Archive for August 2010
Wisdom for technology gift giving
Between kids heading back to school and the Christmas season just around the corner, the wish-lists are sure to include all kinds of media?MP3s, DVDs, PSPs, iPhones, the iPods, iPads, the Wii, XBox, and miscellaneous other gadgets.Here are some tips parental tech advisor Buddy Knight offers for making those new [...]
Continue Reading
Who's minding the cyber-kids?
While working at CompUSA to pay his way through seminary, Buddy Knight learned of a grave danger that led him to his calling?equipping technologically-challenged parents to protect their techno-savvy kids from the dark side of the World Wide Web. Knight, a former naval intelligence officer and father of four, recalls [...]
Continue ReadingSouthern Baptist pastors among immigration statement signers
HOUSTON?Several Houston-area Southern Baptist pastors are among the signers of a declaration calling for secure borders and a compassionate and just overhaul of the federal immigration system.The Houston-based U.S. Pastor Council's "Pastors' Declaration on Border Security and Immigration Reform" calls for "principled leadership and the laying aside of partisan [...]
Continue ReadingBoard approves slight budget increase, fills ministry vacancy
The Executive Board of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention approved a recommended 2.55 percent budget increase for 2011 and filled a vacancy in its minister-church relations department, hiring Jeremy Roberts of Lenoir City, Tenn., as a ministry associate.During its summer meeting held Aug. 10 at the SBTC office [...]
Continue ReadingPritchard calls new Criswell trustees to unite on theology, love, purpose
DALLAS?As Criswell College nears the end of its 40th year and begins its first as an independently governed school, "a chance to start afresh and anew" was celebrated at the new board of trustees' inaugural meeting with chairman Jimmy Pritchard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Forney, calling for "unity [...]
Continue ReadingWho sets our agenda?
A recent news article about immigration set me off a little. The focus was on the diversity of viewpoints within biblical Christianity. Within the article, a Republican lawmaker indicated that religious leaders would lose their churches and the White House if they didn't get on his side of the question, [...]
Continue ReadingAn ethic of social media
As a church planter, I'm a big fan of social media. I use it to connect with people, make new friends, learn about people's struggles so that I can pray for them, reestablish relationships with old friends, and just have a lot of fun. I often encourage people who [...]
Continue ReadingGive our all to Jesus
You have to be my age having grown up a Southern Baptist to remember filling out a Sunday School envelope and placing money inside. My parents started me out with the practice. Once I earned my own money from cutting grass, working at a summer job or laboring on a [...]
Continue ReadingWith TV obscenity on the rise, parents find help
WASHINGTON?First, a federal appeals court struck down the FCC's broadcast indecency policy that regulated TV obscenities. Then, the former FCC chairman who enforced the policy said he has had a change of heart and now believes curse words on TV deserve "full First Amendment protection."With television perhaps on the [...]
Continue ReadingTeaching good Web habits
"Train up a child in the way he should go" (Proverbs 22:6) covers every area of a child's development?emotional, physical, mental, spiritual and social. In the 21st century, technology has the potential to influence children in all of those ways. Here are some tips for guiding children in responsible, [...]
Continue Reading'Infinite Playlists' offers parents guidance in discussing music choices of children
"Whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate?and who could number all these masters of the human heart, namely, the emotions, inclinations, and affections that impel men [...]
Continue ReadingCommunications technology kids crave: pros and cons
Cell phones: Have generally replaced the home phone. "Super phones" come equipped with mobile Web, cameras, texting.?Pros: peace of mind for parents to be able to reach their teenagers, a way to get help in case of emergency, texting provides ways to talk without talking.?Cons: Teens allowed to keep their [...]
Continue ReadingSBTC hosts transitional pastor training
ODESSA?The minister-church relations department of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention held a transitional pastor training in Odessa Aug. 1-2 that drew 49 pastors from Texas, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico and one from as far away as Canada.This was a certification training segment done in cooperation with LifeWay Christian [...]
Continue ReadingPreteens spread hope in Oklahoma
Students from four Texas Southern Baptist churches were among the more than 145 preteens who led Bible studies in apartments and mobile home parks in the cities of Norman and Moore, Okla., this summer.The outreach effort of the LITs (Leaders in Training) resulted in the salvation of 130 people, [...]
Continue ReadingHe carries Scripture in his mind and heart
FRANKLIN, Tenn.?"A lot of people will say, 'This guy knows the whole Bible.'"Well, I really don't," Rollin DeLap admits. "The reason they say that is because most people have memorized so little" of "the Word of God."DeLap seems to use a capital W when he speaks of "the Word," [...]
Continue ReadingCriswell student translating Bible for native tongue
DALLAS?Most of us take for granted the ability to pick up a Bible in our own language and understand what we read. For many people groups around the world, it is not so easy. Criswell College student Huy Than* has been working hard to see that his own people group [...]
Continue ReadingArsoned Tyler church seeks helping hands
TYLER?David Mahfood arrived at the church he pastors just in time to watch the building become engulfed in flames. At approximately 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, Mahfood received a phone call from a church member who told him that the church building was on fire. By the time he drove [...]
Continue Reading
