With all the national coverage devoted to the Boy Scout case this summer, including the Baptist Message, a great many people have become confused about a few important facts. With all the national coverage devoted to the Boy Scout case this summer, including the Baptist Message, a great many people have become confused about a few important facts. While about a dozen of over 1,400 local United Ways in this country have decreased their funding for the Boy Scouts, the vast majority have made no change whatsoever. Specifically, the United Ways in Louisiana are continuing their support. In Central Louisiana, for example, we have allocated $71,000 to the Attakapas Council of the Boy Scouts for the year 2001. That will not change unless our fundraising campaign falls short of its goal. That would be a shame, for then worthy organizations such as the Scouts wouldn’t receive the help they deserve.   Our Louisiana United Ways are solid organizations that help their local communities gather the resources to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry and help people in countless ways around our state. In fact, I use Matthew 25:31-46 often to help people understand why churches, United Ways and their member agencies … [Read more...]

There are Godly leaders on both sides of the current dispute in our state convention, and I am writing to request that they get together before November to have a series of joint prayer meetings. God placed this burden on my heart this summer. There are Godly leaders on both sides of the current dispute in our state convention, and I am writing to request that they get together before November to have a series of joint prayer meetings. God placed this burden on my heart this summer. In the early 90s, I served on the Executive Board. Every meeting was filled with tension and strife. I never thought it would get better, but around 1995, there was a dramatic improvement when leaders on both sides gathered to pray. Why not do it again?   I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. I am a fundamentalist, but it seems to me that we cannot defend the Bible by disobeying the Bible. No one who has received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is my enemy. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, and what we have in common far outweighs any differences we may have. God calls us to love, forgive and pray for each other, and we should be obedient to His call.   Hopefully, walls of misunderstanding and mistrust can … [Read more...]

What role should a presidential ticket’s religious faith play in a voter’s decision on which lever to pull on election day? Certainly the presidential and vice presidential candidates’ personal faiths have become major talking points this election year. Surprising amounts of media time and space have been given to present the religious beliefs of George Bush, Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Joseph Lieberman. Even third party candidates’ religions are spotlighted. What role should a presidential ticket’s religious faith play in a voter’s decision on which lever to pull on election day? Certainly the presidential and vice presidential candidates’ personal faiths have become major talking points this election year. Surprising amounts of media time and space have been given to present the religious beliefs of George Bush, Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Joseph Lieberman. Even third party candidates’ religions are spotlighted.   Why this attention to the religious beliefs of the candidates?   If candidates and the media are making this much of the religion issue, one can know for sure this attention is driven by polls that reveal this is what the public says it wants to know. If polls indicate the public thinks … [Read more...]

The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee again declined to study the use of Cooperative Program funds in efforts involving groups with differing beliefs. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee again declined to study the use of Cooperative Program funds in efforts involving groups with differing beliefs.   During the 2000 national convention this summer, Jerry Moser had asked committee members to study the expenditure of Cooperative Program funds or assets "as pertains to any SBC-supported employee’s, entity’s or agency’s cooperative involvements with organizations which include participating individuals, groups, denominations or conventions whose professed be2liefs are in conflict with or could ‘risk possible compromise of the historic distinctives or the unique witness of Southern Baptists to the world.’ " Moser is pastor at Bayou DuLarge Baptist Church in Theriot.   Moser had made a similar motion at the 1999 Southern Baptist Convention, only to have the Executive Committee decline to initiate such a study last fall.   The result was the same this year, with committee members reporting last week that trustees and staffs of the various denominational … [Read more...]

If Texas Baptists follow through with a proposal to reduce funding to Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and selected agencies, denominational leaders said they will appeal directly to churches in the state for funds. If Texas Baptists follow through with a proposal to reduce funding to Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and selected agencies, denominational leaders said they will appeal directly to churches in the state for funds.   During its scheduled meeting last week, members of the SBC Executive Committee adopted a resolution addressing a recent funding proposal by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.   If approved by Texas Baptist state convention messengers this fall, the plan would reallocate about $4.3 million that now goes to Southern Baptist seminaries to three schools in Texas. Instead, $1 million would be divided among the Southern Baptist seminaries based on the number of Texas students they enroll.   In addition, Texas would eliminate funding for the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and provide only token funding for the Executive Committee.   The Executive Committee resolution labels the Texas proposal "a unilateral breach of a … [Read more...]

A Southern Baptist missionary family in Uganda escaped death Sept. 9 after bandits pumped bullets into their car during an ambush attempt. A Southern Baptist missionary family in Uganda escaped death Sept. 9 after bandits pumped bullets into their car during an ambush attempt.   Larry and Terry Singletary, International Mission Board missionaries from Tomball, Texas, were driving with their children outside Karamoja, Uganda. Andy, 19, and Jackie, 15, were in the back seat singing "God is good, all the time!" with their parents when a tribal warrior stepped from the tall grass alongside the road. He quickly retreated into the grass, then reappeared, aiming an AK-47 automatic weapon at the car. Another armed man appeared on the other side of the road.   "I knew we were in an ambush," Mrs. Singletary said.   The warrior began firing in front of the missionaries’ car. Singletary jammed the gearshift into reverse and swung the car around as his family ducked between the seats. Three bullets pierced the car and entered the vehicle.   "One went in through the roof and hit between Jackie and Andy in the back seats," Mrs. Singletary said. "One shattered the window on Andy’s side. … [Read more...]

For years, many parents and concerned observers have lambasted the American entertainment industry for targeting their children with all degrees of violence.   For years, Hollywood largely has ignored the attacks, dismissing them as efforts at "censorship." A report offers a troubling look at media violence and kids - but also represents a hopeful step in the right direction For years, many parents and concerned observers have lambasted the American entertainment industry for targeting their children with all degrees of violence.   For years, Hollywood largely has ignored the attacks, dismissing them as efforts at "censorship."   For years, politicians have declined to address the problem, leaving the entertainment industry to police itself - with predictable lukewarm results.   For years, the dance has gone on - attack, rebut, announce a token effort at reform.   And nothing really changed.   But it may now.   Now, the parents and critics have company - a scathing Federal Trade Commission report outlining how the entertainment industry has targeted children with violence indeed.   Now, Hollywood appears on the real defensive … [Read more...]

If preachers want to see the power of God in their ministries, they will have to be passionate and certain about the message - and live a life of holiness to God. Stephen Olford insisted recently. If preachers want to see the power of God in their ministries, they will have to be passionate and certain about the message - and live a life of holiness to God. Stephen Olford insisted recently. "Beloved, if you stand behind this holy desk and your life isn’t pure; if your life isn’t absolutely holy as far as you know it; if you are not walking under an unclouded sky with the ungrieved, unquenched Holy Spirit in your life; then, my friend, you’ve absolutely blocked the message from any authority whatsoever," Olford stressed in a series of lectures at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.   In his addresses, Olford stressed the importance of "incarnational preaching," in which preachers are not only to preach the Word of God but to live it as well.   Olford cited concern with statistics that indicate pastors are becoming more and more susceptible to worldliness. This worldliness is draining the pulpit of God’s supernatural power to change lives, he insisted.   In turn, Olford … [Read more...]

A co-worker sticks her head into a neighboring cubicle. "Want to grab a bite to eat?" she asks a fellow worker. "I’m starving."   The reply is immediate - "You bet. I’m so hungry I could eat a side of beef."   And off they go, seeking nourishment.   Chances are, they will not have to look far - it seems restaurants are on every corner. Finding one usually is not difficult. Most often, the difficulty is in choosing one.   Of course, some people are not so lucky. Aco-worker sticks her head into a neighboring cubicle. "Want to grab a bite to eat?" she asks a fellow worker. "I’m starving."   The reply is immediate - "You bet. I’m so hungry I could eat a side of beef."   And off they go, seeking nourishment.   Chances are, they will not have to look far - it seems restaurants are on every corner. Finding one usually is not difficult. Most often, the difficulty is in choosing one.   Of course, some people are not so lucky.   They have no choice, no burger shop just down the road - and no monetary means to visit it even if it was close.   And rest assured, one never will hear these people speak in exaggerated terms … [Read more...]