
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-08/21/2006

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LIFE DIGEST: Closings of abortion clinics continue; ...
by Tom Strode
Date: August 21, 2006 - Monday

WASHINGTON (BP)--A summer of judgment for abortion clinics continues as operations at six more abortion clinics were shut down recently in Alabama and Florida, maintaining a pattern that began developing in mid-June.

The Alabama Department of Health announced Aug. 15 the suspension of the license of Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery for failing to have a backup physician in case one is needed after an abortion, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration ordered abortions halted at five clinics by Aug. 16 and suspended the medical license of their owner, James Pendergraft, on charges he had performed illegal, third-trimester abortions, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The state stopped abortions indefinitely at two Orlando clinics owned by Pendergraft. It is expected to lift the restrictions on his clinics in Fort Lauderdale, Ocala and Tampa the week of Aug. 21-25, the Sentinel reported.

The actions followed abortion clinic closings earlier this summer in Hialeah, Fla.; Birmingham, Ala.; Wichita, Kan., and Omaha, Neb.

The closings continue a trend for abortion providers during the last two decades. The number of abortion providers in the United States has decreased by 37 percent since 1982, according to a 2003 report published by the Alan Guttmacher Institute. That same study showed 87 percent of U.S. counties do not have an abortion provider.

The Montgomery, Ala., clinic will be able to respond to the suspension in a Sept. 18 hearing, according to the Advertiser. 

Alabama state health officer Don Williamson said the failure to have a second doctor to care for post-abortive women was “a very, very serious violation,” the newspaper reported.

The closings of two clinics have prompted Alabama to begin inspecting abortion providers at least once a year, Williamson said.

"Abortion clinics haven’t been a priority because there isn’t a federal law that requires frequent inspections,” he said, according to the Advertiser. “But now we’re going to put them at a high priority, equivalent to nursing homes.”

John Giles, president of Christian Coalition of Alabama, said in a written release the state’s action “confirms that the abortion industry is only interested in profits and not the healthcare of women before or after an abortion. In fact, women leave abortion facilities all over this state and report the buildings look as if they are furnished from a second hand store and resemble a third world medical facility.”

The A GYN Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, Fla., surrendered its license to the state government after police found the body of a dead baby in a biohazard bag at the facility.

The action came during an investigation into whether a baby was born but allowed to die after a failed abortion July 20. An 18-year-old woman told police she gave birth to a boy at the clinic, according to The Miami Herald. An anonymous phone caller told the police a baby had been born at the clinic, but authorities were unable to find a child when they arrived, according to Channel 4, the CBS affiliate in Miami. Another call prompted the police to return nine days later to the clinic, where they found the body, Channel 4 reported.

An autopsy was performed on the dead child -- who weighed about two to three pounds and was about 12 inches long -- July 29, but the results are still not available, The Herald reported. Police ordered the clinic closed the same day while the investigation went on.

Siomara Senises, the Hialeah clinic’s owner, voluntarily gave up her operating license, according to World magazine. She surrendered her license to run a Miramar, Fla., abortion clinic in 2004 after it was disclosed she had permitted unlicensed workers, including a janitor and medical student, to do abortions, World reported. 

Other clinics that either were closed or surrendered their licenses were:

-- Women’s Services P.C. in Omaha, Neb., June 30;

-- Central Women’s Services in Wichita, Kan., June 29;

-- Summit Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala., June 14.

BOTH SIDES NOW -- The Food and Drug Administration has consulted with both pro-life and abortion rights advocates before it announces a decision on over-the-counter sale of the “morning-after” pill.

The FDA had announced July 31 it was working with Duramed, a subsidiary of Barr Pharmaceuticals, toward potential approval of Plan B on a non-prescription basis for women 18 years of age and older. Barr, however, signaled Aug. 9 it is uncertain if it will accept the federal government’s proposal for sale of the drug, which has abortion-causing qualities.

The government agency, meanwhile, has contacted Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the country’s leading abortion clinic operator, and some pro-life organizations for input before its final decision, according to a LifeNews.com report based on an Associated Press article.

Among the pro-lifers contacted by the FDA was Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America’s president.

“I gave them an earful,” Wright told AP, according to LifeNews. “It is very late in the game, and that adds to our fury over this.”

CWA previously had expressed to the FDA its opposition to approving Plan B for non-prescription sales. In response to contentions the “morning-after” pill would reduce abortions, Wright had pointed to increases in the number of abortions in England and Scotland despite non-prescription sale of the drug, according to LifeNews.

The FDA cannot be trusted to guard women’s health, since it has maintained approval of the abortion drug RU 486, Wright said.

“Even after the deaths of numerous women, the FDA has not enforced its restrictions,” she has said, LifeNews reported. “Barr Pharmaceuticals has no incentive to reduce its sales and no means to penalize violators. Easy access to the morning-after pill would be harmful to women and girls.”

Plan B, as well as another “morning-after” pill known as Preven, is basically a heavier dose of birth control pills. Under the regimen, a woman takes two pills within 72 hours of sexual intercourse and another dose 12 hours later. The “morning-after” pill works to restrict ovulation in a woman. It also can act after conception, causing an abortion by blocking implantation of a tiny embryo in the uterine wall.

SAVE THE GIRLS -- India’s prime minister has appealed for parents in his country to halt the practice of aborting babies because they are females.

Manmohan Singh made his call for protecting unborn girls on India’s 59th Independence Day, saying, “We must end the crime of female foeticide &#91;feticide&#93;. We must eliminate gender disparity. We have a dream of an India in which every woman can feel safe, secure and empowered, where our mothers, sisters and daughters are assured a life of dignity and personal security.” 

Singh’s speech to the country, reported by the Agence France-Presse news service, took place Aug. 15, four days after the discovery of 25 bodies of unborn girls in Punjab, a state in northern India.

India’s government enacted a law against sex-selection abortions 12 years ago, but a multi-million dollar black market in the practice continues, according to news reports. It has been estimated 10 million unborn girls may have been aborted in the last 20 years in India.

Because of the cultural preference for boys, the ratio in India of female to male births has declined markedly. Punjab has the most disparity, with 798 girls to every 1,000 boys under the age of 6, according to AFP. Nationwide, the average is 927 females to 1,000 males, the news service reported
--30--


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Fox show highlights Warren's partnership with Rwanda
by Tobin Perry
Date: August 21, 2006 - Monday

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (BP)--Either he’ll mobilize the world’s Christians to tackle global giants like spiritual emptiness, ego-centric leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy or Rick Warren will die trying, the Southern Baptist pastor told Fox News Aug. 21.

“Throwing money at it is not the answer,” Warren told Fox interviewer David Asman. “These are the problems that the United States has failed to solve. The United Nations has failed to solve. The only thing big enough to solve them actually is the church.”

Warren shared his global P.E.A.C.E Plan, a purpose driven vision to tackle global evils in the world, during the hour-long documentary on Fox News. 

Three days earlier, Warren appeared on Fox News' "DaySide." Host Mike Jerrick asked, "Can Rick Warren save the world?"

"No," Warren responded, "Rick Warren can't, but Jesus can."

During the one-hour special Aug. 21 on the fourth-generation Southern Baptist pastor, Fox News told the often repeated story of Saddleback’s rise from a small group meeting in his house in 1980 to more than 23,000 meeting on the church’s 120-acre campus 26 years later. The show also highlighted Warren’s best-selling book, "The Purpose Driven Life," and how that book had given him a growing influence among world leaders, such as President George W. Bush and Microsoft's Bill Gates.

Yet much of the documentary focused on Warren’s special relationship with the war-torn country of Rwanda, a mountainous country that’s only 12 years removed from one of the worst cases of genocide in human history. More than a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during 100 horrific days in 1994.

In 2003, Warren friend and Chicago multi-millionaire Joe Ritchie handed a copy of "The Purpose Driven Life," to Rwandan President Paul Kagame. According to the documentary, the title of the book appealed to the Rwandan leader who almost a decade earlier led a resistance movement that toppled the then genocidal Rwandan government. 

After reading the book, Kagame wrote a letter to Warren calling himself “a man of purpose” and inviting the pastor and his church to Rwanda to help the country. 

The letter coincided with stirrings in Warren’s own household, according to the Fox show. That year, Warren’s wife, Kay, picked up a magazine article detailing the horrific growth of HIV/AIDS in Africa, an issue that had been far off the radar screen of the self-described Orange County, Calif., soccer mom. There was one particular stat that helped her see the devastation AIDS had made on the continent of Africa -- 12 million orphaned children, a number that has since grown.

“That &#91;statistic&#93; absolutely rocked my world,” Kay Warren told Fox News. 

While Warren was happy for his wife’s new passion to help minister to those with HIV/AIDS, at first he didn’t see that it connected with his mission or the mission of Saddleback Church. That all changed with a trip in 2003 to South Africa, where he met a rural pastor who didn’t have electricity or running water but was being trained by Warren through his sermons delivered over the Internet.

“When I heard that, something broke in my heart,” Warren told Fox News. “Tears came to my eyes and I said, ‘I’ll spend the rest of my life helping guys like that.’”

Through that meeting and his wife’s growing passion to battle HIV/AIDS, God crystallized a new vision within Warren -- a vision that would network churches around the world in an effort to tackle spiritual emptiness, ego-centric leadership, poverty, disease and illiteracy. 

According to Warren, the plan would mobilize lay people in churches all across the world to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick and educate “the next generation.”

“The church has 2.6 billion people in it, around the world,” Warren told Fox News. “It’s bigger than any other organization. I can take you to 10 million villages around the world that don’t have a hospital and never will. They don’t have a school and never will. But they have a church. What if we were able to network these churches to take on the global giants?”

That ambitious vision for Christianity appealed to Rwanda’s president. According to the show, Kagame knew that it would take a massive rebuilding effort to fix the country’s infrastructure enough to begin to grow the fledgling economy and fight the overwhelming AIDS crisis in the country. Still, it was the spiritual needs that concerned Kagame the most, the Fox report said. Because many of the predominantly Catholic country’s religious leaders had been complicit in the genocide a decade earlier, Kagame believed many people questioned where God was during the horrors of the nation’s recent past.

Kay, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 just after her husband announced the P.E.A.C.E. Plan at Saddleback, didn’t want to wait any longer to implement the plan. She urged her husband to accept Kagame’s invitation to visit Rwanda. 

“I have a new awareness &#91;of&#93; the brevity of life, of the shortness of life, how fragile it is, how none of us have guarantees,” Kay told Fox. “What I’ve found is a new kind of identification, a new identification with suffering with people.” 

In 2004 the Warrens traveled to Rwanda to take a look at the country for themselves. What they found, according to the show, was a country that had great potential.

“I’ve never seen a country so ready to grow, ready to take on the world,” Warren told Fox.

In July 2005 Warren formalized an agreement with Kagame that would, in time, make Rwanda the first "purpose driven nation" in the world, the show reported. The country would become a pilot nation to see how the P.E.A.C.E. Plan could work.

The show followed Warren on one of his whirlwind follow-up trips to the country in 2006, as he began to meet with political, business and church leaders in the country. 

The Fox News show also shared the long list of challenges facing Warren and Saddleback Church as they mobilize the global church to fight some of the most difficult problems facing humanity in the 21st century.

“Has he bitten off more than he can chew? Probably, but he’s done that all of his life,” Ritchie said in an interview for the program. “It has stood him pretty well so far, so I wouldn’t bet against him.”

Warren himself acknowledged on the program that the effort to mobilize Christians around the world will be the greatest challenge of his life, but it’s a challenge he is committed to until the very end.

“I may not reach all of my goals in my lifetime –- I probably won’t -– but I’ll die trying,” Warren said. “But I’ve always said I wanted four words written on my tombstone: ‘At least he tried.’”
--30--
For more information about the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, visit www.purposedriven.com.


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As Beirut’s buildings crumbled, so did barriers to the Gospel
by Dea Davidson
Date: August 21, 2006 - Monday

BEIRUT, Lebanon (BP)--Downtown Beirut was the place to be.

In early July, fashion and soccer were the summer’s hot topics as thousands thronged the streets to watch the final matches of World Cup 2006 on large-screen TVs.

Bustling downtown Beirut also was a prime location for Melissa Hunt* and two other college students as they sought to connect with Lebanese students and city residents during an eight-week summer mission trip.

“It was really cool how God put the pieces together,” said Hunt, a member of a St. Louis-area Baptist church. “When I was going through all the job descriptions, this one in the Middle East caught my eye. I put it down as my third choice, because I knew my parents would flip. It took me a few days before I accepted that I just knew that’s where God wanted me to be.”

For five weeks, Hunt and her team had two primary goals: to distribute Bibles in a Beirut neighborhood and to witness to college students in the city.

On the days the team hung out with the fashion-conscious college students at the American University of Beirut, Hunt chose her outfits carefully. Like typical college students, the girls chatted about anything from school to hair and makeup to the many social cliques that existed at the university.

Their reactions to the Gospel included a wide range of what Hunt called “openness.”

“A lot of people were very interested in the Bible,” she said. “Several people ... told us they had been wanting to read the Bible and learn what was in there. Some of the students were totally against religion. But a lot of them would say, ‘It’s really great what you’re telling me, but I just don’t have time for that right now.’”

Hunt said the civil war in Lebanon that ended in 1990s “was pretty much fought between the Muslims and the Christians. To them, religion is political. Whatever &#91;religion&#93; you’re born &#91;into&#93;, that’s what you are, and that’s what you die.”

To try to break through that mentality, the team shared the Gospel on campus by using a survey as a conversation springboard. While two students went over the survey, the third member prayed nearby. For one of Hunt’s teammates, Lori Strahan*, those campus witnessing opportunities enabled her to tell Muslim students, who believe Jesus was only a good man, that He wants to be their Savior.

“One girl didn’t know what to believe,” said Strahan, a member of a Baptist church in Kentucky. “When you explain to &#91;Muslims&#93; about Jesus from the verses in the Koran, though, it’s like a light comes on in their head. Later, &#91;the girl&#93; said, ‘Lori, I believe God led you to tell me these things.’”

The team also went door-to-door, offering Bibles to residents in the predominantly Muslim area. These neighborhood visits gave Hunt the opportunity to see Muslims in a new light, particularly after meeting some of the women.

“Before I went, I thought the women who wore the veil &#91;didn’t&#93; have any opportunities to do anything,” she said. “But they’re just like us -– they’re women who love to meet people, love to have friends. They’re ready to hear it; they just need people to tell them the Gospel.”

Although bridges were being built between the Lebanese people and the mission team, those newfound friendships were cut short as the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict broke out in July.

Hunt and Strahan were at the beach in southern Beirut the morning when word came that Israeli soldiers had been kidnapped by Hezbollah militants. By 2 p.m., the beach was cleared. People were calling friends and family. Rumors were spreading that highways were closed and possibly bombed by Israeli jets. The next day, the rebuilt city began to feel the first effects of another war.

“The Lebanese are so used to living during war and having a life during war,” Hunt said. “Especially after the bombings happened, they just went into their war mode. They were like, ‘Yeah, this is war, but this is going to be our lives too. We’re going to live through it.’”

Within 24 hours of the first bombings, three Lebanese college friends had called the team’s cell phones to make sure they were OK. For a few days, they tried to make plans to get together, still thinking that “it’s going to blow over.”

However, the city streets and malls soon were bare and university classes cancelled. As the team hunkered down, first in one apartment and then in another with 20 other Americans, they could see the bombs coming in. During one of these attacks, Hunt’s first thoughts were for her new Muslim friends.

“The second night of the bombing, I was awakened at 3:30 in the morning by the &#91;Islamic&#93; call to prayer,” Hunt recounted. “In the background I could hear these huge bombs going off. I was thinking, ‘Here they are praying, but their prayers aren’t going anywhere.’”

Before the conflict began, taxi drivers and new friends constantly asked the team, “What do you think of Lebanon?” The pride in their city, its beauty and its people was evident. But in just a week’s time, that pride began to crumble.

Some Muslims are reaching toward the Bible for comfort amid the latest round of devastation. And for those displaced to the outskirts of Beirut, many have encountered Christians ready to love them, demonstrating that God can break down longstanding social barriers even in the midst of conflict.

“&#91;T&#93;heir cry is for more stability, for some peace,” Strahan said. “Jesus would offer that peace.”
--30--
*Names changed for security reasons.


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Students consider their callings during Collegiate Week
by Brooklyn Noel
Date: August 21, 2006 - Monday

GLORIETA, N.M. (BP)--The statements of uncertainty seem never-ending: 

“I graduate next semester, but I have no idea what I’m doing next.”

“Well, I’m majoring in education, but I don’t know if I really want to teach for the rest of my life.”

“Maybe seminary....”

These, and their infinite variations, are uttered by countless college students on a regular basis, and they are exactly the type of statements LifeWay’s Collegiate Week 2006 theme addressed.

More than 1,000 students from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii assembled at LifeWay’s Glorieta Conference Center Aug. 4-10 for a week of fellowship, discipleship and study devoted to the theme “Calling Out the Called.” 

“The week is about everyone here receiving a taste of the Lord,” said Greg Pinkner, teaching pastor at Fellowship Church in Knoxville, Tenn., and evening keynote speaker for Glorieta Collegiate Week. “In some senses, I can’t do anything to reveal God’s call in their &#91;the students’&#93; lives -- that’s for God to do. But I can speak the words I am supposed to speak.” 

Pinkner wasted no time getting to the point. 

On opening night, he presented a concise lesson in Greek that set the tone for the rest of the conference. 

“The word ‘church’ in Greek, ecclesia, means ‘called out,’” he said. “The first thing any Christian does is say ‘You are God, and I am not.’” 

A PLACE IN THE WILDERNESS 

Situated outside Santa Fe, N.M., and not quite in the middle of anything, LifeWay Glorieta became an ironic haven for a crowd of collegiate Christians as Pinkner explained how thoroughly God’s calling separates Christians from the rest of the world. 

“God is calling us out on an exodus from the sinful flesh,” Pinkner told the crowd gathered in Holcomb Auditorium. “When God calls a person, He calls them out of what they’ve known to where all they have is Him.” 

Pinkner went on to explain that God calls Christians to be set apart -- not in the sense of being alone, but as integral pieces of the larger body of Christ. 

“It scares me,” said Andy Rhodes, a student at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. “I don’t know where God’s going to take me. &#91;This week&#93; I’m learning to give God everything, to surrender, and to find the journey He’s set for me.” 

To help attendees discover their personal journeys, booths filled with information on foreign and domestic missions, seminary programs and upcoming events lined the back of the auditorium. Missionaries from a wide range of mission fields mingled with students, sharing stories, encouragement and information. 

Both Pinkner and morning speaker Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, however, stressed that a call to laity bears as much importance as a call to vocational ministry. 

“I hope to put &#91;missionaries, pastors and laity&#93; on equal ground,” Pinkner said. “No one calling is more important than the other, but they all require specific preparation.” 

Josh Story, students and singles pastor at Community of Grace Church in Denver, said that emphasis on the myriad of relevant callings was one of the conference highlights because it exposed his students to multiple service opportunities. 

“I like that they are learning about the ministries they can do,” Story said. “I hope they go home with a little more direction in life.” 

SET APART, YET HELD TOGETHER 

While Pinkner spent the evenings explaining the overall concept of the Christian calling, Iorg spoke each morning about the details, characteristics and requirements of specific callings -- the pastorate, mission work and laity -- as well as how to recognize God’s voice when He calls. 

“There’s so much I’ve learned about what I can do,” said Veronica Rollins, who attended Collegiate Week with Southern Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. “I don’t have to be called to be a minister. There’s so much I can do just being the person I am.” 

During the majority of each day, students participated in diverse discipleship opportunities ranging from worship services, nearly 75 topical seminars and intimate family group gatherings organized by class. 

Long after scheduled events and evening worship, the attendees engaged in intense volleyball games on Glorieta’s sand courts or took the stage in the Chuckwagon café to share a special talent during open-mic sessions. Many just took the opportunity to enjoy the companionship of other Christians. 

“The fellowship with people is intimate here,” said University of Louisiana student Natalie Baudoin. “I learn a lot when I’m here and it always offers reassurance.” 

While free time may masquerade as unimportant compared to times of obvious instruction, Pinkner made certain attendees understood that God didn’t call people to be individual Christians, but rather to become integral parts of the larger Christian body. 

“How have you been called to serve the body?” he asked students one evening. “The answer ‘I haven’t’ is not an answer. I may have a big role or a small role, but that’s irrelevant because I have been given a manifestation of the Spirit. 

“Being called out is the definition of your life.”
--30--
For more information about 2007 Collegiate Week opportunities at Glorieta and LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, N.C., visit www.lifeway.com/students.


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NAMB honors 18 conventions for church planting & evangelism
by Staff
Date: August 21, 2006 - Monday

RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)--The North American Mission Board’s church planting and evangelization groups recognized achievements by 18 state Baptist convention partners during NAMB’s Aug. 1-3 “Mission Celebration” at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina.

Fifteen of the conventions were recognized with national church planting awards for their new church starts from 1999 through 2005. The following were honored for posting the highest number of new church starts during the six-year period:

-- Baptist General Convention of Texas, 1,924 starts

-- Florida Baptist Convention, 1,014

-- California Southern Baptist Convention, 849

-- Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, 750

-- Illinois Baptist State Association, 426

-- Louisiana Baptist Convention, 425

-- Colorado Baptist General Convention, 285

-- Kentucky Baptist Convention, 270.

The following conventions were honored for recording the highest percentage increase in new church starts during the six-year period:

-- Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, 157 percent increase

-- Colorado Baptist General Convention, 120 percent 

-- Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, 117 percent 

-- Nevada Baptist Convention, 113 percent 

-- The Baptist Convention of New England, 93 percent 

-- Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, 81 percent 

-- Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention, 56 percent 

-- State Convention of Baptists in Ohio, 51 percent.

NAMB Church Planting Vice President Richard Harris also presented a distinguished service award to Cecil W. Seagle, director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s missions division and South Florida Urban Impact Ministries.

Seagle was cited for his “faithful leadership, visionary planning, strategic partnership in churches, associations and the Florida Baptist Convention, and for his influence on North American Missions among Southern Baptists in evangelical church planting for more than 45 years.”

Harris also presented a new award -– the Dennis Hampton Rural Church Planting Award -– established in honor of Hampton, a former NAMB missionary, church planter, director of missions and rural church planting pioneer who died in a car accident last year.

On behalf of the Hampton family, the inaugural Hampton Award was accepted by Hampton’s son, Jeremy Hampton, a Nebraska State Patrol officer. Dennis Hampton’s wife, Elaine, also served as a missionary alongside her husband.

In the evangelization group’s awards ceremony, Gary Hollingsworth, senior director of NAMB’s cultural evangelism team, recognized seven state Baptist conventions which achieved double-digit increases in baptisms during 2004-05:

-- California Southern Baptist Convention, 44 percent

-- Baptist Convention of New York, 27 percent

-- Montana Southern Baptist Convention, 15 percent 

-- Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania-South Jersey, 12 percent

-- Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, 12 percent

-- Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, 10 percent

-- West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists, 10 percent
--30--


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FIRST-PERSON: A call to prayer
by Frank Page
Date: August 21, 2006 - Monday

TAYLORS, S.C. (BP)--Following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, Southern Baptist volunteers descended en masse to the stricken areas. One public official flying over the area asked the question, “Who are those people in yellow shirts?”

The response was, “Southern Baptist volunteers.” Southern Baptists were among the first on the scene, and they are still working hard to help bring order out of this horrible disaster.

Disaster is an accurate description of many lives in our country and world. It is my prayer that in these next years, Southern Baptists will be able to present a positive, life-transforming message to help people move out of disastrous lifestyles and into a life of transformation and victory. 

We have heard the needed call for soul-winning and baptisms. I will propose several initiatives to help us know how to accomplish this great task. 

First, I call on Southern Baptists to look to the Lord for strength, guidance and forgiveness. This must be our earnest prayer. 

Would you join with me in this prayer? Lord, send your reviving spirit:

-- to exhort us in repentance, humility and confession to be your obedient servants.

-- to transform your churches

-- to energize evangelism of those outside the Kingdom

-- to unite us in your cooperative mission tasks.

In order to do what needs to be done, we must begin with a serious time of prayer, humility and confession. Would you and your church join with me in seeking the hand of God through prayer?
--30--
Frank Page is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C. Visit his website at www.sbc.net/PresidentsPage.


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FIRST-PERSON: Known by God
by Henry Blackaby
Date: August 21, 2006 - Monday

ATLANTA (BP)--Every believer should read and reread Psalm 139 on a regular basis. It is David’s beautiful description of God’s perfect and divine knowledge of Him and His ways:

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.... You understand my thought afar off.... And are acquainted with all my ways.”

The rest of David’s Psalm describes in careful detail every aspect of his life as being in the hand of his loving God. To know this is wonderful! But to live by the truth of this is even more wonder–filled. David says his thoughts, words, paths, physical makeup and enemies are all known to God and carefully guided by God. He thus concludes, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.”

How secure our life really is when we choose to believe and trust in such a relationship with God. And what a witness to a watching world when we live out this love relationship, releasing our life to God and letting Him express His goodness to us -– and through us.

Many in the world today desperately are searching for God so they can experience Him in this way. They don’t know how to find Him and know Him even though He has promised:

"Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).

It is therefore all the more imperative that we live out our lives for God, releasing ourselves to Him and His almighty purposes. God’s desire is to place us alongside these who are seeking Him diligently that they will find Him in us. For Christ said, "He who receives you receives Me, and He who receives Me receives Him who sent Me" (Matthew 10:40).

Let us in the days ahead live lives completely released to God. May they be filled with His love and His wonders that a lost world can find and experience. And may our prayer -- for God’s glory -- be that of David’s:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; 

"Try me, and know my anxieties; 

"And see if there is any wicked way in me;

"And lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).
--30--
For more information about Henry Blackaby's ministry and travel schedule, visit his website at www.blackaby.org, call (770) 603-2900 or contact Blackaby Ministries International, P.O. Box 16338, Atlanta, Ga. 30321.



