The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-05/15/2015 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- House OKs ban on late abortions by Tom Strode Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. House of Representatives approved a ban on late abortions Wednesday (May 13) in a vote that was postponed nearly four months to the dismay of pro-life Americans. The House voted 242-184 for the Pain-capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which will prohibit abortions on babies 20 weeks or more after fertilization based on scientific evidence that a child in the womb experiences pain by that point in gestation. The House leadership canceled a Jan. 22 roll call on the proposal after about two dozen Republicans, led by female members, expressed concerns about the legislation. his is a step in the right direction."-- Russell Moore]In the end, House leaders traded one abortion-related anniversary for another in holding the vote after appeals from pro-life organizations. They originally set the vote for the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court opinion that legalized abortion throughout the country. Instead, they held the vote on the second anniversary of the conviction of Kermit Gosnell, the notorious Philadelphia abortionist who killed hundreds of late-term babies inside and outside the womb. Pro-life leaders hailed House passage of the proposal. Russell Moore, the Southern Baptist Convention's lead ethicist, thanked the House "for voting to end the abhorrent practice of late term abortion." "No nation can seriously call itself humane while 20 week-old unborn children are unprotected from the abortion industry," said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), in a written statement. "We have much further to go as a government and as a culture in protecting the dignity of all human life, but this is a step in the right direction." Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said the bill "would save thousands of unborn babies annually from terribly painful deaths." Abortion rights advocates, meanwhile, criticized the measure. Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called it a "misguided, dangerous bill" that is "part of a much bigger agenda to ban abortion completely." Nearly all of the House's Democrats aligned with Planned Parenthood and its allies in opposing a bill that would protect often viable unborn children. Only four Democrats voted for the proposal, while 180 members of the party voted against it. On the GOP side, 238 members supported the bill, while four opposed it. The House vote came only a week after The New York Times reported a new study showed prematurely born babies are surviving outside the womb earlier than previously thought possible. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found a small minority of babies born at 22 weeks ' gestation survived with few medical problems, though the point of viability has been considered to be 24 weeks, The Times reported May 6. Revisions in the legislation, H.R. 36, in the last four months actually made the latest version stronger, some of the bill's proponents said. The newly approved measure includes the following changes from the earlier version regarding exceptions to the ban: -- A specially trained physician must be present to ensure the same treatment for a child who survives the abortion procedure as a prematurely born baby would receive. -- An adult victim of rape must receive counseling or medical treatment at least 48 hours prior to an abortion, and a pregnancy to a minor that results from rape or incest must be reported to a social services or law enforcement agency. -- A woman considering abortion must sign an informed consent form that includes an estimate by the doctor of the age of the unborn child and a description of the Pain-capable Unborn Child Protection Act. On the eve of the vote, Moore and eight other pro-life leaders urged the House to approve the ban. Describing it as a "modest pro-life bill," they said in a joint statement, "The United States is one of only seven nations to allow abortion on-demand after this point, putting us in the company of human-rights violators such as China and North Korea." Among the other endorsers of the statement were leaders of the Susan B. Anthony List, Family Research Council, March for Life and Concerned Women for America. A coalition with a similar makeup, including Moore, also had issued a statement April 22 calling for House leaders to schedule a vote after no action had been taken for three months. The small group of Republican House members who sought delay of the Jan. 22 vote focused their concerns on the original bill's rape exemption, which required report of an assault on women of all ages to law-enforcement authorities. One of the apprehensions expressed by the Republican dissenters in January regarded how the bill would be perceived by women and young adults. Women and young people, however, supported the ban with the law-enforcement reporting requirement, according to a November poll by Quinnipiac University. That survey showed 60 percent of Americans, 59 percent of women and 57 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 favored the legislation. The Democrats who broke with their party and voted for the bill were Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, Daniel Lipinski of Illinois and Collin Peterson of Minnesota. The Republicans who opposed the legislation were Reps. Charles Dent of Pennsylvania, Bob Dold of Illinois, Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey and Richard Hanna of New York. Rep. Jody Hice, R.-Ga., was the lone member to vote "present." On May 13, 2013, a jury found Gosnell guilty of the first-degree murder of three babies who were alive outside the womb at his West Philadelphia abortion clinic. They were only some of hundreds of babies at least six months into gestation who were killed outside the womb after induced delivery, typically by jabbing scissors into the back of their necks and cutting their spinal cords. Gosnell also was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman who received an abortion in his clinic and of 21 counts of violating a state ban on abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'We cannot stop speaking,' Allen tells MBTS grads by T. Patrick Hudson Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) -- Graduates, families and friends gathered in Daniel Lee Chapel for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's 57th commencement exercises launching newly trained Gospel ministers into service. In all, 109 students graduated, encompassing five diplomas in Christian ministry and 27 undergraduate, 58 graduate and 19 doctoral degrees. Key moments in the May 8 ceremony included Midwestern President Jason Allen charging students in his commencement address that, "We Cannot Stop Speaking," and the presentation of the seminary's Professor of the Year award. In an exhortation from Acts 4:1-22, Allen noted how President Calvin Coolidge was a man of few words who stated, "The words of a president have enormous weight and ought not be used indiscriminately." The opposite should be true of graduates and all Christians, Allen said. "The words of the Gospel have enormous weight," which is "precisely why we must use them indiscriminately. We have something to say as Christian ministers, and we best be about saying it for the rest of our days on the planet." In Acts 4, the apostles Peter and John are shown as two men who could not stop speaking. From this example, Allen said, graduates will find that when one does not stop speaking of the Gospel, he or she will encounter opposition. "To be a minister in the 21st century is to face opposition," Allen said. "It is the world we now live in; it is the world we should anticipate ministering in as far as the eye can see. I say that not to invoke discouragement but to challenge you to redouble in your own heart in this hour that, regardless of who else persists or does not persist, regardless of who else is faithful or unfaithful ... you will be faithful; you will be convictional; you will be bold in the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Verses 8-12 remind the Christian minister that he or she must speak, Allen said, noting that Peter had been transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit from a scared disciple-in-hiding to a bold proclaimer of Jesus Christ and the exclusivity of the Gospel. "As ministers in today's world, we are to speak where the Bible speaks, and the Bible speaks to issues of morality, sexuality, marriage, lifestyle and a whole host of issues," Allen said. "You will preach a lot of things; you will counsel a lot of things; you will speak to a lot of issues; but I pray -- at the heart of your ministry -- there will be a resolute commitment to speaking the Gospel of Christ." From verses 13-16, Allen noted that there is a power we must know -- while Peter and John were uneducated and untrained roughnecks, they exuded a Gospel confidence that was empowered by the Holy Spirit. This fact was not missed by the onlookers, Allen said, adding that the same should be said of the graduates. "Regardless of your academic accomplishments, perhaps the highest compliment a minister of the Gospel can be paid is when people note, 'That man or woman walks with Christ,'" Allen said, pointing out that walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is what truly makes the difference. From verses 17-22, Allen focused on the boldness that ministers must have. Peter and John were told in no uncertain terms to keep quiet about speaking the name of Jesus. They were in trouble with the religious leaders. "In the first century, it seemed to be God's plan to use the governmental authorities to tell the church to shut up in order to get the church to speak up," Allen said. "Perhaps in the 21st century, that will be as well.... Possibly one day they will be seeking silence, to tell us to curtail ... the Gospel witness and biblical message. God, through that, would have us not to be silent, but to speak more loudly. "May it be true of us, and may it be true of this graduating class, and always and evermore of this institution that whether or not it is perceived as socially or culturally right to be men and women of biblical conviction, that our testimony will always be, 'We cannot stop speaking,'" Allen said. Following his address, Allen announced Midwestern's Professor of the Year -- Robin Hadaway, dean of students and professor of missions who has ministered at the seminary since 2003, including more than a year in the role of interim president. Hadaway came to MBTS following 18 years of missionary service with the International Mission Board. During that time, he was a pioneer church planter in North Africa and Tanzania, and he is a fluent speaker of Arabic, Swahili and Portuguese. He holds a doctor of ministry degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California; a doctor of theology degree from the University of South Africa; a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas; and an undergraduate degree from Memphis State University. He and his wife Kathy have three grown children. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL TO PRAYER: Is any problem too big for God? by David Jeremiah Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday EL CAJON, Calif. (BP) -- "Houston, we have a problem." When NASA flight directors heard those words from Apollo 13, it was like an invitation: "You are hereby invited to solve a life-or-death problem" -- and they did. Flight director Gene Kranz sprang into action: "Okay … stay cool. Work the problem, people.... Failure is not an option!" (Excerpt from the movie, "Apollo 13.") Work the problem! With no heat, no light and little communication with the ground, the astronauts drifted back toward earth in darkness -- helpless. Work the problem! Ground engineers had to conserve enough power to fire the engines and direct them safely into the earth's atmosphere. And they did! Lost in space Ever felt lost in space, drifting along, helpless, wondering if even God is stumped by your situation? We know God can solve problems, but in your darkest moments you wonder if He is even working on it. Friend, God is working your problem! Look at the Apollo 13 situation in a split-screen format: three astronauts on the left screen huddled in their freezing spacecraft, speaking little to conserve energy, fighting to stay awake, with only a flashlight -- dark, cold, silent. On the right side of the screen, just the opposite, a beehive of brightly-lit problem-solving is taking place. Given instructions that a plan was in the works, the astronauts had to be patient. They couldn't work the problem, so they had to believe someone else could. That's exactly what we as Christians have to do when we have a problem with no solution in sight. We can't work it but we have to believe that God can -- and He is working on our behalf. Problem solving in the image of God Sometimes, using the gifts and abilities God gives us, we can solve serious problems, as in the Apollo 13 mission. But other times, we have to call upon God. When we are stretched beyond our human limits, we find ourselves in His limitless domain. He welcomes our cries and loves to provide solutions to our problems. When asking God to help us solve problems, we have to remember that His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). God provided "surprise solutions" to people facing problems in the Bible: -- Big problem, small solution. The Israelite army had a giant problem named Goliath. God's solution was a teenager about 3 feet shorter. No armor or sword, but David had giant faith: "The Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands" (1 Samuel 17:47). Sometimes God's solutions are smaller than our problems in order to create faith in us. -- Physical problem, spiritual solution. Hindered in ministry by a physical problem, the apostle Paul called out to God three times for healing. Instead of bringing a physical one, God brought a spiritual one: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). God may allow a problem to be its own solution when it forces us to rely more on God for grace to endure. -- Personal problem, corporate solution. When Paul was journeying toward Jerusalem to deliver relief monies to the church, he was well aware of the danger from opponents of the Gospel. He shared his personal problem with the church at Rome, asking them to pray for his safety: "I beg you, brethren … that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe" (Romans 15:30-31). God may want to use others to be a partial or total solution to your problem -- but you have to ask! The Bible, church history and hopefully your life are filled with examples of how God has solved problems His way, in His time, according to His purposes. There is no problem too big for God. Be encouraged as you trust Him to get involved in whatever problem you are facing today. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Serve the 'children of light,' Mohler tells grads by S. Craig Sanders Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- God calls ministers of the Gospel to affirm the church and serve its members faithfully, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said in the commencement address to graduates of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. During commencement exercises on the seminary lawn, 297 master's and doctorate students received their degrees May 14. A week earlier, 107 Boyce College graduates received certificate, associate and bachelor's degrees in a commencement that marked the first time a child of a Southern Seminary president, Christopher Mohler, graduated from the institution. R. Albert Mohler Jr., in an address from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 titled "Children of the Day," said ministers are called to serve the "children of light" who are destined for salvation and to preach with urgency "knowing that the day of the Lord is coming." The identity of the church as "children of light," their destiny of salvation and the urgency of preaching frame the calling of pastoral ministry and missions, Mohler said. "The children of the day know the eschatological urgency that comes from knowing that the day of the Lord is coming, that the time is short and that this age will end," Mohler said. "If this is true for all the children of the day, it is certainly most consciously true of those who are called as ministers for the children of the day. The times and the seasons cry out the urgency of our calling -- most of all, the urgency of the preaching of the Gospel." Mohler called the graduates to remember the prayers of the church as they continue in their Gospel service. "Take your place in line and fulfill your ministry with eyes wide open, knowing your destiny in Christ," he charged the graduates. "Go into the world of darkness as brave children of the day." During the commencement, Mohler presented the annual Findley B. and Louvenia Edge Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence to Gregg R. Allison, professor of Christian theology. He has taught at Southern since 2003 and is the author of several books, including the popular "Historical Theology" and the recent "Roman Catholic Theology: An Evangelical Assessment." Allison, an elder at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, and his wife Nora have three adult children. Mohler also presented the Josephine S. and James L. Baggott Outstanding Graduate Award to Corbin T. Hobbs, a master of divinity graduate from Rogers, Ark. Hobbs and his wife Allie are members at Sojourn. Also among the graduates: Ben Dockery, son of Trinity International University President David S. Dockery, who earned a doctor of philosophy degree from the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry, and Justin Taylor, senior vice president and publisher of books for Crossway, who earned a doctor of philosophy from the school of theology. Mohler's entire address will be available in audio and video at the SBTS resources page. A complete manuscript of the address, "'Children of the Day," is available at www.albertmohler.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Association's 'holy discontent' spurs renewal by David Roach Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday EDITOR'S NOTE: Baptist Association Emphasis is May 17-23 on the 2015 SBC Calendar BARDSTOWN, Ky. (BP) -- Ten years ago, the Nelson Baptist Association was "unhealthy and unhelpful," as pastor Matthew Spandler-Davison puts it. The central Kentucky association's 40 churches could only muster 50-60 messengers for annual meetings, and it was a strain to populate the body's 15 committees. But a group of local pastors began meeting, praying and dreaming about a more vibrant form of local cooperation. A decade later, 600-700 people attend the Nelson Association's annual meetings and the average church's yearly giving to the association has increased by nearly $1,000. So what happened? "We just threw everything out and said, we're going to almost start over, re-launch this association," Spandler-Davison, pastor of Redeemer Fellowship Church in Bardstown, Ky., told Baptist Press. "Let's get rid of all the committees, all the leadership structure -- everything's up for grabs. ... Let's instead just evaluate who our churches are, who wants to associate with each other and why they want to associate." An intensive study of the association's structure and the needs of its churches led in 2009 to the adoption of new bylaws, a new vision statement and a new structure consisting of three teams focused on ministries where churches saw the greatest need for local cooperation. The church evangelism team focuses on helping churches partner to share the Gospel and plant churches locally, across North America and internationally. The church equipping team focuses on building healthy churches through training and consultation. The church and community ministries team focuses on meeting needs locally through a crisis pregnancy center, a biblical counseling ministry and homeless ministries. In addition to forming ministry teams, the association streamlined its administrative ministries. "We said, we can do those things far better together as an association of 42 churches [now 45] than we ever could do individually," Spandler-Davison said. "... There was very little opposition because no one looked back and said, 'This old structure is worth fighting for.'" Stan Lowery, the director of missions who led the Nelson association through its transition, said one problem under the old structure was that about 100 people took turns serving in a host of associational positions that were not meeting churches' needs. A lack of enthusiasm among churches contributed to lackluster giving and a constant struggle to meet the budget. Change was sparked by a confluence of "holy discontent" and leaders willing to dialogue about a better way to impact the community, Lowery said. "There was kind of a holy discontent," Lowery told BP. "We were not satisfied and were looking for ways to do it better to have a bigger Kingdom impact." In addition to consulting with Nelson association leaders, Lowery sought advice from other associations and national ministries that help associations. The resultant recommendations for change garnered support from a diverse array of the association's leaders -- in terms of age, church size and socioeconomic level. The recommendations also had an economic impact. Between 2005 and 2013, the average church's annual gift to the Nelson association increased from $1,822 to $2,727, with the total amount received from churches increasing 68 percent during the same period. The association experienced a 12.5 percent increase in its total number of churches over that time. Johnny Rumbough, a team leader with the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders, told BP the Nelson association represents a trend in associations across the Southern Baptist Convention. Directors of missions are talking "in a fresh, new way," said Rumbough, executive director of missions for the Lexington Baptist Association in South Carolina. "Most associations understand the importance of being relevant and realize that offering the programs we've offered for a long, long time is no longer the conversation we need to have. Instead, it is exactly what the Nelson association is [talking about] -- being relevant to the churches, because our reason for existence is to serve those churches." Associations, Rumbough said, should position themselves alongside state conventions, the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board as one of four Baptist entities that help churches engage in missions. Among the tasks of associations he noted: to help congregations partner to plant churches through NAMB's Send Cities initiative and adopt unengaged, unreached people groups worldwide through the IMB. "A lot of DOM friends are deciding like me that we're missionaries," Rumbough said. "You've just got to get out of the office and get into the mission field and do what missionaries do." Associations seeking to be missional and serve churches more effectively may contact the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders to connect with other associations that can help. In addition, the Lexington association offers online training for associational leaders across the country. Currently, some 25 DOMs are involved. Based on the Nelson association's experience, Spandler-Davison said "the purpose of associationalism is still something worth contending for" -- even in associations that aren't fulfilling that purpose well. He urged pastors who may be discouraged about their associations not to disengage, but to get involved. "A strong local association of baptistic churches is more critical now than ever and more viable now," Spandler-Davison said. Young pastors are involved, he said, in "affinity-driven networks" uniting people with similar theological convictions, "but what we don't have is relational, organic networks, which I think we're all craving -- guys that can really speak into my life from a different perspective, but where we can really partner together on the ground. That's where associationalism steps in and fills that gap." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Native Americans built association's strength by Jim Burton Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday EDITOR'S NOTE: Baptist Association Emphasis is May 17-23 on the 2015 SBC Calendar PEMBROKE, N.C. (BP) -- In 1881, Burnt Swamp Baptist Association, an association of Native American Baptist churches, was established. From its humble beginnings of three churches in Robeson County, N.C. -- two of which still exist -- the association now includes 70 churches in 10 North Carolina counties and two neighboring states. Coharie, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Pee Dee, Tuscarora and Waccamaw Siouan make up the multi-tribal association's membership, which was distinctively Baptist from its beginning. "As far as we can tell, it's the first organization of an association set up by Indians for Indians," said Mike Cummings, a Lumbee who, since 1988, has led what may be Southern Baptists' first affinity-based association. Associational strength and community gave the southeastern North Carolina tribes perseverance to battle harsh realities in a segregated South. At its first meeting, the association appointed a Domestic Board to evangelize Native Americans and established Indian education as a core concern of its churches. The association aggressively raised money to develop elementary schools, often planting churches in the same communities where schools were built. The association also engaged in a larger effort to raise funds for a high school for Indians. "This was the only place we could come; [we] couldn't go to black or white meetings," Cummings said. "We were on the fringe of North Carolina Baptist life. "Burnt Swamp was us. That's ours. Association pride has been strong because of that factor for one thing." Early on, Indians could vote and share the rights of other citizens, but in 1835 the North Carolina Constitutional Convention removed those rights for "free persons of color," including Native Americans. According to "The History of Burnt Swamp Baptist Association" by Tony Brewington, the association's director of missions from 1969–86, this had a devastating effect on Indian communities and contributed to an extended resentment between the races. "In every community where there are Indians, they have suffered through discrimination just like blacks have," Cummings said. "I was a 10th-grader [before] Indians could go to white schools. I felt the brunt of that rigid prejudice against Indians." In 1921, Burnt Swamp Baptist Association sought admittance into the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. From the outset, associational leaders had supported and promoted BSCNC programs, and the two groups often received and sent representatives to each other's meetings, but they had no formal relationship. After languishing during the 1920s, the association's petition was greatly assisted when Mary Livermore, an Anglo who worked with Native Americans, wrote a long plea that included the following: "They feel so isolated, and are losing their young people especially because they had asked the convention before and been refused, and the Indians resent such rebuffs." When the state convention approved the membership petition in 1929, Burnt Swamp received a "bittersweet" response, as Brewington described it: the association was accepted as an associate member of the convention, meaning its churches participate in BSCNC programs but their messengers could not vote. Though disappointed, associational leaders responded cordially to the decision. Soon, relationships with the broader Southern Baptist family began to strengthen, first through joint missions endeavors with Woman's Missionary Union and the SBC's Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board), then with the seminaries through Seminary Extension. A new day In 1999, 70 years after being initially accepted as a BSCNC associate member, Cummings was elected as the convention's president, the first Native American to hold the office, serving two and a half terms. "That did us a lot of good to see ourselves recognized by this convention," Cummings said of his tenure. "We were basically fringe participants for years because it was like we were going to somebody else's meeting." Not only did Cummings preside over the annual meetings in his role as president, he later served as BSCNC interim executive director before Milton Hollifield began his tenure in 2006. Cummings held those positions "not because of his ethnicity, but rather because of his ability as a leader," Hollifield said. "Although Mike Cummings has great pride in his Native American ethnicity and rich Indian heritage, North Carolina Baptist people looked beyond that positive attribute and recognized his love for God, his wisdom, his commitment to Kingdom building, his love for this state convention, and they believed that Brother Mike would lead with a spirit of integrity and fairness toward all ethnic and language groups in North Carolina," Hollifield said. The churches of Burnt Swamp Baptist Association take pride in the national leadership of former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who is a Lumbee Indian. Timmy Chavis, pastor of Bear Swamp Baptist Church in Pembroke, is chairman of the SBC Executive Committee's Multi-Ethnic Advisory Council. Cummings and Chavis know that Native Americans have some advantages when propagating the Gospel among their own people. As Chavis puts it, "Indigenous people need to be reached with indigenous people." Burnt Swamp Baptist Association is "guided by its vision to be churches in fellowship and on mission together with God," according to its website. To that end, the association began engaging in short-term mission projects in 1986 when they helped a Native American church in New Mexico with construction. The next year, a team went to South Dakota. Those ventures "launched us into understanding the impact we can make," Cummings said. Soon, that impact reached overseas. Mannie Mintac, a Filipino, married a Lumbee girl and, in 1993, he showed up in Cummings' office and shared the call of God in his life. "God wants me to go back and plant churches in my home," Mintac told Cummings, regarding a remote region of the Philippines with no evangelical church. Since 1997 when Burnt Swamp volunteers first went to the Philippines, they have built 10 churches and a school. Routinely, the association sends 10 missions teams annually to provide a variety of services, including medical missions. Meanwhile, they continue to minister to North America's native people, with Cummings noting, "We see our identity with these people." After 400 years of Anglos evangelizing Native Americans, only 10 percent have become Christians, said Emerson Falls, who serves as a Native American specialist with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and is chairman of the SBC Fellowship of Native American Christians. Burnt Swamp is a story of the success of home missions as Indians were once the objects of home missions, Cummings said. A subsidy from the then-Home Mission Board to support the director of missions ended when Cummings started in 1988. Now, there's a new message to the North American Mission Board, which replaced HMB and two other SBC entities in 1997. "This association is not part of your mission field," Cummings said. "It's a part of your missions force." With an estimated 75 percent of Native Americans living in urban areas, Burnt Swamp is looking to turn its "missions force" to church planting there. Though forward-looking, the association continues a tradition that started in its earliest days. Its churches gather four times a year on the fifth Saturday of a month for preaching and singing at their Union Meeting. "Those guys preach like it's nobody's business," Cummings said of the Indian pastors. "Indians like to sing and get happy when they worship. You would think we were Pentecostals." Passionate preaching is a reflection of their theology. "This is a community that takes the demands of the Gospel literally," Cummings said. "Someone has to agonize in response to Gospel preaching. Almost every church here believes you have to have a come-to-Jesus meeting to be saved." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Nepalese Baptist pastor in U.S. aids homeland by Diana Chandler Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday BUFFALO, N.Y. (BP) -- As Nepal works to recover from two massive earthquakes within 17 days, a Nepalese Southern Baptist church planter in Buffalo, N.Y. is readying to travel to his homeland to help those in need, including his three sisters left homeless. Purna "John" Tamang, pastor of Saransthan International Fellowship, said his sisters are living in tents in Kathmandu and other communities. Tamang described them as Christians telling others of Jesus Christ. "They are sharing their faith," Tamang told Baptist Press. "[Nepal] is in need of Jesus along with physical healing and financial support for clothing and food." Southern Baptists can help by praying and fasting for Nepal, pleading for an end to the earthquakes and numerous aftershocks, Tamang told Baptist Press, and they can help by sending funds to help survivors rebuild their lives. Tamang and his wife Ganga, or "Martha," for example, are raising support to cover travel to Nepal in June to help victims and provide leadership training for ministers in South Asia. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal April 25, killing more than 8,000 people and destroying thousands of homes. Officials were still surveying damage from the first quake when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck May 12, killing several dozen more people, including victims in India and Chinese Tibet. Tamang, a church planter and leader of the nonprofit "Love the Lost, Inc." Gospel outreach, has planted 18 churches in the past four years, including U.S. congregations in Kentucky, North Carolina, California, Ohio and New Hampshire, and in Nepal, Bhutan and India. One of his sisters helped plant a church in Bihar, northern India, where 100 people were killed in the first quake. All of the pastors survived both earthquakes, Tamang said May 12. Nepal's National Emergency Operations Center has estimated that nearly 300,000 homes were destroyed and about 270,000 others were damaged in the first earthquake alone. Many survivors are living in tents. Born in Bhutan in 1979, Tamang was educated while living in refugee camps in Nepal for more than 15 years. During a life-threatening illness in 1993, Tamang said, he accepted Jesus, "a great healer," as his Savior and was called as a church planter. When opportunity arose, he traveled to the U.S., first to Atlanta and then to New York, where his church is a member of the Frontier Baptist Association of the Baptist Convention of New York. Tamang's mother church is Amherst Baptist Church in Amherst, N.Y., under the pastorate of Scott Gillette. Baptist Global Response Nepal is coordinating Southern Baptist humanitarian relief efforts in Nepal, providing basic survival needs including water, shelter, food and healthcare. More information is available at gobgr.org. Tamang may be reached at johntamang@gmail.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bible Study: May 17, 2015 by Staff/LifeWay Christian Resources Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday NASHVILLE (BP) -- This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, LifeWay publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups. This week's Bible study is adapted from the MasterWork curriculum. Bible Passages: Exodus 20:15 Discussion Questions: How broadly did God intend for us to apply the Eighth Commandment, "You shall not steal"? Does it relate just to family and friends? What about the large, successful business in the suburbs? My employer? The state and national governments? Food for Thought: The unlawful taking of possessions belonging to another takes place routinely in our society. According to one report, larceny/theft makes up 56 percent of all crime committed in America. According to the 2001 National Retail Security Survey, U.S. retailers lost more than $13.2 billion from employee theft. Of the $29 billion in losses reported last year by retailers, employee theft made up a larger percentage (44.5%) than shoplifting (32.7%). Employee theft and shoplifting together account for the largest source of property crime committed annually in the United States. This massive loss of proper respect for other people's property presents yet another example of the way in which the moral fabric of our society is unraveling. In his novel "Oliver Twist," Charles Dickens created a character known as the "Artful Dodger." He was, among other things, a master pickpocket and expert at dodging the London Bobbies who were constantly on his trail. Judging from the statistics just quoted, it would seem legitimate to suggest that we are becoming a society of dodgers. Men and women are increasingly adept at building rationales for taking what is not theirs, dodging God's Eighth Commandment with their twisted logic. MasterWork MasterWork is an ongoing Bible study curriculum based on works from a variety of renowned authors and offers pertinent, practical messages that adults will find uplifting and enriching. The list of authors and their books to be studied in upcoming months can be found at lifeway.com/masterwork. Other ongoing Bible study options for all ages offered by LifeWay can be found at LifeWay.com/SundaySchool. -------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: Los hombres y padres cristianos necesitan más ánimo by Octavio Esqueda Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday NOTA DEL EDITOR: La columna First-Person (De primera mano) es parte de la edición de hoy de BP en español. Para ver historias adicionales, vaya a http://www.bpnews.net/espanol LA MIRADA, Calif. (BP) -- Siempre me ha sorprendido el contraste entre las celebraciones del día de las madres y las del día del padre. Generalmente el día de las madres es una gran festividad y un motivo de alegría generalizado en el cual la mayoría reconoce la labor tan ardua y abnegada de las madres. Celebrar a la mamá es una obligación social que se asume con entusiasmo porque todos tienen motivos de sobra para hacerlo. Reconocer a los padres, sin embargo, no tiene el mismo peso social y la efusividad disminuye considerablemente. Ambos padres son importantes, pero pareciera que el énfasis y el reconocimiento son diferentes. Puedo entender que hay varios factores que contribuyen a que se dé esta situación, pero no deja de llamarme la atención la diferencia sobre todo en la manera en la que muchas iglesias celebran ambas fechas. He notado que durante el servicio en el día de las madres, aparte de reconocerlas y felicitarlas, el mensaje se centra en animarlas y agradecerles su importante labor. Todo esto me parece apropiado, pero noto el contraste cuando durante el servicio en el día del padre la situación es diferente. Aparte de que el reconocimiento tiende a ser menor, el mensaje generalmente se centra en exhortar a los padres para que mejoren su comportamiento y se involucren más con su familia. En otras palabras, la tendencia es en felicitar a las madres y en reprender a los padres. Es cierto que muchos padres cristianos necesitan asumir más el liderazgo espiritual de sus familias y que quizá el contraste no sea tan grande como lo he percibido, pero creo que los padres también necesitan escuchar un mensaje más positivo. Es necesario que los hombres escuchen lo bueno que son y están haciendo y no solamente lo que necesitan mejorar. Como hombres muchos crecemos escuchando el mensaje general que nuestro valor se encuentra en los que hacemos y en los logros que alcanzamos. Sin embargo, la realidad es que nuestra verdadera importancia viene por lo que somos y no por lo que hacemos. El ser viene antes del hacer. Por esta razón, me preocupa cuando el énfasis se aleja de esta verdad fundamental como seguidores de Jesús. Necesitamos escuchar y que nos recuerden que nuestro Padre celestial nos ama incondicionalmente y que somos valiosos e importantes. Los seres humanos, hombres y mujeres, somos valiosos porque fuimos creados a la imagen y semejanza de Dios (Gen. 1:27). Dios nos ama incondicionalmente (1 Juan 4:7-14). Nuestro amor por el Señor solamente se puede dar porque El nos amó primero. Este amor no depende de nuestras acciones sino de la gracia divina. Por lo tanto, lo que hagamos o dejemos de hacer no cambia el amor de Dios hacia nosotros. Además, al recibir la salvación en Jesús nos convertimos en hijos de Dios (1 Juan 3:1-3). Como hijos, nuestra relación con el Padre ya es cercana y establecida para siempre. Nuestro valor y aceptación es total y permanente. Muchos de nosotros estamos acostumbrados a dar amor, pero se nos olvida que lo podemos dar porque ya lo hemos recibido de nuestro Padre celestial. Lo que hacemos fluye de lo que somos y no al revés. En un mundo lleno de competencia y que valora los logros más que el carácter de las personas, necesitamos recordar que nuestro verdadero valor no se encuentra en lo que hacemos. Somos creados a la imagen de Dios; somos sus hijos y Dios nos ama incondicionalmente. Los hombres y padres cristianos necesitan ánimo además de exhortación a mejorar. ¿A quién puede animar esta semana? -------------------------------------------------------------------- IMB to align missionary requirements with BF&M by David Roach Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- The International Mission Board's new policy on missionary qualifications -- replacing previous restrictions related to baptism, speaking in tongues and divorce among other matters -- represents an effort to keep basic requirements from going beyond the Baptist Faith and Message, IMB President David Platt told reporters May 14. "We want it to be simple and clear that what's driving us doctrinally is what all these churches [of the Southern Baptist Convention] have agreed on in the Baptist Faith and Message," Platt said during an hour-long telephone press conference. "... We're tethering ourselves to the Baptist Faith and Message, and we tethered ourselves to it in such a way that if the Southern Baptist Convention were to edit or adjust the Baptist Faith and Message a year from now or two years from now or whenever, then that would adjust the way we work." Approved during a May 12-13 IMB trustee meeting in Louisville, Ky., the new policy is one component of an effort to open "new pathways" of missionary service overseas for students, professionals, retirees and others and establish a single set of preliminary qualifications for all categories of missionaries, Platt said. Trustees and staff will establish additional requirements for specific categories of IMB overseas personnel, he said. New pathways of missionary service have not been established yet but are expected to be announced in the months ahead, Platt said. Subsequent to the press conference, IMB spokeswoman Wendy Norvelle told Baptist Press trustees have yet to determine the preferred funding mechanism for new pathways of missionary service. She added, however, that the IMB encourages churches to give through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists' unified method of funding missions and ministries in North America and across the globe. Platt said IMB leaders have not disclosed the vote count on the new missionary qualifications policy to either trustees or the public, stating only that he was "encouraged" by the vote's outcome. The newly adopted policy 200-1 replaces the previous policy of the same number, which had been adopted in 2010 to govern qualifications for career missionaries. The policies on teenage children, tongues and baptism were not part of the former version of 200-1, although Norvelle said such matters would be interpreted within the revised policy. Previous policies "were put in place at various times for good reasons," Platt said, but needed revision given the demands of fulfilling the Great Commission today. He commented on several specific changes related to hot-button issues: -- "Under [the newly adopted] 200-1, a divorce is not an automatic disqualifier for long-term service with the IMB as it was under the old policy," Platt said. The marital history of all missionary candidates still will be examined. However, the circumstances of a divorce will now be considered along with the view of the prospective missionary's host culture regarding divorce and the candidate's potential role on a missionary team, Platt said. Requirements regarding divorce may need to differ for lead church planters and support personnel, he said. Previously, divorced persons were disqualified from service as career and apprentice missionaries. -- The only baptism requirements under the new policy are that a missionary be "a baptized member of a Southern Baptist church" and possess a "conviction of truth as expressed in the current Baptist Faith and Message statement of the Southern Baptist Convention." The BF&M, Article VII, defines baptism as "the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus." Article VII adds that baptism is "prerequisite" to church membership and the Lord's Supper. IMB missionaries, Platt said, "are going to believe and function and practice and live in accordance with" the BF&M. Previously, IMB policy 200-16 stated: "Baptism must take place under the authority of a local church that practices believer's baptism by immersion alone, embraces the doctrine of the security of the believer's salvation and does not view baptism as sacramental, regenerative or essential to salvation." The policy applied to all missionaries at all levels of service. -- The previous policy on tongues and private prayer languages "went beyond some of the language in the Baptist Faith and Message," Platt said. The BF&M makes no mention of either issue. Policy 200-1 also does not mention speaking in tongues or using a private prayer language, but Platt said the IMB Field Personnel Manual allows a missionary to be terminated for disruptive emphasis on any specific spiritual gift as normative for all Christians. He stressed his opposition to excesses of the charismatic movement. "I have seen and confronted the dangers of the charismatic movement and the error that has in so many ways undercut the authority of God's Word," Platt said. "... I want to make sure that we are faithfully representing Southern Baptist churches and convictions at every point." Previously, IMB policy defined the gift of tongues, or glossolalia in Greek, as speaking "a legitimate language" and disqualified from service all missionary candidates who used an unintelligible language in worship or practiced glossolalia in worship without following the New Testament guidelines. Using an "ecstatic utterance as a prayer language" disqualified a candidate from service. -- Families with teenage children are eligible to serve under policy 200-1 and will be evaluated on a case by case basis, Platt said, noting some mission fields are suitable for families with teenagers while others are not. A previous policy stated that couples with children 12 and older would be eligible for service only after specific criteria were met, including psychological or psychiatric evaluations of the children. Asked about policies governing alcohol use, Platt said trustee-approved policy did not previously and does not currently disqualify from service candidates who drink alcohol. Yet the Field Personnel Manual requires all missionaries to abstain from alcohol following their appointment. Platt cited policies on alcohol as a model for how other debated issues might be handled in the future. "The only way to address some of these issues is not a policy that's a disqualifier on the front end," Platt said. "People know. It's not like we're hiding any of what we believe about these issues. But we are saying, 'OK, they're not automatically disqualifiers on the front end, but it's clear, as an IMB missionary, that we abstain from alcohol.'" Making adherence to the BF&M the baseline requirement for missionary service represents an attempt to ease initial restrictions on qualified Southern Baptists who feel a call to take the Gospel to the nations. Trustees "see that there are some issues we must address as the IMB," Platt said. "Our pipeline has been small and tough to get through in different ways that we could open up and free [up]." Regarding prospective missionaries who were prevented from serving under the old policies, Platt said, "The door is open for them to explore serving with the IMB." Platt asked Southern Baptists to pray for wisdom among IMB leaders as they seek to increase the number of missionaries despite limited funds. "Even before this, we were turning away Southern Baptist church members who were qualified to serve as missionaries -- even under our old qualifications," Platt said. "All the more under our new qualifications. "Some would say, 'Then why open up the pathway if you've already got kind of a backlog?' Well, I don't want to continue to say no to qualified members of Southern Baptist churches," Platt said. For a First-Person column by David Platt on the new personnel policy, click here. For a FAQ, click here. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Payday loans targeted by ERLC, others in coalition by Tom Strode Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has helped launch a religious coalition seeking an end to the predatory loan industry. The ERLC joined with other religious organizations Thursday (May 14) to announce the Faith for Just Lending Coalition at a Capitol Hill news conference. The diverse alliance that includes Baptists, other evangelical Christians and mainline Protestants seeks to raise awareness about predatory lending and to motivate individuals, lenders, churches and the government to help bring an end to the practice. Commonly referred to as payday lending, the growing practice often draws poor people especially into a debt trap by charging excessive, and often misleading, interest rates, according to coalition members. While an interest rate may be presented by a lender as 15 percent, for instance, it actually is only for the two-week period until a person's next payday. The annual interest rate may be 400 percent or more, making it difficult for the borrower to repay the loan. It requires years for some people to pay off their debt. More than 20,000 payday and car-title loan stores exist in the United States, according to the coalition. Payday lenders also operate online in a country that has a variety of state and local laws regarding the practice. Coalition members decried the predatory practices of payday loans in introducing their effort. Predatory payday lending "grinds the faces of the poor into the ground," ERLC President Russell Moore said in a written statement announcing the coalition's formation. "As Christians, we are called by Jesus, by the prophets and by the apostles to care for the poor, individually, and also about the way social and political and corporate structures contribute to the misery of the impoverished." Barrett Duke, the ERLC's vice president for public policy, said at the May 14 news conference, "God is not an economic Darwinist. He does not believe in survival of the fittest when it comes to the treatment of the poor. "The Bible speaks clearly about appropriate ethical behavior in business," he said. "[God] didn't oppose financial transactions, but He did, and He does, oppose predatory activities that take advantage of someone, especially the poor." Messengers to the 2014 SBC meeting approved a resolution that denounced predatory payday lending and called on the adoption of government policies to end the practice. Other members of the Faith for Just Lending Coalition, as announced, are the National Association of Evangelicals; Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; National Baptist Convention, USA; National Latino Evangelical Coalition; Center for Public Justice; PICO National Network; and Ecumenical Poverty Initiative. While Moore acknowledged the organizations don't agree on every policy issue, he is "happy to work together on this issue to stand against unchecked usury and to work for economic justice, human dignity and family stability." At its launch, the coalition announced the following principles for just loans: -- "Individuals should manage their resources responsibly and conduct their affairs ethically, saving for emergencies, and being willing to provide support to others in need. -- "Churches should teach and model responsible stewardship, offering help to neighbors in times of crisis. -- "Lenders should extend loans at reasonable interest rates based on ability to repay within the original loan period, taking into account the borrower's income and expenses. -- "Government should prohibit usury and predatory or deceptive lending practices." The SBC resolution expanded on numerous concerns about payday lending, describing it as "the practice of lending small amounts of money, usually $350 or less, to individuals for two-week periods (i.e. until the next payday) potentially trapping borrowers in an endless cycle of two-week loans, often at an annual interest rate up to or exceeding 360 percent." From a biblical standpoint, the SBC resolution notes, "All such predatory behavior conflicts with God's plan for human relationships (Exodus 22:25–27; Leviticus 19:35–36; 25:35–37; Nehemiah 5:1–13; Proverbs 11:1)" and it "fails to respect the dignity of the person created in the image of God and interferes with human flourishing." At the May 14 news conference, organizational representatives from Alabama and Kansas explained the problems in their states. Joe Godfrey, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), said his state permits payday lenders to charge an annual interest rate of more than 450 percent and has more title-lending outlets than any other state. A committee in the Alabama House of Representatives recently failed to forward legislation that would have limited interest rates to 36 percent, he said. Calling for a federal law to stop predatory lending, Godfrey told the story of a Birmingham woman who took out nine loans at nine different sites in a day. When she could not pay off the loans at the end of the month, she borrowed more money or rolled the loans over, he said. "They become your owner, and you become their slave," Godfrey quoted the woman as saying ALCAP is an auxiliary of the Alabama Baptist Convention. Claudette Humphrey told the news conference audience the loan effort she directs for Catholic Charities in Salina, Kan., still is not enough to help some people escape predatory debt. "We live in a time where it is a rarity to find a truly bipartisan issue, an issue where people of various religious beliefs can agree, an issue that crosses gender and color lines," said Humphrey, director of the Kansas Loan Pool Project. "Predatory lending is that issue. Why? Because you are either for charging triple-digit interest rates ... or you are against it. You are on the side of being morally right or you are on the side of being morally wrong." Dallas pastor George Mason, representing the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, told news conference attendees it is time for a national remedy for "predatory wolves." "We are here to say that this is no longer a local matter," he said. "We all work locally. We've got all sorts of ordinances in our cities, and we've replicated those throughout Texas and around the country. At state levels, we've been working and been thwarted again and again. This is a national scourge upon our land, and it has to end." With the coalition now launched, its members will begin focusing on building support throughout the country and in Congress to put an end to the predatory practices of payday lending, Duke said. Coalition members visited with congressional members or staff after the May 14 news conference. Since payday lenders often "refuse to operate in a responsible manner, government intervention is crucial," Duke said in a written statement for the coalition. "We cannot sit by idly while some of the poorest among us are preyed on by people simply looking for a quick buck with no regard for the devastation they cause in the lives of others." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Avance enfatiza que lo primero es primero by Por Luis R. Lopez Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- La reunión de SBC en Columbus, Ohio este próximo mes de Junio destaca la prioridad de la oración en la obra del ministerio. 1 Timoteo 2:1 nos exhorta antes que cualquier otra cosa a buscar el rostro de Dios. El domingo, 14 de junio la reunión de Avance en el Greater Columbus Convention Center reunirá a pastores y líderes hispanos Bautistas del Sur en diversas actividades que destacan el papel de la oración en un despertamiento espiritual. AVANCE 2015 comienza el domingo 14 de junio con una cena a las 5:00 pm para pastores y lideres. Este es evento es gratis pero el cupo es limitado. Para hacer su reservación para este evento, haga un clic aquí. Esta celebración se lleva a cabo en el Grand Ballroom 1 y cuenta con la participación especial del actual presidente de SBC, Dr. Ronnie Floyd. Después de la cena, entre las 6:30 y 7:45 pm se ofrecen tres talleres simultáneos. El pastor, Javier Sotolongo, de la Iglesia Estrella de Belén de Miami estará compartiendo acerca de cómo Dios usa gente común y corriente para hacer cosas extraordinarias. Basado en el nuevo estudio bíblico, "No es demasiado tarde", escrito por el pastor Tony Evans, los participantes serán retados a considerar cómo a pesar de sus errores, Dios usa poderosamente a aquellos dispuestos y disponibles. Esta conferencia se lleva a cabo en el salón C215. Así mismo, se ofrecerán dos talleres adicionales: LiderazgGO dictado por el Dr. Daniel Sánchez en el salón C212 y "El papel del líder en el hogar" con el pastor Gonzalo Rodríguez de New Orleans en el salón C226. La sesión histórica de 8:00 a 8:45 pm de AVANCE 2015 incluye la celebración del informe del Comité de Visión de la Red Nacional de Pastores y Lideres Hispanos de la CBS. Esta presentación liderada por el Dr. Guillermo Soriano, asesor de evangelismo y discipulado de Carolina del Norte, se lleva a cabo en el salón A103 del mismo centro de convenciones. Para culminar la celebración de AVANCE 2015, los líderes y pastores asistentes tendrán la oportunidad de ver un pre-estreno exclusivo de la nueva película "War Room" (Cuarto de Guerra) en español en el salón C215 a las 9:00 pm. Dicha película producida por los hermanos Hendricks, productores de Facing the Giants, Fireproof y Courageous, ahora traen a la pantalla de forma magistral una producción inspiradora y desafiante acerca del poder de la oración. Cuarto de Guerra será estrenado a nivel nacional el 28 de agosto y se perfila como una extraordinaria herramienta para las iglesias no solo para desafiar a los creyentes a descubrir un plan de batalla pero a guerrear en oración. El film incluye la participación de Priscilla Shirer y Beth Moore, reconocidas líderes de estudio bíblico, destaca el valor de la oración como un arma estratégica de guerra. El pre-estreno es totalmente gratis para los participantes en SBC Avance 2015. ¡Nos vemos en Columbus! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Galardón de inmigración presentado a Duke de ERLC by Por Tom Strode Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday HOUSTON (BP) -- Recibir un galardón por trabajar a favor de la reforma migratoria demostró ser una doble bendición para el bautista del sur especialista en política pública, Barrett Duke. La Conferencia Nacional Hispana de Liderazgo Cristiano (NHCLC por sus siglas en inglés) le confirió el Galardón Robert Gittelson de defensa de la inmigración a Duke el 29 de abril durante su convención nacional en Houston. "Fue un tremendo honor recibir una condecoración que lleva el nombre de mi buen amigo Robert Gittelson," le dijo Duke a Baptist Press. "Ese honor fue doble porque me fue dado por la Conferencia Nacional Hispana de Liderazgo Cristiano. Aprecio a Samuel Rodríguez y a todos los buenos hombres y mujeres de la NHCLC. Es un placer trabajar con ellos." Duke ha abogado por un plan de reforma migratoria justa durante años en su rol de vicepresidente de política pública e investigación de la Comisión de Libertad Religiosa y Ética (ERLC por sus siglas en inglés). Rodríguez, presidente de NHCLC, le confirió a Duke el galardón, el cual fue nombrado en memoria de otro persistente defensor de la reforma migratoria. Gittelson, de 54 años, murió en agosto después de años de viajar de California a Washington, D.C., para promover una solución legislativa al problema de la inmigración ilegal del país. Él formó la organización Conservadores a Favor de una Reforma Migratoria Integral, y fungió como vicepresidente de NHCLC para asuntos gubernamentales. Rodríguez elogió tanto a Gittelson como a Duke por su trabajo a favor de un asunto que es prioridad para la NHCLC, la organización hispana evangélica más grande del país. "Robert Gittelson fue un defensor incansable de una reforma migratoria integral, siempre pensando en las ramificaciones políticas, las consecuencias morales y las historias personales alrededor de este vital asunto," dijo Rodríguez en una declaración escrita a BP. "Barrett Duke, a través de su trabajo en la Comisión de Libertad Religiosa y Ética, ha defendido estos mismos ideales y ha trabajado para educar a otros sobre la necesidad de una política de migración integral que ofrezca dignidad, compasión y muestre respeto a la ley." Duke recibió la condecoración en un momento cuando la reforma migratoria ha sido relegada a un segundo plano. Aunque existe un amplio acuerdo en que el sistema migratorio estadounidense está muy dañado, resolver el problema se les ha ido de las manos a los legisladores. El sistema y su implementación han resultado en un estimado de 11 a 12 millones de indocumentados que viven ilegalmente en los Estados Unidos. Él no ha abandonado la esperanza de que el Congreso y la Casa Blanca elaboren una solución, dijo Duke. "Creo que la reforma migratoria todavía es posible, aun en la dividida capital de nuestra nación," le dijo a BP. Anhela continuar su asociación con la NHCLC "para finalmente reavivar nuestro país a resolver el dilema nacional de migración," dijo Duke. "La ERLC continuará haciendo su parte, junto con muchas otras organizaciones de la misma mentalidad para lograr esta digna meta." Duke fungió como panelista durante una discusión sobre la reforma migratoria en el evento de tres días de NHCLC. El presidente de la ERLC, Russell Moore también habló en la convención. La ERLC ha llamado a una reforma que provea seguridad en la frontera y en los lugares de trabajo; mantenga el estado de derecho; respete la unidad de la familia; y establezca un camino al estatus legal a aquellos que deseen vivir en nuestro país permanentemente y estén dispuestos a pagar las penalidades y llenar los requisitos. En 2011, los mensajeros a la Convención Bautista del Sur en Phoenix aprobaron una resolución sobre la reforma migratoria que llamaba a un avance del evangelio de Jesús al tiempo que buscaba justicia y compasión. La medida urgía al gobierno a hacer de la seguridad de la frontera una prioridad y a mantener a cuentas los negocios en su contratación de empleados. También requería que las autoridades públicas establecieran después de asegurar las fronteras "un camino justo y compasivo al estatus legal, con medidas restitutorias apropiadas, para aquellos inmigrantes indocumentados que ya viven en nuestro país." Especificaba que la resolución no debía ser interpretada como apoyo a una amnistía. En la última sesión del congreso, el Senado aprobó una legislación integral de migración, la cual la ERLC dijo que necesitaba algunos arreglos. La Casa de Representantes rehusó votar el proyecto de ley del Senado y escogió tratar el asunto en medidas fragmentadas que no se convirtieran en ley. El presidente Obama promulgó órdenes ejecutivas en noviembre a pesar de las protestas del liderazgo de la Casa. Esas órdenes incluían un muy controversial plan para proteger de la deportación a un estimado de cinco millones de inmigrantes. Esa orden aplicaba a los inmigrantes ilegales que habían estado en el país más de cinco años y son padres de sea ciudadanos estadounidenses o de "residentes legales permanentes." A aquellos que califican se les requiere registrarse, verificar sus antecedentes criminales y de seguridad nacional, y pagar impuestos, de acuerdo a la Casa Blanca. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Pew: Los cristianos declinan mientras que los 'nones' aumentan by Por David Roach Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday NASHVILLE (BP) -- El número de cristianos en EE.UU. ha descendido casi 8 puntos porcentuales desde 2007 mientras el número de adultos religiosamente no afiliados ha incrementado cerca de 7 puntos porcentuales durante el mismo período. Ese es el hallazgo del estudio de 200 páginas del Centro de Investigaciones Pew sobre el "Cambio del Panorama Religioso de EE.UU." divulgado hoy (21 de mayo). La encuesta a cerca de 35.000 adultos atrajo una variedad de reacciones de los líderes bautistas del sur. "Los resultados de la encuesta comunican una creciente evidencia de que la mayor necesidad en EE.UU. es un despertar espiritual," le dijo el presidente de la Convención Bautista del Sur Ronnie Floyd a Baptist Press en comentarios escritos. "El tiempo es ahora y la hora es urgente; nuestras iglesias en esta nación deben unirse en un acuerdo claro, una unión visible y una oración extraordinaria por el próximo Gran Despertar y para alcanzar EE.UU. y el mundo para Cristo. "Simultáneamente, necesitamos levantarnos con la misma urgencia de manera exponencial teniendo una visión para alcanzar nuestras comunidades, pueblos y ciudades para Cristo y regresando a la prioridad de evangelizar haciendo discípulos y plantando iglesias del evangelio," dijo Floyd, pastor de Cross Church en el noroeste de Arkansas. La encuesta de Pew -- realizada por teléfono del 4 de junio al 30 de septiembre de 2014, en español y en inglés -- estimó una reducción neta de entre 2.8 a 7.8 millones de cristianos posterior a una encuesta comparable en 2007. Eso se traduce en una caída de 78.4 por ciento de la población estadounidense a 70.6 por ciento. La mayoría del declive ocurrió entre los protestantes tradicionales y los católico romanos, donde cada uno disminuyó aproximadamente un 3 por ciento como una porción de la población desde 2007. De cada convertido al catolicismo en EE.UU., hay seis excatólicos, de acuerdo al reporte. Históricamente las denominaciones protestantes negras se mantuvieron estables de 2007 a 2014, y los evangélicos disminuyeron 0.9 por ciento como parte de la población al tiempo que incrementaron a cerca de 2 millones en términos de datos sin procesar. "El reemplazo generacional" cuando los estadounidenses de las generaciones predominantemente cristianas murieron y "el cambio religioso" fueron las dos principales causas del declive entre los cristianos, detectó la encuesta. Un total de 42 por ciento de los estadounidenses tienen una religión diferente a la que tuvieron en la niñez -- un porcentaje que explica el cambio entre evangélicos, tradicionales y el históricamente protestantismo negro. Las religiones no cristianas han aumentado 1.2 puntos porcentuales desde 2007 para abarcar 5.9 por ciento de los adultos estadounidenses. Sin embargo, el incremento de la población religiosamente no afiliada -- apodada los "nones" -- fue el cambio "más dramático," le dijo un asesor de Pew a los periodistas durante una llamada de conferencia el 12 de mayo. "Esta tendencia hacia la no afiliación ha ocurrido entre las personas de todas las edades en cierta medida y entre las principales comunidades étnicas y raciales también," dijo John Green, asesor de Pew y distinguido profesor de ciencias políticas de la Universidad de Akron. "En este sentido, cabe destacar el agudo incremento en el porcentaje de estadounidenses que se identifican como ateos y agnósticos." Mientras el 25 por ciento de los nones dijeron ser ateos o agnósticos en 2007, el 31 por ciento dijeron ser de esas designaciones en 2014. Durante el mismo período, el porcentaje de protestantes que se identificaron con denominaciones bautistas cayó de 41 por ciento a 36 por ciento. "Esta investigación revela lo que muchos de nosotros hemos venido sospechando por algún tiempo," dijo Frank S. Page, presidente y director ejecutivo del Comité Ejecutivo de la Convención Bautista del Sur. "Hemos visto el creciente aumento de la secularización de nuestra cultura y sabemos que está afectando a aquellos que dicen ser cristianos. "Pastores y evangelistas durante años han dicho que siempre estamos solamente a una generación de volvernos una cultura pagana," le dijo Page a BP en comentarios escritos. "La importancia del evangelismo personal no puede ser sobrestimada. Nuestro mundo necesita a Cristo, y él nos ha comisionado para ser los que compartan el evangelio. Recomprometámonos a hablarles a aquellos en nuestro ámbito de influencia de las buenas nuevas de nuestro Señor Jesucristo." Ed Stetzer, presidente de Investigaciones LifeWay, resaltó el hallazgo de la encuesta de que los evangélicos ahora constituyen la mayoría (55 por ciento) de los estadounidenses protestantes. Él destacó la estabilidad del "cristianismo de convicción" en medio del declive del protestantismo liberal. "El cristianismo no está muriendo y ninguna investigación lo dice," escribió Stetzer en una publicación de blog. "Las estadísticas del cristianismo en EE.UU. están simplemente comenzado a mostrar una descripción más clara de lo que el cristianismo estadounidense se está volviendo -- menos nominal, más definido y más afuera de la corriente principal de la cultura estadounidense. "Por ejemplo, el costo cultural de llamarse 'cristiano' está comenzando a pesar más que el beneficio cultural, así que aquellos que no se identifican como 'cristianos' de acuerdo a sus convicciones están comenzando a identificarse como 'nones' porque es más culturalmente inteligente," escribió Stetzer. "Debido a esto, las estadísticas muestran (en la superficie) que el cristianismo en EE.UU. está experimentando un agudo declive. Sin embargo, esa es la dirección de aquellos que no leen más allá de la superficie. Si subsiste una iglesia relativamente estable y comprometida, una minoría de convicción y hay un gran movimiento de autoidentificación, eso significa que el intermedio está disminuyendo." Russell Moore, presidente de la Comisión de Libertad Religiosa y Ética (ERLC por sus siglas en inglés) de los bautistas del sur, dijo que él ve señales esperanzadoras en el reporte de Pew. "Este estudio lo deja en claro…esas personas que no quieren el cristianismo no quieren el casi cristianismo ofrecido a ellos por las tradiciones que descartan las enseñanzas históricas de la iglesia tan pronto como se vuelven pasadas de moda," dijo Moore de acuerdo a un comunicado de prensa de ERLC. "Las iglesias que están prosperando son las congregaciones vibrantes y contraculturales que no tienen miedo a no ser vistas como normales por la cultura circundante. Este reporte realmente me deja esperanzado. El cinturón bíblico.-- zona en EE.UU. donde el cristianismo evangélico tiene un profundo arraigo social -- puede caer. Así sea. El cristianismo emergió de un Imperio Romano hostil hasta el tuétano a la idea de un Mesías crucificado y resucitado. Hemos estado en el lado equivocado de la historia desde Roma, y fue suficiente para volver el mundo al revés," dijo Moore. El reporte es el primero de los dos que se esperan de Pew este año sobre el cambiante panorama religioso de EE.UU. El segundo reporte detallará las creencias y prácticas específicas de los estadounidenses. -------------------------------------------------------------------- La actualización de Google podría disminuir el tráfico web de las iglesias by Por David Roach Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Un cambio en la fórmula de Google para priorizar la búsqueda de resultados podría dejar a las iglesias sin sitios web móviles accesibles y sin visibilidad en línea a potenciales visitantes. A partir del 21 de abril, Google actualizó los algoritmos de los buscadores hechos para los dispositivos móviles para darles un lugar más elevado en los resultados a los sitios web que sean accesibles a tales dispositivos. Eso significa que iglesias que tienen sitios web más antiguos y básicos puede que no aparezcan entre los primeros resultados cuando, por ejemplo, un usuario de un teléfono móvil busque "iglesias bautistas" y su ciudad. "¿Por qué esta preocupación?" preguntó Michael Magruder, director de LifeWay.com de Recursos Cristianos LifeWay. "Google estima que más del 60 por ciento de las consultas de búsqueda actualmente se originan en dispositivos móviles. La mayor pregunta que los negocios y las organizaciones se hacen es: '¿Cómo sabemos si mi sitio web está optimizado móvilmente?'" Tony Boes, especialista en web de la Convención Bautista de Missouri, le dijo a Baptist Press que hay maneras simples de que una iglesia pueda determinar si su sitio web califica como móvil accesible. Primero, abran el sitio en un teléfono móvil. Si cabe bien en la pantalla y tiene botones de un tamaño apropiado para hacer clic, probablemente el sitio es móvil accesible. Para obtener una respuesta definitiva a la pregunta de si el sitio es móvil accesible, una iglesia puede visitar el sitio web de Google "Mobile-Friendly Test", dijo Boes. Simplemente pongan la URL del sitio web de su congregación en esa página, y Google les dirá si es móvil accesible además de proveerles enlaces a información acerca de cómo mejorar el sitio. Los sitios móviles accesibles, de acuerdo al blog central del especialista en web de Google: -- Evitan usar software que no sea común en dispositivos móviles, como Adobe Flash Player; -- Usan un texto que sea legible sin tener que enfocar; -- Ajustan el tamaño a la pantalla de manera que los usuarios no tengan que desplazarse horizontalmente para ver el sitio; y -- Colocan los enlaces lo suficientemente separados de manera que el correcto pueda ser pulsado fácilmente. Debido a que por lo menos el 40 por ciento de los sitios web no llenan el criterio del dispositivo accesible de Google, algunos expertos predijeron que el cambio del algoritmo tendría un mayor impacto, un escenario que ellos apodaron "Mobilegeddon." Pero los expertos bautistas en tecnología dijeron que varios hechos mitigan el efecto del cambio en las iglesias. Para comenzar, las iglesias en pueblos pequeños con nombres exclusivos en esos pueblos deberían ser relativamente fáciles de encontrar en una búsqueda. Si alguien busca ese nombre de la iglesia en su pueblo, "Google probablemente va a querer darle lo que está buscando más que darle algo que sea solo móvil accesible," dijo Boes. Además, el cambio solamente afecta las búsquedas de Google hechas desde teléfonos inteligentes y algunas tabletas Android. "Si están buscando desde una computadora de escritorio o de la mayoría de las tabletas, los resultados de la búsqueda, no se supone que cambien," le dijo Magruder a BP. Él señaló que las búsquedas en los mapas de Apple y en los mapas de Google todavía mostrarán los resultados en orden de proximidad en vez de si el sitio de una iglesia es móvil accesible. Finalmente, Chris Thurman, un diseñador de web con sede en Kentucky quien trabaja con la Convención Bautista de Kentucky y con iglesias en todo EE.UU., le dijo a BP que "no ha notado una inmensa diferencia en las clasificaciones [de Google] de las de algunos de nuestros clientes [en el mundo de los negocios] que no optimizaron para móvil." Él especula, sin embargo, que Google puede estar implementando sus actualizaciones gradualmente de manera que no afecten a todas las industrias simultáneamente. Aun así, los expertos están de acuerdo en que algunas congregaciones serán afectadas por el cambio y que los sitios de las iglesias deberían ser móvil accesibles. Boes dijo que un miembro del personal conocedor o un voluntario debería ser capaz de hacer un sitio móvil accesible "relativamente rápido." Las iglesias que usaron un sistema de gestión de contenido como WordPress para diseñar sus sitios web necesitan asegurarse de que el "tema," o plantilla, que hayan escogido sea móvil accesible, dijo Boes. Un tema potencial puede ser probado viéndolo en un teléfono inteligente o entrando a una prueba de dispositivo accesible (Mobile-Friendly Test) de Google. Si un sitio generado a través de un sistema de gestión de contenido no es móvil accesible, un cambio simple de tema debería arreglar el problema, dijo. Otra opción es usar el sistema de gestión de contenido de LifeWay, twenty28cms.co/, en el cual todos los temas son móvil optimizado. Pese al cambio de algoritmo de búsqueda de Google, Boes dijo que es importante que las iglesias optimicen sus sitios web para el tráfico móvil. Desde que la Convención Bautista de Missouri hizo su sitio web accesible en octubre, Boes dijo que el tráfico móvil al sitio se ha duplicado y el número de los usuarios que dejan el sitio sin hacer clic en sus enlaces ha disminuido. Convertirse en móvil accesible " solamente va volver más importante cualquier sitio web que esté allí, sea o no una iglesia, a medida que más y más personas buscan el teléfono celular como su principal dispositivo de internet," dijo Boes. -------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: Los hombres y padres cristianos necesitan más ánimo by Por Octavio Esqueda Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday LA MIRADA, Calif. (BP) -- Siempre me ha sorprendido el contraste entre las celebraciones del día de las madres y las del día del padre. Generalmente el día de las madres es una gran festividad y un motivo de alegría generalizado en el cual la mayoría reconoce la labor tan ardua y abnegada de las madres. Celebrar a la mamá es una obligación social que se asume con entusiasmo porque todos tienen motivos de sobra para hacerlo. Reconocer a los padres, sin embargo, no tiene el mismo peso social y la efusividad disminuye considerablemente. Ambos padres son importantes, pero pareciera que el énfasis y el reconocimiento son diferentes. Puedo entender que hay varios factores que contribuyen a que se dé esta situación, pero no deja de llamarme la atención la diferencia sobre todo en la manera en la que muchas iglesias celebran ambas fechas. He notado que durante el servicio en el día de las madres, aparte de reconocerlas y felicitarlas, el mensaje se centra en animarlas y agradecerles su importante labor. Todo esto me parece apropiado, pero noto el contraste cuando durante el servicio en el día del padre la situación es diferente. Aparte de que el reconocimiento tiende a ser menor, el mensaje generalmente se centra en exhortar a los padres para que mejoren su comportamiento y se involucren más con su familia. En otras palabras, la tendencia es en felicitar a las madres y en reprender a los padres. Es cierto que muchos padres cristianos necesitan asumir más el liderazgo espiritual de sus familias y que quizá el contraste no sea tan grande como lo he percibido, pero creo que los padres también necesitan escuchar un mensaje más positivo. Es necesario que los hombres escuchen lo bueno que son y están haciendo y no solamente lo que necesitan mejorar. Como hombres muchos crecemos escuchando el mensaje general que nuestro valor se encuentra en los que hacemos y en los logros que alcanzamos. Sin embargo, la realidad es que nuestra verdadera importancia viene por lo que somos y no por lo que hacemos. El ser viene antes del hacer. Por esta razón, me preocupa cuando el énfasis se aleja de esta verdad fundamental como seguidores de Jesús. Necesitamos escuchar y que nos recuerden que nuestro Padre celestial nos ama incondicionalmente y que somos valiosos e importantes. Los seres humanos, hombres y mujeres, somos valiosos porque fuimos creados a la imagen y semejanza de Dios (Gen. 1:27). Dios nos ama incondicionalmente (1 Juan 4:7-14). Nuestro amor por el Señor solamente se puede dar porque El nos amó primero. Este amor no depende de nuestras acciones sino de la gracia divina. Por lo tanto, lo que hagamos o dejemos de hacer no cambia el amor de Dios hacia nosotros. Además, al recibir la salvación en Jesús nos convertimos en hijos de Dios (1 Juan 3:1-3). Como hijos, nuestra relación con el Padre ya es cercana y establecida para siempre. Nuestro valor y aceptación es total y permanente. Muchos de nosotros estamos acostumbrados a dar amor, pero se nos olvida que lo podemos dar porque ya lo hemos recibido de nuestro Padre celestial. Lo que hacemos fluye de lo que somos y no al revés. En un mundo lleno de competencia y que valora los logros más que el carácter de las personas, necesitamos recordar que nuestro verdadero valor no se encuentra en lo que hacemos. Somos creados a la imagen de Dios; somos sus hijos y Dios nos ama incondicionalmente. Los hombres y padres cristianos necesitan ánimo además de exhortación a mejorar. ¿A quién puede animar esta semana? -------------------------------------------------------------------- Concilio multiétnico refleja a la 'familia de Dios' by Por Roger S. Oldham Date: May 15, 2015 - Friday ATLANTA (BP) -- Al escuchar el bullicio de las voces de los miembros del Concilio de Asesoría Multiétnica mientras se reúnen en grupos pequeños, Frank S. Page, presidente del Comité Ejecutivo de la CBS, señaló, "Escucharles hablar y debatir y citar las Escrituras en sus variados acentos y desde sus diversas perspectivas [me recuerda] lo rico que somos como una familia de Dios al tenerles a todos ustedes en la mesa." Guiados por el director Timmy Chavis, pastor de Bear Swamp Baptist Church en Pembroke, C.N.,el concilio revisó las bases bíblicas para las misiones, el evangelismo y el discipulado. Los miembros también meditaron sobre algunas preguntas en cuanto a la educación teológica, la ética y la libertad religiosa, y el Programa Cooperativo presentadas por Ken Weathersby, vicepresidente para el avance de la convención, dentro del CE, y quien sirve como intermediario del grupo. El concilio, representando numerosos idiomas, confraternidades étnicas y raciales dentro de la CBS, exploró la manera en que sus iglesias pueden participar más de lleno en los procesos de la convención y reflexionaron sobre las maneras en que la convención puede servirles mejor en cuento a las necesidades de sus iglesias respectivas, según reportó SBCLIFE en su edición actual, publicada este mes (mayo). El objetivo del concilio es ayudar al Comité Ejecutivo y a los líderes de las entidades de la CBS a entender más completamente y apreciar las perspectivas de las iglesias étnicas y las aportaciones que traen los líderes de las iglesias a la meta común de alcanzar a la nación y a todas las naciones con el Evangelio. Lennoz Zamore, pastor de Ebenezer Memorial Church en Santo Tomás, Islas Vírgenes, identificó siete pasajes que los miembros del grupo usaron para enfatizar las bases bíblicas de las misiones y el evangelismo, usando a Mateo 28:18-20 como el texto principal. "Como un marco para las misiones, usamos la frase 'Mientras van, evangelicen; mientras evangelizan, discipulen; y mientras discipulan, bauticen,'" dijo Zamore. Ben Mishin, pastor de Life Way Baptist Church en Philadelphia, señaló, "Las bases bíblicas para el evangelismo se encuentran en Hechos 1:8 –Ustedes me serán testigos," dijo. "La razón más impresionante" para las misiones y el evangelismo "es la vida y ministerio de Jesucristo," dijo Mishin. "Él vino al mundo, para que vayamos al mundo. Jesús no solamente se comunicó con la gente; sirvió a la gente y proveyó un ejemplo para la gente. "La vida de Jesús, su gracia redentora," son el corazón de las misiones y el evangelismo, dijo. Zamore, hablando a nombre de un grupo, señaló que un problema común en las misiones es que "en nuestras iglesias, creamos una cultura de gente que se queda, no que se va." Debemos "desarrollar un estilo de vida evangelístico a través del discipulado de creyentes, para que el discipulado no sea sólo una clase más," dijo. Una posible estrategia que fue sugerida sería la creación de una página de internet multilingüe y con multimedia centrada en el evangelismo, la cual puede ser replicable, fácil de usar y accesible a través de los teléfonos inteligentes. "El mundo actual está usando implementos para fomentar la cultura y necesitamos incorporar estos medios en el Evangelio," dijo Zamore. "Si pudiéramos enviar a los jóvenes y ponerlos en un yugo con un discipulador más experimentado para crear y administrar las páginas de internet y las aplicaciones… [tendríamos] una fuerza de trabajo de jóvenes en el Evangelio" que están aprendiendo de mentores que han tenido más experiencia compartiendo su fe. Debemos crear "una mentalidad del Reino estilo Kennedy," dijo, entre risas por su referencia a la famosa frase del ex presidente de los EE UU John F. Kennedy, "No preguntes qué puede hacer por ti tu país, pregunta qué puedes hacer tú por tu país." "Tenemos demasiadas personas preguntando qué puede hacer por mí el Reino," dijo Zamore. "Debemos cambiar eso. Qué puedo hacer yo por el Reino, y no qué puede hacer el Reino por mí." Mishin dijo que los líderes y miembros de las iglesias deben practicar el "evangelismo amistoso." Una manera poderosa de mostrar el Evangelio es "practicar actos de generosidad o bondad seguidos por una invitación a tu casa, lo cual involucrará un testimonio personal. …Debemos recordarle a menudo a la iglesia que mucha gente camina en este mundo sin conocer a Cristo." Además de Chavis, Zamore y Mishin, otros participantes en la reunión del Concilio de Asesoría Multiétnica en Atlanta (19-20 marzo) fueron Jerry Baker, especialista en misiones y plantación de iglesias interculturales con la Convención Bautista de Georgia; Jamal Bishara, pastor de First Arabic Baptist Church en Phoenix; Joseph Gaston, presidente de la Confraternidad Bautista Haitiana; Charles Locklear, pastor de Calvary Way Baptist Church en Pembroke, C.N.; Pierre A. Mark, pastor de First Haitian Baptist Church en Burlington, N.J.; Wilner Maxy, pastor de Emmanuel Haitian Baptist Church en Miami; Anatoly Moshkovshy, presidente de la Confraternidad Bautista de Toda Ucrania y líder del equipo de plantación de iglesias étnicas para la Convención Bautista de Pensilvania/Sur de Jersey; Samuel Opoku, pastor de Abundant Life Baptist Church en Bronks, N.Y.; Rodney Webb, estratega jubilado de misiones en otros idiomas con la Junta de Misiones Norteamericanas; Portique Wilburn, pastor de la iglesia multiétnica Rock Harbor Christian Fellowship Church en San Pablo, California; y Rich Worshill, presidente de la Confraternidad Mesiánica de los Bautistas del Sur.