Watching sand pass through an hourglass always captivated me as a child. It seemed as though the mass of sand would never pass through the bottleneck, but in quick order the final grains fell. There is a bottleneck where nearly every person over the next 20 years will pass. The church could surround this bottleneck and change communities and impact every life in across the nation over a few decades. Some churches have realized the great strategic value and have already gotten started. The … [Read more...]
Atheists object to Mizzou’s chaplains, prayers
COLUMBIA – Atheists with the Madison-Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) are renewing their objection to the University of Missouri’s football chaplaincy. FFRF initially contacted Mizzou in August of last year to complain about its chaplaincy program. The university replied that it had no intention of changing its program. The university’s response contended that Mizzou’s football chaplaincy is acceptable because it is voluntary. The chaplaincy includes “access to a … [Read more...]
Pro-gay ‘shame list’ features HLGU, SBU, MBTS
NASHVILLE (BP) – Nearly a third of the 102 institutions of higher education on a pro-homosexual activist group’s list of “the absolute worst colleges for [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] youth” have Southern Baptist ties – including Missouri’s own Hannibal-LaGrange University, Southwest Baptist University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. All schools on the list, which was published Aug. 29 by the college-focused organization Campus Pride, have a religious affiliation, with … [Read more...]
First Amendment rights are under attack
If you feel like your government has made you a target for exercising your First Amendment rights (specifically freedom of speech and religion), you now have good reason. The demonizing of conservative Christians is spreading in numbers and intensifying in its vitriolic rants. Lest you think Missouri will escape such behavior, think again. In recent days a top Obama administration official and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat nominee for president, both attacked people who oppose same-sex … [Read more...]
Target’s bathroom fix falls short, boycotters say
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (BP) – Target’s $20 million plan to add single-stall bathrooms in its U.S. stores does not fix its policy allowing bathroom and dressing room use based on gender identity, the leader of a national boycott against the company said. Target announced Aug. 17 the timeline and cost of its plan to install the locking, single-toilet bathrooms for customers who feel uncomfortable using the bathroom with those who identify as transgendered. Details of the plan came the same day … [Read more...]
Baptist institutions wait for abortion mandate solution
WASHINGTON (BP) – Southern Baptist-affiliated institutions are maintaining their stand against the Obama administration’s abortion/contraception mandate while they continue to wait for a satisfactory legal resolution. GuideStone Financial Resources and four Baptist universities – East Texas Baptist, Houston Baptist, Oklahoma Baptist and Truett McConnell – are among 92 nonprofit religious organizations awaiting what they hope will be an agreement with the federal government that protects … [Read more...]
Scholars refute Times transgenderism op-ed
NASHVILLE (BP) – A New York Times op-ed suggesting the Old Testament supports transgenderism has been classified by Southern Baptist seminary professors as a mischaracterization of Hebrew grammar and theology. “It should not surprise any of us that if we want to find something in Scripture, then we will twist it to say what we want it to say,” Paul Wegner, professor of Old Testament studies at Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, told Baptist Press. Mark Sameth, a Reform … [Read more...]
Roy Moore to stand trial for gay marriage order
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) – With Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore set to stand trial next month on charges he defied federal court rulings on same-sex marriage, a legal adviser to Alabama Baptists’ public policy auxiliary has called the allegations against him unmerited. At issue in Moore’s case is a Jan. 6 administrative order in which he stated Alabama’s 68 probate judges had “a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage licenses contrary to” the state’s ban on same-sex marriage until the … [Read more...]
Few pastors asked to perform same-sex weddings following SCOTUS ruling
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LifeWay) – More than 100,000 same-sex couples have tied the knot since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages nationwide last year. But for preachers, being asked to do a same-sex wedding remains rare. A new survey by Nashville-based LifeWay Research found 11 percent of Protestant senior pastors have been asked to perform a same-sex wedding. Baptist pastors (1 percent) are the least likely to say they were asked to perform a same-sex wedding. … [Read more...]
Voter registration resources available
JEFFERSON CITY – All the resources churches need to conduct a voter registration campaign are free and ready for ordering. The Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) Christian Life Commission has partnered with Concerned Women for America of Missouri to offer the packets in preparation for the Nov. 8 general election. Deadline to register is Oct. 12. “In addition to praying, we must cast our votes to fulfill our Christian responsibility toward government, one of three institutions – along … [Read more...]
Review ‘Ben-Hur’ a delightful remake of 1959 classic
When the first Ben-Hur trailer was released earlier this year, my concerns were the same as many other moviegoers and critics. It appeared heavy on action, short on story, and – aghast! – simply not a good film. But after watching the movie in recent days, I have good news for fans of the classic story: Those early concerns were simply wrong. Yes, the 2016 version of Ben-Hur (PG-13) does have plenty of action, but it also has a gripping screenplay to match it – with lots of great lessons, … [Read more...]
Putting the folly in persuasion
Guinness, Os. Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2015. 272 pages. $22.00. Every follower of Jesus Christ is called to be a witness of his life, death, and resurrection. Yet we live in an age when fewer and fewer people in our culture are interested in the truth of the gospel, and more and more people are resistant or even hostile to it. In response, many Christians and churches have simply given up on evangelism, hoping their … [Read more...]
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