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Answering the CallLiving a life of commitment and service
Rebekah Ann Naylor, M.D. : Missionary Surgeon in Changing Times
By Camille Lee Hornbeck
Hannibal Books
Garland, Texas
ISBN: 978-1-934749-04-3
352 pages, $19.95
hannibalbooks.com
It's not uncommon for a young girl to feel God leading her to a life of service. But in a life that is far from common, Dr. Rebekah Naylor has steadily followed God's leading--as a missionary, surgeon, and hospital administrator in Bangalore, India.
The daughter of a Baptist pastor who also served as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Naylor was shaped for a life of commitment and service during her early years. Then, equipped with a clear calling, she graduated from Baylor in 1964 as a pre-med student and then from Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine. She was the first woman graduate of the surgical residency program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1973.
But that was just the first of a long list of firsts. As a single female and a medical pioneer in a very different culture, Naylor helped develop Bangalore Baptist Hospital, serving more than thirty years as both administrator and surgeon there.
This book is also a first for the one who tells the story, Naylor's Baylor classmate, Camille Lee Hornbeck '64. She is a Fort Worth resident who has taught English at both the high school and college level, but this biography was her first book.
And what a first project! Hand-picked by Naylor, Hornbeck accepted the formidable challenge of writing the biography, though at the time she was teaching fulltime and the research was demanding. Equipped with a laptop, a voice recorder, some thick spiral notebooks, and a lot of prayer, Hornbeck embarked on a two-year journey that took her from this country to India and back.
In addition to countless interviews with classmates, colleagues, and friends, she was also entrusted with what would comprise the heart of her research--a collection of 4,091 letters Naylor wrote her parents from 1960-2002. In the very first letter, on September 12, 1960, Naylor had written, "Please keep these letters, and they can serve as my diary." Her dutiful mother saved them in chronological order, clumped by semester, year, or furlough--each group encased in a Kroger grocery bag and carefully dated.
Those letters contained some honors--including having a school named for her--and countless challenges--including visa denials, employee strikes, continual mountains of government red tape, and ultimately the denial of an Indian medical license. But none of these deterred Naylor. The Bangalore Baptist Hospital continued with mission support long after others had been nationalized, and for many years Naylor continued to hold the country's lone missionary visa.
Naylor frequently quotes Habakkuk 1:5: "Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."
This woman's story is, in fact, utterly amazing.
*****
 Addison Road
The {m} Media Collective
Franklin, Tennessee
addisonroad.com
When Jenny Chisolm '03 and Ryan Simmons '02 were Baylor students, they were offered $500 to bring their band to play for a large Disciple Now gathering. It would have been an excellent gig, except for one small problem--they didn't have a band. But the two are creative in more ways than music. They recruited Ryan Gregg '03, Travis Lawrence '02, and Jeff Sutton (the only non-Baylor alum), and the pop-rock band Addison Road was born.
After graduation, invitations continued to come, and the five decided to try to make a go of it. Jenny (now married to Ryan) says, "I always thought I'd go into ministry or missions, so the whole idea of being in a band was new to me, but as the doors opened, I knew we had to walk through."
Run the tape forward six years and three independent recordings later, and the now Dallas-based band has released its latest recording, produced by INO Records.
One of the songs, "All That Matters," got wider exposure as a Discovery Download in the iTunes Store in February and was listed under the free downloads section on the iTunes homepage, where it received 167,000 downloads. Napster gave the single an exclusive stream on its site in March. The song speaks to the pressure and insecurities girls and young women feel in today's culture, and Jenny, the lead singer, says the song is a reminder that "God sees us as beautiful, just as we are, created in his image."
Included on the self-titled CD is an impressive selection of ten songs that speak to the band's mission "to inspire people from all walks of life to find their hope and identity in God, to be changed by his grace and to extend that grace to a world in need."
*****
Dmitri: A Tale of Old and New Russia
By Olive Jeanfreau Alexander
Morgan-James Publishing, LLC
Garden City, New York
morganjamespublishing.com
"Being purple makes you stand out against the snow," begins this novel by Olive Jeanfreau Alexander about a small purple dragon and the Russian people.
After attending Baylor for two years, Alexander and her husband, Earl '63, were missionaries in Hawaii and Guatemala. But this book had its roots much earlier in her life. As an adolescent reading War and Peace, she became entranced by Russian culture, and she later studied Russian literature at Brown University, where she graduated with a mathematics degree in 1960.
During the 1980s, her interest and concern for Russia grew, and she used Dmitri to give voice to her concerns. Targeted toward mid-teens and up, the story represents aspects of Russian history--past, present, and future--and is a plea for readers to care about and to have hope for a largely unknown side of Russian society. The book is dedicated "to the future generations of the Russian people and to our grandchildren's grandchildren. May they be good friends."
*****
 There's a Snake on My Bed
By Marsha Key
Pleasant Word-Kids
Enumclaw, Washington
Togo, West Africa, was home for twenty-four years to Marsha Hall Key '69 and her missionary family. This true story describes their encounter with a snake in their home--an extremely poisonous green mamba--and how her fear was finally taken away. Her daughter, Marilissa, provides the wide-eyed illustrations.
Key is a retired school teacher, and the mother-daughter duo also collaborate in an inspirational speaking and singing team, Daughters of the King.
Also of Note
Baylor University Press has published R. S. Thomas: Poetry and Theology, an exploration of the works of the Welsh poet-priest, written by Dr. William V. Davis, professor of English and writer-in-residence at Baylor. [baylor.edu/baylorpress]
Dr. Roger E. Olson, professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, has written two books recently published by Zondervan: How to Be Evangelical Without Being Conservative and Questions to All Your Answers: The Journey from Folk Religion to Examined Faith. [zondervan.com]
Dr. Michael D. Thomas, director of Baylor's Division of Spanish and Portuguese, is the author of A Harvest of Miracles: True Stories that Challenge, Encourage, and Inspire, a devotional book collected from his years in ministry and published by Halcyon Press. [halcyonpress.com]
Marshall '49 and Hazel Kramer Thompson '49 have written High Adventures in Bolivia and Hot & Cold Turkey. For more information, they can be reached by e-mail at marshazel@rogers.com.
Jon Taylor, MA '92, has written A President, a Church, and Trails West: Competing Histories in Independence, Missouri, published by University of Missouri Press. [press.umsystem.edu]
If you've recently had a book published, a CD released, or a video produced, send a copy to Lisa Asher for consideration c/o "Under Review," Baylor Line, One Bear Place #97116, Waco, TX 76798-7116.
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