Friday, November 10, 2017

• Twin brothers, WWII veterans, joined for eternity

  by Mike Schueler, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of Hannah Hanzel/Baptist Messenger

  MCALESTER, Okla. (BP) -- Claude Stokes guessed he had about 15 seconds to decide how he was going to die.

  It was 1944, and the 20-year-old tank commander was lying face-down in a ditch in the middle of a firefight in central Italy when he heard something sizzling. Claude looked up to see a German artillery shell sticking out of the mud about six inches from his head. Since the shell didn't explode on impact, he had a choice: stay put to hope for a dud or run for it through a cloud of German machine gun and mortar fire. Read More

• VETERANS DAY: What my son taught me about freedom

  by Lori McDaniel, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  

  EDITOR'S NOTE: Veterans Day is Nov. 11.

  BENTONVILLE, Ark. (BP) -- My perspective on "patriotic" holidays has changed since my oldest son joined the Army.

  As a ninth-grader Caleb told me he wanted to go to West Point. As a mom, I heard his big dream as if he were still the 8-year old boy who in a basketball game handed the ball to the opposing team because "they hadn't had a turn yet."

  His determination became reality last year as he graduated with an international relations degree from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned ... Read More

• VETERANS DAY: Chaplains, churches bolster U.S. troops

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of Calvary Baptist Church

  ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- On his first deployment, now-retired Brigadier General Chaplain Carlton Fisher was shot at one night while out for a jog. In Afghanistan, he was near several firefights. At one point, insurgents launched a rocket-propelled grenade at a tower on the forward operating base where he was stationed.

  Chaplains may serve as noncombatants in the military but that doesn't always mean they're far from combat when serving troops on the battlefield.

  During his final deployment in 2008, Fisher traveled with the 926th Engineer ... Read More

• House restores adoption tax credit

  by Tom Strode, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- A longstanding but endangered benefit for adopting families has gained new life in Congress.

  Republicans in the House of Representatives amended their tax reform proposal to include the adoption tax credit in a committee vote Thursday (Nov. 9), which was World Adoption Day. The action came after adoption and pro-life advocates led a week-long charge to persuade the GOP to restore to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1, a benefit available to many adoptive parents the last two decades. Read More

• Church security focus of Texas seminars

  by GuideStone staff, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  DALLAS (BP) -- With church security on the minds of many pastors and other church leaders in the wake of the tragedy at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, many churches of every size are re-evaluating their security protocols.

  GuideStone Financial Resources and Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company are offering two seminars in November for Texas churches interested in learning about implementing best practices for volunteer church safety and security teams. The events will also include training on protecting kids in the ministry environment ... Read More

• N.M. Baptists increase CP, hear Spanish sermon

  by David Roach, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  

  BCNM photo.

  BLOOMFIELD, N.M. (BP) -- Messengers to the Baptist Convention of New Mexico increased the percentage of Cooperative Program receipts they will forward to the Southern Baptist Convention for the third year in a row and heard what may have been the first convention sermon delivered in Spanish at any Baptist state convention.

  Messengers also pledged to pray for revival and changed the name of the convention's Executive Board. Read More

• Mich. Baptists pledge prayer for Sutherland Springs

  by David Roach, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo from Facebook.

  INKSTER, Mich. (BP) -- Michigan Baptists increased their budget 31 percent from the current year and pledged prayer for the Texas church where a gunman massacred 26 people Nov. 5.

  Messengers to the Baptist State Convention of Michigan also eliminated shared ministry expenses from their budget and anticipated increasing the total Cooperative Program amount forwarded to Southern Baptist Convention causes by some 16 percent above the amount received by the SBC during its 2016-17 fiscal year. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: Campuses as mission fields

  by Brian Hobbs, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  Today's college students need "droves of Christians who hold the truth and light of the Gospel in their hands," Brian Hobbs writes of America's greatest unreached mission field. Read More

• EDITORIAL: Peces atrapados

  by Luis R. Lopez, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (4 years ago)

  ¿Hombres atrapados como peces en una red traicionera? La pesca de arrastre por redes es una de las más dañinas a los ecosistemas de todos los mares del mundo. Barcos con sus grandes redes capturan todo tipo de peces rastreando el fondo marino no importando su tamaño, forma o especie. Estos quedan atrapados ... Read More