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"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Honor 6:2 provides new, free books during COVID-19 pandemic

By Julie Walters, SBC WMU communications BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (SBC WMU) – April 30, 2020 – Iron Stream Media, WMU, and the WMU Foundation are offering curated boxes of books to send to those isolated in senior care facilities, hospice centers, hospitals and seniors sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The joint initiative, Honor 6:2, is based on Eph. 6:2: “Honor your father and mother.” According the John Herring, CEO of Iron Stream Media, the seed was planted when one of Iron Stream’s subcontractors asked if she could order a couple of boxes of books to send to local elder care facilities. “I thought it was a great idea,” Herring reflected, “and the thought came into my heart early the next morning that we could expand on her idea. As I was praying, I was thinking of what it must be like to have read everything on the shelf and longing for a new book to read. “We have a warehouse full of books that need to be read,” he continued. “Many of our parents and grandparents have more time on their hands than ever. Visitations may not be possible, but we can gift inspiring books to them to help them grow in their spiritual walk with the Lord. Gifting a box of books is a way of showing deserved honor to our parents … [Read more...]

State conventions, SBC entities facing pandemic-induced cuts

By Margaret Colson USED BY PERMISSION OF THE ALABAMA BAPTIST Numerous Southern Baptist entities, including state conventions, seminaries and national entities and auxiliaries, are implementing budget and staff reductions in response to the economic downturn resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. State conventions were among the first entities to take significant budgetary action during the pandemic. While approaches have been varied, the focus of reducing expenses has been the common factor among state conventions, including the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions and other contiguous state conventions. GEORGIA BAPTIST MISSION BOARD Thomas Hammond Jr., executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, chose what he labeled a “proactive” approach to decision-making when he announced a 43% reduction in mission board expenses, effective April 9. Hammond, in an exclusive interview with The Alabama Baptist, said that, just as the pandemic was beginning to ramp up in Georgia, he called approximately 50 Georgia Baptist pastors to discuss anticipated church-giving patterns. The pastors represented churches of all sizes in varied settings. While some pastors reported giving had increased, many other … [Read more...]

Post-COVID ministry spotlighted by associational leaders

By David Roach USED BY PERMISSION OF THE ALABAMA BAPTIST MCDONOUGH, Ga. (TAB) — As churches seek to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, polling data suggests they are turning to their local Baptist associations for assistance more than any other group. So the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders (SBCAL) focused its first ever virtual conference on helping churches emerge from COVID-19. Twenty-one percent of Southern Baptist congregations say their association is providing them more help during the pandemic than any other individual or group, according to polling by Gloo, a technology organization partnering with the Barna Group to study churches amid COVID-19. That was the poll’s top response, ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention (18%) and state and local government officials (17%). Conference speakers at the April 30 SBCAL webinar asked associational leaders to consider how they can maintain that degree of influence as the crisis subsides. The pandemic presents Christian leaders with an unprecedented “degree of freedom” to “really inspect your mission and your strategy in this moment,” Brad Hill, Gloo’s head of network and partnership strategy, told the 285 associational leaders in attendance. “It’s … [Read more...]