The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-09/15/2015 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Is any marriage safe in an adulterous culture? by Erin Roach Date: September 15, 2015 - Tuesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Amid news of men, women and families being thrust into the shadow of the Ashley Madison adultery website hacking, Baptist Press asked the wives of a few longtime Southern Baptist leaders how Christian wives can feel safe in their marriages. Carol Ann Draper, Jodi Chapman and Janet Vines expressed gratitude for their husbands and discussed how the Lord has strengthened their marriages through challenges along the way. Tony Rose, a Kentucky pastor with years of pastoral care experience, also offered some reasons why wives of godly men can feel secure despite today's adultery-ridden culture. "The thing that makes me feel secure is first of all just knowing God and knowing that God put us together," said Draper, whose husband Jimmy Draper was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1983-84 and, later, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. "We were 18 and 20 when we married, and so we literally were growing up together and we had no one else to depend on except each other." Draper realizes, though, that in many homes the trust has been broken, and in every home Satan wants to plant seeds of doubt. She can recall times when news of divorce or something in the culture was an occasion for her to wonder, "What if?" "'What if?' is always Satan's territory [to] get me to doubt my faith in God and my trust in my husband," Draper told BP. "When I begin to doubt as a wife, I think that begins to place a wedge between me and my husband." What helped her in those times, Draper said, was that she never had any reason to languish in fear. She recounted a time when a young woman with many problems was seeking frequent counsel from her husband, who was in the pastorate at the time. "One night I just told him, 'I'm concerned about her coming so much because I think you're just infatuated with her attention,'" Carol Ann Draper said. "He said, 'This will be taken care of and come to an end immediately,' and it did." Draper believes it was simply a case of her husband wanting to encourage a woman who did not have the spiritually mature husband she was seeking, but it helped him realize a pastor doesn't need to counsel a woman without someone else present. To help strengthen marriages, Draper recommended wives "polish up first love." "Give him a hug, give him a kiss, tell him how wonderful it is that he's come home -- because we can just start taking that for granted, and our first love begins to get tarnished and spotted, and it loses its enthusiasm and its glow," Draper said. Prayer provides powerful assurance, she said. "If we women will pray, then God will give us the peace in our hearts of knowing that our man is who we think he is and we won't be surprised that he is a godly man and that he wouldn't do something like that," Draper said. Chapman, whose husband Morris H. Chapman was SBC president from 1991-92 and subsequently president of the SBC Executive Committee, said there are "always needy women who are drawn to a strong leader." "Most preachers are leaders, have strong egos and love being complimented and adored," Chapman told BP. "When I saw that type of woman hanging around too much, I made my presence known." She even confronted a few such women, Chapman said, and warned her husband about them. She made sure to be the one to give him praise and encouragement so he wouldn't look for it elsewhere, Chapman said. "But I never doubted my husband's love, loyalty, commitment and trust," Chapman said. Open, mature conversation about boundaries and expectations is an antidote to fear and anxiety, Chapman said, and it's a good way to build a lifetime of love. "The husband should put his wife at total ease by showing her he is in love with her and only her," Chapman said. Also, wives should spend more time creating the kind of marriages they want than focusing on what they don't want to happen. "If you constantly focus on the negative thoughts around your relationship," Chapman said, "chances are you will keep inadvertently creating negative situations between you and your husband." Vines, whose husband Jerry Vines was SBC president from 1989-90 and was the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., said her advice to women is to love and pray for their husbands. "Be his No. 1 cheerleader. Always be proud of your mate," Vines told BP. "Assure him of your love. Make time for the love of your life." Vines emphasized that no one can control another person's life. "You can't be responsible for choices someone else makes," she said. "God gives us choices, but we do not have the choice of the consequences. God does. All you can do is to carry your concern to Jesus. You cannot make others do as you wish they would. Christian character is not an inheritance; each person must build it for himself or herself." Jesus is the only source of peace, Vines said, and while a mate may provide a temporary fix for insecurity, Jesus never fluctuates. "Every day I say, 'Lord, I need your peace, presence, protection and power,'" Vines said. "'Lord, I can't make it without you.'" Rose, pastor of LaGrange Baptist Church in Kentucky since 1993, said if a woman is married to a genuinely godly man, "he will not be without fault, but one thing he would have spent every day of his married life doing is making his wife feel secure," using Ephesians 5 as a model. Godliness, though, "is a trait that must have more than subjective evidence. Godliness can be faked," Rose told BP. "Scripture is plain about 'having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.'" Actions -- not words -- make a wife secure in her marriage, Rose said. Something basic a husband can do to make his wife feel secure in their marriage and in his godly character is to have no secrets, he said. "Does your wife know your schedule? Does she know all your passwords? Can she pick up your cellphone or look in your email any time she wants to?" Rose said. "A godly man should have no fears or hesitations about such transparency. Secrecy is the tool of the devil." Large church pastors often have more staff members and leaders around to hold them accountable, so Rose offered some ideas for small church pastors looking to safeguard their marriages. "There is no biblical requirement that a pastor 'work' from the church building," Rose said, noting there are ways to avoid being alone at the church with a church secretary. "Under good counsel, and with your wife's help, set your standards before you ever have your first pastoral position," Rose said. "Doing this shows your wife and the church where your priorities are." Pastors can learn to use their calendars as their friends and protectors, Rose said. "I don't mean to be irreverent, but people will submit to a calendar before they will submit to the Bible," Rose said. "If you will stay ahead in your calendar planning, you can place your necessary appointments at the same times your church secretary will be working in the building. "If you plan your family times, specific times with your wife, your prayer and study times two weeks in advance, when someone calls and says, 'Can I come see you in 45 minutes?' you reply, 'I am sorry. I already have an appointment. When can we schedule a time?' "Almost everyone will submit to the calendar 'appointment' without question." Beyond that, Rose said "every pastor needs a bit of healthy self-distrust" and should designate a single channel of electronic communication such as a church email address and should give his wife or office manager access to the account. "I can see no good and have seen bad -- very much bad -- come from pastors who communicate with women through texting, private messaging on Facebook and other unwise means," Rose said. Going to extremes is fine, he said, because "there is nothing silly about Christ's honor and our marriages." -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Captive' shows salvation, hope, redemption by Diana Chandler Date: September 15, 2015 - Tuesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Academy Award nominee David Oyelowo was drawn to his starring role in the movie "Captive" because the true story of the 2005 Atlanta-area murder and hostage saga shows the power of the Gospel to transform lives, he told Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren. Oyelowo, acclaimed for his role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2014 movie "Selma," in Captive portrays Brian Nichols, an accused rapist who escapes jail, murders four people and injures others before holding methamphetamine addict Ashley Smith hostage in her home overnight. Smith reads to Nichols from Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life," and successfully encourages Nichols to release her and surrender to police. "I was less drawn to playing Brian than I was drawn to the effect this event had on Ashley Smith. And as a Christian myself, I was just so taken with the fact that you have a murderer and a meth addict holed up together for seven hours. Somehow out of that comes salvation, hope, redemption, and Ashley Smith in particular stepping into a new chapter in her life where she gets her life back," Oyelowo said in an interview broadcast on Saddleback's online church. "Often what comes out of Hollywood is not edifying, not godly, doesn't have a moral compass, certainly doesn't hint at true hope," he noted. "This was a story that I just knew I had to be part of seeing come to fruition." The film showcases Smith as the methamphetamine addict she was when Nichols overtook her outside her home, and brings to screen the story of their interactions before Nichols surrendered to police. Smith had been reading The Purpose Driven Life for the past 33 days, but had succumbed to temptation to use meth twice during that time, including the night before her capture. It was when she refused Nichols' offer of meth during the hostage ordeal that God delivered her from the addiction that had robbed her of hope and caused her to lose custody of her daughter, Smith told Baptist Press in advance of a screening of the film that opens nationwide Sept. 18 with a PG-13 rating. "He asked me three different times, 'Do you want to use this? How 'bout you do this with me? Why don't we do this together?' And I promise you it was like Jesus was standing in front of me saying, 'Do you want to live today, or do you want to die today? Because this is your choice,'" Smith said. "And I really honestly believe that if I would have [chosen] to do the drugs that night that I would have died, whether it be by the hands of Brian Nichols or somebody else. But I looked at Brian Nichols and I said I don't want to use that now and I never want to use it again, whether I've got five years to live or I've got 50 years to live, and by the grace of God I have not [used it again]." Instead, Smith has used her life to tell of the forgiveness, deliverance and redemption she has found in Christ. She has remarried, regained custody of her daughter, is author of "Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero," and often speaks at meetings of the Celebrate Recovery discipleship ministry founded by Saddleback Church. Warren said Smith exemplifies that our greatest ministry often grows from our deepest hurt and pain. "One of the chapters she read to Brian out of Purpose Driven Life was 'You're Shaped to Serve God.' And that's everything she's done since that moment," Warren told Oyelowo. "I mean it literally turned the trajectory of her life and she has used the way God shaped her to serve God and others. … She is serving God out of her pain." Smith had accepted Christ when she was 7 years old and had been baptized by Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank S. Page when he was pastor of Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga. During her struggles, Satan tried to convince her she was lost, she said. "I knew that I was still saved because the Bible tells me that once I'm saved, I'm always saved. But it also tells me that we have struggles and that there's nothing that we can do that God will not love us," she said. "And for a long time I believed Satan's lie saying, 'You know what, it's too late. You're too bad. He doesn't want you back anymore. Your Christianity is ruined because of all these choices that you've made that dishonored God.' And I believed Satan for a very, very long time." Smith believed she deserved to die at Nichols' hands, she said. "But it wasn't until God literally reached down into the pits of hell that my life had become, in my apartment that night and He pulled me out of it. And He showed me, 'You know what, I love you. It doesn't matter what you do, who you are, I love you,'" Smith said. "It was like an immediate freedom. … God was asking me to trust Him. He was asking me if I wanted a new life, or if I didn't want a new life. And I wanted a new life. Thankfully He gave me one." Oyelowo can relate to Smith's experience, he told Warren. "When I became a Christian at the age of 16, it was outside of my religious experience, it was outside of … my upbringing," Oyelowo said. "I felt God say to me, 'David there is nothing you can do to make Me love you less. And I truly believe it was a revelation of that fact, in the midst of this event, that started to turn things for Ashley. She had messed up so much that she felt she deserved death, and yet a new hope started rising up in her, partly because Brian was a mirror to her of how bad things can get without the Lord's intervention. And so having been given a second chance beyond this event, it was the point beyond which -- to hear her say it -- she didn't feel a pull towards meth again." Such redemption in the midst of the darkness surrounding Smith and Nichols is the remarkable story of the film, said Oyelowo, who met Nichols' mother Claritha Nichols in August. "She said that [Nichols] has said very recently that he is [in prison] where he is supposed to be, which is a really chilling thing to say," Oyelowo told Warren. "But in that moment when Ashley was reading your book to [him] I truly believe that what was speaking to his spirit is he may have run out of credit here on earth, but there is a life beyond this life and there is hope for him beyond this life. And to take yet another life in the shape of Ashley's would be just a further erosion of his own life. And so there was a hope of something beyond that situation they were in, even for him." On Sept. 17, in advance of the movie's wide release, "Captive: Night of Purpose" will feature a screening of the film in theaters in 50 markets, followed by the viewing of a prerecorded panel discussion with Oyelowo, Smith, Kate Mara who portrays Smith in the film, Claritha Nichols and Captive producer Terry Botwick. CBS This Morning co-anchor Gayle King will moderate the discussion. More information on Captive: Night of Purpose is available at http://captivemovieresources.com/nightofpurpose. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: The Ayu challenge by Jeff Iorg Date: September 15, 2015 - Tuesday EDITOR'S NOTE: Jeff Iorg is president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP) -- A few days ago, I received an email that almost didn’t get opened. I receive so much email that unless it is clearly personal to me, it just doesn’t get read. There's just too much to handle it any other way. But something about the subject line piqued my interest. The email was from a girl named Ayu (whose father has a connection to our school). She wrote a beautiful email telling me about her plan to help people memorize more Scripture. It includes one or more verses for each letter of the alphabet, complete with YouTube videos she has made to reinforce the memorization for people who struggle with this discipline. Her email touched a nerve with me. I was preaching on Scripture memory as part of my sermon the following Sunday. I remember when memorizing the Bible was more of a priority I was even part of a Scripture Memory Club that encouraged accountability and focused effort. It was a meaningful time in my life and I regret it ended. Ayu has come a long way in her life from a pre-mature birth to a gifted reader and musician who loves God and wants others to know him.Her challenge and her program are more than cute -- they are insightful and helpful. Ayu told me since seven is the biblical number for completion, she wants to find 7,000 people who will memorize Scripture with her plan. Sounds like a good idea to me. So, with her parent's permission, here is a link to her website -- http://www.a-zscripturememory.com/. Look, if a 9-year-old can do it, so can you.  If you have ever wanted to memorize more of the Bible (and would like to have some fun doing it), check it out. Thanks Ayu for thinking of me and for including me in your project. --30-- Jeff Iorg is president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, with campuses in the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, Denver and Phoenix. This column first appeared at the seminary's President's Blog. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE STATES: Fla. public schools evangelism/missions news; Former Ark. inmate takes CWJC scholarship award by Staff Date: September 15, 2015 - Tuesday Public school partnerships offer unique opportunities By Nicole Kalil/Florida Baptist Witness KISSIMMEE, Fla. (BP) -- As churches continue to seek out new ways to connect with and impact their communities, many are discovering an overlooked mission field right in their own backyards. It's their neighborhood public school. As students all over the state have been heading back to school during the past few weeks, Florida Baptists have been reaching out to serve "the least of these" in ways both big and small. "Public schools are a mission field, and this is a way we can show Christ's love to them," said Jason Mole, family pastor at First Baptist Church in Kissimmee. Mole said that his church's work with five area schools stems from Senior Pastor Tim Wilder's vision to make a difference in the schools around them. All five of the schools FBC Kissimmee partners with are within three miles of the church. Mole's church likes to capitalize on the fall and Christmas seasons because they offer organic opportunities to serve students, teachers and staff. For Christmas several years ago, FBC Kissimmee bought a gift for every student at Central Avenue Elementary School. Mole said they bought, wrapped and delivered more than 800 presents. And to get elementary students at all the schools off to a strong start last year, the church gave away 1,000 backpacks filled with the school supplies required for each grade level. This year, church volunteers fanned out to four of the schools to serve in whatever capacity was needed, from painting and pressure washing to putting together student packets and landscaping. Pine Grove Baptist Church in Trenton also capitalizes on opportunities that the back-to school season brings. Emanuel Harris, worship and children's pastor at Pine Grove, described their annual Back to School Bash and carnival that benefits students and families in Gilchrist, Dixie and Levy counties. In its fourth year, Harris said this year's bash was the biggest so far, with an estimated 1,000 people enjoying free hot dogs and drinks, inflatable bounce houses and water slides. One of the Levy County hospice thrift stores set up a clothes closet for those in need, and 780 backpacks full of school supplies were handed out. While parents picked up clothes and school supplies, children were offered tours of a sheriff's office helicopter and fire trucks. Pine Grove also helps feed students in need with a backpack filled with food for them to take home for the weekend. Mike Reed, senior pastor of San Jose Baptist in Jacksonville, has made meeting the needs of nearby San Jose Elementary a priority for his congregation. "God can't work on the campus of San Jose Elementary if the members of San Jose Baptist stay on our campus," he said. To that end, members of San Jose Baptist, both young and old, interact with the school frequently throughout the year. Reed said in previous years their youth ministry has gone to the school to help clean up and plant flowers. Senior adults volunteer in classrooms weekly, providing whatever support the teachers need. Reed also encourages his members to buy a membership in the school's PTA in order to help fund them. Teachers at San Jose Elementary are not left out of the mix. The church makes sure to bless them with breakfast or lunch on the first day of school as well as during teacher workdays. Jeff Litton, missions engagement coordinator at the Jacksonville Baptist Association, encourages churches in his association to forge deep relationships with the schools they serve and do more than just help with supplies once a year. "Get to know staff, teachers, students and families," he said. "You uncover needs as you get into deeper relationships." Reed said it's important to minister to the school at critical times, like the beginning of a new school year, because it can open the door for more ministry opportunities if something traumatic happens at school or in the life of a student or faculty member. All the churches that we spoke with for this story agree that a good relationship with the school's principal is the entry point and first priority for any church. With a principal's busy schedule and many responsibilities, Reed said it can sometimes be hard for principals to be able to communicate what their needs are or even to entertain the idea of a relationship at all. "If you go to a principal and they say they're not ready, give them your contact information and let them know you want to serve and help," Reed advised. Principal Paula Smith at San Jose Elementary said in written remarks: "[The relationship] has been a huge asset for San Jose Elementary for many years and continues to provide us with many blessings! From school supplies to campus beautification and consistent volunteers and incentives, San Jose Baptist has supported our school in various aspects when or wherever there is a need!" Harris at Pine Grove said that his church's involvement at school has given them a "respected" voice with their local school board. Harris said part of maintaining that healthy relationship is respecting the guidelines that the district sets out for separation of church and state. "We're very careful," he said. "We review with the school board the religious liberty guidelines and what line they don't want us to cross." Harris said it's worth it to play by the school board's rules because they want to continue to have a voice with the public school system. "Those who are noncompliant are not asked back and they lose the opportunity," he added. It's an opportunity that Kevin Jones believes churches should not squander. Jones, assistant professor of teacher education at Boyce College, Southern Seminary's undergraduate school, said that he hopes churches are seeking ways to engage with neighborhood schools. "As Christians, we are committed to share the Gospel with all people, to pray for the lost and to serve not only one another within the body of Christ or a local church, but also unbelievers," he said. Many churches around the state have taken advantage of the Gospel opportunities on the mission field known as the public school campus. Duval County School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has encouraged all 160 of the schools in his district to partner with a faith based organization, which up to this point have mainly been area churches. A total of 120 of his schools already have these partnerships, and he is optimistic about more schools being positively impacted by these relationships. "It's unquestionable that there is a strong faith-based presence in Jacksonville, and we should leverage it to do more for our children and fill in where there are gaps," he said. Litton said at last count, there were at least 40 JBA churches with at least one school partner, and there could be even more. "I would hope that there would be an increase in this type of involvement," Jones said. --30-- This story appeared in the Florida Baptist Witness. Nicole Kalil writes for the Witness. ********* CWJC scholarship winner: Shaffer, from prison to purpose By Lisa Falknor/Arkansas Baptist News FORT SMITH, Ark. (BP) -- In her 32 years, Christine Shaffer has worn many labels. Pregnant at 15 and again at 17, society branded her an unwed mother. At the age of 19 -- weighing a scant 98 pounds -- "friends" called her a meth addict and drug dealer. And, at 23, the state of Arkansas marked her with another title: prisoner. During her 366 days in prison, she committed her life to Christ. This year, Aug. 3, Shaffer held an award representing her most recent title, an identifying marker to forward her graduate school dreams. Shaffer is the 2015 national $1,000 Faye Dove Scholarship Award winner. "I cried a little when I found out I won," she said. "It's a big deal to be picked among everyone in the nation." Today, she's a college graduate, a River Valley Christian Life Corps (RVCLC) weekly volunteer and mentor, a married mother of four and, finally, according to the county where she lives, someone without a record. "Christine has gone over and above the norm," said Mary Ramsey, state coordinator for Christian Women's Job Corps/Christian Men's Job Corps who presented the award. "She's met every goal with God's help. She came from back here, but now she's up here" Ramsey said, motioning first behind her and then above her head to demonstrate the progress Shaffer has made. To Shaffer, in order to come from "back here" to "up here," she needed her record expunged. When she got out of jail, no one wanted to hire a felon, she said. She said one lady at a staffing agency "laid it out for me straight." The lady laughed at her, saying, "You can't do anything with your record." Still, Shaffer held on to Bible verses studied in the unlikeliest of places -- the prison laundry room: "I would stay up all night in jail to read the Bible and pray while I did my work-study." "My life lesson I learned in prison is to lean on God," Shaffer said. Among the verses she read were "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13) and "Nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). Getting her record expunged seemed impossible. "The laws have changed," the judge told her. "It will take five years." That's what led her to the RVCLC, formerly Fort Smith Christian Women's Job Corps. "I thought I was looking for a career plan," Shaffer wrote to the national WMU Faye Dove Scholarship board, "but what I found was discipleship and love." "The one word I always use to describe CWJC is 'discipleship,'" said Ramsey. The program is set up based on Christ-centered mentoring. "Without Christ and without these women mentors teaching other women to pray and to live by His Word, CWJC would not be successful," she said. "We did Bible study every time we met," said Shaffer's mentor, Roxana King, 61. "I'd give her a goal for the week and try to help and encourage her." "My dream is to build a home for women transitioning out of jail," Shaffer said. "I want to teach women life and parenting skills, to be an encourager, to give people hope." "I want to teach them how to live for Jesus," she said. Even though the judge said the expunction would take five years, with RVCLC's help, it took five months. "I'm well on my way," Shaffer told the Aug. 3 crowd, smiling. Shaffer plans to graduate in 2017 at an accredited Arkansas Christian college with a master's degree in mental health and family counseling. --30-- This story appeared in the Arkansas Baptist News. Lisa Falknor is northwest correspondent for the Arkansas Baptist News. 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Corker stands with SBC on North Korea by David Roach Date: September 15, 2015 - Tuesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has expressed his agreement with a Southern Baptist Convention resolution's condemnation of "religious persecution and human rights violations in North Korea." Sen. Bob Corker, R.-Tenn., also said he is working to "highlight the deplorable human rights situation of the North Korean people." "I join the SBC in strongly condemning the violations of international human rights and the lack of religious freedom in North Korea," Corker told Baptist Press in written comments. The SBC resolution, which was adopted during the convention's annual meeting this summer and has since been distributed to some members of Congress, represents a form of "civic engagement" that is "incredibly important and absolutely makes a difference for those of us who hold elected office and are responsive to the concerns of our constituents." See related story. SBC messengers, gathered in Columbus, Ohio, "appeal[ed] to [dictator] Kim Jong Un and the government of North Korea to respect and ensure human rights for all individuals as obligated both by biblical teaching and the international covenants to which it is a State Party." The resolution "urge[d] President Barack Obama and both houses of the US Congress to do all they can to pressure the government of North Korea to respect the dignity and religious freedom of all its citizens" and called for prayer "that God will turn the heart of Kim Jong Un to Himself and that President Kim might grant to all the people of North Korea the respect they deserve as God's creation." North Korea -- named by persecution watchdog Open Doors as the world's worst persecutor of Christians for the past 13 years -- has sent thousands of Christians to its political prison camps, estimated at 50,000-70,000 by Open Doors. The SBC resolution notes that "an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Christians in North Korea remain at grave risk of persecution." Corker said the U.S. must "regain the initiative and work more effectively to isolate the North Korean regime." A "long-term reauthorization for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom" (USCIRF) would help the U.S. government combat religious liberty violations in North Korea and elsewhere, he said. USCIRF -- a nine-member, bipartisan panel -- researches conditions for religious freedom overseas and makes policy recommendations to Congress, the White House and the State Department. The panel's authority is set to expire Sept. 30 unless Congress extends it. Corker called North Korea's human rights record "abhorrent." "North Korea's abhorrent human rights record, continued development of nuclear weapons and cyber threats are all major concerns that demand a more serious focus from Congress and the administration," he said. "We're looking at options to enhance our toolkit to help address the threat posed by North Korea's weapons of mass destruction programs and provide hope to the oppressed people of North Korea for a better future." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ga. Baptists announce new name, ministry direction by Joe Westbury/Christian Index Date: September 15, 2015 - Tuesday DULUTH, Ga. (BP) -- Georgia Baptists have announced they are reinventing themselves with a new focus, new organizational structure, and new name that better communicates their mission and identity. The new direction was rolled out to state missionaries Monday (Sept. 14) at the Baptist Missions and Ministry Center in Duluth and shared with the Georgia Baptist Executive Committee today (Sept. 15). The focus emerged after nearly a year of study that centers around eight objectives ranging from involving the next generation to better equipping churches and mobilizing people to be more involved in ministry and financial support. The objectives include: -- Ministry that compels the next generation to be engaged; -- Ministry that strengthens churches and church leaders; -- Ministry that puts more resources into connecting children and teens; -- Ministry that results in more Gospel proclamation and salvations; -- Ministry that brings ethnic churches and leaders into leadership and full participation; -- Ministry that directly supports the priorities of the Five Smooth Stones (the state convention's strategy for reaching more of the unchurched: spiritual renewal, Kingdom generosity, church revitalization, church planting and authentic evangelism); -- Ministry that mobilizes people to personally engage in missions; -- Ministry that compels people to want to give more financially. Name change affirms clear identity Perhaps the most significant development is changing the name from the Georgia Baptist Convention to the Georgia Baptist Mission Board (GBMB). "We operate under two names. Our corporate name, according to our 1830 charter, is The Executive Committee of the Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia. But we are known more commonly as the Georgia Baptist Convention," Executive Director J. Robert White explained to both groups. Technically, the Georgia Baptist Convention only exists for two days when messengers gather to conduct business each November. Neither the corporate name or the Georgia Baptist Convention name do an adequate job of explaining what the state convention actually does, White explained. That identity was then crystalized in one sentence: "We are a missionary sending agency in Georgia." White noted the agency performs its mission calling "by spreading the Gospel of Christ in a state that is at least 70 percent lost. We are functioning as a state mission board, though we have not in recent years expressed that in our name." He stated the Georgia Baptist Mission Board "more clearly identifies who we are and what we do." White stated the commitment to reinvention was based on three major emphases, namely commitment to: -- global missions support; -- Georgia church services and Georgia church planting partnerships; and -- Georgia community evangelism and missions. White then gave a brief history lesson, explaining the precedent for the name. He then referred to page 27 of the May 15, 1919 issue of The Christian Index which reported "in 1879 a resolution was passed, changing the name from the State Mission Committee" to "The Board of Missions of the State of Georgia …" He then noted the new name will be the undergirding strength behind all the agency does in pushing back spiritual darkness in Georgia, and in its missions ventures throughout North America and around the world. The multi-faceted agency will be reinvented around a variety of innovative approaches to missions and evangelism: Field based personnel The GBMB will move toward field-based personnel, employees and practitioners in local churches. The move will bring the agency closer to the churches without adding staff positions. "We are already electronically connected and we could gather Baptist Missions and Ministry Center staff as needed in alternate locations, most likely in gathering hosted by churches," he said. In this scenario the agency will contract with experienced church staff members and laity who will extend the Board's ministry with minimal overhead. These individuals will work alongside state missionaries to perform ministry close to where the need is identified. A suggested contract would be $1,000 a month for 12 months or less. "From an economical perspective I'm sure some added income would be well received by such practitioners and it would save Cooperative Program dollars for other ministries," White explained. Reduced need for building space With more employees disbursed across the state there would be less demand for the current headquarters building, which could be sold at a premium from its original construction cost. The sale of the property would then free the Board to purchase a much smaller facility to primarily house administrative staff. The Baptist Missions and Ministry Center, which sits on a 43-acre tract on Sugarloaf Parkway in the heart of Gwinnett County, was dedicated on Sept. 12, 2006. The $42-million project -- $23 million for the building, $10 million for the land, and $9 million for technological innovations -- could be sold at a premium in a location that is seeing a steady rise in property values, White noted. Proceeds from the sale could be invested with the Georgia Baptist Foundation to provide endowment for ministry for decades to come. The building's $25-million debt was retired in March 2015 through a gift of the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation. Partnering of the Christian Index with communications ministries Due to common job skills between The Index and communications -- primarily writers, graphic designers, photography and social media -- the two offices will work far more closely together rather than adding staff. Cross-training has already begun between the two work units. As part of this move The Index Board of Directors recently voted to disband in order to streamline The Index's administrative overhead. As a result the newspaper has become a ministry area similar to other departments. An additional part of reinventing the state convention resulted in The Index announcing earlier this month that it would move to a primarily online presence on Jan. 1, 2016. See related story. That decision, based on declining advertising and subscription income, will save nearly $320,000 annually in Cooperative Program dollars. Merger of Sunday School/small groups and discipleship ministries This new ministry area will more closely resemble where churches are heading in their organizational structure and will be focused on groups and faith development. There will be three areas of ministry in the work unit that will be known as Groups and Faith Development Ministries and will be based on life stages: -- Preschool and Children's Groups & Faith Development Ministry; -- Youth Groups and Faith Development Ministry; -- Adult Groups and Faith Development Ministry, consisting of young adults, median adults and senior adults. An example of the need for the new work unit is the nearly 2,700 churches out of 3,600 that have no vocational youth pastors. Such congregations will benefit from specialized assistance from the state missionaries. Two new departments to serve churches Two new ministry areas will be created to meet emerging needs. Georgia Community Missions and Disaster Response will include disaster relief, chaplaincy ministries, community missions and mobile home and apartment missions. Three areas -- crisis pregnancy, human trafficking and public affairs -- will relate to the Executive Office. Church Administration Ministry will offer practical assistance to many small churches seeking help with administrative needs such as: -- buildings and grounds; -- budgets/money management; -- church constitution/bylaws; -- parliamentary procedure; -- child protection; and -- personnel issues/human resources. "We have never offered these services and they will make a tremendous impact on the health and viability of many of our churches," White noted. Strengthening ministries and planting churches The GBMB will seek to avoid duplication between its ministries and local churches and strengthen successful ministries by partnering with churches and associations in existing events. Speaking of the GBMB's intention to expand church planting, White stated that it will use existing statewide agency properties, such as Baptist Campus Ministry centers, to plant campus churches. Reduction in administration committee schedule To further save Cooperative Program dollars and place more funds on the field, the Administration Committee will be reduced from 10 to four meetings, with additional meetings electronically, if needed. This will result in a savings of $12,504. The Georgia Baptist Executive Committee schedule will remain the same with four annual meetings. With the possible sale of the headquarters building, the Executive Committee could meet in churches to further save overhead costs. New operation schedule for Missions and Ministry Center To further reduce costs and place state missionaries closer to churches, a revised office schedule for the headquarters building will be implemented. The building will be open Monday through Thursday and closed on Friday. A call center will route calls to the appropriate office on Friday, with churches or associations receiving a return call within minutes from the state missionary. The new schedule will primarily affect support staff who will remain available remotely. "This does not mean state missionaries will not work on Fridays, it just means they will not work from the Missions and Ministry Center on Fridays. They will work remotely, whether from their home or from the field assisting churches as any other day of the week," White commented. He stressed built-in accountability was part of the Friday schedule and any callers would receive an immediate return call from the state missionary being sought. One of the reasons for closing the building one day a week is that Friday has the lowest call volume from churches and associational offices since many close on that day. Cooperative Program dollars will also be saved from no longer heating and cooling the Missions and Ministry Center for a small administrative staff. The reinvention will be rolled out over two years, beginning on Jan. 1, 2016 and being fully implemented by December 31, 2017, White added. The reorganization is the first since the agency underwent a major overhaul in 1997 and in 2011 when Five Smooth Stones was adopted and became the new direction for the work. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Nigeria claims successes against Boko Haram by Diana Chandler Date: September 15, 2015 - Tuesday ABUJA, Nigeria (BP) -- A new multination military offensive is causing Boko Haram to surrender "en masse," a Nigerian military official claimed Sept. 13, just as humanitarian aid groups said Boko Haram attacks were creating a major hunger crisis in the region. "The Nigerian Army in conjunction with the Nigerian Airforce and other security agencies will continue to devise and implement effective strategies to bring Boko Haram terrorism to a speedy end," the International Business Times quoted Colonel Sani Usman, Nigeria's acting director of Army Public Relations. "It will also continue to receive surrendering suspects and assures innocent ones among them that surrender is the only option open to them." A special military force of 8,700 soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin mobilized against Boko Haram in February, and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has given newly appointed military leaders just months to stop the terrorists. Despite Usman's claims, Boko Haram has forced nearly 800,000 people to flee their homes since June, causing mass malnutrition in some areas of Chad, Niger and Cameroon, the humanitarian Thomson Reuters Foundation reported Sept. 11. The World Food Program (WFP) and the American Red Cross have also reported a growing hunger crisis in the region, fueled by Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria and in the neighboring countries where Nigerians have fled. Both sides of the conflict have reported successes since the 8,700 soldiers were deployed, according to news reports. Boko Haram is blamed for many hit-and-run style attacks including suicide bombings. On Sept. 13, suicide bombers believed to be Boko Haram members killed at least seven people and injured 18 others in an attack in Cameroon, the Associated Press reported. On Sept. 2, suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed at least five villagers and injured six others in a raid in Borno state, after having killed at least 24 others in two separate village attacks in other northeast Nigerian communities days earlier, Reuters reported. Boko Haram is blamed for killing 600 to 900 people in the region during Buhari's presidency, adding to an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Boko Haram has killed since 2009. The terrorists have targeted Christians but have also killed moderate Muslims and others. The international community focused on Boko Haram in April, 2014, when the terrorists kidnapped more than 300 teenage schoolgirls in Chibok. As many as 75 of the girls escaped, but about 220 remain missing and are feared sold as Muslim sex slaves or used as suicide bombers. Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group, and is committed to establishing strict sharia law across Nigeria. In 2014 alone, 42 percent of all attacks by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria were on Christian communities, while 35.4 percent targeted random civilians, according to the Jubilee Campaign for global religious freedom. Other attacks in 2014 targeted Muslim communities (6.8 percent), the government (10.9 percent), schools (4.1 percent), and media and medical personnel (0.5 percent), according to the Jubilee Campaign 2015 Report on Nigeria.