Wednesday, June 10, 2009

• Drugs, alcohol carry hefty social cost, studies show

  by Erin Roach, posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009 (15 years ago)

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The social cost of drug use has been analyzed in two federal studies released recently, including one that says half of the men arrested in 10 major U.S. cities tested positive for at least one illegal drug.

  "[O]ur nation cannot let up on its war on drugs, including marijuana."

  -- Barrett Duke, Southern Baptist policy spokesman

        A second study found that substance abuse and addiction cost federal, state and local governments at least $468 billion in 2005, accounting for more than one-tenth of combined government expenditures for all purposes.

        According to the first report, from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, a survey of drug use among booked male arrestees in metropolitan areas across the country found that as many as 87 percent tested positive for an illegal drug.

        Drug use among the arrestee population is much higher than in the general population, the study, released May 28, said. The percentage of arrestees testing positive for at least one illicit drug ranged from 49 percent in Washington, D.C., to 87 percent in Chicago.

  The most common substances present during tests, in descending order, were marijuana, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine, the report said. Many men tested positive for more than one illegal drug within 48 hours of their booking. Read More

• Cowboy roams Idaho, planting churches

  by Mickey Noah, posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009 (15 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of NAMB

  BLACKFOOT, Idaho (BP)--Wearing a hat like the one cowboy actor Tom Mix made famous in westerns in the '20s and '30s along with a vest, brown cowboy boots ... Read More

• Hunt 'surprised' by talk of combining NAMB, IMB into single missions entity

  by Mickey Noah, posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009 (15 years ago)

  

  Photo by John Swain

  ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Speaking to some 200 North American Mission Board staffers at chapel June 4, Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt said, "I was as surprised as you were when the story hit proposing to join NAMB and the IMB [International Mission Board]. Read More

• Joyce Rogers: God 'isn't finished with me'

  by Lonnie Wilkey, posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009 (15 years ago)

  BARTLETT, Tenn. (BP)--For 54 years, Joyce Rogers walked alongside her husband as he became one of the best known pastors in Southern Baptist life.

  Adrian Rogers, for 32 years the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., and a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention, died in November 2005, just a few months after retiring from the pulpit.

  Yet, as Rogers' ministry and legacy lives on through his Love Worth Finding Ministries and the Adrian Rogers' Pastor Train... Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: The life cycle of a healthy Sunday School class

  by David Francis, posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009 (15 years ago)

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--There are obvious life cycles in nature. Tadpoles emerge as frogs, and caterpillars spin cocoons and reappear as butterflies. Read More

• ANALYSIS: What do the numbers mean -- is the SBC in decline? Part 1 Membership & Baptisms

  by Will Hall, posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009 (15 years ago)

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--In April of this year, the Southern Baptist Convention's Annual Church Profile was released showing a decline in membership (-0.20 percent). It was the second drop in a row (-0.24 percent in 2007), and the fourth in SBC history. In 1998, membership fell 1.02 percent but increased the next year, however, it did not recover from that 1.02 percent loss until 2000. Prior to that, the last drop in membership took place in 1926. Read More