By David Roach, Baptist Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) - Sixty years ago, the Montgomery Bus Boycott famously catapulted Martin Luther King Jr. to national leadership of the civil rights movement and led to the end of segregated public transportation in Alabama. Less commonly known is that the boycott occasioned advice to pastors by King that some Southern Baptists say they still take to heart. King, in this 1958 book "Stride Toward Freedom," recounted the struggle in Montgomery, then asked, "Where do we go from here?" Pastors, he concluded, were an important part of the answer. "The important thing is for every minister to dedicate himself to the Christian ideal of brotherhood, and be sure he is doing something positive to implement it," wrote King, then pastor of Montgomery's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. "He must never allow the theory that it is better to remain quiet and help the cause to become a rationalization for doing nothing. Many ministers can do much more than they are doing and still hold their congregations." Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, told Baptist Press "biblically-oriented pastors" took such advice to heart, noting that his predecessor, longtime First Baptist Montgomery pastor … [Read more...]

By Julie Walters, WMU communications BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) - Wanda Lee announced a search committee will be appointed to seek her successor as executive director/treasurer of national Woman's Missionary Union at the group's board meeting, Jan. 9-11. During the meeting, WMU also heard mission reports and addressed ways it is assisting International Mission Board personnel who have elected to take a voluntary retirement incentive. The meeting was at Shocco Springs Conference Center in Talladega, Ala. In her report, Lee said no date has been set for her departure. She pledged to continue to lead WMU until a new executive director is named and help facilitate a smooth transition. "It is my duty to give sufficient notice and it's my desire to ensure a seamless transition as the committee seeks someone with a fresh vision for our future," Lee shared Jan. 11 at the meeting. "May God bless the new leader of national WMU as He's blessed me on my leadership journey." Lee was elected executive director of national WMU in January 2000. She is the only woman in the history of WMU who also served as national president, an office she held 1996–2000. Lee served as president of Georgia WMU from 1993–1996. In addition, she and her … [Read more...]

By Staff, Alliance Defending Freedom WASHINGTON – A broad array of groups and states – including more than 200 members of Congress and 20 states – filed briefs this week with the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to the Obama administration’s abortion-pill mandate and its religious non-profit compliance mechanism, which forces the groups to violate their faith. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent a Christian college and four Christian universities in Geneva College v. Burwell and Southern Nazarene University v. Burwell, two of seven cases that the Supreme Court agreed in November of last year to take up. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception through their health plans under threat of heavy penalties. Geneva College in Pennsylvania and the four universities in Oklahoma – Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Mid-America Christian University – specifically object to providing abortifacients. “The administration continues to impose the same unacceptable choice: obey and abandon your freedom, or resist and … [Read more...]

By Tom Strode, Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) -- President Obama wasted no time in killing legislation that would have largely defunded the country's No. 1 abortion provider. The president vetoed Friday (Jan. 8) a budget-related bill that would have cut nearly 90 percent of federal money in the next year for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates. The legislation also would have essentially gutted the controversial 2010 health-care law opposed by nearly all pro-life organizations. Obama, a strong backer of both Planned Parenthood and the health-care law, had promised to veto the legislation. He followed through only two days after the House of Representatives approved the bill, titled the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act. While an override vote is expected in at least the House, neither chamber of Congress has the votes for the two-thirds majority required to overcome the president's action. Passage of the proposal by both houses remains something of a victory for pro-life advocates, since it apparently marks the first time a bill to cut funding for Planned Parenthood has reached a president's desk. Obama's veto protected the interests of an organization that … [Read more...]

By Michael Foust, Christian Examiner DES MOINES, Iowa (Christian Examiner) – Evangelist Franklin Graham launched his 50-state "Decision America" tour Jan. 5, telling more than 2,500 people in Iowa's capital that America will fall if God's people don't take a stand for righteousness. The third stop of Graham's "Decision America" tour will be in Baton Rouge on Jan. 13. "Our country is in trouble, but we've got a great God," Graham told the crowd gathered in front of the capitol building on a cold winter day. Using the story of Nehemiah as a reference to America, Graham added, "The moral and political walls of our nation are crumbling. ... [God] can rebuild those walls. He can rehang those gates. But it's going to take the people of God praying and using your God-given right to vote. ... If we don't, this country's not going to stand much longer." Graham has pledged to visit every state in the coming months leading up to the election, emphasizing that the rallies are spiritual, not political, in nature. The DecisionAmericaTour.com website says Graham is challenging Christians "to live out their faith at home, in public and at the ballot box," and he did just that throughout the first rally. He also, as promised, shared … [Read more...]

By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Christian Examiner) – Roy Moore, chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court, has issued an order to his state's probate judges instructing them to halt the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples until conflicts over "existing orders" from the Alabama Supreme Court can be resolved and the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges clarified. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws and constitutional amendments in Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee and Ohio which declared marriage to be only a union between one man and one woman were unconstitutional – an action most interpreted as creating the right to same-sex marriage nationwide. Moore, however, had noted in his order that the Alabama Supreme Court had upheld the state's ban on same-sex marriage in March 2015, and because Obergefell v. Hodges only addressed the right to same-sex marriage in four states, other states' same-sex marriage laws – including his state's laws – remain unaffected and intact. "Confusion and uncertainty exist among the probate judges of this State as to the effect of Obergefell on the 'existing orders,'" Moore wrote in his four-page order. "Many probate judges are issuing marriage … [Read more...]

By Kelly Ledbetter, Christian Examiner KAY COUNTY, Okla. (Christian Examiner) – Helen Strickland, the wife of 29-year-old vocalist Craig Strickland, tweeted Monday afternoon that his body had been found. "#CraigStrickland was found today. He is safe with his Father in Heaven. Thank you Lord for leading us to him today. I will praise you, Amen," she wrote in her Tweet on social media. Last week he was feared dead in a northwestern Oklahoma lake, as his wife asked for prayers for a miracle and her husband's safe return. "While we hurt and experience the worst pain of our lives, we sometimes believe that God might not be there with us listening when we cry out to Him. But then, when we least expect it, He speaks and comforts us in such beautiful ways," Helen Strickland had tweeted. Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Cross Church in Springfield, Arkansas, tweeted New Year's Eve: "Heavy hearts and continued prayers from the @crosschurch family for @HelenWisner (Strickland) as the search continues for @BackroadCRAIG." The lead singer, a part of the six-member country and rock band Backroad Anthem, which formed in Arkansas in 2012, was duck hunting with his friend on Kaw Lake when … [Read more...]

By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources DALLAS — GuideStone Financial Resources, along with LifeWay Research and Baptist state conventions, will open the biennial SBC Church Compensation Survey in 2016. Ministers and church employees are invited to participate in the survey, a resource used by churches of all sizes to determine fair wages and benefits. Survey participants will have the opportunity to enter for a chance to win an iPad®. The survey and complete contest rules are available at GuideStone.org/CompensationSurvey. The survey’s results will be made available in the early fall, in time for many churches considering their 2017 budgets. The survey is the largest free, church compensation study conducted in the United States. The most recent survey results — conducted in 2014 — have been visited almost 55,000 times. “GuideStone works tirelessly to be an advocate for pastors and church staff, ensuring that they are compensated fairly,” said O.S. Hawkins, President of GuideStone Financial Resources. “The surveys can help churches benchmark their own salary and benefits packages against churches of like size within Southern Baptist life.” Survey results are not reported individually. Compensation and benefit … [Read more...]

By Billy Graham Christmas is a special time. It is a family celebration. Other holidays are different. Good Friday and Easter are usually celebrated in church. National days are honored with speeches, parades and the ceremonies of government. But Christmas is glorified in the home because it is the celebration of a birthday. Yet there is irony in the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. He was born away from home, on a journey that symbolized the restless and the wandering nature of the world into which He came. He was born in the insecurity of a barn, a symbol of the fact that during His public ministry, He would have very little home life. He roamed the roads and towns of ancient Palestine. He died, taking the ordeal of the cross so that out of His suffering and His victorious resurrection mankind could find redemption. Christmas means different things to different people. To some, Christmas is merely a means to make more money. People vie with each other in their preparation for the celebration of the occasion. Some of them do not believe in Christ; they may even hate Him. But Christmas has become big business. People are more concerned to hear about their profit from Christmas than to hear about the Prophet from … [Read more...]