Week of November 7, 2005
Missionaries to be featured during the 2006 Southern
Baptist North American Missions Emphasis include one Louisiana Baptist
worker. Eight Southern Baptist missionaries or missionary couples are
selected each year to represent the work of 5,200 missionaries across
the United States and Canada. The work of the missionaries selected in
2006 includes starting new churches, student evangelism on college
campuses, inner-city Baptist center ministries, associational missions,
interfaith witness evangelism and ministering in resort settings. They
also include Mary Gore of Zwolle, a resort missionary who shares the
gospel with children and adults through various campground ministries
in the popular Toledo Bend Lake area. The North American Missions
Emphasis includes three aspects – the annual Week of Prayer set for
March 5-12, 2006, the North American Mission Study and the Annie
Armstrong Easter Offering. More information about the emphasis is
available at www.AnnieArmstrong.com.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief announced Nov. 2
that volunteers have prepared a record 10.5 million meals since
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in late August. The meal count shatters
the previous record of 3.5 million meals set in 2004. In one of the
most active hurricane seasons in U.S. history, more than 9,000 Southern
Baptist volunteers from 41 state conventions have been deployed
following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. In a related development,
the North American Mission Board announced monetary donations for
disaster relief also have surpassed all previous records. Donations
received so far top $18 million, with much of the money already sent to
areas devastated by the hurricanes to minister to needs of individuals
and Southern Baptist churches and to share Christ.
About 1,000 persons gathered for a memorial service
Oct. 30 to remember Kyle Lake, pastor of University Baptist Church in
Waco, Texas. The Baptist pastor was electrocuted that evening after
grabbing a microphone while submerged in the waters of a baptistry.
Microphones have long been used at the church due to the large size of
the congregation, which regularly exceeds 600 worshippers on Sundays.
However, on that morning about 800 persons gathered for the morning
worship service. The baptismal candidate had not stepped into the
waters and was not injured. Lake was taken by paramedics to a nearby
hospital, where he died around 11:30 a.m., the church’s Web site
reported.
Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose-Driven Life” and
pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., is utilizing
another innovative method of ministry: putting Bible-based quotes on
Starbucks coffee cups. Warren will be part of Starbucks’ campaign
called “The Way I See It,” which is a collection of thoughts, opinions
and expressions provided by notable figures that now appear on the
chain’s coffee cups. His intitial quote will mark the first mention of
God in the Starbucks quote campaign.
A pro-life group has called for a boycott of the
popular American Girl doll and book series during the Christmas
shopping season, saying the company’s ties to an organization
supportive of abortion rights and lesbianism are unacceptable. The
Pro-Life Action League’s announcement came three weeks after it first
spotlighted American Girl’s partnership with Girls Inc., a nonprofit
youth organization whose advocacy statement supports legalized
abortion, contraceptive access and assistance for girls exploring their
“sexual orientation.” Prior to 1990, Girls Inc. was known as Girls
Clubs of America. For each $1 “I Can” bracelet American Girl sells, the
company has pledged to donate 70 cents to Girls Inc. In addition to the
proceeds netted from bracelet sales, American Girl – a subsidiary of
Mattel – has promised to donate $50,000 to the organization. The “I
Can” bracelet was launched in September as a way of encouraging girls
to “follow their dreams.” The American Girl doll and book series is
popular among young girls.
A Superior Court judge has ruled that the transfer
of a landmark war memorial to the federal government would be
unconstitutional – even after San Diego voters easily approved a
proposition facilitating the transfer. The monument incorporates a
cross as its most prominent element – and supporters of it have vowed
to continue the fight to retain it. Judge Patricia Yim Cowett ruled
that Proposition A, which passed with 76 percent of the vote in July,
would be an unconstitutional aid to religion. She barred the transfer
and said Proposition A and the ordinance the city council passed to
place it on the ballot are invalid and unenforceable because of the
constitutional violation. The 29-foot-tall cross atop Mt. Soledad came
under fire from a San Diego atheist more than a decade ago. The cross
was erected in 1954. The approved proposition would have made the
monument a national war memorial. Such a move was seen as a way to
preserve the memorial after a judge ruled in 1991 that the cross on
public land violated the California constitution. That ruling still
stands now, although supporters of the monument said the case
eventually could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2004, Southern Baptist missions worker Carrie
McDonnall suffered major injuries as the lone survivor of an insurgent
attack that killed her husband, David, and three other workers in Iraq.
Now, she has released a book chronicling her story. The book is titled
“Facing Terror.” It recounts events that led McDonnall to Iraq
and sounds a call to serve Christ, even in the midst of tremendous
danger among a people group hostile to the gospel. “The world is not
our place of rest; it is a time to work and follow hard after Jesus,”
McDonnall writes. “When we get home, we can rest. But for now, God is
calling his children to share the gospel of the cross, the power of our
holy father; it’s time we obediently follow him. May we all live our
lives in a manner worthy of the calling we have received in Christ
Jesus. May we live lives we will never regret.”
Creation polls
A majority of adults support the biblical account of creation, a new
CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll indicates. The survey is the latest in a
series of polls reflecting Americans’ tendency to reject secular
evolution. In the poll, 53 percent of adults say “God created human
beings in their present form exactly the way the Bible describes it.”
Another 31 percent believe humans “evolved over millions of years from
other forms of life and God guided” the process. Twelve percent say
humans “have evolved over millions of years from other forms of life,
but God has no part.” The poll of 1,005 adults is the latest survey
showing Americans tend to reject a strictly secular explanation for the
existence of life. A Harris poll of 1,000 adults in June found that 64
percent believe “human beings were created directly by God. Likewise,
an NBC News poll of 800 adults in March found that 44 percent believe
in a biblical six-day creation, while another 13 percent saw a “divine
presence” in creation.
Church technology
Although the church frequently is viewed as behind the times, a new
study shows Protestant congregations quickly are embracing new
technologies. The Barna Group survey shows that, since 2000, many
congregations across regional, denominational and sociological
categories have embraced the Internet, videography and other high-tech
methods of carrying out their ministries. For example, the study showed
that 57 percent of all Protestant churches now have a Web site – up
from only 34 percent in 2000. The study also found that 62 percent of
all Protestant churches use large-screen projection technology. In
2000, only 39 percent of them used large screens.