By Staff, Baptist Message NEW ORLEANS – The United States Supreme Court made headlines this summer with a pair of decisions that dealt with religious liberty and free speech. One upheld the ability of Hobby Lobby as a privately held company to exclude certain healthcare coverage that owners deem contrary to their religious convictions. The other decision struck down a Massachusetts law that set a 35-foot buffer zone around entrances to abortion clinics. The decisions highlight the precarious state of religious liberty in the United States, despite the fact that religious liberty is a foundational tenet of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Religious liberty also is a Baptist distinctive, with Baptists long teaching that the government should not tell citizens what they should or shouldn’t believe or inhibit the free expression of belief. And yet, as society has changed so has its understanding of this concept. Religious liberty is now being challenged by the culture at large. On Sept. 30, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Institute for Faith and the Public Square will host a conference titled “Challenges to Religious Liberty.” The evening conference will feature Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/05/2014 - 10:43 Students at a high school, northwest of Oklahoma City, gather for the annual See You at the Pole global day of student prayer. Students shared photos, including this one, on Facebook and Twitter. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BURLESON, Texas – Rick Eubanks could sense God moving mightily in the fall of 1989 among the teenagers at a Texas church where he served as minister of music and youth. He never imagined that God would use the youth group to start one the largest student-led prayer gatherings around school flagpoles in the country – See You At The Pole. “We caught a vision that year,” said Eubanks, who is now minister of worship and students at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Burleson. “Our youth group was one of those special groups with an anointing from God and they believed in praying for their friends and others. It’s amazing how things took off.” While the genesis of See You At The Pole actually can be traced to a year-long emphasis on prayer among the youth at Crestmont Baptist Church, the key moment that kick-started the movement was the church’s Disciple Now in April 1990. A guest speaker during one of the sessions challenged the youth to surrender … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message NASHVILLE, Tenn. — David Hankins and Steve Lemke are among the 34 scholars and professionals who have been appointed as research fellows for the new Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s Research Institute. This new Research Institute and its fellows will assist the ERLC in its mission by producing a variety of materials to equip Southern Baptists and churches to engage ethical and cultural issues of the day. Hankins, the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s Executive Director, and Lemke, Provost and a professor of philosophy at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, were appointed to the Institute by Russell Moore, president of the ERLC. The newly named fellows come from all six Southern Baptist seminaries, several Baptist colleges, private and public universities and other prominent institutions such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Center for Law and Justice. “The aim of the Research Institute is to be a catalyst to connect the agenda of the gospel to the complex questions of the day,” said Moore, speaking about the launch and addition of the new fellows, “and to do so at the highest levels of academic scholarship for the good of local congregations. “I am thrilled to get to work … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor Designated giving for any organization that depends on donations from individuals and/or businesses is a double-edge sword. While designated gifts do have their place in a non-profit organization, they can also be the death knell, especially for a church. Designated money, for the uninitiated, is money specified to only be spent for that which the giver has designated. If the money is spent in other ways, it is not only unethical it is also illegal. At some point during the modern church era congregations embraced the concept of a unified budget. Members were encouraged to give money to a general fund which was then dispersed according to a budget approved by the church. All I have ever known is a unified budget process. That said, I have had to deal with individuals who wanted to designate their gifts and give only to particular ministries. Each time someone wanted to designate their gifts, I would listen to the reasons. I would then explain that while they were certainly free to designate their money, I asked if they would prayerfully consider not specifying where their gifts could be spent. I explained that if everyone designated their money the church could effectively become … [Read more...]

By Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary FORT WORTH, Texas (SWBTS) – Many are aware that Dr. David Platt was not my choice for the presidency of the IMB. But the presidential selection committee has assured us that at the end of the intercessory road, Dr. Platt is God’s choice. Platt will be confirmed by the Board, so he is the next president of the IMB. Therefore, it is time for a burial. All critics beginning with me, must bury our reservations and get on our knees in behalf of this talented young man who now assumes this role. Throughout his first year in office, all Southern Baptists owe David Platt ten things just as we would any duly elected Southern Baptist agency head. 1. Prayer for his family’s protection. An assignment like the International Mission Board is hard on anyone’s family but especially on the family’s young children. The entire Southern Baptist family ought to pray not only that God will protect Dr. Platt and his family but also that they will be infinitely blessed by the experience. 2. Thanksgiving to God for the presence of a young leader who has obviously garnered the hearts of the younger generation and who will have the opportunity to lead them to a commitment to … [Read more...]

By Bart Barber, Pastor First Baptist Church Farmersville, Texas The International Mission Board recently announced that Dr. David Platt is the new President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I had opposed his election. He now has my support. Here’s why: 1. According to our system, I had my say. The trustees had the opportunity to give full consideration to the questions that I raised. I trust that they did so. I do not regret having raised these concerns, but I respect our system of polity. I freely acknowledge that the trustees had access to more information than I had. More of them favored his election than opposed it. 2. The very critique that I made of Platt requires that I support him now. This is the way that our system is supposed to work. You engage yourself in the process. You advocate vigorously for your point of view. Together we Southern Baptists come to a decision. Unless the decision is so bad that we cannot follow Christ and abide by it, we coalesce around the decision that we’ve made and we move forward for the sake of our Great Commission task. From the bottom of my heart I urge any of you who have talked about cutting your CP support if Platt were elected not to do … [Read more...]

By Michael Foust, Editor, writer who blogs on parenting, fatherhood at michaelfoust.com I remember my first big-time football game as if it were yesterday. I was 13, sitting beside my dad and a friend in a huge stadium. The game, though, didn’t go as I had hoped, and a loss seemed certain — when something amazing happened. With only four seconds left, my team’s kicker booted a 51-yard field goal that tied the game, and we all went wild. It was a college game and there was no overtime back then, but we rode home feeling as if our team had won the Super Bowl. I also remember the birth of my first child as if it were yesterday. I was 36, standing in the delivery room with the doctor and nurses all around, minutes after midnight. Then something amazing happened. I heard a tiny, helpless, sweet cry, followed by a booming voice from the doctor: “It’s a boy!” They placed my son under the warmer and I saw him up close for the very first time. He was full of life, looking all around, squirming from head to toe. It was the most precious sight I had ever seen. My wife and I drove home two days later, feeling as if we’d won, well, the Super Bowl. I’ve been to quite a few football games in my life while spending far more money than I … [Read more...]

By Joe McKeever, Retired Pastor, Author New Orleans “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” (Galatians 5:9). Take care of the little things. In art, the difference between mediocre and masterful is often attention to details. In wartime, attention to the little things can mean surviving. I wonder if Goliath thought something like this in that millisecond before he expired: “This cannot be happening; a giant like me; a champion of warriors – massive and mighty, undaunted and undefeated – taken down by a kid with a rock in a sling.” Up in your state penitentiary you will find quite a number of good guys, people with impressive credentials and strong convictions and good records of achievement.  However, mixed in with their outstanding accomplishments was leaven: a single habit they could not control, a friendship out of bounds, a secret vice, a weakness. At this moment, the Christian community is discussing a prominent pastor for whom the world was his oyster, as the saying goes. He was a star among the ministerial heavens.  He built a great church, wrote popular books, was in demand for every program and conference.  And now, look at him, felled by such a little thing. No one is more shocked than he.  “How could … [Read more...]

To the Editor I thought Mr. McKeever’s article, “Here’s my candidate for hypocrite of the year” [Baptist Message, Aug. 14], was outstanding and should be read by every Baptist. There is one other one I think is important and I would like to relate a story about it. In my younger days I was an avid football fan.  More specifically I was an LSU fan. While stationed in Vietnam, I would get up early in the mornings to listen to a football game on Armed Forces Radio.  If it was an LSU game that was even better.  All of the guys in my outfit knew of my love of football. One Sunday afternoon I walked in on a conversation that five of the young troops were having concerning going to church.  One of them asked me when I had last attended church, and I replied “I went to chapel this morning.” He began to tell me that he and his buddies did not believe one had to attend church to be a Christian. I asked them if they thought I was an LSU fan.  Their reply was, “of course.”  I asked them if there was an LSU game played less than a mile from the compound and admittance was free and I did not go, would they think I was a fan.  Their reply was, “probably not.” I said, “The Chapel is less than a mile away and it is absolutely free, so … [Read more...]

By Bob Stith, Founder of Family & Gender Issues Ministry, Southlake, Texas It has been over 60 years but I still remember Jimmy. My family was going through a time of turmoil and a long string of moves necessitating yet another new school. I don’t remember the name of any other classmate nor the name of my teacher, so why do I remember Jimmy so vividly? Jimmy was a bully. I was his target on only a couple of occasions and I was always conscious of his presence. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 160,000 kids stay home from school every day for fear of being bullied. In this era of technology-fueled openness, we’re learning that bullies are not as rare as many have believed and that their mayhem may be more lasting than just the fading bruises of childhood encounters. A number of young people have taken their lives as a result of having been bullied, including several in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where I live. Many of those who have taken their lives struggled with same-sex attractions. On March 29, 2007, 17-year-old Eric Mohat was told by a classmate that he should “go home and shoot himself” – the last in a long line of bullying incidents the boy had been subjected to at his high … [Read more...]