The “Jesus Christ/Joseph Smith” DVD distributed across Utah and other parts of the country this spring was intended to be upsetting, the co-director of the DVD said. EDITORS’ NOTE: A two-part series, “The Mormons,” was shown on PBS April 30 and May 1. The following two stories report on some of the various efforts to reach Mormons with the Gospel. SALT LAKE CITY (BP)--The “Jesus Christ/Joseph Smith” DVD distributed across Utah and other parts of the country this spring was intended to be upsetting, the co-director of the DVD said. “I was offended when I was told these same things when I was a Mormon,” Randy Gavin said. “The reverence I held for Joseph Smith kept me from taking a critical look at him,” Gavin said. “If you’re going to trust your salvation to something, you need to take a critical look at it.” The DVD has elicited responses from within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in other religious circles. An LDS news release said the church has weathered similar attacks throughout its history and is not surprised that groups are trying to restrain its growth. The Anti-Defamation League, meanwhile, condemned the DVD in a news release as the same kind of “plain, old-fashioned Mormon-bashing” … [Read more...]

Talking to Mormons in Utah during spring break was frustrating at times and humbling, collegians said, but it strengthened their walk with God. SALT LAKE CITY (BP) – Talking to Mormons in Utah during spring break was frustrating at times and humbling, collegians said, but it strengthened their walk with God. David Collett, one of the leaders of a team from Corban College in Salem, Ore., said he likes to witness to Mormons because “it’s very intellectual, and apologetics comes into play a lot, and that’s an area of evangelism I think I do well in.” Collett’s first visit to Salt Lake City, however, was during a road trip with his cousin. They began having car trouble outside the city and managed to get to a repair shop. They were told the part they needed would take a day to get there. But after one week and three hotels, they left Utah resolved, in Collett’s words, to “never come back to this city again.” When Collett came to Corban in 2005, he saw advertisements for a Utah mission trip and, despite his earlier experience, felt a desire to go back. This spring break was Collett’s third venture to Utah. It can be scary to talk to Mormons “and defend your faith,” Collett acknowledged. “But knowing what you’re going into … [Read more...]

Buck Hill is great at getting “buy-in.” He got his South Carolina church to buy into the idea of a South Dakota mission trip. He got his wife Pam and teenage daughters B.J. and Parker to buy into the idea of moving to South Dakota as Mission Service Corps volunteers after they had gone on that mission trip. He even got five churches in the Heartland Baptist Association to buy into the concept of jointly starting a Saturday-night church in a town where three Sunday-church attempts had failed. ABERDEEN, S.D. (BP) – Buck Hill is great at getting “buy-in.” He got his South Carolina church to buy into the idea of a South Dakota mission trip. He got his wife Pam and teenage daughters B.J. and Parker to buy into the idea of moving to South Dakota as Mission Service Corps volunteers after they had gone on that mission trip. He even got five churches in the Heartland Baptist Association to buy into the concept of jointly starting a Saturday-night church in a town where three Sunday-church attempts had failed. The pivotal buy-in, he says, is the Cooperative Program. “Without all of the Southern Baptist churches pulling together, all that God has allowed us to do would not be possible,” Hill said. “We are ever grateful for the … [Read more...]

At its first anniversary, Operation NOAH Rebuild has topped more than 10,000 volunteers and 200 professions of faith in helping New Orleans-area residents recover from the impact of Hurricane Katrina. NEW ORLEANS (BP) – At its first anniversary, Operation NOAH Rebuild has topped more than 10,000 volunteers and 200 professions of faith in helping New Orleans-area residents recover from the impact of Hurricane Katrina. The initiative now moves into its second year with the announcement of a new project coordinator and with the expectation of outdistancing the first year on all fronts. David Maxwell, recently named NOAH project coordinator, oversees the supervision of staff, office and warehouse operations and volunteer management. Maxwell left a Louisiana pastorate to join NOAH in November 2006 as a construction coordinator. Toby Pittman, previous project coordinator, was reassigned to the Northshore in February. “I left the pastorate, but I didn’t leave the ministry,” said Maxwell, former pastor of Ridge Avenue Baptist Church in West Monroe. “This is a tremendous mission field and it is right in our backyard.” When NOAH crossed the one-year mark on May 1, it reported 10,338 volunteers were mobilized on 671 teams, … [Read more...]

Out of 200 or more publications belonging to the international Evangelical Press Association, Louisiana’s Baptist Message took first place during a recent awards ceremony at the Doubletree Colorado Springs. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Out of 200 or more publications belonging to the international Evangelical Press Association, Louisiana’s Baptist Message took first place during a recent awards ceremony at the Doubletree Colorado Springs. “It was the final award of the evening,” said Managing Editor Karen Willoughby, who accepted the award for Editor Kelly Boggs. “It’s for the most-improved publication. “We’ve received many many positive comments – and one negative one – from people in Louisiana for the changes in the paper. It was gratifying to get this from our peers.” … [Read more...]

As a way of showing appreciation to port workers, the staff and volunteers at Global Maritime Ministries fed about 130 people lunch on Friday, May 11. NEW ORLEANS – As a way of showing appreciation to port workers, the staff and volunteers at Global Maritime Ministries fed about 130 people lunch on Friday, May 11. It was their seventh year to do so. Calvary Shreveport assisted this year. In addition to workers, they provided the meal. In addition to grilled chicken sandwiches, beans and potato salad, the seafarers’ ministry workers and Calvary volunteers passed out Bibles, copies of the Campus Crusade’s Jesus film video, and copies of Rick Warren’s best-selling Purpose Driven Life. For the second year, announcement of the free meal was placed in the paychecks of the port workers. This happened because by law, port employees are to receive an “Employee Recognition Day” but with no funds, port officials were unable to do this. When they heard Global Maritime each year gave an appreciation meal to their workers, port officials offered as their part to let the workers know of the meal prepared for them at the employees’ parking lot, explained Philip Vandercook, Global Maritime director. Tears came to the eyes of one … [Read more...]

There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth,” is how one article I read recently on global climate change begins. There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth,” is how one article I read recently on global climate change begins. Later the article asserts, “The evidence in support of these predictions [of catastrophic climate change] has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up.” The earth’s climate, we’re told by the story, is undergoing such a dramatic shift that it poses an ominous threat to mankind’s existence. You might easily conclude that the subject of the aforementioned article is global warming, but it’s not. The article in question appeared in Newsweek 32 years ago, April 28, 1975, and was titled The Cooling World. Yes, you read it right. Three decades ago there were scientists … [Read more...]

The public discussion about the power of ultrasound and modern imaging technologies has revealed something fascinating – the pro-abortion movement does not want us peering into the womb. The public discussion about the power of ultrasound and modern imaging technologies has revealed something fascinating – the pro-abortion movement does not want us peering into the womb. The view inside the womb transforms the moral debate over abortion. Once that image is seen, the vocabulary necessarily changes. This gestating creature is a baby, a child, a person – and a wonder to behold. That wonder is beautifully depicted in a book released recently by the National Geographic Society, In the Womb. Put simply – the book is one of the most amazing volumes my eyes have ever seen. The book’s author is Peter Tallack, a geneticist and science writer who, along with scientific modeler David Barlow and ultrasound expert Professor Stuart Campbell, brings together absolutely incredible “four-dimensional” images and photographs of the developing baby. As Tallack explains, “For obstetricians, the development of 3D and 4D scans has been the medical equivalent of the Hubble Space Telescope, allowing researchers to scrutinize fetal development … [Read more...]

Here’s the bottom line at the top: Neither the Southern Baptist Convention nor any other Baptist denominational entity has any standing, any power or any official business intervening between a local church and even the worst minister they employ. Here’s the bottom line at the top: Neither the Southern Baptist Convention nor any other Baptist denominational entity has any standing, any power or any official business intervening between a local church and even the worst minister they employ. I say this in the context of calls for the SBC to address sexual abuse by pastors and other staff members. Christa Brown of Houston claims to be such a victim and has started an organization  aimed at “stopping Baptist predators.” I have no reason to doubt her testimony or to oppose her basic intent.  The abuse Brown suffered obviously left her with pain and a justified anger toward those who took no reasonable action to protect her. Brown’s proposal for Southern Baptists is that we create a database of ministers convicted of sex offenses and that we form an independent committee tasked to investigate charges of such abuse by ministers. Presumably the results of these investigations would also be posted somewhere so that … [Read more...]

On May 3, the United States House of Representatives voted by a substantial margin to approve H. R. 1592 or the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007. This bill, which will soon appear before the U.S. Senate, also expected to give the bill its stamp of approval, will make homosexuals or gender confused individuals federally protected classes under federal law On May 3, the United States House of Representatives voted by a substantial margin to approve H. R. 1592 or the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007. This bill, which will soon appear before the U.S. Senate, also expected to give the bill its stamp of approval, will make homosexuals or gender confused individuals federally protected classes under federal law. If this happens, homosexuals, transvestites, transsexuals and other “sexual orientations” can claim protected minority status. Lou Shelton, director of the Traditional Values Coalition, states, “It (H. R. 1592) will be used to lay the legal foundation and establish a framework to investigate, persecute, and prosecute pastors, business owners or anyone else whose actions are based upon the truths found in the Bible, which have previously been protected by the First Amendment. … [Read more...]