Submitted by Staff on Thu, 02/19/2004 - 02:00 The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board no longer will endorse women to chaplaincy positions that function like that of a pastor. The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board no longer will endorse women to chaplaincy positions that function like that of a pastor. "In the future, the North American Mission Board will endorse only ordained men to the office of chaplain to serve in the military or any place where the role and function of the chaplain would be seen the same as that of a pastor," a recently-approved trustee statement reads. The move primarily will bring an end to endorsing women as military chaplains but also affect a few positions with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, chaplains currently serving will not be affected unless they request a change in the category of chaplaincy in which they serve. North American Mission Board trustees adopted the policy change on the recommendation of a Special Task Force on Chaplaincy Endorsement appointed last summer. The eight-member task force included chaplains, trustees and other Southern Baptists. "I think this sets a clear, concise direction to … [Read more...]

Southern Baptist missionaries witnessed double-digit increases in eight of their 13 categories of work in 2003, including a record high for baptisms. Southern Baptist missionaries witnessed double-digit increases in eight of their 13 categories of work in 2003, including a record high for baptisms.   For the first time ever, missionaries recorded more than 500,000 baptisms.   And while more than 5,000 people groups around the world still have little or no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ, Southern Baptist missionaries and their overseas partners also opened work among 192 new people groups during the most-recent year.   Those new works included the engagement of 146 unreached people groups with a total population of more than 359 million.   The numbers indicate that God’s spirit is moving dramatically, and people are responding to the gospel in an unprecedented manner, emphasized Avery Willis, senior vice president at the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.   Southern Baptist missionaries and their overseas partners baptized 510,357 believers in 2003, a net increase of 76,838 (17.7 percent) and the first time the number of baptisms has passed the … [Read more...]

For the published week of February 26, 2004 New Orleans action   New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees recently concluded a special called meeting of their board by approving establishment of a Cooperative Program Chair of Southern Baptist Convention Studies at the school. Trustees had gathered to discuss the idea of sole membership (see Pages Six and Seven). However, at the end of the session, they voted unanimously to establish the new chair as well. The professor occupying the newly-established chair will be asked to:   • Develop and promote Cooperative Program awareness throughout the seminary family   • Coordinate the seminary’s academic instruction on the Cooperative Program for all students   • Engage in research and writing on he convention and the Cooperative Program   • Attend as many meetings of the SBC Executive Committee and annual convention as possible to observe and promote how the Southern Baptist Convention functions, how the Cooperative Program is promoted and gathered and how it is spent.   Seminary President Chuck Kelley noted the seminaries had been asked to come up with strategies to teach students about the … [Read more...]

Marriage (mar’ij) n. 1. the social institution under which a man and a woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc. Marriage (mar’ij) n. 1. the social institution under which a man and a woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.   Thus saith the Random House College Dictionary. That pretty well should settle the matter.   Calling an agreement, however serious that agreement might be, between two people of the same sex a marriage not only strives to rewrite the meaning of the word, it strives to rewrite the basic building block of society.   Does the government have the right to say "marriage is only between one man and one woman?" Yes. Decades ago Mormons believed polygamy, or one person being married to more than one other person, was an exercise of their religious beliefs. The federal government said, "Not in this country," and the ruling while frequently challenged for years, has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court. Polygamy, even as a religious practice, even if by religious conviction or pure stupidity, is illegal. Period.   In … [Read more...]

God first began working in John and Kim Piepmeier’s lives through their local church in Missouri. But it was not long before they were in full-time service - in a land that is about as close to "the ends of the earth" as anywhere. God first began working in John and Kim Piepmeier’s lives through their local church in Missouri.   But it was not long before they were in full-time service - in a land that is about as close to "the ends of the earth" as anywhere.   Their ministry is now to Kiana Baptist Mission and the people of Kiana, a remote Native Alaskan village above the Arctic Circle where the only Hondas around are small "four-wheeler" all-terrain vehicles. After all, in a land where winter temperatures can reach 50 degrees below zero, a snowmobile is the family car.   For the Eskimos who live there, this is life as usual. For Missouri natives like the Peipmeiers, it is the certainty of God’s call that has helped them adjust.   "The Bible tells us that the Lord has many offices and places where he wants each of us, and I feel that’s what he’s done with us," John Piepmeier says. "He’s equipped us with the ability to handle it and enjoy it here. I don’t think it takes … [Read more...]

Note: March 7-14 has been set as the annual Week of Prayer for North American Missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions in Southern Baptist churches. The following article relates the story of some of the 5,200 missionaries the offering helps to fund. Note: March 7-14 has been set as the annual Week of Prayer for North American Missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions in Southern Baptist churches. The following article relates the story of some of the 5,200 missionaries the offering helps to fund.   Even as a professional athletic trainer and emergency medical technician, Stephanie Smith says she never imagined working the sidelines of a hockey game.   With little knowledge or interest in the rough-and-tumble sport, the cold, icy rink generally epitomized her attitude toward it.   "I grew up in Missouri where hockey wasn’t that popular, and I developed a negative view of the game and those who were involved in it," Smith admits. "I had only attended two games. A fight broke out in the stands at one, and I had beer spilled on me at the other. I mistakenly assumed that most hockey players had made an intentional … [Read more...]

Perry Hancock recently unveiled to Louisiana Baptist Children’s Homes trustees a strategy to promote Seller’s Maternity Home. Located in Tallulah, Sellers Maternity Home is designed to care for single, pregnant women 21 years of age and younger in a Christian environment. Perry Hancock recently unveiled to Louisiana Baptist Children’s Homes trustees a strategy to promote Seller’s Maternity Home.   Located in Tallulah, Sellers Maternity Home is designed to care for single, pregnant women 21 years of age and younger in a Christian environment.   Until now, the maternity home’s only Yellow Page listing has been in Monroe. However, Sellers now will be listed in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans phone books under two categories - crisis pregnancy and abortion alternatives.   In addition to the Yellow Pages listing, Sandra Zeigler, social worker at Sellers, has begun contacting all the crisis pregnancy centers in the state.   Hancock said Zeigler also will contact as many school counselors as possible. "That may sound a little odd, but that’s the first person sometimes to learn about the pregnancies," Hancock noted.   Perhaps the most "visible" part of the strategy is a … [Read more...]

Louisiana College professor C. J. "Prof" Cavanaugh, a longtime biology teacher at the Louisiana Baptist college whom the central Louisiana media called "an icon" died last week in Alexandria. He was 93. Louisiana College professor C. J. "Prof" Cavanaugh, a longtime biology teacher at the Louisiana Baptist college whom the central Louisiana media called "an icon" died last week in Alexandria. He was 93.   The Cavanaugh Hall of Science on the school’s campus was named in his honor as was the Charles J. Cavanaugh Endowed Professorship. Cavanaugh influenced countless students, many of whom became teachers and physicians. He developed and directed an outstanding pre-med program in which ninety-percent of his students who applied to medical, dental and veterinarian schools were accepted.   He taught a Bible study class at First Baptist Church, Pineville, for four decades.   He and his late wife, Eloise Wise Gill Cavanaugh, where married 62 years before her death. They are survived by five sons: Robert, chancellor of Louisiana State University Alexandria; David, a neurosurgeon in Shreveport; William, a dentist in Pineville; Lynn, an executive for a North Carolina textile company; and … [Read more...]

Where is the outrage from the arbitrary defunding of our directors of associational missions by the Louisiana Baptist Convention? The outrage from what I perceive to be the high-handed way that the will of the convention has been circumvented, from the way the Baptist Message has only aired one side of this fiasco? Where is the outrage from the arbitrary defunding of our directors of associational missions by the Louisiana Baptist Convention? The outrage from what I perceive to be the high-handed way that the will of the convention has been circumvented, from the way the Baptist Message has only aired one side of this fiasco?   After reading "Change on the horizon" in the Feb. 5, 2004 issue of the Baptist Message, I have gone from being upset to being outraged. We are being told there is nothing we can say or do that will change things. That is not the Baptist way. I am asking Louisiana Baptists, regardless of how you feel about who funds the directors of missions to recognize what is taking place and to do what we can to bring the convention back to Louisiana Baptists. I am asking the Baptist Message to bring to the forefront the whole issue and the problems that this is causing.   The … [Read more...]

I agree with what Jack Graham said about today’s youth. (Louisiana Baptist Message, Feb. 12, 2004, Page Two) My only problem with the article is what was he doing at the Super Bowl when he should have been in church. What kind of example is he setting for the youth? What kind of "light in the darkness" was he being by enveloping himself in the ways of the world? I agree with what Jack Graham said about today’s youth. (Louisiana Baptist Message, Feb. 12, 2004, Page Two) My only problem with the article is what was he doing at the Super Bowl when he should have been in church. What kind of example is he setting for the youth? What kind of "light in the darkness" was he being by enveloping himself in the ways of the world?   I heard that several churches let out of church so they could have gatherings at homes to have Christian fellowship and watch the game. And I heard those same people express how disappointed they were in what happened at the halftime show and how their children saw everything.   Well, guess what? My children did not see what happened because they were in church with their family where they were supposed to be - not using Christian fellowship as an excuse to stay out of church … [Read more...]