Friday, October 28, 2005

• Pakistanis in quake zone receive food, medical care, tents as winter looms

  by Goldie Frances*, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (BP)--Fear grips the mountainous peoples of Pakistan -– not always a panicked fright, but usually a quiet, compliant dread.

  They fear frequent aftershocks that continue to topple buildings. They fear facing winter without adequate shelter and provisions. They fear aid will never reach them or that there will not be enough for everyone. They fear the chaos of relief camps.

  Village visit Three Pakistani earthquake survivors stop to talk amid the remains of their devastated village.

  They fear the unknown.

  “There have been several aftershocks along the way,” said Thad Crisler*, a worker directing Southern Baptist disaster relief efforts in Pakistan. “One of the biggest effects for earthquake survivors is it just scares them.... It’s a reminder of what happened last time. The fear just regenerates in them.” Read More

• President Bush, Gov. Bush thank Baptist relief workers

  by Joni B. Hannigan, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Valuing the volunteers President George W. Bush thanks Southern Baptist volunteers from Tennessee who were serving meals at First Baptist Church in Pompano Beach, Fla., Oct. 27 after Hurricane Wilma’s onslaught three days earlier. Photo by Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness

  POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (BP)--President George W. Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, thanked volunteers from the Tennessee Baptist Convention Disaster Relief operation and members of First Baptist Church in Pompano Beach Oct. 27 for preparing more than 12,000 meals since an early morning arrival the previous day.

        Hurricane Wilma, a strong, Category 3 storm, left Florida Oct. 24 after cutting a swathe through Alligator Alley and walloping structures and trees along the highly populated East Coast corridor stretching from Vero Beach to Miami, leaving millions without power. Read More

• Q&A: Why does Texas need a marriage amendment?

  by Michael Foust, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  AUSTIN, Texas (BP)--Texas citizens go to the polls Nov. 8 to vote on a constitutional marriage amendment known as Proposition 2. Following are some commonly asked questions, with answers, related to the issue: Read More

• Mo. governor at odds with fellow Baptists on cloning

  by Staff, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (BP)--Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, used the annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) to voice, once again, his support for therapeutic cloning -- putting him at odds with his own state convention and denomination. Read More

• Missouri Baptists strengthen ties to SBC, MBC

  by Allen Palmeri, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (BP)--Messengers to the 171st annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention Oct. 24-26 elected for the ninth consecutive year a slate of theologically conservative officers and overwhelmingly approved single alignment, the series of interdependent changes to the MBC Constitution that leading conservatives say will promote theological integrity and unity within Missouri Southern Baptist life. Read More

• SBTC approves $19.3 million budget, elects Swofford

  by Jerry Pierce, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  AMARILLO, Texas (BP)--Messengers to the eighth Southern Baptists of Texas Convention annual meeting approved a $19.3 million budget for 2006 and elected Steve Swofford, pastor of First Baptist Church of Rockwall, as president. Read More

• ‘Voices of Faithful’ tops charts as fastest-selling Christian book

  by Jesse Lyautey, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--More than 140,000 copies of Beth Moore’s new devotional book “Voices of the Faithful” have sold nationwide since its release Aug. 2. The book shot up the bestsellers list and stayed in the top five for at least two months in Christian Retailing and was first on the list for at least two weeks. Read More

• Wilma destroys church's sanctuary, but not its hope

  by Joni B. Hannigan, Florida Baptist Witness, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (BP)--A bag of used clothes left by the church’s front door after Hurricane Wilma roared through Florida reminded Pastor Dennis Demarois of the community’s love for the church.

  Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: Rosa Parks, a profile in courage

  by Kelly Boggs, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  McMINNVILLE, Ore. (BP)--Hear the word "courage," and what comes to mind? White crosses covering Arlington National Cemetery? A firefighter entering a burning building? A single mother laboring at two jobs to provide for her family?

  Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: Why Southern Baptists say ‘Amen’ to Rosa Parks

  by Russell D. Moore, posted Friday, October 28, 2005 (18 years ago)

  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Can a Southern Baptist mourn the death of Rosa Parks? Some, such as the liberal Baptist Center for Ethics’ Bob Allen, say no, since the activism of the civil rights heroine is so at odds with the racist past of the conservative churches of the Southern Baptist Convention. And yet, it is only because of conservative evangelical conviction that the Bible belt came to understand that asking ladies to sit at the back of the bus because of the color of their skin isn’t just bad policy -- it is sin. Read More