[img_assist|nid=8211|title=Getting needed help|desc=IMB missionaries pray over a mother and child suffering through famine in the Horn of Africa. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering enables these missionaries – like Lottie herself 140 years ago – to live and work at the forefront of lostness, extending Southern Baptists’ witness through their full-time ministry.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=427]By Don Graham, IMB Communications   RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – “Extremely grateful.” That’s what IMB President Tom Elliff is saying about Southern Baptists’ gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, which reached $146.8 million last year – the fourth-highest total in the offering’s 123-year history.   “These are the greatest days of opportunity ever faced by the Christian church in its 2,000-year history,” Elliff said. “That opportunity comes because hearts across the world are plowed up by need – physical need, emotional need, social need. God is at work stirring hearts; He is changing lives. It would be a tragedy if we did not effectively take the seed of the Gospel and sow that seed into the furrows of troubled hearts all over the world – hearts that would eagerly embrace the Gospel … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8213|title=Black gold rush|desc=North Dakota has become the nation’s No. 2 oil producer, up from ninth place in 2006, because The Bakken and Three Forks oil fields is rich in both natural gas and quality crude oil. This oil boom has created an influx of workers and families into the state.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=427]By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   WILLISTON, N.D. – The situation: The Bakken and Three Forks are vast, deep rock formations rich in both natural gas and quality crude oil underlying much of the western third of North Dakota.   Now in its third boom year, North Dakota has become the nation’s No. 2 oil producer, up from ninth place in 2006. Unemployment is near zero percent; more than 17,000 jobs remain unfilled.   The need: In the last two years, 480 new students have enrolled in Williston, N.D., schools; another 1,200 are anticipated for next fall. With those children come parents eager to cash in on the high wages being paid for workers – experienced or not.   Cornerstone First Baptist Church in Williston, where Ashley Olinger is pastor, is eager to minister spiritually to children, parents, families and single workers, and they need … [Read more...]

img_assist|nid=8215|title=At work on the farm|desc=Members of East Jena Baptist Church built this and three other “working pens” for Fairhaven Ministry near Covington, where Johnny Huffman is director of the ministry to more than 350 children over the last 46 years. Cattle go into the pens for vaccinations and other procedures.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=478]By Staff, Baptist Message COVINGTON – Ten of his foster youngsters recently helped Johnny Huffman put fly tags in the ears of the small ranch’s cattle. They also helped him deworm the cattle they had  herded into working pens built over the last few months by members of East Jean Baptist Church, where Ronnie Tarver is pastor. “I assure you that it is much nicer than anything that I could have ever imagined,” Huffman said, “and it sure made working the cattle much easier.” Johnny and Sissie Huffman, members of new Zion Baptist Church in Covington – Clark Stewart is pastor – have run Fairhaven Children’s Home near Covington since 1972. Over the last 46 years, the Huffmans have cared for more than 350 youngsters at their rural home. In 1995, their ministry expanded worldwide through a shipping container ministry to Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa … [Read more...]

ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES   Marvin (wife Mona) Leleux, new as pastor of Alford Heights in Many.   Jeremy (wife Catherine) Asher, new as minister of music of Temple Ruston. Pastor: Rick Byargeon.   J.C. Clement, retired pastor in Bienville and Webster/Claiborne Baptist Associations, died May 18.   Florence Attaway, wife of Lewis Attaway, pastor of Germantown Baptist, died May 28.   Samuel Higgs resigned as pastor of Jamestown Baptist.   Jordy McKaskle, new as onsite pastor of North Monroe at Bastrop.   David Shirley, retiring after 38 years as pastor of Alto Baptist, and 40 years in the ministry. Celebration July 1.   Don Whatley retired as pastor of Mt. Ararat Downsville.   Tony Campanale, new as pastor of Conway Marion.   Keith (wife Kristy) Payne, new as pastor of Bethany Baptist.   John (wife Christine) Frazier, new as minister of music at Mooringsport Baptist.   A.J. Kirk, new as youth minister at Pilgrim Home Benton.   Ally (husband Buddy) Freeman, new as children’s minister at Bellaire Bossier City.   David Womack, evangelist from Mooringsport, died May 12.   Preston … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8218|title=Life Essential Study Bible|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=470|height=640]By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – A new high-tech study Bible is using QR (quick read) codes to connect readers via smart phones to video teaching by noted pastor and Bible professor Gene Getz.   The Life Essentials Study Bible relays 1,500 key principles Getz has drawn from Scripture over the years – principles relevant to Christians young and old as well as every people group throughout the world.   A QR code in the study notes for each of the 1,500 principles in the Life Essentials Study Bible links readers to an expanded video teaching segment by Getz of 15 minutes or less.   “These are applicational principles that tie together the entire redemption story,” Getz said.   The B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources is the publisher for the Life Essentials Study Bible, which is subtitled “Biblical principles to live by: Learn to apply God’s word in your life.” The HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) is the translation used for the biblical text.   Getz has long been a forerunner in media communications. In 1968 he … [Read more...]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)  -- Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are $4,909,539.96, or 3.96 percent, above the year-to-date budgeted goal, and are 1.08 percent behind contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to a SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Frank S. Page.   The total includes receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2011-12 SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.   The Cooperative Program is a channel of giving, begun in 1925, through which a local church is able to contribute to the various ministries of its state convention and to the various missions and ministries of the SBC with a single contribution.   “As always, we trust God to ‘make every grace overflow’ for the ministry needs of the convention ‘according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,’” Page said.   “To that end, we thank Him for every gift,” Page said. “Our mission boards and other SBC ministries continue to fulfill their convention-adopted ministry assignments in spite of the prolonged … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8221|title=Ranked No. 1|desc=GuideStone Funds has been ranked No. 1 among 223 mutual fund families for the quarter ending March 31, according to Fund Family Fiduciary Rankings by fi360, a key evaluator within the finance industry. Guidestone, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, encompasses 450 employees in its Dallas headquarters. This is the first time GuideStone Funds has achieved the top ranking in fi360’s quarterly rankings.|link=none|align=right|width=427|height=640]By Roy Hayhurst, Guidestone Communications   DALLAS (BP) – GuideStone Funds ranked No. 1 among 223 mutual fund families for the quarter ending March 31, according to Fund Family Fiduciary Rankings by fi360, a key evaluator within the finance industry. This is the first time GuideStone Funds has achieved the top ranking in fi360’s quarterly rankings but follows 2011 when the funds consistently finished in the top 10.   The ranking comes on the heels of the March announcement from an industry ranking firm that named GuideStone Funds No. 1 among 182 funds in receiving Lipper’s 2012 Best Overall Small Fund Group award, one of the premier honors in the nation’s financial sector for mutual fund families with up to $40 … [Read more...]

(WORLD NEWS) – Secularist advocacy groups trying to ban prayer at public meetings won a legal victory on May 17.   The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled against the town board of Greece, N.Y., which opens meetings with prayers. The town had invited pastors and lay people from a variety of denominations and religions– even atheists – to say these prayers. Some non-Christian clerics, including a Wiccan priestess, had offered a few prayers in 2008.   Nevertheless, the 2nd Court concluded that “the town’s prayer practice had the effect of affiliating the town with Christianity,” affirming arguments made by plaintiffs’ lawyers from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Christians have uttered most of the prayers, the decision noted, and they have often included Christian terms like “Jesus” or “Your Son.” Citing a Supreme Court precedent in Marsh v. Chambers (1983), the court conceded that prayers at government meetings are not by definition unconstitutional. But it contended that the board needed to go out of its way to make the prayers nonsectarian.   Greece city officials countered that almost all the formal religious organizations in the town are Christian, leaving them … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 02:00 Alejandro, a village leader in a jungle region of Ecuador, reads the Bible in his language with Jason Hiles (right), leader of a volunteer team from Kingsville Baptist Church in Pineville/Ball. By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor PINEVILLE/BALL –  Alejandro, a tribal leader in one of seven related villages in Ecuador, is a Christian today stemming from the synergy of the Cooperative Program and the missions involvement of Kingsville Baptist Church. Two years into his faith, the 60-year-old father of four grown children is leading them and others in the village toward their own professions of faith. As a result, God’s Word is rippling out through the Tsa’chila villages in the jungle west of Quito, Ecuador’s capitol. “The Cooperative Program allows every Southern Baptist church to be directly involved in global and local missions. It can go where we might not be going,” said Bart Walker, Kingsville’s pastor since 2007. “What a glorious privilege to be a part of God’s work of redeeming people from every tongue, tribe and nation!” Kingsville, in central Louisiana, works with the SBC’s International Mission Board as volunteer teams travel to … [Read more...]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – A group of current and former Southern Baptist leaders has signed a statement affirming what they call the “traditional Southern Baptist” understanding of the doctrine of salvation, with the goal of drawing a distinction with the beliefs of “New Calvinism.” The statement was posted May 31 at SBCToday.com and includes a preamble and 10 articles, along with signatures from two entity presidents (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Paige Patterson and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Chuck Kelley), five state executive directors (Georgia’s Bob White, Florida’s John Sullivan, Mississippi’s Jim Futral, Louisiana’s David Hankins, Alaska’s Mike Procter), and in addition to Patterson, five other former SBC presidents (Bailey Smith, Jimmy Draper, Jerry Vines, Morris Chapman and Bobby Welch). The document was titled, “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.” (Read the entire document at the bottom of this article.) “For the most part, Southern Baptists have been glad to relegate disagreements over Calvinism to secondary status along with other important but ‘non-essential’ theological matters,” the document reads in the preamble. “The … [Read more...]