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Vol. 2, # 32, March 19, 2004
 Shepsons
and significant others will gather tomorrow night at Donna and Rob
Brown's home at 4500 Coventry Road in the Windsor Farms section
of Richmond. The social hour will be from 6 to 7 PM followed by
dinner. Following dinner will be an old fashioned hymn sing with
Doug Moyers at the keyboard. Will we sing “Will the Circle
Be Unbroken?” Maybe Karen Brown can join the singing with her
viola and add a little class to this occasion. Certainly the Brown
Family could do a genuine rendition of the Tennessee Waltz.
 Those
of you present at last Wednesday's night program heard an excellent
history of the birth of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond
as told by President Tom Graves. He shared how things changed at
Southeastern Seminary in the late 1980's and how American Baptists,
the Alliance of Baptists, the Virginia Union University School of
Theology and many others made it possible for BTSR to begin fifteen
years ago. The idea of academic freedom seems to threaten fundamentalists.
There are two articles below which demonstrate this
reality in the present time.
The following two articles were sent to PH by Kathy
Wade.
Escalating developments on crisis over academic
freedom at Louisiana College, Baptist school in Alexandria, La.,
USA
Protest over board's conservative bent planned
today
Emily Peters <mailto:> / The Town Talk [Alexandria, La.
newspaper]
Posted on March 16, 2004
Louisiana College President Rory Lee announced
Monday he will resign at the end of the semester to take a job
in Mississippi.
That comes just days after the resignation of
Ben Hawkins, the school's vice president of academic affairs.
Their announced departures will leave a void in the college's
leadership during a time of heated debate over the direction of
the school's new conservative policies.
The resignations came just before the LC Board
of Trustees hold their scheduled quarterly meeting on campus today.
Hundreds of students and alumni are expected to gather outside
about 8:15 a.m. today to declare their distaste for what they
call an ultra-conservative swing of the trustees.
"The immediate question is: 'Who's going
to run the show?'" said history professor Thomas Howell.
The trustees would not say if or when they will
hire permanent or interim administrators to succeed Lee and Hawkins.
They would not say if they will discuss it at this week's meeting,
which is private except for the public final vote on matters.
Howell said trustees, some of whom have "a
very rigid religious agenda," now have the chance to appoint
someone to the school's top positions that share that view, which
could significantly change day-to-day operations under the new
policies.
This will be the trustees' first meeting since
they enacted a controversial book-screening process in December
that has divided conservative and moderate Baptists over the issue
of academic freedom. Some faculty members call the book-screening
policy potential "censorship."
Lee will become the executive director of the
Baptist Children's Village, which has five campuses for troubled
students throughout the state of Mississippi. Hawkins will lead
the business school at Campbell University in North Carolina.
Despite speculation to the contrary, Hawkins said
his resignation has nothing to do with the trustees' politics
or the controversy.
Lee would not comment to The Town Talk on Monday,
but he released a statement of good will and gratitude to the
college.
The controversial new book-screening policy was
a response to Lee's decision to remove two books from the bookstore
after a student and a board member complained they might be inappropriate.
Under the policy, faculty had to submit all classroom
materials to Hawkins' office for prior approval. Hawkins said
he approved all materials for this spring's courses, including
the two books in question.
Many considered Hawkins an "open-minded"
vice president of academic affairs.
Some faculty and students fear that if the trustees
appoint a more conservative person to that position, the policy
could allow important academic materials to be restricted. They
say that would rob students of the free market of ideas within
a well-rounded liberal arts education.
Lee and the trustees would not respond to The
Town Talk when asked to comment on the campus sentiment. They
referred questions to the board chairman, Joe Nesom. Nesom did
not return calls from The Town Talk, but released a statement
praising Lee for a fine tenure at LC.
While today's nondescript meeting agenda does
not specify whether the trustees will discuss the policies in
question, board member Rick Aultman said, "I'm sure we'll
discuss the repercussions and reactions of the policies set in
December."
Student Government Association President Blake
Cooper said SGA leaders feel their protests and requests to meet
with trustees over the new policies have been ignored. He hopes
they won't be ignored with the search for new leaders.
"We feel it is in the best interest of the
student body to let students and faculty get involved in this
process," Cooper said.
In addition to the book-screening policy, mostly
moderate Baptists oppose a new policy that requiring all new hires
to submit their written "worldview," including their
issues on the sanctity of life and marriage.
Since both policies passed, the campus has been
tagged with "Save LC" bumper stickers and alumni threaten
to withdraw support.
Alumnus Ida Sampson said her family withheld support
for the school this year.
"When they called my husband for our yearly
donation, he said we spent it on all those bumper stickers we
ordered," Sampson said.
Norman Martin, namesake of the Martin Performing
Arts Center, said, "I told the college I wouldn't be available
for future donations. I'm not interested in supporting the fundamentalist
approach the board of trustees is taking."
However, while actual numbers weren't released,
the college reports no decline in this year's private donations.
"I'm glad that I can report that," said
Bill Townsend, vice president for institutional advancement.
Shorter College in Georgia May Lose to Fundamentalists
Appeals court rules in GBC's favor in continuing
legal battle over Shorter College governance
By John Pierce
Baptists Today
editor@baptiststoday.org
ROME, Ga. - Shorter College's dissolution and
reorganization that created a self-perpetuating board of trustees
last year "cannot stand" without the Georgia Baptist
Convention's approval, a state appeals court ruled March 17.
The ongoing legal battle between the GBC and the
liberal arts college in northwest Georgia appears headed for the
Georgia Supreme Court. The college has claimed in recent years
that the convention has unduly influenced trustees and put the
college's accreditation at risk. Convention leaders charge Shorter
President Ed Schrader and trustees with trying to remove the GBC
as the rightful owner of the college.
The college transferred its assets to a new foundation
following an April 2003 ruling by a Dekalb County (Ga.) Superior
Court judge. The new entity was then named as Shorter College,
Inc.
The appeals court has ruled that "the trial
court erred in failing to consider the GBC's contention that the
dissolution was a sham." In a prepared statement, GBC Executive
Director Robert White said convention leaders are grateful for
the ruling.
"The thought of losing Shorter College was
like losing a member of our convention family," said White.
"We are extremely thankful that this court decision confirms
the convention's position."
Schrader was traveling out of the country and
unavailable for comment according to his office. However, Shorter
Trustees Chairman Gary Eubanks, an attorney from Marietta, Ga.,
said college leaders are "disappointed" with the appeals
court decision but plan to take their case on to the Georgia Supreme
Court.
"We'll know pretty soon whether they'll take
the appeal," said Eubanks. Management of the college will
not change until the legal battle has run its course, Eubanks
added. "As long as the appeals continue, Shorter College
will march ahead."
Baptist Press story on deaths of missionaries
3/16/2004
Baptists not alone in grief over murdered workers
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Southern Baptists struggling
with the loss of four workers and the wounding of a fifth in Iraq
know that many others are mourning too, an International Mission
Board leader said March 16 in a press conference at the agency's
Richmond, Va., headquarters.
"We are grieving the loss of four colleagues
and are concerned for a fifth colleague," said Clyde Meador,
the board's executive vice president. "We know we are not
alone in our grief.
 "Many
Americans and Iraqis have lost their lives in recent months. Our
hearts go out in sympathy to the families, their friends and our
colleagues who are grieving this tragic loss."
Although service in Iraq is risky, these workers
were there because of God's love for the Iraqi people, not because
it was a safe place, Meador said.
"Southern Baptists have sought ways to share
God's love with the Iraqi people. Last fall Southern Baptist churches
in the United States sent more than 3 million pounds of food to
Iraq. The workers involved in this attack were researching the
need for future humanitarian projects.
"Our personnel, as Americans and Christians,
are well aware of the risk of living and serving in a place like
Iraq. Yet their love for the Iraqi people and obedience to the
conviction of God's leadership have been expressed in a willingness
to take that risk, even to giving their lives."
The five were in a car in eastern Mosul when they
were attacked with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.
Their assailants remain unidentified.
Three died at the scene: Larry and Jean Elliott,
who had served with the IMB in Honduras since 1978 and transferred
to the Middle East in February, and Karen Watson, who had been
with the board since March 2003.
A fourth person, David McDonnall, died en route
to a military support hospital in Baghdad. Four U.S. military
surgeons had worked for six hours to save his life. His wife,
Carrie, was airlifted to a hospital in Germany on Tuesday in critical
condition. The McDonnalls began serving again with the International
Mission Board in November 2003 after a 1999-2001 stint in the
board's Journeyman Program.
When informed about the loss, IMB President Jerry
Rankin said all Southern Baptists share the sorrow and grief of
the families and co-workers.
"In times like this, there are no words that
will take away the pain of a loved one's violent death,"
Rankin said. "Everyone in the IMB family and everyone who
loves Southern Baptists' overseas workers are grieving with the
family members and co-workers of these precious souls.
"We are grateful that God himself comes alongside
us in our deepest sorrow and comforts us in a way no one else
can."
The deaths of the Elliotts, McDonnall and Watson
came barely a year after IMB missionary Bill Hyde was killed by
a terrorist's bomb at the airport in Davao City, Philippines.
Just 14 months ago, Southern Baptists also suffered through the
deaths of three workers who were murdered by a terrorist at the
Baptist hospital in Jibla, Yemen.
Plans to return the victims' bodies to the United
States are incomplete.
A message from Nancy Werner indicates that George
may need knee surgery. Nancy writes: “However, George's knees
are getting  worse
all the time, and we need to cancel our plans to go to the Social.
He goes to orthopedic Dr. Tuesday (3/23) and will probably have
to have knee replacement(s).I have been focused on finding out about
knee replacements, home equipment needed, rehab. time involved,etc.”
Remember in your prayers Nancy and George Werner,
the family of Nancy Smith, the Phelps Family, Bill Tuck, Vonda's
great-grandson Caleb, Emily King, Linda Mears and her family, Matt
Brooks, Kay and Bob Culpepper, John and Margaret Oliver, Mary and
Julian Pentecost, Donald Deer, Dot and Cecil Sherman, the Church
staff, the Pastor's Search Committee, the Denominational Affairs
Committee, our military in harm's way, the least among us (especially
those fellow citizens who are homeless) and those only known to
you.
Also continue to remember and work on those Easter
Food Baskets. The Easter food baskets project is one of our
class mission projects and will continue until the palms appear
on April 4.
Church work day is tomorrow from 8:30 AM to noon.
Our class has been asked to do two things:
 1.
Weed the "natural areas" on the church grounds
2. Rake and shovel sand in the area of the children's
playground back into the play area.
If you can help anytime during the period 8:30 AM
to noon on March 20th, George Davis will welcome you. He has even
promised to feed you (left over meat loaf). That is strong inducement
A Jesuit Catholic University buries Jerry Falwell
University in basketball. In the Big Dance of NCAA basketball, the
team from St. Joseph's University of Philadelphia defeated Liberty
University 82 to 63. PH wonders if those Falwell students are allowed
to dance.
 No
one sent PH a name proposal for the new name of the Southern Baptist
Convention. PH wonders if International Conservative Baptists might
work. This would be the ICB or “I Conceived Brian” (Did
you see the movie?). This attempt at humor has deep theological
implications.
"We've learned how Mel Gibson has rewritten
the differing accounts of Jesus' passion in the four gospels into
one theatrical success as The Passion of the Christ, thus producing
a cinematic "killing" on "cash Wednesday."
"Now, today, on March 15, NASA, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, has taken a cue from Gibson.
They've decided to come out with their own rewrite of Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar. Since they've discovered that there may have been
water on the red planet, in their scrambled version of the bard's
play, called Caesar Salad, a soothsayer tells us to "beware
of the tides of Mars."
Donald S. Deer
607 Leyden Lane
Claremont, CA 91711-4236
Tel.: 909-621-5315
This Sunday is Youth Sunday. Teaching our class
will be Emily and Greg Cothran. Emily is an eighth grader in the
International Baccalaureate Program at Moody Middle School and Greg
is a sophomore at the Maggie Walker Governor's School. Every one
try to be on time and listen to the minds of the future.
 The
next two Wednesday night programs will be special. On next Wednesday,
the children of the church will present a drama about Noah. Six
year old Abby Holland has told PH that she has a speaking part (one
line). Support the children and attend the play.
On Wednesday evening, March 31, the staff of Cross
Over Ministry will present a program about plans for a free medical
clinic in western Henrico County. The Cross Over news bulletin reads:
"Are you interested in local mission work?
Do you want to help spread the good news of God's eternal love?
If so, please consider joining members of our congregation, members
of other congregations, and Cross Over Ministry as we plan and
work together to open a health care clinic for our neighbors in
need right here in the West End.
"The mission of Cross Over Ministry is, “to
provide health care, promote wellness and connect the talents
and resources of the community with those in need in the name
of Jesus Christ.”
The vision for the new Cross Over West clinic
is, “Cross Over West will provide an ongoing opportunity
for discipleship among the members of participating parishes as
we strive together to meet God's call to us to care for “the
least of these” by providing compassionate wellness education
and health care for people in need. Cross Over West will operate
in the tradition of Cross Over Ministry by manifesting an unmistakable
witness that God loves all people.”
We are currently exploring site options. Over
the next six to twelve months the project will require expertise
in the following areas: construction and renovation; transportation
(volunteers with pick-up trucks to help haul materials); and hostess
(lunch/snacks during renovation). There are already many opportunities
for nurses, dentists, physician assistants, physicians, radiologists,
lab technicians, and pharmacists to help serve those who desperately
need compassionate health care. Finally, financial support is
always needed and appreciated."
 Jack
Harvie will be twenty-nine on Sunday and Linda Mears of New York
will also be twenty-nine on next Tuesday.
Today Brenda and PH will celebrate thirty-nine years
of ”Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited
or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love
does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but
is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope,
and patience never fail. Love is eternal.”
In honor of Brenda and other Shepson couples, PH
quotes from William Wordsworth:
Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song!
And let the young Lambs bound
As to the tabor's sound!
We in thought will join your throng,
Ye that pipe and ye that play,
Ye that through your hearts to-day
Feel the gladness of the May!
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
Attached to this PHA is a photo of Brenda and PH
taken one year ago. Notice in the lower left corner the head of
Paddy, our borderline collie.
PH
March
12, 2004
March
5, 2004
February
27, 2004
February
20, 2004
February
13, 2004
February
6, 2004
January
30, 2004
January
23, 2004
January 16, 2004
January
9, 2004
January
2, 2004
2003
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