The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-02/04/2015 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Floyd to take revival message to NRB by Staff Date: February 04, 2015 - Wednesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a key advocate urging prayer for spiritual awakening in America, will take that message to the National Religious Broadcasters in a Feb. 25 worship service during the NRB annual convention in Nashville. NRB President Jerry Johnson -- a longtime Southern Baptist leader -- said, "We are praying that God will use Dr. Floyd and this worship experience to lead all of us to a place of revival, awakening and spiritual renewal. "Dr. Ronnie Floyd has a tremendous burden for prayer and a passionate vision for revival in America," Johnson said of Floyd, pastor of the multi-campus Cross Church in northwest Arkansas and a longtime NRB member. "NRB is proud to know that the Southern Baptist Convention has elected one of our own to lead this strategic denomination," Johnson said. The special worship service, which is open to the public, will feature messages by Floyd, Ohio pastor and broadcaster Alistair Begg and musical group Selah. Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman who faced the death penalty for refusing to recant her Christian faith, also will be honored during the service. Ibrahim was granted asylum in the United States last year after worldwide attention to her plight. In a Jan. 26 letter to Tennessee pastors inviting their participation in the worship service, Floyd said he will be "sharing a biblical vision for revival, renewal and spiritual awakening." "Would you join me in praying for spiritual awakening in America?" Floyd asked the Tennessee pastors. "Perhaps God would use the SBC and the NRB to lead the way in prayer, repentance and seeking Him that we might experience the Great Awakening that our nation desperately needs," Floyd wrote. The NRB's "Proclaim: International Christian Media Convention," Feb. 23-26, is expected to draw 4,000 media professionals from across the world, as well as 200 exhibitors representing media ministries, churches, educational institutions and others to Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Resort & Conference Center. The convention is the "largest nationally and internationally recognized event dedicated solely to assist those in the field of Christian communications," Johnson said. A number of Southern Baptist leaders will speak during the convention. Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, will present new data drawn from a project conducted in partnership with NRB concerning the identity of Christian media consumers, as well as those not reached by Christian media. In another session, Stetzer will discuss how research can be used to better reach people. Other Southern Baptists slated to speak at the convention are David Platt, president of the International Mission Board; Owen Strachan, a Christian theology and church history faculty member at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's Boyce College and president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood; Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas; Richard D. Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and former president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; and Gregory Thornbury, president of The King's College in New York City. Other notable speakers will include author and broadcaster Eric Metaxas; Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, producers of "The Bible" miniseries and other films and television programs; author Joel Rosenberg; Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Media; Al Robertson of "Duck Dynasty"; and John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The convention will include sessions on Islam, a Film & Entertainment Summit, a Digital Media Summit and panels on protecting marriage, life and free speech. The closing event will feature former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; actor Chuck Norris; and Ron Dermer, Israeli ambassador to the United States. National Religious Broadcasters is an international association of Christian communicators whose member organizations represent millions of listeners, viewers and readers. The organization's mission is to "advance biblical truth; to promote media excellence; and to defend free speech." In addition to promoting standards of excellence, integrity and accountability, NRB provides networking, educational, ministry and fellowship opportunities for its members. More information about NRB15 is available at: nrbconvention.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Small is the 'new big' by Chuck Kelley Date: February 04, 2015 - Wednesday EDITOR'S NOTE: Chuck Kelley is president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- This may seem like a silly question, but do you know who Southern Baptists are? When asked that question, many people will think in terms of our theology and doctrine. We believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. We are a people of the Book and, therefore, we read it, preach it and seek to follow its teaching as we live our lives. We are theologically conservative and hold to a distinctive Baptist theology. Another way to address the question is to look at our mission. Who are we in terms of what we do? We answered that question at the first meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. After voting to create the SBC, messengers also voted to create a Foreign Mission Board and a Board for Domestic Missions. The glue that has always held us together is a common passion to call all the peoples of the world to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. The Great Commission is our DNA, literally. The glue that has always held us together and formed the basis of unprecedented levels of cooperation between completely autonomous churches is a common passion to call all the peoples of the world to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. More money is given to our mission enterprises by Southern Baptists than any other aspect of our work as a convention. We are a people determined to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Most of us know what we believe and most of us know what we do, but how many of us know who our churches are? We have 46,000-plus churches. What are those churches like? If you imagine that the typical Southern Baptist church is a large church with extensive ministries, you would be incorrect. One of the most amazing truths about Southern Baptists is that we are a convention of smaller churches who work together to fund and operate large, extensive ministries on a state, national and global scale. For instance, approximately 90 percent of all Southern Baptist churches have 250 people or less attending worship on any given Sunday. Nearly 70 percent of all our cooperating churches have 100 or fewer in attendance each week. Less than 2 percent have more than 1,000 people present for Sunday worship. Clearly the Southern Baptist Convention is composed of far more smaller churches than larger churches. There are many important implications flowing from this truth about Southern Baptist churches. Many of our pastors are bivocational pastors. They have both a secular career and a church ministry, often because the church they serve cannot afford to pay a full-time salary. If students are serving a church during seminary, it is nearly always a small church. When students go to serve a church after seminary, that church is often a smaller church, not a large or megachurch. When we start new churches, they typically begin as small churches. Research indicates churches with less than 1,000 people present on a Sunday morning give a higher percentage of their budget to the Cooperative Program than churches with more than 1,000 people. In other words, smaller churches are the backbone of the Southern Baptist Convention. These churches are the source of our ministers, our missionaries and much of our funding for the Cooperative Program. Small is the new big. Our future will be determined by how well we nurture our small churches and enhance their fruitfulness. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Persecuted Christians in Mexico kept from homes by Staff/Morning Star News Date: February 04, 2015 - Wednesday This story has been updated since it was first posted earlier today (Feb. 4). AUSTIN, Texas (BP) -- In one of at least three instances of persecution of evangelical Christians in southern Mexico's Chiapas state last month, village leaders reneged on their agreement to allow 47 evangelicals who were expelled for their faith to return to their homes and land.  In accordance with the agreement arranged by state officials, these Protestants from Buenavista Bahuitz village on Jan. 20 tried to return to their community after syncretistic Catholics expelled them in 2012 for their faith. When the Protestants and Chiapas officials accompanying them reached Buenavista Bahuitz, community leaders again refused entry until the Protestants convert to Catholicism, according to advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).  "Traditionalist" Catholics of the village who practice a blend of Roman Catholicism and indigenous customs involving drunken festivals have been at odds with the Protestant minority for years. Local authorities who are such syncretistic Catholics told them they could come back to their property only if they became Catholic and took part in their religious activities, including paying for the costly celebrations that involve large amounts of alcohol.  In November those expelled from Buenavista Bahuitz together with other forcibly displaced Protestants from other Chiapas communities protested their plight with a peaceful sit-in at the state government building in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital. After state government officials gave the Protestants verbal commitments to address their concerns, the displaced ended their month-long action on Dec. 1.  Chiapas officials had assured the displaced group that they had negotiated their return, said Luis Herrera, director of the Coordination of Christian Organizations of Chiapas (COOC), in a CSW statement. The officials had told these evangelical Christians their freedom of religion would be protected.  But when the evangelicals and state officials arrived in the village by bus Jan. 20, Buenavista Bahuitz leaders told the former residents that they must convert to Catholicism in order to stay. When surprised state officials then intervened with the village leaders, the syncretistic Catholics at last offered to allow the evangelicals to stay if they paid a high fine.  The evangelicals declined the offer. They returned to church property in Comitán de Domínguez, where they've lived as displaced persons for two and half years.  The continued expulsion of the 12 families is among 30 active cases of faith-based persecution that CSW is tracking in Chiapas, an analyst from the organization told Morning Star News. The cases range from early pressure applied to villagers, such as having water or electric power cut, to local authorities denying children the right to attend school, said the analyst, who requested anonymity.  Other cases, she said, include removing Protestants from a government benefits list. Extreme cases include bans on worship, forbidding even home prayer gatherings, destruction of houses and church buildings and outright expulsions.  Exacerbating the problem is impunity in Mexico for religiously motivated crimes.  "We know of almost no cases where somebody has been prosecuted for criminal acts in the name of religion," she said. "In Mexico, if you commit a crime, destroy your neighbor's house, and you say it was religious, suddenly it becomes an exempt crime for some reason, [as if they] can't touch that."  The government also has an unhelpful practice of granting persecuted people land outside their community for resettlement; she said this is tantamount to saying to victims, "We'll relocate you rather than deal with the root issue."  The roots of the inaction lie in a culture holding that the majority has the "right" to decide the faith of the entire community.  "The government has allowed the persecution to develop and become entrenched," she said. "If the government doesn't intervene, it almost always ends with expulsion."  Violations of religious freedom and forced displacement of religious minorities have been common for decades in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Puebla states, where there are large indigenous populations, according to CSW. Local political bosses or caciques resort to Mexico's "Law of Uses and Customs," which was designed to keep the government from interfering with local indigenous customs but which syncretistic Catholics use to force evangelicals to pay for and participate in "Traditionalist" Catholic rituals.  The Law of Uses and Customs thus has been used to allow local authorities to violate, with impunity, religious rights guaranteed in the Mexican constitution, CSW noted.   "We continue to call on the state government to meet its obligations under Mexican and international law and urge the federal government to intervene if the state government is unable or unwilling to fulfill its responsibilities," CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in the statement.    Recent expulsions in Chiapas include that of 10 Protestants whom leaders of La Florecilla village in San Cristóbal de las Casas municipality forced to leave on Jan. 14 after the evangelical Christians refused to renounce their faith, according to CSW.  Also in Chiapas, on Jan. 8 about 25 armed, hooded individuals believed to be caciques (or local political leaders) reportedly attacked evangelicals in Las Ollas community in San Juan Chamula municipality for refusing to take part in a Virgin of Guadalupe festival in December.  Although they objected to the drunken festival on principle, the impoverished evangelicals reportedly said they were willing to pay but simply could not afford the 250 pesos (US$16) per family that village leaders demanded of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ukraine: Mission workers report rockets, relief by Marc Ira Hooks Date: February 04, 2015 - Wednesday MARIUPOL, Ukraine (BP) -- Hostilities between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists flared up again two weeks ago with a surprise attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. In the aftermath of a Jan. 24 rocket strike that left 27 dead and 123 injured in Mariupol, Ukrainian Baptists are busy providing shelter and repairs. Locals say in addition to the 13 buildings that suffered a direct hit, 73 blocks of apartment buildings were damaged and more than 100 cars were destroyed. Both the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have expressed concern that a humanitarian crisis is looming in eastern Ukraine, due to both the escalation of fighting and harsh winter conditions. "Bus stops and public transport, marketplaces, schools and kindergartens, hospitals and residential areas have become battlegrounds in [eastern] regions of Ukraine -- in clear breach of international humanitarian law," UN high commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a press release. The attack on Mariupol came on a day when one of the local Baptist churches was holding a conference for its members. Although the church building is located where much of the shelling took place, it was not damaged. By noon, church members had helped to assess nearby damage and opened their doors to house up to 100 victims of the barrage. An International Mission Board worker is helping pastors from this region and is coordinating with the church to provide cleanup and restoration to apartment buildings that were damaged in the attack. The worker described "Pastor Alexander" (name changed), the 73-year-old Ukrainian Baptist pastor of the church, as his "hero." "Since the beginning of the war in eastern Ukraine his church has been working to provide medicine, food and other relief to other areas that have come under attack," the worker said. "Now, with his own city under direct attack, he is organizing the Baptist youth of Mariupol to go into the bombed neighborhoods of their city to clean up and put plastic over broken and shattered windows to keep out the cold." The worker noted it will take months to replace all the windows in the affected area. He said IMB project "Rebirth: Eastern Ukraine" has been established so people can give directly to the efforts to help families recover from the effects of the attacks. This project specifically helps to provide building materials to complete basic home repairs -- like providing windows and doors -- for bombed apartment buildings and houses. Believers will work alongside homeowners, providing a Christian witness as they spend time with them, the worker said. "This will help people not only rebuild their homes, but to help them rebuild their lives on a solid biblical foundation," he said. "As we bring physical materials, it is our hope that God will open doors in order to speak about spiritual needs in everyday life. Then there truly will be rebirth in every sense." IMB asks for prayer for Christian workers in the area as they seek ways to help and minister to those caught in the conflict. Pray for a resolution to the crisis in Ukraine. Pray that lives will be changed and that people will repent and be saved as a result of Christian witness during this time of war. To see more related stories on Baptist Press and imb.org, click here and here. For more information on how to be involved, join the Rebirth: Eastern Ukraine Facebook page at facebook.com/RebirthEUA or send questions to rebirtheasternukraine@gmail.com. EDITOR'S NOTE: See letter below from Pastor Alexander. Dear brothers and sisters, Greetings! The war that is going on in the eastern part of Ukraine has led us to people losing their homes, work and means of living. All the help that we receive is taken to places inside the war zone. At the moment, after the severe shelling of our town, the believers of our churches decided to restore houses, provide spiritual and humanitarian aid (food supplies, medicine, building materials, shoes and clothes). We are cleaning up, restoring homes. The refugees and many of those whose houses are uninhabitable are staying in the church or in the homes of church members. We kindly ask you to consider helping us. We know that under the current situation you cannot actually be here. But if the Lord lays it on your heart to help, you might address it to . We wish you God's blessings, Pastor Alexander Mariupol, Ukraine To join in this effort, please consider giving to this strategic effort -- Rebirth: Eastern Ukraine. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ore. judge: Bakers discriminated against lesbians by Staff Date: February 04, 2015 - Wednesday GRESHAM, Ore. (BP) -- Christian bakers who declined to provide a cake for a same-sex commitment ceremony violated Oregon law and may face a hefty fine, a state agency has announced. An administrative law judge ruled that Aaron and Melissa Klein unlawfully discriminated against a lesbian couple in 2013 by refusing their request for a cake, thereby breaking a state law that protects civil rights based on sexual orientation. The judge, Alan McCullough, issued an interim order in the case Jan. 29, and Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) announced his decision Feb. 2. A March 10 hearing will determine the compensation to be awarded the same-sex couple. The fine against the Kleins could reach $150,000, a BOLI spokesman told USA Today. The Kleins are among a growing number of wedding service providers whose religious freedom is threatened by the expansion of legalized, same-sex marriage. Gay marriage is now legal in 36 states, including Oregon, and the District of Columbia. Bakers, florists, photographers and other professionals who provide products for weddings have at times been forced to service same-sex ceremonies despite their belief that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Aaron Klein -- co-owner with his wife of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, Ore., east of Portland -- declined in January 2013 a request by Laurel Bowman for a cake for her ceremony with Rachel Cryer based on his religious convictions. Bowman and Cryer had a commitment ceremony in 2013 and a wedding in 2014 after a federal judge struck down Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage. After a public backlash, the Kleins -- who have five children -- closed their bakery and began making cakes from home. In his ruling, McCullough said the Kleins' effort to separate their refusal to bake the cake from the sexual orientation of the couple failed. As the BOLI contends, McCullough said, "there is simply no reason to distinguish between services for a wedding ceremony between two persons of the same sex and the sexual orientation of that couple. The conduct, a marriage ceremony, is inextricably linked to a person's sexual orientation." Anna Harmon, a lawyer for the Kleins, told The Portland Oregonian, "This is a wrong and dangerous result for religious liberty and rights of conscience in Oregon. ... Americans should not have to choose between adhering to their faith [and] closing their business, but that is what this decision means." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Answers in Genesis files lawsuit against Ky. by Diana Chandler Date: February 04, 2015 - Wednesday PETERSBURG, Ky. (BP) -- Answers in Genesis is suing the government of Kentucky for alleged discrimination in refusing to extend a sales tax rebate incentive program to the Ark Encounter theme park the apologetics ministry is building in northern Kentucky. The state's decision to deny the tax incentive based on AiG's status as a religious organization is against the law and violates legal precedent, the lawsuit asserts. "The state was so insistent on treating our religious entity as a second-class citizen that we were simply left with no alternative but to proceed to court," AiG president Ken Ham said. "This is the latest example of increasing government hostility towards religion in America, and it's certainly among the most blatant. Our organization spent many months attempting to reason with state officials so that this lawsuit would not be necessary." Freedom Guard, a non-profit law firm dedicated to freedom of religion, and the Center for Religious Expression are providing free legal representation to AiG in the case. "It's very well established in federal and state law that religious organizations get to be treated just like any other in a program like this," said Freedom Guard chief counsel Mike Johnson, "when you have a facially neutral … tax incentive program, that the government effectively opens it to all applicants. Just because an applicant happens to be religious does not mean that they can be treated differently. They can't be excluded from a program just because of their viewpoint. "The law is very well settled on this and there's really no dispute about it," Johnson said. "That's why it's sort of confusing why the state's taken the position that it has." The AiG website includes a video clip from a December, 2012 press conference, in which Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear called the Ark Encounter "a huge deal," and said "the law doesn't allow us to discriminate about the entertainment subject matter of theme parks as long as it's legal and in good taste. … I think it's clear that this is an economic development project that our laws don't allow us to discriminate as to the entertainment subject matter of a theme park and as long as it is legal, and it meets all of our criteria, I think it's clearly constitutional." Kentucky granted preliminary approval in 2014 for AiG to receive a rebate of some of the new state sales taxes the Ark will generate after it opens in 2016, but "secularist organizations exerted tremendous pressure on state officials to rescind the approval," AiG press release said. "Anti-Christian groups objected to AiG's statutory right to limit its hiring to people of the Christian faith, and to the content of the messages that will be presented at the Bible-themed park. Bowing to this pressure, state officials (including Gov. Beshear) announced a reversal on December 10, 2014," the press release reads. Beshear and Robert Stewart, Kentucky's secretary of the Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet, are named as defendants in the lawsuit. The Kentucky government has not commented on the lawsuit at this time, Gil Lawson, executive director of communications for the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, told Baptist Press. But he provided a copy of a Dec. 10, 2014 letter to an AiG attorney explaining the state's denial of tax incentives. "There are two reasons for this conclusion," the letter reads, "1) the Commonwealth will not grant incentives to a company that intends to discriminate in hiring its employees based on religion; and 2) It is a violation of the Constitution for the Commonwealth's incentives to be used to advance religion." Johnson, in a video posted on AiG's website, accuses Kentucky of "viewpoint discrimination." "They have decided to exclude the organization from a tax rebate program that's offered to all applicants across the state," Johnson said in the video. At issue is an incentive the Kentucky Tourism Development Act offers to tourism construction projects. "The incentive for developers of approved new or expanding tourism projects is the ability to recover up to 25% of the project's development costs over a ten year term," reads the law posted on the official Kentucky government website. "On an annual basis the Kentucky Department of Revenue will return to developers of approved projects the state sales tax paid by visitors to the attraction on admission tickets, food and gift sales and lodging costs." The rebate could amount to as much as $18.25 million, based on the cost of the project's first phase. The Ark Encounter meets the standards to receive the incentive, Johnson said. "Answers in Genesis and its subsidiaries met all the requirements for that under any objective criteria, but suddenly they are being effectively blocked from this program," Johnson said. "That's an unlawful act on behalf of the state, and unfortunately, sometimes you have to go to court to get those things rectified." The Ark Encounter has raised much of the $73 million needed for the first phase of its construction on 800 acres off I-75 in Grant County, Ky., south of Cincinnati. The full project is expected to cost $150 million. For more information, go to arkencounter.com. The park is projected to open in 2016.