By South Carolina Baptist Courier Staff COLUMBIA, S.C. (BP) - First Baptist is mourning yet, like so many other churches in Columbia, S.C., and across the state, engaging in ministry as flooding continues to grip Hurricane Joaquin survivors and first responders. Richard Milroy, 82, "died in his car sometime in the last couple of days due to devastating floods," minister of discipleship Wes Church wrote to First Baptist members, The Baptist Courier, newsjournal of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, reported Oct. 6. "How do we even begin to put into words all of the emotions we are experiencing?" Church said. "There is so much heartbreak and need in our community." Milroy was one of at least 17 drowning or auto accident fatalities from the hurricane's downpours in South and North Carolina. Some First Baptist members have lost homes or cars, and some have lost all their belongings. College and high school students and their leaders are helping clean up their flood-damaged homes. The church also is housing 13 South Carolina Baptist disaster relief volunteers who are feeding more than 1,000 first responders at a nearby city maintenance area. And volunteers are coordinating with a sister church to collect donations … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Message Editor     Alexandria – For the first time in Southern Baptist Convention history, dating back to 1929 when a unified national budget was first proposed, designated receipts topped Cooperative Program gifts distributed by the SBC Executive Committee.   Moreover, what was a historical precedent in 2013 was repeated in 2014, making it the second time for this phenomenon to occur since the Great Commission Resurgence reforms were approved in 2010.   Now, the SBC Executive Committee has released the final numbers for 2015, indicating a third straight year of upended giving, with Baptist Press reporting Oct. 2 that gifts through the Cooperative Program amounted to more than $189 million, but designated giving exceeded $195 million.   12-YEAR TREND   Although this apparent new norm has taken place since the GCR reforms were approved (including the creation of a new category for giving, “Great Commission Giving” to “celebrate every dollar given”), information published in the SBC Annual shows this phenomenon has been developing since 2004.   That year the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering leapt by more than $20 million and the Annie Armstrong … [Read more...]

By Art Toalston, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) - It's been an uplifting year for the Cooperative Program. The church led by SBC President Ronnie Floyd reached the $1-million mark during its 2014-15 budget year in giving to Southern Baptists' cornerstone channel for supporting missions and ministries -- state by state, nationally and internationally. "Increasing your church's support through the Cooperative Program is the greatest way you can forward the work of reaching the world for Christ," Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, wrote in a Sept. 21 column. Floyd's column preceded the annual Cooperative Program Emphasis Month in the SBC each October. For online CP resources, click here. Noting the Cooperative Program's comprehensiveness in advancing the Gospel during its 90-year history, Floyd wrote: "Not one of us can adequately support any one cause, but all of us together can pray, plan, give, cooperate and support every cause." For the 2014-15 fiscal year, Cooperative Program gifts by Southern Baptist churches -- $189,160,231.41 -- reached 100.62 of the convention's Cooperative Program Allocation Budget to support the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, the SBC's … [Read more...]

By Tobin Perry, Christian Examiner ROSEBURG, Ore. (Christian Examiner) -- Just last Sunday Pastor Jerry Smart warned his church—increased persecution is coming. The Winston, Oregon, pastor had no idea just how close to fruition his prediction was. "I told our church, 'We're going to see more and more persecution in this world,'" said Smart, pastor of Foursquare Gospel Center in Winston. "I said, 'How many of you believe that?' Most of the people raised their hands. I said, 'I think it's coming.' Of course, I was thinking of Christians in the Middle East. I didn't think it would come to our back door the next Thursday." But of course, it did. On Thursday, a 26-year-old shooter entered Umpqua Community College in nearby Roseburg and killed nine people and injured nine more. A variety of media reports confirm the gunman asked his victims whether they were Christians or not. To read more of this article, click here.   … [Read more...]

By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press EDITOR'S NOTE: October is Cooperative Program Emphasis Month in the Southern Baptist Convention. NASHVILLE (BP) - Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank S. Page has personally signed letters to more than 4,400 Southern Baptist churches that have met or exceeded the 1% Cooperative Program Challenge. Recognized for their contributions are 3,846 congregations that met the challenge for the first time during the 2013-14 fiscal year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30) and 576 that met the challenge for two consecutive years, said Ashley Clayton, SBC Executive Committee vice president for Cooperative Program and stewardship development. The 1% CP Challenge calls on churches to increase their Cooperative Program giving by at least 1 percentage point of their budgets from undesignated gifts by their members and visitors. CP gifts undergird both the work of the state Baptist conventions and the SBC's national and international missions and ministries. In the letters in advance of October's Cooperative Program Emphasis Month on the SBC calendar, Page reminded pastors that every Cooperative Program dollar given is an investment in Baptist outreach. The letters seek to express the … [Read more...]

By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner CHICAGO (Christian Examiner) – Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has issued a second forceful warning for black ministers in Christian churches who refuse to support his "Justice, or Else!" movement after he called for exercising the Quran's law of retaliation against whites and the government during an address at a Miami church in July. In a series of interview videos posted to his Facebook page, after which he solicits donations and support for his upcoming gathering on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10, Farrakhan says the ministers who have closed their doors to him are failing their communities and him. "I have to say this. All of you know what you have done to me," Farrakhan says with his voice raised in the video. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]

By David Roach, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) - In response to the International Mission Board's announcement of a personnel reduction, the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee has adopted a resolution urging Southern Baptist churches to give "more than ever before" through the Cooperative Program. The resolution, which was adopted without opposition, stated, "At this urgent hour of desperate need in our nation and around the world, we, the members of the SBC Executive Committee, pledge to encourage and lead our churches to give more than ever before through the Cooperative Program in 2015 and beyond. We also call upon all cooperating Southern Baptist churches prayerfully to join us in doing more than ever before." The resolution was adopted during the Executive Committee's Sept. 21-22 meeting in Nashville, where President David Platt and other IMB leaders addressed questions from EC members. The IMB had announced previously that it would reduce its total number of missionaries and staff by 600-800 in light of expenditures that exceeded revenues by $210 million over the past six years. Platt's extended report to the EC Sept. 21 preceded 10 minutes of questions and answers. EC President Frank S. Page then … [Read more...]

By David Roach, Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) - As Pope Francis visits the U.S., Southern Baptist leaders say they stand with his statements of biblical morality but urge Catholics to reject the Vatican's official teaching on salvation in favor of a personal relationship with Christ by faith alone. Russell Moore, president of Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, hopes Francis will speak to key moral concerns being debated in the public square during his Sept. 22-27 U.S. visit. "I hope the pope speaks with clarity about the dignity of all human life, including that of the unborn; the stability of the family, including the necessity of mothers and fathers for children; and religious liberty for all," Moore told Baptist Press in written comments. "I also hope he speaks directly as he has before to our responsibility for the most vulnerable among us, the poor, the prisoner, the immigrant and the orphan." R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, agrees and wants Francis to clarify his "decidedly mixed signals" regarding multiple issues, including human sexuality. "This pope's method is to speak to the theological left and the theological right with two different … [Read more...]

By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Polling giant Gallup is debunking the myth of high levels of evangelical support for presidential candidate Donald Trump. In fact, more in-depth analysis of evangelicals suggests Trump's favorability among extremely religious Republican campaign watchers is significantly lower than has been reported. Gallup's Frank Newport reports "assumptions about Trump's level of support among evangelicals appear to be based on trial heat polls wherein Republicans are forced to choose one and only one candidate for whom they would, in theory, vote." "A better view of Trump's image among this group comes from our Gallup data in which Republicans are asked about their views of each candidate individually. This provides a more comprehensive view of the candidates," Newport writes. To read more, visit the Christian Examiner website. … [Read more...]