Contains SEPTEMBER Nurturing Faith Lessons GENEROSITY MULTIPLIED 39 AUGUST 2012 baptiststoday.org House today, temple tomorrow BAPTISTS IN CUBA GROWING AMID UNIQUE CHALLENGES | 4 McDade joins staff of Baptists Today | 12 ™ BIBLE STUDIES Kentucky volunteers build for adults and youth 17 house in ten days | 42 SEPTEMBER lessons inside August 2012 Vol. 30, No. 8 11 baptiststoday.org DO BAPTISTS HAVE John D. Pierce Executive Editor A CORE IDENTITY? [email protected] Julie Steele Chief Operations Officer [email protected] Jackie B. Riley Managing Editor [email protected] Tony W. Cartledge Contributing Editor [email protected] Bruce T. Gourley Online Editor [email protected] David Cassady Church Resources Editor PERSPECTIVE [email protected] Getting more comfortable Terri Byrd with an uncertain future Contributing Writer 7 13 John Pierce Vickie Frayne Art Director Describing a healthy pastor search process 14 Jannie Lister Bill Wilson Customer Service Manager [email protected] When the church is the church’s Kimberly L. Hovis greatest threat 15 Marketing Associate [email protected] Guy Sayles Walker Knight, Publisher Emeritus Communication involves shared Jack U. Harwell, Editor Emeritus understanding of a group 38 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mark Borchert Georgia pastor challenges “inerrancy” Walter B. Shurden, Macon, Ga. (chairman) claims that drive fundamentalism. Robert Cates, Rome, Ga. (vice chair) IN THE NEWS Jimmy R. Allen, Big Canoe, Ga. Nannette Avery, Signal Mountain, Tenn. Southern Baptists elect Luter Kelly L. Belcher, Spartanburg, S.C. as first black president 8 Cover photo: By Tony W. Cartledge. Thomas E. Boland, Alpharetta, Ga. Donald L. Brewer, Gainesville, Ga. Baptists in Cuba are growing churches CBF approves new plan, Huey Bridgman, The Villages, Fla. despite economic challenges. 4 Mary Jane Cardwell, Waycross, Ga. seeks new coordinator 9 Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. U.S. Baptists support Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. James M. Dunn, Winston-Salem, N.C. new Zimbabwe seminary 10 Gary F. Eubanks, Marietta, Ga. Quotation Remarks 6 R. Kirby Godsey, Macon, Ga. BWA aims to increase participation 31 Ben Gross, Chattanooga, Tenn. Editorial 7 Leslie D. Hill, Lexington, Ky. Fisher Humphreys, Birmingham, Ala. Tax exemption for religious groups Classifieds 32 Michael M. Massar, Baton Rouge, La. faces challenge 35 William T. Neal, Stone Mountain, Ga. In the Know 32 Roger Paynter, Austin, Texas Michael G. Queen, Wilmington, N.C. Evangelical group proposes code of Lighter Side 33 Kathy B. Richardson, Rome, Ga. ethics for pastors 37 Lee Royal, Greensboro, N.C. Baptists and the Civil War 36 Mary Etta Sanders, Dalton, Ga. Charles Schaible, Macon, Ga. FEATURES Reblog 43 Macon Sheppard, Folly Beach, S.C. Charlotte Cook Smith, Winston-Salem, N.C. Pastoral Perspectives with David M. Smith, Houston, Texas Mitchell Simpson 34 Leo Thorne, Valley Forge, Pa. Cathy Turner, Clemson, S.C. An autonomous, national David Turner, Richmond, Va. Beyond Sundays 40 news journal since 1983 Tom Waller, Alpharetta, Ga. Terri Byrd Winnie V. Williams, Seneca, S.C. Cynthia Wise, Birmingham, Ala. 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 !"#$% &'( )*#"#! +% "#'% ,&$"-.(/., Contributing Editor House today, temple tomorrow Baptists in Cuba find sure footing for growth amid challenges ANTIAGO DE CUBA — Make a mental list of places where Baptist work is growing, and chances are it wouldn’t include Cuba — but it should. S The Eastern Baptist Convention of Cuba (EBCC) has seen remarkable growth during the past decade. After more than a century of tepid growth that was almost completely stymied during the first two decades of Fidel Castro’s Socialist revolution, Baptists have found a sure footing for growth. Joel Luis Dupont, executive president of the EBCC, told a group of volunteers from North Carolina that Baptists in Cuba have always had “a strong missionary concern and a heart for social work.” Speaking from his office in Santiago, on Cuba’s southeastern coast, Dupont said that in the century or so after its beginning in 1898, the EBCC developed about 200 churches. But in the past 10-15 years, he said, “there has been a great evangelistic movement that has resulted in 300 more churches, 800 house churches or missions, and thousands of cell groups called ‘houses of prayer.’” HOUSE CHURCHES As used in Cuba, the term “house church” denotes far more than a dozen people meeting occasionally in some- one’s living room, as is often the case in the U.S. In the Cuban context, “house church” describes a congregation that meets regularly in a building that’s also used as a home, often for the pastor’s family. It is easier to get gov- ernment permission to use a building for church purposes if a family also lives there. House churches can be sizeable. At Tenth Baptist Church in Santiago, for example, pastor Rolando Ortiz Donkeys, horses and carts are common forms of transportation in Cuba, where few people own cars. Below: Pastor Alexi Garcia speaks with leaders of Maranatha Baptist Bodie’s family lives in a tiny three-room apartment Church in front of a small house they hope to renovate and expand for use as a house behind a rickety sanctuary space that can pack in 120 to church. 150 people. 4 | Feature The congregation has 130 members and supports multiple missions, but is still called a “house church.” Self-standing church buildings are called “temples.” Cuba was very closed to the gospel for many years, Dupont said, “but God has opened many doors through miracles.” SEEING MIRACLES Government approval for a senior center designed to house retired pastors and spouses is one miracle, said Dupont. Volunteers affiliated with North Carolina Baptist Men have been assisting Cuban Baptists in the construction of the sizeable cen- Baptists from the Cuban villages of El Caoba and El Cobre sing with typical exuberance during a joint ter for nearly 10 years. The main building was service held in the Eastern Baptist Convention of Cuba seminary gymnasium. recently dedicated, but it lacks needed equip- ment such as hospital beds and commercial people spill out among the flowers in the yard. able to complete it. washing machines because the United States’ The church recently baptized 19 new In the rural community of El Esparillo, long-running trade embargo has made such converts, none of whom have Bibles. The con- Christ the Rock Baptist Church also meets in goods difficult to find in Cuba. gregation has purchased a ramshackle home on an open shelter constructed less than a yard The number of Cubans converting to a plot of ground nearby, which members hope from the pastor’s home. The church first met Christianity in the past decade is another mir- to renovate and expand to serve as a house in the shade of a large tree, but built the shelter acle, Dupont said. And, current president Raul church. after a hurricane uprooted the tree. Castro has publicly asked Christians to pray Garcia meets separately each month with The shelter has rudimentary benches fac- for him and for the government, Dupont said, cell group leaders, outlines an emphasis for the ing a speaker’s stand on which Cristo la Roca a miracle in itself. month, and leads them in a related Bible study. (“Christ, the Rock”) is carved. In the back is “We believe, like Esther, that God has Group leaders then replicate the study in their an outdoor kitchen and fellowship area used prepared us for this time,” Dupont said, as he homes so the monthly emphasis (family, evan- for Sunday school, along with a primitive bath- appealed for additional funds and promised a gelism, or support for the senior center, for room for the 50-75 people who attend. continued emphasis in planting new churches. example) spreads through the church. A woman who works with the church as Noting that the Cuban government just While many cell groups remain small, an evangelist — but does not own a Bible — recently began allowing Cubans to sell prop- others grow and take on a life of their own. said remnants of witchcraft from Cuba’s early erty, he said: “We need to buy houses so we Working with the convention, the congrega- West African slave population continue to be can start house churches in them; to have a tion then appoints a missionary pastor to lead a strong force in the community, as does alco- temple tomorrow, we need a house today.” the house of prayer to become a house church holism fed by homemade liquor distilled from Many houses can be bought for $6,000- that can function on its own. fermented molasses. $12,000 U.S., but poverty, inflation and the Much prayer goes into the ministry, she low value of the Cuban peso make it very diffi- OVERCOMING OBSTACLES said: both prayer and weeping for those who cult for the churches to raise the needed funds. To be constituted as an independent church, come, but then fall away. Garcia said, congregations must have a Women are free to preach in the EBCC, PLANTING, GROWING minimum number of members, at least two and several churches have women pastors. Baptists in Cuba have a straightforward “departments” (such as a men’s and women’s There’s no question that women are the back- strategy for planting and growing churches.