CP giving lagging behind ’09 pace
Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 0.63 percent behind the same time frame at the outset of 2009. As of Dec. 31, the year-to-date total of $46,958,455.62 for Cooperative Program missions is $299,521.08 below the $47,257,976.70 received at the same point a year earlier. For the SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget, the year-to-date total is 91.90 percent of the $51,096,398.16 budgeted to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America. The SBC operates on an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year.
Poll: South most religious; NE among least
The South is the most religious region, the Northeast and a handful of Western states the least religious, and the rest of the country falls somewhere in between, according to a recently released survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia found that one particular southern state, Mississippi, finished No. 1 in all four categories – religious service attendance, frequency of prayer, a belief in God with absolute certainty, and the percent who say religion is very important in their lives.
Students invited to discuss God’s goodness
B&H Academic, a division of B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources, has launched www.GodorNot.com, a social networking site for college students to upload original videos answering the question, “Why do you believe God is good?” All videos should be no longer than two minutes and must be uploaded by April 5. A $5,000 prize will be awarded to the video receiving the most votes among those submitted by collegians or seminarians carrying 12 or more semester hours.
Foreign adoptions by Americans hit 13-year low
The number of foreign children adopted by Americans has plunged to the lowest level since 1996, in large measure because Guatemala’s government shut down that country’s thriving but corrupt international adoption industry. Adoptions from abroad dropped 27 percent in 2009 to 12,753, the U.S. State Department reported Dec. 17. That number was almost 45 percent off the all-time high registered in 2004: 22,884. It was the lowest figure since 1996. Guatemala’s 4,123 adoptions to Americans in 2008 sank to 756 for 2009.
At Fort Hood, prayer rises for soldiers
Not far from Fort Hood, Skyline Baptist Church has joined a unique prayer effort for U.S. troops deployed overseas. Skyline, in Killeen, Texas, is one of about 200 churches participating in an interdenominational prayer ministry called Pray FAST – an acronym for Pray For A Soldier Team. The program enlists local congregations to pray for soldiers deployed from Fort Hood to Iraq and Afghanistan by assigning each church’s willing “prayer warrior” three soldiers to pray for by name.
Avery Willis diagnosed with leukemia
Avery Willis, a former senior vice president of the International Mission Board and author of the MasterLife discipleship series, has been diagnosed with leukemia, he announced Jan. 6. Via Twitter, Willis wrote, “Doctor diagnosed me as having a rare form of leukemia. Prognosis is not good for earth but for heaven in a few months. Thanks 4 UR prayer.”
Texas churches apparently torched
A Southern Baptist church was one of two churches in the Athens, Texas, area heavily damaged by what investigators believe were arson fires set in the early morning hours of Jan. 12, marking the third such church fire in a week near the East Texas city. Lake Athens Baptist Church sustained an estimated $500,000 in damage to its auditorium. Investigators also are seeking clues to a fire at Grace Community Church in rural Henderson County near Athens, as well as a fire a week earlier at nearby Faith Church.
NAMB staff focuses on prayer
North American Mission Board staff drew apart for prayer, worship and teaching from retired LifeWay Christian Resources president Jimmy Draper during NAMB’s semiannual Spiritual Focus Day Jan. 7. The event also served as a prelude to the Jan. 31 day of prayer, fasting and repentance for the Southern Baptist Convention, which will involve churches and individuals across the denomination. The emphasis was called by SBC president Johnny Hunt and has been promoted by NAMB as the convention examines how it can be more effective in fulfilling the Great Commission.