Submitted by philip on Fri, 03/07/2014 - 11:46 IMB President Tom Elliff chats with people attending the IMB trustee meeting in Austin, Texas, Feb. 25-26. Elliff tasked trustees with beginning a search for his replacement. He assured Baptist media members Feb. 26 that God has told him "this is the time to leave." By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press AUSTIN, Texas (BP) – IMB President Tom Elliff asked the mission agency’s trustees to begin searching for his successor because the Lord told him during prayer that it was the best way to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership, Elliff said in a teleconference with several state Baptist papers. “[God’s] telling me that this is the time to leave,” he said Wednesday (Feb. 26), “and that if I will obey Him and ask the Board of Trustees to appoint a search team ... that is the surest way to ensure a smooth transition. “Not every entity has gone through that kind of a process, and sometimes things go along with fits and starts. But we’ve got so many personnel on the field, they don’t need that. They need a sure vision. They need sure communication. They don’t need to feel at any moment that there’s a lack of leadership.” Elliff has no timeline for his departure, but in … [Read more...]

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Submitted by Baptist Message... on Mon, 03/10/2014 - 11:22 Test Breaking Select rating Give it 1/5 Give it 2/5 Give it 3/5 Give it 4/5 Give it 5/5 … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee will consider a proposal June 9 to update the SBC constitution regarding qualifications for churches to send messengers to the annual meeting. During its Feb. 17-18 meeting in Nashville, the Executive Committee decided to place the item on its June 9 agenda prior to the SBC annual meeting in Baltimore to allow Southern Baptists time to discuss the proposed change and provide feedback. The committee's deliberations, then, will determine whether the proposed revision will be presented to messengers at the June 10-11 SBC annual meeting. The Executive Committee also took action on motions referred from the 2013 SBC annual meeting in Houston regarding gender-neutral Bible translations and churches' response to mental health issues.   Church messenger qualifications   The proposal to amend Article III came as a motion from the floor at last year's SBC annual meeting -- the 16th motion on this article in the past 35 years -- to reevaluate the minimum qualifications for seating additional church messengers at the SBC. Article III currently states that churches in friendly cooperation with the convention can send one additional … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 13:22 During his address to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Feb. 17 in Nashville, SBC President Fred Luter thanked the body for prayers and encouragement offered during his tenure as the first African American president of the SBC. By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention will encounter affliction as it serves the Lord, but will complete its God-given mission because of the Lord's promises, Luter said in his presidential address to the SBC Executive Committee Feb. 17 in Nashville. Using Psalm 34:19 as a text, referencing the Old Testament's Job and adding humor with the fictional James Bond, Luter said the Lord not only brings tribulation to the righteous, but successfully brings the righteous through those same troubles. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous," the Scripture reads, "but the Lord delivers him out of them all" (NKJV). "One of my favorite James Bond movies of all time was 'Goldfinger.' The guy had James Bond on this saw, and James Bond was about to get killed. … And some way, somehow, [Bond] turned his watch, and his watch becomes a laser, and stopped the saw. And I said how does he do that? "I … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 13:24 Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, told committee members that Southern Baptists face “challenging days” with Cooperative Program giving. But he also expressed hope for future. By Shawn Hendricks, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) -- Southern Baptists face "challenging days" with Cooperative Program giving, Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, told committee members in Nashville, voicing hope for an upswing in giving. While sharing his passion for CP and its role in supporting missions and ministry around the globe, Page said the momentum for the "1% CP Challenge" continues to grow for churches to increase CP giving by 1 percentage point of their budgets. "I have written personal letters to almost 3,000 pastors thanking them for their involvement" in the 1% CP Challenge, Page said Feb. 17. "Our state executives are saying, 'Frank, please don't stop. Our people are just starting to get it.…' We won't stop. "It is my passion that fuels my heart belief in this," Page said. "I supported this before I was paid to support this. As a pastor I strongly supported over 10 percent of our church's undesignated receipts to the Cooperative … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) -- A more visual redesign of sbc.net, the official website of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, has officially launched, Frank Page announced to committee members in Nashville. While the new website will feature much of the same information and resources that readers have logged on to the site to access, it also will include a variety of new visual updates, said Page, president of the Executive Committee. One of those updates includes a rotating slideshow of images and stories across the top of the site. "SBC.net has a new look," Page told committee members Feb. 17 as he pointed out new features of the site displayed on a video screen. "We believe it's going to be an excellent resource for our convention. "Everything that you've always seen and [that is] important will be on there," he said. Two of the most popular features of the site, he said, allow people to search for jobs in Baptist Life and for cooperating churches. The site also features a daily devotional and a newsfeed of Baptist Press stories. "We want it to be a one-stop shop," Page said. "Anything you need to deal with SBC-wise will be on sbc.net." … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 13:28 By Bob Smietana, LifeWay Communications NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Most pastors know that having well-trained volunteers and lay leaders is essential for the health of any local church. But few have a strategy for training, said Todd Adkins, director of leadership at LifeWay Christian Resources. Enter MinistryGrid.com, a new online training site designed to deliver easy, affordable and high quality training at anytime, anywhere. The site features more than 2,000 original training video sessions on topics from church leadership and finances to parking ministry and childcare. The idea behind the site is to give churches a framework for their training programs, said Adkins. “If you don’t give people a framework, they won’t grow,” he said. Adkins said in the past, local congregations sent volunteers to conferences or used denominational programs such as Training Union to equip church members for ministry. That’s no longer the case. “People used to take a week of vacation to attend training events like Sunday school week at Ridgecrest,” he said. “They don’t do that anymore.” Instead of sending volunteers or staff members to an event, Ministry Grid allows churches to bring the … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 13:50 Naghmeh and Saeed Abedini by Trillia Newbell, Baptist Press BOISE, Idaho (BP) -- On a hot summer day in 2012, Naghmeh Abedini drove her husband Saeed to an Idaho airport. They shared a casual goodbye, assuming they would see one another in two or three weeks. Instead he was imprisoned in Iran, and they haven't seen or spoken to one another since. Saeed Abedini, 33, was sentenced to eight years in prison after returning to Iran for a work trip. This began an almost two-year nightmare for his wife, who is now fighting for his release while raising their two children alone. "It has been the hardest time of my life," Abedini said of her husband's imprisonment. "I feel like my life was taken from me. I experienced extreme anxiety and depression at first. I cried out to the Lord and felt like the woman bleeding for 12 years" (Mark 5:25-34). Abedini's imprisonment has caught the attention of major news sources as well as President Obama. At the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast, Obama mentioned Abedini in calling for international religious freedom: "We pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini. He's been held in Iran for more than 18 months, sentenced to eight years in prison on charges … [Read more...]

By Shelly Moon, GuideStone Communications DALLAS — Ministers and church employees are invited to participate in the 2014 SBC Church Compensation Survey: a tool used by churches of all sizes to determine fair wages and benefits. Participants will be entered for a chance to win an iPad. The survey and complete contest rules are available atwww.GuideStone.org/CompensationSurvey. “GuideStone continues to be an advocate for pastors and church staff, ensuring that they are compensated fairly,” said O.S. Hawkins, President of GuideStone Financial Resources. “That’s why we partner with LifeWay Christian Resources and Baptist state conventions to produce this bi-annual study.” Survey results are not reported individually. Compensation and benefit information can be contributed anonymously. Each Southern Baptist church employee who participates in the survey plays a vital role in building one of the largest databases of church compensation information in the United States. Survey results provide a baseline of compensation data among similar-sized churches within each state convention. Therefore, a higher number of participants leads to a more accurate baseline of compensation data. “We receive numerous requests to answer compensation … [Read more...]