Friday, October 14, 2005

• Can social conservatives continue the marriage amend. momentum?

  by Michael Foust, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  AUSTIN, Texas (BP)--The nationwide movement to ban "gay marriage" moves to Texas in November, when voters there decide whether to amend their constitution to protect the natural definition of marriage. But Texas' vote could be only the beginning in what figures to be a busy 12 months for the nationwide pro-family movement. In 2006 alone, at least nine states could be voting on marriage amendments. And conservatives in some states -- such as Massachusetts, where "gay marriage" is legal -- already are looking ahead to 2008.

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• Rope in hand in Calgary, evangelist lassos new believers

  by Sherri Brown, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Lassoing the lost Evangelist Ronnie Hill ventured to the Calgary Stampede with a vision to reach Canadians in need of the Gospel. Hill and a team of eight fellow Texas volunteers, with help from Calgary’s Cambrian Heights Baptist Church, recorded 459 professions of faith.

  CALGARY, Alberta, Canada (BP)--The 90 members of Cambrian Heights Baptist Church have been tackling the challenge of following up with people who made professions of faith at the Calgary Stampede, one of the world’s largest rodeo events that draws more than a million people during the 10-day run every summer.

        Texas evangelist Ronnie Hill decided to take a team to witness at the Stampede. He has ridden horses all his life and competed in roping events for the last 15 years. But as an evangelist his passion is to preach to lost people.

        In the last Canadian census, the fastest-growing religion was “no religion.” According to North American Mission Board statistics, China has more Christians than Canada. Read More

• Lab coats, stethoscopes underscore initiative for healthy EKG

  by Andrea Higgins, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Healthy welcome Registrants for a Sunday School training conference in High Point, N.C., were greeted by hosts in medical attire, highlighting the “EKG” (Empowering Kingdom Growth) theme aimed at nurturing healthy churches. Photo courtesy of Green Street Baptist Church

  HIGH POINT, N.C. (BP)--To the casual observer, it could have seemed Green Street Baptist Church was hosting a cardiology convention, with several people wearing lab coats and sporting stethoscopes around their necks.

  Heart health was the emphasis of featured speaker Kenneth Hemphill. But it wasn’t of the medical variety.

  The Southern Baptist Convention’s national strategist for Empowering Kingdom Growth, or EKG, has developed an “instrument” that is becoming widely used by churches to do a spiritual checkup.

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• Close call & lost job fail to derail volunteer crew

  by Keith Manuel, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Cousins in relief Amanda Spurgeon (center), an evacuee from New Orleans, and cousins Geneva Chancellor (left) and Talitha Shell of Tennessee hand out ice as part of disaster relief operations in New Orleans. Photo by Keith Manuel

  NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Members from Watson Chapel Baptist Church are living up to their state’s nickname, the Volunteer State. Even after a member of their chainsaw crew was pinned by a tree, almost paralyzing him, the church was willing to send a team of youth and adults to return to Louisiana the following week.

  The team, led by youth pastor Russ Cooper, stayed at First Baptist Church in Ponchatoula and drove every morning to New Orleans to distribute food, water, ice and cleaning supplies at Calvary Baptist Church and to a non-church site. Read More

• Beth Moore simulcast touches evacuees & those helping them

  by Tim Ellsworth, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  HOUMA, La. (BP)--Christian speaker and best-selling author Beth Moore wants women to do more than just study the Bible. On the Louisiana Gulf Coast, Moore’s counsel resonated with a group of women watching her via simulcast at First Baptist Church in Houma. Read More

• Mo. case against breakaway entities to be consolidated in original court

  by Don Hinkle, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP)--Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan has decided that the Missouri Baptist Convention legal action against five breakaway entities should proceed where it started, in the court of a fellow Cole County circuit judge, Thomas Brown III. Read More

• Southern Baptists intercede for Muslims during Ramadan

  by Jesse Lyautey, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP)—Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims all around the world. This year from Oct. 5 to Nov. 3, many Muslims are fasting from sunrise to sunset and gathering in the evenings to eat and celebrate the holiday with family. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: Kingdom-building leadership principles

  by Kenneth Hemphill, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The Empowering Kingdom Growth -- Acts 1:8 Challenge strategy is focused on the local church. We are praying that God will use this emphasis to help us to defeat "spiritual my-opia" by renewing our mission passion. God has given the "keys of the Kingdom" (Matthew 16) to His church. The church has been entrusted with the incredible good news of the Kingdom and, thus, is the primary instrument by which God advances His Kingdom on earth. Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: If only Oregon's founders knew ...

  by Kelly Boggs, posted Friday, October 14, 2005 (18 years ago)

  McMINNVILLE, Ore. (BP)--Oregon’s “oh-so-open-minded” Supreme Court has ruled that a live sex show is a constitutionally protected freedom of expression, although, for the moment, prostitution is not. Read More