Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 13:28 By Bob Smietana, LifeWay Communications NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Most pastors know that having well-trained volunteers and lay leaders is essential for the health of any local church. But few have a strategy for training, said Todd Adkins, director of leadership at LifeWay Christian Resources. Enter MinistryGrid.com, a new online training site designed to deliver easy, affordable and high quality training at anytime, anywhere. The site features more than 2,000 original training video sessions on topics from church leadership and finances to parking ministry and childcare. The idea behind the site is to give churches a framework for their training programs, said Adkins. “If you don’t give people a framework, they won’t grow,” he said. Adkins said in the past, local congregations sent volunteers to conferences or used denominational programs such as Training Union to equip church members for ministry. That’s no longer the case. “People used to take a week of vacation to attend training events like Sunday school week at Ridgecrest,” he said. “They don’t do that anymore.” Instead of sending volunteers or staff members to an event, Ministry Grid allows churches to bring the … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 13:50 Naghmeh and Saeed Abedini by Trillia Newbell, Baptist Press BOISE, Idaho (BP) -- On a hot summer day in 2012, Naghmeh Abedini drove her husband Saeed to an Idaho airport. They shared a casual goodbye, assuming they would see one another in two or three weeks. Instead he was imprisoned in Iran, and they haven't seen or spoken to one another since. Saeed Abedini, 33, was sentenced to eight years in prison after returning to Iran for a work trip. This began an almost two-year nightmare for his wife, who is now fighting for his release while raising their two children alone. "It has been the hardest time of my life," Abedini said of her husband's imprisonment. "I feel like my life was taken from me. I experienced extreme anxiety and depression at first. I cried out to the Lord and felt like the woman bleeding for 12 years" (Mark 5:25-34). Abedini's imprisonment has caught the attention of major news sources as well as President Obama. At the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast, Obama mentioned Abedini in calling for international religious freedom: "We pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini. He's been held in Iran for more than 18 months, sentenced to eight years in prison on charges … [Read more...]

By Shelly Moon, GuideStone Communications DALLAS — Ministers and church employees are invited to participate in the 2014 SBC Church Compensation Survey: a tool used by churches of all sizes to determine fair wages and benefits. Participants will be entered for a chance to win an iPad. The survey and complete contest rules are available atwww.GuideStone.org/CompensationSurvey. “GuideStone continues to be an advocate for pastors and church staff, ensuring that they are compensated fairly,” said O.S. Hawkins, President of GuideStone Financial Resources. “That’s why we partner with LifeWay Christian Resources and Baptist state conventions to produce this bi-annual study.” Survey results are not reported individually. Compensation and benefit information can be contributed anonymously. Each Southern Baptist church employee who participates in the survey plays a vital role in building one of the largest databases of church compensation information in the United States. Survey results provide a baseline of compensation data among similar-sized churches within each state convention. Therefore, a higher number of participants leads to a more accurate baseline of compensation data. “We receive numerous requests to answer compensation … [Read more...]

by Jennifer Carter, GuideStone Communications DALLAS (BP) -- The 2014 edition of GuideStone's annual Tax Return Preparation and Federal Reporting Guide is now available. The guide provides both active and retired minsters step-by-step help in understanding the latest tax laws, along with sample tax forms to assist them in preparing their 2013 federal tax returns. This year's edition contains a special supplement addressing key points of the recent housing allowance ruling. Also, church treasurers and other church leaders can refer to the guide's special section about important federal requirements for churches. The guide was written once again by Richard Hammar, a noted CPA, attorney and widely published author who specializes in legal and tax issues for ministers. Additionally, the material is edited by GuideStone's compliance staff to address the tax issues that affect the greatest number of Southern Baptist pastors. "This year, it's particularly important for ministers to have access to this useful resource," GuideStone president O.S. Hawkins said. "From late changes to tax law to challenges to the housing allowance, ministerial tax issues grow more complicated each year." Hawkins considers it a "joy and a privilege for … [Read more...]

By Shelly Moon, GuideStone Communications DALLAS — Business officers from Southern Baptist churches and ministries are invited to attend the annual Southern Baptist Business Officers Conference, March 17-19, in Dallas, Texas. GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention is once again the host for the meeting. The event offers business administrators from Baptist churches and organizations the opportunity to learn about legislative and health care reform issues, as well as participate in networking opportunities. “The SBBOC annual meeting is the one go-to event for business administrators from Baptist churches and organizations,” said Susan May, SBBOC secretary and treasurer. “There is no other conference that touches on such a wide variety of subjects that affect their everyday work.” This year, the conference will feature sessions on social media, working with the millennial generation and leadership lessons. Attendees will also hear the latest news on human resource policies, employment law and health care reform. This year’s conference speakers include: Richard R. Hammar, a CPA, attorney and author who writes extensively about legal and tax issues for churches and clergy, including GuideStone’s annual … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 14:00 By Gregory Tomlin, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) -- Hundreds of marijuana smokers lined up outside new state-sanctioned "pot dispensaries" in Colorado Jan. 1, the first day citizens, as well as tourists, could legally buy the drug for recreational use. More than 30 shops in the state, capitalizing on the new "green rush," netted nearly $1 million during the first day of sales, according to the deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, Betty Aldworth. Aldworth told CNN "adult use" of marijuana -- meaning use by those legally allowed to buy and possess one ounce of the drug -- will develop into a $208 million industry in the Rocky Mountain state alone. That figure does not include the $250 million in projected sales of "medical marijuana," which proponents claim eliminates nausea associated with chemotherapy, relieves pain and lessens the effects of diseases such as glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. In 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington became the first to legalize recreational use of marijuana. More than a decade before, both states had enacted laws for use of the drug for medical purposes. In November 2013, Colorado voters authorized excise and … [Read more...]

By Barrett Duke, ELRC   WASHINGTON (BP) -- President Obama's recent comments about marijuana are very troubling. Having smoked marijuana myself for many years as a teenager and young adult, I can say that the president's claim that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol is an inadequate comparison. Both alcohol and marijuana are dangerous. To say one thing is less dangerous than another doesn't mean very much if both things are extremely dangerous. Claiming alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana is essentially a distinction without a difference. Marijuana is associated with a long list of physical and psychological problems. Further, the Justice Department's own statistics indicate marijuana is associated more often with other criminal behavior than any other illicit drug. In a 2002 Department of Justice survey of convicted inmates in jail, 14 percent reported using marijuana at the time of their offense -- more than cocaine/crack at 11 percent. In addition, marijuana is acknowledged by millions of users and multiple studies as the gateway to even more destructive drugs. Contrary to alcohol, marijuana almost cannot be taken in moderate doses. It is nearly immediately debilitating upon the first intake. Alcohol … [Read more...]

By James A. Smith, Jr., Baptist Press PROVO, Utah (BP) -- Speaking for the second time in less than 100 days at Brigham Young University, Southern Baptist leader R. Albert Mohler Jr. told students and faculty at the school, "We may go to jail sooner even than we thought," recalling his concern about the threat to religious liberty raised in an earlier appearance at the Mormon-owned school. "I am not here because I believe we are going to heaven together, but I do believe we may go to jail together," said Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, during his first visit Oct. 21 to the Latter-day Saints' premier educational institution, named for Mormonism's second president. Delivering the Feb. 25 Forum Lecture about human dignity, human rights and human flourishing at the Marriott Arena on the BYU campus, Mohler revisited the concerns of his October speech in which he called on Mormons and evangelicals to work together in defense of religious freedom, while recognizing serious theological differences between the faiths. Mohler addressed 2,731 faculty and students at the BYU forum, according to Deseret News. Since the October address, "so much has changed," Mohler said, noting federal courts have ruled … [Read more...]

By Tom Strode, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) -- Same-sex marriage's dominance is growing rapidly even in surprising places, so much so that churches that refuse to endorse such unions soon will be considered bigoted, Russell D. Moore has told Baptist state leaders. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), addressed gay marriage and other cultural issues in a Feb. 12 question-and-answer session with Baptist state executive directors and editors. The joint session took place during the annual meetings of the Fellowship of State Executive Directors and the Association of State Baptist Publications in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Moore, who answered questions via Skype, was scheduled to be at the meeting but was unable to attend because weather problems resulted in cancellation of his flight. Same-sex marriage commanded much of the attention during the session. "I told somebody the other day, 'I expected the same-sex marriage issue to dominate in 2014. I didn't really expect it to be happening in Utah, Oklahoma and Kentucky,'" Moore said of states where judges recently have ruled against laws limiting marriage to a man and a woman. "[T]his is moving very, very fast, and it's moving in some unexpected … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 14:08 NASHVILLE (BP) -- Most Americans say religious liberty is important, but they don't always agree on how much liberty is enough or too much. Religious liberty is the issue at the heart of the upcoming Supreme Court hearings between Hobby Lobby and the Obama Administration over the HHS contraceptive mandate. It's a dispute that is unlikely to go away, no matter what the Supreme Court decides. American preachers, it turns out, are more than a bit uneasy about religious liberty these days, according to a survey by LifeWay Research, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. The survey found that seven out of 10 senior pastors at Protestant churches said religious liberty is on the decline in America. About seven in 10 also said Christians have lost or are losing the culture war. The telephone survey of Protestant senior pastors was taken Sept. 4-19, 2013. Seventy percent agree with the statement, "Religious liberty is on the decline in America." Twenty-seven percent disagree. Self-identified evangelical pastors (81 percent) are more likely to agree than mainline pastors (47 percent). Researchers also asked pastors to respond to this … [Read more...]