The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-07/08/2020 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC DIGEST: MBTS provides free theological training; LifeWay to host virtual Black Church conference; IMB to host virtual MedAdvance conference by Staff Date: July 08, 2020 - Wednesday MBTS introduces free local church theological training through FTC Institute By T. Patrick Hudson KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) -- Midwestern Seminary announced Tuesday (July 7) the launching of the For the Church Institute -- a free online training platform designed to provide accessible theological training to equip, encourage and edify the local church and beyond. Jordan Wilbanks, director of church partnerships at Midwestern Seminary, acknowledged that there is a growing movement in local churches, called "church-based theological education," where regular church members are seeking out educational opportunities -- such as classes typically taken in seminaries -- from within their own churches. In response to this need, Wilbanks said Midwestern Seminary has spent considerable time over the past 18 months developing For the Church Institute, which provides solid theological training to local congregations through 10-week classes on foundational subjects like theology, church history, being a Christian, Old Testament, New Testament and more. "What we've aimed for in developing FTC Institute is to provide a curriculum consisting of shell versions of our core classes that are accessible for anyone from pre-teens to great-grandmothers," Wilbanks said. "We want to remove the ivory tower image of a seminary in our dealings with churches. The fact is, we exist for local churches. Read complete story here. Get more information here. ********** LifeWay to host free, online Black Church Leadership and Family Conference By Aaron Wilson NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- LifeWay's 27th annual Black Church Leadership and Family Conference (BCLFC) is being held online this year July 20-24 and will be available to watch for free through LifeWay Digital Pass. The BCLFC serves as a leadership development conference and spiritual retreat. While attendees are typically predominantly African American, conference leaders say everyone is invited to attend. Teaching content is also designed for parents of Black children, church leaders who want to reach Black communities and leaders desiring to become more multicultural. Mark Croston, national director of LifeWay Black Church Ministries, believes the conference will be extremely timely given that many leaders are currently asking questions and seeking information about racial reconciliation. The theme for this year's conference is "Challenged to Love" from Mark 12:30-32, which implores Christians to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love their neighbors as themselves. "Only God could have orchestrated our theme to match today's crises so perfectly," Croston said. "Whether it's the problems of the pandemic or the rigors of our racial tensions, BCLFC is an opportunity not just for Black people, but also for people who want to learn more about ministry in multi-ethnic dimensions." Read complete story here. Get more information and register here/ ********** IMB to host virtual MedAdvance conference Aug. 7-8 By Caroline Anderson RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- For the past 13 years, IMB has hosted the MedAdvance conference as a forum for healthcare professionals, students, church leaders and state and associational leaders to learn how they can partner with IMB healthcare workers. This year's MedAdvance conference will be held virtually Aug. 7-8. Dr. Rebekah Naylor, IMB's global healthcare strategist consultant, said healthcare is on everyone's mind because of COVID-19. MedAdvance will provide a forum for participants to hear about current and ongoing IMB projects that meet medical and spiritual needs. Naylor said healthcare advances the Gospel and provides inroads into communities where it would be difficult or impossible to enter through other means. Volunteers from the U.S. are a key component in the ministry strategies of IMB missionaries and expand their reach, she added. Read complete story here. Get more information and register here. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Churchgoers express hope, sadness over leaders who leave the faith by Aaron Earls Date: July 08, 2020 - Wednesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- In recent months and years, several high-profile Christian pastors and musicians have announced they no longer identify as Christian or believe in core doctrines of the faith. These public pronouncements are met with a mix of emotions from churchgoers, according to a new survey. Nashville-based LifeWay Research asked more than 1,000 Protestant churchgoers how they feel when a person well-known for their work in Christian ministry announces they no longer accept their previous faith. "Rather than speculating on the impact of those leaders who turn away from the faith, we wanted to know from churchgoers what they think," said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. More than 3 in 5 churchgoers say they hope the former ministry leaders come back to the Christian faith someday (69 percent) or are sad they've abandoned their faith (63 percent). Fewer than half say they feel concern for the ex-leaders' eternal destiny (44 percent) or concern they may lead others astray (40 percent). Some question the validity of the leaders' now-rejected faith. More than 1 in 6 churchgoers (17 percent) believe leaders who leave Christianity must never have really had Christian faith. Fewer than 1 in 10 churchgoers say they are happy for leaders finding a belief system that works better for them (9 percent), are angry at whoever or whatever pushed them away (9 percent), or identify with the leader's doubts (8 percent). Few say none of these (2 percent) or that they're not sure (3 percent). "The predominant reaction among churchgoers when they see a leader walk away from their faith is to maintain hope for them while grieving the decision they are making," McConnell said. "The big question is: Will this leader cause others to also walk away? The data doesn't answer that directly, but we see 8 percent of churchgoers currently have similar doubts and could be considered vulnerable. Also, the 2 in 5 who fear others could follow the leader away from Christianity may simply be speculating or they may know some of those who have these doubts." Older churchgoers, those with evangelical beliefs, and those who attend services more frequently are likely to respond differently to a ministry leader leaving their faith than those who are younger, who aren't an evangelical by belief or who attend less often. Churchgoers 65 and older are most likely to say they hope the former ministry leader will come back to Christianity someday (77 percent). They also express higher concern for the leaders' eternal destiny (54 percent) and are more concerned they may lead others astray (50 percent). Those in the upper age range are also the least likely to say they identify with the doubts of the ministry leaders leaving the faith (2 percent). Churchgoing adults under 34 are the most likely to say they are happy former ministry leaders found a belief system that works better for them (19 percent). They are also the least likely to say they are sad the former identifying Christians abandoned their faith (50 percent). Those who attend a worship service at least four times a month are more likely than those who attend less frequently to say they are sad the ministry leaders abandoned their faith (67 percent to 56 percent), have concern for their eternal destiny (49 percent to 37 percent), and are concerned they may lead others astray (46 percent to 29 percent). More frequent church attenders are less likely to say they are happy those who left the ministry found a belief system that works better for them (7 percent to 12 percent). Churchgoing evangelicals by belief are more likely than other churchgoers to say an announcement about leaving the faith makes them feel: hope the former leader will someday come back to Christianity (75 percent to 62 percent); sad they abandoned their faith (72 percent to 53 percent); concern for their eternal destiny (59 percent to 27 percent); concern they may lead others astray (51 percent to 27 percent); and have the belief that the ministry leader must never have really had Christian faith (20 percent to 13 percent). Those with evangelical beliefs are also less likely to identify with the doubts of those leaving the ministry (6 percent to 11 percent) and say they are happy the former leaders found a belief system that works better for them (4 percent to 15 percent). "Churches want to reach and minister to those who are not yet followers of Christ and those who have honest struggles with the truths Jesus taught," said McConnell. "A leader abandoning the faith may be a distressing situation, but it should also serve as a reminder for Christians to only put their trust in Jesus." Methodology The online survey of 1,002 American Protestant churchgoers was conducted September 20-27, 2019 using a national pre-recruited panel. Respondents were screened to include those who identified as Protestant/non-denominational and attend religious services at least once a month. Quotas and slight weights were used to balance gender, age, region, ethnicity and education to more accurately reflect the population. The completed sample is 1,002 surveys. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error from the panel does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups. For more information, visit LifeWayResearch.com or download the full report. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: A climate of change by Kie Bowman Date: July 08, 2020 - Wednesday EDITOR'S NOTE: Kie Bowman is senior pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church and The Quarries Church in Austin, Texas, and president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. AUSTIN, Texas (BP) -- To suggest America is experiencing rapid change may strike you as an elaborate understatement. Ironically, for most of our lives cultural change has been a constant. America is no stranger to change and even frequent disruptive adjustments to the status quo. In the midst of rapid change, regardless of how frequently it challenges us, we always have choices to make. We can recoil and hope for the best, or we can get involved and attempt to influence the moment. Southern Baptists have a history of choosing action. For instance, in 1919 our Southern Baptist predecessors, including Baptist leaders in Texas like George W. Truett, L. R. Scarborough and J. B. Gambrell, led the convention to embrace a vision that would capitalize on global change and get serious about reaching the nations for Christ. They and others championed the idea of a new way of cooperating to fund missions, evangelism and theological education. The $75 Million Campaign of 1919 was an effort to raise $75 million for missions and ministry. By 1925 their initial vision matured and was presented to the convention as a way to work cooperatively and sacrificially to do "missions, teaching and benevolence." The plan was adopted, and the Cooperative Program, which still serves as our best way of funding the Great Commission, was born. Most of us are familiar with that history, but for a moment, consider those dates. Think about the cultural upheaval around those events. From 1914-1918 America was embroiled in World War I. The next year, Southern Baptists began pressing for a coordinated giving mechanism. In fact, L. R. Scarborough used the unity and sacrifice exhibited by the nation during the war effort as a prime example of what can be done when we sacrificially commit and work together. So rather than letting the specter of war and the cultural disruption it caused stop them from launching their vision, Scarborough appealed to that same can-do spirit present in the nation during the war as a catalyst for funding missions. In addition to the national challenge of war and its aftermath, the most deadly pandemic of the 20th century claimed nearly 700,000 American lives as the influenza of 1918 spread across the country and around the world. Still, Southern Baptists soldiered on with their vision to reach the world for Christ despite the fact the convention was mired in crippling debt at the time of the Cooperative Program's adoption. Then, just a little more than 48 months after the 1925 Convention, when the Cooperative Program began, the stock market crash of 1929 led immediately to the Great Depression. Still, Southern Baptists gave generously and pressed forward with their new Cooperative Program. It's obvious from this brief overview we are not the first generation to experience big challenges and constant change. The exact circumstances may be different today, but, in one sense, the questions before us are the same: Will we recoil at this moment of cultural change, or will we work together and give sacrificially in the face of the volatility around us? The churches of the SBC, as we trust God with the future and give faithfully and sacrificially through the Cooperative Program, will continue to support missionaries, minister compassionately and responsively in times of tragedy, plant churches and train a new generation of men and women for ministry. Our work together is greater than anything we can achieve separately. Cultural change is not a reason to stop working together. On the contrary, the constant change in culture and many of the problems associated with destabilized cities, families and emerging cultural norms are clearly calls for us to work more in sync than ever before. We work better as a team. Our generosity and faithfulness in giving is part of our answer to volatility and change. We give not in spite of change but as a response to it. After all, we are proponents of change -- the kind that occurs in the human heart when lost people become followers of Christ. Through sacrifice, generosity and teamwork, God has used Southern Baptists as a powerful witness across Texas and throughout the Southern Baptist Convention. In the days ahead, regardless of unforeseen changes, our support of the Cooperative Program can be among the things that don't ever have to change. -------------------------------------------------------------------- July financial update with David Spika by Staff Date: July 08, 2020 - Wednesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- David Spika, chief strategic investment officer for GuideStone Financial Resources, joins Jonathan Howe for July's monthly financial update. "Consumer fear is going to have a negative impact on the economy," Spika says. The two discuss the ramifications of COVID-19 on the economy as well as the economy's effect on the 2020 presidential election. Watch the conversation here: -------------------------------------------------------------------- High court delivers 2 religious liberty wins by Tom Strode Date: July 08, 2020 - Wednesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed in two 7-2 rulings Wednesday (July 8) that churches and religious organizations are free to make employment and health insurance decisions based on their convictions. In one ruling, the justices reiterated their support for a "ministerial exception" that enables churches and other religious bodies to hire and fire based on their beliefs. They had ruled unanimously in 2012 in favor of such an exception. In consolidated cases, two Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles chose not to renew contracts for two fifth-grade teachers based on what they said was poor performance. In its other opinion, the high court upheld federal rules that protect the rights of employers with religious or moral objections to the Obama-era, abortion/contraception mandate. The opinion came after a seven-year legal battle by the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order that serves the poverty-stricken elderly, to gain an exemption from the requirement. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) commended both decisions as victories for religious freedom. "If a religious organization cannot recruit leaders who agree with the beliefs and practices of those organizations, then there can be no true religious freedom. The Court recognized that today," ERLC President Russell Moore said in a written statement of the "ministerial exception" opinion. He expressed his hope the decision "will put behind us some of the more outrageous attempted incursions into religious liberty by the state, and will enable all of us to move forward into the future, with a free church in a free state." Of the Little Sisters ruling, Moore said it "upholds one of the most important principles of the American experiment in liberty: that the state does not own the consciences of human beings." Americans can hopefully move toward a "public square in which we can have moral and doctrinal debates without seeking to force people into choosing between their deepest held convictions and the callings of service to which those convictions lead," Moore said. "These joyful nuns can now serve the poor without fear that Uncle Sam will try to be their Pope." In the cases, the ERLC joined in friend-of-the-court briefs in support of both the schools and the Little Sisters. In the court's majority opinion on the "ministerial exception," Associate Justice Samuel Alito cited the ERLC brief. "I'm grateful for both of today's Supreme Court decisions that upheld the Constitutional protection of our religious liberty for all," said Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. "Protection of this 'first freedom' is vital for our churches and other religious organizations. It was also encouraging to see Justice Alito cite the amicus brief filed by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission regarding the rights of religious organizations to hire those who share their beliefs." The 7-2 decisions in the cases followed the same voting pattern among the justices: Typically liberal members Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the conservative wing -- Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Alito -- in the majority. In the "ministerial exception" case, Breyer and Kagan signed onto the court's opinion, while they agreed in the judgment in the Little Sisters ruling but filed a concurring opinion. The other two members of the court's liberal wing -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor -- dissented in both cases. In the "ministerial exception" cases, the teachers whose contracts were not renewed brought suit against the schools. One teacher alleged age discrimination, while the other claimed disability discrimination based on chemotherapy treatments that caused her to take time off. Federal judges ruled in favor of the schools based on the Supreme Court's 2012 Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC decision. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, however, reversed the opinions, ruling the teachers did not qualify under the "ministerial exception." Writing for the court, Alito said the new cases "fall within the same rule that dictated our decision in Hosanna-Tabor," though the teachers involved did not have the title "minister" and had less religious training than the teacher involved in the earlier opinion. "What matters, at bottom, is what an employee does," Alito wrote. "And implicit in our decision in Hosanna-Tabor was a recognition that educating young people in their faith, inculcating its teachings, and training them to live their faith are responsibilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private religious school." Court determination of how "religious schools discharge those responsibilities would undermine the independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate," Alito said. The First Amendment's religion clauses guarantee free exercise of religion and prohibit government establishment of religion. The Little Sisters were among scores of religious organizations that sought an exemption from a 2011 federal regulation issued as part of implementing the health-care reform law enacted the previous year. That rule required employers to provide their workers with coverage for contraceptives, including those with mechanisms that can potentially induce abortions, or face devastating fines. When it issued the controversial rule in 2011, the Obama administration provided an exemption for churches and their auxiliaries but did not extend it to non-church-related, nonprofit organizations that object. The administration proposed nearly 10 accommodations for the objecting institutions, but none proved satisfactory to their conscience concerns. The Trump administration issued interim regulations in 2017 and final rules in 2018 that protect employers with religious or moral objections to the abortion/contraception mandate, but Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states challenged the interim rules. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled against the Little Sisters in spite of a 2016 victory at the high court. In the majority opinion, Thomas said the Third Circuit ruling "was erroneous." The federal departments involved "had the authority to provide exemptions from the regulatory contraceptive requirements for employers with religious and conscientious objections," he wrote. It is clear, Thomas wrote, "the contraceptive mandate is capable of violating" the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a 1993 federal law that requires the government to have a compelling interest and use the narrowest possible means in burdening a person's religious exercise. Based on previous high-court decisions, "the potential for conflict between the contraceptive mandate and RFRA is well settled," Thomas wrote. "Moreover, our decisions all but instructed the [federal departments] to consider RFRA going forward." The ERLC, GuideStone Financial Resources and other Southern Baptist entities opposed in friend-of-the-court briefs the abortion/contraception mandate and its failure to protect non-church-related, nonprofit organizations that object to the requirement. GuideStone and the ministries it represents had previously won in their legal challenge to the mandate. The federally approved contraceptives for which coverage is required by the mandate include the intrauterine device (IUD) and such drugs as Plan B, the "morning-after" pill. Both the IUD and "morning-after" pill possess post-fertilization mechanisms that potentially can cause abortions by preventing implantation of tiny embryos. The rule also covers "ella," which -- in a fashion similar to the abortion drug RU 486 -- can act even after implantation to end the life of the child.