The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-09/22/2015 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- See You At The Pole marks 25 years of prayer by Neisha Roberts/The Alabama Baptist Date: September 22, 2015 - Tuesday BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- I woke up extra early that fourth Wednesday in September to make my way to Falcon Middle School by 7 a.m., situated just off Highway 24 on the golden-yellow plains of Colorado. I was ready to participate in my first See You at the Pole. As my dad dropped me off 18 years ago, I hopped out of the car and made my way to the circle that was forming around the school's flagpole. Several students from different grades were there. We huddled close together and grabbed hands. We prayed for our state, our school, its staff and students and for that day to be all about God and glorifying His name. "Amen," I said aloud, recognizing what a privilege it was to freely pray in public at my school. The whole prayer time was "ours." Just students gathered together. It brought with it a sense of accomplishment, freedom, honor and responsibility. We may have been young but we took a stand for our faith and learned the importance of prayer along the way. Sept. 23 marks the 25th annual See You At The Pole (SYATP), a student-initiated, student-organized, student-led event that started with just 10 students in Texas in 1990 who wanted to pray for their school. In 25 years the movement has grown to see more than 3 million students participate across the United States and in more than 20 countries. With the theme "UNITED" drawn from Acts 1:14, SYATP 2015 encourages a time "to commit to global unity in Christ and prayer for this generation," said Matt Wilson, executive director of First Priority Greater Birmingham, an Alabama sponsor and coordinator of SYATP. "We are encouraging students, school faculty, families, businessmen and women, everyone, to unite together as a community in prayer for our nation," Wilson said. SYATP coincides with the annual Global Week of Student Prayer (Sept. 20–26) when people are encouraged to find new and unique ways, places and times to pray in groups throughout the week for the world, community leaders, schools, staff and families. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CCCU accepts resignations of Goshen, EMU by Diana Chandler Date: September 22, 2015 - Tuesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities announced resignations Monday (Sept. 21) of two schools that have sparked dissension -- and prompted other schools to withdraw from the council -- after expanding their hiring and benefits policies to embrace same-sex marriage. The CCCU Board of Directors announced the resignations of Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., and Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., after a CCCU board meeting. The board also appointed a task force to review CCCU categories of association to accommodate the changing face of religious liberty, CCCU President Shirley Hoogstra said in a press teleconference following the board's announcement. "What we know is we need new categories of collaboration," Hoogstra said. "We're looking to 2015 and beyond, looking around issues of religious liberty, and we think having strong collaborations is the way forward. … What we found is the affiliate category is widely confusing for our association." Tennessee Baptist Convention affiliate Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Okla., weeks ago cancelled their CCCU membership in protest of EMU and Goshen being allowed to retain their membership in CCCU as Christian colleges that allow the employment of homosexuals engaged in same-sex marriages. While there was no immediate indication whether the resignation of EMU and Goshen would entice Union and Oklahoma Wesleyan to return to the council, Hoogstra said she would welcome such a move. "We are in conversation with anybody," Hoogstra said. "We're a voluntary membership, so we would of course be in conversation with them again," she said of Union and Oklahoma Wesleyan. A statement on the CCCU website further clarifies the need for new categories of collaboration. "It has become evident that a lack of clarity, purpose and common understanding exists about the various associational categories within the CCCU," the statement reads. "Therefore, the Board appointed a task force … to review the CCCU's categories of association, and to explore how the Council will remain rooted in historic Christianity while also fruitfully engaging with other institutions seeking to advance the cause of Christian higher education or religious freedom." EMU and Goshen submitted resignation letters Sept. 15 in the midst of CCCU board discussions to consider downgrading the two schools' status to affiliate membership and robbing them of CCCU voting rights. In contacting the presidents of more than 120 CCCU membership schools, the CCCU found that 25 percent of its members did not support EMU and Goshen having CCCU membership of any kind. Hoogstra said the two schools were "sacrificial" in resigning to avoid confusion within the CCCU membership. "EMU and Goshen said we don't want to be the cause of 25 percent feeling this sort of disease. … We are going to withdraw. So it was a very generous sacrificial move on EMU and Goshen's part," Hoogstra said. "It allows our task force now to look at categories that might actually fit better for 2015 and beyond." The CCCU clarified its purpose in the statement posted on its website, specifying its advocacy "for the right of each member school to practice its sincerely held religious beliefs in the public square." The CCCU "has not changed in mission, purpose or commitment since its founding in 1976. For nearly four decades, the Council has encompassed distinctively Christian institutions of higher education in a common cause and commitment to Christ-centered, faith-integrating teaching, scholarship and service," the statement reads. "The association provides a strong presence in Washington, D.C., for advocacy, strengthening academic excellence and offering students domestic and international off-campus semester programs. The CCCU is an effective and respected advocate for Christ-centered higher education." The CCCU also affirmed its biblical stance on marriage. "As a broad and diverse association, the CCCU has never adopted specific creedal or doctrinal tests for its members and affiliates. Nevertheless, the Council has been and remains dedicated to the advancement of Christian higher education that is aligned with the historic Christian faith," the group said. "Accordingly, the CCCU has maintained the historic Christian view of marriage, defined as a union of one man and one woman, in its employment policies and student academic program conduct codes. "As it relates to this topic, therefore, the CCCU only advocates for 'principles of religious freedom, which allow Christian colleges to hire based on religion and to only employ individuals who practice sexual relations within the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman" (Board Policies Manual, section 11.2.1).' Until recently, there had been alignment of hiring policies within the CCCU membership." Barry H. Corey, president of Biola University, and Phil G. Ryken, president of Wheaten College, are task force co-chairs, joined by members of the CCCU board, and presidents of member and non-member affiliate schools. The board is expected to submit its recommendation regarding the task force's review at CCCU's January 2016 meeting. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: How I started praying the Bible by Don Whitney Date: September 22, 2015 - Tuesday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- It was the first of March 1985. I remember where I was sitting when it happened. I was pastor of a church in the western suburbs of Chicago. A guest preacher was speaking at a series of meetings at our church. He was teaching on the prayers of the apostle Paul in his New Testament letters, and encouraging us to pray these inspired prayers as our own. Then, at one point he held up his Bible said, "Folks, when you pray, use the prayer book." In that moment I suddenly realized, "The entire Bible is a prayer book. We can pray not only the prayers of Paul in Ephesians, we can pray everything in the Book of Ephesians." So I started praying each day through one of the passages in my daily Bible reading. Soon I was reading in the Psalms and found it easy to make the words of the psalmist my own prayers. For example, I read, "How precious is your steadfast love, O God!" (Psalm 36:7), and spoke King David's exact words as my own prayer, immediately adding other thoughts prompted by David's exclamation. After I'd said all that came to mind from verse 7, I read verse 8: "They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them to drink of the river of your delights." "Yes, Lord!" I prayed. "Let me feast on the abundance of Your house; let me drink of the river of Your delights. Feed my soul with Your goodness. Satisfy my thirsty heart with Your delights. Let me be immersed in the vast, deep, incomparable river of knowing You." I simply spoke to the Lord those things prompted verse-by-verse in my reading of the psalm. If a verse didn't suggest anything to pray, I would go to the next verse. On and on through the psalm, praying as prompted by the things I read, I continued until I ran out of time. I discovered that praying the Bible helped me stay focused and minimized the tendency of my mind to wander. I stopped saying the same old things about the same old things when I prayed. And yet, I found that I still prayed about the things I wanted to pray for each day, but I stopped using the tired, repetitive phrases I typically used. Using this approach also gave me a much greater sense of conversing with God. Instead of the usual me-centered monologue that I hoped the Lord would hear, I read what He said in the Bible, then spoke to Him in response. When I finished, I turned to the words of God again, after which I spoke with Him about what He had just said in Scripture. Throughout my time in prayer I kept alternating between God speaking in His Word and my speaking to Him in response -- just like a real conversation. Eventually I discovered that what I'd stumbled upon was in fact an ancient Christian practice. Jesus prayed psalms on the cross (see Matthew 27:46 and Luke 23:46). Followers of Jesus in the Book of Acts (4:23-26) prayed psalms. And many prayerful people since Bible times (such as George Müller) practiced praying the Bible. Regrettably, I'd never been taught this simple, satisfying method of taking the words of Scripture and turning them into prayer. So March 1, 1985, was a day that forever changed my life, and changed virtually every day of my life since. And now, having prayed the Bible almost daily for 30 years, I can testify that there is nothing in all my devotional life that more quickly and consistently kindles my consistently cold heart like praying the Bible. It is gratifying to be able to share with you something that has been so meaningful to me for so long. I hope you will find the practice of praying the Bible equally meaningful and helpful in your own prayer life. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Great Commission Advance 'imperative,' Page says by Art Toalston Date: September 22, 2015 - Tuesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- The needs are "glaringly obvious in our 21st-century world," Frank S. Page said in setting forth a Great Commission Advance 10-year initiative among Southern Baptists. "The need for a larger mission force, not a smaller one, is greater than ever," Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said during the opening session of the EC's Sept. 21-22 meeting in Nashville. The Great Commission Advance, Page noted, will focus on the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists' channel for national, international and state-by-state missions and ministries. "The need for evangelistic church plants … is greater than ever, as our own continent is more lost than ever before," said Page, speaking at the five-year point of his service as EC president. "The need for excellent theological education is more necessary now than ever before. The need for an ethical voice in our society and our culture is certainly more crucial than ever before," Page said. "The need for missions education, the need for godly resources and assistance to our churches and our pastors is absolutely imperative. … "We need to have a Great Commission Advance, and the best way to fund it is through the Cooperative Program," Page said. The 10-year emphasis, now in development with SBC entity and state convention partners, will culminate with the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program's founding in 1925. The Great Commission Advance, Page said, will provide pastors and churches with ongoing encouragement "to look at the wisdom of supporting missions and ministries through the Cooperative Program. We're always seeking ways to improve it, to review it. However, its underlying principles, we believe, are sound. "Through the Cooperative Program, we definitely are not alone," Page stated. "That is the theme of this emphasis: We are not alone. I truly believe that often-quoted phrase: We can go more together than we can do separately." Several thousand churches have embraced the 1% CP Challenge to increase their giving to Southern Baptist causes by 1 percentage point of their yearly budgets, Page reported. "But I think it's also time to call our churches to a 1% increase in baptisms and a 1% increase in stewardship," he said. "We're seeing less money given to the Cooperative Program because we have less people in our churches. And those that are in the churches are giving less than ever before. "We must approach these issues with great, great purposefulness." Page said seven key objectives will undergird the Great Commission Advance: -- Prayer: "We must undergird a renewed commitment to Cooperative Program missions with coordinated prayer that invites God's blessing and unites our churches and our entities in a Great Commission Advance," he said. SBC President Ronnie Floyd of Arkansas has "beaten this drum over and over, and exemplified it for us and encouraged us in perhaps more ways than we've ever seen before," Page said. "The need is greater than ever, and a Great Commission Advance will only occur when people are praying to our great Lord." -- Vision: "We must communicate a renewed, clear and compelling vision of what the Cooperative Program is and what it is not for both present and future generations," Page said. "We cannot scream a tired announcement louder and louder over and over," he said, recounting that he challenges young pastors "to study the Cooperative Program and if, at the end of the day, you don't like it, do something else. I believe if you study it thoroughly and accurately, you'll find it is still, even with all its weaknesses, the most efficient and effective way to do missions and ministries around the world." -- Responsibility: "We must teach every willing Southern Baptist in every Southern Baptist church to embrace a personal responsibility for the Great Commission, to a balanced Acts 1:8 strategy that values cooperation with multiple SBC mission partners," Page said, referencing Jesus' call in Acts 1:8 for His followers to witness to their faith in their local communities and regions as well the continent and world in which they live. -- Positioning: "We must effectively position the Cooperative Program as the foundational means for SBC churches to implement that intentional Acts 1:8 strategy," Page said. "There are many other great missions opportunities out there," he said. Yet, the decline in support of the Cooperative Program over the years "is often due to a church's involvement in its own mission work. We're not against that. Every church I've ever pastored did its own mission work," he said. "We believe the issue is balance, and we believe God can provide for both." -- Partnership: "We must renew full trust and collaborative Cooperative Program partnership among national SBC entities and state conventions," Page said. "We have begun an aggressive foundational strategy with a national consultant and our state partners … for improvement, enlistment and retention of churches" in support of the Cooperative Program, he said. "Our North American Mission Board, our International Mission Board have joined with us in this process.... We are not alone and we need to work together." -- Customization: "We must translate and customize cooperative missions in the convention to key audiences, sustaining positive relationships and dialogue with each of those audiences," Page said. -- Stewardship: "We must challenge every Southern Baptist to a biblical standard of stewardship and a renewed culture of generosity," Page said. SBC leaders are "calling on every Southern Baptist, every Southern Baptist church, every Southern Baptist entity and partner to be a part of a Great Commission Advance, so that we can do more evangelism, more in church planting, more in church strengthening, more in missions," he said. "We want to see every man, woman, boy and girl hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." Once Southern Baptists launched the Cooperative Program 90 years ago, "God has used it to do things that no other denomination has ever seen," Page said. "As we approach that 100-year mark, may it be stronger than it has ever been before, may there truly be a Great Commission Advance." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Floyd: Return to 'haystack' of fervent prayer by Diana Chandler Date: September 22, 2015 - Tuesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Southern Baptists must conduct ministry in fervent prayer and repent from a "sophistication and pride" that prevent us from relying on God"s power, Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd told the SBC Executive Committee at its Sept. 21 meeting in Nashville. Using the imagery of the historic 1806 Haystack Prayer Meeting of Samuel Mills and four Williams College classmates in Williamstown, Mass., Floyd called Southern Baptists to return to the haystack of fervent prayer that anticipates a supernatural move of God. The five students had gone to an open field to discuss the urgency of reaching the nations with the Gospel when a sudden rainstorm drove them to find shelter under a haystack in the field. "We need to stop being so content doing ministry without moments under the haystack," he said during his presidential address. "We must return to the haystack, calling out to God extraordinarily, experiencing Him supernaturally, and exploding with a robust vision and commitment to advance the Gospel exponentially everywhere." He told Southern Baptists to repent from a reliance on self and to renew a belief in God's power. "It has always been a mystery to me how Baptists believe in the supernatural, miraculous experience of personal conversion; but after this occurs, we operate in our own power and knowledge naturally," he said. "I call upon every Southern Baptist tonight, including our entity leaders, state convention leaders, pastors, church leaders and our laypeople to renew our belief and commitment to the power of God. "It is past time that we repent from our sophistication and pride and get back under the haystack," he said to some 200 national, state and entity leaders, pastors, employees and their family members in attendance. "It is past time that we live and lead empowered by the almighty power of the Living God!" Floyd repeated the words of Mills who reportedly said "We can do this, if we will" during the 1806 haystack prayer meeting. "This reminds me of the words written in Acts 4:31, 'When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God's message with boldness,'" Floyd said. "Prayer, the power of God, evangelism, and missions all go together. We need to get ourselves back under the haystack." Just as God asked the prophets Jeremiah, Amos and Zechariah the question, "What do you see?" Floyd posed the question to Southern Baptists charged with ministering internationally in a world gone awry. "I am convinced this is the question God is asking us as leaders of our convention: What do you see? More specifically He is asking us, 'What do you see in the future for the Southern Baptist Convention?'" Floyd said. "This is a question of vision. Vision is seeing it before you see it. We need to see it with our spiritual eyes before we will see it through our physical eyes." Floyd answered the question with his vision of Southern Baptists working to awaken America and reach the nation and world with the Gospel. "Our greatest hope that we can bring in this hour is for us to see God awaken America," he said, expanding on his vision of a great awakening. "Many of our own would declare us hopeless and doomed. But as God reminded me this past Friday morning in my time with Him, the words of Jeremiah 32:17, 'Oh, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You.'" Reaching the lost should be a major aim of Southern Baptists in an America where 75 percent of the population is unsaved, and in a world where 3 billion people have not heard the Gospel, Floyd said. Southern Baptists must not only tithe, but must give sacrificially to finance missions, Floyd said, especially as the International Mission Board is faced with reducing its workforce in response to budgeting shortfalls. "Southern Baptists believe in the autonomy of the local church and cannot dictate what a church gives to the work of the Great Commission through the Cooperative Program," he said. "However, if we want to change the trajectory of bringing 600-800 missionaries home, and begin deploying aggressively a new wave of missionaries, then our churches must find a way to give more money than ever before through our Cooperative Program." Floyd encouraged Southern Baptist state conventions to send to national and international causes at least 50 percent of Cooperative Program collections, and implored pastors to call their memberships to sacrificial giving. He called on Southern Baptists to attend the 2016 SBC annual meeting June 14-15 in St. Louis, Mo., announcing the annual meeting theme of "Awaken America, Reach the World: Agree, Unite, Pray," supported by Acts 4:31 as the annual meeting Scripture. Floyd has already met with about 200 pastors and leaders in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo., to cast the vision for the annual meeting. He noted the planning meeting was just one day past the anniversary of the contentious death of Michael Brown that caused rioting in Ferguson. An official video issuing Floyd's call to St. Louis can be viewed through vimeo on the SBC website at sbc.net. "Pray for St. Louis," he said. "I will see you in St. Louis." -------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE STATES: Auburn University's chaplain weathers complaint from FFRF; Tenn. Partnership Evangelism/missions news. by Staff Date: September 22, 2015 - Tuesday FFRF attacks Auburn's FCA director, team chaplain By Neisha Roberts/The Alabama Baptist AUBURN, Ala. (BP) -- Bearing the weight and responsibilities of three positions -- Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) director, team chaplain and state director for Urban Ministries for FCA -- Chette Williams has spent the past 16 years caring for Auburn University athletes as a father-figure, confidant and friend, being a former Auburn football player himself. But according to a letter sent Aug. 18 to Auburn President Jay Gogue, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) says having a team chaplain leads to failure to "properly protect ... student athletes' rights of conscience and poses a high degree of risk of discrimination" for those who don't want to participate or hear what Williams has to say. FFRF, based in Madison, Wisconsin, claims it operates to "promote the constitutional separation between state and church" and accuses Auburn of giving Williams "special privileges and unrestricted access because he is a Christian clergyman." Not just privileges It is true, Williams is a Christian. And it is true, he does go to practices, travels with the football team, holds weekly FCA meetings on Monday nights, teaches devotions and meets individually with players. But those are things he wants to do; they aren't just "special privileges." "My hope and dream is that every one of these kids, coaches and all who are involved in athletics will come to Christ," Williams told The Alabama Baptist in 1999 when he came on staff at Auburn. He earned his master of divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and was ordained to preach in 1988. He later served as co-pastor of New Song Baptist Church, Mobile, and pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church, New Orleans. Office questioned Besides being football team chaplain, Williams serves as FCA director, a position he's held since 1999 when then-Coach Tommy Tuberville helped initiate Williams' position with FCA. Williams is paid by FCA and works in an office within the athletic department's student development center. The FFRF letter accused the university of giving Williams an office inside the university's Jordan-Hare Stadium. "It makes no difference if the chaplain is unofficial, not school-sponsored or a volunteer," the letter stated. "Chaplains are given access to the team as a means for coaches to impose religion, usually Christianity, on their players." But according to Auburn players, Williams is a welcomed addition to the team and campus. Former defensive back Rodney Crayton told The Alabama Baptist in a previous interview, "(Williams) can relate to what we're going through. Even the really bad guys respect Chette. They act differently around him." At press time, no other letters were filed against Auburn. ********* Partnership blessed Tennessee By Lonnie Wilkey/Baptist and Reflector editor BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (BP) -- While Montana Baptists maintain they have been blessed by the partnership between the Tennessee Baptist Convention and the Montana Southern Baptist Convention, it has not been a one-way street. Tennessee Baptists agree that they, too, have been blessed by the relationships they have made in Montana since the partnership began in 2006. It will officially end Dec. 31, but many churches plan to continue the relationships they have built. Terry Kirby, senior pastor of Alpha Baptist Church, Morristown, observed that "partnerships are not about projects, but about relationships with people serving Jesus Christ." Alpha has worked with two churches in Montana during the past 10 years. Alpha helped Rangeland Ministries with evangelism and construction. The church is located in Alzada, "a wide spot in the road with a population of approximately 300 people in the extreme southeast corner of Montana," Kirby said. The Morristown congregation also partnered with Valley Community Church in Miles City. Kirby noted that a team from Alpha developed an outreach plan along with Valley Community pastor Jeff Cahill called "Fence Menders." Ministry teams from Alpha traveled to Montana to help repair fences for ranchers in the community. This provided Cahill an opportunity to build relationships, Kirby said. He noted Cahill has told him that each of the ranches helped by the fence menders are now involved in Valley Community Church or attend a home Bible study group. "The partnership with the TBC and Montana Baptists has been wonderful," Kirby said. He said Alpha is planning a trip to Miles City in 2016, so "the work continues." Wayne Phillips, pastor of Main Street Baptist Church, Rocky Top, has ministered in Montana for several years, primarily with Crossroads Church in Bozeman. "We were really excited to be a part of Crossroads Church. We saw them go from a new church plant with no members to 150 in four years," he said. Phillips said Crossroads is now "impacting the Bozeman area for the kingdom of God even though it is a young church. "There are good people there. We made relationships that will last a lifetime," Phillips said. The partnership was definitely not a one-way street. Montana Baptists brought a team to Tennessee four years ago to work with Main Street Baptist and other churches in Clinton Baptist Association. "It was a blessing on both ends that we got to go there and minister and they were able to come here and minister," he said. William Johnson, church planting missionary in Montana, was pastor of Gallatin Valley Baptist Fellowship in 2011 and traveled to Tennessee. He noted then that because Montana Baptists had been on the "receiving" end of the partnership that it was "so good to give." First Baptist Church, Andersonville, also is in Clinton Association and has worked in Montana and also with a Montana missions team who came to minister with them two years ago. Robin Strickland, a ministry assistant at First Baptist noted that a trip to Montana was their first out of state missions trip under pastor Steve Lakin. "It blessed us very much," she noted. First Baptist worked with First Baptist Church in Boulder in 2012 and 2013. "They were so moved that they became a missions-minded church who continues to go on mission today," Strickland said. She noted that members from First Baptist Church, Boulder, came to Tennessee to work with the Friendship Center in Briceville. "They were a blessing indeed," she said. Lakin noted that they did not return to Montana last year or this year, opting instead to go to Dayton, Ohio. "We still pray for and communicate with the churches (in Montana) that we helped," he said. Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville took student teams to Montana for five straight summers, said Sandy Bolton, director of missions ministries for Wallace Memorial. Students "were able to experience what church partnership looks like," Bolton said. Coming from a larger Southern Baptist church where all plans are made for the students, the missions trips provided Wallace Memorial students leadership training, she added. "Doing hands on tasks helped our students come home more committed to reaching out in our own city and to know how to pray for the ministries of the growing church in Montana," Bolton said. Jeff Vanlandingham, pastor of First Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg, observed that the Montana partnership enabled his church to see how they could make a difference in the life of another church. First Baptist members traveled to Montana several times to assist two different churches in Bozeman. For our members, the trips "allowed them to see how they could be part of something in a week's time that could make a difference for another church for a number of years," Vanlandingham said. "We were indirectly fulfilling the Great Commission by enabling them to fulfill the Great Commission in their community," he said. Ridgeway Baptist Church in Memphis took its first trip to Montana this summer, working with Lakeside Baptist Church, Lakeside. "It was a great missions trip that helped us solidify that missions is who we are and not what we do," observed Kyle Rosas, minister of missions and children. Though the official partnership between the conventions is ending, it may not be Ridgeway's last trip. "I don't know if we will work with the same church, but we are praying about returning to Montana," Rosas said. The work continues. *********** 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------- EC calls for increased CP to remedy IMB shortfall by David Roach Date: September 22, 2015 - Tuesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- In response to the International Mission Board's announcement of a personnel reduction, the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee has adopted a resolution urging Southern Baptist churches to give "more than ever before" through the Cooperative Program. The resolution, which was adopted without opposition, stated, "At this urgent hour of desperate need in our nation and around the world, we, the members of the SBC Executive Committee, pledge to encourage and lead our churches to give more than ever before through the Cooperative Program in 2015 and beyond. We also call upon all cooperating Southern Baptist churches prayerfully to join us in doing more than ever before." The resolution was adopted during the Executive Committee's Sept. 21-22 meeting in Nashville, where President David Platt and other IMB leaders addressed questions from EC members. The IMB had announced previously that it would reduce its total number of missionaries and staff by 600-800 in light of expenditures that exceeded revenues by $210 million over the past six years. Platt's extended report to the EC Sept. 21 preceded 10 minutes of questions and answers. EC President Frank S. Page then led in prayer for Platt and the IMB. Earlier that day, IMB chief financial officer David Steverson answered questions in an EC workgroup meeting. SBC President Ronnie Floyd proposed adoption of the resolution during a Sept. 22 meeting of the body's administrative committee. "We are not backing up on getting the Gospel to the world," Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, told the full EC. "And that is what this body must resolve and clearly send across the Southern Baptist Convention. We are not backing up on pushing back the lostness in this world." According to printed EC background materials, Floyd cited reaffirmation of giving through CP as "the most effective means to provide both long-term sustainability and financial flexibility to address pressing crises as they emerge." One-time gifts, including gifts through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, "may allay IMB's present need to keep a larger number of its missionary force on the field," but they do not "address the full range of both IMB and other SBC entities' needs to maintain long-term sustainability," the background materials noted. EC chairman Mike Routt promised to urge the congregation he pastors, Circle Drive Baptist Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., to increase its giving through Southern Baptists' unified program of supporting missions and ministries across North America and around the globe. Circle Drive "has adjusted our Cooperative Program giving three times in the last six years," Routt said. "As a result of what I have experienced this week, these two days, I'm going back, and we're raising it again." Routt urged EC members to "lead by example" and "be upset that we're keeping 90-95 percent of our income in our buildings." In light of the IMB financial situation, the EC's business and finance committee discussed its process of reviewing the financial audits presented to SBC entities. No EC member questioned the integrity of the IMB's reporting of financial data, and Steverson told Baptist Press the IMB's audits are "clean." Platt told EC members the "voluntary retirement incentive" offered to all IMB personnel at least 50 years old with at least five years of service is truly voluntary. It represents a way of discerning God's work in employees' lives, he said. Those who opt to accept the retirement incentive must indicate their choice by Nov. 2. Phase two of the IMB's plan, to be implemented after Jan. 1, will involve asking all other employees to discern whether God is leading them to another ministry opportunity, Platt said. Phase two will occur regardless of how many people accept the voluntary retirement incentive, he said. "That entire plan is based on the premise that God knows what He is doing and He's sovereign over even this," Platt said. "And so we wanted to start by putting all decisions in the hands of men and women who are seeking Him." During his Q&A with EC members, Platt was asked about the possibility of a "less voluntary" process of reducing employees in the future. He responded that is a "bridge" the IMB hopes it does not need to cross, trusting God to direct through voluntary means those He is calling to other service. Platt said in an interview the IMB has neither announced publicly how many people were offered the retirement incentive nor stated specific projections regarding what percentage is likely to accept. Platt cited "pastoral reasons" for keeping that information confidential, noting the IMB does not want to exert undue pressure on employees considering the offer. Presently, the IMB has approximately 4,780 missionaries, Steverson said. He added the board has committed to send 300 new missionaries in 2016 and anticipates resignations and retirements of approximately 300 missionaries in an average year. In total, the 5,250 missionaries and stateside staff members must be reduced by 600-800, Platt said, an approximate decrease of between 11 and 15 percent. Platt and Steverson both said IMB leaders did not begin to formulate their two-phase plan until after the SBC's June annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Platt told EC members about a letter he received claiming the IMB is "letting Satan win" by reducing its number of fully funded missionaries. That claim, he said, is wrong. "I want to be clear: Satan does not win," Platt said. "... If Romans 8:28 is true, Satan never wins. God works together all things for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose." He continued, "Brothers and sisters, let's be aware Satan is at work. But let us also be assured that even he cannot prevent God from using all these things for good. So we do not fear. In God's sovereign plan to make the Gospel known among the nations, He saw even this coming. And so we rest assured, brothers and sisters, our God wins always."