Tuesday, December 02, 2008
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Remote African villagers welcome U.S. church
BURKINA FASO, West Africa (BP)--No one in the remote West African village wanted to be the first to follow Jesus. The choice could mean losing family, home, job, friends, children -- everything the Vigue people hold dear.
More than 8,000 Vigue (vee-gay) live in southern Burkina Faso scattered among 12 villages. Poor by Western standards, they live without electricity or running water, surviving as farmers. A mixture of Islam, spiritism and ignorance shields their hearts from the Gospel. Until recently, there were no known Christians among the Vigue.
That changed last year when short-term missions teams from Bartlett Baptist Church in Bartlett, Tenn., began to visit the Vigue and share the story of Jesus. The church is partnering with the International Mission Board to take the Good News to the Vigue because there are no full-time missionaries available to reach them.
Becky Babcock, director of missions at Bartlett, said virtually all the Vigue encountered by the church's missions teams know nothing of the Gospel. Since most Vigue cannot read or write, teams work with translators to tell oral Bible stories. God used Babcock's own witness to lead the first Vigue to Christ -- a woman named Safi who accepted Jesus as she and Babcock sat in the shade under a tree in Safi's compound. Read More
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Christmas tree reflects NAMB partnerships
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Some 60 unique ornaments from each of the 42 Baptist conventions and associations partnering with the North American Mission Board -- from Alaska to Puerto Rico -- adorn one of the three Christmas trees in the board's lobby in Alpharetta, Ga. Read More
Photo by John Swain
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Acclaimed preacher Frank Pollard dies
SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (BP)--Frank Pollard, longtime preacher on the former "Baptist Hour" radio broadcast and president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary from 1983-86, died Nov. 30 at his home in Anselmo, Calif., in the San Francisco area. Read More
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CP 'incredible opportunity,' pastor says
GONZALES, La. (BP)--"In 2002, I took two men in our congregation to East Asia on a short-term mission trip," pastor James Law recounted. Read More
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CP giving 0.16% behind '07 pace
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program are 0.16 percent behind the same time frame in 2007, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Morris H. Chapman.
As of Nov. 30, the year-to-date total of $33,184,197.80 for Cooperative Program (CP) missions is $53,789.36 below the $33,237,987.16 received at the same point in 2007. For the month, receipts of $15,388,944.54 were ... Read More
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Ministry can be messy
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)—Ministry can be messy. To reach alcoholics you have to be willing to smell some alcohol. Read More
