Friday, March 02, 2018

• Billy Graham funeral capped by Gospel invitation

  by David Roach, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo by Bob Carey

  CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP) -- Set in a revival tent at the foot of a 40-foot glass cross, Billy Graham's funeral was punctuated by the same theme that characterized his 80-year ministry: a call to trust Christ as Lord and Savior.

  "If this were your funeral," said the late evangelist's son Franklin Graham, "would you be in Heaven? Are you sure?"

  Delivering the funeral sermon to a crowd of some 2,300 invited guests -- including President Trump and Vice President Pence -- Franklin Graham said today (March 2) at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C., "If you're not sure, there would be no better time than at Billy Graham's funeral to settle this once and for all." Read More

• WEEK OF PRAYER: Meeting needs first in New York City

  by NAMB Staff, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  NAMB Photo

  NEW YORK, New York -- Once an abandoned storefront tagged with spray paint, the building that originally housed Graffiti Church has become a symbol of hope on New York's Lower East Side. Send Relief missionaries Taylor Field and wife Susan strategically positioned the church plant in 1986 amid crack houses and a large homeless population, eventually making this neglected neighborhood their home.

  "Jesus started with meeting needs first," Field said. "His compassion grew people's faith, and then He built the church on that faith." Read More

• Boom-or-bust oilfields don't impair church's CP

  by Karen L. Willoughby, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  ELK CITY, Okla. (BP) -- First Baptist Church in Elk City sets its sights on its Oklahoma oil field community and beyond.

  First Baptist is heavily invested in missions and ministries locally, nationally and internationally. The congregation started a Hispanic church 10 years ago, its third church plant in Elk City; connected in Ovid, Colo., with a church they could come alongside seven years ago; and has had international missions commitments for several years in Canada with the North American Mission Board, Eastern Europe and South Asia with the International Mission Board, and Cambodia with a faith missionary from the church family. Read More

• Nat'l CP 6.59% ahead of projection

  by Staff, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist Convention national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 6.59 percent above the year-to-date budgeted projection, and are 3.27 percent above contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Frank S. Page. The total includes receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2017-18 SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget. Read More

• Huckabee resigns from CMA Foundation following criticism

  by Carol Pipes/Facts&Trends, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  File photo from Icon Media Group

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Former Arkansas governor and Southern Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee resigned Thursday (March 1) from the CMA Foundation board following criticism of his stance against same-sex marriage from multiple members of the country music industry, reported The Tennessean.

  Huckabee's resignation came less than a day after his appointment to the board of the charitable arm of the Country Music Association. The CMA Foundation is devoted to growing and supporting music education programs across the country. Read More

• NRB to resume 1940s-era fight against censorship

  by Tom Strode, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  NRB photo

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- A new National Religious Broadcasters initiative represents a return to its mid-1940s roots to now protect freedom of religion and speech in a digital age, NRB President Jerry A. Johnson said in his report at Proclaim 18, the association's International Christian Media Convention.

  Johnson, speaking at NRB's 75th annual meeting in Nashville, said Internet Freedom Watch seeks to curtail discrimination against Christian and conservative content on the internet. NRB unveiled the initiative at a December news conference in Washington, calling attention to censorship by tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Apple. Read More

• OSCARS: When Hollywood gets it right & wrong

  by Phil Boatwright, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP) -- I suspect some readers may be disappointed that I've elected to pass on reviewing the Oscar telecast this year. Sorry, I prefer watching a movie over viewing Hollywood congratulate itself for the umpteenth time this awards season. I did, however, want to express my unabashed love for the cinema.

  Movies combine the essence of all the other art forms, and films have been used to both edify and entertain.

  That said, when it comes to award-giving, Hollywood doesn't always get it right. Many have been overlooked (Alfred Hitchcock never won a Best Director Oscar) while others may have gotten golden statuettes for the wrong movie. Case in point: Paul Newman deserved a Best Actor win for "The Verdict" (1982), receiving it instead for "The Color of Money" (1986). Read More

• ChinaAid: Govt. likely killed Christian human rights lawyer

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  ChinaAid photo

  JIANGSU, China (BP) -- Religious freedom advocates are calling for an investigation into the mysterious death of noted Christian human rights attorney Li Baiguang, who died Feb. 26 in a Chinese military hospital after recent good health.

  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) likely killed 49-year-old Li, ChinaAid President Bob Fu said in a Feb. 26 news release, the same day physicians in China's eastern Jiangsu province said Li died of internal bleeding from liver problems while seeking medical treatment for stomach pain. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: If it is good for kids ...

  by Joshua Crutchfield, posted Friday, March 02, 2018 (5 years ago)

  Apart from children in the church, Joshua Crutchfield laments, so few Christians memorize Scripture. One possible reason, he writes, is, "We don't esteem the Bible like we say we do." Read More