Monday, June 10, 2019

• Baptists shower Birmingham with Gospel via Crossover

  by Tobin Perry, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Hannah Anders

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- An expected 400 teams of Southern Baptists took to the streets to pray with families and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ prior to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

  Despite intermittent rain and threats of even worse weather on Saturday (June 8), Southern Baptists set out to knock on the doors of 20,000 homes in greater Birmingham in their annual Crossover outreach. They also provided free medical and dental care through a Send Relief mobile clinic set up at Birmingham's Sixth Avenue Baptist Church. Read More

• Sexual abuse, racism votes move to SBC messengers

  by Art Toalston, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Matt Miller

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Sexual abuse and racism would draw heightened action within the Southern Baptist Convention under recommendations to be considered during the June 11-12 SBC annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

  A key recommendation, approved by the SBC Executive Committee in its June 10 meeting, calls for repurposing the SBC Credentials Committee to field claims against churches in regard to sexual abuse and discrimination based on ethnicity as well as matters such as homosexuality that would call their relationship with the SBC into question. Read More

• Pastors' Conf. a call to character 'from above'

  by BP coverage team, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Matt Miller

  BIRMINGHAM (BP) -- Whether in suffering or dealing with a social media firestorm, lean into the godly character that the Holy Spirit is fashioning in your heart -- that was the core challenge of the first two sessions of the 2019 Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference June 9-10 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Ala.

  The first seven speakers began working their way through the Beatitudes -- found in Matthew 5:1-12 -- challenging church leaders to live out the theme of "Kingdom Character." Read More

• Greear preaches at historic Sixth Ave. church

  by Shawn Hendricks, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Kathleen Murray

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Standing in the pulpit at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church -- a congregation rich in civil rights movement history -- Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear focused on how only the Gospel has the power to bring true, lasting transformation to society.

  During Sunday morning services (June 9), Greear told the predominately African American church located on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Birmingham, Ala., "the church thrives when the Gospel is at the center." Read More

• Floyd: All Christians must 'spread the Gospel seed'

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Matt Miller

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Evangelism is the commanded and authorized work of each Christian and church, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd preached at First Baptist Church of Trussville, Ala. June 9.

  "Spreading the Gospel is what each Christian is to do, wherever they are, whatever our vocation is, or your location, your age or your stage of life," Floyd told 9:15 a.m. worshipers in advance of the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting in nearby Birmingham. "That is what each Christian is to do and that's what Jesus tells us to do. Read More

• Florist loses again at Washington high court

  by Tom Strode, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  OLYMPIA, Wash. (BP) -- Barronelle Stutzman's commitment to operate her florist business according to Christian convictions again found an unreceptive audience in Washington's highest court.

  The state Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision June 6 that Washington's judicial system did not demonstrate religious animosity toward Stutzman when it concluded she illegally discriminated by declining to design flowers for a same-sex wedding. The court also ruled against the florist in 2017. Read More

• Mike Stone, Rolland Slade reelected as EC officers

  by Art Toalston & Erin Roach, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- The chairman and vice chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee were unanimously reelected during the EC's June 10 meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

  Resolutions of appreciation were approved for two SBC entity presidents, Chuck Kelley of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, who retires July 31, and Thom Rainer of LifeWay Christian Resources, who retired on Feb. 28 and for D. August "Augie" Boto, who served 13 months as the EC's interim president. Read More

• Sex abuse panel urges lament, unity, action

  by Tom Strode, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Van Payne

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- The sexual abuse crisis in the Southern Baptist Convention calls for lament, honesty, unity and action, panelists said Monday evening (June 10) regarding an increasingly obvious problem in the country's largest Protestant denomination.

  More than 1,250 people registered for "Sexual Abuse and the Southern Baptist Convention," a conversation co-hosted by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the Sexual Abuse Advisory Study at an exhibit hall in the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Read More

• Acteens missions organization kicks off 50th anniv.

  by Trennis Henderson, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Pam Henderson

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Declaring that "the story of my life cannot be told without Acteens," Sandy Wisdom-Martin welcomed current and former Acteens and leaders from across the nation to an Acteens for Life dinner June 7.

  The event at national Woman's Missionary Union headquarters in Birmingham, Ala., kicked off Acteens' 50th anniversary celebration. Read More

• WMU challenged to 'pursue' as God has pursued them

  by Myriah Snyder, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Van Payne

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- With "pursue" as the theme of the 2019 Woman's Missionary Union Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting, the approximately 900 attendees heard testimonies of how God pursues His people.

  The sessions were held on Sunday, June 9, at The Church at Brook Hills. This year, the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting will be held in Birmingham, Ala., near the national WMU headquarters. On Monday (June 10), attendees had the option of participating in any of 131 missions activities throughout the area, a change from past years. Read More

• 'Go see the movie,' Emanuel massacre survivor urges

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP) -- Let someone walk into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church with a backpack and Polly Sheppard relives June 17, 2015. That's when white supremacist Dylann Roof walked in.

  "Only in that church. Other churches I can sit and be calm," Sheppard told Baptist Press in advance of the documentary film "Emanuel." "But when I go to Emanuel and they come in with a backpack and anything like that, I say it's somebody coming in to do harm, but it doesn't have to be." Read More

• TRUSTEES: New VP position approved at NOBTS

  by Marilyn Stewart, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- The creation of a new vice president position for enrollment was approved by the executive committee of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's trustees in a June 4 meeting.

  The vice president for enrollment, a position created to provide oversight for all departments essential for a healthy enrollment, will act as chief strategist and catalyst for enrollment-related matters for NOBTS and its Leavell College. A candidate for the position will be named at a later date. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: Roadside assistance

  by Adron Robinson, posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  Many among our family, friends and coworkers may be "socially successful and culturally religious," Adron Robinson writes, yet "still searching for the living God." Read More

• Lessons learned through door-to-door evangelism

  by Timothy Cockes , posted Monday, June 10, 2019 (3 years ago)

  

  Photo by Kathleen Murray

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- The thought of doing door-to-door evangelism can give believers feelings ranging from stirring excitement to crippling anxiety. I felt a mix of those emotions as I went knocking on doors hoping to share the Gospel in local Alabama neighborhoods as part of the Crossover outreach event on Saturday (June 8).

  Pulling up to First Baptist Church Pelham, I genuinely had no idea what to expect. Read More