Archive for April 2011
Pray, Give to Disaster Relief
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 2 Corinthians 4:5 SBTC Disaster Relief Volunteers are responding to the needs in Texas from the recent wildfires and the tornadoes that have recently disrupted the lives of people from Texas across Arkansas, Louisiana, [...]
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Tornado carries Ga. couple -- and house -- 140 feet
LAGRANGE, Ga. (BP)--The day after tornadoes swept through Troup County, Ga., Mike Hornsby, pastor of New Hope Church in LaGrange, and his wife Susan sorted through the rubble that once was their house. Family and friends came by to offer help and hugs. They each told the story of the [...]
Continue ReadingChina places 500 under house arrest, blocks Easter service
BEIJING (BP)--As millions of Christians worshipped freely around the world Easter morning, more than 500 members of an unregistered Beijing church were under house arrest by the Chinese government and prevented from gathering together at an outdoor site, while another 40 or so were detained after they illegally tried to [...]
Continue ReadingLA INICIATIVA HISPANA AL DA: Una Iglesia Saludable y Creciente
Todos queremos que nuestra iglesia que sea saludable y creciente. Mateo 22:36-40 dice: Maestro, cul es el gran mandamiento en la ley? Jess le dijo: Amars al Seor tu Dios con todo tu corazn, y con toda tu alma, y con toda tu mente. Este es el primero y grande [...]
Continue ReadingSBTC Disaster Relief volunteers aid in W. Texas fires
STRAWN—Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief volunteers were continuing to serve those affected by wildfires in the western half of the state leading up to Good Friday. A 10-person feeding unit was serving in Strawn—70 miles west of Fort Worth—coordinating with The Salvation Army to provide meals for firefighters and [...]
Continue ReadingChinese gov't continues crackdown on Christianity, arrests 47 from Beijing church
BEIJING (BP)--Fulfilling a promise to hold a worship service outside despite government demands, a large Beijing unregistered church -- saying it would rather obey God than the Chinese government -- saw 47 church members arrested Sunday in a public square, one week after 160 of its members were arrested by [...]
Continue ReadingLaredo evangelism event adds 727 salvation decisions to four-week effort
LAREDOAn evangelistic event featuring the strength feats of Team Impact at the Laredo Energy Arena capped a month-long outreach with 727 recorded salvation decisions added to nearly 300 in the previous four weeks. The event on April 17 drew 4,800 people, most of whom were not church people, said Chuy Avila, missionary planter [...]
Continue ReadingSouthwestern begins first phase of new student housing construction
FORT WORTH—Construction begins this spring on new two- and three-bedroom student housing at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Trustees approved plans April 6 for the first phase to be completed by July 2012. Positioned along Seminary Drive, where the main entrance to the campus sits, the seminary will construct 12 buildings in [...]
Continue ReadingSonogram bill passes hurdle, faces Senate vote
AUSTIN—A bill requiring sonograms for women seeking abortions in Texas passed another hurdle on April 12 and now awaits a state Senate vote. If passed there and once more in the House, Gov. Rick Perry has promised to sign it into law. The Senate State Affairs Committee approved a compromise between [...]
Continue ReadingCriswell elects faculty, receives $1.2 million gift
DALLAS—Criswell College trustees promoted three professors to “elected faculty” status and heard reports of a $1.2 million gift to the school from an anonymous donor. “It’s about ministry, about people, about students. This is an anonymous donor, but he’s given this gift through the W.A. Criswell Foundation,” Criswell President Jerry Johnson [...]
Continue ReadingEzell: NAMB will continue jointly funded missionaries with states
BRANDON, Fla. (BP)--In spite of the Great Commission Resurgence report that many expected would end jointly funded missionaries with state Baptist conventions, North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell says "strategically placed mobilizers" in southern states are necessary to accomplish NAMB's church planting goals in the rest of North America. Ezell, [...]
Continue ReadingSWBTSs counseling track stresses churchs role
FORT WORTHJohn Babler traveled to Haiti twice in 2010 after an earthquake struck the country, killing hundreds of thousands and leaving 1.5 million people without homes. A counselor and chaplain, Babler has ministered after numerous disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and the shooting at Virginia Tech, but the scene in Haiti [...]
Continue ReadingCriswell takes integrative approach to counseling
DALLAS—Medical doctor and psychiatrist David Livingstone Henderson believes there are three keys to the practice of biblical counseling: a biblical foundation of truth, a grounding in the sciences of human behavior—how mind and body function, and a growing compassion for the hurting and suffering. For just over a year, Henderson has [...]
Continue ReadingChurches, schools provide biblical help via support groups and counseling centers
A typical congregation gathers on a typical Sunday morning at a typical church. Everyone is dressed in his “Sunday Best” and ready to worship. What isn’t seen on the freshly washed faces or in the nicely pressed clothes are the hurts and struggles hidden from public view: the woman facing yet [...]
Continue ReadingBook: Understanding biblical hope essential to surviving
With the certainty of life’s storms, the question becomes not if they will hit but how will one survive when they do? The storms of life referred to by June Hunt in her book “Hope for Your Heart: Finding Strength in Life’s Storms” are not the natural disaster kind, but [...]
Continue ReadingBaptist schools vary approaches to training counselors
For those who feel called to study Christ-centered counseling, there are multiple options to consider. All six Southern Baptist Convention-owned seminaries offer courses in the field, and five offer counseling degrees. In addition, two Texas schools with ties to the SBTC, Criswell College and Houston Baptist University, offer counseling degrees. Yet different [...]
Continue ReadingLifeboat drill
I love stories of survival—the truer the better. The courage and innovation that follows desperation is the best kind of drama. “The Long Walk,” which was made into a pretty good movie, is the tale of prisoners who escaped the Soviet Gulag during World War II. Those who survived a [...]
Continue ReadingEaster: Time to seek renewal, awakening
Easter is a wonderful time of the year. Unlike Christmas, which is set on a questionable date, Easter is an authentic time of the year to commemorate our Lord’s death and resurrection. Perhaps more people are open to attending worship at Christmas, but Easter is still a prime time to [...]
Continue ReadingStruggling rural church gave out of its lack, lived to tell about it
TARPLEY—Tarpley is one of those towns you’ll miss if you blink while driving. Tucked away in the Texas Hill Country northwest of San Antonio, Tarpley Baptist Church had suffered similar insignificance when Elmer Franks arrived there as pastor in 2003. Years earlier, the roof had fallen in on the building, [...]
Continue ReadingSouthwestern elects new faculty members
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees approved a slate of nine new faculty members, adopted a 2.6 percent increase for the 2011-2012 budget in the amount of nearly $34.9 million which provides a 1 percent salary increase to career employees, and approved plans to build two and three-bedroom campus apartments within [...]
Continue ReadingCriswell hosts Hispanic summit
DALLAS—Criswell College hosted a small group of Hispanic Baptist leaders March 25 for a Hispanic Leadership Summit to discuss ways to increase ministry to that growing segment of Texas’ population. “We wanted to host this meeting to gain insight from leaders on the ground as to how we can more effectively [...]
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