Baptist Press Stories for Dec. 21 2012
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     About those shepherds ...
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39413

     Modern shepherds corral nativity animals
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39414

     Vietnam vet treasures church's Christmas card
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39415

     Church's efforts went a long way in Vietnam
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39416

     WEEK OF PRAYER: Antique globe spurs seminary to heightened LMCO giving
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39417

     WEEK OF PRAYER: In India, church planter pushes past failure in God’s timing
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39436

     Fox News highlights Baptist student relief efforts
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39437

     Baptists respond to Newtown tragedy & America's crisis: An archive of reflection, theory
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39418

     Baptist Press' most-read stories of 2012
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39419

     Call to 'harvest fields' among top IMB stories
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39420

     Send North America among top NAMB stories
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39421

     Gospel Project, CP among LifeWay stories
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39422

     CULTURE DIGEST: Archbishop says society 'can't wait' for elderly to die
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39423

     FIRST-PERSON: School shootings & spiritual warfare
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39424

     FIRST-PERSON: Christmas & commerce
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39426

     EDITORIAL: Dos Preguntas Importante para Navidad
     http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39427

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About those shepherds ...
By Stephen Douglas Wilson
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39413

MAYFIELD, Ky. (BP) -- The account of the shepherds in Luke's nativity passage (Luke 2:8-20) continues to fascinate modern readers. Receiving an angelic message that the Messiah was born in nearby Bethlehem, these shepherds left their closely guarded flocks of sheep to seek the good news themselves. 

Theologians tell us that the angel's message represented God's annunciation of his Son's birth to the common people of Israel, but who were these shepherds?

The shepherds of Bethlehem persisted in an honorable occupation that also claimed various Old Testament figures, including Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Moses, David, Job and Amos -- just to name a few. 

They largely kept flocks of the broad-tailed sheep (ovis laticaudata) that can still be found in the Holy Land today. Allusions to the highly prized "fat tail" of these sheep can be found in Exodus 29:22 and Leviticus 3:9.

In terms of their daily and nightly chores, shepherds were responsible for grazing and watering their charges, protecting them from human theft and animal predation, shearing the sheep at the appropriate time, milking them for dairy products and providing them for ritual sacrifices and/or human consumption during important feasts. As a general rule, dairy-producing and wool-producing sheep were too valuable to be a daily menu item. 

Although the Old and New Testaments ascribe great personal honor to the men and women of this occupation, the shepherds of the era of Christ's birth appeared to be less honored in the Jewish tradition. 

The rabbis who produced the Talmudic literature (written around A.D. 200-500 but containing oral traditions from before, during and after the earthly lifetime of Jesus) often regarded shepherds as dishonest and prone to violating Jewish law.

Likewise, Philo, a Jewish sage in Egypt and a contemporary of Jesus, wrote that shepherds "are held to be mean and inglorious" (On Husbandry, 61).

Nevertheless, God often uses unlikely vessels to further His will. According to the Jewish Mishnah (A.D. 200 but also containing longstanding oral traditions of previous ages), animals in the vicinity of Bethlehem (specifically Migdal Eder -- "Tower of the Flock") could be offered for Temple sacrifices (Shekalim 7:4). 

According to Eusebius, a Palestinian Christian leader of the fourth century in his work, "Concerning the Place-names in Sacred Scriptures" (Section B, 196), Migdal Eder was located one Roman mile east of Bethlehem (a Roman mile of 1,000 paces is a little short of our mile by 143 yards).

If the shepherds of Luke's account were those who kept flocks potentially destined for the Temple at Migdal Eder, they especially would have been receptive to the angel's message. 

Both the geographical locations of Bethlehem and nearby Migdal Eder are mentioned in Micah's prophecy of the Messiah (Micah 5:2 and 4:8). In regard to Migdal Eder, this locale too is linked to the coming of the King.

If the shepherds tending the flocks for the Temple stationed at Migdal Eder constitute the shepherds of the Luke account, then the annunciation to the shepherds would fulfill that aspect of messianic prophecy. 

When the angel of the Lord appeared to these shepherds, accompanied by a great light (Luke 2:9), their first reaction was sheer terror. Nevertheless, the angel calmed them and told them that the Messiah had just been born in nearby Bethlehem. 

While not revealing the exact location in the city for the child, the angel related that the child was the one swaddled in binding cloths and lying in a manger (v. 12). After the angel was briefly joined by a heavenly host that praised God, they left the shepherds.

The befuddled shepherds, however, decided to view the Christ child. They could not pass up the opportunity to view the "Lamb of God." After a short walk to the city (only about one mile if Eusebius is correct), they found the child with his parents. 

They not only praised God for both the angelic message and visit with the child, they shared this news with others (v. 17-20). Those hearing this account by the shepherds also were amazed.

The annunciation to the shepherds of Bethlehem demonstrated God's love for the common people. Previous annunciations of the Lord's birth had occurred only to family members like Mary, Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth. 

The first annunciation to those outside of the family were not to the priestly establishment in Jerusalem or those of Herod's royal house or to the rich landowners of Judea but rather to these common shepherds whom the rabbinic tradition had tarnished. 

Indeed, the good news was not to be a respecter of persons. Simple shepherds, like the later fishermen and farmers among the disciples of Jesus, would be both the recipients and purveyors of the Gospel.

Today many shepherds in the Bethlehem area and in other parts of Israel/Palestine still seek and profess Christianity, and their stories can be located on the Internet and in the popular press. In the 20th and 21st centuries, many of them achieved some recognition from the evangelical Christian community in the United States. 

For instance, Stephen A. Haboush chronicled his experience as a Palestinian shepherd in his work "My Shepherd Life in Galilee." The long tradition of shepherds seeking to follow God in faith extends from Abel, the son of Adam, to the present day. The shepherds located near Bethlehem on the night of the Lord's nativity were a very important chapter of that long tradition.
--30--
Stephen Douglas Wilson is dean emeritus and chair of the history department of Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, Ky., and a member of the SBC Executive Committee. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
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Modern shepherds corral nativity animals
By Rachel Ortego/Baptist Message
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39414

MANDEVILLE, La. (BP) -- Pat Hayden, a deacon at Mandeville Baptist Church in Louisiana, is a shepherd of sorts. It is his job to round up sheep, donkeys, goats and maybe a calf or two for the church's annual Christmas live nativity.  

But he doesn't do it with a rod and staff. Hayden is the animal facilitator who arranges, by phone, for the mini-herd to be delivered from farms as far as 50 minutes away to the nativity scene on the church property for three afternoons in December. 

The church has had some interesting experiences with the animals but generally everything goes off without a hitch, Hayden said.

"We have one lady who loans us between 15 to 20 sheep and we provide some funds for her expenses," Hayden said. "Other people loan us donkeys, goats and even a calf, dropping off the animals before crowds start arriving and bringing them home afterwards each night. The owners are very good about helping and will stay around and watch and to be there if needed. Sometimes the animals stay overnight."

This is the fourth year the church has staged the live nativity called "And on Earth: Peace," which is viewed by an estimated 1,000 people the first full weekend of December. Guests walk a roped-off trail to view nine scenes of events surrounding Jesus' birth.  

The scenes, portrayed by church members and animals, are lit by torches, fire pits and lights. Markers at each station explain each scene while Christmas music plays.

"We use mostly donkeys standing in the scenes and put sheep in little corrals that church members have built," said David Watson, music director at First Baptist Mandeville. 

"We've never had any problems, but we did have one funny experience when one of the guys decided to try and ride one of the donkeys after a performance. He dug his heels in the donkey's side and the donkey reared straight up and threw him 10 feet right into one of our nativity signs, then took off."

Hayden recalled one year when the live nativity included two male donkeys: one regular sized and one miniature, plus one female donkey. 

"There was a turf war between the two male donkeys for the affection of the female donkey and the miniature donkey was primarily the more interested one," Hayden said. "That was pretty funny."

He said the animals are popular with the crowds and many want to pet the animals. 

"The sheep are docile," Hayden said. "They just mosey along. But they like to eat and they'll start munching towards the baby Jesus in the straw if you don't watch them."

Both Watson and Hayden say animal "hygiene" is not a problem. 

"The performance is at night and outdoors," Hayden said, "so you don't see any 'accidents.' We control that by putting down straw where the animals stand."

Overall, Watson said, the animals lend an air of authenticity to the event that makes the portrayal of Jesus's birth more dramatic to the 100 members of the cast and crew. 

"We've done lots of programs and dramas, but we've never dreamed this would have such an impact on us," Watson said. "The first night we staged this, while we were cleaning up, we could not get over how much more real Jesus was to us. We could feel it and see it on each other's faces during the performance and on the faces of the people who came."
--30--
Rachel Ortego is a regional reporter for the [URL=http://www.baptistmessage.com]Baptist Message[/URL], newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
-- End of story --


Vietnam vet treasures church's Christmas card
By Joe Westbury/The Christian Index
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39415

COLEMAN, Ga. (BP) -- It was a Christmas season that the 18-year-old Marine would rather not experience. Slogging through the mud in the drizzling, never-ending rain was beginning to wear on the enlisted man's spirit.

Sleeping on the ground without a bath for months with a stubbly beard growing from not shaving in the winter cold was not his idea of a holiday. He had fond recent memories of Christmas in Greenville, S.C., still fresh from his boyhood days. His grandmother's Christmas ham and visits with family and friends are what he missed the most.

There would be none of that this year. In fact, he was grateful just to be alive.

What made it worse was being part of a squadron chosen to provide security for the annual USO Christmas program. It just didn't seem fair.

While thousands enjoyed plenty of Christmas cheer and entertainment, he and his buddies silently guarded a nearly 12-mile arc around Da Nang in South Vietnam.

Their mission was crucial to the enjoyment of fellow soldiers. Several thousand troops enjoying a holiday celebration would be an easy target for North Vietnamese troops slipping through the jungles.

For the teenage soldier, this day was just another in a string of cold, overcast winter days. The day is a memory now. A story he tells. For this telling, he prefers to be known only by his first name, Jack 

"We were angry, hungry, wet and scared most of the time," he said. "Our job was to stay alert and patrol to keep the enemy from infiltrating the area and disrupting the show. Needless to say, we weren't very happy."

Jack said he and his fellow soldiers spent most of their time "griping, as young Marines are prone to do, about our bad luck. It had rained for what seemed like weeks and was constantly low overcast."

Dark and gray and miserable. Not an ideal Christmas. Certainly not when it was going to be his first Christmas away from home.

Stop the story there for a minute and back up about six weeks to mid-November. Thanksgiving in South Georgia is just around the corner, the fall cotton and peanut harvests are over, and thoughts are turning to turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie.

One Saturday evening a light switch is turned on, signaling someone has arrived at a small country church outside of Coleman, sandwiched between Albany and Alabama.

A few pickup trucks and an occasional car pull onto the gravel parking lot of Vilulah Baptist Church, their tires crunching under the gravel.

A small group of the church's Brotherhood, possibly as many as 14, begin to gather at the white frame church for their monthly meeting. This year the men would spend about an hour writing personal notes on cards that would be distributed to soldiers -- total strangers -- serving in a controversial war on the other side of the world.

Vilulah at the time was 107 years old and the backbone of the farming community. Founded in 1867 in a brush arbor -- just two years after the Civil War -- it had weathered many national crises of war and economic hard times. Now in 1970, as the nation struggled to make sense of a war that seemingly had no end, the Brotherhood wanted to be part of the healing that must come and voice its support for those serving in the rice paddies and jungles.

Though no list exists of those who joined the group that night, it likely included Jack Torbert, J.T. Bruner, J.R. Johnson, Jimmy Agan, Marcus Ragan, Herbert Blackburn and others who were active in the fellowship. The notes they wrote were short and to the point but conveyed the essence of brotherly love and prayerful support.

In neat cursive handwriting, the cards, after a brief note, were signed simply "Brotherhood, Vilulah Baptist Church, Coleman, Georgia." Sealed in their individual envelopes marked "A Fellow American, Vietnam Mail Call," the cards were mailed the next morning to a central processing center that would forward the notes to Southeast Asia.

As far as is known, there was never any response from those who received the cards, but that wasn't expected. In the middle of a war, the purpose was simply to communicate a note of love and understanding to a stranger who struggled to stay alive one more day.

Now, fast-forward six weeks ahead to that gray scene that was void of most color, certainly of any Christmas cheer.

"The overcast was so low that resupply by helicopter was always a problem," Jack said.

But on this particular day the weather changed slightly and the thump-thump-thump of a chopper's rotor blades signaled the arrival of supplies. It may not have been Santa Claus coming from the sky, but the scene of the massive dual rotor CH-46 noisily descending was just as welcomed.

"Anyhow, on Christmas Day of 1970 the weather improved enough for the helicopter to fly and they brought us ammo, water, food and mail. My platoon sergeant came around later in the day and gave each of us a card inside an envelope."
Jack read the card, thought it was a nice gesture, then stuffed it in his pocket and went back on patrol. However, in the coming days as he had a moment he found himself pulling the card out, looking at the cover of the three wise men and the Christmas star and reading the note once again.

The young soldier already was a believer and a member of a Southern Baptist church in South Carolina, so he knew about the Brotherhood organization. What he didn't expect was to be on the receiving end of one of its ministries.

The months dragged on and Jack's tour of duty finally ended. He stayed in the Marines on active duty after his Vietnam tour and retired in 1990. He never forgot that small church in South Georgia and the generosity of those men who took the time to send a stranger a Christmas card.

Earlier this year, around the time when the cotton harvest was beginning to start, Vilulah pastor David Murphy found a letter from a stranger in the church mailbox addressed simply, "Pastor, Vilulah Baptist Church" and the church address. In neat black ink Jack detailed his encounter with the church Brotherhood four decades earlier and expressed his appreciation.

"I just wanted you to know how much that [card] meant to me to receive it. It humbled me to think that someone took the time to write that short note and to pray for my safety," Jack, now a resident of Easley, S.C., wrote.

"I carried that card with me everywhere I have ever been and it remains one of my most prized possessions. I have looked at it many times over the years."

Then he closed the letter simply, "I expect the good folks that wrote the card are no longer with you. If they are, please thank them for me and tell them they made a difference in this Marine's life."

The war has long been over but Jack continues to cherish the card. While he did send a copy to the church, he prefers to keep the original for fear of it being lost.

"It is one of the few mementos of the war that I have kept," he said in his soft-spoken manner.

The lesson, Jack says after receiving that Christmas gift 42 years ago, "is that people continue to do those kind of things. You never know where those cards will go or the lives they will change."
--30--
Joe Westbury is managing editor of [URL=http://www.christianindex.org]The Christian Index[/URL], newsjournal of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
-- End of story --


Church's efforts went a long way in Vietnam
By Joe Westbury/The Christian Index
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39416

COLEMAN, Ga. (BP) -- For 145 years, Vilulah Baptist Church in Coleman, Ga., has served as the backbone of its small community about 60 miles west of Albany.

The Brotherhood and Woman's Missionary Union have been part of that backbone for as long as anyone can remember.

It's small actions like that taken by the Vilulah Brotherhood on a dark night 42 years ago that underscore the need for ministry groups led by men in churches of all sizes -- groups that rally around those in need in the community and provide a Christian witness.

Terry Tobert, one of many farmers who call Vilulah their church home, remembers his father Jack taking him to Brotherhood and associational meetings when he was a boy.

"Back then that's about all there was going on in the county, so it was exciting for me," he said with a chuckle. 

"My dad and uncle, Herbert Blackburn, were leaders in reaching out to others in need in our community, and that's where I learned those values. If a house burned they would help raise the money and actually help rebuild the home. They regularly went door-to-door to ask for funds to help others.

"As you get older you realize that your dad was an even better man than what you gave him credit for," Tobert said.

"Back in those days the Brotherhood had a pretty active card ministry to soldiers as well as our missionaries. They met once a month but they had a strong group, meeting for about three hours for Bible study."

Tolbert's father died in 1987. In September, just before a letter was received from a Vietnam veteran, the remaining two Brotherhood members who participated in sending the cards died.

When Jack Tolbert and Henry Blackburn and others wrote those notes to U.S. servicemen in 1970, the Brotherhood numbered about 15; now it is down to about a half-dozen and the church has dwindled to 50 members.

Bivocational pastor David Murphy, who has served the church since 1998, said increasingly there are fewer people in Randolph County because of the recession and residents moving elsewhere to seek employment. In fact, the city of Coleman was abolished by Georgia House Bill 1120 effective Jan. 1, 2007. Only 149 residents were recorded in the 2000 census.

Yet churches like Vilulah continue to play an important role.

"Our Brotherhood is important on so many different levels," the pastor said.

"It provides a sense of community for the men, an opportunity for Bible study and spiritual growth, and offers a channel for community outreach. The men regularly take up a collection for those in the community who are in need," Murphy said.

"In our little community the men will pull together to get groceries or cut an ill neighbor's grass, cut up a downed tree after a storm. It's really like a small version of Mayberry. We look after each other in the name of Christ."

Murphy remembers well the day he pulled the letter from Jack from the church mailbox.

"When I saw it, I thought it was from someone sending a memorial contribution in memory of someone who had passed away. But as I began to read it I was deeply touched, having served in the military myself.

"The letter made me real proud to know that the Brotherhood did something like that and made a difference in a stranger's life. When you're in the military far from home it really lifts your spirit to know that someone is thinking of you.

"As a soldier once, changing airplanes in St. Louis during the war, a fellow soldier and I were spit on by some protesters in the airport. This gesture by our Brotherhood affirmed Jack and others and let them know they were appreciated in the middle of a very unpopular war," Murphy said.

"I knew that our Brotherhood was a nice group of men, but this lets you know they are nicer than nice. They could have said, 'We don't know anyone serving over there. What difference will it make to send cards to strangers?' Jack's response is the answer to that question.

"I can't tell you how much it has meant to our church and the entire community," Murphy said of the letter. "Because we live in such an economically depressed area, something like that -- a pat on the back -- really boosts our spirits. I've shared the story many times and folks comment on how rare it is to get a reply like that.

"You know, I believe that if someone has impacted your life, you need to thank them for it and let them know they made a difference in your life. It's like sending flowers to someone before their funeral.

"Don't wait too long. Thank someone for the blessing they have been while you have the chance and while they can still hear it," the pastor said.
--30--
Joe Westbury is managing editor of [URL=http://www.christianindex.org]The Christian Index[/URL], newsjournal of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
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WEEK OF PRAYER: Antique globe spurs seminary to heightened LMCO giving
By Laura Fielding
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39417

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: This year's Week of Prayer for International Missions in the Southern Baptist Convention earlier this month centered on the theme of "BE His heart, His hands, His voice" from Matthew 16:24-25. Each year's Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions supplements Cooperative Program giving to support Southern Baptists' 5,000 international missionaries' initiatives in sharing the Gospel. This year's offering goal is $175 million. To find resources about the offering, go to [URL=http://imb.org/main/give/pagelm.asp?StoryID=8078&LanguageID=1709&cid=lmcop]www.imb.org/offering[/URL].</i>

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) -- It all started with an antique globe-shaped bank.

The tattered grapefruit-sized trinket helped spur students, faculty and staff of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., to give generously to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.

In early December, the staff of Southeastern's Drummond Center for the Great Commission Studies needed an ornament for the staff Christmas tree competition, and the globe bank was chosen. Kristine Wager, administrative assistant for the associate directors of international and North American missions and an SEBTS student, added a small sign to the bank saying "Lottie Moon Christmas Offering" with an arrow pointing toward the coin slot.

After the competition, Greg Mathias, the globe's owner and the department's associate director of international missions, asked Wager to retrieve his collectible. Wager decided to keep it on her desk and asked anyone who came by if they had spare change to give to Lottie Moon -- "and people just did." One professor even brought his "change jar" from home -- full to the brim with coins -- to give to the offering.

But Wager didn't stop there. As a former journeyman -- a short-term missionary with the International Mission Board -- from 2008-10 in East Asia, she knew what a "blessing" the Lottie Moon Offering is for the nearly 5,000 Southern Baptist missionaries in supporting them and their ministries so they can concentrate on being Christ's heart, hands and voice to those who have not yet heard the Gospel message. 

The day before a chapel service when gifts to the missions offering would be collected, Wager carried the globe to all of the seminary's offices, asking for spare change. Give they did -- change, dollars and checks -- and if they could not give then, many made notes to remind them to give at the chapel service the next day.

"By the time I got back to my office, the globe was so heavy it was a relief to put down!" Wager said with a laugh.

Her rallying paid off -- Southeastern gave $3,556 this year to the offering, a 36 percent increase from their 2011 total of $2,620.44. 

"Where we are generous and where we give of ourselves and of our things, that really reveals where our hearts are," Wager said. "I think that's super exciting that our hearts are 36 percent more geared toward missions than they were last year." 

But Wager doesn't take credit for this increase -- she knows that her department and the entire seminary are devoted to the Great Commission.

"It wasn't just me -- my personal passion -- but really the community of passion that is cultivated at Southeastern. … I think that's just an attitude filtering down from Dr. [Daniel] Akin [SEBTS president], how he's so committed to the Great Commission and to missions in general, it really does go into everything that we do. … down to our faculty members, to our staff and to our students as well."

The seminary has taken up an offering for missions every year since Akin became the seminary's president in 2004.

"It's hard not to be excited about missions at Southeastern," Wager said. 
--30--
Laura Fielding is a writer for the International Mission Board. Southern Baptists' gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and through the Cooperative Program help Southern Baptist missionaries around the world share the Gospel. Gifts for the offering are received at Southern Baptist churches across the country or can be made online at [URL=http://imb.org/main/give/pagelm.asp?StoryID=8078&LanguageID=1709&cid=lmcop]www.imb.org/offering[/URL] where there are resources for church leaders to promote the offering. Download related videos at [URL=http://www.imb.org/main/give/page.asp?StoryID=5595&LanguageID=1709&cid=lmcop]www.imb.org/lmcovideo[/URL].

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WEEK OF PRAYER: In India, church planter pushes past failure in God’s timing
By Don Graham
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39436

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: This year's Week of Prayer for International Missions in the Southern Baptist Convention earlier this month centered on the theme of "BE His heart, His hands, His voice" from Matthew 16:24-25. Each year's Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions supplements Cooperative Program giving to support Southern Baptists' 5,000 international missionaries' initiatives in sharing the Gospel. This year's offering goal is $175 million. To find resources about the offering, go to [URL=http://imb.org/main/give/pagelm.asp?StoryID=8078&LanguageID=1709&cid=lmcop]www.imb.org/offering[/URL].</i>

BIHAR STATE, India (BP) -- On a bright December morning in India, while most Americans were tuned to the Christmas season, Jagdish Kumar* set out on an 11th-hour mission to save his ministry.

The 34-year-old elementary school principal had devoted the past 12 years of his life to sharing the Gospel in Bihar, India's poorest state. But in that time he had started only a single church and witnessed a mere handful of his countrymen follow Jesus.

Worse, he knew many of those who believed were perilously weak in their faith. The results were discouraging, especially compared to the explosive response to the Gospel experienced by Jesus' disciples in the Book of Acts. What was the point if no one seemed to care about Christ? Jagdish deemed his ministry a failure and nearly convinced himself to abandon it.

But he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that, before he quit, God was asking him to try one more time. He had recently been given a new tool from a friend and fellow church planter, Elvin Trueb*, a Southern Baptist missionary from Life Church in Leander, Texas. Trueb had spent the past six months training Jagdish in a church-planting method known as RAD (Rapidly Advancing Disciples).

It employs a strategy to bring the Gospel into unreached villages based on Luke 10, when Jesus sent out disciples two by two, searching for "men of peace." RAD had never been used in Bihar, and Jagdish doubted it would make any difference. But since he was on the verge of quitting, he reasoned he had nothing to lose.

Jagdish chose a village about 20 miles from town and went to work that December morning in 2008, just a few days before Christmas, field testing some of the techniques he gleaned from training. Rajeev Kumar*, a church-planting partner who was in Jagdish's RAD training group, accompanied him. As the day wore on, Jagdish's doubts about RAD and his utter failure as a church planter seemed to be confirmed. Once again, no one was interested in hearing about Jesus.

<b>A divine appointment</b>

As he and Rajeev wandered into the last corner of the village, Jagdish believes God presented a divinely appointed opportunity. Two men were sitting together, talking. When Jagdish introduced himself as a disciple of Jesus Christ, he was surprised to find they genuinely wanted to know more. So Jagdish shared the Gospel -- and one of the men immediately accepted Christ. 

"He was saved!" Jagdish says with a grin, remembering the sweetness of the moment. It was a Christmas present tailor-made to encourage a weary church planter.

The man invited Jagdish and Rajeev into his home for dinner. Recognizing this was a "man of peace" that Jesus spoke of in Luke 10, they accepted. Over that meal the men formed a bond that quickly blossomed into the village's first church. 

"I said, 'This [RAD] method looks good to me,'" Jagdish recalls. "We will apply this method in 2009. And after that we have applied this method wherever I go. It's very good news." 

Using RAD principles, Jagdish started six churches in the first three months of 2009. Rajeev started five in a similar timeframe. More and more Bihari villagers came to Jesus as new churches were planted. There was discipleship, communion, evangelism and dozens of baptisms -- all marks of healthy, growing churches. Jagdish and Rajeev wasted no time in teaching the church planting techniques they'd learned from Trueb to each of the 11 churches they started. Within two years, second- and third-generation churches were popping up across Bihar, all offspring of the original 11.

The effect was exponential. Over the next few years, God continued to multiply Jagdish and Rajeev's work, starting with that single new believer they'd met that December morning. Armed with the RAD training and a passion for making Christ's name known, Jagdish and Rajeev watched the Book of Acts come alive in Bihar. Together, they have been the catalyst that God used to start more than 300 new house churches across the state since 2008, representing more than 3,000 new believers -- the foundation of what's known as a church-planting movement (CPM).    

"It was amazing for me, but I have not done this," Jagdish says with humility. "This is not our method. I have only applied the method [in Luke 10]. This is the work of God."

How has this multiplication happened so quickly? Trueb gives credit to RAD's biblically based methodology but also points to two other factors: the power of the Holy Spirit and a simple model of house church -- no paid staff and no building required. He believes this model is essential to church growth in rural Bihar, where spiritual and economic poverty are compounded. According to India's government, Bihar has the lowest gross domestic product per capita in the country.

<b>A Sunday visit</b>

Dusk is falling as Trueb, Jagdish and Rajeev pay a visit to a third-generation church started by a 28-year-old construction worker and church planter named Dileep Das* in Lalitpur* village. Das was led to Christ by another Bihari church planter named Abishek Das,* who was led to Christ and trained by Rajeev. Worship "services" at Jhunathi church would be almost unrecognizable to many American evangelicals.

Every Sunday, 15 to 20 adults and about 15 children pack into Dileep's 10x8 mud-and-brick hut, topped by a bamboo-and-thatch roof. They sit on woven mats on the ground because there are no pews or chairs. There's no electricity either, which means there is no air conditioning when summertime temperatures top 115 degrees F. Light comes in the form of a single oil lamp fashioned from a discarded hydrogen peroxide bottle. There is no running water or bathroom -- members must remember to "go" before church. With no sound system, projection screen or praise team, the only worship instruments are a lone tambourine and the believers' hands and voices. Yet despite the lack of trappings, this tiny group of believers praise Jesus -- and the Gospel flourishes as a result. 

Before he met Abishek, Dileep had never heard of Christ. Neither had any of the people in the seven churches Dileep has started in seven different villages surrounding Lalitpur. It's a remarkable feat for a young church not yet two years old. Every Sunday Dileep visits two of the churches to continue teaching their members; he meets with all seven of the churches' pastors once a month to train them in RAD. And he leads by example. Dileep has helped more than 35 people come to know Christ in the two years he's been a believer. 

Trueb says it's the kind of growth that's needed to win Bihar for Christ. That's because in India -- the world's second-most populous country -- sharing the Gospel can be a bit of a numbers game.

Roughly the size of the state of Indiana, Bihar is home to 103 million people -- about one-third of the entire population of the United States. Fewer than .05 percent are evangelical Christians; 80 percent of Bihar is Hindu, 15 percent Muslim and 5 percent Buddhist.  

In the area Trueb serves, which includes Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, part of West Bengal and the plains of Nepal, approximately 4,000 people die each day. In contrast, the daily birthrate is nearly 12,000, resulting in a net growth rate of 8,000 -- per day. Trueb says that means if Christians there aren't "sharing the Gospel 8,000 times a day, we lose the battle of lostness. … At first, that seems like it might be really discouraging, but it's not, because in Acts we know God overcomes those types of things."

Spiritually, Trueb says Bihar has long been an "enemy" stronghold. It is the supposed birthplace of both Buddhism and Jainism and is bisected by the Ganges River, sacred to Hindus. Surprisingly, Trueb says persecution against Christians has practically been nonexistent since 2006, another boon to unimpeded church growth. But he doesn't know how long that will last, and despite impressive progress, Jagdish and Rajeev have a lot more work to do. 

Their goal? A house church in each of Bihar's 45,000 villages.

"This is a very good time for harvesting, but laborers are few," Jagdish says. "If our people will work and will pray, very soon … every village and every district will have a church." 

"This is the right time and we have the right tools," Rajeev adds. "And we are harvesting fast."
--30-- 
*Name or location changed. Don Graham is a senior writer for the International Mission Board. Southern Baptists' gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and through the Cooperative Program help Southern Baptist missionaries around the world share the Gospel. Gifts for the offering are received at Southern Baptist churches across the country or can be made online at [URL=http://imb.org/main/give/pagelm.asp?StoryID=8078&LanguageID=1709&cid=lmcop]www.imb.org/offering[/URL] where there are resources for church leaders to promote the offering. Download related videos at [URL=http://www.imb.org/main/give/page.asp?StoryID=5595&LanguageID=1709&cid=lmcop]www.imb.org/lmcovideo[/URL].

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Fox News highlights Baptist student relief efforts
By Mike Ebert
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39437

NEW YORK (BP) -- Southern Baptist college students from Missouri were featured on the Dec. 21 edition of Fox & Friends, Fox News' morning program, for the work they are doing in New York City to help survivors of Hurricane Sandy.

Reece Hammond, Jennifer McCoy and Ethan Elgin served with a group of eight other students who had come to New York City from Missouri to participate in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts. The students attend Northwest Missouri State University.

"It's really been amazing just being able to serve them," Hammond said. "They were just so thankful that we were there. They brought their kids and introduced them to us." 

McCoy told Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy, "Many times people would call us angels.... We would say, 'No, we're not angels.' But they were just overwhelmed that college students would come and give their time and just come and help them."

The students are part of a group of nearly 400 from 21 states who will serve New York homeowners by removing debris from flooded homes, stripping flooring and sheetrock and preparing homes for needed reconstruction.

The students have been working under the supervision of trained Southern Baptist Disaster Relief veterans who have been onsite helping Sandy survivors since the storm struck in late October. 

"Why did you do this this Christmas season?" Doocy asked Reece Hammond. 

"I just want to serve and glorify God," Hammond responded. "He's my life. He's my everything, and I want other people to know Him the way I know Him. I want to come out here and I want to love people and say, 'Hey, there is hope in this. There are people who are with you during this time.'"

Doocy said, "Well it's going to be a bleak season for many people impacted by Sandy, but you kids showing up really have lifted a number of spirits." 

SBDR volunteers serving Sandy survivors had prepared 1,788,034 meals as of Dec. 18. By that date SBDR volunteers had given 29,937 volunteer days, presented the Gospel 779 times and seen 83 people come to faith in Christ as a result of their service.

From its disaster operations center in Alpharetta, Ga., NAMB coordinates Southern Baptist responses to major disasters through a partnership between NAMB and the SBC's 42 state conventions, most of which have their own state disaster relief programs.

SBDR assets include 82,000 trained volunteers, including chaplains, and some 1,550 mobile units for feeding, chainsaw, mud-out, command, communication, childcare, shower, laundry, water purification, repair/rebuild and power generation. SBDR is one of the three largest mobilizers of trained disaster relief volunteers in the United States, along with the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army.

Southern Baptists and others who want to donate to the disaster relief operations can contact their state conventions or contribute to NAMB's disaster relief fund via [URL=http://www.namb.net/disaster-relief-donations]namb.net/disaster-relief-donations[/URL]. Other ways to donate are to call 866-407-NAMB (6262) or mail checks to NAMB, P.O. Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368-6543. Designate checks for "Disaster Relief."
--30--
Mike Ebert is vice president of communications at the North American Mission Board. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).

-- End of story --


Baptists respond to Newtown tragedy & America's crisis: An archive of reflection, theory
By Staff
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39418

NASHVILLE (BP) -- "Sickened." "Horrific news." "Groaning." Rachel uncomforted, "weeping for her children." These thoughts were expressed by Southern Baptists on social media following the senseless Dec. 14 slaughter of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Many leaders and commentators wrote thought-provoking articles and editorials to comfort and lead the nation at this trying time, a season reserved to honor our Savior's birth. Take time this holiday season to reflect on the Lord's goodness in times of tragedy, reviewing the comments made in response to the Newtown tragedy.

-- Begin with Baptist Press' [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39385]compilation[/URL]of tweets, such as that by North American Mission Board church planter Terry Dorsett that the many prayer meetings held prove "that deep down inside, our nation still believes."

-- Attorney Shannon Royce, president of the nonprofit ChosenFamilies.org for families living with hidden disabilities, challenges us to begin a serious discussion of the realities of mental illness. In her [URL= http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=39382]First Person column[/URL], she writes, "We need to understand better what happens when a mental health challenge and evil meet, what happens when disability mingles with sin. We see the devastating results. We need to consider what we can do to prevent them from occurring."

-- Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=39383]R. Albert Mohler[/URL]
thoroughly examines the heinous crime, quoting Jeremiah 31:15: "Thus says the LORD: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more."

-- Why didn't God prevent the tragedy? [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=39391]Jerry Sutton[/URL], Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's vice president for academic development, considers the age-old question of why God allows such evil to manifest. "In this present age, we live in a world in revolt against God who, in His patience, is permitting the revolt all the while holding out His hands and beckoning humanity to return to Him," Sutton writes.

-- How do we move forward, and who do we blame? Trevin Wax, managing editor of LifeWay Christian Resources' The Gospel Project, encourages us to [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=39392]look within ourselves[/URL]. "We cannot point fingers. We all share in the guilt of allowing ourselves to be desensitized to violent behavior. We need the transformation of the Gospel to reach into this tender area and change our hearts," Wax writes.

-- Arkansas Pastor [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=39401]Ronnie Floyd[/URL], author of "Our Last Great Hope," reminds the church of its calling to weep with those who weep, and of its power to comfort God's people. "While we weep, we need to rise up in God's power, knowing the Lord alone is our strength. As our own tears flow, we need to pray for those who are most deeply grieved and for those who lead us in our great nation called America. As hearts are softened and tears flow, optimism is rising within me again that, as Americans, our greatest days are ahead of us."

-- Jim Veneman, Union University director of visual communication and assistant professor, takes a [URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39397]fresh perspective[/URL] of the event, looking through the eyes of a photographer. Photographs, Veneman said, can make us more aware of reality by capturing a moment in time. "Although our nation has been hurt deeply, in this season we also have reason to celebrate. We celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We can push back the darkness that engulfs us and experience a God-given moment if we choose to see it. A photograph of such a moment can be a reminder of hope and can help lead us forward."

-- Mark Coppenger, a professor of Christian apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and director of its Nashville extension center, [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=39430]considers[/URL] whether the U.S. can fix the problem of gun violence, on school grounds and elsewhere. "Perhaps the Lord will send an antiseptic-like awakening to our land, and we'll enjoy a season of decline in slaughter -- on the school grounds, in the streets, at the clinics, in the homes and on the roads. Perhaps more will simply come to their natural Romans 1 and 2 senses," Coppenger writes. "Either way, the comprehensive fix won't arrive till Jesus returns."

-- Russell D. Moore, dean of Southern seminary's school of theology, discusses the evil of the massacre. "Satan is, Jesus tells us, a 'murderer from the beginning,' because he hates life itself," [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=39424]Moore writes[/URL]. "And he hates the life of children, particularly, because they picture something true about Jesus of Nazareth."

Moore cautions America not to pretend to understand iniquity nor to offer pat, easy answers to the grieving parents. Rather, he writes, "The mystery of evil is a declaration of war on the peace of God's creation. The war goes on, but not for long.

"And sometimes the most warlike thing we can say, in an inhuman murderous age like this one, is 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.'"
--30--
Compiled by Baptist Press staff writer Diana Chandler. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).

-- End of story --


Baptist Press' most-read stories of 2012
By Michael Foust
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39419

NASHVILLE (BP) -- A story that put Chick-fil-A in the national spotlight and led to hundreds of thousands of customers showing their support is Baptist Press' most-read story of 2012. 

That's according to Google Analytics, which tracks web traffic. In fact, four of the Top 10 stories for 2012 were about Chick-fil-A. But the list also shows readers were interested in matters of doctrine and Bible history.

Following is the complete Top 10 list for 2012, with each slot accompanied by a brief description and a link to the original story:   

1. "'Guilty as charged,' Cathy says of Chick-fil-A's stand on biblical & family values." In July Baptist Press re-posted a story from the Biblical Recorder newspaper that quickly put Chick-fil-A in the national spotlight -- and eventually led to hundreds of thousands flocking to the restaurant for Mike Huckabee's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. It remains the most-read story in Baptist Press' history on the Internet. [URL=http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38271]http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38271[/URL]

2. "Statement on Calvinism draws approval, criticism." In May a group of current and former Southern Baptist leaders signed a statement affirming what they called the "traditional Southern Baptist" understanding of the doctrine of salvation. It sparked a debate over what Southern Baptists believe on the issue and whether there is room for both sides in the convention. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37939]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37939[/URL]

3. "Andy Stanley's stance on homosexuality questioned." In April and May megachurch pastor Andy Stanley was criticized for a sermon illustration involving a gay couple in which he labeled adultery, but not homosexuality, a sin. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37742]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37742[/URL]

4. "Chick-fil-A's Christian ties stir college opposition." In March, before the Chick-fil-A media storm truly started, Baptist Press ran a story about opposition to Chick-fil-A restaurants on college campuses. The story spotlighted the student senate at Northeastern University which voted to end negotiations to bring the fast-food chain to campus. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37344]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37344[/URL]

5. "Chick-fil-A, in nat'l media storm, swims against cultural tide." The nation began focusing on Chick-fil-A in July and August, and it quickly became obvious that the restaurant was different from businesses such as General Mills, Nabisco, JC Penney and Target, all four of which seemingly compete to appear the most supportive of gay marriage. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38301]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38301[/URL]
 
6. "Q&A: A first-century fragment of Mark found?" In February, a New Testament professor said during a debate that a first-century fragment of Mark's Gospel may have been found. If true -- and confirmation could come in 2013 -- it would be the earliest-known fragment of the New Testament, placing it in the very century of Christ and the apostles. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37197]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37197[/URL]

7. "As Titanic sank, he pleaded, 'believe in the Lord Jesus!'" The Titanic sank 100 years ago, and Baptist Press remembered the anniversary by posting a column by Douglas Mize recounting how one of the victims -- pastor John Harper -- pleaded with those onboard the ship to trust Christ before they perished. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37601]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37601[/URL]

8. "Obama: Sin is what doesn't match 'my values.'" In the first few months of 2012, an interview President Obama conducted in 2004 about his faith got a second look after being re-posted on a popular website. It showed that on several major doctrinal issues -- including sin, heaven and the Gospel's exclusivity -- he steps outside historic Christianity. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37310]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37310[/URL]

9. "Some Chick-fil-A news reports called 'distorted.'" With the nation focusing on Chick-fil-A in July, Biblical Recorder editor K. Allan Blume -- who wrote the story that started the storm -- said many of the media reports of his conversation with the company's president were "distorted." [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38314]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38314[/URL]
 
10. "T.D. Jakes says he has embraced doctrine of the Trinity." In January, Bishop T.D. Jakes said he has moved away from a "Oneness" view of the Godhead to embrace an orthodox definition of the Trinity -- and that some in the Oneness Pentecostal movement now consider him a heretic. [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37054]http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37054[/URL]
--30--
Michael Foust is associate editor of Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).

-- End of story --


Call to 'harvest fields' among top IMB stories
By Staff
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39420

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: Baptist Press asked the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board to select 10 of their key news and feature stories from 2012 to be posted afresh as the year comes to a close and 2013 begins. This story contains the selections by IMB.</i>

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- "The harvest is now," a Christian worker and strategist based in the Middle East recently said about the effects of sweeping change that continue to unfold across the region. "We're not preparing the harvest; we are working in a harvest field."

The worker said, "During these crises, this Arab Spring, this stirring of peoples across the Arab world, God is creating opportunities like we've never had before to reach people at a point of need, to embody and proclaim the Gospel."

"Pray the news," another Christian worker serving in the Middle East urged. "As you watch the news, write down the names and places, then turn the TV off and pray...." Pray for safety for believers, "but also that they would have opportunities to share the hope that they have."

Engaging people groups with the Gospel in tough places comes with risk and sacrifice. Pray that believers in persecution will stay courageous and bold in their faith.

Pray Luke 10:2, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."

Nearly 5,000 Southern Baptists serve as international missionaries, undergirded by Southern Baptists' gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and through the Cooperative Program. 
Based on the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, each believer is called to continually ask, What am I doing and what is my church doing to be obedient -- to BE His heart, hands and voice, no matter the cost?

During this Christmas season, pray about how you can be Jesus' heart, hands and voice to reach people groups where you are and around the world with the Good News of the Gospel.

10 OF IMB'S KEY NEWS AND FEATURE STORIES FOR 2012

-- Myanmar cease-fire: 'Time will tell' 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=36958] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=36958[/URL]

The government of Myanmar (Burma) and the Karen National Union, the country's oldest ethnic rebel group, signed a cease-fire agreement Jan. 12, bringing a possible end to 60-plus years of fighting between Burmese Buddhist ethnic groups and the predominantly Christian Karen. Christian workers in Southeast Asia are expressing cautious hope and calling for prayer in light of the historic agreement, the first since the Karen National Union began its struggle for autonomy in 1948. If effective, the cease-fire could mean the end of one of the world's longest-running civil wars.

-- Egypt: Christians look past surface tension to real need 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37021] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37021[/URL]
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38029] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38029[/URL] 
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38028] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38028[/URL] 

A year after Egyptians flooded Cairo's Tahrir Square, the change they demanded is still in limbo. The post-Mubarak parliament has met, but some people fear their new leadership. Some are disillusioned, some are desperate, but all have need of the change that only Christ can bring, believers familiar with the region say.

-- Syria bloodshed: 'same hopelessness' 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37158] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37158[/URL][URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37401]
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37401[/URL] 
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37706] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37706[/URL] 
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37813] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37813[/URL][URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38534] 
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38534[/URL][URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39177] 
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39177[/URL] 

As Syria's murderous civil war spreads, global leaders have begun to focus on the dangerous regional struggles affecting the conflict: Syrian ally Iran versus Arab regional powers, Sunni versus Shiite Muslims, the fate of Syria's unstable neighbors and what might happen next if the regime of President Bashar Assad falls.

-- Post-tsunami, Japanese open hearts to Baptist volunteers 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37356] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37356[/URL]

Since Japan's March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, Southern Baptists have shared God's love through meeting physical and emotional needs of those who survived the sweeping tragedy. In areas previously resistant to the Gospel, doors have slowly opened as volunteers have engaged in a range of efforts, from rebuilding homes to simply listening as survivors tell their stories.

-- Coup in Mali: Baptist family waits for calm 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37467] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37467[/URL]

Southern Baptist workers in Mali prayerfully waited out the military coup that erupted in the West African nation March 22. Rebellious factions of Mali's army stormed the presidential palace, announcing on state television the following day they had ended President Amadou Toumani Toure's rule, suspended the constitution and closed Mali's borders. A Southern Baptist church group, who had been visiting a people group they had adopted there, stayed an extra week until the airports re-opened. "The only thing the [coup] really did to us was mess up our flight plan and put some tension in our minds," said one of the ministers on the trip. "We saw a lot of answers to prayer this week and saw God do a lot of great things [in the village]."

-- Olympics provide Baptists unique ministry opportunity 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37985] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37985[/URL]

As Olympics volunteer coordinator for Southern Baptists, Doug Shaw was in motion for months preparing Baptists to meet the tens of thousands of internationals who came to the United Kingdom this summer. "We are praying that many people from all over the world who may not have an opportunity to hear or respond to the Gospel without being persecuted by their neighbors might have that opportunity while they're here in London," Shaw said.

-- Suspect arrested in death of Southern Baptist worker 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38671] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38671[/URL]

A suspect has been arrested in the death of Southern Baptist representative Cheryll Harvey in Jordan, according to Jordanian authorities investigating the attack on the veteran teacher. Harvey, 55, whose body was found Sept. 4 in her apartment in Irbid, Jordan, was stabbed to death. Police reports indicate she was killed by a young Jordanian man. Robbery was the apparent motive. Harvey, of Sudan, Texas, worked in Jordan for 24 years, teaching English and other subjects. Ten years ago she founded the ESL language center where she taught in Irbid, Jordan's second-largest city.

-- Global marketplace becoming a mission field 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38975] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38975[/URL]
  
Within every Southern Baptist church there are people who can take the Gospel around the world -- business professionals. IMB President Tom Elliff announced a new component to IMB assisting Southern Baptist churches: the global strategic mobilization of business leaders. Through the GSM initiative, IMB trains and equips laity to leverage their global knowledge, resources, connections and growth strategies to help fulfill the Great Commission. For more on GSM, go to [URL=http://www.imbgsm.com] www.imbgsm.com[/URL].

-- Lebanon's shaky stability seen as tenuous after car bombing

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38990] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38990[/URL]

A car bombing that killed Lebanon's top intelligence chief Oct. 19 threatened to destroy the country's shaky stability. "Times are very tense here," said a veteran Christian worker and observer of Lebanon's political scene. "Some are comparing it to times near the end of [Lebanon's] civil war in the late 1980s. Only God knows which way things will turn, but the whole Middle East is changing faster than we could ever imagine. I think many people here feel that things internally are continuing to worsen and that the strife going on next door is coming here in increasing measure." Next door is Syria, where full-scale civil war is tearing that country apart, sending thousands of refugees fleeing into Lebanon and other neighboring nations.

-- Amid Israel & Gaza's bloody faceoff, prayer rises for 'bold' faith among Christians 

[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39189] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39189[/URL]

The long history of conflict between Gaza and Israel has been marked in recent years by militants in Gaza firing hundreds of rockets into Israeli populations -- triggering severe retaliation by Israel. With the current fighting, it's dangerous to be in the street, and there's little movement outside. "Pray for safety" for believers caught in the crossfire, said a Christian worker among Palestinians, "but also that they would have opportunities to share the hope that they have. As you watch the news, write down the names and places, then turn the TV off and pray the news. It's not a political statement or a stand, but asking the God of heaven to invoke His will in the situation and to bring true and lasting peace. With that, He is well pleased."
--30--
NOTE: This year's prayer emphasis for international missions focused on the theme, "BE His heart, His hands, His voice," from Matthew 16:24-25. Each year's Lottie Moon Christmas Offering supplements Cooperative Program giving to support Southern Baptists' nearly 5,000 international missionaries and initiatives to share the Gospel. This year's offering goal is $175 million. To find out more about the offering, go to [URL=http://www.imb.org/offering]imb.org/offering[/URL], where there are resources for church leaders to promote the offering. Download related videos at [URL=http://www.imb.org/lmcovideo]imb.org/lmcovideo[/URL].
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Send North America among top NAMB stories
By Mike Ebert
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39421

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: Baptist Press asked the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board to select 10 of their key news and feature stories from 2012 to be posted afresh as the year comes to a close and 2013 begins. This story contains the selections by NAMB.</i>

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- Celebrating Christmas reminds us that God sent Jesus into a world plagued by chaos and darkness. The hope and light He brings is what motivates us to give everyone in North America and throughout the world an opportunity to know Him. 

In 2012 Southern Baptists brightened some bleak circumstances by bringing the light of Christ through Disaster Relief ministries. Through its Send North America strategy, the North American Mission Board also challenged Southern Baptists to return to our great cities and regions outside the South, to establish new churches in areas with little Gospel presence. 

As we look back, first we are grateful to God for the privilege of joining Him in His work. We also are thankful for the millions of Southern Baptists whose faithful giving through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering allows our church planters and other missionaries to do their work.

10 OF NAMB'S KEY NEWS AND FEATURE STORIES FOR 2012

-- Ezell envisions next generation of missionaries
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38902] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38902[/URL]

In order to reach the Send North America goal of seeing a net gain of 5,000 SBC churches by 2022, North American Mission Board president Kevin Ezell said Southern Baptists must begin cultivating the next generation of missionaries. To do that, he introduced NAMB's missionary "Farm System" which will help discover, develop and deploy new missionaries to the places in North America that are most in need.

-- At Sandy Hook, chaplains pray, offer hope
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39374] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39374[/URL]

In the aftermath of one of the worst school shootings in United States history, Southern Baptist chaplains responded by ministering to the families of victims and many other residents of Newtown, Conn. 

-- 700 Baptist volunteers at work, sent by 25 state conventions
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39085] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39085[/URL]

Southern Baptists prepared more than 1.7 meals for survivors of Hurricane Sandy in the days after the storm. Hundreds of Baptist volunteers spent days and weeks serving residents whose lives were turned upside down by the event. Many had opportunities to share the hope of Christ in the process.

-- Collegians aiding Hurricane Sandy survivors
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39395] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39395[/URL]

Instead of sleeping in on their Christmas break or hanging out with friends and family at home, hundreds of Southern Baptist college students traveled to New York City to help restore homes and lives battered by Hurricane Sandy. 

-- 2,000+ attend NAMB's 'Send' church planting conference
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38418] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38418[/URL]

In July, more than 2,000 Southern Baptist church planters, pastors, church staff and Baptist leaders attended NAMB's first Send North America conference where they learned more about the spiritual needs of North America and how individual churches can become personally involved in reaching cities and underserved regions for Christ.  

-- SBC church plants: up 27 percent in 2011
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38039] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38039[/URL]

NAMB reported in June that Southern Baptist church plants in 2011 were up 27 percent over numbers for 2010. While encouraging, the planting rate still falls well below what is  needed to keep pace with population growth and to stay ahead of the average of 900 SBC churches that fall off SBC rolls each year.

-- FLOURISH: Pastors' wives, we get you
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37860[URL] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37860[/URL]

Ministers' wives play a key role in many important ministry areas of the church, but often their needs and nurturing is overlooked. That is why in 2012, NAMB launched the Flourish ministry led by Kathy Litton. The ministry, and blog site [URL=http://www.flourish.me]flourish.me[/URL], brings encouragement and support to the thousands of ministers' wives who serve every day side by side with their husbands on the front lines of ministry.

-- Pastors hear Send North America vision
[URL= http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38104] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38104[/URL]

At a luncheon for pastors and church staff attending the annual Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans, NAMB outlined how churches can become personally involved in church planting through Send North America and celebrated the faithful giving of Southern Baptist churches that allows missions work to continue. 

-- NAMB, at SBC, spotlights spiritual need of North America
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38129] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38129[/URL]

In his presentation to messengers at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans this June, NAMB president Kevin Ezell cast a light on North America's vast spiritual need and how SBC churches can help address the need through personal involvement in church planting. Church revitalization, bivocational pastors and chaplaincy ministries also were featured in the presentation.

-- NAMB, states target church stagnation, decline
[URL=http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38800] http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38800[/URL]

In addition to planting new churches, Southern Baptists must begin to help the more than 70 percent of churches that are plateaued or declining in membership. To do this, NAMB launched a significant effort in 2012 that will help churches turn around downward trends and give churches on the verge of closing their doors a new chance for a Gospel legacy in their communities.
--30--
Mike Ebert is vice president of communications at the North American Mission Board. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).



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Gospel Project, CP among LifeWay stories
By Carol Pipes
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39422

NASHVILLE (BP) -- As one year ends and another begins, LifeWay Christian Resources is reminded of how God used its efforts to undergird individuals, families and churches as well as to connect unbelievers to God's Word in the past year. 2012 was a year filled with new initiatives designed to further the advancement of the Gospel throughout the world and to offer even more biblical solutions for life.

As 2013 begins, pray for Southern Baptist churches that will be teaching God's Word and making disciples of children, students and adults in the coming year. Pray for individuals who are discovering God's purpose for their lives and others who are growing in their faith. Consider how you can join God is His mission to make disciples.

LIFEWAY'S KEY NEWS AND FEATURE STORIES FOR 2012

-- LifeWay's Gospel Project to provide in-depth curriculum
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=36981] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=36981[/URL]

For the first time in more than a decade, LifeWay released a new ongoing Bible study series for all ages. The Gospel Project examines the deeper theological and missional concepts throughout the grand narrative of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. 

-- Usage of LifeWay background check program is up 100%
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38791] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38791[/URL]

The number of churches signing up for LifeWay Christian Resources' background check program increased by 100 percent over the last year. Using [URL=http://www.LifeWay.com/backgroundchecks] www.LifeWay.com/backgroundchecks[/URL], nearly 2,800 churches and organizations conducted more than 55,000 background checks in the past year.

-- LifeWay store's customers find more than Bibles & books
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39338] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39338[/URL]

When customers at LifeWay Christian Stores are searching for answers to life's challenges, sales associates often find moments to point them to Jesus Christ. Sales associate Mitch Cifers shares how he led two customers to Christ in the middle of the Bible section of the store.

-- SBC baptisms & churches up in 2011, membership declines
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPQueryDate.asp?preview=6/12/2012] http://www.bpnews.net/BPQueryDate.asp?preview=6/12/2012[/URL]

The Southern Baptist Convention in 2011 reported an increase in the number of baptisms and total churches over the previous year but declined in total membership, according to the Annual Church Profile compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions.

-- LifeWay launches ebookstore and ereader app 
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39089] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39089[/URL]

LifeWay Christian Resources launched the LifeWay.com ebookstore, with more than 8,000 titles, and the LifeWay Reader app, making it more convenient for customers to take their favorite books with them wherever they go. In addition to books, customers can access digital curriculum through the LifeWay Reader app, which comes with a free, pre-loaded copy of the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

-- 'The Vow' book hits No. 1 on NYT list
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37210] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37210[/URL]

"The Vow," the true story of a woman who lost all memory of her husband following an automobile accident, opened at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list in its first week of re-release. Published by B&H Publishing Group, the book is the true story behind the film of the same name.

-- Ridgecrest garners conference planners' praise
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38548] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38548[/URL]

LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina was awarded the first-ever 2012 "Praise Award" by Religious Conference Manager magazine. Ridgecrest was recognized for its top-quality service to convention and meeting planners as well as guests and was the only Christian conference center named among the 15 top properties in the nation.

-- Student Life joins LifeWay family
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38513] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38513[/URL]

LifeWay Christian Resources and Student Life, Inc., minister to more than 100,000 teenagers each year with student camps and missions opportunities. On Aug. 15, Student Life officially became part of the LifeWay family of resources.

TOP LIFEWAY RESEARCH STORIES FOR 2012

In 2012, LifeWay Research conducted scores of surveys on issues ranging from Calvinism to the Cooperative Program to the health care law. 

-- Survey: Pastors value Cooperative Program
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39324] http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39324[/URL]

Southern Baptist pastors have high opinions of the convention's Cooperative Program, according to a study conducted by LifeWay Research.

-- SBC pastors polled on Calvinism and its effect
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38105] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38105[/URL]

Nearly equal numbers of pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention consider their churches as either Calvinist/Reformed (30 percent) or Arminian/Wesleyan (30 percent), according to a survey from LifeWay Research. More than 60 percent of SBC pastors said they are concerned about the effect of Calvinism on the denomination.

-- Survey: Most back contraception mandate
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39275] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39275[/URL]

LifeWay Research finds the majority of adults in America believe businesses and organizations, even those with conflicting religious principles, should be required to provide coverage of contraception and birth control for their employees.

-- Pastor compensation slightly ahead of inflation, survey says
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=38798] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=38798[/URL]

Compensation for full-time Southern Baptist pastors increased at a rate slightly faster than inflation nationally over the past two years, according to the SBC Church Compensation Study, an in-depth survey compiled by LifeWay Research and GuideStone Financial Resources. The average full-time pastor's compensation (salary and housing) rose 5.5 percent between 2010 and 2012, a rate only slightly higher than the 5.1 percent national inflation rate for the same two-year period.

-- Poll: 65 percent in U.S. say churches should be allowed to meet in public schools
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37095] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37095[/URL]

Two-thirds of Americans believe public schools should rent to churches and other community groups, according to a study by LifeWay Research. The study came as a Feb. 12, 2012 deadline banning the use of New York City schools by churches approached and would have affected 160 congregations.

-- Project identifies 8 attributes of discipleship
[URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38263] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=38263[/URL]

Based on one of the largest research projects ever completed on church health and spiritual growth, LifeWay Research identified eight attributes that consistently show up in the life of a maturing believer. To help pastors, churches and individuals measure their spiritual development, LifeWay Research used the survey data to develop a questionnaire for believers, the Transformational Discipleship Assessment.
--30--
Carol Pipes is editorial manager for the corporate communications team of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
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CULTURE DIGEST: Archbishop says society 'can't wait' for elderly to die
By Staff
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39423

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: Culture Digest will not be published Dec. 28 and Jan. 5, resuming publication Friday, Jan. 12.</i>

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury warned his country that society is devaluing the elderly and can't wait for them to die. 

In his last speech to the House of Lords before he resigns from his position, Rowan Williams said elderly people are being merely tolerated rather than valued, according to the Telegraph, a British newspaper.

"We tolerate a very eccentric view of the good life or the ideal life as one that can be lived only for a few years between, say, 18 and 40," the Telegraph reported the archbishop as saying.

Williams lamented the tendency to view older people as "dependents" or "problems," also warning that society has become "frenetically oriented towards youth." 

"Its effect can be both to ignore the present reality of responsible, active people in older life, who are still participants in society, not passengers -- and to encourage younger people to forget that they are ageing themselves, and that they will be in need of positive and hopeful models for their own later years," he said, according to the Telegraph.

Williams cited studies showing that more than half of people over age 60 do some form of volunteer work to "support the fabric of society." He added that that if the culture wants its older citizens to support society, it should put to rest the stereotype of the passive elderly. 

"And that means in turn that we may stop seeing the older population as primarily 'dependents' on the goodwill of family or neighbourhood or state," the Telegraph reported the archbishop as saying.

PERRY CALLS FOR PRO-LIFE LAWS IN TEXAS -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry has unveiled proposals for the next legislative session that would ban abortions in the last half of pregnancies and strengthen requirements for abortion doctors and clinics.

Speaking Dec. 11 at a Houston pregnancy help center, Perry said he would call for the Texas legislature to pass a bill that would prohibit abortions at 20 weeks or more after fertilization based on evidence a baby in the womb experiences pain by that point.

The candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination also said he would urge legislators to approve a measure to require a doctor who performs abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital. In addition, he plans to seek passage of a measure to mandate that abortion clinics meet the licensing standards of ambulatory surgical centers. 

Those two proposals are intended to protect the health and safety of women who choose to have abortions. Foes of such bills complain they are costly to abortion providers and can restrict abortion rights.

"Over the last decade, Texas has taken extraordinary steps to protect the lives of the unborn, but when 80,000 lives continue to be lost to abortion each year in our state, we know our work is far from over," Perry said, according to a written release. "In Texas, the Legislature meets for only 140 days every other year. As supporters of life, we have an obligation to make sure that every one of those days counts when it comes to protecting our most vulnerable citizens."

MAINE NOTARIES MUST WED SAME-SEX COUPLES -- Notaries public in Maine who officiate weddings but refuse to marry same-sex couples could be subject to discrimination claims under the Maine Human Rights Act.

According to the Bangor Daily News, the Maine secretary of state's office sent the notice to municipal clerks in December to clarify the policy before a new law allowing same-sex "marriage" goes into effect at the end of the month. 

Notaries are not required to perform weddings, so the only way they could avoid marrying same-sex couples would be to stop officiating weddings entirely.
 
"The new law authorizing same-sex marriage does not provide any exemption from liability for Maine Notaries who refuse to perform marriages for same-sex couples," Cathy Beaudoin, who oversees the Maine Secretary of State's licensing of notaries, wrote in the emailed notice, according to the Daily News.

While the new same-sex "marriage" law approved by voters in a Nov. 6 referendum allows clergy with religious objections to not perform such marriages, notaries are not afforded the same right.

Carroll Conley, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, advised notaries who object to same-sex "marriage" to stop officiating weddings altogether to avoid potential conflict with the law.

"There are ambiguities in the law you could drive a truck through," Conley told the Daily News. "The attorney general's office and the secretary of state's office wouldn't talk about the possible implications before the election, so now we're trying to identify and define where the conflicts are."

YOGA CLASSES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS CRITICIZED -- Yoga classes in public schools are facing a backlash from parents who are concerned the practice will indoctrinate their children with Eastern religion.

While yoga is taught at schools across the country on a limited basis, the Encinitas Union School District in California will be the first to have yoga instructors teach fulltime as part of its wellness curriculum, according to the Associated Press. 

"This is 21st century [physical education] for our schools," Encinitas superintendent Timothy Baird told AP. "It's physical. It's strength-building. It increases flexibility but it also deals with stress reduction and focusing, which kickball doesn't do."

The program, which will go district-wide in January, has endured months of protest by a group of parents, AP reported. Mary Eady removed her first-grade son from the program after witnessing kindergarteners do what the teacher called an "opening sequence," known in yoga as a sun salutation, in which the children stood up and swept their arms toward the sky. As she saw it, they were learning to worship the sun, which went against her Christian beliefs.

"It will change the way you think," Eady told AP. "What they are teaching is inherently spiritual, it's just inappropriate therefore in our public schools."

A lawsuit to stop the program may be on the horizon, AP reported, while constitutional law experts say the courts have yet to clearly define what constitutes religion.

"You might get litigation on a program like this because it's not totally settled what the boundaries of religion are," New York University law professor Adam Samaha told AP.

Encinitas assistant superintendent David Miyashiro told AP the district is making sure cultural references and other potential concerns are removed from the program, which he said should continue. 

Principal Stephanie Casperson praised the yoga program, telling AP that fewer students are sent to her office for acting out. Maria Walsh, 11, noted that although she was never into other sports, she enjoyed yoga.

"It's just a fun way for me to exercise," she said.

PRO-LIFERS AGAIN TO SING CHRISTMAS CAROLS AT ABORTION CLINICS -- The singing of Christmas carols has saved at least one unborn child's life, and pro-life advocates hope it will help rescue more during this season.

The Pro-life Action League will hold its 10th annual "Empty Manger" Christmas Caroling Day Dec. 22 at abortion clinics in the Chicago area. Similar caroling events will be held in other locations in the United States. During such an event, carolers stand around an empty manger and sing traditional carols outside an abortion center.

One year, the caroling reached the heart of a mother preparing to abort her child in a Chicago clinic.

"We were singing 'Silent Night' at American Women's Medical Center when a young woman came out of the clinic," Eric Scheidler, Pro-life Action League's executive director, recounted in a written release. "She approached one of our pro-life counselors and said we got her thinking about Mary and Baby Jesus. She just couldn't go through with her abortion."

The counselor referred her to a nearby pregnancy help center for assistance.

SUPERVISORS CELEBRATE ROE IN CONFLICT WITH WALK FOR LIFE -- The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted to celebrate Roe v. Wade in a resolution pro-life advocates say seems to be more of a reaction to the popular Walk for Life West Coast than the 1973 Supreme Court opinion that legalized abortion.

In a 10-0 vote Dec. 11, the board declared Jan. 26 to be a celebration of Roe and voiced support for a rally that day in honor of the decision that has resulted in about 55 million legal abortions in the last 40 years. The anniversary of Roe is Jan. 22. The Walk for Life West Coast -- which drew more than 40,000 participants last year -- is Jan. 26, however.

"Although the mainstream media virtually ignores the Walk for Life West Coast and 40,000+ people we have brought to the streets of San Francisco, it appears the San Francisco Board of Supervisors does not," said Eva Muntean, co-founder of the Walk for Life, according to the California Catholic Daily. "Why else would they choose January 26, the day of the Walk for Life, to commemorate 40 years of Roe v. Wade when the actual anniversary is January 22?"

BOXER SPEAKS FOR LIFE AFTER KNOCKOUT LOSS -- Manny Pacquiao, boxing's first champion in eight different divisions, spoke for the pro-life cause in the Filipino legislature only four days after a knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, 34, is a member of the House of Representatives in the Philippines. On Dec. 12, he said in a floor speech against a bill providing government funds for contraceptives, including abortion-causing drugs:

"In the dying seconds of the sixth round of my fight against Marquez, a single punch knocked me out. For more than two minutes, I was lying unconscious, motionless. My wife cried, members of team Pacquiao cried, my friends and fans cried when they saw that I was not moving at all. Some thought I was dead. What happened in Vegas strengthened my already firm belief of the sanctity of life. Manny Pacquiao is pro-life. Manny Pacquiao is voting no to House Bill Number 4244."

Despite Pacquiao's appeal, the House voted 113-104 for the measure on its second reading, according to LifeSiteNews.com.     

Critics of the legislation fear it will lead to the legalization of abortion in the Philippines.

LIBERTY COUNSEL NAMED SPONSOR OF LIFE DIRECTIVE -- The country's largest Hispanic evangelical Christian association has named Liberty Counsel as senior sponsor of its Life Directive.

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), which consists of more than 40,000 churches, has seven directives that guide its work. Liberty Counsel will work to help the NHCLC in its promotion of a culture that protects life from conception to natural death. Liberty Counsel also will act as the association's legislative and policy arm, it was announced Dec. 13.

"We believe that the Hispanic community, with its long-standing tradition of strong families and faith, holds the key to restoring pro-life and pro-family values in America," said Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel's chairman, in a written statement.

REPORT: NEW ORLEANS DOWN TO ONE ABORTION CLINIC -- New Orleans has only one abortion clinic remaining 17 years after it had seven, according to a new report.

Midtown Medical was the latest abortion clinic to decide to shut down, LifeNews.com reported Dec. 17. The clinic's closing followed the Dec. 1 death of abortion doctor Kiat Varnishung.
--30--
Compiled by Tom Strode of Baptist Press and John Evans, a writer in Houston. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
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FIRST-PERSON: School shootings & spiritual warfare
By Russell Moore
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39424

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- The nation is watching, with horror and disgust, news reports out of Connecticut of a horrific act of violence against an elementary school filled with defenseless children. 

While every act of murder ought to provoke outrage, there's something especially condemnable about the murder of children. I think there's a reason for that.

In the hours after the shooting, Jewish political and cultural commentator John Podhoretz called attention to a concept most Americans don't like to think about at Christmastime, if ever: hell. 

Podhoretz noted the heightened iniquity of child sacrifice in the Hebrew Scriptures' denunciation of the god Moloch. Moloch, of course, was a blood-thirsty deity who demanded his followers to pour out the lives of their children. The valley of this atrocity was called Gehenna. Jesus pointed to Gehenna when he told us about hell.

Throughout the history of the universe, evil has manifested a dark form of violence specifically toward children. Not only did the Canaanite nations demand the blood of babies, but the Bible shows where at points of redemptive crisis, the powers of evil have lashed out at children. 

Pharaoh saw God's blessing of Israelite children as a curse and demanded they be snuffed out by the power of his armed thugs. And, of course, the Christmas narrative we read together this time of year is overshadowed by an act of horrific mass murder of children. King Herod, seeing his throne threatened, demands the slaughter of innocent children.

Jesus was not born into a gauzy, sentimental winter wonderland of sweetly-singing angels and cute reindeer nuzzling one another at the side of his manger. He was born into a war zone. And at the very rumor of His coming, Herod vowed to see Him dead, right along with thousands of His brothers. History in Bethlehem, as before and as now, is riddled with the bodies of murdered children.

Why?

There are more factors at work here than just impersonal psychology and sociology. "The course of this world," we're told, is driven along by "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). And behind all of that is a bloody skirmish. 

Satan is, Jesus tells us, a "murderer from the beginning" because he hates life itself. And he hates the life of children, particularly, because they picture something true about Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus showed His disciple John that behind the particulars of history there's another, darker, story going on. Jesus showed the picture of a woman giving birth to a child, with a dragon crouching before her to devour the baby (Revelation 12:4). When the woman and her child escaped, the dragon "became furious with the woman and went out to make war on the rest of her offspring" (Revelation 12:17), and has done so ever since.

Satan hates children because he hates Jesus. When evil destroys "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40, 45), the most vulnerable among us, it destroys a picture of Jesus Himself, of the child delivered by the woman who crushes the head of our reptilian overlord (Genesis 3:15). The demonic powers know that the human race is saved, and they're vanquished, by a child born of woman (Galatians 4:4; 1 Timothy 2:15). And so they hate the children who bear His nature.

Violence against children is also peculiarly satanic because it destroys the very picture of newness of life and dependent trust that characterizes life in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 18:4). Children are a blessing, and that enrages the horrifying nature of those who seek only to kill and to destroy (John 10:10).

The satanic powers want the kingdoms of the universe, and a child uproots their reign.

Let's not offer pat, easy answers to the grieving parents and communities in Connecticut. We don't fully understand the mystery of iniquity. We don't know why God didn't stop this from happening. But we do know what this act is: It's satanic, and we should say so.

Let's grieve for the innocent. Let's demand justice for the guilty. And let's rage against the Reptile behind it all.

As we do so, let's remember that Bethlehem was an act of war. Let's remember that the One born there is a prince of peace who will crush the skull of the ancient murderer of Eden. Let's pray for the Second Coming of Mary's son. And, as we sing our Christmas carols, let's look into the slitted eyes of Satan as we promise him the threat of his coming crushed skull.

The mystery of evil is a declaration of war on the peace of God's creation. The war goes on, but not for long. And sometimes the most warlike thing we can say, in an inhuman murderous age like this one, is "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."
--30--
Russell D. Moore is dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
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FIRST-PERSON: Christmas & commerce
By Barrett Duke
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39426

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Christmas, what a great time of year! I'm glad we celebrate the coming of God to man in the person of Jesus Christ. Through His birth, sinless life, death and resurrection, Jesus provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sins and find eternal peace with God. We should celebrate that.

Of course, there is that whole commercialization problem. I worry about that, too. We have certainly lost something about the meaning of Christmas, but it's not all bad. Let me give you some things to think about. 

For one thing, it's true that stores, restaurants and a multitude of businesses enrich themselves at Christmas. But those stores employ people. They sell products by manufacturers that employ people. We need that employment to continue. The lives and wellbeing of millions of families depend on it. 

And there is more upside to the commercialization of Christmas than that. During Christmas, the Gospel message is plastered across America. The very word "Christmas" reminds people of Jesus Christ. Clearly, they aren't getting the whole story, but it's better than nothing. It gives us a good starting place to talk about all that Christmas means. 

And it's not only the "Merry Christmas" signs and advertisements that help us with our work of evangelism. There is also all that Christmas music. Some of it, to be sure, is pretty unengaging, like Frosty the Snowman. But I'll take Frosty the Snowman when the playlist includes a song like Silent Night, with its captivating reminder of the miracle of the virgin birth.

Then, there's the whole Christmas spirit the stores help us promote. I understand that many of these store owners just want to get us in the spending mood. But there is a benefit in that mood-altering activity. Most people are just in a better mood at Christmas. They smile more, they think more about the people in their lives. They are moved to generosity and compassion toward the less fortunate. At least for a while, there is a little more peace on earth in some people's lives and across the nation. 

We also cannot overlook the impact of nostalgia. Christmas reminds us of simpler times, before all the hardships of life, the bad decisions, the disappointments. It reminds us of a faith that once stirred in our hearts. Such reflection is a seedbed for evangelism. Christmas offers us a perfect opportunity to remind people that it is possible to get a new start.

And for those without memories of better days, it gives us opportunity to tell them the Jesus of Christmas can give them a better present and future, that through Jesus they can escape the chains of their past.

I know it isn't possible to tie a Christmas ribbon around everything that happens in the commercialization of Christmas. And I certainly worry that too many of us spend money we don't have and generally miss the important things about the season. But I wouldn't give up the free press the Gospel gets, the Gospel seeds that are planted, or the spirit of goodwill that is generated as businesses compete for our dollars.

I would rather join the Apostle Paul who declared, "Whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice," (Philippians 1:18). May you have a Merry Christmas, and may the Christ of Christmas bless you and yours. 
--30--
Barrett Duke is vice president for public policy and research at the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]).
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EDITORIAL: Dos Preguntas Importante para Navidad
By Gustavo Suárez
Dec. 21 2012
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39427

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) -- Él dijo, ¿Quién eres, Señor? Y le dijo: Yo soy Jesús, a quien tú persigues; dura cosa te es dar coces contra el aguijón. El temblando y temeroso, dijo Señor, ¿Qué quieres que yo haga? Y el Señor le dijo, Levántate y entra en la ciudad, y se te dirá lo que debes de hacer. Hechos 9:5-6 RVR 60.

En solo unos días será Navidad. Personas de diferentes nacionalidades celebran el nacimiento de Jesús de muchas maneras diferentes. Hemos notado, sin embargo, que a través de los últimos anos esta celebración ha tomado un ambiente secular. De hecho, hasta en muchas ciudades se está cambiando el nombre de Navidad a solo "Día Festivo." Lo que no ha cambiado es el dar y recibir regalos, fiestas, comidas, y las tradiciones religiosas. El apóstol Pablo hizo dos preguntas que debemos de hacernos nosotros en estos días de la celebración del nacimiento de Jesús.

Primero, debemos de hacer la pregunta e indagar, ¿Quién eres, Señor? Estoy convencido que alrededor nuestro y aun dentro de las iglesias evangélicas tenemos un sinnúmero de persona que "creen" en Jesús pero no han tenido un encuentro personal con El. Podemos, tal vez, ser portadores del máximo regalo que podemos darle a otra persona -- Jesús. Cuando pienso en esta pregunta oigo a Jesús diciéndome:

"Yo soy el pan de vida (Juan 6:48)." Cristo es el que fielmente provee por mis necesidades físicas. El maná del Antiguo Testamento lo encontramos en Jesucristo. Que esperanza y seguridad saber que Dios es suficiente para cuidar de mí y proveer por cada una de mis insuficiencias.

"Yo soy la luz del mundo (Juan 8:12)." En medio de la oscuridad e incertidumbre donde me encuentre Él es la luz que alumbra mi camino. 

"Yo soy el camino, la verdad, y la vida (Juan 14:6)." Jesucristo no es solo unos de los caminos a tomar para salvación. Jesús es el único camino, el único autentico (el verdadero) y el único que da vida eterna al que por medio de la fe, en arrepentimiento se entrega a Él. Jesús es el regalo de Dios al hombre pecador. 

"Yo soy la resurrección y la vida (Juan 11:25)." Como el rompió las cadenas de la muerte; Él también es el que tiene la llave maestra que abre el candado de la muerte. 

Después de haber indagado quien era Jesús, ahora el apóstol Pablo hace una segunda pregunta, ¿Señor, Que quieres que yo haga? Esta es una pregunta directamente relacionada con el servicio. Nuestra actitud debe ser tal que estamos dispuestos cada día a vivir vidas santas como representantes del Rey de Reyes y Señor de Señores aquí en la tierra. 

Mientras te regocijas con tu familia, recuérdales que en medio de las comidas, tradiciones, e intercambios de regalos, Jesús debe de ser el invitado de honor, Después de todo, estamos celebrando el nacimiento de Jesús, nuestro salvador y señor. 

Por último, solo una sugerencia, adopta a una familia que está en necesidad. Muéstrales a ellos que queremos no solo entregarle un regalo pero compartir también con ellos del regalo más importante -- que es Jesús. Bendiciones y ¡Feliz Navidad!
--30--
Gustavo Suárez es profesor de iniciación de iglesias y director del centro Nehemías para Iniciación de Iglesias en Norte América en el Seminario Bautista Teológic de Midwestern.

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