Month: June 2021

SBC Executive Committee will undergo independent review

NASHVILLE (BP) – SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Ronnie Floyd announced Friday (June 11) that the Executive Committee has secured Guidepost Solutions for an independent review of its handling of sexual abuse issues.

The move came just days before Southern Baptists gather in Nashville for the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, and amid controversy over allegations made by former Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore that various Southern Baptist leaders “stonewall[ed]” calls to address sexual abuse in the SBC.

According to a news release, Floyd worked with Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade, who had earlier called for an independent investigation, on “details of this outside review and selection of a firm.”

“Guidepost is one of the most reputable companies in the nation for uncovering facts and providing guidance for the future,” Floyd said in a statement to Baptist Press. “Our staff commits to transparency and cooperation. Caring for abuse survivors and protecting the vulnerable in our churches must remain a priority for Southern Baptists, and we want to communicate that clearly before a watching world.”

Slade, who has been vocal about the church’s responsibility to address sexual abuse, said the issue is a “personal” priority of his tenure as Executive Committee chairman.

“The church should be the safest place for survivors of sexual abuse,” Slade told Baptist Press. “They deserve to be treated with the utmost respect. For me, it’s personal because my wife is a survivor. It’s important that we do everything we can and then some.”

Slade said he has heard questions about whether the Executive Committee could be trusted to investigate itself.

“I know there are folks who will not agree with the actions we’re taking,” he said. “I want to ask them to be patient with us and join us in getting this right.”

Guidepost Solutions has been engaged for independent reviews recently by organizations including The Summit Church of Raleigh, N.C. – where SBC President J.D. Greear is senior pastor – and the ministry formerly known as Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. The news release from the Executive Committee touted Guidepost’s “deep experience providing advice and counsel to faith communities” in “monitoring, compliance, sensitive investigations and risk management solutions.

According to the news release, the Executive Committee “commits to providing full support and transparency to Guidepost Solutions including making individuals available for interviews and providing relevant documents.” Guidepost Solutions will:

“Review these recent allegations against the SBC Executive Committee of mishandling sexual abuse cases and mistreating sexual abuse victims; the allegations of a pattern of intimidation; and

“Review and enhance training provided to SBC Executive Committee staff and its board of trustees related to these matters, as well as its communications to cooperating churches and congregants in cooperating churches.”

Slade cited Guidepost’s “varied expertise” and reputation for work in the faith community. He said the firm could “not only help us with and in this situation, but I’m hopeful we can have an ongoing relationship and they can help us develop expertise from top to bottom to better than we’ve done in the past, which is really just being faithful to the charge Southern Baptists have given us.”

Moore’s allegations came in two letters leaked recently to news media. In a letter addressed to Greear and dated May 31, 2021 – the final day of Moore’s eight-year tenure at the ERLC – Moore wrote of two meetings in 2019 among Southern Baptist leaders, describing opposition to efforts to address sexual abuse in the SBC. Floyd participated in both meetings; then-Executive Committee Chairman Mike Stone participated in one.

Stone is among four candidates for SBC president at the 2021 Annual Meeting. In a video posted Saturday (June 5) to the YouTube account of his church, Emmanuel Baptist of Blackshear, Ga., Stone called Moore’s allegations “ungodly” and “absolutely slanderous.”

In a statement Saturday (June 5), Floyd said while he took the allegations in the letter seriously, he did “not have the same recollection of occurrences as stated.”

On Wednesday (June 9), Slade, pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon, Calif., told Religion News Service he would call for such a review at the Executive Committee’s meeting Monday (June 14) in Nashville, saying: “It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing.”

The controversy grew Thursday (June 10), when Phillip Bethancourt, a Texas pastor who was at the time the ERLC’s executive vice president, released audio clips from the 2019 meetings which appeared to buttress the charges made in Moore’s letters. In a statement released later Thursday, Floyd joined Slade in calling for the independent, third-party review. He said the EC staff leadership had been working since last weekend toward “securing a highly credible outside firm” to conduct a review.

Floyd described the meetings, which were held in May 2019 and October 2019, as “leaders engaging in a scriptural process of coming together with others who have differing opinions on complicated issues and … discussing those differences honestly with a goal of how to best move forward.” He also apologized “for any offense that may have resulted” from remarks he’d made in the meetings, while saying Bethancourt’s release of the audio recordings was “an attempt to mischaracterize” the meetings “as an effort to avoid addressing the reality of sex abuse.”

Guidepost Solutions was engaged earlier this year by The Summit Church to review handling by staff member Bryan Loritts of sexual misconduct allegations against his then-brother-in-law at a Memphis church Loritts pastored.

Guidepost Solutions was also recently hired by the organization formerly known as Ravi Zacharias International Ministries to conduct an independent review of the organization. Guidepost was engaged after another independent review found Zacharias, its founder, had engaged in numerous instances of sexual misconduct.

According to the Executive Committee’s news release, Guidepost “will assist the SBC Executive Committee in its commitment to Christlike behavior and develop policies and systems to better equip the Executive Committee staff and Board of Trustees to serve the best interests of Southern Baptists with integrity and excellence.”

Slade told Baptist Press: “We should have done this two years ago, before Dr. Floyd came [as Executive Committee president and CEO]. We should have just gone through and cleared the deck, cleaned everything up that needed to be cleaned up, so that when he came in, we were moving forward fresh and squared up, rather than finding out these things were happening behind the scenes before he came.”

Featured NAMB Annie missionaries share stories of encouragement

Hand-drawn hearts painstakingly colored and mailed with messages that say, “We love you pastor, and we love your family,” or “Thank you for sharing the Gospel in many ways,” or “I hope you are safe and have food and shelter,” have been received this spring by missionaries featured in this year’s Annie Armstrong Easter Offering Week of Prayer emphasis.

Shahid Kamal, pastor of South Asian Community Church in Surrey, British Columbia, read each of the above statements in a telephone interview. He had affixed the cards and letters he’d received to the wall of the space he calls his “office,” he said.

Each year, the North American Mission Board features a small group of missionaries to promote the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions. The featured missionaries, such as Anders Snyder who planted Calvary Church in Nampa, Idaho, receive an outpouring of encouragement and prayer from Southern Baptists. Photo submitted by Anders Snyder

“It’s overwhelming for us that people are taking time to write,” Kamal said, including not only his family but his entire church. He took a picture of the wall of notes and now his congregation – still separated because of the COVID-19 pandemic – say they can’t wait to read and touch each of them in person, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) missionary said.

Each year, NAMB features a small group of missionaries to promote the annual offering. The stories demonstrate how offering funds are used to spread the Gospel. Without exception, the featured missionaries also receive an outpouring of love, encouragement and prayers from Southern Baptists as well.

“Many people (among our congregation) have been blessed and have shared stories, that they were struggling in their life until this Week of Prayer,” Kamal said. “It was a good experience to see many people praying for us and encouraging us.”

He said the response he received – about 100 letters, 50 emails, invitations to speak and even Zoom calls with churches that then shared the calls with their congregations – reminded him, “We are not alone. Many are praying for us. We are very much happy.”

The other six recipients of a focus on their ministry during the Week of Prayer echoed Kamal’s words as they spoke of the encouragement they received from the cards, letters, calls and other contacts they received.

Jacob Zailian ministers among the homeless, addicted and unreached through Set Free Sanger, in Sanger, Calif. “It’s been crazy,” he said in early May. “I’m still getting stuff. Just Saturday I received another. To see the little innocent prayers from the kids has been awesome.

“What’s funny is that they’re from all over,” Zailian said. “It’s amazing to see how people see that short little video and then feel compelled to write us about it. It all goes back to the type of ministry we do. They write stuff like, ‘It’s awesome to see what you’re doing because we don’t know what to do. It’s good to see someone is addressing the problem.’”

Ryan McCammack, pastor of the multi-ethnic Gospel Hope Church on the east side of Atlanta, said the most meaningful thing to him about the nearly 100 responses he received was the recurring phrase, “We’re praying for you.”

“What stood out too, was that some of these churches are out in rural communities and not really connected to the big cities, yet they were praying for us as well,” McCammack said. “That was just very encouraging to me.

“The week we were featured, we moved into a new facility,” he said. “It was a huge blessing to have people praying for us at that time.”

Josh Valdez, pastor of Higher Ground Church in Farmington, N.M., said the one letter out of the nearly 100 letters and emails he received that stands out in his mind was a child’s very attractive drawing of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“I love theology and theology is so important in our church,” Valdez said. “That’s one that stood out for sure. They all stood out, though. Knowing all these Southern Baptist churches across the country, from various sizes, are praying for us, that’s really encouraging.”

Each year, the North American Mission Board features a small group of missionaries to promote the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions. The featured missionaries, such as Bobby Williams who planted Next Level Church in Slidell, La., receive an outpouring of encouragement and prayer from Southern Baptists. Photo submitted by Bobby Williams

The NAMB missionary has had a few Zoom calls with churches and received some donations. Some came in just when the church’s sound system went out. “That was providential,” he said. “We were given money to buy a van. That was huge!”

The van is being used to bring unchurched young people from across the high desert community that borders a Navajo reservation to Higher Ground Church.

“It’s definitely encouraging to go to the mailbox pretty much on a daily basis the last two months and have a letter in it that encourages us ‘to keep up the good work,’” said Bobby Williams, church planting pastor of Next Level Church in Slidell, La., near New Orleans.

“Twenty minutes ago, I got a call from a church in Mississippi,” Williams said. “They saw the video and said they want to see how they can serve us. We’ve had a lot of calls from churches wanting to partner with us.”

One of the letters he received was from a girl whose penmanship indicated she was about 5 or 6, the NAMB missionary said. “She wrote, ‘I’m grateful for you and your family, and the work that you do. I will be praying for you.’ That really touched me,” Williams said.

Victor Moura, a church-planting missionary in Boston, said he and his family received more than 100 letters that encouraged them in their ministry.

“We received a few letters from kids with some drawings,” Moura said. “These letters were really special because we have a toddler.”

The fact that churches were teaching even the youngest in their churches about the importance of planting new churches in hard-to-reach areas was an inspiration.

Twice, church-planting missionary Anders Snyder of Calvary Church in Nampa, Idaho, has been asked to participate in a Zoom video.

“We’ve had the joy of getting to interact with some people. One was a WMU group and the other, a localized podcast,” Snyder said. “They asked, ‘Would you Zoom, brag on Jesus and celebrate what He’s doing?’ That was fun.

“At the end of the day, with all this Week of Prayer attention, I say, ‘Hey, we’re not alone!’ It’s about the fact people are praying for this ministry to be successful in God’s kingdom work.

“The people of God and the family of God care about people. It was pretty fun to share that with our body and say we’re not alone in the body of Christ.”

Texas-based ministry partners with IMB to virtually mobilize workers for Japan

Connect 2020 vision trip to Tokyo, Japan. Prayerwalking Olympic venues.

In June and July, International Mission Board missionaries in Japan are partnering with Mobilize Japan in a virtual mission trip involving participants from across the U.S.

Mobilize Japan was founded by four Asian American graduates of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Brit Redfield, Ariel Lee, Ines Chien and Vanessa Lim. The alumni planned a virtual mission trip to allow Christians to serve among the Japanese despite the COVID-19 travel restrictions surrounding the summer Olympics.

The virtual mission trip began on June 1 and continues through the end of July. It includes three events each week – Training Tuesday, Mission Prayer Friday and Outreach Saturday. It’s not too late to sign up.

During Training Tuesdays, missionary speakers will prepare participants to effectively interact within a Japanese cultural context and teach them how to contextualize the gospel. Redfield gives the example of the Japanese word ‘tsumi,’ which means ‘sin,’ but is used to describe criminals or criminal activity. This word doesn’t resonate with the Japanese, Redfield explained, because the majority have not done anything illegal.

IMB missionary Pierce Hite will lead one of the Training Tuesdays. He will focus on equipping Christians to reach Japanese international students. Japanese are generally more open to the gospel while traveling internationally, so this provides Christians in the U.S. and other countries with a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel.

Southern Baptist volunteers talk with a Japanese woman at an outdoor food court in Tokyo, Japan. IMB missionaries planned to use volunteers as part of their ministry strategy for the 2020 Olympics. International spectators will not be able to attend the Olympics, and missionaries have had to amend their ministry plans.

Mission Prayer Fridays will provide attendees with specific ways to pray for Japan and ministries in the country and among Japanese internationally.

Carlton Walker, an IMB missionary in Tokyo, will be leading a Missions Prayer Friday and will share about church partnerships and how they are church planting in and around a university campus.

Walker said their team focuses on church planting and catalytic work. Mission trip participants will learn about the strategic population segments Walker and IMB missionaries serve, which include the homeless, businessmen, senior adults, young adults and students. Attendees will also pray for Olympic outreach and the urgent need for more missionaries in Japan.

While international travelers are not allowed to travel to Japan during the Olympics, the Mobilize Japan team wanted to provide an outreach element for the virtual mission trip. Outreach Saturdays will include a variety of creative ways participants can directly minister virtually to people in Japan.

IMB missionary Kacie Kubosumi said they plan to host a ‘Virtual Summer Kickoff’ on July 24, the day after the opening ceremony for the Olympics. The event will be Olympic-themed and include games and breakout chat rooms to make connections and build friendships with local students.

“We want to use the ‘Olympic spirit’ as a bridge to share, as well as testimonies of some Christian athletes,” Kubosumi said. “Our biggest hope is to have this online event be a step toward reconnecting again in person and building a community from there, so we are also currently planning a follow-up, in-person event.”

IMB missionaries Daniel and Tara Rice gather with Southern Baptist volunteers for a time of prayer in front of an Olympic venue in Tokyo, Japan.

Kubosumi said they are asking Mobilize Japan participants to invite their Japanese friends to the outreach event.

“We are praying God would use the event to stir up a heart for the lost in Japan,” Kubosumi said. “We are praying they would walk away zealous, compassionate and equipped to pray for and live toward Japanese even now in their current contexts. We are also praying for seeds to be planted in Japanese participants’ hearts, and for connections to be made so we, IMB personnel in Tokyo, can follow up in person.”

Lim, one of the Mobilize Japan founders said, “We pray every day that God will save all of the Japanese we interact with this summer and that God uses the event to bless the ministries of our partners.”

Redfield expressed her appreciation for the support of IMB missionaries.

“We’re so thankful for our ministry partners, especially the IMB because they were in it from the beginning and have been supporting us and praying with us ever since,” she said.

Apply now.

Caroline Anderson writes for the IMB from Southeast Asia.

The post Ministry partners with IMB to virtually mobilize workers for Japan appeared first on IMB.

Altered for pandemic, Crossover will precede Nashville SBC Annual Meeting

NASHVILLE – For more than 30 years, Southern Baptists have focused on working together to serve and reach those in the host city of the SBC annual meeting through an evangelism emphasis called Crossover.

This year’s approach in Nashville will differ from previous years, but Southern Baptists are cooperating to help churches in Middle Tennessee minister to their communities.

“Crossover will continue its legacy of pushing back spiritual darkness in the SBC host city, which is, this year, the great city of Nashville,” said Randy Davis, executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB). “Crossover will be two days when local Middle Tennessee churches will intentionally engage their communities in various ways, actually putting the ‘Gospel above all.’”

A group goes door to door as part of Crossover in Birmingham in 2019. Baptist Press file photo

In a typical year for Crossover, mission teams and churches from across the nation are encouraged to participate in a wide variety of outreach efforts, but concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic led the TBMB and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) to focus primarily on aiding churches in and around Nashville to reach out to their communities.

Nashville-area churches are encouraged to conduct a special outreach event on Saturday, June 12, to invite neighbors to church, and then follow it up the next day, Sunday, June 13, with a Who’s Your One emphasis where churches across Middle Tennessee present the Gospel clearly and invite people to respond during their Sunday services.

“We are working diligently to see that Crossover will be a success even in the midst of a pandemic,” said Roc Collins, director of evangelism at the TBMB. “We recently offered training events for more than 50 churches in the Greater Nashville area.”

Those training events were conducted in cooperation with members of NAMB’s evangelism team as well as associational leaders as NAMB, the TBMB and the local associations have been encouraging churches to work together.

“I’m very appreciate of our southern Baptist convention partnerships, between the state convention, NAMB and the local association all working together on Crossover,” said Rusty Sumrall, executive director of the Nashville Baptist Association. “We have five different associations here in Middle Tennessee working with the state convention and NAMB, and that’s pretty exciting to see all those folks working together for one purpose in Crossover and to see God do something positive during that weekend.”

As with every Crossover event, all six Southern Baptist seminaries are invited to send seminary students for a week-long evangelism intensive where they will spend their mornings in the classroom before going out to serve local churches in the Nashville area in going door to door in their communities. Tom Johnston, senior professor of evangelism at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said that 100 students will participate in this year’s annual Crossover Seminary Evangelism Class (CSEC).

“It is a fun-filled time, a spiritually-taxing time, as well as a true spiritual high – all mixed together,” Johnston said. “Please be in prayer for this year’s students, faculty, local churches and the people with whom we will share the Gospel.”

Send Relief’s mobile clinics will be a feature of the 2021 Crossover evangelism event in Nashville. NAMB photo by Alexandra Toy

The students see the cooperation that defines Southern Baptists first-hand, Johnston said, as NAMB, the state convention, the local association and the seminaries each serve the local church by training and sending out evangelists during the week leading up to the SBC Annual Meeting.

“The CSEC is truly a Book of Acts experience for those involved,” Johnston said. “The entire effort is underwritten by the generosity of Southern Baptists giving to NAMB through the Cooperative Program.”

NAMB’s Send Relief medical and dental units will be in Nashville as well to serve those in need who could use the free medical and dental check-ups offered by professionals who will volunteer their time. The location where the units will set up has yet to be determined.

“I am praying that God will move through the churches in and around Nashville and that we will see a number of people give their lives to Christ,” said Johnny Hunt, NAMB’s senior vice president for evangelism and leadership. “Everyone has been working hard to serve the churches and empower them to share the hope of the Gospel with their neighbors.”

Churches in the Nashville area can register to participate in Crossover at namb.net/crossover.

How to deal with our pandemic grief

The pandemic has been difficult, to say the least, and even with reopenings and a sense of normalcy, there is still a fog that hasn’t lifted. These moments can be quite disorienting and discouraging as we try to recognize the reality of our lives without slipping out of hope’s grasp.

I think a major contribution to this fog is that the grief of the last year goes unrecognized or even minimized. Sometimes this occurs when we compare our grief to another’s or ignore it because it feels too overwhelming to face while still trying to navigate the current life season.

Grief is capable of shocking subtleties. And the reality is that we are actually trapped in grief if we can’t recognize what is worth lamenting. We get stuck when we can’t make sense of what has happened, why, or how it affects and changes our lives.

Grief in our current climate

I recently counseled a couple who worked overseas but had to return to the states for purposes related to COVID-19 restrictions, the death of their unborn child, and the repercussions that a medical threat posed to the wife. Under those circumstances, the marital relationship was quite strained, and it was easy for previous annoyances that had been covered up for years within the marriage to be pointed out. The sudden return to the states also meant a lack of closure with friends and co-workers.

That is a lot to grieve and to begin unpacking and processing. Unfortunately, grief was not a priority to the couple. Instead, one spouse focused on the marital frustrations of family interactions, while the other spouse focused on appeasing the other. Both tried moving around the “annoyances” of grief so they could look into returning to their work. This is avoidance, and it is an unhealthy attempt to deal with reality.

Symptoms of grief

Grief is the sense of loss in one’s life, and it comes in many shapes. We may experience the loss of graduations, celebrations or family gatherings, hugs and kisses with grandkids, a job, a break up, a death, not being able to comfort or communicate with those in the hospital, and being unable to even attend funerals. Although these are all varying degrees of difficult circumstances, the impact is the same: a need to process a sensed loss (i.e., grief). We’ve all experienced losses throughout the pandemic, and many of them often go unnoticed. Our lives of normalcy and predictability have halted, and the byproduct of broken dreams and plans gets mislabeled as unimportant in comparison to the medical tragedies.

Grief can symptomize in many ways, and so can our unhealthy attempts to soothe the pain. There may be a lack of energy or an abundance of activity. We might mask pain through overt use of humor, withdrawing from close friends, or with overcommitted schedules. Perhaps there are angry outbursts that blame loved ones instead of having to deal with the painful emotions within. We may even feel isolated from others or experience guilt.

Honoring what we value through grief

It’s unfortunate that we overlook the necessity to care well for each other and ourselves in the midst of all that we negatively experience in life. Grief doesn’t go away simply by avoiding or being unwilling to admit its existence. It doesn’t even go away by acknowledging there is sorrow. We must come to terms with the new reality. It takes courage to recognize loss because nobody wants grief to be a true experience in life. But the truth is we honor what we value when we can also grieve its loss. Until we can do that, it is just a stuck emotion that is like a lodged cracker in the back of the throat.

The good news is that you’re not the only one who struggles, and it isn’t a sign that you’re going crazy. The psalms show us it’s actually quite normal to experience the human emotions given to us by God. These emotions are necessary for healthy living. You can take ownership of your grief and understand what has happened and how you have been affected. I encourage you to reach out to others whom you trust and know will care for you. As a Christian, you have a compassionate resource built into the local church community. And of course, take your grief to Jesus. He knows your sorrows and cares for you (Rom. 8:16; 1 Pet. 5:7).

Of course, you may need to process your specific issues with a professional counselor. I have benefitted from this and from talking with good friends and my wife. My encouragement to you is to be courageous and curious enough to deal with the grief that may be stuck and overlooked after the challenges of this pandemic season.

160 dead in Burkina Faso in escalating religious terrorism

YAGHA, Burkina Faso (BP) – Jihadists are blamed for killing 160 people in Burkina Faso in a prolonged weekend attack among the latest in violent religious persecution in Africa’s Sahel region.

Government and nongovernmental leaders there blame the Islamic State regional affiliate, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), for the attack, although no one has claimed responsibility. The attack is the deadliest in Burkina Faso’s history and spurred calls for increased international counterterrorism efforts in West Africa.

Such attacks in the predominantly Muslim Sahel region, on the southern shore of the Sahara, are religiously motivated and target both Christians and moderate Muslims, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

“As violent Islamist groups gain ground in central Sahel, they are committing religious freedom violations in their areas of operation,” USCIRF said in a May factsheet. “Across parts of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, ISGS and Katiba Macina have imposed strict interpretations of Sharia law, restricted religious practice and executed individuals because of their beliefs.

“These trends have inflamed religious tensions and increased persecution across West Africa,” USCIRF said, “a religiously diverse region home both to an inspiring history of interfaith tolerance and also pockets of sectarian violence and poor religious freedom conditions.”

USCIRF identified ISGS and Katiba Macina among several terrorist groups growing in the region.

In the weekend attack on remote Solhan village in Yagha province in northern Burkina Faso, jihadists shot civilians, torched homes and a market, and threw explosives into goldmining holes where some civilians hid during the onslaught.

Solhan officials recovered 160 bodies Sunday (June 6) in three mass graves that held victims of the attack, Agence France-Presse reported. The death toll was previously reported as 132 and might yet rise, according to reports.

Amed, a goldminer who managed to survive in a mining hole, told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) he was awakened by the sounds of AK-47-style rifles early Saturday (June 5).

“I found the bodies of four of my friends and we buried them in a mass grave,” the WSJ quoted Amed. “When our army says it’s safe, I don’t know what they mean.”

Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore announced a three-day national mourning period ending today (June 8).

The Solhan deaths are in addition to 14 people killed Friday in an attack on Tadaryat village about 100 miles north of Solhan, BBC reported. In May, 30 people were killed in an attack in east Burkina Faso.

Nearly a third of Burkinabé identify as Christian, comprising the largest group of Christians in any of the targeted Sahel nations, including Mali and Niger, which are 94 percent and 99 percent Muslim, respectively. Most are Sunni.

Katiba Macina, founded in 2015 by a Fulani Muslim, has aligned with other Salafi jihadists in central Mali to establish Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which USCIRF describes as a “coalition of loosely affiliated militant Islamist groups.” The group is “almost exclusively responsible” for the sharp rise in attacks in fatalities in the Sahel annually since 2016, USCRIF said.

Terrorists operating in the region also fight against one another based on religious beliefs.

“ISGS violence against members of rival jihadist groups in the region may also amount to targeting individuals based on their beliefs,” USCIRF wrote in its factsheet. “Following an extended period when ISGS and al-Qaeda affiliated groups in the region tolerated each other’s presence, relations between these groups deteriorated in 2020.”

The latest killings in Burkina Faso add to the estimated 8,000 such killings in the Sahel in 2020, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. More than 1.7 million people have been displaced in the region, including 170,000 refugees and 1.5 million internally displaced persons, according to Africa Center statistics.

Regional counterterrorism initiatives include the G5 Sahel Joint Force, an ad hoc military intelligence coalition comprising Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack, having previously designated ISGS and JNIM as entities of particular concern for severe religious freedom violations in areas under the entities’ control.

Business & Financial Plan’s goal is to increase transparency and accountability, says EC leader

NASHVILLE (BP) – While the rewritten Business & Financial Plan up for vote at the SBC annual meeting next week has generated a lot of discussion, its overarching goal is to generate more transparency and accountability among SBC entities.

That’s the assessment of Robyn Hari, chair of the Committee on Convention Finance and Stewardship Development with the SBC Executive Committee. Hari’s daily role as director and managing partner of the Nashville office for Diversified Trust lends to her understanding of the issues outlined in the Business & Financial Plan.

The motion by former SBC EC President and CEO Morris Chapman, then as a messenger to the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting, for “greater transparency” in the Business & Financial Plan was the first of its kind in at least 30 years, said Hari. She noted that the updated version covers several key areas.

Among those is the preamble, which Hari said “outlines the intent of the Business & Financial Plan, the spirit and cooperative nature behind it.” In short, it outlines what the document does and does not speak to as well as serves as an outline to the structure and organization of the SBC.

That provides messengers with a basic view of how the SBC functions and polity, according to Hari.

“It states the expectation we have of cooperating together – Executive Committee, entities and the entire SBC family,” she said. “It also addresses the legal authority within our entity boards and expresses the goal of the Business & Financial Plan, which is to give Southern Baptists confidence that business is being conducted properly and we’re being good financial stewards.”

Other changes included updated language and “all of the current and highest standards of accounting” as well as the annual entity confirmation.

While the responsibility of the Business & Financial Plan was placed upon the Executive Committee, Hari called it “a group effort.” That began with the Committee on Convention Finance and Stewardship Development, which formed an ad hoc group of six members to focus directly on the assignment. In particular, the group was assigned with enhancing transparency and creating more accountability of entities, all the while understanding the autonomy of those entities and recognizing the responsibility of their respective boards. Honoring SBC messengers and churches in the process was paramount.

EC staff and leadership played key roles in keeping the project on time and on task, she pointed out. SBC legal counsel and leadership from all 11 entities, as well as others with expertise or knowledge for specific areas, also brought input. The perspectives of those entities and others provides “great guidance and best practices” in helping form the Business & Financial Plan.

Hari addressed Article VI.C. and concerns that it can prohibit messengers from nominating and electing trustees from the floor during the annual meeting, saying that was “not at all” the case.

“Keep in mind that serving on one of our boards as a fiduciary for that entity is a huge responsibility,” Hari said. “The Business & Financial Plan provides for the training of trustees prior to their nomination to … help them understand their responsibility and confirm their willingness to serve.”

It is the right of messengers to be able to nominate and elect a trustee from the floor, if an uncommon one, Hari added. But any who are would complete the assignments outlined in the Article prior to their first meeting with the entity board.

Article XIII.A. also has created discussion as to transparency. In actuality, Hari said it would lead to more transparency by creating a clear path for access of financial information.

“Remember, we as SBC messengers are the ones who elect the trustees to our various entities,” she said. “The boards are responsible for establishing those approved policies in order to respond to questions about finances. These board members we’ve elected allow a direct path to them rather than us going through entity staff.”

Hari said another area of discussion, the annual entity confirmation, also provides greater transparency.

“First, it provides a summary and synopsis of key elements of the Financial Plan,” she said. “It lays out the expectations of the entities and requires affirmations not just from the entity CEO/CFO but also the board chair. It also defines any consequences for noncompliance.

“The goal is to give members of Southern Baptist churches confidence that the things outlined in the Business & Financial Plan are being followed and there truly is cooperation among the entities and Executive Committee.”

Floyd joins Slade in calling for independent review of allegations

NASHVILLE (BP) – Following the release Thursday (June 10) of audio clips from two 2019 meetings among Southern Baptist leaders regarding how to address sexual abuse in the convention, SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Ronnie Floyd has joined Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade in calling for an independent, third-party review.

The move came amid growing controversy after the publication of two letters from former Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore. In the second letter, which was dated May 31 and addressed to SBC President J.D. Greear, Moore directly and indirectly accused various Southern Baptist leaders of “stonewall[ing]” calls to address sexual abuse in the SBC.

Slade told Religion News Service on Wednesday (June 9) he would call for an independent investigation at the EC’s scheduled meeting Monday (June 14) in Nashville, saying: “It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing.”

In a statement released Thursday after the audio clips had been posted online, Floyd said the EC staff leadership had been working since last weekend toward “securing a highly credible outside firm with the intent of conducting an independent third-party review of the accusations recently levied at the SBC Executive Committee.”

The meetings were recorded and released by Phillip Bethancourt, a Texas pastor who was at the time the ERLC’s executive vice president. In his statement, Floyd described the meetings as “leaders engaging in a scriptural process of coming together with others who have differing opinions on complicated issues and … discussing those differences honestly with a goal of how to best move forward.”

He also apologized “for any offense that may have resulted from my remarks,” but said Bethancourt’s release of the audio recordings was “an attempt to mischaracterize” the meetings “as an effort to avoid addressing the reality of sex abuse.”

The call for an independent review came just days before Southern Baptists gather for the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, which is set for next week (June 15-16) in Nashville. With more than 16,000 preregistered messengers, it is expected to be the largest in 25 years.

In the May 31 letter to Greear, Moore recounted meetings in May 2019 and October 2019 in which he described opposition to efforts to address sexual abuse in the SBC.

He described as “tense” a May 2019 meeting in Atlanta that included Greear (who is also pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh, N.C.; Todd Unzicker, Greear’s chief of staff; Floyd; Bethancourt; and then-SBC Executive Committee Chairman Mike Stone. Moore, who was not present, charged that Stone wanted to “delay the formation” of the Credentials Committee, which would be tasked with addressing charges of sexual abuse.

Moore also wrote of a meeting with Floyd in October 2019, following the ERLC’s 2019 Caring Well Conference. In an on-stage discussion with Moore at the conference, lawyer and abuse survivor advocate Rachael Denhollander charged Baptist Press, the convention’s news service operated by the SBC Executive Committee, with mishandling a story related to sexual abuse.

Moore wrote that in the meeting after the conference, Floyd told him “he was experiencing backlash from his chairman [Stone] and others over what we had allowed to happen,” and that they “were especially upset” because the Executive Committee had contributed $250,000 to the ERLC’s efforts to address sexual abuse.

In a statement Saturday (June 5), Floyd said he did “not have the same recollection of occurrences as stated.” He added: “I do take seriously allegations in this letter which may raise concern for Southern Baptists.”

On Thursday, Bethancourt, who is now the pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas, posted an email addressed to Floyd and Stone online, with links to the audio clips.

Bethancourt took issue with Floyd’s and Stone’s statements, and said he was “compelled to do something no one would want to do—become a Southern Baptist whistleblower,” and that their “own words actually corroborate the claims in Russell Moore’s letters.” He attached several audio clips of both 2019 meetings, saying he had recorded them legally under the laws of both states to “ensure both the accuracy of notes and the clarity of follow-up actions.”

In audio purportedly from the May 2019 meeting, Stone said the Executive Committee’s bylaws workgroup was no longer working to create a credentials committee.

“There’s a human factor where good people were thrown under the bus, trying to do their best,” Stone said in the recording. “And now we’re asking the group to trust some of the ones that they feel threw them under the bus.”

Stone also took issue with Bethancourt’s assertion that if the Executive Committee did not act to form a credentials committee, he would bring a motion to the floor of the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting.

“That’s just an unseemly approach to trying to work together,” said Stone said, adding that members of the bylaws workgroup “feel like they’ve been bullied.”

In the October 2019 meeting with Floyd after the ERLC’s Caring Well Conference, Floyd asked what he should tell Executive Committee members about Denhollander’s comments. Moore told him the ERLC “wanted to hear from everybody’s heart, without a muzzle put on them.”

Floyd also said he wanted “to preserve the base” of the SBC. When Moore said the SBC had “several bases,” Floyd agreed, saying: “The old SBC does not exist.”

Calls for an independent investigation began after the publication of Moore’s second letter. Two pastors, Ronnie Parrott of Christ Community Church in Huntersville, N.C., and Grant Gaines of Belle Aire Baptist in Murfreesboro, Tenn., announced Saturday (June 5) they were preparing a motion to make at the Annual Meeting to call for the newly elected SBC president to appoint a task force for the purpose of hiring “a third party to investigate the allegations made against the [E]xecutive [C]ommittee of the SBC” in Moore’s letters.

IMB joins Japanese Christians for Olympics outreach, despite reduced crowds

Every four years, athletes and spectators descend on the cities hosting the Olympic games. Historically, volunteer teams from U.S. churches have also journeyed to the Olympics and played active roles in both the Summer and Winter Olympics ministry strategies of IMB missionaries and national partners.

IMB missionaries in Tokyo developed evangelism and outreach plans utilizing both volunteers and Japanese churches and believers. These plans required adapting, first with the postponement of the 2020 Olympics and second with the news that international spectators would not be permitted to attend the games in 2021.

Julie and Scott Bradford

IMB missionary Scott Bradford said they remain committed to engaging the Japanese with the Gospel. Their ministry strategy is evergreen, and they’ve adapted to the changes in the summer Olympics.

“Our vision, our focus as a Tokyo team, is first and foremost, the Japanese,” Bradford said.

IMB missionaries shifted their efforts from being event-oriented to strategy-oriented with a focus on utilizing events to enhance their outreach. Their strategy is two-fold, Bradford said. They will be planting churches and supporting Japanese believers and churches.

Bradford explained that’s not to say they won’t be using events as an entry point for evangelism.

“What we want to do is utilize whatever event is happening, whether it’s the Olympics, whether it is an earthquake or any kind of event,” Bradford said.

“How do we come alongside our local churches in the midst of the event and support them and utilize this event to enhance opportunities for people to have a chance to hear the Gospel and to be exposed?” Bradford said their team has been asking themselves.

IMB missionaries are encouraging Japanese believers not to rely on pastors and missionaries to share the Gospel – it is every Christian’s job to share their faith.

Mobilizing local Christians is central in their strategy, Bradford said.

Hiromi and Rick Price

“We’re trying ways to help them, encourage them, come alongside them, support them and work hand in hand with them to help them engage their community and help the community to see the church in a different way,” Bradford said.

Rick and Hiromi Price are IMB missionaries in Tokyo and are leading the ministry before, during and after the Olympics this summer. The Prices are encouraging Japanese churches to take an active role in reaching out to people at the Olympics.

Technology is one way the Prices and Japanese Christians hope to minister during the Olympics. Rick said they are looking into using QR codes that Christians will distribute in front of venues and inside parks. Scanning the QR codes will open websites with Christian material.

During the Olympics, missionaries and Japanese Christians will be offering conversational English practice in areas where college students congregate.

One part of the initial 2020 Olympic strategy involved renting space in front of an Olympic venue that would be a central outreach hub. The area would have offered sports fans a reprieve from the heat and included a pop-up coffeehouse, a stage, a play area and a space to trade Olympic pins.

While this might not be feasible anymore during the Olympics, the Prices and Bradford said it is a strategy that can be utilized in the future, for instance, using a mobile cart stationed in a park where Christians pass out refreshments and talk to people.

Daniel and Tara Rice, also IMB missionaries in Tokyo, and the Prices investigated community-based activities to introduce people to church in a non-threatening way.

Hosting community festivals is one avenue they are pursuing to minister in communities.

The Prices said their plans for festivals and outreach in parks will continue after the summer Olympics.

Ongoing support from Baptist conventions

Once Japan opens for travel, Bradford said they look forward to utilizing volunteers.

The Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention, the Northwest Baptist Convention, the California Baptist Convention and the South Carolina Baptist Convention partner with the IMB in East Asia. Several of the conventions planned to send volunteer teams to minister alongside IMB missionaries and Japanese Christians during the Olympics.

Various leaders in the conventions and churches told Bradford and the Prices their commitment to serving in Japan does not center on or around the Olympics – their commitment is to the Japanese people.

“That was really encouraging because that’s really what our focus on the Olympics truly is – it’s on the Japanese people,” Bradford said.

Churches in the conventions plan to send teams once it is possible. The Price’s home church, The Summit Church in North Carolina, plans to send a volunteer team this fall.

*Name changed for security.

Netflix’s ‘Blue Miracle’ spotlights faith, fatherhood and second chances

Editor’s note: This monthly series, “5 Family-Friendly Things,” spotlights five family-friendly entertainment choices on film, DVDs, streaming or television.

Omar is a man of faith with a big heart and a strong desire to save the street kids of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

He’s also a man who puts his faith into action.

He and his wife, Becca, operate an orphanage of more than a dozen boys, teaching them right from wrong and instilling in them the traits that helped Omar survive, including hard work.

Some of the children were abandoned. Others were abused.

Unfortunately, though, Omar’s orphanage is short on funds. Without a quick infusion of cash—specifically, $117,000—the bank will close the orphanage within a month. And those children will be sent back to the street.

Omar needs a miracle.

Perhaps a storm will help.

A hurricane hits Cabo San Lucas, flooding the orphanage and sending the rest of the community into chaos. This includes the Bisbee’s Black & Blue Fishing Tournament, which is plagued with cancellations from international travelers and is needing participants.

Witnessing Omar’s financial plight, a tournament official pairs Omar’s orphanage with a has-been fisherman and enters them into the competition, waving the hefty fees.

Could the Bisbee Black & Blue—the world’s richest fishing tournament—be the answer to Omar’s financial plight?

The new faith-centric Netflix film Blue Miracle (TV-PG) recounts this unlikely tale, which is based on a true story about an orphanage, Casa Hogar, that was on the verge of closing when the unexpected happened. It stars Jimmy Gonzales (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) as Omar and Dennis Quaid (I Can Only Imagine) as the fisherman, Wade.

It’s one of the most inspiring dramas of 2021, with themes involving second chances, fatherhood and prayer. (“God hears me every time,” Omar tells one of the boys.) It even has a positive message about temptation (Omar and Wade briefly consider cheating in order to win).

Quaid has mastered the role of an aging, gruff man. Gonzales is marvelous, too.

Chris Dowling, a Christian filmmaker who helped make faith movies such as Run the Race and Priceless, co-wrote Blue Miracle. Reach Records, the Christian label co-founded by Lecrae, produced the soundtrack.

Thankfully, Blue Miracle also is family-friendly, with only minor language—h-ll (1), p—ed (1), OMG (1)—and no sexuality or violence. Still, parents of small children may want to be cautious due to themes of abandonment and street violence.

Also worth watching this summer:

Spirit Untamed (Theaters, HBO Max)—A young girl develops a passion for horses — and horse-riding — after being sent to the wide-open frontier out west. Spirit Untamed includes a family-centric plot and is one of the year’s most kid-friendly movies. Rated PG for some adventure action.

Expedition Back to the Future (Discovery Plus)—Explorer Josh Gates joins actor Christopher Lloyd to search for the famous DeLorean time-traveling machine from the Back to the Future film series. Some families may not consider Expedition Back to the Future appropriate for young children—it includes minor language and scenes from the films—but parents who grew up in the 1980s probably will enjoy it. TV-14.

Oklahoma (Disney Plus)—A farm girl is courted by two cowboys in this 1955 musical classic. It was nominated for four Oscars and won two (Best Music, Best Sound). Oklahoma stars Gordon MacRae, Rod Steiger, Gene Nelson and Shirley Jones. It includes some of the best tunes you’ll ever hear in a musical. Rated G.

Meet the Meerkats (Discovery Plus)—Meerkats rescued from the illegal trade are returned to the Kuruman River Reserve in Africa and then followed by cameras as they adapt to the wild. It’s a fascinating animal documentary that has elements of a comedy and a drama.

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and entertainment for more than 15 years. He is the husband to Julie and the father of four young children.