The Christian IndexAugust 16, 2017 | Reaching the World Through Mission Georgia | www.christianindex.org

By Joe WestburyManaging Editor

CLAYTON — On a warm summer afternoon, a half-dozen young girls sit in a large swing, Bibles open. The silence is deafening as the only sound comes from waves gently lapping the shore of Camp Pinnacle Lake.

The girls – and more than a dozen others from their cabin – are observ-ing their quiet time where they reflect on Bible verses.

In 2017 it’s just another camp experience which most of the girls will probably forget, checking it off as just another spiritual exercise for the moment. But if experience is any indicator, it’s one of the most frequent-ly mentioned exercises cited by those same individuals 10, 20, or 30 years down the road.

The fun and games are exciting and mountain hikes not something the girls get to enjoy back home. But that weeklong interaction with missionaries from the North American and International Mission boards, along with the scriptural challenges, are what make a lasting impact.

Members of the Camp Pinnacle Alumni Association regularly cite those quiet time moments as the most influential of their camp experience.

‘Camp Pinnacle … a place where the Spirit dwells’

Kaitlyn Malia from Macon put it as succinctly as any when she reflected for a moment and said, “As a

Building a deeper relationship with God is focus of Camp Pinnacle

younger camper I felt Camp Pinnacle was a place where the Spirit dwells, where God calls people to service in a deeper walk.”

And those calls came many times in those quiet times by the lake. That is what sets the summer camp, owned and operated by the Georgia Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union, apart from others which may have a Bible focus but without the mentoring from a Southern Baptist mis-sionary.

Danielle Williams, sitting at an adjacent weathered pic-nic table, was already begin-ning to sense that something was special about the after-noon.

“You get to focus on God for a week without distraction,” the member of First Baptist Church of Lawrenceville explained. You can talk to Him anytime in the year but camp removes

all of those distractions, those things that keep you from being really focused.”

The teens sitting under the trees that late June after-noon were among 704 camp-ers building their spiritual muscles without knowing it. The camp ran for seven weeks this summer, ending with its final session July 14.

Celebrating 70 years in September

For every June and July since 1947, girls like Williams have returned to renew acquaintances and learn more about God’s claim on their lives. Pinnacle celebrates 70 years during the Women on Mission Series at Pinnacle Retreat Center, Sept. 15-16. Find out more about this event and the Pinnacle cele-bration at georgiawmu.org.

Later that afternoon the girls convened in their cab-ins to rub shoulders with

missionaries. Ryan Rice, a church planter missionary in New Orleans, shared the struggles and bless-ings he regularly encounters in an his-torically religious but unchurched society.

“New Orleans is such a spiritual place, so many of the resi-dents have some kind of spiritual or church background. But that means you have to pull back a lot of layers to know what they mean when you talk about God,” Rice explains.

“Our church, which my wife and I helped start in

January 2015, baptized five new believers just two weeks ago … but it took a year to get them to that point.”

In another cabin other campers listen to Chuck Johnson, formerly of the International Mission Board. Johnson served for 20 years, coordinating the work of volunteers from the States who were coming to Central American and the Caribbean. He was responsible for encouraging U.S. churches to consider long-term relation-ship with those in the islands.

“One out of every two Southern Baptists go on a mission trip to that part of the world. Youth groups feel safe, the language is familiar, and the distance is not that far,” he says.

For more information on Camp Pinnacle visit

camppinnacle.net.

The ChrisTian index | August 16, 2017 2

Churches, student ministries learn to work with earlier school starts

By Scott BarkleyWeb Content Editor

Billy Stephens sees it as something the Church needs to get used to.

When Stephens moved to Fitzgerald last summer, it seemed the first week of August was a lit-tle early for school. Then, the start date moved to July 27 this year. At that point, he observed parents and students at a loss.

“I think a lot of people don’t neces-sarily like it,” explains Stevens. “Everyone was kind of in shock, really. They were like, ‘We’re going back to school when?’”

As the pastor of students and disci-pleship at Crossview Baptist Church, Stephens and other church leadership staffs are having to come to grips with a school year that, over time, has crept earlier into the calendar.

For a long time in Georgia, Labor Day marked the unofficial start of school. That began to end in the 90s. Now, August has all but become the new September, with more than a handful of Georgia school systems trying to make July the new August.

Fitzgerald High School, where most of the students at Crossview attend, sits in the Ben Hill County School System, one of two in Georgia starting Thursday, July 27. Several others – Commerce City, Jefferson City, Lamar County, Newton County, Rome City, and Schley County – begin the next day.

“You almost feel like you’re not getting a full summer,” adds Stephens,

whose wife, Dede, teaches elementary school. The cou-ple have three children, one goes to school with Dede at Irwin County Elementary while the other two attend Irwin County High, about ten minutes from Fitzgerald. They’ll get an extra week of summer vacation compared to their friends in Fitzgerald, not filling in a desk until Friday, Aug. 4.

Later start dates do existThis time of the year,

they’re the envy of students wanting just one more day to binge-watch on Netflix or spend another afternoon at the river. Believe it; three Georgia systems won’t begin school until the month num-ber hits 9. One, Stewart County, begins Sept. 1 while two others, Murray County in north Georgia and Webster County in the southern part of the state, won’t start until the day after Labor Day, Sept. 5.

And while there are advan-tages to a later start time. Student ministers brought up another challenge.

“We pull from several school districts,” point-ed out Chris Rainey, Next Generations pastor at Liberty Baptist Church in Dalton. “So, it’s hard to get started [in the school/church cal-endar] well with families still on vacation or in summer mode.”

Based in Chatsworth, the Murray County system sits just five miles from Dalton. Hence, many churches in the area minister to students whose school years begin a month apart. Dalton City schools commence Aug. 3 while surrounding Whitfield County schools start five days later.

“It’s almost like having a month of transition time between summer and fall because of the vast differences in [when] school starts,” adds Rainey.

More opportunitiesIn south Georgia,

Pastor Robert Orr of Macedonia Baptist in Webster County says the later start date helps the church’s ministry to chil-dren. Located in a very rural area, the unincorporated com-munity of Preston serves as home to the Webster County School System, which educates all its K-12 students in the same complex.

“It gives us a little more time to do activ-ities with the children. We had Vacation Bible School just last week and it was one of the largest we’ve had in some time, about 50-60 kids,” Orr comments.

Orr adds that vol-unteers have been instrumen-tal in providing outings for students, particularly younger children, due to the extended summer break.

“They’re planning on going bowling and will take them out to lunch other days. After lunch, they’ll bring the children back to the church to do some activities. Many of these children are disadvan-taged and wouldn’t get to do these things otherwise.”

Keeping plans togetherIn Chatsworth, Holly

Creek Baptist Church Student Pastor Russell Jackson acknowledges the same chal-lenges iterated by Rainey. However, he does admit to some benefits of the later school start.

“In mid to late August the crowds thin out at locations where we’ll have an outing,” he says.

Early school start dates aren’t going to change, says Crossview Baptist Church, Fitzgerald Pastor of Students and Discipleship Billy Stephens, pictured here with his wife Dede on a rafting trip with students in June. BILLY STEPHENS/Facebook

The ChrisTian index | August 16, 2017 3

Few people in histo-ry have had a more enigmatic, paradox-

ical life than Orenthal James “O.J.” Simpson. In terms of success, he has climbed to the highest mountain. In terms of failure, he has sunk to the lowest valley.

Simpson was a football hero, an actor on the silver screen, a television person-ality, a sports analyst, an advertising spokesman. And, he was found “not guilty” on two counts of murder before later being convicted of armed robbery and kid-napping.

I remember in 1968 when O.J. Simpson, as the nation’s most outstanding player in college football, stepped onto the platform of the Downtown Athletic Club in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City to accept the Heisman Trophy.

I remember when he rushed for over 2,000 yards in one season (1973) for the Buffalo Bills, the first NFL player to accomplish that aus-picious feat.

Some of you may remember him as Detective Nordberg in the three “Naked Gun” movies. Others will remember him running through the airport in Hertz rental car commercials.

Who can forget the June 17, 1994 murders of O.J.’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Following the murders there was the remarkable pursuit of O.J. as a suspect in the homicides in a “white Bronco” driven by Al Cowlings, a former college and pro football teammate. The chase across Los Angeles freeways was broadcast live on television around the world.

Six months after the arrest of Simpson the world focused on the trial, which was also televised. Even foreign lead-ers such as Margaret Thatcher and Boris Yeltsin seemed

J. Gerald HarrisEditor

EDITORIAL

preoccupied with the trial. When Yeltsin stepped off his plane to meet President Bill Clinton, the first question he asked was, “Do you think O.J. did it?” When the “not guilty” verdict was rendered by the jury, 91 percent of all television viewers were watching as the scene unfold-ed in the Los Angeles courtroom.

Thirteen years later, in 2008, Simpson and his partner in crime, C.J. Stewart, were charged with armed rob-bery and kid-napping and found guilty. Simpson, who was 61 at the time of the verdict, faced the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.

For nine years Simpson has been a model prisoner and on Thursday, July 20 the Nevada parole board announced he would be paroled in October although he could have served up to 33 years in prison.

But what is the differ-ence between a parole and a pardon? In Simpson’s case, he will live under the watchful eye of the Nevada Department of Parole. He

has indicated his intentions to move to Florida, a state that will undertake “courte-sy supervision” and impose its conditions in addition to those already demanded by Nevada.

For example, a parolee is subject to strict monitoring and if the guidelines and

conditions of his parole are violated, the Parole Board may return the parolee to prison. A parolee may not possess any firearms. He is also required to submit a monthly report to an assigned

supervising officer.Furthermore, there can be

no changing of one’s place of residence without obtain-ing permission. There shall be no partaking of alcoholic beverages nor the purchase or possession of narcotic drugs. Neither can a parolee asso-ciate with individuals with criminal records. The parolee must submit to a search of his person, automobile, or place of residence by a parole officer at any time. Strict accountability is in place at all times.

However, a parole board

or commission has absolute-ly no authority to grant a prisoner a pardon. A pardon can only come from a higher power such as a governor or the president.

A pardon not only releases an inmate from incarceration, but essentially wipes a crimi-nal’s record clean, clears their name, and cancels any further penalties they are facing, allowing them to immediately rejoin society with no crim-inal past. A pardon frees the prisoner from any mark of their crime.

I am so glad Jesus has not just paroled me, but par-doned me from my sins. His forgiveness is wonderful and complete. In Psalm 103:12 we are told, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our trans-gressions from us.”

God has promised to “cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). We have also been told that the Mariana Trench is the deep-est known point in Earth’s oceans at 36,070 feet, almost seven miles below sea level. How grand to know that God has buried our sins so far below the ocean’s surface.

Isaiah 1: 18 tells us, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” The point is that when God forgives us he does a thorough job of it. Hebrews 8:12 informs us that our confessed and forsaken sins are not even remembered by God.

I am so glad that when Christ redeemed me from the shackles of sin, He didn’t just parole me, but He pardoned me.

O.J. Simpson was paroled, not pardoned

I am so glad Jesus has not just paroled me,

but pardoned me from my sins. His forgive-

ness is wonderful and complete. In Psalm

103:12 we are told, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath

he removed our trans-gressions from us.”

O.J. Simpson became part of the news cycle again last week, going before a parole board seeking probation from a 2008 armed robbery case involving sports memorabilia. ABC NEWS13/

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ACROSS 1. David’s dad, for

short (Ruth 4:17) 5. “The ___ priests

answered” (John 19:15)

10. “___ to teach” (I Tim. 3:2)

13. Dunkable sandwich cookies

15. Island nation 16. Sticky black substance 17. Eastern religion 18. Some believe

“Bartholomew” may be Nathanael’s ___

19. Jesus stirred this up in many of the Pharisees

20. Even filled with 153 fish, Nathanael’s didn’t break (John 21:11)

21. Nathanael’s friend’s ___ was Philip (John 1:45-46)

23. Shampoo brand 25. Peter swam to shore,

but Nathanael came “in a little ___” (John 21:8)

26. Eluded 28. Billy ___, evangelist 31. Moses brought water

forth from this kind of rock (Deut. 8:15)

32. Nathanael’s net was pushed to this in John 21:11

33. Breathing need 34. Metric capacity mea-

sure (abbr.) 37. Jesus told Nathanael,

“Ye shall see heaven ___” (John 1:51)

38. Canned chili brand 40. Disobeying God

would be one 41. What Jacob called

his youngest son, for short? (Gen. 35:18)

42. Jesus told Nathanael he’d see angels going up and ___ (John 1:51)

43. More pallid 44. David’s sling stones

come from one (1 Sam. 17:40)

45. Squirted 46. Stays 49. Nathanael saw one

when he came ashore (John 21:9)

50. Women should “___ themselves in modest apparel” (1 Tim. 2:9)

51. “God took one of his ___” (Gen. 2:21)

52. Jetted tub 55. Guileless Nathanael

wouldn’t do this to anyone (slang)

56. Capital of Afghanistan

59. “Many ___ signs truly did Jesus” (John 20:30)

61. “Out of whose womb came the ___?” (Job 38:29)

62. Socially superior 63. Judas resorted to

using one (Matt. 27:5)

64. “That which growth of ___ own accord” (Lev. 25:5)

65. Side of the ship Jesus told Nathanael and his friends to throw the net over (John 21:6)

66. Dogs, cats, birds, e.g.

DOWN 1. Only gospel

Nathanael is men-tioned in

2. Canal 3. “Father hath ___

me” (John 20:21) 4. “Jacob ___ pot-

tage” (Gen. 25:29) 5. Rocky Balboa 6. Sound physical

condition 7. Caesar’s trio 8. Airport info 9. “I go a ___”

(John 21:3) 10. Tipped 11. Analyze

This special edition of The Christian Index is distributed online bi-weekly at www.christianindex.org to provide additional content to readers who prefer a print version of the publication. To read additional stories of how God is working through Georgia Baptists, visit the website daily for stories that inspire and inform.

The Christian Index is a publication of the Georgia Baptist Convention, 6405 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, GA 30097. Our editorial office can be reached at (770) 936-5590. J. Gerald Harris serves as Editor.

12. “Behold, I give unto you power to ___ on serpents and scorpions” (Luke 10:19)

14. Nathanael could have used this while fishing (2 wds)

22. What David did before letting the stone from his slingshot fly

24. None of the dis-ciples asked Jesus, “Who ___ thou?” (John 21:12)

25. Lower Leg 26. Counterfeit coin 27. Nathanael told

Jesus, “Thou are the ___ of Israel” (John 1:49)

28. Lump 29. “The harvest of

the earth is ___” (Rev. 14:15)

30. Last word in the Bible

31. Side

34. Foolish person 35. “At the name of

Jesus every ___ should bow” (Phil. 2:10)

36. When Nathanael came ashore, he knew the stranger “was the ___” (John 21:12)

38. “How ___ is the fig tree withered away!” (Matt. 21:20)

39. How animals were grouped for the ark

40. How Philip referred to his friend, per-haps

42. KJV’s drunkard 43. “He that deviseth

to do evil shall be called a mischievous ___” (Prov. 24:8)

44. “I will break also the ___ of Damascus” (Amos 1:5)

45. Fore-and-aft sail 46. More than one radi-

us

47. One went out from Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1)

48. “We have found him, of whom ___ in the law…did write” (John 1:45)

49. ___ mignon 51. Naomi’s daughter-

in-law (Ruth 2:22) 52. “The kinsman said

unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his ___” (Ruth 4:8)

53. Unwanted insect 54. Greek god of war 57. Boxer Muhammad 58. Jesus’ resurrection

was this kind of news to Nathanael

60. “The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the ___ to the bottom” (Mark 15:38)