
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-03/02/2016

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Invest in others through CP, Ky. pastor urges
by Karen L. Willoughby
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (BP) -- In Bowling Green, Ky., which leads the nation in restaurants per capita and is home to General Motors' Corvette plant, Eastwood Baptist Church provides spiritual food and a fast ride to supporting missions across the globe.

Tom James has for 11 years pastored the church where about 850 people worship on Sunday mornings, up from 450 attenders at the beginning of his pastorate before the congregation had two campuses.

"I had been here a year when God gave me a vision, to be on mission in every continent," James said. "Today we have three Asia partnerships, two in North America, and one each in South America, Europe and Africa."

Eastwood's missions awareness starts with its commitment to give 12.5 percent of undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program.

"You can't out give God," James said. "God is the consummate businessman. If God is going to invest in people, he's going to get the best return for His efforts.... When He's going to financially bless a church, He blesses the church that uses funds to invest in other people's lives.

"The Cooperative Program is the greatest means of missionary support that any denomination has ever experienced," he said. "We're the only organization -- the International Mission Board is -- where people don't have to pay or solicit their own support. We should be doing so much more."

The Cooperative Program also is personal to James.

"I'm a benefit of it," he said. "I tell the church, you were helping pay for my seminary before you knew I existed. We're now paying for someone who will be on staff here 30 years from now.... When people know the impact of the dollars they give, they're more prone to give.

"We have to put a face or faces to the Cooperative Program," he said. "We need to tell our people what the Cooperative Program does. We can't blame our people for not knowing what CP does if we don't tell them."

Because of the CP, a young girl who once contemplated suicide is living today as a Christian, the pastor recalled being told by Tommy Johnson, a Baptist Collegiate Ministries director in Kentucky. Johnson was discipling a deaf college student who felt called to do ministry one summer in his hometown of Philadelphia. The student's plan was to go to area parks and playgrounds in Philadelphia, giving away Gatorade and water, sharing the Gospel with anyone asking about his generosity. He set up a men's basketball league that's still active. It was through the work of the league that the student encountered the suicidal girl, who came to the game with a team member.

"&#91;The student&#93; shared the Gospel with her and she gave her heart to Christ," James said. "That's the power of God at work through the Cooperative Program." Today, &#91;the student&#93; is a high school teacher and elder in the Kentucky church he attends.

In addition to Eastwood's sizeable CP gifts, major thrusts take place during seasonal missions offerings. In 2015, the church gave $62,772 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, and $77,725 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.

"On Easter we set up two crosses and call it March to the Cross; two weeks before Christmas we set up two mangers and call it March to the Manger," James said. As the congregation files past the seasonal displays at the front sides of the worship center, they place their missions offering in nearby baskets.

"They really do enjoy giving," he said. "One year we gave $105,000 &#91;to the Lottie Moon offering&#93; and sent two career and two journeymen missionaries to the field that year."

Having Skype conversations during worship services with missionaries is another way Eastwood fuels the congregation's enthusiasm for missions that is equally served through giving, going and praying.

"We try to have partnerships, each with a different focus," James noted. "In Canada we work with First Nations people; &#91;Vacation Bible School&#93; works especially well there. In Romania we targeted Gypsy people, who are real outcasts, highly frowned upon. They respond to personal attention; we try to work with pastors there in evangelism and women's ministries. Other outreaches are to Europeans in southern Brazil, and work to supply clean water to Muslims in Southeast Asia, establishing water filtration systems.

In a security-sensitive, extremely remote area, Eastwood was directed to an unreached people group. Outside one village, the team encountered a large family where no one had ever seen a Westerner. After several years of return visits, the as-yet non-Christian "family of peace" calls Eastwood members "family."

Last year, 111 Eastwood adults participated in a mission trip. While the church provides $500 scholarships to those in need, most adults pay their own way. The last three years, Eastwood has put $6,000 into its budget to pay the way for two small church or bivocational pastors to accompany the church on an international mission trip.

The church is also active in local missions, conducting a variety of ministries to low income families, helping to build one Habitat for Humanity home annually, supporting an annual children's camp and offering money management classes.

"When you look at the various ministries done in North America and internationally, and in Warren County, if we did all those things and didn't share the Gospel, it would be no Gospel at all," James said. "We'd just be taking care of the devil's children."

While Bowling Green has 42 Southern Baptist churches, there are still 94,000 unchurched people in Warren County, James said, expressing a desire to open additional Eastwood campuses there.

"I've got to believe God wants more from us than what we're doing now," he said. "My vision is to continue to have a mission mindset but also to help people focus also on our community, our Jerusalem."


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FIRST-PERSON: Bavarian nuts & the SBC
by Jake McCandless
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

MOUNT VERNON, Ark. (BP) -- I became a Southern Baptist by accidental providence. I was an out-of-work youth pastor who went to spy on a large Baptist student ministry that, unknown to me, was praying for an assistant. That was 14 years ago and now I am a Southern Baptist pastor.

I have friends who often ask me what it is like on the inside of a denominational behemoth, as they see it.

My answer: Bavarian nuts and a business meeting.

Yes, you read it right. That is my description.

My church sent me and my wife to the SBC annual meeting in 2006 in Greensboro, N.C. It was our first real taste of broader Southern Baptist life. I was looking forward to the two-day Pastors' Conference, but to be honest, I was dreading the business portions of the subsequent two-day SBC annual meeting.

As my wife and I headed into the arena with our ballots in hand for the annual meeting, our fortunes changed. We spotted a Bavarian nut stand. You know the pecans or almonds covered in cinnamon, sugar and who knows what else. We could not believe we would be able bring concessions into the meeting. So, we bought a couple of cone packages of nuts and sodas.

As I sat there eating nuts during a business meeting, it clicked -- I was glad to be Southern Baptist. I had been to national meetings of other denominations, but that day, in a combination of the enthusiasm of the arena's large crowd and my snacks, I felt a freshness, a joy and some biblical pride.

So for me the balance of a business meeting and Bavarian nuts helps describe our Southern Baptist Convention.

Like the facts of the business meeting, we stand upon truth. We are uncompromising people of the Book, but even in that we love still love people -- we let nuts in (pun intended). In our convention there is a melding of truth and love. Our commitment to the commands of Scripture is joyous but not legalistic.

Like the combination of business and concessions, we don't depart from Scripture but we are willing to be innovative and creative. 

We are conservative but not stale.

We are connected but preserve our own local personalities. 

We are willing to be multi-generational. 

We stand against sin but love the sinner.

We are committed to both doctrine and missions.

There are many reasons to be proud to be Southern Baptist, one of which, I admit, was when I ate Bavarian nuts at a business meeting. 


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J.D. Greear to be SBC president nominee
by David Roach
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Florida pastor Jimmy Scroggins announced today (March 2).

Greear, 42, "is leading his generation to live out a passion for the SBC, missions and the local church," Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, Fla., wrote in a news release stating his intention to nominate Greear during the SBC annual meeting June 14-15 in St. Louis.

During the 14 years Greear has pastored The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., worship attendance has grown from 350 to just under 10,000, Scroggins said. Total baptisms increased from 19 in 2002 to 928 in 2014, the last year for which statistics are available through the SBC's Annual Church Profile.

Scroggins said The Summit's "149 people currently with" the International Mission Board marks the largest total from any church in the convention -- a statistic the church told Baptist Press the IMB has confirmed. Greear himself served two years with the IMB before being called to The Summit.

Closer to home, The Summit has planted 26 churches in North America in conjunction with the North American Mission Board.

Another key emphasis at The Summit is diversity, Scroggins said, with nearly 20 percent of worship attendees coming from non-Anglo ethnic groups. One of the congregation's nine campuses is Spanish-speaking, and one is located in a prison, the church said. "Nearly half" of the church's campus pastors and worship pastors are non-Anglo, Scroggins said.

"Believing J.D. Greear is God's man for the hour who models in his church the best of what a Southern Baptist pastor is all about," Scroggins wrote, "I eagerly look forward to placing his name in nomination."

In his release, Scroggins said the church "voted last year to give $390,000 to the Cooperative Program in 2016, making it one of the top CP giving churches in the state of North Carolina and the SBC." He noted this marks a 230 percent increase in The Summit's CP giving.

Three years ago, the congregation voted to increase its giving through the Cooperative Program over a five-year period to 2.4 percent of undesignated receipts, the church confirmed to BP. The Summit reached its goal two years early.

As of Jan. 1, 2016, The Summit began forwarding all its CP giving through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC), the church said. Previously, it forwarded some funds it regarded as CP gifts directly through the SBC Executive Committee for distribution according to the CP allocation formula. In 2013-14, for instance, it gave $96,000 directly to the EC, according to the 2015 SBC Annual. The BSCNC reported CP receipts of $54,000 from The Summit in calendar year 2014. Adding the two numbers together yields the $150,000 the church self-reported as "CP giving" on its 2014 ACP -- a total amounting to 1 percent of undesignated receipts.

The Summit's Great Commission Giving "has been at or around 10 percent for the last several years," Scroggins wrote. Great Commission Giving is a category of giving established by SBC action in 2011 that encompasses giving through CP, Southern Baptists' unified program of funding state- and SBC-level ministries, as well as direct gifts to SBC entities, associational giving and giving to state convention ministries.

According to ACP data, The Summit's Great Commission Giving was 13 percent of undesignated receipts in 2014, 12 percent in 2013 and 15 percent in 2012.

The Summit's Great Commission Giving includes more than $1 million annually to IMB-related causes and more than half a millions dollars to NAMB-related causes, the church told BP. The Summit additionally is in the process of funding an endowed chair at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to the total of $500,000.

Greear told BP, "One of the things God has put on my heart is that my generation needs to take personal responsibility for the agencies and the mission boards of the SBC and not just think of them as the SBC's, but think of them as ours."

He continued, "The second thing I want to do is celebrate the autonomy of the local church in choosing how it's going to give. We want to see CP giving elevated, and we are doing that ... but we also want to see Great Commission Giving celebrated, because that's part of the autonomy of the local church. Ideally, I want to see churches do what we are doing, which is give more sacrificially to the CP but then have the autonomy to direct &#91;their&#93; gifts to Great Commission Giving and have that not only be legitimate but celebrated."

Greer emphasized that "missions is more effective when done in cooperation with like-minded churches, and we feel really good about the &#91;entities&#93; of the Southern Baptist Convention and how they're leading."

Greear's nomination is the first to be announced for the SBC annual meeting.

He is married to Veronica and has four children. Greear holds master of divinity and doctor of philosophy degrees from Southeastern Seminary.


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Evangelism rally at Baptist univ. seen as catalyst
by Nathan Handley
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) -- Although it was a one-day evangelism rally, organizers are envisioning it as a catalyst for stirring Southern Baptists to share their faith.

The West Tennessee Evangelism Rally at Union University drew more than 800 attendees to hear key pastors and evangelists relay advice and encouragement for local Baptists' evangelistic efforts.

"This is one of the best things I have been a part of in years," said Steve Gaines, pastor of the Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church.

"It shows me that people are still hungry to learn how to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Gaines, one of the rally's breakout leaders, said working with churches through local Baptist associations and the Tennessee Baptist Convention brought many to the rally.

Saying he hopes similar evangelism rallies will be initiated in other locations, Gaines noted, "You have to have leaders with hearts for evangelism. If they don't have a heart for it, it's not going to work."

Union University President Samuel W. "Dub" Oliver said Union wants to serve as a resource and partner in Southern Baptist life and with likeminded Christians.

"We had a great night with a unity of spirit among the 800 or so attendees, and we believe it can be a model for other such initiatives around the country," Oliver said. "Of course, we hope the flame of evangelism was fanned among those who were part of the rally, and that the fruit of that flame will be many more people sharing the Gospel."

Ernest Easley, professor of evangelism at Union, organized the Feb. 21 event.

Fred Luter, senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, was the rally's keynote speaker. 

"We need to understand how critical, how important it is that we make evangelism a priority," Luter said.

The rally included eight breakout sessions in addition to Luter's address focused on the church in the book of Acts. Believers in the early church were so effective in carrying out the Great Commission that the Bible recounts that they turned the world upside down, Luter said.

"Not only their neighborhood, not only their community, not only their city, not only their state, not only their nation, but these believers have the reputation of turning the world upside down." Luter said. "In other words, they shook some stuff up."

Luter said the small group of believers could not have pulled off such a mighty task on their own. They were able to do it because they waited on the promise of God, the Holy Spirit.

"They had received the power of the Holy Spirit," he said, "and now they were able to do in Him what they could not do of themselves by themselves."

The believers in Acts were small in number and limited in resources, but they accomplished great things, Luter said. They were the same ones who were timid and hiding when Jesus was crucified before the power of the Holy Spirit gave them new boldness, strength and courage.

"They didn't have any of that stuff that we claim we need to reach people with the Gospel today," Luter said. "But they turned the world upside down."

And they had a new purpose.

"Once you're empowered by the Holy Spirit, you begin to realize it's not about you." Luter said. "It's not about your agenda. It's not about your ideas. It's not about your title…. Their purpose was to witness to the lost....

"The same power that God gave to the disciples on the day of Pentecost is the same power that He's given us tonight," Luter said.

In addition to Gaines, the rally's breakout sessions were led by Darrell Robinson, Michael Ellis, Brian Mills, John Powers, David Evans, Hal Poe and Jerry Drace on various aspects of evangelism, including evangelism strategies, prayer, evangelism in pop culture, revivals and giving invitations.


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Court division appears on Texas abortion regulations
by Staff
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to divide as expected Wednesday (March 2) in oral arguments regarding a Texas law that regulates abortion doctors and clinics.

Questions from the high court's liberal bloc -- Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- seemed to demonstrate strong skepticism of the measure, which requires an abortion doctor to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital in case a woman needs emergency admission. The law also mandates abortion clinics must meet the health and safety standards of other walk-in surgical centers.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito appeared most doubtful of the arguments by the law's challengers, while Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy -- typically the court's swing vote -- even expressed some uncertainty about the court over-ruling a legislature in such a case. As usual, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas did not ask any questions.

The high court heard the arguments with only eight justices, because of the recent death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, a leader of the conservative wing for nearly three decades. Scalia, 79, was found dead Feb. 13.

The court's new alignment makes a 4-4 split in this case a possibility. If the court were to divide evenly, it would result in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision upholding the state law remaining in effect in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. A tie, however, would not establish a precedent and not be controlling in the rest of the country.

The primary question the high court faces is whether the Texas law is an "undue burden" on a woman seeking an abortion. The justices established that standard in their 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey opinion, which permitted some restrictions but affirmed the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion.

With Scalia's former chair in the courtroom draped in black, Stephanie Toti, the lawyer for the challengers to the law, described the two parts of the Texas law as "unnecessary health regulations." Each of the requirements "is extremely burdensome," she said. 

Donald Verrilli, the Obama administration's solicitor general, told the court the Texas requirements are "much more extreme" than any restriction the justices have considered since the Casey decision.

Scott Keller, Texas' solicitor general, told the court the law is designed to "improve abortion safety."

If upheld by the high court, the law would reduce the number of abortion facilities in Texas from what had been about 40 to fewer than 10.

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) joined four other groups in a friend-of-the-court brief that urged the justices to affirm the Texas law. The Christian Life Commission of the Missouri Baptist Convention signed onto another brief in support of the requirements.

When the ERLC-SBTC brief was filed Feb. 1, ERLC President Russell Moore said, "Abortion activists have claimed for years that protecting women from harm is their primary goal, but they are certainly on the wrong side of women's health on this issue." His prayer, Moore said, is the court "will recognize the reasonableness of Texas' measures and defend women and families."

Gary Ledbetter, the SBTC's director of communications and ministry relationships, told BP, "Abortion providers seem to believe that they should be exempt from regulation because it would make a hardship on their ability to make a profit."

A large group of pro-life supporters and an even larger crowd of abortion-rights advocates gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court building before, during and after the arguments. 

An opinion in the case, which is Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, is expected before the court ends its term in late June or early July.


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Church & sexuality focus of conference
by Maggie Walsh/The Alabama Baptist  
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) -- The sexual revolution in which our society finds itself has been a long time coming, said Timothy George, dean of Samford University's Beeson Divinity School, in his keynote address, "The Biblical Truth About Sexuality in a Morally Relative Age." 

The speech kicked off The Church and Sexuality Conference on Feb. 29 at First Baptist Church, Montgomery, Ala.

"It's tempting to think that this just came out of the blue, but it's been in the making for a long, long time," George said. It's important to understand that there have been centuries of groundwork so that we can know why the "ground began to shake beneath our feet" so quickly, referring to the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in 2014.

Some may wonder, "What is the church to do?"

George urged participants to stay faithful to the ethics revealed in Scripture, preach the whole counsel of God, rightly divide the Word of God and let the church be the hermeneutic of the Gospel.

"We are to reach out in Jesus' name and in the love of Christ to sexual sinners everywhere and of every kind. We are all broken," George said.

But Christians must live life on "that thin edge of nausea and sweetness" to love sinners enough to push past our own discomfort or lack of understanding to share Jesus Christ and "be engaged with all the wisdom and humility we can muster," he said.

Building off of George's message, Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions Executive Director Rick Lance moderated a panel discussion on "Religious Liberty in a Culture of Moral Decline."

On the panel was Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizen's Action Program, and Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Lance said, "Religious liberty is an issue we're going to have to get more and more familiarized with," opening the discussion that ranged from involvement with government to engaging the culture in which we live.
Godfrey said there has to be a balance between compassion and love and speaking out against issues of morality. "We have to be prophets of God and at the same time show compassion."

And we can do that, Moore said, by engaging people in a long-term conversation about what each side believes. We need to separate from the sin but never be afraid to be near sinners, but many times in the church we do the reverse, he said.

Godfrey noted Christians will continue to be marginalized on the issue of same-sex marriage. "It's a matter of putting us on the periphery of society so that we don't have any more of an influence," he said.

Christians can combat the changing culture by seeing people in terms of "the long-term sweep of their lives," Moore said. "Spend time dealing with people as people and not merely as issues." 

In the afternoon session, Moore returned to deliver the second keynote address on "Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel."

Speaking on Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well in John 4:4–19, Moore focused on verse 16 where Jesus says, "Go get your husband and come here."

Jesus points out the very thing that the woman is trying to hide, Moore said, and is willing to confront her at the place she is most trying to avoid.

"If we are a Gospel people, then that means that our articulation of a sexual ethic ... is not a matter of our choosing," he said. "It is a mandate that Jesus has given us."

We have to speak with confidence that can only come from God's design and His Gospel message -- that is how we will become a church for refugees from the sexual revolution, Moore said. But we cannot give easy answers for why people grapple with certain temptations. We must be among them, engaging them and trying to know them, he said.

"We cannot be afraid to be among people who are sinful and fallen," Moore said "... &#91;Because in ministering to them&#93; we have a Gospel opportunity to be a John 3:16 people in a John 4:16 world."

After participants attended 1 of 9 breakout sessions dealing with various issues relating to sexuality in culture, Lance moderated a second panel discussion on "Taking This Back to My Church."

Panelist Jim Graham, pastor of Coosada Baptist Church in Coosada, Ala., said, "The key is loving people and trying to help people see that balance that Jesus was full of grace and truth.... We have to embrace the tension."

Kathy Litton, national director of ministry to pastors' wives for the North American Mission Board, noted that Christians have to intensify their discipleship efforts and be transparent and real with those they are discipling.

"We need to love our neighbor as ourselves," Litton said. "You can love someone better when you understand them more ... and we've got to show grace and we've got to be informed."

Travis Coleman, longtime pastor of First Baptist Church, Prattville, and president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, added that intentionality is needed, especially where church leadership is concerned. That pertains to church policies, religious liberty and discipleship, he said.

For resources, link, video and audio recordings and information from The Church and Sexuality Conference, visit alsbom.org/cas16.


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Trump, Clinton make gains on Super Tuesday
by Tom Strode
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton piled up more victories on Super Tuesday, further raising the question of whether they can be stopped from winning the presidential nominations of their political parties.

Trump -- the celebrity billionaire -- won the Republican vote in seven states on the busiest day of the nomination season, while Clinton -- the former secretary of state and first lady -- also gained victories in seven states March 1 in her effort to win the Democratic nod.

Even in winning seven states, Trump did not dominate to the extent pre-Super Tuesday polls seemed to indicate he would. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won in Alaska, Oklahoma and his home state, while Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida won the Minnesota caucus.

Cruz managed to gain only 25 fewer delegates than Trump, winning 209 to the frontrunner's 234, according to The New York Times at 1 p.m. Eastern Time today (March 2). In the total delegate count, Trump has 316, Cruz 226 and Rubio 106. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson trail with 25 and 8 delegates, respectively. In a statement released March 2, Carson suggested he might drop out of the race. "I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening's Super Tuesday primary results," he said. 

In the Democratic race, Clinton won an additional 486 delegates on Super Tuesday for a total of 577, while Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-identified socialist from Vermont, gained 321 delegates for a total of 386, The Times reported. That does not count superdelegates, where Clinton holds an overwhelming 457-22 advantage.

A Republican candidate must obtain 1,237 delegates to win the nomination, while a Democrat must gain 2,383.

"There is just about no chance of &#91;Trump&#93; being defeated for the nomination at this point unless either Cruz or Rubio can be persuaded to leave the race," said Hunter Baker, associate professor of political science at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

"Hillary Clinton is going to continue to steamroll Bernie Sanders," Baker told Baptist Press in written comments. "African-American voters trust the Clinton name, and that is showing in the results so far. In addition, it seems that Democrats in the South aren't as crazy about the socialist label as some of their counterparts up north."  

Trump's gains continue to mount -- even with the backing of some self-identified evangelicals and conservatives -- in spite of his inconsistent policy positions, multiple marriages and insults of others on the stump. His refusal Feb. 28 to disavow the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke may have hurt him on Super Tuesday, although Trump later repudiated Duke's support.

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said of Super Tuesday, "Last night's results reveal a deeply divided electorate and quickly shifting society, without and within the Bible Belt. 

"Christians above all others should be leading the way in calling for the conservation of moral principles and a just society," Moore said in written comments for BP. "In the midst of this unpredictable and fevered election cycle, we need more than ever for Gospel Christians to engage in the public square and at the ballot box, remembering that we are Americans best when we are Christians first."

Bruce Ashford, provost and professor of theology and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, said, "For a number of reasons, conservative evangelicals are deeply concerned about the prospects of a Trump nomination. His candidacy is questionable on many of the issues that evangelicals care about, such as human dignity and religious liberty."

While Cruz and Rubio continue to make the case "they are able to stop Trump," Ashford told BP in a written statement, both "are longshots to win the nomination, though the door is not yet closed."

Trump, Baker told BP, "has vastly outperformed any reasonable expectation of what he could accomplish when he joined this race as what seemed to be a novelty candidate. He is the clear frontrunner and has significantly expanded the size of the GOP primary electorate."

Baker said he had endorsed Rubio "on the logic that he would be a better general election candidate, but an awful lot will have to happen for him to get there. It's hard to imagine Cruz being persuaded that he should be the one to leave when he has a total of four wins in his pocket, while Rubio only has one."

Barry Creamer, president of and professor of humanities at Criswell College in Dallas, said in written comments for BP, "Ironically, and unfortunately in my opinion, the Ted Cruz win in Texas may actually affirm the movement pushing Trump closer to the Republican nomination."

Cruz, Creamer said, "probably won Texas for the very same reason that Trump is still winning in the majority of other states" -- the feelings of betrayal and disenfranchisement by conservative voters toward the Republican Party.

"It seems likely that voters in Texas support Ted Cruz now for a reason similar to why they elected him to the Senate -- because they agree with his stand against D.C.'s status quo, not solely, as many probably want the case to be, as a protest to the Trump campaign," Creamer said.

The seven states in which Trump won March 1 were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. Clinton took first place in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, while Sanders won in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont.

The next stops in the nomination journeys come March 5, when both parties hold primaries in Louisiana and caucuses in Kansas. The GOP also will have caucuses in Kentucky and Maine, while Democrats hold a caucus in Nebraska. On March 6, the Democrats will caucus in Maine; the Republicans will have a primary in Puerto Rico.


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National CP 7.19% ahead of projection
by Baptist Press Staff 
Date: March 02, 2016 - Wednesday

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist Convention national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 7.19 percent above the year-to-date budgeted projection and 1.46 percent above contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Frank S. Page.

The total includes receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2015-16 SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.

As of Feb. 29, gifts received by the Executive Committee for distribution through the Cooperative Program Allocation Budget through the first five months of the SBC's fiscal year totaled $83,293,559.57. The total is $5,585,226.24 above the $77,708,333.33 year-to-date budgeted amount to support Southern Baptist Convention ministries globally and across North America and is $1,195,455.23 more than the $82,098,104.34 received through the end of February 2015.

According to the budget adopted by the SBC at its June 2015 annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, if the convention exceeds its annual budget goal of $186.5 million dollars, the International Mission Board's share will go to 51 percent of any overage in Cooperative Program allocation budget receipts. Other ministry entities of the SBC will receive their adopted percentage amounts and the SBC operating budget's portion will be reduced to 2.4 percent of any overage.

Designated giving of $97,411,658.13 for the same year-to-date period is 4.91 percent, or $4,555,640.85, above gifts of $92,856,017.28 received at this point last year. This total includes only those gifts received and distributed by the Executive Committee and does not reflect designated gifts directly to SBC entities.

February's CP allocation receipts for SBC work totaled $17,354,857.83. Designated gifts received last month, meanwhile, amounted to $55,161,127.22.

Each SBC entity and the Executive Committee have been given specific ministry responsibilities by the convention's messengers. These ministry statements are listed in the SBC Organization Manual.

Each ministry assignment begins with the phrase "Assist churches." The statements include such duties as "Assist churches...: 

-- "... by programs of master's level theological education for ministers" (Seminaries);

-- "... in the ministries of evangelism and making disciples" (NAMB);

-- "...  in sending and supporting Southern Baptist missionaries and volunteers by enlisting, equipping, and enabling them to fulfill their calling" (IMB); 

-- "... in ministries to college and university students" (LifeWay); 

-- "... in their moral witness in local communities" (ERLC); and 

-- "... through relief to Southern Baptist ministers and Southern Baptist denominational employees" (GuideStone).

The convention-adopted budget is distributed 50.41 percent to international missions through IMB, 22.79 percent to North American missions through NAMB, 22.16 percent to theological education through the convention's six seminaries, 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget and 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. GuideStone Financial Resources and LifeWay Christian Resources are self-sustaining and do not receive CP funding.

The Cooperative Program is a program of giving through which a local church is able to contribute to the various ministries of its state or regional Baptist convention and to the various missions and ministries of the Southern Baptist Convention with a single contribution. State and regional Baptist conventions retain a portion of church contributions to the Cooperative Program to support work in their respective areas and forward a percentage to Southern Baptist Convention national and international causes. The percentage of distribution from the states is at the discretion of the messengers of each state convention through the adoption of the state convention's annual budget. The totals in this release reflect only the SBC portion of Cooperative Program receipts.

CP allocation budget receipts received by the Executive Committee are reported monthly to the executives of the entities of the convention, to the state offices, to the denominational papers and are posted online at www.cpmissions.net/CPReports.

The end-of-month total represents money received by the Executive Committee by the close of the last business day of each month. Month-to-month swings reflect a number of factors, including the number of Sundays in a given month, the day of the month churches forward their CP contributions to their state conventions and the timing of when state conventions forward the national portion of their CP contributions to the Executive Committee.



