Baptist Press Archive

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

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  • Baptists celebrate 50 years in Vietnam with hugs, tears
    by Tess Rivers, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (BP)--Shortly before the fall of Saigon in 1975, Le Quoc Chanh, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), came with his wife and young son to the home of missionary Sam James.

          Chanh told James that he and his family had the opportunity to leave the war-ravaged country on a boat but weren't sure what to do. They were going to spend the weekend praying. James, whose wife and children had already evacuated, pledged to join the Chanhs in prayer.

          "Monday morning, they came back to my house," James recalled. "Pastor Chanh told me they had decided to stay in Vietnam. He said that God had given him a flock to pastor, and he could not abandon his sheep."

          Both men knew the enormity of this decision.

          Many churches closed their doors as turmoil and uncertainty enveloped the country. Grace Baptist was the only church that remained open and held services in the early days of the new Vietnamese government.

          Today Grace Baptist still meets at its original location, the site in mid-November for services celebrating 50 years of Baptist work in Vietnam. Vietnamese Baptists, former missionaries and visitors from the United States and Cambodia gathered for worship, preaching and celebration. Nearly 725 people, including a number of government officials, attended the Nov. 15 service.

          Pastor Chanh was seated on the front pew.

          Although elderly and in poor health, Chanh retains the title of senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church. He stood briefly to accept a plaque from Bobby Welch, who represented the Southern Baptist Convention and was keynote speaker ... Read More

  • Welch visits Vietnam, thankful for wounds
    by Tess Rivers, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (BP)--"For 43 years, there hasn't been a day in my life that I haven't thought about Vietnam," Bobby Welch told a crowd of nearly 725 Vietnamese believers, former missionaries and government officials celebrating 50 years of Baptist work in Vietnam. Read More

  • STDs on the rise despite sex education
    by Erin Roach, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    WASHINGTON (BP)--The rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States are among the highest of any developed country in the world, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said after a study found that STD cases continue to rise. Read More

  • Lutherans splitting after gay pastor vote
    by Michael Foust, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. (BP)--The nation's largest Lutheran denomination is splitting following a controversial decision at its August conference to allow noncelibate homosexuals ... Read More

  • It can begin with a sandwich
    by Carol Pipes, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    Photo by Peter Field Peck
    NEW YORK (BP)--It's a cold, rainy Saturday in New York City, and Vaughn McLamb ladles up steaming cups of chicken soup for the homeless, addicts, immigrants and urban poor gathered at Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side. Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: Thanksgiving in India
    by Peggy Uppinghouse*, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    INDIA (BP)--Many friends and relatives have asked about how we celebrated Thanksgiving here in India. Well, obviously, it is not an Indian holiday, even though it began with Indians at the first celebration in the 1600s -- just a different kind of Indians.

    To begin our story, we had been told that you could not get turkey here, so we assumed that was fact. However, while Boyd* was on his way home from a prison ministry trip, he noticed a turkey on the side of the road near one of the villag... Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: Thanksgiving & adversity
    by Stephen Wilson, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    [IMGONLY=26449@left@100]MAYFIELD, Ky. (BP)--The American holiday of Thanksgiving possesses a long history of taking place during times of adversity. As we pause to thank God for our blessings on Thanksgiving Day, we also should remember our fellow Americans who are facing over 10 percent unemployment and many others who are enduring underemployment.

    Strangely enough, Thanksgiving and hard times have been companions off and on ever since 1621.

    When the Pilgrims of 1621 held their first ... Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: 2 teachers of gratitude
    by Curt Iles, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    [IMGONLY=26451@left@100]DRY CREEK, La. (BP)--It's a beautiful word that gently rolls off the tongue --gratitude.

    It's also a visible word: You can see gratitude when a person is full of it.

    The best lessons I've ever learned on thankfulness are from two unlikely teachers: a southern guitar picker and an African orphan teen.

    First, let me tell you about my lifelong friend Vance Gill. (I always tell my guitar-playing friend that he is only 'one vowel' away from being famous.)

    V... Read More

  • Raymond Coppenger dies at 100
    by Staff, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    ARKADELPHIA, Ark. (BP)--Retired Ouachita Baptist University philosophy professor Raymond A. Coppenger died Nov. 24 following a bout with pneumonia at age 100.

    Coppenger celebrated his 100th birthday on Sept. 20 with a large gathering of family and friends in Arkadelphia, Ark. He received televised birthday greetings from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Ouachita alumnus, who closed his Fox News Channel show, "Huckabee," on Sept. 20 by noting, "Dr. Coppenger is one of the most brilliant... Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: A church as inspiring as its films
    by Michael Foust, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    ALBANY, Ga. (BP)--There are more than enough multi-million-dollar theatrical releases out there with a storyline so boring it makes you wish you had stayed home and watched, say, a rerun of the 6 o'clock news. Thankfully, there are exceptions, including movies by Sherwood Baptist Church. Read More

  • Puede comenzar con un sándwich
    Por Carol Pipes, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    NEW YORK (BP)--Es un frío y lluvioso sábado en la ciudad de New York, y Vaughn McLamb les sirve humeantes tazas de caldo de pollo a los indigentes, adictos, inmigrantes y pobres de la ciudad que están reunidos en el Parque Tompkins Square ubicado en el bajo este de la cuidad.

          Sean puertorriqueños, chinos, europeos del este o de otro trasfondo étnico ellos llegan por un almuerzo gratis en el parque (FLIP por sus siglas en inglés), un ministerio provisto por la Iglesia Bautista East Seventh y los Ministerios Comunales Graffiti. La Iglesia Graffiti, como se conoce comúnmente, ha estado sirviendo en el bajo este desde 1974. A cargo está Taylor Field, misionero y pastor de la Junta de Misiones Norteamericanas.

          Cada fin de semana, Field y un grupo de la Iglesia Graffiti se colocan en el parque para alimentar a los hambrientos.

          "Creemos que Dios nos ha llamado a alcanzar a aquellos que han ido a parar a un callejón sin salida," dice Field. Graffiti alimenta a 10.000 personas al año, con la ayuda de iglesias compañeras y el Fondo para el Hambre en Norteamérica de NAMB. El Fondo para el Hambre en Norteamérica absorbe el 20 por ciento de las donaciones destinadas para el Fondo para el Hambre Mundial de los Bautistas del Sur; el restante 80 por ciento es usado en los ministerios para el hambre de la Junta de Misiones Internacionales.

          "Sentimos cómo parte del evangelio está llegando en una forma física, y esa es una gran necesidad en nuestra comunidad," dice Field. "No es algo teórico, no es algo para discutir. Es algo tangible que cada persona puede hacer y todos podemos integrarnos."

    "Sentimos cómo parte del evangelio está llegando en una forma física, y esa es una gran necesidad en nuestra comunidad," dice Field. "No es algo teórico, no es algo para discutir. Es algo tangible que cada persona puede hacer y todos podemos integrarnos." Read More

  • EDITORIAL: Un pavo de Acción de Gracias en India
    Por Peggy Uppinghouse*, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    INDIA (BP)--Muchos amigos y parientes nos han preguntado cómo celebramos el Día de Acción de Gracias aquí en India. Bueno, obviamente, no es una celebración india, aunque comenzó con los indios en la primera celebración en el siglo XVII--- sólo que eran otro tipo de indios. Read More

  • Crece mundialmente el ministerio True Love Waits
    Por Don Beehler, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A poco más de dos años de haberse lanzado la iniciativa para la expansión de True Love Waits por el continente africano, ya se habían hecho más de 15,500 presentaciones ante los jóvenes africanos, y casi medio millón de ellos habían escuchado su mensaje promoviendo la abstinencia sexual hasta el matrimonio.

    De ese número, más de 200,500 han hecho la promesa de True Love Waits y casi 41,500 adultos se han comprometido a ser fieles en su matrimonio, gracias al ministeri... Read More

  • Los bereberes de África del Norte: Un camino difícil para llegar a su corazón
    Por Elaine Gaston, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    NOTA DEL EDITOR: La Ofrenda de Navidad Lottie Moon suplementa las donaciones al Programa Cooperativo para así apoyar a más de 5,600 misioneros bautistas del sur que comparten el Evangelio en otros países. Este año, la meta de la ofrenda son $175 millones. El tema de la ofrenda Lottie Moon 2009 es "¿Quién falta? ¿Quién irá?" y se enfoca en vencer las barreras que impiden que se escuche y se acepte el Evangelio en varias partes del mundo y en la misión que la Gran Comisión nos dio a todos los cris... Read More

  • Mujeres Hispanas de la Convencion Bautista del Sur celebran una decada de campamentos
    Por Jennifer Lloyd, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    FRESNO, Calif. (BP)--"¡Mujer, Levántate y Resplan-dece!"

    Damas hispanas de California, Texas, Oregon, Guatemala y la República Domini-cana celebraron diez años de campamentos con este "resplandeciente" tema tomado de Isaías 60:1. Al campamento del 18 a 20 de septiembre en Jenness Park asistieron 487 mujeres. En el campamento del 7 al 9 de agosto en Tahquitz Pines (en el sur de Cali-fornia) asistieron 160 mujeres. Durante estos campamentos 10 damas recibieron a Cristo como su Salvador.

    Read More

  • COMPENDIO VIDA: 40 Días por la Vida reporta más de 580 salvados;...
    Por Tom Strode, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    WASHINGTON (BP)--La campaña 40 Días por la Vida reportó que más de 580 niños nonatos fueron salvados y ocho trabajadores de clínicas de abortos dejaron el negocio para el cierre de la iniciativa el 1 de noviembre.

    En los últimos días del esfuerzo de otoño, la iniciativa rebasó los 2.000 bebés nonatos salvados en todas las campañas que ha conducido, reportó el director nacional David Bereit.

    40 Días por la Vida, que comenzó localmente en Bryan, Texas, en el 2004, involucra vigilias pací... Read More

  • EDITORIAL: Somos embajadores de Cristo
    Por Fermín Whittaker, posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 (14 years ago)

    FRESNO, Calif. (BP)--Embajador. La palabra implica mucho. Un embajador es representante a un grupo, país, o nación. Read More