For the week of December 2, 2004 Father-son missionaries   The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board experienced a first during the recent commissioning of 88 missionaries - the appointment of a father and son at the same time. Samuel and Rebecca Caballero of Colorado were commissioned to serve as church planters in Denver. Son Fernando and his wife, Donna, were named to Colorado as statewide missionaries for multiethnic church planting. "Dad and I have always worked together since I was 13," Fernando Caballero said. "That’s when he first asked me to play the guitar for one of the new churches he was starting." The dual commissioning was the first for the mission board, a spokesperson said. The new workers will join more than 5,100 North American Mission Board missionaries who serve in every state, province and territory in the United States and Canada.   Absolute support   President George Bush "absolutely" will push for a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution during his second term, said Karl Rove, the president’s chief political adviser. An ongoing push is underway to pass an amendment that would define marriage as only between a man and a woman. "We cannot … [Read more...]

ll Louisiana Baptist eyes are on Louisiana College. Events at the college, the gem of Louisiana Baptists, have garnered significant concern, a great deal of news coverage and a monumental helping of gossip. All Louisiana Baptist eyes are on Louisiana College. Events at the college, the gem of Louisiana Baptists, have garnered significant concern, a great deal of news coverage and a monumental helping of gossip. There are as many interpretations of events at the college as there are interested parties.   What we know for sure is this: Malcolm Yarnell was offered the position as president of the college, and Malcolm Yarnell accepted the position, and he, then, declined the position. We know that Malcolm Yarnell said the primary issue was that he and the college trustees’ executive committee could not agree on the "governance" of the school. As of yet, neither the search committee nor the trustees’ executive committee have made official responses to his stated reasons.   The happenstance of Louisiana College’s trustees   offering Malcolm Yarnell the presidency just before the annual meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention and the presentation of Malcolm Yarnell at the convention … [Read more...]

Ask people around Bangalore, India, what a Christian looks like and many would describe Rebekah Naylor, the Southern Baptist missionary surgeon who has labored at Bangalore Baptist Hospital for the past 30 years. Ask people around Bangalore, India, what a Christian looks like and many would describe Rebekah Naylor, the Southern Baptist missionary surgeon who has labored at Bangalore Baptist Hospital for the past 30 years.   Some have seen Naylor, the cool, precise, professional medical doctor who has performed countless surgeries and other medical procedures. She has saved lives, delivered babies and relieved suffering for thousands of people over the years.   Others know her through her soft-spoken but persistent sharing of the gospel, her training and encouragement of Indian Baptists in how to witness and plant churches. In this role, she has helped bring eternal life to thousands and relieved tahe spiritual suffering known by many here who fear Hinduism’s vengeful gods.   For Naylor, the missionary calling and the drive to become a physician were one calling. It came when she was 13. "God spoke to me very clearly about personal involvement in foreign missions service," she … [Read more...]

Through the events of 9-11, recent hurricanes and the 2004 presidential election, Henry Blackaby said he believes God is trying to get America’s churches to turn back toward him. Through the events of 9-11, recent hurricanes and the 2004 presidential election, Henry Blackaby said he believes God is trying to get America’s churches to turn back toward him.   "So far, we’re not being the salt God intended us to be," said Blackaby, president of the Atlanta-based Blackaby Ministries International. "And this election helped us to understand how divided the nation is or, to put it another way, how little influence we’ve had on affecting the morality of the nation.   "I believe that we cannot ignore what God is trying to say to us," Blackaby said during the closing address of the recent Louisiana Baptist Convention.   "But in this time I want to talk to you from a very, very significant word from God that his grace is sufficient for us."   Citing 2 Cor. 12:9-10, Blackaby asked LBC messengers questions that examine why God’s grace is sufficient for them.   • Has the cross lost its power?   Blackaby noted that when he first began missions work in Canada, his … [Read more...]

Almost two months to the day that Louisiana College trustees voted to call Texas Baptist educator Malcolm Yarnell as president of the school, he has withdrawn his name from consideration, unable to negotiate an acceptable contract. Almost two months to the day that Louisiana College trustees voted to call Texas Baptist educator Malcolm Yarnell as president of the school, he has withdrawn his name from consideration, unable to negotiate an acceptable contract. In a Nov. 23 e-mail to various sources, Yarnell announced his decision, citing irreconcilable issues of governance with trustees. Instead of traveling to the Pineville school at the first of the year, Yarnell now will remain as an administrator and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. "Except two be agreed, how can they walk together? (Amos 3:3)," begins the e-mail forwarded from Yarnell to the college and several news outlets. "After accepting the presidency at Louisiana College, governance issues which would significantly impact my ability to lead the school were fully disclosed during the subsequent negotiations over the contract which the board of trustees desired," Yarnell wrote. "Although the trustee chairman and … [Read more...]

Christian leaders from nearly 130 countries recently gathered in Thai- land to consider 31 key issues confronting world evangelization - and learned of one huge challenge that might trump all the others. Christian leaders from nearly 130 countries recently gathered in Thai- land to consider 31 key issues confronting world evangelization - and learned of one huge challenge that might trump all the others.   Is it terrorism? Persecution? Opposition from hostile governments or religions?   No. It is this simple fact - 4 billion people (or about two-thirds of the world’s population) are oral learners.   They communicate, learn, perceive reality and embrace core beliefs through orally-expressed stories, songs and proverbs - not through the books and other forms of linear thinking.   Some oral learners are illiterate because of lack of education. Many others belong to the thousands of oral cultures of the globe. Some even may read a written language, but it is not the way they prefer to interact with the world. These include millions of postmoderns in "literate" societies.   Even if all the other higher-profile roadblocks suddenly fall away, this one will continue to … [Read more...]

w do children learn to pray? The young mother’s husband was in and out of the hospital, suffering from painful kidney stones. Her Christian friends proved compassionate, encouraging, prayerful visitors. How do children learn to pray? The young mother’s husband was in and out of the hospital, suffering from painful kidney stones. Her Christian friends proved compassionate, encouraging, prayerful visitors.   In the midst of the comings and goings of the young husband’s illness, their minister preached on "Going the Second Mile."   When the wife considered the support of what she considered "second mile Christians" who visited her and took care of her 5-year-old son, she said to herself, "With people praying for my husband, I have felt it is my responsibility to be on my knees at least as much."   Sunday evening, the loving mother knelt beside her bed to pray for her husband - and to offer thanks for her friends.   While she was praying, her young son slipped into the room. He was supposed to be in bed, she said, but you know, any excuse ...   "I heard him sneak in behind me but decided to finish praying," recalls the mother who has been a Christian only a few … [Read more...]

For the week of December 9, 2004 Supreme Court decision   The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the decision by the Massachusetts high court that legalized same-sex marriages in that state. Without comment, the high court turned down an appeal from 11 Massachusetts state legislators and Catholic Action League Vice President Robert Largess. The group had argued that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court violated the U.S. Constitution when it forced the state to legalize same-sex marriages. The decision by the court was not a surprise. Legal experts say the Supreme Court often is reluctant to overturn a decision by a state high court. It also does not mean the nation’s high court will not hear a same-sex marriage case in the near future. The case before the court dealt with the decision by the Massachusetts court. It did not deal with the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which is being challenged in seven separate cases in lower courts. That act gives states the option of not recognizing another state’s same-sex marriages.   Convention resolutions   Baptists in at least seven states approved resolutions during their annual meetings that take stands against same-sex … [Read more...]

The following Christmas commentary was written by LBM Associate Editor C. Lacy Thompson, with indebtedness to Francis Church, the newspaperman who penned the famous "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" editorial in the New York Sun in 1897. Note: The following Christmas commentary was written by LBM Associate Editor C. Lacy Thompson, with indebtedness to Francis Church, the newspaperman who penned the famous "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" editorial in the New York Sun in 1897.   They sat in a cafe talking, getting to know another, sharing the moments and memories and meanings of their lives.   It was near Christmas, so, predictably, conversation finally turned to the approaching holiday season.   "I don’t celebrate Christmas," she said. "I don’t see the point. I believe in Christ. I read the Bible. But I don’t celebrate the season. Why should I?"   Hours later, alone at home, he relived the conversation, turned off the television, sat at the desk with pen and paper and began to write.   Why celebrate Christmas?   It is a good question.   It is a fair question, one that deserves - and demands - an answer.   Why … [Read more...]