By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS (BP) - The need for Christian apologetics -- the clearing of obstacles to faith -- has never been greater, attendees were told throughout the annual Defend the Faith conference, Jan. 4-8, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary "Every age presents unique challenges to the Christian faith," said Defend the Faith director Rhyne Putman, NOBTS assistant professor of theology and culture. "We face moral shifts in our culture, religious pluralism, other competing worldviews and assaults on religious liberty." Sponsored by the seminary's Institute for Christian Apologetics, the event was attended by more than 200 people, one-third of whom were college students from various states. Plenary sessions were streamed via the Internet for the event and its messages to have an even wider reach. One current missionary in East Asia who watched the live-streamed sessions emailed one speaker to thank him for his candid portrayal of the difficulties facing those who engage a non-Christian culture. Featured among more than two-dozen speakers were Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary; teaching fellow Jana Harmon with the C.S. Lewis Institute; resurrection … [Read more...]
Louisiana Baptist church planters commissioned at special service
By Message Staff ALEXANDRIA - Surrounded by family and Louisiana Baptist state missions services team members, six church planters were commissioned on Jan. 20 during the first-ever service of its kind for church planters in the state. The church planter commissioning service on Wednesday was for those who started a church since October 2015. Since then, 11 churches have been started in the state, including five in January. The goal for 2016 is to plant 30 churches in Louisiana, keeping in step with the goal to plant 300 churches by 2020. To reach that goal, 170 more churches will have to be planted between now and 2020. John Hebert, missions and ministry team leader for Louisiana Baptists, said his team is engaged in partnering with churches, associations and other Southern Baptist entities to plant healthy, culturally relevant, biblically sound, multiplying churches that seek to fulfill the Great Commission. “At the spearhead of this effort is the work of our Church planters,” he said during the commissioning service. “Today these church planters have come before this assembly to receive the blessing and commissioning and commitment of Louisiana Baptists’ support. God has called them to serve in places across our … [Read more...]
GuideStone announces release of its Ministers’ Tax Guide
By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources communications DALLAS — GuideStone Financial Resources will release its popular annual tax guide in two phases. The Federal Reporting Requirements for Churches section is available now at GuideStone.org/TaxGuide. This section details filing requirements for Forms W-2 and 1099, as well as a brief section on filing requirements many churches will have to undertake as part of the Affordable Care Act. The remainder of the annual 2016 Tax Return Preparation and Federal Reporting Guide, Ministers’ Tax Guide for 2015 Returns, with its step-by-step filing instructions of personal ministers’ taxes, will be available online by the end of January. GuideStone participants can receive the free guide by visiting GuideStone.org/TaxGuide or can request a free printed copy by calling 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433). The guide was written again this year by Richard Hammar, a noted CPA, attorney and widely published author who specializes in legal and tax issues for ministers. Additionally, the material is edited by GuideStone’s staff to ensure that it addresses, in detail, the tax issues directly affecting Southern Baptist pastors. “Each year, we hear from so many pastors and other … [Read more...]
US Supreme Court agrees to tackle religious hostility by states
By Staff, Alliance Defending Freedom WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Jan. 15 to take up a case that addresses the question of whether states can exhibit hostility to religion by prohibiting churches and church-run organizations from participating in state programs solely because the groups are religious. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent a church-run pre-school and daycare center which the state of Missouri excluded from a program that provides recycled tire products to surface children’s playgrounds. Last month, ADF filed a brief with the high court that answered the state’s arguments in favor of religious discrimination in the program. “No state can define religious neutrality as treating religious organizations worse than everyone else,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “That isn’t neutrality; it’s a hostility to religion that violates the First Amendment. That’s the primary issue that the Supreme Court will address. In this case, the state should not have excluded this preschool from the recycled tire program simply because a church operates the school.” “Children’s safety is just as important on church daycare playgrounds as it is on other daycare playgrounds,” added ADF Senior … [Read more...]
Saeed Abedini in Germany awaiting wife’s arrival
By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press GERMANY (BP) - The wife of freed pastor Saeed Abedini is expected to meet him in Germany, according to news reports released Jan. 19, where his health was being assessed after his release from a three-and-a-half-year imprisonment in Iran. Naghmeh Abedini was preparing to fly to Germany for a reunion before his return to their Boise, Idaho, home, she said in a Jan. 17 telephone interview on FOX News. "We are ready to welcome him home. I'm getting ready to fly out to Germany to be able to see him, and the kids are really excited because they are making welcome home signs," she said. "There's a lot of readjustment and a lot of healing that needs to happen. It's time for our family to heal and to move forward." Abedini was serving an eight-year prison sentence because of his Christian faith. U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., an evangelical Christian who has worked for Abedini's release, said in an Idaho Statesman report that he expects Naghmeh Abedini to arrive in Germany by Jan. 20. Pittenger arrived in Germany Jan. 18, but had not been able to meet with the pastor by that night. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) lobbied extensively for Abedini's release, which was … [Read more...]
Shipping containers from Louisiana delivered to Romania
By Message Staff In the Dec. 17, 2015 issue of the Baptist Message, we introduced you to a Louisiana Baptist couple in Covington who coordinates and delivers shipping containers to children in the Ukraine at Christmas. Each container has clothes, food, much needed medicine, building material, mattresses and vitamins. The shipping containers are 40-ft-long, 8-ft wide and 9-ft high. Most of the containers are delivered to southern Romania where living conditions are much worse than other parts of the country. Johnny Huffman, who along with his wife Sissie spearheads the project, e-mailed the Message on Jan. 19 with an update on the project. The couple’s ministry is Fairhaven Hope Ministries, located just 10 miles outside of Covington in rural southeast Louisiana. “I sometimes think of the old song ‘I Stand Amazed in His Presence’ for I see Him working His presence in so many ways each day,” he wrote. “Attached you see a few of the pictures that I received from Romania of children receiving some of the Christmas boxes that many of you had a part in. As I was looking at the pictures, I was thinking ‘Only Jesus could have put together all the people it took to accomplish these children having these gifts’. It was His presence … [Read more...]
Religion is the number one topic on Facebook – again
By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – For all the talk that America is becoming a less religious nation, religion – primarily as it relates to politics – was again the most popular topic of discussion on Facebook as 2015 drew to a close. The Hill reports, based on data captured by Facebook from Dec. 13 to Jan. 12, that discussion of religion and its role in political issues surged on the world's most popular social media platform as primary contests heated up and the Republican candidates engaged each other in the debate season (including during last Thursday night's debate). Religious topics that garnered significant attention included the rise of the Islamic State, gun control and economic issues. The biggest winner, if success in politics is measured purely by how much a candidate is discussed, was Republican Donald Trump. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
SBC leader: Trump at Liberty a ‘golden calf’
By Staff, Christian Examiner LYNCHBURG, Va. (Christian Examiner) – Donald Trump was on the stump at the world's largest Christian University Monday, but his effort to convince the audience of his evangelical bona fides might have fallen short after the politician – who claims Presbyterian lineage – quoted from the book of "Two Corinthians." "Two Corinthians, 3:17, that's the whole ballgame," Trump said. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The flub drew a roll of chuckles from the student audience, as Christians generally refer to the book as "Second Corinthians." There were also a few gasps when Trump twice cursed during the address to the Christian students and faculty. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
MLK’s advice to pastors called key to revival
By David Roach, Baptist Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) - Sixty years ago, the Montgomery Bus Boycott famously catapulted Martin Luther King Jr. to national leadership of the civil rights movement and led to the end of segregated public transportation in Alabama. Less commonly known is that the boycott occasioned advice to pastors by King that some Southern Baptists say they still take to heart. King, in this 1958 book "Stride Toward Freedom," recounted the struggle in Montgomery, then asked, "Where do we go from here?" Pastors, he concluded, were an important part of the answer. "The important thing is for every minister to dedicate himself to the Christian ideal of brotherhood, and be sure he is doing something positive to implement it," wrote King, then pastor of Montgomery's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. "He must never allow the theory that it is better to remain quiet and help the cause to become a rationalization for doing nothing. Many ministers can do much more than they are doing and still hold their congregations." Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, told Baptist Press "biblically-oriented pastors" took such advice to heart, noting that his predecessor, longtime First Baptist Montgomery pastor … [Read more...]
