The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-09/01/2016 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-like disaster needs monumental response by Baptist Message & BP Staff Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday DENHAM SPRINGS, La. (BP) -- A church van apparently caused a stir in one flood-ravaged town in south Louisiana. A 12-person team traveled to hard-hit Denham Springs on Saturday, Aug. 20. The disaster relief volunteers -- from Longview Baptist Church in Deville, 120 miles to the northwest -- were only able to mud-out a couple of houses. The next week, however, Longview's phone lit up. "[O]ther people in the neighborhood saw our van, wrote down the name of our church, Googled it to get our number I would guess, and have been calling non-stop since Monday," pastor Robby Poole recounted to Louisiana's Baptist Message on Aug. 26. "This [cleanup] is not going to end this week, the next week, next month, or next year," Poole told the Message, newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. "These families desperately need our help. We are being the hands and feet of Jesus and the gratitude of these families' faces speaks louder than words," the pastor said. "It is important these people know they are not alone." Longview is one of hundreds of Louisiana churches outside the 20-parish flood zone that are sending volunteers to tackle mud-out, mold removal and related services for stricken churches and homeowners, the Message reported. An estimated 1,000 disaster relief volunteers from across Louisiana and 22 other state conventions are on the field on any given day, according to the Message, since the historic flooding began Saturday morning, Aug. 13, after 48 hours of likewise-historic rainfall. The unfolding recovery effort will need "the biggest mobilization of manpower since Hurricane Katrina," John Hebert, the Louisiana convention's director of missions, stated. The monumental task facing Louisiana encompasses a now-estimated 155,000 homes that were destroyed or damaged. This figure is about two-and-a-half times the number previously reported. For Baptists, the challenge also extends to an updated total of 75 flood-battered churches and 70 pastors whose homes were lost or damaged. Hebert is hopeful for a large influx of volunteers during the three-day Labor Day weekend. "Look, I thank God for the help and support we have been getting from all over the United States," Hebert said. "So far, we have received $260,000 in donations, received countless truckloads of much-needed supplies and food, and lots of prayers. "But now we are praying God will stir a great army of volunteers to come and help us try to get ahead of this thing," Hebert said. "To every volunteer, church, association and neighbor, I just want to say God bless you." Battling mold is becoming critical, Poole said after Longview's second trip to Denham Springs on Aug. 25, noting, "In this heat and humidity it is literally spreading like wildfire." Protocol for disaster relief volunteer deployment by the Louisiana Baptist Convention entails completion of a sign-up form posted at https://louisianabaptists.org/volunteerDR. An area coordinator then will contact groups/individuals about key locations where assistance is needed. Additional information about the convention's relief initiatives, as well as a link for providing financial assistance, can be accessed at LouisianaBaptists.org/DisasterRelief or the Baptist Message website, BaptistMessage.com. To date, Baptist relief kitchens have prepared more than a quarter-million meals; cleanup crews have completed 400 work orders; and volunteers, in sharing their faith, have helped more than 60 flood survivors turn to faith in Christ. The Louisiana convention has provided financial assistance to pastors in the flood zone, the Message reported Aug. 25. They also are eliciting church partners for the congregations whose facilities were inundated by water. "Many of the area pastors are working in their communities in addition to tending to their own needs," said David Hankins, the Louisiana convention's executive director. "We want them to know we stand with them during this difficult and demanding time and will do everything we can to assist them in every way possible," Hankins said. "Louisiana Baptists are again showing their commitment to the Lord and their communities by their quick and sacrificial response to this historical event," he added. "Our state missions staff is working with area [directors of missions] in an attempt to account for every pastor and every church in the affected areas." Amid the sudden onslaught of rain and flooding, reports of the miraculous have emerged. At Don Avenue Baptist Church in Denham Springs, the facility's interior was destroyed by 6 feet of flooding from the Amite River. But the Lord's Supper table was lifted by the floodwater and moved out a side door of the worship center, around a corner in the hallway and turned 90 degrees against the flow to keep it in place in the back corridor -- with the church Bible and offering plates intact. "I just thought of Jesus' declaration in Matthew, that 'heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away," said Patti Higginbotham, whose husband Tom is the church's pastor. "I immediately sent a text to everyone in the church to encourage them with the news. I believe it was a way God was telling us He sees us and knows about our situation in this disaster. "He preserves His Word in our hearts," she said, "but He also saw fit to preserve the tangible Word, the church Bible." When the congregation met in a sister church for worship Aug. 21, they used the preserved offering plates while the protected Bible was on display for all to see. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Replant Lab aims at reducing number of dying churches by Meredith Yackel Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- What about a dying church says that our God is great and His Gospel is powerful? This question came to Mark Clifton, national director of replanting at the North American Mission Board, as he stood in front of a declining church in Kansas City. After planting churches across Canada for 25 years, Clifton had moved back to his hometown of Kansas City, Mo., with the intention to continue planting, before God challenged his thinking about declining churches. "I left Canada, which had 150 Baptist churches across six time zones and moved to Kansas City, which had 132 Southern Baptist churches in just two counties," said Clifton at the opening session of the first National Replant Lab hosted Aug. 29-30 by NAMB. "I looked at these churches and realized a lot of them were struggling. What I had done in the past as a church planter, was to see a declining church, and then go across the street to plant something brand new. I felt dying churches were like a black hole, and there was nothing you could do. "You must realize that when that church was built, those planters raised a banner for Christ in that community," Clifton said, "and striking that banner is a serious issue." NAMB Research has determined that in recent years, the Southern Baptist Convention has lost around 900 churches every year. Seventy-seven percent of the cities those churches were in had more than 100,000 residents and 90 percent of those churches were in growing communities -- striking down the presumption that declining churches are only in rural or declining areas. Clifton noted that although NAMB's desire is to see 1,200 churches planted a year, "if we are losing 900, we are only netting 300." "That doesn't even begin to keep up with the population growth. We have got to reduce the number of dying churches." National Replant Lab is an event hosted by NAMB's replant team to help pastors discover their calling to replant, discern when a church is a candidate for a replant and learn how to partner with a replant. Their heartbeat as a team is to discover how God, for His glory, can bring new life to declining churches. Henry Blackaby could rightly be called the patriarch of the current church replant movement. Blackaby accepted his first replant call in 1970, moving his family to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in an act of obedience that would give rise to the groundbreaking "Experiencing God," 38 church plants, a Bible college and more. Blackaby, and his son, Richard, spoke during the Monday evening session of the Replant Lab. "The key is obedience," Henry Blackaby said. "When the Lord speaks, don't discuss it with Him. Do it. Too many pastors are practicing religious activity but do not have a vibrant relationship with the Lord." Richard Blackaby told the gathering that he and his father's recent book, "Flickering Lamps: Christ and His Church," is aimed at helping declining churches reclaim their significance as the bride of Christ. "Could the risen Christ be enough for a church?" asked the younger Blackaby. "It would be better for a church to die than to represent Him poorly. What does a church need to gain the proper perspective? A church needs the presence of the risen Christ." Blackaby said God knows the condition of the local church and that He is asking many of them to stop something. "Stop making excuses," Blackaby said. "Stop talking about yourself. Tell people about Me. Help your people meet Me." Other sessions at the event covered topics like emotional and spiritual health, theology and leadership, characteristics of a replanter, pathways for replanting and ecclesiology that values replanting. In the closing session Bob Bickford, a NAMB church planting catalyst on the replant team, wrapped up the event with a session called, "counting the cost." "This isn't short-term. It's not a three-month, six-month or year-long ordeal," Bickford said. "You should plan on staying at least five years. This will not come without pain and suffering, but God redeems the pain and your suffering yields sweet fruit. There's a cost and you have to be ready. So before you go, count the cost." The 170-plus attendees boasted in ethnical, geographical and generational diversity, ranging from 70-year-old deacons with no current pastor to state convention leadership, church planting catalysts, associational directors of missions, pastors and church staff. "Words cannot express how thankful I am for the experience I had at the Replant Lab," said Dusty Raines, pastor of Welcome Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C. "It was top-notch. I would love to see this turn into an annual event where replanters can gather for worship, encouragement, learning, networking and sharing their hurts and victories." "Am I coming back?" wrote Gabriel C. Stoval, Georgia state missionary for church planting and church revitalization, on his blog after the event. "Most definitely, and bringing friends! Thanks so much, NAMB, for providing so many pastors a departure from the norm of church growth and church health conferences and conversations." "In areas where there is a spiritual desert and people are dying for living water," Clifton noted, "the adversary has come and filled in these wells and stopped them up. The work of a replanter is to dig out these wells, because I believe the water is still there." Are you interested becoming a replanter or learning more about how your church can become a replant? Learn more at namb.net/church-replanting/interest-form. Read more from replanters across North America on the Church Replanters blog churchreplanters.com. Check out #ReplantLab on Twitter to see what others had to say about the event. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: God is still in our schools by Lee Clamp Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday COLUMBIA, S.C. (BP) -- Watching sand pass through an hourglass always captivated me as a child. It seemed as though the mass of sand would never pass through the bottleneck, but in quick order the final grains fell. There is a bottleneck where nearly every person over the next 20 years will pass. The church could surround this bottleneck and change communities and impact every life in across the nation over a few decades. Some churches have realized the great strategic value and have already gotten started. The bottleneck: your local school. Only 3 percent of children are homeschooled here in South Carolina. This means that 97 percent of a generation of children will flow through an elementary school, private or public, over the next 10 years. Not only will they flow through, but their parents will be engaged at some level as well. God hasn't been taken out of our public schools. He is there every day, living inside Christian children, educators and volunteer parents. In some cases, however, the church has walked away from our public schools. There is a movement of churches reengaging schools through service. Some are providing teacher support and encouragement. Others are providing backpacks filled with food for free- and reduced-lunch children for the weekend. Other churches are sending volunteers to read to children once a week and providing after-school tutoring. In every case, they have the opportunity to continue the conversation outside of school time with their families. The South Carolina Department of Education has even opened an Office of Family & Community Engagement to connect every school with a community organization that will serve and volunteer. Molly Spearman, South Carolina's superintendent of education, said, "You may not be able to talk about Jesus in our public schools, but you can come and act like Him." She has already communicated to school superintendents that it is okay to allow churches to serve in their schools. The traditional question of evangelism asked by Christians is "If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?" The new question that is emerging will be asked by the lost: "Who are you? And why are you here helping me?" When you serve in your local school, get ready to give an answer to that question. As you serve, you help the school with their business of educating children and making communities a better place. Serving will, in turn, help you see doors of opportunities fling open in families' lives to share the hope of the Gospel. In the rural town of Williston, S.C., First Baptist Church decided to minister to the Title I school across the street, which had few volunteers. When they checked with the principal, she responded they needed reading help. Church members came alongside the school, hosted a literacy night and read with the children on a weekly basis. The school has been thrilled with the partnership so much that they gave them a classroom to turn into their own reading center to meet with children throughout the week. Other churches have joined the movement. Your church can as well. These are the days of your life. Make them count and saturate every life with the hope of the Gospel. -------------------------------------------------------------------- TRUSTEES: LifeWay budget approved, new facility reports shared by Carol Pipes Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- LifeWay Christian Resources trustees approved a 2017 budget, and heard progress reports on LifeWay's new headquarters during their board meeting Aug. 29-30 at Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, N.C. LifeWay President and CEO Thom S. Rainer told trustees, "I can honestly say LifeWay's future is brighter than ever." "I could not be more proud of LifeWay's employees and those who make up the leadership team as I watch God work through them to provide 'biblical solutions for life,'" Rainer said, emphasizing LifeWay's vision statement. He reminded trustees that with every resource LifeWay produces and sells, they ask three questions rooted in the statement: "Is it trustworthy? Is it effective? Is it transformational?" Rainer gave a progress report on the entity's new facility being built in downtown Nashville, showing artist's renderings of the outside elevations, lobby and cafeteria. "We believe our new location is a place where we can truly build community and demonstrate in word and deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Rainer also announced Connia Nelson as the new senior human resources director. Nelson has served as senior vice president of HR at Verizon since 2007, where she was responsible for 175,000 employees. She and her husband Darrell are members of The Life Christian Church in West Orange, N.J. "To have someone of Connia's caliber join LifeWay is another example of how God is working in an incredible way," Rainer said. A native of Indiana, Nelson earned a bachelor of science in business at Indiana State University, where she also serves on the president's board of advisors. She received her master of arts in organizational management from Dallas Baptist University in Dallas, Texas. In 2009, Diversity Journal named Nelson one of the "Most Influential African Americans in Business." She has received numerous awards and recognition throughout her career. Budget approval LifeWay trustees approved a 2017 budget of $501,369,000 million, which reflects a nearly 1 percent increase over 2016 projected revenue. Jerry Rhyne, CFO and vice president of finance and business services, told trustees 2016 has been a strong year financially for LifeWay. "We have developed next year's budget with a modest revenue increase," Rhyne said. "We are ending the year on a strong note and are thankful for God's provision." New trustees Trustees approved the nomination of Matthew Crawford, pastor of First Baptist Church, Sebring, Fla., to fill the vacancy of James Wells, a trustee from Florida who resigned his position on the LifeWay Board of Trustees. The board also approved the nomination of H.B. Charles, pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla., to fill the vacancy of Robert Greene, a trustee from Florida who also resigned his position on the board. Crawford and Charles will serve as interim trustees until the Southern Baptist Convention elects directors to fill the unexpired terms of Wells and Greene next summer. Trustees also welcomed new trustees who began their terms with the August meeting. New trustees include Dan Cho, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cambridge, Mass.; Yana Conner, women's ministry director at Oaks Church Raleigh in Raleigh, N.C.; Thomas Hammond, pastor of First Baptist Church, Alpharetta, Ga.; Luther McDaniel, a member of First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, Tenn.; Bob Pearle, pastor of Birchman Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas; and Clayton Speed, pastor of First Baptist Church, Hartselle, Ala. Each of LifeWay's divisional vice presidents reported updates and status of their priority projects and strategies including Executive Vice President Brad Waggoner and Selma Wilson, vice president of organizational development. They updated trustees on the ongoing transitions as LifeWay prepares to relocate to its new headquarters next year. "Every part of LifeWay is changing, not just our headquarters," Wilson said, "but we've seen employees leaning in and adapting well." Waggoner, who oversees the new building project, said LifeWay has an excellent relationship with the building's developer, architect and construction contractor. LifeWay has involved those companies in chapel services and solicited prayer requests from their employees. "They have told me it's rare to work on a project like this," he said. Retail In sharing about LifeWay Christian Stores, Cossy Pachares, vice president of retail, announced significant changes to local stores. "Over the next 30 days, we are reflowing every book in our stores, so people can more easily find biblical resources on the topics they need." He also pointed to a nearly $2 million redesign of kids' areas planned for next year in LifeWay Stores nationwide and said additional changes are being made to better help both individual customers and church staff make the most of their time in a local LifeWay store. Resources Resources Division Vice President Eric Geiger highlighted several successful resources such as SmallGroup.com, which has seen monthly growth since it was launched a year and a half ago, and The Gospel Project, which has grown to more than 1 million weekly users in only four years. He also directed trustees to the number of people impacted by LifeWay events. In 2016, close to 3 million individuals attended one of LifeWay's events, including Vacation Bible School, with more than 83,000 making a spiritual decision. Geiger also noted the expansion of LifeWay outside the borders of the U.S. In 2016 LifeWay trained more than with 300 Chinese pastors in "Experiencing God" and hosted two Vacation Bible Schools in India. In addition, he previewed Disciples Path, an intentional one-year discipleship plan for groups or one-on-one discipleship. Technology Vice President and CIO Tim Hill reported the technology division is leading LifeWay in developing new digital solutions for the organization. "We're excited to be partnering with the retail division to update their point of sale and merchandising systems," Hill said. "The new system will position us to streamline our processes and simplify the work of the employee." One of the largest projects facing information technology is moving the organization's 900 computer servers to an off-site data center. Other projects include a new HR applicant tracking system and a partnership with the North American Mission Board to develop a new training platform for church planters. Finance In addition to presenting the 2016 budget report and 2017 proposed budget, Rhyne reported on the organization's finances, told trustees Ridgecrest Conference Center and Camps have had a good year, hosting more than 63,000 guests, and noted that LifeWay's employees have done a good job holding down health care costs for the organization. "We have much to be thankful for," Rhyne said. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Sad' Russian anti-evangelism law ends a ministry by Diana Chandler Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday ORYOL, Russia (BP) -- Missionaries Donald and Ruth Ossewaarde always suspected their Gospel ministry in Oryol, Russia, wouldn't last when they began in 2002, he told Baptist Press by telephone from his home in the central Russian town of 320,000. But he had not expected to be among the first people arrested under Russia's new law prohibiting organizations from evangelizing outside church walls and without a government permit. Two weeks after police interrupted Ossewaarde's Sunday morning Bible study in his home with 15 students, arrested him and fined him 40,000 rubles, about $600, the Independent Baptist missionary said he will leave the country amid veiled threats against his life, even though he has appealed the charges against him. "I really think that the political situation in Russia has reached a point where they are going to, one way or the other, they're going to get rid of me," he told BP. "So I really decided to end my operations here. It's sad because there are people here that really enjoy what we do. It's a big part of their life." Ossewaarde has conducted street evangelism, distributed printed materials and held weekly Bible studies and prayer meetings in his home. He has ended those outreaches, is awaiting a court date for his appeal, is trying to sell his apartment and house, and is making plans to return to the U.S. "I'm very sad," he said. "This is a dream that I've been living for 22 years since the first time I visited in 1994. It took a year or two for me to realize God was calling me to come over permanently, because I had just been making visits. In 1996 I realized this was my calling." As an Independent Baptist, he travelled the U.S. for several years to raise financial support among churches for the mission before moving to Ukraine in 1999 and Oryol, Russia, three years later. "This has been my life, what I've lived for," he said. "I guess we expected from the beginning that this wasn't going to last. I guess we were surprised that it lasted as long as it did. But now it just seems like the window and the door of opportunity is finally closing." He has referred his Bible study participants and others to the Russian Baptist Church. "But still," he said of the Christians, "they're just devastated." Ossewaarde was arrested Aug. 14 and forced to attend a hearing in the city's Railway District Court that same day, with the representation of a court-appointed attorney who advised him to accept the verdict, pay the fine and leave the city, because anything might happen to him and his family, according to a press release on Ossewaarde's website. His wife has already returned to Illinois, where their home congregation Faith (Independent) Baptist Church is located in Bourbonnais. "I didn't feel that she was safe [here] after ... I had a thinly veiled threat against myself and my wife so I just figured it was time for her to go home," he said. "I want to complete the appeal process. If I can successfully challenge this it will make it easier on other missionaries that would probably otherwise be prosecuted." Ossewaarde was charged under Article 5.26, Part 5 of the new religion law for holding religious services in his home, advertising services on bulletin boards in nearby neighborhoods, and failing to give authorities written notification when he began his religious activities. He has hired private attorneys. "What we have in our favor ... is the way they wrote the law is very ineffective in accomplishing what they wanted to accomplish," Ossewaarde said, clarifying that the law passed July 20 limits missionary activity by religious organizations in particular, and he operates independently of any group. "They wanted to make all missionary activity illegal. The law as written doesn't apply to me, and that's why I believe that we will win this appeal. But long term, obviously they can write another law that says missionary activity is just plain outlawed. I certainly consider myself a missionary." Five others had been arrested under the law as of Aug. 22, Forum 18 reported, including another Baptist who was fined 5,000 rubles; a Hare Krishna, acquitted; a Protestant, fined 50,000 rubles; a Pentecostal, who was to appear in court Aug. 29, and a Seventh-day Adventist, who was awaiting a trial date. Ossewaarde had enjoyed religious freedom before the new law, although the Russian Orthodox Church held a religious monopoly of sorts. "All other religious movements are looked at as foreign and suspicious and I've heard people say to each other that if you go to a foreign religion meeting that you're not patriotic," he said. "Anybody other than an Orthodox Christian is referred to as a sectarian or cultist. Up until recently, we had complete freedom to be able to distribute literature, talk to people on the street. We were even able to put literature in mail boxes." Ossewaarde first evangelized in Russia during a 1994 visit there after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "The first time I came over with a group of evangelists and pastors, we had two weeks of meetings and we just had thousands of people that responded to the Gospel invitations and it was very exciting back in those days," he said. "We just thought there was going to be a great revival. It was going to sweep across Russia. And Russia and America were going to become great friends and it was just going to be a wonderful thing. And that great promise that we all hoped for just didn't come to pass." Russia is now stressed economically, and political leaders blame America for the decline, Ossewaarde said. "It's a constant stream every day of anti-American and anti-foreign propaganda," he said. "For them to go after a foreigner like me is good propaganda." -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd showing of 'Insanity of God' slated Sept. 13 by Marty King Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Response to the one-night premiere of "The Insanity of God" in movie theaters across the United States has prompted an encore showing for Tuesday, Sept. 13. The feature documentary produced by the International Mission Board and Cooke Pictures and distributed by LifeWay Films tells the story of missionaries Nik and Ruth Ripken*. After the death of their son, the couple traveled to 72 countries into the depths of the persecuted church to find out if God actually makes a difference in difficult places. The film is based on a best-selling book of the same name released by the B&H Publishing Group. LifeWay Film's Trent Meyers said many theaters were sold out for the Aug. 30 premiere. "The night ended with more than 70,000 tickets sold -- 40 percent more than our goal," he said. "The film came in at number one in per-theater average, beating major films being played with nearly triple the amount of theaters." The movie trended on social media across the country. One person posted on Twitter, "#InsanityofGod is the most stunning movie I have ever seen." Another tweeted, "After watching #InsanityofGod my 12yrold daughter is talking 2 me about wanting to be a missionary." And another wrote, "Thank you for the #InsanityofGod movie 2nite - challenging, awe inspiring, convicting." Meyers credited the success of the film to the support from local churches. "This film is the ultimate challenge to believers of how to spread the Gospel and one of the greatest tools for the church to use in her mission of building disciples. Based on the response we've seen thus far, we believe thousands of believers and non-believers alike were touched on a different level by this story," Meyers said. "We pray everyone who missed it Tuesday will get a chance to experience this great story Sept. 13, and it will touch more lives and change hearts across the country." Tickets for the Sept. 13 showing will be available online at FathomEvents.com and at participating theater box offices. Watch a trailer of the film at insanityofgodmovie.com. *Names changed -------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC leaders grieve court's expansion of parenthood by Tom Strode Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The decision by New York's highest court to expand custody and visitation rights to "de facto parents" serves as evidence same-sex marriage advocates desire to overthrow humanity's oldest institution and as part of "a major turning point in human history," Southern Baptist leaders said. The New York State Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 30 a person who is neither the biological parent nor adoptive parent/guardian of a child may seek custody and visitation rights, The New York Times reported. The court, which overturned its own 25-year-old opinion, found its previous limitation of "parent" to a relationship based on biology or adoption "has become unworkable when applied to increasingly varied familial relationships" -- relationships that apparently refer primarily to same-sex unions. Ruling in a legal dispute between lesbians who were formerly an engaged couple, the Court of Appeals said, "[W]here a partner shows by clear and convincing evidence that the parties agree to conceive a child and to raise the child together, the nonbiological, nonadoptive partner has standing to seek visitation and custody," according to The Times. Describing the decision as "a tragedy," Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore said in written comments for Baptist Press, "Advocates of marriage redefinition told us repeatedly that they wished merely to expand the family, not to undo the oldest institution in our common humanity. This ruling shows otherwise. And, as usual, children will pay the highest price. "Children need the stability and rootedness that comes from having a father and mother, adopted or biological," said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. R. Albert Mohler Jr, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said it is difficult "to imagine a story more important than this" from a Christian worldview perspective. "This is a major turning point in human history, not just this one court case of New York, but the larger turn that we are now experiencing in Western cultures towards the redefinition of human sexuality, of gender, of personal identity and inevitably, of course, marriage and the family, including parenthood," Mohler said in his Thursday (Sept. 1) podcast, according to a transcript of "The Briefing." The New York court's opinion indicates "there is no adequate or objective understanding of what it means to be a parent at all," he said. "We're talking about adding to the historic understanding of biological parents and adoptive parents" those whom the court describes as "de facto parents." Some legal experts, Mohler said, "are recognizing that this could create a situation in which virtually anyone who has a relationship with the child can claim that they are ... 'de facto parents.' "[T]his is exactly what has to happen, legally speaking, when society tries to conform itself to the sexual revolution it has now adopted, normalized and celebrated," he told listeners. "When it comes to the explicit effort to try to overthrow traditional sexual morality, what you see is that what is enabled, what is then authorized, is not something else, but inevitably and eventually almost everything else." The case involved Elizabeth and Brooke, who became engaged in 2007 but did not marry. Elizabeth became pregnant by artificial insemination in 2008 and gave birth to a boy, with whom Brooke had a close relationship, The Times reported. The couple broke up in 2010, and Elizabeth sought to end Brooke's contact with her son three years later. A lower court ruled against Brooke's attempt to gain custody and visitation rights. Eric Wrubel, a lawyer who argued on behalf of the boy, told The Times the judges "clearly see that the bright lines of biology and adoption just don't fit today with marriage equality. They understand that couples and families these days are not just mom and dad, and husband and wife." The court decision actually enables New York to catch up with other states, according to The Times. Courts in most states already allow "de facto parents" to seek custody and visitation rights, it reported. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bible Study: Sept. 4, 2016 by Staff/LifeWay Christian Resources Date: September 01, 2016 - Thursday NASHVILLE (BP) -- This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, LifeWay publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups. This week's Bible study is adapted from The Gospel Project curriculum. Bible Passage: 1 Kings 18:17-39 Discussion Questions: What are some of the things that attract a person's loyalty in our current culture, thus compromising their loyalty to God? Why is it difficult for people in our society to be loyal to God? Based on Elijah's challenge for how the true God would be known, what can we learn about God and His plan? Food for Thought: As a young Christian, when I first read the story of the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, I thought, The Israelites must have been shallow to have fallen so easily into worship of Baal, a pagan god! Modern Christians, who have thousands of years of Jewish and Christian writings at their fingertips, are so much better educated and informed. We'd never fall into such a trap! Now I realize that people today are not that different from people thousands of years ago, especially when it comes to human disloyalty to God. Given their history, the Israelites should have adamantly opposed giving their loyalty to false gods. Their lack of response to Elijah, however, revealed their unfaithful hearts and minds. Beginning with King Solomon's allowance of foreign religious and cultural influences and all the way down to the kingship of Ahab, the Israelite people had gradually strayed from the worship of God. In fact, the people had strayed so far from the worship of the true God that King Ahab actually blamed Elijah as the troubler or destroyer of their nation! Elijah, in unwavering loyalty to God, would not bow down to but openly opposed the worship of the pagan storm/fertility god Baal. And so, Elijah was blamed for attracting Baal's wrath. Elijah stated in his challenge that the true God is the One who answers. In 1 Kings 18, we find an important reason why God deserves our loyalty in worship, even when our society adamantly opposes us. God not only demonstrated His ultimate power but also His ultimate grace by providing Israel a chance to turn back to Him. Yahweh is deserving of loyalty as the true God of grace and power. The prophets of Baal danced and slashed themselves before the altar, thinking they must bleed in order to express their devotion. But the true God is different than false gods like Baal. He expressed His devotion to us by sending His Son -- Jesus Christ -- who bled and died for us so that we could receive His grace through faith. The Gospel Project The Gospel Project is a chronological, Christ-centered study for kids, students and adults. The Bible is not a collection of stories. It is one story of God's plan to rescue His people from sin and death. It is the story of redemption, the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. More information, free samples, and The Gospel Project blog can be found at gospelproject.com. Other ongoing Bible study options for all ages offered by LifeWay can be found at LifeWay.com/SundaySchool.