Biblical standards for church membership, accountability for living like disciples of Jesus and trying to restore members who have dropped out of church life were the focus of a resolution adopted June 11 by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in the Indiana Convention Center. INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – Biblical standards for church membership, accountability for living like disciples of Jesus and trying to restore members who have dropped out of church life were the focus of a resolution adopted June 11 by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in the Indiana Convention Center. As presented by the 10-member resolutions committee, “On Regenerate Church Membership and Church Member Restoration” urged Southern Baptist churches to “maintain a regenerate membership by acknowledging the necessity of spiritual regeneration and Christ’s lordship for all members, ... maintain accurate membership rolls for the purpose of fostering ministry and accountability among all members of the congregation and ... implement a plan to minister to, counsel, and restore wayward church members based upon the commands and principles given in Scripture.” Church membership had been a topic of discussion in … [Read more...]

Alma Hunt, a passionate and influential leader who served as the executive secretary of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) for 26 years, died Saturday, June 14. She was 98. BIRMINGHAM, Ala.– Alma Hunt, a passionate and influential leader who served as the executive secretary of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) for 26 years, died Saturday, June 14. She was 98. Although Hunt lived a full life dedicated to Christian service, the WMU family and extended Christian community will always remember her as the face of WMU as she led the national missions organization from October 1948 until October 1974. In her autobiography, Hunt mused, “Work never allowed me time to take trips for pleasure only, yet it afforded me great pleasure. It never allowed me to take much time with my friends, but it kept me in touch with friends all the time. It never allowed me to have hobbies, but it became my hobby. In reflection, the years as WMU executive secretary seem one continuous string of adventures.” Under her leadership, WMU membership was first reported at more than 1.5 million as Hunt propelled WMU into the future. Several other events also marked Hunt’s tenure: the first National Acteens Convention was held at Glorieta, N.M.; the first … [Read more...]

Despite media speculation to the contrary, three new polls show that evangelicals, including Southern Baptist pastors, support Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama by wide margins.  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – Despite media speculation to the contrary, three new polls show that evangelicals, including Southern Baptist pastors, support Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama by wide margins. The polls were released as Obama courts Christian leaders and voters in hopes of cutting into what has traditionally been a Republican stronghold. During the Democratic primary, Obama’s campaign released a flyer in conservative Kentucky showing him at a pulpit, with a cross in the background, quoting him as saying, “I won’t be fulfilling God’s will unless I go out and do the Lord’s work.” The flyer called Obama a “committed Christian.” But, so far, Obama’s outreach hasn’t put a significant dent in McCain’s support among evangelicals. For instance: n 80 percent of Southern Baptist pastors plan to vote for McCain and only one percent for Obama, according to a poll of 778 pastors conducted by LifeWay Research in April and May. Fifteen percent were undecided. n 78 percent of likely evangelical voters say they’ll … [Read more...]

Barbara Wagner discovered recently her state would not cover chemotherapy for her lung cancer but would underwrite her death by physician-assisted suicide.  EUGENE, Ore. (BP) – Barbara Wagner discovered recently her state would not cover chemotherapy for her lung cancer but would underwrite her death by physician-assisted suicide. Wagner, 64, received notice in May that the Oregon Health Plan, which provides health-care coverage for about 380,000 low-income residents monthly, had refused to cover the drug prescribed by her oncologist when her cancer recurred, according to The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard. She was told, however, it would cover assisted suicide as part of palliative, or pain relief, care. The notification the health plan would cover assisted suicide especially disturbed Wagner. “To say to someone, we’ll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it’s cruel,” she told The Register-Guard. “I get angry. Who do they think they are?” Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith said this should come as no shock in Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1997. “We have been warning for years that this was a possibility in Oregon,” Smith wrote on the weblog Bioethics.com. “Medicaid is rationed, … [Read more...]

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary ethics professor Daniel Heimbach has withdrawn his membership from the Society of Christian Ethics after the group took a stand in what he calls “honoring sin over Scripture” regarding homosexuality. WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) – Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary ethics professor Daniel Heimbach has withdrawn his membership from the Society of Christian Ethics after the group took a stand in what he calls “honoring sin over Scripture” regarding homosexuality. Heimbach said new guidelines soon to be adopted by the society will make it impossible for any member to remain in good standing who does not affirm homosexuality. After 24 years of membership in the Society of Christian Ethics, Heimbach said the group has now gone so far in its view and defense of homosexuality as to disqualify members who defend and apply biblical morality. The membership of the group now totals more than 1,000 people from the United States, Canada and Europe. According to its website, the group aims to “promote scholarly work in Christian ethics and in the relation of Christian ethics to other traditions of ethics … and to provide a community of discourse and debate for those engaged professionally … [Read more...]

As the guys on the Arkansas disaster chainsaw team – tired after a long day of working a recent Missouri storm – ate their dinner at a local Southern Baptist church, the big, burly man who came in was impossible to miss. Imagine John the Baptist with a Stihl chainsaw.  VANDUSER, Mo. (BP) – As the guys on the Arkansas disaster chainsaw team – tired after a long day of working a recent Missouri storm – ate their dinner at a local Southern Baptist church, the big, burly man who came in was impossible to miss. Imagine John the Baptist with a Stihl chainsaw. Dressed in blue denim, with a full, graying beard and huge hands, Tom Stanton dropped by their table and asked if they needed any chainsaws sharpened. “The Saw Man,” as Stanton is called, didn’t have to ask twice. Any operator of a chainsaw knows that a dull chainsaw is useless, and sharpening chainsaws is a prickly job best left to experts. And The Saw Man is just that. Stanton’s unique chainsaw-sharpening ministry is valuable to Southern Baptist disaster relief chainsaw teams who respond to ice storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters. Stanton, 53, calls Deer River, Minn.– about 100 miles south of the Canadian border – home. Until last October, he pastored … [Read more...]