The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/12/2017 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- TRUSTEES: Steve Gaines named SBTS visiting professor by Andrew J.W. Smith Date: April 12, 2017 - Wednesday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary unanimously approved the installation of Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines to a visiting professorship honoring former SBC President Herschel H. Hobbs during their April 10 meeting in Louisville, Ky. The board also approved an expanded budget for the 2017-2018 academic year and elected three faculty members. Trustees established the Herschel H. Hobbs Visiting Professor of Christian Preaching to honor the life and legacy of Hobbs, a two-time graduate of Southern Seminary. Hobbs was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1961-1963, served as chairman of the committee that revised the Baptist Faith and Message in 1963, and pastored several Southern Baptist churches. "One of my encouragers all along the way was Dr. Herschel Hobbs -- he was so committed to this institution, so committed to Southern Baptists," Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. told trustees. "Very regularly we will have a visiting professor in his name come to this campus in order to educate students and honor Dr. Hobbs." Gaines, installed as the inaugural Hobbs professor, opened the trustees' plenary session with a devotional message. He has served as senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., since 2005 and holds Ph.D. and master of divinity degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he wrote his dissertation on Hobbs and his preaching on "The Baptist Hour." Trustees approved their financial board's recommendation to increase the budget to $51.6 million in 2017-2018, an increase of 7.5 percent from the current $48.04 million budget. The board elected to the faculty, effective Aug. 1, R. Scott Connell as assistant professor of music and worship leadership at Boyce College; Brian Payne, associate professor of Christian theology, church ministry and expository preaching at Boyce; and Charles T. Lewis, assistant professor of church music and worship at Southern Seminary. Connell, who has taught at Boyce since 2010, had 25 years of pastoral experience in local churches in numerous roles, including as a worship pastor, youth pastor and senior pastor, and had taught music in public and private education at all grade levels. Payne, who joined the faculty of Boyce College and Southern Seminary in 2006, earned three SBTS degrees and pastored in Lebanon, Ohio, after working in the business world and attending the University of Alabama, where he also played football for four years. Lewis formerly was worship pastor at First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Fla., and adjunct professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University before joining Southern Seminary in 2011. He currently serves as director of Doxology, Southern Seminary's vocal ensemble. The board also recognized six outgoing trustees whose terms of service end in 2017: Schanon Caudle from Arkansas; Mike King, Tennessee; Randy Kuhn, Florida; Pusey Losch, Pennsylvania; Mike Mericle, Texas; and Archie Stephens, Arizona. Also recognized for his trustee service was Scott Pruitt, who joined the board in 2012 when he was attorney general of Oklahoma. He has recently taken office as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, one of the most senior posts in the Trump administration. Trustees also noted that two board members are current presidents of their state conventions: chairman John Thweatt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Pell City, Ala., president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, and Joe Ligon, pastor of First Baptist Church, Marlow, Okla., as president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. -------------------------------------------------------------------- EASTER: Why look for the living among the dead? by Christopher Graham Date: April 12, 2017 - Wednesday DALLAS (BP) -- The day of Jesus' resurrection has always been an orienting point for Christians. From the beginning, it was the day for their weekly gatherings. Later it became a pivotal day in the annual Christian calendar. Prior to Easter each year, we reflect on Jesus' perfect submission -- from His victory over Satan's temptations in the wilderness to His ultimate act of obedience on the cross. We examine our own devotion and deal intentionally with the temptations and distractions that keep us from full obedience. Then, on Easter, the commemoration of Jesus' resurrection pivots us from contemplating the humility of the suffering Lamb to celebrating the power of the risen Lamb; from identifying with the crucified Servant to exalting the victorious Savior. This shift is rooted in the events that occurred on the very day of Jesus' resurrection, beginning with the question posed to the women who went to His tomb: "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" It is true that the question had something to do with their location at the tomb. Luke reports, however, that the women had "inclined their faces to the ground" and that this posture prompted the messengers' question. Why? Because early Christians knew they lived in a world governed by the words of Genesis 3:19: "You will eat food by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it; for you are dust, and you will return to dust." The women's posture that morning was entirely reasonable in light of these words. Each and every body laid in a tomb would return to the ground, the dust. A change had occurred that morning, however, that the women's posture did not reflect. Jesus' resurrection had brought about a new posture. The women should not be inclined toward the ground looking for Jesus but standing and facing Him as their risen Lord. Easter posture is not, however, merely standing and facing the resurrected Lord. It is standing and facing our future because of His resurrection. Forty days prior to Easter, some Christians have ash placed on their foreheads and hear the words: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." They are reminded of the brevity of life and the urgency of present obedience. If you have been to a funeral this past year, you don't need an ashen symbol to remind you of the brevity of life or that death still grips creation. As you inclined your face toward the body that was to be placed in the ground, you were confronted with the fact that this is not how God created that person. The eulogies testified to the fact that there is no one in the world who spoke, sang, laughed or loved like the one whose body lay in the casket. It is at just this point where the women's lesson is vital for us because the Easter posture is a posture of hope. Death results in the body returning to the ground -- for now. Sorrow and grief are real -- for now. Because of Jesus' resurrection, however, we can stand and face our future with hope. The apostle Paul says it this way: "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). Are you struggling to face your future? Maybe you have experienced a great tragedy in your life: the death of a friend or family member, a diagnosis of a terminal disease. Maybe the loss of someone or something that has provided security has shaken your confidence in the future: the betrayal of a close friend or spouse, the loss of a job. Maybe anxiety is just your persistent struggle; you struggle to face the future even in the absence of crises. The question is good for you to hear: Why do you seek for the living among the dead? Allow the fact of Jesus' resurrection to give you the confidence to face your future. With His resurrection in mind, stand up and face your future with hope. -------------------------------------------------------------------- TIME magazine covers prompt closer look at 'Truth' by Ben Hawkins/Missouri Pathway Date: April 12, 2017 - Wednesday JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP) -- TIME magazine shocked the American public on April, 8, 1966, by publishing a simple cover with one red-letter question on a black background: "Is God Dead?" When TIME reproduced their 1966 cover design this April -- now with the question, "Is Truth Dead?" -- Southern Baptist ministers and theologians reaffirmed their confidence in the eternal truth of the living God. "Truth is not dead," Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told The Pathway. "Humanity has an unshakable thirst for truth. Truth is burned on our hearts and imbued on our brains. People are starving for truth today. They are living in the wreckage of a world that has willfully gouged out its eyes to truth. "But we who preach Christ have the means of salvation and surety. I believe in days ahead that many will disagree with us, but that our promotion of absolute truth, a coherent worldview, and a Savior will prove irresistible to many left in the wilderness by postmodern education." Death-of-God theology That TIME magazine would follow up their talk of God's death with talk of truth's death is no surprise, Strachan added. "The two 'deaths' are directly related. If God is not with us, then we have no foundation for truth." The 1966 cover article, written by TIME religion editor John Elson, featured the radical "Death-of-God" theological movement of the 1960s. Though relatively short-lived and small, this movement gained notoriety for its leaders, who championed the radical 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's slogan, "God is dead," to advance their own theological views. By talking of God's death, they meant different things: Some meant that talk of God was simply illogical and meaningless; others that, since modern people couldn't accept the traditional view of the Christian God, the church ought to abandon talk of Him altogether; and others that God had utterly abandoned His divine nature forever when He became incarnate as the fully human -- and merely human -- Jesus of Nazareth. Church historian Miles Mullin says Christians shouldn't be shocked that the 1960s produced such a radical theological movement. After all, the '60s aren't called the "radical '60s" for no reason. "Radical changes were taking place internationally as the world entered the post-colonial era, radical changes were taking place legally in the United States as Civil Rights leaders aggressively and publicly asserted that African Americans should be treated as full citizens, and radical changes were taking place culturally in America as social mores from the past were challenged and overturned," Mullin, vice president for academic administration and professor of religious history at Hannibal-LaGrange University, said. "In this context, is it any surprise that radical theology emerged as well? Or that TIME found the radical Death-of-God theologians so intriguing? Or that they would print such a radical cover?" Nevertheless, for many Americans at the time, the 1966 TIME article did come as a surprise, evidenced by the 3,421 letters the magazine's editors received from readers. "People were alarmed. They were shocked," David Baker, pastor of First Baptist Church, Belton, Mo., told The Pathway. "I remember it. I was 16 years old when it came out. I remember my pastor addressing it the Sunday after it came out. "It was a different time. People had not been exposed to that kind of thinking. There were a lot of folks that were shocked that anybody would make that statement, particularly that a major magazine would put it out on the shelves." For Baker, however, it is only natural that, little more than 50 years later, TIME is publishing a cover design that questions the existence of truth. After having questioned the existence of God, TIME, as well as many people in American society, has removed the only foundation for absolute truth. Skepticism about God's existence enabled the growth of postmodernism in the 20th-century -- that is, the philosophical movement that teaches there is no ultimate truth, no grand narrative to explain the meaning of life for everyone. "People now speak, even in conservative circles, of exclusively personalized truth: 'My truth.' 'Your truth,'" Strachan said about this relativistic tendency within society. "Truth today is no different than an item on a fast-food menu; you can take it or leave it." What follows the death of truth? TIME'S 1966 article about God's alleged death ultimately pronounced the death of truth in much of society, according to John Greever, an adjunct theology professor of theology at Missouri Baptist University and pastor of First Baptist Church, Fenton, Mo. TIME's more recent cover, questioning the existence of truth, is actually behind the times, he added, since some experts have actually pronounced the death of postmodern skepticism about truth. "Postmodern thought is philosophically bankrupt," Greever said. "There is no way that you can logically, consistently and compellingly argue that there is no truth in any truthful way." But what, Greever asked, comes in the wake of postmodernism's death? His answer was not heartening. "What comes after the degradation of absolute and objective truth is tyranny and oppressive thought.... That's why we have protests. That's why we have shouting matches. It's no longer about what anyone's viewpoint or perception or perspective is, but about whether or not they conform to the common narrative of life or thought." Such oppression was on display, for example, when the state of Washington sued Barronelle Stutzman, a Southern Baptist flower shop owner, after she refused -- because of her biblical convictions -- to design floral arrangements in 2013 for a same-sex wedding. Such oppression was on display when Springfield's Missouri State University in 2014 expelled Andrew Cash, a Christian counseling student, simply for saying that he could not in good conscience counsel same-sex couples; he would instead would refer them to a counselor who shared their beliefs about marriage and human sexuality. Such oppression was on display when last year, the NCAA began threatening the state of North Carolina with economic retaliation if they refused to repeal a law mandating that people could use only the restroom corresponding to their biological sex. In March, state legislators repealed the law. See related report. As a matter of fact, by questioning the existence of truth this month, TIME magazine isn't really trying to promote a postmodern, relativistic view of truth, according to J. Alan Branch, professor of Christian Ethics at Midwestern. Indeed, this month's cover article in TIME apparently has very little to do with a philosophical discussion of truth's existence. Rather, the article questions the honesty of U.S. President Donald Trump -- a man little esteemed by the leftwing media. "What TIME really means by 'Is Truth Dead?' is that they want abortion on demand, legalized euthanasia, legalized pot, and abandonment of sexual restraint," Branch told The Pathway. In other words, he acknowledged, they're simply promoting their own brand of truth -- a "truth" based on a liberal, progressive ideology. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE COLLEGES: ETBU scholarships to aid first responders; 24 profess faith at Jacksonville College; students trek to Boyce for Renown Conf. by Baptist College/Seminary & BP Staff Date: April 12, 2017 - Wednesday East Texas Baptist Univ. scholarships to aid first responders MARSHALL, Texas (BP) -- East Texas Baptist University has announced a new scholarship opportunity for first responders in partnership with the city of Marshall, Texas, where the college was founded in 1912. The Public Servant Scholarship will provide reduced-cost tuition at the university to all fulltime police and fire department employees in the city of 25,000 people. ETBU President Blair Blackburn said the Public Servant Scholarship will cover one-half of undergraduate tuition and one-third of graduate tuition for the local first responders. "ETBU as a Christ-centered university is called to provide programs that help serve and transform people and communities," Blackburn said. "Having this opportunity to provide undergraduate and graduate education for the public servant leaders in our local community is an honor and blessing for our institution." The scholarship could save a student about $5,000 per semester, said Vince Blankenship, ETBU director of adult education. In addition to the new scholarship program, Blankenship noted that undergraduate students could further reduce the cost of tuition through the university's prior learning assessment. The assessment is program to assess a prospective student's portfolio for up to 32 credit hours for college-level learning through their work experience. Marshall Police Chief Jesus "Eddie" Campa said he had approached Blackburn and told him of several officers who had expressed interest in furthering their education. Blackburn's response was the Public Servant Scholarship. Campa said the city of Marshall also offers reimbursement to employees looking to further their education. "This is a great opportunity that I am sure many of our officers will take advantage of," Campa said. "We all know one of the reasons that working adults do not seek to further their education is due to the high cost of continuing their educational goals. With the scholarship from ETBU and the city's education reimbursement program, it allows the officers to complete their degree at an affordable cost." Marshall Fire Chief Reggie Cooper also said several employees have voiced an interest in continuing education programs. "This opportunity allows for a quality education to be more financially attainable," Cooper said. "The Marshall Fire Department continuously strives for excellence in service to those called upon during emergencies. With that in mind, this education and training is critical to all of our firefighters and EMS [emergency medical services] personnel." East Texas Baptist University, which announced the Public Servant Scholarship on March 2, has an enrollment of 1,300 students. Affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, it is located 150 miles east of Dallas. ********** Jacksonville College sees 24 professions of faith JACKSONVILLE, Texas (BP) -- Two days after Jacksonville College professors and staff prayed for God to "move in a mighty way" among the East Texas junior college's student body, God answered as two dozen students made professions of faith during a chapel service on March 22. Donny Sadler, dean of students at the college and pastor of Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Jacksonville, preached a message from James 2:14 and posed the question, "If a person claims to have faith, but shows no evidence in his life that he has been saved, can this kind of faith save him?" He then invited students to place their faith in Christ. "When the invitation was given for students to get out of their seats and come to the front of the chapel, it was clear that a spiritual battle was taking place," Jacksonville College President Mike Smith said. "At first, no one responded. As we remained in prayer, one student made her way to the front. Then another came forward, and another, until 24 students were at the altar," Smith recounted. "Staff members met with and counseled each student one-on-one, and every student who came forward made a profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior." The college has started a weekly discipleship program with the students so they can continue to grow in maturity and lead others to Christ. "The greatest miracle of all is when a person passes from death to life, and I praise God for allowing me to see this miracle in 24 students," Smith said. "And I praise Him because He answers prayer." Jacksonville College, in Jacksonville, Texas, is an affiliated ministry with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. ********** 700-plus students attend Boyce's Renown Conf. By Charissa Crotts LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Young Christians are called to be "salt and light" and share the Gospel where God has placed them, featured speakers said during Boyce College's Renown Conference. "You don't have to have a Bible college or seminary degree to get this understanding that Jesus has put me in the place He has me. He said, 'Go home to be salt and light,'" said Eric Geiger, author and vice president of LifeWay Christian Resources. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where Boyce College is located, and Dan Dumas, the seminary's senior vice president for institutional administration, also spoke to the 700-plus middle and high school students during the March 17-18 conference themed "Salt and Light" at the Louisville, Ky., campus. Geiger spoke on Mark 5:1-20, the story of a demon-possessed man healed by Jesus. Focusing on the last part of the text when Jesus tells the man to go home and tell his friends about Jesus. Christians should "report the news" of what God has done in their lives, Geiger said. "The news that we have is big, that our King stepped into our broken and fallen world to seek and to save that which was lost," he said. Students should recognize what big news the Gospel is, Geiger said, even if their testimonies are not as "radical" as the story of the demon-possessed man. "Our story before Christ has rescued us is very similar to this man. We weren't filled with a legion of demons, but evil has plagued our hearts, and Jesus has rescued us," Geiger said. "Every one of us who is His has been radically saved because we were dead, and He has made us alive." Mohler preached on Acts 19:11-20, encouraging students to make their names known in hell because of their Gospel impact. In the passage, seven Jewish exorcists tried to cast out a demon by commanding it "in the name of the Jesus that Paul proclaims." The demon responded, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" The demon-possessed man then attacked the exorcists and they fled. Mohler took encouragement from the fact that the demons knew Paul, challenging the students: "Do they know your name?" Paul was known to the demons because he was a threat to them, Mohler said, noting, "When you had Paul, you had Jesus." As Christians strive to make Jesus known, they also will be known to the demons, Mohler said. "One of the greatest honors for a Christian," he said, "is being hated by the right people." Dumas preached from 1 Chronicles 11:22, a passage he called the "guts of Benaiah," one of David's mighty men, which should inspire the youth to "take risks and do hard Gospel things." With the text recounting Benaiah's going into a pit on a snowy day and killing a lion, Dumas exhorted the students to imitate the example of living boldly, however that looked in their lives. "The fear of missing out has to be greater than the fear of messing up," Dumas said, encouraging students not to miss out on chances to glorify God. Benaiah "didn't become a lion-killer overnight," Dumas added, encouraging the students to be faithful in the hard things God has put in their lives now, like sharing the Gospel at school, reading their Bibles every day and keeping their rooms clean. Challenging circumstances, he noted, "become not obstacles but opportunities." Students attended breakout sessions from a number of speakers from Boyce College and Southern Seminary. Topics addressed various aspects of being salt and light, from discovering spiritual gifts to overseas missions. A special lunch was offered for prospective Boyce students. Lexington Road, one of Boyce College's traveling bands, led worship for the conference, and Christian hip hop artist Sho Baraka performed a late-night concert. Audio and video of the sessions will be available online at equip.sbts.edu. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Safety & short-term mission trips by Andy Johnson Date: April 12, 2017 - Wednesday RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- The woman on the phone was gripped by that kind of fear that sounds like anger. I, a pastor at a local church, was considering sending her adult son overseas for the summer. The place he hoped to go wasn't a war zone, exactly. But it was uncomfortably close to a war zone. And mama was not happy. I told her we were trying to be careful, wise, were seeking counsel, and how the risks seemed reasonable given the Gospel opportunities. None of that helped. Finally, in frustration she said, "OK, if you can personally guarantee he'll be absolutely safe, I'll be OK with him going." I replied something like, "Ma'am, nobody can do that. I can't even guarantee he wasn't run over by a bus five minutes ago right here in Washington, D.C." This was not the high mark for my pastoral sensitivity. There was a long silence as she incorporated this new terror into her already considerable collection of anxieties. She abruptly thanked me and ended the call, no doubt to frantically phone her son to discover if he was lying mangled beneath a bus somewhere. Bad pastor! While my manner was poor, I stand by my point. Perfect safety is an illusion, everywhere. Instead, Gospel-informed wisdom should be our objective and God's goodness our refuge. This is especially important as we think about short-term missionary efforts in unstable places. Here are six reflections to consider if we intend to join the work in the difficult, unreached places. There is something much better than life. We can't think about risks in a Christian manner unless we are convinced the Gospel is worth dying for. We must join the Psalmist and say, "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you" (Psalm 63:3, ESV). Our people need to understand that in pursuit of Gospel ends, death is always possible but never pointless. I hope we all intend to be wise and careful, but Jesus was clear that faithfulness to His Gospel commission would mean suffering (John 15:20) and for some, death (Luke 21:16). If we can't conceive of this happening in a way that would bring glory to God, then we probably shouldn't be sending our short-term teams anywhere. We are not promised safety, anywhere. One effect of the hellish "prosperity gospel" is that even in churches too biblical to believe Jesus died to give us health and wealth, there is still contamination. Too many Christians now believe that if we are in the "center of God's will" nothing bad will happen to us. Such a promise is found nowhere in the Bible. As Hebrews tells us, many believers faithfully committed to God's will have "faced jeers and flogging." Others "were chained and put in prison" and "they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword" (Hebrews 11:36-37, ESV). Could God be any clearer? He promises to use our life for His glory and bring us safely to heaven for our joy and His honor. God does not promise us safety anywhere in this fallen world. Taking unnecessary risks is still stupid. There is nothing especially godly about dying because of a dumb decision. And there's nothing glorious about bringing on suffering through stupidity. Boldness should be tempered with wisdom. This means taking advice from trusted missions organizations to avoid being foolish. So if we are thinking of sending a group to a location, we should probably trust the wisdom of friends in the country. We may not ask, "Is it safe?" but we should certainly ask, "Is this trip necessary, useful, and wise?" An honest "no" to any of those metrics is a fine reason to cancel or delay the trip. Risks for a short-term visitor, who likely knows neither the culture nor the local language, can be very different from those for a well-established long-term worker. If we do go, we should be willing to rigorously follow the advice and directions from long-term partners too. Sometimes the greatest danger is not to us, but to the people who continue to live there after we're gone. It's OK to consider your parents or spouse. Taking into consideration the fears of your family members is not wrong either. More than once I've counseled a young person to delay a trip out of kindness to a fearful parent. While we can't be ruled by others' fears or lack of faith, we still need to keep long-term relationships in mind. This is why counsel from godly friends and church leaders is important. Bible-informed risk/benefit analysis is not ungodly. I remember calling my wife during a short-term project in Central Asia. A friend in an unstable country nearby had discovered a historical site, knew of my interest in history, and asked me to take a trip with him to look at it. There was no Gospel project in view, just a fun trip with a good friend, in a country full of land mines. Unsurprisingly, the response I got from my wife Rebecca wasn't positive. In short, she said, "I'm happy to raise three kids as a single mom if you die over there doing Gospel work." My wife is an amazing woman! "But," she continued, "I WILL NOT be happy if it's because you were taking a trip in a war zone for no good reason, just to hang out with one of your buddies." Needless to say, I didn't go. Of course she was right. Not all risks are worth taking. Likewise, we should be asking if our short-term trips are useful to Gospel work. Given how much trouble short-term trips can be, we should be asking this about our trips everywhere, regardless of obvious risks. Most often we'll know a trip is useful when our partners actually ask us to do something or at least affirm that what we're planning to do is useful. But it isn't wrong to ask whether the risk is worth the potential benefit, and it isn't wrong for them to tell us it's not. Unreached places are unreached for a reason. Finally, realize that places unreached by the Gospel tend to be that way for a reason. Many are unstable, hard to reach, and unfriendly to the Gospel. Taking the Gospel to places like this will entail risk and potentially result in suffering. But we should finish at the same place we started -- "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you." May we have boldness, wisdom and Gospel courage to say that to our faithful God. Someone will have to take risks and potentially suffer loss if the Gospel is to reach the remaining corners of our world. Why should we expect others to take those risks instead of taking them ourselves? For more information go to imb.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Anticipation growing for SBC Phoenix 2017 by Diana Chandler Date: April 12, 2017 - Wednesday PHOENIX (BP) -- Apparent interest in the Southern Baptist Convention's upcoming annual meeting has necessitated an increase in hotel room availability for attendees the second consecutive year, an event coordinator said. The SBC Executive Committee has reserved an additional 500 rooms for the 2017 meeting June 13-14 in Phoenix, said Bill Townes, SBC Executive Committee vice president for convention finance. The previously reserved block of rooms, he noted, was fully booked as early as March. "We often fine tune our hotel blocks as we monitor reservations," Townes said. "Due to strong attendance in St. Louis in 2016, we added some additional hotel rooms early during the reservation process [for last year's meeting]." Townes anticipates an attendance of between 5,000 to 6,000 messengers in Phoenix, comparable to participation at the 2015 and 2014 annual meetings in Columbus, Ohio, and Baltimore, Md., respectively, he said. The anticipated attendance exceeds the 4,852 messengers who registered the last time the annual meeting was held in Phoenix in 2011. In addition to messengers, Townes anticipates 2,500 to 3,500 guests, exhibitors and other participants, for a total anticipated attendance of as many as 9,500. "With only two months remaining until our upcoming SBC annual meeting, we are looking forward to a wonderful and prayerful gathering of our Southern Baptist family in Phoenix this summer," Townes said. "Based on advance hotel reservations, I am anticipating that our attendance will be larger than the last time (2011) we were in Phoenix." The 2016 attendance of 11,581 in St. Louis included 7,321 messengers. A total of 5,407 messengers attended the 2015 Columbus meeting, topping the 2014 Baltimore count of 5,298. Since 2012, messenger registration has fluctuated between 5,103 and 7,874. In Phoenix, blocks of rooms have been added at five additional hotels near access to the Phoenix Valley Metro Light Rail system, allowing convenient travel to the Phoenix Convention Center at 100 N. 3rd St. Reservations are available under the housing and travel tab at SBCAnnualMeeting.net, or by calling the SBC Housing Bureau at 1-800-967-8852. Reservations must be secured by May 17 to receive discounted rates. The Sheraton Grand Phoenix is the official convention hotel, located a block from the meeting site. For more details, be sure to visit the Baptist Press website on April 21 for a variety of reports about the upcoming annual meeting.