Baptist Press Stories for Jul. 3 2012 --------------------------------------- Louisiana church helps ministry to India's runaway children http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38199 'Railway boys' in India find a home http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38200 Beth Moore holds forth 'new start' in Colo. http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38195 'More than a fire' in Colorado flames http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38196 Storms & fires activate DR in 15 states http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38197 Is evolution responsible for our image of God? http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38198 FIRST-PERSON: The power of revival & repentance http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38202 FIRST-PERSON: Let freedom ring! http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38203 --------------------------------------- Louisiana church helps ministry to India's runaway children By Caroline Anderson Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38199 INDIA -- A boy sleeps face down on the concrete platform as a train pulls into the Indian train station. Around the corner, a boy who lost his foot to an incoming train hobbles through mounds of garbage.
The boys' stories captured the hearts of members of The Ring Community Church in Baton Rouge, La. After a vision trip last year, The Ring committed to partner in prayer and finances with Prabal and Debjani Dey,* an Indian couple who have opened a hostel for railway children like these. Nine boys and four girls, thanks to the Deys, have a chance for a new life, both physically and spiritually. The Deys' hostel for boys has been in operation several years; the girls' hostel opened this year. The Lord led the Deys to open a hostel for girls when the couple saw two sisters, ages 6 and 10, picking through trash for plastic water bottles to sell. Their father, a rickshaw puller, had recently passed away, and their mother ran away with another man. "I started crying," Dey said. He told Debjani that he couldn't leave the girls, but didn't know what to do because the boys and girls couldn't live in the same home. "Maybe this is the Lord's plan," Debjani told Dey. "When you started the boys' home you didn't have any money," she reminded him. "The living God, He can take care of them." The Deys decided to trust the Lord to provide financially for a girls' hostel. A leather company near their boys' hostel announced space for sale, but the building was out of their price range. The Lord provided. Someone donated the money they needed for the first two months' rent. Both of the Deys' hostels are already at maximum capacity, but the Lord has provided for the Deys' ministry again through The Ring Community Church. The Ring Pastor Josh Causey first heard about the Deys' ministry through "His Voice Global," an organization that partners U.S. churches with ministries abroad. "For a generation that's kind of drawn to difficult kinds of ministries, this puts faces with human trafficking, drug trafficking and homelessness," Causey said. Hundreds of boys and girls live in train stations throughout India. They are runaways – orphaned or abandoned. "There are a lot of people who are overwhelmed by the story of the train station and the kids," Causey said. "The thought of kids living in that kind of reality is so heartbreaking." The Ring will raise the money needed to build a new hostel to house more boys and girls. This spring, Causey and Adam Yglesias, an elder at The Ring, traveled to India to help the Deys view land for the new hostel and brainstorm ways to become financially sustainable after the newest hostel is built. Causey also encouraged the Deys on his visit. "Don't be weary in doing good," Causey told Dey. "You're a light here. ... You may not see it, but we see it." Members of The Ring wanted to fly to India to help after Causey shared the stories of the boys and girls from the Deys' hostels. "Of course you hear that stuff and you instantly want to jump on a plane and go," Causey said. "We're telling them no, this is not a 'jump on a plane and go type of thing.' This is a chance to begin to pray for them, give financially to this." For hands-on ministry, Causey points his church members to the needs in Baton Rouge. "There are poor kids in our city, there are abused kids in our own city, there are similar issues that we can be hands on [with]," Causey said. The Ring started hosting a soup kitchen for the homeless of Baton Rouge. Soup kitchens don't serve meals on Sundays, so Causey and his congregation committed to a rotation to serve breakfast every other Sunday. Causey sees a direct connection between the homeless ministry in Louisiana and the ministry to the railway boys and girls. "It's been good for our congregation to be made aware of something that's so far away and then be forced to transfer that back here," Causey said. "It's also very stretching for them to pray for a ministry that they may never step foot in there." Causey says that the best way his congregation can help the railroad children is through prayer and financial support. So instead of spending thousands of dollars to fly mission teams to India, they're sending that money directly to the Deys. "There's no mission trip hype," Causey told his church. "You may not meet these kids till we're walking a new earth. "But it doesn't mean that we shouldn't be praying, giving and going and supporting what they're doing. It's been a real refining kind of thing for our congregation." --30-- *Names changed. Caroline Anderson is an International Mission Board writer based in Asia. -- End of story -- 'Railway boys' in India find a home By Caroline Anderson Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38200 INDIA (BP) -- Life for boys living in India's railway stations is a real-life "Hunger Games." If they don't fight, they'll be killed. If they don't find food and survive in this arena, they'll starve on the train tracks.
Railway boys are those who have run away from home and joined gangs who live in India's train stations. They travel the country, jumping from train to train and stealing from passengers. Nine boys have left this life behind and found earthly and heavenly family. The boys sitting at this breakfast table survived the war. The glue sniffing, the razor blade scars, the rape and the murders have knit them together. "This is my family," Shad Khalil* says, gesturing to the eight other boys in the hostel kitchen. He slings his arm around the youngest boy, pulling him close. At 16, Khalil is the oldest boy living in this Christian hostel. His smile seems innocent, but he lost his innocence a long time ago. LIFE ON THE RAILWAY Khalil, like most of the other boys in the hostel, ran away from home. Khalil left his home in Delhi at age 10. His mother came from a Catholic background but married a Muslim. "There was no unity," Khalil says. "They were not like family at all." Khalil's father spent many days drunk, beat Khalil's mother and forced himself on her. He beat Khalil too, throwing household items at him. When Khalil tried to protect his mother, he was nearly beaten to death. "My grandfather was a very dirty man." Khalil says, looking out the window. Tears begin to well in his eyes. "I have a sister. I feel my grandfather is spoiling her life." Guilt consumes his face. "I was young and wouldn't express myself," Khalil says, fixing his gaze on the breakfast table. "I miss my sister. Pray for me and my family." Khalil ran away and jumped on a train headed out of town. He eventually landed in a train station on the other side of the country, where he collected water bottles to sell, begged and stole from passengers. He gave a portion of the profits to his gang leader for protection. Gang leaders are boys in their late teens or early 20s who manipulate new railway boys by introducing glue-sniffing, creating a cycle of dependency and control. Gang leaders in Khalil's train station were notorious for throwing boys in front of moving trains. Khalil was thrown onto the tracks and hit his head. He remembers that a man dressed in white helped him off of the tracks. He has no idea who this man was and has never seen him since. Not long after that, Khalil met Prabal Dey,* who offered Khalil a life outside the railway. CHANGED BY PRAYER Prabal and Debjani* Dey have opened a Christ-centered hostel for railway boys like Khalil. Glue withdrawals hit Khalil and his new brothers the first couple of weeks after they left the railway. The Deys substituted food, sports and television for glue. Yelling, fighting and cursing were commonplace in the hostel. "Satan was working so much, I couldn't come out of those addictions," Khalil says, shaking his head at the memory. Dey said it took some time for the boys to obey adults who didn't threaten to kill them as punishment for disobedience. Now, though it's been several years, the boys still act out, Dey says, since so much in their life needs redeeming. "Good food, good things can't change them," Dey says. "One thing can change them: Jesus." The Deys teach God's Truth to Khalil and his hostel brothers throughout the day and in devotional times. "They are completely changed because of prayer," Dey says. "They can't sleep if they don't have prayer." The Deys and the railway boys are active members of the house church that Gary and Cynthia Follen,* International Mission Board representatives, lead. Follen mentors the railway boys and helps them work through emotional scarring. Follen played a pivotal role in Khalil's journey to Christ. "When he came to a Christian worship place, he [Khalil] was very different," Dey says. "He was anti-Christian." Khalil came to the hostel timid and emotionally scarred. But now, more than two years later, he's quietly confident, and his smile illuminates his face. When visitors come, he's the first to engage them in conversation. Khalil talks about God's provision in his life in almost every sentence. "God healed my broken heart," Khalil says. STRUGGLING TO PERSEVERE During a nightly tutoring session, Khalil's brow furrows -– the English words swim around the page. He's not following. Khalil is 16 years old in the fifth grade. His years of sniffing glue hinder his memory and learning abilities, and a lack of nutrients in his formative years has made him small for his age. "He has a lot of hurt in his life," Dey says. Khalil puts himself down because of the years lost on the railway. Though he has trouble studying, Khalil's cappuccino-colored eyes and olive skin make him popular among the girls at school. "I'm not interested," he says, blushing. He's got more on his mind, he explains. He wants to focus on his relationship with God. When he grows up, he wants to open a hostel just like this one. But some days in the hostel are still hard. The railway is freedom, Dey explains. The boys can jump from train to train and journey anywhere in India. Coming to the hostel means a life of structure and schedules. There's no glue or alcohol, and misbehaving has consequences -–a difficult adjustment. Four of the boys who were the first to come to the hostel have returned to the railway, making Khalil the oldest. "I've been here since I was little and I've never left," Khalil says wistfully. Lost in thought, Khalil gazes down the road that leads to the neighborhood's exit. Today, he's thinking about leaving the hostel. He isn't sure where he would go – but never back to the railway. "That's a bad place," he says. A NEW FAMILY Khalil perseveres. Though he doesn't make high scores on his report card, his spoken English is the best in the hostel. "He knows by heart the word of God." Dey says. Khalil was also the first boy to give his testimony in church and has plans to be baptized. Unlike gang leaders in train stations, Khalil tries to protect the younger hostel boys. "These are my brothers, I must watch out for them," Khalil says. "This is a beautiful family -- there's love here." The redeemed railway boys are the family he never had. --30-- *Name changed. Caroline Anderson is an International Mission Board writer based in Asia. -- End of story -- Beth Moore holds forth 'new start' in Colo. By Russ Rankin Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38195 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP) -- With acrid smoke from devastating wildfires still looming over Colorado Springs, approximately 5,000 women there lifted their voices in praise and worship to God at a Living Proof Live conference featuring Bible teacher Beth Moore. Fires have charred nearly 18,000 acres in the Waldo Canyon area of Colorado Springs, burning hundreds of homes and forcing the evacuation of 32,000 people. Yet author and Bible teacher Moore said, "There was no doubt that this is where we needed to be this very weekend." Living Proof Live events are sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. "Pain, peril and threat put us in a posture to listen [to God] like nothing else," Moore told attendees, adding that LifeWay opened the doors to women at local evacuation shelters to attend the June 28-29 event for free. In a subdued, somber beginning to the usually spirited opening, Moore asked women who had been evacuated from their homes or lost their homes entirely to stand and allow others to pray for them. Moore prayed for the 65 women and led the attendees in a reverent responsive reading. Moore said she debated whether she should change her material because of the emotional weight the fires have brought to the Colorado Springs community but concluded her message was applicable. "Sometimes we need a new start, but what we need more often is a good finish," Moore said, directing attendees to Acts 20:24 as her focal passage of Scripture. "You and I live in a culture of a million starts and a handful of finishes. We need the strength and presence of mind to finish well." Across her three teaching sessions Friday night and Saturday morning, Moore shared truths about finishing, drawing repeatedly from Scripture to illustrate how God directs the believer to walk a path of intentionality for the purpose of bringing about completion. "Biblically, every new start has a corresponding finish," Moore said. "You are on the course you are supposed to strategically walk for the purpose of finishing. Scripture tells us we are made perfect by reaching the intended goal God has established for us." Moore cautioned attendees to not settle for a life of passivity and inaction with a mentality of "God's in control; it'll all be perfect in the end so I can rest now." "The process of walking the strategic role God has for us is where we get more interested in the Healer rather than focusing on the healing," she said. "The fire did not end anything," Moore said. "Yes, it wiped out homes and decimated so much beauty. But hear me clearly: Nothing ended this week [with the fires]. Something started. "From these ashes, something beautiful will emerge," she said. "What started here in your beautiful, great state can be a beautiful testimony for the living God." But "out of anything beautiful He would bring out from the ashes, it would be you," Moore said to the attendees. Because God finishes what He starts, "He is not finished with us," she said. "You've not sunk so low He cannot reach you. You've not destroyed so much He can't restore." Colorado Springs resident Danielle McIntire said the local wildfires "are the worst thing we've ever had to deal with, and it has been truly frightening. But this event is exactly what we needed. Beth has reminded us to look at this through God's eyes and give our burdens to Him. "So many have lost everything they have and feel like it's the end," McIntire said. "So what a perfect topic for us -- God's not done. It's not the end." Worship leader Travis Cottrell announced Friday night that 100 percent of a special offering taken would be directed to relief efforts in Colorado Springs. Cottrell added -- to applause -- that Moore's Living Proof Ministries would match the offering dollar-for-dollar. "Let's shake the earth with our giving spirits," he said. Attendees gave $85,591, for a total offering of $171,182 contributed to relief efforts in the surrounding communities. "We'll never forget this week," Moore said, "coming to this place that has been ablaze, yet getting set ablaze by the Spirit of God." Future Living Proof Live events are scheduled for July 13-14 in Austin, Texas; July 27-28 in Moline, Ill.; Aug. 10-11 in Knoxville, Tenn.; Aug. 24-25 in North Charleston, N.C.; Sept. 15 in Reading, Penn.; Oct. 12-13 in Long Beach, Calif.; and Nov. 2-3 in Lewiston, Maine. --30-- Russ Rankin writes for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. For more information, visit LifeWay.com/LivingProof. -- End of story -- 'More than a fire' in Colorado flames By Bob Bender Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38196 EDITOR'S NOTE: Colorado Springs pastor Bob Bender, who was evacuated from his home by the Waldo Canyon fire, recounts the spiritual challenge he sees stemming from the tragedy that claimed two lives and 346 homes. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP) -- The Sunday before the most destructive fire in Colorado history, I preached on suffering*. One must not preach on such a subject unless he is willing to live it. The Waldo Canyon fire would soon become a community and state tragedy as well as national and international news. It would consume almost 18,000 acres, cost more than $12 million to fight, destroy 346 homes and damage many more, and require more than 1,500 firefighters from around our nation to fight it. Its plume could be seen from space. Worse, it would snatch up two of our neighbors' lives. On Saturday, June 23, as we enjoyed a family reunion at home and celebrated my mother's 85th birthday, we were alarmed to see a thin billow of smoke waft above our neighborhood from three miles away. Coloradans dread that sight. All was under control until three days later when the perfect storm trifecta of extremely dry conditions, 100-degree temperatures (rare for our city) and 60 mph winds quickly pushed the fire into and over Queens Canyon, topping the ridge above our home and entering Colorado Springs four houses up the street. The fire quickly moved down the mountainside like lava. We had less than 30 minutes to evacuate. As we left with our essentials (the evacuees' "Ps" -- people, pets, prescriptions, pictures and papers), my wife Beverly and I evacuated to her parents' house five miles away, unpacked and headed for bed -- only to be suddenly re-evacuated from their home. Our two adult children and their families also were evacuated from the west side of town, totaling 14 from our family along with 32,000 other souls. Right before we left our home, Beverly quickly paused in the front yard and gathered our two young grandsons to her side and said, "I want you to look at this fire and remember how God took care of us." This will be a moment they will never forget. Later, Fire Chief Rich Brown told me this was "a fire of epic proportions and looked like something out of a Spielberg movie. I have not seen anything like it in my entire career and probably never will again." Another fireman told me that the fire storm burned thousands of feet into the air and that 4-inch grass sent flames 30 feet high because of the intense heat. I would not be surprised if the damage to our national forest and Colorado Springs tops a half-billion dollars. Now we face the danger of bears forced from their natural habitats into our neighborhoods seeking food. Sadly, we also face looters caring nothing for people already suffering. Ironically, while we were praying for rain for obvious reasons, now we are praying against thunderstorms because of potential flash flooding due to our compromised landscape. A next-door neighbor told us later in the day as she saw the fire sweep through our neighborhood that from her vantage point it appeared our homes were lost. We were prepared to accept that reality, but amazingly the next day we received word that our house had been spared -- even as we heard on a police scanner that firefighters were battling a blaze behind our property. "It is because of the Lord's lovingkindness that we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). As our family was evacuating, it dawned on me that 32 of our church families in the area also were being evacuated. I struggled with my commitment to my family and the church family. Unable to get across town to attend a staff meeting, the ministerial staff met and developed a strategy for ministry, then led the way in contacting all 32 families through our wonderful deacons. Within 24 hours all the families were accounted for. Thus, I have learned that family does not come before Jesus, but family does come before ministry. On Sunday, July 1, we were allowed back into our neighborhood for a brief period. The sight was sobering. The national forest next to our neighborhood is balding with burned sticks high in the air where beautiful thick tall ponderosa pines and blue spruces once stood. Portions of our neighborhood look like Hiroshima. The heat was so intense that it melted and bent steel beams that once supported multilevel homes. Whole streets were leveled by flames so intense that firefighters had to retreat at one time. It will be weeks before we are allowed to move back into our homes due to infrastructural utility damages, especially gas. Our home reeked of smoke, but damage was minimal. The fire had miraculously stopped at the lot line around our house. Days later as I prayed with our ministerial staff, my associate Matt Crowe prayed, "Lord, we know this is more than a fire; help us to learn the lessons You have for us." This insightful prayer reminded me that this whole horrific ordeal was indeed more than a fire. It is about faith. It is about my view of God. It is about the testing of my heart. It is about priorities and possessions. We have always attempted to hold our possessions with an open hand; this value is now being tested. Peter Lord has often said, "How we live is what we really believe; all the rest is just religious talk." We were prepared and resigned to lose everything, knowing we had each other and our memories -- a few on paper and in pictures with us. Someone has said, "Any religion will do in times of prosperity; only Jesus will do in times of adversity." We found this adage to be true as we trusted in Jesus. What kind of faith are we talking about? Years ago when my wife was fighting life-threatening cancer, a dear friend Ron Merrill reminded me of a different kind of faith -- the faith of the three Hebrew children in Daniel 3. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told King Nebuchadnezzar, "Our God is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us, But even if He does not, let it be known to you...." Which is the greater faith -- the faith that moves mountains or the faith that still rests in God when the mountains are not moved? Our faith is rooted in the character of God, not in some desired outcome. Though we hoped that our house would be saved, we trusted in Him for whatever He deemed good for us. I can truly say that if our home had not survived, we still would trust in God and praise Him. "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him" (Job 13:15). Someone who heard our house was spared said, "The Lord sure protects the righteous." Well, I am not that righteous, and people more righteous than me lost their homes to the same fire. With Job I say, "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know" (42:3). With Moses I confess, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God" (Deuteronomy 29:29). I trust God's sovereign hand. We have made Isaiah 61:3 our verse -- "To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, so they will be called the oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be gloried." We pray that each new pine and aspen planted will be a reminder that we are planted by the Lord in such a time and place as this to glorify our Lord -- giving an accurate assessment of who He is. He is our sovereign, loving Heavenly Father. After all, this was more than a fire. --30-- Bob Bender is pastor of First Baptist Church of Black Forest in Colorado Springs, Colo. *Bender's July 17 sermon preceding the Waldo Canyon fire can be accessed at http://www.fbcbf.org/the-whys-of-suffering. -- End of story -- Storms & fires activate DR in 15 states By Tobin Perry Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38197 ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- Southern Baptist Disaster Relief units are in action in 15 states in response to recent storms in the mid-Atlantic, flooding in Florida and wildfires in Colorado. "It's a busy time," said Mickey Caison, the North American Mission Board's disaster relief team leader who is in Colorado assisting relief efforts with the wildfire in the state. "The majority of the states have been able to handle it on their own. We have a few that we are assisting with water and some other resources -- like Colorado and the two Virginia conventions," Caison said in reference to Baptist conventions in the respective states. Two of the North American Mission Board's new 53-foot, 18-wheel tractor-trailers were deployed for the first time to deliver much-needed water to Virginia on Monday morning, July 2. The new tractor-trailers, driven by Tennessee Baptist disaster relief volunteers, arrived at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., on Tuesday morning with 39 pallets of water -- about 120,000 bottles. Thomas Road and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (SBCV) set up a "cooling station" at the church after powerful storms battered the eastern United States on Friday evening, leaving at least 22 dead and more than 2 million people without power. The cooling station provides area residents with a place to cool down, get water and rest as temperatures have reached triple digits over the past few days. The church also is providing snacks to residents. The bottles will come at just the right time as the SBCV and Thomas Road have been providing water since Saturday and were beginning to run low. "The neat thing about this event is that it's definitely a local church event," SBCV disaster relief director Jack Noble said. "Every one of our churches has the opportunity to get involved. ... They don't need any training they just have to go be Christ." Two pallets of the water will also be delivered to the Virginia Baptist Mission Board (VBMB), whose volunteers were feeding people in the Highland, Bath and Alleghany counties of Virginia. The Tennessee volunteers also delivered 80 rolls of roofing material to the SBCV, the VBMB and North Carolina Baptist Men who are all helping with relief efforts in their states. In fire-ravaged areas of Colorado, disaster relief work also is continuing. Caison said the Fort Collins area is moving into the recovery stage. "We set up a receiving center for folks to make applications for support and work up in the mountains," Caison said. "We did some preliminary assessment and identified areas where we can help. We're working on the details of that today (July 3)." Additionally, Oklahoma and Colorado units have set up a feeding unit at Vanguard Baptist Church in Colorado Springs. With 70 percent of the fire contained now, Caison said the unit will be closed either Tuesday or Wednesday as some area residents return to their homes in that fire-affected region. Florida Baptist disaster relief units, meanwhile, are working in three locations in the state in the aftermath of historic flooding following Hurricane Debby's onset in late June. The storm deluged several parts of the state, although its gusts never got above 45 miles per hour. Fritz Wilson, the Florida Baptist Convention's disaster relief and recovery team strategist, said the state's Baptists are gearing up for a heavy response in Live Oak, one of the state's hardest-hit towns. "They received 20 inches of rain and the town just filled up like a bowl," Wilson said. "There are all kinds of sink holes. There was 8 to 10 feet of standing water in houses. The water is just now receding because it had to soak through the water table to go down." On Sunday (July 8), Wilson said, Florida Baptists plan to start a large flood recovery response based at First Baptist Church in Live Oak. Wilson anticipates that Florida Baptist disaster relief will have three to four weeks of work in the Live Oak area. Florida Baptists also are working in the town of Starke, where the flooding of the New River impacted about 50 homes. In addition, Georgia Baptists are helping to assess disaster relief needs around Lake City, Fla. The Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention also has been active in flood relief near Duluth, Minn. The northeast part of the state was hit with floods nearly two weeks ago, with Southern Baptist volunteers subsequently participating in cleanup work and feeding in the area. The convention reports many positive responses to their work, including a father and son who were "very skeptical" of accepting help at first. By the end of three days of Southern Baptist work on their home, they commented on how the volunteers were "living the Christian faith" in front of them. "Pray for volunteers in all these areas that are working and for those who are affected," Caison said. "Pray that we'll have an opportunity to represent Jesus Christ and His love and grace in a very positive way during this time." For more disaster relief updates, visit namb.net/dr. --30-- Tobin Perry is a writer for the North American Mission Board. Amanda Sullivan, a writer for the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, contributed to this report. -- End of story -- Is evolution responsible for our image of God? By Erin Roach Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38198 EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth story in a series of Baptist Press articles about an ongoing dialogue about evolution on the BioLogos website. To read BP's earlier stories, visit http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37901 and http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37981. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- The image of God in humans was not produced through the evolutionary process but is the result of God's direct intervention in creation, a Southern Baptist professor wrote in an ongoing dialogue with The BioLogos Foundation. John Hammett, professor of systematic theology and associate dean of theological studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, was the most recent writer to engage BioLogos in a series titled "Southern Baptist Voices," online at BioLogos.org. In his essay "Evolutionary Creationism and the Imago Dei," Hammett took issue with BioLogos "not recognizing that the image of God in Scripture seems rather clearly linked with something immaterial in the human constitution (whether it is called soul or spirit) that could not have come into being by evolutionary processes." Hammett gave three arguments for God's direct intervention. -- Central to the image of God is the capacity for relationship with God, Hammett said. The image of God distinguishes humans from animals in Genesis 1, he wrote, and it is humans rather than animals who engage in a personal relationship with God throughout Scripture. -- The capacity for relationship with God continues after death. "Jesus says to the thief on the cross, 'Today, you will be with me in paradise' (Luke 23:43). Both of their bodies would soon be in graves, but the words 'you' and 'me' seem to affirm an existence apart from their bodies," Hammett wrote in an essay posted June 20. -- Whatever it is in human nature that survives the death of the body, whether soul or spirit, must be nonmaterial and could not be produced by the evolutionary process. "I cannot imagine how an immaterial reality, which survives the death of the body, could be produced by natural processes, such as evolution, even God-guided evolution," Hammett wrote. "I do not think this is a God-of-the-gaps argument that could eventually fall to advances in science, but a logical argument, based on the intrinsic difficulty of seeing how the natural and mortal could produce something immaterial and capable of surviving the death of the body," Hammett wrote. The BioLogos response was written by Tim O'Connor, chair of the philosophy department at Indiana University, who said BioLogos denies that the image of God is incompatible with an evolutionary understanding of human origins. "The general perspective of BioLogos, which I embrace, is that theorizing about the underlying nature of the soul is best done by trying to read God's Two Books (His Word and His Works) in tandem," O'Connor wrote in an essay posted June 21. "Both Books have a great deal to say about us, and ... what they say must ultimately be in harmony." In order to understand, O'Connor said, Christians should "be prepared to rethink familiar and received ideas." What is familiar, he said, is the concept that humans are composed of two distinct things -- a wholly physical body (including the brain and nervous system) and a wholly nonphysical mind (the soul). This is soul-body dualism. "While this tidy division has considerable intuitive appeal and makes it easy to account for some important Christian teachings concerning human beings, it does not seem very plausible when we take into account what we learn from God's other Book, the Book of His Works," O'Connor wrote. Science, he said, points to "continuous processes of increasing complexity, but the two-substance account requires the supposition of abrupt discontinuity." O'Connor subscribes to a one-substance explanation in which interwoven processes take place within a single physically composed object. "I am a living body, composed at any moment entirely of physical part, such that I have a total mass and size and shape," O'Connor wrote in the second part of his response posted June 22. "But unlike a hunk of rock or wood, I am a persisting unity despite undergoing massive change of my parts over time." Humans have biologically dependent spiritual capabilities, O'Connor said, such as awareness of moral obligation and the capacity to reason morally, which undergird the human capacity for a relationship with God. As Christians consider how they will survive physical death, they are hampered by a failure of imagination, largely because they are unfamiliar with the other side of death, he said. "If we survive death, we do so because God so acts to preserve us as conscious, purposive agents even as the naturally sustaining functions of the brain collapse,' O'Connor wrote. "In the two-substance account, it seems that God directly and miraculously takes over the sustaining role formerly played by the brain. (Note that He had, anyways, been sustaining the matter composing the brain all along. At death, you might say, He cuts out the 'middle-man,' at least for a time, prior to the resurrection.) "What might God miraculously do to sustain us if the one substance account is correct? Here we have to be a little more imaginative," O'Connor wrote. "Suppose that God has conferred upon each of the particles that compose our bodies the ability to 'fission' -- split into two particles identical to the original.... "In this imagined scenario, the particles that compose me are causally responsible for both the dying state of the body that remains on earth and a similarly composed but happily living state in another location. The dead earthly body -- while constituted by the matter that a moment ago had constituted me -- is not me, for it lacks the unity-conferring emergent features essential to me. The 'heavenly body' retains those features, and so by virtue of its intrinsic causal continuity with my earlier state, it is I, myself," O'Connor wrote for BioLogos. In comments to Baptist Press, Hammett expressed gratitude to BioLogos for the opportunity to dialogue and to O'Connor for "his kind and thoughtful response." "However, I still find his idea of the 'fission' of the body at the moment of death hard to fit with Scripture," Hammett said. Death, the Southeastern Seminary professor said, is described in Scripture as the soul or spirit leaving the body as in Genesis 35:18 and Luke 8:55 and 23:46. The Apostle Paul described in 2 Corinthians 5:8 the intermediate state of believers as "absent from the body, present with the Lord." "Because it is capable of existing independently of the body and because of the distinctive emphasis on its creation by God in Genesis 1:26-27, I see 'spirit' as an aspect of human nature created directly by God and not through the process of evolution," Hammett told BP. "I appreciate Dr. O'Connor's reminder that we need to listen to God's other Book, His Works, but I know of nothing we have learned from God's Works in nature that rules out His more direct and supernatural intervention in other instances," he said, referring to the virgin birth and the resurrection, among others. "I think Scripture points to human creation as one of the moments of God's more direct intervention." --30-- Erin Roach is assistant editor of Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -- End of story -- FIRST-PERSON: The power of revival & repentance By Fred Luter Jr. Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38202 EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is part of a series in anticipation of the 40/40 Prayer Vigil for Spiritual Revival and National Renewal, an initiative of the North American Mission Board and Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission to encourage Southern Baptists and other evangelicals to pray for 40 days from September 26 to November 4. To learn more, visit www.4040prayer.com. NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- As a kid growing up in my home church, one of the most exciting times of the year was our annual revival. Oh what a time that was! It was a time that everyone was anticipating. I can vividly remember the choir singing songs that had everyone on their feet. When the deacons prayed during devotion, everyone seemed to be in one accord. However, the highlight of the worship service was when the guest revivalist got up to preach. It appeared that everyone was eagerly waiting to hear what God was saying to us through His Word and through His messenger. The sermons during revival were always challenging and most times convicting. This was always evident when the "doors of the church" or "invitation" was extended at the end of the sermon. People were getting out of the pews and coming down the aisle responding to the Spirit of God. Some came for salvation, others were coming to rededicate their lives. Yes, the power of revival and repentance was evident in that church! Since those early experiences in my home church, I have always been a fan of revivals. I have seen how lives, marriages, families and churches can be transformed when revival takes place. I now see the same things happening in the church that I pastor. I truly believe that God is still using revival to touch, transform and change lives. That is why I am so excited to be a part of the 40/40 Prayer Vigil for Spiritual Revival and National Renewal. I truly believe that this prayer vigil can make a difference in our nation. That's why I would like to challenge and encourage Southern Baptists from across our great country to embrace and participate in this prayer vigil. Brothers and sisters, I am convinced that the downward moral decline in America will not change because of who is in the White House. I truly believe the moral decline will only change because of who is in God's House! For the Word of God says, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14). If true change is going to happen in America, it will only happen when the body of Christ is obedient to the Word of God. In other words, we as believers must do the four things that God requires of us in 2 Chronicles 7:14: (1) humble ourselves, (2) pray, (3) seek God's face and (4) repent of our sins. If we as believers do our part, then rest assured, God will certainly do His part. God promised to forgive our sins and to heal our land. Brothers and sisters, if there was ever a time for revival and repentance it is now. When you look at how this nation has taken God out of every part of our lives, we should not be surprised by the horrific events that we hear in our daily news. It is time for true revival. It is time for true repentance. It is time for the church to stand up and be the church by being light in a dark world and being salt in a low-sodium, saltless society! We can start by taking part in this 40/40 Prayer Vigil for Spiritual Revival and National Renewal. --30-- Fred Luter Jr. is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. -- End of story -- FIRST-PERSON: Let freedom ring! By Richard Land Jul. 3 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38203 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- As American Christians celebrate Independence Day, let us not forget that freedom of religious expression in the United States is unparalleled in the world. While Americans of faith often experience discrimination, we rarely, if ever, face outright persecution. This is not the case in many countries. In fact, there are comparatively few nations where people are free to worship as they choose without fear of societal or governmental persecution, or both. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission helped push for the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which created the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom . The commission, on which I served for 10 years, is an independent entity that advises the federal government on ways in which our foreign policy can promote religious freedom around the world. Regrettably, religious persecution is getting worse and spreading to other countries, especially in the Islamic world. People are being killed at a horrific pace in places like Nigeria, where the attacks are mainly Muslim on Christian. We see outbreaks of violence in Indonesia, and Turkey is moving from a secular state to what can be described as a religious state, with Islam being the official religion. Yet Christianity is growing in places that are not friendly to Christ-believers and flourishing despite the persecution in some areas. As we celebrate our freedom of religious expression and work to maintain it, let us also pause to acknowledge and pray for those around our world who are in peril because of their faith, especially those believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And let us make certain that both presidential candidates in this year's election stand up for the basic human values upon which this nation is based and defend Christians and other religious minorities around the world. --30-- Richard Land is president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. -- End of story -- Copyright (c) 2013 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press 901 Commerce Street Nashville, TN 37203 Tel: 615.244.2355 Fax: 615.782.8736 email: bpress@sbc.net