Free Republic

For critics of the Southern Baptist Convention, former President Jimmy Carter is the gift that just keeps on giving. Over the last several days, yet another round of news reports has trumpeted the news that the former president has resigned his membership in the Southern Baptist Convention. Almost a decade after he first made this announcement, his repetitive return to this theme set up a new avalanche of news reports. Reports, we might add, that are not news. Adding insult to injury, the reports are about a "resignation" that isn't even a resignation. Try explaining that to the international media....

The public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention is urging conservatives to contact their senators to oppose the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who is on the verge of replacing Supreme Court Justice David Souter. “After carefully examining her record as a lower court judge, we believe that Sotomayor should not be confirmed to serve on the nation’s highest court,” the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission stated Monday as the U.S. Senate opened hearings on Sotomayor’s nomination. “Sonia Sotomayor’s record reveals that she is perfectly willing to lift the blindfold of justice to achieve her desired result. She is...

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is repudiating statements made by a former convention official regarding President Barack Obama and the recent murder of abortionist George Tiller. On a recent webcast of his daily radio talk show, Wiley Drake, former second vice-president of the SBC, called last Sunday's murder of Tiller "an answer to prayer." Then during an interview with Alan Colmes on Fox News Radio, Drake said he was praying the same type of "imprecatory prayer" against the president of the United States. For years, Drake has encouraged the practice of praying words of judgment found throughout...

I spoke today with Richard Land, public policy chief of the Southern Baptist Convention—the nation's largest evangelical denomination—and was struck by his praise of President Obama for living out "family values": Not enough religious conservatives are saying this: It's terribly important that [Obama] gives every indication of being a moral man who is demonstrably fond of his wife and children. I think that's important in a president, be it a Democrat or a Republican. That's why I said I couldn't vote for Giuliani or Gingrich. I think [Obama's] making a real difference in this country in his example as a...

AU and ACLU Say Funds for Religious Univ. Unconstitutional By Americans United - 2 Hours Ago The Supreme Court of Kentucky should strike down a $10 million state appropriation for a university affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Americans United has filed a friend-of-the-court brief along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky challenging tax funding of the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky. “The Kentucky Constitution is clear on this matter,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Tax money may not be used...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--In the midst of the nation's financial hardships, Southern Baptists have a prime opportunity to show unbelievers that what they've embraced is not fair-weather Christianity, Johnny Hunt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Feb. 16. "I thank God that what the Lord Jesus Christ has done in our lives will go the distance. The truth is ... it's not what's going to come against us that's going to make us or break us, it's what God has placed in us and what we choose to do with it," Hunt told the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville, Tenn....

President Obama will unveil a revamped office of Faith-Based Initiatives Thursday, and a new approach to the controversial program established by former President George Bush. The office, tasked with steering federal funds to charitable organizations tied to churches and faith-based organizations, will be headed by Josh DuBois – a 26 year-old Pentecostal minister who was in charge of religious outreach for the Obama campaign. According to a White House official, the basic structure of the office will remain the same as it was under Bush, but Obama is introducing a new component: an advisory council of 25 leaders — secular...

Our Father, Lord of all creation, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: We pray today with a sense of special urgency and responsibility. We come before you to pray for our new President, Barack Obama, and for all those in this new administration who now assume roles of such high responsibility. We know that you and you alone are sovereign; that you rule over all, and that you alone are able to keep and defend us. We know that our times are in your hands, and that "the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the...

Times are tough, even in the salvation market. After decades of growth, the nation's largest group of Protestants, the Southern Baptist Convention, is reporting losses (in church membership and recorded baptisms) for the third year in a row. Baptisms are at a 20-year low, a figure liable to put an eternity-conscious church into a severe depression. Cutbacks at Southern Baptist seminaries and agencies are even hitting the denomination's bold, new marketing strategy designed to spread the gospel (and increase the flock) to every soul in North America by 2020. The campaign, called "God's Plan for Sharing" (Yes, GPS), includes a...

On the surface, something about Barack Obama picking Rick Warren to give his inauguration invocation seemed fishy. I mean, Warren was the man responsible for one of Obama's few (and perhaps biggest) campaign faux pas, when he made Barack look silly last summer trying to answer the question "When does life begin?" But then I realized that Barack, brilliant politician that he is, was using his special reverse "If I can't beat him, join ME!" psychology, already duping Warren and many of his on-the-surface Christians into his camp for the next election. However, while I predict this pick for Obama...

Based on what I know about the Anon 11:51 situation, our discipline committee is acting more like a gestapo, as someone posted yesterday. A man is accused of being divisive in the church through blogging, so the committee as a first step of "reconciliation and restoration"... writes a letter outlining the sins, attaches a trespass warrant banning the man AND his wife from the property until they meet with the committee. I haven't yet found that part of the church discipline process yet in Matthew 18, but maybe its in the Greek text that only Mac himself understands. The committee...

WOODSTOCK, Ga. (BP)--The John 3:16 Conference, described by organizers as a biblical and theological assessment of and response to five-point Calvinism, was held Nov. 6-7 at First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga. About 1,000 pastors and laypeople attended. The conference was sponsored by Jerry Vines Ministries, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, Luther Rice Seminary and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. TULIP is an acronym for the five points of Calvinism—total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints. Each point was addressed by individual speakers. "I want to help...

In 1914, Ernest Henry Shackleton led an expedition to cross the entire continent of Antarctica, but wound up shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. To rescue his team, Shackleton sailed a tiny boat across 850 miles of rough seas to South Georgia Island. Despite the choppy waters and gray skies, Shackleton was able to safely navigate the boat to their destination. If his coordinates had been off by even one half of one degree, his team would have missed their destination by hundreds of miles and perished. Ship captains, airplane pilots, and astronauts will be the first to tell you that...

First, congratulations on your successful campaign to become the 44th President of our beloved United States of America. This was a historic election in terms of the massive increase in voter participation as a percentage of the electorate. I hope you know that there are tens of millions of Americans who did not vote for you who are still very, very pleased that an African-American has been elected President of the United States. That fact that this could happen in a country with as tragic a racial past as America’s says something noble and fine about the American experiment and...

RALEIGH, N.C. - Within the nation's largest Protestant denomination, a woman may not lead a church or a home. But prominent Southern Baptists see nothing wrong with Sarah Palin serving as vice president — or perhaps even commander-in-chief someday. In other words: A woman can run the White House, just not her own house. Republican presidential nominee John McCain's selection of the Alaska governor as his running mate — the first female on the party's ticket in history — has thrilled conservative Christians. It also has led Southern Baptist congregations and seminary students to confront their beliefs about the role...

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention says the denomination must correct what he sees as a drift from a Great Commission. Dr. Johnny Hunt made his comments during his first presidential address to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee in Nashville. Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, said the denomination is fragmented and must make proclaiming the gospel first priority. He adds that the drift from the Great Commission is evident in the declining baptisms in the SBC. Hunt believes the time has come for greater camaraderie in the denomination and an emphasis on reaching...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (BP)--A church in Tennessee baptized 120 people in one night following an evangelism emphasis called "As You Go," which challenged church members to choose a non-Christian and then pray for that person, develop a relationship and present the Gospel. New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn., draws about 2,400 people to four weekend services. A few months ago they held a call to prayer and fasting as part of the As You Go emphasis. Participants were challenged to fast one day and show up that evening in the church sanctuary to pray for the people they had committed...

NIXON, Texas (BP)--A small church pastor in Texas is encouraging other small churches not to limit God after his congregation committed themselves to prayer and then saw God bring substantial results. "I believe that there is a mindset now that if I'm not a mega-church pastor, I don't count," Kenny Rawls, pastor of First Baptist Church in Nixon, Texas, told Baptist Press. "I want the nation to understand that the majority of churches that are Southern Baptist are smaller-population churches. "God has planted that church there for a reason, and every pastor who carries the Gospel of Jesus Christ is...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A call for Southern Baptists and other believers to engage in 40 days of prayer beginning in late September has been issued by the SBC's North American Mission Board and Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. NAMB President Geoff Hammond and ERLC President Richard Land are hopeful that the 40/40 Prayer Vigil for Spiritual Revival and National Renewal will pay spiritual dividends for families, churches and the nation. Hammond described it as "a strategic opportunity for Southern Baptists to join hands in praying for our nation, asking the Lord to grant sweeping repentance, renewal and spiritual awakening." The cooperative...

Southern Baptists inherited the most compelling aspects of all the Baptist Calvinists that preceded them. James P. Boyce summarized this well. He encouraged every preacher to get theological education in some way, even if it could not be at the Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina. If no other means were available, he advised, 'work at it yourself.' The fathers of the convention did this, Boyce claimed; 'They familiarized themselves with the Bible, and Gill and Andrew Fuller, and they made good and effective preachers. God is able to raise up others like them.'1 But this is the very difficulty that...

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have condemned sexual predators and are urging churches to flush out molesters using federal background checks. But a simple search on the convention's Web site shows they have yet to purge their own house of predators. SBC's MinisterSearch, a Web database for finding clergy members, contains the names of pastors both indicted and convicted of sexual abuse. Among them is a former Cordova pastor charged in October with rape and sexual battery. "It's a double standard," said David Brown, an abuse victim and coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The June/July issue of SBC Life features an eight-page pull-out special report on child sexual abuse aimed at urging churches -- and assisting them in doing so -- to take steps in protecting children from sexual predators. The section consists of seven stories, including a heartbreaking testimony from a woman who was sexually abused as a child, a testimony from a former social worker who worked on child abuse cases and an article from the co-founder of a ministry that seeks to educate churches about the problem. In addition, the special report -- titled "Protecting Our Children: Accepting...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Under pressure to fight child sex abuse, the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee said Tuesday that the denomination should not create its own database to help churches identity predators or establish an office to field abuse claims. The report decried sexual abuse as reprehensible and a sin. But the Southern Baptist principle of local church autonomy means it's up to individual churches — and not the convention — to screen employees and take action against offenders, the committee said. Opening its two-day annual meeting, the nation's largest Protestant body also elected a new president, Georgia megachurch pastor...

INDIANAPOLIS — Within an hour of being elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Rev. Johnny Hunt was talking about "turning the tide," acknowledging the reality that a denomination that cares so much about winning souls is losing too many. By choosing the 55-year-old megachurch pastor from Woodstock, Ga., Southern Baptists picked the best-known name in an unusually large field of six candidates. Hunt is described as a theological conservative more concerned about revival than fighting about doctrine. His goals likely will be welcomed as a growing number of Baptists acknowledge that steps must be taken to halt disturbing...

A candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) says the denomination is in need of a true spiritual revival. The denomination kicked off its annual meeting today in Indianapolis with a gathering of pastors. Dr. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, opened the pastor's conference by stating that modern-day Southern Baptist churches must first recognize their need for God's power, which he says comes only through fervent prayer. "[U]ntil there is a true confession of our state, that we cry out [to God] and say, 'I'm broken. Invigorate my life. Breathe new life into...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--When Southern Baptists convene for their annual meeting June 10-11 in Indianapolis, they are expected to have a remarkable six presidential candidates from which to choose. To help messengers to the annual meeting evaluate the candidates, Baptist Press posed a series of questions to each candidate. Three general questions were asked of all the candidates: 1) What has God done in your life and ministry to prepare you to be president of the Southern Baptist Convention? 2) If you are elected, what would be your priority message for Southern Baptists? 3) What do you believe is needed to...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A majority of Southern Baptist Convention pastors believe the media has overstated the threat of global warming and that SBC resolutions have not been "too timid" in addressing the issue, according to a recent study on national issues by LifeWay Research. The study also found a contrast between the opinions of SBC pastors and average Americans on global warming and such issues as physician-assisted suicide and embryonic stem cell research. In another finding, SBC pastors overwhelmingly favor Republican John McCain over his two Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Eighty percent of SBC pastors plan to vote...

COLUMBIA, Sc., May 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- For many years a growing number of government schools under the guise of promoting tolerance, safety, diversity, and multiculturalism have been endangering children and betraying their community's trust by influencing our children to regard homosexuality and other forms of sexual deviancy as acceptable lifestyles and silencing those within the schools who disagree. Recently, with the enactment of SB 777 and related legislation, California has mandated that every child in California's government schools be indoctrinated to believe that the homosexual, bisexual, and other sexually deviant lifestyles are normal, acceptable, and the moral equivalent of...

INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) -- Candidates are lining up two-by-two for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention presidency, like animals filing into Noah’s Ark – two big-church pastors, two small-church pastors, two former missionaries. For the first time in almost three decades, six men will be nominated for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, to be held June 10-11 in Indianapolis. Not since the first year of the SBC’s conservative movement in 1979 have six nominees been offered for the annual presidential election, which for the subsequent 12 years was a showdown between two warring factions and later was dominated by the...

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Prayer is news at this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. A chaplains’ luncheon and a Missional Network discussion also may yield a few lines of ink. This year’s prayer emphasis at the Southern Baptist Convention has been boosted by the efforts of Indianapolis-area pastors who have caught a vision of what can happen when people spend more time praying. At last year’s meeting of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, a first-of-its-kind prayer room featured videos, maps and other visual aids along with Bible verses, specific requests and journals to facilitate prayer. The room was...

Some prominent Christian leaders said this week that they will not sign the “An Evangelical Manifesto,� listing reasons such as vague wording and theological differences. The manifesto’s definition of evangelical itself was among the top concerns for some leaders who refused to sign the document. The document’s description for evangelicals is “Christians who define themselves, their faith, and their lives according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth.� Several evangelical leaders said that while the definition is true, it is too broad and therefore not a good definition to distinguish who evangelicals are. “Those are wonderful words filled with...

It has been a busy week for candidates announcing to run for Southern Baptist Convention president. We have three new candidates, but I know little about them except for what the linked articles tell us. If anyone knows more about these three your comments would be welcome. Johnny Hunt to be SBC president nominee Avery Willis to be SBC president nominee Les Puryear to be SBC president nominee

Weak preaching and cultural adaptability are just two of many reasons Southern Baptists give to explain the decline of membership and baptisms. "[T]he shallow state of preaching has exacerbated the lethargy of the church and left the lost with no real Word from God," said Paige Patterson, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in a column in Baptist Press. "The pastor ought to be the major source of theological understanding and the most able teacher of the Bible,� he added. "Anemic pulpits create anemic churches and denominations." Since the release last month of the latest data...

Can Calvinist and non-Calvinist Baptists work together? It depends, some advocates of Reformed theology say, on whether Christians on both sides are willing to tiptoe through the TULIP–the acrostic for five doctrinal points that set apart Calvinists. TULIP stands for total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints. Those five doctrines, delineated by the Synod of Dort in the 17th century, summarize distinctive elements of the theological system taught by John Calvin—particularly as distinguished from the teachings of James Jacobus Arminius. Proponents of what often is called “five-point Calvinism� emphasize the sovereignty of God and...

For the first time, Southern Baptists can say membership has reached a tipping point and the nation's largest Protestant denomination is now declining, says one long-time Southern Baptist. "The decline that many of us have already believed is there is now becoming real," said Ed Stetzer, director for LifeWay Research, in an interview featured on MondayMorningInsight.com, a Web site for pastors and church leaders. Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention fell for the third straight year in 2007 to the denomination's lowest level since 1987, dropping nearly 5.5 percent to 345,941, according to LifeWay Christian Resources' Annual Church Profile (ACP),...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Defining the identity of Southern Baptists isn't an easy task, but the latest film in the Forged by Faith DVD series seeks to do just that. "Forged by Faith: A Character of Commitment" tells the story of Southern Baptists around the world and provides six examples of what makes them who they are. Just over 17 minutes, the DVD is the third film in a series to help Southern Baptists better understand and appreciate their heritage and beliefs. Designed particularly for use in small groups, Sunday School classes, new member orientation and special programs, the DVDs are produced...

SUGAR HILL, Ga. – A Georgia Baptist pastor who pledged to apologize to gays, women seeking abortions, and couples who live together outside marriage during his March 30 sermon did just that – and then he offered an evangelistic invitation that would have been at home in any traditional Baptist congregation. Joe WestburyIndexPastor Richard Mark Lee apologizes to the unchuched while still making a strong evangelistic delivery during the 9:45 a.m. blended service. The congregation averages 1,400 in attendence in three distinct worship services directed at different worship styles – traditional, blended, and contemporary. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced the apology...

(CNN) Several prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention said Monday that Baptists have a moral responsibility to combat climate change -- a major shift within a denomination that just last year cast doubt on human responsibility for global warming. Forty-six influential members of the Southern Baptist Convention, including three of its last four presidents, criticized their denomination in a statement Monday for being "too timid" in confronting global warming. "Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed," the statement says. "We can do...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will require additional surgery after a scheduled colonoscopy Feb. 11 revealed a tumor in his colon. An initial biopsy indicated that the tumor is pre-cancerous and further tests are to be scheduled, along with surgical options. The surgery will require that he forego nomination as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Mohler said. Mohler, 48, underwent major abdominal surgery in late December 2006, complicated by the development of bilateral blood clots in his lungs. Doctors will take special precautions to prevent a recurrence of the blood clots with...

Weary of Southern Baptists' dominance in American Protestantism, a new push is starting by other Baptist groups aimed at working on social justice issues, and showing their religious tradition is broader than the conservative SBC. Former President Jimmy Carter is leading the effort.[snip] Yet the biggest Baptist names at the event are prominent Democrats. Along with Carter, major speakers include former Vice President Al Gore and former President Bill Clinton, who has played a leading and provocative role in the presidential race of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa will also address the meeting....

The release of The Golden Compass as a major motion picture represents a new challenge for Christians – especially parents. The release of a popular film with major actors that presents a message directly subversive of Christianity is something new. It is not likely to be the last. Having seen the movie at an advance viewing and having read all three books of His Dark Materials, I can assure Christians that we face a real challenge – one that will require careful thinking and intellectual engagement. Why is this movie such a challenge? First of all, The Golden Compass...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP)--Daniel Akin called on Southern Baptists to rally around a "Great Commission Resurgence" to reach the lost that he hopes will define the denomination's direction for years and decades to come. "Building on the 'Conservative Resurgence' that was initiated in 1979, we believe the time has come for us to focus on the great task the Lord Jesus left us as He ascended back into heaven," said Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. "Fulfilling the task will in no way leave behind or neglect an equal commitment to a faithful biblical theology." Akin...

If Southern Baptists tithed its membership to reach people who don't know the Gospel, they would have 100,000 missionaries, says an official for the Southern Baptist Convention's mission agency. "I want to ask whether a church shouldn't tithe its membership to reach a lost world?" posed Gordon Fort, vice president of overseas operations for the International Mission Board (IMB).The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the country.The IMB is urging Southern Baptists for 3,000 more active missionaries around the world for a total deployment of 8,000. There are currently 5,000 missionaries and 200 new missionaries are...

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (ABP) – Despite warnings from a denominational official as well as another church, a Southern Baptist congregation near Chicago allowed a convicted child molester to preach for years. In the end, it took media inquiries for Jeffrey Hannah, 42, to relinquish his leadership positions at, and resign as a member of, First Baptist Church of Romeoville, Ill. The news about Hannah comes at a time when the Southern Baptist Convention is under heightened scrutiny about its role to protect children from sexual predators in the ministry. Unlike in more hierarchical denominations, Southern Baptist congregations have had few methods...

A Plea For A More Civil Discourse Written by Thom S. Rainer NASHVILLE, Tenn., 8/17/07 -- "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14, HCSB). I wish I could say that I get it right all the time. I wish I could say that I get it right most of the time. But, more often than I care to admit, the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart are not acceptable to the Lord. I do not always bring glory to...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Instead of taking offense at a recent Vatican statement reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, evangelicals should seize the chance to respond with equal candor that “any church defined by the claims of the papacy is no true church,� according to a prominent Southern Baptist leader. The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog that he appreciated the document’s clarity in voicing a key distinction between Catholics and Protestants over papal authority. He said those differences are often forgotten “in this era of confusion and theological laxity.�...

Aren't you offended? That is the question many Evangelicals are being asked in the wake of a recent document released by the Vatican. The document declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church – or, in words the Vatican would prefer to use, the only institutional form in which the Church of Christ subsists. No, I am not offended. In the first place, I am not offended because this is not an an issue in which emotion should play a key role. This is a theological question, and our response should be theological, not emotional. Secondly, I...

From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro An evangelical leader tells CBN’s David Brody, “It’s Fred Thompson’s race to lose.” Here the full quote from Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission: "My assessment is that at this moment in time it is Fred Thompson's race to lose. It may be a convergence of the right man, in the right place and at the right time. I have never seen anything like this grassroots swell for Thompson. I'm not speaking for Southern Baptists but I do believe I have my hand on the pulse of Southern Baptists...

The 16 million member Southern Baptist Convention is publishing military Bibles for various branches of the U.S. armed forces, to the horror of left-wing bloggers, who fear the Bibles advocate an “idolatrous� American nationalism. A division of the Southern Baptists’ Lifeway Christian Resources has released “The Soldier’s Bible,� “The Marine’s Bible,� ‘The Sailor’s Bible,� “The Airman’s Bible and “The Coast Guard Bible.� Blissfully indifferent to political incorrectness, the Bibles include the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the pledge of allegiance, prayers from George Washington and George Patton, and testimonies from former airman Jimmy Stewart and former Marine Oliver North, among...

Starting this fall Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will offer a program in Christian homemaking, the seminary's president said Tuesday. "We are moving against the tide in order to establish family and gender roles as described in God's word for the home and the family," seminary President Paige Patterson said in his prepared report to the Southern Baptist Convention this week in San Antonio, Texas. According to the seminary Web site, the bachelor-of-arts in humanities degree, with a concentration in homemaking, will be offered through the seminary's undergraduate college program. "The College at Southwestern endeavors to prepare women to model the...