Myanmar quake claims Baptist worshippers
A three-day Baptist meeting in eastern Myanmar turned fatal March 24 when an earthquake struck near the Laos and Thailand border. Twenty-three people were killed and 50 others injured when a Baptist church building in Kyakuni, Myanmar, collapsed. The Baptists were in the middle of a worship service when the ground began to shake violently. Screaming, church members scrambled outside as the building cracked and came crashing down. One worshipper said it looked as if the “earth swallowed the buildings.” The town of Tachileik and surrounding villages in Shan state bore the brunt of the damage and fatalities.
New Orleans Seminary to cut personnel
New Orleans Seminary has announced that in light of the economic recession and a reduction in Cooperative Program funding, the seminary will lay off three professors, ask four professors to shift to part-time status, and eliminate six ministry-based faculty positions, effective Aug. 1. Seminary president Chuck Kelley made the public announcement in a statement after meeting with the individuals affected by the cuts.
CP 0.91 percent below previous year’s pace
Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 0.91 percent below the same time frame last year. As of March 31, gifts received by the Executive Committee for distribution through the Cooperative Program allocation budget totaled $98,501,244.17, or $903,635.19 behind the $99,404,879.36 received at the end of March 2010. Designated giving of $116,467,878.13 for the same year-to-date period is 2.69 percent, or $3,225,133.54, below gifts of $119,693,011.67 received at this point last year.
1 in 6 in U.S. is Hispanic
Hispanics and Asians were the two fastest-growing demographic groups in the United States in the past decade, according to census results, with Hispanics accounting for more than one half of the U.S. population increase and setting a new milestone: one in six Americans is Hispanic. The Census Bureau released its first set of national findings in March based on last year’s census, reporting the racial breakdown of the United States as 196.8 million whites, 50.5 million Hispanics, 37.7 million blacks and 14.5 million Asians. Analysis of the data conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center found the largest gains in southern states including Alabama, Louisiana and North Carolina. For the first time, Hispanic population growth was higher than growth among blacks and whites in the South.