado en la entrada principal del
seminario SWBTS. La sesión empezará a las 6
de la tarde y con nosotros este año estará como
orador principal, Roberto Amaya. Él es actor
y es conocido por hacer el papel de Javier en
la película, “Corageous.” El Hermano Amaya
compartirá su testimonio cómo vino a conocer a
Cristo como salvador y señor de su vida y después
traerá el mensaje principal. También tendremos
un tiempo de alabanza y adoración por Christian
Soto y su grupo que son de la First Baptist Church
de Euless en Español. Al principio de la sesión
tendremos música especial por Eric Robert que
nos va a deleitar con música Mariachi. Después
tendremos un tiempo de compañerismo. Haga
todo lo posible para estar con nosotros y favor
de orar por esta convención anual. La Sesión
En Español siempre es un tiempo para que
las congregaciones de habla hispana puedan
celebrar y ser inspirados por la Palabra de Dios.
El Departamento de los Ministerios Hispanos
existimos para servir a las iglesias Bautistas
hispana de Texas. Nuestro lema convencional
siempre ha sido: “Alcanzando a Texas, Tocando
al Mundo.” Con las más de 2,500 iglesias de
la SBTC con el cual contamos con 200 iglesias
hispanas estamos haciendo esta misión gracias al Señor por
las ofrendas dadas al Programa Cooperativo. En el 2013 las
iglesias afiliadas a la SBTC dieron $25.9 millones de dólares
a través del Programa Cooperativo; 55 por ciento de esas
ofrendas fueron enviadas más allá de Texas para financiar
ministerios Bautistas en todo el mundo y 45 por ciento de
esas ofrendas se quedaron en nuestro estado para ganar a
Texas para Cristo.
Y en todos estos años como convención estatal, nuestros
valores esenciales no han cambiado. Nuestros valores
esenciales son:
4Somos bíblicamente fundados: creemos en la
infalibilidad de las Escrituras que es un elemento
fundamental.
4Tenemos nuestro enfoque en el reino: ponemos en
primer lugar el evangelismo (ganar almas para Cristo)
y en las misiones (plantar nuevas iglesias para Cristo).
4Somos motivados por las misiones mundiales:
apoyamos a la Convención Bautista del Sur a través del
Programa Cooperativo.
¡Qué el Señor bendiga la obra que tenemos aquí en Texas!
Hampton Inn
4799 Southwest Loop 820
Fort Worth, TX 76132
(817) 346-7845
Rate: $84
Cut-Off Date: Oct. 19
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4609 Citylake Blvd West
(817) 292-4900
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