
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-08/05/2015

DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP.
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Alaska Baptists seek new leader
by Erin Roach
Date: August 05, 2015 - Wednesday

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (BP) -- The Alaska Baptist Convention is searching for an executive director to succeed Michael Procter, who will retire next May after 30 years of service in the frontier state. 

A call to the unique environment of Alaska is essential for a candidate, Todd Burgess, chairman of the search committee and pastor of First Baptist Church in Eagle River, told Baptist Press. 

"There's nothing like it anywhere in the United States," Burgess said. "We have anywhere from modern cities to a third world country in Alaska. We have cities with Walmart and cities without running water."

The weather is unique because some parts of Alaska can experience a 130-degree difference in temperature between summer and winter. "In Fairbanks right now it's 90 degrees, and in the wintertime it can get 40 below zero," said Burgess, who grew up in the state.

Alaska's road system, he said, only covers about a quarter of the geography. "You've got to either fly in or take a boat up the river to get to some of these villages," he said. 

In a southern state like Georgia, Burgess said, a denominational worker might drive a few hours from one side of the state to the other to meet with someone. Not so in Alaska.

"To do that in Alaska, it would be almost like going from Los Angeles to New York. That's the distance you're covering," he said, "and to travel within the state could cost you $1,000 just to get from one village to the next by air."

In terms of spiritual maturity, Burgess estimates as little as 3 percent of the population is saved and goes to church. "They are very independent, and most people who come to Alaska want to get away from everybody. That tends to be the mindset."

Getting into Alaskan villages with the Gospel is challenging, Burgess said, because people are apprehensive about organized religion given their history with the Russian Orthodox Church that preceded Alaska's statehood. 

"There's a lot of heritage we have to work with to get people to know the Gospel," Burgess told BP.

Villages range from 50 to 100 people, and they're scattered throughout the massive state. "We actually have villages in Alaska that are unengaged, unreached people groups," Burgess said. 

"The person we're looking for to lead our state convention has to be able to cross all those barriers," he said.

Alaska's executive director is responsible for managing the convention's programs, properties and personnel according to the organization's policies. He supervises convention staff, appropriates expenditures, coordinates programs and maintains relationships with local churches, associations and the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Resumes may be submitted by email to Burgess at pastor@fbcer.org by Sept. 21. The committee requests a one-page statement of faith including the candidate's philosophy of ministry and at least three personal and professional references. Burgess also may be contacted by email to supply a job description for the position.

Alaska's search committee is looking for a candidate with a "deep commitment to and understanding of the Cooperative Program," "experience in new work areas," and "family supportive of the ministry to which he is being called," among other qualifications, according to the job description.

Procter has served as Alaska's executive director for nearly five years and will turn 66 years old next year. He said he feels led to clear the way for the next generation.

"I remember when I was young and submitting my resume for ministry opportunities, only to be told that I needed more experience and that a person who was older was called," Procter said. "It was a frustrating experience, and I must admit that I wondered why those 'old guys' just did not retire and make room for the younger guys who had new ideas."


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Cross Church gives $1 million to CP this year
by Staff/Arkansas Baptist News  
Date: August 05, 2015 - Wednesday

SPRINGDALE, Ark. (BP) -- Cross Church in northwest Arkansas has given $1 million through the Cooperative Program in 2015 -- and plans to do the same in 2016.

Ronnie Floyd, Cross Church senior pastor and president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the church increased its previous pledge of $900,000 to $1 million and is setting its sights to do the same next year.

Floyd, in an Aug. 2 email to J.D. "Sonny" Tucker, executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, said the increase in CP giving is "where I have wanted us to work toward for the past 3-4 years as a matter of stewardship of our church."

"Due to us having some monies left from our Greater Things Campaign designated for global missions and relief, we were going to take $100,000 from this account and forward to the Arkansas Baptist Convention this week, along with our final two monthly payments of our budget this year ... August and September ... resulting in our church reaching this goal of $1 Million in this budget year," Floyd said in the email.

The check containing the church's August and September CP gifts, plus the additional money, was sent to the Arkansas Baptist Convention on Monday (August 3), bringing the church's CP gifts to $1 million a full 55 days before the fiscal year ended.

The $1 million given by Cross Church means it joins only a few Southern Baptist churches in history to give at least $1 million through the Cooperative Program.

"This is a huge advance for our church, and I am really proud of them," said Floyd, noting, "... What we are doing this year with this other gift (will) expedite us giving $1 million this year through CP and from here on if we adopt our new budget, our budget itself will allocate $1 million. We give God praise.

"We believe in the importance of not only reaching our region, but our state, nation and world. Cross Church has the missional vision: Reaching Northwest Arkansas, America, and the World for Jesus Christ. We are grateful to God for you and for our partnership with our Southern Baptist Convention. Please pray God blesses our church financially."

Tucker, in a statement provided to the Arkansas Baptist News, applauded Floyd and Cross Church.

"(It) is $100,000 more than they had originally planned to give, and an increase of almost $300,000 over last year," he said.

"Many &#91;Southern Baptist&#93; churches of all sizes across Arkansas maintain a strong commitment to missions through Southern Baptists' unified missions giving strategy called &#91;the&#93; Cooperative Program, and I am tremendously thankful for their sacrificial giving. I do not want to minimize those churches and neither does Pastor Floyd. However, I believe it is important to recognize the commitment of Cross Church and SBC President Ronnie Floyd to missions through the Cooperative Program."

Tucker said Frank S. Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, told him that only a few churches historically have given this much through the CP.

"This is a huge financial commitment by Cross Church, enabled initially by ending their national television ministry and other church ministries. Dr. Floyd is committed to a balanced approach in fulfilling the Great Commission regionally, statewide, nationally and globally," Tucker said.

"This commitment to missions through the Cooperative Program means that Cross Church is impacting national and global ministries as well as Arkansas ministries such as church planting, church revitalization, reaching students, disaster relief and the ministries of Arkansas Baptists' agencies and institutions. Cross Church's commitment to Cooperative Program missions is also accompanied by a fierce commitment to their own mission endeavors, such as community missions, national and international mission trips, church planting and giving generously to other missions offerings."

Tucker concluded, "I want to celebrate this milestone in the ministry of Cross Church and my friend, Ronnie Floyd. Cooperative missions in Arkansas are stronger than ever as churches like Cross Church and others sacrifice together to reach the world for Jesus Christ."


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FIRST-PERSON: Developing stewards
by Jeff Iorg
Date: August 05, 2015 - Wednesday

<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: Jeff Iorg is president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, located in the San Francisco Bay Area.</i>

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP) -- One of the casualties of the loss of discipleship focus in many churches is the absence of an intentional stewardship development strategy. Some pastors are afraid to "talk about money" in church (a ridiculous cop-out) and others over-spiritualize church finances (expecting money to magically materialize when it's needed). Wise leaders implement intentional strategies to develop stewards -- helping people manage their wealth (all of it, not just the part they give away).

Developing stewards is a favorite theme for me. I was fortunate to be trained as a young adult in a church that did a good job with this facet of disciple-making. One of the early lessons I learned related to giving was "the tithe is the baseline and grace givers exceed the tithe." My family and I took that lesson to heart and have given away more than 10 percent of our income for more than 35 years. As a result, we have experienced God's supernatural provision and enjoyed His financial protection in tangible ways.

Over the years, some younger Christians have challenged me when I have taught the aforementioned basic conviction. They claim the tithe is passé, and grace frees us to give whatever amount God directs. In one sense, I agree. The tithe is legalistic -- and Christians are free from legalistic ritual. But in another sense, I disagree. In the New Testament, the law was fulfilled (filled full and exceeded) -- not fulfilled (abolished and ignored).

Three examples. Jesus said the law forbade adultery -- but He forbade lustful thoughts. Jesus said the law forbade murder -- but He forbade vengeful plotting. Jesus affirmed that God required a sacrifice for sin to be forgiven -- and then offered Himself as the consummate sacrifice. Jesus taught that legalism was overwhelmed by grace -- its standards exceeded by grace-living in every way.

So, if you claim the tithe is passé -- and by that you mean we should all give more than a tithe, I agree! But if you use the claim to excuse your selfishness -- giving less than even a legalist would give -- I disagree.

American Christians currently give -- by multiple survey reports -- between 2.5 and 3.0 percent of their income to kingdom causes. Any way you cut those numbers, we are a selfish, greedy people. May God give church leaders courage to re-establish stewardship training as part of their disciple-making ministry. May God give us faith to trust Him as we learn to give away more and more of the resources He has generously provided. 


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Lankford, other Baptists to keep fighting PPFA
by David Roach
Date: August 05, 2015 - Wednesday

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Though an initial U.S. Senate vote on Planned Parenthood failed to bring to the floor a bill to defund America's largest abortion provider, Southern Baptist leaders in government and churches have said believers must continue the fight.

Sen. James Lankford, a Southern Baptist and cosponsor of the bill to defund Planned Parenthood, told Baptist Press he is trying "to build a coalition large enough to be able to actually get this defunded." Such coalition building involves finding Democratic legislators who "have not made that campaign pledge that they will always protect Planned Parenthood" and who "can actually have a reasonable conversation about life and about children."

Lankford, R.-Okla., said he wants to ask liberals and progressives, "Why do we spend so much money for this one organization and commit all this money to them when there have been so many ethical problems?"

Lankford asked pro-life citizens to pray, talk with America's youth about life and support crisis pregnancy centers while he and other anti-abortion legislators work to break Planned Parenthood's hold in Washington.

"Many of the liberals and progressives in D.C. are firmly committed to protecting Planned Parenthood in every way they possibly can," Lankford said. "And it's part of their campaign promises that they will always protect Planned Parenthood. So it is amazing to me the loyalty that that organization demands from any of the elected politicians that they support. But it is frightening ... how strong of a hold they have."

Southern Baptist Congressman Randy Forbes, R.-Va., told BP he will continue to encourage investigation of Planned Parenthood by the House Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member. He would like to see the defunding of Planned Parenthood attached to a bill President Obama needs to sign and hopes videos released by the Center for Medical Progress will incite enough public outrage to spur congressional action.

"You wonder when the outrage becomes so great, when it's so atrocious that even people who, for political reasons or whatever other reasons, have supported pro-abortion efforts in the past just say, 'I can't go there. That's a bridge too far,'" Forbes said. If the CMP video campaign "doesn't do it, I'm not sure what it would take to do it."

Pro-life citizens should write, call and visit their members of Congress regardless of their representatives' positions on abortion, Forbes said.

"I'm hoping that we'll find, if not the members' outrage, certainly the constituents who elect them having an outrage that will put pressure on them to override &#91;any presidential&#93; vetoes," Forbes said.

Southern Baptist Congressman Trent Franks, R.-Ariz., called Planned Parenthood's actions a "horror" and told BP "protecting the innocent was the primary reason I came to Congress. It's been a lifelong commitment."

Enacting into law the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would prevent some of Planned Parenthood's trafficking in baby parts, Franks said. That legislation, which passed the House and is being considered by the Senate, would outlaw most abortions of children 20 weeks or older.

"Most of the calls for those little parts" harvested by Planned Parenthood "are for the older children, those later in the pregnancy," Franks said. "And this would have protected them."

Franks cited the Planned Parenthood controversy as "an opportunity, God help us, to try to open the hearts and minds of the people to the hope that we can pass some of these bills and begin to turn the tide of blood back in this country."

K. Marshall Williams, pastor of Nazarene Baptist Church in Philadelphia and president of Southern Baptists' National African American Fellowship, told BP one important reason to defund Planned Parenthood is to combat its disproportionate impact on blacks and Hispanics. In 2008, for example, the number of black babies aborted in the U.S. was greater than the total number of deaths in the black community from all other causes combined, Williams said, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Guttmacher Institute.

"2010 Census results reveal that Planned Parenthood is targeting minority neighborhoods," Williams said in written comments. "It has located 79 percent of its 165 surgical abortion facilities within walking distance of African American or Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods. Planned Parenthood located 62 percent of its abortion facilities within two miles of African American neighborhoods, and 64 percent near Hispanic or Latino neighborhoods, thus establishing them as 'targeted neighborhoods.' Sadly, black women are three times more likely to have an abortion than white women, and Hispanic or Latino women are nearly twice as likely."

Planned Parenthood denies the charge that its clinics target minority neighborhoods, citing statistics updated last year from the Guttmacher Institute. The group contends 60 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are located in majority white neighborhoods, BP reported last year.

Though blacks comprised only about 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2008, black women underwent some 30 percent of the abortions, Williams said. Hispanics, though about 16 percent of the population, had 25 percent of the abortions. Blacks and Hispanics combined underwent more than half of America's abortions.

White women underwent 36 percent of the abortions in 2008 though non-Hispanic whites comprise nearly 63 percent of the population. Whites in general comprise nearly 78 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census bureau.

Williams called believers to pray and teach sexual abstinence before marriage in addition to "holding community forums on the devastating impact of abortions in the African American community" and holding elected officials accountable.

"We need to lead the cry to defund Planned Parenthood," Williams said, adding, "Planned Parenthood continues to pursue the eugenics philosophy of its founder, Margaret Sanger, who believed that blacks and the poor were 'unfit' to reproduce. She dedicated her life to controlling the population of these 'undesirables' by advancing birth control and sterilization in their neighborhoods. Later, the legalization of abortion gave Planned Parenthood an effective and lucrative means for furthering this eugenics agenda."

Donald Cole, a Georgia political analyst who has pastored Southern Baptist churches, cited Isaiah 10:1 in an Internet commentary about the Senate vote on Planned Parenthood. The verse states, "Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws."

Cole noted, "Everyone had clear knowledge &#91;of&#93; Planned Parenthood leaders callously talking of harvesting body parts of aborted babies. ... Every senator knew what was taking place. This is not about politics and polls. Each senator made a conscious, willful decision with his or her vote."

In the weeks ahead, preachers of God's Word "had best heed the call and point out what is going on. You need to be explaining clearly to your congregations what is happening by telling the truth about the politicians and the parties that enact evil statutes and those who, with a wink and a nod, allow them to be enacted with little protest," Cole wrote.

"You need to be naming names," he wrote. "You need to be explaining how failure to register to vote and to vote only serves to enable evil and challenge every eligible member of your congregation to vote. You need to be fearless in the face of those who fear the IRS more than they fear God."


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Everyday missionaries urged to proclaim Jesus
by Joe Conway and Anne Harman
Date: August 05, 2015 - Wednesday

NASHVILLE (BP) -- "We are going to send until the whole world hears," said Kevin Ezell, concluding the final session of the 2015 Send North America Conference. "This is not about a conference. This is about a movement. We are going to send and motivate people to send."

Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, and David Platt, president of the International Mission Board, shared the stage Tuesday evening (Aug. 4), much as they had at key moments throughout the two-day missions gathering.

"It is pure joy to think about the pastors and churches represented in this room," Platt said. "It is amazing to say we want to do this together. Let's trust the good hand of God to do this."

Platt was the final keynote speaker for the event that drew more than 13,600 to the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Speaking from Nehemiah 1-2, Platt shared several things God would say to those gathered.

"God is telling us to open our eyes and see a world &#91;like Nehemiah did&#93; in great need," Platt said. In the Scripture passage, Nehemiah is weeping. The remnant is in trouble. 

"When was the last time you wept over people in need?" Platt asked, noting it's dangerous to become cold and calloused when overwhelmed by a world in need. He said the world's needs are not only physical, but eternal, spiritual needs: people are going to hell without ever hearing the good news of how they can be saved. 

"This cannot be tolerable to us," Platt said. "God help us to weep for them."

Second, Platt said, God would tell attendees: "Believe that I deserve greater glory." Third, God is saying, "Seek My face," Platt said. Nehemiah spent approximately four months praying and fasting to seek God before he did anything else. Similarly, Platt said Christians must realize they cannot make disciples or plant churches in their own power, but only in the power of God.  

In Tuesday's opening session, Vance Pitman, pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas, shared characteristics of the ordinary people in the Book of Acts who helped launch the church.

"They had a faith that produced obedience," Pitman said. "They trusted God and did what God said. They clearly heard Jesus speak and simply did what He said. To see God move you have to have faith that leads to obedience."

It was a message that resonated with attendees.

"It is time for the church to get back to the main thing," said Becky Thomas of New Albany, Miss. "We need to do what Jesus told us to do. Vance Pitman did a good job explaining it and making it clear. This has been great."

Breakout sessions, a dozen each in the morning and the afternoon, were sandwiched between three main sessions in the Bridgestone Arena.

Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy shared by video how life on mission principles came to him at an early age.

"My number one influence in life started with my parents," Dungy said. "What my mom instilled was driven home my rookie year with the Pittsburgh Steelers by Donnie Shell, the first Christian athlete I encountered who lived his faith. He showed me how to live -- you can't separate your faith. Success is uncommon, but significance is even more uncommon. Being able to point people to Christ means more than winning a Super Bowl."

Dungy noted that to live a life on mission people need only to start where they are.

"Start at home first, work second," Dungy said. "Look at areas where I can direct my children first. Then at work -- do people see Christ in my life? My hope would be that we would do what Jesus asked us to -- be salt and light in the world."

Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore addressed a Christian's responsibility as a citizen of the kingdom of God. Moore later moderated a presidential candidate forum with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. See related story.

"We are held accountable for a system of government where Romans 13 shows we are the people who hold the sword," Moore said. "Act justly. How will we wield the sword of justice? Avoid the temptation of retreating into our subculture or disengaging the Gospel from social responsibility. Over all flags there is a cross. We are Americans best when we are not Americans first."

Casting Crowns led Tuesday evening's worship time which concluded with a video of IMB missionary Matt Miller who serves in Barcelona.

His family had built their dream house outside Atlanta. But the 2004 terrorist bombings of railway stations in Madrid turned their hearts to Spain. They sold their home and found a job there in order to be a part of reaching the city for Christ.

"Living missionally through your job is where you start," Miller said. "You have relationships that allow you to share your life. In whatever God calls you to do, take action. You will see Him come through in ways you can't explain any other way."

Ezell then joined Moore, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Daniel Akin and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. on stage.

"We cannot do, and David and the IMB cannot do what they do, without the sacrificial giving of Southern Baptists every week," said Ezell, thanking attendees for their gifts to the Cooperative Program.

"Southern Baptists have a passion to see the Gospel go to the unreached places of North America and around the world," Akin said. "It takes us all doing our part. We could not do any of the blessed things that we do without the support."

Mohler echoed Akin's sentiment. 

"My first response is gratitude when I think of what Southern Baptists provide," Mohler said. "My life benefited from the SBC even before I was born. We can tell people we can go to sleep at night knowing someone has shared the Gospel because of the Cooperative Program."

Ezell said he wanted to remind church planters that they are not alone.

"I tell church planters -- no matter where you are -- you are part of a family," Ezell said. "The real purpose of this was to get the family all together to lift up the name of Jesus. We are connecting with people who are like-minded and like-hearted. If you have not connected with people here you have missed a big part of this."

Ezell introduced Platt for the final address by bringing Platt's 9-year-old son, Caleb, on stage.

"David Platt is one of the best friends I have," Ezell said. "We love each other. This is Caleb Platt."

Ezell recounted how, at their first meeting, "Caleb asked me -- are you a Christian? I said yes, and I said I am very thankful you asked. We are trying to motivate and mobilize all these people to ask the same question that you asked me. I'm glad that you have a mom and dad who taught you that. Making disciples starts at home -- no one knows that better than David Platt."

Caleb recited Romans 10:9-11, and said family worship time at the Platt house is followed by family wrestle time. He embraced his dad as the elder Platt took the stage.


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2 South Sudanese pastors released
by Staff/ Morning Star News
Date: August 05, 2015 - Wednesday

JUBA, South Sudan (BP) -- Two South Sudanese Christian pastors arrested for their faith on charges punishable by death were convicted on lesser counts today (August 5) and released on time served, Morning Star News reported.

Yat Michael, 49, was convicted of "inciting hatred," according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), for delivering a message of encouragement to a North Khartoum church in December 2014 in the midst of a government-aided take-over of the congregation's property. Peter Yein Reith, 36, was convicted of "breaching public peace," CSW reported, following his Jan. 11 arrest for submitting a letter from leaders of their denomination, the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, inquiring about the whereabouts of Michael.

Agents from Sudan's notorious National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), said to be manned by hardline Islamists, had arrested the pastors and held them for weeks before formal charges were filed, according to Morning Star News, inciting an international outcry over the injustice. 

Among those advocating for the pastors' release was the American Center for Law and Justice, which posted on their website comments from the pastors after their release.

"They released us today. We are happy. We had heard we won't be released. But praise God!" Michael was quoted. Reith added, "We are very happy now we are free because of your prayers. Thank you for all that you have done for us. God heard your prayers and we are free!"

Inciting hatred among or against sects is punishable by up to two years in prison, according to Article 64 of the Sudanese Penal Code. Disturbance of the public peace, is punishable by six months of prison, a monetary fine or as many as 20 lashes, Article 69 of the code stipulates.

The pastors had also been charged with spying, punishable by death, life imprisonment or prison and confiscation of property; undermining the constitutional system, punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment and confiscation of property; disclosure and obtaining information and official documents, punishable by two years in prison or a fine; blasphemy/insulting religious creeds, punishable by a year in prison, a fine or up to 40 lashes; and joint acts in execution of a criminal conspiracy.

The defense had called for the charges to be dropped due to a critical lack of physical evidence.

The Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church that Michael had encouraged was the subject of government harassment, arrests and demolition of part of its worship center as Muslim investors tried to take it over. Police in North Khartoum beat and arrested 38 Christians from the church on Dec. 2, 2014, and fined most of them, releasing them later that night.

More than a year earlier, on Oct. 5, 2013, Sudan's police and security forces had broken through the church's fence, beaten and arrested Christians and asserted parts of the property belonged to a Muslim investor accompanying police. As Muslims nearby shouted, "Allahu Akbar &#91;God is greater&#93;," plainclothes police and personnel from the NISS broke onto the property aboard a truck and two Land Cruisers.

Harassment, arrests and persecution of Christians have intensified since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011, when Bashir vowed to adopt a stricter version of sharia Islamic law that would recognize only Islamic culture and the Arabic language. The Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments announced in April 2013 that no new licenses would be granted for building new churches in Sudan, citing a decrease in the South Sudanese population.

Sudan since 2012 has expelled foreign Christians and bulldozed church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to South Sudanese. Authorities have raided Christian bookstores, arrested Christians and threatened to kill any Christians who refused to help police capture others, Morning Star News has reported.

Sudan fought a civil war with the south Sudanese from 1983 to 2005, and in June 2011, shortly before the secession of South Sudan the following month, the government began fighting a rebel group in the Nuba Mountains that has its roots in South Sudan.

Due to Christian persecution and other human rights violations, Sudan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department since 1999, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended in its 2015 report that the country remain on the list.

Sudan ranked sixth on Christian support organization Open Doors' 2015 World Watch List of 50 countries where Christians face most persecution, moving up from 11th place the previous year.


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Bush, Rubio address Southern Baptists
by Tom Strode
Date: August 05, 2015 - Wednesday

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Southern Baptists heard from two presidential candidates and considered how the Gospel of Jesus applies to politics in back-to-back events Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug. 4 and 5) in Nashville.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- both bidding for the Republican Party presidential nomination -- answered questions Aug. 4 before more than 13,000 people gathered for the Send North America Conference in Bridgestone Arena. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, interviewed the candidates at the conference, which was jointly sponsored by the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board.

The interviews of Bush and Rubio came a day before the ERLC's 2015 National Conference on applying the Gospel to politics. The Aug. 5 event focused on how evangelical Christians should engage in the public square in a way that is formed by and faithful to the Gospel.

In the Aug. 4 question-and-answer sessions at the Send Conference, Moore asked the GOP candidates about such issues as religious liberty in the United States, the use of military force overseas to defend Christians and other religious adherents against Islamic extremists, the torture of detained enemy combatants, abortion, racial discrimination and overcoming public incivility.

Speaking in person at the conference, Bush promised to defund Planned Parenthood if elected to the White House. His comment came after the release of five undercover videos over the previous three weeks that showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of organs from aborted children for research. The organization received $528 million in government grants, contracts and reimbursements in its most recent financial year.

Bush went on to say, "If you took dollar for dollar, though, I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." That comment drew strong rebukes from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and others. 

Later, Bush said in a statement released through his campaign website he misspoke. "There are countless community health centers, rural clinics, and other women's health organizations that need to be fully funded," he said. "They provide critical services to all, but particularly low-income women who don't have the access they need.

"I was referring to the hard-to-fathom $500 million in federal funding that goes to Planned Parenthood -- an organization that was callously participating in the unthinkable practice of selling fetal organs. Democrats and Republicans agree we absolutely must defund them and redirect those funds to other women's health organizations."

Speaking in a pre-recorded video, Rubio told Moore some abortion rights advocates are extremists. 

"People that stand for the idea that you should be able to abort a child at any stage in the pregnancy -- they're the extremists," Rubio said. "People who believe that a young child, a minor, should be able to get an abortion easier than a tattoo -- they're the extremists. And I think it's important for us to point out those examples of extremism because every life we save, whether it's by changing hearts or changing laws, is an important step forward in progress."

Leading candidates from each major party were invited to the forum at the Send Conference, according to the ERLC. Each Republican candidate to poll at 10 percent or higher in the Real Clear Politics national average at some point between May 1 and a month before the Send Conference was invited, the ERLC reported. According to the Real Clear Politics website, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker both reached 10 percent during that time period along with Bush and Rubio.

Clinton also was invited, but she declined, Moore said, adding he looks forward to having conversations with candidates in both parties.

In the Aug. 5 morning session of the ERLC conference, Moore told the audience of more than 600 registrants the Gospel propels Christians to give up their rights. Yet, he said, it also propels Christians to stand up for their rights -- especially when it comes to engaging politically on behalf of the vulnerable in society.

Basing his remarks on the account of Paul and Silas' imprisonment from Acts 16, Moore said they were "unwilling to defend themselves and look after their own interests," but Paul also asserted his rights as a Roman citizen. Paul showed boldness in not fearing death but also in defying the government, he said.

Many times, Moore said, Christians say they are facing persecution when it really is personal offense. "We are not driven by offense," he said. "We are driven by the Gospel."

He warned against claiming "politicians as spiritual mascots or leaders."

"Politics is temporal, important but temporal," Moore said, adding Christians should engage politically and socially but not forget who they are. They also should avoid a "siege mentality" as if the world were "our enemies rather than our mission," he said.

"We are exiles in America not because we have lost America," Moore said. "We are strangers and exiles in every culture and every place because the Gospel and the mission get us out of step with the culture."

Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, urged attendees to act graciously in communicating the truth in the public square.

"I don't know why we are shocked when people don't like what" Christians believe, Daly said.

Followers of Christ should be at the table to discuss policies in culture, he said. "When we do so, we can't give up the character of Christ."

Jennifer Marshall, vice president at the Heritage Foundation, said politics is about determining "who we are as a society and where we want to go."

Marshall offered five recommendations for evangelical political engagement:

-- "Don't prognosticate; pray.

-- "Don't despair; do something.

-- "Make sure conversations about life, marriage and religious liberty are directed towards action, not inaction.

-- "Replace a sense of resignation with a sense of responsibility for the future.

-- "Remember for the Christian, citizenship is about stewardship."

Among other speakers at the ERLC conference, held at downtown Nashville's Music City Center, were Ross Douthat, columnist for the The New York Times; Erick Erickson, editor of RedState.com; Michael Gerson, columnist for The Washington Post and former White House speech writer; J.D. Greear, lead pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; IMB President David Platt; and Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

The ERLC's inaugural national conference, held in October 2014, applied the Gospel to homosexuality and marriage.



