Thursday, October 13, 2016

• 21 Chibok girls freed in Boko Haram prisoner swap

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 (7 years ago)

  

  BP file photo

  ABUJA, Nigeria (BP) -- The Nigerian government has secured the release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago, a Nigerian government official announced on Twitter today (Oct. 13).

  The kidnapping saga is part of the continuing horrors in Nigeria caused by the terror group, with an estimated 25,000 people, including many Christians, killed by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria since 2009 in its attempts to establish strict Sharia law across the country. Read More

• Asia Bibi appeal postponed amid tensions in Pakistan

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 (7 years ago)

  

  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (BP) -- The final appeal of a death sentence for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother imprisoned more than seven years over a blasphemy allegation, has been postponed; Islamic protestors, meanwhile, renew calls for her execution.

  The appeal scheduled today (Oct. 13) for 51-year-old Aasiya Noreen, also known as Asia Bibi, was postponed after one of three justices set to hear the case recused himself, World Watch Monitor, a news service focused on global persecution of Christians, reported. Read More

• In Asia, 163 volunteers aid front-line families

  by Sheila Allen, posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 (7 years ago)

  

  Northwest Baptist Witness photo

  EAST ASIA (BP) -- Warmth enveloped volunteers from the Northwest Baptist Convention in taking their first breaths at their destination in East Asia -- a reminder not only of the tropical climate but also the reception they received in joining hands for a worthy cause.

  Eighteen months earlier, Phil Wardell*, International Mission Board affinity leader for East Asia, had asked Northwest convention volunteers to staff an affinity group meeting in 2016, the first such gathering in seven years. Read More

• Kim's journey undergirds call for church planting

  by Gary D. Myers, posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 (7 years ago)

  

  Photo by Gary D. Myers

  NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Paul Kim visited New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with two goals: promoting Asian-American involvement in the Southern Baptist Convention and encouraging students to consider church planting.

  Kim is working to spread SBC awareness and build Cooperative Program support among Asian-American Baptists as the Asian-American relations consultant with the SBC's Executive Committee -- one of many Baptist leaders working with Frank S. Page, EC president, in an effort to understand and appreciate the diverse ethnic landscape in the SBC. Read More

• Historian Michael Haykin elected to SBTS faculty

  by S. Craig Sanders, posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 (7 years ago)

  

  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary unanimously approved the election of church historian Michael A.G. Haykin to the faculty during their Oct. 10 meeting at the Louisville, Ky., campus.

  Messengers also approved a response to a motion on SBC entities' media policies referred from the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in June.

  "The election of Michael Haykin brings to Southern Seminary's permanent faculty a scholar of world renown and a Christian of such wonderful heart," SBTS President ... Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: Dual citizenship & the ballot

  by Mark Ballard, posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 (7 years ago)

  With terms such as "moral majority" and "values voter" having lost their less relevance in this year's presidential election, college president Mark Ballard underscores a Christian's dual citizenship as a framework for casting a ballot. Read More

• Bible Study: Oct. 16, 2016

  by staff/LifeWay Christian Resources, posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 (7 years ago)

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, LifeWay publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.

  This week's Bible study is adapted from the YOU curriculum.

  Bible Passages: Proverbs 11:1, 4, 18, 24-26, 28. Read More