| From the General Secretary |
 Anticipating the Ocho Rios Experience By Neville Callam
Visitors to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, will search in vain for the eight rivers that some may imagine account for the town's name. It is believed that the 16th century Spanish colonists called the place Los Chorreras, (The Waterfalls), from which the name Ocho Rios is derived. Whether this is so or not, what those attending BWA events in the town will experience, during the last days of June and the first week of July, is an unforgettable tome of Christian fellowship and enrichment.
The 8th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education (BICTE) will precede the Gathering. BICTE will focus on Perspectives on Pneumatology within the Worldwide Baptist Family. Baptist theologians and biblical scholars have not produced an extensive literary corpus dealing with the nature and ministry of the Holy Spirit. A fine array of thinkers at the conference on theological education will contribute to our understanding the relation of the Holy Spirit and the life of faith in the triune God.
From July 1-6, hundreds of persons serving on the BWA General Council, commissions and committees, together with other Baptists with a global consciousness will meet at BWA's Annual Gathering. Participants will be hard pressed to decide on which of the available sessions they should attend.
Papers will be presented on a wide range of issues of concern to Baptist Christians worldwide. Elizabeth Newman will read a paper on Baptist Ecclesiology; Timothy George will reflect on the 2012 Synod of Bishops and the New Evangelization, and Tony Peck and David Kerrigan will share reflections on The Israel-Palestine Question.
An Evangelism Roundtable will consider The Church's Mission and the Current Evangelistic Situation. It will feature Tim Lee, Graham Hill, Denis Peters and Gary Nelson. Joel Gregory will lead a panel in analyzing Global Baptist Preaching and Liberty in the Spirit.
In special joint sessions led by BWA commissions, we will celebrate the contribution of two outstanding Baptists, Duke McCall and J. Deotis Roberts Jr. In the session on McCall, who sadly passed away recently, McCall's contribution to theological education will be analyzed. The joint session on Roberts will feature a panel discussing "J. Deotis Roberts Jr.: Theologian of Reconciliation."
Since the event is taking place in Jamaica, it is not surprising that several special sessions will deal with issues related to the religious history of the host country.
A number of Jamaican scholars will make presentations. For example, Glenroy Lalor will discuss the history of Jamaica Baptists and Devon Dick will analyze the state of religious freedom in the country.
Leaders from the Bible Society of the West Indies, the organization that undertook the project to translate the New Testament into Jamaican, will share reflections on their experience.
Since that great African American, George Liele, was the person who introduced Baptist witness in Jamaica, a special forum will be dedicated to discussing the book, George Liele's Life and Legacy: An Unsung Hero (Mercer Press, 2013), edited by David Shannon, Sr., Julia Frazier White and Deborah van Broekhoven. Among the contributors to the book who will address the forum are distinguished church executive leader, Carlisle Driggers, and Horace Russell and Noel Erskine, Jamaican church historian and theologian, respectively. It is hoped that, among those present at this meeting will be Jamaica Baptist church historian, Clement Gayle, whose pioneer work, George Liele: Pioneer Missionary to Jamaica (Kingston: Jamaica Baptist Union, 1982 and Nashville: Bethlehem Book Publishers Inc., 2002), inspired efforts to engage in interest in Liele's contribution as a man on Christian mission.
One of Jamaica's national heroes, Samuel Sharpe, is a former Baptist deacon about whose life and work a lively debate has developed especially over the last two decades. The pioneer study on Sharpe was authored by Jamaica Baptist Union scholar and former BWA Vice President Clarence Reid whose Sam Sharpe: From Slave to National Hero (Kingston: Bustamante Institute of Public and International Affairs) appeared in 1988. Papers dealing with issues related to Sam Sharpe will be presented at a Freedom and Justice Roundtable by renowned Baptist theologian Paul Fiddes, and by Delroy Reid-Salmon and Garnet Roper, two Jamaican theologians.
In addition to all of the sessions mentioned, there will be a forum introducing the report of the most recent round of dialogue between Baptists and Roman Catholics on The Word of God in the Life of the Churches. With its convergence statements on Mary and on the ministry of oversight in the church, it is expected that the report will generate much interest and discussion. We recommend serious engagement with the report in Baptist circles worldwide. It will be a waste of resources if our churches and groups do not harvest from this report those insights that will strengthen our appreciation of the spiritual treasures that are available to us and that can help transform our relations with other Christian World Communions.
Another forum will be devoted to a discussion of principles and guidelines that have been proposed for the enrichment of the life together of persons who travel from around the world to participate in BWA events. The set of values being advocated are worth applying to cross-cultural situations in which people engage in deliberations that are meant to be marked by Christian values. It is unlikely that any other document prepared within the BWA will appear in as many languages as the Principles and Guidelines.
Apart from the many discussion groups already mentioned, there will be the actual Executive Committee and General Council meetings -- the entire program finding its center in daily corporate worship opportunities.
In addition, there will be the usual multiple opportunities for fellowship and networking with people from diverse backgrounds who yet have so much in common. Those who will gather for the BWA Ocho Rios events profess the lordship of Jesus Christ, affirm a common belonging to the Christian family and celebrate with gratitude the gift of a shared heritage as Baptists.
With the many offerings available for the thoughtful Baptist leader, few would want to pass up the opportunity to gather in sunny Ocho Rios for this year's BICTE and the BWA Annual Gathering.
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| What BWA Member Bodies are Doing |
Convention of the Evangelical Baptist Churches of Lebanon
The first Baptist church was planted in Lebanon in 1895. The Convention of the Evangelical Baptist Churches of Lebanon would be formed 60 years later in 1955. The convention currently is comprised of approximately 1,600 Baptist members in 32 churches in the Middle Eastern country.
Baptist work in Lebanon is shared by two related but autonomous bodies, the convention and the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD), also known as the Lebanese Baptist Society.
LSESD, founded in 1998, focuses on educational and social ministries and has primary responsibility for Baptist institutions such as the Beirut Baptist School, the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS), the Dar Manhal Al Hayat (Source of Life) publishing house and the SKILD Center for Smart Kids with Individual Learning Differences. LSESD also has a community development and relief program.
The convention takes on other mission outreach responsibilities, evangelism programs, and the care of churches and members.
Lebanese Baptists see themselves as the gateway to the Arab world and have had ministries that touch other Arab nations in the Middle East and North Africa. They seek to do so in partnership with the global Baptist family through the Baptist World Alliance® and the wider evangelical body of Christ. ABTS, for instance, has become a missional educational movement, seeking to expand and impact local and regional communities. ABTS students come from various countries including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq.
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| Church Spotlight |
Linstead Baptist Church
Linstead, St. Catherine, Jamaica
 Linstead Baptist Church in central Jamaica sees its mission as participating "in fulfilling the Great Commission by leading persons to salvation and discipleship in Jesus Christ through engagement in worship, fellowship, discipleship, mission, ministry and evangelism."
Founded in 1885, Linstead fulfills this mission by paying keen attention to proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, training in discipleship and outreach to the town of Linstead where it is centrally located.
The church experienced such phenomenal growth in membership between 1958 and the current period, it has had to expand its place of worship more than once and institute two Sunday morning worship services.
Linstead, a Baptist World Alliance® Global Partner church, has given birth to other congregations including Angels Baptist Church in Spanish Town, Jamaica's old capital, founded in 2002. It has also helped to strengthen the ministries of other existing congregations.
Its ministries to the community include a feeding program, care for the elderly and needy, a literacy program, classes for high school-aged youth, training in auto skills and basic information technology, scholarships and bursaries to college students, an annual health fair and monthly mini health clinics.
Linstead has sponsored mission trips to the Central American country of Panama and San Andres Island, which is under the jurisdiction of the South American country of Colombia.
The congregation has gifted the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) in a number of ways. Several members have been trained and ordained for the Christian ministry and served as pastors within the JBU. Other members of the congregation have served the JBU as head of its Sunday school and youth departments and other capacities in the union.
Its two most recent pastors were elected as presidents of the JBU, Everton Jackson from 2002-2004 and Luke Shaw who was voted in as president in 2012 and will serve until 2014. Jackson, who pastors Calvary Baptist Church in Montego Bay, is the BWA regional secretary for the Caribbean and executive secretary/treasurer of the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship, one of six regional fellowships of the BWA.
The church declares that "truly we have come this far by faith. To God be the glory, great things He has done."
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In Memoriam: Harold Carter
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 Harold Carter, pastor of New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, died on May 30. He was 76 years old.
Carter was a longtime supporter of the Baptist World Alliance® and served on a number of its committees, commissions and workgroups, including the Executive Committee, the Division of Evangelism and Education Executive Committee, the Commission on Baptist Worship and Spirituality, the Church Renewal Workgroup and the National Evangelism Workgroup.
He became pastor of New Shiloh in 1965 and led the congregation to significant numerical growth and ministerial reach. The church converted what was once a blighted and rundown part of Baltimore into the New Shiloh Village Center that not only includes a place of worship, but also a child development center, a mechanic engineering garage to train community persons in hi-tech auto mechanics, a computer center, a senior citizens recreation center and facilities for health services. New Shiloh also operates a School of Music, has a music studio and provides facilities for artists.
Carter was involved in the civil rights movement beginning when he was a student at Alabama State College in the 1950s, becoming a follower of Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. He became one of the leaders of the Lynchburg Improvement Association while pastor of Court Street Baptist in Lynchburg, Virginia, and was influential in having King visit Lynchburg to strengthen the civil rights movement there.
At the height of the civil rights campaign in the 1960s, he was chair of the Baltimore chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the main national civil rights organization founded and led by King and Abernathy. After King's death, he led the Baltimore Chapter of the Poor People's Campaign that led to a gathering in Washington, DC, to call on the United States to address the concerns of the poor.
Carter has mentored dozens of other pastors and ministers into the Christian ministry. His books include The Prayer Tradition of Black People, Building Disciples in the Local Church and America Where Are You Going?
He earned degrees from Alabama State College, St. Mary's Ecumenical University in Baltimore and Colgate Bexley Hall/Crozer Seminary in Rochester, New York.
He was predeceased by his wife of 48 years, Weptanomah, in 2006, and is survived by son, Harold Jr., and daughter, Weptanomah.
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In Memoriam: David Lagergren
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 David Lagergren, a former vice president of the Baptist World Alliance® and general secretary of the Baptist Union of Sweden (BUS), died on May 4 in Stockholm. He was 94 years old.
Prior to serving the BWA, Lagergren was a missionary to the Belgian Congo from 1952-1956. After leaving Congo, he taught at his alma mater, Bethel Seminary, serving as the school's rector (president) from 1958-1971. He became general secretary of the BUS in 1972 and served until his retirement in 1984.
He was BWA vice president from 1975-1980 and was, at various times, a member of the BWA General Council, the Executive Committee, the Committee on Relief and Development, and chair of the Executive Committee of the Division of Study and Research.
Lagergren played a key role in the local planning arrangements for the Baptist World Congress that was held in Stockholm in 1975.
He is a past president of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), one of six regional fellowships of the BWA.
Lagergren earned degrees from the Swedish Baptist Seminary (Bethel Seminary) and from the Department of Theology at Uppsala University.
He leaves behind wife, Agda and children.
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In Sympathy
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To Ashley Coates, BWA staff member, on the passing of her grandmother |
Youth Conference Highlight
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 | | REACH! |
The 16th Baptist Youth World Conference has an original theme song, REACH! Youth are encouraged to learn the theme song prior to arriving in Singapore. The video and lyrics may be downloaded from the BWA website.
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With Thanks
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To Charles F. Hagen for contribution in memory of Duke McCall |
Movements and Changes
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United KingdomLynn Green, elected general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, succeeding Jonathan Edwards
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| News from the BWA | | For these stories and more, visit the BWA website at www.bwanet.org
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| Baptist World Aid |
BWAid grants for the month of May 2013
Grants recorded in United States dollars unless otherwise notedAfricaDemocratic Republic of the CongoPig Farming Project 9,000.00
Uganda
Flood Relief 5,000.00
Asia
India
Fire and Storm Relief 8,000.00
Thailand
School Kit Project for Youth Conference 3,500.00
Caribbean
Haiti
Cistern Project 21,880.00
Jamaica
Greenhouse Project 8,000.00 Back to top
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Monthly Prayer Guide
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Each week, the staff of the Baptist World Alliance® prays for conventions and unions throughout the world.
We invite all other Baptist conventions and unions, and individual Baptists everywhere, to join us in these prayers. Click here if you would like to be added to the Weekly Global Impact Prayer Email.
For the month of June we will remember the following:
June 2-8
Baptist Convention of Namibia
Baptist Association of South Africa
Baptist Convention of South Africa
Baptist Mission of South Africa
Baptist Union of Southern Africa
June 9-15Baptist Convention of Angola Baptist Evangelical Church in Angola Free Baptist Church in Angola Baptist Convention of Mozambique
June 16-22
Brazilian Baptist Convention
National Baptist Convention (Brazil)
June 23-29
Evangelical Baptist Convention of Argentina Argentine Baptist Association Baptist Convention of Bolivia Baptist Union of Bolivia National Baptist Convention of Chile
Union of Evangelical Baptist Churches of ChileBaptist Evangelical Convention of Paraguay
Baptist Evangelical Convention of Peru
Baptist Evangelical Convention of Uruguay
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| Upcoming Events | |
Europe
European Baptist Federation Mission Conference, Vienna, Austria, June 5-8
Caribbean
Caribbean Baptist Fellowship Sunday, June 23
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BWA Reminders
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BICTE
The BWA is accepting registration for the 8th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, from June 28-30. BICTE immediately precedes the Annual Gathering at the same venue from July 1-6.
BICTE registration may be done HERE.
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