
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-09/10/2013

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Hmong church planter carries Gospel to 2nd-generation peers
by Tobin Perry
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

ROSEVILLE, Minn. (BP) -- Fue Chee Her thought he understood God's faithfulness when he started Gospel Hmong Baptist Church in metro Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., where more Hmong reside than any other part of the country.

The Hmong people are an Asian ethnic group from mountainous regions of China and Southeast Asia who, in 1975, began immigrating to the United States following the communist takeover of Laos.

<div style="float:left;margin:0 10px 5px 0;"><iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/72922449?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe></object></div>God's faithfulness, Her said, has become a visible reality since Gospel Hmong Baptist Church was planted at the outset of 2013, with Her having seen God meet an array of needs for the fledgling congregation. Southern Baptists across the country and in Her's own Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention have been a part of that story through their missions giving.

"We've worked as a team, reached out to people, and God has blessed us," Her said. "God has consistently answered prayer after prayer after prayer. Those &#91;answered prayers&#93; confirm to me that this is what God wants me to do. So, through God's faithfulness, I just have to trust and believe."

Her, a North American Mission Board church planter, said his call to church planting came gradually. As he looked around at his peers -- fellow second-generation Hmong-Americans -- he saw a growing spiritual void.

"Many of the &#91;Hmong&#93; churches are original to the youth and parents," said Her, who served previously as a youth minister before the church plant. "But there's that gap between the youth and parents. There's the college scene, the young couples' scene. There's me. I'm a young adult. I have a lot of peers who are struggling spiritually and are seeking spiritual help but there's not a church they can relate to."

Realizing that need helped clarify Her's sense of call to plant a church among second-generation Hmong. 

"At Gospel Hmong Baptist Church, we're trying to create an atmosphere where we can go and support these individuals in their journey," Her said. "Even if it's in college, or post-college or when they have a young family and are in their careers, we're there for them in any crisis and in any need."

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 64,422 Hmong residents call the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area home. That's nearly six times the Hmong population of any other U.S. metro area -- and nearly a quarter of the total Hmong population in the country. Minnesota's Hmong population also is unusually young, according to a 2012 academic study of census data by the Hmong Studies Journal. Hmong Minnesotans have a median age of 19.7 compared to a median age of 37 for Minnesotans in general. 

Her estimates that 10 to 15 percent of the local Hmong population is Christian. The remaining are either animists or agnostics. 

"I believe that God has called me to reach out to and preach to the other 85 percent -- to let them know that there is a God who loves them, there is a God who is calling out to them," Her said. "He is using me to be a vessel for that call."

The church plant averages 50 people per week in attendance.

With one Southern Baptist church for every 118,248 people, Minneapolis-St. Paul has the lowest SBC church-to-population ratio of any of the 27 U.S. cities in the North American Mission Board's key initiative, Send North America, to help churches mobilize church planters to 32 influential North American cities, including five in Canada. 

Her said a key struggle in reaching Minneapolis-St. Paul in general, and the Hmong specifically, is getting beyond the belief that people can be right with God through morality. 

"Especially in the Hmong community where it's all about having good morals and having good ethics but there's nothing spiritual, there's a need for truth," Her said. "As a pastor I want to be able to teach beyond the moral ethics, to teach the Word of God -- biblically and expository. Teach the truth.

"That's what we, as the younger generation, are seeking."
--30--
Tobin Perry writes for the North American Mission Board. For more information on Her's ministry, watch a video at namb.net/video/heart-language. For more about Send North America: Minneapolis-St. Paul, visit Minneapolis-StPaul. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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1,000 former missionaries on Ready Reserve
by Susan O'Hara
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- They had been back in the United States for two years. They were comfortably settled in South Carolina, running a tourism company, working in their church and caring for their grandchildren. 

Then an urgent email arrived. A Southern Baptist teacher who directed an English-language center in North Africa and the Middle East had died unexpectedly. Three months had passed and no one was there to keep the center running.

Charles and Laura Kingman*, former IMB workers, had interacted with many people during their six years as regional volunteer strategists for North Africa and the Middle East. The email asked if they knew someone who could direct the center and teach English until new personnel could be appointed and trained.

It ended with the notation: "It would be really nice if it were you."

"I could do this," Laura thought. "I have the background. I'm a retired English teacher."

But it was only a passing thought, and she began thinking through who else might fill the position. 

Charles prayed about the opportunity but decided that uprooting their lives and moving didn't fit God's current plan. They already had a trip to the Middle East scheduled with one of their tour groups. Committing to work at the center would mean three extra months abroad.

But a few days later, he'd changed his mind, believing that God wanted them to go. 

They called the team strategy leaders and said they would come. 

In February, the Kingmans took their tour group overseas. By March they were at the center, teaching and directing the work.

The Kingmans are members of IMB's Ready Reserve, a volunteer partnership between IMB and former field personnel. 

The Ready Reserve includes a database of former personnel who can be called upon to fill immediate short-term needs on the field or to serve in the U.S. in advocacy and mobilization.

In this case, there was no time for new personnel to be trained to run the center and current workers had other responsibilities.

"&#91;The teacher's&#93; absence left a huge void in the school where she taught," said Doug Floyd, IMB director of personnel relations. "That particular ministry was in danger of closing because of the lack of personnel." 

But Ready Reserve held the answer. 

The Kingmans already understood the culture and environment. They arrived on a Saturday and started work the following Monday.

"All the orientation we got was how to get from our apartment to the school, how to get to the grocery store and maybe a restaurant," Laura said.

IMB President Tom Elliff announced the Ready Reserve at an emeritus missionary celebration in Ridgecrest, N.C., a year ago. The reserve is by invitation only, with all emeritus missionaries invited to participate. Other former personnel are invited on an individual basis.

Currently about 1,000 former personnel are in the Ready Reserve, with more personnel continually being added.

"These are people who are heavily invested in the IMB," Floyd said. "Even though they've retired and gone back to their home churches and the U.S. ... they still have that missionary call and want to stay close to what we are doing."

When an urgent need arises, field leaders can look at the database and go directly to the Ready Reservist, asking him or her to fill that need until someone can take the position permanently.

The Kingmans kept the language school running through the semester, giving IMB time to train a new couple during the summer.

"Ready Reserve is exactly what it says," Laura said. "We're ready to go, shortly."
--30--
*Name changed. Susan O'Hara is an IMB summer intern. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).


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ERLC unveils new website & logo
by Staff
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

WASHINGTON (BP) -- With the inauguration of Russell D. Moore as its new president, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has unveiled a new website and logo.

The ERLC's newly designed website went live Tuesday (Sept. 10), the same day Moore was inaugurated in Washington, D.C., as the entity's eighth president. The trustees elected Moore to lead the ERLC in March, and he took office in June. (Baptist Press will post a story on the inauguration on Wednesday, Sept. 11.)

The website's goal, Moore says in a video on the site, is to equip Southern Baptists and other Christians "to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness."

Some of the things Jesus as king has commanded and called His followers to do "are very easy" and some "are hard to think through, especially in a confusing culture and time like ours," Moore says. 

"So on this website," he says, "you will find audio and video and print resources meant to equip your church and your family to think through: What does it mean to follow Christ in the workplace? What does it mean to follow Christ in my living room or at my dining room table? What does it mean to follow Christ when conversing with my neighbors who disagree with me on issues? And what does it mean to follow Christ when we're making decisions about voting -- tough national, international questions?"

The website includes the ERLC's new logo, which features images of a crown at the center, an open book below and three stars above. The crown symbolizes the Kingdom of God; the book signifies the Bible; and the stars stand for the state or government. The number of stars, three, represents the entity's emphases: Kingdom, culture and mission. 

The site has four channels: Life; liberty; family; and culture. It includes pages that provide biblical perspectives, news articles and resources on such moral, social and religious freedom issues as adoption, homosexuality, human trafficking, persecution, pornography and race.

The design is intended to make the site friendly to users and to include timely updates on developments in the fields of ethics and religious liberty, according to the ERLC. The site also includes the ERLC's Twitter feed.

The website is accessible at erlc.com.
--30--
Compiled by Baptist Press' Washington bureau chief Tom Strode. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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WORLDVIEW: 'Why did they shoot me?'
by Erich Bridges
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

Visit WorldView Conversation (http://worldviewconversation.blogspot.com/), the blog related to this column.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Few outsiders venture into Mosby Court unless they're visiting relatives -- or looking for trouble. Almost no one lives there by choice.

Six-year-old Ernesha Baites has no choice. Her mother can't afford to live anywhere else. So the little girl and her teenage sister do the best they can in the tough housing project in Richmond, Va., while Mom works to make ends meet. Ernesha has big brown eyes set off by the white beads in her braids. Her gap-tooth smile could melt steel. She loves cartoons and Rapunzel.

The week before she started first grade in September, somebody shot her.

He probably wasn't aiming at her, you understand. He just didn't care that she was playing near the line of fire. 

It could have been a drug deal gone bad or a gang beef. This time, witnesses said it was an argument on a basketball court that turned into a shootout. Neighbors said they heard at least 20 shots fired. A bullet hit Ernesha's leg, but she's going to be OK. Once she got home from the hospital, she even talked to a local TV news crew. Sitting on the couch in her living room, she showed a reporter the cast on her healing leg. Her relieved mother sat beside her, talking about moving someplace safer as soon as she can get more work hours. 

A happy ending, you might say -- as happy as endings usually play out in Mosby Court, at least. But before the news crew turned off their camera, Ernesha had a question.

"Why did they shoot me, if they already saw me?" she asked.

The look of confusion and hurt on her face reminded me of the expressions of Syrian refugee children I have met in areas bordering the horrific civil war in Syria. They don't understand why someone would shoot at them and try to kill their parents or their brothers and sisters. They don't understand why they can't go home.

Ernesha doesn't yet understand how cold this world can be, either. But she's learning. You wonder if she looked into the eyes of the shooter and, if so, what she saw there. I know all the sociological answers: The gunman might have been shot or brutalized when he was Ernesha's age. He might be trapped in Mosby Court, or someplace like it, by poverty and hopelessness. He might have felt the pressure to "represent," to kill or be killed, to uphold the street code.

But the real force behind the bullet was sin. 

It never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise sensible folks believe that people, deep down, are basically good and want to do the right thing. We're just confused or traumatized by bad experiences, they say. We're misguided or manipulated by others into doing wrong. We have no choice. 

All these rationalizations sound reasonable at different times or places. But the root cause of wrongdoing is sin. People are basically good? Nonsense. I have the potential to be every bit as bad as the guy who shot Ernesha -- and I have fewer excuses. You're no better, if you're honest with yourself and God.

We are sinners. We have rejected God and sought our own selfish and evil ways, just as the Bible says we would. Technology and science may have produced staggering human progress, but they have improved human nature not at all. We are capable of hating one another just as passionately, fearing one another just as keenly, disobeying God just as willfully as our bloody-minded ancestors.

We are sinners -- collectively and individually. If we weren't, we wouldn't need a Savior. And the world wouldn't need to know about Him. 

IMB President Tom Elliff spoke recently about having a hard time sleeping after watching the evening news, not just because of wars and disasters, but because "every one of us has learned how to look at the most horrific things you can imagine and be unmoved by them. We know where the great tragedies are, we see people running for their lives and starving physically," he said.

Often they are also starving spiritually. "We've learned how to be aware of lostness but not be moved by lostness."

We have an even deeper problem, however, if we cease to believe that sin causes darkness and can be defeated only one way.

"We can talk about the problems, the poverty and corruption and politicians. But it all goes back to the darkness they live in," a missionary said in one of the most corrupt cities in Asia. "The only answer is Jesus Christ." 
--30--
Erich Bridges is global correspondent for the International Mission Board. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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3-year boycott of Home Depot suspended
by Staff
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE (BP) -- The American Family Association has suspended its three-year boycott of The Home Depot, saying it is satisfied the company has withdrawn its major financial contributions to gay activist groups. 

A spokesman for Home Depot, though, said the company has made no changes.

In a news release Sept. 9, AFA President Tim Wildmon said the pro-family group had monitored Home Depot for several months and was glad to report the end of the boycott.

"I truly believe this is a direct result of the involvement of our supporters," Wildmon said. "In fact, more than 750,000 people signed the 'Boycott Home Depot Pledge' and we commend those who took the time and made the effort to demonstrate that they disagree with the normalization of homosexuality."

AFA will continue to monitor Home Depot's behavior, Wildmon said, adding, "We suspect Home Depot will publicly deny having made changes, but their actions speak louder than words."

Indeed, Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes told The Atlanta Journal Constitution Sept. 9 that he is not aware of any funding that has been removed and that the company continues to promote the inclusion of homosexual groups.

"We haven't made any changes to our policies for inclusion and respect of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation," Holmes said. "We have not directed our sales associates to discontinue participation in Pride or other community events, and have no intention of doing so."

Holmes told The Journal Constitution that many decisions about funding and participation in gay and lesbian events are made at the local level.

When AFA launched the nationwide boycott in July 2010, it cited Home Depot's "support for the radical homosexual agenda," specifically for "exposing young children to homosexual behavior."

Wildmon said at the time that AFA had appealed to Home Depot officials to remain neutral in the culture wars but the company insisted on giving money and its name to gay pride parades and festivals. Home Depot was "determined to keep using their influence to push the normalization of homosexual behavior," Wildmon said.

Among the reasons cited by AFA for launching the boycott:

-- In 2010, Home Depot set up a "Kids' Workshop" as a vendor at the Southern Maine Pride Festival and parade.

-- In 2009, Home Depot gave more than $5,000 to sponsor the Nashville Gay Pride Festival in Tennessee, and the company also sponsored pro-homosexual parades in Atlanta, Kansas City, Portland and San Diego.

-- Home Depot offers insurance benefits that cover sex change operations for employees. The insurance extends to same-sex partners of employees, indicating that the company considers such couples "married," AFA said.

-- In 2008, Home Depot sponsored the Durham Pride Weekend in North Carolina with a kids' crafts workshop and parade. Events included a cross-dresser show.

-- In 2005, Home Depot placed a full page advertisement in the "Out & Equal" homosexual workplace conference program guide.

As late as March of this year, AFA was calling for a continued boycott of Home Depot, reporting that the Atlanta-based company gave $8,500 to the Atlanta chapter of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest homosexual advocacy group, as a sponsor of a gala and auction. 

Last August, a Home Depot employee contacted AFA to comment on the boycott's effectiveness.

"We have customers who come into our store and confront our store managers over the HD's support of gay pride," the employee said. "The AFA is having an effect on HD."

AFA said Sept. 9 it will continue to challenge major U.S. companies to remain neutral in the culture wars.
--30--
Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Erin Roach. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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FIRST-PERSON: Where the zealots are
by Mark Coppenger
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Reza Aslan's bestseller, "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth," is a Procrustean Bed. (You remember the Greek mythological figure who sized people to his bed by either stretching them or lopping off limbs.)

Aslan is willing to do a great deal of editorial and rhetorical violence to the Bible and to Jesus to make things fit. As a devout Muslim, Aslan rejects claims of Jesus' divinity, but he says that "Jesus the man &#91;'Jesus of Nazareth'&#93; is every bit as compelling, charismatic, and praiseworthy as Jesus the Christ. He is, in short, someone worth believing in."

To make his case, Aslan tries to pass himself off as a cutting-edge expert in such matters, but he's a creative writing professor (Indeed!) with a sociology Ph.D. and some undergraduate and master's work in religious studies -- hardly the stuff of exacting biblical scholarship.

For his purposes, Aslan enlists theological liberalism to discount and twist biblical Scripture. (Of course, he's not in the least interested in liberalism's critical readings of the Quran.) It's as though Islam embraced the notorious Jesus Seminar while presenting itself as the product of dispassionate, majoritarian scholarship, without a hint of Muslim prejudice. 

To be sure, Islam has little respect for Christianity, liberal or otherwise, but when the liberals undermine the Christ of the Bible, they have a temporary place at the Muslim apologist's table. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend, at least for today.)

To make it all work, Aslan:

1. Denies the truth of the Bible. Among the "falsehoods" he supposedly discovers are the Roman tax census; the flight to Egypt; the virgin birth; God's pronouncement at Jesus' baptism; Jesus' "upon this rock" declaration to Peter; the nighttime trial before the Sanhedrin; the Resurrection; the stated authorship of most Gospels and Epistles.

2. Imposes foreign meanings on the verses he retains. For instance, he says, implausibly, that the "thieves" on the crosses were really "insurrectionist bandits"; that "Render unto Caesar" means "Give the emperor back his vile money"; that "My kingdom is not of this world" means "My kingdom is not of this present political arrangement, which I will replace through revolution"; that "Son of God" is simply a traditional title for Israel's kings.

3. Exaggerates the importance of certain personages and passages. He puts the incendiary John the Baptist and Jesus' blood kin James the Just on the highest pedestals, portraying them as crusading moralists in contrast with the spiritualizing Paul. And not surprisingly, he is more impressed with Jesus' cleansing the temple than with His death on the cross.

So why is the Bible, as traditionally understood, so "misleading"? According to Aslan, later writers/editors "transformed Jesus from a fierce Jewish nationalist into a pacifist preacher" and "from a revolutionary zealot to a Romanized demi-god," so that they could sell Him to Hellenized diaspora Jews and make Him more generally palpable throughout the empire. Thus, "two thousand years later, the Christ of Paul's creation has utterly subsumed the Jesus of history."

In sum, Aslan lets his liberal mentors do the dirty work of chopping Jesus down to size, and he simply clothes their aggression in smooth narrative. 

He ends up with a Jesus who more nearly resembles his own religious hero, Muhammad, who eschewed divinity and who took up pen and sword to secure political dominion as far as he could. Through his followers, Muhammad's program of political domination soon reached as far as India to the east and Iberia to the west. It continues today through Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Philippine Moros, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Aslan's fellow religionists are stirring the pot in the banlieues/suburbs of Paris, in Spain's Catalonian towns of Tarragona and Sant Boi and in the mosques of Bradford, England. These are your religious, insurrectionist zealots. You'll find them there, and not in the pages of the Gospels.
--30--
This column first appeared at the blog of Bible Mesh, a website that teaches the Bible as a unified story pointing to Christ (online at www.biblemesh.com/blog). Mark Coppenger is director of the Nashville extension center for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and professor of Christian apologetics at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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FIRST-PERSON: Kirk Cameron's 'Unstoppable' faith
by Phil Boatwright
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP) -- I'm not sure I could take the slings and arrows Kirk Cameron has had to dodge or endure.

Cameron is famous and talented but add devotion to your Christian walk and there’s a huge target on your back. The star of the sitcom "Growing Pains," the "Left Behind" apocalyptic series, the breakthrough faith-based drama "Fireproof" and the insightful documentary "Monumental" is paying a price for his gifts and resolve.

Although I'd already interviewed Cameron three times, during a recent phone chat concerning his newest theatrical release, "Unstoppable," I believe I got to know the man, not just a filmmaker pushing a new project.

"This is the most personal project I've ever made regarding my faith," he states on the trailer for Unstoppable, a riveting documentary dealing with the age-old question, "Why does God allow bad things to happen?"

During the documentary's publicity campaign, Cameron ran into a snag one can hardly imagine in America.

Unstoppable made headlines the week tickets went on sale when two major sites labeled the film's website and video link as "spam" or "unsafe." Facebook seemed antagonistic toward either the subject of where God is in our lives or the man presenting the question. It wasn't until fan support became somewhat of an uproar that the social media outlet backed off. But during that time, foes of Cameron's message did their best to belittle him.

In Fireproof, Cameron gave the most mature, complex performance of his career. Like Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey, Cameron's Caleb Holt is a good man, yet with flaws and foibles. Cameron was willing to display negative traits that seldom take focus in movie protagonists. Supported by Erin Bethea's role as the firefighter's wife, Cameron and company approached an important issue: the sanctity of marriage. In a culture that promotes the quick disposal of friendships and marriages at the first hint of dissatisfaction, Fireproof declared lifelong unions worth fighting for.

With Unstoppable, Cameron once again focuses on humanistic questions that can only be answered from a spiritual perspective. In this thoughtful, heartfelt documentary, he addresses the subject of God seemingly permitting bad things to happen. Having been stirred by the film's conclusion, and knowing the frustration he had just gone through with Facebook, I read the following paragraph from my review to the filmmaker.

"'Unstoppable' is the most riveting and inspiring documentary I've seen in years from a technical, artistic and spiritual perspective. For me, it was 60 minutes of passionate examination that asserts we are more than mental and physical beings, and that our Creator is with us through the good and the bad: ‘... in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).”

There was a silence at the other end of the line as Cameron took in my assessment.

"Wow, that's like water to a thirsty man," he said.

The death of a close friend's son sparked the actor/producer to take a spiritual journey through Scripture. Aided by dramatized Bible parables that reflect the same sufferings we face today, Cameron takes his scholarly sojourn, analyzing such questions as: Do things happen by chance or do they purposely serve to develop our nature? And through all our suffering, where is God?

I surmised from the film that Cameron doesn't believe the details of life are governed merely by happenstance.

"Oh, no," Cameron said. "We have a God who is not surprised by one thing that happens in the universe. God is a God of purpose. That's made clear in Romans 8:28. And for those who don't love Him, they are still used for God's purposes. One way or the other, you're in God's design. You might be the hero or the villain, but you're going to serve a role in God's plan."

What's the main point he hopes audiences will take away from the film, I asked.

"The question of where is God in tragedy is a universal one," Cameron answered. "I want people to come out of this movie not only knowing that God is there in the midst of our sorrow, but that He understands how we feel. He gets our doubts and our fears. And He is doing something inside us that will turn out for our good and His glory."

I was reminded by the film of the need for Bible study in order to communicate these truths to a conflicted and confused world. Want to counter the influence of the secular culture? Want to be able to discuss spiritual matters? Want peace and spiritual strength through difficult times? The film makes it clear that as we delve into the Scriptures we find true "apps" dealing with life's adventures, joys and sorrows.

The target just got bigger on Mr. Cameron's back. And on any of those who wish to glorify God, strengthen the body of Christ, and witness to those searching for the answers to the film's questions. Fortunately, the heavenly hosts are there to protect and deflect.

Unstoppable will be broadcast to 700 theaters nationwide from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., on Tuesday, Sept, 24 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central and tape delayed at 7 MT/8 PT. The event will feature music from guests including Dove-nominated artist Warren Barfield, whose song "Love is Not a Fight" was featured in the film Fireproof. For theater locations and ticket information, go to http://unstoppablethemovie.com.
--30--
In addition to writing for Baptist Press, Phil Boatwright reviews films for www.previewonline.org. He is also a regular contributor to "The World and Everything in It," a weekly radio program from WORLD News Group. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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FROM THE STATES: Mich., Calif., Ga. evangelism/missions news; 'They listen and soak in the story'
by Staff
Date: September 10, 2013 - Tuesday

Today's From the States features items from:
Baptist Beacon (Michigan)
California Southern Baptist
The Christian Index (Georgia)

Chronological Bible storying
used in Mich., overseas
By Grace Thornton

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (Baptist Beacon) -- Ellen Villalpando didn't have a plan for exactly where or when she would use the technique. Michigan? Africa? Could be either. Or anywhere.

But she did know one thing -- it was important.

"I was just leaving my heart open for the Lord to show me," Villalpando said of the four-day Bible Storying Workshop sponsored by the Blue Water Association Women's Missions and Ministry in partnership with Woman's Missionary Union of Michigan.

The workshop, taught by retired International Mission Board representative Annette Hall in May, equipped nine Michigan Baptists to tell 21 Bible stories leading from Creation to the house churches of Acts.

"The stories take someone who's never heard anything about Jesus all the way to the point of understanding how to have house group churches," Hall said.

It's a strategy Villalpando, a member of Memorial Baptist Church in Sterling Heights, has wanted to learn for some time.

"I've been to Niger three times, and I know how well it works. They listen and soak in the story," she said.

Villalpando knew that she could use it as a preschool teacher, with the college ministry group she leads and when she goes on her next trip to Niger.

And she's already spent three days teaching it to a group of teenage girls, who reproduced the stories quickly.

"The goal is to be able to teach the stories so that the people who are hearing them can tell someone else," Villalpando said. "To be able to learn it and teach it to some young mission-minded girls was awesome."

Hall said that's exactly the idea behind the method.  Seventy percent of the world's population are oral communicators, she said.

And while people often associate storying with overseas work, as it's proven highly effective in illiterate cultures, the United States has much more of an oral culture than people realize, she said.

"Some just don't like to read or don't want to read. Many people have come out of school and never picked up a book again. But everyone likes to talk and tell stories," Hall said.

Because of that, she's convinced that this is something Christians should be using "all over Michigan and the United States."

People can use the story set developed by Hall and others, or they can develop their own story set tailored to the people they are trying to reach, Hall said.

It's worth the effort to prepare, she said, whether it be for a mission trip or for a house group. 

"People really get into the story, they talk about the story, they learn the story and how to apply it to their lives," Hall said. "When I've used the stories, people I've never heard open their mouths in a small group were talking about the story."

Instead of being told the meaning of the story, they listen and discover it for themselves, she said.

It's a method that is effective for any age group, said Steve Evans, a specialist in oral communication who has also helped to develop chronological Bible storying curriculum for the International Mission Board and other organizations.

"Chronological Bible storying in evangelism, Sunday School, home and student Bible studies is proving very effective," he said. "When God's Word is presented chronologically, people begin to see the movement of God in history, and the pieces fall together and make sense for them."

And from a teacher's perspective, it's a method that's fun, enjoyable and memorable, he said.

Stories "are easy to learn and easy to reproduce," Evans said. "This isn't about head knowledge — it's about the language of the heart. Stories speak from the heart, and they speak to the heart."

It's effective in the States, and it's also highly effective overseas, he said.

Using storying "is not an issue of literacy only, even in developing nations. It is an issue of communication preferences, decision-making processes and how information is structured and presented," Evans said.

Add to that the fact that out of the more than 6,000 languages in the world, only about 450 have the whole Bible in their language, he said.

"How will those peoples get God's Word in ways they can hear it, understand it and pass it on? And even if they did have the written Bible in their languages," Evans asked, "given the statistics on oral communication, could it be effectively utilized?"

As church planting movements are studied around the world, one of the key elements for sustainability is the presence of God's Word, he said. And an effective way that it is spread is through chronological Bible storying, he added.

To access story sets used at the workshop, visit oralitystrategies.org and click on "strategies."
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This article appeared in the Baptist Beacon (baptistbeacon.net), newsjournal of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. Grace Thornton is an assistant editor for The Alabama Baptist newspaper and a writer for the Baptist Beacon of Michigan.
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San Diego church start
helped by Calif. mission offering
By Amanda Phifer

SAN DIEGO (California Southern Baptist) -- At four years old, Elevate Church in San Diego is registering on the radar even in a subculture where the concept of a Christian church rarely makes a "blip."

As a native of the Bible Belt - South Carolina - Kevin Campbell is in a unique position to recognize this particularity of Southern California culture. And as the pioneer of Elevate Church in San Diego, he is especially thrilled that his church plant is reaching exactly that unchurched culture.

"In the South there's a church culture," Campbell explained. "In Georgia or South Carolina, your kids don't get invited to birthday parties on Sunday morning, or to anything else, for that matter, even if the person doesn't even go to church, because that time frame is just assumed to be set aside. Here, the church isn't even on the radar as a potential activity for Sunday morning."

But for the people who regularly attend Elevate, church is now part of their regular plan.

Campbell, a former college basketball player, was raised Catholic in Anderson, SC, but accepted Christ at age 19 and was baptized at Siloam Baptist Church in the small town of Powdersville, SC. On a college mission trip, he responded to the call to ministry, but never saw himself planting a church on the West Coast.

And yet three members of Elevate personify to Campbell the reason he and his wife, Susan, transplanted themselves and their children out of Georgia and into one of the least reached metropolitan areas in the country.

"Sean, in his mid-20s, grew up here," Campbell began. "Sean's dad is an atheist, and his mom would claim belief in God but is not a Christian. Sean lived here all his life and not one time stepped foot in a church until he came to Elevate. He attended a few months, even joining a life group. We loved him, prayed for him, answered questions, and knew it wouldn't be long.

"One Sunday, when my pastor from (Georgia) was in town, Sean gave his life to Christ, with tears in his eyes, and a few weeks later we baptized him in the Pacific Ocean. Now he's serving on a ministry team, spending daily time in God's Word, is in a life group, and plays on my basketball team in our league, helping me share Christ with the guys on our team who are not yet believers."

Note the progression of that journey: months of attending not just corporate worship, but also the intimate setting of a small group and the friendship-building setting of a sports team, and then a period of questioning, all prior to a decision to follow Christ. Campbell is firm that that kind of journey is intentionally encouraged.

"We wanted Elevate to be a place for people to belong even before they believe, a safe place to explore the Christian faith," he explained. "Less than 6 percent of the people here are evangelical Christians; 85 percent are not affiliated with any kind of faith at all. That's why we came here. We want them to have a chance to see just how relevant Jesus and His church are. We want Elevate Church to be truly life-giving in the way Jesus intended for His church to be."

Steve and Inez have attended Elevate for about 18 months, in which time Steve made a profession of faith, Inez rededicated her life to Christ, and both were baptized last November.

"Here's what they said on that day (they were baptized)," Campbell related. "'We've been attending Elevate for a year, and our lives have never changed more dramatically than in the past year. We are two completely different people - better people - because of our time here.'"

While Sean, Steve and Inez represent high points, Campbell conceded church planting isn't an easy road to walk.

"You're starting from scratch, with nothing, and it takes so much momentum, so much pushing and praying just to get things off the ground and going," he explained. "You say, 'I know God can do this, but all I'm seeing is glimpses.'"

That, he said, is why it was "so critical" to have the support - financial and personal - that came  from California Southern Baptist Convention, via the California Mission Offering. The influence, equipping and encouragement of the late Dan Cookson, in particular, who was at the time the CSBC church planting strategist for San Diego, was especially keen.

"We were absolutely sustained by that support during those early tough years. The biggest challenge was financially having what we needed to survive, even to live, much less to thrive and start a new church. The living expenses here are three times higher than in Georgia. We would not be where we are today if not for the support of the CMO and the Cooperative Program."

Funds from CMO provided income and expenses for the Campbells, but also for expenses associated with planting a new church: care packages for local businesses, water distribution near local beaches, and barbeque block parties and free sports camps at local parks.

The Campbells also held three barbeques at their home, inviting people they'd begun building friendships with, and sharing a five-minute vision of their plans and desires for Elevate Church. They then gave these new acquaintances an opportunity to respond with a pledge to either help, or to attend the Jan. 11, 2009 launch service.

"We rarely had someone give us a cold answer," Campbell said. "It's almost always something like, 'That's cool, that's a neat thing you're doing over there, for you. I'll be here doing my thing.'"

His assessment of some of the thinking behind such a response is that the people of San Diego are pursuing the American Dream "on steroids."

"It's so much more heightened here than I saw in the South. People want everything picture-perfect - the car, the house, the marriage, the children. And it means it's harder to get beneath the surface in relationships, even though, ironically, deep down, people are craving authenticity, without knowing that's what they really desire."

In fact, one of the most common positive bits of feedback about Elevate is "how real it is, that that's refreshing and makes (them) come back," Campbell said.

"That's just it: when we shine a light - even on our own imperfections and struggles - that light falls on everyone around us."
Sounds like an authentic way to plant a new church.
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This article appeared in the California Southern Baptist (csbc.com/csb), newsjournal of the California Southern Baptist Convention. Amanda Phifer is a writer for the California Southern Baptist.
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Ga. youth minister
in California
By Joe Westbury

PLACERVILLE, Calif. (The Christian Index) -- It only took one stroll through the exhibit hall of a Georgia Baptist Convention annual meeting to bring two pastors together in an relationship that strengthened both of their ministries.

Neither Phillip Cochran nor Mark Standridge had ever met while they served in the state. At the time – November 2010 – Cochran was youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Blackshear and Standridge was serving as pastor of Bowdon Baptist Church.

Eventually Standridge accepted a call to a small church in northern California, about an hour east of the state capital of Sacramento. That move brought the two ministers together across a 2,200-mile expanse.

"I was already familiar with the partnership that Georgia Baptists were enjoying with the California state convention, so I decided I would ask for assistance to help us expand the ministry of my new congregation," Standridge explained.

"Placer Heights Baptist Church had been through a rough time and needed some time to heal. I felt Georgia Baptists would be the best ones to aid in that process."

Standridge's new congregation, which he joined in 2010, averages about 85 in Sunday worship. It is located in an historic gold mining town with a fair amount of summer tourism not far from South Lake Tahoe … and was in a state the Austell native had never visited.

Standridge and his wife, Debbie, accepted the call and left a son and daughter, both college students, behind and brought their remaining teenage son along on the new ministry venture.

The former Georgia pastor, who had served churches in Colorado and Texas, filled out the paperwork with the office overseeing partnership missions and waited. That's when, on that November afternoon, Cochran visited the booth and learned about Standridge's request for assistance.

"First Blackshear was looking for a summer missions experience for our youth and after talking to Mark, I felt the Lord was leading us to his congregation," Cochran says.

That's when the two began to talk via telephone and explore the ministry needs and how each could benefit. It was an answer to prayer for the California congregation.

"I saw a lot of value in it for our young people," Standridge says.

"We were just building our youth ministry and integrating it with Georgia youth seemed a very positive thing to do. It would expand their horizon to have these young people come all the way across the nation to spend time with them in ministry as well as recreation.

"Many of them had never had Christian role models before, either as parents or peers. Some were from broken homes and didn't know what a Christian home life looked like. I just sensed God was in this from the beginning." 

That first year of 2011 the Blackshear team helped with two block parties that paved the way for outreach in coming summers. Eventually they provided meals to homeless in the community. Along the way the Georgia teens developed relationships with the Placer Heights youth which some maintain through email and Facebook contacts.

Making inroads of acceptance into the Placerville community has been slow but gained traction due to the presence of the Blackshear youth as well as adults from Carrollton Baptist Association who have begun leading summer Vacation Bible Schools.

"We share a property line with an apartment complex, but at some point the manager locked the gate between our two properties. While that may have given residents more security from strangers wandering onto their property, it made it very difficult for any residents to come to church.

"It took me an entire year to build a relationship and trust factor with the manager, but once he saw our interest in providing services to the community, he unlocked the gate. He now sees us as a partner, allowing us to hold block parties on his property and providing VBS for children on our property."

But the trust has gone even further, he says. An attractive new playground at the church has become an even stronger drawing card for residents of the complex, so the manager is building a sidewalk to the church property line to make it easier for children to play at the facility.

Having youth from Georgia to staff block parties and adults to lead VBS has been instrumental in those new relationships, Standridge says.

Breanna Popham is a Blackshear youth who has come each year to Placerville since the church began the ministry two years ago. This past July was her third trip to California and she plans many more to come.

"Ministering here is so different that what we're used to down South in the Bible Belt. We really have more chances to talk to people who don't know Christ, though that is growing back home.

"The people here are very open to talking and our accents help break the ice," she says with a laugh. "It really is a spiritually enriching experience."

Courtney Howard returned to Placer Heights church for her second time this summer because of the good experience from last year. "We (Blackshear youth) become very close on a trip like this and get to know each other a lot better. We become prayer partners that continue long after we return home.

For Mary Courtney Puryear, the trip to northern California was her first ever mission trip.

"I'm becoming more confident in sharing my faith and appreciate the opportunities trips like this afford me. I want to use these kind of trips to grow closer in my walk with Christ."

That's what the trips are all about for chaperones like Jeanne Crawford.

"I feel it is important for our youth to experience a different culture from one they have grown up in, and these trips provide that experience. It gets them out of their comfort zone to knock on doors and talk to strangers with other about their faith.

"After being here for a week they build their faith and develop spiritual muscles which they bring back and use at home. They also develop leadership skills that they use to mentor those who come behind them.

Crawford believes such trips are important "and I want our youth to have as many different experiences as possible in their city, state, and world. I want them to be comfortable with being bold in their faith in whatever conditions they find themselves."
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This article appeared in The Christian Index (christianindex.org), newsjournal of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Joe Westbury is managing editor of the Christian Index.
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<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: From the States, published each Tuesday by Baptist Press, relays news and feature stories from state Baptist papers and other publications on initiatives by Baptist churches, associations and state conventions in evangelism, church planting and Great Commission outreach, including partnership missions. Reports about churches, associations and state conventions responding to the International Mission Board's call to embrace the world's 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups also are included in From the States, along with reports about church, associational and state convention initiatives in conjunction with the North American Mission Board's call to Southern Baptist churches to broaden their efforts in starting new churches and satellite campuses. The items appear in Baptist Press as originally published.</i>



