By Kelly Boggs, Baptist Message Editor“Don’t ask, don’t tell” was a policy employed by the U.S. armed forces. Military officials were instructed not to inquire concerning a serviceperson’s sexual preference and, in turn, the serviceperson was expected to keep his or her sexuality private. In other words, everyone was expected to keep their mouths shut when it came to homosexuality.Homosexual activists, and some liberals, decried the practice of “don’t ask, don’t tell” as un-American, and President Obama signed a repeal of it in 2010. However, a variation of the practice seems to be reemerging in a different form, and it is liberals who are now employing what they once deemed “un-American.”Angela McCaskill, longtime chief diversity officer at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., has been placed on administrative leave because she signed a petition calling for voters to have a say on Maryland’s new law recognizing homosexual marriage.Proponents of traditional marriage gathered enough signatures to place a referendum, Question 6, on the November ballot. Question 6 asks voters whether they are “for” or “against” the new law enacted by the Maryland legislature this past spring and set to take effect Jan. 1.McCaskill was one of the … [Read more...]

  By Timothy George, Founding Dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University Earlier this year I was asked to address a group of Southern Baptist pastors on the question of Christian faith and political engagement. Though no one knew for sure who the candidates would be at that time, the first question I was asked was, “How should an evangelical Christian decide who to support in this election?” That was a legitimate question, and has prompted me to think of some wider implications. 1) We should be grateful to live in a representative democracy where the right to vote and the rule of law are respected. Such has not always been the case, even in our own country, as the history of slavery, women’s suffrage and the struggle for civil rights indicates. Religious liberty and political responsibility are closely related: If we default on the latter, we may well forfeit the former. Vote! 2) The American republic was founded on a clear distinction between church and state, as the First Amendment shows, but this has never meant the separation of faith from public life. What we believe about ultimate matters has a direct bearing on how we deal with issues of everyday life. What is a human being? How do we foster a society … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 10/24/2012 - 01:00 The Shelby family: Rob and Amy Shelby in their Prairieville home with their nine children. (Back row, left to right) Cade, 12, Tate, 10, Ian, 11 helped save their father from drowning in a neighbor's pool on July 4. (Middle row, L. to R.) Abram, 7, Sarah, 4, Rob, Asa, 3, Amy holding Isaac, 1, and leaning on her chair is Cai, 8 and Emma, 5.   By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter PRAIRIEVILLE – Robert Shelby knew something was terribly wrong when he couldn’t move his arms or legs to swim back up to the surface. Fully conscious but helpless, he laid on the concrete bottom of a neighbor’s pool holding his breath, hearing his children’s laughter echo down from five feet above him. The associate pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, 40-year-old father of nine children and husband to Amy – who is pregnant with baby girl and number ten – was showing several of his children how to dive on the morning of July 3. He slammed his head on the bottom, broke the C-6 vertebrae in his neck and pinched his spinal cord. “I prayed and asked God what are you supposed to do when you are about to die?” Shelby said after two months of recovery and rehab. “It … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) – The Cooperative Program ended its fiscal year 3 percent over budget and at 99.41 percent of last year’s contributions. Church giving hopefully has dipped as low as it will from the U.S. economic downturn and may be ready to stabilize or climb, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank Page said. “Those who research these things tell us that church giving usually lags one to two years behind the general economy,” Page said. “God’s people are not immune from the hardships associated with this life. ... It should come as no surprise, then, that church giving has been deeply affected by the nation’s four-year recession. “With that in mind, the Executive Committee sought to achieve a balance between faith and realism when it set this past year’s budget,” Page said. The SBC received $191,678,994.28 in CP gifts during the fiscal year Oct. 1, 2011-Sept. 30, 2012, or $199,650.88 less than the $191,878,645.16 received during the last fiscal year. This year’s giving is $5,678,994.28 above the budget goal of $186,000,000. “We finished 3 percent ahead of our budgeted goal and only slightly under last year’s CP total. This is hallelujah territory! To God be the … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 10/24/2012 - 01:00 Luter speaks at NOBTS: SBC President Fred Luter preached during the Sept. 20 chapel service at NOBTS.   By Frank McCormack, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter preached during New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Sept. 20 chapel service, his first speaking engagement there of his historic presidency. “My life has been turned upside down since this election on June 19,” Luter said. “I never realized this position of Southern Baptist Convention president would bring so much notoriety.” Luter said he has received phone calls from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, a call from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s camp, personal letters from former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and a proclamation from Texas Governor Rick Perry. “Then a month ago, my wife and I got the greatest joy of our life. We sat for 45 minutes in the home, at the kitchen table, of Dr. Billy Graham,” he said. Reflecting on all the experiences of the past three months, Luter, pastor of New Orleans’ Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, asked for prayer. “I’m just asking for your prayers for … [Read more...]

By Staff, World News Magazine (WNS) – A federal appeals court panel decided Oct. 10 to uphold but delay enforcement of a South Carolina law requiring people to produce a government-issued photo ID before casting a vote. The three-judge panel agreed unanimously that given the short amount of time before Election Day, the voter ID law may have “discriminatory effects” if implemented this year. The law will take effect in 2013. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told CitizenLink that people have plenty of time to get a photo ID. “It prevents people from impersonation fraud, from voting under false or fraudulent registrations,” he said. “It prevents illegal aliens from voting if they have to produce a government issued photo ID. It can potentially prevent double voting by people registered in more than one state.” “The fact remains, voter ID laws do not discriminate or disenfranchise; they ensure integrity at the ballot box,”  South Carolina Alan Attorney General Wilson said. “This ruling also affirms South Carolina’s voter ID law should have been pre-cleared by the U.S. Justice Department.” Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 10/24/2012 - 01:00 Family adopt twin girls: Perry and Michelle Gardner are shown holding their adopted twin girls: Connally and Haven. Gardner, the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Jonesville, and his wife received news of the adoption on Father’s Day 2012. They traveled to Ethiopia in August to meet their daughters for the first time.   By Marc Eichelberger, LBCH Communications JONESVILLE – Perry and Michelle Gardner have been married for seven years. Through various personal and shared experiences, they both had a strong desire to pursue adoption for their family. Their plan was to have a biological child, then pursue adoption. Little did they know that God had a much different plan for their family. After a year of trying unsuccessfully to conceive and a series of doctor’s visits, tests and second opinions, the couple learned that their infertility was certain and irreversible. Perry serves as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Jonesville. In March 2010, the couple shared their struggle of infertility with their church family. It was a time of healing for the couple that allowed their church family to walk beside them as they journeyed towards becoming parents. “We … [Read more...]

By Marc Eichelberger, LBCH Communications Orphans Embrace, the newest ministry of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home, sponsored a mission trip to Haiti in September. A team of Louisiana Baptists from Calvary Baptist in Alexandria, First Baptist Monroe and Trinity Baptist in Oak Grove, joined together with other missionaries from Florida to assist with the rebuilding the Enfants Demunies Orphanage in Bon Repos, Haiti, near the capital of Port-au-Prince. The original orphanage was destroyed in the January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 Haitians. Haiti remains one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of more than 9 million people. Sixty-eight children are currently being housed in a make-shift dwelling consisting of two rooms with dirt floors, no running water or sewage until they can move into the new orphanage. Due to unforeseen construction delays, it seemed doubtful this team would be able to complete all the projects. However, by the grace of God and the team’s hard work, not only were projects completed, additional projects were accomplished. The mission team was grateful to know that their work will make it possible for the children to move into the new orphanage before … [Read more...]

By Marc Eichelberger, LBCH Communications National Adoption Month is a time designated to increase awareness of the adoption of children from foster care and to honor families that have adopted. In 1976, Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts announced an Adoption Week to promote awareness of the need for adoptive families for children in foster care. The idea grew and spread across the United States. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Adoption Week and in 1995, President Bill Clinton expanded the week to the entire month of November. In the U.S. today, over 400,000 children are in foster care, with 107,000 of those children available for adoption. In Louisiana, over 4,500 children are in foster care, with 300 of those children available for adoption and in need of a forever family. Louisiana Baptist Foster & Adoption Network, a ministry of Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries, envisions all of these precious children adopted by Christian families and vitally connected to churches. To learn more about adoption through foster care or how your church can participate in National Adoption Month, contact Beth Green at 318.343.2244 or beth@lbch.org. Information is also … [Read more...]

  By Philip Caples, Louisiana College's Caskey School of Divinity The Lord changed my life twenty years ago when He called me to be a minister of the gospel. I accepted the call into the ministry without knowing the duties and responsibilities of a pastor or the problems that a pastor can encounter through local church ministry. Even though I did not know my duties, the Lord has been gracious to teach me, and He has been patient with me as I have tried to learn how to work with problems that arise in a local church. Thanks to his leadership, each church ministry that I served has helped me to observe patterns that were associated with problem areas in church ministry. An overarching problem that emerged in the churches I served involved who was in charge. I investigated the validity of this problem in Louisiana with the help of the Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and learned the primary reason for forced termination of Louisiana pastors and staff members was who is in charge. When I saw the extent of this problem, I began to search for the origin of this controversy and a possible solution. The issue of who’s in charge seems to swirl around at least three possibilities: church … [Read more...]