The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-08/26/2015 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- KATRINA 2005-15: Gulf Coast church persevered by K. Allan Blume & Seth Brown/North Carolina Biblical Recorder Date: August 26, 2015 - Wednesday EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a series of articles and columns this week in Baptist Press marking the 10-year recovery in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina. GULFPORT, Miss. (BP) -- Shortly after 10 a.m. on a hot Sunday in August 2005, residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast heard the familiar tone of the National Weather Service’s radio warning. “Devastating damage expected,” the report said. Early the next morning, Aug. 29, Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane. Katrina wrecked homes, cars, businesses and churches. But for Chuck Register, executive leader of church planting and missions partnerships for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, it affected more than material possessions. “The storm changed my entire philosophy of ministry,” Register said. Register was in his sixth year as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Gulfport, Miss., when Katrina struck. FBC held an abbreviated worship service that Sunday morning as a “full evacuation order” went out. Only about 50 people, a fraction of the congregation, attended. Wind gusts, reported at more than 100 miles per hour, were only half the danger for Gulfport residents. Properties closest to the beach, including First Baptist, faced the greater threat of a storm surge. The church’s elevation was 19 feet, yet “we sustained water the equivalent of a 32-foot storm surge,” Register said. The storm devastated four of the church’s seven buildings, and the remaining three structures were unusable. Eighty-five families in the congregation lost everything, he added. Brian Upshaw was First Baptist’s senior associate pastor. His main responsibilities were the administration, discipleship and education ministries. Today he is the disciple-making team leader for Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. After the brief Aug. 28 Sunday service, Upshaw made the church facility “as secure as we could make it.” He packed up the church’s computer server and, along with his family, evacuated to Georgia to stay with his wife’s family. “The next day Chuck called and told me the facility was gone,” Upshaw said. “Chuck saw it on TV. I had not seen it yet, but about 30 minutes later I saw it on the news. A news anchor was standing in front of what was left of our facility.” Upshaw drove back to Gulfport on Wednesday with a load of supplies, including generators and fuel. As daylight broke Thursday, the recovery began. With the church directory in hand, the staff began mapping the county and went to the homes of church members. “Those early days were very hectic and crazy, trying to determine what was going on,” he added. Insurance companies had to be contacted -- for his family and for the church. Working without water and electricity, Upshaw faced repairs at every turn. Disaster relief organizations were not able to respond for at least five days. But as the weekend arrived, North Carolina Baptist Men (NCBM) and other relief agencies were figuring out how to get into Gulfport. First Baptist began to implement a series of contingency plans, Register recounted, “for how we would do church without a facility.” Providentially, at a retreat the previous April, the church’s staff speculated on the question, “How would we do church if we didn’t have a facility?” The April retreat was “the hand of God on us,” Upshaw said. “We did what we thought was an intellectual exercise on doing church without a facility. But much of the plan we were able to implement the first five days was a direct result of having those conversations in April. There is no way we could have predicted Katrina, but just the exercise of the staff working through a problem was really beneficial to us.” The first Sunday after the storm, they joined with two other Gulfport churches for worship. First Baptist, Crosspoint Church -- a church plant from FBC -- and First Presbyterian Church met in Crosspoint’s facility. Gulfport High School allowed First Baptist to use its facilities to worship for the following three years. First Baptist’s ministers met at Register’s house in the early days. “We would divvy up the city in sectors and assign those to a different staff member,” he said. “My wife would have cooked supper for us on the camp stove outside. We would have supper, pray together and the next morning we would take care of those sectors of the city.” They repeated the process daily. “We did our disciple-making through home cell groups throughout the week,” he said. “For the next 18 months our days were consumed with pastoral care … trying to help people put their lives back together in that environment. “The body of Christ worked together better than at any moment in my 55-year history,” Register said. “I had several meetings with North American Mission Board personnel and disaster relief teams to help them understand the need.” “The story of North Carolina Baptist Men is the story of our recovery as a city,” Upshaw added. “But the first responder I met was from Henderson Hills Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla. They sent some people down on their own. One of their pastors had seen us on the news and said, ‘I need to go.’ They came by themselves and partnered with us, and that became a critical church partnership over the next few months. “Obviously the organized relief work and the mammoth undertaking that North Carolina Baptist Men did for Gulfport -- I can’t say enough about ... those volunteers who really poured into us and ministered to us,” he emphasized. NCBM were the first feeding unit to arrive. They began what would become a ministry on the Gulf Coast for two and a half years that included more than 40,000 volunteers rebuilding more than 700 homes. Upshaw confessed he learned a lot about ministry fatigue. “The months went on, caring for our own church families’ needs, serving the community, dealing with church administrative issues, trying to find a place to worship, dealing with the nuts and bolts of trying to get an office going, organizing small groups – it’s incredible to think of all that goes into that.” Many of the church’s senior adults were displaced. “They lived in places they thought were safe and secure,” Upshaw said, “but they lost everything. I’m talking about seniors in their 80s having to start over.” No one in the church was killed from the storm’s direct onslaught, but some died from related circumstances -- many of them can be attributed to the trauma of Katrina, Upshaw added. The church held 26 funerals in the 12 months after Katrina. Upshaw praised Register for keeping a focus on the priorities. “I can’t say enough about Chuck’s leadership,” Upshaw said. The preaching of the Word of God every Sunday, ... keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus in the midst of circumstances, trying to provide as much stability in church life as he could so that people whose lives were falling apart had something that was stable.” Recovery and regrowth Before Hurricane Katrina, worship attendance at First Baptist ranged from 750-800. After the storm, the numbers sank to approximately 400. More than 41,000 residents left the Gulfport-Biloxi area in the period between July 2005 and January 2006, according to a report by the Brookings Institution. Many never returned. “The wave of migration out of Gulfport began with young adults,” Register said, because they were the first ones released from jobs. “Then our senior adults began to leave town,” he said. Needing to rebuild their homes, many seniors decided to relocate near their families in other parts of the state or country. After three years without a permanent facility, the church moved into a 58,000 square-foot building on more than 30 acres of land. To make that transition, the church pooled resources from multiple channels. In what Register describes as providential, the insurance committee of the church had reviewed its policies a year before the storm, adding a million dollars to the flood insurance plan. Register also led the church in a capital campaign to raise money for the new facility. “Our folks really had a sense of stewardship, a sense of commitment to the Father and His Kingdom,” he said. “I was very pleased with the way they responded to the capital stewardship campaign at the same time they were trying to rebuild businesses that had been lost, rebuild homes that had been lost, deal with their own set of life crises. … The Father was honored in that.” Reflecting on the hurricane’s effect on his ministry, Register said, “My history had been pastoring churches that had grown significantly, had been recognized by the Billy Graham School [of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary] for their growth … so my ministry had become number-centric.” He had also been a professor of evangelism at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Register described his ministry outlook as, “We had to be larger this Sunday than we were Sunday a year ago.” “What the storm helped me to understand was that for a lot of my ministry I had not been focusing on truly making disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was focused on one-half of the Great Commission -- the evangelistic side of the coin -- but had not focused on the disciple-making side of the coin.” Discipleship became a priority. “If it’s not life-on-life transformation taking place,” Register said, “we’re missing this thing called disciple-making.” The people in the congregation who were significantly involved in discipleship groups “really rose to the occasion following the storm in ministering to fellow believers and in providing leadership to the body of Christ.” This prompted a significant shift in ministry philosophy for Register. “So many things that I thought were critical in ministry pre-storm,” he said, “seemed to be really insignificant post-storm.” He developed “very little tolerance” for self-serving ministry, now wanting to see outward-focused ministry -- among both clergy and congregation -- directed toward “impacting our culture with the Gospel.” A sense of urgency dominated him. “The storm taught me that whatever you’re going to do for God’s glory and for the Kingdom, you better do it now because you don’t know what tomorrow is going to hold,” Register said. Among the lessons Upshaw learned is that lay leadership is extraordinarily valuable in church ministry. Mobilization begins with “empowering the people at the closest level to the situation,” he said. “Trust people that are closest to the situation to make the call ... those volunteers, the lineman from the power company or those disaster relief volunteers on the site -- those are the people that made a difference by making good decisions based on the circumstances they were in.” Although Upshaw already valued the church’s leaders, he said, “I grew in appreciation for the men and women in the church who have an expertise in a certain area -- like insurance -- and gave that expertise to the church. Because of their wisdom, we had a good inventory of church property,” and First Baptist had the insurance coverage needed to rebuild. The greatest lesson God taught him, however, was “God is faithful. We know that. He proved that to us.” Upshaw shared the words of the popular Matt Redman song “Blessed be Your name” that say, “You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, blessed be Your name.” “Every time I hear that song I think of Katrina, because we were placed in a situation where we had to choose to praise the Lord for who He is and not for our circumstances,” Upshaw said. “God is sovereign even in tragedy, we know He has not abandoned us, and He is still worthy of our worship.” -------------------------------------------------------------------- KATRINA 2005-15: Hurricane was 'defining moment' by Dianna L. Cagle/North Carolina Biblical Recorder Date: August 26, 2015 - Wednesday RALEIGH, N.C. (BP) -- Hurricane Katrina was a "defining moment" for North Carolina Baptist Men, the missions organization's leader remembers. "It was amazing that that many people would give up so much time … and there were people who made 20-30 trips who drove every time," Richard Brunson, NCBM executive director, said. "They were taking people with them. It was just amazing … even our on-site coordinators. Some of them quit jobs and went down there and worked." Before Katrina even made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, more than 80 NCBM volunteers with a convoy of supplies gathered in Meridian, Miss., until it was clear to approach the hard-hit areas. Within a week, North Carolina volunteers were serving in at least three cities in Mississippi and a town in Alabama. They started with feeding, laundry, water purification and mudout units. Thousands of volunteers poured in from North Carolina and other states. "Because we got there early, the town, the citizens, the mayor … trusted us a lot," Brunson said. When NCBM was asked to coordinate efforts in Gulfport, Miss., "it was one of those defining moments," he said. "And I think the Lord allowed us to be at a place where there was great need with some really great volunteers who were on-site coordinators." Katrina was among the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, with at least 1,833 people dying in the hurricane and subsequent flooding. NCBM was given the use of an old armory which, with the addition of several bunk trailers, allowed the ministry to host 300 volunteers. Local schools and churches offered more housing for the volunteer influx. "That was a great opportunity for a really strong Christian witness and for God to get the glory for compassion, for service and for volunteers investing their time and money and resources," Brunson said. NCBM maintained three on-site coordinators (couples) in the early days of Katrina who made "huge sacrifices" to be there, Brunson said. Early on, NCBM also sent a medical/dental bus to assess the health of evacuees who had been brought to Raleigh. A medical/dental team also worked with evacuees in Charlotte. The unit based in Meridian moved on to Lafayette, La., on Sept. 26, when Hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast, not even a month after Hurricane Katrina left a wide path of devastation. After food, water and building supplies initially had to be hauled in from out of state, NCBM purchased two tanker units to carry some 5,000 gallons of water. Each night a driver would take a tanker to a military base in Pensacola, Fla., fill up with water and bring it back to Gulfport to assist with food preparation, showers, laundry and to give to residents. "Some of our equipment that we still use we purchased there out of necessity" for Katrina, Brunson said. Around 30,000 volunteers from all 50 states and six countries helped with Katrina recovery efforts during the next two and a half years. The yellow hats and shirts that Southern Baptist Disaster Relief workers wear attracted thanks from people on the street. Physically and spiritually, volunteers made an impact. "If you had on a yellow shirt, people would thank [you]," Brunson said. "People paid for meals at restaurants" for the volunteers. "There was something about Katrina," he said. "It was on the news so much. There were a lot of heartbreaking stories." Volunteers would make the trip down to the Gulf Coast and come back telling stories of what they had seen. Then they would return with other volunteers. During the partnership in Gulfport, NCBM helped with more than 700 houses in the Gulfport area before its work concluded in 2008. Ceremonies on Jan. 12-13 of that year commemorated North Carolina Baptists and their efforts. A Jan. 19, 2008, story in North Carolina Baptists' Biblical Recorder newspaper quoted Brunson from an event at the armory where thousands of volunteers were based during recovery efforts: "Thank you for making us from North Carolina feel like your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, your sons and daughters." Volunteers were recognized at Gulfport's First Baptist Church where Chuck Register was pastor. Register is now the executive leader of church planting and missions partnerships for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC). Another service was hosted by the city of Gulfport, also held at First Baptist. The Gulfport City Council proclaimed Jan. 13 as "North Carolina Baptist Men Appreciation Day." Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour announced a similar decree. "Our lives are richer and will never be the same," Milton A. Hollifield Jr., BSC executive director-treasurer, said at the time. "We learned a lot" The situation caused NCBM to jump-start its childcare ministry as well as expand its feeding capacity. Sleeper units were new to NCBM for Katrina. Since then, they have been used at other disaster sites. "We learned a lot about being there long-term," including the importance of on-site coordinators, Brunson said. "If you can provide housing, meals, logistics, you can make it possible for a lot more people to get involved in missions." NCBM's two mission camp facilities -- Red Springs and Shelby -- came directly out of what the ministry learned through Katrina. And Red Springs was the recipient of the kitchen used at the Gulfport armory as well as beds, mattresses, folding chairs and many of the tools bought or donated during the Katrina recovery efforts. "Every disaster is different," Brunson said, noting that NCBM leaders realized they could recreate some of the logistics at the facilities to offer ongoing opportunities for volunteers. "We realized these people who are driving from North Carolina have big hearts and have all kinds of skills and are making a difference in people's lives," he said. "If we can get them to continue … let's provide opportunities anytime they want to go to impact people physically and spiritually." In addition to its mission camp locations, NCBM offers training opportunities in the spring in various parts of the state so people can get certified for various ministries. Currently, NCBM is in a long-term partnership in New Jersey involving Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. "Sandy wasn't on the news nearly as much as Katrina," Brunson said. There is an ongoing need for volunteers there as well as at other sites. Brunson credits Katrina with NCBM's willingness to commit to more long-term projects like Sandy. NCBM receives funding through the North Carolina Missions Offering (ncmissionsoffering.org), which also supports church planting, associational projects, mission camps and mobilization ministry projects. NCBM also benefits from gifts made directly to the ministry at baptistsonmission.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Children give to help those in need by Lily Jameson Date: August 26, 2015 - Wednesday COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP) -- Through giving their pennies, nickels and dimes and more, kids at Circle Drive Baptist Church are seeking to help others through Baptist Global Response. “Children can make a difference right now by giving and by praying,” Circle Drive Children’s Ministry Director Kathy Routt in Colorado Springs, Colo., said. “But, they’re also future givers and … those who are going to care for people around the world.” For the past several years, the church’s children’s ministry has encouraged kids to raise money to help Haitian earthquake survivors recover from disaster, to buy pigs for Southeast Asian pastors who need income sources and more. This past spring, they raised money for Baptist Global Response’s work with Middle Eastern refugees. The humanitarian aid organization facilitates, on behalf of Southern Baptists, hundreds of projects in more than 50 countries by providing the basics of life, such as food, water and shelter. To assist BGR in helping feed and shelter the displaced, children set up a booth at Circle Drive Baptist Church and gave away homemade coasters and baked goods in exchange for donations. At the end of the fundraiser, about $1,200 had been collected. “[The children] were so excited,” Routt said. “They were amazed. To kids … that’s a huge amount of money to them.” Before embarking on the project, Routt made sure her students understood the needs they were addressing. She says she told them about the millions of refugees who have fled multiple conflicts in places like Syria, and then she made the story personal. She asked the children about what they would do if someone knocked on their door and told them they had 10 minutes to flee their house before enemy forces invaded. What would they bring with them? How would they transport their possessions? What would they eat when they reached a safe place? Then, without Routt leading them, the children prayed. They prayed the refugees would find safety, food, shelter and hope through Christ. “Hearing them pray for the people really helps you know that they got it,” Routt said. The kids at Circle Drive Baptist Church are not alone. Children like this are now mounting fundraisers and making donations all over the country, says BGR Executive Director Jeff Palmer. He noted donations from Vacation Bible School offerings have increased dramatically over the past two years. For instance, Piner Baptist Church in Morning View, Ky., submitted a VBS offering of more than $2,000 to help Nepal earthquake survivors rebuild their lives. The VBS at Urbancrest Baptist Church in Lebanon, Ohio, also gave more than $1,200 toward whatever project needed funds the most. In an email, senior pastor Tom Pendergrass writes that one third-grader from Urbancrest donated nearly $100. He told his parents other children needed the money more than he did. “It’s challenging to my faith,” Palmer said. “If a 10-year-old or a 5-year-old can do that, why can’t I do more?” -------------------------------------------------------------------- KATRINA 2005-15: 'We remember' by David Hankins Date: August 26, 2015 - Wednesday EDITOR'S NOTE: David Hankins is executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. This is part of a series of columns and articles this week in Baptist Press marking the 10-year recovery in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina. ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) -- It's hard to believe it has been 10 years since Hurricane Katrina left her mark across southeast Louisiana. Who can forget how we felt when we saw the broken levees, the flooded homes and churches, the devastation at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the Superdome refugees and the broken lives. Just a month later, approximately 200 miles to the west, Lake Charles and southwest Louisiana were coming to grips with the devastation left by Hurricane Rita. As Baptists from New Orleans returned home to the devastation, Southern Baptists were there with hot meals, prayer, counsel and their own sweat to start the process of rebuilding. While we helped those in need, opportunity after opportunity occurred, and Southern Baptists shared the transforming Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dennis Watson, pastor of Celebration Church in New Orleans, saw firsthand the combined strength of Southern Baptists. Within two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, Celebration Church's relief center was serving thousands of families. "This was for a period of nine months," Watson recounted, "and with the help of over 20,000 volunteers," most of whom were Southern Baptists. Through all of the disaster relief, recovery and rebuilding, thousands of people came to faith in Christ. Celebration Church reaches more people now than it did before the storm. David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist in New Orleans, relays a similar experience: "Our local association, state convention and national entities were very important in the immediate aftermath of the storm and through years of rebuilding. "Katrina washed our people out of the building and into the streets of our city," Crosby said. "This may be the reason God allowed the storm to come -- to change the way we do church." From across the country, thousands of volunteers from churches and schools came to help with the recovery. More than 3,500 volunteers from 404 churches, 34 state conventions and multiple associations assisted with the rebuilding of First Baptist in Chalmette. Pastor John Jeffries says the storm refocused their evangelistic endeavors. Down the road from Chalmette is Poydras, where John Galey serves as pastor of Poydras Baptist Church. "We had five feet of water throughout all three of our buildings [auditorium, educational building and fellowship hall]. Almost all of St. Bernard Parish was under water," Galey said. When he returned October 2005, he was the first Southern Baptist pastor in the parish. The Missouri Baptist Convention adopted St. Bernard Parish and volunteers from Missouri poured into the area. Galey noted that "Missouri Baptists helped us when we could not even help ourselves." Since Katrina, churches like Celebration, First Baptist, Poydras and others are experiencing the phenomenon of members engaging the community in multiple and creative ways. New churches have started in the New Orleans area that reflect a passion to reach various people groups that live in the heart of the city and surrounding areas. Today we are better prepared for a disaster. We know more about mobilizing people and resources for relief and rebuilding. We've learned the value of communicating and networking together. For Louisiana Baptists, we've learned afresh the importance of Southern Baptists cooperating together with the goal of permeating one of our nation's great cities with the Gospel. This fall, in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of Katrina, Louisiana Baptists will launch our Here for You initiative. This multi-platform, multi-year media strategy is designed to give every person in the state the opportunity to say "yes" to a relationship with Jesus. So 10 years later, we remember the prayers, support and volunteers who flooded into our state. We remember how blessed we are to be a part of a family of believers who rally around each other during such catastrophic times. And we remember the challenge of our Lord to share His love with those living in New Orleans and beyond. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Baptist leaders respond to Ashley Madison news by David Roach Date: August 26, 2015 - Wednesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- With the potential affairs of millions exposed by a hack of the adultery-facilitating Ashley Madison website, Southern Baptist leaders have offered counsel to affected families, churches and individuals. "We are already hearing stories of families torn apart, of children terrified about what is happening to their dad, and of the tragedy of suicide," LifeWay Christian Resources President Thom Rainer wrote in an Aug. 26 blog post. "Church leaders cannot respond in their own power. God, however, can provide them all they need to respond in such a time of tragedy and hurt." The Ashley Madison website was launched in 2001 as a matchmaking site for people in committed relationships seeking to have affairs. The site's slogan was "Life is short. Have an affair." In July, hackers stole the personal data of more than 30 million of the site's users and released it online in August, according to media reports. Frank S. Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, responded to news of the site in a written statement, "The Bible states in Romans 8:5 that those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. "Scripture encourages us to keep our focus and minds upon that which makes us more like Christ. Oh, may every follower of Christ so live that we serve our Lord with a whole heart -- a heart that is devoted totally in its focus upon Christ," he noted. "This is the great antidote to the allures of the flesh. Russell Moore, president of Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, tweeted Aug. 25, "Seeing one family after another torn apart by the Ashley Madison scandal. Another one tonight. Awful and wrenching." Though "adultery is not new in the Christian world," Rainer wrote, "it seemed to be more problematic" surrounding the Ashley Madison data breach. "Those who committed adultery had their names on the Internet for all to see." He suggested several "ways church leaders and members can deal with the Ashley Madison scandal if it comes to your church." Pastors "must lead" by acknowledging the scandal of publicized adultery and addressing it with grace, Rainer wrote. "To be grace-filled does not mean we minimize the sins of adultery, lying, and betrayal," he wrote. "But it is incredibly sad and tragic when Christians on the list have more to fear and less hope than non-believers on the list. I fear that some Christians will retreat into a mode of legalism and judgment when grace should be pervasive." The goal of ministry to those who have committed adultery is restoration to the church body, Rainer wrote, acknowledging church discipline as a potential path to restoration. Leaders "must understand the extensive nature" of damage done by extramarital affairs to both families and entire congregations, Rainer wrote. "It will take months, even years, for healing to take place fully. Pastors and other church leaders must be prepared to deal with this for the long haul." Rainer concluded, "You church leaders who are dealing with this tragedy have my prayers. You families impacted by this tragedy have my prayers. And you who are on the list have my prayers as well. Now is the time for the body of Christ to be one of grace, healing, and restoration." Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, wrote in an Aug. 26 blog post that someone told him in conversation, "I'm on the Ashley Madison list" and then asked, "Now what?" Stetzer's first admonition to anyone asking that question was not to commit suicide. "No matter how large the offense looms before you, suicide is not the way to confront your failure," Stetzer wrote. "Let's be blunt: your actions at Ashley Madison hurt the people you love. Don't hurt them again -- and more." Stetzer's other counsel included: -- "Get right with God." -- "Cast everything on Him." -- "Confess to your spouse," even if you signed up with Ashley Madison but did not have a physical affair. -- "Confess to someone else." To pastors who signed up with the adultery site, Stetzer advised, "Confess to your church." "If you've committed adultery, you are now disqualified [from] ministry," he wrote to pastors. "If you signed up for Ashley Madison (or any similar site), but never had a physical affair, you should still confess. Registering and paying a membership fee for the opportunity to commit adultery is steps beyond a lustful glance on the sidewalk. "If your church considers the membership alone egregious enough to disqualify your ministry, or at least calls for an extended break for counseling (which I'd strongly recommend), trust God, and love your church," Stetzer wrote. Stetzer concluded with a reminder that God's care extends even to pastors who commit adultery. "You've caused pain, you'll suffer pain, but God remains the Great Physician," Stetzer wrote. "He can heal your soul and the souls of those around you. "You may feel desperate, but do not despair," Stetzer continued. "Weep instead. Grieve for what you have done, but look to God and come clean. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead can lift you. And, He will." In an Aug. 25 blog post, Stetzer said the rampant adultery evidenced by the Ashley Madison data leak is the fruit of the sexual revolution. "Many are reaping what they have sown individually," he wrote, "but we are also reaping what we have sown culturally." Stetzer noted, "As the Ashley Madison leak moves from a big data file and glaring headlines on a computer, to strained conversations or screaming matches around the kitchen table, maybe it's worth asking, 'Is this really what we wanted as a society?'" Ashley Madison is correct in its assertion that earthly "life is short," Stetzer wrote. But the appropriate response to that reality includes faithfulness in marriage and repentance when we sin. "If you are on the list, or know someone who is, a key word is repentance, and there is a word that comes after that -- forgiveness. That will not free us from consequences, but it does point us to Jesus. He is able to lead us past the pain and lies of Ashley Madison and into the grace and truth He provides," Stetzer wrote. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Seminary community mourns loss of John Gibson by Gary D. Myers Date: August 26, 2015 - Wednesday NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- The first day of a new semester was marred by sadness as New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Leavell College students learned of the death of John Gibson, professor of communication. Gibson, 56, died Aug. 24. A memorial service for Gibson, known for his acts of kindness within the seminary community, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 28, in Leavell Chapel on the seminary campus in a joint service with First Baptist Church in New Orleans where Gibson's wife Christi has served as minister of discipleship and missions. Gibson was discovered at his home on the seminary campus at approximately 5:30 p.m. Aug. 24 by his wife when she arrived home from work. After finding Gibson unresponsive, she immediately notified emergency medical services. EMS workers were unable to revive Gibson, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of death is still undetermined. Gibson was elected to the faculty of Leavell College (called the College of Undergraduate Studies at the time) in 1998. Before joining the faculty, Gibson led the seminary's student enlistment department and served as director of alumni relations and church minister relations. "John was a popular member of our Leavell College faculty," NOBTS President Chuck Kelley said. "He was particularly known for his acts of kindness to the seminary family. John was the quintessential good neighbor." Gibson worked tirelessly in his spare time providing free car repair for countless seminary students. Often, Kelley said, Gibson purchased parts out of his own pocket and refused to receive repayment from students. Thomas Strong, dean of Leavell College, said, "As a colleague, he was known as one to express care and compassion in a tangible way both to our students and to our faculty. John was loved by the students because of his love for the ministry and for them; he was always a favorite. Our hearts are saddened as we miss greatly a significant part of our Leavell College family -- a colleague -- a friend. We are better because of John and the way God used him in our lives." Born in Louisiana to a long line of Baptist ministers, Gibson spent many of his formative years in Mississippi where his father served in pastoral ministry. He earned master of divinity and doctor of theology degrees at NOBTS and an undergraduate degree from Mississippi College. Gibson served as youth minister and senior pastor at numerous churches in Louisiana and Mississippi. At the time of his death, he was pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Pearlington, Miss., a community located on the banks of the Pearl River. The town of Pearlington was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Gibson worked tirelessly with recovery efforts there and in New Orleans where he lived. Leavell College students were notified of Gibson's death during the first class period Aug. 25. Morning classes were dismissed and students were encouraged to gather in the Hardin Student Center with friends, professors, area pastors and members of the local collegiate ministry staff as they processed the news. The seminary's Leeke Magee Christian Counseling Center set aside a special time for members of the seminary family to receive counseling services beginning Aug. 25. The impact Gibson made on the seminary campus was evident by the outpouring of appreciation, grief and shock that appeared on social media following the announcement of his death. Students, alumni, faculty and staff posted numerous, poignant statements about the professor on Facebook and Twitter. Many shared stories of a timely car repair by Gibson while others shared lessons learned under his teaching. Kelley asked for prayer for the Gibson family and the entire NOBTS community in this time of loss. In addition to his wife Christi, he is survived by two adult children: Callie, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, and Trey, an undergraduate student at Louisiana State University. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be made to the John Gibson Servant Leadership Fund established at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, c/o Institutional Advancement, 3939 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70126 or online at www.nobts.edu. -------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC entities back GuideStone at high court by Tom Strode Date: August 26, 2015 - Wednesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- Three Southern Baptist entities have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling against the convention’s health and financial benefits organization in a crucial religious freedom case. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed Aug. 24, GuideStone Financial Resources received support from other Southern Baptist Convention entities in its challenge to the Obama administration’s abortion/contraception mandate. The International Mission Board, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary -- as well as Southern’s president, R. Albert Mohler Jr. -- called in the brief for the high court to grant the appeal by GuideStone and other ministries. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver declined in July 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 regulation requires employers to provide for their workers not only contraceptives but drugs and devices that can potentially cause abortions. GuideStone, along with two of the ministries that participate in its health plans, joined the Little Sisters of the Poor and other organizations in appealing the 10th Circuit decision to the Supreme Court. The case is one of seven appeals before the high court of mandate rulings unfavorable to religious institutions. The justices are expected to consider review of the appeals from the religious institutions in late September or early October. The high court will open its next term Oct. 5, the first day for oral arguments. In their brief, the SBC entities and Mohler say Christian and Southern Baptist doctrine teach it is a sin to support directly or indirectly the killing of an unborn child through abortion. “[A] statute or regulation requiring a Southern Baptist individual or ministry to be complicit in conduct the Christian faith teaches is morally wrong forces that person or ministry into an impossible choice -- to either violate conscience or violate the law -- and imposes a substantial burden on the exercise of religion,” the brief says. In comments provided to Baptist Press, Mohler said, “We need to stand in every way with those seeking to protect the rights of religious conscience over against the tyranny of the state. In this case, we have the Obama administration telling Christian institutions when Christian conviction should and should not apply. That is simply not the role of the United States government, and that’s why this case is so important.” ERLC President Russell Moore described the case as crucial for “the preservation of religious liberty.” “A government that can pave over the consciences of some can steamroll over dissent everywhere,” Moore told BP. “My prayer is that the Supreme Court will once again intervene in this administration's cavalier disregard for soul freedom and uphold God-given rights of conscience, not just of religious Americans but of all Americans." GuideStone welcomed the support from its fellow Southern Baptists, as well as the 20 states and various other organizations that filed briefs Aug. 24. “This support is affirming, and we hope and pray that the Supreme Court will decide to hear the arguments in this case,” GuideStone General Counsel Harold R. Loftin Jr. said in a news release. In spite of its July ruling, the 10th Circuit announced Aug. 21 it would maintain the preliminary injunction provided GuideStone by a federal judge nearly two years ago while the appeal to the Supreme Court proceeds. The IMB and the ERLC also filed a friend-of-the-court brief Aug. 10 in support of another mandate appeal to the high court by Houston Baptist University, East Texas Baptist University and Westminster Theological Seminary. The cases are two of 56 involving religious non-profit organizations that object to the rule issued in 2011 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help implement the health-care law enacted the previous year, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. HHS provided an exemption to the rule for churches and their auxiliaries but did not extend it to non-church-related, non-profit organizations that object. It issued an accommodation for religious non-profits, but many of those ministries or institutions have found it unacceptable. In its latest version announced in July, HSS finalized a rule 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 non-profit with payments to cover the services. Religious liberty and pro-life advocates find the rule woefully lacking, contending it is basically an accounting gimmick that makes the religious organizations channels through which coverage for contraceptives and potentially abortion-causing drugs is provided. In their brief, the SBC entities and Mohler tell the Supreme Court, “In light of the broad scope of the Christian faith and the Southern Baptist theological opposition to abortion, [the organizations appealing to the justices] cannot, as a matter of doctrine and conscience, distribute abortion-inducing drugs and devices directly or indirectly by authorizing, obligating, or incentivizing a third party -- and particularly their own third-party administrators -- to use Petitioners’ health plans to provide such drugs and devices to others. Scripture and Southern Baptist belief prohibit not only direct and personal wrongdoing, but also complicity in doing what the Christian believes to be sin.” The brief filed by the IMB, ERLC, Southern Seminary and Mohler points to the Baptist Faith and Message, the SBC’s statement of faith, and a series of pro-life resolutions adopted by messengers at annual meetings for more than three decades. Southern Baptists “have a firm and well-known theological opposition to abortion, and the Southern Baptist Convention has repeatedly expressed its opposition to abortion in the strongest terms,” according to the brief. The mandate “substantially burdens the religious exercise of Petitioners’ Christian ministries by imposing draconian fines for acts specifically mandated by Christian doctrine,” the brief says. It asks the Supreme Court to review “whether centuries-old religious groups may practice their historic beliefs free from intrusive regulation.” The abortion/contraception mandate violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), according to the brief. RFRA requires the government to have a compelling interest and to use the least narrow means to burden a person’s religious exercise. GuideStone is exempt from the mandate and accompanying fines, but it serves ministries that face hefty penalties for failure to abide by the rule. Two of those -- Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Ga., and Oklahoma City-based Reaching Souls International -- joined GuideStone in the suit. Truett-McConnell College is affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention, and Reaching Souls is a missions organization that trains Africans to reach their continent with the Gospel of Christ. Little Sisters of the Poor -- which joined GuideStone in appealing to the Supreme Court -- is a Roman Catholic order of nuns that serves the needy in Denver. The HHS mandate 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 even act after implantation to end the life of the child. Among other organizations filing briefs Aug. 24 in support of GuideStone and its allies were the Christian Legal Society, American Center for Law and Justice, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and a group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis.