The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/17/2017 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Calling churches to prayer by Kenny Rager Date: April 17, 2017 - Monday OWENSBORO, Ky. (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention would not exist without churches. The health of our local churches will inevitably affect the health of our state conventions and our national convention. I know of no better way to keep our churches healthy apart from prayer meetings. Every church needs an active prayer meeting. Here are several reasons why: 1. God's house is to be a house of prayer (Matthew 21:13). Some would argue that we already have enough prayer in our congregations. We may pray before the service and before the offering, but are we collectively crying out to God together? I would suggest a special service be set apart just for praying. 2. Prayer requests deserve to be prayed over. Many times we collect names for our prayer list but we hardly pray for them. We may spend 10-20 minutes collecting names only to then pray a prayer that does not specifically mention the requests that were voiced. James tells us if anyone is sick, for example, they should call on the church to pray for them (James 5:14-15). 3. We may lack resources or revival if we are not praying. Again, James tell us that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2). The Lord will provide our needs but He waits for us to offer them. James would also say that we have not because our motives are wrong, so we need to pray for things that are within God's will. When this happens, we will experience God's provision. 4. Our missionaries need our churches to pray for them. We are so grateful for our missionaries who are serving throughout the world because of the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board, and they need us to pray for them. Missionaries face many challenges that will attempt to hinder the Gospel. Let's heed the apostle Paul's exhortation for all churches to lift our missionaries in prayer for God's Word to go forth (1 Timothy 2:1-3). 5. Churches may die if they don't pray. This is a sad reality but a real one. Without a vital connection to the Holy Spirit, churches may lose their candlestick. Churches that return to their first love will experience a dynamic power within their congregations (Revelation 2:4). If you don't have a prayer service in your church, I urge to begin one. Invite people to prayer, call on the Lord, wait on the Lord and experience the value and vitality of prayer. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Bible Answer Man' embraces Eastern Orthodoxy by Ben Hawkins Date: April 17, 2017 - Monday Updated at noon, April 17 NASHVILLE (BP) -- "Bible Answer Man" Hank Hanegraaff has answered evangelicals' questions about Scripture and Christianity for nearly three decades in his nationally syndicated broadcast, but his recent decision to join the Orthodox church has left some Southern Baptists with more questions than answers. Among those assessing Hanegraaff's decision are leaders of the Bott Radio Network, which has broadcast the "Bible Answer Man" since the 1980s -- in fact, since before Hanegraaff joined the show in 1989. "We want to make sure that our listeners know that the programming that we have on Bott Radio Network is thoroughly biblical," said BRN President Richard P. Bott II, a member of Lenexa Baptist Church in Lenexa, Kan. In a weekend email announcement, Bott said that beginning today (April 17) BRN would be removing the Bible Answer Man from its programming to accommodate a new late-afternoon lineup, featuring pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas; David Barton, founder of Wallbuilders; pastor Chip Ingram of Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, Calif.; Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee chairman Stephen Rummage, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla.; and pastor Charles Stanley of First Baptist Church in Atlanta. “We live in strategic times,” Bott told Baptist Press, adding that BRN is excited to offer a new lineup that he hopes will ultimately foster revival in this nation. BRN is striving to provide solid, biblical programs to encourage and challenge listeners, he said. Hanegraaff, 67, and his wife Kathy became members of St. Niktarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday, April 9, where they had attended services more than two years. The following day, he confirmed online reports about his conversion to Orthodoxy during his radio broadcast, while also claiming that his teachings remain unchanged and faithful to Scripture. "I am as deeply committed to championing 'mere Christianity' and the essentials of the historic Christian faith as I have ever been," Hanegraaff said during his April 10 broadcast. "People are posting this notion that somehow or other I've walked away from the faith and am no longer a Christian," he added during his April 11 broadcast. "Look, my views have been codified in 20 books, and my views have not changed." Despite his claims, news of Hanegraaff's conversion "has raised a number of eyebrows, concerns and questions in the evangelical world," said R. Philip Roberts, director for international theological education with the Global Ministries Foundation in Tennessee, who also teaches adjunctively at Truett-McConnell College in Georgia. "Of course, the roots of Eastern Orthodox theology go back centuries -- even to the ancient creeds, councils and church theologians," Roberts said. "The problem is what has happened since then in terms of revisions and interpretations in Eastern Orthodox thinking by eastern mystical thinkers" involving "the biblical doctrines of God, Adam, humankind, sin and salvation." Orthodox Christians, nevertheless, have made much of their aura of antiquity. For example, after thousands of evangelicals followed Campus Crusade staff member Peter Gillquist into Orthodoxy in the 1970s and '80s, Metropolitan Philip Saliba -- then head of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America -- called Americans to "come home to the faith of Peter and Paul." Likewise, after news of Hanegraaff's conversion, New York Times best-selling author Rod Dreher of "The Benedict Option" -- himself a convert to Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism -- congratulated him with these words: "What astounding news! Many evangelicals seek the early church; well, here it is, in Orthodoxy." Roberts and others doubt Orthodoxy's claim to be the "early church" and to represent "the faith of Peter and Paul." "The problem is that Orthodoxy is, in most senses, not ancient enough. It is not based on sola Scriptura -- the Bible alone," Roberts said. In reality, while Orthodoxy has roots in the ancient church, its particular ceremonies and theology developed gradually throughout the centuries. In 1054 A.D., a long history of linguistic, cultural, political and theological differences led to the "Great Schism" between Western, Latin-speaking Christianity -- which would develop into the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions -- and Eastern Orthodoxy. Roberts and Paul Negrut, president of Emanuel Baptist University and Seminary in Oradea, Romania, point out that Orthodoxy isn't actually a uniform brand of Christianity. "The Orthodox world is not monolithic, and one cannot become Orthodox in general," Negrut wrote in a 1998 article in the Christian Research Journal, a publication of Hanegraaff's own Christian Research Institute. The one Orthodox church is actually several autonomous, though related, branches of Christianity: for example, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox and what Negrut called the "Orthodox diaspora" -- those Orthodox churches in Western Europe, the Americas, Africa, Japan, China and Australia. Moreover, within these branches of Orthodoxy, there exist theological and cultural divisions -- thus breaking up the "romanticized, idealized [Orthodox] church" of western imagination, Negrut wrote. According to Negrut, Orthodox theologians also suggest that church tradition -- that is, decisions of church councils and the teachings of the Church Fathers -- stands alongside Scripture as a religious authority. In Orthodoxy, tradition completes Scripture and vice versa, Negrut wrote. Nevertheless, Hanegraaff told listeners that he believes in the supremacy of Scripture during the same radio broadcast, April 10, in which he confirmed his conversion to Orthodoxy. "In terms of sola Scriptura, I've always been committed to the Bible as the infallible guide for faith and practice," Hanegraaff said. "I think that's what it means. It means that the Bible is infallible. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit." Yet, he added, Christians "also have church history. And church history is very, very important because the practices of the early Christian church have been passed down to us…. Men are not infallible. It is only Scripture that ultimately is infallible. But we have a guide, an oral tradition that we are blessed to be able to follow as well." According to Roberts, Hanegraaff likely has accepted a Western version of Orthodoxy, interpreted through an evangelical lens. Whatever Hanegraaff's understanding of Orthodoxy, Roberts said he can't understand how Hanegraaff can endorse a branch of Christianity that currently teaches unbiblical doctrines and ceremonies, while in some places also persecuting evangelicals in Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe as well as the Mideast. This, Roberts added, is a question that only the "Bible Answer Man" himself can answer. -------------------------------------------------------------------- German family continues fight to homeschool by Kiley Crossland/WORLD News Service Date: April 17, 2017 - Monday GERMANY (BP) -- A German family punished for homeschooling their children has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Dirk and Petra Wunderlich submitted a final appeal last week asking the ECHR to protect their right to homeschool their four children. Home education has been banned in Germany since 1918 and carries criminal penalties. In August 2013, a police squad used a battering ram to break into the Wunderlich home as the family started their first day of homeschool classes for the year. A group of more than 20 police officers and social workers forcefully took the four Wunderlich children, ages 7 to 14, out of the home without letting their parents say goodbye. The parents' only offense was homeschooling. Dirk and Petra afterwards asked authorities if they could leave Germany for France, where homeschooling is allowed, but were denied. When officials returned their children, they required them to attend a government-approved school. The family is now homeschooling again without backlash but remains in legal uncertainty. "Children deserve the loving care and protection of their parents. It is a serious thing for a country to interfere with the parent-child bond, so it should only do so where there is a real risk of serious harm," said Robert Clarke, director of European advocacy for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International and lead counsel for the family. "Petra and Dirk Wunderlich simply exercised their parental right to raise their children in line with their philosophical and religious convictions -- something they believe they can do better in the home environment." Clarke noted that Germany was a signatory to major human rights treaties supporting the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children: "Germany has signed on to these treaties and yet continues to ignore its obligations with devastating consequences." The ECHR recently agreed to review the family's case, Wunderlich v. Germany, specifically examining whether German authorities' actions breached the "right to family life" protected in Article 8 of the European Convention on Family Rights. The German government submitted replies to the ECHR in late January, claiming the children's seizure was justified to force them to attend local school so they would learn how to deal with people who think differently. Previous court rulings in Germany have supported the ban on homeschooling, arguing education is a state function and the government has a compelling interest in preventing religious or ideological "parallel societies." In a similar case (see related Baptist Press story), the Romeike family had claimed persecution by the German government for homeschooling and requested asylum in the U.S. The Romeikes lost their court battle, but in 2014 the Department of Homeland Security granted them "indefinite deferred action status." This allowed them to remain in the U.S. where they had relocated. Homeschooling supporters and some legal experts continue to disagree with Germany's stance on this issue. "Children are born to parents, not governments, and Germany's homeschooling policy is completely out of step with other free democracies that allow home education as part of their free and civil societies," said Mike Donnelly, director of global outreach for the Home School Legal Defense Association, which is also defending the Wunderlich family. "Human rights experts at the UN and scholars worldwide have found that home education is a natural, fundamental and protected human right. The court must hold Germany accountable to respect this." A decision in favor of the family would have wider implications for the parental rights of 800 million Europeans subject to ECHR rulings. Supporters hope a victory will pressure Germany to align its legislation with the court ruling as well as spark public discourse to trigger change from within. Because the ECHR is a court of last resort, a defeat would likely mean the end of the Wunderlich's fight for legal homeschooling in Germany. "I sincerely hope the European Court of Human Rights will reaffirm that the state has no right to abduct children from their family just because they are being homeschooled," said Dirk Wunderlich in a statement. "We chose to educate our children at home because we believe this to be the best environment for them to learn and thrive." The Wunderlichs hope to hear from the ECHR before the end of the year. A decision could come in as soon as a few weeks. -------------------------------------------------------------------- U-Turn for Christ battles men’s bondage to addiction by Sheila Allen/Northwest Baptist Witness Date: April 17, 2017 - Monday GRANTS PASS, Ore. (BP) -- The ravages of life-controlling addictions cut across cultures, gender, age and economic status. U-Turn for Christ, a restorative ministry in southern Oregon led by Kevin Darr, has been standing firm amid the brokenness for nearly a decade. "This is a program for men geared toward people in bondage to addiction," Darr said. "The people that we have ministered to vary from those just out of jail to those with Ph.D.s, homeless guys to CEOs and pastors. Drugs and alcohol is epidemic and affects all areas of our culture." Housed for several years at Lampman Road Baptist Church in Gold Hill, Ore., where Darr also served as pastor, the ministry ran out of room for those seeking help. Darr searched for a new location without success until a golden opportunity was dropped from heaven. "A man randomly came through and he told me about property he had that was available for Kingdom work," Darr said. "Within two weeks we signed paperwork for access to 166 acres of property, an amazingly scenic place to minister to these men." The farm home on the property, originally built in 1904, was owned by a Dutch family whose last remaining member came to know Christ at age 91. With no other relatives, the owner wanted the land used for ministry. "After sitting vacant for 14 years, we came upon it and God opened it up for us," Darr said. "We have a perpetual lease, that they practically gave to us and we can be there as long as we want. There is a group of trustees that manage it and now I have become a trustee as well." The facilities on the grounds can currently house 25 men and U-Turn is considering renovating another on-site building into an apartment that would serve eight more. The property, which is just outside Grants Pass, also has other buildings that need restoration. U-Turn for Christ now operates the Grants Pass location as a highly structured two-month program for those first leaving a life of addiction. Those who complete phase one then move to Gold Hill for another six months to continue the intensive effort toward a complete life change. "It is a unique opportunity for those fresh from the streets or right out of the boardroom to focus on Christ and get well together," Darr said. "We try to limit the distraction of the outside world. They get on well together, and even though there has been normal bickering, that just allows opportunity to teach them resolution in godly ways." Lampman Road Baptist Church merged with nearby Trinity Baptist Church in White City, with Darr continuing to serve as pastor. Serving alongside Darr is Jon Cavnar, a U-Turn graduate who uprooted his life to join the movement that changed his life. "Jon, by all standards, was someone who society had given up on," Darr said. "In his early teens and 20s, he was a guy no one wanted to be around and spent part of his youth incarcerated. He got shot and spiraled in life, but God radically got ahold of him when he came through our ministry six years ago. He now has a beautiful wife and family and God was tugging on them to come back." U-Turn hopes soon to establish a women's facility. The ministry receives almost as many requests for women as men. Darr wants to have a separate program for them up and running in 2017. Graduates of the program have come from all over the United States but 75 percent are from the Northwest. Nearly 800 men have gone through rehabilitation at U-Turn since 2008. Participants produced 25,000 pounds of produce from the one-acre Gold Hill site prior to the move. Now 80 acres are set aside in Grants Pass for organic gardening. "We use gardening to teach a work ethic and community involvement," Darr said. "We are now able to have livestock, including a horse, pigs and chickens. One of the greatest lessons they can learn is that addiction is a selfish pursuit. We teach to esteem others above themselves, a powerful lesson that can be learned in gardening and other pursuits. Other activities to give back to the community have included building ramps for the elderly and adopting a portion of a highway to keep clean." While the men must contribute to enter U-Turn, financing the ministry is a constant need. "Funding for any church or ministry is often the biggest struggle," Darr said. "We are limited on what we can do and how we do it. We count heavily on churches to partner with us, so we spend time visiting in their services letting people know who we are. We will go anywhere to speak about our mission." Success stories are readily recounted when the value of U-Turn for Christ is presented. "We had a man named Tommy who had been a heroin addict for 25 years," Darr said. "He was married to a godly lady, but she finally divorced him because their son had been exposed to so much. After three years of no contact with them, he went through phase one at U-Turn and then into phase two. God then reignited their lives and they are remarried and living in Georgia, where he has a great relationship with his son. He owns his own landscaping business and is serving the Lord." For further information about U-Turn for Christ, Darr can be contacted at uturn4christoregon.com or 541-295-5161. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Brad Graves to be Pastors' Conf. nominee by David Roach Date: April 17, 2017 - Monday PHOENIX (BP) -- Brad Graves, pastor of First Baptist Church in Ada, Okla., will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference, according to an announcement by Missouri pastor Malachi O'Brien. O'Brien, SBC second vice president and pastor of prayer and church revitalization at First Baptist Church in Raytown, Mo., stated in an April 13 announcement to Baptist Press Graves "is a leader that God is using mightily." "Just recently, First Baptist Church of Ada experienced the presence of God in historic measure," O'Brien said. "During the Ada Awakening, they saw 200 people come to faith in Christ and more people baptized in a few short weeks than their church had seen in the last two and a half years combined. They saw several hundred students gather to worship, and the revival has made an impact across that community." BP reported in March that a multi-day event in February called "Awaken Ada" yielded more than 65 baptisms. The congregation told BP today (April 17) it has recorded 103 baptisms thus far in 2017 -- up from 29 during the entire preceding year, according to data from the SBC's Annual Church Profile (ACP). The congregation's reported average attendance of 550 in 2016 has increased to approximately 700, the church said. A former North American Mission Board church planter in California, Graves served in 2005-06 as director of new church plants for NAMB's Strategic Focus City initiative in Cleveland. He has pastored or served on staff at churches in Missouri, Arkansas, New Hampshire and Virginia. Graves' pastorate at Calvary Baptist Church in Joplin, Mo., coincided with an EF5 tornado that struck the city in 2011, killing 158 people. In response, Graves "led his church to be a major contributor to restoring his broken city," O'Brien said. The Pastors' Conference, which features messages from key leaders and inspirational music and worship, will be June 11-12 at the Phoenix Convention Center preceding the SBC's June 13-14 annual meeting there. Dallas will be the site of next year's Pastors' Conference and SBC annual meeting. O'Brien said Graves "is highly relatable. He is a leader. He is a rebuilder. He has the heart of a pastor. He has the heart of a church planter. He understands the needs of pastors of large and small churches, missionaries and denomination[al] employees. He has a spectrum of experience that leads him to identify with all the diversity within our denomination." First Baptist gave 12 percent of its undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program in 2016, according to ACP data confirmed by the church. Graves earned a bachelor of arts degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary's undergraduate college and is pursuing a master of divinity at Southeastern. He and his wife Becky have four children. The death of a fifth child prompted Becky Graves to start a ministry for families who have experienced the loss of an infant or unborn child. Graves' nomination is the first to be announced for the SBC Pastors' Conference. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Chibok parents praying, 'groaning' 3 years later by Diana Chandler Date: April 17, 2017 - Monday CHIBOK, Nigeria (BP) -- Parents of the nearly 200 missing Chibok schoolgirls continue to pray with hope three years after Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped the girls from a government boarding school in Chibok. Of the 276 girls kidnapped in an overnight raid in the mostly Christian town, an estimated 195 remain missing after the April 14, 2014 attack on the Government Girls Secondary School. Some of the missing are feared dead; others have been forced to birth children of Boko Haram fighters believed hiding deep in the Sambisa Forest in Borno. The Nigerian government has made progress in freeing some of the girls, negotiating the release of 21 in October of 2016. But parents and advocates say the remaining girls have been missing too long. "Only a few parents got their daughters back," Yana Galang, a parent of three missing girls, was quoted by CNN. "Over 100, including myself and my husband, are still groaning for … those who were not found." The 81 who have gained freedom are an increase over the 58 who had gained release by the time parents noted the second anniversary of the kidnapping in April, 2016. Since then, two additional girls have been found by the Nigerian army and 21 others have been freed through government negotiations. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's claim that Boko Haram has been weakened has done little to combat fear among parents and families of the missing, World Watch Monitor reported on the eve of the anniversary, noting a new wave of Boko Haram attacks near Chibok. About 23 parents have died of heart disease and many are sick from stress-related conditions, World Watch said. "We feel deceived by the government," Yakubu Nkeki Maina, a parent whose 18-year-old daughter is still missing, told World Watch. "Promises are made publicly but nothing is done to make this promise a reality. We are subjected to sleepless nights and pain [in our] hearts, which increases by the day. We feel cheated. "It seems that we cannot count on the government," Maina said. "We look up to God, Who is able to come to our rescue." Nigerian military troops are stationed in Chibok and 13 of the town's schools have partially reopened, according to World Watch. In one of his latest statements, Buhari said April 13 that "the government is in constant touch through negotiations, through local intelligence, to secure the release of the remaining girls and other abducted persons unharmed. … My appeal is that we must not lose hope on the return of our remaining schoolgirls." Buhari claimed in late 2015 a "technical defeat" of Boko Haram, saying the terrorists' tactics had been reduced to sporadic suicide attacks, rather than having the military power to overtake towns and set up illegal caliphates that at one point covered 20,000 square miles. But Boko Haram continues to strike, with the towns of Mifah, Kautikari, Makalama and Balakle among its latest targets, World Watch said. The attacks displaced "scores of families" to Mbalala three miles from Chibok, World Watch said. About a week after the October 2016 negotiated release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls, Boko Haram attacked a military base in northeast Nigeria and destroyed Goptari village, just six miles from Chibok. Boko Haram has killed between 20,000 and 25,000 people since 2009, according to official estimates, and has displaced about 2.6 million others, creating a multifaceted humanitarian crisis in the region that has been termed the gravest in the world.