February 28, 2014 • ISSUE 25

Right across the street from a large public high school,

Mosaic of Arlington is collaborating with other like-minded churches in sowing gospel seeds among a diverse student body with hot

cheeseburgers, warm smiles and other acts of kindness.

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TEXAS MARRIAGE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL

IMB’S ELLIFF ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION AT AUSTIN MEETING

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Gary Ledbetter

The TEXAN turned down an ad for the upcoming Noah movie starring Russell Crowe. We’d heard enough stuff about the altering of the story

and had enough doubts about other content to make us pass. When it comes to movies we have a “when in doubt, don’t” attitude. There are companies that market popular movies to Christian audiences, but some of the efforts are clumsy or even goofy. The first such effort I remember had to do with a television miniseries about a nuclear exchange that devastated the country (“The Day After”). The network provided discussion questions to help youth ministers deal with the trauma kids would experience after the broadcast. Shortly thereafter I got a similar packet for an R-rated western about a preacher who straightened things out with a Colt revolver. The entertainment industry doesn’t get Christians, especially those of us who believe the Bible to be God’s perfect revelation of himself.

Back to Noah. I’ve read with interest the articles discussing the response of Christians to a movie almost no one has seen yet. The director, Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan,” “The Wrestler”) was mortified that anyone would suggest, after a preview screening, that he change the movie to accommodate biblical literalists. The reports of those who’ve seen it suggest that the movie not only (understandably) fills the biblical narrative with drama not recorded in Scripture but also changes the message a bit to accommodate modern sensibilities regarding environmentalism and overpopulation. I’m not sure if all that is true but it wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t think it will annoy me as much as clumsy propaganda like “Avatar” does.

I really like some of Russell Crowe’s movies. “Cinderella Man,” “Master and Commander” and “A Beautiful Mind” are “watch ‘em again” movies at my house. The idea that the story

Christians as a marketing niche

of Noah, or even some version of it, would be given a modern treatment with amazing special effects sounds pretty cool to me. Of course I expect I’ll be disappointed that the biblical story was not grand enough for Mr. Aronofsky. He could tell it with only modest embellishments but he won’t do that and will not understand why we care.

The reason I’m not offended is that the director is making no claim to represent the plain message of Scripture. He, like many of our co-religionists, feels free to make the text say what he thinks it should say. I look forward to seeing the movie but I’m not taking a bus full of church people to it as an alternative to Bible study. My hope is that will be a ripping adventure story well played. If that is not to your taste, skip it, but also skip that vast majority of movies that play loose with the details of history.

A second issue has to do with Christians as a market. I’m uncomfortable with being a marketing niche for movies, music, TV or even books. For one thing it implies that Christian art is only for Christians, and along with it, the truth that it carries. Sometimes Christian art has been marketed with the assumption that it could not compete in terms of excellence with other books, music, etc. This has often been true and a few careers have flourished based on this “ghettoizing” of Christian culture. But imagine the calculus of Newton or the portraits of Rembrandt or the concerti of Bach, or the fiction of Tolkien or Chesterton relegated that little “religious” niche of the book store or gallery. Each of these works had religious intent—were founded on biblical assumptions about truth, virtue and beauty. But Western culture owns them in a way it will not own most modern musicians and writers who believe in Jesus.

But other artists have a religious message. Artists who scoff at reality or the ability to know what’s true are making a religious statement. I recently went into a small bookstore that featured the works of neo-atheists Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris under the subject “science and nature.” Atheism was to the bookstore owner simply the truth. That is a religious statement. Imagine the chaos of grouping every writer, painter and musician in sections according to his worldview. But in this country we do that only with Christians. Thus you’ll find Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” in the religion section but not the counterpoint, anti-religious children’s books of Philip Pullman (a movie called “The Golden Compass” was based on his books).

Where were we? Oh yes, the Noah movie. Of course I’d love to see the stories of Noah, Joseph, Caleb, Deborah, Gideon and other heroes told well and with respect to the Author of the story. I guess Christians are going to have to make those movies. In the meantime, I don’t expect non-Christians to treat the Bible as true or historical—especially not in a day when most who call themselves “Christian” and many who call themselves “Baptist” similarly disrespect it. We embarrass ourselves when we freak out because the lost and liberal do not understand the Bible. Of course they don’t; neither did we when we ourselves were lost and liberal.

Contents

TEXAN Digital is e-published twice monthly by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, 4500 State Highway 360, Grapevine, TX 76099-1988. Jim Richards, Executive Director

Gary Ledbetter, EditorJerry Pierce, Managing EditorSharayah Colter, Staff WriterRussell Lightner, Design & Layout Stephanie Barksdale, Subscriptions

Contributing WritersJane Rodgers, Tammi Reed Ledbetter, Bob Smietana, Paul F. South

To contact the TEXAN office, visit texanonline.net/contact or call toll free 877.953.7282 (SBTC)

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2Church staff are encouraged to complete the 2014 SBC Church Compensation Survey: a tool used by churches of all sizes to determine fair wages and benefits. Participants will be entered for a chance to win an iPad. The survey and complete contest rules are available here.

Pastors, staff urged to help with compensation survey

Moore: Christians not hypocrites to refuse gay marriage business2Christian photographers, florists and bakers are not hypocrites to refuse their services for same-sex weddings, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell D. Moore has written in response to the charge from other evangelical Christians.

SBTC DR efforts focus on Filipino fishing community14SBTC DR relief continues to concentrate in the Philip-pines around the fishing village of Agojo, near Roxas City in the province of Capiz on Panay Island. Ty-phoon Haiyan still looms large in its destruction.

IMB President Tom Elliff announces resignation8If ever a pin could have been heard dropping, it was on Tuesday morning (Feb. 25) as International Mission Board President Tom Elliff, a veteran pastor and missionary and former SBC president, surprised the board of trustees with news of his resignation.

Stress relief counselors minister in the Philippines 16“The efforts of the SBTC, IMB and Baptist Global Response are helping the neediest of the fishing community of Agojo, not only physically but also spiritually,” said SBTC DR coordinator and chaplain Garry McDugle.

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Right across the street from a large public high school, Mosaic of Arlington is collaborating with

other like-minded churches in sowing gospel seeds among a diverse student body with hot

cheeseburgers, warm smiles and hope

2 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

Briefly ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ministers and church employees are invited to participate in the 2014 SBC Church Com-pensation Survey: a tool used by churches of all sizes to determine fair wages and benefits. Participants will be entered for a chance to win an iPad. The survey and complete contest rules are available here.

“GuideStone continues to be an advocate for pastors and church staff, ensuring that they are compensated fairly,” said O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone Financial Resources. “That’s why we partner with LifeWay Christian Resources and Baptist state conventions to produce this bi-annual study.”

Survey results are not reported individually. Compensation and benefit information can be contributed anonymously.

Each Southern Baptist church employee who participates in the survey plays a vital role in building one of the largest databases of church compen-sation information in the United States. Survey results provide a baseline of compensation data among similar-sized churches within each state conven-tion. Therefore, a higher number of participants leads to a more accurate baseline of compensation data.

“We receive numerous requests to answer compensation surveys through-out the year,” said Al Fausch, director of business and financial administra-tion at Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “We don’t participate in them all, but we always try to complete GuideStone’s survey.”

Churches often don’t contribute to salary surveys because they don’t have time or receive enough valuable information in return. But according to Fausch, GuideStone’s survey is worth the time because it provides custom-ized reports to allow administrators, personnel/finance committees and min-ister search teams to better determine adequate compensation for ministers and staff. That can be essential information for thousands of churches, which makes the survey worth the few minutes it takes to complete.

Like many other church leaders, Fausch has accessed previous survey results when hiring new staff to ensure that employees are being compen-sated at competitive levels. “The results are easy to navigate,” Fausch said. “I encourage everyone to participate. We are helping each other as well as ourselves by establishing accurate benchmarks.”

At the conclusion of the survey, GuideStone and LifeWay will compile the submitted data and provide all users with access to the results.

“This survey, which is one of the most comprehensive of its kind, will help scores of churches as they seek to provide for those who are called to lead their congregations,” Hawkins said.

Southern Baptist church ministers and staff have until May 31 to complete the online survey. Survey results will be released this summer. Survey partici-pants will receive advance notification of the results and can begin to access the data upon notice.

The winner of the iPad will be notified via email. Contact GuideStone Financial Resources with any questions or issues. Call

toll free 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433) Monday–Friday between 7 a.m. and 6

p.m. CST to speak with a customer relations specialist, or send an email to info@GuideStone.org.

PASTORS, STAFF URGED TO HELP WITH COMPENSATION SURVEY

Christian photogra-phers, florists and bak-ers are not hypocrites to refuse their services for same-sex weddings, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell D. Moore has written in response to the charge from other evangelical Christians.

Moore, president of the Ethics & Re-ligious Liberty Commission, posted a response Sunday (Feb. 23) to a column by Kirsten Powers and Jonathan Merritt published the same day at The Daily Beast, a popular news and commentary website. Powers, a Daily Beast columnist and Fox News analyst, and Merritt, a senior colum-nist for Religion News Service, said Moore and other Christians are selectively invok-ing the Bible when they refuse to serve for same-sex weddings while not declining for other “unbiblical” ceremonies.

As an example of an unbiblical wed-ding, Powers and Merritt cited a ceremony between a Christian and a non-Christian or involving a divorced person who does not have a biblical basis for divorce.

“If you refuse to photograph one unbibli-cal wedding, you should refuse to photo-graph them all,” Powers and Merritt wrote. “If not, you’ll be seen as a hypocrite and as a known Christian, heap shame on the gospel.”

There is a distinction, Moore responded, between a same-sex ceremony and a heterosexual wedding, even if a man and woman do not have biblical grounds for marriage.

“In the case of a same-sex marriage, the marriage is obviously wrong, in every case,” Moore wrote at his blog. “There are no circumstances in which a man and a man or a woman and a woman can be morally involved in a sexual union.”

Moore’s blog response followed more extensive comments on the distinction in a “Question and Ethics” podcast posted Feb. 20 at The Gospel Coalition blog.

MOORE: CHRISTIANS NOT HYPOCRITES TO REFUSE GAY MARRIAGE BUSINESS

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 3—Briefly section was compiled from staff reports and Baptist Press

PAGE: HOPEFUL FOR COOPERATIVE PROGRAM UPTICKSouthern Baptists face “challenging

days” with Cooperative Program giv-ing, Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, told committee members in Nashville, voicing hope for an upswing in giving.

While sharing his passion for CP and its role in supporting missions and ministry around the globe, Page said the momentum for the “1% CP Chal-lenge” continues to grow for churches to increase CP giving by 1 percentage point of their budgets.

“I have written personal letters to almost 3,000 pastors thanking them for their involvement” in the 1% CP Chal-lenge, Page said Feb. 17. “Our state executives are saying, ‘Frank, please don’t stop. Our people are just starting to get it.…’ We won’t stop.

“It is my passion that fuels my heart belief in this,” Page said. “I supported this before I was paid to support this. As a pastor I strongly supported over 10 percent of our church’s undesig-nated receipts to the Cooperative Program.”

Giving through CP is the best way to “concurrently, consistently and, yes, completely fulfill Acts 1:8 as a church body,” he added. “Through that, you’re involved in missions and ministries all over the world, all the time.”

Philanthropic giving has increased in recent years, and 53 percent of churches say giving is up, Page reported. Despite increased giv-ing in other areas, CP giving has continued to decrease through the years. In the last five years, CP gifts forwarded by churches have dropped 11 percent. “In 1982, the average Southern Baptist church forwarded on 10.7 percent of its undesignated receipts to the Coopera-tive Program,” Page said. “But in 2012 it was down to 5.41 percent. It’s pretty much declined two-tenths of a percent every year.”

One potential bright spot, Page said, is that the current 5.41 percent has

held since 2012, a possible indicator the CP Challenge is be-ginning to resonate with more churches.

“We pray [the decrease has] ceased and will now tick back up,” Page said. “That’s our hope and prayer. We’ve been putting a lot of energy and effort, particularly try-ing to engage young ministers and unen-gaged ministers, to say, ‘We challenge you to study it, look at it.… Can you find a better way to be in-volved in Acts 1:8?’”

Biblical stewardship is the key to reversing the downward trend of giv-ing, Page said. To help, the Executive Committee is renewing efforts with state Baptist conventions to imple-ment comprehensive plans for biblical stewardship.

“I’m going to push churches to do more, to give more,” Page said. “When

I ask you to give more, it doesn’t come to the Executive Committee. We’re lowering our Co-operative Program allo-cation so when you hear me beating the drum and asking for more, it’s to go to these other entities and agencies to do that which God has called them to do.”

While CP giving num-bers among churches

have decreased, Page said state giving percentages have risen.

The average percentage of CP gifts forwarded to SBC causes from 33 state conventions has gone from 34.7 per-cent in 2001 to 38.2 percent, according to the latest figures. But because CP giving from churches has decreased, the dollar amount from states has only increased from $182 million in 2004 to $183 million in 2013.

State conventions also are stream-

lining staff. From 2000 to 2013, the number of state convention staff has dropped from 1,750 to 1,350, Page re-ported. Some conventions are becom-ing “extremely focused” to better meet the needs of churches, he added.

“Now some of them say we didn’t have a choice; we had to—the money quit coming in,” Page said. “But some have done this purposefully…. State conventions are trying to do that which they believe their churches are calling for and that’s to send more to the na-tional level so that we might touch this lost world for Christ.”

While giving patterns and trends continue to fluctuate, Page said he will remain firm on his commitment to pro-moting the Cooperative Program.

“I know that church giving is differ-ent these days but I will not back away from what I believe is the best Acts 1:8 strategy that [Southern Baptists] ever had,” he said. “… I will tell you I’m excited about the unity that we’ve had in this body by the Spirit, a passion for reaching this world for Christ and I’m excited about it.”

In related news, Page announced that Ashley Clayton has been promoted from special assistant to the president with Cooperative Program and Stew-ardship to vice president for Coopera-tive Program and Stewardship Devel-opment. Look for a related BP story to be posted this week.

Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, told committee members that Southern Baptists face “challenging days” with Cooperative Program giving. But he also expressed hope for future.

4 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

By Bob Smietana

Most Americans say religious liberty is important, but they don’t always agree on how much liberty is enough or too much.

Religious liberty is the issue at the heart of the upcoming Supreme Court hearings between Hobby Lobby and the Obama Administration over the HHS contraceptive man-date. It’s a dispute that is unlikely to go away, no matter what the Supreme Court decides.

American preachers, it turns out, are more than a bit uneasy about religious liberty these days, according to a survey by LifeWay Research, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The survey found that seven out of 10 senior pastors at Protestant churches said religious liberty is on the decline in America. About seven in 10 also said Christians have lost or are losing the culture war. The telephone survey of Protes-tant senior pastors was taken Sept. 4-19.

Seventy percent agree with the statement, “Religious liberty is on the decline in America.” Twenty-seven percent disagree. Self-identified evangelical pastors (81 percent) are more likely to agree than mainline pastors (47 percent).

Researchers also asked pastors to respond to this question: “Many Christian leaders have talked about society being in a culture war. Regardless of how you feel about that terminol-ogy, how would you explain the current situation?”

Nearly six in 10 (59 percent) say Christians are losing. One in 10 (11 percent) say the culture war is already lost. Few (10 percent) say Christians are winning the culture war.

Evangelical pastors (79 percent) are more likely than main-line pastors (60 percent) to say Christians are losing or have lost the culture war.

Mainline pastors (30 percent) are also most likely to say they “don’t know” when asked about the culture war. By con-trast, 13 percent of evangelicals said they don’t know. Over-all, one in five pastors (19 percent) said they don’t know.

Culture shiftsSome of the unease about religious liberty is due to shifts

in American culture and church practice, said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research.

In the 1960s, nearly two-thirds of Americans were Protes-tants. Today, they make up less than half of the population, according to the General Social Survey.

Fewer Protestants means less cultural power, Stetzer said.In the past, he said, Christians—and Protestants in particu-

lar—took it for granted that Americans would look to the church for guidance on moral issues. Churches, he said, were seen as being good for society and so they were given spe-cial privileges—like exemptions from taxes and other laws.

“Even if people did not go to church, they looked to the church,” Stetzer explained.

That’s no longer the case, as the government and culture no longer defer to Protestant Christians, which makes pas-tors and their congregations nervous.

“They feel like in some ways there was a pact made at the founding of the country—between God and America,” he said. “That pact has been broken.” That’s not all bad news, Stetzer said.

“The fact that ‘Christian’ is not just a demographic cat-egory can have a positive side,” Stetzer said, as it means that Protestants and other Christians have to be more active in living out their faith.

But it also has political and social consequences, as a sizable number of Protestants and other Christians run into conflicts with societal norms on issues like sexuality and mar-riage and other issues.

Protestants (and like-minded religious people) have to think through a new strategy that defends their religious liberty but also acknowledges that conflict, Stetzer said.

Several recent court battles also may play a role, said Thomas Kidd, professor of history at Baylor University, and author of God of Liberty: A Religious History of the Ameri-can Revolution.

Kidd pointed to the Hobby Lobby case as well as the Supreme Court’s 2012 Hosanna-Tabor ruling. Both involve disputes between the government and religious groups over exemptions from federal law.

SURVEY: MOST PASTORS SAY RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ON DECLINE

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TEXAS MARRIAGE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL

San Antonio federal district judge Orlando Garcia struck down as unconstitutional Texas’ 2005 marriage amendment that defines marriage as one man and one woman.

Garcia wrote in his opinion that the law demeans homosex-ual couples by denying them marriage rights “for no legitimate reason.”

“Without a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in our United States Constitution,” wrote Garcia, who was appointed by President Clinton to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The law remains in effect, however, pending appeal to the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The president of the gay rights group the Human Rights Campaign called it “a historic day in the heart of the South,” ac-cording to the New York Times, while Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values called the ruling “the most egregious form of judicial activism of our generation.”

The Texas marriage amendment was approved by 76 percent of voters in 2005 following two-thirds majority approval in both Texas legislative chambers.

“While we remain confident that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will reverse this decision, regardless of what the courts say, marriage is the union of one man and one woman. We will remain vigilant in ensuring that this truth is defended and fought for in the great state of Texas,” Saenz said in a statement.

A more complete report will be posted at texanonline.net.

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 5

By Sharayah Colter

HOUSTON

John Morgan, pastor of Sagemont Church in Hous-ton, which served as host for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Empower Conference this week, closed the conference on Wednesday (Feb. 26) by en-couraging attendees to remember that the only hope of evangelism is “Christ in us.”

Morgan followed a long list of preachers and speak-ers, including Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter and New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas, and musicians such as Phillips, Craig & Dean and The Old Paths.

“The ministry of Christ in this world is nothing more and nothing less than Christ in you,” Morgan said, “You know when Jesus went back to heaven, he said it’s best for me to go back, because when I’m in Jerusalem, the people of Capernaum don’t see me. It’s best for me to go back, because if I don’t go back, the Comforter won’t come, and my plan is for me to be in you through the person of the Holy Spirit, so that when you are born again, I move into your life.”

Something is not adding up, though, in the jux-taposition of the number of people who say they’re Christians and the picture the world is seeing, Morgan explained.

“There are 1 billion professing Christians on the planet today,” Morgan said. “If they’re all Christians, that means God is in 1 billion people all over the planet right now. It would look to me like with 1 billion people living and looking like Jesus, the world would say, ‘Be-hold, they’re not like those religious people. They are different.’ Something would happen around the world. But we would rather sit and argue who’s the most spiri-tual and who’s doing it right, rather than letting go and

let God have his wonderful way—his marvelous way.”And while those arguments continue, Morgan said,

the world watches. And as they watch they form an opinion of the God those Christians they know say

Empower Conference closes with reminder about ‘Christ in us’ & salvation for Buddhist woman who heard ‘revival’ was going on

Eric Metaxas (right), author of the New York Times bestseller “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy,” poses for a photo during a book signing at Sage-mont Church on Tuesday night. PHOTO BY RICK LINTHICUM

Phillips, Craig & Dean performed contemporary Christian music hits such as “Let My Words Be Few” during the SBTC Empower Conference Feb. 24-26 at Sagemont Church.

6 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

they serve. “You see, folks, the way you treat your neighbor, the way you

treat the schoolteacher, the way you act at a ballgame, the way you act at the supermarket, the way you act at the bank, the way you act in everything you do, when you go into the restaurant, deter-mines whether those people ever see God. Do they see God in your life? That’s what I’m asking you. Now really, do they see God in

Sagemont Church pastor John Morgan reminds listeners during the closing sermon of the 2014 Empower Conference that ‘Christ in us’ is a vital ingredient God uses to bring people to faith in Jesus. PHOTO BY JERRY PIERCE

your life, or do you go around doing this church stuff and believe that one day we’re going to hit the key—we’re going to get the right music, the right preaching, the right kind of services and all this other stuff that we spend hours talking about, or are we just going to lift up Jesus who said, ‘If you lift me up, I will draw people to me’?”

When that happens, Morgan said, revival will come.

DIVINE APPOINTMENTThough the three-day event at

Sagemont was an evangelism confer-ence geared to pastors and church leaders, a Buddhist woman from across town heard a “revival” was going on at the church with the big cross on Tuesday night, Morgan told the conference.

At her mother’s encouragement, the woman drove until she spotted the 170-foot-tall, 97-ton steel cross that sits on 448 tons of concrete in Sagemont Church’s front yard. Once inside, she found a brochure about Buddhism on a table at a missions exhibit. She picked it up, thinking it was about becoming a Buddhist.

“One hour after she left the mis-sion booth, with tears in her eyes, kneeling just behind those television cameras, this 50-year-old lady gave her heart to Jesus Christ, and next Wednesday night she’s going to be baptized right there in that baptism pool, and I say, glory, glory, glory, glory to God!”

Morgan said he prays the confer-ence was indeed not a conference, but a revival, just like the woman’s mother thought she’d heard and as the woman who found Christ experi-enced for the first time.

“I pray we’ve had revival. That is yet to be seen,” Morgan said. “But now we’re going to blast off like a shotgun.”

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 7

By Sharayah Colter

Eight adults from First Baptist Church of Odessa, serving on a mis-sion team in Kiev, Ukraine remain safe amid riots that began ravag-ing the city Feb. 18 after weeks of peaceful protests. The group trav-eled to Ukraine on Feb. 13 with Michael Gott International and is scheduled to return to Odessa on March 2. Pastor Byron McWilliams said that the team is seeing a great-er openness to the gospel because of their presence amid the tumult.

“The [Ukrainian] students who are coming look at these Americans are saying, ‘Wow, you’re staying in the midst of this,’” McWilliams told the TEXAN. “It’s building their credibility. The students have said, ‘You care about us enough to stay.’ I think it is opening doors for the gospel more than anything.”

The team is teaching classes, eat-ing and sleeping at Central Baptist Church—the largest Baptist church in the area—just two miles from Independence Square where fight-ing between police and protestors has now led to 67 deaths, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. Hundreds have been injured, the ministry reported.

The U.S. State Department’s advice to Americans in the Ukraine was to remain indoors. McWilliams said

the U.S. embassy in Ukraine knows where the team is, has each team member’s name and would be ready to help evacuate the group should the situation worsen or an order be issued for Americans to leave.

McWilliams said the team plans to stay because they believe that “God has got them there for this time and that they are not going to come back early unless they are forced to.”

The pastor said the group had their “greatest test” when they met together to decide if they should stay or leave the country.

“They unanimously decided that they feel they are needed more than ever,” McWilliams said.

In fact, in McWilliams’ last email conversation with missions pastor Jesse Gore, he learned the group is only requesting prayer for one thing.

“The team would ask specifically that they would pray that doors for presenting the gospel would be open and that God would use this for his glory and they would be able to present the gospel even more,” McWilliams said. “The families at home are probably the ones who are struggling the most, so pray for them that God would give them a peace that he is in control” and they would be reminded of his omniscience. “They are just as

safe there in the midst of a danger zone as they would be in their own home, because God is watching over them,” he added.

The pastor asked that fellow be-lievers pray for the team’s safety.

McWilliams encouraged Gore in their last conversation to remain steadfast and to remember that God is not surprised by the events of the past three days.

“‘Hold the fort, man,’” McWil-

liams told Gore. “‘Stand firm. Keep doing what God has called you there to do. Share the gospel any chance you get.’ I of course don’t need to tell him that, because he sees it the same way I do. God knew before they went over there that this was going to happen. It’s no accident that they’re there right now.”

In a Facebook post, Gore implored friends to pray—not for his safety, but for the people of Ukraine.

“I again plead with the people seeing this post to lift up the coun-try of Ukraine in prayer. #pray-forukraine,” Gore posted.

Two miles from Kiev riots, FBC Odessa mission team remains safe, determined to share gospel

8 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

By Tammi Reed Ledbetter AUSTIN

If ever a pin could have been heard dropping, it was on Tuesday morning (Feb. 25) as International Mission Board President Tom Elliff surprised the board of trustees with news of his resignation. A handful of trusted colleagues and board members sworn to secrecy kept their word so the veteran pas-tor and missionary could relate the news from his own heart.

“God gave me what is specific leadership,” Elliff said in recalling a moment months ago when he was awakened to sit by his fireplace and be alone with God. He discerned “not only the decision he wanted me to make, but that I was to make it now,” he explained, aware that his three-year tenure had been brief.

Former board chairman Jimmy Pritchard picked up on what some might view as a frustration, recall-ing advice he received from an-other Texan when the presidential search team drew close to settling on Elliff in 2011. “Richard Land said, ‘Three years with Tom Elliff would be better than 10 years with anyone.’”

Pritchard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Forney and SBTC presi-dent, voiced the depth of gratitude expressed during a standing ova-tion to thank Elliff and his wife Jeanie for the determined pace they’d kept in ministry in serving the missionaries deployed world-wide by the largest non-Catholic denomination.

“He has given us a passion for what matters,” added current board chairman David Uth, pastor of First Baptist Church of Orlando. “Every one of us in this room has had an incredible blessing of serv-ing with Tom Elliff.”

Staff and trustees alike conversed in the hallway after the news was announced, clearly moved by their association with the Elliffs. Uth reminded the board to keep their focus on the missionary mandate.

“The stuff that doesn’t matter? Hey, it’ll be all right,” he said in remarks delivered prior to an hour-long plenary session.

Uth quickly appointed the com-mittee that will seek Elliff’s suc-cessor, adding that he had sought input from Pritchard, who chaired

the last search. The three Texans who will be a part of that assign-ment are James Gross, pastor of West Conroe Baptist Church in Con-roe; Jaye Martin, a member of First Baptist Church of Houston who directs an evangelistic ministry for women; and John Meador, pastor of First Baptist Church of Euless.

At a time when pending news is rarely kept quiet, trustee Byron McWilliams, pastor of First Baptist Church of Odessa, noted his ap-preciation for Elliff’s integrity in announcing what was a surprise to most of the board.

“Having spent this last weekend with Tom at my church, it proves his immense integrity that he held the confidence so close,” McWil-liams said.

IMB’s Elliff announces resignation at Austin meeting

Texan Jimmy Pritchard of Forney prays for the IMB presidential search team which includes three Texans, James Gross of Conroe, Jaye Martin of Houston and John Meador of Euless. Tom and Jeanie Elliff made it clear to the TEXAN that nothing other than the leadership of God motivated his announcement to step down as the leader of the 168-year-old Southern Baptist mission-sending entity. In a subsequent press conference Elliff was asked if he’d consider returning to service as a missionary, responding that between visiting his own kids spread across the globe and keeping commitments to speak overseas he will be on the field for years to come. PHOTO BY TAMMI REED LEDBETTER

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 9

SEND MONTREAL Evangelism & church planting. Planned 2014 vision tour dates: March 10-12, May 5-7, Sept. 8-10 and Oct. 27-29

Contact Barry Calhoun at bcalhoun@sbtexas.com or 817.552.2500

SEND BOSTON Evangelism and church planting. Planned 2014 vision tour dates: April 29-30 and Sept. 30-Oct.1

Contact Barry Calhoun at bcalhoun@sbtexas.com or 817.552.2500

UTAH-IDAHO STATE CONVENTION Evangelism, church planting,leadership training and more. Planned 2014 vision tour: March 23-27.

Contact Terry Coy at tcoy@sbtexas.com or 817.552.2500

ECUADOR Evangelism and church planting. Planned 2014 vision tour: Aug. 16-23

Contact Barry Calhoun at bcalhoun@sbtexas.com or 817-552-2500

Come learn to think and live missionally

LONGVIEW JULY 12MOBBERLY BAPTIST CHURCH

2014 SBTC MISSION OPPORTUNITIES

“We are going to miss his impeccable leadership and his genuine heart for the nations,” McWilliams added. “He has done more in three years than many would do in a lifetime. I’m incredibly sad to see him go but all in the IMB know that there is only one indispensable man, the Lord Jesus.”

The next task for Southern Baptists is to “rush the throne of God in prayer so that the committee finds God’s man to fill this most important position,” Mc-Williams said.

Psalm 46:10 provided Elliff with the text for his decision, he said, quoting it. “‘Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.’”

He encouraged the search to be done with “utmost expediency, but not with careless haste or abandon” and “with prayerful and tireless deliberation.” His instruction to the few staff members with whom he had confided prior to the announcement was to “do this the way it ought to be done—not just the right thing, but the right thing the right way.”

Jeanie Elliff, who has been his con-stant partner in ministry, echoed her husband’s appeal for prayerful and tire-less deliberation.

“Praying for the new leader to come,” she told the TEXAN following the news,

adding that her prior battle with cancer did not motivate her hus-band’s decision. She noted a recent doctor’s visit found them both in good health.

“There’s one person out there whom God has right now,” Elliff reminded trustees as he reiterated the board’s responsibility to pray for the search committee. “We must work and pray together as we have to make this transition as seamless and effective as possible,” he added, cautioning that field personnel “don’t need any hiccups.”

Reflecting briefly on his tenure, Elliff said, “As I look at the many initiatives we’ve seen put in place by working together—and that’s the key word, together—over these years, both the pace and the implementation of those initiatives has been almost breathtaking to me.”

He marveled at how easily the changes he championed were ac-complished, crediting the grace of God and harmonious spirit of staff, trustees and personnel serving abroad.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Elliff concluded, “So here’s what I want you to know—you can rest assured in this—we’re going to run through the finish line.” Not ones to say they weren’t up to it or drop their bags and give up, Elliff said he and his wife would run the course the Lord set before them with wholehearted reserve. “Along with you, we must go together to the ends of the earth.”

“So here’s what I want you to know—you can rest assured in this—we’re going to run through the finish line. Along with you, we must go together to the ends of the earth.”

10 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

By Paul F. SouthARLINGTON

rom Stephen Hammond’s vantage point—due north

and a stone’s throw from Arlington High School—the

collaborative ministry he helped begin three years ago to the school’s 3,100 students and staff is hard to tangibly measure.

Offering plates are not fuller and membership rolls aren’t spiking at Mosaic, the church he pastors, or at the half dozen other neighborhood churches involved in the outreach. The students recognize Hammond more readily as chaplain for the school’s baseball team than as pastor at Mosaic, planted in 2005 with help from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

But this he is sure of: The endeavor known as

ServeAHS has filled hungry bellies, warmed troubled hearts, planted gospel seeds and changed a few empty lives. And it has kept at least one good teach-er—maybe more—in the classroom.

In 2012 when Mosaic moved to the former space of Grace Community Church with Arlington High liter-ally across the street, it seemed strategic for Ham-mond to reach out to a group of pastors from other evangelistically minded churches nearby to minister to the inner city school. They knew that any return on investment would be purely spiritual.

On their first visit to the school as part of ServeAHS, a volunteer team of pastors delivered roses and chocolate to the female teachers and gift cards to the male teachers.

As the pastors, including Hammond, ventured down a hall delivering gifts, a teacher called out.

“She came running down the hall asking us to stop,” Hammond said.

“Are you the people responsible for these roses?” the teacher asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” came the response.She began to cry.

They say location is everything. Mosaic of Arlington—straight across from Arlington High School—is making the most of it.

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 11

“Yesterday was the most difficult day of my teaching career,” she said. “I told my husband last night that unless God told me otherwise, I was not coming back next year. Because of the rose, I just signed up to return next year.”

That was May 2012. The ministry—which includes Mosaic along with Grace Commu-nity Church, University Baptist, Grace Lu-theran, Park Row Church of Christ, Epworth United Methodist and Prince of Peace, a nondenominational congregation—quickly gained a rapport at the school, even with non-Christian faculty who appreciated the care given them and the students.

While Mosaic’s 14,000-square-foot build-ing hosts most of the ServeAHS activities, the other churches provide volunteer and financial support.

The goal is sharing God’s love through hot cheeseburg-ers, dazzling prom dresses and other practical means as a platform for sharing the gospel message. ServeAHS has also rounded up clothes for a school family hit by a house fire, provided chap-lains upon request for school sports teams, and counseled pregnant teens and fathers-to-be. School clubs like FCA or Glee Club that need meeting space have ac-cess to Mosaic’s space.

Hammond said above all ServeAHS is a “kingdom partnership” with a gospel focus.

“When God gave us the facility, the very first week I was here, I reached out to every church in a quarter-mile radius of the school. That included churches that weren’t Baptist churches,” Hammond noted.

“I was totally OK with that,” he said. “This was going to be a kingdom-minded part-nership. I started asking churches and pas-tors what they were doing with Arlington High School. Very few of them were doing anything, but all of them wanted to do something. I tossed out the idea of a joint partnership. We had seven churches jump on board within a month’s time.”

“It’s been a beautiful thing,” Hammond added. “We’ve said we’re going to agree on the essentials of the gospel, being that Jesus is the only hope for mankind. We’re going to agree that the students, fac-ulty and staff of Arlington High School are worth serving and we’re going to agree on doing this together despite our differences.”

One Tuesday each month during the school year, Mosaic hosts 300-400 high schoolers for a cheeseburger lunch known as “Feed-ing Frenzy” that features a gospel presentation and a card that al-lows for prayer requests or a faith response to the gospel. The meal is a big deal, especially at a school where an estimated 50 percent of kids from working-class families receive free or reduced lunches. The other Tuesdays, the ministry hosts “Alive,” a lunchtime Bible study led by Mosaic’s student pastor, Melvin Canales.

“I believe that our ServeAHS team is here for such a time as this. The relationships and opportunities that God has allowed us to steward is unheard of and we don’t take that lightly,” Canales said. “We get to show Christ’s love for Arlington High through serving teachers practically by sharpening 2,000 pencils to serving 400 cheeseburgers to hungry students. Our prayer is that through every hug, high-five and fist bump, AHS will hear our message of

“We get to show Christ’s love for Arlington High through serving teachers practically by sharpening 2,000 pencils to serving 400 cheeseburgers to hungry students. Our prayer is that through every hug, high-five and fist bump, AHS will hear our message of hope in Christ.”

Students from Arlington High Schoool enter Mosaic on a recent Tuesday for ‘Feeding Frenzy,’ a lunchtime ministry that serves 300 students on a monthly basis.

12 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

hope in Christ.”Hammond added, “Our goal isn’t to con-

vert the high school. Our goal is to love the high school and let the Holy Spirit deter-mine who the Father is going to draw to the Son. We are very serious about that. And because of that, the school has opened up and they’ve trusted us.”

The kindness extended to faculty and staff has been a hit. Periodically, ministry teams go in two-by-two, sometimes bring-ing needed school supplies, sometimes a gift card, sometimes flowers, all to show their appreciation for their work in the class-room. And the teams offer to pray for the teachers and administrators, but nothing is forced. ServeAHS is careful to walk a fine line, Hammond noted.

“That teacher just starts to shine. They know they’re getting some practical gift. And we offer to pray for them on the spot. Most of our teachers take a 20-second prayer. But those who don’t want us to pray publicly will give us a prayer request—like prayer for a son in the military—and we come back to the church and pray for them.”

And each year, the ministry awards a Teacher of the Year and his or her spouse a plaque and a night in an upscale hotel, a steak dinner and movie tickets. When Ham-mond told the school’s principal the idea, she wept.

“She said, ‘No one’s ever taken care of our staff like that,’” Hammond said.

Through it all, from a kickoff breakfast at the start of the year to a year-end cel-ebration, the seeds of the gospel are gently planted and nurtured.

He added, “This is an amazing opportuni-ty. We’re talking about a public high school that has thrown open its doors to seven dif-ferent churches and allowed us to pray for their teachers and staff.”

“At the end of the day, where there are physical needs, people are going to be inter-ested if you can help, no matter where you come from,” Hammond said. “We’re just thankful that we’re coming in the name of Christ.”

By Jerry PierceARLINGTON

t’s around noon and the herd of high school students who will cross Park Row Drive

around 12:20 for cheeseburgers, Fritos and a serving of Christian kindness are sitting in classrooms, by now their growling stomachs

waging war with their attention spans and the best efforts of a teacher.

The monthly food fest across the street is one of the primary ministries of something called ServeAHS, a collab-orative effort of a group of like-minded churches within a quarter-mile radius of Arlington High School, where about 50 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunches.

‘We just want to echo God’s love through these burgers’With full stomachs, Arlington High School students hear saving message at monthly 'Feeding Frenzy'

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 13

Stephen Hammond, pastor of Mosaic of Arlington, which hosts this monthly outreach called “Feeding Frenzy,” summons the volunteers from seven nearby churches including Mosaic to gather round as he en-courages and thanks them.

They have spent the last half hour rolling sheets of white paper across long lunch tables followed by the laying down of napkins, condiment packets and chips in every spot a student might sit. Every few feet, a vol-unteer has scribbled a message in crayon on the table, usually “God loves you!” or “You are welcome here.”

The large space due north of the school looks like it could have been a furniture store or grocery in a past life. In a retail strip at Park Row and Lamar just a few blocks south of the University of Texas at Arlington, it was previously owned by Grace Community Church, which Hammond served as student pastor in the 1990s and early 2000s before starting Mosaic in 2005 with the SBTC.

Grace relocated and Mosaic bought the space in 2012, and the lunch ministry that began in the 1990s under Hammond re-emerged as Feeding Frenzy.

After a few words from Mosaic student pastor Alvin Canales, the volunteers gather by threes and fours, praying for God to move in the students’ hearts. Cana-les will share a gospel message briefly before calling attention to the response card placed at every spot.

“Lord, help us to be authentic representatives of Je-sus Christ, whether it be through a burger or a smile,” a 30-ish looking man prays amid two other men who have formed a prayer circle with their chairs.

Other volunteers sit around tables or stand, arms around each other as they pray.

Moments later, the doors open and high school stu-dents stroll in as volunteers hand them bottled water. As other volunteers keep hamburgers coming from the grill just outside the church building, students sit and mingle while Christian rock music plays at a moderate volume, then things quiet and the lights dim a bit as Canales starts to speak.

A typical crowd is near 350 students, but last week’s normally scheduled Feeding Frenzy was postponed to this week and it seems apparent word was slow get-ting out. A volunteer estimates probably 250 students.

Two projector screens display 1 John 4:19 as Canales reads it aloud: “We love each other because he loved us first.”

Then he begins explaining the passage, eventually settling on social media as an analogy.

“We base our value based on our likes,” Canales says, but there is no amount of likes or followers that can compare to the “ultimate post,” he adds, as a picture of Christ on the cross appears on the projector screens.

“This post wasn’t just for Christians,” Canales notes. “He would have tagged everyone no matter their background.”

As he closes, he mentions the response card, asking students to write in prayer requests, or if they are so moved, to signify that they are placing their faith in Jesus Christ.

“More than anything, we just want to echo God’s love through these burgers,” Canales tells them.

By 1 p.m., most of the students have left. A few linger in conversation with volunteers or with each other.

This was no revival service; the fruit buds slowly, Hammond says. But it’s there.

“Someone asked me what my dream would be,” he says in an interview after the lunch. “I want to make it hard to go to hell from Arlington High School. I don’t want to see anyone have a Christ-less eternity.”

A sign outside Mosaic advertises the ‘Feeding Frenzy’ ministry to students at Arlington High School.

“Someone asked me what my dream would be. I want to make it hard to go to hell from Arlington High School. I don’t want to see anyone have a Christ-less eternity.”

14 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

By Jane Rodgers

ROXAS CITY, Philippines

Disaster relief chaplains Garry and Sherry McDugle of Bois d’Arc Bap-tist Church in Palestine have spent more time in the Philippines this

year than they have at home. The McDugles, who are coordinating the disaster relief efforts of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s work there this spring, went to the Philippines for two weeks in December to do preliminary DR work and assess future needs in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.

They returned to the Philippines on Jan. 11 and will stay until April 6, overseeing SBTC DR efforts and volunteers in conjunction with Baptist Global Response (BGR).

Typhoon Haiyan devastated the region on Nov. 8 and killed nearly 6,000 people while displacing 4.1 million others, the United Na-tions reported.

SBTC DR relief continues to concentrate around the fishing village of Agojo, near Roxas City in the province of Capiz on Panay Island. The people of Agojo were without electricity for three months until it was recently restored, Garry McDugle said.

Relief efforts in Agojo first focused on the community daycare. Many children had been hospitalized from drinking unsafe water and using unsanitary eating utensils. The typhoon destroyed the school’s teaching materials.

“The daycare has been restocked with cray-ons, coloring books and pencils,” said McDugle, who noted that new plastic dishes and a water filtration system was also provided.

“The kids were clapping and yelling when the crayons came out,” he said of the excite-ment at the daycare.

Efforts have also focused on fixing the lo-cal elementary school, including roof repair and painting. Roof repair is being completed

SBTC DR efforts focus on Filipino fishing community

The daycare in fishing village of Agojo was not only devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, but teaching materials were destroyed. One small part of Southern Baptist relief efforts was getting needed supplies, such as coloring books, for the school. PHOTOS BY GARRY MCDUGLE

in phases. “Painting will be done when teams arrive from the U.S; the

local carpenters with whom we have contracted are doing great work,” McDugle said.

DR teams are expected from First Baptist Church of Browns-ville, First Baptist Church of The Colony, and the Georgia Baptist Convention over the next several weeks.

“The school is right next to the ocean so its roofs were badly damaged in the typhoon,” McDugle said.

Some classrooms leak when it rains and children are moved

5Paula, a retired school teacher, lost her modest house in the typhoon, but thanks for volunteers from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, she has a new, very modest shelter from the elements and is no longer sleeping in a church.

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 15

This Filipino couple not only got new shelter but also eternal life through the gospel-infused work of SBTC disaster relief volunteers.

into corners when this happens, added McDugle, who noted that the school is a center of the community and that “educa-tion is very important to the Filipinos.”

“The children are very friendly and are fascinated by us and our light skin and crowd around us when we are at the school. They call us by name now when we come by (Ma’am Sherry and Sir Garry).”

“The principal and teachers are ex-tremely grateful for what we are doing but we make sure that they know this is not from us, but from Jesus who sent us here, and they have already listened to Ronald [Pastor Calina] explain the gospel message in part and why we do what we do in Jesus’ name.”

Volunteer projects include construction of shelters to serve as temporary housing and the development of a public latrine system.

“We are ramping up rapidly,” McDugle said, describing the pace of the work. Repair of the school has entered its second phase; several shelters for the homeless have been built using three local carpenter teams.

Recovery efforts are using reclaimed materials, McDugle said. A local chainsaw operator is milling lumber for the shelters and other repairs, a cost-saving measure that is also benefiting the local economy and utilizing downed trees before they rot.

SBTC volunteers also distributed clothes, shoes and food to the preschool. They con-tinue to hold community meetings to pro-vide information and learn of local needs.

“Please continue to pray for this commu-nity and that disciples of Jesus Christ will be made here for his kingdom,” McDugle said.

The daycare at Agojo has been reconstructed with help from SBTC volunteers, Baptist Global Response and local carpenters.

5Filipino children have been especially receptive to Southern Baptists relief workers, who have not only helped rebuild homes and a school but have also shared the love of Jesus.

“The principal and teachers are extremely grateful for what we are doing but we make sure that they know this is not from us, but from Jesus who sent us here, and they have already listened to Ronald [Pastor Calina] explain the gospel message in part and why we do what we do in Jesus’ name.”

16 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014

By Jane RodgersROXAS CITY, Philippines

“The efforts of the SBTC, IMB and Baptist Global Response are help-ing the neediest of the fishing community of Agojo, not only physi-cally but also spiritually,” said SBTC DR coordinator and chaplain Garry McDugle, who is overseeing SBTC efforts to aid those devas-tated by Typhoon Haiyan last November.

Agojo is located near Roxas City in the province of Capiz on Panay Island. McDugle and his wife Sherry made their second trip to the region on Jan. 11 and will stay till April 6.

“Many are rebuilding their homes; some are in makeshift shelters and still others have nothing,” Garry McDugle said.

DR chaplain Sherry McDugle has found ample opportunities to minister to women in their distress and anxiety. Among these is

Chaplains by any other name Stress relief counselors minister in the Philippines

Paula, a 72-year-old retired elemen-tary school teacher made homeless when the typhoon destroyed the small concrete residence on the beach she had built with her modest pension. Like other Filipinos, she had no insurance.

Paula was among the hundred or so who rode out the storm in the open air Catholic chapel in Agojo. She told Sherry McDugle that she had “prayed the rosary over and over again” until the storm passed. No one in the community was injured, and for weeks after the typhoon, several women spent the night in the chapel because they lacked other shelter.

“After two months, Paula was the only one left there. Some in the community were upset that she was living in the chapel, so we made building her a shelter a priority,” said Sherry McDugle, who noted that Paula received land from a nephew on which the shelter now sits.

Exacerbating the situation, Paula

Sherry McDugle hands out oranges to children in the fishing village of Agojo on the Philippine island of Panay, which was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.PHOTOS BY GARRY MCDUGLE

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 TEXANONLINE.NET 17

apparently suffers moments of disorientation.

“She just gets off-track a little sometimes when you talk with her,” Sherry McDugle said.

A cultural divide exists that SBTC workers are working to overcome.

“Our ministry here is quite odd to some,” Sherry McDugle said. “Most of the population is Catholic and they do not understand that our work is for the glory of Jesus Christ and not simply ‘good works’ which will ‘get us into heaven.’ This gives us the opportunity to share the gos-pel in a way that they have never heard before.”

“We have let ourselves be known as stress relief counselors, because that is the word used by the people here for chaplains. It is something they understand,” she explained.

God’s work is evident in the example of Ryan, a young Filipino teacher and IT worker employed at AMA College in Roxas City. Ryan also works for the local Southern Baptist church pastored by Ronald Calina, which meets at the college on Sundays. Quiet, meek, hard-working, easy-going Ryan is a Bap-tist believer, as are his two sisters. Ryan’s mother died a few years ago. His father is Catholic.

“Being baptized in another belief system here means that you will probably be excommunicated from your family and friends of the Catholic faith,” Sherry McDugle said. “It is hard for young Chris-tians here.”

Ryan’s father works constantly, so Ryan as the oldest child cares for his younger sisters, as is the Filipino custom. In this case, the family connections surprised even the McDugles.

Another young Christian worker at AMA College, Ladymie, is “a fireball for Jesus,” said Sherry

McDugle, who had been praying for boldness for Ladymie. The young woman shared with Sherry her concerns for a Christian friend, Rizamie, 16, and her younger sister, Mickmie, 8, also a believer. Rizamie had fallen ill and stopped coming to church because of the magic her father had paid to have performed on her in order to cure her.

“After Rizamie had drunk the po-tions and let the spiritualist per-form his magic, her problems with her faith began,” Sherry McDugle said. “She kept hearing voices when she went to church and the voices told her that church was a bad place to be.”

Ladymie requested prayer for Rizamie, who grew increasingly ill from a potassium deficiency.

“We held hands and together we prayed for Rizamie, whom I had never met,” Sherry McDugle ex-plained.

The next day, the McDugles learned that Rizamie and Mickmie were none other than the younger sisters of Ryan. Rizamie had been hospitalized, so the McDugles

accompanied a group including Ronald Calina and his family and Ladymie, to the hospital.

A poignant sight awaited.Rizamie, looking far younger

than her 16 years, was curled up in a tiny ball, IV fluids dripping into her thin arm. Mickmie sat beside her brother, Ryan, as he napped on a hard bench. The small room was crowded with another patient and family. Despite the lack of privacy, the McDugles talked and prayed with Ryan and his sisters.

“I was asked if I would lay hands on Rizamie as we all gathered and prayed for her, and after we prayed, she began to smile.”

The next Sunday, Rizamie re-turned to church, smiling and healthy.

“Jesus is alive, not made of stone like the statues here. Jesus is faith-ful to his Word even today, and these Filipino believers know they do not have to pray over rosary beads for Jesus to hear them and an-swer prayers,” Sherry McDugle said.

—Garry McDugle contributed to this story

Begin planning now, using resources available online beginning in February, how your church will emphasize the importance of supporting the Cooperative Program.

In addition to the resources offered at whatisCP.com, churches can request a convention ministry staff member to preach at their church April 6.

TOGETHER – REACHING TEXAS, TOUCHING THE WORLD

18 TEXANONLINE.NET FEBRUARY 28, 2014