Thursday, October 12, 2017

• FIRST-PERSON: A trek amid Harvey's havoc

  by Marc Ira Hooks, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  Marc Ira Hooks recounts his trek along streets lined with water-logged, reeking heaps of belongings in the wake of Hurricane Harvey's onslaught across Houston and south Texas. Read More

• Homecoming mum tradition turns to hurricane relief

  by Marc Ira Hooks, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  HOUSTON (BP) -- Flood-soaked cardboard boxes of homecoming mums are among the debris lining the sidewalks and street curbs of many houses in the suburban Kingwood neighborhood north of downtown Houston.

  For longer than people can remember how it started, high school students present their homecoming dates with a chrysanthemum (or mum, for short) bedecked with ribbons, glitter and other mementos. Texas students spend millions each year on these high school keepsakes varying in size from four inches to a foot in diameter, with price tags of $50 to $300. Read More

• NOBTS year-long centennial to have evangelistic focus

  by Marilyn Stewart, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  Photo by Boyd Guy

  NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary kicked off its 100th anniversary celebration with special events Oct. 3 and the announcement of upcoming centennial initiatives focused on evangelism and missions.

  Activities began with the annual Founders Day chapel service, as NOBTS President Chuck Kelley pointed past the seminary's 1917 founding to the true "seed" from which the seminary sprang -- the Acts 1:8 commission by Jesus to take the Gospel to all nations. Read More

• Congress' prayer tradition upheld by federal judge

  by Tom Strode, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  C-SPAN screen capture

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- The constitutionality of legislative prayer gained reaffirmation Wednesday (Oct. 11) when a federal court dismissed an atheist's challenge of the U.S. House of Representatives' right to bar him from delivering an invocation.

  Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia said U.S. Supreme Court precedent undergirds the long tradition of prayer to open congressional sessions and the House's rules in carrying out the practice. Collyer's support for legislative prayer in Congress came three months after a federal appeals court invalidated the practice in a North Carolina county. Read More

• BSA to open Cub Scouting to girls in 2018

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  IRVING, Texas (BP) -- Boys Scouts of America will open Cub Scouting to girls in 2018, the latest move in the BSA's evolution from a gender-specific character development organization limited to biological boys.

  BSA's board of directors unanimously approved the change Oct. 11 at its Texas headquarters and announced plans to roll out a similar program for older girls in 2019 to allow girls to obtain the coveted rank of Eagle Scout. The changes cater to requests from families too busy to enroll sons and daughters in separate programs, BSA leaders said, and is not a tactic to increase membership numbers that have ... Read More

• 3rd Pakistani Christian teenager killed since August

  by Morning Star News/Pakistan Correspondent, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  LAHORE, Pakistan (BP) -- Police in Pakistan beat a 14-year-old Christian boy to death on Monday, Oct. 9, because he had gotten into a fight with a Muslim classmate who tried to bully him into renouncing his faith, Morning Star News reported Oct. 11.

  Arasalan Masih is the third Christian teenager to be killed in Pakistan since August.

  Mushtaq Masih told Morning Star News that his son, Arsalan Masih, was a student at a private center in the Punjab province village of Jhabran Mandi, located in the ... Read More

• EDITORIAL: 'Evangelio' sin arrepentimiento no es evangelio

  by Gerardo A. Alfaro, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  Para muchos predicadores contemporáneos la presentación del evangelio se ha convertido en un ejercicio motivacional cuya meta es hacer sentir a las personas aceptadas y recibidas por Dios. En un mundo donde hay tantas ... Read More

• Bible Study: Oct. 15, 2017

  by staff/LifeWay Christian Resources, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, LifeWay publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.

  This week's Bible study is adapted from the Bible Studies For Life curriculum.

  Bible Passages: Numbers 13:26-30, 14:6-10, 14:21-24 Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: A trek amid Harvey's havoc

  by Marc Ira Hooks, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  Marc Ira Hooks recounts his trek along streets lined with water-logged, reeking heaps of belongings in the wake of Hurricane Harvey's onslaught across Houston and south Texas. Read More

• Pastor de San Juan sirve comidas y el evangelio después de María

  Por Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  Foto cedida

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) -- Hambrienta y sedienta dos semanas después de que el huracán María diezmara Puerto Rico, la adolescente se aproximó adonde el plantador de iglesias bautistas del sur Johnny Báez servía arroz, frijoles y agua filtrada.

  "Tengo hambre y no tengo nada en casa," le dijo ella a Báez, "y solo comencé a caminar para ver si encontraba algo de comer."

  Báez compartió la historia de la joven con Baptist Press por teléfono el 6 de octubre, y relató que la persuadió de aceptar una comida en su iglesia planta, Iglesia Bautista de la Familia en Santurce. Báez dijo que la joven pensó que iba pobremente vestida y se sintió muy “avergonzada…de entrar a una iglesia." Read More

• MBTS añade maestría en español

  Por T. Patrick Hudson, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  KANSAS CITY, Missouri (BP) -- En espera de un significativo incremento dentro de la Convención Bautista del Sur de pastores y líderes ministeriales de habla hispana, el Seminario Teológico Bautista Midwestern (MBTS por sus siglas en inglés) ha añadido una maestría en español para ministerio pastoral y para estudios de postgrado.

  Comenzando con su curso modelo "Práctica de Liderazgo" en la Conferencia Por la Iglesia 2017 en el campus del Midwestern en Kansas City, Missouri, el seminario expandió el alcance y la accesibilidad de entrenamiento teológico a los líderes de la iglesia hispana. Read More

• Ayuda federal después de Harvey detallada a las iglesias de Texas

  Por Jane Rodgers/Southern Baptist TEXAN, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  Foto de Jane Rodgers

  VIDOR, Texas (BP) -- Aunque el dinero de FEMA por lo general no está accesible a las iglesias, hay ayuda disponible para la recuperación en caso de desastres por parte del gobierno federal en forma de préstamos a bajo interés, dijo Susheel Kumar, funcionario de información pública de la Oficina de Ayuda en Desastres de la Administración de Pequeños Negocios (SBA por sus siglas en inglés), a pastores tejanos y personal de iglesias el 5 de octubre en la Golden Triangle Baptist Network (Red Bautista Triángulo Dorado).

  El director de la red, Mark Adams de la Iglesia First Baptist de Beaumont llamó la información de Kumar tanto "crucial" como "apremiante." Read More

• Nuevas reglas otorgan una victoria de la consciencia sobre el mandato relacionado con el aborto

  Por Tom Strode, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- La administración del presidente Trump entregó una gran victoria para la libertad de consciencia el día de hoy (6 octubre) al emitir nuevas reglas para proteger a los opositores del mandato sobre el aborto/anticonceptivos que institucionalizó el presidente Obama.

  Una de las dos nuevas reglas que se anunciaron hoy exenta a las entidades del requisito basado en sus creencias religiosas, mientras que la otra regla protege a las organizaciones y a los negocios pequeños con base en una convicción moral, independiente de una creencia religiosa específica, esto según un comunicado de prensa proveniente del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos (HHS, por sus siglas en inglés). Read More

• EDITORIAL: 'Evangelio' sin arrepentimiento no es evangelio

  Gerardo A. Alfaro, posted Thursday, October 12, 2017 (2 years ago)

  Para muchos predicadores contemporáneos la presentación del evangelio se ha convertido en un ejercicio motivacional cuya meta es hacer sentir a las personas aceptadas y recibidas por Dios. En un mundo donde hay tantas presiones siempre es bueno saber que Dios siempre está allí para hacerte sentir bien, y no pedirte nada en retorno. ... Read More