For the week of December 13, 2001
World of Religion
Cooperative Program
Gifts through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program totaled
$16 million last month, an increase of more than $2.2 million (16.4 percent)
from the previous November. Two months into the Southern Baptist conventions
new budget year, overall gifts total $28.5 million, almost $964,000 (3.2 percent)
behind budget. Meanwhile, designated gifts totaled almost $3.8 million last
month, an increase of almost $100,000 (2.7 percent) from the previous November.
Call to prayer
Six Southern Baptist leaders have joined Southern Baptist Convention President
James Merritts call for a day of prayer for Muslims on Dec. 16. SBC Executive
Committee President Morris Chapman, International Mission Board President Jerry
Rankin, North American Mission Board President Robert Reccord, LifeWay Christian
Resources President James Draper Jr., Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
President Richard Land and Womans Missionary Union Executive Director-Treasurer
Wanda Lee joined Merritt in signing a Nov. 30 open letter asking Southern Baptists
and other Christians to “pray that God would speak clearly to Muslims and
reveal himself” at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. Muslims spend
the last night of Ramadan – Dec. 15 – in a prayer vigil in which they ask God
to reveal himself to them. Southern Baptist leaders are calling on church members
to unite in prayer the next day – a Sunday. Merritts letter cautions Christians
not to equate Muslims with the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks
on America. Rather, Christians should be concerned with the spiritual lostness
of Muslim people, he says. A page of prayer points is available at www.acalltoprayer.net.
Graham relocation
Leaders of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association have announced
they will move the 51-year-old organization from its longtime location in Minneapolis
to Charlotte, N.C. Evangelist Billy Graham already lives in the state, which
also is the location of the Billy Graham Training City and Samaritans
Purse, son Franklin Grahams relief ministry. In addition, Charlotte is
where the elder Graham was born. The move will provide needed space and save
money in the long run, leaders said. The ministry will move from a 2.3-acre
site in Minneapolis to 63 acres on the Billy Graham Parkway north of Charlotte.
Relocation is not expected for three to five years.
Tax incentive coalition
A coalition of religious and civil liberties groups that have
differed on church-state matters has issued a statement urging Congress to adopt
tax incentives that encourage charitable giving by low- and moderate-income
Americans. “We are united on the need for changes in the tax laws that
affirm the generosity of all Americans who make charitable contributions and
unleash significant new resources for Americas armies of compassion,”
reads a statement from the Working Group on Human Needs and Faith-Based and
Community Initiatives. The group offer such recommendations as permitting non-itemizers
to deduct their charitable contributions and easing limitations on charitable
contributions from IRAs and similar accounts. Signers of the statement included
such disparate leaders as Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
President Richard Land and Americans United Executive Director Barry Lynn.
Missionary carjacking
Carjackers abducted Southern Baptist missionary Sam Upton on
Nov. 28 in Lilongwe, Malawi. However, he was safely released several hours later,
after fellow missionary Tom Patterson jump-started a worldwide prayer network.
Upton and Patterson were returning home about 9:30 p.m. Pulling into Pattersons
driveway, they found themselves surrounded by four armed men. The men pointed
AK47s and Uzis in the two mens faces and demanded they turn over the vehicle.
The men pushed Patterson out, forced Upton into the floorboard of the back seat
and took off in the truck and their getaway car. Patterson ran into the house
to call the police and gear up an international prayer chain. “I started
praying face down in the floorboard …” Upton wrote in an e-mail later.
“I prayed as a guy sat on me with his knee in my back.” After driving
awhile, the armed robbers stopped, pulled Upton out of the vehicle and forced
him into the trunk of a car they were driving. “In there was a gallon of
petrol (gas), which sloshed out,” Upton noted later. “The fumes were
tremendous, but I had the assurance of Gods presence. I did not panic.”
After about 45 minutes of driving, the abductors let Upton out in a remote part
of town. The missionary walked to a hotel to call home. Later, he thanked all
those around the world who were mobilized to pray for him so quickly. Meanwhile,
missions leaders urged Southern Baptists to continue praying for the safety
of missionaries around the world.
Christmas advertising
An advertising campaign to remind people what Christmas is
really all about has been launched by a group of 150 congregations across the
denominational spectrum around Manchester, England. The campaign features 30-second
television ads during peak viewing hours. The campaign takes a popular football
supporters chant – “Sing your heart out for the lads” –
and subtly adapts it by putting it into the singular – “Sing your
heart out for the lad.” It invites people to attend a carol service during
Advent in one of their local churches. The ads feature a variety of celebrities
and ordinary citizens.
Did you know?
Research indicates that 72 percent of churches with a weekly attendance of
2,000 persons are located in the southern and western regions of the country.
Just 2 percent are located in New England. Almost one-third of the churches
are independent. Forty-eight percent of them characterize themselves as “evangelical,”
while 14 percent say they are “charismatic” and 2 percent say they
are “fundamentalist.”