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connectionsA clear voice for Christian freedom, distinctively Baptist andintentionally ecumenical in an interfaith world.

December 2006 • Vol. 9 Issue 12

A Hispanic Bible study meeting on Friday evenings at Grace Covenant Church began from a casual conversation between a member of the church and Martin Luna, a local credit union officer who was looking for a place to hold Bible classes for Hispanics. In addition to providing a place for the Bible study, Grace Covenant Church has provided Spanish language Bibles for participants.

Grace Covenant Church in Oak Ridge, TN, describes itself as a congregation that encourages a questioning, searching faith, and refuses to set limits on conversation about issues of the day.

The church began in January 2004 with a small group of about 35 Baptists, and now has about 55 members. Most of the people who have joined since the church was organized have come from other backgrounds. Carolyn and Larry Dipboye are co-pastors and Rodney Parrish is pastor of music worship

It is an interdenominational church affiliated with both the Alliance of Baptists and the International Council of Community Churches.

“Our worship is classical with a stress on reverence and a variety of music styles,” Larry said. “We tend toward classical hymns, and our pastors usually wear robes.”

The congregation meets in 2,000 square feet of rented space in a building that once was a pre-school. They have a worship center, a fellowship center, a kitchen, and a small office.

Larry has been in pastoral ministry for 44 years. Carolyn was ordained at Grace Covenant in January 2005. Larry and Carolyn share the pastoral care, education, and worship/preaching ministries. They sometimes share the sermon, but usually rotate.

Larry and Carolyn have been in Oak Ridge

since 1988. Larry was pastor of First Baptist Church until 2004. Both teach religion courses in adult education for Oak Ridge Institute of Continued Learning. Both are founders and leaders of the Oak Ridge Forum on Religion and Science, an informal gathering of people of faith, people suspicious of religion, and active scientists from the Oak Ridge community who gather monthly to hear a relevant lecture and engage in discussion.

The church’s most recent project has been to help a young Mexican-American (Apostolic) to teach Bible classes in Spanish on Friday evenings. “We know that the people who come to this study will probably never be interested in our style of worship,” Larry said. “Nevertheless, we are pleased to support this Kingdom mission.”

True to its Baptist heritage, the congregation enjoys pot-luck dinners and occasional prepared dinners on Wednesday nights. These meals have led to the creation of a cookbook with 300+ recipes that has just gone to a publisher. “The cookbook is a symbol of the offering of bread and all that represents to the community of Grace Covenant,” Larry said.

Below: The members of Grace Covenant.

Grace Covenant ChurchSmall Tennessee congregation refuses to set limits on conversation

happenings perspectives(on a mutually beneficial gift)

Marise Tuttle pastor at Prescott Memorial

Alliance-affiliated Prescott Memorial Baptist Church of Memphis, TN, has called Marise Tuttle as senior pastor. Her ministry at Prescott began in November. Marise attended Colgate Rochester and Central Seminaries and most recently served as associate pastor of First Baptist Church of Kansas City, MO.

Sandra Hack Polaski author of new book

Sandra Hack Polaski, assistant professor of New Testament at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, is the author of Inside the Red Tent, recently published by Chalice Press. Hack Polaski considers the biblical story of Leah, Rachel, Zil’pah, Bil’hah, and Leah’s daughter Dinah probing aspects The Red Tent, a popular novel by Anita Diamant, and brings to the reader the biblical and historical contexts of the story of Dinah and her four mothers.

Mark White called to church in Richmond

Alliance member, Mark White, has been called as pastor of Chamberlayne Baptist Church in Richmond. White, a graduate of BTSR, formerly served as associate pastor at Alliance-affiliated Williamsburg Baptist Church in Williamsburg, VA. He began service at Chamberlayne on November 27.

Kathy Findley named “Woman of Peace”

Kathy Manis Findley, director of the Center for Healing and Hope, a project funded in part by the Alliance of Baptists’ Bridges of Hope Mission Offering, has been honored as a Woman of Peace by the Women’s Peacepower Foundation. The Foundation noted Findley’s work for more than 20 years with survivors of sexual abuse, domestic violence and child abuse.

Millbrook looking for pastorMillbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh

is looking for a senior minister. Send resumes to Chair, Pastor Search Committee, Millbrook Baptist Church, 1519 East Millbrook RD, Raleigh, NC 27609.

HAVANA, CUBA—Baptist theologians from eight countries, including seminary presidents from Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico, gathered Oct. 12-16 at the Martin Luther King Center in Havana to reaffirm their common conviction that “life in the Spirit and life in the world are intimately connected,” in the words of Jonathan Pimentel, president of the Baptist seminary in San José, Costa Rica.

The Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba (Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba), an Alliance partner, organized the meeting. “We need the encouragement and insight these meetings provide,” said Osvaldo Peréz, executive secretary of the Fraternity.

“It is especially significant that we are meeting here at the King Center,” said Francisco Rodés, church history professor and Baptist House of Studies director at the Evangelical Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba, and a frequent visitor among Alliance churches. “More dramatically than any other Baptists, Dr. King was clear that the preaching of the Gospel of Christ and the pursuit of political, economic and human rights cannot be segregated.”

This Second Encounter (the first held in 1986 in Costa Rica) of 38 Baptist professors and pastors in the Caribbean and Latin America included a daily schedule of worship, music, Bible study and theological lectures focused on a variety of themes.

Theology’s connection with history was highlighted by the absence of Colombian native Harold Segura, church relations director for World Vision International, who was unable to attend the conference at the last minute in order to mediate a situation of civil conflict in Bolivia. In his absence, participants broke into small

groups to discuss Segura’s manuscript that emphasized the concrete spirituality of “following Jesus” within the diversity of different cultural contexts.

Also reflecting on the makeup of the conference participants, Martin Luther King Center founder and director Raúl Suárez, another member of the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba, noted that nearly half of those present were under the age of 40. Suárez, at age 72 the

eldest participant, is the retired pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Havana and is also an elected member of Cuba’s national parliament.

Funding for the conference was provided by congregations and individuals affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, and with grants from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

—Reported by Francisco Rodés of Matanzas, Cuba, and Ken Sehested of North Carolina.

Fraternity hosts Baptist theologians from the Caribbean in Havana

Ken Sehested (r) visits with Jimmy Sudario (l), Baptist pastor from Brazil Carmine Bianchi of Italy, at the recent conference of Baptist theologians in the Caribbean region.Sudario, who helped create the Martin Luther King Center in Sao Paulo, pastors a congregation affiliated with the newly-formed Alliance of Baptists in Brazil. Bianchi, director of evangelism and advocate for immigrants, is on a six-month sabbatical in Cuba.

happenings perspectives(on a mutually beneficial gift)

Through October 30

Budget needs $314,990

Receipts $304,625

Mission Offering Goal $120,500

Mission Offering Receipts $82,133

FINANCESALLIANCE

By Stan HasteyExecutive Director

The recent decision by the American Baptist Historical Society to relocate its priceless collections from Valley Forge, PA, and Rochester, NY, to Atlanta is very good

news indeed.After a lengthy and thoroughgoing review of several options,

the ABHS Board of Managers voted in September to consolidate its collections on the campus of Mercer University in Atlanta. The Atlanta site will be the fifth home for the Society in its 153 years.

In announcing the epic decision, ABHS President Trinette McCray said: “After reviewing the three final proposals, the Board decided that Mercer’s proposed partnership and site best meets our mission and vision. We struggled, we prayed, we evaluated each proposal carefully. After a thorough discernment process, the Board believed that this is the direction God is leading us.”

For the past 20 years, the ABHS has managed two locations, 350 miles apart, housing different pieces of the collection, widely considered the finest such repository of Baptist historical materials and artifacts on this side of the Atlantic. In the words of ABHS Executive Director Deborah Bingham Van Broekhoven, “Good stewardship of finances, staff time, the collections’ growth, and accessibility of those collections to researchers – who often needed to visit both sites – was the compelling reason why the Board decided to consolidate.”

That the consolidation is to be in Atlanta is, from the perspective of this student of Baptist history, a reason for genuine thanksgiving. Yet it should be said the decision could not have been easy. To move from leading centers of American Baptist life to a new home in the South was a huge decision that undoubtedly will be met with criticism by some American Baptists – and understandably so.

Yet the potential benefits of the move are equally enormous. They include: Bringing Baptists from North and South together. Our great

divide, instigated in 1844-1845 by the refusal of Baptists in the South to denounce slavery, has gone on far too long. The ABHS move sends a powerful signal that the chasm can be spanned. Next year’s dovetailed meetings in Washington of the American Baptist Churches in the USA and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are similar signs. Let me say that I hope large numbers of Alliance people will make it a priority next year to attend not only the 20th anniversary convocation of the Alliance – also in Washington next April 13-15 – but the joint session of ABCUSA and CBF in June. Being a bridge to bring Baptist historians together in

common cause. As one long committed to the study of Baptist history, I’ve been concerned for the past two decades that Baptist historians, North and South, find one another with greater frequency. For eight years I was privileged to serve on the ABHS Board of Managers, during which the Society commissioned Bill J. Leonard’s splendid work, Baptist Ways: A History (Judson Press, 2003). Leonard’s book sets a new standard in American Baptist historical writing. The choice of Leonard as the author of the first major Baptist history published by Judson in half a century was inspired. As a founding director of the William H. Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society, I maintain a lively interest in the ongoing story of Baptists in the South as well. All Baptist historians, indeed all Baptists everywhere, share a common history, the common study of which will strengthen Baptist life in all its sectors.

There is but one denomination of God’s people called Baptists. It’s high time we started looking beyond our differences -- historical and theological, to be sure, but principally regional – to find the common ground we all occupy.

So kudos to the American Baptist Historical Society for taking the bold steps of consolidating its rich collections and moving them to Atlanta. And kudos in equal measure to Mercer University for making a compelling case to enable such a move. Those committed to the preservation and enhancement of Baptist history and principles owe a debt of gratitude to both, a debt whose value will only increase with the passage of time. A new era is upon us.

Nominating Committee seeks candidates for board

Alliance members are invited to suggest names for consideration by the Nominating Committee of the Alliance of Baptists — especially the names of laypersons who would bring interest and energy to the task of serving on the Board of Directors. Contact Tim Dean, chair, at tdean@mpbconline.org or at Myers Park Baptist Church, P.O. Box 6006, Charlotte NC 28207. Include contact information for names submitted. The Nominating Committee’s recommendations for new directors will be presented to the Annual Meeting, April 14, 2007, at Calvary Baptist Church, Washington, DC, for approval.

Ken Sehested (r) visits with Jimmy Sudario (l), Baptist pastor from Brazil Carmine Bianchi of Italy, at the recent conference of Baptist theologians in the Caribbean region.Sudario, who helped create the Martin Luther King Center in Sao Paulo, pastors a congregation affiliated with the newly-formed Alliance of Baptists in Brazil. Bianchi, director of evangelism and advocate for immigrants, is on a six-month sabbatical in Cuba.

Cover Story:The pastors at Grace Covenant Church in Oak Ridge, TN: Larry Dipboye, Carolyn Dipboye, Rodney Parrish.

board member profile: PaulRichardson

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December 2006

Executive Director Stan Hasteyshastey@allianceofbaptists.org

Associate Director Jeanette Holtjholt@allianceofbaptists.org

Phone: 202.745.7609 • Toll-free: 866.745.7609Fax: 202.745.0023info@allianceofbaptists.orgwww.AllianceofBaptists.org

Communications Consultant Sue Posseditor@allianceofbaptists.org864.469.0779

The Alliance of Baptists1328 16th Street NWWashington, DC 20036

Paul A. Richardson is professor of music in the School of Performing Arts at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, where he teaches voice and church music.

He has been a part of the Alliance almost since its beginning and is in his second year as a member of the board.

“I first paid dues to the Alliance while I was a faculty member at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I listed it in my annual report as a means to irritate the apparently powerful,” he said. “I was not at the organizational meeting of the Alliance, though I was present at an earlier gathering at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans during the 1982 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Many of us there were aware that we would need a new home to nurture the sort of Baptist values that we found important. That need has not diminished.”

“The Alliance offers a rare opportunity to put into practice aspects of faith that I find in scripture and in our Baptist inheritance,” he said. “As stated in the Covenant and incarnated in many ways, the Alliance challenges me to live a fuller application of the gospel that comes from truth-telling and truth-listening.”

Paul is a member of the

Communications and Development Committee of the board. “The Alliance is doing important, exciting, and difficult work,” he said. “ I have left every meeting of my two terms tired from the effort expended but energized by the challenge of ideas, needs, and opportunities. If this rare, but fragile, opportunity is to be sustained and expanded, individuals and congregations must be informed and engaged. In a noisy world, a small voice has to be intentionally and consistently articulate.”

Paul is a member of Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, one of the two congregations to affiliate with the Alliance at its founding. “This identity was important to our family when we chose a place of worship and service,” he said.

Paul has served Baptist, Presbyterian, and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Indiana.

A past president of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, Paul has contributed to numerous hymn projects in a variety of ways. Current projects include a history of Baptist hymnody in America and Will You Come and Follow Me, a worship and devotional resource on faith,

vocation, and learning.

Paul earned a bachelor of music degree from Mars Hill College and master of church music and doctor of musical arts degrees from Southern Seminary. He has done post-doctoral study at the Eastman School of Music and at Colgate Rochester Divinity School/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary. In the spring of 2004, he spent a semester on study leave in England engaged in hymnological research. He has been a participant in Lilly summer seminars on “Christian Scholarship and Academic Culture” and “Teaching Theology through Music.”

He is married to Susan C. Richardson, a librarian and organist. They are the parents of two children: Robert, a graduate student at the University of Maryland, and Rachel, a sophomore at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.