By David Roach, Baptist Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) – Spiritual awakening, the defense of marriage and the preservation of religious liberty were among key themes addressed by messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 16-17 in Columbus, Ohio. The meeting was highlighted by a Tuesday night prayer gathering led by SBC President Ronnie Floyd, at which an estimated 7,000 Southern Baptists spent two hours asking God for a third Great Awakening in America and the global advance of the Gospel. The gathering was watched by an additional 8,000 people online and broadcast on Daystar television. The 5,407 registered messengers – up from 5,294 in Baltimore last year – also took several actions to advance racial and ethnic diversity within the SBC and celebrated nearly 60 missionaries during the first-ever joint missions service of the International and North American Mission Boards. Floyd, who was reelected to a second term as SBC president, called in his presidential address for Southern Baptists to provide spiritual and moral leadership amid a time of crisis in the world that also is “our most defining hour as Southern Baptists.“ Building on Floyd's address, the June 16 prayer time featured intercession led … [Read more...]

By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources EDITOR'S NOTE: June 28 is Mission:Dignity Sunday in the Southern Baptist Convention. DALLAS (BP) - Virginia Pangle summed up what Mission:Dignity means to a pastor's widow like herself. "I don't have to worry about being cold, hungry or going without my medicine," she said. Mission:Dignity, a ministry of GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, ensures that Pangle along with nearly 2,000 other retired Southern Baptist pastors, their spouses or widows are able to have a sense of financial dignity in retirement. The ministry, fully supported by gifts from individuals, Sunday School classes and churches, provides monthly grants to retired Southern Baptist workers in critical financial need. The neediest couples can receive up to $600 each month in assistance. Mission:Dignity Sunday, held the fourth Sunday of every June on the Southern Baptist Convention's calendar, is set aside for churches to make a special offering for support of the ministry. Sixty percent of Mission:Dignity recipients are widows; one out of every four recipients is a pastor's widow age 85 or older. Mission:Dignity receives no Cooperative Program funding. "GuideStone … [Read more...]

By Baptist Press staff COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) - Gibbie McMillan, a pastor and Louisiana Baptist men's ministry and volunteer strategist as well as state director of disaster relief, was among 11 late nominees the Southern Baptist Convention entity trustees elected June 16 at the SBC annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Also at the annual meeting, messengers asked questions of two SBC entity heads. The 11 additional proposed trustees were nominated by a seven-member subcommittee of the Committee on Nominations appointed at the committee's March meeting in Nashville. The need for late nominations arose for a variety of reasons such as initial nominees' opting not to serve, trustee resignations and trustee deaths. The Committee on Nominations' entire slate of nominees to the SBC Executive Committee, the four convention boards, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the six seminaries and the Committee on Order of Business was elected after messengers rejected Virginia messenger Brent Hobbs' motion to replace International Mission Board nominee Tom Polvogt of First Baptist Church in Katy, Texas, with Johnson Ellis of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. The 11 late nominees were: -- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: … [Read more...]

By Baptist Press CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP) -- Less than 24 hours after his mother died at the hands of an assassin during a church prayer meeting, Charleston Southern University sophomore Chris Singleton stood before television cameras and declared that "love is always stronger than hate." Flanked by coaches and teammates, Singleton, who plays baseball at CSU, thanked his teammates for their "amazing" support and recalled his mother's example of showing love to others. "If we just love the way my mom would, then hate won't be anywhere close to what love is," he said. "My mom was a God-fearing woman. She loved everybody with all her heart." Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45, was a speech therapist and women's track-and-field coach at Goose Creek High School outside Charleston. She was one of nine people shot to death June 17 by a lone gunman in the basement of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston. Chris Singleton recalled a game in which he was standing in the on-deck circle. He caught his mom's eye, and she told him she was praying for him. "Mom, don't you think I already did that?" he said. His mom replied, "You can never have too much prayer." Answering reporters' questions, Singleton … [Read more...]

By Baptist Press CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP) -- The national media spotlight has been on Charleston for several days following the massacre of nine Christians during a Wednesday night Bible study at the predominantly black Emanuel AME Church. A 21-year-old white supremacist, Dylann Storm Roof, joined in the service for about an hour before opening fire on the group. This act of racist hate could have exploded into confusion and violence, but the light from Charleston has shone brighter than the media light that has been on the picturesque South Carolina city. Roof said he chose Charleston "because it is the most historic city in my state. Someone has to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me." What Roof soon discovered was that the hate and evil he demonstrated was met with real-world Christians who chose to respond with what seemed like unbelievable love and forgiveness. Chris Singleton, a sophomore at Charleston Southern University and member of the baseball team, felt the pain of the attack. His mother was one of the nine who was shot and killed. Less than 24 hours following her death, he said, "Love is always stronger than hate." Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley said, "If that guy thought in his … [Read more...]

By Baptist Press Staff NASHVILLE (BP) -- The following are men's ministry resources recommended by Stephen Rummage of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla.; Fred Luter of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans; and Richard King of First Baptist Church in Las Cruces, N.M. Henry and Tom Blackaby, "The Man God Uses" (Nashville: B&H, 1999). This seven-week study helps men understand how God is working in their lives and how to surrender completely to Him. Topics covered include a godly man's relationship to family, work, church and community. Al and Lorraine Broom, "One to One Discipling" (Multiplication Ministries). This nine-lesson study is designed for one person to teach another the basic doctrines of Christianity. Edwin Louis Cole. "Maximized Manhood" (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker, 1982). This book teaches men to realize their full potential in Christ, addressing such issues as pornography, adultery, television addiction and immaturity. Tony Dungy, "Uncommon Manhood" (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2012). This book encourages men to focus on character, integrity and courage rather than status. Tony Evans, "Kingdom Man" (Carrol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2012). This book explains how men can be godly in their … [Read more...]

By Diana Chandler and Art Toalston, Baptist Press EDITOR'S NOTE: Responses by Southnern Baptist leaders Ronnie Floyd, K. Marshall Williams, A.B. Vines, Russell Moore, Frank S. Page and Richard Harris follow this story. CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP) - Christians are uniting in prayer and benevolence across racial distinctions in Charleston, S.C., after a 21-year-old man massacred nine Christians in a June 17 prayer service at historic Emanuel AME Church, said neighboring Southern Baptist pastor Keith Biggs. "Everyone together -- white, black, Hispanic, everybody -- we're coming together in unity to see this not only [as] an attack on people, but an attack on the body of Christ," said Biggs, associate pastor of Citadel Square Baptist Church, which neighbors the site of the crime. "I mean, who can walk into a church and sit for an hour and have prayer, and then just begin to kill everybody?" The FBI identified the shooter as 21-year-old Dylann Roof of Columbia, S.C., whose uncle told police he believes Roof received a .45-caliber handgun as a birthday present, Reuters reported. Roof was arrested late Thursday morning in Shelby, N.C. In what police are calling a hate crime, a man identified as Roof sat calmly in the church during … [Read more...]