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"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

GuideStone, ministries it serves, receive permanent injunction, protecting from contraceptive mandate, penalties

By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources DALLAS – An Oklahoma federal court issued a permanent injunction Thursday, March 15, prohibiting the federal government from enforcing the contraceptive mandate issued by the Obama Administration in 2013. The mandate, issued under the Affordable Care Act, would have forced certain ministries to provide abortion-causing drugs or devices or face potentially crippling fines. The permanent injunction protects the plaintiffs in the case — Reaching Souls International, an Oklahoma mission-sending entity, and Truett McConnell University, a Georgia Baptist institution — along with GuideStone. The permanent injunction also protects “all current and future participating employers in the GuideStone Plan, and any third-party administrators acting on behalf of these entities with respect to the GuideStone Plan.” Churches and closely held ministries were exempt from the mandate already. “The permanent injunction ensures that no ministry GuideStone serves is forced to choose between following its conscience or facing fines that may put its very existence at risk,” said Harold R. Loftin Jr., chief legal officer for GuideStone. “This is the very heart of why we have the Religious … [Read more...]

Invested in theological education strategy, Arnetts left a lasting impact in Africa, the world

By Julie McGowan RICHMOND, Virginia— On March 14, International Mission Board missionaries Randy Arnett, 62, and Kathy Arnett, 61, were traveling to a theological training event when they were involved in an automobile accident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Missouri-natives did not survive. The Arnetts, who served as theological education strategists for Africa, were traveling with fellow missionaries Jeff and Barbara Singerman, from Ohio, when the single-vehicle accident occurred about two-hours’ travel from Kinshasa, the nation's capital. The Singermans, who also sustained injuries in the accident, were transferred to Kinshasa for medical care. They have since been transferred to Johannesburg, South Africa, for continued care. The missionaries were driven by a Congolese national who also sustained injuries but has been released from medical care in Kinshasa. “Randy and Kathy Arnett in so many ways represent what is best about the IMB,” said IMB President David Platt. “They gave their lives and family for over 30 years proclaiming the gospel, planting churches, and training pastors and missionaries across Sub-Saharan Africa. They did all of this with a zeal for God’s name, a confidence in God’s … [Read more...]