Wednesday, November 21, 2018

• Alaskan Thanksgiving: All invited in Tenakee Springs

  by Tim Tune, posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo submitted

  TENAKEE SPRINGS, Alaska (BP) -- A small church in southeast Alaska is inviting its community to Thanksgiving dinner.

  The invitation is extended to all 100 residents and anyone else in Tenakee Springs who may not have local gatherings of family and friends that day.

  Tenakee Springs Community Church has hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for most of the 10 years bivocational pastor Todd Buck and his wife Jodie have served there.

  "Initially I went out there on a request for supply preaching, and I just kept going," Todd said. "After about a year I was definitely the pastor." Read More

• T-shirt dresses become worldwide ministry

  by Grace Thornton/The Alabama Baptist, posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo by Grace Thornton

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Linda Johnson says that about a year ago when her friend Linda Jacobson asked her if she was ready to see God do big things, she said yes. She was excited.

  "But I've thought a thousand times since then that I never could've imagined what was coming," Johnson said.

  Since it started last year, Johnson, Jacobson and fellow volunteers with the We Sew Love ministry at Huffman Baptist Church, Birmingham, has sent hundreds of clothing items made from old T-shirts to children in Uganda, Zambia, Haiti and other places around the world.

  They've made crib pads for children's homes. They've made burial gowns for children who pass away in hospice facilities. Read More

• Thanksgiving feasting among 'rhythms of grace'

  by David Roach, posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  iStock

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- The average Thanksgiving dinner contains up to 3,000 calories, according to the Orlando Sentinel -- 4,500 if you go back for more. That's nearly three times the number of calories the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends some people consume in a day.

  Can Christians indulge in such a feast -- replete with fixings from potatoes to pie -- without committing the sin of gluttony? Absolutely, say a seminary professor and a women's author and speaker. Thanksgiving feasts are a biblically-justified part of celebrating God's goodness and bounty, they say.

  "When it is carried out as an expression of gratefulness to God with appreciation for His many undeserved blessings, feasting is appropriate and approved by God," said Gregg Allison, a systematic theology professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who has taught doctoral students on the topic of gluttony for 15 years. Read More

• Thanksgiving, the best Jell-O ever and the promise of home

  by Sarah Alexander, posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  IMB photo

  CENTRAL ASIA (BP) -- Our first Thanksgiving in Central Asia was like a treasure hunt.

  One teammate stood in a long line to buy bread; another bought and baked an underfed chicken. Potatoes -- the one food we had in abundance -- were mashed and salted.

  But the real prize? A bowl of green Jell-O.

  Someone traveled 6,000 miles with a box of Jell-O in his suitcase and decided to share it with the rest of us. It was the best Jell-O ever.

  But even more than the food, I remember the laughter. We were in a dark place and we felt significant spiritual oppression, but the shared suffering created a unique camaraderie. We laughed together at our language mistakes and cultural missteps. We thanked God that we'd made it just one more day. Read More

• Be missional in the marketplace this holiday season

  by Aaron Wilson, posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  iStock

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Five years ago around this time of year, I was on my phone scrolling through social media when a few posts written by Christian friends grabbed my attention.

  They read:

  -- "So tired of this corporate greed. The holidays are about faith and family. #StayHomeDontShop"

  -- "Take back Thanksgiving for Christ. #BoycottBlackFriday"

  -- "Camping out at home to avoid the wackos trampling each other over half-priced TVs." Read More

• La. Baptists hear call to reach the next generation

  by Brian Blackwell/Baptist Message , posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  Baptist Message photo

  David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, has announced his plans to retire, sharing his intentions during the 2018 LBC annual meeting, with the theme of “Imprint -- Marking the Next Generation.”

  “I have every confidence that God is going to take care of this convention and bring about good things and better things for His glory,” Hankins, 68, told messengers during the Nov. 12-13 meeting at Temple Baptist Church in Ruston. “So I know you will join me in praying during these transition days. Read More

• No Spartan, but thankful ... aches, pains and all

  by Shawn Hendricks, posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- The back brace I wore much of this summer is now collecting dust in the garage. That chair I had to sit on for weeks in the shower is somewhere in a garbage dump. And my running routine has for the most part returned -- though I'm more sore on some mornings than others.

  It's been four months since I crushed the T-12 vertebra in my back. To look at me now, you wouldn't know anything happened and that my life appears to be "back" to normal. But in some ways it's not -- and I remain thankful to the Lord for that.

  On July 13, (yes, Friday the 13th) I was preparing for the Spartan, a 3- to 5-mile run with more than 20 obstacles, when my life took a sudden detour. Before getting ready for work that day, I thought I could get in some quick training. But while climbing on some outdoor equipment, I lost my grip and fell about 10 feet onto my back. Read More

• THANKSGIVING: A garden of gratitude

  by Michael Kelley, posted Wednesday, November 21, 2018 (5 years ago)

  Michael Kelley draws from the experience of planting a vegetable garden -- from seeds to harvest -- to reflect on how to cultivate gratitude in one's heart. Read More