By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources communications DALLAS — GuideStone Financial Resources will release its popular annual tax guide in two phases. The Federal Reporting Requirements for Churches section is available now at GuideStone.org/TaxGuide. This section details filing requirements for Forms W-2 and 1099, as well as a brief section on filing requirements many churches will have to undertake as part of the Affordable Care Act. The remainder of the annual 2016 Tax Return Preparation and Federal Reporting Guide, Ministers’ Tax Guide for 2015 Returns, with its step-by-step filing instructions of personal ministers’ taxes, will be available online by the end of January. GuideStone participants can receive the free guide by visiting GuideStone.org/TaxGuide or can request a free printed copy by calling 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433). The guide was written again this year by Richard Hammar, a noted CPA, attorney and widely published author who specializes in legal and tax issues for ministers. Additionally, the material is edited by GuideStone’s staff to ensure that it addresses, in detail, the tax issues directly affecting Southern Baptist pastors. “Each year, we hear from so many pastors and other … [Read more...]

By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press GERMANY (BP) - The wife of freed pastor Saeed Abedini is expected to meet him in Germany, according to news reports released Jan. 19, where his health was being assessed after his release from a three-and-a-half-year imprisonment in Iran. Naghmeh Abedini was preparing to fly to Germany for a reunion before his return to their Boise, Idaho, home, she said in a Jan. 17 telephone interview on FOX News. "We are ready to welcome him home. I'm getting ready to fly out to Germany to be able to see him, and the kids are really excited because they are making welcome home signs," she said. "There's a lot of readjustment and a lot of healing that needs to happen. It's time for our family to heal and to move forward." Abedini was serving an eight-year prison sentence because of his Christian faith. U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., an evangelical Christian who has worked for Abedini's release, said in an Idaho Statesman report that he expects Naghmeh Abedini to arrive in Germany by Jan. 20. Pittenger arrived in Germany Jan. 18, but had not been able to meet with the pastor by that night. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) lobbied extensively for Abedini's release, which was … [Read more...]

By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – For all the talk that America is becoming a less religious nation, religion – primarily as it relates to politics – was again the most popular topic of discussion on Facebook as 2015 drew to a close. The Hill reports, based on data captured by Facebook from Dec. 13 to Jan. 12, that discussion of religion and its role in political issues surged on the world's most popular social media platform as primary contests heated up and the Republican candidates engaged each other in the debate season (including during last Thursday night's debate). Religious topics that garnered significant attention included the rise of the Islamic State, gun control and economic issues. The biggest winner, if success in politics is measured purely by how much a candidate is discussed, was Republican Donald Trump. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]

By Staff, Christian Examiner LYNCHBURG, Va. (Christian Examiner) – Donald Trump was on the stump at the world's largest Christian University Monday, but his effort to convince the audience of his evangelical bona fides might have fallen short after the politician – who claims Presbyterian lineage – quoted from the book of "Two Corinthians." "Two Corinthians, 3:17, that's the whole ballgame," Trump said. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The flub drew a roll of chuckles from the student audience, as Christians generally refer to the book as "Second Corinthians." There were also a few gasps when Trump twice cursed during the address to the Christian students and faculty. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]

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...]