Thursday, October 25, 2018

• Opioid crisis emerges as key W.Va. Baptist ministry

  by Ken Walker, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  

  Photo submitted

  SCOTT DEPOT, W.Va. (BP) -- Soon after West Virginia Baptists passed a resolution last November urging churches to get involved in addressing the opioid crisis, the state's Upper Ohio Valley Baptist Association started preliminary planning for a Celebrate Recovery group.

  After five months of leader training, an interdenominational group of churches in the Moundsville area hosted their first Celebrate Recovery meeting in early September. Read More

• Opioids: Trump signs $6B bill to 'end the scourge'

  by Art Toalston, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  

  NBCnews.com screen capture

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- A bipartisan bill to fight the opioid crisis was signed by President Trump on Wednesday (Oct. 24). Trump stated that the bill provides $6 billion in new funding "to end the scourge of drug addiction in America."

  "We are going to end it, or we are going to at least make an extremely big dent in this terrible, terrible problem," Trump said in a signing ceremony attended by federal officials, members of Congress and law enforcement personnel in the White House East Wing. Read More

• Housing allowance defended in appeals court

  by Roy Hayhurst and Tom Strode, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  CHICAGO (BP) -- Lawyers for both the U.S. Justice Department and a religious freedom organization defended the constitutionality of the ministerial housing allowance Wednesday (Oct. 24) before a federal appeals court.

  A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago heard oral arguments regarding a 2017 opinion that invalidated the allowance as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment clause that prohibits government establishment of religion. The Trump administration and Becket Fund for ... Read More

• SBC 2019 Pastors' Conf. names speakers, theme

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  

  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- The 2019 Pastors' Conference has announced eight of the speakers for its Birmingham meeting June 9-10 in advance of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, with other names expected soon.

  "Kingdom Character" is the conference's theme to offer insight from the Beatitudes to help pastors and church members live faithfully in "today's news cycle and current events," according to sbcpc.net.

  "The Beatitudes will be a needed reminder to all of us about the character of ... Read More

• Programs don't change lives. Relationships do.

  by Ryan Navy, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  

  HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (BP) -- To say Huntington, W.Va., has a drug problem is an understatement. It has one of highest heroin overdose rates per capita in the country.

  I'm a hometown boy. I've been a resident of Huntington for 27 years. But somehow I was numb to the issues and problems facing my city. In fact, when I planted New Heights Church in Huntington three years ago, I never imagined we would be involved in the recovery community. Read More

• Greear joins call for genocide label in Myanmar

  by Tom Strode, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear has joined a diverse coalition in urging the Trump administration to label as genocide the brutalities against religious and ethnic minorities in Myanmar.

  Greear and more than 75 other signers sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Oct. 17 requesting the official designation in response to what they described as the Myanmar military's "planned, coordinated campaign of mass killings, gang rapes and other atrocities" against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority. Myanmar, also known as Burma, is located in Southeast Asia. Read More

• CP gifts show 'uptick' among Calif. churches

  by Terry Barone & Holly Smith, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  

  CSB photo by Holly Smith

  CLOVIS, Calif. (BP) -- Messengers to the 2018 California Southern Baptist Convention (CSBC) annual meeting elected a new convention president and approved a 2019 budget during their 78th session that highlighted "Empowering Church Vision."

  Held at Clovis Hills Community Church Oct. 23-24, the annual meeting sessions focused on the convention's new structure, put in place by Bill Agee who was elected executive director in May 2017. The four "initiatives teams" made presentations during each session: church planting, church revitalization, ... Read More

• Bible Study: Oct. 28, 2018

  by By staff/LifeWay Christian Resources, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months 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 Explore the Bible curriculum.

  Bible Passages: James 1:19-27, 2:1-4 Read More

• FIRST-PERSON: An incredible name

  by Dean Sieberhagen, posted Thursday, October 25, 2018 (9 months ago)

  Dean Sieberhagen: "Do you wonder about how to start a witnessing conversation with people from another religion? Try asking them about the names of their god and then tell them about Immanuel." Read More