CP down 2.69%; off ’09 budget by 2.65%
Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 2.69 percent below the same time frame last year and 2.65 percent off budget for 2009. As of July 31, the year-to-date total of $166,883,487 for Cooperative Program missions is $4,606,825 below the $171,490,312 received at the end of July 2008. Designated giving of $182,558,999 for the same year-to-date period is 6.01 percent, or $11,671,174, below gifts of $194,230,174 received at this point last year. Monthly CP receipts totaled $16,299,603, while designated gifts received last month amounted to $10,074,066.
Antidepressant use doubles in U.S.
The use of antidepressant drugs in the United States has nearly doubled in recent history, according to a study released in the Archives of General Psychiatry in August. Antidepressants now are the most commonly prescribed class of medications in the United States. About 13 million people were prescribed antidepressants in 1996. By 2005, 27 million people – 9 percent of the population – were prescribed the drugs during the course of a year.
LifeWay offering background checks discount
LifeWay Christian Resources has entered an agreement with backgroundchecks.com to provide discounted screenings for churches. About 450 churches have requested more than 5,000 background checks on volunteers and prospective employees since LifeWay began offering the service in 2008, according to data from backgroundchecks.com. Most of those searches returned clean records or minor traffic-related offenses, but 80 screenings uncovered serious felony offenses, and more than 600 people had some type of criminal history that may have disqualified them from volunteering or working at a church.
GCR Web site goes live
A Web site encouraging support for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has been launched at www.pray4gcr.com. The site, which went live Aug. 1, gives interested people an opportunity to register their commitment to pray, interact with the task force through blogs, Facebook and Twitter, sign up for updates about significant developments and see photos of the 23 task force members. The task force is asking for 5,000 believers to commit themselves to pray for task force members and a renewed passion for the Great Commission among Southern Baptists, chairman Ronnie Floyd said in a press statement.