Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/05/2014 - 10:29 Newly-elected IMB President David Platt speaks to trustees about his passion for taking the Gospel to unreached peoples during the Aug. 26-27 board meeting near Richmond, Va. By Erich Bridges, IMB Global Correspondent ROCKVILLE, Va. (BP) -- David Platt was elected president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board today (Aug. 27) by board trustees, meeting at the IMB's International Learning Center in Rockville, Va. Platt, 36, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, a Southern Baptist congregation in Birmingham, Ala., will take office effective immediately as president of the 169-year-old organization, the largest denominational missionary-sending body among American evangelicals. More than 4,800 Southern Baptist international missionaries serve worldwide. Platt succeeds former missionary, pastor and Southern Baptist Convention president Tom Elliff, 70, who has served as IMB president since March 2011. Elliff asked the agency's trustees earlier this year to begin an active search for his successor. Elliff and his wife Jeannie plan to return to their home state, Oklahoma. The author of the bestselling books "Radical" and "Follow Me," among others, Platt has been … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/05/2014 - 10:32 With his wife Heather and their four children by his side, David Platt addresses IMB trustees for the first time as the youngest president in the organization's history, during the Aug. 26-27 board meeting near Richmond, Va. Platt, 36, said he is "honored, humbled and overwhelmed" by his new role, but also "exhilarated" by the possibilities ahead. By David Roach and Art Toalston, Baptist Press ROCKVILLE, Va. (BP) -- Newly elected International Mission Board President David Platt wants to convince the "scores" of "totally disengaged" Southern Baptist churches that their best opportunity to reach the nations for Christ involves cooperating with fellow Baptists at the associational, state convention and Southern Baptist Convention levels, he said in a telephone press conference with some 15 members of the media today (Aug. 27). "There are scores of non-traditional churches that are totally disengaged from the SBC and the Cooperative Program and even from the IMB," Platt said. "... I don't think the way to mobilize them is to tell them they ought to give or make them feel guilty for not giving but to show them that this is worth giving to." Platt added that cooperation … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/05/2014 - 10:37 Mike Johnson, president of Freedom Guard legal ministry, told more than 100 pastors gathered at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church that while they are the ground troops in the culture war, his ministry is the legal air cover. By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter GREENWELL SPRINGS – More than 100 Baton Rouge area pastors, church leaders and several elected officials, including U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R- La., met at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church on Aug. 19, to stand against the corruption of the culture – especially during the upcoming election cycle. Organized by the Culture Impact Team of Greenwell Springs Baptist, and featuring speakers from the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Family Research Council, Watchmen on the Wall, Louisiana Family Forum and Freedom Guard, the meeting at times was as enthusiastic as a pep rally. “I am convinced that if we are going to change America – if we are going to reclaim America – it’s going to be God’s people – the grass roots – rising up,” declared Kelly Boggs, LBC spokesman and Baptist Message editor. “We need to go forward as a church on our knees and be salt and light to make a difference.” “Liberal activists of every stripe – … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message NEW ORLEANS – The United States Supreme Court made headlines this summer with a pair of decisions that dealt with religious liberty and free speech. One upheld the ability of Hobby Lobby as a privately held company to exclude certain healthcare coverage that owners deem contrary to their religious convictions. The other decision struck down a Massachusetts law that set a 35-foot buffer zone around entrances to abortion clinics. The decisions highlight the precarious state of religious liberty in the United States, despite the fact that religious liberty is a foundational tenet of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Religious liberty also is a Baptist distinctive, with Baptists long teaching that the government should not tell citizens what they should or shouldn’t believe or inhibit the free expression of belief. And yet, as society has changed so has its understanding of this concept. Religious liberty is now being challenged by the culture at large. On Sept. 30, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Institute for Faith and the Public Square will host a conference titled “Challenges to Religious Liberty.” The evening conference will feature Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/05/2014 - 10:43 Students at a high school, northwest of Oklahoma City, gather for the annual See You at the Pole global day of student prayer. Students shared photos, including this one, on Facebook and Twitter. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BURLESON, Texas – Rick Eubanks could sense God moving mightily in the fall of 1989 among the teenagers at a Texas church where he served as minister of music and youth. He never imagined that God would use the youth group to start one the largest student-led prayer gatherings around school flagpoles in the country – See You At The Pole. “We caught a vision that year,” said Eubanks, who is now minister of worship and students at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Burleson. “Our youth group was one of those special groups with an anointing from God and they believed in praying for their friends and others. It’s amazing how things took off.” While the genesis of See You At The Pole actually can be traced to a year-long emphasis on prayer among the youth at Crestmont Baptist Church, the key moment that kick-started the movement was the church’s Disciple Now in April 1990. A guest speaker during one of the sessions challenged the youth to surrender … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message NASHVILLE, Tenn. — David Hankins and Steve Lemke are among the 34 scholars and professionals who have been appointed as research fellows for the new Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s Research Institute. This new Research Institute and its fellows will assist the ERLC in its mission by producing a variety of materials to equip Southern Baptists and churches to engage ethical and cultural issues of the day. Hankins, the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s Executive Director, and Lemke, Provost and a professor of philosophy at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, were appointed to the Institute by Russell Moore, president of the ERLC. The newly named fellows come from all six Southern Baptist seminaries, several Baptist colleges, private and public universities and other prominent institutions such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Center for Law and Justice. “The aim of the Research Institute is to be a catalyst to connect the agenda of the gospel to the complex questions of the day,” said Moore, speaking about the launch and addition of the new fellows, “and to do so at the highest levels of academic scholarship for the good of local congregations. “I am thrilled to get to work … [Read more...]