During her time at Southern Seminary, Chandi Plummer participated in women’s ministry, music ministry, overseas missions, college ministry and cross-cultural ministry. Of all her ministry opportunities, however, Plummer says that being a wife and mother allows her to have the greatest impact for the kingdom of God.

Plummer enrolled at Southern in the fall of 1997 planning to devote her life to foreign missions. But after marrying her husband, Rob, in 1999 and having her first child, Sarah Beth, earlier this year, Plummer discovered the powerful ministry that comes with raising a family.

“‘Mom’ is the best role because it brings a new thing into my life,” she said. “I think you can never overestimate the impact you will have on the life of your husband and the life of your children. That’s not to boost myself up as being the most important thing in their lives ... but I think that Christ called us to the role of a servant. And I consider there to be no greater investment of my time and my life than in the lives of my husband and my child.”

Plummer’s spiritual journey began when she was a teenager living in Chattanooga, Tenn. Though she grew up attending church, Christianity seemed “boring and irrelevant” to Plummer. So she developed her own New Age spirituality.

“I enjoyed having my own New Age spirituality, that self-promoting and idolatrous kind of worship. You look at yourself and think you’re great and maybe God’s in there. And I tried to find meaning in life. But the one thing I could never find was peace that would last. I could have peace for a while as I was meditating, but it would be gone after I stopped,” she said.

As she searched for meaning in life, Plummer went through a phase of rebellion and self-centeredness, she said. But her Christian upbringing always seemed to stick in her mind. At 13, Plummer remembers thinking, “if this is really true, if Jesus is God, I can’t live any way I want.”

It was not until high school though, that Plummer truly committed her life to Jesus Christ. An art teacher gave her a Gideon’s New Testament, which she had trouble understanding. But then Plummer read the sinner’s prayer printed in the back cover.

“I read it thinking, ‘Whoa! That is so serious. I don’t know if I’m there.’ I kind of felt like I was haunted by it,” she said. “... I don’t think I became a Christian then, but I do think it was evidence that God was working in my heart and drawing me to Himself. Then some months later I really finally ... fell to my knees and I said, ‘I’ve got to have peace. I believe and I want to do what You want.’”

During the high school and college years following her commitment to Christ, Plummer attended Southern Baptist churches and began to sense God calling her to foreign missions. So in pursuit of a career in foreign missions, Plummer enrolled at Southern Seminary to work toward a master of arts in missiology and a master of music.

“I had been overseas in North Africa, and I really wanted to return. At that time I was hopeful that I would marry, but I couldn’t make my plans in life based upon that. I had no assurance that I would marry, so I was trying to be willing before the Lord [to do] what He would have me do as a single woman. And my hope was to complete a degree here that would prepare me to be a missionary overseas,” she said.

Plummer’s plans began to shift, however, when she met her future husband Rob, who was working toward his Ph.D. at Southern.

At first, Rob had some difficulty approaching her, Plummer said. But then he came up with a plan. When Rob learned that Chandi spoke French, he started a seminary French club and invited her to attend. She ventured to the first meeting expecting a large group but quickly discovered that the two of them were the club’s only members.

“He started the French group, but let’s just say it wasn’t with completely pure motives,” Plummer said. “... Now he says he really kind of always wanted to have a French club, but you can imagine how surprised I was when at first it was just him and me speaking French. But it was a great way to get to know each other because I felt very comfortable speaking French with him. ... His side is that he did honestly want to start it before he met me, but he just had a little bit more motivation once he met me.”

The couple started dating and then married in June of 1999.

After Rob and Chandi completed their seminary degrees, the Plummers pursued international missions opportunities and were just one month away from being appointed missionaries by the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. Then plans changed when Southern Seminary hired Rob as assistant professor of New Testament interpretation.

“My first reaction, to be honest, was that this was a temptation and it was not what we were supposed to do,” she said. “And I really had a hard time. I think you have to always be willing to go, but it’s another thing to be ready to go. And I was so to a place where I was feeling ready. You can’t just quench that off. It’s hard to think about other things at the same time. ... We felt torn and confused about what the Lord’s will was for us.”

Eventually, Plummer accepted the decision to remain in Louisville, she said, and God provided her with an abundance of fulfilling ministry opportunities. In 2001 Plummer was named women’s student life coordinator at Boyce College. She also taught music at Boyce and at the Louisville Academy of Music in addition to working with Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Louisville.

When the Plummers’ daughter, Sarah Beth, was born in February 2003, Chandi scaled back her work in women’s ministry and music in order to take care of her family.

As the wife of a seminary professor, Plummer said she has learned valuable lessons about how ministers’ wives can contribute effectively to their husbands’ ministries.

“First of all you need to have your own spiritual house in order because when my private spiritual life is not in order, I’m not a good wife. It’s hard enough to be a good wife even when my spiritual house is in order,” Plummer said.

“Secondly, I think that we need to learn to say no. We need to learn that there will always be more needs and more programs. I can think of several ministry things that I would really like to do, but I choose not to because I refuse to live a crazy life where my husband and I don’t have time for each other.”

Most importantly, however, Plummer has learned that couples in ministry must make an effort to make each other feel loved, she said. In the midst of a hectic ministry schedule, the Plummers communicate their love for each other in individualized ways, Plummer said.

“Try everyday to find a way to make your spouse feel loved,” she said. “And that doesn’t mean how you show love. That means what makes them feel loved. My husband feels loved when I clean the floor for him. I feel loved when he tells me or when he plays a game of cards with me.”

Someday Plummer may serve on a foreign mission field, she said. But for now she feels blessed to live in Louisville and serve her family full-time.

Plummer calls her current ministry opportunities “the greatest privilege. I feel so undeserving to have the husband and the daughter that I have. I guess that’s how God’s grace is.”

One of the leading young theologians in the Southern Baptist Convention, Russell Moore, has been named a contributing editor of the national magazine Touchstone. Moore is the dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and the founding director of the seminary’s Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement.

A monthly magazine published in Chicago, Touchstone describes itself as “a journal of mere Christianity.” Albert Mohler, the president of SBTS, has called Touchstone “one of the most consistently thoughtful periodicals in the Christian world and a feast for the thinking Christian.” He has also spoken at one of the magazine’s conferences.

Moore’s first article for the magazine was a report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s relation with the World Baptist Alliance, which appeared in the June issue. His second, an article on the importance of children’s stories, appeared in the July/August issue. Contributing Editors are asked to write at least three articles a year for the magazine.

Touchstone “draws together the best soldiers from all the allied armies to engage the common challenges and face the common enemies,” says the editor of Touchstone, David Mills. “I think it is the most pro-life of the general religious magazines, for example, judging from the percentage of pages we dedicate to the subject. In essence, we try to present the riches of the Christian heritage so that readers see the good news in Christ as giving the answer to the ‘culture wars’ controversies of the day.”

Recent issues have addressed homosexuality, Islam, biotechnology, the Christian understanding of war, what it means to be male and female, evolution, the multicultural challenge to Christian missions, and the status of the Democratic Party as “the godless party.” Darwinism and the Intelligent Design movement will be the subject of a special July/August issue.

Some of Moore’s colleagues on the editorial board include Robert George, McCormack Professor at Princeton University, Gillis Harp of Grove City College, Evangelical theologians Peter Toon and Peter Leithart, and Phillip E. Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial.

The magazine’s website address is www.touchstonemag.com.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Presumed Democratic nominee John Kerry chose John Edwards as his running mate July 6 in hopes of balancing the ticket with a senator that some view as a southern moderate.

But on the social, hot-button issues -- abortion and homosexual rights -- Kerry and Edwards are virtually identical.

Both men oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment, support legalizing Vermont-style civil unions and favor eliminating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In addition, both voted against the partial-birth abortion ban and have touted their pro-choice records.

After Kerry’s announcement homosexual activist groups and abortion rights groups praised the selection of Edwards, saying that the North Carolina senator has been a leader for both pro-choice and “GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) issues.

“Senator Edwards is steadfast in his support of our community,” Cheryl Jacques, president of the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “From co-sponsorship of key legislation to opposing anti-GLBT adoption policies, Sen. Edwards has demonstrated leadership on our issues in Congress.”

Dave Noble, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, also praised the Democratic ticket.

“The selection of Senator Edwards solidifies the most pro-gay, pro-family ticket in the history of presidential politics,” Noble said in a statement. “Senator Edwards has loudly demonstrated his support for our community and now our community is ready to stand with him. The Kerry/Edwards ticket greatly contrasts with a Republican ticket that insists on running a campaign that demeans our families and smears our community.”

In 2001-2002, Kerry and Edwards each received a 100-percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign on votes of importance to the homosexual community.

Similarly, both men also have received a 100-percent rating on abortion votes from NARAL Pro-Choice America (formerly the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League).

“During his nearly six years in the U.S. Senate, John Edwards -- like John Kerry -- has consistently voted according to the dictates of hard-line pro-abortion advocacy groups, and contrary to the policies favored by most Americans,” Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said in a statement.

Among the ways that Kerry and Edwards agree:

-- Both oppose the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex “marriage” and gives states the option of doing the same. While Edwards was not in the Senate when DOMA passed in 1996, he said in a debate Feb. 26 that he would have voted against it.

-- Both believe the federal government should recognize the same-sex “marriages” of individual states such as Massachusetts. Right now, the Defense of Marriage Act prevents that from happening.

“If California chooses to recognize same-sex marriage, that’s fine,” Edwards said on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in February. “If Massachusetts chooses to recognize it, then the federal government ought to honor that.”

-- Both oppose Bush’s call for passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment. In February Edwards released a statement saying he opposes same-sex “marriage,” but adding that individual states should be allowed to legalize it if they wish.

“I ... oppose President Bush’s attempt to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage,” Edwards said. “Washington has no business playing politics with this issue. Marriage is left to the states today, and should remain with the states.”

Bush argues that without a constitutional amendment, the federal courts will legalize same-sex “marriage”.

-- During the campaign both have touted their pro-choice records.

Edwards released a statement in January, celebrating the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

“You and I know that since the Supreme Court handed down this landmark decision, forces have been hard at work trying to overturn it,” he said. “When it comes to a woman’s right to choose, there is no choice: I support it and will protect it one hundred percent.

“The president and the Republican Leadership have one goal in mind-to over turn Roe v Wade-and we have a million reasons and ways to stop them and we will start by taking back the White House in 2004.”

Young men and women should not delay marriage until it is convenient for them to take a spouse but should actively seek the mate God has chosen for them, R. Albert Mohler Jr. told a national radio audience.

In the 21st century, men in the United States are marrying for the first time at an average age of 28 and women at 26.4, said Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. These numbers represent a profound change from 1900 where boys reached sexual maturity by 15 and married by 20 and girls matured sexually by 14 and married between 18 and 20, Mohler said.

Mohler’s taped comments were broadcast by FamilyLife Today on June 22. They were part of a message Mohler delivered at the 2004 New Attitude Conference for singles held last January in Louisville. FamilyLife Today is a daily radio program that features co-hosts Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine and is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

While both men and women are guilty of the “sin of waiting,” Mohler singled out men as the prime offenders.

“The sin that I think besets this generation...is the sin of delaying marriage as a lifestyle option among those who intend some day to get married but they just haven’t yet,” Mohler said. “This is a problem shared by men and women. But it is a problem primarily of men. We have established a boy culture in which boys are not growing up into men.

“Guys, the reality is that God has given us a responsibility to lead, to take responsibility as a man, to be the man in every way before God that we are called to be...It means taking the leadership to find a godly wife and to marry her and to be faithful to her in every way and to grow up to be a man who is defined as husband, and by God’s grace we pray eventually, as father.”

In his comments following Mohler’s message, Rainey added that men have become passive and women often reject God’s design for their lives. By charting their own course outside the bounds of Scripture, Christian men and women have remained in spiritual diapers, Rainey said.

“There has been some passivity among men and there has also been some women who have just decided to go off and live their lives and decide they are going to reject God’s design for who they are as women,” Rainey said.

“I think today the church probably has the largest spiritual nursery that it has ever had in its history. And a spiritual nursery is believers who need to grow up.”

Mohler pointed out that Christian women often postpone nuptials until after they have become well established in a career. However, Mohler said this notion is unbiblical because the workplace is not to be their ultimate priority.

Said Mohler, “What is the ultimate priority God has called us to? In heaven, is the crucible of our saint-making going to have been done through our jobs? I don’t think so. The Scripture makes clear that it will be done largely through our marriages.”

Delaying marriage until the late 20s or beyond often allows a person to develop unhealthy lifestyle patterns that become difficult to break once he or she is married, Mohler said.

“The corruption of delay, the injury that comes by delay, is multiple,” Mohler said.

“If we claim for ourselves, either as men or as women, the right to define ourselves as adults who will get married when we get to it, we’re defining ourselves in pretty specific terms. Let me be clear: The longer you wait to get married, the more habits and lifestyle patterns you will have that will be difficult to handle in marriage.”

Young men ought to be actively seeking the wife God has chosen for them, Mohler said. This does not mean a man should marry as a young teenager but involves actively seeking God’s will, which is marriage for most men, Mohler said.

“You’ve got to be urgently seeking as much as you would seek what God would have you do vocationally, as much as you would seek what God would have you to do in terms of your mission for life,” Mohler said.

“Understand that you must be looking, guys, for that wife of your youth in whom you can find such fulfillment when the ‘we’ is created and the one flesh relationship is given and you grow up together in the faith and in the Lord and in your adulthood.”

In selecting a spouse, singles often become paralyzed by the idea of finding God’s will for their lives, Mohler said. Discovering God’s will is not an endless shell game, but is simply being conformed to the image of Christ and living in accord with the Scriptures, Mohler said.

“Sometimes we have this idea that God’s will is this hidden secret treasure that we’ve just got to find without understanding that according to Rom. 12:1-2 a living sacrifice, living out daily holiness is going to prove the will of God,” Mohler said.

“It’s not hidden from us. It’s there for us to find day by day as we follow God’s will, obey His laws, [and] live by His grace.”

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)--Southern Baptists declined to consider a new name for the denomination, pulled out of the Baptist World Alliance, rejected a much-publicized education proposal and heard a speech from President Bush during their June 15-16 annual meeting.

The meeting was the 25th anniversary of the 1979 Houston meeting, which launched a movement now known as the conservative resurgence that returned the convention to its biblical, historical roots. At that convention Adrian Rogers was elected president, launching a still unbroken string of conservative presidents.

A “Conservative Resurgence Reunion” was held during the convention.

“The heroes of the conservative resurgence are not those people whose names you know, but those who have come sacrificially to the conventions and voted their convictions and said the Word of God is going to be glorified among Southern Baptists,” said retired Texas judge, Paul Pressler, a leader in the resurgence.

President Bush addressed messengers via satellite from the White House, reaffirming his pro-life stance and his support for a Federal Marriage Amendment. Touching on the embryonic stem cell debate without mentioning it by name, Bush said that life “is a creation of God, not a commodity to be exploited by man.” Bush received one of the loudest ovations for his statement of support for a Federal Marriage Amendment.

“The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith,” he said. “And government, by strengthening and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all.”

Messengers elected a new president -- Florida pastor Bobby Welch -- and also tackled a handful of controversial issues.

They passed a resolution supporting a Federal Marriage Amendment but declined to take sides in an education controversy that gained steam leading up to the convention. A resolution that called on Southern Baptists to pull their children out of public schools did not make it out of the Resolutions Committee, and messengers subsequently defeated a related amendment.

Registration totaled 8,600 messengers, including 4,709 who registered online. Last year, some 3,000 messengers registered online.

In other noteworthy matters:

-- Messengers defeated a motion that would have formed a committee to study changing the SBC’s name. The motion failed 55.4 percent (1,731 votes) to 44.6 percent (1,391 votes).

-- By a show of ballots messengers overwhelmingly voted to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance. Theological issues formed the heart of the concerns cited by a BWA study committee.

-- By a vote of 63.5 percent (3,579 votes) to 36.5 percent (2,059 votes), messengers passed a recommendation requesting that New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary amend its charter to “name the Southern Baptist Convention as the sole member ... thereby assuring the messengers’ historic rights and giving the Convention legal immunity.” Ten other entities have adopted sole membership, but New Orleans officials have cited Baptist polity concerns and the uniqueness of Louisiana law in their desire to adopt a different model.

-- Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church Daytona Beach, Fla., was elected president by a vote of 79.7 percent (3,997 votes) to 20.3 percent (1,020) over Al Jarrell, pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Merry Hill, N.C. Welch, co-creator of the popular FAITH evangelism strategy, announced that he would embark on a 50-state, 25-day bus tour in August and September to encourage a convention-wide effort to win 1 million people to Christ.

-- Gerald Davidson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Arnold, Mo., was elected first vice president, while David Young Hwan Gill, pastor of Concord Korean Baptist Church in Martinez, Calif., was elected second vice president.

John L. Yeats, editor of the Baptist Messenger, was elected to another term as recording secretary. James H. (Jim) Wells, director of missions for the Tri-County Baptist Association in Ozark, Mo., was re-elected registration secretary.

-- Messengers approved Ken Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., to preach next year’s convention sermon.

-- International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin said that SBC missionaries and their Baptist partners reported a record 510,000 baptisms and a near doubling of the number of new churches in 2003.

Carrie McDonnall, the lone survivor of an attack that killed her husband and three other International Mission Board workers in Iraq, addressed messengers and received a standing ovation.

“My Jesus bears scars on His body from the violence He endured,” she said. “How could we sit back and say, ‘I can’t go because it’s too hard’? -- especially when the world is saying, ‘You just can’t do that.’

“Trust me -- for my Jesus, it’s the least I could do.”

-- North American Mission Board President Robert E. (Bob) Reccord told how NAMB’s Strategic Focus Cities initiative has resulted in 400 new churches in New York, Miami and Philadelphia. He introduced 61 newly appointed missionaries who carried flags from all the U.S. states and territories and Canadian provinces.

“They have left behind the comfort and convenience of home and family to share the life-changing message of the Gospel with a lost continent,” Reccord said.

-- Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, encouraged church leaders to get their members registered to vote -- an action that does not threaten a church’s tax-exempt status. ERLC has begun an initiative, iVoteValues.com, intended to get people to consider their biblical beliefs when voting.

“It is a disgrace that 33 percent of the members of an average Southern Baptist church are not even registered to vote,” Land said. “It is every Christian’s responsibility to be registered to vote, to be an informed voter and to vote their values, beliefs and convictions.”

-- LifeWay Christian Resources President James T. Draper Jr. expressed concern that the denomination has seen a decline in baptisms for the fourth consecutive year.

“[That] reflects a denomination that’s lost its focus,” he said. “It is hard for someone to argue to the contrary when more than 10,000 Southern Baptist churches did not baptize a single person last year. Although we’ve seen tremendous strides in overseas baptisms, we are not keeping up with the population growth at home or around the world.”

-- Evangelist Franklin Graham told messengers to stand firm on the exclusivity of the Gospel and to share Christ with a lost world -- even though it may be politically incorrect.

“I don’t want to go around kicking people in the shins or stomping on their toes, but I want to tell them the truth, because it’s either heaven or it’s hell, and this is serious business,” he said. “... The only chance a person may have of heaven is going to be because of you.”

Before Graham spoke, Bill Gaither and the Gaither Vocal Band performed.

-- Messengers approved recommendations to change the Annuity Board’s name to GuideStone Financial Recourses of the Southern Baptist Convention and to expand its services to evangelical ministry organizations outside the SBC.

“This year will be a milestone year for the board with the name change and new opportunities, but we have other good news to share,” Annuity Board President O.S. Hawkins said. “Following the worst three-year cycle since 1941, the financial markets made a significant rebound in 2003 and for the first time in our history our asset base grew by $1 billion dollars during a calendar year, reaching $7.3 billion by Dec. 31, 2003.”

-- Outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President Jack Graham used his address to encourage Southern Baptists to speak up on social issues, such as same-sex “marriage.”

“I simply ask you a question: As Southern Baptists and other evangelical Christians, if we don’t stand up, wise up and speak up on these issues, who will be left to deal with the issues of our times?” he asked. “If not us, Southern Baptists, then who? If not now, when?”

-- Like Jack Graham, Alabama pastor Steve Gaines told messengers that Southern Baptists must be salt and light in the culture. Gaines, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gardendale, Ala., said that it must begin with earnest prayer and Bible-based preaching.

“I don’t know about you, but I think America is fed up with drama skits, coffee talks, interpretive dances, operatic cantatas, operatic Frankenstein music [and] pop psychology sessions from the pulpit,” Gaines said. “America is looking for some prophets of God. That’s what they want.”

-- The complete version of the Holman Christian Standard Bible, published by Broadman & Holman, was sold at a Southern Baptist Convention for the first time.

-- More than 1,500 professions of faith were recorded as part of Crossover Indiana, an annual outreach effort designed to take the Gospel to the city and the state hosting the convention.

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)--R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, received the highest honor given by the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Network at its annual meeting in Indianapolis.

Mohler received the Dr. Emmanuel L. McCall Denominational Servant Award June 13, with the presence of McCall adding to the occasion. McCall, through his work at the Home Mission Board (precursor to the North American Mission Board) was one of the pioneers in the movement to bring African Americans into the SBC.

Sid Smith, the network’s executive director, said Mohler received the award for four reasons.

“Because Dr. Mohler has embodied the commitment to train Baptist ministers ..., because he has embraced black church studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, because he has embraced intercultural studies at the seminary, and because he has put in place Lawrence Smith as vice president of communications, Dr. Mohler, we present you this award,” said Smith, director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s African American ministries division.

The words on the plaque presented to Mohler said he received the award for “role modeling the highest characteristics of the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Servants Network embodied in the life and ministry of Emmanuel L. McCall.”

“What a humbling experience to receive this award,” Mohler said. “I accept it on behalf of the seminary, which is working hard at its commitment to fulfill its role in building the Kingdom of God throughout all tribes and peoples and nations.

“The Lord God our Creator thrills in the differences among the nations,” Mohler said in brief remarks to the 75 people attending the banquet meeting at Gabriel Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis. “This is the way He made us, for His purposes.... We rejoice in the unity of all the saints across the world testifying before the Lord.”

The network’s annual meeting also included various reports, other awards and the presidential address by Rosevelt Morris, director of prayer and spiritual awakening with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

Morris spoke from Revelation 3 about defining moments, and about the danger of losing your first love, during his presidential address.

“There must be a passion for Christ in denominational servants,” Morris preached. “We’re becoming more and more involved with religious activity. We do the leading, the training and the hoping, but if God isn’t in the business, it ain’t happening,” he said, speaking in the vernacular to make his point.

“God addresses religious activity by saying, ‘I know your deeds,’” Morris continued. “We’re not working for ourselves.... In the midst of doing good things, don’t let the main thing slip away. The key to having a defining love with Jesus is to stay in touch with Jesus the way you did at first.”

“We are progressing; the momentum is building,” Smith said during his executive director’s report. “We need more members and more involvement, but things are coming along well in the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Servants Network.”

About 80 of the 200 or more African Americans employed by associational, state and national entities of the SBC are current dues-paying members of the network, which was established in 1997 to mentor and encourage denominational servants.

Hall of Servanthood awards were given to Tom Kelly of California, Jim Culp of Texas and Willie McPherson of Illinois. Victor Ketchens of New York received the Founders Award.

Kelly, former director of the California Southern Baptist Convention’s African American ministries department, is now in what he calls his “fourth career” as African American volunteer mobilization coordinator for the North American Mission Board.

“Ephesians 6:7: Serve the Lord wholeheartedly. That has sort of been the driving force of my ministry,” Kelly said in accepting the award.

Roy Cotton, DFW Metroplex regional consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ church-starting center, accepted the award for Jim Culp, who for 19 years was director of African American ministries for state convention.

James Herron, new work strategist for the Illinois Baptist State Association, accepted the award for Willie McPherson, longtime leader in African American ministries in Florida, who now is a consultant in Illinois.

Ketchens, a founding member of the denominational servants network and now a pastor in the Bronx, New York, is the retired director of African American church planting for the New York Baptist Convention.

“As you go forward, do not leave anyone behind,” Ketchens said, cautioning network members to continue their encouragement of each other.

Roy Cotton, one of the co-chairs for the network’s African American Southern Baptist History Project, spoke of the 21 conference calls involved in the development of the second volume of the project’s journal, released at a June 12 presentation of historical papers. The journal is available through Sid Smith’s office.

“We have already begun work on the 2005 project,” Cotton said.

Milton Boyd, African American church development department director for the Florida Baptist Convention, reported on updates to the network’s website: http://members.aol.com/revmwboyd/BlackSBCServant.html.

The network’s program has been matrixed into three main components, reported Wayne D. Faison, consultant for African American and ethnic evangelism and church planting strategist for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. The three areas -- all with new leaders --- are orientation, growth and development, and ongoing communication.

The network’s officers for 2004-05 include Rosevelt Morris, president; Dennis Mitchell, director of the church planting team at NAMB, vice president; Ken Ellis, chaplaincy evangelism associate at NAMB, secretary; and Maxie Miller, coordinator for African American church planting for the Florida Baptist Convention, treasurer.

Southern Baptist seminaries face the great challenge of producing faithful ministers in a faithless world, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said in a report to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis June 16.

In an age of decreasing adherence to Scriptural truth, seminaries must answer the question, “When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on earth?” said Mohler, who serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

“We are living in a time when so many in the church are beginning to sense that there is a problem not only out there the world, but also in the church,” he said. “... In this critical turning time in human history it is our responsibility to make certain that we do everything in our power demonstrate faith in the face of a faithless world.”

Mohler listed five imperatives to which Southern Baptists must adhere if they are to demonstrate biblical faith in the world.

First, Southern Baptists must maintain a bold vision of biblical truth.

“There is no way we will be able to demonstrate faith in face of faithlessness if we do not recover biblical truth,” he said. “This means that we must as people and as churches ... be bold all the time, evermore, courageously and convictionally before the world about what it is we believe.”

Second, Southern Baptists must renew their commitment to teach biblical truth in churches and seminaries.

Mohler emphasized that the Christian teaching ministry must always be grounded in the Word of God.

“If there is any one educational principle that Southern Baptists must embrace at this convention and keep before ourselves it is the absolute non-negotiable, undilutable responsibility of Christian parents and Christian churches to teach Christian truth,” Mohler said. “If we do not do it, it will not be done.”

Third, Southern Baptists must experience a bold recovery of expository preaching.

Preachers must not merely use biblical texts as jumping-off points for their sermons, Mohler said. Instead, they must “confront an age of biblical ignorance and biblical apathy with the vibrant living and active two-edged sword of the inerrant, infallible Word of God.”

Fourth, Southern Baptists must experience a reenergized embrace of evangelism and missions.

Christians should take joy in preaching the Gospel to the furthest regions of the earth, Mohler said.

“We set before ourselves that vision set before us in the book of Revelation of that throng before the throne in eternity made up of men and women from every tongue and every tribe and every people and every nation. For the cause of the glory of God we will never retreat. We will always advance,” he said.

Fifth, Southern Baptists must raise up a new generation of leaders in the faith.

Mohler pointed to the six Southern Baptist seminaries as making important advancements in the area of leadership development. He identified the more than 3,500 students at Southern as examples of ministers contending for the Gospel in a hostile culture.

“As you come to the campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., you will find thousands of young people whom God has called to the ministry, to missions, to evangelism,” he said. “This generation is a generation marked by boldness and marked by courage.”

Mohler concluded, “The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary exists ultimately on your behalf ... in order that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ may have in the next generation an even more faithful ministry.

“The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary exists for the truth, for the church, for the world, and for the glory of God.”

More than 650 students, faculty and alumni attended Southern’s annual seminary luncheon Wednesday afternoon. Mohler reminded attendees that seminary students, faculty members and graduates possess a unique opportunity to be light during desperately dark days.

“What generation of Christians has had the privilege of addressing the challenges of our day?” Mohler said.

“What generation of Christians has had to take such a bold stand as to say, ‘this is what marriage is?’ What generation of Christians has had the opportunity to say, ‘when the world has forgotten what life is all about and isn’t even sure when it begins, we know the origin of the miracle of life and we know the Giver of life?’

“What generation—against a secular tide—has had the opportunity to say, ‘this is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal and unchanging Gospel, the only Gospel that saves, it is the Gospel that saves?’ It is a great time for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It is a great time for the Southern Baptist Convention. It is a great time for your church. It is a great time for this generation.”

Baptist associations must strive for greatness in the area of evangelism, said Thom Rainer, dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Rainer made his remarks during the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Directors of Missions in Indianapolis June 14.

Instead of being satisfied with mediocrity, associations must strive to reach lost men and women with unceasing passion, he said.

Citing statistics compiled by the Rainer Group church consulting firm, Rainer said that it currently takes 85 Southern Baptists to reach one lost person for Christ. In addition, 48 percent of Southern Baptist pastors have not shared Christ with anyone in the past three months, he said.

“When half of our pastors ... do not have the burning to reach people for Christ, we are satisfied with mediocrity and we have not have not ascended to the greatness that God has called us to,” Rainer said.

To remedy this mediocrity in evangelism DOM’s must develop accountability relationships with pastors and encourage them to share the message of Christ regularly, he said. DOM’s can also promote evangelism by helping churches understand the importance of inviting lost people to church, Rainer said.

Ultimately, however, building evangelistic associations requires DOM’s to model personal evangelism for pastors and churches, he said.

“You must model (evangelism) for the leaders of the churches,” Rainer said. “You cannot program it or plan it until you have modeled it. And if you are not passionate about it, then ask God to give you a passion for lost people.”

Is it important for a Christian to study biblical doctrine or should all Christians merely love Jesus and leave theology to trained theologians?

Ask David Bell, who may be Exhibit A in the case for the doctrinal training of all Christians.

Bell is a doctoral student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but less than a decade ago he was a pastor in the Church of God International, which branched off from the Worldwide Church of God in 1978.

Founded by Herbert Armstrong in 1934, the Worldwide Church of God rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, denied the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead, and held that redeemed men will eventually join the “god class.”

While the Worldwide Church of God has undergone a dramatic doctrinal shift over the past decade, the majority of the Armstrongist movement, now composed of many smaller churches, continues with essentially the same doctrines espoused by Herbert Armstrong. These churches also hold unorthodox views on the new birth, the person of Christ, and a number of other doctrines central to historic Christianity.

Bell, a native of Owensboro, Ky. was saved at age 10. During his college years at Western Kentucky University in the early-mid 1990s, he began to hunger for biblical doctrine.

At WKU, his roommate introduced him to the Church of God International, an Armstrongist group founded by the late Garner Ted Armstrong, son of Herbert W. Armstrong.

By 1995 Bell became one of the youngest ministers the Church of God International had ever ordained.

Heavily influenced by Garner Ted’s charismatic personality and teaching, Bell planted a Church of God International congregation in his hometown. He regularly traveled to denominational headquarters in Tyler, Texas for theological training and once preached alongside Garner Ted Armstrong at a large gathering of Amstrongists.

Bell said he was susceptible to Armstrongism because the church in which he was raised did not teach much doctrine.

“I had a hunger for doctrine and for the Word of God but those needs weren’t being met,” Bell said.

“Garner Ted Armstrong is an extremely doctrinal, persuasive minister. He knew the Scriptures as well as anyone I have ever encountered. He may have misunderstood them at certain key points, but he knew them well. So, when I started listening to his sermons, I was hearing doctrinal meat.”

Once he began wrestling with Armstrongist teaching, Bell met with one of his former pastors to solicit his assistance in working through the issues biblically. His questions were anything but well-received.

“Instead of sitting down with me and helping me work through some of those issues, he just got angry, slammed his Bible shut and stormed off,” Bell said. “I thought, ‘well, if he can’t answer those questions and Garner Ted can, there must be something to this (Armstrongism).”

Doctrinal wall comes tumbling down

For six years Bell remained a committed Armstrongist. But he began to question some of its major doctrines—doctrines that differed radically from those held by evangelicals.

As it turned out, this was the beginning of a slow process that would eventually lead him out of the aberrant religious body.

“Armstrongists have a ‘loose brick’ approach to theology,” Bell said. “They look at doctrine as a complete whole or as nothing at all. That’s why they refer to their system of belief as ‘The Truth.’ If any one doctrine falls then the whole system falls.”

Bell had been a member of the movement for three years when he began to question its teachings. In 1995 he founded the Owensboro church but soon began to examine central Armstrongist teachings under the microscope of Scripture and history.

For Bell, the first brick to crumble from the wall of Armstrongism was the sect’s doctrine of “Anglo-Israelism.” Influenced by a book called “Judah’s Scepter and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen, Herbert Armstrong taught that Anglo-Saxons are direct descendants of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Armstrongists see this teaching as the key that unlocks a true understanding of biblical prophecy.

Bell read “Judah’s Scepter” and was incredulous at his findings.

“When I got finished with it, I thought, ‘There are some interesting ideas here, but this is historical fantasy,’” he said. “...I began to research it in more depth and quickly tossed it out.”

Though spooked by this revelation, Bell nevertheless dismissed the doctrinal aberration as a peculiarity of Herbert Armstrong’s system of belief. But much of the weight of Armstrongist dogma rests on the concept of Anglo-Israelism. With this foundational doctrine gone, it was only a matter of time until other loose bricks gave way.

The next doctrine to tumble down was the Trinity. Armstrongists are strongly anti-Trinitarian and construct a “straw man”—a shallow misrepresentation of the doctrine— when addressing the historic Christian view of God in three persons.

The final Armstrongist brick that Bell dislodged was the group’s teaching on God. Armstrongists believe that man eventually accomplishes ‘god-status,’ a qualitative equality with God.

It didn’t take a seminary education for Bell to realize that was blasphemy.

“When I was first getting into the Armstrongist movement, I read a booklet that said the resurrection (of the dead at Christ’s return) would be the most momentous event in the history of the world because it would be the birth of gods,” Bell said. “When I read that, I said... ‘that’s blasphemy.”

Still, Bell decided to ignore the booklet because Garner Ted Armstrong had not written it. He remained in the movement.

“I chose that everything else I was hearing was so good, I was going to shove that aside,” he said.

Under the leadership of Joseph Tkach, who succeeded Herbert Armstrong as leader of the Worldwide Church of God upon his death in 1986, the sect experienced a massive doctrinal shift in the mid-90s toward biblical orthodoxy.

The group’s website trumpets this radical transformation as a “Damascus Road experience.” The Worldwide Church of God was admitted as a member of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1997.

As an Armstrongist devotee, Bell saw the change as a great apostasy. Other true Armstrongists agreed and the Worldwide Church of God lost more than half its members and ministers because of the shift. True Armstrongists still hold fast to the teachings of Herbert Armstrong and have churches scattered about the country, Bell said.

It wasn’t until the spring of 1998, after a series of sexual misconduct allegations were lodged against Garner Ted Armstrong, that Bell’s foray into Armstrongism came to an end.

Full circle: Historic Christianity rings true with Bell

The allegations turned the Church of God International on its head and struck Bell with sledgehammer force. Due in large part to the accusations, Bell eventually resigned the pastorate and began the journey back to Christian orthodoxy.

Bell began at Southern in the fall of 1998. It was a revolutionary experience and within one year, his view of theology underwent a profound metamorphosis.

That first year, Bell studied Baptist and church history, theology, and hermeneutics. Soon, Bell had fully embraced historic evangelical Christianity.

“By the end of my first full year at Southern Seminary, I had my theological world rocked,” he said. “I emerged from that a convinced evangelical.”

Bell’s pilgrimage through Armstrongism has infused him with a desire to equip believers with such a thorough knowledge of biblical Christianity that even a subtle counterfeit is immediately evident to them. When his doctoral work at Southern is complete, Bell hopes to pastor a church and teach at a seminary.

Bell put his love for doctrine to work last year when he was one of two students who assisted the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth in developing a new Gospel tract called “Experiencing God’s Grace,” which includes a full-orbed Gospel presentation.

“The main thing my experience taught me is we can’t be superficial in our evangelism, our teaching, or in our preaching,” Bell said.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, Islam was but a blip on the religious radar screen of most Americans.

But today the world’s second largest religion is on the minds of many people, particularly those in the evangelical church, yet few understand its history or its theology.

Essayists in the Spring edition of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology seek to shed light on the fundamental tenets of Islam, examining key aspects of the faith from its doctrine of “Jihad” to its teaching on Jesus.

Contributors include Southern Seminary professors Chad O. Brand, James Chancellor and George Martin, as well as guest scholars Norman Geisler, Emir and Ergun Caner, Amar Djaballah, and Richard Patterson.

“Even though Islam is the only major religion to emerge after Christianity, and is the second largest religion in the world (and growing rapidly), and has been in conflict with Christianity for centuries, it took the tragedy of that day to bring Islam to forefront of our minds,” SBJT editor Stephen J. Wellum writes in his editorial.

“In spite of all the attention given to Islam since 9/11, however, it is clear from much of the conversation about Islam, both outside and sadly, inside the church, that we lack a basic understanding of Islam and the challenges it presents.”

In his essay, Brand, associate professor of Christian Theology, offers a primer on the basic history and beliefs of Islam. After briefly building the historical foundation of Islam, Brand sets forth the “Five Pillars of Doctrine” alongside the “Five Pillars of Practice,” that compose the core of Muslim doctrine and ethics.

Brand points out that one of the major differences between the Christian God and the god of Islam, “Allah,” is the idea of relationship between deity and people.

“Allah has no interest in entering into a personal relationship with humans, nor does he even have the ability to do so since his distance from the created world makes such an experience a metaphysical impossibility. There is a vast difference between the Muslim god and the God of the Bible, who is the God and Father of Jesus Christ.”

Chancellor, W.O. Carver Professor of Christian Missions and World Religions, brings 25 years Islamic research and experience to his reflections on Islam and violence. Chancellor has studied Islam for the past 25 years, has visited numerous Islamic nations and has lived in Egypt, Nigeria, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

At its heart, Islam is not a religion of peace as President George Bush and popular commentators have declared in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, Chancellor writes. “Jihad” is clearly a foundational component of the Islamic faith, he writes.

“President George Bush was rightly motivated when he declared Islam to be a religion of peace and that the September 11 terrorists had ‘hijacked’ Islam,” Chancellor writes. “He hoped to prevent unjust retaliation against innocent Muslim people living in the United States and to attempt to dispel the notion that the coming response to the September 11 tragedy would be an attack against Islam.

“However, right motivation does not necessarily lead to right observation. Islam is not a religion of peace. There are a number of internal dynamics that create strong predilections toward the use of force and violence to make the Islamic vision a reality on the earth.”

Reports of dreams and visions in which Jesus appears to people saying “I am the way,” are streaming out of Islamic lands, Martin reports in his essay. Martin is M. Theron Rankin Professor of Christian Missions and the Associate Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth.

A veteran missionary in Southeast Asia, Martin analyzes the reports of “Jesus dreams” among Muslims, concluding that Scripture must always be the standard against which all phenomena are measured. Martin also considers the implications of dreams for the task of missions.

“Clearly, one must proceed with caution rather than at a dangerous, full-throttle speed,” Martin writes of embracing dreams as bonafide communication from God.

“Those who are concerned to present a genuine Gospel witness must always be concerned about distinguishing between the genuine voice of God and that which is counterfeit ... Dreams must never be understood as having parity with the Scriptures. Only the Bible provides an absolutely trustworthy and authoritative word from God.”

The Caner brothers, both of whom were raised within the Islamic faith, examine the doctrine of Jihad in the “Hadith” (the commandments of Islam’s founder, Muhammed), Geisler compares and contrasts Jesus and Muhammed in the Qur’an, Djaballah investigates Jesus in Islam, and Patterson looks at the biblical theme of darkness.

The journal also includes a number of book reviews and the SBJT forum which discusses the issues key to understanding both Islam and its adherents. For more information on the SBJT, please contact the journal office by phone at 800-626-5525 (ex. 4413) or by e-mail at journaloffice@sbts.edu.