Just this week I returned from serving on the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. Our February meeting was full of important decisions impacting the cooperative work of churches that identify themselves as Southern Baptist congregations. My fellow trustees listened to amazing reports about our international missionaries and new church planting in North America. We were challenged to hear how our six Southern Baptist seminaries are adapting their work of equipping tomorrow’s … [Read more...]
U.S. Religious liberty on decline
Bob Smietana/LifeWay Research NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Americans have always had mixed feelings about religious liberty. Most say it’s important, but they don’t always agree how much liberty is enough or too much. That’s the issue at the heart of the upcoming Supreme Court hearings between Hobby Lobby and the Obama Administration over the Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive mandate. It’s a dispute that is unlikely to go away, no matter what the Supreme Court … [Read more...]
IMB’s Elliff to retire
AUSTIN, Texas (BP)—IMB President Tom Elliff, today asked the chairman of the mission agency’s board of trustees to appoint a search committee for his successor. Elliff made this request during his report at the mission agency’s Feb. 25-26 trustee meeting in Austin, Texas. He said he will remain president until the next IMB president is in place. A 15-member search committee was named to begin the process. “Based on what (Jeannie and I) believe to be the Lord's clear leading, today I … [Read more...]
On Mission magazine debuts redesign
Joe Conway/North American Mission Board ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – The North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) flagship publication, On Mission, has undergone a redesign, and something of a re-launch, with the New Year. “Beginning with the current issue, we have begun to organize the magazine around the themes of gospel, mission and ministry,” said Aaron Coe, NAMB vice president for mobilization and marketing and editor in chief of On Mission. “This makes the magazine a tool for use in our … [Read more...]
Seahawk players seek to be champs beyond Super Bowl
Shawn Hendricks/Baptist Press NEWARK, N.J. (BP) – Surrounded by a horde of reporters probing about nearly every aspect of the upcoming Super Bowl – including questions not related such as “Where’s Waldo?” and “Who is your favorite hockey player?” – several Seahawks players were enjoying their moment on one of the biggest stages in sports to share their faith in Jesus. “God has me here for a very particular reason,” Russell Wilson, the Seahawk’s star quarterback, told reporters as he … [Read more...]
CP giving falls below budget
BY STAFF NASHVILLE (BP) – Year-to-date Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program contributions to the SBC Executive Committee are 3.44 percent below the year-to-date CP budget goal, and 2.72 percent below those received during the same time frame last year, SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page reported. The year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries represents money received by the Executive Committee by the close of … [Read more...]
Ezell: We must redefine success for churches
Mike Ebert/NAMB INDIANAPOLIS – Kevin Ezell told trustees of the North American Mission Board that he is determined to help pastors and laypeople redefine what success looks like for their churches. “Success cannot be defined based on how many people a church keeps,” Ezell told trustees gathered for their Feb. 5 meeting. “We must help them redefine success based on how many a church sends. Churches are designed to be sending agencies.” As Ezell addressed the entity’s leaders, winds … [Read more...]
Mandisa wary of Grammys’ ‘allure of pleasure’
ERIN ROACH/Baptist Press LOS ANGELES (BP) – Mandisa, winner of this year’s Grammy for best contemporary Christian music album, explained on Facebook why she chose not to attend the event that was replete with expressions of immorality. Mandisa, honored for her “Overcomer” release, cited “the allure of pleasure, the passion to have things and the pompous sense of superiority,” words from a translation of 1 John 2:15-16 warning believers not to fall in love with the world’s ways or … [Read more...]
Ken Ham, Bill Nye creation debate draws international interest
ERIN ROACH/Baptist Press PETERSBURG, Ky. (BP) – Hundreds of thousands of people comprised an international audience to watch a debate between creationist Ken Ham and evolutionist Bill Nye, demonstrating a vibrant interest in origins in an era when many consider the topic settled science. “The battle is really about authority. It’s more than just science or evolution or creation. It’s about who is the authority in this world, man or God?” Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis and the … [Read more...]
Bronco leans on faith, team after diagnosis
Shawn Hendricks/Baptist Press NEWARK, N.J. (BP) – Jacob Tamme is used to intense competition. He’s taken hard hits on the football field in games and in practice during his six years in the NFL. But when his wife Allison was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last year, the Denver Bronco said he was forced to rely on his Christian faith more than ever. Tamme, who caught a touchdown pass in the Broncos’ win against the Patriots in the AFC Championship, said his team’s Super Bowl run this … [Read more...]
After Philippines typhoon, Baptists plan long-term aid
MARK KELLY/Baptist Press CEBU CITY, Philippines (BP) – While some disaster-response organizations are pulling out of Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts in the Philippines, Southern Baptists remain on the ground, helping neglected communities rebuild homes, schools and livelihoods. Disaster response organizations in five Southern Baptist state conventions have each adopted an area of the Philippines, said Jeff Palmer, executive director of Baptist Global Response(BGR). Seven teams of … [Read more...]
Hobby Lobby defends faith in Christ
JEFFERSON CITY – Joshua Hawley, an attorney on the legal team defending Hobby Lobby, told members of Concord Baptist Church here that the Oklahoma-based arts and crafts retailer will stand before the Supreme Court, March 25, because of “the hope they have in Jesus Christ.” The Green family – the Southern Baptist owners of Hobby Lobby – filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2012 because of an HHS mandate that would force them to violate their … [Read more...]
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