The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-11/12/2014 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Believers in trailer park 'give everything they have' by Margaret Colson Date: November 12, 2014 - Wednesday EDITOR'S NOTES: This year's Week of Prayer for International Missions in the Southern Baptist Convention is Nov. 30-Dec. 7 with the theme of "One Sacred Effort -- Find your place in God's story" from Matthew 28:19-20 (HCSB). The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions in tandem with Cooperative Program gifts from Southern Baptist churches support approximately 4,800 international missionaries in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission. Gifts to the Lottie Moon offering are received through local Southern Baptist churches or online at imb.org/offering, where there are resources to promote the offering. This year's goal is $175 million. MONROE, Ga. (BP) -- They are the forgotten people. The individuals you might not even notice if you passed them on the street. They are in every community. On the fringes of neighborhoods dotted with white picket fences. At the end of gravel roads that seem to go nowhere. The people who wash your dishes at the chain restaurant. Change your car's oil. Scramble your eggs at the local diner. They are the forgotten people to almost everyone except Pam Whitehead, who affectionately refers to them as "my people." Her people live in Conestoga Mobile Home Park in Monroe, Ga., where a singlewide trailer serves as home base for the Southern Baptist missionary to minister to the real needs of her people as she shares about Jesus. Desperation and darkness When it comes to housing options, Conestoga, for many, is the last step before homelessness. There, the potholed community road, knee-high weeds and household belongings tossed aside with every eviction seem to reflect the desperation and darkness that most park residents have known. Just a few years ago, the mobile home community -- sitting just a few miles from a charming and picturesque downtown -- was notorious for violence, drug trafficking, transience, even satanic rituals. Still, Pam, a preschool teacher, and her husband John, a juvenile probation officer, were unexpectedly drawn to the park. The couple, along with prayer teams, began praying over the park and its residents in 2002. "The Father opened the doors wide through two-and-a-half years of prayerwalking," Pam said. The Whiteheads began slowly building relationships with the residents and by 2004 were planning a yard sale, block party, drug program, Easter egg hunt and family fall festival. It didn't take long for John, who had once described the park as the "doorstep to hell," to say he was in over his heart with the ministry. The couple continued to minister to the people in the park, offering church services for the first time in April 2005. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until five days before Christmas in 2010, when John Whitehead unexpectedly passed away. Tears of sorrow would flow, only to be replaced with tears of joy, as the now-widowed mother of four young adults, including her youngest son with Asperger's syndrome, sensed God's call to continue the ministry. Local pastors began taking turns preaching at the mission on Sunday mornings; when they're unavailable, Pam leads a group Bible study. "Pam is a person of vision and a person of commitment," said Allen Hill, interim director of missions for Appalachee Baptist Association and a former International Mission Board missionary to the Philippines. Not for the faint of heart Slowly, with the ministry presence in the park, conditions began improving. "Probably everybody thinks the people in Conestoga are nothing but a bunch of thieves, drunks and drug addicts," Barbara, who lived in the park for several months with her husband, said. "And they're not. There are a lot of good Christian people that live there who are trying their best just to pay their bills and put food on the table, just like everybody else." Still, this ministry is not for the faint of heart. Since her husband died, Pam has faced many challenges and frustrations. Undaunted, she smiles and calls each experience "another adventure." When the roof collapsed on the doublewide trailer where the ministry was housed, Pam simply moved the congregation elsewhere. For seven months, the Conestoga believers intermittently met either outside or in the home of a member, before being given a fixer-upper singlewide for the ministry -- dubbed The Lighthouse at Conestoga Mission. The day Pam was bitten by a resident's pit bull, she seized the opportunity to share God's Word with the dog's owner, Linda. It was a small open window for the intrepid missionary because Linda moved a few weeks later, with no forwarding address. That's the way it is in the park. People come. People go. No explanations. No forwarding addresses. "I never get to tell my people, 'Bye.' They are just gone," Pam said. She has learned to make the most of any time she has with the residents. In the past 10 years of the mission's existence, many Conestoga residents have become Christians. Still others have recommitted to a faith that had grown cold through too many of life's harsh winters. The Conestoga Christians are learning to take the little that they have -- what might be considered nothing by many standards -- and do something for God. With Pam's encouragement, the believers have "adopted" a family serving in South Asia with IMB. They pray specifically for each family member as well as the people group the family is trying to reach with the Gospel. Giving from nothing "It doesn't matter what your circumstances are," Pam said. "You can still have a heart for the lost and the nations, and you can act on that, following the Father." Since 2007, The Lighthouse at Conestoga Mission, through Pam's persistent leadership, has set an annual goal of raising $100 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. For these residents, that's huge, Pam says. "I wanted the goal to be one they could reach, but challenging at the same time," she explained. Although it usually takes the group six months to meet the goal, in 2014 they collected $100 in about two-and-a-half months; and the sacrificial gifts, usually given in the form of loose coins, continued rolling in for a few more weeks. "One of the little boys in the park came running in one day, screaming and hollering and waving his hand, saying, 'Miss Pam, I have 50 cents! I have 50 cents, and the people over the ocean can hear about Jesus!'" recalled the enthusiastic missionary. "Little is much in the Father's hands," she said. By the end of April, the pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters given by the Conestoga Christians totaled $128, an all-time high. Hill, who now serves as an IMB trustee, compared the sacrificial gifts to "the widow's mite in the New Testament." "So often we just give what is 'left over,' but these people give everything they have," he said. For more stories, photos and video about the Conestoga Christians and their ministries, visit commissionstories.com/conestoga. Watch a video about The Lighthouse at Conestoga Mission: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Desperate prayer leads 'Miracle' to trailer park by Margaret Colson Date: November 12, 2014 - Wednesday EDITOR'S NOTES: This year's Week of Prayer for International Missions in the Southern Baptist Convention is Nov. 30-Dec. 7 with the theme of "One Sacred Effort -- Find your place in God's story" from Matthew 28:19-20 (HCSB). The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions in tandem with Cooperative Program gifts from Southern Baptist churches support approximately 4,800 international missionaries in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission. Gifts to the Lottie Moon offering are received through local Southern Baptist churches or online at imb.org/offering, where there are resources to promote the offering. This year's goal is $175 million. MONROE, Ga. (BP) -- She wasn't supposed to live. Born more than a half century ago to a 17-year-old mother, the newborn was not expected to survive more than a few days, if that long. Her mother, not yet a Christian, turned to the distraction of television, where a preacher inspired her to pray. She bargained with God that if He would save her baby, then her daughter could serve Him as a missionary. As the baby grew stronger and was finally released from the hospital weeks later, nurse after nurse told the young mother the fragile infant should be named, "Miracle." The prayer guided the daughter's life from that day forward. "As a child in elementary school, I remember lining up my dolls on the floor, all over the bed, just everywhere in my room," said the woman, reflecting on her childhood. "I would pretend that they were from everywhere -- even here in North America -- and had never heard the name of Jesus before. I would stand in front of them and tell them about Jesus." Even as a young adult, "The Father grew me, as He still is growing me, and gave me a great love for the nations," she said. Fast forward decades later to today, and that miracle baby, Pam Whitehead, is a missionary. Dedicated servant While she's not physically serving in a remote village on the other side of the world, she senses a call from God not only to live and serve in North America, but also to serve internationally. "The Father called us (Pam and her late husband, John) to Conestoga," an impoverished mobile home park in Monroe, Ga., where she has been serving the past 10 years. "After the Father called John home (in 2010), He was still calling me to Conestoga," Pam says. "The Father told me when He called us to Conestoga that He would still be sending me to the nations, which He has," she explained. To Allen Hill, an International Mission Board trustee and interim director of missions for Appalachee Baptist Association, where the mobile home park is located, Pam's missionary zeal is unmistakable. "Pam has a heart for the world, not just for Conestoga Mobile Home Park," he said. She has been on numerous mission trips throughout the world, including serving on mission teams to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in 2008, and in London, England, in 2012. Prayer warrior Wherever she finds herself -- either walking among the people who call Conestoga home or walking among people groups who are at home throughout the world -- one thing is certain. She will be praying. "Prayerwalking is a lifestyle for me," Pam said. She defines prayerwalking as "praying on-site with insight -- asking the Father to use all of our senses to lead us in how to pray -- asking that we see through His eyes and with His heart of compassion." In addition to actual prayerwalking, the missionary says she also has tried "virtual prayerwalking" by looking at pictures, objects and even videos as she is praying. "Then there is prayer-driving," she added, "when we can't actually prayerwalk the location or maybe physically you cannot prayerwalk -- but you can prayer-drive!" One missionary family for whom Pam and the Conestoga Christians regularly pray is the Kelley* family serving in South Asia. In 2008, as the family of four was preparing for service through IMB, they met and became fast friends with Pam. A year later, Pam joined Joanna Kelley* and eight other women on a prayer journey to the country where the Kelleys would eventually serve. "This was a time of God confirming my call to our country, even in our waiting," Joanna said. The Kelleys moved to South Asia in 2011, and Joanna says the prayers of Pam and the Conestoga Christians continue to strengthen and encourage them. "We know that, because people are praying specifically for our people, God is opening doors for us, setting divine appointments and preparing the path for His people to respond to the Gospel," Joanna explained. Prayer Requests The believers at The Lighthouse at Conestoga Mission ask fellow Christians to join them in praying for missionaries like the Kelleys. Here are a few other prayer requests Pam shared: -- Pray for more people who need to know Jesus to move into the trailer park. -- Pray for believers who live in the trailer park to grow in their faith and boldly share Jesus with others. -- Pray for volunteers to come to the trailer park to prayerwalk, help with Vacation Bible School and children's camp, preach, make door-to-door visits, etc. -- Pray for Pam's strength, energy, rest, good health, wisdom, discernment, spiritual growth and obedience to God. -- Pray for a doublewide trailer for the mission to meet in. -- Ask God to provide the mission with a minivan for ministry. For more information about the ministry or opportunities to serve, email Pam Whitehead at pwhitehead1@charter.net. *Name changed. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Spurgeon lectures held at MBTS; Mohler honored by T. Patrick Hudson Date: November 12, 2014 - Wednesday KANSAS CITY (BP) -- On the heels of a major October announcement by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary about launching the Charles Spurgeon Center for Biblical Studies, the school held its second annual Spurgeon Lectures on Biblical Preaching on Nov. 4-5. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's president, served as guest lecturer and was inducted by Midwestern's president, Jason K. Allen, as the school's second Spurgeon Fellow. "We desired, from the earliest days of consideration for The Charles Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching, to have a lectureship each fall that would anchor the fall academic semester, that would be given to preaching, and that would bear the name Charles Spurgeon," Allen said. "Hosting Dr. Mohler for these lectures is a great honor. He is a friend to Midwestern Seminary, to me personally, and he is a man who stands for biblical, expositional preaching -- much in the same way Spurgeon did." Conferring Mohler as a Spurgeon Fellow, Allen recognized him "for his ongoing leadership in defending the inerrancy of Scripture and in educating the next generation of pastoral leaders in expository preaching." In his first lecture, Mohler presented an argument entitled, "The Foolishness of Preaching: Why Expository Preaching is such a Bad Idea." He noted that from the time of the Reformation through the present, the "sidelining of expository preaching has not been by accident." Elements within movements such as pietism, revivalism, and pragmatism, Mohler said, caused a shift toward displacing expository preaching from the pulpit. He added that during the same period, another trio of "isms" further negatively affected how God's Word was preached. Liberalism deemed the Bible as irrelevant, out-of-date, and not worth preaching because pastors ultimately didn't know what to do with it. Existentialism suggested that the congregation had needs, which God's Word wasn't considered sufficient to meet, that the pastor must try to accommodate. Consumerism and the Church Growth Movement placed an emphasis solely on growth resulting in messages focused on the felt needs of the congregation. "One of the greatest effects, of all these things put together, is the loss of authority in the pulpit," Mohler said. Mohler listed several challenges that make expository preaching appear to be a terrible idea, including: people don't listen to long messages anymore; no one knows the Bible anyway; preaching is "preacher-centered;" expository preaching will kill a church; and not every text of Scripture needs to be preached. In light of these arguments, at the crux of his message, Mohler agreed expositional preaching is a bad idea, even a foolish one. "And yet this is the foolishness we are called to because it is the foolishness that saves," he said. "Expository preaching is a horrifyingly bad idea, except for one thing, it turns out it is God's idea. "What happens when the Word of God is preached [expositionally] is that God does something with his Word that is beyond what the preacher is able to do," Mohler continued. "If you are not preaching the Word, there is nothing the Holy Spirit has with which He can take that Word from their ears to their hearts.... At the end of the day, it is exposition or nothing." In his second lecture, Mohler detailed the context in which Spurgeon ministered and likened the challenges he faced to those of modern-day pastors. Mohler noted that theism was drastically changing peoples' understanding of God in the Victorian Age -- the period when Spurgeon ministered. By the end of the Victorian Era, he said, Christianity had primarily been replaced by other beliefs, including Darwinism and Communist thought. "Most Victorians, when they did go to church, were far more concerned with aesthetics than with truth," Mohler said. "There was very little doctrinal preaching to be found in any sector of the Church of England." Spurgeon took an active role in engaging the intellectual ideologies of the day, Mohler added. Often, he was the lone voice speaking against the growing liberalism in society and within the church. "Heresy became the mainstream understanding of biblical inspiration and biblical authority in the Church of England, and it was bleeding over into the non-conforming churches," Mohler said. "As liberalism ... was spreading to the ranks of the Baptists, Methodists, and so many others, there were few who were willing to confront these theological adjustments.... Charles Spurgeon was the most significant and often singular figure both understanding and addressing these challenges," Mohler added. The ministry challenges Spurgeon faced aren't entirely different from those modern-day believers face, Mohler said. Some of these challenges include: modern age ideologies must constantly be considered, as they will continually confront future generations; the modern age provides a great opportunity for Gospel proclamation; the modern age changes consistently -- something will always follow; and the modern age requires uncompromising biblical preaching. "The people are hungering for a Word from the Lord, not for a word from Charles Spurgeon," Mohler said, directly quoting Spurgeon. In addition to the two lectures, Mohler and Allen held a lunchtime dialogue on the topic of expository preaching. To view the Spurgeon Lectures and luncheon discussion, click here. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: #ThankYouGod by Diana Davis Date: November 12, 2014 - Wednesday PENSACOLA, Fla. (BP) -- Try this simple, fun way to inspire church members to give thanks to God during the Thanksgiving season. Use it for your entire church, or adapt it to fit a Bible study group or family Thanksgiving celebration. Step #1: Use white, legal-size cardstock paper to print a sign with huge black letters reading "#ThankYouGod." Step #2: On the back side of the sign, print these instructions: A Church-wide Thanksgiving Project You are invited to participate in this unique way to express thanks to God for His blessings. It's for all church members and guests, teens and kids and grandpas and single adults -- everyone! We want everyone who attends this church to submit at least one photo. Here's how: -- Take a few digital photos to show things that you thank God for. The "#ThankYouGod" sign must be visible in each photo. -- Be creative. An artsy shot of your refrigerator's interior could show thankfulness for food. Consider how to use a photo to show thankfulness for salvation, creation, your allowance, friendship, peace, etc. Use the ThankYouGod hashtag thoughtfully. Be creative with angles and poses. Examples: grandpa napping, a profile of dad's smile, a child at play, a silhouette, your Bible class praying. -- Submit your favorite two photos to [your church office email address]. -- Bonus: If you use social media sites, please upload your photos using #ThankYouGod and #(your church name/current hashtag.) -- Photos will be used in our worship services as a special thanks to God for His blessings, so don't miss a Sunday. Step #3: Distribute a copy of the #ThankYouGod sign and instructions to every person in your church. Step #4: As photos are submitted, create a looping slideshow or Powerpoint. Add new photos weekly. Step #5: Use the slideshow for pre-service or post-service visuals, as backdrop for a song or offertory, or sermon illustration. If your church celebrates with a Thanksgiving dinner, play the slideshow during the meal. A church may also make prints to create a #ThankYouGod photo wall in the church foyer. Especially at Thanksgiving, keep your entire church family thinking about God's innumerable blessings. -------------------------------------------------------------------- MORMONISM: Joseph Smith & polygamy -- a teachable moment by Rob Phillips Date: November 12, 2014 - Wednesday JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP) -- Does it make any difference that Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, married as many as 40 women, some of whom already were married and one who was only 14? Smith's marital history has been the subject of much debate, but until the Mormon Church acknowledged the founding prophet's multiple wives in a recent essay, it had maintained that Smith was happily married to one woman. The essay explains that Smith was a reluctant polygamist, agreeing to multiple marriages only after an angel threatened him with a sword. Further, the essay notes that Smith was restoring the "ancient principles" of biblical prophets like Abraham, who took secondary wives. The church disavowed plural marriages in 1890 under pressure from the U.S. government, although some LDS sects continue to practice it. As some Mormon bloggers have commented, it's good for the church to acknowledge as factual what any person capable of a Google search can discover. But a more important point is that the church attempts to appeal to Scripture in admitting the inconvenient truth of Smith's polygamy. This is precisely where we have an opportunity to urge our Mormon friends to revisit the Bible, which LDS theology and practice relegate to a back seat behind the Book of Mormon and other church documents. And for evangelical Christians, who see the gay marriage debate sliding down the slippery slope toward the redefinition of marriage, which includes multiple marriages, we should ask ourselves whether the Bible truly endorses the taking of more than one spouse. To be sure: It does not. Consider three biblical perspectives: 1) God's creative intent; 2) His divine accommodation; and 3) His warning against polygamy. Divine creation Let's begin with God's design for men and women created in His image. In Genesis 2:18, the Lord says, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him." Adam acknowledges Eve as a perfect complement for him -- "bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." The Scripture then says, "This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). When the Pharisees pressed Jesus about the legitimacy of divorce on any grounds, He took them back to this passage to emphasize God's creative intent. "So they are no longer two, but one flesh," Jesus said. "Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate" (Matthew 19:6). When they asked why Moses allowed divorce, Jesus replied that it was due to the hardness of people's hearts, but "it was not like that from the beginning" (Matthew 19:8). It is clear that God's ideal is a monogamous, lifelong marriage between a man and a woman. Divine accommodation Throughout the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law deals with such realities as divorce, which God hates, and polygamy, which He warns against. The Law is a great improvement over the pagan practices of Israel's neighbors while making allowances for the fallen state of God's people. It's what some scholars call "divine accommodation." In his book "Is God a Moral Monster?" Paul Copan writes that the Law of Moses is "a gracious gift temporarily given to national Israel that bridged God's ideals and the realities of ancient Near Eastern life and human hard-heartedness. Some of the troubling, harsh, and seemingly arbitrary Old Testament laws -- though inferior and less than morally optimal -- are often an improvement on what we see in the rest of an ancient Near East.... Much in the Old Testament visibly reminds us of God's abundant grace despite human sin and fall-damaged social structures." While Scripture nowhere instructs God's people to engage in polygamy, the Law provides protection for women involved in polygamous relationships. Warning against polygamy In addition to God's clear intention for monogamous marriage, and His divine accommodation to protect the victims of sinful behavior like divorce and polygamy, several passages of Scripture tell us of the danger of taking multiple wives. Here's a brief sampling: From Lamech, the first recorded polygamist in Scripture (Genesis 4:19, 23-24) to Abraham, Esau, Jacob, David and Solomon, wherever we see God's ideal of monogamy ignored, the result is bickering, strife and often idolatry. Leviticus 18:18 is a strong teaching against polygamy: "You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister's lifetime." In Deuteronomy 17:17, God prohibits Israel's king from acquiring many wives for himself "so that his heart won't go astray." Solomon, of course, took 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3), often from foreign nations for political reasons. The result: They turned his heart away from God. Finally, God models faithfulness in His relationship with His chosen people, loving them even when they depart and "marry" other gods. Proverbs 5:15-18 offers wise counsel -- a man should find delight and sexual satisfaction with his wife in a monogamous marriage: "Drink water from your own cistern ... and take pleasure in the wife of your youth." It also should be noted that just because Old Testament characters like David and Solomon took multiple wives does not mean God endorses the practice. We need to draw a distinction between what the Bible records and what it commands. Those who point to the Bible to endorse their polygamous practices, or to ridicule Scripture's "outdated" and "archaic" teachings, need to study the passages in context and against the historical backdrop of the times in which they are given. God's creative intent remains the same: One man and one woman, becoming one flesh through marriage, until death. This is a teachable moment for all of us, including our Mormon friends. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Be the church,' Colo. Baptists urged by Ginger LeBlanc Date: November 12, 2014 - Wednesday CENTENNIAL, Colo. (BP) -- The Colorado Baptist General Convention approved a budget that designates more than half of Cooperative Program receipts after shared expenses for Southern Baptist Convention missions and ministries as messengers gathered around the theme "Be the Church" at the CBGC annual meeting in Centennial. The proposed budget of $3.7 million is a .2 percent decrease from the current year. Included in the 2015 budget: $1,986,011 in anticipated CP giving from Colorado's churches, for about 54 percent of the budget; $1.59 million from the North American Mission Board, or 43 percent; and funding from LifeWay Christian Resources along with other designated income. The convention will continue to forward 50.5 percent of CP receipts to the Southern Baptist Convention's national and international missions and ministries. The budget also includes $166,195 in shared expenses with the SBC, or 8.36 percent of CP receipts. During their Oct. 13-14 meeting, messengers also adopted budgets for the Baptist Foundation of Colorado and Ponderosa Retreat and Conference Center. Elected as the convention's 2014-15 officers were: president, Michael Atherton, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Lone Tree; first vice president, Ray Shirley, pastor of Monument Baptist Church in Grand Junction; second vice president, Mike Hensley, pastor of Heart of the Springs Baptist Church in Colorado Springs; and recording secretary, Ginger LeBlanc, executive team ministry assistant at the CBGC. All the officers were reelected to positions in which they served during 2013-14. Tracy Simmons, pastor of Christ Community Church in Anchorage, Alaska, led in worship along with the worship team from Community of Grace Church in Centennial, which hosted the meeting. Atherton told the 135 messengers from 44 churches, "God has called us to be something before He has called us to do something." He added that pastors should pray Ephesians 3:19-20 over their churches daily, asking God to help believers "know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge" and "be filled with all the fullness of God." Jason K. Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, delivered two messages. Citing 2 Timothy 3:1-4:5 and Luke 16:1-13, he told messengers "the stance of 'status quo' for a church is disastrous." In his second message Allen said, "Are we exercising faithfulness and generosity? ... The issue is not that your church, convention [or the SBC] need more money ... The issue is more people need Christ." Joel Bundick, pastor of Community of Grace Church, delivered the annual sermon, in which he preached from John 4:3-4 on worship and forgiveness. He cited the need for worship in spirit and truth. New pastors and ministers in Colorado churches were introduced: Scott Morter, Arapahoe Road, Centennial; Jeremy Edwards, High View, Woodland Park; Paul Trimble, Bent Tree, Loveland; Ralph Helen, Bent Tree, Loveland; Darrell Morgan, Cornerstone, Lone Tree; Kyle Vatole, Community of Grace, Centennial; Seth Alexander, International Christian Fellowship, Colorado Springs; Tim O'Reiley, International Christian Fellowship, Colorado Springs; Randy Armstrong, Open Range, Craig; and Greg Judy, Mountain View, LaVeta. New churches welcomed into the convention were: Country Gospel Cowboy Church in Evans, pastor Johnny Lee; Church of the Open Door in Florence, pastor Henry Adams; Elevation Church in Loveland, pastor Angus McKinley; Belmar Baptist Church in Lakewood, pastor Derald Gautier; Bent Tree Church in Loveland, pastor Paul Trimble; and Calvary Baptist Church in Littleton, pastor Dan Freng. Resolutions expressed appreciation to Community of Grace Church for hosting the meeting, annual meeting speakers and worship leaders and Executive Director Mark Edlund and CBGC staff. With approximately 43 percent (150 of 357) of Colorado Southern Baptist Churches reporting statistics, there were 1,429 baptisms in the past year and total church membership of 36,133. The 2015 annual meeting will be held at the Hilton Inn in Ft. Collins Oct. 12-13, 2015. Longs Peak Baptist Association will host the meeting. -------------------------------------------------------------------- John Perkins: Historic time for race relations by S. Craig Sanders Date: November 12, 2014 - Wednesday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- John M. Perkins, an 84-year-old evangelical pioneer in race relations, sees "a pivot place in history" among churches in racial reconciliation and economic justice. "This is the first generation of people who are beginning to understand that." It's a generation that "values diversity," Perkins said at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in this year's Julius Brown Gay Lecture on Christian Ethics. "There's an underlying movement today that now people are wanting to do mission with people, and they want to learn from people," Perkins said, and they see the diversity of human beings as "a value in life." Perkins, a Mississippi native, fled to California as a teenager when his brother was murdered by a town marshal. After he professed faith in Christ in 1957, Perkins returned with his wife and children to Mendenhall, Miss., where he established a ministry to provide both Bible training and community development programs such as health clinics, thrift stores and housing cooperatives. He is the founder and president of the John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation. In 1989, Perkins was among the founders of the Christian Community Development Association to spread this philosophy of rebuilding poor neighborhoods with biblical principles. He also is the author of several books, including "Let Justice Roll Down" and "A Quiet Revolution." Southern Seminary's Julius Brown Gay Lectures are among its most prestigious lectureships, dating back to 1895. The lectures have brought some of Christianity's most significant figures to the seminary campus, most notably Martin Luther King Jr. in 1961. The opportunity to deliver the lecture at Southern Seminary, Perkins said, was "one of the honors of my life" in his longstanding work in biblical reconciliation. Perkins lectured on "Theology and Race in American Christianity" to a standing room-only crowd of Southern Seminary students and African American pastors with the Kentucky Baptist Convention who attended an afternoon pastors' conference. (See story below.) Racial reconciliation and justice are fundamental aspects of Christ's redemptive work, Perkins said in his Oct. 27 lecture. Anything outside of developing a church that is intentionally multicultural is "a disgrace to the Gospel," Perkins said. "It belittles the Gospel to have a church based on race. It's a slap in the face of a God who created from one human being all the nations that reside upon this earth and a Gospel that its intention was to reconcile people to God and to each other." The solution to racial divisions, Perkins suggested, is to "come back to the Bible and totally believe it." He emphasized the need to understand the reconciling work of Christ in the incarnation with a sense of economic justice rooted in the creation account. "The big issue is an economic issue. Justice is how we manage the earth's resources," Perkins said. "There is no biblical trace that God gives us ownership. The earth is the Lord's, and He gives it to us as a stewardship." On the topic of community development, Perkins said he believes "every church should have a nonprofit because it broadens your movement out into the midst of your members and other folk who might be poor," though noting that nothing can replace the local church's efforts in benevolent ministries. In a panel discussion following the lecture, Perkins added to his comments that racial justice is an economic issue, noting that "all resources come from God" in creation, with mankind called to steward those resources. "Work is the best welfare program in the world," Perkins said. "People need more than charity. What do they need? They need a job. It provides you the greatest affirmation -- you earned it." Perkins also shared insight into the "three R's" of his philosophy for community development: relocation (into communities of need), reconciliation and redistribution, which he said is not spreading the wealth but in calling to biblical action those who control the means of production. "God's love for humanity is the motivation for redemption," Perkins said. "It's His love, it's His justice, His tender care, His land from which we get the food to live." Joining Perkins in the panel discussion on racial reconciliation were T. Vaughn Walker, WMU Professor of Christian Ministries and professor of black church studies; Jarvis Williams, associate professor of New Testament interpretation; and Curtis Woods, the Kentucky Baptist Convention's associate executive director for convention relations. Walker, who became the first African American faculty member at any of the six SBC seminaries in 1986, said racial reconciliation in Southern Baptist churches today remains a difficult issue because of the changing cultural landscape. "This is a multicultural world. If we're still playing the black-and-white game, we're going to be far behind where the real game is," Walker said. Williams, whose research in the New Testament includes a focus on Gospel-centered racial reconciliation, emphasized the importance of defining terms when discussing the issue. "When we start talking about what's the foundation underneath the problem of injustice, the problem of racism, I think it's Adam's transgression," Williams said regarding the universal power of sin. "The greatest hope I think every single human being needs is to be transformed by the supernatural power of the bloody Gospel that focuses on a Jewish Messiah who died and resurrected for Jews and Gentiles to make them one new man in Christ." Woods spoke on behalf of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, which organized a conference for African American pastors following the lecture and panel discussion. (See story below.) He noted the efforts of KBC leaders to preach in a diversity of churches if they are invited to preach God's Word. "We believe in Gospel-centered racial reconciliation," Woods said. "We are sincerely wanting to see the church to look like heaven before we get there." Audio and video of Perkins' lecture are available at sbts.edu/resources. ***************** Expository preaching commended to African American pastors LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Christ-centered expositional preaching is cross-cultural, speakers Thabiti Anyabwile, Victor Sholar, H.B. Charles and Curtis Woods noted at an African American pastors' conference sponsored by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "We want to preach in such a way that opens the understanding of our people so that their rejoicing is really in the truth," said Anyabwile, church planting pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Anyabwile, opening the Oct. 27 conference with a cultural and biblical defense for expositional preaching, addressed four topics: popular objections to expositional preaching in many cultural contexts; Nehemiah 8 as a biblical text that models and calls pastors to expositional preaching; the result of the ministry of expository preaching; and how expository preaching answers the objections that are often raised. Objections, Anyabwile said, include the idea that expository preaching is culturally inappropriate or too intellectual. But expository preaching engages culture, and "all of God's Word is for all of God's people. And we may only enjoy God rightly when we understand His Word rightly," he said. Expository preaching, or true biblical preaching, is book-centered, for the people, and "true biblical preaching has not happened until the people understand the Bible," Anyabwile said. Expository preaching means a pastor reads and explains the text until the congregation understands it, he said. "We get to celebrate from every text the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf in ways that are natural to the text," he said. "So we haven't actually expounded the text and done expository preaching until we have understood and helped our people understand how that text relates to Jesus Christ and His finished work on our behalf, because that's how we go from weeping over our sins to rejoicing in our Savior." Victor Sholar, senior pastor of Main Street Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., spoke about various elements of expository preaching and pastoral ministry. Preaching from James 3, he urged pastors to remember they are judged with a stricter judgment as teachers. He noted that "the instrument of our vocation is our tongue" as pastors. The ability or lack thereof to control one's tongue, he said, is a good way to determine a pastoral calling. Sholar also discussed how preaching is both doctrinal and devotional, and expository preaching challenges how pastors preach because "Christ has a holy passion about how your sermon affects people." He said that most people want to gain more self-esteem through sermons but the pastor's job is to esteem his sheep in Christ. "Preaching exists solely for the glory of God," Sholar said. "The only reason God gives a pastor favor is because He wants His Word to be heard and known." H.B. Charles, pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., then preached an expository sermon from Psalm 113. Praise is essential to worship, he said. True worship, like what the psalmist exhorts God's people, inevitably involves praise and is always about God. In the psalm, Charles pointed out that the call to worship appears three times in the first verse. He offered three points about worship from the psalm: worship is a universal call, Christians should worship God at all times and they should worship Him in all places. "The believing heart finds many reasons to praise the Lord," Charles said, encouraging pastors to remember God sits above everything and sees all things. The pastors' conference also featured a panel discussion with Anyabwile, Sholar, Charles and Kentucky Baptist Convention leader Curtis Woods. The panel discussed sermon preparation, influential pastors and authors, and other areas of pastoral ministry. Audio from the conference is available at sbts.edu/resources.