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...]
Cooperation central to Platt’s vision at IMB
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...]
Pastors advised to impact their future by organizing a Culture Impact Team
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...]
NOBTS hosting religious liberty conference Sept. 30
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...]
SYATP: Simple vision has grown to God-sized proportions
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...]
Hankins, Lemke appointed to ERLC Research Institute
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...]
Designated giving has its place but it’s not better than the CP
By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor Designated giving for any organization that depends on donations from individuals and/or businesses is a double-edge sword. While designated gifts do have their place in a non-profit organization, they can also be the death knell, especially for a church. Designated money, for the uninitiated, is money specified to only be spent for that which the giver has designated. If the money is spent in other ways, it is not only unethical it is also illegal. At some point during the modern church era congregations embraced the concept of a unified budget. Members were encouraged to give money to a general fund which was then dispersed according to a budget approved by the church. All I have ever known is a unified budget process. That said, I have had to deal with individuals who wanted to designate their gifts and give only to particular ministries. Each time someone wanted to designate their gifts, I would listen to the reasons. I would then explain that while they were certainly free to designate their money, I asked if they would prayerfully consider not specifying where their gifts could be spent. I explained that if everyone designated their money the church could effectively become … [Read more...]
Here are 10 things I believe that we owe Dr. David Platt
By Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary FORT WORTH, Texas (SWBTS) – Many are aware that Dr. David Platt was not my choice for the presidency of the IMB. But the presidential selection committee has assured us that at the end of the intercessory road, Dr. Platt is God’s choice. Platt will be confirmed by the Board, so he is the next president of the IMB. Therefore, it is time for a burial. All critics beginning with me, must bury our reservations and get on our knees in behalf of this talented young man who now assumes this role. Throughout his first year in office, all Southern Baptists owe David Platt ten things just as we would any duly elected Southern Baptist agency head. 1. Prayer for his family’s protection. An assignment like the International Mission Board is hard on anyone’s family but especially on the family’s young children. The entire Southern Baptist family ought to pray not only that God will protect Dr. Platt and his family but also that they will be infinitely blessed by the experience. 2. Thanksgiving to God for the presence of a young leader who has obviously garnered the hearts of the younger generation and who will have the opportunity to lead them to a commitment to … [Read more...]
We must support and promote the Cooperative Program
By Bart Barber, Pastor First Baptist Church Farmersville, Texas The International Mission Board recently announced that Dr. David Platt is the new President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I had opposed his election. He now has my support. Here’s why: 1. According to our system, I had my say. The trustees had the opportunity to give full consideration to the questions that I raised. I trust that they did so. I do not regret having raised these concerns, but I respect our system of polity. I freely acknowledge that the trustees had access to more information than I had. More of them favored his election than opposed it. 2. The very critique that I made of Platt requires that I support him now. This is the way that our system is supposed to work. You engage yourself in the process. You advocate vigorously for your point of view. Together we Southern Baptists come to a decision. Unless the decision is so bad that we cannot follow Christ and abide by it, we coalesce around the decision that we’ve made and we move forward for the sake of our Great Commission task. From the bottom of my heart I urge any of you who have talked about cutting your CP support if Platt were elected not to do … [Read more...]
Five reasons why fatherhood is better than football
By Michael Foust, Editor, writer who blogs on parenting, fatherhood at michaelfoust.com I remember my first big-time football game as if it were yesterday. I was 13, sitting beside my dad and a friend in a huge stadium. The game, though, didn’t go as I had hoped, and a loss seemed certain — when something amazing happened. With only four seconds left, my team’s kicker booted a 51-yard field goal that tied the game, and we all went wild. It was a college game and there was no overtime back then, but we rode home feeling as if our team had won the Super Bowl. I also remember the birth of my first child as if it were yesterday. I was 36, standing in the delivery room with the doctor and nurses all around, minutes after midnight. Then something amazing happened. I heard a tiny, helpless, sweet cry, followed by a booming voice from the doctor: “It’s a boy!” They placed my son under the warmer and I saw him up close for the very first time. He was full of life, looking all around, squirming from head to toe. It was the most precious sight I had ever seen. My wife and I drove home two days later, feeling as if we’d won, well, the Super Bowl. I’ve been to quite a few football games in my life while spending far more money than I … [Read more...]
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