Hyde and at least 20 others were killed in the blast; some of the missionary family—Barbara Stevens and her 10-month-old son, Nathan—were among the 170 wounded.
"I just heard it explode to my side," Stevens told the Associated Press. "I was carrying my infant son, so I grabbed my daughter and picked her up and ran away. I was afraid there could be more bombs."
"Our hearts go out to these families and their coworkers," said International Mission Board spokesman Larry Cox. "We are moving quickly to assist the missionaries affected by this tragedy. We ask Christians everywhere to pray that God would show himself strong for these families, their coworkers and the other members of the Southern Baptist missionary family."
Though the Philippine military initially blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the bomb, which was reportedly hidden in a backpack, the group denied it. The Abu Sayyaf has since claimed responsibility for the attack. That's the Muslim terrorist group that held American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham hostage for more than a year. Another Associated Press story reports that Hyde and his family were close friends with the Burnhams.
"They really knew it was not safe," said Hyde's sister, Barbara Brooker. "We've always been afraid of the danger. My mother always worried that we would get a call some day."
"They were aware of the risks, but their purpose for being there—to share the love of Jesus Christ—was far more important," Ross Robinson, associate pastor of evangelism and missions at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, where Hyde and his family were members, told the Plano Star Courier. "Their purpose brought them great joy. They loved being there, they loved the people. And their lives, the life of Bill and Lyn, reflected it."
"I remember both Bill and [his son] Steve as being alike: big physically, with big smiles and big hearts and just always looking for a way to help somebody else," Dan Crawford, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor of evangelism and missions, tells the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. "I wasn't surprised when I learned that it was Bill Hyde who went to the airport to pick up this missionary family. It was the kind of thing that he would have volunteered to do."
Making ashes: not as easy as you think Tradition holds that the ashes on Ash Wednesday are from the burned palm fronds from the previous year's Palm Sunday. But burning the palm fronds isn't as easy as it sounds, reports the Detroit Free Press.
"The first time the Rev. David Eardley tried to make ashes a few years ago, he fired up a hibachi stoked with dried palm leaves inside a United Methodist church. … He nearly smoked out his congregation," writes David Crumm.
"It was a mess—really smelly," Eardley recalls. "I didn't even like the consistency of the ashes I got. And the church had that smoke smell for days."
The lesson: don't do it inside. Eardley now gets ashes from a parishioner who runs a crematory. And he's had trouble too. "The ash is so dry that, the first time I did it, I opened a door and—boom! the ashes shot out like a cloud," he said.
Many churches are forgoing the burning altogether and are simply buying their ashes from church supply companies. But even that can be a messy business. Crumm notes this advice from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's website: "Like sin, ashes are very dirty and go a long way."
For many, Lent means self-denial | Fasting during Lent has long been considered a Catholic tradition, but now other Christians are choosing to follow the practice of limiting themselves to one full meal a day (The Sacramento Bee)
Article continues below
Fasts for health, spirit | There are valuable health benefits, as well as spiritual ones, to be gained from fasting (The Washington Times)
Evangelical Christians play a large role in every aspect of our culture | Nicholas D. Kristof not only displays the kind of ignorance such people like to attribute to evangelicals but also will reinforce in the minds of many what might be called the "evangelical bias" that causes so many Christians to distrust the mainstream media (Cal Thomas)
Ridicule the believers | Evangelical Christians top the list of groups that can be safely targeted without apology or regret (Al Knight, Denver Post)
War with Iraq:
Is war with Iraq just? | There is nothing in the Catholic tradition of just war that prefers multilateral to unilateral use of force, unless you subscribe to the belief that the United Nations—that struggling collection of mostly tyrannical sovereignties—is the only legitimate political authority (Maggie Gallagher)
Also: Pope takes a stick to a war in bad faith | George Bush and his advisers are finding it difficult to ignore the opposition of the Vatican to an attack on Iraq (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Also: White House rejects Pope's Iraq argument | "The president thinks the most immoral act of all would be if Saddam Hussein would somehow transfer his weapons to terrorists who could use them against us," says Ari Fleischer (Associated Press)
Group seeks cash to help soldiers' kin | Operation Home Fires, a project of the Christian Service Center, on Tuesday called on area churches to help support military families who are sometimes unprepared to face the difficulties of going from two incomes to one when a spouse is called to active duty (The Orlando Sentinel)
In God he trusts | George Bush and the Bible (Rupert Cornwell, The Belfast Telegraph)
Public prayer fanatics borrow page from enemy's script | Under Bush we have had a great deal of horizontal prayer, in which we evoke the deity at political events to send the sideways message that our enemies had better look out, because God is on our side (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)
God & W. at 1600 Penn. | How his faith defines the 43rd president (Paul Kengor, National Review Online)
Under fire for prayer stand | Decision by a GOP lawmaker to forgo an Islamic service at state House angers many (Los Angeles Times)
Lawmaker backs off on why she walked out | Republican leaders are putting distance between themselves and state Rep. Lois McMahan and her decision to walk out of the House of Representatives before a Muslim cleric delivered the daily prayer (The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.)
Politics and law:
Aceh's Sharia court opens | It will apply to property and family law, and some cases of criminal law, but the exact overlap with the existing district courts was still unknown (BBC)
Also: First Sharia court for Aceh | The mainly Muslim province was involved in civil conflict with Jakarta (BBC)
Two Amish men resort to rare activism | They organized a petition drive to change a zoning ordinance so each could keep a horse on his property (Associated Press)
Hispanics to wield clout at union rally | But some evangelical insiders wonder if pastors' involvement is merely a political move by the union in order to muster public support and exploit economic rage (New Haven Register)
Profit in the pulpit | A Denton televangelist who says his mission is to rescue people from poverty is living lavishly, while the ministry he founded spends most of its money on overhead, an examination finds (The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
Blurring the line | Denton televangelist Mike Murdock makes few distinctions between his resources and those of the ministry he founded. Some critics question whether his actions are proper (The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
Behind the hype | Mike Murdock exaggerates his accomplishments and cites dubious statistics. Critics say his goal is to keep donors from questioning his authority. (The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
Police hold 21 clerics in Zimbabwe protest | The churchmen, from the Zimbabwe National Pastors' Conference and representing Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists and evangelical churches around Harare, had marched through the capital to police headquarters in the city center (The Daily Telegraph, London)