GARBC http://www.garbc.org GARBC, General Association of Regular Baptist Churches Fri, 17 May 2013 19:39:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Resolution: Pornography http://www.garbc.org/?p=13830 http://www.garbc.org/?p=13830#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 19:39:36 +0000 dgreening http://www.garbc.org/?p=13830 GARBC-Logo.classic-s1990 Annual Conference resolution, passed by voting messengers.
Pornography

]]> http://www.garbc.org/?feed=rss2&p=13830 0 Dr. David Doran, 2013 GARBC Conference Featured Speaker http://garbcconference.org/dr-david-doran-2013-garbc-conference-featured-speaker/ http://garbcconference.org/dr-david-doran-2013-garbc-conference-featured-speaker/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 18:54:31 +0000 dgreening http://garbcconference.org/?p=1664
Continue reading →]]> A 2013 GARBC Conference update from John Greening, GARBC national representative:

“I am pleased to report that Dr. David Doran, pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary in Allen Park, Mich., has graciously consented to speak at our 2013 GARBC Conference. Dr. Doran is speaking in the main sessions previously designated to be filled by Matt Olson, president of Northland International University. In light of the transition Northland International University is currently navigating in identifying its leadership, values, and direction, this change was made. Our prayers are with Northland International University as it seeks to redefine itself and settle on its future course. We are looking forward to the preaching of God’s Word, the stirring worship, and the good fellowship at this year’s annual conference to ‘Renew Our Strength.’”

Dr. David Doran will also be leading a conference workshop, “The Mission of the Church and Missions.” Register now for the 2013 GARBC Conference, June 24–28.

 

]]> http://garbcconference.org/dr-david-doran-2013-garbc-conference-featured-speaker/feed/ 0 Chaplain Honored for Volunteer Ministry http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=29886 http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=29886#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 18:50:04 +0000 Melissa Meyer http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=29886
Continue reading →]]>

Chaplain Whit Woodard (right) and Chaplain John Murdoch.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—GARBC Chaplain Whit Woodard has been awarded the G. William Dando Volunteer Service award from the Military Chaplains Association in an annual presentation to honor chaplains with exemplary volunteer service.

“Retired? I don’t know how to spell the word,” Chaplain Woodard said when visiting the GARBC Ministry Center in May. “I’ll be 75 on Pearl Harbor Day.”

Chaplain Woodard has been active with the Civil Air Patrol for many years and served as its chief of chaplains (2008–2011). Upon completion of his tour as chief, he became the chief emeritus and continued to volunteer as chaplain to the 328th Combat Support Hospital of the U.S. Army Active Reserve, the Army Active Reserve Signal Corps High Tech Training Facility at B. T. Collins Army Reserve Base in Sacramento, Calif., and at Travis Air Force Base. He assisted at funerals, participated in community Memorial Day events, conducted hospital visitation, and counseled airmen. Woodard also served for 18 years as volunteer law enforcement chaplain, eventually becoming a training officer, deputy senior chaplain, and then senior chaplain.

“I’m the poster boy for the Peter Principle,” he says now, implying that he was promoted beyond his ability, a modest claim considering the honors he has received.

The recent award was presented in Gettysburg, Pa., by the MCA’s executive director, Chaplain Robert G. Certain, and its national president, Chaplain Edward T. Brogan. The Military Chaplains Association is an independent advocacy group chartered by congress in 1925, open for personal membership to any chaplain or retired chaplain. John Murdoch, director of Regular Baptist Chaplaincy Ministries, was formerly president of this organization (2004–2006).

Chaplain Woodard joined the Air Force right out of high school, serving until he was 21. He found Christ through the ministry of First Baptist Church of Eastgate, Bellevue, Wash.

“When I was a brand new believer in the church, a guest speaker left a verse with us, Ezekiel 22:30, challenging us to ‘stand in the gap.’ I sensed a call to the ministry and prayed about it a week, then came back to the church and told them how God was leading.” Then Chaplain Woodard recalls his funny departure for Western Baptist Bible College (now Corban College) in 1961.

“I was so ignorant and green. I put everything I owned into my Ford Fairlane and drove down to campus. But I never told them I was coming.”

He still recalls his announcement when arriving on campus: “My name is Whit Woodard and I’m here to go to Bible college,” and adds that “they were gracious to accept me.”

After graduation he served as a church-planting missionary, then joined the Civil Air Patrol as a chaplain, where he served from 1967 to ’73 and 1996 to the present. He now holds the title of chief of chaplains emeritus (“means I have nothing left to do,” Woodard says).

As it turns out, he’s stayed busy, writing his doctoral dissertation for Great Plains Baptist Divinity School on the problems that confront the Christian chaplaincy. He’s recently released a book of insights on the Christian chaplaincy, Ministry of Presence. He’s concerned that the chaplaincy sometimes attracts “a lot of people who are wonderful folks and have good instincts, but they are not ministers.” When he was serving with the Civil Air Patrol and responsible to approve chaplains, he noticed that a few recruits were not necessarily serious about ministry. “We had some people who wanted to have ‘chaplain’ on their answering machine,” he says now.

So his new book is less of a focus on the chaplain and more about the chaplaincy itself.

“I believe that the single most serious lack in the US chaplaincy today is a lack of meaningful association with a local church,” says Chaplain Woodard. He and his wife, Nancy, are members of Sierra Baptist Church, Newcastle Calif.

“By definition, chaplaincy is a ministry that is done outside of the local church. I started looking in Scripture to find people who did the sort of ministry that chaplains do (we don’t actually have the office of chaplains in the Bible). I learned that everyone had a connection to the local church, doing ministry through the local church.

“It is intrinsically true that chaplains are in situations where they must defer to some other authority or agency: the military, the police department, the hospital administration. For that reason it is extremely important for the chaplains to work under the local church’s authority. And in our environment of pluralism it is important to have the local church’s authority over the chaplain’s doctrine.”

What caused him to reach this conclusion?

“It was the Word of God. I’ve been a Regular Baptist pastor, and my education was from Regular Baptists who insisted on focusing on the Word of God. You look at the book of Acts and you can come to no other conclusion. Every believer is to be under the authority of a local church. It’s that simple for me.”

Looking back on his career, Chaplain Woodard says that he learned important lessons about prayer and personal confession, “being prayed up to date,” as he puts it. “Things happen when they happen, and develop when they develop. You can’t predict what will happen in a chaplain’s day.”

“Prayer is the easiest thing to set aside. Chaplains are action people. I think it is hard for us to be in a more reflective mode, but we need more prayer.”

]]> http://baptistbulletin.org/?feed=rss2&p=29886 0 Goemaat Receives FBBC Alumni Honor http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=29867 http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=29867#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 15:43:27 +0000 Melissa Meyer http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=29867 Goemaat-lead

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Darrell Goemaat has been named alumnus of the year at Faith Baptist Bible College, honored during the college’s 2013 commencement exercises. The tribute was announced by Rev. Jeff Holub, alumni association president, who commended Goemaat for “his distinguished career as a Christian photojournalist and his godly character and service for Christ.” Goemaat works as director of photography for Regular Baptist Press and the Baptist Bulletin. Goemaat grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and began classes at Faith in 1979, where he soon met his wife, Lynne. Both graduated in 1983. From there the path leading to a journalism career—and a ministry—becomes a bit more convoluted.

Finding a purpose in life

“This is the story of a young man who didn’t know what he wanted to do,” Darrell Goemaat said a few months ago, addressing a room full of journalism students at the Associated Collegiate Press media conference. Darrell gave the students a condensed testimony about his days at Faith Baptist Bible College, where he took his first yearbook photos. Then he confessed how he had postponed that “purpose in life” question until his senior year. Actually, spring of his senior year. Late spring. And he recalled some uncomfortable questions coming from Liz Gifford, English professor at Faith, who asked about his plans after graduation. “I have none,” was Darrell’s easy response. Gifford pressed on. “But you’re getting married, aren’t you?” “Uh, yes.” I was sitting on the side aisle when Goemaat told this story at the journalism conference. I’ve heard it a few times before, and it always makes me laugh. But as I looked around the room, his audience was following very closely. Interested in his answer, not amused. After talking with some of the students later in the day, I began to understand how their stories are like Darrell’s story. The hot issue of “What are you going to do after graduation” can persist for several years after graduation, a murky puzzle that nags at people with more talent than forethought. On that day back in 1983, Liz Gifford had leaned over her desk and asked, “What would you like to do if you could do anything in the world?” Darrell’s answer—make pictures—didn’t seem practical. But Gifford had an idea. She encouraged him to apply for a position at the Tri-County Times, a central Iowa newspaper. Darrell recalls his excuses: I don’t have any experience. I don’t have a résumé. And I don’t have a degree in photography, just a degree in Bible. “Why would they hire me?” he asked. “Because your pictures are better than the ones they publish,” Gifford said. So Darrell put together a portfolio (“The 10 worst black-and-white photos you’ve ever seen”) and took the short drive to Slater, Iowa, where . . . “the editor looked at them and yawned. I left thinking he was totally disinterested.” At least that’s the way Darrell frames the anecdote today, always a bit deferential when describing his own work. Here’s the real story. After the photos hit the table, Darrell was hired as the paper’s first full-time photographer. A year later he enrolled in Iowa State University’s photojournalism program, where he was viewed as a nontraditional student and maybe an incongruity. Married and a Bible college graduate, he was already working full time in the sort of position that most students dreamed of landing after graduation. His career took him to a succession of Midwest newspapers, including the Ames Tribune, Decatur Herald and Review, and later as photography director for Copley Chicago News Service. He continues to work as a freelance photographer for the Chicago Tribune, where he covers sports, concerts, and human interest stories. He’s won his share of journalism awards, leading to situations like the alumnus award from FBBC—the unnerving walk to the platform, the standing ovation from friends and peers. Somehow Darrell avoids mentioning the awards when speaking to student groups, but this omission is part of his point. While the students are developing writing, photography, and video skills, they should be thinking about more than building a good résumé. How can these skills be useful in ministry?

Telling stories with photos

When Darrell addresses student groups, he often brings photos from his portfolio, showing how he is applying the same skills when covering stories for the Baptist Bulletin or shooting cover images for RBP products. For this particular media conference he showed a few photos he has taken of famous pop singers in concert, followed by similar photos he has taken on the platform of the GARBC conference. (Yes, he showed his photos of Barry Manilow and Carrie Underwood right before that picture of Pastor Mike Augsburger leading singing.) At this point perhaps I should explain what Darrell means by “similar photos.” No, the GARBC conference speakers are not rock stars (!), but the technical skills needed to make a good photo are the same for any stage or platform. Open any average denominational magazine—notice how their event photos are shot from the back of the room. See the featured speaker looking drab and out of focus, a tiny dot in the distance. Unintended message? Our conference speakers are pinheads. When Darrell began working for the Baptist Bulletin in 1999, he quickly changed this model, exploiting the storytelling potential of his pictures. He used his camera to show a church association that is alive and vital, a close-up look at real people involved in interesting ministries. “I’m trying to get people to care about the stories,” he says now. “I want readers to understand the people, understand their motivation. I want the Holy Spirit to use these stories to motivate people who could be doing the same ministry in their own church.” Yes, every denominational magazine has its share of mission-driven educational articles. Such efforts are conceptual, even theoretical. They are often written by an authoritative leader telling the reader what to think. Not a bad idea, but not complete either. Darrell shows these important ideas in action at the local level, illustrated by the people in our churches. His photos are accompanied by in-depth stories that directly quote the people who are doing the ministry, reporting the ideas in their own voice. This is storytelling in the congregational voice—a Baptist solution for a Baptist magazine.

Singing with understanding

Just before the alumni awards are presented at the graduation ceremony, the Faith Chorale sings “Great and Awesome God,” reminding me how Darrell and I first met, singing in the bass section of this same group back in the day. As it turns out, everything you need to know in life can be learned in choir practice, like the time Michael O’Doonan gave me this advice: “Kevin, if you finish singing and everyone compliments you on your excellent diction, you have actually failed as a singer!” Having spent many years trying to master the technical details of singing, I was somewhat shocked by Dr. O’Doonan’s words, a revelation of sorts. “No, your goal should be different—so people will say, ‘I understood every word you sang.’” I thought of this on Sunday morning, when Darrell had recovered from the award ceremony in time to return to First Baptist in Arlington Heights, Ill., where he serves as deacon and Sunday School teacher. And he was back singing in the bass section, providing crisp t’s and d’s as I gave the choir its cutoffs. Years later we’ve come to understand how good photography and good writing are just like good singing. Done correctly, the technical skills do not call attention to themselves. But at the end of the magazine article, the reader says, “I understand.” This story of “a young man who didn’t know what he wanted to do” has a happy ending, one that Darrell Goemaat told the journalism students a few months ago: “Jesus Christ is the one that I’m living and working for. He is the one that I want to honor and glorify with everything I do and say.” Kevin Mungons is managing editor of the Baptist Bulletin.]]> Goemaat-lead

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Darrell Goemaat has been named alumnus of the year at Faith Baptist Bible College, honored during the college’s 2013 commencement exercises. The tribute was announced by Rev. Jeff Holub, alumni association president, who commended Goemaat for “his distinguished career as a Christian photojournalist and his godly character and service for Christ.” Goemaat works as director of photography for Regular Baptist Press and the Baptist Bulletin. Goemaat grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and began classes at Faith in 1979, where he soon met his wife, Lynne. Both graduated in 1983. From there the path leading to a journalism career—and a ministry—becomes a bit more convoluted.

Finding a purpose in life

“This is the story of a young man who didn’t know what he wanted to do,” Darrell Goemaat said a few months ago, addressing a room full of journalism students at the Associated Collegiate Press media conference. Darrell gave the students a condensed testimony about his days at Faith Baptist Bible College, where he took his first yearbook photos. Then he confessed how he had postponed that “purpose in life” question until his senior year. Actually, spring of his senior year. Late spring. And he recalled some uncomfortable questions coming from Liz Gifford, English professor at Faith, who asked about his plans after graduation. “I have none,” was Darrell’s easy response. Gifford pressed on. “But you’re getting married, aren’t you?” “Uh, yes.” I was sitting on the side aisle when Goemaat told this story at the journalism conference. I’ve heard it a few times before, and it always makes me laugh. But as I looked around the room, his audience was following very closely. Interested in his answer, not amused. After talking with some of the students later in the day, I began to understand how their stories are like Darrell’s story. The hot issue of “What are you going to do after graduation” can persist for several years after graduation, a murky puzzle that nags at people with more talent than forethought. On that day back in 1983, Liz Gifford had leaned over her desk and asked, “What would you like to do if you could do anything in the world?” Darrell’s answer—make pictures—didn’t seem practical. But Gifford had an idea. She encouraged him to apply for a position at the Tri-County Times, a central Iowa newspaper. Darrell recalls his excuses: I don’t have any experience. I don’t have a résumé. And I don’t have a degree in photography, just a degree in Bible. “Why would they hire me?” he asked. “Because your pictures are better than the ones they publish,” Gifford said. So Darrell put together a portfolio (“The 10 worst black-and-white photos you’ve ever seen”) and took the short drive to Slater, Iowa, where . . . “the editor looked at them and yawned. I left thinking he was totally disinterested.” At least that’s the way Darrell frames the anecdote today, always a bit deferential when describing his own work. Here’s the real story. After the photos hit the table, Darrell was hired as the paper’s first full-time photographer. A year later he enrolled in Iowa State University’s photojournalism program, where he was viewed as a nontraditional student and maybe an incongruity. Married and a Bible college graduate, he was already working full time in the sort of position that most students dreamed of landing after graduation. His career took him to a succession of Midwest newspapers, including the Ames Tribune, Decatur Herald and Review, and later as photography director for Copley Chicago News Service. He continues to work as a freelance photographer for the Chicago Tribune, where he covers sports, concerts, and human interest stories. He’s won his share of journalism awards, leading to situations like the alumnus award from FBBC—the unnerving walk to the platform, the standing ovation from friends and peers. Somehow Darrell avoids mentioning the awards when speaking to student groups, but this omission is part of his point. While the students are developing writing, photography, and video skills, they should be thinking about more than building a good résumé. How can these skills be useful in ministry?

Telling stories with photos

When Darrell addresses student groups, he often brings photos from his portfolio, showing how he is applying the same skills when covering stories for the Baptist Bulletin or shooting cover images for RBP products. For this particular media conference he showed a few photos he has taken of famous pop singers in concert, followed by similar photos he has taken on the platform of the GARBC conference. (Yes, he showed his photos of Barry Manilow and Carrie Underwood right before that picture of Pastor Mike Augsburger leading singing.) At this point perhaps I should explain what Darrell means by “similar photos.” No, the GARBC conference speakers are not rock stars (!), but the technical skills needed to make a good photo are the same for any stage or platform. Open any average denominational magazine—notice how their event photos are shot from the back of the room. See the featured speaker looking drab and out of focus, a tiny dot in the distance. Unintended message? Our conference speakers are pinheads. When Darrell began working for the Baptist Bulletin in 1999, he quickly changed this model, exploiting the storytelling potential of his pictures. He used his camera to show a church association that is alive and vital, a close-up look at real people involved in interesting ministries. “I’m trying to get people to care about the stories,” he says now. “I want readers to understand the people, understand their motivation. I want the Holy Spirit to use these stories to motivate people who could be doing the same ministry in their own church.” Yes, every denominational magazine has its share of mission-driven educational articles. Such efforts are conceptual, even theoretical. They are often written by an authoritative leader telling the reader what to think. Not a bad idea, but not complete either. Darrell shows these important ideas in action at the local level, illustrated by the people in our churches. His photos are accompanied by in-depth stories that directly quote the people who are doing the ministry, reporting the ideas in their own voice. This is storytelling in the congregational voice—a Baptist solution for a Baptist magazine.

Singing with understanding

Just before the alumni awards are presented at the graduation ceremony, the Faith Chorale sings “Great and Awesome God,” reminding me how Darrell and I first met, singing in the bass section of this same group back in the day. As it turns out, everything you need to know in life can be learned in choir practice, like the time Michael O’Doonan gave me this advice: “Kevin, if you finish singing and everyone compliments you on your excellent diction, you have actually failed as a singer!” Having spent many years trying to master the technical details of singing, I was somewhat shocked by Dr. O’Doonan’s words, a revelation of sorts. “No, your goal should be different—so people will say, ‘I understood every word you sang.’” I thought of this on Sunday morning, when Darrell had recovered from the award ceremony in time to return to First Baptist in Arlington Heights, Ill., where he serves as deacon and Sunday School teacher. And he was back singing in the bass section, providing crisp t’s and d’s as I gave the choir its cutoffs. Years later we’ve come to understand how good photography and good writing are just like good singing. Done correctly, the technical skills do not call attention to themselves. But at the end of the magazine article, the reader says, “I understand.” This story of “a young man who didn’t know what he wanted to do” has a happy ending, one that Darrell Goemaat told the journalism students a few months ago: “Jesus Christ is the one that I’m living and working for. He is the one that I want to honor and glorify with everything I do and say.” Kevin Mungons is managing editor of the Baptist Bulletin.]]> http://baptistbulletin.org/?feed=rss2&p=29867 0 New church plant in Bong Mines area of Liberia http://garbcinternational.org/?p=5835 http://garbcinternational.org/?p=5835#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 12:25:25 +0000 dhindal http://garbcinternational.org/?p=5835
Continue reading →]]> Sam Quapourlee of African Fundamental Baptist Mission,Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, a partner in the International Partnership of Fundamental Baptist Ministries, reports of thrilling salvation decisions: "May 1–4 was a blessed week in our church plant endeavor, for a total of 205 persons faithfully committed their lives to Christ during our teaching and preaching workshop in a town called Sumo Village some 58 miles from Kakata. Measures are being put into place to start a Bible study in that village two weeks from now that will eventually become a vibrant Baptist church, thus serving as light in the Bong Mines Community."]]> http://garbcinternational.org/?feed=rss2&p=5835 0