
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-10/14/2015

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WORLDVIEW:  Everyday heroes
by Erich Bridges
Date: October 14, 2015 - Wednesday

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- "A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer," Ralph Waldo Emerson said.

Those who have survived military combat or risked their lives for others will understand Emerson's meaning. For the everyday rest of us, what is heroism?

My answer: faithfulness. The one who honors a commitment, stays at a task or keeps a promise has become increasingly rare in our culture. People like to keep their options open. They might show up, if something better doesn't come along. They might do what they say they will do, unless they change their mind. Every belief, principle or relationship seems negotiable. In such times, loyalty shines like a star in the darkness, even if few ever see it. 

"&#91;T&#93;he bravest things we do in our lives are usually known only to ourselves," columnist Peggy Noonan write. "No one throws ticker tape on the man who chose to be faithful to his wife, on the lawyer who didn't take the drug money, or the daughter who held her tongue again and again. All this &#91;is&#93; anonymous heroism."

It might go uncelebrated by the world, but God notices. 

IMB missionary journalist Susie Rain wrote a piece earlier this year called "13 things mission-minded people do differently that sets them apart." My favorite is #4: "Mission-minded people hear the voice of God and obey. God will tell you if He wants you to go across the street, to another town, state or country to share about His redeeming love."

I've had the privilege of meeting many faithful missionaries over the years. But when I think of simple, humble obedience, I think of Tom Thurman (now retired). He often called himself a "barefoot boy from Mississippi." But Tom and his wife Gloria spent more than 30 years loving and serving the people of Bangladesh -- years that included massive cyclones, famine, civil war and more human suffering than most can imagine.

"One of the beautiful things is the resilience of the people here," Tom once told me, looking out over the Ganges at dusk. "They just keep trying, against all kinds of odds -- winds, storms, cyclones, floods. A farmer will lose everything he has and say, 'Well, maybe it will be better next year,' and plant again. ... We've just walked along the road with them and helped them carry their burdens."

He did much more than that, including helping start a major movement to Christ among a large unreached people group. But he loved to walk alongside them, literally and figuratively. A close Bangladeshi friend once walked with Tom for many hours on a ministry errand. Looking down, he noticed the missionary's shoes were bloody. Tom just kept walking.

There are many Tom Thurmans among IMB missionaries. To keep walking with the people they serve, they need our support more than ever. As the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering season approaches, consider ways you can be faithful in giving to help them continue to be faithful in their ministry. 

Then join them. God's global mission awaits faithful walkers. 

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No reconciliation without cross, NAAF guest says
by Diana Chandler
Date: October 14, 2015 - Wednesday

PHILADELPHIA (BP) -- Gus Roman, pastor emeritus of Canaan Baptist Church in Philadelphia, looked at Southern Baptist executive David Waltz and said aloud, "You remind me of that fellow who kicked me in my stomach."

Roman, 82 and black, grew up in Louisiana during the Jim Crow South; Waltz, white, grew up a pastor's son in the Pittsburg suburb of Mount Lebanon.

"I know what it is to be in the &#91;New Orleans&#93; French Market shining shoes as a boy," Roman said, "and a gentleman, a white gentleman, somewhat inebriated, when it came time for him to pay me the quarter or whatever it was, he gave me a kick in the stomach."

Roman, a longtime pastor and member of the predominantly black National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., and Waltz, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey, addressed the issue of racial reconciliation at the Kingdom Symposium of the National African American Fellowship &#91;NAAF&#93; of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"I don't like you," Roman said allegorically to Waltz. "But fortunately, I love Jesus. I don't like you, but I have to find a way to live with you.

"Have I done anything to you to deserve that kick? Just a boy, trying to make a dime. Why did you do that? Can't you see how wrong, how wrong that was?" Roman asked, continuing his allegory. "Can't you see the &#91;psychological&#93; damage that you done to this boy? And that happened, oh my God, over 70 years ago. But I just can't shake it."

Waltz rose from his seat, strode up to Roman, thanked him and hugged him roundly.

"When I think about racism in America, like you I have been shaped by my own experiences," Waltz said. "Each one of us has different experiences. I grew up a sheltered white boy in a suburb of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania."

Christians need to address racism, Waltz noted.

"As Christians we are living in a bubble and only kidding ourselves if we think that we can have a significant impact for Christ on a broken, hurting, dying world, when we continue to ignore brokenness and hurt, and yes racism, all around us," Waltz told the 75 pastors and guests gathered Sept. 29–30 at Nazarene Baptist Church in Philadelphia. "As &#91;NAAF president and host pastor&#93; K. Marshall Williams often says, we need a Great Commandment resurgence before we can have a Great Commission resurgence. We need to learn to love one another."

Waltz and Roman, as well as panelist Marshal Ausberry, senior pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Fairfax Station, Va., said reconciliation can only be realized in the strength of the Holy Spirit.

"Who is the One Who can deal with me, deal with me and that kick that left a wound in me, that's got your handsome image all messed up in my head?" Roman queried Waltz. "Who can help my eyes get cleared so I can see you &#91;as an individual&#93;? Nobody but the Spirit. There can be no reconciliation without the cross. There can be no reconciliation without confessing. There can be no reconciliation without the Spirit of God moving in me and even if He doesn't move in you, it does not relieve me about allowing Him to move in me."

The Southern Baptist Convention has passed several measures to speed racial reconciliation, including a 1995 resolution acknowledging the SBC's racist past, seeking forgiveness, apologizing to African Americans for past racial injustices, and pledging to "eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry."

"This racism thing is deep within the DNA," Roman said at the symposium. "It's what we are as minorities in this country and what whites are in this country. It's not gone because you move a sign."

Waltz never saw a "Colored Only" sign until he visited Ridgecrest, N.C., as a child, he said, and had to ask his mother what the term meant. But he sees clearly the results of racism and segregation today.

Not one black was among the 700 classmates who attended his 45th high school reunion in Pittsburg in September, he said, because in his 12 years of education prior to college, no blacks attended his school district.

"In fact until 1968 when the Fair Housing Act was passed, there was systematic exclusion of realtors not showing people houses, banks not being willing to fund a loan," Waltz said. "As a small boy growing up in Pennsylvania, I thought racism was a Southern problem in my own naiveté."

His racist surroundings became evident when he learned as a teenager that his sports hero, baseball great Roberto Clemente, had been blocked from buying a home in Waltz's Mount Lebanon neighborhood.

"I couldn't believe it and had to face the fact that racism wasn't just something confined to the South," Waltz said. "Racism permeated our American experience."

Ausberry referenced the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, and Jesus' request that the Lord's will be done on earth as in heaven.

"We've got to pray His will, capture the picture of His will, and then … practice His will," Ausberry said. "We need to be praying the will of God in the aspect of racial reconciliation. What's His will for the church in this area of racial reconciliation? What does God want His church to look like and act like?"

Just as heaven is not segregated, neither must Christians model such divisions, Ausberry said.

"We are to be a picture of heaven on earth, a taste of heaven on earth. We are like his ambassadors on earth," he said. "The church has got to get it right. And I submit to you if the church gets it right, then the world will get it right. … I believe the church is the rudder for turning the world."

The church modeled the love of Christ in Charleston after Dylann Roof killed nine people at a Bible study at historic Emanuel A.M.E. Church, Ausberry said. Family members of the murder victims expressed their forgiveness to Roof in court proceedings, and churches gathered across denominational and racial distinctions in united expressions of sympathy.

"What a beautiful picture," Ausberry said.

Ausberry offered practical steps of reconciliation, including interracial fellowship Sundays that involve swapping preachers as well as choirs, unity worship services focused on prayer, and sweating together in community service projects.

"Know the reason you do what you do," Ausberry said, "is that you're doing on earth as it is in heaven."

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Lecrae's latest accolade:  Artist of the Year
by Art Toalston
Date: October 14, 2015 - Wednesday

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Lecrae, called "one of the leading lights in the gospel-rap movement" by Billboard, was named Artist of the Year at the 46th annual Dove Awards, Oct. 12 in Nashville.

It marks the first time the top award has gone to "a rapper," according to The Tennessean, though the newspaper added a qualification: "rap-pop artist" TobyMac was named Artist of the Year in 2008.

Lecrae also won Dove Awards for Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year for his 2014 release "Anomaly" and song of the year, "All I Need is You," in the same genre among 40-plus categories.

Other winners included:

-- for King & Country, Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year.

-- Michael W. Smith, Christmas Album of the Year for last year's "The Spirit of Christmas."

-- Gaither Vocal Band, Southern Gospel Artist of the Year.

-- Oak Ridge Boys, Country Song of the Year, "Sweet Jesus" with Merle Haggard.

Lauren Daigle, from Lafayette, La., was named New Artist of the Year while her song "How Can It Be" was named Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year.

A list of this year's Dove winners can be accessed at http://doveawards.com/awards/2015-winners.

Co-hosts for the awards ceremony were Sadie Robertson of the "Duck Dynasty" TV series and author of "Live Original: How the Duck Commander Teen Keeps It Real and Stays True to Her Values," and Erica Campbell, five-time Grammy winner and WEtv star of "Mary Mary." Campbell garnered a Dove Award for Contemporary/Gospel/Urban Song of the Year for "I Luh God."

The Dove Awards telecast will be aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) at 10 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Oct. 18. The ceremony was held in Nashville at Lipscomb University's Allen Arena.

Daniel Woodman, a journalism student at the University of Missouri who served as Baptist Press' 2015 summer intern, noted to BP, "Lecrae is important as an artist because he is the bridge between Christianity and the culture of our youth."

"Through his music he addresses issues that are hard to talk about, from racism to sexual abuse, in a relevant manner that relates to us, the youth in America especially," Woodman said in written comments. "Lecrae's Artist of the Year award not only signifies his musical talent, but his ability to bring Christ to our culture in a way that touches believers and non-believers alike. He is the transcendent artist of our generation." For an article Woodman wrote on Lecrae, click here.

Lecrae, who had a tour date in California, accepted the Artist of the Year honor by video.

The 36-year-old's music has garnered multiple awards, including a Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song in February and earlier Dove Awards for rap/hip hop album and song of the year. Anomaly, his seventh album, premiered last year atop the Billboard 200 Album Chart and Gospel Album Chart -- the first-ever to do so in both genres, in addition to topping several other Billboard categories.

A book by Lecrae, titled "Unashamed," is slated for a May 2016 release by the B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. According to a LifeWay news report, Lecrae will write of how his Christian faith lifted him from a difficult past that included childhood abuse and struggles with drugs and alcoholism.

"As an artist, my ambition is to make honest music, and I feel the same way about writing this book," Lecrae said. "I want to be honest about where I've come from and what I've learned along the way. I want to influence culture, to help catalyze and inspire, and help other people find understanding. If they find some inspiration and some clarity for their own lives, as they follow my journey, then I will have succeeded."

He was a May 2013 guest on The Exchange (https://vimeo.com/67132216), interviewed by guest host Eric Geiger, Resource Division vice president of Lifeway Christian Resources. The Exchange is a weekly program hosted by Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, now aired on the NRB channel on Direct TV.

Lecrae's testimony at the I am Second website can be viewed at www.iamsecond.com/seconds/lecrae. A video in his own words and nine music videos can be viewed at www.lecrae.com.

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 PPFA change shows its guilt, pro-lifers say
by Tom Strode
Date: October 14, 2015 - Wednesday

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Planned Parenthood's decision to forego federal reimbursements for fetal tissue donation serves as an admission of its guilt and should not halt the congressional effort to defund the organization, its critics say.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) announced Tuesday (Oct. 13) that none of its centers will accept federal reimbursement in the future for expenses accrued in tissue donations from aborted babies for research. In a letter, PPFA President Cecile Richards said the action was taken to "completely debunk the disingenuous argument" used by opponents in the wake of undercover videos providing evidence the country's leading abortion provider trades in baby body parts.

Richards' letter to Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, followed the release of 10 secretly recorded videos that show various Planned Parenthood officials in different locations discussing the sale of organs from aborted children. The videos recorded and released by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) also display PPFA employees acknowledging their willingness to manipulate the abortion procedure to preserve body parts for sale and use. In addition, the videos include evidence of the dissection of live babies outside the womb to remove organs.

In the three months since CMP released the first video, Richards and other Planned Parenthood officials have denied any legal wrongdoing or profit from fetal tissue donation. They attacked CMP, alleging that the videos are fraudulent and deceptively edited.

Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore said PPFA's announcement "is an acknowledgment of what they have denied all along."

"They traffic in human organs from non-consenting victims," said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), in a written statement. "This is essentially Planned Parenthood's way of saying, 'We never did this, and we won't do it again.'

"It is time for the United States government to hold this predatory corporation accountable."

Rep. Diane Black, R.-Tenn., sponsor of a bill approved by the House of Representatives to defund Planned Parenthood, found it curious that PPFA officials say they have done nothing wrong but "still find it necessary to change their policy following the recent undercover videos. Clearly, this was a decision motivated by optics rather than the organization's conscience."

The announcement "does not change my conviction that Planned Parenthood should not be subsidized by American taxpayers," Black said in a written release.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said Richards' letter does not address charges that PPFA affiliates have participated in what it says appear to be various crimes related to trafficking in baby organs for profit, modifying the abortion technique to procure intact body parts and performing partial-birth abortions.

Richards' letter "amounts to an admission of guilt," said Kellie Fiedorek, ADF litigation counsel. "The fire that Planned Parenthood's misdeeds started has been too hot, and she mistakenly thinks this will put water on it.

"Ms. Richards never once explains how Planned Parenthood calculated the costs of procuring fetal remains in order to sell them because she can't," Fiedorek said in a written statement. "The price-per-specimen approach she admitted to in her August letter to Congress is a profit-driven system, pure and simple. The American people have a right to get to the bottom of Planned Parenthood's disturbing activities and to demand that not one more penny of their tax dollars goes to fund them."

CMP founder David Daleiden said in a written statement that Richards' announcement "proves what CMP has been saying all along -- Planned Parenthood incurs no actual costs, and the payments for harvested fetal parts have always been an extra profit margin."

As she had in congressional testimony Sept. 29, Richards told Collins in her letter less than 1 percent of PPFA's centers facilitate federally approved fetal tissue donation. In a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, she failed to directly address a question about manipulation of the abortion procedure to procure body parts and denied that dissection of a living child outside the womb has occurred in a Planned Parenthood clinic.

"As I have stated repeatedly, the accusations leveled against Planned Parenthood are categorically false," Richards said in the Oct. 13 letter. "Planned Parenthood adheres to the highest legal, medical, and ethical standards."

With its decision, PPFA is taking opponents' "smokescreen away," Richards wrote.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R.-Utah, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Planned Parenthood's announcement "is helpful in taking away some questions surrounding their transactions involving fetal tissue." His panel's investigation will continue, however, because the letter does not explain why "a non-profit, tax-exempt organization reporting approximately $125 &#91;million&#93; in revenue over expenses annually needs a subsidy from the American taxpayer."

PPFA and its affiliates received more than $528 million in government grants, contracts and reimbursements, according to its latest financial report (2013-14). Planned Parenthood affiliates performed more than 327,000 abortions during 2013.

While PPFA has hailed a study that says the CMP videos are edited in a misleading way, a digital, forensics analysis released Sept. 28 reported the videos "are authentic." Coalfire Systems Inc., which has some Fortune 500 companies among its clients, said the videos "show no evidence of manipulation or editing."

CMP has posted not only edited versions of its video recordings but what it describes as full footage of the conversations between PPFA officials and its undercover individuals acting as representatives of a biologics firm.

The ERLC's Moore and 37 other pro-life leaders wrote congressional leaders Oct. 5 to encourage them to use the reconciliation process in an attempt to defund PPFA. Reconciliation enables a budget-related bill to reach the president's desk without requiring 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. The House Budget Committee approved such a reconciliation measure Oct. 9.

Black's legislation, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, gained passage from the House in a 241-187 vote Sept. 18. The bill would place a one-year moratorium on federal money for PPFA and its affiliates while Congress investigates the organization. 

Black's legislation to defund PPFA appears to have no future in the Senate, where it would require 60 votes, and definitely none at the White House. President Obama has made it clear he would veto Black's proposal if it were to reach his desk. 

Richards' letter to Collins also went to Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

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TRUSTEES:  SBTS sees record student enrollment 
by James A. Smith Sr.
Date: October 14, 2015 - Wednesday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary received a report of record student enrollment for the recently concluded 2014-2015 academic year and record fall enrollment for the current academic year during their Oct. 12-13 fall meeting.

In other business, the Board of Trustees responded to a referral from the Southern Baptist Convention, designated a new professor to an academic chair and approved faculty sabbaticals.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, summarized for trustees enrollment data for the past academic year and the fall 2015 semester, which are new records for the seminary.

For the 2014-2015 academic year, there was a record non-duplicating headcount of 5,067 students -- 3,546 in the seminary and 1,235 in Boyce College, the seminary's undergraduate school (as well as 286 visiting students) -- surpassing the previous record of 4,792 during the 2013-2014 academic year.

Among the total number of students during 2014-2015, 1,985 were enrolled in the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program, Mohler noted. "We exist to train pastors," he said, of which the M.Div. is the core degree -- the "gold standard" and "sine qua non" for Southern Seminary. Southern's M.Div. enrollment last year was 33 more students than in the prior academic year when it far outpaced peer institutions accredited by the Association of Theological Schools.

Mohler said the school's record enrollment is "an incredible stewardship and a sign of God's good pleasure," which is especially noteworthy considering enrollment challenges for higher education, especially post-baccalaureate education.

In addition to headcount, Mohler said the fact that Southern Seminary experienced a 10 percent growth for 2014-2015 in total credit hours sold is "a matter of great satisfaction" and an important indicator of health of the institution.

For the fall 2015 semester, the seminary has a record high of 2,755 students, a five percent increase from last fall, of which 1,640 are M.Div. students, 2.56 percent larger than a year ago. For the fall, there are 980 Boyce students, a 23 percent increase over last fall, with 304 new students, 35 percent larger than a year ago. Mohler also noted that, contrary to national trends, the majority -- 57 percent -- of new Boyce students is male.

During its Oct. 13 plenary session, trustees unanimously approved a response to a referral from the 2015 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention requesting the Executive Committee and all SBC entities to make a "stand in our culture for the truth and lead the way to repair the moral fabric of America, by using all means possible, including the media."

In their response, trustees noted the mission and ministry assignment of the seminaries, while adding that Southern Seminary and its president are "at the forefront of social media witness, through various digital platforms, including The Briefing," Mohler's daily podcast. Noting students and graduates lead their churches and other Christian ministries to take a moral stand, trustees also said the seminary is committed to working with "other SBC entities on initiatives that address and seek to bear Christian witness to urgent moral issues."

Trustees also approved without opposition the designation of Ayman S. Ibrahim as Bill and Connie Jenkins Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies. Ibrahim joined the faculty in June as assistant professor of Islamic studies in the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry and senior fellow of the Jenkins Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam.

An evangelical scholar of Islam with two decades of experience of ministry in the Muslim world, Ibraham earned his doctor of philosophy with an emphasis on Islamic studies from Fuller Theological Seminary and his master of divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he is currently pursuing a second doctorate from University of Haifa in Israel. Prior to his appointment at Southern, Ibrahim taught courses at Fuller, Southwestern, and Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut.

In other business, trustees:

-- approved unanimously sabbatical leaves of six months each for Michael A.G. Haykin, professor of church history; Timothy Paul Jones, C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Family Ministry; Stephen J. Wellum, professor of Christian theology; and Jarvis J. Williams, associate professor of New Testament interpretation;

-- received a report from the seminary's Executive Committee of its election of three new directors of the Southern Seminary Foundation: David Bains of Mountain Brook, Ala.; James Perrine of Ocean Springs, Miss.; and Marvin St. John of Louisville, Ky.;

-- received positive reports of the seminary's financial position, including the recently concluded 2014-2015 budget year ending with $1.2 million more in revenues than expenses; and

-- received upbeat reports from board committees on progress in the School of Theology, Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry, and Boyce College, as well as the committees on Institutional Advancement and Student Services.

The next meeting of the board of trustees will take place April 18-20, 2016, in Louisville.

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NAAF affirms 'living holy & clean in 2015'
by Diana Chandler
Date: October 14, 2015 - Wednesday

PHILADELPHIA (BP) -- Christians can lead holy lives by the same power the Apostle Paul called on in his struggle between the flesh and the Spirit recorded in Romans 7, immediate past Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter told worshippers at a Philadelphia gathering of black Southern Baptist pastors and leaders.

"The reason Southern Baptists … I am convinced that we can win this battle is because of this fact. You're not fighting this battle on your own. You're not fighting this battle under your own strength," Luter said in the Sept. 30 keynote sermon of the National African American Fellowship Kingdom Symposium at Nazarene Baptist Church. "The reason we can win this battle … is because of the Jesus that's in you, because of the power of Christ that is in you."

Luter's sermon, "The Super Bowl for Your Soul," capped presentations by seven other pastors and denominational leaders at the event hosted by NAAF president and Nazarene Baptist Church Pastor K. Marshall Williams Sept. 29–30 at the church in the historic Germantown community. "Living Holy and Clean in 2015: What shall we say to these things?" was the symposium theme.

"The enemy is after your mind, your marriage, your children, your finances, your ministry 60 seconds of every minute, 60 minutes of every hour, 24 hours of every day, seven days of every week, four weeks of every month, 12 months of every year," Luter said in his rhythmic rhetorical style. "Our adversary, our enemy is doing all that he can, using every tool at his disposal, using every weapon at his disposal, using every tactic at his disposal, using every temptation at his disposal, to get the sons and daughters of God to fall, to get the sons and daughters of God to mess up, to get the sons and daughters of God to not live holy and not lead a clean life."

Luter stood on Romans 7:15-25, likening Paul's struggle and that of other believers to the Super Bowl, urging Christians to read their playbook the Bible and follow its rules.

"That's how we're going to win this … Super Bowl for our soul, because the same Jesus … that was with the Apostle Paul is the same Jesus … that's with you," Luter told some 200 worshippers. "That's why we need to read our playbook, that's why we need to rely on our playbook, because our playbook reminds us that Jesus is with us. He's with us during this battle."

Luter pointed out four spiritual truths to encourage worshippers. The true battle is between God and Satan; Christians must follow the Word of God while going through the battle; Christians must pray during the battle and finally, Christians must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in the battle.

The worship service was multi-ethnic, incorporating a solo by Valery Dimov of Ukranian Baptist Church in Philadelphia; the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church Choir which sang selections in French; and the Nazarene Baptist Church Mass Choir, which included Negro spirituals in its repertoire.

Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, encouraged pastors to call on him in his new concurrent role as national African American presidential ambassador of the North American Mission Board and the upcoming "Catch the Vision" tour scheduled in 2016. Luter, who made national headlines as the first African American elected SBC president, is working to increase the number of African American Southern Baptist congregations, which currently number about 3,500 churches and church-type missions.

Symposium seminars focused on pastoral encouragement; personal holiness, revival and spiritual awakening; marriage and the family; racial reconciliation, and the "pipeline" from school to prison.

<b>From pastor to pastor</b>

Mark Croston, national director of black church partnerships for LifeWay Christian Resources, challenged and encouraged pastors in the opening symposium session Sept. 29.

Croston pointed out the major struggles the majority of pastors face, including being overworked and underpaid, feeling underprepared, inordinate family and marital stress, loneliness, depression and a desire to leave the ministry.

He encouraged pastors to build support systems through a diversity of friendships including a loyal best friend, a fearless adventurer, a brutally honest confidant, a wise mentor, a friend from a different culture, a polar opposite -- such as the Apostle Paul's friendship with the runaway slave Onesimus, a friendly neighbor, and a pal at work or in the same profession.

Croston exhorted pastors to keep their spiritual lives fresh, reassess personal and ministry goals, reassess their lists of friends, to take regular time off, get proper exercise and sleep, join or start a small accountability group, and find ways to laugh and have fun.

<b>Gary Frost</b>

Gary Frost, president of NAMB's Midwest region, spoke on "Personal preparation for a sovereign visitation," based on 2 Chronicles 16:9.

Pastors must avoid adjusting their perspective to coincide with the worlds' sinful behavior, Frost said, and should make sure they're praying for lost souls when seeking revival and spiritual awakening.

"I believe that in many ways," Frost said, "we're adapting to darkness all around us." He referenced Acts 1:2-3 in drawing a picture of "true" revival. In Acts 1, "there was Christianity in the midst of hostility," Frost said. "Maybe God is answering our prayers, because it was in the midst of that kind of context that the church began to spread, the church began to grow. It was when society around it was opposed to the church, that the church was most bold."

Early Christians didn't pray for support found in such organizations as the Alliance Defending Freedom, but they prayed for boldness to stand in the face of adversity.

"So be careful what you pray for when you pray for awakening and revival, because it frequently comes in the context of difficulty," Frost said.

Other speakers included NAAF Executive Director Jay Wells, who focused on biblical teachings on marriage and family; and Harold Dean Trulear, associate professor of applied theology at the Howard University School of Divinity. Trulear, who serves as national director of the Healing Communities Prison Ministry and Reentry Project of Philadelphia, detailed ministry initiatives that churches can take to minister to citizens returning to communities after imprisonment.

When pastors visit inmates, the rate of recidivism decreases, Trulear said.

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Democratic debate:  race, climate change prominent
by David Roach
Date: October 14, 2015 - Wednesday

LAS VEGAS (BP) -- Race relations, marijuana legalization, climate change and gun control were among the moral issues highlighted Oct. 13 at a Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas involving five candidates.

The issues of abortion and same-sex marriage came up only in passing and were mentioned only a few times during the two-hour debate.

Perhaps the most extended reference to sanctity of life issues came when frontrunner Hillary Clinton alleged Republicans suspend their typical opposition to "big government" to regulate Planned Parenthood and limit access to abortions.

"It's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, 'You can't have paid &#91;maternity&#93; leave. You can't provide health care,'" Clinton said. "They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it."

Russell Moore, president of Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, responded on Twitter, "Secretary Clinton, it isn't 'big government' to stop the government from funding Planned Parenthood."
 
Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chaffee was the only other candidate to mention abortion, according to Baptist Press's tally, referencing his consistent support of "a woman's right to choose" despite switching from the Republican Party to being an Independent in 2007 and then to the Democratic Party in 2013.

Chaffee, Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley each referenced homosexual rights.

Chaffee noted his consistent support of same-sex marriage. Clinton referenced "continuing discrimination against the LGBT community" in her opening statement. Asked by CNN moderator Anderson Cooper about her former opposition to same-sex marriage among other position changes, Clinton said she has "always fought for the same values and principles" but sometimes "absorb&#91;s&#93; new information" that leads to a change of mind.

O'Malley said Americans under 30 "never ... want to deny rights to gay couples."

The candidates discussed race relations on multiple occasions. Among the opinions expressed:

-- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders echoed the slogan of a cultural movement, saying "black lives matter." Innocent African Americans in the U.S. at times "end up dead" and "their kids ... get shot," he said. "We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system."

-- O'Malley said the Black Lives Matter Movement is making "a very, very legitimate and serious point, and that is that as a nation we have undervalued ... black lives, people of color."

-- Clinton, echoing a concern voiced by Sanders, cited the need to reduce "mass incarceration" of African Americans. She also advocated the use of body cameras by police departments.

-- Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb said he supports "affirmative action for African Americans" because of "their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed." He expressed concern about "diversity programs that include everyone, quote, 'of color'" but exclude "struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains."

A discussion of marijuana policy featured a disagreement between Sanders and Clinton. While Sanders said he likely would support a Nevada ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use, Clinton said she was not ready to take a position on recreational marijuana.

Clinton added, "I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief."

Sanders and Clinton agreed on the need to stop imprisoning large numbers of nonviolent marijuana users.

Climate change, the candidates agreed, is a problem, and they offered a variety of proposals to reduce carbon emissions. Sanders appeared to take the strongest stance on climate change, calling it America's greatest national security threat ahead of the ISIS terrorist group and terrorists' obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"The future of the planet is at stake," Sanders said, noting Pope Francis also expressed concern about climate change.

On gun control, Webb struck a different tone than the other four candidates by arguing, "We have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence." He noted that "people at high levels in this government" have armed bodyguards and said all Americans should enjoy the right to protect themselves with guns.

All five candidates advocated gun control to some degree.

The second Democratic presidential debate is scheduled for Nov. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa.


