Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

PLATT, IMB WELCOME 32 NEW MISSIONARIES

Baptist Press

Matthew Fisher (center), a new IMB missionary, is lifted in prayer by Gordon Fort, IMB ambassador for the president (front right), and Daniel Ethridge (left), who led worship from Liberty Baptist Church in Hampton, Va.
-Photo by Roy Burroughs/IMB

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — As a preschooler in Mission Friends, new Southern Baptist missionary Amy Jones learned about God’s desire to gather people from every nation, tribe, people group and language by His grace and for His is glory.

“It became real when my mother returned from England with stories and a tea set,” Jones recalled during a Sending Celebration Nov. 16 that marked the appointment of 32 new International Mission Board personnel at the IMB’s office in Richmond, Va. “Europeans are fascinating peoples, but too few follow Christ. So I began to pray for them.” [Read more…]

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PUERTO RICO RELIEF NEEDS ONGOING VOLUNTEERS, FUNDING

Baptist Press

Partnership discussions prompt a handshake between Sam Porter (left) and Luiz Rodriguez linking Southern Baptist and Puerto Rican Baptist churches in ongoing disaster relief. Porter is national director of disaster relief for the North American Mission Board; Rodriguez is pastor of Raham Baptist Church and president of the Convention of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
-Photo courtesy of Sam Porter/NAMB

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) — Southern Baptists continue to serve Puerto Rico’s residents after Hurricane Maria’s devastation in September, creating a nationwide response from the ground up.

“Though the plight of Puerto Rico has started to fade from the headlines,” Porter said, “there are still plenty of needs and places to serve.”

NAMB’s Send Relief outreach has attained warehouse space in Puerto Rico for the collection of food, water and other resources. Items are then distributed to various churches ministering to those in need in their region. [Read more…]

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LIFEWAY RESEARCH: BILLY GRAHAM HAS A FAR-REACHING LEGACY

By Bob Smietana
Lifeway

Billy Graham.
Photo from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

NASHVILLE — In the fall of 1949, a little-known Baptist preacher launched a series of revival meetings at a “canvas cathedral” at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Hill Street in Los Angeles.

The meetings were supposed to last three weeks. Instead they continued for eight weeks, drawing more than 300,000 people and making Billy Graham a household name.

Nearly 70 years later, the 99-year-old Rev. Graham remains one of the best-known preachers in America, according to a survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research. [Read more…]

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AAEO GIFTS SET RECORD

Baptist and Reflector

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Kevin Ezell announced Oct. 19 to the North American Mission Board staff that the 2017 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering totaled an all-time high: $59,648,377. The offering for North American missions beat the previous 2007 high by $185,096.

“We are grateful for every dime we get from Southern Baptists,” said Ezell, NAMB president. “We are thankful for churches, pastors, and denominational leaders who encourage their people to give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.”  [Read more…]

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SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHAPLAINS RESPOND TO TX COMMUNITY

by Josie Bingham
Baptist Press

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (BP) — “It’s a pretty somber place,” Scottie Stice said of the community left behind after Sunday’s horrific mass shooting at a Southern Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Stice, disaster relief director for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), reported teams of Southern Baptist chaplains and other DR volunteers are ministering however they can among those devastated by the “senseless” tragedy.

[Read more…]

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SUICIDE REMAINS A TABOO TOPIC

By Bob Smietana
Lifeway Research

NASHVILLE — Suicide remains a taboo subject in many Protestant churches, despite the best efforts of pastors, according to a new study from LifeWay Research.

Eight in 10 Protestant senior pastors believe their church is equipped to intervene with someone who is threatening suicide.

Yet few people turn to the church for help before taking their own lives, according to their churchgoing friends and family. Only 4 percent of churchgoers who have lost a close friend or family member to suicide say church leaders were aware of their loved one’s struggles. [Read more…]

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BILLY GRAHAM’S 99TH BIRTHDAY OFFERS 12-DAY RADIO SPECIAL

by Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Billy Graham (Photo, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sermons from Billy Graham’s prolific international ministry will be broadcast on an ad hoc radio station 12 days surrounding the evangelist’s 99th birthday (Nov. 7), the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has announced.

BGEA will host the Billy Graham Channel today (Nov. 6) through Nov. 17 as channel 145 on SiriusXM Radio, featuring sermons from Graham’s six decades of evangelism, as well as salvation invitations and reflections from family and friends, BGEA said. A companion website, TheBillyGrahamChannel.com, will offer companion resources. [Read more…]

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TRAGEDY IN TX: 26 KILLED IN SO. BAPT. CHURCH SHOOTING

Baptist Press

The 14-year-old daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor was among at least two dozen people killed when an armed man opened fire during Sunday morning (Nov. 5) worship services at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a Southern Baptist congregation about 35 miles southeast of San Antonio.
-Screen capture from CNN

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (BP) — The 14-year-old daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor was reportedly among 26 people killed when an armed man opened fire during Sunday morning (Nov. 5) worship services at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a congregation about 35 miles southeast of San Antonio.

The pastor, Frank Pomeroy, and his wife were both out of town when the attack occurred, said Mitch Kolenovsky, a field ministry strategist with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, who contacted the pastor. [Read more…]

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LIFEWAY NEARS MOVE; DRAPER TOWER SET FOR IMPLOSION

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

In this photo from 2016, LifeWay’s executive leadership team turned the ceremonial first shovels of dirt for the ministry’s new building. (From left to right) Jerry Rhyne, Eric Geiger, Selma Wilson, Thom Rainer, Brad Waggoner, Ed Stetzer, Tim Hill and Cossy Pachares.

NASHVILLE — The new owner of LifeWay Christian Resources’ Nashville corporate headquarters has slated demolition of the Draper Tower for early December, just weeks after the entity moves to its new home blocks away.

Plans to demolish the tower by implosion are scheduled for Dec. 2, followed by the demolition of the Sullivan Tower in early 2018. LifeWay Christian Bookstore on the site has already been torn down.

Several historic and iconic accents of the original campus will be preserved, including medal Scripture medallions, LifeWay Communications Director Carol Pipes said. LifeWay’s 1,100 downtown Nashville employees are still on schedule to move to the newly constructed headquarters in the Capitol View urban development in mid-November, Pipes said.

LifeWay’s new site will retain the entity’s history and values, LifeWay CEO and President Thom Rainer has said. The building will include stained glass windows from the Van Ness Auditorium, and a Scripture medallion featuring John 14:6, the foundation for the entity’s name.

“There will be historically significant items throughout these floors,” Rainer has told LifeWay trustees, “and there will be Scripture prominent everywhere.”

The new 277,000-square-foot headquarters will also house a new LifeWay retail store set to open in mid-November, Pipes said.

The implosion of the Draper Tower will be the first major implosion in Nashville in more than 30 years. The most recent was the 1985 demolition of the Sam Davis Hotel in preparation for the Nashville Convention Center, the Nashville Tennessean reported.

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Filed Under: SBC

CONGRESS SHOULD END IRS OVERSIGHT OF SERMONS, SAY PROTESTANT PASTORS

By Bob Smietana
LifeWay Research

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—In the 1950s, Congress banned charitable nonprofits—including churches—from endorsing candidates or otherwise intervening in elections.

Any nonprofit that violated the ban could run afoul of the IRS. Churches risked losing their tax-exempt status if the preacher endorsed a candidate in a sermon.

It’s time for that to change, most Protestant pastors say in a new survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

More than 7 in 10 say Congress should bar the IRS from punishing a church for sermon content. And 9 in 10 say their sermons should be free from government oversight.

“Most pastors believe the pulpit should be off-limits to the government,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. [Read more…]

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