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Vol. 2, # 40, May 14, 2004
Pinckney and Shortt plan to present a resolution
at the SBC annual convention in June. Below is the full wording
of the resolution instructing all Southern Baptists to withdraw
their children and grandchildren from public schools
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION RESOLUTION
Submitted Jointly by T.C. Pinckney and Bruce
N. Shortt To The 2004 Annual Meeting Of The Southern Baptist Convention
April 26, 2004
Whereas, the Bible commands that fathers are
to bring up their children in the training and admonition of the
Lord (Eph. 6:4), and all parents have an obligation to strive
by all means to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord, and
Whereas, all authority in heaven and on earth
belongs to Jesus, and He has commanded us to make disciples of
our children and teach them to observe everything He has commanded
(Mt. 28:19-20), and
Whereas, teaching our children everything that
Jesus commanded involves their learning to think biblically about
all the spheres of human thought, activity, and life (Dt. 6:4-9)
so that they take every thought into captivity to the obedience
of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), and
 Whereas,
our thinking is not to be conformed to this world's way of thinking,
but our minds are to be renewed and sanctified by the truth of
God's Word (Rom. 12:2; Jn. 17:17), and
Whereas, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge (Pr. 1:7) and in Christ are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3), any instruction that does
not begin with the fear of the Lord, teaching the centrality of
Jesus Christ for understanding all of life cannot properly be
said to impart wisdom or knowledge to children, and
Whereas, Jesus said, "He who is not with
Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters"
(Lk. 11:23), the government school system that claims to be "neutral"
with regard to Christ is actually anti-Christian, so that children
taught in the government schools are receiving an anti-Christian
education, and
Whereas, the government schools are by their
own confession humanistic and secular in their instruction, the
education offered by the government schools is officially Godless,
and
Whereas, the government schools are adopting
curricula and policies teaching that the homosexual lifestyle
is acceptable, and
Whereas, homosexual organizations are present
as approved student "clubs" in thousands of government
schools and are spreading rapidly, and
Whereas, the Bible says, children are like arrows
in the hand of a warrior (Ps. 127:3-5), we must understand that
children are weapons (arrows) to be aimed for the greatest impact
in the kingdom of God. Just as it would be foolish for the warrior
to give his arrows to his enemies, it is foolish for Christians
to give their children to be trained in schools run by the enemies
of God, and
Whereas, training to be a faithful witness should
be a vital part of a Christian child's education, and Whereas,
hundreds of thousands of parents who are members of churches associated
with the Southern Baptist Convention send their children to the
government schools, and
Whereas, the children of those parents are receiving
a Godless, anti-Christian education, and
Whereas, the millions of children in government
schools spend 7 hours a day, 180 days a year being taught that
God is irrelevant to every area of life, and
Whereas, many Christian children in government
schools are converted to an anti-Christian worldview rather than
evangelizing their schoolmates, and
Whereas, the Nehemiah Institute has discovered
through its extensive surveys of student attitudes and beliefs
that acceptance of a secular humanist worldview by Christian children
attending government schools has increased dramatically over the
last fifteen years, and
Whereas, the Southern Baptist Council on Family
Life reported to the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist
Convention that 88 percent of the children raised in evangelical
homes leave church at the age of 18, never to return; and
Whereas, it is anti-intellectual to artificially
divorce God from his creation, and many excellent curricula are
available that demonstrate the beauty and working of God throughout
His creation, and experience has proven the superior intellectual
accomplishments of children educated in such curricula, and
Whereas, the Bible teaches that the companion
of fools will be destroyed (Pr. 13:20), and that people are prone
to be deceived into thinking that evil company will not corrupt
them (1Cor. 15:33), it is incumbent upon ministers of the gospel
to warn God's people that their children are being corrupted by
spending half of their waking hours instructed by teachers who
are required by law to inculcate a Godless education, and
Whereas, many adult members of our congregations
teach in government schools, this resolution should not be construed
to discourage adult believers who labor as missionaries to unbelieving
colleagues and students; rather, they should be commended and
encouraged to be salt and light in a dark and decaying government
school system:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 2004
Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention encourages all
officers and members of the Southern Baptist Convention and the
churches associated with it to remove their children from the
government schools and see to it that they receive a thoroughly
Christian education, for the glory of God, the good of Christ's
church, and the strength of their own commitment to Jesus, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2004 Annual Meeting
of the Southern Baptist Convention encourages all churches associated
with the Southern Baptist Convention to work energetically to
counsel parents regarding their obligation to provide their children
with a Christian education, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2004 Annual Meeting
of the Southern Baptist Convention encourages all churches associated
with the Southern Baptist Convention to provide all of their children
with Christian alternatives to government school education, either
through home schooling or thoroughly Christian private schools.
By Bob Allen
EthicsDaily.com
05-07-04
Southern Baptist Convention president Jack Graham
says he supports Christian education but doubts Southern Baptists
will adopt a resolution urging parents to pull their children
out of public schools.
Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in
Plano, Texas, said in an e-mail Thursday that parents should make
a "make a fully informed decision" about their children's
education "after much prayer."
Graham said he hadn't yet seen a resolution being
proposed by a Virginia conservative leader and Houston attorney
urging leaders and members of the SBC "to remove their children
from the government schools and see to it that they receive a
thoroughly Christian education," but he was aware of its
basic content.
"I doubt the SBC will approve a statement
which urges parents to remove their children from public schools,"
Graham said.
But one of the resolution's sponsors said whether
or not the resolution passes is less important to him than drawing
attention to an already-growing movement of home schooling and
starting Christian schools.
Bruce Shortt, an attorney and member of North
Oaks Baptist Church in Spring, Texas, said he is hopeful the resolution
he is co-sponsoring with retired Air Force Brig. Gen. T.C. Pinckney
will pass.
 Shortt
said a number of SBC leaders believe not only in the importance
of conservative theology but also recognize there is a "crisis
in culture" that needs to be addressed. Education, Shortt
said, "is really the Archimedean point in moving a culture."
But Shortt, Texas state coordinator for Exodus
Mandate, an advocacy group for alternatives to government-run
schools, said there is a disconnect between leadership and many
people in the pew on the subject. "We're trying to raise
the issue in a general way, because this issue needs to come full
front-and-center, not just among leadership, but among the laity
as well," Shortt told EthicsDaily.com in a telephone interview.
"That's the reason why this resolution ought
to get to the floor," Shortt said. "Whether or not it
is voted up or down on the (convention) floor is not as important
as that this issue begins to be discussed in a meaningful way
in homes and churches."
The resolution must pass a Resolutions Committee
before it comes to a vote at next month's SBC annual meeting in
Indianapolis.
Should the committee decide not to bring the resolution
forward, Pinckney, a former SBC Executive Committee member and
editor of the conservative newspaper Baptist Banner, said either
he or Shortt would likely request from the floor that messengers
be allowed to debate and vote on the measure. Such a motion would
have to pass by a two-thirds majority.
Pinckney said in an e-mail that the SBC needs
to adopt the resolution for three reasons: "Because God's
Word assigns responsibility for the children's education to the
parents, not the government; because Southern Baptists are
the largest Protestant denomination in America and so our decisions
carry considerable influence not just for Southern Baptists but
for the country at large" and because "government schools
are fatally flawed academically, morally, fiscally and are anti-Christian."
Shortt described Glen Schultz, director of Christian
school resources for the Southern Baptist publishing house LifeWay
Christian Resources, and author of the book Kingdom Education:
God's Plan for Educating Future Generations, as an "unsung
hero" in highlighting the need for instilling children with
Christian values.
The Southern Baptist Association of Christian
Schools envisions a nationwide system of at least 5,000 Baptist
schools by 2025. That is despite the fact that there are today
only about 650 schools among 43,000 Southern Baptist churches.
That compares to more than 8,000 Catholic schools, which educate
about 5 percent of all American school children, 1,650 schools
among all branches of Lutherans and 951 schools run by Seventh-day
Adventists.
"The Christian school movement may well be
the next Sunday School movement in our churches," SBACS Executive
Director Ed Gamble says on the association's Web site <http://www.sbacs.org/about-egamble.html>.
Gamble recently announced, along with Florida Baptist Convention
Executive Director John Sullivan, the first-ever statewide summit
to explore the potential of Christian schools as a tool to help
Southern Baptist churches reach the lost and disciple children
and their parents.
The summit, scheduled May 11 at First Baptist
Church in Orlando, Fla., features professional golfer Lee Janzen,
a supporter of Christian schooling. Graham's Dallas-area church
sponsors a 1,000-plus student Christian academy. The SBC president
endorsed the convention's Christian-schools initiative in remarks
to the SBC Executive Committee in September 2002.
"It is time that Southern Baptist churches
and associations look more seriously at establishing Kingdom schools,"
Graham told SBC leaders, according to a transcript published in
the denominational newspaper SBC Life. "Now, I might not
have said that five years ago," Graham confessed. "My
attitude a few years ago was that if someone else wanted to have
a Christian school, then God bless them. But now I believe that
it is time we look at equipping not only these young leaders,
preachers, teachers and missionaries in our seminaries and the
various Baptist colleges across the states, but that we look more
seriously at starting at the earliest years in developing disciples
and empowering Kingdom growth through education."
Shortt said he has run across many churches where
pastors are home schooling their children while 80 percent of
the congregation's members send their kids to public schools.
He said pastors avoid speaking out on the topic because it is
controversial and they fear losing members, or reduced giving,
or even losing their jobs.
"It puts people in an awkward situation,
at least from a worldly point of view," Shortt said. "But
we have this old hymn, 'Stand Up for Jesus.' It's time to stand
up."
Shortt said many parents have been "spiritually
blind" not only to their responsibility to see to their children's
education but also to the dangers of turning that task over to
"government" schools.
Baptists who object that Christians shouldn't
"turn their back" on public education fall prey to "a
mistaken application of a valid theology," Shortt said, of
being "salt and light."
While Jesus sent his disciples into the world,
Shortt said, they were adults and spiritually prepared. While
he has no problem with adults who want to teach in public schools
to bring a Christian witness to bear, Shortt said, youth are not
ready for such a responsibility.
"We are sending our children to do adult
work," he lamented, during a time when youth need to be "putting
on the armor of God." He said studies show that Christian
youth are more likely to draw away from the church as a result
of secular education than to successfully win people to Christ.
Some people say a massive withdrawal from public schools is impractical
because of the cost involved.
Shortt said it is a challenge to persuade some
Christians of the need to "restructure their lives"
for the good of their children. "Yes, you may save tuition
cost," he said. "You may be able to have the better
lifestyle by having both parents work. But there's going to come
a time when suddenly you're going to be confronted with tremendous
problems. It may be drugs. It may be divorce. It may be a number
of things. How many Christian parents find themselves raising
their grandchildren? How many are suffering heartache because
their children left home at 18 and a few years later are having
serious problems?
"That's the real cost. That's the cost we
ought to focus on." But Shortt said parents shouldn't be
forced to go it alone. Churches, he said, need to do far more
in developing educational alternatives. Shortt said some people
mistakenly assume their only choices are home-schooling, paying
for a private school or sending their children to public schools.
In reality, he said, "there's something of a continuum"
of programs that allow parents to use a group school one or two
days a week and then supplement it with home schooling.
Shortt said both he and his wife have jobs outside
the home. He home-schools his children, ages 7, 8, and 19 months,
at night. "I wouldn't trade it for anything," he said.
"I really know my boys."
Shortt said some Christians buy into "fallacies"
that public schools can be reformed or that despite problems in
education, their own schools are OK. They are wrong, he said,
because decisions limiting what can be done to instill Christian
values are set not by local communities but by state and federal
laws and courts.
Shortt uses the term "government" schools
instead of "public," because, "They really don't
belong to the public. They belong to the government. The government
controls them."
"They're publicly funded schools," he
said, "but they're not public schools."
Bob Allen <mailto:boballen@ethicsdaily.com>
is managing editor of
EthicsDaily.com.
Sooner Kathy Wade sent PH the following message:
Doc,
My friend Clarence, who lives near Denver, Colo., has an independent
ministry for African-Americans in the form of doing marriage seminars
and racial diversity seminars for large companies. He was our
first mission pastor in Tulsa, OK at our church and was defended
vehemently by our senior pastor many times because of discrimination
within the Tulsa Baptist Association. I was also going to set
up a racial diversity seminar at the International Mission Board,
ran it through the Human Resources folks and summarily ran into
a brick wall. Clarence was going to lead it. However, he sadly
predicted that would happen and for me to not get too upset over
it.
Here is Clarence's reaction:
"The resolution is actually anti-biblical
and anti-Southern Baptist. If all SBCers take their children
out of public schools, who is going to be light and witness
to the children who don't have a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ?
The SBC ran me out in 1994, when they had the
Declaration of Repentance, the same time they restructured the
leadership so that no person of color or a woman would get into
a decision-making position of real power without the "good
ole boys" picking them.
Now that the SBC is so political, it doesn't
seem to have time for evangelism, which it used to be characterized
by."
PH: Just when one begins to think that the SBC
cannot possibly do anything else to embarrass its member churches,
the SBC is able to reach an even greater level of stupid proposals.
So what do we have? We have an exclusivist policy of downgrading
women, people of color, homosexual Christians, proposed defunding
of the Baptist World Alliance and now abandoning the public school
systems around the country. Next the SBC will want a theocracy.
Hi, everyone! This morning the WMU heard Jennifer
Turner, director and community missionary of the Oregon Hill Baptist
Center. She was tremendous!
 A
thought: would it be practical to focus most of River Road's hands-on
local missions strength next year on ISH and the Richmond Baptist
centers and still not neglect Interfaith Housing (or other local
opportunities)?
Dividing the action between the two seems like
it would diminish both. River Road Church is such a major force
in ISH that a retreat from it would harm it considerably. The
Bible Study Class will probably volunteer to continue its commitment
to ISH.
Could other senior adult Sunday School classes
each be encouraged to adopt a Baptist center, either singularly
or together with another class? There are only four Baptist centers
and they need special attention. River Road Church could become
a major force there, too.
Thinking out loud with you.
Bill
Good News from Pam Hughes about her friend's daughter:
 "Our
friends daughter got her test results back and they were "in
the normal range" so all is well, they will monitor her.
Thanks for all of your prayers!" Pam
Also Miller Alvis got a good report from his doctor
and he is improved.
Update on Rick Mears from His Wife Linda
"Dear Henry and class, Just a quick update
on Rick. We are going back in the hospital this coming Monday,
May 17th, for Rick to have another surgery attempting to finish
gluing the AVM Fistula in his head. They say he will be in the
hospital at least 3 days if all goes perfectly. He will be in
ICU for at least a day after the surgery. Please keep us in your
prayers. Thank you once again for your care and concern."
Love, Linda
Remember in your prayers Terry Marsh and his family,
Alana Woolley, Pam Hughes' friend Renee Varga, Donald Deer, Rick
and Linda Mears, Mary and Julian Pentecost, Nancy and George Werner,
Kay and Bob Culpepper, John and Margaret Oliver, Dot and Cecil Sherman,
the Church staff, the Pastor's Search Committee, the Youth Minister's
Search Committee, the Executive Committee, our military and civilians
in harm's way, and those only known to you.
ISH DIAPERS/EMERGENCY CERTIFICATES CAMPAIGN
River Road Church will sponsor its annual diapers and emergency
certificates campaign on behalf of Interfaith Services of Henrico
(ISH) from May 1-31.
 Diapers
for children? Yes. Diapers for adults? Yes, this year for the first
time. Emergency certificates? Yes.
Sue Hodder will coordinate the campaign.
Contributions may be brought to the Shepherd-Simpson Bible Study
Class on Sunday mornings in May or to the church office during the
week.
Schedule of Major Projects and Events for May and
June.
Read closely and volunteer if you can.
ON THE DOCKET (LOCAL MISSIONS):
May 1-31 - ISH-diapers/Wal-Mart emergency certificates campaign.
Coordinator: Sue Hodder. NEEDED: TWO class members to help Sue.
We have two more weeks in May to complete this project.
June 4 (Friday) - CARITAS. Coordinator: Sheila Marsh. NEEDED: EIGHT
class members to help prepare the meal and serve it. Note that the
date for CARITAS at our church has been delayed a week and our class
will be responsible for CARITAS on Friday, June 4. This group of
CARITAS folks will be families, a total of thirty some people with
some preschool and school age children included. The school age
children may need help with homework and porta cribs are needed.
ON THE DOCKET (SUMMER SOCIAL):
June 19 (Saturday) - Our beautiful summer outing at the river home
of Beth Wilson. More details later. Shepsons who feel adventurous
may try to walk on water and if unable, then they will likely get
stung by a stinging nettle or jelly fish.
 We
should be starting chapter twenty of the Gospel of John this Sunday.
Of course Teacher Bob could always bury Jesus again and we might
not begin chapter twenty until the next Sunday or the next. Chapter
twenty has thirty-one verses and chapter twenty-one has twenty-five
verses. Thus, fifty-six verses yet to go to complete the Gospel
of John. At seven verses a week we will complete John in eight weeks
just in time for the Catacombs Lectures. Stand Up! Stand Up for
Jesus.
 Once
again RRCB will try to have a church picnic. The date is Sunday,
May 23 from 4 PM to 8 PM at the Chestnut Oaks Recreation Association
on Parham Road. The Fellowship Class and the SSBSC are responsible
for bringing desserts. If you are planning to attend, bring along
a dessert. PH wonders which class is bringing a keg or two. Probably
only one class is "Smart" enough to think this way.
 PH
notices that the PSC continues to meet quite regularly. Has this
group stopped searching and now are drawing lots? PH believes that
they still have a challenging assignment and need the continued
prayers of the congregation. Dr. William Crockett is still in the
wings but reminds River Roaders that he supports the Baptist Faith
and Message and General Pinckney.
* * * * *
May 15, 1864
On May 15, 1864, the Battle of New Market was fought
near New Market, Virginia. This battle had a unique involvement.
The two hundred and fifteen cadets from the Virginia Military Institute
were ordered to assist the Confederate Army and teenage college
boys were involved in combat on this date. They were instrumental
in turning the tide of the battle and suffered many casualties including
ten deaths. On May 15 every year the VMI Corps of Cadets remembers
the ten slain VMI cadets and others lost in war with a unique ceremony
that involves military formations, a roll call of the dead, a twenty-one
gun salute, the playing of taps and a "pass in review"
parade with each company doing an "eyes right" in memory
of these ten cadets and particularly for the six cadets that are
buried behind Moses Ezekiel's statue of Virginia Mourning Her Dead.
The VMI band and bagpipes usually play Amazing Grace and the marching
band often plays "O' Shenandoah" during the parade. PH
has dragged Brenda and others to this ceremony. This year the ceremony
will be today because the VMI graduation is scheduled the next day
on May 15. One of the six cadets buried at VMI is Henry Jenner Jones
who was from King William County Virginia and died at the age of
seventeen on the battlefield at New Market. Jenner, as he was called
by his family, was PH's great-great uncle. Thus, this ceremony has
meaning and a connection for PH for several reasons. One obviously
is Jenner Jones; another is a chance to visit Washington and Lee
University and to recall four wonderful years of college in the
historic town of Lexington.
The letter from VMI informing the family of Jenner
Jones' death follows, courtesy of the VMI archives.
May 18, 1864. Death of Cadet Henry J. Jones HQ
, V.M. Institute May 18th, 1864 J. L. Jones Charlotte, NC Sir--I
am directed by the Supt to inform you, that acting under the suggestions
and instructions of General R.E. Lee and the Governor of Virginia,
the Corps of Cadets was made subject to the orders of General
Breckinridge to cooperate with him if at any time a threatened
advance of the enemy might either endanger us here, or the safety
of Gen Lee's army.
On the 9th inst a dispatch was received from General
Breckenridge informing the Supt that Genl. Sigel was advancing
up the valley and urging the immediate junction of the cadets
with his command at Staunton. This order was promptly obeyed,
and resulted in a general victory over the enemy on the 15th inst
near New Market in which the cadets bore an important and conspicuous
part.
I regret to inform you that your brother [Henry
Jenner Jones, VMI Class of 1867] was killed. Five cadets were
killed and thirty-seven wounded. Your brother's remains were interred,
together with the others, in the cemetery at New Market on the
evening of the 16th inst. His grave is so marked that there will
be no difficulty in distinguishing it if at any time you should
desire to have his remains removed.
Providence has so ordained it that these young
men should be sent off in early youth--they fell nobly fighting
in a just cause, in which all Sourthern youths are willing to
pour out [their] heart's blood. I am sir, Very respectfully, yr
obt servt J.H. Morrison, A.A. V.M.I.
Attached to this PHA is a photo of the painting
at VMI of the cadets charging at New Market on May 15, 1864.
PH
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