The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-02/01/2016 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Backpacks & Bibles reach into Appalachia, Miss. Delta by K. Faith Morgan Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- Since 2001, Appalachian Regional Ministries, a ministry of the North American Mission Board, has collected and distributed more than 140,000 Christmas backpacks and boxes filled with toys, clothing, school supplies, food and hygiene items and a Bible. As the ministry has expanded over the years, backpacks were distributed in the 2015 outreach to more than 46,000 children affected by poverty in Appalachia as well as the Mississippi Delta and beyond. NAMB's Appalachian ministry has seen more than 4,000 decisions for Christ over the years as a result of the yearly initiative. To learn more about how to get involved in the 2016 Christmas backpack program, visit namb.net/arm. With every backpack, there are at least two stories -- the story of the family who gave and the story of the family who received. There are also the outlier stories -- the narratives of the people who have the honor of delivering the backpacks. These are among those stories, recounted by organizers in their own words: -- Ryan Potts, director of missions, Polk County Baptist Association, Benton, Tenn. Polk County has a poverty rate above the national average and, normally, double-digit unemployment. Most every home could benefit from their child receiving a backpack. Thanks to our school system, administrators, staff and employees, the opportunity was opened for us to display the love of Christ to every pre-K to 8th-grade student in west Polk County. Each left the lunchroom with a backpack filled with toys, snack items, hygiene products, school supplies and a Bible. One association provided hand-crocheted scarfs and hats for several of the backpacks. These were made by a lady who is over 90 years old and lives in a nursing home in Georgia. She works all year making these items to donate to the Christmas Backpack program. Thankfully, our association has been the recipients of some of those backpacks over the last couple years. Letters were distributed with the backpacks about the ministry and the churches of our association, so parents could be informed of the source and the ultimate goal to convey God's love in a practical way. -- Mark D. Partin, pastor, Indiana Avenue Baptist Church, LaFollette, Tenn. Through NAMB, we have been enabled to touch many lives in an area that has so many needs. Our largest distribution took place at the Lafollette Elementary School. All 750 kids in the school are on free lunch. Many of these children do not eat again until school the next day. The backpacks are truly a blessing for these kids. We prayed over them for children who needed food to get food and those who need a blanket to get the blankets. God heard and honored our prayers. One little girl received an outfit of clothes along with other items. She was adamant she did not want the clothes. Her concerned and confused teacher took the rejected clothing and was walking down the hallway when another teacher came up to her and asked if there were any more backpacks, saying, "I have a little girl who desperately needs clothes, and she did not get any." She was the same size as the one little girl who refused to take the outfit. Another boy who was so excited, he got exactly what he wanted, and he told his teacher, "I'm going to do the happy dance!" As each grade came into the gym, I was allowed to pray over them and for them in the name of Jesus Christ. It was truly a blessing. -- Bill Barker, national director of Appalachian Regional Ministry and Mississippi River Ministry, NAMB We get to see and hear the stories every year, but the novelty never wears off, and this year is no exception. We hear stories of the little girl who came without a coat and opens her backpack, and some mother in Georgia or Alabama or North Carolina bought a coat and crammed it into that backpack. And when the kid opens it up, again and again, I hear, "It was just my size and my favorite color." Whether it's blue or it's pink or it's purple or yucky green, "It's just my favorite color." There are the kids that had a Christmas gift in mind, and they open up the backpack, and it's there. I can't explain that. It's God. We receive lots of thanks for the food. One of the little girls sent a thank-you note back to her ministry center that said she was grateful for the toys and grateful for the other stuff, but she really liked the food best of all, because that's all she had at Christmas. In 2015 we distributed 46,112 backpacks. It's more exciting every year; my heart can't stand it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Larger churches & their denomination by Terry Dorsett Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday This is the third in a three-part series by Terry Dorsett, executive director of the Baptist Convention of New England, on the topic of joining a denomination. For the first and second articles in this series, click here and here NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. (BP) -- Though many feel we are living in a post-denomination age, I believe denominations still have a valuable role to play in God's plan for the church. Denominations provide a way for local churches to work together on projects too big for any one church to handle on their own. (Click here for Part 1 of this series on why I joined a denomination and here for the article on denominations serving churches.) But what about churches that have grown numerically to the point when they no longer need many of the services the denomination provides? Should they remain invested in a group that provides many services they may no longer need? With the rise of the mega-church, this is a question that even many non-mega-churches are asking. I think there are a number of reasons why larger churches need to remain involved in and actively support their denomination. Large churches have often learned something about reaching people that other churches need to learn. They often have developed specialized ministries that other churches need to know about. One might argue that those churches can host their own training conferences and seminars to promote these ideas without any connection to the denomination. While that might be the case, why recreate an information distribution system and spend money on mass advertising when the denomination already has numerous the channels needed to get that information out to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of churches? It would be better for larger churches to partner with their denomination to provide those training experiences through the denominational system. Think about this from a local church perspective. If the most gifted church members decided to keep all their talents and abilities to themselves or to only use them for para-church groups and never use them in the local congregation, it would adversely impact the ministry of the local church. It would set the local church back and hinder its effectiveness greatly. The same thing is true when the largest churches in a denomination start doing their own thing outside the denominational system. It robs the group of the very thing they need to move to the next level. When large churches work through the denominational system, instead of outside of it, they help raise the level of training and effectiveness in the entire group. Then there is the issue of money. Larger churches almost always have more financial resources than smaller churches, yet as they grow, they often redirect their resources away from the denomination toward their own causes. That lowers the resources available to the denomination to offer high-caliber services to the smaller churches that remain -- churches which often need those services the most. For example, I serve a denominational missionary organization that serves 337 churches, most of which average less than 85 in regular worship attendance. Twenty five of those 337 churches provide 61 percent of the financial support for our ministry. If any one of those 25 key churches withdrew its support, it would severely limit the services we could provide to the other 312 churches. Some might be tempted to disparage all of those smaller churches as "ineffective" and therefore not worthy of support. That is not always the case. In our situation, 40 percent of our churches are from 19 different ethnic groups we serve, some of which are economically disadvantaged. Nearly 50 percent of the churches in our network are new church plants less than 10 years old and are still in the process of becoming stable. Many churches in our family of faith are located in small villages and mountain towns or other out-of-the-way places that will never be serviced by a larger church. For the sake of the Gospel, we must have a strong denominational budget so these small churches can continue to be assisted. The only way we can have a strong budget is for our larger churches to continue to support the denomination. Larger churches may no longer need someone from the denomination to train their Sunday School teachers or deacons, but that does not relieve them of the obligation of assisting the denomination in training Sunday School teachers and deacons in other churches. Larger churches may no longer need financial assistance from the denomination, but many smaller churches do need it and larger churches should have a Kingdom mindset and continue to invest the funds needed for the whole family of churches to be healthy. There may have been a day when denominations had bloated staffs and wasteful budgets, but those days are long gone. Denominations that are thriving today are lean and efficient and need their larger churches to remain engaged for the sake of the Kingdom. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: The presidential election: things to keep in mind by Ronnie Floyd Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday Ronnie Floyd is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and senior pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas. SPRINGDALE, Ark. (BP) -- During this pivotal year of electing the next president of the United States, we need to be wise with our words and actions. These are serious times. Much passion is rising in America during this season. It is in the air. We sense it, feel it and know it in our heart. Much is at stake. This is undeniable. Yet, it would be well for each of us to remember these five things during the election season: 1. Keep everything in perspective. God is sovereign over all human affairs. Regardless of who wins the nomination of your preferred party or who wins the election, God is ultimately in charge. I am not advocating passivism. I am calling for each of us to keep everything in perspective. Our hope and trust is ultimately in the Lord. 2. Be involved in the process. Each Christ-follower needs to be involved in the processes of electing our next president. We need to know about the candidates, understand what they believe, measure it by the Word of God, and vote as we believe God is leading us. We need to vote not only in the general election, but also in the primary of our choice. It is incumbent upon us to be involved in the process at whatever level afforded to us. If you get a chance to meet one or more of the candidates, meet them. If you get a chance to speak into their lives and platform, step up and represent the Lord and His Word honorably. If you are never afforded this privilege, learn what you can by listening, watching and reading. I say it again; it is incumbent upon us to be involved in the process of electing our next president. Quite honestly, America cannot afford for us to stay at home. 3. Watch what you say and how you say it. Passion is rising over these matters. In our respective places and positions, each of us will be asked our opinions. Therefore, we need to be deliberate in what we say and how we say it. People are watching and listening to us. We represent our Lord everywhere, so we need to live up to this wisely. This does not keep us from providing insights and speaking up when appropriate, but it does call us to weigh every word we say and the way we say it. Do not lose your testimony and influence with others for the sake of pontificating, as if you are trying to win an argument or promote your preferred persuasion. This is difficult for each of us, but we must be wise with our words and gentle in our spirit. In our congregations, we have people from all backgrounds with all kinds of opinions. This should not call us to silence or intimidate us into fearfulness. Yet, it does call us to be wise with our words and clear in every way, exhibiting at all times the spirit of Christ. 4. Refuse to be categorized. Election season usually pushes us into categories and labels. It is now more than obvious by what we read that even evangelicals are broken into various categories. These categories are labeling different groups and how they will vote with different candidates. I hope each of us will strive not to be categorized by anyone. We are one thing ultimately: followers of Jesus Christ. This is our badge of honor. If we abandon this by our actions or opinions, we will begin to lose our prophetic voice during this critical hour in America. 5. Pray for God to raise up His next leader for our nation. Daniel 2:21 says, "He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning" (NIV). God does have a will for our nation and He has the power to raise up whomever He desires to lead our nation. As followers of Christ, while we work in the processes afforded us as Americans, we need to also pray for God to raise up His next leader for our nation. May He raise up such a leader where His mercy will extend toward us. And, regardless of this leader, I pray for the mercy of the Lord to be upon us. When we know we have worked in the processes and prayed for the Lord's will to be done, when all is concluded, we have the peace to trust the Lord who is sovereign over all affairs. Finally, let's pray for one another to remember these five things during the presidential election season. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Men's Game Banquet': Seminary aims for souls by Alex Sibley Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) -- A Paige Patterson-penned Gospel tract gives evidence to his credentials as an expert hunter. In "Hunting the Most Dangerous Game," one portion of the tract by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's president reads: "My 500 Nitro Express double rifle was already on my shoulder, safety off, ready for instant response. When the charge came, time stood still. A flurry of action and this magnificent lioness lay at my feet. When I reached over to touch her, my heart broke into a race like a quarter horse breaking from the chute." In addition to the lioness, Patterson's years of hunting experience encompass such unique harvests as two other members of the "big five game" in Africa: a cape buffalo and a leopard. Patterson's passion for hunting has given him some unusual ministry opportunities. Among the most fruitful: speaking engagements at wild game banquets across the United States. Combined with Patterson's zeal for evangelism, the banquets have seen thousands of men and young boys who otherwise would never grace the doors of a church surrender their lives to Christ. Southwestern Seminary will host one of these banquets -- the "Men's Game Banquet" -- to attract men from the Dallas/Fort Worth area through the sport of hunting and present to them the Good News of Jesus Christ. Patterson will be one of the featured speakers at the Feb. 20 free event. "This is about nothing in the world but reaching lost men for Christ," Patterson said. "We have discovered that, in those banquets where we've had 2,000-2,500 people present, invariably we will have 300-400 who make professions of faith. "The problem we have in the church today is we are not getting lost people there. This kind of banquet is not the only way to do it, but it is one way," Patterson said. Kyle Walker, dean of students at Southwestern and one of the organizers of the Men's Game Banquet, said sportsmen's banquets are among the most effective means for reaching lost men with the Gospel, as they connect to interests that many of them have: hunting, guns and the outdoors. This will be the first game banquet hosted on Southwestern's campus, and local churches have the opportunity to help sponsor the event and bring the lost from their communities. In addition to Patterson's presentation, the event will include a "wild game cooking contest," giveaways and a presentation by David Morris, president of Tecomate, producer of wildlife food management systems to help sportsmen enhance their recreational property. "There are a lot of men and boys out there who will never come to your church for church service," Patterson said. "But you can get them to come hear some guy who puts his life in jeopardy on a regular basis to go out where the big ones prowl, and he's going to tell them how to stay alive hunting dangerous game. "Many of them never intend to put themselves in that kind of situation," Patterson said with a laugh, "but they are curious about an idiot who will do that. So they will come and they will hear the message." To learn more about the Men's Game Banquet, visit swbts.edu/hunt. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sudan releases pastor held without charges by Morning Star News/Sudan Correspondent Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday JUBA, South Sudan (BP) -- Sudanese authorities have released one of two pastors detained without charges since December 2015, Morning Star News reported Jan. 31. Kwa Shamaal, head of missions for the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC), was arrested Dec. 18 and released Dec. 21, but had been required to report daily to the office of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), where he was held from 8 a.m. until midnight, sources said. That requirement was removed Jan. 16. His colleague, SCOC vice moderator Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor, remains in detention. NISS officials were said to have been upset with the pastors for telling others that Christians faced persecution in Sudan. Authorities had arrested the two from their respective homes at the same hour. No charges have been brought against them. Since their arrest last year, Christians in Sudan and elsewhere have been praying fervently for the two pastors and for other Christians jailed in Sudan. "Please do your best in prayer, and leave the rest to almighty God," one leader said to his prayer group. "We really miss you very much, my dad," Abdelrahim's son wrote in a Facebook post. Both church leaders are from the Nuba Mountain region of South Kordofan state. Ethnic Nuba along with Christians face discrimination in Sudan, where President Omar al-Bashir has vowed to adopt a stricter version of Islamic sharia law and recognize only Islamic culture and the Arabic language. The government has destroyed churches and attacked Christians. After bulldozing a Lutheran Church of Sudan building in October 2015, authorities in the Karari area of Omdurman demolished an SCOC building that month without prior warning, church leaders said. Local authorities said the SCOC building was on government land, a claim church leaders adamantly denied. Shamaal's church building had been demolished in the Hai Thiba Al Hamyida area of Khartoum North in June 2014. The Nuba people have longstanding complaints against Khartoum -- including neglect, oppression and forced conversions to Islam in a 1990s jihad -- but as Sudanese citizens on the northern side of the border with the new state of South Sudan created in 2011, they had never been given the option of secession in the 2005 peace pact between northern and southern Sudan. The rebels in the Nuba Mountains formerly were involved with the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) forces fighting Khartoum before the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Due to its treatment of Christians and other human rights violations, Sudan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department since 1999, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended the country remain on the list in its 2015 report. Sudan ranked eighth on Christian support organization Open Doors' 2016 World Watch List of countries where Christians face most persecution. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ky. governor's stance stymies Planned Parenthood by Kristen Lowry/Kentucky Today Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP) -- Planned Parenthood stopped performing abortions at a Louisville clinic after Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin objected to violations of state law. The organization had begun offering abortions during the week of Jan. 18 but when that news was made public on Thursday, Jan. 28, Bevin reacted harshly. "They are openly and knowingly operating an unlicensed abortion facility in clear violation of the law," the governor said in a statement. "We will use the full force of the commonwealth to put a stop to this. There is no room in Kentucky for this kind of blatant disregard for proper legal procedure." Bevin cited a state law that prohibits abortion facilities from operating without first obtaining a license. That law allows penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation. In a letter sent to Planned Parenthood later Thursday by Kentucky Acting Inspector General Stephanie Hold, the abortion provider was directed to "cease and desist" abortion services in the Louisville clinic due to deficiencies in the organization's application. Hold, in the directive to Planned Parenthood, said the clinic lacked adequate written agreements with an acute care hospital and an ambulance service. The agreements are required in order to care for any patient who has unforeseen complications during the procedure. Suzannah Wilson Overholt, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, said in a letter Friday that the organization would "refrain from performing any abortion procedures" until the clinic has been found in compliance with the law and is issued an appropriate license. "As I hope our communications to your office reflect, we are committed to full compliance with all applicable licensing regulation," Overholt said in the letter. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Boko Haram burns children alive in Jan. raids by Diana Chandler Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (BP) -- Boko Haram killed more than 100 people in firebombs, shootings and suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria at the end of January, the most deadly attacks near Maiduguri where a survivor told the Associated Press he heard the cries of children burning alive inside their homes. At least 86 bodies had been collected by Jan. 31 in the attacks the previous day on Dalori Village and two nearby camps housing 25,000 refugees, where charred and bullet-ridden corpses littered the streets, survivors and soldiers told the AP. Alamin Bakura, who survived by hiding in a tree as several of his family members were killed or wounded, told the AP by telephone that he heard children screaming as they burned alive. Three female suicide bombers were involved in the attacks near Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria's largest city and the place of Boko Haram's origin. The shootings, explosions and attacks from three suicide bombers continued four hours, because the attackers were more heavily armed than the first soldiers who arrived to help villagers, the AP quoted soldiers who spoke anonymously. The fighting ended only when more heavily armed soldiers arrived. In separate attacks on two primarily Christian communities in northeast Nigeria Jan. 29 and 27, Boko Haram killed at least 26 and wounded dozens of others, Morning Star News reported Jan. 29. Boko Haram has continued to attack northeast Nigeria more than a month after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari proclaimed a "technical defeat" of the militants, saying they had been reduced to mainly suicide attacks, as opposed to more deadly raids on villages. In the Jan. 27 attack, six suicide bombers attacked a crowded market in Chibok, killing at least 17 civilians and a soldier and wounding 30 others. Chibok is the site of Boko Haram's April 2014 kidnapping of 300 schoolgirls, 219 of whom remain missing. The suicide bombings occurred on the first day the market reopened since Nigerian troops retook the town from Boko Haram, but Chibok is still not safe for displaced persons to return to, a witness told Morning Star News. Boko Haram remains a threat to Christians in particular in northeast Nigeria, Ann Buwalda, executive director of the Jubilee Campaign for religious freedom and human rights, has told Baptist Press. "The mood of the displaced people of [northeastern] Nigeria remains fearful and tense due to the uncertainty as to where Boko Haram will next strike with a suicide bomb or other attack," Buwalda said in January. Her organization communicates with a Christian ministry to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the region. Boko Haram, intent on establishing strict sharia law in Nigeria, has pledged allegiance to ISIS (the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and has killed an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 persons in the past six years, displacing an estimated 2.5 million others. The 2015 Global Terrorism Index ranks Boko Haram has as the deadliest terrorist group in the world, exceeding ISIS. The GTI attributed more than 6,644 deaths to Boko Haram in 2014, with most attacks occurring in northeast Nigeria. ISIS killed 6,073 in terrorist attacks in the same year, according to the report. Terrorism in Nigeria also is fueled by a militant group of Fulani herdsmen, which the GTI blamed for 1,229 deaths in 2014. The herdsmen were blamed for 63 deaths in 2013, the GTI said. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Prison task force mirrors SBC resolution by David Roach Date: February 01, 2016 - Monday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The recommendations of a bipartisan congressional task force on reducing the federal prison population have drawn praise from some evangelicals and parallel at several points the recommendations of a 2013 Southern Baptist Convention resolution on "America's growing prison population." Among the recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections were elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for some nonviolent drug and weapon-possession offenses; implementation of a Second Look program to permit early release of some inmates who have served at least 15 years; and provision of additional faith-based programs in federal prisons. Federal prisons held nearly 200,000 people at the end of 2015, according to the task force's Jan. 26 report, 20 percent above capacity. America's local, state and federal prisons combined hold more than 2.2 million inmates on any given day, marking the "highest incarceration rate in the world." The task force estimated implementation of its recommendations would reduce the federal prison population by 60,000 inmates and save the government $5 billion. "I am delighted to hear the recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force," said David Crosby, a member of the 2013 SBC Resolutions Committee and the primary author of the prison reform resolution's first draft. Prison overcrowding "diminishes any prospect for rehabilitation, exacerbates problems with inmate violence and creates unsafe work environs for public employees. As Christians, we must be concerned about these conditions." The Colson Task Force, established by Congress in 2014, was named for the late Richard Nixon aide who experienced a midlife conversion to faith in Christ and founded the Christian ministry Prison Fellowship after serving seven months in federal prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. The task force issued six broad recommendations in its 132-page report, each of which included multiple specific policy proposals: -- Preserve prison for those convicted of the most serious crimes. -- Promote a culture of safety and rehabilitation in federal facilities. -- Incentivize participation in risk-reduction programming. -- Ensure successful reintegration by using evidence-based practices in supervision and support. -- Enhance system performance and accountability through better coordination across agencies and increased transparency. -- Reinvest savings to support the expansion of necessary programs, supervision and treatment. The SBC resolution, adopted by messengers assembled in Houston two and a half years ago, similarly expressed “support of legislative policies that seek to reduce high incarceration rates without jeopardizing public safety" and affirm that “probation and parole may serve as a wise, just, and effective alternative to prolonged incarceration for certain nonviolent offenders." The resolution urged federal, state and local criminal justice agencies to "increase cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention and other like-minded organizations who seek to reach offenders with the life-transformational Gospel of Jesus Christ." Prisons should "reduce recidivism through moral and spiritual transformation," according to the resolution. Mark Wohlander, a former federal prosecutor and member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., affirmed the task force's recommendations to eliminate some mandatory minimum sentences and reinstate a form of parole in the federal prison system. "The implementation of the federal sentencing guidelines and abolishing parole in the federal system have combined to ensure that federal prisons continue to be nothing more than warehouses," Wohlander told Baptist Press in written comments. "What Congress failed to understand when the guidelines were promulgated was that incarceration had four purposes: (1) retribution; (2) incapacitation; (3) deterrence; and (4) rehabilitation. Guideline sentencing has all but eliminated the most significant purpose of prison, that is, rehabilitation." Jimmy Dukes, director of prison programs at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, affirmed the recommendation that federal prisons provide faith-based programs. He noted the success of New Orleans Seminary's extension program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and said such programs can reduce recidivism. "As a Christian, I strongly believe that we all suffer the consequence of our wrong action," Dukes told BP in written comments. "I believe we deserve that. But that is not the end of the story. I also strongly believe that people, even those who have broken the law and deserve punishment, can experience change. I know personally that I cannot change myself. But I also know that God alone can change us. "A friend of mine in corrections talks about 'moral rehabilitation,'" Dukes continued. "I have seen it in the lives of many. Moral rehabilitation comes from God through the proclamation of the Gospel. I believe the solution to fixing overcrowded prisons is what we have seen at Angola and are seeing in Mississippi, Georgia and now Florida" -- sites of other New Orleans Seminary prison programs. "We need to do all we can to help those who are there experience the change that can come through moral rehabilitation." Crosby, pastor of First Baptist Church in New Orleans, said Gospel-proclaiming prison ministries are "sometimes the only real efforts available for inmates who want to change the course of their lives." "Our churches must turn toward the local jails and prisons," Crosby said. "Inmates who bear the image of God will respond to the Gospel in repentance and faith if we go. And those who bear witness will discover that these faceless, nameless prisoners are true friends and family to us." In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama expressed hope that he and Congress could work together to pass criminal justice reform legislation this year -- a hope in line with the task force's observation that "a bipartisan appetite for reform is readily apparent in actions taken by all three branches of government." Evangelicals who served on the Colson Task Force included chairman J.C. Watts, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma; Craig DeRoche, Prison Fellowship's senior vice president of policy and advocacy; Jim Liske, former president and CEO of Prison Fellowship; and David Iglesias, director of Wheaton College's Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics and Economics.