The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-07/15/2015 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLDVIEW: Mission revolutionary Jim Slack by Erich Bridges Date: July 15, 2015 - Wednesday RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- How can God use one faithful life to change the world? Consider Jim Slack, 77. He retired from the International Mission Board in June after 50 years as a missionary, missiologist, strategist, researcher, ethnographer, teacher -- and passionate advocate for unreached peoples, especially oral learners who need God's Word in forms they can understand. Slack can see out of only one eye these days, but his global vision remains crystal clear. He's been at the center of several movements that revolutionized modern missions. And he's not through yet. He has multiple projects in the works, from investigating potential church-planting movements to guiding missions-related dissertations by seminary students. "Whatever physically I can do, I want to do," Slack explained in his trademark Louisiana rasp. "I don't want to just sit around and look at the wall." Not much chance of that. Never has been. Slack was a bright young college grad on the way to law school when a summer of ministry in Hawaii -- still considered by many a "foreign mission field" in those days -- captured his heart and mind for missions. He returned home to tell Mary, his wife-to-be, that life plans had changed. She happily informed him that she had surrendered her life to serving God in missions years earlier. Before they went to the Philippines as Southern Baptist missionaries in 1964, however, Slack worked as a researcher with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Graham was helping lay the foundations of what would become the Lausanne Movement, which called the church to obey its biblical responsibility for world evangelization by making disciples among all peoples -- the panta ta ethne Jesus Christ referred to in His Great Commission command in Matthew 28:19. "Billy Graham said, 'We have misunderstood the Great Commission,'" Slack recalled. "The Great Commission is: You shall make disciples of the panta ta ethne -- the nations, the unreached people groups." Slack put that into practice as a church planter in the Philippines. He moved as soon as he could to Mindanao, where restive Muslims and tribal peoples had never heard the Gospel. He trained local believers to evangelize and start churches and participated in key research projects that challenged missionaries in the Philippines and elsewhere to move beyond the reached to the unreached. While doing doctoral work in seminary early in his missionary career, he encountered a book about the global challenge of evangelizing people who can't read. He devoured it in a single night and changed his whole approach to missions. "I wish I'd had that book when I first went to the field," Slack said. "Mindanao Muslims couldn't read, didn't want to read, weren't going to read. And the tribal people in the mountains didn't even have a written language." Missionary Bible translators were doing heroic work in many cultures. But what was the point of spending years translating the Bible into indigenous languages if people couldn't, or wouldn't, read it? Until they were willing and able to read, an alternate approach was needed to deliver God's Word to the hundreds of millions of people around the world belonging to cultures that communicate orally. Working with missionary colleague J.O. Terry and others, Slack helped develop Chronological Bible Storying -- later shortened to Bible Storying -- a simple, flexible, transferrable way to deliver the truths of the Bible to oral learners and make disciples among them. It has become one of the most effective and widely used mission methods of the modern era, expanding beyond the original sets of teachable Bible stories to songs, drama, pictures, video, audio, webisodes and more. But in the early years, when Slack traveled the world teaching the method, it wasn't an easy sell. Slack and Terry came to West Africa several times to "introduce this weird new thing called Chronological Bible Storying," remembered IMB staff member Roger Haun, then a missionary in the region. "We were kind of hardheaded about it. Even after our missionaries began to warm up to the idea, we were still having trouble with our West African brothers. ... [Today, storying] is the main evangelistic tool now used all across West Africa. And there are literally tens of thousands of Africans who have heard the Gospel in a way they can understand -- and many who have accepted Christ, and will be with us one day in heaven -- because [Slack] came and introduced us to that concept." After 25 years on the field, Slack transitioned to IMB's Global Research team during another revolutionary period. IMB mission strategists were exploring the emerging phenomenon of church-planting movements, the new concept of strategy-coordinator missionaries and the global urgency of reaching unreached peoples. Slack made vital contributions in these areas while continuing his campaign for Bible storying. More recently, as IMB and the North American Mission Board partner to reach the waves of peoples immigrating to America, Slack has trained church leaders in some of the biggest U.S. urban centers to reach the unreached in their midst. "Few men living have affected the shape of world missions like Jim Slack," said Tom Billings, executive director of Union Baptist Association (more than 560 affiliated churches) in increasingly multiethnic Houston. "Of late, he has also focused on helping U.S. church leaders recognize the enormity of the Great Commission task in our own country and challenged us to think differently about what we must do to reach them." As America becomes more and more ethnically and socially diverse, Slack offers the same challenge to U.S. Christians that he's been delivering to missionaries and the global church for decades. "If we do not win the people groups here, we will not grow," Slack said with tears in his eyes. "Friend, we're going to die if we don't obey the Great Commission." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Planned Parenthood defense unfounded, CMP says by Diana Chandler Date: July 15, 2015 - Wednesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Planned Parenthood is lying in defense of its dispensation of aborted fetal parts through its nearly 70 U.S. clinics, said a nonprofit medical watchdog group that has conducted an undercover investigation of the abortion provider. The Center for Medical Progress released video footage July 14 of a Planned Parenthood executive meeting with a CMP investigator who posed as a fetal parts buyer, in which the costs, procedures and regulations in the procurement and transportation of a wide range of fetal parts were discussed. In its defense, Planned Parenthood said it "donates" fetal tissue for scientific research "with full, appropriate consent from patients and under the highest ethical and legal standards," and that "there is no financial benefit for tissue donation for either the patient or for Planned Parenthood." Planned Parenthood's claims of gaining patient consent, not receiving monetary profit and following the law in its dispensation of aborted fetal tissue are all false, CMP said within hours of Planned Parenthood's statement. "Planned Parenthood makes two key admissions in their statement today: 1) aborted fetal parts are harvested at their clinics, and 2) money is exchanged in connection with this. They also tell several lies: 1) That proper consent is obtained from patients, 2) That Planned Parenthood does not make money off the body parts, and 3) That everything is legal," CMP said in a press release posted at centerformedicalprogress.org. "None of this is standard across the mainstream medical field," CMP said, "but it is standard across Planned Parenthood's insular and unaccountable abortion field." But Planned Parenthood, in an official statement today (July 15), maintained its propriety in the face of growing allegations from political leaders and others. "These outrageous claims are flat-out untrue, but that doesn't matter to politicians with a longstanding political agenda to ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood," Planned Parenthood Vice President of Communications Eric Ferrero said. "Women and families who make the decision to donate fetal tissue for lifesaving scientific research should be honored, not attacked and demeaned. "Our medical practices and guidelines in this area are clear, and we do this important work just like other high-quality health care providers," Ferrero said, "with full, appropriate consent from patients, under the highest ethical and legal standards, and with no financial benefit for the patient or Planned Parenthood." Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Planned Parenthood's practice is indefensible. "The horror of this story should be shocking to the consciences of all Americans. And Planned Parenthood's response to this video is as chilling as it is unconvincing," Moore said in a July 15 press release. "Let's be clear about what is going on. It is not only that infants, in their mother's wombs, are deprived of their lives, but also that their corpses are desecrated for profit. This is not only murderous; it is murderous in the most ghoulish way imaginable. "Is it not clear at this point that these are not health care providers but pirates and grave-robbers of those who have no graves?" Moore said. "The Department of Justice and the United States Congress should undertake a thorough investigation of this." CMP posted on its website a link to an advertisement from StemExpress, LLC, that promotes doing business with the California-based biomedical company as financially profitable. StemExpress supplies human cells, fluids, blood and tissue parts to research laboratories. "[StemExpress] advertises four different times the financial benefit that Planned Parenthood clinics can receive from supplying fetal tissue, with the words: 'financially profitable,' 'financial profits,' 'financial benefit to your clinic,' [and] 'fiscal growth of your own clinic,'" CMP said. "The advertisement carries an endorsement from [Mar Monte] Planned Parenthood Medical Director Dr. Dorothy Furgerson." The advertisement quotes Furgerson, who directs clinics in middle California and northern Nevada, as saying, "Our partnership with StemExpress is beneficial in a number of ways. First, it allows us to contribute to life-saving research that is advancing diagnostic and medical care. Second, StemExpress has a Plug-in Solution that allows us to add additional clinics quickly. Lastly, I feel confident that our patients’ anonymity is secure through their strict protocols and practices." Planned Parenthood in a July 14 press release described CMP as "a well-funded group established for the purpose of damaging Planned Parenthood's mission and service." U.S. House Speaker John Boehner released a statement July 15 calling for an investigation into Planned Parenthood's practices. "I have asked our relevant committees to look into this matter. I am also calling on President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to denounce, and stop, these gruesome practices," Boehner said. "When an organization monetizes an unborn child -- and with the cavalier attitude portrayed in this horrific video -- we must all act." Moore requested an investigation of Planned Parenthood in letters to Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell July 14, and has encouraged continued efforts to prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars in funding abortions. "If we have learned anything from the Kermit Gosnell horrors of years past," Moore wrote, "surely we have learned that vulnerable women and children should be protected from this sort of abusive profiteering." In his press release, Moore also called on presidential candidates to address the atrocities shown in the undercover video. In related news, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee as well as the states of Texas and Louisiana have launched investigations of Planned Parenthood, the Washington Post reported. -------------------------------------------------------------------- GuideStone loses on abortion mandate by Tom Strode Date: July 15, 2015 - Wednesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- GuideStone Financial Resources and the ministries it serves must abide by the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate or pay crushing fines, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday (July 14). A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver declined to grant an injunction blocking enforcement of the rule, rejecting arguments by GuideStone and a host of other religious non-profit organizations that the controversial mandate and its accommodation for such entities violate their religious freedom. The mandate requires employers to provide not only contraceptives for their workers but drugs and devices that can potentially cause abortions. GuideStone -- the Southern Baptist Convention's health and financial benefits entity -- and its attorneys are considering an appeal to the full 10th Circuit Court or to the U.S. Supreme Court, it said in a news release. The decision is "a setback" but "not the final outcome," GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said in the release. "This is a disappointing decision, for both religious liberty and for the sanctity of life," Hawkins said. "This is a day for all of us to bombard the Throne of Grace with petitions for a favorable outcome on appeal, for strength of resolve, for the unborn in this country and for all of our leaders, so many of whom have turned their back on the founding principles of this country." SBC President Ronnie Floyd joined Hawkins in calling for prayerful determination. "This decision shows the deep need for us not just to pray, but to further resolve together that we will go forward standing for religious liberty and for the sanctity of human life unrelentingly," Floyd said in comments for Baptist Press. "May God give to Dr. O.S. Hawkins, to GuideStone, and to others, the wisdom and strength to do what is necessary to continue in this worthy pursuit." SBC Executive Committee President Frank S. Page said, "We join with Dr. O.S. Hawkins and the trustees and staff of GuideStone in expressing our deep displeasure at this ruling. It is a sad day when the government refuses to recognize the heartfelt beliefs and conscience of God's people. It is indicative of the overreach of our judicial system which has become customary in the 21st-century. We will not give up this fight." Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), called it a disappointing ruling "that reveals the instincts of a state-established religion -- one that seeks to use the law as a means to steamroll the conscience and stamp out opposition. This decision forces a choice between obedience to God and compliance with the regulatory state. We must stand with conscience." The 10th Circuit opinion came in three combined cases that included not only GuideStone as a party but two Southern Baptist-affiliated schools -- Truett-McConnell College in Georgia and Oklahoma Baptist University -- and Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic order of nuns in Denver. The loss by GuideStone and its allies is the latest in a series of defeats at the federal appellate level for religious organizations that object to the abortion/contraception mandate. In other recent rulings: -- The Seventh Circuit Court refused July 1 to grant Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school in suburban Chicago, an injunction against the rule while its case proceeds. -- The Fifth Circuit Court declined June 22 a request for an injunction from two Southern Baptist-affiliated schools -- East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University -- and Westminster Theological Seminary. The Texas Baptist universities and Westminster Seminary have since appealed to the Supreme Court. Their July 8 petition brought to five the number of appeals to the high court in decisions against nonprofits. Though federal appeals courts have rebuffed nonprofits that oppose the mandate, the Supreme Court has blocked such actions by appellate panels six consecutive times, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. In two of those orders this year, the high court vacated appeals court rulings and ordered the circuits to reconsider their decisions in light of the justices' 2014 ruling in support of the religious freedom of for-profit companies regarding the mandate. In June 2014, the Supreme Court upheld objections against the mandate by "closely held," for-profit companies, such as family owned businesses. The justices ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby, the nationwide retail chain owned by evangelical Christians, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Pennsylvania cabinet-making company owned by pro-life Mennonites. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the rule in question to help implement the 2010 health care law. The regulation requires coverage of federally approved contraceptives, including 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. HHS provided an exemption to the rule, which was first proposed in August 2011, for churches and their auxiliaries but did not extend it to non-church-related, nonprofit organizations that object. It issued an accommodation for religious nonprofits, but many of those ministries or institutions have found it unacceptable. In its latest version announced July 10, HSS finalized a rule, similar to one offered in August 2014, that enables non-profit religious organizations to notify HHS in writing of their religious objections. In response, the federal government will notify the insurer or a third-party administrator it is responsible for providing employees of the nonprofit with payments to cover the services. Religious liberty and pro-life advocates still find the rule woefully lacking, contending it is basically an accounting gimmick that turns the religious organizations into channels through which coverage for contraceptives and potentially abortion-causing drugs is provided. In its July 14 opinion, the 10th Circuit panel found unconvincing the arguments of GuideStone and its allies that the HHS accommodation would still make them complicit in providing abortifacient or contraceptive coverage. "Having to file paperwork or otherwise register a religious objection, even if one disagrees with the ultimate aim of the law at issue, does not alone substantially burden religious exercise," Judge Scott Matheson wrote for the panel. HHS has made opting out of the requirement "at least as easy as obtaining a parade permit, filing a simple tax form, or registering to vote -- in other words, a routine, brief administrative task," Matheson wrote. "Opting out ensures they will play no part in the provision of contraceptive coverage, prohibits [third-party administrators] and health insurance issuers from sharing the costs of providing coverage with them, and requires notice to employees that they do not administer or fund contraceptive services." Mark Rienzi, lead attorney for GuideStone and its co-plaintiffs, said the 10th Circuit's decision "leaves in place the federal government's aggressive, discriminatory, and unnecessary attack on the core religious beliefs of private religious ministries." "The government does not need to take over a church benefits plan to provide abortion-inducing drugs -- the most powerful government in the world can obviously distribute drugs without co-opting religious institutions and their health plans," said Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund, in the GuideStone release. The lawsuit marks the first time GuideStone has sued the federal government. Truett-McConnell College and Reaching Souls International -- both participants in GuideStone's health plans -- joined the SBC entity in its suit. Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Ga., is affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention, and Reaching Souls is an Oklahoma City-based missions organization that trains Africans to reach their continent with the Gospel of Christ. Three other SBC entities -- the ERLC, International Mission Board and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary –- filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of GuideStone's request for a preliminary injunction. GuideStone, which is based in Dallas, serves not only churches but missions organizations, schools, hospitals and other ministries. In addition to health and other insurance coverage, GuideStone also offers retirement, investment management, property and casualty coverage, and other services. Dallas law firm Locke Lord LLP joined the Becket Fund in filing the lawsuit for GuideStone and its co-plaintiffs. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Planned Parenthood & the logic of abortion on demand by C. Ben Mitchell Date: July 15, 2015 - Wednesday JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) -- The revelation that Planned Parenthood is selling the body parts of babies may be ghoulish but it is not surprising to those of us who have been involved for many years in debates over life issues. Logic is logic and the conclusion follows from the premises. Here is the logic of abortion on demand: Human life inside the womb is not a person, but mere tissue. The preservation of human tissue has no intrinsic or inherent value. After all, we dispose of fingernails, hair, and cancerous tissues without wincing. Therefore, the destruction and disposal of mere human tissue is not a harm, but may even be beneficial. Since these tissues only have utilitarian value, if someone can use them and that person is willing to pay for them, let's create a market in which we can sell hair, collagen, or other human tissues. In order to refute a logical argument, one must either challenge the premises or challenge the structure of the argument and show that the conclusion does not follow from the premises. So, if we begin with the premise that "All pigs fly," and we agree that "Miss Piggy is a pig," then "Miss Piggy flies." In this case, the first premise is simply wrong. Not only do all pigs not fly, but no pig flies. It is not the nature of pigs to fly. Now Planned Parenthood has been for the most part consistent and logical in its approach to abortion on demand. If human life inside the womb is mere tissue, and a mother asks them to dispose of tissue, then there is no clear harm in making that tissue available to those who want it. The problem is that the first premise is just false. Human life inside the womb is not mere tissue -- he or she is a person. How do we know that? Well, we know that he or she is human, because it is human tissues that are being bought and sold. And we know that he or she is alive, because he or she has to be killed in order to harvest the wanted tissues. A living human being is not merely a bundle of tissues, but a person with a right to life, a right not to be harmed, especially not to be killed. In the aftermath of Roe v. Wade (1973), our culture gave up the crucial first premise of the argument. We made it legal to treat unborn human beings as mere tissue. To give up the first premise is to give up the argument. If Planned Parenthood's first premise is true, their argument holds. But over and over again, through logic, 3-D ultrasound technology, and good old common sense, we have seen that the premise is false. In fact, unborn human beings are persons, not mere tissue. One of the ways we show the ultimate conclusion of an argument is to show where it leads. We call that the "reductio ad absurdum," pushing the argument to its fullest conclusion. Buying and selling human tissue is the logical extension of Planned Parenthood's first premise. So, we should not be surprised. We've seen it before. For Hitler, Jews, gypsies and homosexuals were not persons with lives worth living. That premise led to Dachau, Buchenwald, and Auschwitz. For slave traders, Africans were not persons with lives worth living. That led to a market in "human tissues" on the slave blocks in Africa and the United States. The ghoulish logic is the same. Among other reasons, this is why we must not concede the abortionists' first premise. Human beings, from conception to natural death, are imagers of the living God, whose lives should be respected, protected, loved, and embraced. Give that up and we've lost the argument. Lose the argument and lives are lost. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sturgis volunteers ready for more miracles of faith by Victor Lee Date: July 15, 2015 - Wednesday STURGIS, S.D. (BP) -- Amid thousands of bikers, often with debauchery nearby, Southern Baptist volunteers will share their redemption in Jesus during the 75th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Aug. 3-8 in South Dakota. Sturgis, population 6,000 for 358 days a year, will swell to hundreds of thousands for the milestone, drawing every kind of person, from the unique to the dangerous. Buck Hill, director of missions for the Dakota Baptist Convention (which includes both Dakotas), said volunteers are anticipating more miraculous moments of newfound faith akin to what they've seen during 10 years of outreach at Sturgis. Hill and a team of 200-plus volunteers have a tight, proven plan for sharing the Gospel at a 40-by-30 tent on one of the town's streets. The volunteers venture to Sturgis from across the Midwest, Southeast and elsewhere to work one of four three-hour shifts each day. "Catchers" -- those who invite guests into the tent -- greet passersby, telling them they will be registered for a giveaway of a $21,000 Harley Road King if they go into the tent and listen to a three-minute Gospel presentation, which is the presenter's personal testimony of their life before Christ, how they came to know Christ and their life since salvation. "This is how we do it, no other way," Hill said. "Our catchers ask for three minutes, and three minutes is all we take." An estimated 35,000 people have accepted the invitation to hear the testimony and register for the bike over the years, and 6,000 have prayed to receive Christ -- an outstanding return rate for evangelism at a mass event. It will be organized chaos at the tent as volunteers shine a light in the darkness. "Normally in Sturgis you can see all of the buildings," Hill said. "But if you only came to the rally, you'd have no idea what Sturgis looks like. There are campsites all over the Black Hills. They stay for 100 miles all around. "When dark comes, it can really get crazy," Hill said. Most of the people at the rally aren't misbehaving, but the "one-percenters," as Hill calls them, make up for it. "There have been shootings and stabbings, usually out in the campgrounds. There are people walking around in very offensive clothes ... but we have well-dressed people too. The gangs are there, and we've had them stalk our tent just to see what we're doing. "But many police officers come from all over the country -- on their own time -- and work 12-hour shifts. They walk in groups. They walk by our booth because they know who we are, so we have a good working relationship with the police. We feel protected." Follow-up with those who prayed to receive Christ, though a constant challenge, has improved over the years. "We log those who've made decisions into a database," Hill said. Each volunteer is given a number and receives information on whom he/she led to Christ. And every name is sent to the Evangelism Response Center of the North American Mission Board on a daily basis. "We make sure the volunteers -- the critical person -- call Sally and talk to her and check up on her to see if she found a church home or what they can do to help her. Some people have kept up with who they led to Christ for years," Hill said. There are some challenging moments in the tent, but Hill and his team have a contingency plan for most everything. "We get families with small kids, and yet we've had women come under the tent who were 'painted' like they had clothes on," Hill said. Immediately a female human shield forms around the painted lady, and a woman shares the Gospel. "I was one of the ones that was skeptical to start with," Hill said of the Sturgis outreach, "but I've seen evidence myself of life change under the tent. Literally life change under the tent. ... I see them come in swearing with a beer in their hand and leave with their life changed, tears coming down their faces." Among the salvation stories Hill recalls from the Sturgis outreach: -- "A husband and wife with kids come under the tent, and we begin sharing the Gospel. Almost simultaneously tears are running down their eyes. Both pray to receive Christ. She says, 'OK, now we need to go.' Some tell her not to rush, but she says, 'You don't understand, we just prayed for a brand-new life. If we believe what we just said, we don't need to stay here. We need to go home and start our new life.'" -- "The son of a Southern Baptist preacher came in. This story is sad and funny at the same time. He just wanted to sign up for the bike. His name was Joe. He said, 'I know I've got to listen to this, but it's fruitless.' His dad was a preacher but he had never accepted Christ. He did that day." -- "A man came to the tent and prayed to receive Christ. He had been estranged from his family, but he went back to his family and went back to church. It was taking some time for the family to believe the change. The man came back in the next year with his son. He explained how he was back with the family, but he said, 'I want you to tell him what you told me.' The son prayed to receive Christ. He had seen the change." "When people say, 'This won't work, you can't lead people to Christ in three minutes,' I tell them, 'You're right, because it's not us that lead them to Christ. It's the Holy Spirit. "I know what I see. I see the evidence." Check out www.sturgisbikegiveway.com for more information. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Planned Parenthood tops Twitter trends by David Roach Date: July 15, 2015 - Wednesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Christians took to social media en masse when news broke Tuesday (July 14) that Planned Parenthood allegedly sold baby parts gained through partial birth abortions. The hashtag #PlannedParenthood trended in the top three nationally July 14, social media expert Marty Duren said, with the online analytics site Topsy.com noting more than 57,000 tweets using the hashtag between Tuesday morning and midday Wednesday. That total does not include tweets on the same subject that did not employ the hashtag.

A real investigative journalist would be all over #PlannedParenthood's network looking for every possible connection to organ harvesting.

— Marty Duren (@martyduren) July 14, 2015
Response to the Planned Parenthood news "was all over my Facebook feed all day," said Duren, manager of social media strategy for LifeWay Christian Resources. "... It covered up Twitter." The social media dustup was provoked by a video released by the nonprofit medical watchdog group Center for Medical Progress (CMP) showing a Planned Parenthood Federation of America executive discussing the fetal parts business with an undercover investigator posing as a potential buyer. Planned Parenthood claimed they donate the body parts for scientific purposes and do not receive monetary benefit, but CMP countered by publishing an advertisement delivered to Planned Parenthood abortion clinics by a biomedical company stating that supplying tissue is "financially profitable." Duren told Baptist Press he did not see any Christian posts in social media defending Planned Parenthood. "This was very unified," Duren said. There was "an amount of anger or outrage" associated with "virtually every single comment, every single tweet."

"Slave." "Property." "Tissue." Distancing words used to obscure the real issue: a human face.

— Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 15, 2015
Among the most active participants in the social media response was Russell Moore, president of Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. He tweeted on the topic more than 25 times in 32 hours. In one day, a commentary he wrote condemning Planned Parenthood's actions was shared 22,000 times on Facebook and 4,000 times on Twitter, according to the ERLC. One of Moore's Facebook posts was blocked for several hours, with Facebook displaying a message stating the post "include[d] content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive." ERLC spokesman Daniel Darling told BP, "Thankfully, Facebook admitted the error and responded back to Dr. Moore through ... one of their top executives."

Sadly, if Planned Parenthood @PPact was selling the body parts of puppies, not aborted babies, the mainstream media would actually cover it.

— Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) July 15, 2015
Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, received 1,300 retweets in 16 hours when he tweeted, "Sadly, if Planned Parenthood @PPact was selling the body parts of puppies, not aborted babies, the mainstream media would actually cover it." Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's Denny Burk tweeted more than 30 times related to Planned Parenthood, sharing statements on the controversy from Republican presidential candidates and telling major media outlets, "The Iran deal is not the top story today. This is." At least six Southern Baptist Convention entity heads tweeted about Planned Parenthood. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary's Daniel Akin commented, "Killing babies for profit in America. Read this and weep." Among pastors, Bart Barber of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, tweeted that Planned Parenthood "finally found a use for prenatal ultrasound that they don't oppose."

So shocking &disturbing.Please take10minutes&watch this.Its like Nazis on how to profit from body parts of Jews.Evil https://t.co/QsmpJsCBdS

— Bryant Wright (@bryantwright) July 15, 2015
Bryant Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., tweeted, "It's like Nazis on how to profit from body parts of Jews. Evil." Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., tweeted, "This is beyond belief." Clint Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., tweeted a link to Moore's commentary with the note "stop and read." J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., retweeted the statement, "It should bother us as a society that we have a use for aborted human organs, but not the baby that provides them." Among the broader evangelical community, pastor and author John Piper called via Twitter for Christians to pray and fast about abortion July 15. Author and cultural commentator Eric Metaxas tweeted, "Your children and grandchildren will ask you: When the Planned Parenthood video came out, did you do anything about it?"