News

GPS: An audacious vision to reach North America
By Jerry Pipes, North American Mission Board
Published January 14, 2010

As I travel throughout North America, I am awed by the work God is doing in this vast mission field. He is at work in the hearts of those who know Him and those who have yet to know Him through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Abortion: no option for Adam and Jaymi Stapp
Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is Jan. 17
By J. Gerald Harris, Editor
Published January 14, 2010

The infamous Roe v. Wade decision handed down by the Supreme Court in January of 1973 clearly devalued human life. Since that atrocious decision more than 50 million babies have been slaughtered in abortion clinics and hospitals across America.

Bring on the Drama
Harp's Crossing doubling as a community theater
By Scott Barkley, Production Editor
Published January 14, 2010

A love for theatrics is highly welcomed at Harp's Crossing Baptist Church.

Savannah: One of the three WMU national ministry sites
Published January 14, 2010

This year, Gloria Mills is going to bring her husband and grandchildren to FamilyFEST.

Red Cross links survivors with family lost in Holocaust
By Katy Muldoon, c. 2009 Religion News Service
Published January 14, 2010

Alexa Dezsofi's eyes raced across the documents and landed on a stunning fact: A man who shares her last name, in all likelihood a distant cousin and the sort of family she'd searched for, had actually survived one of history's most notorious concentration camps, Dachau.

Georgia students minister in San Francisco in support of partnership
Published January 14, 2010

By the time this summer rolls around, nearly 200 students will be following in the footsteps of south Georgia residents Jordan Hughes and Christi Castleberry, both of Thomasville.

This isn't your grandfather's missions movie
By Tim Townsend, c. 2010 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Published January 14, 2010

Three hundred evangelical Christian college students sat in a dark, packed downtown hotel ballroom, the projected glow of a movie the only source of light.

Navy linebacker serves Christ
By Joshua Cooley
Published January 14, 2010

Scott Pospisil knew it years ago.

Hume says anti-Christian bias fueled Tiger Woods backlash
Published January 14, 2010

Fox News analyst Brit Hume, who was both widely praised and criticized for suggesting that golfer Tiger Woods should embrace Christianity to find true "redemption," said he fell victim to widespread media bias against Christianity.

Survey: South most religious; Northeast among least
68 percent of Georgians call religion 'very important'
By Michael Foust
Published January 14, 2010

The South is the most religious region, the Northeast and a handful of Western states the least religious, and the rest of the country falls somewhere in between, according to a recently released survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Indian reservation girls study missions
By Melissa Hall
Published January 14, 2010

God is touching young hearts through missions education on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in Fort Totten, N.D.

Georgia NewsBriefs

Jordan joins GBC Discipleship Ministries
Published January 14, 2010

Jonathan Jordan will join Discipleship Ministries as a consultant on Jan. 4, focusing on adult discipleship, disciple-making strategies, equipping leaders, and small group leadership. His responsibilities will include facilitating and resourcing associational and church leaders in "strategically making disciples and equipping them to be fully-devoted followers of Jesus Christ," said Alan Folsom, who leads the Discipleship Ministries team.

NOBTS North Georgia hub to host Korean Doctor of Mininstry classes
Published January 14, 2010

New Orleans Seminary's trustee executive committee has approved a Korean-language doctor of ministry program to be hosted at the North Georgia Hub in Marietta.

Brewton-Parker College music chair says enrollment on the increase
Published January 14, 2010

In a Dec. 17 page 1 story on Brewton-Parker College, The Index reported, "The Bachelor of Music degree will be eliminated due to the declining number of students enrolled in that major." However, the chair of the Division of Music begs to differ with that account.

Johnny Hunt cancer surgery a success
Published January 14, 2010

Southern Baptist Convention president and First Baptist Woodstock pastor Johnny Hunt continues to recuperate following surgery Jan. 7 to remove a cancerous prostate at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

Baptist News Summary

FamilyNet sold again
Published January 14, 2010

FamilyNet, a television and radio network formerly owned by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, has been sold once again.

2010 Church compensation survey available now online
Published January 14, 2010

The 2010 SBC Church Compensation Survey, a joint effort of Baptist state conventions, LifeWay Christian Resources, and GuideStone Financial Resources, is now online.

Lottie Moon home belongings from China unveiled at Southwestern
Published January 14, 2010

Southwestern Seminary unveiled a shipment from China Dec. 16 containing remnants from the Chinese home and belongings of Lottie Moon.

CP giving 0.63% behind '09 pace
Published January 14, 2010

Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program are 0.63 percent behind the same time frame at the outset of 2009, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Morris H. Chapman.

Children of inmates receive Christmas hope from Louisiana churches
Published January 14, 2010

Franklin Avenue Baptist Church made Christmas brighter for some 225 children whose parents are imprisoned.

Grad student writes carol for troops
Published January 14, 2010

A grad student of a college affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention hopes a Christmas carol he wrote helped bridge the distance between soldiers and families during Christmas.

New network for Russian-Americans
Published January 14, 2010

Twelve Russian and Ukrainian church planting strategists and pastors from across the U.S. and Canada, in the first strategy roundtable of its kind at the North American Mission Board, founded a "Slavic Church Planting Network."

BP launches Bill Fay column
Published January 14, 2010

Baptist Press launched a monthly column Jan. 5 by Bill Fay, the author of the evangelism training book "Share Jesus Without Fear."

Religious NewsBriefs

Reform rabbis decry discrimination
Published January 14, 2010

Reform rabbis have resolved to protest attacks on religious freedom in 2010 by supporting women who seek to worship equally with men in Jerusalem and Muslims who want to build minarets in Switzerland.

Report says nearly 70 percent of nations face religious restrictions
Published January 14, 2010

About one-third of the countries in the world have high restrictions on religion, exposing almost 70 percent of the globe's population to limitations on their faith, new research shows.

Prison pastor wins right to preach
Published January 14, 2010

A New Jersey inmate who was ordained a Pentecostal minister in prison nine years ago but was banned from preaching behind bars won back that right in a negotiated settlement stemming from his lawsuit.

Group condemns attempted bombing, warns against profiling Muslims
Published January 14, 2010

A prominent Muslim-American advocacy group has condemned the attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound flight on Christmas Day, but has also warned of the dangers of "profiling" in the name of air security.

People and Places

Honors
Published January 14, 2010

Ministerial Moves
Published January 14, 2010

New Deacons and Ordinations
Published January 14, 2010

Cooperative Program Stories

Getting Their Groove On
Telling the Cooperative Program Story
By Sherri Brown, GBC Communications Services
Published January 14, 2010

This year's Youth Evangelism Conference theme, MOVE!, was apparent during every session - from dance contests to a challenge to move closer to God.

Bible Study

Wrestling With Work
By Jim Duggan, Senior Pastor, Poplar Springs Baptist Church, Ringgold
Published January 14, 2010

Eccl. 2:18-26, 5:18-20
Related Sunday School Lesson, Bible Studies for Life, Jan. 31

Wrestling With Stuff
By Jim Duggan, senior pastor, Ty Ty First Baptist Church
Published January 14, 2010

Eccl. 2:4-8; 5:10-16
Related Sunday School Lesson, Bible Studies for Life, Jan. 24

Columns

Reinventing Christianity
By J. Gerald Harris, Editor
Published January 14, 2010

We have heard much about the Emergent Church for almost two decades. Some have looked with favor upon this movement - or "conversation," as its proponents prefer to call it. Others view the Emergent Church with skepticism, if not outright disdain.

Reaching the world ... together
By Richard H. Harris
Published January 14, 2010

There's been a lot of talk in recent months about how Southern Baptists can most effectively reach our lost world for Christ. That's a conversation from which I believe we can all benefit.

The Open Door
By J. Robert White, Executive Director GBC
Published January 14, 2010

Every day we are making memories. This picture reflects a memory made this Christmas, when surrounded by my grandchildren we got covered with dough and flour in the process of making Christmas cookies. There were cookies that looked like Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees, candy canes, and several undetectable blobs of cookie that tasted just fine. Everybody got to decorate their cookies any way they wanted to and take them home to enjoy.

Women must look to each other for emotional connection
Published January 14, 2010