Friday, August 18, 2006

• MARRIAGE DIGEST: N.J. conservatives waiting for ruling from state high court

  by Michael Foust, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  TRENTON, N.J. (BP)--Conservatives in New Jersey are anxiously watching their state Supreme Court, hoping for a victory in a much-anticipated "gay marriage" case but preparing for the worst if the decision goes against them. Read More

• From drugs & despair, he found deliverance & discipleship

  by Norm Miller, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  There was a time when then-drug-addict Steve Cobb dared not enter a church. Now he stands in front of the newly constructed facilities of Temple Baptist Church in New Bern. N.C., where he is the pastor. Photo by Norm Miller

  NEW BERN, N.C. (BP)--Having smoked countless joints, swallowed a Quaalude or two and drunk noxious amounts of Everclear -– a 95-percent alcohol beverage -– Steve Cobb left the Saturday night party and, amazingly, drove home.

  Upon reflection, Cobb counts it a miracle that he was lucid enough to drive. That night was the beginning of the end of nearly a decade of drug and alcohol abuse that began when he was 14.

  Cobb’s high school had a designated area for cigarette smokers, and that’s where he came under marijuana’s sway. An older teen confronted Cobb to make good on his bragging about smoking dope. Finding a secluded place, the two teens got high. Read More

• ‘Old school’ evangelism rekindles dwindling church

  by Andrea Higgins, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  Danny Friedrich is baptized at Central Baptist Church in Kansas City -– the first at the church in 20 years. Midwestern Seminary faculty member Thomas Johnston has led an initiative to rejuvenate the church which had dwindled to three members.

  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Central Baptist Church had not had a baptism in more than 20 years. With the neighborhood declining into crime and drugs and only three members remaining, it was hard for some to see a future.

        “They were throwing the church records into the garbage” because they figured the tiny brick church’s 50-plus year history was at an end, said Georgia-based evangelist Keith Fordham.

  Atlanta-area evangelist Keith Fordham preaches at the first outreach through the Low and No Baptism Project aimed at bolstering churches that haven’t baptized anyone in recent years.

  It may sound like hyperbole, but it really happened, said Thomas Johnston, associate professor of evangelism at nearby Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, who began preaching at the church July 4, 2004, as part of an urban evangelism initiative.

  Besides dwindling numbers, another reason there hadn’t been a baptism there for so long was because the old baptistery leaked. With a donation from another church, work began to repair it, and that’s when the church’s old records were unearthed. Read More

• Leader of evangelists group: Revivals still yield results

  by Staff, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  JACKSON, Miss. (BP)--Evangelist Gary Bowlin of Summit, Miss., was elected president of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists at the group’s annual meeting in June in Greensboro, N.C. Rick Henson, pastor of Oakdale Baptist Church in Brandon, Miss., interviewed Bowlin after a recent mission trip to Romania. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: The day of the evangelist

  by Bill Britt, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  GALLATIN, Tenn. (BP)--There has never been a time in history that we needed the gifted and anointed evangelist more than today. The coldness of the saints, the carelessness of sinners and the condition of society are but a few reasons why we need revival. Read More

• Sonicflood missions tour headed to 50-plus cities

  by Marie Travis, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--“Raise your songs of praise / In every tongue in every nation / Your kingdom come this generation” –- so goes the song “This Generation.” A call to missions has been Sonicflood’s message since their debut in 1999. Read More

• New pension law corrects inequalities for church plans

  by Staff, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  DALLAS (BP)--President Bush signed into law Aug. 17 legislation that includes provisions designed to put an end to unequal treatment of church pension plans. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: They're going to cheat anyway ...

  by Kelly Boggs, posted Friday, August 18, 2006 (18 years ago)

  ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--“Young people are going to do it and there is nothing that can be done to stop them,” the so-called experts declare. “Therefore they should be instructed on how to do it responsibly and done so in a way that is amoral.” Read More