ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) – It’s amusing, it’s quirky, it’s clean and it’s wildly popular. It’s the hit reality program “Duck Dynasty” on the cable network A&E. Duck Dynasty’s fourth season premiered Aug. 14 with 11.8 million viewers, making it cable’s most-watched nonfiction telecast to date. Last season the program averaged 8.4 million viewers. For the uninitiated, Duck Dynasty features the Robertson family who became wealthy from their family -operated Duck Commander business in West … [Read more...]
New name for World Hunger Fund
EDITOR’S NOTE: Southern Baptists will observe World Hunger Sunday Oct. 13, and Southern Baptist congregations across North America will receive offerings for Global Hunger Relief (formerly the World Hunger Fund). NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – When it comes to people in need, big numbers can hide the human faces they represent. Statistics tell us that more than 1 billion people around the world are hungry more often than not, and about 24,000 people – over half of them young children – die every … [Read more...]
Senator’s commission: End prohibition on church political speech, activities
Heavy Southern Baptist participation in formulating final recommendations WASHINGTON (BP) – Preachers should be free from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scrutiny even when speaking about political candidates, a 14-member commission has recommended in a report released Aug. 14. The commission, created by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability at the request of Sen. Charles Grassley, R.-Iowa, proposed a number of tax-related recommendations to Congress and the Treasury … [Read more...]
Substitutionary atonement debate sparked by editorial on ‘In Christ Alone’ lyrics
NASHVILLE (BP) – The centrality of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement is being emphasized by Southern Baptist leaders after a state newspaper editor wrote that he does not sing certain words of a popular hymn due to its mention of God’s wrath. Substitutionary atonement refers to the belief that Jesus died in the place of sinners, taking on Himself the wrath of God that they deserved. Former Word & Way Editor Bob Terry, now editor of The Alabama Baptist, in an Aug. 8 editorial, … [Read more...]
Church Equip events aid in tackling ethical questions
WASHINGTON (BP) – For one church, it might be homosexuality. For another, it might be adoption. For another, it might be abortion or race relations or pornography or human trafficking. Whatever issue a Southern Baptist church needs to address, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission(ERLC) is seeking to tailor congregation-by-congregation methods of helping them by means of a new initiative called Church Equip. The topics could be anything from the arena of ethics, social and family … [Read more...]
‘Sheepdog’ sessions prep churches for violence
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – Churches have long been considered safe havens for worship but, with 433 people killed on church property since 1999, they have become more dangerous than schools. Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, knows such violence firsthand. A shooter entered a youth service in 1999, killed seven and wounded seven others. Wedgewood hosted a “Sheepdog Seminar” this spring, providing training for 350 church representatives to prevent and respond to violent attacks. … [Read more...]
Mental health issues garner SBC attention
Barbara Denman/Baptist Press HOUSTON (BP) – During a year when mass shootings and suicides have stunned the nation, a resolution on “Mental Health Concerns and the Heart of God” was overwhelmingly approved by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC)June 11-12 annual meeting in Houston. The resolution offered by the SBC Committee on Resolutions sought to “affirm, support and share God’s love and redemption” while opposing “all stigmatization and prejudice” to those with mental … [Read more...]
Gov. Nixon vetoes ‘anti-Sharia’ bill
JEFFERSON CITY (BP) – Missouri’s governor vetoed legislation June 3 that some were calling an anti-Sharia law bill, keeping Missouri from becoming the seventh state to prohibit judges from considering foreign laws – including Islamic law – in their decisions. The legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 267, passed both chambers in May to create a Civil Liberties Defense Act mandating that any court, arbitration, tribunal or administrative agency ruling would be unenforceable if based on a foreign … [Read more...]
Trustees: MBTS academic expansion ready
KANSAS CITY (BP) – Implementation of expanded academic offerings at both the college and seminary levels at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) was announced during the April 29 trustee meeting at the Kansas City campus. Midwestern will now offer four new dual-major programs for undergraduates, three new master of divinity concentrations and a professional doctoral degree in counseling, which had been approved in previous trustee meetings. MBTS President Jason Allen said months … [Read more...]
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