10 The Baptist who helped save El Salvador JANUARY 2012 baptiststoday.org Calls for justice and mercy roll down at New Baptist Covenant II 4 ™ BIBLE STUDIES for adults and youth 17 FEBRUARY lessons inside January 2012 Vol. 30, No. 1 baptiststoday.org John D. Pierce Executive Editor [email protected] Julie Steele Chief Operations Officer [email protected] Jackie B. Riley Managing Editor [email protected] Tony W. Cartledge Contributing Editor Amparo Palacios Lopez and her father, Edgar [email protected] Palacios, are greeted by Father Ponselle Rogelio in Perquin, El Salvador. Fr. Rogelio lived among and Bruce T. Gourley Online Editor ministered to FMLN guerrillas during the 12 years of [email protected] the Civil War, and continues to serve in the area. David Cassady 10 Church Resources Editor [email protected] Steve DeVane IN THE NEWS Contributing Writer [email protected] Jimmy Carter seeks common goals 6 Terri Byrd 38 Contributing Writer Returning veterans, families Vickie Frayne struggle to adjust 34 Art Director Jannie Lister Divinity students aim to heal Customer Service Manager [email protected] ‘unseen war wounds’ 35 Kimberly L. Hovis Marketing Associate Religious groups spend millions on [email protected] D.C. advocacy 36 Pat Terry makes Walker Knight, Publisher Emeritus new connections Jack U. Harwell, Editor Emeritus Charitable giving up slightly but still ailing 36 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Walter B. Shurden, Macon, Ga. (chairman) Crystal Cathedral offers lessons for Robert Cates, Rome, Ga. (vice chair) church leaders 43 Jimmy R. Allen, Big Canoe, Ga. cover photo Nannette Avery, Signal Mountain, Tenn. Cover photo by John Pierce. The Voices of Hope choir from Kelly L. Belcher, Spartanburg, S.C. Thomas E. Boland, Alpharetta, Ga. FEATURES Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto, Ga., provide worship Donald L. Brewer, Gainesville, Ga. music during New Baptist Covenant II. Story on page 4 Huey Bridgman, The Villages, Fla. La Cruz Subversiva: Mary Jane Cardwell, Waycross, Ga. Freeing the cross that frees 13 Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. By Tony W. Cartledge Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. Quotation Remarks 8 James M. Dunn, Winston-Salem, N.C. Israel’s Gospel Trail lets hikers Gary F. Eubanks, Marietta, Ga. Editorial 9 R. Kirby Godsey, Macon, Ga. follow Jesus’ steps 37 Ben Gross, Chattanooga, Tenn. Media 29 Leslie D. Hill, Lexington, Ky. Mission auction invites bidding wars 40 Fisher Humphreys, Birmingham, Ala. Classifieds 30 Michael M. Massar, Baton Rouge, La. By Terri Byrd William T. Neal, Stone Mountain, Ga. Roger Paynter, Austin, Texas In the Know 30 Michael G. Queen, Wilmington, N.C. Diverse Canadian Baptists cover miles, Lighter Side 31 Kathy B. Richardson, Rome, Ga. cultures Lee Royal, Greensboro, N.C. 42 Mary Etta Sanders, Dalton, Ga. By Norman Jameson Baptists and the Civil War 32 Charles Schaible, Macon, Ga. Macon Sheppard, Folly Beach, S.C. Reblog 33 Charlotte Cook Smith, Winston-Salem, N.C. PERSPECTIVE David M. Smith, Houston, Texas Leo Thorne, Valley Forge, Pa. Declining faith communities need Cathy Turner, Clemson, S.C. to ask hard questions 14 David Turner, Richmond, Va. Tom Waller, Alpharetta, Ga. By Les Robinson An autonomous, national Winnie V. Williams, Seneca, S.C. Cynthia Wise, Birmingham, Ala. news journal since 1983 2 | Feature READERS SERVICES Mission Statement Baptists Today serves churches by providing a reliable source of unrestricted news coverage, thoughtful analysis, helpful resources and inspiring features focusing on issues of importance to Baptist Christians. Advertising in combination Individual and Gift Subscriptions Baptists Today Group or Bulk Subscriptions pd. by single check or credit card Bulk sent to single address Single Issues Baptists Today Tax-deductible Gifts Baptists Today [email protected] organization. Letters to the Editor Writing Submissions ™ Contact Information Baptists Today Baptists TodayBaptists Today Baptists TodayAll rights reserved. Information | 3 !"#$% &'( )*#"#! +% ,#*' )-.$/. New Baptist Covenant II Calls for justice and mercy roll down at multi-site event ATLANTA — Attendance was much significant impact for good,” said the pastor ROSALYNN CARTER of Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, a lower than planners had hoped, but The former First Lady said her work in mental multi-ethnic American Baptist congregation. health goes back more than 40 years to when the passion was high. With their “When you identify as her husband served as governor of Georgia. messages beaming to various sites, a desperate sinner … you’re While campaigning, she was repeatedly asked already at the bottom,” said what he would do, if elected, for a son, daugh- speakers repeatedly called for Baptists Fong, who works closely ter or other relative with mental illness. and other Christians to speak for the with a drug rehabilitation She described mental illness as a form voiceless oppressed and to show program in L.A. of imprisonment and urged churches to give By helping bring attention to the needs of those who are quietly mercy toward those who suffer. about social change, suffering. Baptists can become aptist layman and former U.S. President “Faith communities have often led the way known for “justice and Jimmy Carter, who convened the two- Ken Fong in creating places of care for physical ailments,” hope,” said Fong. He day event, called the effort “a positive, said Mrs. Carter, noting the many hospitals B cited Martin Luther King Jr. and President non-exclusive program of sharing the gospel of founded by Christian denominations. Mental Carter as examples of Baptists who are Christ.” health deserves similar attention, she said. respected by even non-Christians worldwide. New Baptist Covenant II was held Nov. Mrs. Carter, whose latest book is titled Fong told Carter, who was seated on the 18-19 at Atlanta’s Second-Ponce de Leon Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health front pew, that even those who don’t approve Baptist Church and beamed by satellite to Crisis, offered simple ways to minister to per- of his politics “love you as a Baptist.” other church settings nationally and also by sons and families affected by mental illness The negative public image that many have webcast to smaller gatherings and individual including phone calls, home visits, grocery of Baptists as narrow-minded and judgmental computers. Speakers focused on what they delivery, rides to doctor appointments and is challenging, but can be changed, he said. called “the Luke 4 mandate” to proclaim good shopping, and providing respite for caregivers. “It’s almost like ‘I’m-not-that-kind-of- news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners “There is no reason to feel ashamed,” the Baptist’ is a new denomination,” said Fong. and recovery of sight for the blind, and to set deacon at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, “Maybe that’s what the New Baptist Covenant the oppressed free. Ga., said of those often stigmatized. She urged is all about. We can turn this Baptist negative The event was a follow-up to a larger churches to be sure persons with mental ill- thing into a positive thing.” Covenant gathering in 2008 that drew more nesses do not feel excluded. than 15,000 to Atlanta to consider issues of justice and to work cooperatively across racial, ethnic and convention lines. Speakers represented a broad spectrum of Baptist life that President Carter has sought to pull together through the New Baptist Covenant initiative. In his opening remarks, Carter said he had traveled to more than 130 nations and that many “unsaved people have a vision of division among us (Christians).” Carter called for unity by sharing the words of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians: “Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” “Isn’t that clear?” asked Carter. “What we seek and what we can have is unity.” LAY LEADERS- The Carters, active members of Maranatha Baptist KEN FONG Church in Plains, Ga., greet Patricia Ayres (left), a former national “Even with a low self-esteem, Baptists in the moderator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a lay leader U.S., at 30 million strong, should make a in First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas, during the New Baptist Covenant II gathering in Atlanta. 4 | Information WENDELL GRIFFEN Spiritual release must come from God, Action, not just words, is required to An Arkansas circuit judge and Baptist minis- said Coleman, and churches have “a man- bring about the needed changes that impact ter called listeners to “proclaim relief to the date from heaven” to bring the gospel to the the youngest and most vulnerable members captive” through prison reform and ministry incarcerated. of society, she said. She, too, used the civil to offenders. Judge Griffen said that while “Too many prisoners believe that, based rights movement as an example of how ideas crime rates go down nationally, the number of on what they have done, Jesus would have and action can come together to bring social persons going to prison nothing to do with them,” she said. “… [But] change. increases. Jesus died for the very sin they have committed “We love to celebrate Dr. King, but we Judge Griffen said … There is forgiveness at the cross.” don’t like to follow Dr. King,” she said. that the so-called “war on Coleman spoke of how long drug-related drugs” has become a “war prison sentences separate parents from their on black and brown peo- children. Several members of the gospel choir ple,” although drug use seated behind her — from a Georgia women’s and sales are equal across prison — wiped away tears. racial and economic President Carter said that if the New lines. Harsh drug-related Wendell Griffen Baptist Covenant did nothing else but address sentences and a desire to inequities in the justice system and increase fill prison spaces have pushed the U.S.