Baptist Briefs_32204

Posted: 3/19/04

Baptist Briefs

Lottie Moon Offering shows increase. If initial projections hold true, giving to the 2003 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering will be up between 18 percent and 22 percent over the previous year, Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin announced recently. Surpassing the $133 million goal–or reaching the $150 million challenge goal–would enable the IMB to loosen restrictions on missionary appointments imposed in 2003, he said. The record $115 million Southern Baptists gave to the offering in 2002 was an increase of 1.15 percent over 2001 but $10 million short of the goal.

SBC online registration available. Churches can register their messengers to the 2004 Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis online at the convention's website, www.sbc.net. A church-authorized representative can complete the registration process by providing the church's seven-digit ID number (found on the Annual Church Profile); the name of the church's moderator or clerk; the church's membership, gifts to SBC causes, state convention and associational affiliations; and the messengers' names. Online registration ends at midnight June 12.

SBC child and youth registration opens. Registration is open for families who want to enroll their children in the preschool child care, the children's conference or the youth Centrifuge held in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. For all information regarding registration, visit www.sbc.net and click on "2004 SBC Annual Meeting Pre-Registration."

CBF UN missionaries move. Two Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionaries to New York's diplomatic community have moved to North Carolina. Ana and David D'Amico have served as missionaries at the United Nations for the past eight years. Last month, they moved to Raleigh, N.C., where they will develop ministries to Hispanics. The D'Amicos will continue to attend United Nations' conferences and connect other CBF missions personnel to conferences relevant to the Fellowship's ministry worldwide. Eventually, they will pass their responsibility as UN liaisons to Dean Dickens of Dallas, the Fellowship's associate coordinator for North American mission teams.

Central names Marshall acting dean. Molly Marshall, professor of theology and spiritual formation at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kan., has been named acting academic dean at the school. She fills the post left vacant by James Hines, who resigned to begin full-time teaching duties as the seminary's tenured professor of religious education.

CBF seeks China volunteers. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is enlisting volunteers for summer teaching positions in China through the Chinese University and China Christian Council. The CBF 2004 China Summer Program consists of five trips of varying duration and cost. Applications are due by March 31. For more information, call (877) 856-9288 or e-mail at volunteer@thefellowship.info.

Top administrators leave Louisiana College. The president and academic vice president of Louisiana College in Pineville, La., are leaving the Baptist school. Rory Lee, president for seven years, announced March 15 he is leaving at the end of the semester to become executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Children's Village. His announcement came just days after the resignation of Ben Hawkins, vice president of academic affairs. It was the same day trustees met in an executive session, and alumni joined students in a campus rally protesting the trustees' December decision to require faculty members to get all classroom materials pre-approved by the academic vice president. In addition to the book-screening policy, trustees now require all new faculty members to submit a worldview statement that includes their beliefs on the sanctity of life and marriage.