The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-06/05/2020 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Amy Grant undergoes surgery to fix heart condition by Kristin M. Hall Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday NASHVILLE (AP) -- Singer/songwriter Amy Grant is recovering from open-heart surgery Wednesday (June 3) to fix a heart condition she has had since birth. Doctors discovered Grant had a condition called partial anomalous pulmonary venous return (PAPVR) during a routine checkup. A recording artist since her teens, Grant became a Christian music superstar in her early 20s with the release of her album "Age to Age" in 1982. The recording was named Album of the Year at the 1983 Dove Awards, where Grant was also named Artist of the Year. She has since garnered 20 more Doves. Grant, who has been married to country singer Vince Gill for 20 years, is also a six-time Grammy winner with well-known crossover pop hits like "Baby, Baby," "Every Heartbeat" and "That's What Love is For." She's sold more than 30 million albums, including her five-times platinum 1991 record "Heart in Motion," which introduced her to a larger pop audience. A statement on Grant's Facebook page June 3 said, "Thank you for so many prayers today. Amy is out of surgery and the doctor said it could not have gone better. We would ask for continued prayers over the days, weeks and months to come as she makes a full recovery." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Workshops help Hispanic men learn what God says about fatherhood by Keila Diaz Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday DALLAS (BP) -- Helping and mentoring Hispanic fathers is Rafael Gutierrez' passion. "Due to [Hispanic] culture and religious influence, the role of the father is seen only as protector and provider," Gutierrez said. "There is a lack of verbal expressions of love from Hispanics fathers towards their children. Raising the children has been a duty left almost exclusively to mothers in Hispanic households." Gutierrez is director of Padre de Corazon, the Spanish-language arm of Abiding Fathers, a ministry to encourage and equip men for fatherhood. In his role, Gutierrez brings emotional and spiritual training to Hispanic fathers across the United States and in other countries like Cuba and Spain. A Puerto Rico native, Gutierrez is a member of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas. He became involved with Abiding Fathers Ministry after attending a conference in 2019. Abiding Fathers founder Bill Dotson believes "the absentee father is the number one problem with life in America. Not just physically absent, but emotionally and spiritually." Gutierrez agreed with that analysis, and he believed the Abiding Fathers ministry was one Hispanic fathers could also benefit from. Working alongside Dotson, he translated the ministry material into Spanish and began holding workshops for Hispanic men. Gutierrez said the workshops are relational and interactive. Afterward, fathers receive one-on-one discipleship from workshop leaders. "We teach them what God laid out about the role of fathers in the Bible," Gutierrez said, "because if they don't know what their role is, then how can they fulfill it? Our mission is to glorify God by impacting men to understand and fulfill their role as father and leader in the home." The fathers who attend learn about praying with and for their children, biblical discipline, emotional vulnerability and more. It is not uncommon for the men to cry during the workshop, as they realize the mistakes they are making as a father are the same ones their fathers made with them. "It's very moving to see huge, manly men cry and be vulnerable for probably the first time in their lives," Gutierrez said. "God started it with the first Adam; He assured it through the second Adam (Christ), and now He has called us as parents and grandparents to the front and center of His ranks to make our children and grandchildren disciples of Christ. "This has been the call of God for my life. My response has been a firm 'Here I am, send me.' Since then, I have been ... teaching men about their important and solemn calling to be a dad. Of being a father of heart." -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: I am too conservative to stay silent on racial injustices by David Prince Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday LEXINGTON, Ky. (BP) -- In more than 25 years of ministry, I have been called a lot of things, but liberal, socialist and Marxist have not been among them. Well, there has only been one exception to that assertion. When I have spoken out about racial injustice, I have been called all three and more. As an Alabama-raised biblical inerrantist and expository preacher who believes in the exclusivity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I make a strange liberal, socialist or Marxist. I have never been called any of those names when I have preached on the horror of abortion and advocated for abortion being outlawed by a constitutional amendment. Also, none of those names have come up when I have preached on the sin of homosexuality and opposed the tragedy of legalizing same-sex marriage. While working as a youth minister in the first church I ever served, we had to remove a man from the congregation for advocating racist views. He was promoting the heretical curse of Ham theology, which teaches that God ordained the descendants of Ham to be marked with dark skin and relegated them to a subordinated status based on race. In my first year serving as a pastor, I had a church member declare to his Sunday School class that he would no longer give to the International Mission Board's Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Why? The Alabama Baptist newspaper that week had a picture of an IMB commissioning service, and one of the couples being commissioned was an interracial couple. When I met with him, he said, "People need to stay with their own kind." Interestingly, he was married to a German lady. I responded to him with the Bible, and after calls to repentance, we took the final step of church discipline and removed him for his refusal to repent. In my second pastorate, during a Wednesday night service, I was teaching from James 2:1-7 on the sin of partiality. During these teaching sessions, I encouraged those who attended to interact with thoughts and questions. One older man spoke up and said, "It sounds like you are saying it's OK for blacks and whites to marry." I said, "Excellent observation! I am saying that." His response was, "Even redbirds and bluebirds know enough to stay with their own kind." I responded, "I was not teaching bluebirds or redbirds but rather the fallen seed of Adam." I then directed him to Acts 17:26 which says, "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth." Then I announced that we'd step away from our study through James for a few weeks and walk through what the Bible teaches on partiality. Over time, by God's grace, that man came around. The church I serve now is my third pastorate. We have been very intentional in attempting to reach everyone in our community, and I have been vocal in speaking to cultural issues of racial injustice in the same way that I speak about the cultural injustice of legalized abortion. My willingness to speak on racial issues has led to some interesting mail. The worst was a picture of my children's faces pasted on monkeys' bodies and a noose in the picture. I reported that one to the police. Our church also emphasizes reflecting the Gospel through adoption, fostering and orphan care. Because of that, many of our families display a variety of skin colors. Not one of the families with both black and white children have said that their black children are treated the same as their white children. Not one. Jim Crow may be dead, but his ghost still haunts our culture and sadly, our churches. There is a Christian publication I have written for over the years, and they published every single article I ever sent them and would often appeal for content. I wrote a short piece arguing that churches should not be colorblind and that racial and ethnic toleration was an inadequate position as well. I contended that we should reflect the view of heaven that celebrates, not tolerates, people from every tongue, tribe and nation gathering to worship Jesus Christ. I also argued that churches should pray, labor and be intentional in attempting to be as least as diverse as their community. There was a request that I tone the article down, and when I refused, it was rejected. I speak out about issues of racial injustice for the same reason I speak out on abortion and same-sex marriage. Namely, because I am a theological conservative committed to the authority and sufficiency of God's inerrant Word. Article 15 of The Baptist Faith and Message, "The Christian and Social Order," helpfully explains: All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth. Exodus 20:3-17; Leviticus 6:2-5; Deuteronomy 10:12; 27:17; Psalm 101:5; Micah 6:8; Zechariah 8:16; Matthew 5:13-16,43-48; 22:36-40; 25:35; Mark 1:29-34; 2:3ff.; 10:21; Luke 4:18-21; 10:27-37; 20:25; John 15:12; 17:15; Romans 12ñ14; 1Corinthians 5:9-10; 6:1-7; 7:20-24; 10:23-11:1; Galatians 3:26-28; Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:12-17; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; Philemon; James 1:27; 2:8. When I began my ministry, I committed to a simple principle I believe reflects the biblical witness. The principle is that I will speak loudest on behalf of those who are vulnerable, marginalized and least like me. Likewise, I will speak the loudest in challenge and critique to my congregation and to those evangelicals who are most like me. I think this principle has served me well. Those who give me labels like liberal, socialist and Marxist are saying more about themselves than about me. I have always critiqued theological liberals for being captured by the spirit of the age rather than by the Word of God. They start with what is culturally permissible to say in their ecclesiastical circles, and then find things in the Bible that they can use to prop up the cultural narrative. I fear some theological conservatives today have become liberals on the issue of racial injustice. They speak vociferously and without hesitation on all kinds of moral issues, except one. On that one issue, the mantra is, "Do not talk about it; just preach the Gospel." I am too conservative for that approach. No matter what labels I am given, I will name the sin and preach the Gospel. After all, the Bible tells me so. -------------------------------------------------------------------- NOBTS president reflects on first year, looks ahead by Joshua Owens/The TEXAN Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- When Jamie Dew and his family arrived last summer in New Orleans to lead the Southern Baptist seminary there, people told them, "If you love the city it will love you back." Following a busy first year full of both successes and challenges, Dew said that's true not only of his adopted city but the seminary as well. Dew, 43, who today (June 5) marks the 1-year anniversary of his election as the ninth president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, recently spoke with the TEXAN about the past year and what lies ahead. 'If you can do ministry here, you can do it anywhere' Situated amid the density and diversity of New Orleans, NOBTS and Leavell College offer students immediate practical application for their theological education, Dew said. "This city has brokenness," he said. "It has opportunity. It has poverty. It has wealth. It has Southern Baptists. It has a lot of Catholics. It has a lot of Hindus. You fill in the blank. It's got culture; it's got music; it's got food." Dew points to unity among local churches and the city's designation by the North American Mission Board as a Send City as two factors contributing to NOBTS' ability to prepare students for urban ministry. "There's so much of it that happens down here," he said. "There's just a lot of natural synergy there for the denomination between our entities." Building on the seminary's historic missions focus and the city's cultural diversity, Dew plans to make international missions a priority. Dew came to NOBTS after serving as a professor and administrator at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. While there, he watched "hundreds and hundreds of students come, prepare and go -- and that's kind of in my DNA now," he said. A philosopher by training, Dew credits a movement in his own life from intellectual pursuits to missions "because of my time at Southeastern." Dew hopes to reemphasize missions at the institutional level by creatively thinking through ways to "incorporate it more strongly into the curriculum and life experiences of students," potentially through faculty hires and mission trips. 'If you love the city, it will love you back' For all its rough edges, New Orleans is generous. Dew called it a "deep grace" for him and his family "to be here in this city with these people on this campus." He and his wife Tara with their two sets of twins -- Natalie and Nathan, 13, and Samantha and Samuel, 10 -- have experienced what Dew called "a very natural, somewhat instinctual affection" for the city's people. "We threw ourselves into it," Dew said, recalling the many churches they visited Sunday by Sunday in their early days in the city as well as their involvement in community and campus life. "We did everything, basketball games and festivals, and we did 11 or 12 Mardi Gras parades. We just jumped in, and those folks were right -- you love the city, it loves you back. The same has been true of this campus and these students and this faculty." Amid the fast pace that comes with the job, Dew guards family time in daily rhythms. "Unless there is a crisis of some kind, when I go home I'm home," he said. "I'm not on my computer. I'm having dinner with my kids, I'm finding out about their day and I let them pepper me with questions about my day. We will go for a family walk, watch a movie or watch a little 'Dude Perfect' on YouTube. ... I've only got five more years with my oldest kids, and so when I go home I protect that time like sacred terrain." But while their life is busy and challenging, Dew added, "We all just look back, even our 10-year-olds, and just think, 'Wow, we're so glad we're here.'" 'If Christianity is true, then it's good' When Dew was elected to NOBTS last June, he had one Ph.D., but by his first day on the job at NOBTS, he'd picked up a second, from the University of Birmingham in England. Both doctorates specialize in philosophy of religion, and his written works range from postmodernism to Thomistic hylomorphism. Dew became a Christian at the age of 18 and will soon mark 25 years following Christ. He's been involved in apologetics almost that long, a discipline he said has come a long way. In the past, atheists asked evidence-focused questions requiring evidence-focused answers -- such as the existence of God or the reality of miracles. Now, Dew said, "they still say we're irrational," but have added a second accusation: "You're not just irrational for believing this -- you are bad for believing this." The answer, Dew believes, goes back to approaches taken by C.S. Lewis and Blaise Pascal. "Part of what Christians need to be laboring to do in this cultural moment is to show the goodness in the beauty of Christianity," Dew said. "Look, if Christianity is true, then it's good, right? "Before you show lost people it's true, you should first get them to the place where they would want it to be true. And I think we're in a moment where the culture just doesn't want it to be true because they think it's bad." Looking back on his life before he was a Christian, Dew said, "I can see 18 years of brokenness when I did it my way, doing everything I wanted. And then I threw myself on Jesus Christ ... and in that life, well, my goodness. I mean all I can see is life and flourishing." But Dew laments that often the beauty of Christianity is obscured because Christians "fight like cats and dogs amongst ourselves. That shows no beauty." New Orleans churches are doing a good job of demonstrating Christianity in a way that would cause lost people to wish it were true, Dew said. The city's brokenness means if Christians aren't careful "the darkness here will absolutely overcome everything," he said. Local churches across the New Orleans Baptist Association "line up shoulder to shoulder and get after it for the Kingdom." Without dismissing meaningful theological differences, Dew said New Orleans churches "don't have the luxury of dividing over Calvinism" or other secondary matters. "The Gospel is already offensive enough to unbelievers," Dew said. "Don't add your own offensiveness to it." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Churches with PPP loans should benefit from law fix by Mark Maynard/Kentucky Today Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday WASHINGTON (BP) -- President Donald Trump signed legislation today (June 5) to make it easier for businesses or churches struggling during the coronavirus pandemic to take advantage of a payroll subsidy program that's been a critical part of Washington's response to the economic crisis. The legislation gives employers more flexibility to use taxpayer subsidies for other costs and extends the lifespan of the Payroll Protection Program as the economy slowly begins to recover. It passed the House last week on a 417-1 vote and was approved by the Senate on Wednesday (June 3). It increases the loan forgiveness period from eight to 24 weeks, reduces the payroll requirement from 75 percent to 60 percent, raises the loan repayment period from two to five years and extends the June 30th rehiring deadline. The remaining 40 percent can be used for mortgage payments, rents and utilities. It also adds some limited flexibility on the number of employees that must be maintained. And, after the forgiveness is applied, if there is still a loan to be repaid, the minimum maturity for the loan is now five years. It's good news for the many churches that applied for the loan, said Kentucky Baptist Convention Church Financial Benefits Consultant Don Spencer. "I've talked to a number of church leaders with questions that focus on whether they will be able to meet the requirements to have the loan forgiven," Spencer said. "This amendment will dramatically increase their ability to meet those requirements and therefore, what began as a loan, will become a grant." With the extension from eight weeks to 24 weeks for the qualified use of the funds, it will likely enable most of the churches using the loan to qualify the full amount of the loan for forgiveness, Spencer said. Congress has approved $660 billion for the program in two installments. "I applaud the Senate for passing this legislation that will provide additional flexibility to the historic Paycheck Protection Program, allowing it to continue to protect Kentucky workers and small businesses through the coronavirus pandemic," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "I continue to hear from Kentucky workers and small businesses who are benefitting from the program." "We very much appreciate Senator McConnell for providing us the opportunity for more time to use the PPP loan," said Theresa White, financial coordinator for Cumberland Valley Domestic Violence Services in London, Ky. "Domestic violence does not stop because of the pandemic. We've been open 24/7, with necessary rearrangements and precautions. The PPP loan will ensure that we have adequate funds to pay staff and keep our doors open for all victims of domestic violence." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Confederate monuments' removal praised by Southern Baptists by Diana Chandler Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- As a child growing up in Virginia, Marshal Ausberry never understood it. Why were monuments to Confederate soldiers prominently displayed in public spaces across his state? "To see the Confederate flag and these larger than life statues to over-romanticized Confederate heroes of the Confederate South strewn throughout Virginia constantly reminded me that there were people who were willing to fight, bleed, sacrifice and die to keep black people chained into a system of brutality and bondage," said Ausberry, who pastors Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax Station, Va., and is first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Nearly two weeks after a black man, George Floyd, died in police custody -- after a white police officer used a knee to pin his neck to the ground for several minutes -- many of those monuments are coming down. On Thursday (June 4), Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee astride a horse would be removed from a 40-foot-tall granite pedestal near downtown Richmond. It's only one of several in a string of Confederate icons being removed from public view nationwide. Some were illegally defaced or toppled by rioters protesting Floyd's death. Ausberry, who is president of the National African American Fellowship of the SBC, said removal of the Lee statue was "130 years overdue." Several other prominent Southern Baptist leaders expressed similar sentiment. Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., and a former SBC president, was among a dozen Memphis-area Southern Baptist pastors who joined others in 2017 to advocate for the removal of a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Gaines, who was serving as SBC president at the time, said Friday such monuments are a hindrance to Christian love and unity. "I just don't see any need for us to have a stumbling block over a war that in my opinion, the South was not on the right side of that war," Gaines told Baptist Press. "It was holding and oppressing millions of African Americans that should have never been forced to be slaves, and obviously today their descendants are offended by it. "Why in the world as a Christian would I want to set any kind of stumbling block before my brother?" In 2016 under the presidency of Ronnie Floyd, messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting passed a resolution encouraging Christians to "exercise sensitivity" and "to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African American brothers and sisters." A key amendment was offered by former SBC president James Merritt, and the resolution noted Floyd's call for Southern Baptists to "rise up and cry out against racism that still exists in our nations and our churches" and to "replace these evils with the beauty of grace and love." Floyd, who is now president and CEO of SBC Executive Committee, said Friday "every town, city and state in the nation will wrestle with" how to handle Confederate monuments. "Whatever is decided in Virginia or elsewhere, the most important decisions each day will be the decisions that will be made about the kind of future we desire to experience together," Floyd said. "This will ultimately be determined by one thing: the way we honor one another, treat one another, and respond to another regardless of the color of our skin. "This will show the kind of America we will become in the future. This generation of Americans need to ensure that future generations of Americans live in a nation where 'We the people' means all the people -- regardless of the color of their skin." Former SBC President Fred Luter, who from 2012-14 served as the first African American president of the SBC, was among an ecumenical group of pastors who successfully supported the removal of four Confederate monuments in New Orleans between 2015 and 2017. There, the climate was so controversial, three of the monuments had to be removed at night. "I supported the removal of the monuments because the monuments were causing racial tension in the city," said Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. "The monuments were a constant reminder of a very segregated time in the life of our country. Taking the monuments down benefited race relations in New Orleans. "The monuments promoted racism and division against those in the African American community. There was never anything positive that these monuments represented. They separated us rather than bringing us together." In Virginia, Northam's decision to remove the statue of Lee from its prominent place on Richmond's Monument Avenue followed Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney's plan to remove four other Confederate statues from the avenue, the Associated Press reported. Beginning July 1, changes to Virginia law will allow cities to decide for themselves whether Confederate monuments in their jurisdictions will be removed. In recent days, monuments have been removed, or plans have been made to remove them, in several other cities nationwide. The actions are reminiscent of a wave of removals of Confederate statues and monuments that occurred after the 2015 murders by a white man of nine blacks at a Bible study and prayer meeting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The current wave has been spurred by protests that have sprouted across the nation since George's death on Memorial Day. "In one sense," Ausberry said, "it's almost as if we are only beginning to close out the Civil War, which ended with General Lee's surrender to General Grant in Appomattox in 1865, some 155 years ago. I know it will be hard for some to see these statues removed from full public display. "Regrettably, they represent a part of American history not to be hidden, but to be displayed in a more appropriate and respectful manner for all parties involved." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ministerio Padre De Corazon ministra a hombres, evangeliza by Por Keila Díaz Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday DALLAS (BP) -- Para Rafael Gutiérrez, un graduado de doctorado del Seminario Teológico Bautista del Medio Oeste (MBTS) en Kansas City, Mo; brindar cuidado pastoral enfocado en los padres Hispanos es sus pasiones. Entre los hispanos, dice Gutiérrez "debido a la cultura y la influencia religiosa, el papel del padre se ve solo como protector y proveedor y hay una falta de expresiones verbales de amor de los padres hispanos hacia sus hijos. "Criar a los niños ha sido un deber que se deja casi exclusivamente a las madres en los hogares hispanos". Como director del Padre de Corazón, el ministerio español de Abiding Fathers, Gutiérrez está brindando capacitación emocional y espiritual a los padres hispanos, tanto en los Estados Unidos como en países latinoamericanos como Cuba, Puerto Rico y España. Nativo de Puerto Rico que reside en Frisco y miembro de la Iglesia Bautista The Heights -- The Heights en Español en Richardson, Gutiérrez se involucró con el Ministerio del Abiding Fathers -- fundado por Bill Dotson -- durante una conferencia hace poco más de un año. Abiding Fathers fue fundada por Dotson en su creencia personal de que "el padre ausente es el problema número uno con la vida en Estados Unidos". No solo físicamente ausente, sino emocional y espiritualmente". Gutiérrez sintió que este era un ministerio del que los padres hispanos también podrían beneficiarse, por lo que, trabajando junto a Dotson, tradujo el material del ministerio al español y organizó talleres y conferencias para hombres a nivel nacional e internacional. Los talleres son relacionales e interactivos, dice Gutiérrez, y después del taller los padres también reciben el discipulado individual de los líderes del taller. "Les enseñamos lo que Dios estableció en el papel de los padres en la Biblia porque si no saben cuál es su papel, ¿cómo pueden cumplirlo? Nuestra misión es glorificar a Dios al impactar a los hombres para que comprendan y cumplan su papel de padre y líder en el hogar". "Dios ha estado trabajando en y a través de Rafy para dirigir este ministerio que se ha extendido por las comunidades hispanas en diferentes partes del mundo", dijo Bob Sena, profesor asistente de ministerio y director de estudios de español en MBTS. Los padres que asisten aprenden a orar con y por sus hijos, la disciplina bíblica, la vulnerabilidad emocional, los protegen no solo del daño físico sino también del daño espiritual y emocional. Durante su tiempo en el taller, muchos de los hombres lloran al darse cuenta de que los errores que están cometiendo en su papel de padre son los mismos que cometieron sus padres con ellos. "Es muy conmovedor ver a grandes hombres varoniles llorar y ser vulnerables probablemente por primera vez en sus vidas", dijo Gutiérrez. "Dios comenzó con el primer Adán, lo aseguró a través del segundo Adán (Cristo) y ahora nos ha llamado como padres y abuelos al frente y al centro de sus filas para que nuestros hijos y nietos sean discípulos de Cristo. Este ha sido el llamado de Dios para mi vida. Mi respuesta ha sido un firme "aquí estoy, envíame". Desde entonces, he liderado el Ministerio del Padre de Corazón, el ministerio hispano de los Padres Permanentes, enseñando a los hombres sobre su importante y solemne llamado a ser padre. De ser un padre de corazón. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Convención Bautista del Sur continúa disminución estadística, Floyd requiere replanteamiento de proceso del ACP by Reportes del personal Date: June 05, 2020 - Friday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Por 13o año consecutivo, la Convención Bautista del Sur (SBC por sus siglas en inglés) reportó una caída en su membresía. El total de miembros en la Convención Bautista del Sur cayó casi 2 por ciento a 14,525.579 de 2018 a 2019. La disminución de 287.655 miembros es la mayor caída en un año en más de 100 años. Aunque la disminución estadística es preocupante para la mayor denominación protestante en Estados Unidos, Ronnie Floyd, el presidente y director ejecutivo del Comité Ejecutivo de la SBC, también expresó preocupación por la duración y esfuerzos necesarios para recoger la información de las iglesias cooperadoras, además de la falta de uniformidad, lo que se combina para prevenir una completa representación estadística de la denominación. Las convenciones estatales establecen sus propios procedimientos y plazos, los que pueden ir desde varios meses hasta un año. "En nuestro mundo de alta tecnología, nuestros procesos no tienen este largo tiempo de demora," dijo Floyd. "Simplemente no pueden ser tan largos y tan complicados. Ya es más que tiempo para que nosotros repensemos y reinnovemos el proceso del Perfil Anual de la Iglesia (ACP por sus siglas en inglés) de la SBC." De acuerdo con Investigación LifeWay, solamente 75 por ciento de las congregaciones bautistas del sur participaron reportando por lo menos un ítem en el perfil. La tasa en el reporte es similar a los años anteriores, pero ha continuamente disminuido durante las pasadas dos décadas inclusive cuando la tecnología del reporte ha incrementado. "No podemos saber posiblemente cómo llenar mejor las necesidades de nuestras 47.500 iglesias cuando solamente recibimos datos de solo el 75 por ciento de ellas," dijo Floyd. "Uniformidad en el tiempo de recabar los datos, uniformidad en las preguntas hechas de nuestras iglesias, aceleración del tiempo de respuesta e incremento de la tasa de respuesta son vitalmente importantes para nosotros de manera que tengamos datos correctos y actuales en relación con las iglesias que cooperan con la SBC." Scott McConnell, director ejecutivo de Investigación LifeWay – que está a cargo de recopilar el reporte en cooperación con las convenciones estatales – también indicó que, por primera vez en 100 años, una convención estatal no recabó el total del número de los miembros. Un estimado para las congregaciones de Oklahoma está incluido en los datos con base en reportes previos de las actuales congregaciones. Nathan Lorick, director ejecutivo de la Convención General Bautista de Colorado, recalcó la importancia de que las iglesias reporten los datos necesarios por las organizaciones estatales y nacionales de manera de poder servir mejor a las iglesias. "Las iglesias que reportan sus números al ACP no solamente se unen a otras en el estado para celebrar lo que Dios está haciendo, también están ayudando a su convención a ser más estratégica al equipar las iglesias para involucrar sus comunidades," dijo Lorick. "Los reportes del ACP les dan a las iglesias bautistas del sur la oportunidad de saber en cuáles áreas necesitamos estar más enfocados de manera que veamos el Evangelio avanzar como nunca antes." McConnell también enfatizó la importancia de estas conexiones cooperativas con la SBC – especialmente durante una pandemia global. "El Perfil Anual de la Iglesia es un importante control anual para estar seguros de que otras congregaciones, asociaciones, convenciones estatales, y entidades nacionales tienen la información de contacto, los nombres del liderazgo, y unas pocas estadísticas para estar conectados con una congregación," dijo McConnell. "Muchos contactos han sido hechos durante un tiempo difícil que solo fueron posible debido a que la información estaba actualizada y guardada en una base nacional de datos." Una estadística positiva, sin embargo, fue el número de iglesias que cooperan con la SBC. El total de iglesias creció ligeramente a 47.530, un incremento de 74 desde 2018. Sin embargo, el número de misiones tipo iglesia (iglesias que todavía no son autosuficientes o autónomas) cayó a 477 lo que bajó el número total de congregaciones de la SBC a 51.138 en 2019. Congregaciones con varias sedes reportaron un adicional de 505 instalaciones donde ministerios locales de iglesia tienen lugar. Aspectos destacados a nivel estatal Aunque los números nacionales disminuyeron, varias convenciones estatales vieron crecimiento, particularmente algunas afuera del tradicional cinturón bíblico. Convenciones bautistas de Colorado, Hawái-Pacífico, Iowa, Minnesota-Wisconsin, el Noroeste, Puerto Rico, y Utah-Idaho reportaron más de 30 por ciento de aumento en bautismos para el 2019. "Nos sentimos honrados y emocionados de ver crecer el número de bautismos en Colorado por tercer año consecutivo," dijo Lorick. "Nuestras iglesias están completamente comprometidas en ver el Evangelio llevado adelante en todo nuestro estado. Mediante el buen liderazgo de los pastores, la gente involucrando a los perdidos, las iglesias fielmente reportando, y la estrategia de los bautistas de Colorado 'Siguiente Paso', Dios ha dado un gran incremento. ¡Estamos muy agradecidos por todo lo que Dios está haciendo y esperamos ansiosos todo lo que va a hacer!" Florida reportó la mayor cantidad de bautismos de una convención con 25.338, mientras que la vecina Georgia tuvo el incremento más grande con 1.901 bautismos más en 2019 que en 2018 (19.641 a 17.740). "Este [incremento] es un reflejo del compromiso de nuestros pastores para alcanzar Georgia con el Evangelio," dijo Thomas Hammond, director ejecutivo de los bautistas de Georgia. "Esto muestra que ellos están enfocados y apasionados en guiar a sus iglesias a alcanzar su comunidad y el campo de misión." Las congregaciones en las convenciones del Hawái-Pacífico, Iowa y Michigan aumentaron la membresía en más de un 20 por ciento en 2019. Kentucky tuvo el salto más grande en número en membresía añadiendo 42.315 personas a sus congregaciones el año pasado. La asistencia baja Además de la disminución en la membresía, la asistencia promedio semanal a los cultos y a la Escuela Dominical o grupos pequeños cada uno bajó a menos de 1 por ciento. La asistencia promedio a los cultos disminuyó a 5,250.230, mientras la asistencia a los grupos pequeños descendió a 3,236.196. El total de bautismos cayó por más de 4 por ciento, mermando de 246.442 en 2018 a 235.748 en 2019. En 2019, hubo un bautismo por cada 62 bautistas del sur. "Estos números no pueden decir la historia de todos los esfuerzos evangélicos que muchos individuos e iglesias han hecho este año pasado," dijo McConnell. "Ellos sí indican, sin embargo, que los esfuerzos del mismo número de personas en una congregación en término medio están viendo menos gente llegar a Cristo y ser bautizada. "La Convención Bautista del Sur no es inmune a la creciente secularización entre los estadounidenses que es vista más en nuestros hijos y vecinos que no tienen interés de llegar a Jesús." Un equipo de trabajo de evangelismo fue formado en 2017 y dio un reporte con recomendaciones en la reunión anual de la SBC 2018 en Dallas. Las recomendaciones del equipo de trabajo incluyeron que las iglesias condujeran eventos anuales de entrenamiento de evangelismo y adoptaran metas de bautismos además de que los pastores modelaran el evangelismo personal y la presentación pública de invitaciones al Evangelio. Matt Queen, profesor de evangelismo en el Seminario Teológico Bautista Southwestern, sirvió en el equipo de trabajo. "Esas recomendaciones todavía no han reversado la disminución en nuestros bautismos," dijo Queen. "Continúo creyendo sinceramente que esas recomendaciones, si son practicadas por los bautistas del sur, pueden volverse un catalizador que Dios puede usar para ver un incremento en discípulos hechos tanto aquí como alrededor del mundo." Descensos en el dar El total de los ingresos a las iglesias y los ingresos no designados bajaron ambos en 2019 después de dos años de crecimiento. El total de ingresos a las iglesias reportados mediante el ACP cayó 1.44 por ciento a $11.6 billones. Los ingresos no designados de las iglesias disminuyeron 0.01 por ciento a $9.6 billones. Las congregaciones reportaron un total de gastos en misiones de $1.1 billones y la Ofrenda a la Gran Comisión de $541 millones. Las ofrendas al Programa Cooperativo de la SBC no están incluidas en el resumen estadístico del ACP. Los totales actuales en el dar están disponibles mediante las convenciones estatales bautistas y el Comité Ejecutivo de la SBC, el cual procesa las ofrendas a las misiones. Las congregaciones individuales voluntariamente reportan sus datos del ACP a las asociaciones bautistas locales y/o a sus convenciones estatales, y los datos son divulgados cuando todas las convenciones estatales cooperadoras han reportado.