Archive for March 2011
Life threatened, Iranian believer finds refuge in U.S.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)--Babak Bighash was an electrical engineer for a major government agency in Iran, commuting more than 800 miles every two weeks between his home and workplace. He was a fairly devout Muslim yet he had unanswered questions about Islam.About 10 years ago, he managed to pick up [...]
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Church Positions
PASTOR Midway FBC, Texarkana, seeks bi-vocational pastor. Send resume to Midway FBC, 1415 N FM 2148, Texarkana, TX 75501. Deadline for submission is April 15. Martindale BC seeks FT senior pastor. Send resume to Martindale Baptist Church, PO Box 156, Martindale, TX 78655 or email to info@martindalebaptist.org. Lake Country BC, Queen City, [...]
Continue ReadingLaredo effort yields early fruit
LAREDO?The first week of a two-week mission effort by church groups resulted in more than 70 percent of Laredo's households receiving a gospel witness in written form and at least 100 professions of faith from block parties and outdoor revival services."We had a really good response," Chuy Avila, SBTC church [...]
Continue ReadingCP DAY: Sunday, April 10
The following are testimonies from some Texas Southern Baptists about the vital role of the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists' shared missions funding mechanism. Begun in 1925, the CP replaced the old "societal" method of agencies competing against one another for funding. Prior to the CP, funding often went to [...]
Continue ReadingThere's an app for that! Maybe
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has provided our culture with some wonderful addictive gadgets. Tools like iPhone and, I hear, iPad, are intuitive to use and continue to learn new tricks through the addition of various applications, or "apps." Apple allows individuals and companies to develop an app, but the [...]
Continue ReadingAny other gospel
Aren't we flighty? I am reminded of the perverse pleasure I took in throwing gravel on the tin roof of my granddad's chicken house. The stupid creatures within never failed to squawk, fly around and stir up dust at the always unexpected clatter of the small rocks. Every time a [...]
Continue ReadingDallas Japanese congregation prays for homeland
DALLAS?On March 11, a massive 9.0 earthquake shifted the island nation of Japan eight feet closer to the United States. Half an hour after the quake, the resulting tsunami swept through the northern portion of the country, washing away entire villages. A week and a half later, more than 9,000 [...]
Continue ReadingIn Dallas, IMB appoints 67 new missionaries
DALLAS?"We were your typical American family?two kids, a dog and house in the suburbs," Ryan Williams shared as one of dozens of testimonies offered March 16 at an International Mission Board missionary appointment service hosted by First Baptist Church in Dallas. Before following God's call overseas, Williams was a general [...]
Continue ReadingElliff setting shoulder, heart 'to the work'
DALLAS?Before he challenged Southern Baptist churches to "cowboy up" to adopt remaining unengaged, unreached people groups by 2012, newly elected IMB President Tom Elliff leaned over and kissed his wife, Jeannie, prompting a second round of applause from a receptive audience of IMB trustees, staff and guests. "There's a reason our [...]
Continue ReadingDisaster pushes Japanese beyond secular thinking
EDITOR'S NOTE: All International Mission Board personnel in east Japan began relocating southwest of Tokyo March 18 in response to deteriorating conditions following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power crisis,. They will be given temporary assignments south of Nagoya. The relocation is expected to be complete by Saturday, March 19. [...]
Continue ReadingBurn victim receives nation's first full face transplant
BOSTON?A burn victim whose face was badly marred in an accident suffered while painting a Baptist church in Forth Worth has become the first person in the United States to undergo a full facial transplant.The trailblazing surgery on 25-year-old Dallas Wiens was completed sometime between March 14-18, physicians [...]
Continue ReadingAbortion rights supporters find new target: crisis pregnancy centers
Updated to note the Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit.NEW YORK (BP)--After years of staying mostly out of the spotlight, pro-life crisis pregnancy centers are increasingly coming under political attack in cities nationwide where some legislators and mayors are demanding the centers explicitly declare -- in exterior signs and [...]
Continue ReadingIMB President Tom Elliff describes agenda in editors Q&A
Editor's Note: Below is the transcript of an hour-long interview by state Baptist paper editors with newly elected IMB President Tom Elliff on March 17, 2011. Wendy Norvelle, IMB: Today we have Dr. Elliff and Dr. Pritchard with you and you submitted some questions. Dr. Pritchard has served as chairman of [...]
Continue ReadingIMB trustees unite around former missionary and pastor to lead 5,043-member force of international missionaries
GRAPEVINE?In an unprecedented move, native Texan Tom Elliff got to work immediately as president of the International Mission Board following the unanimous vote of trustees meeting in Grapevine March 15-16. Texan Jimmy Pritchard of Forney, chairman of the board, as well as chairman of the search committee that has been [...]
Continue ReadingTexas IMB trustees assess Elliff's strengths
With a dozen Texas trustees on the Board, the state is better represented than any other and many were quick to weigh in on the selection of Tom Elliff as president.Mike Gonzales of Hurst, Hispanic Initiative Director of SBTC in Grapevine:"The unanimous recommendation from our search committee in bringing Tom [...]
Continue ReadingNew IMB president previews strategy and prayer priorities
Before outlining his vision of expecting the International Mission Board to be biblical, balanced and bold, newly elected IMB President Tom Elliff leaned over and kissed his wife, Jeannie, before a receptive audience of IMB trustees, staff and guests. "There's a reason our kids say they want to love their spouses [...]
Continue ReadingIn Tokyo, assessment team at work
TOKYO?A two-member Southern Baptist disaster relief assessment team arrived in Tokyo March 12 as the estimated death toll from Japan's earthquake soared past 10,000 and nuclear plant operators worked frantically to prevent meltdowns.Thousands of survivors are coping with near-freezing temperatures for hundreds of miles along Japan's northeastern coast, which [...]
Continue ReadingMarriage to be defended after House panel's 3-2 vote
WASHINGTON (BP)--The House of Representatives officially got involved March 9 in defending the Defense of Marriage Act when a bipartisan leadership panel voted 3-2 to support the law in federal court.Christian and conservative leaders applauded the move.The party-line move by the House Bipartisan Leadership Advisory Group came two weeks after [...]
Continue ReadingJapan earthquake, tsunami assessment underway
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southern Baptist relief workers are assessing needs in the aftermath of an earthquake that struck Japan March 11, spawning a 23-foot tsunami that crashed into the country's eastern coast and moved on out across the Pacific Ocean. Police said at least 60 people were killed and 56 missing, [...]
Continue ReadingGraham: No matter the text, make a beeline to the gospel
FRISCO?Whatever the preacher's text, he should take it and make a "beeline to the gospel" because it is the primary, permeating message of the Bible, Plano pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church told the 2011 Empower Evangelism Conference.Citing W.A. Criswell's famous "Scarlet Thread of Redemption" sermon, Graham said [...]
Continue ReadingIs the world worthy of you?
The assassination of Pakistani Minister for Minorities, Shabaz Bhatti, came during the same week that the imps of the Westboro cult in Topeka announced they would quadruple their protests at military funerals across the U.S. Baptist Press also tells the story that same week of 23-year-old Afghan Shaoib Assadullah [...]
Continue ReadingA swing and a miss!
How could I resist a highly rated movie featuring award-winning players, a serious director, and themes such as God, man, angels, sovereignty, and free will? I went to see "The Adjustment Bureau" on its opening weekend. I knew this was Hollywood but sometimes I'm surprised in a good way. This [...]
Continue ReadingCelebrate CP Day: Sunday, April 10
April 10 is Cooperative Program Day in the Southern Baptist Convention. This is an excellent time to share with your congregation about how we work together through combining our financial resources. Let me share some of the personal involvement you have through the Cooperative Program.Chuy Avila is in Laredo [...]
Continue ReadingSBTC offers summer ministries to college, seminary students
The SBTC has several evangelism and missions opportunities for college and seminary students looking for more than a usual summer vacation. Working in teams, students may contribute directly in church planting strategies, lead churches in evangelism and outreach efforts, or cross cultures to engage an Eastern religion people group.Laredo [...]
Continue ReadingAustin pastor tells preachers: Get unction
FRISCO?"Ladies and gentleman, there is a direct relationship between preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit and people coming to Christ," Austin pastor Kie Bowman reminded those attending the 2011 Empower Evangelism Conference, held Feb. 28-March 2 at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco.Bowman's sermon, "The Anointing of [...]
Continue ReadingBorn of necessity, CP still fueling gospel advance, Land says
FRISCO?Calling his service to Southern Baptists as head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) "the honor and privilege of a lifetime," Richard Land said the denomination's Cooperative Program (CP) allows every SBC church to participate in the Great Commission call of Matthew 28.Addressing the SBTC's annual Cooperative [...]
Continue ReadingRobinson appeals for synergistic evangelism
FRISCO?Although the Bible clearly declares the importance of evangelism, Darrell Robinson believes American churches are ignoring the practice. Southern Baptists who claim to believe the Bible need to follow Jesus' example, Robinson said, to "evangelize for the kingdom of God in other cities," a reference to Luke 4:43.The SBTC personal [...]
Continue ReadingWomen encouraged to proclaim gospel with every act
FRISCO?Using five words from Mark 14:3-9 that she said she intends to be engraved on her own tombstone, Dorothy Patterson encouraged women to recognize they are proclaiming the gospel through every act of devotion to the Savior. In her message to the women's session of the Empower Evangelism Conference in [...]
Continue ReadingDrugs, murder loom on couple's mission field
EDITOR'S NOTE: The annual Week of Prayer for North American Missions in Southern Baptist churches will be March 6-13 in conjunction with the 2011 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, with a goal of $70 million to help pay the salaries and ministry support of 5,000-plus missionaries serving in North America under [...]
Continue ReadingDR volunteers respond to Panhandle wildfires
AMARILLO?Wildfires swept across the Texas Panhandle Feb. 27, charring 25,534 acres that eventually destroyed 70 homes. In less than a week disaster relief volunteers from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention were sifting through what remained of the material possessions of displaced homeowners, attempting to recover prized possessions as [...]
Continue ReadingSBTC field strategist Glenn Reece dies in Lubbock
POST?After 54 years of faithful ministry to West Texas churches, Glenn Royce Reece, 71, of Wolfforth died Feb. 26 at a Lubbock hospital. Known to family and friends as "Poppy," he was born in Roscoe on Nov. 10, 1939 to Arlie and Vesta Reece, called to the ministry at [...]
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