By Will Hall, Message executive editor NOTE: The online edition of this article has been corrected to indicate that the SBC Resolutions Committee tabled Resolution 7. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2021 Annual Meeting adopted nine of the 10 resolutions submitted by the Resolutions Committee and added one from the floor that called for “abolishing abortion.” According to Baptist Press, the Resolutions Committee had declined the previously submitted pro-life resolution, June 15, because the issue of abortion had been addressed in another resolution they wrote. However, one of the co-authors of the rejected resolution spoke to the messengers, who voted to bring it to the floor for consideration with a two-thirds vote and adopted it the next day after the word “alone” was added. In the end, this resolution declared “that we will not embrace an incremental approach alone to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately.” Meanwhile, the committee tabled the proposed Resolution 7 they had crafted -- which denounced “the Capitol resurrection of January 6, 2021, … as inconsistent … [Read more...]
Messengers present 32 motions for consideration
By Staff, Baptist Message NASHVILLE (BP) – Messengers presented 32 motions during the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, and moved: for an investigation of the ERLC for concealing knowledge about sex abuse for more than a year and only revealing such information through leaked ERLC letters accusing the EC of racism and mishandling sex abuse cases (Jared Longshore, Florida); for an outside investigation of the EC regarding the ERLC’s accusations in the leaked letters (Grant Gaines, Tennessee); for the Executive Committee to study possible conflicts of interest because the same legal counsel represents the EC and the SBC (Jay Adkins, Louisiana); to break fellowship with Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California (Shad Tibbs, Louisiana); that specific conditions be met before using Cooperative Program funds to pay for an outside in-vestigation of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission or the EC (Allen Nelson, Arkansas); that a Fellowship Meal Sunday be added to the SBC calendar (James Allen Murray, North Carolina); to rescind Resolution 9 (that approved of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality), which was adopted during the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting (Tom Ascol, Florida); to end … [Read more...]
Send Conference draws 10,000 for Gospel training, Crossover enlists 92 volunteers for Gospel work
By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – The 2021 Send Conference, jointly sponsored by the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, attracted 10,000 participants from across the nation, June 13-14, for general sessions and breakout meetings headlined by Southern Baptist celebrities such as football coaching legends Bobby Bowden (Florida State University) and Mark Richt (Georgia University). Meanwhile, according to Baptist Press, the North American Mission Board was able to enlist 92 volunteers, largely comprising seminary students, who conducted four days of door-to-door outreach, June 13-16. SEND CONFERENCE Billed as a “gathering of pastors, families and churches across North America learning and celebrating what it means to be on mission together, for the sake of the gospel’ the Send Conference offered “specialized tracks for every member of the family” providing “the tools and connections to become a movement of people — the Church — sharing the gospel with a world in need.” Participants were blessed during the Sunday night opening session by worship music led by Michael W. Smith and CeCe Winans, and a concert by (Steven … [Read more...]
2021 regular legislative session dominated by ‘vice’ bills
By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – The 2021 Louisiana Legislative Session was designated a budget session, so each lawmaker was limited to submitting five bills each that did not deal with state finances. However, it was those other bills, most involving vices, that seemed to dominate headlines across the state. PROSTITUTION Rep. Mandie Landry (D) of Orleans Parish, submitted H.B. 67 which would have legalized prostitution, elevating it to the same status as any line of work in the state. Witnesses in support of the bill mocked “morals” and urged members of House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee “not to look to your pastor” for guidance about prostitution. But opponents argued that legalizing prostitution would contribute to more human trafficking and greater exploitation of sex workers – because the bill also decriminalized “pimping” and brothels and these two activities are used to keep women captive in sex trafficking. In the end, Landry voluntarily withdrew her bill when it became apparent from comments by committee members that it was going to be voted down. Meanwhile, the House soundly defeated a resolution (H.R. 136) by that committee’s chairman, Rep. Ted … [Read more...]
Biden budget refers to ‘moms’ as ‘birthing people’
By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor WASHINGTON (LBM) – Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Baptist, challenged Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra about the choice of language in the Biden Administration’s $6 trillion budget request that refers to “mothers” as “birthing people.” During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, June 10, Lankford conducted a blunt interview, pressing Becerra to explain the unusual phrasing. But Becerra dodged even repeating Lankford’s use of “mother.” “I was a little taken aback when I just read it and saw that the term ‘mother’ was gone in spots, and it was replaced with ‘birthing people,’” Lankford said. “Is this a direction you are going—regulatory changes that are happening or what the purpose of that is? Becerra told Lankford, “I think it’s probably—and again I’d have to go back and take a look at the language that was used in the budget—but I think again it simply reflects the work that’s being done.” But Lankford pushed back, asking Becerra to “admit that calling a ‘mom’ a ‘birthing person’ could be offensive – that they don’t want to get a ‘Happy Birthing Person’ card in May.” However, Becerra declined to answer the question, telling Lankford, instead, … [Read more...]
Louisiana ministry touches needy in Israel
By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer COVINGTON, La. (LBM) – Johnny Huffman, founder of Fairhaven Ministry in Covington, has issued an ur-gent call for donations that will be placed in a 40-ft. container and shipped to Israel. “Recently, as I have watched the news, I watch people here in the US, as well as countries around the world, turning against Israel,” Huffman told the Baptist Message. “The Lord has impressed on me that if there was ever a time that Christians need to stand with and support His people, it is now. It is my opinion that the Lord gives us these opportunities. What we do with them is our decision.” Fairhaven Ministry, through a partnership with God’s Warehouse that is operated by Nolachucky Baptist Association in Morristown, Tennessee, is collecting items that will be shipped to and distributed by the non-denominational Joseph Project in Israel. According to its website, since 2000, the Joseph Project has received nearly 800 containers and provided more than $100 million in humanitarian aid to Israelites. Israel experienced 11 days of fighting between the country’s army and terrorists in the Gaza Strip before a cease fire was in effect, May 20. At least 230 Palestinians were killed, … [Read more...]
Congresswoman Letlow says faith is critical during challenging times
By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer MONROE, La. (LBM) – U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow won Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District seat in March, only three-and-a-half months after her husband, Luke, died from COVID-19 complications, Dec. 29, 2020. He was just five days from taking office after he had won the election the month before to succeed Ralph Abraham, who retired from Congress. She told the Baptist Message that the prayers of others helped her during that difficult time. “It’s hard for me to put into words how overwhelmingly beautiful and impactful and precious those prayers were to me,” Letlow said. “Even while we were in the hospital and Luke was in bad shape, we treasured those intercessory prayers that people were saying on his behalf and on ours. I know that they enveloped him, and he wasn’t alone, and he was at peace, and he had hope. To feel that on a visceral level -- thou-sands if not many thousands of prayers going up -- I will never be able to put into words what that means to me and my family.” Her husband’s death was not the first loss of a close loved one, she said. When she was a junior at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, her brother, Jeremy, 17, died from injuries sustained in a … [Read more...]
PHOTO GALLERY: Louisiana Baptists at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting
By Baptist Message staff NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Louisiana Baptists gathered in Nashville, Tenn., for the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. While 633 registered as messengers, many more came as guests for a time of fellowship, business meetings and even a Youth On Mission experience. Their time in Nashville was captured in photographs submitted to the Baptist Message. … [Read more...]
Open handed
By Rebecca Holloway PINEVILLE, La. – For years, I have read and heard the statement, “We need to hold life/our family/our possessions with an open hand.” The idea is that we are not in control of our lives or anything else on this planet. God is in complete control of all things and has the power and right to change things on a moment’s notice. As believers, we are to keep our hands open in surrender, knowing that He knows what is best for us at any given time. Frankly, I have always hated that statement. Probably because I have control issues. But this whole principle has come back to bite me here lately. In recent days, I have realized how tightly I was holding on to all of these things – especially when it comes to my stuff. First, we moved into our dream house in August of last year. The night we moved in, I fell on my face in worship before God and praised Him for giving us our house. We had seen His hand in every single moment of the purchase of the new house and the sale of our old house. We knew this was His will for our family. We have tried to be very “open handed” with our home and have already used it several times for ministry. But in the space of the 10 months we’ve been in this house, I have heard of two … [Read more...]
DR Teams restore souls, homes in storm ravaged Lake Charles
By Baptist Message staff LAKE CHARLES, La. (LBM) – Among the many people in need of help to restore their homes damaged by recent flooding in southwest Louisiana, six also had their souls restored through a Gospel witness by Southern Baptist disaster relief teams. “While it’s wonderful to help people get their homes cleaned out so they can rebuild, we are reminded that those homes are temporary,” Louisiana Baptist disaster relief coordinator Stan Statham told the Baptist Message. “Now, those individuals who accepted Christ are prepared for an eternal home.” Since relief operations began out of Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, teams from Louisiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas have worked in the area, which received up to 15 inches of water in some parts May 17. According to Clark Fooshe, white hat (coordinator) at the Incident Command Center at Trinity Baptist, teams have completed 166 jobs out of 200 requests, distributed 64 Bibles and presented the Gospel 40 times. Teams are expected to remain in Lake Charles until June 19. Another team from Ohio also is working out of Baton Rouge, which received more than 12 inches of rain. “We’ve had a good number of states respond,” … [Read more...]
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