It is Friday afternoon at a pregnancy resource center somewhere in Louisiana. The counselor is ministering to her only client of the day – a high school senior contemplating abortion. By Brian Blackwell LBM Newswriter It is Friday afternoon at a pregnancy resource center somewhere in Louisiana. The counselor is ministering to her only client of the day – a high school senior contemplating abortion. The teenager faces the temptation of having an abortion so she can complete high school without the duties of caring for a newborn baby. She is at the end of her road. She longs for love and support. She needs the hope of Jesus Christ. The counselor convinces the young lady that what is inside her body is a person, not just a mass of cells. The young lady enters the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home Sellers Maternity Home in Tallulah, where she delivers a healthy baby boy and finishes her high school education. Through the experience, the birth mother also accepts Christ as her personal savior. Though the above situation may be fictional, the reality is that pregnant women across Louisiana face similar situations every day. In a state that ranks second in the nation for births to unwed … [Read more...]

Leadership is a hot topic these days, even in churches – with persons exploring such things as its secrets, how to earn it, how to exercise it wisely, what leadership style is best suited for the gospel cause. Leadership is a hot topic these days, even in churches – with persons exploring such things as its secrets, how to earn it, how to exercise it wisely, what leadership style is best suited for the gospel cause. As far as Rick Warren is concerned, the Apostle Paul revealed the most fundamental leadership secret in 2 Cor. 1:12, which reads – “This is our boast. Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God.” In other words, Paul was affirming that he has a clear conscience and had acted with integrity, says Warren, pastor at Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the best-selling book, “The Purpose-Driven Life.” The key word is integrity, which forms the foundation of leadership, Warren notes in a Baptist Press column. “You only lead people if they trust you,” he says. “If you lose people’s trust, you’ve lost it all. That’s why the right to lead is earned, and it’s … [Read more...]

Ministers of the gospel must not become so absorbed with ministry that they fail to cultivate intimacy with God, Chuck Kelley emphasized. Ministers of the gospel must not become so absorbed with ministry that they fail to cultivate intimacy with God, Chuck Kelley emphasized. Indeed, intimacy with God must be the core of every believer’s life, said Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. “Left unguarded, left unwatched, it is the deterioration of that core that can undo everything we spend a lifetime doing,” Kelley emphasized during the seminary’s recent commencement ceremonies. To illustrate, Kelley told of how a destructive variety of termites came to New Orleans in the 1950s. The formosan termite arrived in the city undetected on a boat bringing goods to the Port of New Orleans. Since then, the small insects have cost the city millions of dollars in repairs. “The termites came in such an innocent way, and no one even knew they were here,” Kelley said. “(But) The federal government thinks the formosan termites may go down as the single-most destructive pest in the history of the United States.” Kelley held up a cross-section of a large oak tree from the seminary campus. Only … [Read more...]

In the weeks – and even months – leading up to the 2005 Southern Baptist Convention, the focus clearly has been on souls and the launch of the effort to baptize 1 million persons in the upcoming year. In the weeks – and even months – leading up to the 2005 Southern Baptist Convention, the focus clearly has been on souls and the launch of the effort to baptize 1 million persons in the upcoming year. But as messengers prepare for the convention’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., there is another “sole” issue on the table as well. Sole membership. It is understandable if one is not familiar with the term. Sole membership is a legal structure by which an agency makes the convention the “sole member” – or single controlling member – of its corporation. In doing so, the convention’s ultimate – and specific – rights are outlined. Essentially, those rights involve electing and removing trustees and approving changes in the entity’s charter and state of incorporation. Thus, an  entity is preventing from arbitrarily acting to distance itself from the convention. In turn, the model recognizes that the trustees are responsible for management and operation of an entity. Thus, the lines clearly – and legally … [Read more...]

Forgive Southern Baptist Convention messengers if they do not grasp all the intricacies of the sole membership issue to be presented to them at the 2005 annual meeting. Forgive Southern Baptist Convention messengers if they do not grasp all the intricacies of the sole membership issue to be presented to them at the 2005 annual meeting. It is not an easy issue. The vote to be put to messengers is straightforward enough – to change the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary charter and approve a legal structure known as sole membership for the institution. A “yes-or-no” vote – it seems simple enough. But the question remains – what does the proposed change mean and why has there been so much talk of it? The background of the issue dates back eight years. (See column to the left) But even in that time, everyone has not been able to get on the same page. SBC Executive Committee leaders support the sole membership move as a uniform way to tie the seminary – and all other agencies – to the convention. They also argue it affords legal protection for the convention so it cannot be attached to a lawsuit affecting an agency. In turn, New Orleans Seminary leaders say the sole membership model is a step … [Read more...]

The son of slain Southern Baptist workers Larry and Jean Elliott said he does not hate the people who killed his parents in Iraq on March 15, 2004. The son of slain Southern Baptist workers Larry and Jean Elliott said he does not hate the people who killed his parents in Iraq on March 15, 2004. Instead, Scott Elliott said he desires to see them saved. In a recent commissioning service at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., Elliott urged a host of missionary families preparing to deploy around the world to love the lost with that same kind of unconditional love. “Somehow, I feel no anger toward those who took my parents’ lives,” Elliott said. “Instead, I long for their salvation. They sent my parents home to their homecoming, and yet, they face something so horrific. “That (love) is the kind of love that God gives, ... and that is the love you’re taking to a lost world.” Larry and Jean Elliott were former Southeastern Seminary students. After more than 25 years of service to Honduras, the Elliotts followed God’s call to a turbulent and unstable Iraq in 2003. The following year, the couple was killed with two other Southern Baptist workers – Karen Watson and David McDonnall … [Read more...]

Week of June 6, 2005 Cooperative Program Gifts through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program totaled almost $16.8 million last month, an increase of $87,611 (0.5 percent) from the previous May. Eight months into the convention’s fiscal year, overall gifts total $132.4 million, an increase of some $2.7 million (2.1 percent) from the same time last year. The total also stands $10.3 million (8.5 percent) ahead of budget at this time. Meanwhile, designated gifts totaled $26 million last month, an increase of $5 million (24.1 percent) from the previous May. For the year, gifts total $157.3 million, an increase of $4.8 million (3.2 percent) from the same time last year. Bangladesh violence A Baptist lay pastor has been beheaded in Bangladesh, the second Christian leader to lose his life in that country in a year, reports indicate. Dulal Sarkar, 35, was attacked as he returned home from discussing his faith with local villagers. One source later identified the assailants as a group of 10 local Muslim extremists. After reporting the incident, Sarkur’s wife, mother and five children reportedly have been forced to move from place to place in fear for their lives. Local Christians say three arrests have been made, but … [Read more...]

Does your church have unrealistic expectations of its minister(s)? Most surveys indicate it does. Does your church have unrealistic expectations of its minister(s)? Most surveys indicate it does. One carefully conducted survey indicates that to satisfy the minimal expectations of the average church, a pastor would have to work 138 to 145 hours a week! And, the survey does not indicate the level of performance church members expect. Interestingly the size of the church does not matter that much in its expectations. The survey simply asks: “How many hours a week should your pastor work in each area of his responsibilities for you to feel he is doing his job?” Then the survey lists areas such as: • Sermon preparation • Prayer • Bible study • Personal enrichment reading • Vocational enrichment study • Visiting people in the hospital • Visiting shut-ins • Counseling • Preparing for and conducting funerals and weddings • Administration • Denominational work • Community relations • Evangelistic visitation • Prospect visitation • Etc. The survey totaled the minimal number  hours in each category to come up with the minimal number of overall hours it would take to satisfy … [Read more...]

One attending the 2005 Southern Baptist Convention will have a hard time missing the emphasis of the annual meeting. Souls. One attending the 2005 Southern Baptist Convention will have a hard time missing the emphasis of the annual meeting. Souls. The focus of the two-day session set for June 21-22 in Nashville, Tenn., will be the “Everyone Can Kingdom Challenge,” a bold emphasis that has the goal of winning to Christ and baptizing 1 million people in one year. The denomination-wide goal for evangelism is the vision of SBC President Bobby Welch, who emphasized it during a nationwide bus tour and visit to all 50 states and Canada to underscore the importance of evangelism. Video vignettes from that trip, featuring the testimonies of Southern Baptists, will be shown at the annual meeting. “I think we have the potential of having one of the most thrilling meetings we’ve had in a long, long time,” said Welch, pastor at First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla., and outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention. “The purpose is to create a unity of purpose in the convention and to do so around evangelism, ...” Welch said of the Everyone Can Kingdom Challenge. “It is my view that the … [Read more...]

Jennifer Rothschild wants everyone who attends pre-Southern Baptist Convention Crossover events in a few days to leave infected – with the “evangelism bug” of renewed passion for sharing the gospel. Jennifer Rothschild wants everyone who attends pre-Southern Baptist Convention Crossover events in a few days to leave infected – with the “evangelism bug” of renewed passion for sharing the gospel. “My hope is that the participants will become infected with the evangelism bug – that they’ll realize that this is not as intimidating as it seems, that it will ignite in them excitement ... so that they’ll go home contagious and infect their entire church,” said Rothschild, a popular Bible study author and speaker. Rothschild is set to speak during the closing Crossover rally on June 18 prior to the convention. At that time, she likely will challenge participants to continue meeting the challenge of evangelism. After all, Rothschild knows something of meeting challenges – at the age of 15, she was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that eventually took her sight. She also knows something of evangelism, having grown up helping her preacher/father through the years. During the Crossover rally, Rothschild … [Read more...]