CP: .52% ahead of last year
Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are .52 percent ahead of the same time frame in January 2007. As of Jan. 31, the year-to-date total of $67,669,562 for Cooperative Program missions is $350,804 ahead of the $67,348,758 received at the same point in 2007. For the month, receipts of $17,967,839 were 10.15 percent, or $2,028,752, below the $19,996,591 received in January 2007. Designated giving of $39,045,027 for the same year-to-date period is 5.42 percent, or $2,008,761, above gifts of $37,036,266 received at this point last year. The $27,582,935 in designated gifts received last month is $2,352,744 above the $25,230,190 received in January 2007, an increase of 9.33 percent. For the CP allocation budget, the year-to-date total of $67,669,562 is 101.24 percent of the $66,867,178 budgeted to support Southern Baptist ministries.
Archaeological find linked to O.T.
A 2,500-year-old stone seal unearthed during a Jerusalem archaeological dig in early January isn’t tied to the obscure Old Testament family initially thought, but instead possibly to an equally obscure and completely different biblical family. In mid-January, archaeologist Eilat Mazar told the Jerusalem Post she had found a seal – designed to make impressions in soft clay – engraved with the name of the “Temech” family, the same family found in the list of Jewish families in Nehemiah 7 that returned to Jerusalem after being taken into exile by the Babylonians. But as it turns out, Mazar was misreading the inscription. Because the seal is designed to make an impression, the letters are written in mirror-image form, similar to how the word “ambulance” is written on the front of such a vehicle. Following critiques from scholars such as the ones associated with the Biblical Archaeology Society, Mazar now acknowledges the letters should read Sh-l-m-t. (Hebrew had no vowels.) If that’s the case, then scholars believe it could refer to Shelomith, a man mentioned in Ezra 8:10 who also returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, or to Shelomith, the daughter of Zerubbabel mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3:19.
Evangelicals up for grabs?
A new poll by the Barna Group shows that, with nine months left before the general election, a significant portion of evangelicals are not committed to either party. The survey shows that if the election were held today, 45 percent of evangelicals would vote for the Republican nominee and 11 percent the Democratic nominee, with 40 percent undecided. That’s significant because in 2004, President Bush carried 78 percent of whites who considered themselves evangelical, according to exit polls. (The exit polls did not provide information on evangelicals of all races.) “Evangelicals are clearly sending a message to Republican leaders this time around,” pollster George Barna said in a statement. “There is tremendous frustration among evangelical voters, in particular. … (G)iven the stands of some of the leading Republican contenders, evangelicals are registering their discomfort with the choices they have at hand.” The telephone poll of 1,006 adults (from which there were 649 registered voters) was conducted in January. Republican Rudy Giuliani, vocally opposed by several conservative leaders because of his pro-choice views, dropped out of the race Jan. 30.
Welch prays at Daytona 500
Bobby Welch continued one of the Daytona 500’s founding traditions by voicing the invocation prayer at the 50th running of the NASCAR race Feb. 17. “It was an auspicious occasion,” said Welch, who enjoyed countless visits to the world-famous track during his 32 years as pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach. Welch now is the SBC Executive Committee’s strategist for global evangelical relations. “The event carried me back to the front porch of my childhood home in northern Alabama, where we’d sit and listen to the race on the radio,” he said. Notable for Welch was the number of e-mails and phone calls he received from people who were grateful he concluded his prayer “in the saving name of Jesus Christ.” The former SBC president said, “For me, it was another opportunity to point people toward the power of the gospel.”