Pentecostal Passion - Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America

Transcription

April-June 2011
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
Vol 31 No 2
Pentecostal Passion
by Ken Sehested
Pentecostal power has little to do with
exaggerated religious emotion. But
such power, when granted,
has everything to do
with passion, with conviction.
It’s not your mind that
you lose—it’s your heart,
which falls head-over-heels
in love with the vision of dry bones
re-sinewed and aspired to life.
When such power erupts, they
probably will call you crazy.
Have you lost your mind?!
Yes, you will say, because
these days the mind has
become acclimated to a culture
of war; has become inured to
the ravages of poverty in a culture
of obesity; has become numb
to ecological wreckage.
When Pentecostal power erupts, all
heaven’s gonna’ break loose.
The boundaries will be compromised;
barriers will be broken; and
borders will be breached.
Economies of privilege will be fractured
and the politics of enmity
will be impeached.
The revenge of the Beloved is the
reversal of Babel’s bequest.
I will pour out my Spirit,
says the LORD: Poured out
not for escape to another
world beyond the sky but
here, amid the dust. Poured out
not on disembodied spirits
but upon all flesh.
It is to the agony of abandonment
that Heaven is aroused. Queer
the One Who fashions a future
for the disfavored.
The groaning of creation is both
an ache and an assurance. We
dare not insulate ourselves from
the one, lest we be deafened to
the other. Birth is at work.
Though the labor is prolonged,
provision is tendered.
Pentecostal power is the wherewithal
by which we wager our lives on
the surety of this promise.
—Ken Sehested, the founding director of the BPFNA, is now a pastor and writer in Asheville, NC.
This poem is inspired by Ezekiel 34: 1-14; Acts 2:17; Romans 8:22.
The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America gathers, equips and mobilizes Baptists to build a culture of
peace rooted in justice. We labour with a wonderful array of peacemakers to change the world.
The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America is an
independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Funding comes
primarily from membership dues and contributions.
in this issue
3 On Paying Attention
Staff:
by LeDayne McLeese Polaski
Johnny Almond, Communications & Technology Manager
Katie Cook, Editor, Baptist Peacemaker
Evelyn Hanneman, Operations Coordinator
LeDayne McLeese Polaski, Program Coordinator
Jean Turner, Administrative Assistant
4 Kim Phuc and the Power
of Forgiveness
by Mason Walter
BPFNA membership: Annual dues for 2011 are:
• Household - $40
• Student or low income - $20
• Institution/church - $50
• Library subscription - $60
Contributions and membership dues are tax-deductible in
the United States. (Canadians may make tax-deductible
contributions through Canadian Baptist Ministries.) Checks
or money orders should be made in US or Canadian dollars,
if possible.
Board of Directors 2010-11
President: Cheryl Dudley, New York, NY
Vice President: Bill Brammer, Turtle Creek, PA
Secretary: Doug Donley, Mounds View, MN
Assistant Secretary: Sarah Kelly, Shreveport, LA
Treasurer: Linda Mashburn, Brevard, NC
Assistant Treasurer: Tom Bryson, Charlotte, NC
Other members: Valoria Cheek, Valley Forge, PA; Doug
Cruger, Old Orchard Beach, ME; Jessica Davenport, Atlanta,
GA; Susie Dorsey, Williamsburg, VA; Carol Eklund, Concord,
CA; Katy Friggle-Norton, Havertown, PA; Leticia Guardiola,
Seattle, WA; Adalia Gutierrez-Lee, Wayne, PA; Mar Imsong;
Bedford, MA; Christopher Jackson-Jordan, Boone, NC; Lucas
Johnson, Atlanta, GA; Stephen Jones, Prairie Village, KS; Joao
Matwawana, Lower Sackville, NS; Cassie McKenna, Toronto,
ON; Manny Santiago, Seattle, WA; Daniel Schweissing, Aurora, CO; Jonathan Sledge, Raleigh, NC; Barbara Taft, Mesa,
AZ; Robert Tiller, Silver Spring, MD; Karen Turner, Toronto,
ON; Chaks Zadda, Chicago, IL.
6 Limited Progress in the Lower
Ninth Ward
An Update from Post-Katrina
New Orleans
12 A Rereading of the Tower
of Babel
by Francisco Rodés Gonzáles
14 Baptists in Haiti
14 Baptist Efforts In Haiti
from Baptist World Aid
16 A Haiti Timeline
by Audrey Cary
18 Edge Outreach in Haiti
by Derek Sommer
19 African-American Baptists
and Haiti Relief
20 Fuel for Our Journey
A Report from Chiapas
22 Saying Goodbye to Bishop Ruiz
22 The Night a Little Darker,
The Morning a Little Brighter
by Doris Mayol García
24 Blessed are the Troublemakers
by Lee McKenna
BPFNA Central Office: 4800 Wedgewood Dr., Charlotte, NC
28210; phone: 704/521-6051; fax: 704/521-6053; email: bpfna@
bpfna.org; web: www.bpfna.org.
Baptist Peacemaker, published quarterly, is sent to BPFNA
members and depends on donations from its readers. To receive
a trial subscription, simply send us your name and address.
26 BPFNA’s 2010 Highlights
The paper used in the production of Baptist Peacemaker
is acid-free and contains recycled content.
Baptist Peacemaker editorial office: c/o Seeds of Hope
Publishers, 602 James Ave., Waco, TX76706; 254/755-7745;
[email protected].
27 BPFNA Contributors
32 A Prayer for Pentecost
by Deborah Harris
cover art by Susan Daily
2
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
from the staff
On Paying Attention
alatoire’s refers to itself as “The grand dame of
New Orleans’ old-line restaurants,” and prides
itself on the fact that the menu is little changed from
when the establishment first opened on Bourbon Street
in 1905. Some say that the only noticeable post-Katrina
difference in the dining experience is the fact that the
ice in the glasses is no longer chipped by hand.
Having timed my recent visit to New Orleans to
coincide with a business trip my husband was taking
to the city, I was excited that we’d both found time in
the midst of our busy workweeks to “indulge in the
tradition” as Galatoire’s encourages both visitors and
residents to do.
Had we not been in the back of the dining room
near the “command center,” I might not even have
noticed when a tense-looking member of the wait staff
announced to the man in charge, “There’s an emergency
up front.” She was soon followed by an unruffled waiter
(obviously more experienced and used to such occurrences) who said calmly, “A gentlemen has fallen out
at Table Seven.”
Everything continued without interruption. Orders
were taken, dishes were served and eaten, and waiters
led the entire room in multiple choruses of “Happy
Birthday.” Even the arrival of the ambulance did little to
impede the ever-efficient staff. From my vantage spot in
the rear of the room, I never even saw my unfortunate
fellow diner.
After five days of tours, visits and conversations—
meeting with several of the pastors with whom we’ve
partnered for the past five years, riding through multiple neighborhoods, talking with many Katrina survivors about where they find themselves now—I reflected
that the experience at Galatoire’s was a perfect image
for New Orleans. There is a continuing emergency taking place, but many people fail to even notice, much
less respond.
For many of its citizens, New Orleans was in crisis
even before the storms of 2005. As the just-completed
BPFNA DVD Storms of Injustice makes plain, the aching issues of the Crescent City—including a lack of
affordable housing, the absence of livable wages and
deeply inequitable education—were not created by the
floods, they were merely heightened and revealed by
the waters. [See page 7 for more about the DVD.]
I witnessed the same scenario of unobserved
emergency during the recent BPFNA Friendship Tour
to Chiapas, Mexico. The January 1, 2004, uprising led
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
by Zapatista rebels (timed to mark and protest the first
official day of the North American Free Trade Agreement) took many by surprise. But when indigenous
groups rightly begin their various stories of oppression,
loss and dispossession in 1492—and they are able to
trace a pattern of abuse and neglect up to the present
day—should it really be a shock when they rise up in
righteous anger?
But when indigenous
groups rightly begin
their various stories
of oppression, loss
and dispossession in
1492—and they are
able to trace a pattern
of abuse and neglect
up to the present
day—should it really
be a shock when they
rise up in righteous
anger?
art by Käthe Kollwitz
G
I came home from that trip to find headlines about
mass protests in Tunisia and then Egypt. Those uprisings seemed to take many (including their entrenched
leaders) by surprise as well. Yet any observer who cared
to could have taken note of the history of arbitrary
arrests and disappearances, suppression of divergent
opinions, heavy-handed police tactics and the lack of
economic opportunity for even the brightest and most
capable people in those countries. After decades of such
rule, could the eruptions really be unexpected?
Perhaps one of the most faithful actions we can
take in this world is to pay attention: to put ourselves in
places and create relationships with people that expose
us to reality as some of our sisters and brothers find
and live it. If we follow that calling, I expect we’ll find
ourselves taking action. We cannot do everything, of
course, but until we begin to notice, we can do nothing
at all.
—LeDayne Polaski is the BPFNA Program Coordinator.
3
summer conference
Kim Phuc and the
Power of Forgiveness
by Mason Walter
Editor’s note: The article below is an introduction to Kim
Phuc, who will be the keynote speaker at the 2011 BPFNA
Summer Conference in Harrisonburg, VA, this July (see the
ad on page 5 for more information). The theme of the conference is “So You Must Forgive.” Read on to find out how Kim
models this theme.
T
he Vietnam War opened the eyes of many North
Americans to the harsh realities of war. The image
of a young girl running naked through a street, her
skin covered in flames of Napalm, forever changed
the way the public viewed the United States’ war with
Vietnam.
The photograph became famous all over the world,
and later received a Pulitzer Prize. The 9-year-old girl
in the photograph was Kim Phuc.
Phan Thi Kim Phuc grew up in the village of Trang
Bang, just north of Saigon. During the Vietnam War,
Kim’s village found itself in the middle of an important military supply road running between Saigon and
Phnom Penh. In 1972, an American military advisor
instructed the South Vietnamese to drop a Napalm
bomb on Kim’s village to break up this route.
Kim’s family made an attempt to escape from the
shelter in which they had been hiding, but could not
avoid the destructive fire.
“I saw the bombs. I saw the fire. There was a terrible heat,” Kim says in her documentary, Kim’s Story.
“I tore off my burning clothes. But the burning didn’t
stop. People poured water over me from their canteens.
Then I fainted.”
Kim’s two infant cousins did not survive the attack,
and Kim came away with severe burns throughout her
body.
The Napalm chemical is a flammable liquid that
sticks to its victims’ skin as it burns. Kim’s body was
covered in these nearly inextinguishable flames as she
ran through the street screaming in pain.
Associated Press photographer, Nick Ut, was assigned to cover the military strike on Trang Bang and
captured the photograph of Kim.
Seeing her suffering, Ut abandoned his photography to come to young Kim’s aid, rushing her to a South
Vietnamese hospital. Kim would spend the next 14
months recovering in Barksy Hospital, the American
Hospital in Saigon.
Third-degree burns
covered half of her body.
The doctors had little
hope that she would survive, but after two hard
years of surgeries and
therapy, she was able
to return to her home
Left: This 1972 photo
of 9-year-old Kim Phuc
and others fleeing from
a Napalm attack in
their South Vietnamese
village, taken by Nick
Ut, received a Pulitzer
Prize. It is printed here
with permission from
the Associated Press.
4
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
summer conference
village. Kim and her family then began the process of
rebuilding their lives.
The popularity of Kim’s photograph brought her
a lot of unwanted attention in the years following her
recovery. She was subject to significant scrutiny from
the Vietnamese government.
“I just dream one day people all
over the world can live in real
peace--no fighting,
and no hostility.”
—Kim Phuc
something back for all of the help she received when
she needed it most.
“I just dream one day people all over the world can
live in real peace--no fighting, and no hostility,” Kim
said in her 1996 Veterans Day speech.“We should work
together to build peace and happiness for all people in
all nations.”
In 1997, the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named her a
Goodwill Ambassador for Peace. Kim also received the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and the 2004 “Order of
Ontario.”
Kim now resides in the Toronto area of Ontario,
Canada, with her husband and two sons. She continues
to be a strong advocate of peace and forgiveness.
“I was a victim of war. I was a victim of many
things,” Phuc told a CBS News reporter. “I have a victory now because I learned how to forgive.”
—Mason Walter, a native of Lorena, TX, is a journalism
student at Baylor University. Sources: Kim’s Story, The
Road from Vietnam (A documentary from Icarus Films),
CBS News, PBS Online NewsHour, the Kim Foundation
(www.KimFoundation.com).
storytellers
They put Kim through countless interviews and
used her in governmental propaganda videos. She was
considered to be a “symbol of war,” so she was later sent
back to her village in order to be closely supervised.
In 1986, at age 23, Kim left Vietnam to study in
Cuba. However, she soon ran into more physical
problems, including diabetes, which forced her to end
her studies early. While in Cuba, she met a
fellow Vietnamese student, Bui Huy Toan,
6./'**0 )
whom she married in 1992.
SUMMER CONFERENCE
As they returned to Cuba from their
0)35
honeymoon in Moscow, the couple defected
when their plane stopped to refuel in New ./$-*$**+*(/$*(1$-.(/34 --(.+*!0-&(-&(*( foundland. Kim and her husband decided to
make Canada home—with the help of local
KIM PHUC
keynote
Quakers.
In 1996, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
ROB VOYLE
morning leader
Fund gave Kim the opportunity to speak at
the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.
MICHAEL BLAIR
preacher
She shared her experience of the bombing
of her village with thousands of Vietnam
ANGELA YARBER
veterans.
worship leader
Kim used her story of pain to illustrate
STAN DOTSON
the power of forgiveness. “Even if I could
musician
talk face to face with the pilot who dropped
D. E. ADAMS
the bombs,” she told the crowd, “I would
musician
tell him we cannot change history, but we
should try to do good things for the present
and for the future to promote peace.”
During her time in Washington, Kim
met Rob Gibbs, a member of the Board of
Directors for the Memorial Fund. The two
CAMILO MEJIA ADALIA
ROBIN LUNN
JOAO
related to each other their experiences of the
GUTIERREZ-LEE
MATWAWANA
war, and, from this meeting, the idea for the
"'()#-$*43+0/'
Kim Foundation International was born.
3+0*& #0)/.
The Kim Foundation exists to promote
Conference details, travel info & registration at
peace and forgiveness throughout the
222!,%* +-&"+*%$-$*"$ or 704/521-6051
world. Kim sees it as way for her to give
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
Summer
conference
ad
5
stories of peacemakers
Limited Progress in the
Lower Ninth Ward
An Update from Post-Katrina New Orleans
I
n January of this year, I made an extended visit to
New Orleans. The BPFNA Board of Directors made
the decision last October to wind down the active phase
of our work in that city, sensing that the time has come
for more of the work of rebuilding to be done on the
local level.
I went to visit with some of the pastors who,
through our efforts alongside Churches Supporting
Churches, have been partnered with BPFNA congregations. I wanted to get a sense of what has been accomplished and what remains to be done.
Making my first visit in several years to Pastor
Floria Washington’s Healing and Deliverance Temple
in the Upper Ninth Ward, I feared for my rental car as
it banged down roads that have clearly seen no work
since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
By the time I reached the church, I could feel my
rage rising. “Pastor Floria,” I said despairingly as I
stepped from the car, “The neighborhood doesn’t look
any different than it did the first time I visited you
here.” “Oh, baby,” she replied (addressing me with an
affectionate term every female native of New Orleans
uses liberally),“They are coming back. Little by little,
they are coming back.”
Her congregation is a clear example. Having lost
their building in the hurricane, they purchased another
heavily-damaged church building not long after the
storm and have worked ever since to refurbish it. As she
gave me a tour of the building—they have completed
the restoration of about two-thirds of it—she described
a vital ministry taking place within and beyond the
walls.
She then insisted on driving me around so that
I could see what has been rebuilt since the complete
devastation of August 2005.
While Pastor Washington is right that some people
are coming back to the neighborhood, the fact is that the
vast majority of lots here still sit empty, many of them
looking almost exactly as they must have when the
waters receded and revealed the immense destruction
that had been wrought.
When I asked her why she thinks the recovery
has been so slow, she replied sadly but with authority,
“They don’t care about poor people.” When I asked
about who has been a help
to her as she has struggled
to rebuild her church, she
said that Linda Hart-Green,
pastor of Emmanuel Baptist
Church Ridgewood, NJ, is
the only one.
Left: While a few homes have
been rebuilt in the Upper
Ninth Ward, far more lots
are empty or—like this
one—have not even been
cleared. This flattened home
reflects the devastation that
dominates this neighborhood
almost six years after
Hurricane Katrina.
Photo by LeDayne McLeese
Polaski.
6
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
The two pastors met on a BPFNA-sponsored
Friendship Tour to New Orleans in November 2007
and have been partnered ever since.
While most other neighborhoods in the city are
better off than the Upper Ninth, lasting damage is not
hard to find. Pastor Dwight Webster of Christian Unity
Baptist Church gave me a tour of the home into which
he and his wife have only just moved back. Though
“Oh, baby,” Pastor Washington replied
(addressing me with an affectionate term
every female native of New Orleans uses
liberally),“They are coming back. Little
by little, they are coming back.”
instance, has tripled. The church’s annual payment of
$14,000 is due in one lump sum.
Despite the challenges, Pastor Johnson remains upbeat about the lessons he learned in the storm. “When
I think about the churches that have partnered with
us,” he says, “I realize that there are many people who
really love the Lord. When I was able to tell my church
that congregations who had never met them – churches
in Atlanta and Charlotte, and even in Canada—were
sending support to us, it gave people hope. We were
able to see as never before that we were one Church in
many locations.”
Or as the clerk at the rental car agency said when
I explained why I had been coming to the city regularly for several years, “Baby, I just want to say thank
you.”
—LeDayne Polaski is the Program Coordinator for the
BPFNA.
they are deeply grateful to be back in the house and the
city where they raised their four sons, they also feel the
weight of all that remains to be done.
On a personal level, Pastor Webster gave
me a long list of “$2,000 projects” that will
need to be completed to bring the house back
to what it once was. On a larger level, he took
me around the neighborhood, pointing out
the many homes that are not yet repaired,
not yet occupied—each representing a family
that has not yet found the “road home.”
Pastor Webster sighed. “And this was a
solidly middle-class neighborhood. So seeing
how hard it is here, you know how very hard
it is for other communities that were not so
well off.”
When I asked Pastor Sam Johnson, of
the Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church
#2, what had happened in his church and
Photo by Ed Schipul
community over the past five years, he
responded, “Not as much as I would have
New! A BPFNA video production featuring
hoped.”
footage and interviews from post-Katrina
He explained that, while the church had
over 700 members before the storm, they now
New Orleans that highlight the remaining
have 240. He described the multiple challong-term challenges and seeks a deeper
lenges he and his remaining church members
understanding of the injustice issues that
face. Rising housing prices have meant that
most people who lived in the surrounding
make recovery such a struggle. The DVD
community before Katrina have not been
and accompanying study guide challenge
able to return.
viewers to see their hometowns in new
As the congregation tries to minister in
the still-struggling neighborhood, they are
ways. Appropriate viewing for Sunday
working to discern how best to do that, now
school classes, discussion groups and
that the demographics around them have
schools, this compelling video is now
been radically altered. They also face basic loavailable at www.bpfna.org/connections.
gistical issues as many church expenses have
skyrocketed—the cost of flood insurance, for
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
7
A Kairos
Opportunity
for Peace:
Calling for more than “Civility”
B
efore the cry went up from the political world
for “civility,” the Baptist Peace Fellowship of
North America was planning our “Speak…In Love”
campaign.
As published in Baptist Peacemaker Vol. 31 No. 1,
these three pledges offer ways to live, speak, think
and respond to life peacefully. You can make a difference in your world. Choose which pledge you
will make and share it with your family and friends.
You will find the pledges and more details on our
website: bpfna.org.
1. Speak…In Love Covenant
I covenant to use words of nonviolence in all my
communications, deleting words of war, violence
and aggression so as to be a presence for peace in
this world.
2. The Family Covenant of
Nonviolence
3. The Purple Hands and
Words Pledge
“Instead, speaking the truth in
love, we will grow to become in
every respect the mature body
of him who is the head, that is,
Christ.” –Ephesians 4:15
We’re looking for
peace-related worship
materials.
The Beginning of the End
O
n December 1, 2009, US President Barack
Obama called for a surge in American troops
with the intention of marking the beginning of the
end of the war in Afghanistan. He set the date of
July, 2011 to begin drawing down the number of
American troops and the beginning of an end to
America’s combat role in Afghanistan.
There are many forces at work that would
cause us to ignore this “deadline for peace.” However, July, 2011, represents a Kairos Opportunity
for Peace, a potential turning point in the United
States of America’s longest war, which began on
October 7, 2001.
“Unless the people force this issue from the
grass roots, sources in the Pentagon tell me we’re
looking at a token 10,000-12,000 troop withdrawal [in July 2011] with a sketchy timeline—2014 or
even longer—for our continued military presence,” said Matthew Hoh, a former Marine who
resigned his Afghanistan post in protest and
now serves as director of the Afghanistan Study
Group.
The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North
America is calling on our members to pray and
work for peace during the months leading up
to the July deadline. Materials for worship and
action are available on our website: www.bpfna.
org.
If you have litanies, prayers, poems,
sermons, liturgies or other worship
resources that relate to peace issues,
and you’re willing to share them
with other peacemakers, please
contact Johnny Almond
at [email protected]
or 704-521-6051.
8
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
The Human Cost of War
Iraqi Coalition Military Fatalities Since 2003:
USA: 4,439
UK: 179
Other: 139
TOTAL: 4,757
Mark Your
Calendar for This
Year’s
BPFNA Peace
Breakfasts!
Two Opportunities to Join with
Baptist Peacemakers.
June 24, 2011
The BPFNA is planning to host a Peace
Breakfast at the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship’s General Assembly
in Tampa, Florida.
Julie Pennington-Russell,
Lead Pastor at First Baptist Church of
Decatur, GA,
will be our speaker.
Afghanistan Coalition Military Fatalities Since 2001:
USA: 1,479
UK: 357
Other: 501
TOTAL: 2,337
Note: Statistics above are from icasualties.org. The following disclaimer accompanies these figures: “This is not a complete list, nor
can we verify these totals. This is simply a compilation of deaths
reported by news agencies. Actual totals for Iraqi deaths are much
higher than the numbers recorded on this site.”
Iraqi Civilian Death Toll Since 2003:
Estimated total: 99,712 -108,865
Note: Statistics above are from iraqbodycount.org.
Last June, the US war in Afghanistan became the longest
war in US history, passing the 103 months of conflict
in Vietnam. At press time, the US has been at war in
Afghanistan for 113 months.
Note: This information comes from an editorial by Thomas Nagorski
of ABC News International.
—Research contributed by Derek Sommer.
June 26, 2011
The BPFNA will host our regular Peace
Breakfast at the Biennial
meeting of the American Baptist Churches
USA in San Juan, PR.
Paul Hayes, longtime BPFNA member and
the winner of the 2011 Dahlberg Peace
Award, will be our speaker.
Leslie Lee & Steve Gretz, gospel and folk
musicians from western
New York, will provide music to lift spirits
and soothe souls.
When you register for the meetings you
will have the opportunity to sign up for
the peace breakfast.
For more information about both of these
events, go to www.bpfna.org/breakfast.
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
Above: “On a hill in Lafayette, California, our troops are remembered.
Each cross represents a soldier lost in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
On February 28, 2011, we have lost 5,926 loved ones.” Photo and
caption by Wendy Neale, a member of Shell Ridge Baptist Church, a
BPFNA Partner Congregation. The photo above covers only a third of
the crosses. Wendy had to take three photos to include them all.
9
news of peacemakers
T
War, Peace and
Christianity:
The Lessons of 9/11
hinking ahead to the 10th anniversary
of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the
US, Tim Moore suggested to his congregation
that they should take a look at the lessons of
the past ten years. Pastor of Sardis Baptist
Church in Charlotte, NC, Moore decided
to organize a discussion on war, peace and
religion.
Moore wrote in a recent church newsletter that the events of 9/11 changed the way
that Christians in the US talk about those
topics. “Those of us who call ourselves Christian must grapple with this new era and the
implications it has for our discipleship under
Jesus Christ,” he wrote.
“Two generations ago, war was fought
between nations, under recognized leaders
with legitimate armed forces,” he continued.
“The aim of war was to steal, murder and
take your enemy’s land, or to defend your
homeland from being taken. Many look
upon the Allied response to Germany’s aggression in World War II as a war—in spite of
its evils—with moral justification. But 9/11
has changed the playing field.”
Moore asked BPFNA staff, LeDayne
Polaski and Evelyn Hanneman, to help him
put together a four-week series to address
that question. Below is the outline for those
sessions for any who want to have a similar
discussion in their congregation.
at the American Baptist
Churches USA Biennial
San Juan, PR
Evelyn Hanneman, BPFNA Operations Coordinator, will
present a Conflict-Transformation training on June 23
just before the American Baptist Churches USA Biennial
in San Juan, PR. Learn the fundamentals of Conflict
Transformation: your conflict style, what the Bible says
about conflicts and how to handle them, and Deep
Listening–the basis for successful change. Sign up on
the ABC website: www.abc-usa.org/EventRegistration/
Biennial2011. A small fee will be charged to cover
materials and a boxed lunch.
Join us!
We will tell you stories of
other peacemakers, and we will tell your stories
to them. Clip this coupon and send us your
check, and you will become a member of the
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America.
Please print the following information:
Name: _____________________________________________________
1 . Presentation by local reporter who has
been embedded with troops in Iraq
Mailing Address: ______________________________________________
2. Presentation by Evelyn Hanneman
on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Moral Injury, Selective Conscientious
Objection, and the three views of war:
Pacifism, Just Peacemaking and Just
War Theory
City:_______________________________________________________
3. Presentation by LeDayne Polaski on
how we view war and the “other,” and
openness to new ideas
4. Presentation by church member who
served in Iraq and wrap-up by Tim
Moore.
—More resources are available at the BPFNA
website: www.bpfna.org.
10
Conflict-Transformation
Training
in Puerto Rico
__________________________________________________________
State/Province: _______________ Zip/Postal Code: __________________
Country: ____________________________________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________________________
Home Church: _______________________________________________
❑
My membership check is enclosed. $40-Household;
$20-Student/Low Income; $50-Church/Institution
❑
Also enclosed is $ _________ as an additional contribution.
Send your check and this form to: Baptist Peace Fellowship of North
America, 4800 Wedgewood Dr., Charlotte, NC 28210 USA. Visit our
web site at www.bpfna.org/member to join online.
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
news of peacemakers
US Senate Ratifies New
START Treaty with Russia
U
pon taking office in January 2009, US President Barack Obama
identified controlling nuclear weapons as one of his top foreign
policy issues. At that time the United States and Russia were partners
in the START treaty, but it was set to expire at the end of 2009.
Despite significant negotiations over several months, a new treaty
could not be concluded before the old one expired. This meant that,
at the beginning of 2010, neither Russia nor the US was constrained
by treaty to reduce nuclear arsenals, nor to allow the other access to
on-the-ground verification of the other’s nuclear activities.
With a major push from President Obama, negotiations were
completed in the early months of 2010 for a “New START” treaty to
succeed and update the expired one. On April 8, it was signed by the
presidents of both countries.
A treaty does not go into effect, however, until it receives appropriate parliamentary ratification by each party, so the next place
for action was the US Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required to
approve a treaty. After a lengthy debate and numerous statements by
treaty opponents, on December 22, the Senate ratified the New START
by a vote of 71-26, comfortably more than the two-thirds minimum
that was needed.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was an excellent shepherd and defender
of the treaty throughout the lengthy process from signing to ratification. Numerous prominent Republicans—including Sen. Richard
Lugar (R-IN), former US President George H. W. Bush, and former
US Secretary of State Colin Powell—spoke in favor of ratification.
Following the Senate’s action, Russia ratified the new START
treaty in January 2011, and it entered into force on February 5, 2011.
The new treaty commits the two nations–which possess more
than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons–to cut their deployed
strategic nuclear weapons by one-third, with comparable cuts in
the missiles and delivery systems for those weapons. In addition, it
strengthens the nexus of cooperation between the two nations, improves the weapons verification regime that they use with each other
and helps support the aims of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
—Compiled by Bob Tiller, member of the BPFNA Board of Directors from
Silver Spring, MD.
O
Apology and Correction
n page 15 of the most recent issue of Baptist Peacemaker, we
printed a photo of the BPFNA Board of Directors during a
meeting at Woodbine Heights Baptist Church in Toronto, ON.
In our list of board members not present, we inadvertently left
out Bob Tiller of Silver Spring, MD. We send our apologies to
Bob for this omission. As you can see from the story above, Bob
is a valuable and active member of the board.
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
Is your
church a
BPFNA
Partner
Congregation?
The Partner
Congregation
Program
encourages strategic
alliances for mission
between local churches
and the Baptist Peace
Fellowship
of North America.
For more information, contact
LeDayne McLeese Polaski at
[email protected] or
704/521-6051.
Stay connected to BPFNA on Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube! Visit our website
at www.bpfna.org and look for links in
the left sidebar for more information
about our online community.
11
reflection
A Rereading of the Tower of Babel
by Francisco Rodés Gonzáles
L
Text: Genesis 11: 1-9
art courtesy of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches
et us travel in thought to one of the most ancient
cities in the world: Babel, home to a line of colossal
architectural works, among which the Tower of Babel
and the Hanging Gardens of Babylonia are foremost.
They witnessed with pride the technological advancement of the invention of baked clay bricks and of a
mortar that was the predecessor of today’s cement.
Well, this city was founded by a legendary character, like all famous cities. Its origins go back to Nimrod,
the intrepid mythological hunter, who, according to the
New Spanish Bible, was “the first soldier of the world.”
He founded several major cities in his kingdom: Babel,
Erech, Accad and Calneh (Genesis 10: 9).
This fact, together with his character traits, makes
us suspect that what we have before us is the attempt
to found a world empire. As a matter of fact, Babylon
eventually became such an empire.
The story offers other revealing details: “Now the
whole earth had one language and the same words.”
(Gen. 11: 1).
The truth is that, by this time, the world already had
a rather long history. We know how language evolves
as the people who speak it recreate their culture. In a
matter of a few hundred years, new linguistic forms ap-
12
pear, new words, new dialects and even new languages.
Language never ceases to flow.
Thus, the notion that “the whole world had one
language and the same words” seems to represent the
ideal of the nascent empire. Empires need uniformity.
I do not condemn as “confusion” all
that I do not understand in human
beings. I try to understand, to open
myself up to diversity.
To speak “the same words” means to be solidly unified
by the language of a dominant class. Empires have
always made the effort to impose their language and
their culture. The Greeks and Romans were exemplarily
successful.
Thus, if the budding empire already had the
military power of the “first soldier of the world,”
construction technology and cultural uniformity, all it
needed was an architectural masterpiece that would
be a symbol of its power and grandeur. A symbol that
would bind it to divine power.
This could be none other than a skyscraper, following the model of the famous Babylonian temples
(Ziggurats) that were built on staggered platforms.
And here we are already on the way to the divinization
of the empire and of its emperors—the way followed
by all world empires. “Son of God” was the title given
to emperors from the Egyptian Pharaoh to the Roman
Caesar.
The Tower of Babel is a symbol of the arrogance,
the pride and the hegemony of an empire that was trying to bring together all of the threads of domination
and authoritarian power. “One language and the same
words” has always been the imperial ideal.
That is why the intervention of the God of justice
must manifest itself in the most vulnerable place; the
ideology of imposed uniformity must be unswervingly
smashed, thus crippling the project of divinization.
The “confusion of language” has been interpreted
as a divine punishment for human hubris. Nowhere
in the text does it say that it was a punishment. On the
contrary, I believe that this confusion was God’s wise
blessing on cultural diversity.
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
reflection
There is even a humorous element. This is the cul- (“Paco” to those who know him) is the retired pastor of Pritural diversity feared by the imperialists, the authori- mera Iglesia Bautista in Matanzas, Cuba. The first president
tarians, the violent and the fanatics of dogmas—those of the Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba (Fraternity
who believe themselves the owners of absolute truth. of Baptist Churches, founded in 1989), he teaches church
This space of diversity is the opportunity for the history at the Seminario Evangélico de Teologia (Protestant/
gifts and graces to flow with which we humans are Ecumenical Seminary) and is the coordinator of prison minadorned. To be what we are and not what others may istries for the Cuban Council of Churches. This sermon was
impose on us.
first preached in Matanzas, Cuba, in May of 2010.
I would like to end with a personal comment. When
I began to study music—a failed
attempt due to my lack of musical
talent—I was told that the melody
was simply written on a five-line
staff and four spaces on which
rode the musical notes: half notes,
Atlanta, GA—Early this year, leaders of the Alliance of Baptists had
quarter notes, etc.
cause to celebrate the Obama administration’s relaxing of US travel
It seemed simple enough, until
restrictions to Cuba. The policy change, announced in January, coinI saw unfold before my astonished
cided with a delegation from the Alliance to the island nation the same
young eyes the infinite variations,
month. The delegation was organized as part of the Alliance’s 20-yeartones, half-tones and other symbols
old partnership with the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba.
of the language of music that over
“In the Alliance of Baptists we see the announced changes as a
whelmed me. The infinite richness
step in the right direction for US-Cuba relations,” said Paula Clayton
of music is in its variety. The more
Dempsey, the Alliance’s minister for partnership relations. “We look
varied the instrumentation of an
forward to enhanced travel opportunities to Cuba for US citizens and
orchestra, the better its possibilities
we anticipate the day when Congress removes all travel restrictions
of producing melodic beauty.
and opens travel to Cuba for all US citizens.”
I had a similar experience with
The new regulations, which do not require congressional approval,
colors. There are not simply five or
allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba unsix colors, but rather many, many
der a general license. Previously, church-sponsored groups desiring
shades. This made me think that
to travel to Cuba had to apply for a specific license. The change also
God loves diversity, not monotony.
creates a license allowing financial contributions for religious activities
That is why I am amazed each day. I
in Cuba.
do not condemn as “confusion” all
The Alliance, which claims membership of more than 2,000 inthat I do not understand in human
dividual members and 130 affiliate congregations, has 32 local and
beings. I try to understand, to open
global mission partners, including the Fraternity of Baptist Churches
myself up to diversity.
in Cuba. A number of Alliance churches have partnerships with sister
Whenever, unwittingly, I recongregations in Cuba, and members of those churches have frequently
act by rejecting something that “I
traveled there in mission teams.
don’t like,” I wonder if it is not the
Dempsey said she hopes the easing of travel restrictions will enimperialist that lives in me who
courage more churches to get involved. “The Alliance actively encourinsidiously surfaces. On the other
ages relationships between churches in the US and congregations in
hand, let no one think that I accept
Cuba,” she said.
everything without ethical or other
The new travel policies leave in place America’s 50-year-old trade
selection criteria.
embargo against Cuba. It was imposed during the Kennedy administra
On the contrary, I think that I
tion as a means to pressure Cuba’s revolutionary government toward
am able to identify the Christian
democracy and human rights. Critics say the embargo has the opposite
ethic, that which is based on love
effect, because it allows Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro to shift
and respect for our neighbor, the
blame for poverty and suffering in Cuba to the US government.
one that Jesus taught us; the one
At their annual gathering last summer in Pacific Grove, CA, Allithat we so often forget when we
ance members passed a resolution criticizing the embargo’s “destrucjudge others simply because they
tive impact on both countries” and called on President Obama to
are different from us.
“thoroughly review” US policies in Cuba.
—Dr. Francisco Rodés González
—From an Associated Baptist Press story by Bob Allen
Alliance of Baptists Welcomes New US
Travel Policy to Cuba
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
13
Baptists in Haiti
Baptist Efforts in Haiti
A Report from Baptist World Aid
O
n the evening of January 12, 2010, the city of Portau-Prince and its surrounding areas was rocked by
a 7.0 earthquake followed by days of strong aftershocks
of up to 5.9 magnitude. A year after the earthquake, the
figures reveal that 316,000 persons were killed with
another 1.5 million left homeless.
Thousands of homes, schools and hospitals were
destroyed, as well as the UN headquarters in Port-auPrince, the presidential palace and the main prison.
Estimates of damage and losses range between $8 and
$14 billion.1
The airport and harbor were unusable. The infrastructure of the government was gone, with officials
killed and offices and paperwork destroyed.
Our Baptist brothers and sisters in Haiti were not
spared. Reports came of pastors killed and of others
being trapped under rubble.
Baptist World Aid [the relief and development
arm of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA)] responded
by immediately trying to make contact with our two
BWA member bodies, the Baptist Convention of Haiti
(HBC) and the Baptist Haiti Mission (BHM). InterAction, Relief Web and AlertNet were all notified that we
would be working in Haiti and accepting donations for
the relief work.
Networking became an important part of the response. Time was spent working with churches and
individuals who wished to help. Coordination was
done with other Baptist groups making a response.
BWAid also mobilized BWAid Rescue24, our international search and rescue team. After some delay
because of damage to the Port-au-Prince airport, the
seven-member team arrived in Haiti through the Dominican Republic, and began working in the midst of
immense chaos, confusion and the terrible smell of dead
bodies.
The medical staff started providing medical assistance for surviving victims. They saw between 100
and 150 patients daily. Teams rotated, with new medical teams coming in as weeks went by and the need
continued.
Immediate financial assistance was given to the
Baptist Convention of Haiti, the Haiti Baptist Mission
and also the Rescue24 team.
HBC sent an ambulance from Cap-Haitien to
deliver emergency supplies of water, soda, cassava,
bread, peanut butter and first-aid medicines. BWAid
sent $10,000 for this immediate relief.
The HBC also worked
with churches throughout
the country to assist the
people leaving Port-auPrince to find shelter and
safety. Although construction on their hospital in
Cap-Haitien was not com-
Left: A Baptist World Aid
Rescue24 medical team
worked in Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, a few days after the
January 2010 earthquake.
They looked after 100-150
patients in a day in several
locations of the ruined city.
Photo courtesy of BWAid.
14
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
Baptists in Haiti
pleted, they were asked to open it to accommodate
people.
In early March, BWAid hosted a Roundtable at its
Falls Church, VA, headquarters on Haiti. Participants
represented HBC, BHM and representatives of North
American Baptist conventions working in Haiti.
The group listened to Haitian leaders in order
to come up with strategies to respond to the crisis.
Participants followed up the Roundtable with weekly
conference calls.
In late April 2010, BWAid Director Paul Montacute
visited Haiti to see firsthand the situation and to determine what future responses would be made.
During the early days of the disaster, BWAid
came into contact with House of Hope—an orphanage in Gressier, a town slightly to the west of Port-auPrince.
Run mainly by totally dedicated Haitian women,
the orphanage had 170 children and young people.
Some had been there since before the earthquake, but
the numbers had grown following that event.
Many of their buildings had fallen down. Children
were afraid to sleep in the buildings, so they slept in
tents and under tarpaulins. School classes continued
under the tents with little equipment, but with dedicated teachers.
With no running water or electricity, the staff faced
many challenges, BWAid provided funding for food
and has worked with Virginia Baptists on rebuilding
classrooms. Baby chicks were purchased, not only to
provide eggs and meat for the children, but also to create income for the orphanage.
Not only were community schools lost, but the
universities in Port-au-Prince were also nonfunctional.
BWAid received a request from the Université Chrétienne du Nord d’Haiti (a HBC-sponsored school) to
assist with the construction of a women’s dormitory.
The dormitory took in displaced female students who
could not return to classes at Port-au-Prince colleges
and universities.
With the massive number of people injured by the
earthquake, BWAid worked with Supplies OverSeas
(SOS) to provide medical supplies for the Baptist Hospital of the Haitian Baptist Convention in Cap-Haitien.
BWAid paid for the shipping cost.
After many frustrating days, then weeks, of getting
the container cleared at the border, it was eventually
received by the hospital. BWAid also sent designated
donations of $10,000 to both the HBC and the BHM for
medical use.
As the more immediate needs for medical help
and shelter subsided, BWAid turned to longer-term
needs. Regular conference calls with other Baptist relief
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
agencies, especially those from North America, helped
coordination and cooperation.
Working with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,
BWAid funded $30,000 for the construction of family
homes. Each 280-square-foot, permanent house, built
at a cost of $3,500, will accommodate an entire family.
The foundation, walls and floor are built of recycled
materials.
The 12-inch-thick walls are encased in welded
wire gabions that are six feet high and covered with
cement plaster. The superstructure and roof framing
are of lumber, covered with corrugated steel, with two
doors, two windows, a skylight and two small patios,
front and back.
Earthquake- and hurricane-resistant features
include the use of a non-rigid foundation, flexible
wire-enclosed gabion walls and vertical steel re-bar
anchors.2
The HBC is striving to develop a ministry in the
impoverished Delmas 19 area of Port-au-Prince. A piece
of land the HBC received prior to the earthquake will
now be the site of an orphanage, a school, cafeteria and
a chapel/community center. HBC leaders hope the center’s ministry will expand into the wider community.
This $600,000 project is sponsored by the HBC,
BWAid, Hungarian Baptist Aid, Baptist General Association of Virginia and others. Virginia Baptists are
working in the same Delmas 19 community to construct
homes.
BWAid has been able to assist with the infrastructure to enable Baptist relief efforts in Port-au-Prince.
Workers rented a house, and then an apartment, to serve
as a headquarters for work groups and a staging area
for BWAid work in the country. BWAid also contracted
a local Haitian relief specialist to serve as the liaison for
the work.
As if the earthquake were not enough trouble, in
October an epidemic of Cholera broke out. Both the
HBC and BHM hospitals responded immediately.
Each group has also put into action a program to assist
families affected and to work with water and sanitation
issues in the affected areas. BWAid has given a total of
$52,400 for these efforts.
—Special thanks go to Lee Hickman and Paul Montacute of
the Baptist World Aid staff for this information.
Endnotes
1. AlertNet, Haiti Earthquake, Haiti’s Biggest Tremor
in 200 Years; At a glance; www.alertnet.org
2. www.haitihousingnetwork.com: “The Rubble
House”
15
1400
1500
1492- Columbus lands on the
island now known as Haiti
How Haiti Got to
1700
1600
1503- First Africans brought
to Haiti as slaves
1600sHaiti is the
wealthiest
nation in
the Western
Hemisphere
1770- Earthquake
devastates
Port-au-Prince
1801- Slavery
abolished
A Brief Chronology of Key Events
Before 1492: The island—known as Ayiti, Bohio or Kiskeya—is inhabited by the Taino people
1492: Christopher Columbus lands and names the island Hispaniola
1496: Spanish establishment in Western Hemisphere
1697: Spain cedes western part of Hispaniola to France, and this becomes Haiti
1801: Former slave Toussaint Louverture leads rebellion and abolishes slavery
1804: Haiti is independent; Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares himself emperor
1806: Dessalines assassinated; Haiti divided: black-controlled north, mulatto-ruled south
1818-43: Pierre Boyer unifies Haiti but excludes blacks from power
1956: Francois Duvalier seizes power in military coup, is elected president a year later
1964: Duvalier declares himself president-for-life, establishes a dictatorship
1971: Duvalier dies; his son Jean-Claude declares himself president-for-life
1986: Jean-Claude flees Haiti. He is replaced by Lieutenant-General Henri Namphy
1988: Leslie Manigat becomes president but is ousted in a coup
1990: Jean-Bertrand Aristide becomes president but is ousted in a coup a year later
1994: US oversees transition to civilian government; Aristide returns
1995: Rene Preval elected to replace Aristide as president, is sworn in a year later
1999 Preval declares that parliament’s term has expired and begins ruling by decree
2000: Aristide elected president for a second term
2001: Coup attempt: 30 armed men try to seize the National Palace
2004: Uprising against Aristide, who is forced into exile. Interim government takes over.
2006: Rene Preval is elected president. Democratically-elected government takes office.
2008: Unrest erupts as Haitians riot against high food prices
2008: Michele Pierre-Louis succeeds Jacques-Edouard Alexis as prime minister
2009: Jean-Max Bellerive becomes prime minister
16
April-June 2011
1804- Haiti
becomes
independent
1842- Earthquake
destroys
Cap-Haitien &
other cities
1935- Storm
kills 2,000
1946- Tsunami
kills 1,790
Baptist Peacemaker
o Where It Is Today
1800
2000
1900
1950s-Role of
agriculture
in economy
falls sharply.
1954Hurricane
Hazel kills
hundreds.
1963Hurricane
Flora kills
6,000 in Haiti
and Cuba.
Late 1980s- Haiti
is the 27th most
impoverished
nation in the
world. Estimates
say 200 Haitian
millionaires live
lavishly while
75% of Haitians
live in abject
poverty
1998Hurricane
Georges
destroys
80% of
crops
1986- After
Jean-Claude
Duvalier’s
departure,
important
economic reforms
take place;
economy begins
to grow
1970s- As the
nation’s supply
of cheap labor
helps assembly
operations,
manufacturing
becomes the most
active sector. Haiti
begins depending
more heavily on
foreign financial aid.
Tourism expands
rapidly.
1994Hurricane
Gordon kills
hundreds.
Embargo of all
goods entering
Haiti except
humanitarian
supplies.
During
embargo,
employment
fell from 33,000
workers in
1991 to 400 in
1994.
2100
2007Tropical
Storm
Noel
causes
mudslides,
floods
2004Floods kill
2,600
Tropical
Storm
Jeanne
kills 1,900
2000-International donors
suspended
almost all aid
after the elections were
tarnished with
irregularities.
The next year,
the economy
shrank about
1.2 % and an
estimated .9 %
the next year.
2008- Three
hurricanes
and
tropical
storms kill
800 .
US and
World Bank
announce
extra
food aid
totalling
$30 million.
2005Macroeconomic
program,
developed with
help of
International
Monetary Fund,
helped the
economy grow
1.8% in the next
year (highest
growth rate since
1999).
2006- US partially
lifts an embargo
imposed in 1991.
2009- World
Bank and
International
Monetary Fund
cancel 80% of
Haiti’s debts.
2010Earthquake hits
Port-au-Prince,
killing tens of
thousands.
Haiti is the
poorest nation
in the Western
Hemisphere.
US, UK, France,
Germany,
Canada, Japan
& Italy forgive
Haiti of all
debt.
2011-Singer
Michel Martelly
is elected
president in an
April run-off.
Compiled by Audrey Cary. Reprinted from Hunger News & Hope,
Vol 11 No 1, Spring 2010.
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
17
Baptists in Haiti
Edge Outreach:
A Sustainable Solution to the Water Problem in Haiti
by Derek Sommer
Editor’s note: The following story about Edge Outreach
may be of additional interest to Baptist Peacemaker readers because one of its employees, DE (Darrell) Adams, is a
longtime friend of the BPFNA. A music leader for numerous
Summer Conferences over the past 20 years, Adams first
introduced the work of Edge to our network at our 2009
Summer Conference.
E
dge Outreach is a philanthropic organization based
in Louisville, KY, that focuses on empowering
small churches in developing countries to provide their
neighbors with a sustainable source of clean drinking
water. When the earthquake struck in Haiti in January
2010, Edge was one of the first organizations on the
scene, saving lives.
From its beginnings, Edge had mostly been working with impoverished communities in developing
countries, where their technology to cheaply and easily
produce chlorine for sanitizing water was providing a
more sustainable alternative to bottled water. It was
not until the Costa Rica earthquake in 2009 that the
Edge staff realized the potential for their technology
in disaster zones.
“We’d never been in a disaster situation before,”
said Mark Hogg, the executive director of Edge.
“We literally showed up to the epicenter at the barricades, went to the Costa Rican Salvation Army and
Red Cross and said, ‘We’ve got something that would
be helpful. Do you want to see it?’ and they said, ‘Yeah.’
…Within a couple of hours, the head of the Salvation
Army and the Red Cross were weeping openly, saying
‘Whatever it takes, we need you here.’”
“We had a team in Haiti three days after the quake
struck,” said Bob Browning, the field director for Edge
in Haiti. “US Southern Command found out about us
and actually escorted us to the epicenter.”
Within five weeks, 31 Edge volunteers had successfully set up 22 mini-water-treatment plants in Haiti,
each of which is capable of providing water for up to
2,000 people a day.
Edge currently has 29 plants in the Haiti disaster
zone providing water to 30,000 people every day. With
one eye always on sustainability, Edge has also trained
18 Haitians to maintain the treatment plants when the
agency’s representatives have gone, providing clean
water to their respective communities for a long time
to come.
The mini treatment plants that Edge uses are simple
and inexpensive. Using water, a car battery and a handful of salt, these mini treatment plants can produce
chlorine to sanitize water.
As far as comparing their solution with the importing of bottled water, the people at Edge feel there is no
contest.
“Bottled water, you have
to carry it, every drop,” said
Browning. “It’s difficult to
transport, it’s difficult to distribute, it’s very heavy. Why
not instead carry a system that
can be with the people that
the people can operate? That’s
what we do.”
—Derek Sommer, a native of Dallas, TX, is a professional writing
student at Baylor University.
Left: The Edge Disaster Team
in Haiti, carrying a miniwater-treatment plant.
Photo courtesy of Edge
Outreach.
18
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
Baptists in Haiti
African-American Baptists Increase
Haiti Aid to $1 Million
Julius Scruggs, president of the National Baptist
Washington, DC—Five historically African-American Convention,
USA, said the second installment will be
Baptist denominations that collaborated last year for
used
in
Leogane
to fund more than 80 housing solutions,
Haiti relief made a second grant of $500,000 this year
which
includes
materials,
construction, site preparation,
to build homes through Habitat for Humanity Interwater, sanitation, training, community engagement and
national.
Announced on the one-year anniversary of the Haiti access to basic infrastructure such as roads, schools and
quake, the grant increased to $1 million the amount of churches.
“As Christians we are committed to helping our
money raised by the African-American Baptist Mission fellow man,” said Stephen John Thurston, president
Collaboration (AABMC).
Presidents of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mis- of the National Baptist Convention of America. “This
sion Convention; National Baptist Convention, USA; contribution goes a long way in helping those affected
National Baptist Convention of America; National by the earthquake a year ago.”
Missionary Baptist Convention of America; and Progres- —From an Associated Baptist Press story by Bob Allen
sive National Baptist Convention
art by Rebecca S. Ward
decided, shortly after the January
2010 earthquake, to pool resources
of more than 10 million Baptists in
by William F. Cooper
the United States.
Dear God,
Last June, the presidents pre
We look out and see the wide expanse of the plains and then up
sented the first $500,000 check to
Habitat, the largest faith-based
and see that expanse crowned by the heavens, filled with light.
donation Habitat had received for
We look more closely and see creatures walking the earth and others
Haiti relief.
dancing through the clouds.
“Our commitment to help our
And among them, our friends. Some rejoice with one another. But
brothers and sisters in Haiti continsome mourn. Life has come to an end as the body has worn down. For
ues with this contribution,” David
others, life has been cut short, tragically short, and Rachel is weeping
Emmanuel Goatley, coordinator
for her children.
with AABMC and executive sec
As we wail in the midst of our tears, we meet the one you sent, who
retary-treasurer of the Lott Carey
was wounded for our transgressions, yet who comforts us in our sorBaptist Foreign Mission Convenrow and despair. But in our frantic waiting, we think he is the gardener
tion, said in a press release.
or the unfamiliar neighbor. And then he calls us by our name and the
Raised within the first year,
conversation that began in Eden begins again.
the combined $1 million in gifts
Dear God,
represents the first step toward a
You come to us each day, both in our sorrow and in our rejoicing. If
five-year-goal of raising $50 million
we
have
ears to hear, you call us by name, but even so, the conversation
to rebuild lives of Haitians devasbegins
anew
each morning. And we walk down the paths of the stories
tated by the earthquake.
of old, and through them struggle with being children of our parents
“We are just getting started in
and parents of our children, employers and employees, rich or strugearnest with our assistance, and
gling to make ends meet, learners who long for a better grasp of what
this partnership with Habitat for
we confront and teachers who keenly feel the magnitude of our calling.
Humanity is one part of a variety
Through the conversation with those stories, we struggle to be sisters
of investments our network is makand brothers for each other. And undergirding all this is our dwelling
ing in support to churches, clinics,
in the household as heirs of your mercy and grace, Amen.
schools and families,” Goatley
said.
—Bill Cooper, a deacon at Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco, TX, retired
The initial funding supported
some years ago as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Baylor University. However,
the construction of transitional
he continues as a professor of philosophy and a student of life in Waco.
shelters for more than 1,600 people
in Cabaret.
Pastoral Prayer
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
19
reflection
Chiapas
Fuel for Our Journey
A Report from the BPFNA Friendship Tour to Chiapas
E
ight travelers gathered this January in Chiapas, the
southernmost state of Mexico, as part of a Baptist
Peace Fellowship Friendship Tour focused on the
study of Conflict Transformation. The group included
students, several recent seminary graduates, workers
and retirees.
We were black and white and Latino; and when we
gathered with our hosts, American Baptist missionaries
Doris and Ricardo Mayol from Puerto Rico, we represented all four member-countries of the BPFNA.
Based at the Mayan Intercultural Seminary in the
city of San Cristobal de las Casas, we met throughout
our 10-day trip with members of some of the many
indigenous groups that make up a sizable part of the
Mexican population. That diversity allowed us to
explore Conflict Transformation in context in an amazingly rich and multi-layered way.
One of the major events of the trip was a visit to
the village of Maravillas. Though Maravillas is not
geographically far from San Cristobal, the journey took
most of the day because of the miserable state of the
roads.
Complete washouts were frequent and deep potholes routine. Shortly after we passed a sign saying we
were 15 kilometers away, the pavement ended.
Once on the badly-rutted, dirt road, we had to
climb out of the van several times because it could not
simultaneously carry us and move forward. On one of
our walks alongside the van, we took pictures of a large,
rusted federal government sign celebrating the number
of pesos that had been spent on road improvements.
We were greeted upon our arrival with lively music
and a wonderful lunch. After the meal, we gathered at
the small Baptist church to hear stories from local men
who had migrated to find work. Every story began the
same way, “I did not want to leave my family and travel
to the US, but I had to.”
The men who spoke own no land to farm. With
local jobs scarce, they saw the dangerous, illegal trip
to the US as the only option to support their families.
They described the long journey, the dangers of
crossing the border, the difficulty of finding work that
paid well enough to allow them to send money home,
long trips from state to state to attempt to find lasting
employment, and a few harrowing stories of kidnapping
and extortion.
They did not speak,
though I am sure they could,
about what it was like to be
respected leaders in their
home village who became
Left: The BPFNA Chiapas
Friendship Tour group
gathered often at Casa del
Pan in San Cristóbal de las
Casas. Back Row (L to R):
Brandy McMurry, Julie Grace,
Sharad Creasman, Thomas
Price. Front Row (L to R):
Karen Turner, Nancy Joyner,
LeDayne McLeese Polaski and
two students from the Mayan
Intercultural Seminary.
20
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
Chiapas
“illegals” when they crossed the border. The sobering
stories left us all with a greater appreciation of why so
many people feel compelled to attempt this difficult
journey.
The Mayols explained that they find it important to encourage the men to tell the truth about their
At some level, the violence in Acteal
did come down to Protestant people
killing Catholic people. To step into
that space and identify ourselves
as Baptists felt uneasy. It was pure
grace, then, that we were received
with the greatest possible welcome.
experiences. Too often, they said, men who have gone
into debt to finance the trip and sacrificed years away
from their families, are reluctant to say that it wasn’t
worth it. They return home and say instead that it was
“difficult but not too bad”—a falsehood that, while
understandable, perpetuates the continued pressure
for others to make the same trip.
Our day in Maravillas concluded with a rousing
worship service held in three languages—English,
Spanish (a second tongue for most of the congregation),
and a local Mayan language.
The other major event was a
visit to the small village of Acteal—a tiny hamlet best known for
the massacre that took place there
in 1997. On that day, Protestant
paramilitaries murdered 49 members of a Catholic congregation
gathered to pray for peace.
Interreligious conflict is seldom, if ever, as simple as it seems,
and that is certainly true here. The Mexican government actively works to hold onto power by creating
and feeding conflict between indigenous groups. It is
widely known that the government recruited, trained,
armed and protected the paramilitary forces.
And yet, at some level, the violence did come down
to Protestant people killing Catholic people. To step
into that space and identify ourselves as Baptists felt
uneasy. It was pure grace, then, that we were received
with the greatest possible welcome.
Members of the community spent hours sharing
their stories and showing us around the village, including the exact spots where people died and the group
tomb in which their bodies were laid to rest. And then
they said, “Come, have coffee.”
We entered the small communal kitchen where
women were gathered around a fire. And soon the coffee was joined by beans, tortillas and rice. We gathered
around tables and broke bread together.
It was a true moment of Communion. Later, a leader
of the community told us humbly, “People tell us that
they come to Acteal and find fuel for their journeys.”
That image is a fit one for the entire trip. We came
and were fed by people who know in their bones how
to transform even murderous conflict, and, yes, that
fuel will supply our journeys for a very long while.
—LeDayne Polaski is the Program Coordinator for the
BPFNA.
BPFNA Friendship Tour group
member Sharad Creasman was
asked on short notice to preach
for the evening worship service at
Ebenezer Baptist Church in the
village of Maravillas.
The service was held in English,
Spanish, and a local Mayan
language. Photo by
LeDayne McLeese Polaski.
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
21
Chiapas
The Night a Little Darker, the
Morning a Little Brighter
Saying Goodbye to Bishop Ruiz
M
by Doris Mayol García
y daughter, Yeris, when she heard about the death
of Don Samuel Ruiz, said “…too sad…now the
night is a little darker because of his death…. but the
morning will be brighter because of his memory.”
We were not among those close to him, nor did we
know him intimately. Yet, as residents of San Cristóbal
de las Casas, we cried when we heard of Don Samuel’s
death. Yes, we cried.
Many persons have written about his work, and his
pastoral attitude rooted in the preferential option for
the poor; his mediation between the Zapatista Army
for National Liberation (EZLN) and the government
in 1994; his day-to-day commitment to defend human
rights and to those he served; and his persistent voice
on behalf of the rights of indigenous peoples.
Many have also written about the awards he received. In particular, we remember one he received
from the members of the Mayan Indigenous Theology group, the jCanan Lum–for being caretaker of his
people, of earth and nature.
“Revaluing the rights of indigenous people [is] my
real mission,” said Don Samuel. Last year, it was Don
Samuel himself who delivered the jTatic Samuel jCanan
Lum award to individuals and groups who, through
their daily work and community service, defend their
people’s rights and thus become subjects of their own
history.
Living in San Cristóbal for almost six
years now, we got to see the fruits of Don
Samuel’s work. We have shared Bible
studies and food with indigenous deacons
he ordained. We heard the testimonies
of peace work from indigenous
catechists he had taught.
Many might have remembered that Samuel
Ruíz was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Price,
but he wasn’t given the award—
supposedly because, in spite of his
mediation work, he didn’t achieve
peace between the EZLN and the
Editor’s note: Don Samuel Ruiz García, the longtime Bishop of San
Mexican government. Few know
Cristóbal de las Casas in the southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas,
that the Mexican government, the
died in January.
US government and the Vatican
Bishop Ruiz is best known for his role as mediator during the
vetoed his nomination.1
1990s conflict between the Mexican government and Zapatista rebels,
Some might have noted the poand for his work on behalf of the indigenous people of his diocese.
litical harassment he received from
He attended the pivotal Second Vatican Council in Rome in the early
Rome, when he dared to ordain
1960s, and also took part in the second general conference of Latin
permanent married deacons, and
American bishops in Medellin, Colombia—a conference that involved
even hinted at the need to ordained
the founders of Latin American liberation theology. He served the
married indigenous priests. Some
San Cristóbal diocese from 1960 to 2000. Starting in 1970, he ordered
might have written of the murder
translations of the Bible and other religious texts into the indigenous
attempts, of the pressures of San
languages of Chiapas.
Cristóbal elites outraged by his
Bishop Ruiz and his work intersected in a number of ways with
communion and friendship with
BPFNA projects in Chaipas. On pages 22-24 you will find reflections
indigenous peoples, of the Mexican
from Doris Mayol García and Lee McKenna, two BPFNA leaders who
federal authorities’ accusations that
have taken part in this work.
he guarded weapons at the Cathe—Sources: Catholic News Service, New York Times, British BroadcastBroadcastdral, of the accusations that he was
ing Company, notes from a 1996 BPFNA human rights delegation to San
responsible for the deaths and the
Cristóbal de las Casas.
Beloved Bishop of Chiapas Dies
22
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
Chiapas
bloodshed in the state of Chiapas. Many, perhaps, are
delighted by his death.
What can we write? We did not know him closely.
Yet, there were times when we were privileged to share
his presence: in a mass, in a dinner, in human rights’
activities. We were moved, not only by his words, but
especially by his eyes and smile, which were tender,
quiet and serene. We thought we saw in his eyes the
spark of his renowned intelligence and perseverance,
even when we also saw his weariness and fatigue.
Living in San Cristóbal for almost six years now,
we got to see the fruits of Don Samuel’s work. We have
shared Bible studies and food with indigenous deacons
he ordained. We heard the testimonies of peace work
from indigenous catechists he had taught. We were
moved and amazed at the clarity and discernment they
showed in speaking about world and national politics,
economy, poverty and oppression. We were moved
at the resilience of their ancestral wisdom and at the
strong commitment to serve. “We learned from jTatik
Samuel,” they told us.
Why then, did we cry? We cried because
we came to understand his work as a work
rooted in faith, nurtured by a yearning for
peace, a work of love. We cried because we
saw in jTatik Samuel a man who walked in
Jesus’ way, who dared to risk everything.
We cried because we had learned to love
him, through the love of our indigenous and
non-indigenous friends who also follow this
path.
We cried because, even though his work
didn’t reach many Protestants and Evangelicals with his deep understanding of an indigenous, “incarnated” gospel, he spoke clearly
about the powers that strip the life of the indigenous
peoples away. He modeled a way of being Christian,
a way of seeking justice and peace, a way restoring
dignity to those who build the kingdom of God, a way
for dialogue.
We cried because, even when we lose a prophet, we
gained a witness whose memory pushes us to run with
perseverance the race set before us.2 There is always a
way for Hope. There is always a way for Peace.
—Doris Mayol-García is a minister from Puerto Rico and
a missionary for the International Ministries division of
American Baptist Churches, working in theological education
in Chiapas. Her ministry “tries to build peace and construct
solidarity among the Mayan groups of Chiapas.”
Endnotes
1. “Perfil Samuel Ruiz García, (j)Tatik,” El Universal,
Cuidad de México.
2. Hebrews 12:1
Right: Thousands of indigenous
Chiapañecas and Chiapañecos
crowd into and around
the Cathedral in
San Cristóbal de las Casas,
Chiapas, for the funeral
mass of the beloved Bishop
Samuel Ruíz García.
Members of a BPFNA
Friendship Tour were in Chiapas
at the time of the funeral.
[See pages 20-21 for
more about that tour.]
Photo by Karen Turner.
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
23
Chiapas
Blessed are the Trouble-Makers
by Lee McKenna
B
ishop Samuel Ruiz García’s death in Chiapas
this past January leaves a gap of immeasurable
proportions—the passing of a generation, some might
say. Though others of the progressive wing of the Latin
American Conference of Bishops (CELAM), such as
Gustavo Gutiérrez, were better known as the early
articulators and later elaborators of liberation theology
and the preferential option for the poor, Don Samuel
was the beloved pastor of thousands of indigenous
chiapañecas and chiapañecos, Tzotziles, Tzeltales,
Cho’les, and Tojolabales.
Like the 16th-Century namesake of the highland
town, San Cristóbal de las Casas, and heart of the diocese he led for forty years, Don Samuel was a defender
of the indigenous people, whose lives had remained
largely untouched by the revolutionary, redistributory
changes in Mexico in 1911.
He was short, unassuming, not given to regalia;
funny, elfin, impish even. The first time that I met
him, I was part of a small group from SIPAZ (Servicio
internacional para la paz), BPFNA’s then-partners in
Chiapas. We were there to talk to him about our efforts
to bring about reconciliation between Catholics and
Protestants, which would soon boil over in a massacre
in Acteal on Christmas Day of 1997.
He hardly seemed to me to be a dangerous threat to
the well-being of the Catholic Church, whose invitation
to step down he politely, but firmly, declined in 1993. It
was also the first time I met Raúl Vera. Father Vera was
appointed co-adjutor to Monsignor Ruiz by the Vatican
in the months following the 1994 uprising of
the Zapatista Army for National Liberation
(ELZN), and following Don Samuel’s appointment as mediator in the conflict.
It was widely known in the area that Father
Vera was sent to contain and challenge the
influence of the Bishop, who, as Vera tells it
himself, was said to be a communist, a revolutionary, an agitator—way too sympathetic
to the Zapatista cause. The Vatican was also
displeased about his lenience with the mixture of Mayan ingredients into the Catholic
expression among the indigenous people of
his diocese.
He’s not a pastor, Vera was told upon his
appointment, but a troublemaker. As Father Vera began to join the Bishop
in his diocesan peregrinations, he saw a pastor, lover of and loved by, his people, whose
languages he had learned to speak. jTatic,
they called him: “Daddy,” a kind of Tzotzil
term similar to the Aramaic Abba. Soon Vera
slipped out of the role of a monitoring representative and joined his voice to that of the
Right: A banner, hung at the Cathedral in San
Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, expresess
the love of the people for their “Jtatic,” Bishop
Samuel Ruiz García.
Photo by Karen Turner.
24
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
Chiapas
Monsignor, calling for autonomy and the full enjoyment
of human rights of the indigenous peoples.
For his efforts, upon Bishop Ruíz’ retirement in
2000, Don Raúl was dismissed to the northern Chihuahua deserts of Saltillo. The conservative Bishop Felipe
Arizmendi Equivel of Tapachula was appointed as
Bishop in San Cristóbal.
When Don Samuel first came toChiapas in 1959, he
brought with him the staunchly traditional viewpoints
“When we arrived,
the indios walked
stooped, bent over,
required to leave
the footpath and
bow to any criollo
who happened to be
coming towards him
on that path. Now they walk erect on the
same footpaths they share with others.”
—Bishop Samuel Ruiz García
of his Guanajuato birthplace and an inclination to compliance in those years of fierce anticlerical battles waged
by the Mexican federal government. However, he found
himself deeply impacted by the Second Vatican Council
in the early 1960s, giving him a voice to articulate his
own experience.
“When we arrived,” he said to a few of us huddled
in small-group discussion, part of workshops coincident with his retirement in January 2000, “the indios
walked stooped, bent over, required to leave the footpath and bow to any criollo [those of the Spanish upperclass] who happened to be coming towards him on
that path. Now they walk erect on the same footpaths
they share with others.”
But, to the indignation of a highly stratified church,
he went further. He invited them in.
Before the 1960s were out, he was learning the
vocabulary of his parishioners, preaching about the
equal dignity of women and the need to find and
validate local expressions of Christian faith. He was
an enthusiastic participant in the Medellín meeting of
CELAM that issued in liberation theology. He was also
an enthusiastic implementer of its implications for the
church in Chiapas.
Called an izquierdista (a political leftist) and a
socialist, too sympathetic to the strange ideas of his
parishioners, he did not shrink from courting crucifix-
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
ion. In 1989 he founded what is known as FrayBa, the
Fray Bartolomé Centre for Human Rights. The efforts
of these people regularly put them at risk of “disappearance” or death.
In January of 2000, thirty-three thousand of them
showed up for his retirement party, receiving mass in
the cathedral square, served by a hundred priests and
lay people. What an astonishing sight and sound! And
it was repeated January as they said their grief-stricken
farewells to their beloved jTatic.
One of the lectionary readings the same week as
the Bishop’s funeral mass was Matthew’s Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor, the mournful, the meek, the
seekers after justice, the merciful, the pure in heart,
the peacemakers. Ah yes, the peacemakers, those who
are persecuted for the sake of justice. Blessed was this
particular troublemaker. Our Christian family has lost
a prophet, a man of great courage, great love and a true
disciple of Jesus.
—Lee McKenna, a former BPFNA board member, is a trainer
and teacher in nonviolence. Much of her work in places like
Chiapas, Sudan and the Philippines is done on behalf of the
BPFNA. She attends Woodbine Heights Baptist Church in
Toronto, ON (a BPFNA Partner Congregation), and is a
member of the Gathering of Baptists. For more information
about Lee’s work, go to http://sowageit.squarespace.com.
Gifts of Honor
In honor of Tom Burkett
from Mandy Burkett
In honor of Al Harrington
from Robert Grunewald
25
contributors
I
BPFNA’s 2010 Highlights
n the year 2010, the Baptist Peace Fellowship worked on and
accomplished many things, including the following:
• Cosponsored the Truth Commission on Conscience in
War at Riverside Church in NYC, sending Ken Sehested as
our Commissioner
• Attended the press conference and worship service for the
presentation of the final report of the Truth Commission on
Conscience in War in Washington, DC
• Introduced “Fair Family,” a new monthly publication
giving people specific ideas for aligning their personal
lives with their values—specifically designed to be easily
reprinted in church newsletters
• Spoke and preached on conflict transformation and peace
and justice issues in North America
state and national), Atlantic Baptist Fellowship, Canadian
Baptists of Western Canada, Center for Baptist Heritage,
Progressive National Baptist Convention, American Baptist
Churches Ministers’ Council Retreat, annual meetings of
American Baptist Churches in Puerto Rico, Massachusetts,
Vermont/New Hampshire
• Held board meetings in Atlanta, GA; St. Louis, MO; and
Toronto, ON
• Joined with The Gathering of Baptists at their fall meeting
in Toronto, ON, to hear Raul Suárez, Director of the Martin
Luther King Centre for Peace and Justice, Havana, Cuba,
and Pastor Emeritus of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Havana,
Cuba
• Led Conflict-Transformation trainings in Sudan
• Led a training on preventing gun violence across the street
from the National Rifle Association’s National Convention
in Charlotte, NC
• Sent Ken Sehested to Thailand to participate in the ongoing peace negotiations between Naga factions
• Supported just-immigration efforts, with a special focus
on Arizona
• Cosponsored several events on the issue of Israel-Palestine
and peace in the Middle East
• Planned a January 2011 Friendship Tour to Chiapas,
Mexico
• Completed our fifth year of work alongside New Orleans, LA, churches, rebuilding their neighborhoods and
their city
• Organized our annual summer conference at Keuka College in New York State, providing peace programming/
training for over 350 people with the theme, “Light to Live
In”
• Continued our informal networking activities, connecting
churches and individuals with similar interests, helping
churches find pastors and pastors find churches and providing a listening ear for ministers and laity
• Provided peace and justice resources to individuals and
churches on request
• Continued publishing our award-winning quarterly
journal, Baptist Peacemaker
• Hosted an event to introduce seminarians in the Atlanta,
GA, area to the BPFNA
• Visited Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg,
VA, to begin preparations for the 2011 summer conference
to be held July 4-9, 2011
• Completed a DVD, Connections – Storms of Injustice: From
Hurricane Katrina to Your World, to focus on continuing justice
issues in New Orleans and the way that those same issues
are reflected throughout North America
• Continued to publish Model Ministries—a monthly resource for churches
• Continued our work to expand our resource, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, with the Alliance of Baptists and the
Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists
—Compiled by Evelyn Hanneman, the BPFNA Operations
Coordinator
• Created our own BPFNA-specific Conflict-Transformation
curriculum
BPFNA Financial Report
• Led a Conflict-Transformation Training at North Shore
Baptist Church in Chicago
• Provided vouchers for seminarians to attend our annual
summer conference
• Attended trainings to keep ourselves “up to date”: Creating a Culture of Peace, The Church and Domestic Violence,
Bridges out of Poverty, Class Matters
• Attended a wide variety of denominational events to witness to Peace Rooted in Justice: Alliance of Baptists (both
regional and national), Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (both
26
January–December 2010
INCOME
Contributions
Programs TOTAL 270,985.07
165,246.53
436,231.60
EXPENSES
Administration Programs TOTAL 82,366.70
329,466.76
411,833.46
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
contributors
T
• Angielene Agliam, Seattle, WA
• Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Dallas,
TX • Joe & Susan Aldrich, Charlotte, NC • Eugene & Ellen Allen,
Shakopee, MN • Terry Allen,
Lawrenceville, GA • Johnny Almond, Mount Gilead, NC • John
& Joy Witek Amick, Noblesville,
IN • Jackie & Nancy Ammerman,
West Roxbury, MA • John & Barbara Anderson, St Paul, MN •
Douglas Archer, South Bend, IN
• William & Margaret Arnold,
Lawrence, KS • Lemuel Arnold,
Atlanta, GA • Joy Arnold, Midway, KY • Vicky & Chris Ayers,
Charlotte, NC • Patricia & Robert
Ayres, Austin, TX • Marian Bacon, Memphis, TN • April Baker,
Deborah, Lynn Nashville, TN •
Roger & Laura Balcom, Kenmore,
WA • Glenn & Carol Ballard,
Chandler, IN • Anita J Bare, Garner, NC • Anne Barker, Fort
Worth, TX • Ann & David Barkley, Wilmington, NC • William
Barr, St Davids, PA • Joanna Barr, Norristown, PA • Glenn &
Sylvia Barrett, Staunton, VA • David & Carol Bartlett, Decatur,
GA • Jean Bartlett, Pittsford, NY • Barbara Basile & Felix Lopez,
Chicago, IL • Ann Baskin, Rome, GA • Gene & Joyce Bass, San
Leandro, CA • Lori & Mark Bateman-Brand, Homewood, AL
• Timothy & Deborah Bates, Noank, CT • Mildred Bauer,
Attleboro, MA • Virginia Lohmann Bauman, Gery Bauman,
Granville, OH • Raymond & June Beaver, Penney Farms, FL
• Wayne & Kathy Beckwith, Dayton, OR • Donald Beech,
Rochester, NY • Robert Beer, Mansfield, OH • Alice Bejnar,
Tallahassee, FL • Gloria & William Belli, Audubon, PA • Dan
& Edith Benedict, Newark, NY • Ruth & Gordon Bennett,
Coatsville, PA • Marjorie Bennett, Burlington, NC • Elna Jean
Bentley, Birmingham, AL • Marian Berky, Anderson, IN •
Jennie & Richard Betton, Greensboro, NC • Judy & Dan Biber,
Charlotte, NC • Bill & Annette Bickers, Memphis, TN • David
& Dorothy Blackburn, Athens, AL • Thomas Bland, Raleigh,
NC • Milly Bloomquist, Keuka Park, NY • John Blythe, Lawrence, KS • Esther Borden, Roseville, MN • Wesley & Margaret Bourdette, Cheektowaga, NY • Janice Bourne, Geneva, NY
• Richard & Helen Bowser, Durham, NC • David Pat Boyle,
Lafayette, GA • Ralph & Diane Bradley, San Leandro, CA •
Virginia Bradley, Providence, RI • Martha & John Bradshaw,
North Stonington, CT • James & Florence Braker, Rochester,
NY • Bill & Wanda Brammer, Turtle Creek, PA • Jeffrey &
Margaret Bray, Airmont, NY • Cathy Brechtelsbauer, Sioux
Falls, SD • Mike & Everly Broadway, Salado, TX • Naomi
Broadway, Austin, TX • Terry & Gail Brooks, Mint Hill, NC •
John David Broome, Williamsburg, KY • Doug & Mary Brown,
Lincoln, CA • Robert Brown, Columbus, OH • Elizabeth
Brown, Ithaca, NY • Robert & Loven Bruhn, Cary, NC • Edna
Bryan, Winston Salem, NC • Tom & Martha Bryson, Charlotte,
NC • George & Mary Lou Buck, Charlotte, NC • Roger &
Carol Bullard, Durham, NC • Nancy & Larry Bumgardner,
Durham, NC • Oscar Burdick, Walnut Creek, CA • Carol
Burgess, Decatur, GA • Tom & Patti Burkett, Granville, OH •
he board and staff of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
thank the following individuals, local congregations and other organizations that provided financial support in 2010. And a special thanks goes to
all who provided new or increased giving that helped us meet our $50,000
Challenge Grant!
The majority of our income comes from individuals and congregations.
The remainder comes from other sources, including sale of resources. Our
financial records are audited annually.
The BPFNA is a people-based organization with minimal support from
institutions and denominations. We operate with the commitment of people
who believe our vision is important. We feel blessed to have the opportunity
to do this vital work of establishing peace with justice—and of working
alongside people like you.
If your name is not listed below and it should be, please notify us 704-5216051 or at [email protected]. We will correct our records and note the omission
in the next issue of Baptist Peacemaker.
Individuals in Canada
Anthony Armstrong, Nepean, ON • Robert Barber, Winnipeg, MB • Rick Bolhuis, Kitchener, ON • Karin Brothers,
Toronto, ON • Carol Buckley, Port Williams, NS • Merle & Gary
Caldwell, Lynden, ON • Roger & Sadie Cann, New Minas, NS
• Jim & Nancy Carroll, Simcoe, ON • Keith & Joan Churchill,
Wolfville, NS • Jan Constantinescu, Vancouver, BC • Ted &
Shirley Copeland, Paris, ON • Lucia Crosson, Vancouver, BC
• John & Evelyn Dickinson, Digby, NS • Robert & Judith Doll,
Burnaby, BC • Patricia Dutcher-Walls, New Westminster, BC •
John & Sherryl Fuchs, Newmarket, ON • John & Judith Furry,
Woodstock, ON • Ron & Barbara Getz, Campbellcroft, ON •
Blake Gilks, Vancouver, BC • Elizabeth Greksa, Vancouver,
BC • Sandy & Kirby Hanawalt, Langley, BC • Karen Hilliker,
London, ON • Ray & Heather Hobbs, Hamilton, ON • Judy &
Bob Hoover, Simcoe, ON • Donna Langley Jeffrey, Wolfville, NS
• Mary Kendall & Dennis Probst, Coquitlam, BC • Rev & Mrs
Gordon Kurtz, Goderich, ON • Ken & Marina Lloyd, Burlington, ON • Martin Malina, Pembroke, ON • Joao Matwawana,
Lower Sackville, NS • Duncan & Isobel McGregor, Ottowa, ON
• Lee McKenna, Toronto, ON • Cassandra McKenna, Toronto,
ON • bob & MJ paterson-watt, Toronto, ON • Vern Ratzlaff,
Saskatoon, SK • Frederick Rupert, Winnipeg, MB • Irene Shore,
Victoria, BC • Esther Sleep, Burlington, ON • Joyce Sutherland,
Toronto, ON • Dorothy Thomson, Halifax, NS • Karen Turner
& Heather Steeves, Toronto, ON • Wallace Wahl, Edmonton,
AB • George & Prue Watts, Peterborough, ON • Bertha Wieler,
St Catharines, ON • Debbie Woods, Aylmer, ON • Mary Jane
Yates, Edmonton, AB
Individuals in Puerto Rico
Carlos Gomez Menendez, Guaynabo, PR • Miriam Gutierrez,
Guaynabo, PR
Individuals in the US
Norman & Jean Abell, Penney Farms, FL • Larry & Rebecca
Adams, Alton, NH • Cindy Adcock, Pat McCoy, Charlotte, NC
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
27
contributors
John Burns, Karen, Krueger Hyattsville, MD • Joe, Burton
Raleigh, NC • John & Eleanor Butler, Lexington, MA • Nancy
Butler, Farmington, CT • Daniel & Sharon Buttry, Hamtramck,
MI • Nancy Byard, Raleigh, NC • Nancy & Karl Byleen, Hales
Corners, WI • Dr & Mrs Robert Byrd, Nashville, TN • Esther
& Sydney Roy Cable, Rochester, NY • Eric M Cain, Atlanta,
GA • Robin Campbell, San Marino, CA • Kerry Campbell,
Shawnee, KS • Kate Campbell, Nashville, TN • Tony & Peggy
Campolo, Bryn Mawr, PA • G William & Cathy Carlson, St
Paul, MN • Lee & Carolyn Carlson, Lawrence, KS • Bob &
Lucile Carman, Golden Valley, MN • John Carman, South
Portland, ME • Peter JB Carman & Lynn Carman-Bodden,
Durham, NC • Marty Carney, Sheboygan Falls, WI • Alan &
Polly Carroll, Oberlin, OH • Andrea Carver, Albany, NY •
Dorothy Case, Clinton, WI • Ruth Case, Dubuque, IA • Donald Cassidy, Vanceburg, KY • Jan & Myron Chartier, Davidson,
NC • Kerry Cheesman, Columbus, OH • Katherine Cheves,
Williamsburg, VA • Jose & Laura Chipe, Louisville, KY •
Harold Christensen, Sioux Falls, SD • Michael Christensen,
Sioux Falls, SD • Wallace Christensen, La Verne, CA • William
Claflin, Atchison, KS • Jan Clark & Janice Pope, Pittsboro, NC
• Bill & Elizabeth Cline, Audubon, PA • Eva & Joe Clontz,
Chapel Hill, NC • Lindsay Comstock, Fayetteville, NC • Laurie Cone, Raleigh, NC • Elizabeth Congdon, East Windsor, NJ
• Thomas Conner, Nashville, TN • Austin & Betty Connors,
Raleigh, NC • Harold & Rachel Cooper, Mt Laurel, NJ • Kaye
& Carlton Cooper, Marshall, VA • William & Thelma Cooper,
Waco, TX • Sandra Cope, Waukesha, WI • Don Coursen,
Philadelphia, PA • Thomas & MaryJane Coursen, Fort Wayne,
IN • Carolyn Covington, Palmer, AK • Ruth Cramer & Kennett
Square, PA • Susan Cranfield, Dearborn, MI • William & Jill
Crawford, Rehoboth, MA • Garland & Joan Criswell, Peoria,
IL • Roger & Mary Ruth Crook, Cary, NC • C Burtis & Patricia
Crooks, Uncasville, CT • Adney E Cross III, Chattanooga, TN
• Doug Cruger, Old Orchard Beach, ME • Kenny & Shirley
Crump, Ruston, LA • Sarah Greenfield Culp, Rochester, NY •
Dorothy Cunningham, Chesterfield, MO • S Jay & Maralyn
Curry, Grand Rapids, MI • Lois D’Arcangelo, Shelburne, VT
• Lois & Keith Dahlberg, Kellogg, ID • George & Elizabeth
Daniels, Oro Valley, AZ • Waka Dannenhauer, Shutesbury, MA
• Robert & Dorothy Davidson, Bordentown, NJ • Dwight &
Kari Davidson, Wilmington, OH • Stephen & Arlene Davie,
Argyle, NY • Janet Davies, Cranston, RI • Lois Davis, Rochester, NY • Andrew & Beverly Davison, Madison, WI • James
& Edith Davison, Madison, WI • Sara Day & Bob Baer, New
York, NY • Bette Day, Muskego, WI • Carol Day, Mystic, CT
• Judson Day, Sacramento, CA • Jennie de Flaviis, Latham, NY
• Stanley & Alice Jo De Fries, Lawrence, KS • Bruce & Nancy
Dean, Spencerport, NY • Phyllis Deer, Schenectady, NY •
Douglas & Susan Deer, Cooperstown, NY • Paul & Paula
Dempsey, Mars Hill, NC • Erin Dennis, Durham, NC • James
Denny, McCook, NE • Joe DeRoulhac Jr, Redlands, CA • John
& Sandra Detwyler, Schenectady, NY • Gene & Bea Dewey,
Madison, WI • J M & Dick, Remsen, NY • Doris Dickerson,
Lititz, PA • Denise Dinkins, Jacksonville, NC • Dan & Nancy
Dobbelaer, Newark, OH • Patricia Dodge, Hartford, CT •
Sally & Kenneth Dodgson, East Rochester, NY • Nancy & Ed
Donahoe, Davenport, IA • Beverly Donald, Denver, CO • Doug
& Kim Donley, Mounds View, MN • Susie L Dorsey, Williamsburg, VA • Virginia Douglas, Elyria, OH • E Scott Dow, Augusta, ME • Kenneth Downes, Shelburne Falls, MA • Miles &
28
Muriel Dresser, Lincoln City, OR • Cheryl Dudley, New York,
NY • James & Luciata Duke, McMinnville, OR • Richard &
Nancy Dutton, Wilmot Flat, NH • Wayne & Ingrid Dvirnak,
Elizabeth, CO • C J & Wilma Dyck, Normal, IL • Elsie Eads,
Raleigh, NC • Dale & Alice Edmondson, San Leandro, CA •
Hal & Marty Edwards, Wake Forest, NC • Millard Eiland &
David Taylor, Houston, TX • Carol Eklund & Kay Wellington,
Concord, CA • Jack & Joellyn Ellis, Saint Clair Shores, MI •
Nancy Emmert, Madison, WI • J Rex & Nancy Enoch, Little
Rock, AR • Heather Entrekin & Peter Stover, Leawood, KS •
Telfer & Carol Epp, Aliso Viejo, CA • Paul & Sybil Eppinger,
Phoenix, AZ • Jack & Claudia Esslinger, Gambier, OH • Victor
& Collene Eyth, Mentor, OH • Katherine Fagerburg &Vernon
Baker, New Britain, CT • Jean Anne & Joe Feiler, Chicago, IL
• Diana Ferguson, San Jose, CA • Olga Ferguson, San Jose, CA
• Tom Fewel, Chapel Hill, NC • Lowell & Julie Fewster, Windsor, CT • Josephine Fidler, Huntington, WV • Sue Fitzgerald,
Mars Hill, NC • David & Amabelle Follett, Norristown, PA •
Marge Forth, Rochester, NY • Rev. Roger H. Francis, St Petersburg, FL • David Frey & Maureen Goodard, South Bend, IA •
Marvin & Betty Friesen, Lake Oswego, OR • Katy FriggleNorton & Douglas Norton, Havertown, PA • Debbie Fuller,
Austin, TX • Samuel Fuller, Suffield, CT • Horace Gale, Lansdale, PA • Martha Gale & Bob Carpenter, Manchester Center,
VT • Rhonda Gallway-Hue, Seattle, WA • J R & Lois Gambill,
West Des Moines, IA • Connie Gates, Carrboro, NC • Paul
Gehris, Shermans Dale, PA • Kevin & Lorraine Genich, Milwaukee, WI • Jerry Gentry & Tina Pippin, Atlanta, GA • Kenneth George, Mont Clare, PA • William & Marjorie George,
Easley, SC • Peg George, Doylestown, PA • James Gibbel, Lititz,
PA • Ed & Lois Gibbon, Raleigh, NC • Warner & Judith Gibbs,
Penn Yan, NY • Diana Gibson & David Mineau, Menlo Park,
CA • Rachel & Everett Gill, Weaverville, NC • Dr Roger Gillerstrom, Sacramento, CA • Pat Gillis, Statesboro, GA • Clifford
& Rosemary Gilson, Penney Farms, FL • Tom & Judith Ginn,
Winston Salem, NC • Tracy & Marjorie Gipson, Battle Ground,
WA • Vivian Girsch, Kansas City, KS • Robert & Patricia Goetz,
Pittsboro, NC • Hal Gold, Oak Park Heights, MN • Rick Goodman & Carol Blythe, Silver Spring, MD • Mickey Goodson,
Decatur, GA • Gerri Gradowski, Arlington, VA • Don & Mary
Granholm, Mountain View, CA • Jane Grant, Rochester, NY •
Caspar Green, Glens Falls, NY • Larry Greenfield, Chicago, IL
• Richard E Gregory, Roseville, MN • John & Sylvia Grisham,
Chatham, IL • Fred & Margaret Grissom, Youngsville, NC •
Leticia Guardiola, Seattle, WA • Meredith Guest, Petaluma,
CA • Adalia Gutierrez-Lee & Ray Schellinger, Wayne, PA •
Charles Haines, Warwick, RI • Glenn & Ruth Haitsma, Waukesha, WI • Van Beck Hall, Pittsburgh, PA • Gwen & Bernie Hall,
Asheboro, NC • Irving Wesley Hall, Oxford, NY • Jon & Cynthia Hallas, Northbrook, IL • William Hamilton & Charlene
Hooker, Fredricksburg, TX • Donald Hamm, Chapel Hill, NC
• Linda Hammar, Fort Dodge, IA • Stephen & Mary Hammond, Oberlin, OH • Richard & Betty Hammonds, Avondale
Estates, GA • Michelle Hammons, Concord, CA • Paul &
Evelyn Hanneman, Charlotte, NC • Paul & Linda Rae Hardwick, Walnut Creek, CA • Harold & Lois Harmon, Manchester,
CT • Gordon & Roxana Harper, Seattle, WA • Albert & Harriett Harrington, Pullman, WA • Melinda Harrington, Fort
Worth, TX • B B Harris, Jamestown, NC • Carl & Lucille Harris, Winston Salem, NC • Anne & Richard Harris, King of
Prussia, PA • Sharon Harris-Ewing, Clarence Center, NY •
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
contributors
Bettie & Stan Hastey, Alexandria, VA • John & Helen Hastings,
Austin, TX • H William & Susan Hausler, Madison, WI •
Doris Hayes, St. Johns, FL • Paul & Wendy Hayes, Groton, CT
• Scott Heald, Davis, CA • Laurie Hearn & Stephen Hall, Indianapolis, IN • James & Patty Henderlite, Charlotte, NC •
Donald & Bernice Henderschedt, East Stroudsburg, PA • David
Hendon, Waco, TX • Peggy Hendrix, Decatur, GA • Lydia C
Hews, Stoneham, MA • Kathleen Hexter, Canterbury, CT • W
L & Hilda Highfill, Raleigh, NC • Dennis & Diane Hill, Durham, NC • Glenn R Hill, Denver, CO • Allen & Gail Hinand,
Key West, FL • James E Hinds, Gardner, MA • Hrang Hlei, St
Paul, MN • Clara Hodges, Bozeman, MT • Harold & Bea Hoffman, Decatur, GA • Marge & Charles Hoffman, Wickliffe, OH
• Neva Hoffmeier, Webster, NY • Anne Hoflen, Paw Paw, IL
• Robert & Mary Hogan, Pleasant Hill, CA • Rebecca Holder,
Hammondsport, NY • David Hollar, White Plains, MD • Edith
Holleman, Silver Spring, MD • Dorothy & John Holley, Raleigh,
NC • Donald & Loretta Holmen, Waunakee, WI • Dale B
Holmes Jr, Gainesville, GA • Jean & Bill Holt, Cape Elizabeth,
ME • Carol Holtz-Martin & Dana Martin, Macedon, NY • Chris
& Katherine Brennan, Homiak, Kansas City MO • Beth Honeycutt & Brian Graves, Mars Hill, NC • Carolyn Hood, Franklin, IN • Jean Hopkins, Burlington, VT • Nancy Horan, Albany, NY • William & Lois Horsman, Wyocena, WI • Dorothy
Howland Pultneyville, NY • Evelyn Huber, Wichita, KS •
Richard Huber, Lafayette, NJ • Shirley M Hubert, Holly
Springs, NC • Bud & Sara Hudson, Hartford, WI • Robert &
Kathleen Hughes, Akron, OH • David & Tonia Hunt, Milwaukie, OR • Elva & Horace Hunt, Black Mountain, NC •
David Hunter, Arlington, VA • Lynn & Marilyn Hunwick, Palo
Alto, CA • Richard Ice, Alameda, CA • Masanori & Seiko Igarashi, Memphis, TN • Steven & Karen Ivy, Indianapolis, IN •
David & Beth Jackson Jordan, Huntersville, NC • Steve &
Marion Jacobsen, Lewisburg, PA • Lloyd James, Audubon, PA
• James Ella James, Oakland, CA • Mary Jansen, Akron, OH
• Chuck & Sandi John, Chico, CA • Dorothy Johnson, Sioux
Falls, SD • Walter & Harriet Johnson, Minneapolis, MN •
Randy & Carla Johnson, St Cloud, MN • Michele Johnson, San
Antonio, TX • Lucas Johnson, Atlanta, GA • Howard Johnson,
Minneapolis, MN • Roy & Carole Johnson, Pullman, WA •
Tont & Martha Johnson, Clayton, NC • Charles Foster Johnson,
Fort Worth, TX • Ellen Jones, Manchester, CT • Peggy Jones
Nowling, Rochester, NY • Monty & Diane Jordan, Brentwood,
TN • Bennett & Donna Joseph, Bath, NY • Chester & Margaret
Jump, Lewisburg, PA • Krista Jung, Zephyrhills, FL • Brooke
Justis, St Louis, MO • Toni Kasko, Baltimore, MD • John &
Arleen Keele, Columbus, IN • Sheldon Keller, Westwood, MA
• Kyle & Charlene Kelley, Shreveport, LA • Sarah Kelley,
Shreveport, LA • Sandra & Patrick Kelly, North Scituate, RI •
Lloyd & Betty Kenyon, Dingmans Ferry, PA • Verna Kershaw,
Danville, CA • Thomas Kessler, Cedar Falls, IA • James Ketcham & Jan Curtis, Elmira, NY • Luann Ketcham, Wolfboro,
NH • John Khanlian, Moorestown, NJ • Wendy Kiefer-O’Brien,
Wrentham, MA • Beth & Gordon Kieft, Denver CO • Charles
& Patricia Kiker, Tulia, TX • William Kirkman & Linda Pille,
Warrenville, IL • Rebecca & Scott Kirkwood, Tustin, CA •
Walker Knight, Decatur, GA • Dean & Lucille Knudsen, West
Lafayette, IN • Jenny Knust, Brookline, MA • Thor & Faye
Kommedahl, St Paul, MN • Charles Krajewski, New London,
NH • Paul & Phyllis Kuestner, Oberlin, OH • Ruth Kulkarni,
Mount Airy, MD • Ruth & Robert Lacker, Niles, MI • Carole
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
Lake, Austin, TX • Steve & Rachelle LaMaster, Cambridge, MA
• Darrell Lance, Rochester, NY • Jean Lane, Portland, OR •
John Laney & Joan Yarborough, Asheville, NC • Tony Langbehn, Bowie, MD • Fran Langstaff, Durham, NC • Jim LaRue,
Shaker Heights, OH • Paul LaRue, Salem, OR • Clarence Lassetter, Covington, KY • Margie Latham, Katy, TX • Grace T &
Lawrence Shirk, Smoketown, PA • John & Jane Layman,
Blacksburg, VA • James Ledbetter, Lake Oswego, OR • Greg
& Jan Ledbetter, Walnut Creek, CA • Melvin Leidig, Canton,
OH • Joe & Ginny Leonard Jr, Wayne, PA • Michael & Pat Levi,
Swannanoa, NC • Gayle Foster Lewis, Burnsville, MN • Marsha & Paul Lewis, Macon, GA • Gwenyth Lewis, Frazier, PA
• Maddie Lewis, Noank, CT • Anne Lewis, Clarks Summit,
PA • Larry Lindley, New Palestine, IN • Diana Litterick, Cranston, RI • Tom & Gail Litwiler, Allison Park, PA • Aase
Loescher, Bloomington, IN • Gladys Collyer Lomas, Lakeland,
FL • Karen Long, Carrboro, NC • Joseph & Lucy Loomis,
Pennsylvania Furnace, PA • Beverly Joan Loomis, Waddington,
NY • Claire E Loughhead, Peabody, MA • Andy Loving &
Susan Taylor, Louisville, KY • Vernon & Sylvia Lowell, Mt
Horeb, WI • Rev Patricia Marie Ludwig, Lockport, NY •
Dwight Lundgren, King of Prussia, PA • Mike & Jan Lundy,
Kerrville, TX • Robin Lunn, Milford, NH • Dr & Mrs Anthony
Malone, Latham, NY • Peggy Malone, LaGrange, OH • Evelyn
Manierre, Worcester, MA • Paul Manierre, Avon Park, FL •
Myron Mann, Van Nuys, CA • Dave & Joy Martin, Granville,
OH • Richard & Macie Martin, Franklin, IN • Dr Phyllis Martin, McMinnville, OR • Mary L Martin, McMinnville, OR • Bill
& Linda Mashburn, Brevard, NC • Marie Mason, Raleigh, NC
• Moses & Sadie Mast, Spencer, OK • Carolyn Mathis, Greenville, SC • Rodolfo Mayol, Evanston, IL • Jenna & Robert
McCarley, Ames, IA • Edwin & Elizabeth McClain, Glendale,
AZ • David McCurdy, Elmhurst, IL • Jim & Marsha McDaniel,
Indianapolis, IN • Elizabeth McDonald, Roscommon, MI •
Henry & Barbara McLane, Williamsburg, VA • Ike & Sue
McLeese, Columbia, SC • Gene & Beth McLeod, Wake Forest,
NC • Walter & Melissa McWhorter, Louisville, KY • Michael
McWilliams, Dallas, TX • John McWilliams, Frederick, MD •
William & Mary Frances Menzies, Charlotte, NC • Lydia Mercado, Springfield, VA • Douglas & Susanne Merchant, Cazenovia, NY • James Merlin, Wenatchee, WA • Albert Meyer,
Goshen, IN • Virginia Miller, Millville, MN • James C Miller,
Bristol, RI • Therese Miller, Lewisburg, PA • Rick & Sandy
Mitchell, Concord, CA • Peter & Joan Mitchell, Rochester, NY
• Henry Mitchell, Atlanta, GA • David Moberg, Milwaukee,
WI • Peter & Eleanor Mockridge, Brevard, NC • Paul & Judith
Montacute, Falls Church, VA • Claudia Moore, Springfield, VA
• Jean Moore, Owensboro, KY • Harry & Dorothy Moore,
Lansdale, PA • Nancy G Moore, Madison, WI • Grace Morgan,
Wauwatosa, WI • Karen Morrison, Ft Worth, TX • Susan &
Jim Moss, Youngsville, NC • Sarah Mouwen, Brentwood, CA
• Franklin & Marjorie Murdock, Mystic, CT • Richard Murphy,
Miami, FL • Dick & Beth Myers, Scottsville, NY • Ellen Myers,
Muskegon, MI • Sarah Myers, & Scott Semple, Boulder, CO •
Paul Nagano, Alhambra, CA • Althea Nelson, Niskayuna, NY
• Virgil & Lynn Nelson, Ventura, CA • Ronald & Marilyn
Newsom, Fisher, IN • Sylvia Niedner, Columbus, OH • Virginia Nielsen, Shoreline, WA • Alvaro Nieves, Warrenville, IL
• Sharon Nothnagle, Tamworth, NH • Leon & Rosemary OaksLee, Fayetteville, NY • Marianne & Robert Oberg, Charlotte,
NC • Eric Ohlmann, Geneva, IL • James Oliver, Seal Beach,
29
contributors
CA • Virgil Olson, Cambridge, MN • Mark & Joan Lea Toms
Olson, Fredericksburg, VA • Richard & Mary Ann Olson,
Overland Park, KS • Jim Orr, Knoxville, TN • Norman & Jeanne
Overly, Bloomington, IN • Tony Pappas, Groton, MA • Calvin
Parker, Mars Hill, NC • John Parrish, Swannanoa, NC • Mary
Passage, Corning, NY • Douglas Passage, Horsehead, NY •
Frances Pedersen, Warwick, RI • Phil & Elaine Pennington,
Ooltewah, TN • William Perkett, Rochester, NY • Kenneth &
Genevieve Peterson, Delaware, OH • Phyllis Petri, New Berlin,
WI • Clair & Philip Peyton, Warrenton, VA • Joe Phillips, Williamsburg, VA • Joe Pierce, Owensboro, KY • James & Susan
Pike, Chapel Hill, NC • John Pipe & Carol Willard, Englewood,
CO • Carolyn Piper & Norman Gearhart Jr, Worthington, OH
• Roger & Elizabeth Pittard, Henrico, VA • George & Janyce
Pixley, Claremont, CA • Harriet Platts, Seattle, WA • Glenn &
Sheila Plott, Toano, VA • Larry & Linda Poelma, Cuba, NY •
Mr & Mrs William Polaski, Palm Harbor, FL • Suzanne Pollitz,
Cleveland Heights, OH • Marcus & Nancy Pomeroy, Berwyn,
PA • Morgan & Peggy Ponder, Birmingham, AL • David &
Geneva Pope, Springfield, VA • Dr Nathan Porter, Waco, TX
• Walter & Mary Lynn Porter, Dadeville, AL • Ralph & Ardice
Powell, Sioux Falls, SD • Elizabeth Preston, West Seneca, NY
• Caryl & Wayne Price, Chapel Hill, NC • G Kent & Julie Price,
Paducah, KY • Daniel Pryfogle, Cary, NC • Marilyn Pulliam,
Mercer Island, WA • Ted Purcell, Durham, NC • Ann Quattlebaum, Greenville, SC • Jean Rabian & Ralph Hackett, Newtown
Square, PA • Kevin & Holli Rainwater, Fresno, OH • Miranda
Rand, Schenectady, NY • Pat Ransom, Waukesha, WI • Susan
Raposa, Fairfax, VA • Mildred Rasmussen, Portland, OR • Ken
& Holly Redford, Methuen, MA • Nancy Reeb, Newark, OH
• George & Susan Reed, Raleigh, NC • Paul Reeder, Billings,
MT • Jeff & Julie Reiswig, Granville, OH • Richard & Judith
Reuning, Columbus, OH • Joyce Rhymer, Asheville, NC • Paul
& Susan Richardson, Birmingham, AL • Janette Richardson,
The Woodlands, TX • Robert & Sandra Joy Richardson, Charlotte, NC • Claire Rider, Madison, WI • Garland & Laura
Robertson, Austin, TX • Boyd & Jane Robertson, Austin, TX •
James & Ellen Robinson, Grand Ledge, MI • Eugene & Jolene
Roehlkepartain, St Louis Park, MN • Bill & Dixie Roelofs, Sioux
Center, IA • Martin & Kay Rolfs Massaglia, University Heights,
OH • Brooke J Rolston, Bothell, WA • Kathy Romeo, Cary, NC
• Vernon & Eleanor Ross, Hamilton, NY • Ruth Rowland &
Gladys Balleaux, Seattle, WA • Joe & Merry Roy, East
Wenatchee, WA • Jim Rugh, Sevierville, TN • Jerry Ryan,
Tampa, FL • Dennis & Kathleen Sampson, Pewaukee, WI • Jo
Sanders, Pittsboro, NC • Leslie Sanders & Brian Rice, Oakland,
CA • R N & Sue Sanders, Indianapolis, IN • Manny Santiago,
Seattle, WA • Mary Beth Sarhatt, Kalamazoo, MI • Marnette
Saz, Cambridge, MA • Stephen & Honey Scappa, Pacific Palisades, CA • Marshall Schirer, Wichita, KS • Madelyn Schnick,
Strafford, MO • Earl & Carol Schultz, Wauwatosa, WI • Cynthia W Schutt, Rochester, NY • Daniel & Estela Schweissing,
Aurora, CO • Diane & Vic Scott, Asheville, NC • Leroy Seat,
Liberty, MO • Carol Seery, Glendale, WI • Ken & Nancy Sehested, Asheville, NC • Karen & Alan Selig, Pottstown, PA •
Gail Serratt, Spencerport, NY • Pearl & Robert Seymour, Chapel Hill, NC • Joseph & Judy Shank, Lexington, SC • Betty
Mae Shear, Jefferson, OH • John & Anne Shelley, Greenville,
SC • Tai Shigaki, Worchester, MA • Wayne & Irene Shireman,
Ames, IA • Bradley & Marilyn Short, St Louis, MO • Wendy
Simcoe, Hamilton, NY • Larry & Joann Sims, Amity, OR •
30
Cathy & Stan Slade, Royersford, PA • Jonathan Sledge &
Deborah, Norton, Raleigh, NC • Eldora, Sloan, Roy, WA • Art
& Darlene, Smith, Midland, MI • Brooks & Mary Lou, Smith,
Chapel Hill, NC • Sanford & Patricia, Smith, Omaha, NE •
Sharon, Smith, Timonium, MD • Andy, Smith, Devon, PA •
Janey, Smith, Oceanside, CA • Judge & Mrs Charles Z. Smith,
Seattle, WA • Cindy & Doug Sojourner, Union City, CA •
Howard Sorensen, Wichita, KS • Betsy Sowers, Westborough,
MA • Jack & Barbara Spaulding, Painted Post, NY • Vergie
Spiker, Kennett Square, PA • Bob & Nan Spinks, Midlothian,
VA • Evelyn Owen Stagg, Louisville, KY • Al Staggs, Santa Fe,
NM • Kenneth & Betty Stapp, Chimney Rock, NC • Robert
Stapp, Long Beach, CA • John & Kimberly Starbuck, Stone
Mountain, GA • Bruce & Francine Stark, Chicago, IL • Glen &
Dorothy Stassen, Pasadena, CA • William & Kathleen Stayton,
Smyrna, GA • Elizabeth Stevens, Rochester, NY • T Wesley
Stewart, Alpharetta, GA • Dr Warren H Stewart Sr, Phoenix,
AZ • James & Joyce Stines, Blowing Rock, NC • Pablo Stone,
Black Mountain, NC • James & Carolyn Strange, Tampa, FL •
Pat Strother, Waco, TX • Richard & Ruth Stuart, Laconia, NH
• June Stuckey, Lafayette, IN • John & Carol Sundquist, Chicago, IL • Willis & Esther Sutter, Eureka, IL • Carol Franklin
Sutton, Seattle, WA • Gordon & Edith Swan, Needham, MA •
Robert Swarm & Sharon Parker, Clayton, MO • Laurie
Sweigard, Malvern, PA • Barbara & Mike Taft, Mesa, AZ •
Jennifer Talley, Wake Forest, NC • Cathy Tamsberg, Raleigh,
NC • Tyler Tankersley, Liberty, MO • Richard Tappan, Brunswick, ME • William Tapscott, Santee, CA • Alice Taylor, Norfolk, VA • E G & Margaret Tegenfeldt, Pacific Beach, WA •
Sharon Temple, Bowmanstown, PA • James ten Bensel, Minneapolis, MN • Dennis & Paula Testerman, Concord, NC •
Marjorie Thatcher, Edina, MN • Joan Thatcher, Oakland, CA
• John & Nancy Thayer, Garnet Valley, PA • Gregory &
Cheryl Thomas, Danielson, CT • Mark Thomas, Bryan, TX •
Ann Thompson, Fort Worth, TX • Olive Tiller, Cranberry Twp,
PA • Robert & Elaine Tiller, Silver Spring, MD • Clyde &
Nancy Tilley, Maryville, TN • Ralph & Kathleen Tingley, Sioux
Falls, SD • Mica Togami, San Diego, CA • Mary Alice Tomlinson, Rochester, NY • Michelle Tooley, Berea, KY • Kathleen M
Toth, McMinnville, OR • Bethene Trexel, New York, NY • Reid
& Janelle Trulson, Collegeville, PA • Richard Tucker & Carol
Moore, Winterville, NC • Myra Tucker, Atlanta, GA • Thomas
& Carol Tupitza, Erie, PA • Ruth Turk, Cary, NC • Bernard &
Rosalind Turner, McMinnville, OR • William Turpie, Hingham,
MA • Deborah Turriff, Waukesha, WI • Eleen Uttrup, Raleigh,
NC • Lourene Vail, Alhambra, CA • Marilyn VanDyk, McMinnville, OR • Rod & Marilyn Vane, Fairport, NY • Lucile
Vaughn, Bridgewater, VA • Roger Velasquez, Durham, NC •
Margaret & Dan Via, Charlottesville, VA • Tonya & Jeffrey
Vickery, Cullowhee, NC • Lester & Louise Vier, Hendersonville, NC • James & Mary Vining, Vienna, VA • Karen Vollmar,
Waukesha, WI • James & JoAnn Vredenburg, Mesa, AZ • Sara
Wagner, Bigfork, MT • Rebecca Wall & Bill Allen, Winston
Salem, NC • James Wallace, Cambridge, MA • David & Ann
Wallace, Nevada City, CA • Linda Waller, Shepherdsville, KY
• Sr Brenda Walsh, Racine WI • Sarah T Walsh, Timonium,
MD • Sandra Walton Heacock, Lawrence, KS • Hazel Waltz,
Overland Park, KS • Charlotte Ward, Auburn, AL • Carol &
Grant Ward, Lansdale, PA • Michael Ware & Barbara LackerWare, Rochester, NY • Jamie Washam, Milwaukee, WI •
Alexei Waters, Ithaca, NY • Charles M Watkins & Mary Wat-
April-June 2011
Baptist Peacemaker
contributors
kins, PennYan, NY • Donald & Linda Watson, Keizer, OR •
Rebecca Waugh, New York, NY • Wallace & Alma Webb,
Dunedin, FL • James Webb, Penney Farms, FL • Paul & Evangeline Webb II, Kansas City, MO • Suzanne Weber, Winchester,
IN • Sarah Welton, Wasilla, AK • Paul Wetenhall, Davidson,
NC • Donald & Judith Wheeler, Ridgewood, NJ • David &
Carol Wheeler, Portland, OR • Gordon Whitaker & Robert
Hellwig, Chapel Hill, NC • Paul & Janet Whiteley Sr, Louisville,
KY • Bryan Whitfield, Macon, GA • John & Martha Whitfield,
Dearborn, MI • Carol Whitt, Granville, OH • Charles Whitworth, Rome, GA • Brooks Wicker & Pat Hielscher, Raleigh,
NC • Ashlee Wiest-Laird & Lance Laird, Jamaica Plain, MA •
Craig Wiester, Minneapolis, MN • Dorothy Wiggins, State
College, PA • Conrad & Catherine Wilcox-Browne, Warwick,
RI • Jim Wilkerson & Kathy Donley, Bloomington, IN • Ben
Willeford, Lewisburg, PA • Ken & Peg Nowling Williams,
Rochester, NY • Nancy Plott Williams, Richmond, VA • Harrison Williams, Oakland, CA • Alan & Blanche Williams,
Durham, NC • George & Carol Williamson, New York, NY •
Vicki Wilson, Minneapolis, MN • Stan & Jennifer Wilson,
Jackson, MS • Margaret L Wise, New York, NY • Leslie Withers & Mark Reeve, Decatur, GA • Larry & Peg Witmer, Rochester, NY • Paula Womack, Raleigh, NC • Thomas & Deborah
Wood, Plattsburgh, NY • Ed & Emma Jean Woodard, Roanoke,
VA • Bill & Donna Woolf, Decatur, GA • Warren & Sue Woolf,
Atlanta, GA • Bill & Susan Wooten III, Clemson, SC • Roxanne
Wright, Ardmore, PA • Fred & Bonnie Yazel, Des Moines IA •
Richard & Kathrin Yoneoka, Arlington, VA • Tyanna Yonkers,
Calypso, NC • Hugh & Norma Young, Hendersonville, NC •
Brendan Young, Iowa City, IA • Brett & Carol Younger, Lilburn,
GA • Doris Anne Younger, Maplewood, NJ • Bernard & Jeanne
Yurke, Boise, ID • Chakravarthy Zadda, Chicago, IL
Individuals Elsewhere
Hanna Kristensen, Solrød Strand, Denmark • James & Debbie
Kelsey, Noventa Padovana, Italy
Congregations in Canada
Aylmer Baptist Church, Aylmer, ON • Baptist Convention of
Ontario & Quebec, Etobicoke, ON • Canadian Baptist Ministries, Mississauga, ON • Conrad Grebel University College,
Waterloo, ON • Fairview Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC •
MacNeill Baptist Church, Hamilton, ON • The Gathering
of Baptists, Lynden, ON • Wolfville United Baptist Church,
Wolfville, NS • Woodbine Heights Baptist Church, Toronto,
ON
Congregations & Organizations in the US
ABC of Connecticut, West Hartford, CT • ABC of Wisconsin,
Elm Grove, WI • ABC Rochester/Genesee Region, Rochester,
NY • Ann Arbor First Baptist Church, Ann Arbor, MI • Antioch Telugu Baptist Church, Schiller Park, IL • Austin Heights
Baptist Church, Nacogdoches, TX • Baptist Temple, Rochester,
NY • Baptist Temple Church, Alexandria, VA • Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill, NC • Calvary Baptist Church,
Washington, DC • Central Baptist Church, Hartford, CT •
Central Baptist Church, Wayne, PA • Christian Unity Baptist
Church, New Orleans, LA • Church of the Savior, Cedar Park,
Baptist Peacemaker
April-June 2011
TX • Circle of Mercy, Asheville, NC • Community Baptist
Church, Warrenville, IL • Covenant Baptist Church, Houston,
TX • Emmanuel Baptist Church, Albany, NY • Emmanuel Baptist Church, Ridgewood, NJ • Emmanuel Baptist Fellowship,
Lexington, SC • Emmanuel Friedens Church, Schenectady, NY
• Fairview Community Church, Costa Mesa, CA • First Baptist
Church, Beverly, MA • First Baptist Church, Birmingham, MI
• First Baptist Church, Dayton, OH • First Baptist Church,
Framingham, MA • First Baptist Church, Granville, OH • First
Baptist Church, Iowa City, IA • First Baptist Church, Ithaca, NY
• First Baptist Church, Lewisburg, PA • First Baptist Church,
Madison, WI • First Baptist Church, Manchester Center, VT •
First Baptist Church, Medford, MA • First Baptist Church, Palo
Alto, CA • First Baptist Church, Pottstown, PA • First Baptist
Church, Rochester, NY • First Baptist Church, Worcester, MA
• First Baptist Church Cumberland, Indianapolis, IN • First
Baptist Church in Newton, Newton Centre, MA • First Baptist Church of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA • First Baptist Church
of Moorestown, Moorestown, NJ • First Baptist Church of
Newfane, Newfane, NY • First Baptist Church of Springfield,
Springfield, OH • First Institutional Baptist Church, Phoenix,
AZ • Glade Baptist Church, Blacksburg, VA • Glendale Baptist
Church, Nashville, TN • Grace Baptist Church, Statesville, NC
• Greece Baptist Church, Rochester, NY • Hamilton Square
Baptist Church, Hamilton Square, NJ • Home Mission Societies ABC-USA, Valley Forge, PA • Immanuel Baptist Church,
Portland, ME • Immanuel Baptist Church, Rochester, NY •
India Baptist Telugu Church of Greater Chicago, Oak Park,
IL • Jefferson St. Baptist Community, Louisville, KY • Lai
Baptist Church, Frederick, MD • Lake Avenue Baptist Church,
Rochester, NY • Lake Street Church of Evanston, Evanston,
IL • Lakeshore Ave Baptist Church, Oakland, CA • Lime
Rock Baptist Church, Lincoln, RI • Madison Avenue Baptist
Church, New York, NY • McMinnville First Baptist Church,
McMinnville, OR • Myers Park Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC
• New Ground Community, San Francisco, CA • Noank Baptist
Church, Noank, CT • North Shore Baptist Church, Chicago,
IL • Northside Drive Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA • Oakhurst
Baptist Church, Decatur, GA • Old Cambridge Baptist Church,
Cambridge, MA • Park Road Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC •
Peace Community Church, Oberlin, OH • Peace Haven Baptist
Church, Winston Salem, NC • Peakland Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA • Prairie Baptist Church, Prairie Village, KS • Prescott
Memorial Baptist Church, Memphis, TN • Pullen Memorial
Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC • Royal Lane Baptist Church,
Dallas, TX • Royersford Baptist Church, Royersford, PA • San
Leandro Community Church, San Leandro, CA • Seattle First
Baptist Church, Seattle, WA • Second Baptist Church, Liberty,
MO • Shell Ridge Community Church, Walnut Creek, CA •
Shield-Ayres Foundation, San Antonio, TX • St. Charles Ave
Baptist Church, New Orleans, LA • St. John’s Baptist Church,
Charlotte, NC • St. Luke Presbyterian Church, Wayzata, MN
• Underwood Memorial Baptist Church, Wauwatosa, WI •
University Baptist & Brethren Church, State College, PA •
University Baptist Church, Austin, TX • University Baptist
Church, Columbus, OH • University Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN • Vienna Baptist Church, Vienna, VA • Wake Forest
Baptist Church, Wake Forest, NC • Wake Forest Baptist Church,
Winston Salem, NC • Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham,
NC • Williamsburg Baptist Church, Williamsburg, VA
31
Baptist Peace Fellowship
of North America
It will
help us
a lot
4800 Wedgewood Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28210
Nonprofit
US Postage
PAID
Permit No. 116
Lawrence, KS
Change Services Requested
if you would
take a moment to check
your name
and address on
the mailing label
to the right!
Please send us your old
label with changes and
corrections to your name
or address.
A Prayer for Pentecost
by Deborah E. Harris
O God of Pentecost,
Can You see me?
From here, the darkness is all that is “visible.”
If I extend my arms straight out in front of me
with my feet moving carefully in
a small, clockwise pattern,
I come in contact with nothing and no one.
O God of Pentecost,
Can You reach me?
I lack the strength and courage
to take a blind step in any direction,
fearing that I will fall further into
the black bowels
of this unrelenting depression…
this exhausting sadness…
this suffocating hopelessness.
O God of Pentecost,
Can You release me?
For surely I am engulfed by
torrents of harsh thoughts
and threatening images,
imprisoned by the ancient pain
of trauma and loss.
I fear my very humanity is slipping away…
my soul growing weak and numb.
O God of Pentecost,
Will you redeem me?
Oh, send Your holy flame
to rekindle my faith in You
and restore my assurance
of Your abiding presence.
Pierce the darkness of doubt
and despair with
Your transforming light of truth and love.
Send me forth from my isolation,
O God of Pentecost,
to live and worship in community
with Your people.
Make me a shining reflection of
Your compassion and grace
to those who yet remain
in the shadowy depths of sorrow and anguish,
longing for a reason to live another day.
Amen.
—Deborah Harris is a freelance writer and lyricist in Waco, Texas. The prayer above is from “You Are the Salt; You
Are the Light,” Sacred Seasons, Pentecost/Ordinary Time 2003 (Seeds of Hope Publishers). The art on this page is
also by Deborah Harris.

Pentecostal Passion - Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America

Transcription

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