Baptist Press Stories for May. 16 2012 --------------------------------------- 100 days at the cross http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37836 DOJ 'actively' working to see DOMA overturned http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37837 Chen in 'de facto house arrest' at hospital http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37839 Okla. Baptist Messenger reaches 100-year mark http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37840 SBC Credentials Committee named http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37838 Tellers Committee named for SBC http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37842 FIRST-PERSON: Antibiotics & our future http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37841 FIRST-PERSON: Tapping America's sports-craziness http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37843 --------------------------------------- 100 days at the cross By Tony Martin/The Baptist Record May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37836 [IMG=32607@right@250]ESCATAWPA, Miss. (BP) -- An unusual sight -- an 11-foot-tall wooden cross with hundreds of written prayer requests nailed to it -- has been turning motorists' heads and prompting some of them to get out of their cars since Jan. 23. For 100 days, pastor Terry Long has kept vigil at the cross. Today (May 15) is his concluding day at the busy intersection of Highways 63 and 613 near the Mississippi Gulf Coast. "I felt the Lord told me to do three things," said Long, who has been in the pastorate since 1981, the last eight years at Lilly Orchard Baptist Church in Escatawpa. "One was to put a cross out here on the highway. At first I didn't know where it was to go, but it just clicked that this was the intersection. Through a series of circumstances, this is where I ended up. "Second, I was to pray for revival for a hundred days, every day," Long continued. "I was to push everything aside and just do this, pray for revival in our county and in our country. I was to not take a salary from my church for those hundred days. I was to give it back to the church. "Third, I was to fast and pray. And on the 10th day, five men from my church met with me just to see how things were. They knew I hadn't eaten and had given my salary up. In that meeting, they said, 'We understand why you gave your salary up, but we feel like we want to be a part of this -- we're missing a blessing. We want you down at this cross, and we'd like to restore your salary,' and the church has done just that," said Long, a bivocational pastor who does construction work. A native of Jackson County along the Gulf Coast, Long had begun praying for revival earlier in January. "I was concerned for the county -- I remember when the churches here were full and alive, and God impressed on me this was what I needed to do. He just dropped this in my heart." The pastor said he argued with God that it was "too radical." "This is crazy," he argued in prayer, "and I'm not the kind of person that does this sort of thing." Long, a graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, finally was stirred to proceed through what he describes as a supernatural confirmation. Two deacons from Lilly Orchard built the cross and erected it on land provided by a realtor. When praying, Long kneels at a simple folding chair. The pastor estimates there have been some 1,500 visits to pray and nail requests to the cross since Jan. 23, and 23 people have prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. Within two weeks it was abuzz on Facebook. On Easter Sunday, two Gulf Coast newspapers carried front-page stories about the cross. Two TV stations also have carried reports. "People were coming from all over to pray. People write their requests, put them in a little sandwich bag, and I hand them a hammer and nail. I pray with them." Long has been at the cross from about 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., arriving later on Sundays after preaching at Lilly Orchard. Saturdays have not been counted in the 100 days so he could prepare his sermons and tend to anything else needing his attention. "Some people stop because they're just curious, and I tell them what we're doing," Long said. "Often they will get emotional and I can pray with them." But astonishing, poignant stories also have been shared at the cross ranging from marriages needing to be saved to recovery for drug and alcohol addictions and help for children and family members. "One woman stopped and left a razor in a pouch after finding out her 18-year-old daughter was cutting herself. Two weeks after that, a car pulled up and a young lady got out. She introduced herself and said, 'I'm the girl what was cutting herself. I'm done with all that, and I want to be saved.' And she was." Another was an alcoholic described by Long as "so drunk when he pulled up -– going north in a southbound lane -- that he literally fell in the ditch when he got out of his truck." The man prayed to receive Christ and showed up at Lilly Orchard the next Sunday. The man checked into a faith-based rehabilitation center in Vancleve, Miss., to enter its recovery program. One man was so broken that he didn't feel his request was worthy enough to be nailed to the cross, so he nailed his request in the dirt at the back of the cross. Long added the story of another man. "He was a big, tall, lanky guy. Five minutes with him, and he realized he needed to be saved. He prayed to receive Christ. Since then, he's been back four times to tell me what God has been doing in his family. He has his wife, his mother, his 18-year-old son, his two daughters by a previous marriage, his wife's two children, a niece and a nephew all going to church now. The niece and nephew just got saved, and all three of them are getting baptized." A 76-year-old man who had been selling porcelain ware from the back of his truck across the road from the cross prayed to receive Christ. One family nailed the photograph of a loved one who had committed suicide. "We had eight convicts on the highway picking up paper," Long said. "They couldn't come to the cross, but I got permission to pray with them where they were. They all held hands in a circle and I prayed through the plan of salvation -- the Roman Road -- and five of them stated they asked God to save them." Asked if passersby had shown any scorn toward what he was doing, Long was quick to make a point. "I really thought people would throw bottles at me and call me an idiot, but people blow their horns and yell things like, 'Thank you for what you're doing. Keep up the good work.' Not one negative word has been yelled at me. All positive. "Which tells me that there's something about the cross that has power and speaks to people. "It's authentic. People make fun of the church, but they aren't making fun of the cross. "What I'm seeing out here are dramatic conversions," Long said. "It's not just a hop, skip and a jump down an aisle. These people's lives are changed. So the question I'm asking -- and I've talked to three pastors just this week about this -- is why is it happening here when it should be happening in our churches?" Long hopes the cross will remain in its location after his 100 days are up. Others have told him they will be the cross when they can to help people turn to God for salvation and their other needs. "It's His cross," Long said. --30-- Tony Martin is associate editor of The Baptist Record, newsjournal of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. Baptist Press editor Art Toalston contributed to this story. "The Cross Story" podcasts by Terry Long, parts 1 through 6, can be accessed at his website, [URL=http://www.istandamerica.com]www.istandamerica.com[/URL], at the Recent Podcasts tab. To view video reports on Long's vigil at the cross, go to [URL=http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/04/video_hundreds_nail_prayers_to.html]blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/04/video_hundreds_nail_prayers_to.html[/URL] and [URL=http://www.wlox.com/story/17654173/pastor-erects-14-foot-cross-alongside-busy-roadway-to-help-heal-hearts]www.wlox.com/story/17654173/pastor-erects-14-foot-cross-alongside-busy-roadway-to-help-heal-hearts[/URL]. -- End of story -- DOJ 'actively' working to see DOMA overturned By Michael Foust May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37837 WASHINGTON (BP) -- When President Obama told the Justice Department in February 2011 to stop defending a key federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, it was widely assumed the department would take a neutral position and sit on the sidelines. But with little fanfare since that announcement, the Justice Department has actually started filing legal briefs arguing that the law in question -- the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- should be overturned because, the department says, it is unconstitutional. It is a remarkable turn of events for a Justice Department that just 15 months ago was defending the law in court. Many of those same attorneys who were defending it now are urging courts to strike it down. "Everybody thought they were taking a neutral stance. They did not indicate they were going to actively attack its constitutionality," Dale Schowengerdt, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, told Baptist Press. ADF, a Christian legal group, has worked to defend the law. It is no small legal matter. Passed by bipartisan support in 1996 and signed into law by President Clinton, the Defense of Marriage Act prevents the federal government from recognizing gay "marriage" and also gives states protection from being forced to recognize another state's gay "marriages." In the 16 years since it became law, 30 states -- North Carolina being the latest -- have passed constitutional amendments defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Another dozen or so states have passed similar statutes. Gay groups view DOMA as one of the remaining obstacles to legalizing gay "marriage" nationwide, and they now have an ally in the Justice Department. Technically, the Justice Department is involved only in lawsuits that challenge Section 3 of DOMA -- the section that prevents the federal government from recognizing gay "marriage." But the legal arguments the Justice Department is making easily could be applied to all of DOMA, including the section that protects states, Schowengerdt said. President Obama, meanwhile, is supporting a bill in Congress that would overturn all of DOMA. As an example of the Justice Department's new stance, it argued in a December 2011 brief at a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania that passage of the Defense of Marriage Act "was motivated in significant part by animus towards gays and lesbians" -- i.e., prejudice and hostility toward homosexuals. The brief asserted that gays and lesbians have suffered discrimination throughout history and -- like minorities -- "exhibit obvious, immutable, or distinguishing characteristics." Significantly, the Justice Department also said DOMA should be reviewed under "heightened scrutiny" -- a standard normally applied to laws that impact, for instance, race and sex. Supporters of DOMA argue that the law should be subject to what is called "rational basis," which holds that as long as Congress had a rational reason for passing the law, it should stand. Under rational basis, the court begins with a presumption that the law is valid. Generally, under "heightened scrutiny," the opposite is true. The Justice Department's argument could lead to a landmark ruling: Every appeals court that has considered the issue has declined to apply heightened scrutiny to sexual orientation, Schowengerdt said. Under heightened scrutiny, every law nationwide defining marriage in the traditional sense could be reversed. The Justice Department legal briefs even have rejected the notion that children need moms and dads -- an issue that Congress cited in 1996 as a reason for passage of the Defense of Marriage Act. "There is no sound basis for concluding that same-sex couples who have committed to marriages recognized by state law are anything other than fully capable of responsible parenting and child-rearing," the Justice Department attorneys wrote. DOMA, the Justice Department argued, "unconstitutionally discriminates." The Justice Department's position on the law, Schowengerdt said, is important because courts weigh heavily what the department says. "When it comes to defending a law that Congress has passed, that usually falls to the Department of Justice, and the courts rely on the Department of Justice to give those laws their best defense," he said. "That's how the system works. A system has to have advocates on both sides." The "silver lining," Schowengerdt said, is that attorneys for the House of Representatives are doing a "fantastic" job defending the law. Republican leaders in the House last year voted to start defending the law after the Justice Department stopped defending it. A former solicitor general, Paul Clement, is leading the House team. Last year in a brief defending DOMA, Clement's team quoted research stating that "the optimal situation for the child is to have both an involved mother and an involved father." "[T]he experience of a child raised by a man and a woman may differ from that of a child raised by same-sex caregivers," the House brief said. "The federal courts that have upheld DOMA all have recognized that encouraging child-rearing by a married mother and father is a legitimate governmental interest, and that DOMA furthers that interest.... Congress rationally could conclude that each child will benefit from having a role model of his or her own sex as a parent, and from being exposed within the family to how that parent relates to an adult of the opposite sex." The DOMA cases are different from the high-profile California Proposition 8 case, although each pertains to the issue of gay "marriage." It is not clear which will be appealed first to the Supreme Court. The First Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a DOMA case in April but has yet to issue an opinion; the lower court had struck down Section 3 of DOMA. A panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Prop 8 in February, although supporters are appealing that decision to the full circuit for an "en banc" review. The Justice Department is not involved in the Prop 8 case. Prop 8 is a California constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. --30-- Michael Foust is associate editor of Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -- End of story -- Chen in 'de facto house arrest' at hospital By Staff May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37839 [IMG=32617@right@200]WASHINGTON (BP) -- Chinese human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng remains under "de facto house arrest" in a Beijing hospital with his wife and two children despite his desire to travel to the United States, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith said May 15. Bob Fu of the U.S.-based China Aid Association testified in a subcommittee hearing that when Chen's two lawyers attempted to visit him in the hospital both were beaten and one lost hearing in one ear. Chen spoke via phone to the House congressional panel that oversees international human rights, expressing concern for his family and supporters in China, particularly his brother and nephew who have been violently beaten. At the hearing, Smith reiterated Chen's value to the cause of human rights in China. "Chen Guangcheng is among the bravest defenders of women's rights in the world," Smith, R.-N.J., said. "Chen defended thousands of women from the ongoing, most egregious systematic state-sponsored exploitation and abuse of women in human history -- pervasive forced abortion and involuntary sterilization as part of China's one child per couple policy -- and has suffered torture, cruel and degrading treatment, unjust incarceration and multiple beatings as a result." The magnitude of the exploitation of women in China has been largely overlooked, trivialized and even enabled by world leaders, Smith said. He also expressed a desire to keep international focus on Chen's case until it is favorably resolved. Although the Chinese government said May 4 that Chen may apply to study abroad and the U.S. State Department confirmed that he had been offered a fellowship from an American university, the process appears stalled. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said May 15 all of the processing on the U.S. side has been completed for Chen, his wife and his two children. "We are ready when he and his government are ready. We have been for more than a week now in terms of his visa to come pursue his studies," Nuland said. "He is continuing to work with his government. Our information is that those conversations, contacts and processing continue. And we've been in regular contact with him two or three times a day, every day." Chen was under the impression his application for a passport was made last Sunday when he was visited by a Chinese official, Smith said, but Chen has not been notified of any further action on the application. "With the exception of the half-hour each morning and afternoon that the children are escorted outside by one of the nurses, he and his family are not allowed to leave the hospital and no one is allowed inside to see them," Smith said. Chen, a 41-year-old self-trained human rights lawyer, was imprisoned for more than four years because of his activism and then was put under house arrest. He escaped April 22 and sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for six days before being transferred to the hospital. Smith is "extremely concerned" for Chen's welfare, as well as that of his family. "Following his escape from house arrest, Chinese officials started breaking into the homes of his family in the same village and rounding up those who may have assisted him for interrogations," Smith said at the May 15 hearing. "When local officials and thugs broke into the home of Mr. Chen's brother, Mr. Chen's nephew, Chen Kegui, reportedly tried to defend himself with a kitchen knife. He is now in a police detention center." Fu, in his testimony, said, "What I want to make clear to the American government and the American people is this: Do not be easily misled and deceived." He added that implementation of the agreement between the U.S. and China on Chen's future is far more important than the agreement itself. "I hope that Congress will do more in monitoring and urging the Obama administration to ensure that the civil rights of Chen Guangcheng and his family members are protected by law," Fu said. "... His conscience, courage and spirit [have] been like a light shining in the long dark night of defending human rights in China." Chen, speaking to the panel through a translator, said, "I want to extend my gratitude and thankfulness to all those who care and love my family and myself and our situation, especially to the American people who show they care about the policies and justice -- those are universal values -- I am very, very grateful to all of you. "I'm not a hero. I am just doing what my conscience asks me to do. I cannot be silent. I cannot be quiet when facing this evil against women and children. This is what I should do," Chen said. --30-- Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Erin Roach. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -- End of story -- Okla. Baptist Messenger reaches 100-year mark By Staff May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37840 OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- On May 15, the Baptist Messenger, the newspaper of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, reached a milestone few publications do. The Messenger officially turned 100 years old. [IMG=32614@right@250]"We are so grateful for all of the people involved in the preparation, production and promotion of the Baptist Messenger over these 10 decades," editor Brian Hobbs said. "They leave us with a strong legacy and great footing for the future. We pray God continues to bless the Baptist Messenger in the years to come." The Baptist Messenger has a print circulation of nearly 60,000 and a digital version as well. Hobbs became the 11th editor in the Messenger's history in 2011. Notable leaders such as U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, financial expert Dave Ramsey and a leaders within the Southern Baptist Convention extended statements of congratulations to the Messenger on its 100th anniversary. Oklahoma's Gov. Mary Fallin and Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb jointly declared May 15, 2012, as "Baptist Messenger Day" in Oklahoma through an official citation. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said on Twitter on May 15, "Congratulations to the Baptist Messenger of Oklahoma on the paper's 100th birthday today. A century of service to Baptists." In conjuction with its 100th anniversary, the Messenger is hosting a series of celebration events that are open to the public. One was held May 15 at the Baptist Building in Oklahoma City, where numerous former staff were in attendance. Popular Baptist Messenger columnist Walker Moore, who is president and founder of Awe Star Ministries, spoke at the gathering. Moore also is speaking at several "homecoming" events scheduled across the state in the next few months. The Messenger recently completed a series on the paper's history "10 decades in 10 weeks," featuring highlights and history from each decade. In addition, the Messenger will publish a 100th anniversary edition magazine in time for release at the BGCO annual meeting in November. For more information, visit [URL=http://www.baptistmessenger.com]www.baptistmessenger.com[/URL]. --30-- -- End of story -- SBC Credentials Committee named By Staff May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37838 NEW ORLEANS, La. (BP)--Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright has named members of the Credentials Committee for the June 19-20 annual meeting in New Orleans. Larry Craig of Southern Oaks Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, will serve as chairman. Other committee members, listed by state, are: ALABAMA--Raymond Jones, Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Dothan; Paul Murphy, Arab First Baptist, Arab. ARKANSAS--Alan Brown, Freeman Heights Baptist Church, Berryville. GEORGIA--George Barnett, First Baptist Church, Ellijay; Kenneth Cloud, Bowen Baptist Association, Bainridge. KANSAS--Tom Edwards, First Baptist Church, Belle Plaine. KENTUCKY--Greg Nimmo, Williamstown Baptist Church, Williamstown. LOUISIANA--Adrian Frazier, Leighton Baptist Church, Leighton; Cody Hensley, First Baptist Church, Kenner; Ed Herring, Crossroads Community Church, Kenner; Jim Kown, Crescent City Rock, Metairie; Mike Massaro and Owen Neese, both of Edgewater Baptist Church, New Orleans. MISSOURI--Shawn Wasson, Bethany Baptist Church, Cape Girardeau. NEW MEXICO--Kevin Parker, First Baptist Church, Aztec. OKLAHOMA--Charles Womack, First Baptist Church, Bethany. TENNESSEE--Larry Dukes, Point Pleasant Baptist Church, Buchanan. TEXAS--Andrew Hebert, First Baptist Church, Forney. UTAH--Michael Waldrop, First Baptist Church, Keller. --30-- -- End of story -- Tellers Committee named for SBC By Staff May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37842 NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Members of the Tellers Committee for the June 19-20 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in New Orleans have been named by SBC President Bryant Wright. A.B. Vines of New Seasons Church in Spring Valley, Calif., will serve as chairman. Other committee members, listed by state, are: ARKANSAS--Ruby Stogsdill, First Baptist Church, Soldotna. GEORGIA--Larry Fillingim, Roswell Street Baptist Church, Marietta; Tom Rush, Berean Baptist Church, Monroe. HAWAII--Arnold Goto, Hawaii Kai Church, Honolulu. KANSAS--Rick Durham, First Southern Baptist Church, Garden City. LOUISIANA--Shin Doek RA, Lafayette Korean Baptist Church, Lafayette; Britt Moore, First Baptist Church, Brandon; Lorien Pirtle, First Baptist Church, New Orleans; Jason Thomas, Mosaic Church, New Orleans; Blaine Stafford, Doyle Baptist Church, Livingston. MARYLAND--Steve Hardnett, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Laurel. MISSISSIPPI--Daniel Heeringa, First Baptist Church, Houston. --30-- -- End of story -- FIRST-PERSON: Antibiotics & our future By Steve Willis May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37841 KENOVA, W.Va. (BP) -- Since we don't live in a major metropolitan area, I never dreamed that our town would be part of an issue touching all Americans' lives -- the overuse of antibiotics in our food supply. In picking up a prescription from our local pharmacy last year, I innocently asked pharmacist Rick Griffith (also our mayor in Kenova, W.Va.) if I should finish the entire four-week prescription if I felt fine after two weeks. "Not only should you finish the prescription," Griffith replied, "but you owe it to your fellow man to do so." The reason: Every time someone takes an antibiotic, weaker strains of bacteria are quickly and most easily destroyed. While this often leads to temporary relief, stronger bacteria can remain. Unless I finished the prescription I would make the resistant bacteria stronger, Griffith explained. Otherwise, he warned, "you've inoculated the bacteria so that it becomes immune to the antibiotic it was exposed to, and it will take a more powerful antibiotic to destroy it in the future." It doesn't stop there. Although I may feel well, I could pass along that stronger bacteria to someone else. If the next person fails to kill the strain, that bacteria becomes even more resistant to antibiotics. On it goes until we end up with serious problems. Hospitals everywhere are having a terrible time trying to treat people with these infections, Griffith said. If something doesn't change, the veteran pharmacist said these evolving bacteria could become so resistant to antibiotics that we will have to develop something else to fight the infectious diseases that simple penicillin previously cured. Then Griffith said something that knocked my socks off: "It's not just human consumption of antibiotics that is causing the problems. We're feeding so many drugs to animals right now, it's beyond belief." I never would have thought our nation's problems with overeating and antibiotics are interrelated. Nearly half of all antibiotics used in the United States are administered to animals, a process that is leading to antibiotic resistance in humans. A primary reason our farm animals need so many drugs is because many in the food industry pack animals into concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) instead of allowing them to grow in open fields like animals have done for thousands of years. In these CAFOs, animals stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the corn trough in their own manure and urine. This spreads illnesses among them, such as Mad Cow disease and infections from E. coli and other dangerous bacteria. At the heart of our problem lie meat-driven diets that have stimulated a three-to-one ratio of livestock to human beings. The need to quickly fatten animals leads ultimately to chopping down more forests to grow more corn, which reduces access to antibiotics God has provided through nature. The net result, said Griffith: "It causes us to depend more on pharmaceutical companies to develop manmade, synthetic antibiotics, which are very, very costly." So how is this relevant to the average Southern Baptist? It matters because good health and caring for our environment are moral issues. We not only have an obesity problem, our food consumption is leading to things like increased resistance to antibiotics and deforestation. And people are dying because of it. Earlier this year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed limiting the use of certain antibiotics on factory farms. While this attempt failed, this battle isn't over. Average citizens can continue to press Congress to curtail such abuses of our food system. You can make a difference at the grassroots level. Food and retail companies respond quickly to consumer demand. If not, they go out of business. If we don't buy their product, they quit producing it. Start asking your grocer and favorite restaurants about the sources of their meat and poultry and what methods were used to get it to you. The path from farm, to table, to a visit to the drug store is a long and complex chain. In the end, your health and our nation's survival are at stake. It is time for churches and concerned citizens to get involved. --30— Steve Willis is lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Kenova, W.Va., and author of "Winning the Food Fight" (Regal 2012). -- End of story -- FIRST-PERSON: Tapping America's sports-craziness By John Garner May. 16 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37843 FRANKLIN, Tenn. (BP) -- The boy came to the altar during invitation time with a simple salvation tract and told the inquiring pastor, "I did what this book said -- I asked Jesus into my heart." The boy had participated in a basketball league and learned of salvation during each week's practice as the volunteer coach utilized basketball terminology to introduce the Gospel. The boy, having learned that we are all sinners and God forgives our sins through Christ, accepted Jesus. What's more, he asked if he could give his testimony during the banquet at the end of the season. He stood in front of that large gathering and shared the booklet with fellow players, their parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, clearly explaining the plan of salvation. Only God knows the eternal impact the young boy had. America is sports-crazy -- crazed enough to spend billions each year on everything from Frisbees, fishing, golf, softball, water and snow skiing to tickets to all kinds of sporting events. Athletics and athletes command a huge influence -- both good and bad -- on our culture. Consequently, churches have an exciting, culturally relevant opportunity to share the Gospel with participants and spectators alike in their communities through sports and recreation. Opportunities abound for churches to use this nonthreatening environment as an entry point to evangelism and discipleship. Folks may come to a sporting event who would never think of coming to a worship service. They will especially come to an event that includes their children. The key for the church is intentionality. Several ministries have come on the scene that use sports and recreation as an intentional evangelism tool. Entities such as Upward Unlimited, In His Grip Golf, Connect Ministries, Outdoor Ministry Network, Infinity Sports, Sports Crusaders, Sports Reach and others are ready to help churches capture the imagination of our sports-crazy society. These ministries' core goal is that every participant at every event hears the Gospel. Growing churches are not doing "SOS" (same old stuff). They are using every tool at their disposal to spread the Gospel. With sports, kids want to play; parents want their children to have quality learning experiences; and churches want to reach their communities. If we wait on the world to come to our Sunday morning worship services we will miss a majority who are unaware of the value of what we offer. Conversely, if we use all available tools and meet them at their point of interest, we have a great opportunity to capture their imaginations. If you can capture a person's imagination, you have access to their time, a channel to influence the mind, impact the heart and introduce them to Christ the Savior. The message is eternal; tools are ever-changing. The question for each church is, How do we impact our world? --30-- John Garner [URL=http://www.recreationandsportsministry.com]www.recreationandsportsministry.com[/URL] is a sports ministry consultant and life coach based in Franklin, Tenn. -- End of story -- Copyright (c) 2013 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press 901 Commerce Street Nashville, TN 37203 Tel: 615.244.2355 Fax: 615.782.8736 email: bpress@sbc.net