Baptist team surveys tsunami damage
A Baptist disaster relief team has traveled to American Samoa to assess needs stemming from the recent earthquake and tsunami. Because counseling for affected children has been designated as a priority, Terry Henderson, operations consultant for disaster relief for the North American Mission Board, said disaster relief chaplains with the ability to relate to children are needed. Clean drinking water also is a top need, Henderson said, because while water is available in most locations, Samoans are reticent to boil the water because “they have precious little money and can’t afford to use their propane fuel just for boiling water. While the water is being purified, Baptist church members and disaster relief workers can minister to the people.”
Astronaut reflects on trip, faith
Patrick Forrester, the space shuttle astronaut who carried a piece of missions aviation history into space with him on a recent Discovery flight, encourages people to get personally involved in sharing the gospel outside their comfort zones. “I really encourage everybody who has not done it to go on at least a short-term mission trip, whether it’s across town or around the world, because I think it’s life-changing to see the need out there and the way that we can impact people,” Forrester told Baptist Press. A deacon at University Baptist Church in Houston, Forrester carried with him a piece of the battery box from martyred missionary pilot Nate Saint’s Piper PA-14 airplane when the space shuttle Discovery docked at the international space station in late August.
HIV/AIDS ministry reaches out to families
The HIV/AIDS pandemic sweeping African nations is destroying entire families, from grandparents to children. One Christian ministry, with the help of Southern Baptists, is making a difference in the lives of thousands of adults and children. A feeding project conducted by Tabitha Ministries in Pietermartizburg, South Africa, aims to alleviate much of the suffering caused by the disease by providing food and assistance to adults and children who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. A six-month segment of the feeding program used money provided by the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund to help 645 children and adults with no income at a cost of about 40 cents per day.
3 SBC churches win Energy Star awards
Three of the four churches honored this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with the prestigious Energy Star Congregation Award are Southern Baptist. First Baptist Church in Dallas, First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., and Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla., each earned recognition for their efforts at reducing energy consumption. “I think our story is best told by the numbers,” Gary James, energy education manager at FBC Dallas, said. “We were spending close to $1.4 million for utilities before our program began. For 2009, we project that will be down to about $1 million. In just the first 10 months of our program, we managed to save close to $400,000.”
Canadian churches emphasize cooperation
Messengers to the annual meeting of the Canadian National Baptist Convention, formerly the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, in Edmonton, Alberta, emphasized cooperation by reciting together a covenant that was approved at the 2008 meeting. Local churches that affirm the covenant agree to work with fellow CNBC churches and pastors in their immediate area in times of need, with a goal of fostering a new mindset among the churches. “The emphasis among Baptists has been autonomy, and we respect the autonomy of the local church. But we feel like there’s another, stronger value in the New Testament, and that is the value of interdependence,” said Bob Shelton, leader of the CNBC staff’s “strengthen” team.
Future of SBC in focus at Oct. 6-9 gathering
The future of denominationalism and Southern Baptists, the effectiveness of evangelism, and church planting strategies were among the topics addressed during an Oct. 6-9 conference on “Southern Baptists, Evangelicals and the Future of Denominationalism” at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. The conference’s opening address, entitled “Denominationalism: Is There a Future?” was delivered by Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research. Answering the question positively, Stetzer noted that “like-minded people will always find a way to associate with one another – denominations are inevitable in mission-focused churches, and the best denominations may be understood as networked cooperative relationships for mission.” While he acknowledged he is “by no means starry-eyed about denominationalism,” Stetzer said he believes wholeheartedly in partnership.