GuideStone releases annual tax guide
The annual Ministers Tax Guide for 2009 Returns has been released by GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. The tax guide details recent changes to tax laws and their effect on ministers. The tax guide can be obtained in PDF format from GuideStone’s Web site at www.GuideStone.org/taxguide.aspx. GuideStone participants can order a free printed copy by calling customer service at 1-888-984-8433.
In Alaska, NAMB commissions 30
The North American Mission Board commissioned 30 new missionaries and chaplains, many of whom will serve Alaska and its northern neighbor, Canada. The service took place at First Baptist Church in Anchorage, which was Alaska’s first Southern Baptist church, started in 1943 by a small group of GIs stationed at nearby Fort Richardson. The church has since built a legacy of starting sister churches in Alaska.
IMB/NAMB merger not in GCR plan
The much-discussed merger of Southern Baptists’ two mission boards will not be among the recommendations presented to the Southern Baptist Convention at its June meeting in Orlando, the chairman of the SBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force said Feb. 1 in Jacksonville, Fla. Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., made the comment in an afternoon panel discussion about the task force’s work during the annual Pastors Conference at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville.
CP giving trails 2009 pace
Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are .63 percent below the same time frame last year. As of Jan. 31, the year-to-date total of $67,816,336.05 for Cooperative Program (CP) missions is $433,263.87 behind the $68,249.599.92 received at the end of January 2009.
Goldia Naylor, 100, dies
Goldia Naylor, wife of former Southwestern Baptist Seminary president and former Columbia First Baptist Church (S.C.) pastor Robert E. Naylor, died Jan. 31 in Fort Worth, Texas. She was 100. Naylor was the mother of Rebekah Naylor, who worked with the International Mission Board for 35 years as a surgeon at the Bangalore Baptist Hospital in India.
Haiti prayer list posted at SBC’s Web site
An intercessory prayer list for the crisis in Haiti has been posted at the “In All Things … Pray” Web site of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, www.inallthingspray.net. The intercessory prayer list is titled “Ten Ways to Pray for the Situation in Haiti.”
Michael Vick shares first-ever testimony
God’s redemptive power in his once-troubled life was Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s theme at the annual Super Bowl Breakfast. Speaking publicly for the first time as an adult about his faith in Jesus Christ, Vick said God was again the first priority in his life. He also shared for the first time about the role former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy played in his restoration with God.
James Dobson starts another radio show
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, has announced plans to launch a new radio show with his son in March, saying he cannot watch the world continue a moral decline without offering guidance. Dobson, 73, is severing ties with Focus on the Family at the end of February after 33 years of leadership. As he announced his new radio venture in a Facebook post in December, Dobson said the 30-minute daily program will be called “James Dobson on the Family.”
Suspected Texas church arsons now 11
Two more Baptist churches, less than two miles apart, burned Feb. 8, making a total of 11 East Texas churches damaged or destroyed by fire since the New Year and seven confirmed as arsons, authorities say. Federal investigators have upped the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect to $25,000 from an earlier figure of $10,000.