The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-06/05/2014 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Cuban Baptists overcome challenging 'Roads to Victory' by Don Graham Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday EDITOR’S NOTE: IMB President Tom Elliff, who visited Cuba in December, will share stories and videos of God's work in Cuba during IMB's report to SBC messengers on Tuesday morning, June 10. Elliff will introduce Southern Baptists to José Enrique Pérez and Daniel González (both included in this feature package) as well as Juan Carlos Rojas, president of the Western Cuban Baptist Convention. These Cuban Baptist leaders will attend the SBC meeting with their spouses as special guests of IMB. At commissionstories.com/cuba, June 8-10, a three-part series will feature stories, photos and videos of the church-planting movement in Cuba including a video related to this "Roads to Victory" story. HAVANA, Cuba (BP) -- It's 5 a.m. Saturday and while most of the town of Vueltas is still asleep, pastor José Enrique Pérez is prepping for what promises to be a long day. Fourteen hours to be exact. Just like every Saturday. That's the reality of church planting in Cuba. Pérez is joined by a dedicated team of self-described missionaries from his congregation, Bethel Baptist Church. More than 50 Christians pour their lives into the dozens of small towns and villages surrounding Vueltas where there is little or no Gospel witness. The missionaries' goal is straightforward: make disciples and gather them into house churches. Daylight is breaking as the engine rumbles to life on the "Roads to Victory," Bethel Baptist's ramshackle bus fused together from makes and models dating back to 1932. It will make more than a dozen stops during its nearly five-hour drive through the Cuban countryside, dropping off Bethel members at their target communities. After an eight-hour day of ministry, the bus returns to Vueltas, picking up Bethel's missionaries along the way. "During the first stage of the project, the trips were shorter," Pérez says. "But we've been filling the places that are closer with [new] churches," driving Bethel's teams farther out to reach unchurched areas. "[If we want] to rest and be comfortable, there's heaven," Pérez says with a laugh. "The time that God gives us here is to be involved in the work of His Kingdom." Pérez admits the bus may not be the most efficient method for starting churches, but it's working. Today, Bethel's missionaries are nurturing nine new traditional churches and multiple house churches. That's in addition to the 32 traditional churches born since 1999. Some are direct offspring of Bethel Baptist. Others are second- and third-generation churches started by Bethel's church plants. Pérez says his dream is that by 2020, Bethel's network will top 100 traditional churches and hundreds of house churches. "We want every town in our country to have a living, healthy church," Pérez says. "A church where God's Word is alive, where the brothers [and sisters] love and support each other … a church that is the salt and light of the community where it is planted. This is our cry to God." Pérez remembers when starting even a single new church seemed impossible. He was a boy when revolution swept the country in 1959. By 1963, Bethel Baptist was shuttered and gutted by the government. Bethel's pastor was eventually arrested -- along with dozens of other pastors -- and sent to prison. "They began to teach that God didn't exist, that everything I had been taught by my parents was a lie," Pérez says. When Pérez was in middle school, a teacher mocked him and three other boys from Bethel in front of his classmates. "These fools you see here, they still believe in God," the teacher sneered. "They are dazed by that opium that puts people to sleep -- by religion." But what man meant for evil, God used for good. Though churches were closed, many Christians worshipped anyway -- in their homes. Otherwise, Cuba's house church movement may never have been born. "It is a time of harvest like never before," Pérez says. "We don't want to waste a second." The teacher who had humiliated Pérez and his friends eventually gave his life to Jesus. Pérez baptized him. Today, he leads a church in Bethel Baptist's network. He's also a faithful missionary on the "Roads to Victory" bus. --30-- Don Graham writes for the International Mission Board. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Cuban pastor sees divine appointment twice by Don Graham Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday HAVANA, Cuba (BP) -- "You look green," Daniel González' friend teased as their train rumbled through the Cuban countryside. But the seminary student wasn't going to let the stomach flu keep him from his ministry assignment. González was headed for the port city of Batabano to catch a ferry to Cuba's Isle of Youth, 90 miles south of Havana. Little did he know it would be both the worst trip of his life -- but the most spiritually fruitful. By the time the train arrived in Batabano, González was so sick he could barely walk. His friend helped him as far as the pier then left for his own ministry assignment elsewhere on the mainland. The ferry wouldn't leave for hours. But he continued to feel worse. Exhausted, he fell asleep on the ground. Eventually, a young man woke him up and asked if he needed help. González explained he was traveling to the island but was so sick he hadn't yet purchased passage on the ferry. "Give me your ID, I'm going to buy you a ticket," the man named Karell offered. González was desperate to reach his destination, so he handed the stranger his ID and money and went back to sleep. Karell woke him when it was time to go and practically carried him onboard. The four-hour trip across the Gulf of Batabano was pure misery for González. His stomach was already churning from the virus; combined with rolling seas, heat and the smell of several hundred sweaty bodies packed like sardines, "it was a horrible, horrible journey," Gonzalez says. He eventually fell asleep on the deck. About 1:30 a.m., González was awakened by the drunken laughter of a group of Cuban students. Karell was among them, headed to the Isle of Youth on vacation to visit family. González somehow summoned the strength to try to share the Gospel with the students but they weren't listening. "I was so sick that preaching the Gospel in that state wasn't very appealing," González says. The ferry arrived at Nueva Gerona, the main city on the Isle of Youth, early in the morning. González was still quite ill and was beginning to wonder if he'd made a mistake by coming. He found his way to the park bench where he usually spent the night during his trips there. "I still didn't have a permanent place to sleep on the island," González recounts. There was nothing left to do but pray. "Lord, heal me. I need to feel good. I've come all the way here," he pleaded. God answered. "I think it was the only time in my life that the Lord has healed me instantly," González says. "I suddenly felt strong. I felt good. I bought some food and went for a walk, as usual." González had been working there for many months and was getting discouraged. He typically began the visits there by climbing a large hill that overlooked the city. "From up there, Nueva Gerona could fit in my hands. I would pray for each neighborhood," González says. "That's how my work began on the island: by evangelizing door to door." But that day González didn't have the strength for the climb. The voice of one of his mentors, an older Cuban pastor named Antonio Pérez, echoed in his head. "How many shoes have you worn out?" Pérez used to ask young seminary students. "A pastor has to walk." So González started walking. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but he was trusting the Holy Spirit to lead him. González ended up in a neighborhood he'd never visited. He picked a building at random, went to the third floor, knocked on a door and got the surprise of his life. It was Karell -- the student who had helped him board the ferry. "What are you doing here?" Karell asked, incredulous. Without missing a beat, González explained he'd come to finish the Gospel presentation he'd started on the boat. And there, in the stairwell outside his parents' apartment, Karell made Jesus his Lord and Savior. González and Karell started sharing the Gospel together on the Isle of Youth. House churches began to form in Nueva Gerona. In 2012, Karell became pastor of First Baptist Church of Nueva Gerona, a congregation of more than 400 members. Today, it is part of a network of traditional and house churches spread across the Isle of Youth. "I never underestimate divine appointments, those moments that God gives you providentially to meet people of peace," González says. González spent 10 years as a missionary on the Isle of Youth. He currently is pastor of Santo Suarez Baptist Church (formerly called McCall Baptist Church) in Havana, which has started 60 house churches. --30-- Don Graham writes for the International Mission Board. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- CUBA: A remarkable chapter in God's story by Tom Elliff Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday EDITOR’S NOTE: IMB President Tom Elliff, who visited Cuba in December, will share stories and videos of God's work in Cuba during IMB's report to SBC messengers Tuesday morning. At commissionstories.com/cuba, June 8-10, a three-part series will feature stories, photos and videos of Cuba’s church-planting movement, including a video honoring the memory of a "walking evangelist" who made 2,640 home visits all on foot to share the Gospel in Cuba in 2007 and an article on Jeannie Elliff's perspectives after visiting Baptists in Cuba with her husband. HAVANA, Cuba. (BP) -- It was an apology like no other we have ever received. The four men seated at the table with my wife Jeannie and me felt a need to explain, and we were straining to listen to their story. "We have only planted 20 churches," one man spoke for them all. "But you must understand," he continued in an apologetic tone, "we have a transportation problem. Only one truck comes into our community around 11 each evening and one leaves at 5 each morning. Other than that we rarely have transportation, so we could only plant churches where we could walk." Only 20 churches! Planted on foot! Welcome to Cuba, home of one of the most remarkable chapters of God's story anywhere on earth during the past few decades. Adult believers can recall the day when fewer than 600 churches were scattered throughout the island nation. Now, nearly 7,000 churches are tucked away in homes across the country -- and that's in addition to more than 970 traditional churches. There's little doubt Cuban Baptists have been busy finding their place in God's story, joining a global chorus of Christ-followers in one sacred effort to advance the Gospel among the nations. Even the occasional skeptic is staggered by the growth of Christianity and Baptist churches in Cuba. And they are even more amazed at the depth of biblical understanding, sacrifice and commitment expressed on a daily basis by Cuban Baptists who often stand and quote from memory the pastor's Scripture text during weekly services. Most of these believers were ardently discipled for at least a year before being baptized, reflecting a determined effort on the part of Cuban Baptists to make genuine disciples. Jeannie and I have been changed forever by our encounter with Cuban Baptists and with Southern Baptists who have labored long and prayed hard for just such an awakening. May God's big work in this small, amazing country inspire you to seek your place in His story. --30-- Tom Elliff is president of the International Mission Board. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: El verdadero líder cristiano sirve a los demás by Octavio J. Esqueda Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday 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) -- El servicio a los demás es la característica esencial del liderazgo de acuerdo a los estándares divinos. De hecho, el líder cristiano debería ser el siervo de los siervos de Dios (servus servorem Dei en latín). Todos somos llamados a servir a nuestro prójimo, pero aquellos que tienen el privilegio de ser líderes tienen la obligación de recordar que su liderazgo es un ministerio a otros y que existen por el bien de los demás y no por el suyo propio. Un líder cristiano que no sirve a otros, no sirve para ser líder. Es obvio que comúnmente no se relaciona al servicio con el liderazgo. Es más, muchos consideran que un líder es aquel al que la gente le sirve y no al revés. Esta percepción es global y ha existido a lo largo de la historia en cualquier cultura. Jesús mismo lo reconoció al afirmar "Como ustedes saben, los que se consideran jefes de las naciones oprimen a los súbditos, y los altos oficiales abusan de su autoridad" (Marcos 10:42). Muchos aspiran a posiciones de influencia para ser servidos. El poder que da el ser líder es bastante atractivo como bien lo refleja la siguiente frase popular "es importante ser agradable, pero es más agradable ser importante". Para la mayoría, un buen líder es aquel que tiene influencia sobre otros y que logra que lo sigan y obedezcan. Sin embargo, Jesús fue enfático al contrastar la percepción popular con su nuevo estándar de liderazgo: "Pero entre ustedes no debe ser así. Al contrario, el que quiera hacerse grande entre ustedes deberá ser su servidor, y el que quiera ser el primero deberá ser esclavo de todos. Porque ni aun el Hijo del hombre vino para que le sirvan, sino para servir y para dar su vida en rescate por muchos" (Marcos 10:43-45). Jesús nos dio el ejemplo máximo de servicio al dar su vida por nosotros y aquellos que lo seguimos debemos imitarlo. Los líderes cristianos, por lo tanto, son siervos no dictadores y mayordomos de los dones de los demás. De acuerdo a Jesús, entre más poder e influencia uno obtiene, más se incrementa su obligación de servir. No hay otra opción y no existe otra alternativa para aquellos que se llamen cristianos o seguidores de Cristo. Tristemente en contraste con las indicaciones bastante claras de Jesús, el orgullo y la pedantería son muy comunes entre muchos denominados líderes cristianos. En estos días se celebra la reunión anual de la Convención Bautista de Sur. Es un tiempo de gozo y alegría pero también es una oportunidad para la reflexión profunda acerca de lo que significa seguir a Cristo. Es un secreto a voces que en la actualidad hay muchos líderes en diferentes niveles de la denominación y entidades como seminarios, asociaciones o iglesias que tienen el orgullo como una característica esencial de su liderazgo y que sería muy difícil unir la palabra servicio a su personalidad. Es tan fácil caer en la tentación de la búsqueda del poder guiados por el orgullo y olvidarnos de nuestro verdadero llamado a servir. En los diferentes reportes de las entidades de la denominación, en la elección a diferentes puestos y posiciones de liderazgo y en nuestros propios ministerios debemos preguntarnos ¿cuánto desean servir ellos a otros y cuánto deseamos servir nosotros a los demás? Me sorprende el tiempo que en ocasiones invertimos en planificar estrategias y diseñar programas, pero nos olvidamos de lo esencial y básico. Evidentemente no estoy en contra de los programas y estrategias ya que son necesarios y parte vital de nuestro ministerio. Sin embargo, deseo hacer un llamado a la humildad y a la obediencia a nuestro Señor que después de lavarles los pies a sus discípulos les dijo, y nos dice a nosotros también, "Ustedes me llaman Maestro y Señor, y dicen bien, porque lo soy. Pues si yo, el Señor y el Maestro, les he lavado los pies, también ustedes deben lavarse los pies los unos a los otros. Les he puesto el ejemplo, para que hagan lo mismo que yo he hecho con ustedes" (Juan 13:13-15). Jesús es nuestro Maestro y Señor y no tenemos otra alternativa sino obedecer sus palabras e imitar su ejemplo. Nos necesitamos unos a otros para motivarnos al amor y las buenas obras y para servirnos unos a otros. ¡Cuánto anhelo ser y seguir a auténticos líderes cristianos! --30-- Octavio Javier Esqueda es profesor en los programas doctorales en educación en Talbot School of Theology de la Universidad Biola en La Mirada, California. Es miembro de la iglesia bautista Green Hills en La Habra, California y ha tenido la oportunidad de enseñar en diferentes países, instituciones y niveles académicos. -------------------------------------------------------------------- WMU enjoys historic ties to Baltimore by Shannon Baker and Julie Walters Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday BALTIMORE(BP) -- As the home of Annie Armstrong and the first home of Woman's Missionary Union, Baltimore will host this year's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting and the culmination of a yearlong celebration of WMU's 125th anniversary. It was May 14, 1888, when a group of women gathered and formally organized what is known today as Woman's Missionary Union, Auxiliary to Southern Baptist Convention, in the basement of Broad Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. They elected Annie Armstrong as their leader and set up headquarters in Baltimore from 1888 to 1921. "When WMU organized in 1888, praying for and giving to missions was at the forefront of the women's minds," Wanda S. Lee, executive director/treasurer of national WMU, said. "They had read many missionary letters; heard the pleas from individuals, like Lottie Moon; and recognized the need to raise awareness and increase funding to support missions. What began with gathering eggs and baking bread to sell for missions soon turned into a missionary movement unlike anything their churches had ever experienced. "Once they saw the impact they were having in isolated areas," Lee said, "they realized there was strength in their collective efforts for missions. As a result, WMU was born and continues today with that same passion for praying and giving on behalf of our missionaries." At that historic inaugural meeting of WMU 126 years ago, it was the determined voice of Annie Armstrong who challenged the women to organize with these words: "What are your marching orders?" Born in 1850 in the industrial port city of Baltimore, Armstrong, or "Miss Annie" as she was affectionately known, attended Seventh Baptist Church. At Seventh, Armstrong was baptized at the age of 20, and shortly thereafter joined more than 100 members from Seventh to pioneer a new work at Eutaw Place Baptist Church. There, Armstrong remained an active member for nearly 70 years, until her death in 1938. Describing Armstrong as "a tall, stately, outspoken, strong-willed leader," author Bobbie Sorrill credits Armstrong's Harvard-educated pastor Richard Fuller for building her deep convictions about missions. With his preaching described as "logic on fire," Fuller's passionate Southern lawyer roots paved way for his influence in framing the Southern Baptist Convention, at which he preached the first annual sermon, giving Armstrong and others an insider's view into the birth of the denomination. At the local church level, Armstrong taught in the Infant class (also called the Primary Department, for children up to age 12) for 50 years. All the while, she maintained an interest in ministering to mothers, immigrants, the underprivileged, the sick, African Americans, Indians, and later in her life, her Jewish neighbors. Accordingly, she worked at the Home of the Friendless, a shelter for destitute children, where she served on the board of managers for more than 20 years. She also started the Ladies' Bay View Mission, an organization to help the destitute and poor of Baltimore, in the same site as today's Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Not only did Armstrong embrace Baltimore with the love of Christ, but her reach also extended to the uttermost parts of the world. Most notable are her efforts in missions education and missions support. In 1880, in her first prominent leadership position, Armstrong served as the first president of the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society of Maryland, which involved women in supporting the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention. The society's first priority locally was forming an Indian school and ministering to Chinese immigrants. The organization also provided support for work in Cuba and New Orleans. Armstrong later became the corresponding secretary of the Maryland Mission Rooms, later called the Mission Literature Department, SBC. This department served as a missions library and reading room and ultimately became a publisher and distributor of missions literature. Beginning in 1888, Armstrong led in framing the constitution of WMU. She served as corresponding secretary -- a position equivalent to executive director today -- until 1906, always refusing a salary for the work she did through WMU to further the Gospel. "Annie set an example of sacrificial giving and commitment that continues as a part of the fabric of WMU today," Lee said. "From teaching children to caring for the immigrants in Baltimore to sending aid to the Native Americans of Oklahoma, she modeled during those formative years how Jesus calls us to share His story with all people while meeting their physical needs. Annie also established WMU as the missions information center for Southern Baptists." Without the benefit of today's technology, Armstrong wrote letters by hand to all the Southern Baptist foreign societies. On one occasion, she asked them to contribute to the first Christmas offering to send one missionary to assist Lottie Moon in China. That offering resulted in enough money to send three. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions, so named at Armstrong's recommendation, has raised more than $3.7 billion for international missions from 1888 through 2012. In 1895, Armstrong led WMU to contribute $5,000 to help alleviate the Home Mission Board's $25,000 debt and prevent the withdrawal of missionaries from their mission fields. In response, WMU instituted the Week of Self-Denial as a time of praying for and giving to home missions. Since that time, a week of prayer and a home missions offering have continued. From 1907, when official reporting began, through 2013, WMU has helped raise more than $1.5 billion through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, with the offering renamed in Armstrong's honor in 1934. Year after year, Armstrong came up with new ways to get missions information out to the churches, to stir up missions efforts, and to raise more prayer support and money for missions. "Miss Annie was never one to long for the past or to linger in the present," Debby Akerman, national WMU president, said. "From WMU's first offices in Baltimore, she envisioned WMU's future, prayed for God's guidance, and led the fledgling organization steadily forward ... laying a solid missions foundation on which future leaders would build." WMU's headquarters remained in Baltimore until 1921 when they moved to Birmingham, Ala. The organization occupied two different locations in the downtown metro area, one from 1921–1951 and the second from 1951–1984, before moving to their current address at 100 Missionary Ridge. Over the course of 126 years, WMU has grown from a group of women passionate about missions to a thriving international missions organization that encourages both genders and all ages to share the love of Christ and seek to make Him known. Also consistent with WMU's focus on supporting missionaries, this year's WMU Missions Celebration in Baltimore prior to the SBC annual meeting will feature a rare opportunity on Sunday, June 8, to experience a joint commissioning service of approximately 100 new field personnel representing the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board. Those who attend will hear from SBC Executive Committee President Frank S. Page, NAMB President Kevin Ezell, IMB President Tom Elliff and national WMU leaders. This portion of the event will take place at 4 p.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center Ballroom. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. For more information about WMU's Missions Celebration, visit wmu.com/baltimore. For more about missions discipleship and involvement opportunities, visit wmu.com. --30-- Shannon Baker is director of communications at the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. Julie Walters is corporate communications team leader for Woman's Missionary Union. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Good news! 2 years of Cooperative Program gains by Ashley Clayton Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Are you ready for some good news? The most recent Annual Church Profile (ACP) data reveals a new and positive direction in Southern Baptist missions and ministries funding through the Cooperative Program. Over the past three decades, the average Cooperative Program gift per church, as a percentage of a church's undesignated receipts, had steadily declined. For example, in 1982, across all Southern Baptist churches, the average Cooperative Program gift per church was 10.7 percent of a church's undesignated receipts. Each year since, with the exception of three slight upticks in 1995, 1997 and 1999, there was a predictable and steady decline of average Cooperative Program gifts per church. Since 1999, average percent of undesignated gifts from cooperating churches has declined by about two-tenths of a percent per year, reaching its lowest point in 2011 -- 5.407 percent across all SBC churches. But, we see signs of hope. In 2012, the average Cooperative Program gift per church ticked up slightly to 5.414 percent. Now, for some really good news: The 2013 Cooperative Program reports and SBC Annual Church Profile data show the average Cooperative Program gifts per church has again risen slightly to 5.50 percent. This is the first two-year growth in average percentage gifts through CP in more than 30 years. Instead of declining, as some had predicted, Cooperative Program gifts have moved in the other direction. What does this report mean? If the Cooperative Program were a publicly-traded "big box" company, and if analysts had projected a continued steady decline in business and market share, and then good news became public -- like our current Cooperative Program report -- you can believe renewed confidence in the stock would be driving up prices on the Dow Jones Industrial Average … up a lot! We routinely hear from some quarters that we (Southern Baptists) are on a steady march to the edge of a cliff. Yes, many of our reported numbers give us cause for grave concern. But is it time to reframe the image? Could we, perhaps, be standing at a new starting line? Yes, this is only a two-year trend line. But it is the last two years, it is two years in a row and it breaks a 30-year decline. Keep in mind that when we compute average percentage Cooperative Program gifts per church, we compute all Southern Baptist churches: graying churches, growing churches, new churches, contemporary churches, ethnic churches, mega-churches, small churches, legacy churches … and, yes, churches that gave nothing through the Cooperative Program. Declaring this report about the Cooperative Program to be a clear-cut winner may be a matter of opinion, and I know there is cause for reticence and caution, but regardless of the celebratory rhetoric you may detect in this article, this is good news and certainly worthy of our attention and our celebration! Again, when people expect one thing to happen, and the exact opposite happens, you absolutely must take notice, you absolutely must find the best way forward. So, consider this. It appears that Southern Baptist churches are making positive, cooperative choices! Not only did the average percentage of Cooperative Program gifts per church go up; total Cooperative Program dollars went up, too, and did so during a time that many of their churches' undesignated receipts and total church receipts declined. This year, at the SBC annual meeting in Baltimore, SBC Executive Committee President Frank S. Page will once again ask pastors and churches to prayerfully consider increasing their support of SBC missions and ministries through the Cooperative Program by giving an additional 1 percentage point of their churches' undesignated receipts. In 2012, more than 3,000 churches reported an increase in Cooperative Program giving by 1 percent or more. Now that the ACP report has been published, we will begin analyzing the 2013 data to see if this trend, too, is continuing. During Frank Page's Great Commission Advance message on Tuesday, June 10, he will not only ask churches to do more, he will ask all Southern Baptists to do more. He will ask every individual and every family to embrace a biblical standard of stewardship -- tithing, giving of offerings and developing a lifestyle of generosity. If Southern Baptists were giving according to biblical standards, there would be more than enough money to reach every unengaged, unreached people group in the world; plant 15,000 new churches in North America; increase accessibility of affordable theological education; revitalize 28,000 plateaued and declining churches; support collegiate ministry at unprecedented levels; express vibrancy, passion and urgency for evangelism; address human suffering; increase ministries to hurting children; and expand moral advocacy efforts in the public square. Usually Cooperative Program giving and church plate offerings tend to move together, but not this time. The 2013 ACP data confirms our churches are giving more to missions through the Cooperative Program while church members are giving less through their churches. On this cusp of something new, there has never been a better time for Southern Baptists to settle the Lordship issue about money and honor the Lord through tithes and offerings. --30-- C. Ashley Clayton is vice president for Cooperative Program and stewardship with the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Lottie Moon offering hits record $154 million by Erich Bridges Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Southern Baptists gave an unprecedented $154 million to the 2013 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, breaking the record for the largest total in the offering's 125-year history. The 2013 offering, finalized June 5, reached $154,057,852.36. The total represents an increase of nearly $4.8 million over 2012, or 3.2 percent. It tops the previous record, $150.4 million in 2007, by more than $3.6 million, and marks the fourth increase since 2008. "This gives us an opportunity to reflect on the incredible generosity of Southern Baptists over many years," IMB President Tom Elliff said. "The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering represents well over half of our budget each year, so those who give sacrificially and out of concern for the lost can be assured that an enormous portion of all that happens overseas can be directly tied to their support. "It's estimated that close to 1 billion people living now are very likely to go through life without ever hearing the Gospel in such a fashion that they can understand it and respond to it in faith," Elliff said. "Our missionaries are 'chasers after darkness.' We're looking for those dark corners of the world where the light of the Gospel has yet to be shed so we can get the message of Christ into the hearts of people who need so desperately to hear about it."

Wanda Lee, executive director/treasurer of Woman's Missionary Union (WMU), which promotes the offering in partnership with IMB, also expressed gratitude: "How exciting that Southern Baptists would give the largest amount ever to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering on the 125th anniversary of both the first offering for international missions and WMU!" Lee said. "In 1888, when WMU was founded, it was for the purpose of 'stimulating the missionary spirit' and 'collecting funds' to support the work of missionaries around the globe. We are grateful for the response of our churches as they embrace both personal missions involvement and sacrificial giving so the story of Jesus may be shared with all who have yet to hear." While the total fell short of the $175 million goal, the new record is good news for more than 4,800 Southern Baptist missionaries worldwide who depend on the offering to fund their efforts to spread the Gospel. Named for Southern Baptists' most famous missionary, the Lottie Moon offering -- and Southern Baptists' regular giving through the Cooperative Program (CP) -- funds missionary salaries, housing, medical care, children's education, field transportation and other expenses. Supporting one missionary overseas costs an average of $140 per day. Every penny of the Lottie Moon offering goes to the IMB overseas budget, which directly supports missionaries and their work. The offering does far more than pay for basic needs, however. It provides the "resources that enable us to chase the darkness," Elliff said. That means helping missionaries and their national partners go into areas untouched by the Gospel, engage people groups with no believers or Scriptures, start churches and make disciples. Missionaries and their ministry partners communicated the Gospel to more than 1.6 million people, led more than 235,000 people to faith in Christ, baptized more than 114,000 new believers and started thousands of churches and believer groups that will become churches, according to IMB's 2013 annual statistical report (reflecting 2012 year-end statistics). Beyond that, trained disciples among 235 people groups engaged their own people inside their countries. Disciples among 56 people groups engaged different groups or cities within their countries -- and workers representing 20 peoples went out from their own countries to reach different groups. In other words, they became cross-cultural missionaries. Jon Gerwig,* an IMB worker in East Asia, serves among the Iron Pea* people, who number more than 3 million and long had no known churches. For years, progress was agonizingly slow without Gospel resources in their "heart language." But Lottie Moon support helped Gerwig and his co-workers develop "Scripture planting" to reach minority peoples like the Iron Pea people with the Good News of Jesus. Scripture planting integrates Bible translation with real-time church planting, evangelism and discipleship. It provides quicker access to Scripture so Christian workers can develop resources like worship songs, recorded testimonies and oral Bible stories. In 2006, Gerwig saw his first believer follow Christ. By 2007, there were nine more in the same village. A few months later, 80 from his village and 60 from another had put their faith in Jesus. Gerwig and his team trained these new believers in a basic discipleship plan, and in late 2007 the first church among the Iron Pea people was started. Since then, the Gospel has spread throughout Iron Pea communities. Today, there are 28 churches and approximately 3,000 believers (see the story at http://vimeo.com/95998183. "There's still hundreds of thousands of Iron Pea people who have never heard the Gospel," Gerwig said. "But I want to thank all of you back home. Everything that you contribute gives us traction, which gives us more time to meet with these local brothers and sisters as they're going out to share, that every Iron Pea person will have a chance to hear and respond to the Gospel." In postmodern, post-Christian Sweden, meanwhile, leading people to Christ can be harder than in places where the Gospel faces heavy restrictions or persecution. But Lottie Moon support enabled IMB worker Anissa Haney to be there when a young Swedish woman, Linda Hamfors, was ready to hear the truth. Hamfors, who was struggling with addiction and spiritual questions, approached Haney after a musical performance and asked if they could talk more. Today, she is a follower of Jesus.(see their story at http://vimeo.com/95759661) "It's a very dark place spiritually, very lost, very godless," Haney said of Sweden. "It's just so vital to have people here being light amid the darkness." The task ahead for Southern Baptists and other mission-hearted Christians is huge. Of the world's 11,000-plus distinct people groups, more than 6,500 are considered unreached (fewer than 2 percent of the population identifying as evangelical Christian). They include more than half the world's population. More than 3,000 of those unreached people groups are also unengaged, having no church-planting strategy among them at all. "Southern Baptists are a generous people and are concerned about the world," David Steverson, IMB vice president for finance, said. "The Lord is in control. He knows what we need and when we need it. We just need to be on mission with Him in all we do. "Southern Baptists determine how many missionaries they will send. Your IMB is fully committed to being a good steward of every penny that Southern Baptists entrust to us for the support of their missionaries." In addition to the sacrificial gifts given through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and Cooperative Program, Elliff emphasized that "we must continue to explore new avenues that God is placing before Southern Baptists to send more and more missionaries to the field." Read Elliff's full May 14 report to IMB trustees. And he remains convinced even greater Lottie Moon giving is on the horizon, too -- especially in light of this year's increase. "It is my feeling that as long as there are Southern Baptists, every person in this world should have a legitimate reason to believe that if they can just hang on a little longer, we will get there with the Gospel," Elliff said. "To that end, it is important for each Southern Baptist to know just how grateful we are for their giving." --30-- *Names changed. Erich Bridges is IMB global correspondent. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Boko Haram kills 100s; military implicated by Staff Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday NORTHEAST NIGERIA (BP) -- Boko Haram terrorists posing as soldiers and preachers have killed hundreds of civilians since kidnapping more than 200 Christian school girls in April, amid unsubstantiated reports that 15 Nigerian military officers have been court-martialed for aiding the terrorists. In the latest attack Wednesday (June 4), Boko Haram terrorists posing as preachers killed an estimated 45 people in Barderi village near Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, BBC News reported. Boko Haram members told civilians they had come to preach, then opened fire on a crowd that gathered to hear, according to BBC. Monday (June 2), Boko Haram militants dressed as soldiers and driving military-style vehicles attacked three villages in northeastern Nigeria, gunning down at least 200 civilians who gathered, the Associated Press reported. The militants claimed to be soldiers protecting civilians from impending attacks there, in Danjara, Agapalwa and Antagara villages. Boko Haram has raided additional villages in northeastern Nigeria, which has been under near constant attack since mid-May, Morning Star News reported. Assaults on Attagara, Gwoshe, Hawul and other Gwoza villages have destroyed 36 churches, sources told Morning Star News. "The Boko Haram Islamists have destroyed 36 churches in Gwoza area, including that of Attagara attacked on Sunday (June 1)," Morning Star News quoted Rebecca Dali, whose husband is president of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria. "We now have only two churches that have not been affected." Before the June attacks, Boko Haram had killed at least 470 civilians and Christians since kidnapping about 275 teenage students from a Chibok boarding school, Reuters News reported in late May. Even though northeastern Nigeria has been under a state of emergency declared by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan a year ago, Boko Haram has strengthened its assault, and many have accused the Jonathan administration of inefficiency in protecting civilians. The Nigerian newspaper Leadership reported Tuesday (June 3) that at least 15 senior Nigerian military officers have been court-martialed for providing information and ammunitions to Boko Haram militants. The AP, Christianity Today and other news outlets have carried the reports, but top Nigerian officials have called the reports inaccurate. Leadership quoted an unnamed "top security" official as its source. "The suspects include about 10 generals and other ranks, not to talk of soldiers who have been found culpable of sabotaging our operations," Leadership quoted the official. "They are facing trial before court-martials set up by their divisions; some have been found guilty, and some are still facing trial." News reports have circulated since 2012 that Nigerian military officials were aiding Boko Haram's efforts to enforce Sharia law in Nigeria, where an estimated 51.3 percent of the population is Christian. In May, 2013, Lt.-Gen. Azubuiki Ihejirika, Nigerian chief of army staff at the time, said at the opening of the Army Transportation and Innovation Centre in Abuja, that Nigerian Army soldiers had been arrested for conspiring with Boko Haram. "There are some soldiers that have been found to be posting negative comments on the Internet and some conversing with insurgents," Nigeria Today newspaper quoted Ihejirika. "I want to state that any officer or soldier caught linked one way or the other will be disciplined severely, there are no two ways about it." In January, Jonathan replaced his entire military leadership, reportedly in an effort to strengthen its struggle against Boko Haram. Meanwhile, the Nigerian military has said it has learned the location of some 223 schoolgirls kidnapped seven weeks ago, but has said rescuing the victims by force might endanger the girls. --30-- Compiled by Diana Chandler, general assignment writer/editor for Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist Convention's news service. BP reports on missions, ministry and witness advanced through the Cooperative Program and on news related to Southern Baptists' concerns nationally and globally. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Christian mother's death sentence condemned by Tom Strode Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday WASHINGTON (BP)-- The U.S. Senate has unanimously condemned the death sentence of a Sudanese Christian woman and called for the immediate release from prison of her children and her. Senators voted by unanimous consent June 3 for a resolution in support of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, who was convicted under Sharia law for "apostasy" (leaving Islam) by refusing to renounce her Christian faith. A Khartoum court sentenced her to death by hanging. She also received a sentence of 100 lashes for adultery on the basis of her marriage to a Christian, Daniel Wani, a South Sudanese-born citizen of the United States. The Senate resolution gained approval a week after Ibrahim gave birth to the couple's second child, a daughter, Maya, in the Omdurman Federal Prison for Women. Martin, their 20-month-old son, also is imprisoned with his mother. Rep. Trent Franks, R.-Ariz., has introduced a similar resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives, but a floor vote has yet to take place. Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, applauded the Senate action and called Ibrahim "a living picture of Jesus keeping his promise, made to us at Caesarea Philippi." "Jesus said that He would build His church, and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it," Moore said in a statement for Baptist Press. "As we thank God for the Gospel to which she clings, let's continue to pray that these actions by our officials will be the catalyst for [her] release." Moore also commended a June 2 letter from Sen. James Inhofe, R.-Okla., urgently requesting Secretary of State John Kerry to "use all official and personal channels" to seek Ibrahim's release. In his letter to Kerry, Inhofe asked the State Department to explore providing political asylum to Ibrahim and her family. "I ask you to use your powers of diplomacy to convince the Sudanese government to end this all too real and potentially deadly case of religious persecution," Inhofe wrote. Moore, as well, wrote Kerry seeking robust action. In his May 20 letter, Moore encouraged Kerry to denounce Ibrahim's sentencing and to demand her release. So far, the response from Kerry and the State Department to Ibrahim's plight has failed to match the requests from religious freedom advocates inside and outside Congress. The Senate's resolution, however, not only condemned the sentencing and called for Ibrahim's release but urged the U.S. government to refuse to normalize relations with or lift sanctions against Sudan until the Eastern African country abides by "international standards of freedom of religion or belief." The measure also called for Khartoum to work to ensure its new constitution incorporates religious liberty protections. Sen. Marco Rubio, R.-Fla., the resolution's chief sponsor, said after its passage, "While the Senate made strides in its commitment to religious freedom, Ms. Ibrahim is still in the fight of her life. The world is watching as we await the decision of the Sudanese court, and today's passage is a testament to our obligation to Ms. Ibrahim and her young family." Inhofe was a leading cosponsor of the bill, as were Democratic Sens. Christopher Coons of Delaware and Robert Menendez of New Jersey. If the Sudanese court refuses to relent, Ibrahim's death sentence reportedly would be carried out after she nurses her daughter to age 2. The court confirmed the sentence May 15 after Ibrahim was granted 15 days to recant her faith. Ibrahim told the court, "I am a Christian, and I have never been a Muslim." Ibrahim reportedly was born to a Sudanese Muslim father who disappeared from her life when she was 6 years old and an Ethiopian mother who was Ethiopian Orthodox. Though her mother reared her as a Christian, Islamic law asserts she is Muslim by birth because her father was Muslim. Ibrahim, 27, was under regular pressure to reject Christianity after her son and she were imprisoned in mid-February. Before her May 15 court appearance, a Muslim scholar spent nearly 40 minutes trying to coerce her into recanting her Christian confession. She received the sentence of 100 lashes for adultery because marriage to a Christian is considered illegal under Sharia law. Ibrahim's death sentence is the latest evidence of Sudan's standing as one of the world's worst violators of religious liberty. The State Department has listed the militant Islamic regime among its "countries of particular concern" (CPC) since 1999, the first year such designations were made by the U.S. government. Only eight countries are on the State Department's CPC list, which is reserved for governments with the most severely repressive policies toward religious freedom. --30-- Tom Strode is the Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press,the Southern Baptist Convention's news service. BP reports on missions, ministry and witness advanced through the Cooperative Program and on news related to Southern Baptists' concerns nationally and globally. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd VIEW: Luter reflects on presidency, remains hopeful for future by Staff/Baptist Message Date: June 05, 2014 - Thursday EDITOR'S NOTE: 2nd VIEW is a key Baptist Press story that has been posted within the past several days. For a listing of additional key stories in Baptist Press in recent days, always take a look at the daily RECENT NEWS listing. Originally posted June 4, 2014 NEW ORLEANS (BP) –- On the cusp of completing his two-year presidential tenure as the first African American president of the Southern Baptist Convention, pastor Fred Luter sat down for a question-and-answer session with the Baptist Message, the newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. "My prayer and hope is that this diversity will continue once my term ends at the Baltimore convention," Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. "I truly feel strongly that it will." President Luter's answers to Baptist Message questions MESSAGE: Would you reflect on being president of the Southern Baptist Convention for the past two years? LUTER: It has truly been overwhelming to serve in such a position. On one hand, you are doing your best to visit as many churches, associations, state conventions, seminaries, colleges and entities as your time and schedule permit. On the other hand, you are getting phone calls, emails, texts from people all across the country making all kinds of requests from book endorsements, writing letters for all types of events, to media requests for interviews on current events happening in our country as well as throughout the world. Then, to add to that I have to still maintain my most important roles as a husband, father and pastor. Whew! MESSAGE: What do you think you were able to accomplish during your time as president? LUTER: I have been truly proud to visit a lot of smaller churches, associations and conventions where it is the very first time an SBC president has been there. I also think I was able to accomplish more diversity in meetings across the country and our convention. There is more participation from ethnic groups getting involved in the SBC. Finally, I believe I was able to remind our churches and convention of how important revival and prayer are to us carrying out the Great Commission. MESSAGE: What were the greatest challenges you faced during your terms? LUTER: My greatest challenge was trying to accommodate all of the requests for speaking engagements. I could have used at least three more of me the past two years. MESSAGE: In your opinion, what is the state of the SBC at this time? LUTER: I believe the state of our convention is good; however there is a saying that goes, "We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go." We as a convention have to address our declining numbers in church attendance, baptism, reaching our young people and CP giving. Until we can do better in those areas there will always be room for improvement. That is why revival and prayer are so critical at this time. MESSAGE: Does the Cooperative Program remain strong and viable today? How do you see the CP's future shaping up? LUTER: The Cooperative Program is not only viable but also critical to this convention if we are going to impact our world with the Gospel. Because of our CP giving we are able to put missionaries all over the world to share the Gospel with unreached people groups. We are also able to start and strengthen churches, as well as assist students at our seminaries who are being trained as future leaders in our convention. As for the future of CP giving, our churches must make our CP giving a priority because it is the engine that runs the SBC. MESSAGE: Having been the SBC's first African American president, do you think the SBC is doing a better job of becoming more diverse? Do you see this diversity continuing after you leave office? LUTER: Because I was elected unopposed as the first African American president, I have certainly seen more conversation, both written and spoken, about the importance of involving all ethnic groups in SBC activities. And to that I say, "Praise the Lord." In all of my travels across the country I have truly been impressed by the diversity at each function, whether it was a worship service or a Q & A time with the president. My prayer and hope is that this diversity will continue once my term ends at the Baltimore convention. I truly feel strongly that it will. MESSAGE: You mentioned in your first SBC presidential press conference that the president of the convention is not a position of power but of influence. How much influence do you think have you had in that position? LUTER: I think I have been able to influence more African American pastors and churches to consider becoming a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. I also think I have had an influence in showing it is possible for all of us to work together regardless of race or the size of your church or convention. MESSAGE: As president of the SBC, you traveled quite frequently. What is your favorite new city that you visited and favorite new food you ate while on the road? LUTER: I have been to so many cities and eaten so much food; however I vividly remember the bacon-wrapped shrimp in a small town in North Carolina. Being from New Orleans, I was truly impressed. The cheese biscuits at Jim 'N Nicks in Alabama however came in a close second. MESSAGE: If you could give a word of advice to the next SBC president, what would that be? LUTER: Get out of the election! No seriously, make sure he has a good staff at his home church taking care of the pastoral responsibilities while he is traveling for convention business. Also if at all possible, make a commitment to preach in your pulpit on Sunday mornings. Your church members will understand your being gone during the week however they want to hear their pastor on Sunday mornings. MESSAGE: With the changing landscape of American culture, what do you see as the biggest threat to the family structure today and what will it take to turn that around? LUTER: The biggest threat to the family structure is husbands and dads not accepting their roles as priest, protector and provider for their family. I am convinced that "as the man goes, so goes the family." A close second is the absence of discipline. Again, I am convinced that love for God, respect for mankind, values and morals start in the home. To turn this around, our churches need to challenge the men in our congregation to accept their God-given role as leaders of their families. I am convinced that our kids can never be what they have never seen. --30-- The Baptist Message is the newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).