Baptist Press Archive

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

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  • WEEK OF PRAYER: Teaching, reaching refugees in Jacksonville
    by Jim Burton, posted Tuesday, March 07, 2017 (7 years ago)

    NAMB photo by John Swain
    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP) -- While sitting with her daughter at a mall food court, Kim Carr noticed internationals in exotic clothing surrounded them. Carr asked her daughter, "When did they all get here? Where are they from? Who is reaching them?"

    Armed with the new sensitivity, and prompted by the Holy Spirit, Carr felt led to learn more. At a local fitness center she met with a former Southern Baptist missionary who had been praying less than 12 hours before for someone to help with international refugees. Read More

  • Trump's immigration orders draw diverse reactions
    by David Roach, posted Tuesday, March 07, 2017 (7 years ago)

    WASHINGTON (BP) -- President Trump's immigration policy has drawn renewed focus among Baptists, with reactions to his March 6 executive order emerging and criticism of two previous executive orders voiced by a coalition of Hispanic pastors.

    Trump's March 6 executive order revoked a Jan. 27 order on immigration that proved controversial and was blocked by federal courts. The new order, which would take effect March 16, imposes a 90-day "pause" on entry to the U.S. by nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- eliminating Iraq from a list of seven restricted, Muslim-majority nations in the previous order. Read More

  • Gaines at rally: Evangelism should be priority

    by Nathan Handley, posted Tuesday, March 07, 2017 (7 years ago)

    Photo by Kristi Woody
    JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) -- Evangelism should be the priority of every Christian, Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines said at the March 5 West Tennessee Evangelism Rally.

    "Heaven and hell are looming in the balance, and that's a lot more important than anything else," Gaines, pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, told those gathered at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

    Gaines was the featured preacher at the rally, sponsored by Union and the ... Read More

  • Ky. religious expression bill clears final hurdle

    by Tom Latek/Kentucky Today, posted Tuesday, March 07, 2017 (7 years ago)

    LRC photo
    FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP) -- Students would be able to express religious and political viewpoints in public schools and on college campuses without interference from administrators under a bill that cleared its final legislature hurdle Monday (March 6) and was headed to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin to be signed into law.

    State Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, said he decided to sponsor Senate Bill 17 after a Johnson County elementary schools removed biblical references from a presentation of "Charlie Brown's Christmas Carol" in 2015. Read More

  • Robert Parham, moderate Baptist ethics leader, dies
    by Art Toalston, posted Tuesday, March 07, 2017 (7 years ago)

    NASHVILLE (BP) -- Robert Parham, a staff member of the SBC's former Christian Life Commission who began an ethics organization for Baptist moderates, died March 5 in Nashville. He was 63.

    Parham was described as "a critic of the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention" in a Religion News Service obituary March 6. RNS reported that Parham had been diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare disease that affects the body's organs. But he had remained active as executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, which he founded in 1991 in Nashville, RNS noted. Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: 'Are you mad yet?'
    by John Weaver, posted Tuesday, March 07, 2017 (7 years ago)

    John Weaver marvels at a 100-year-old nursing home resident who remained unfazed amid some distracting moments as she talked about her faith. Mrs. Ruth "reminded me (without even knowing it) that I need to keep my focus on Jesus Christ," Weaver writes. Read More