Faith « Baylor Proud

Points of Pride — Faith

Jul

2011

Rangers’ Murphy shares thoughts on faith, baseball in ‘I am Second’ video

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Athletics, Faith, Videos

We mentioned Pittsburgh Steeler (and Baylor alum) Daniel Sepulveda’s “I am Second” video back in January as his team was on its way to the Super Bowl. Now, fresh off a World Series appearance, another BU alum, Texas Ranger David Murphy, has joined Sepulveda in sharing his story for the “I am Second” campaign.

The “I Am Second” movement features individuals such as Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, former Korn guitarist Brian Welch and noted shark-attack survivor Bethany Hamilton sharing their challenges, struggles and stories of how God has used such trials to lead them back to Christ.

I had the blessing of knowing Murphy during his all-American days here in Waco, and I can happily report that there is no better representative of the Baylor name.

Sic ’em, Murph!

[We learned of this story from a Bear who shared her Baylor pride. Do you know of an inspiring story, news item, or just a fun link that makes you proud of Baylor and the Baylor family? Let us know! Click here to submit your point of pride!]

Jun

2011

Student-athletes’ service makes a powerful impact on Kenya

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Faith, Service, Student life

Baylor in Kenya

I was forwarded an e-mail this week from Walter Machio, who served as Baylor’s partner in Kenya for the sports ministry team that spent two weeks there earlier this summer. In addition to his thanks for all that the Baylor students were able to do during their visit, he also passed along links to three local stories about their activities.

The first headline certainly caught my eye: “Baylor’s day in prison.” One day, the Baylor team split into two, with one group visiting the Nairobi Men’s Prison and another the Langata Women’s Prison. There, the students played sports, led camps and drills, and shared their faith with the inmates — some of them on death row. (Read the team’s blog entry about the day here.)

A second article, titled “Visiting Baylor team rebuilding lives through sports,” shared stories of the joy the Baylor team brought to some families who had recently lost everything in a fire. The students helped build a new home for one family, and the experience led Melissa Jones to remark on the lessons she learned. “Coming here to rebuild homes for the community is a great blessing, not only to the soccer boys but to us as a team, because we have realized that the things we don’t value a lot in life mean a great deal to others out there.”

And that doesn’t even begin to cover all that these Baylor students were able to do in Kenya. A third article detailed some more practical help they provided, and the team’s blog, kenyasports11.wordpress.com, includes even more stories of the practical and spiritual impact these students had on those they met on the other side of the world — as well as the lessons they have brought back to the U.S.

Sic ’em, Baylor students with servant hearts!

Jun

2011

Professor’s book presents a simple equation: ‘More God, Less Crime’

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Faith, Research

Some might see it as obvious; others, as misguided optimism. But with every society looking to reduce crime, the notion that religion can be an antidote to such behavior is intriguing. That’s the premise behind More God, Less Crime, the latest book from Dr. Byron Johnson, distinguished professor of the social sciences and director of Baylor’s Institute for the Studies of Religion (ISR).

Johnson points to evidence that increased religious activity can not only reduce crime, but actually increase what he calls prosocial behavior — basically, being a good citizen. Writing in a lay-friendly format, More God, Less Crime pulls together research from a wide variety of sources to make his case for how the “faith factor” can help faith-based groups more effectively help the American criminal justice system.

You may have already read about the book, thanks to reviews from publications such as Christianity Today and the Wall Street Journal, or heard Johnson interviewed on Chuck Colson’s “Breakpoint” or “The Michael Medved Show.” As I write this, the book is Amazon’s No. 25 bestseller in the area of sociology and No. 40 in criminology.

Sic ’em, Dr. Johnson!

Jun

2011

Baptist Studies Center for Research to bring denomination’s history together in one place

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Faith, Research

As the world’s largest Baptist university and the only one offering a doctorate in religion, it makes sense that Baylor would serve as a depository for the denomination’s history and research. The Baptist Studies Center for Research, approved by Baylor Regents at their February meeting, will bring it all together.

The center will pull together hundreds of thousands of Baptist-related research materials — books, letters, sermons, photos, oral histories and more — already at Baylor, then add to that printed collection a virtual depository of important Baptist documents, photographs, books and other collections. The online archive will include not only digitized versions of materials from Baylor’s collection, but also from other collections and libraries partnering with Baylor in bringing everything Baptist into one (virtual) location.

Robbins Chapel in Brooks Village at Baylor

The center will also bring scholars and researchers to the Baylor campus while offering Baylor graduate and undergraduate students new research opportunities. Dr. Bill Bellinger Jr., chairman of the department of religion at Baylor, says once funding is secured, the new center will begin adding value to Baptist life, helping Baptists learn more about their denomination’s history and pass that history down to new generations.

“This is one of the ways that Baylor can make a contribution to the Baptist future,” Bellinger explains. “We also think that it’s a way to contribute to Baylor’s efforts at making sure our Baptist heritage is not only a heritage of the past, but also incorporates the living tradition and the current research efforts of the university.”

Sic ’em, Baptists!

May

2011

Summer mission trips: 100s of Baylor students head out as research validates trips’ effects

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Faith, Research, Service, Student life

Baylor missions As approximately 250 Baylor students head out this summer to nine different countries as part of 16 different teams on university-sponsored mission trips, new research by a Baylor professor shows those who go really do return as changed men and women.

Students in Cambodia will deliver training on therapeutic art techniques to staff in aftercare facilities for female victims of human trafficking. Teams will head to Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda to work with local ministries serving children’s homes and people in extreme poverty. In England, Greece, Honduras, and even closer to home in Los Angeles, groups of students will put what they’ve learned in the classroom to use serving others, while at the same time acquiring skills and lessons in service that they can use the rest of their lives.

Dr. Dennis Horton, BA ’84, PhD ’95, a Baylor religion professor, recently completed a study on the spiritual return students receive for the investment of their time, money and energy. His research found that, as one might expect, students who participate in short-term mission trips tend to have lower levels of materialism, greater appreciation for other cultures and a better understanding of missions as a lifestyle. In general, the greater the amount of trip experience, the greater the impact in all three areas, he said. (Read more on his findings — including the importance of post-trip follow-up — in this article from the Baptist Standard.)

Sic ’em, Bears with hearts to serve!

[If you'd like to support Baylor students in their service, click here for more information on how you can give to support Baylor mission trips in general or by specific team/country.]

May

2011

Baylor campus welcomes 8,000 Hispanic youth for BGCT’s Congreso 2011

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Faith, Service

Congreso 2011 For the third straight year, the Baylor campus welcomed thousands of Hispanic Baptist youth over Easter weekend for Congreso, a bilingual event organized by the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) to inspire, encourage and educate Hispanic youth. (See more on the Congreso Facebook page.)

Baylor University President Ken Starr was on hand to welcome the crowd of nearly 8,000 students Thursday night as Congreso began; weekend speakers included Lubbock pastor Tiny Dominguez, San Antonio evangelist Sammy Lopez, and Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas President Jesse Rincones. In yet another Baylor connection, the David Crowder Band performed the event’s closing concert on Saturday.

“Our goal is to present these students with the changing power of Jesus Christ,” Baylor associate chaplain Ryan Richardson told the Waco Tribune-Herald. Frank Palos, of the Hispanic Evangelism wing of the BGCT, said last year’s event saw 2,000 students accept Christ and 750 more say they felt a calling to the ministry. What a great way to introduce so many youth to Baylor and supporting the BGCT’s efforts in impacting so many lives!

Sic ’em, Congreso!

Apr

2011

Happy Easter!

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Faith, Just for Fun

Easter at Baylor Each spring, Baylor students, faculty and staff receive Good Friday and the following Monday as holidays so that they can spend Easter with loved ones. As we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection at Easter, it’s worth stopping and taking a minute to be thankful that we are part of a university family that not only is allowed to celebrate the true meaning behind Easter, but that is encouraged to do so.

Reminders of this gift are everywhere on campus, from the cross in the Robinson Tower lobby pictured at right (made possible by a gift from longtime Baylor professor and friend Sadie Jo Black, BS ’50), to the Holy Week service held at Seventh & James Baptist Church Wednesday night, to the plastic Easter eggs students found scattered across campus Thursday (each with a printed Bible verse inside).

Sic ’em, Easter people!

Apr

2011

Exhibit of rare Bibles displayed at Baylor before heading to Vatican, permanent museum

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Faith, Photo Galleries, Student life

In conjunction with a three-day international conference celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible hosted by Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR), the BU campus was also home last week to an exhibit of more than 100 items on loan from the Green Collection, one of the world’s largest private collections of rare biblical manuscripts and artists. (See photos of the exhibit here.)

After debuting at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C., the exhibit was on display in Baylor’s Armstrong Browning Library for three days as a sort of preview before a full-blown traveling exhibit opens in Oklahoma City (home of Steve Green, the owner of the collection and ~~founder~~ president of Hobby Lobby) next month and then visits the Vatican and New York City later in the year. Among the 100 or so items (from the collection’s 60,000-item catalog) displayed at Baylor:

a Dead Sea Scroll containing Genesis 31;
a Torah taken from a Jewish community during the Spanish Inquisition;
an illustrated Gutenberg Bible;
a handwritten letter from Martin Luther;
the so-called “Wicked Bible,” in which the printer made an error and left out the “not” in the commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

Steve Green began the collection less than a year and a half ago, but it is already considered one of the world’s largest private collection of biblical texts and artifacts. (See coverage from CNN and USA Today, for example.) Green hopes to open a Bible museum to permanently display the collection in the next few years, but the Baylor community was privileged to get this special sneak preview thanks in part to Dr. Scott Carroll, the Green Collection’s director and Research Professor of Manuscript Studies and the Biblical Tradition for Baylor’s ISR. What a treat for Baylor faculty and students alike!

Sic ’em, Green Collection!

Mar

2011

Alum recognized by Baptist convention for 60-plus years of ministry

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Faith, Honors, Service

Rev. Billy and Vesta Dickerson Baylor is well-known for producing Texas Baptist pastors, especially since the opening of George W. Truett Theological Seminary in 1994. But even within the Baptist world, the impact of Baylor graduates doesn’t only stay between Texas’ borders.

Take Rev. Billy Dickerson, for example. Dickerson earned his degree in religion from Baylor in 1953. After 10 years of pastoring two churches in Texas and earning his seminary degree, Dickerson was called to a church in Tampa, Fla., then to First Baptist Church of Mango (outside Tampa), where he has served for more than 40 years. Dickerson was recognized this winter at the Florida Baptist Convention’s annual meeting as one of five ministers in attendance who have given more than six decades of ministry service.

In addition to his ministry, Dickerson also also served as a Baylor representative at countless “College Night” programs in Florida over the years and remains an ardent BU supporter. Dickerson’s wife Vesta — also a Baylor alum — serves as FBC Mango’s secretary and organist, and two of the couple’s four children also graduated from Baylor: Tim, BA ’81, and Joe, BA ’83. (That’s Rev. Dickerson and Vesta pictured at right.)

Sic ’em, Rev. Dickerson!

Feb

2011

Christianity Today names BU history prof’s book one of the best of the year

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Baylor 2012, Faith, Honors, Research

Thomas Kidd's book, God of Liberty For the second time in four years, Dr. Thomas Kidd, an associate professor of history in Baylor’s College of Arts and Sciences, has one of the top books of the year as evaluated by Christianity Today.

Kidd’s book, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution, was chosen as one of 21 books across 10 categories to be honored from the past year. God of Liberty examines the role religion played in founding of America and was one of two books to be recognized by Christianity Today in the area of history and biography.

Kidd, who is also a Senior Fellow at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, was similarly recognized in 2008 for his last book, The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. Now in his ninth year at Baylor, Kidd is an outspoken proponent of teachers who are active researchers as well.

“I believe that while excellent teaching is not determined by research activity alone, for me personally, my most passionate teaching happens in areas where I have actively owned the material through original research,” Kidd told Baylor Magazine in 2008. “Teaching the Great Awakening of the 18th century is personally exciting because I can tell the students what I have found and written about through my own research.”

Sic ’em, Dr. Kidd!

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