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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Messengers adopt 10 resolutions

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...]

Cindy Walker, FBC Minden, honored with WMU’s 2021 O’Brien Leadership Award

By Trennis Henderson, WMU National Correspondent NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMU)—Cindy Walker has led Girls in Action and Acteens mission groups at First Baptist Church of Minden, Louisiana, for a combined total of more than half a century. One of her encouragers over the years was Dellanna West O’Brien, a former national Woman’s Missionary Union executive director, who retired in 1999 and passed away in 2008. O’Brien was honored in 1998 with the establishment of the Dellanna West O’Brien Award for Women’s Leadership Development. The prestigious leadership award recognizes Baptist women who demonstrate the ability to foster leadership in women, display the potential to be leaders in their community and world and excel in missions education. Coming full circle in terms of honoring a longtime missions leader in whom O’Brien personally invested, Walker has been named the recipient of this year’s O’Brien Leadership Award. “Being honored with the Dellanna O'Brien Leadership Award is an unbelievable distinction,” Walker reflected. “Dellanna played an important role in my life as an encourager and someone whom I greatly admired. To be recognized as a recipient of this award is an amazing tribute that I will cherish always. “Working … [Read more...]