Martin Villa during his elementary school years at Open House Ministries

I love watching the children and youth of Open House Ministries (OHM) grow up, discover their true potential and emerge as leaders.  This summer, OHM will hire two of our high school graduates to be our summer camp directors.

Martin Villa has been a part of the OHM family since his elementary years, participating in summer camp and after-school programs.

As a youth, Martin’s faith became very real to him, and he began serving as a student leader.  For the past three years, Martin has been a trusted mentor and friend to the children of OHM.

Martin Villa, now a high school senior working at Open House Ministries

Martin’s co-director this summer is Jose “Oso” Argueta.  A friend invited Oso to OHM three years ago.  Although we have only know Oso for a few years, he has proven himself to be a great role model, coach, tutor and worship leader.  Oso worships God exuberantly and encourages those around him to also connect with God.

Please pray for these young men as they begin to prepare for their leadership role this summer and begin their college careers this fall.

Perhaps your church or small group could serve with them?  We still need a mission team for the week of June 24 – June 29.

To learn more about Open House, visit their Facebook page.

Ryan and Cindy Clark with their local contact in Cagayan de Oro, Rev. Raul Ramon Roa, director of Kagay-an Evangelical Disaster Response Network, left.

We traveled Jan. 5-9 to Cagayan de Oro to provide pastoral support to volunteers and psychological first-aid training to teachers and ministers. After hearing that CBF would be funding a disaster relief project at Cagayan do Oro following December’s Typhoon Sendong, we called a meeting of Bukal Care and Counseling Center (BCCC.) Bukal had taken a small team down to Cagayan de Oro the week before to assess and train pastors in debriefing techniques. This first trip was funded by Springhill Baptist Church in Virginia.

The original plan of the trip was to debrief and do crisis response training with public school teachers and local pastors in the mornings and give pastoral support and debriefing to survivors still living in shelters around the city.

Plans changed when the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the morning we left that all religious groups offering conseling and debriefing must cease their activities.  We were told that WHO did an assessment and discovered that religious groups claiming to be doing psychological support were actually directly evangelizing traumatized persons. One specific activity of groups was showing Christian oriented films at night designed to influence a conversion experience.

Our local contact, Pastor Cleto Bacarro, went ahead and scheduled the crisis response training at Grace Christian School, a private school that became an emergency shelter the night of the storm. During the story, the school’s administration and staff jumped into action providing emergency aid to hundreds of people who were fleeing the rising flood waters.

Early in the morning of Jan. 6, we conducted training of 65 teachers and pastors in psychological first aid at Oro Christian Grace School.  Our local contact at the school was Jeanette Li, the vice principal.  She was quite wonderful in accommodating us.  In the afternoon we facilitated debriefing in small groups.

Later that day, we got a tour of Isla de Oro.  Located on a sandbar inside the river basin, about 1,500 people from this area are still missing or are confirmed dead.  There we talked with the Philippine National Police who were securing the area.  They had found a dead 1-year-old the day before, three weeks after the storm.

A home destroyed by flooding from Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.

We also talked with the owner of a house, one of only a handful, that was still standing after the storm.  He told of the night of the storm and how about 10 families, about 60 people, climbed into the large mango tree in his yard. The local media are calling this tree the “tree of life.”

The morning of Jan. 7 we continued with crisis response training at Cagayan Gospel Church and were joined by an additional 25 ministers from the areas from various churches and non-governmental organization’s.  Cindy taught a unit on working with traumatized students using developmentally appropriate activities which would allow the students to process their trauma and help the teachers transition back into the school’s curriculum. Ryan taught on the grief process, giving everyone a framework for understanding the emotional process at work after trauma.

It is difficult to describe the different levels of trauma among directly affected and indirectly affected survivors.  Everyone agrees that the water rose so quickly that they barely had time to react.  Typhoon Sendong had intense wind, but everyone was surprised at how little rain was falling in Cagayan de Oro. There are hundreds of thousands of people now who have stories of how their homes and churches were flooded. There are a few hundred stories of parents who were not able to save all their children. Everyone knows of someone who they haven’t heard from.

The fliers of photos of missing children plastered all over the shelters are heartbreaking.

I spent time with one pastor whose nephew was found floating in the ocean on a 5 gallon water container 16 hours after the storm had passed. His nephew is alive and reunited with him mom in one of the shelters.

That evening we visited the Tent City set up by the Philippine Navy and donated by the Shelter Box Foundation and Rotary Club International.  There were 400 shelters with 300 families relocated there. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) had just taken responsibility for the community where about 3,000 people were now living. Officials were expecting about 1,000 more from shelters.  They were still installing electricity as the sun set.

By “chance” we ran into a little girl at the tent city who’d been involved at Pastor Cleto’s church. She took us to her family’s tent. The Bulisac family had been relocated to the tent city an hour earlier. They were disoriented and recovering from a chickenpox outbreak in their shelter. We spent time with the family who was overwhelmed by our visit – feeling a little less lost in the sea of identical white tents. They had water but no food and didn’t know when dinner would be distributed. Our team shared with them a bag of bread, fruit, and four chicken dinners with rice. This is all we had since we weren’t expecting to encounter hungry people at the tent city.

We had several conversations with officials who were frustrated that government agencies and NGO’s were not able to solve the problem of housing. Quality of life at the tent city is better than in the shelters, but neither are permanent. There are still about 8,000 families who need to be relocated to permanent housing, which doesn’t seem to exist yet.

I also spoke with several frustrated relief workers who were angry and broken hearted at the national and local governments inability to respond in a timely manner and coordinate with all the NGO’s offering aid. It had become common knowledge that the severe leptospirosis outbreak that is currently killing people would have been easily prevented if the prophylactic doxycyline had been distributed instead of sitting in boxes.

On Sunday morning our team members were distributed among different churches. Cindy and I went to Home Church which is pastored by Cleto Bacarro. It was their first day of worship in their new space. After worship we provided two sessions of small group debriefing.

Our team made the decision for three members to stay a few more days in order to coordinate with the WHO and offer some support to Iligan City, about two hours away.

Our trip by the numbers:

• 7 member team – Ryan Clark, Cindy Clark, Joel Aguirre, Celia Munson, Becky Taylor, Jehny Pedazo, and Alma Villacarlos
• 300 meals served
• 1,200 snacks given
• 10 Family Relocation Kits  (large kits for setting up a household) distributed
• Training of 80 teachers and ministers
• Debriefing of 140 pastors and teachers, plus an additional 23 pastors in Iligan City

Joel Aguirre is our Baguio Filipino contact person and the director of the CPE program at Bukal Life Care and Counseling Center.  For all practical purposes, he was the team leader.  He also pastors West Baguio Baptist Church.  He did CPE in Temple Texas and was ordained at Meadow Oaks Baptist Church in Temple, Texas, a partnering congregation of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

For more on the Clarks’ work, join their group on Facebook. For more photos, visit their Facebook album from Cagayan de Oro.

To become more involved in CBF Disaster Response Ministries, “like” the Facebook page of the Disaster Response Community.

Students at Japan in Epcot's World Showcase during the Faith in 3D event.

As over 1,500 participants walked into Epcot’s World Showplace for the opening session of the third iteration of Faith in 3D, they found themselves wandering through glowing lights and neon colored activities designed to inspire writing, drawing, playing, building and dreaming.  The initial responses were eyes wide with wonder and jaws dropping in amazement.  Perfect – that’s what we were going for!

Then, bright and early the next morning, participants, sponsored by three distinct faith traditions (but welcoming six), were bussed in behind the Disney gates and allowed pre-access to Epcot’s World Showcase®.  Just think about that for a minute.  How do you go about promptly loading up 1,500 teenagers and adults (that’s 30 charter-sized buses) at 7 a.m. and successfully “sneaking” them all into the park two hours before the regular crowds have even gathered?  Well, let’s just say it was magic and some great logistical planning.

One goal of the “ImagiNations” morning is to help young people discuss how to be thoughtful Christians in a rapidly changing and culturally complicated world.

“There is no class project in the country and no youth mission trip that can offer this kind of diverse and informed engagement in one place,” said event producer and Passport president, David Burroughs.

More than 1,500 students worshipped together at Faith in 3D.

All morning, students interacted with citizens from around the world who have come to live and work as their country’s representatives at Epcot.  Participants also had intentional conversations with global Christians (missionaries and field personnel) from each sponsoring communion.  Disney’s Y.E.S. (Youth Education Series) educators, who teach school children at Disney year-round, were also on hand to further inform our cross-cultural thinking.

Passport started offering programming at Disney 15 years ago, but with the shrinking of national staffs of youth ministry offices across denominations, the need for collaborative large-scale programs has grown.  As a result, steering teams from the sponsoring traditions work hard to celebrate differences while acknowledging our common ground inside the family of God.  Sponsoring groups in 2012 were the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Church (USA).

Jerry Cannon was one of the speakers at Faith in 3D.

Julie Pennington-Russell, Mark Yaconelli, and Jerry Cannon proclaimed three very different but interconnected challenges around the daily themes of Imagine, Create and Animate.  A youth drama team from Asheville, N.C., became the rock-star personalities whose words wove together our thoughts in humorous sketches, musical raps and thought-provoking dramas.  “Drive,” the touring band for Miami Music Ministries led us with an inspiring blend of sacred and profoundly relevant secular music.

You can see event pictures on Passport’s Facebook page. You will see us all freezing by the pool or taking our picture with Mickey, but what outside observers can’t comprehend is the magic.  Not the Disney magic, but the real-life, tangible energy we all experienced together at this massive youth event.  Surely, Martin Luther King, Jr. can see these children, with skin dusted in every hue of God’s beautiful family, gather hand in hand on his birthday.  Surely, he can see that we share his dream of what love can look like in the world.

Hi Friends,

Steve Clark and Annette Ellard

We are pleased to invite you to a very exciting event this Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Crescent Hill Baptist Church. U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell will conduct a special briefing with refugees from Burma regarding recent developments there and his first-hand impressions of reform efforts following his visit to Burma this week.

In the past two months, many things have been happening that signal reform in Burma:  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s historic visit in December; last week’s ceasefire between the Karen National Union and the Burma government after more that 60 years of armed conflict; the release of more than 600 prisoners, including 1988 pro-democracy eaders and other political prisoners.

We believe God is doing something amazing and that a wave of change is in process.  This is an exciting moment in history for us and the people we minister among and love so dearly.

During this time, refugees from Burma in Louisville also have had an unprecedented opportunity to be a voice for change.  In December, refugees at Crescent Hill Baptist Church were featured in the national news.  Also, students of Hope Academy wrote letters of encouragement to Secretary of State Clinton as she traveled to Burma and received a detailed response from Derek Mitchell, the Department of State’s special representative and policy coordinator for Burma.  This month, Sen. McConnell requested meetings to learn more about the refugees from Burma living in Kentucky and we and several of our friends from Burma had a chance to participate.

Now, Sen. McConnell is traveling in Burma.  While there, the senator is meeting with Burmese government leaders, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic minority leaders, to see first-hand how the country is making progress toward reform.

Upon his return, Sen. McConnell will hold a Town Hall Meeting with Kentucky’s population of refugees from Burma and other concerned constituents to share his impressions of reform efforts in what has been until recently a very closed country.  The senator also will take questions and hear opinions about the current situation in Burma, the future for ethnic minorities there and views about life after resettlement in Kentucky.

Following the meeting, everyone is invited to stay for lunch in the Fellowship Hall, where folks will have an opportunity to meet the Senator.

This is an unprecedented opportunity and if you live here in Kentucky, we hope you will not miss it.

Please join us for this exciting event!

Crescent Hill Baptist Church is located at 2800 Frankfort Ave., Louisville, Ky., 40206.

Feel free to contact us with any questions.  We look forward to seeing you Saturday.

Peace,

Steve Clark and Annette Ellard

CBF Global Missions Field Personnel

502-435-7670

502-500-1172

While I find blogs and articles about youth ministry helpful to the rethinking process, they’re also somewhat limited in their ability to help me contextualize the ideas and practices they promote. That’s why I find opportunities for professional development and peer interaction to be of tremendous benefit to rethinking and thereby improving my ministry with teens.

I want to invite you to join me and other youth ministry peers at the upcoming ChurchWorks conference in Norfolk, VA. You’ll hear from Ken Medema and Brian McLaren in addition to some focused time with the CBF Youth Ministry Network.

Cory Goode is an associate pastor with student emphasis at University Heights Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri.

At CBB, we continually monitor the benefits market and search for ways to expand and enhance benefits on behalf of churches and related entities. We also listen to your concerns and requests related to insurance coverage and plan features. So the enhancements to our benefits are not unusual.

For me, some factors drove the quest to get better coverage:

• Ministers and staff are living longer, on the job longer and there’s a need for benefits to extend longer into to what have historically been ‘retirement years.’
• Every 90 seconds, someone files bankruptcy in the wake of serious illness.
• For today’s 20 year olds, 3 of every 10 will become disabled before reaching age 67.

Armed with these facts, and requests we heard from our members to add options to expanded life insurance coverage for spouses and dependents, we engaged our existing partners with the goal of giving us more options, with this very important bottom line: no additional out-of-pocket money.

The details of the changes can be found at the enclosed links, but some highlights include:

• Up to 8 times annual salary payout for accidental death (an increase from six times last year)
• Four times annual salary payout up to $500,000 for general life insurance.
• Policy coverage for spouse and dependents is included.
• To protect part-time ministers and staff, minimum participation is still only 20 hours a week.

Because the housing allowance is such an important component of compensation for ministers, we have maintained this language benefit in our long-term disability policy as well as “own occupation” language. Since ministerial skills are unique, benefits may be suspended only upon return to your “own occupation,” not another. In some disability policies, employee benefits are terminated when worker is eligible to return to “any” job. We believe this best protects our unique members.

The Standard, our retirement plan provider in retirement benefits, has stepped up to provide these benefits at no additional cost and to enhance other benefits for our participants with minimal change in the detailed provisions. We have also maintained our travel benefits, employee assistance, rehabilitation provision, dependent education, cost of living adjustments and other benefits in the plan.

For more information on our new insurance policy upgrades, click on these links:

• Group Long Term Disability Insurance
• Group Basic Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance

One last commercial: If you are not yet a CBB member, I’d like to take this opportunity to personally invite you to find out more about us and how CBB benefits can add value for your employees. We invite you to do a comparison. Have your financial advisor or an independent retirement planner compare our plans to any available. We think you’ll agree that Church Benefits Board provides the best benefits in church life.

If you have questions, or want to find out how you can become a CBB member, contact me at 1-800-352-8741 or email me at churchbenefits@churchbenefits.org.

Marion Aldridge, Coordinator of CBF of South Carolina

This post comes from Marion Aldridge, coordinator of CBF of South Carolina. It was originally published as Marion’s column in the October issue of the CBF of South Carolina newsletter.

When I was a kid, somewhere between age 9 and 11, our pastor must have preached a humdinger of a sermon about sex. When we got home, I asked Mother and Dad what some of the words in the sermon meant, specifically, “virgin” and “petting.” They told me to look them up in the dictionary, which was not enlightening.

I wish I could say that the church of Jesus Christ was more helpful in the twenty-first century than it was in the 1950’s, but it is not. For generations, most Christian teenagers have learned about sex from their boyfriend or girlfriend, and that often included a lot of misinformation: “You can get pregnant by French-kissing.”

As a young adult with rambunctious hormones, I was grateful that a man who eventually became my friend, Charlie Shedd, wrote a volume titled “The Stork Is Dead.” Charlie was a Christian and what he wrote was practical and useful advice. He told the truth, and he did not begin every sentence with “Thou shalt not…!”

Another source, not Christian, was also beneficial because it was chockfull of factual (and probably some spurious) information. “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Ask” by David Reuben was not a Christian document. If Christians don’t help one another with the subject of sex, we will get our information elsewhere.

Television and the movies are the prime source for misguiding this current generation. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, in partnership with Mercer University, is trying to do something about this giant void in Christian education and spiritual formation. We are co-sponsoring “A [Baptist] Conference on Sexuality and Covenant” in Decatur, Ga., April 19-21.

Every church ought to require its staff and leadership, especially its youth minister and youth Sunday school teachers, to attend. Human sexuality always has been and always will be a complicated subject, with changing social, cultural and religious values. Shouting “The Bible says!” is not helpful, because the Bible says the Patriarchs and heroes of our faith were often philanders and polygamists. Beware before you glibly start pushing traditional or even Biblical “family values.”

Social security has always been an important part of sexual ethics. During the Biblical era, and in all agricultural societies, big families were important to ensure there would be plenty of children later on, available to care for aging parents, especially widows. Men in that world who avoided responsible sexual behavior were condemned. People who didn’t take care of the elderly were also anathema.

As the eldest child, Jesus was taking care of his social responsibility regarding the long-term care of his mother when, on the cross, he passed that assignment on to John: “Behold, thy Mother.” Nowadays, many congregations have elderly widows and widowers who are in a sexual relationship, sleeping over for the weekend with one another because marriage, according to their understanding of our laws, punishes them financially if they have a wedding! Many naïve pastors don’t know this because their embarrassed church members simply stop attending worship and disappear from congregational life. Is “true love waits” the only thing we have to say to these mature adults?

CBF has struggled with how to address the subject of human sexuality which has been taboo and hidden for much of Christian history. We could summarize the typical response of Baptists by saying it has been largely fearful. Sex is powerful and has changed the course of many individuals, families and even nations. Sex is to be respected, but not feared.

This event is our attempt to hear from experts and from one another on this important topic. Maybe next year we will address another taboo, such as money! Or, gluttony! I’m not sure that, in my lifetime, we will be able to address partisan politics!

One of our hopes is that CBF can successfully model how to have a hard conversation about difficult and divisive subjects. There will be people who will want to make this “Conference on Sexuality and Covenant” solely about homosexuality. I certainly hope the subject of homosexuality is on the agenda. But if we don’t find a way to speak to and listen to teenagers, young adults and every other adult struggling with various types of sexual issues, we will have failed in one of our roles as churches.

Talking about sex is always difficult. It was for my parents. It was for me as a preacher. Most congregations have great diversity, from pre-teens who will be blown away by too much information, to senior adults (or others) who think sex is an inappropriate subject for conversation 100% of the time— even with their own husband or wife!

CBF is not in the resolution-making business, I am glad to say. I have always thought that an organization that voted on a resolution by a 55 percent -45 percent margin wasn’t all that resolved. Instead, we want to create safe space for meaningful dialogue about matters too often neglected by the Christian church.

I intend to go to this conference/conversation. If you cannot attend, maybe you can join in the online conversation before and after the event. The key, for me, always, is listening. I already know what I have been taught the Bible says, and I already know my own interpretations and opinions.

As in many other areas, I have also learned that the Bible is a Big Book and people with different backgrounds (for instance, polygamist Mormons) read it quite differently than I do. Let’s help our fellow-Christians of all ages and perspectives learn that they can trust the church to be diligent in searching for the truth—even when we are dealing with a challenging and complicated subject.

Mickey Mouse at the first-ever Faith in 3D back in 2006.

There. I admitted it. I am jealous of the 23 CBF youth groups heading to the Walt Disney World Resort today for a life-changing and action-packed weekend at the Faith in 3D conference, planned and executed by CBF-partner Passport Inc.

I was able to attend the first ever such event, covering it for CBF Communications. My guilt at being to enjoy the Disney theme parks while exploring important spiritual themes with then Episcopalians, Presbyterians and CBF folks caused me to overwork a bit. I took thousands of pictures, wrote a cover story for the magazine and did hometown news releases for the local newspapers of all the CBF churches that participated. When it ended, I was exhausted and concluded I was too old to cover youth events anymore.

So, as part of CBF family gathers this weekend with Presbyterian USA and Cumberland Presbyterians at Disney, I’ll be thinking of them and praying for them. I’ll probably even sneak a peek at the Facebook event just to live vicariously through the photos and updates that will be posted there. You can follow them on Twitter by searching for the hastag “#f3d.”

Thanks, Passport, for putting this together and for your tireless efforts to help our youth experience spiritual formation and missional engagement.

It seems that when folks can’t rally around other global injustices, human trafficking is one that touches minds and hearts. Yet, all around us people continue to be bought, sold, and bartered as commodities. CBF cares about many justice issues and addresses them, human trafficking included. In recognition of Freedom Sunday, February 26^th and International Women’s Day, March 8^th, CBF field personnel and partners will present a webinar for churches and individuals on the subject of human trafficking. I invite you to set aside Wednesday evening, February 22^nd and arrange for your group to be a part of this webinar.

It is an amazing day of technology that we live in. No longer do you have to cover the expenses of someone to come and speak to your congregation. Now, without leaving home, you can hear how your field personnel are engaged in anti-trafficking, how they are partnering with others to end slavery, and how you can be involved in anti-trafficking efforts both through CBF and through their partners. Plan now to recognize Freedom Sunday and/or International Women’s Day. Participating in this webinar on February 22^nd might be just the way to do that! Be looking for information on how to sign up or drop an email to info@cbfinternationals.org. We will be sure you are included!

There is really no way around it. If you go, you too will travel on it–the long road. This long, dusty and at times dangerous road, is the main thoroughfare between Port Au Prince and Grand Goave. Whether you are riding in the back of a pickup, on a van, or in a Tap-Tap (Haitian taxi), the experience is the same. In addition to the rugged road conditions that can best be described as jarring, every sense is accosted along the journey. Sights of chaos and destruction litter the landscape, smells of rotting produce, livestock, and garbage burn the nostrils. Sounds of crowded construction sites, bustling traffic and teeming open-air markets pelt the ears. This is the “welcome” all are afforded who visit Haiti. 

 It is hard to believe that today marks the two-year anniversary of the devastating earthquakes. Much has changed in two short years. Thousands of pounds of debris has been removed or recycled, much-needed medical care has been provided, homes have been rebuilt, and lives have been restored.  As I reflect on my own experience in Haiti, I am still haunted by that long road. Yes, the sights, sounds, and smells are forever seared in my memory, but the road is what I reflect on most. The road is a reminder of the long journey of struggle, growth, and hope that the Haitian people have been on. Every mile tells a story. Each bridge tells of a triumph. Each pothole tells of a tragedy. As we look forward to another year of ministry in Haiti among our brothers and sisters, may we be ever mindful of this journey, the triumphs and the tragedies, and the ever-present long road ahead.