Monday, February 16, 2015

• From jailer to church planter

  by Joe Conway, posted Monday, February 16, 2015 (9 years ago)

  

  SAN DIEGO (BP) -- Openness -- to the Gospel, to people, to change, to God's leading -- has helped Victor Schloss find confidence in God's calling on his life.

  The 31-year-old church planter serves San Diego as city missionary for the North American Mission Board's Send North America focus.

  At the heart of Schloss' ministry is a passion to see broken lives reconciled. Experiencing brokenness in his own life, and witnessing it in others during his former career as a sheriff's deputy, helped Schloss follow his call to church planting. Read More

• ERLC's agenda includes religious liberty, life

  by Staff, posted Monday, February 16, 2015 (9 years ago)

  "The ERLC exists to be a witness to and advocate for issues of the common good important to Baptists."

  -- Russell Moore

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Measures to protect religious freedom and the sanctity of human life top the 2015 legislative agenda for the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy entity.

  The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) unveiled Feb. 11 its goals for the new congressional session. Unlike last year, the new Congress will be controlled by one party, the Republicans. The change from a divided Congress occurred in November, when the GOP won control of the Senate. Read More

• Jim Henry breathes life into Downtown Baptist

  by Carolyn Nichols/Florida Baptist Witness, posted Monday, February 16, 2015 (9 years ago)

  

  Photo by Reinhold Matay Photography

  ORLANDO, Fla. (BP) -- Jim Henry, pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church in Orlando and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is again leading a church in Orlando.

  Downtown Baptist Church, which formed when First Baptist moved from downtown Orlando to John Young Parkway in 1985, has called Henry as pastor.

  Henry said the church is poised to become "a tremendous lighthouse for downtown Orlando."

  Stan Buchanan, chairman of the church's trustees, said church attendance had dwindled to 70 but has swelled to 300 since Henry's first Sunday on Dec. 7. Read More

• Blasphemy acquittals denied to Pakistani Christians

  by Staff/Morning Star News, posted Monday, February 16, 2015 (9 years ago)

  

  LAHORE, Pakistan (BP) -- Pakistan's Punjab province has excluded Christians from a list of people accused of blaspheming Islam whose cases will be expedited for acquittal, according to the Morning Star News service dedicated to persecution issues.

  Pointing to several Christians languishing in jail on blasphemy charges, Christian rights and political activists say discrimination against religious minorities was behind the Punjab Prosecution Department's short list of 50 cases of alleged blasphemers who have been victimized by complainants. Read More

• SBC DIGEST: Okla. Rose Day; NAMB Feb. 25 venue change

  by Staff, posted Monday, February 16, 2015 (9 years ago)

  The 24th annual Rose Day at Oklahoma state capitol reminds elected leaders of the sanctity of life. Nashville Send North America Experience tour stop Feb. 25 changes location. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: 8 months as SBC president

  by Ronnie Floyd, posted Monday, February 16, 2015 (9 years ago)

  Ronnie Floyd reflects on lessons he's learned and concerns he's heard during his first eight months as the Southern Baptist Convention's president. "Change is in the air," he writes. People are realizing "that we cannot fix ourselves" at a time when Southern Baptists "have a great story to tell." Read More