• Vestal: Diversity must express itself in comon stream of witness_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Vestal: Diversity must express itself in comon stream of witness

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–To be the presence of Christ in the world, members of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship must work together today, Daniel Vestal said at the CBF general assembly.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Youth ministries need to enlist, affirm parents_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Youth ministries need to enlist, affirm parents

  By Marv Knox

  Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Since parents are three times more likely to influence their children than the church, youth ministries must "pack the stands" with parents if they want to change teens’ lives, youth minister Spencer Good told participants in a breakout session at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s general assembly.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  Churches should talk about ‘mission’ rather than budget to overcome shortfalls _71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Churches should talk about 'mission' rather
  than budget to overcome shortfalls

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Churches that are meeting their budgets are the exception rather than the rule, participants in a seminar on church giving patterns learned June 27.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Group plans launch of ‘non-traditional’ theology school_71403

  Posted 7/03/03

  Group plans launch of 'non-traditional' theology school

  By Ken Camp

  Texas Baptist Communications

  ARLINGTON–Citing the need for "a more effective and efficient approach to theological education in a radically changing world," a group of self-described "traditional Baptists" met June 27 in Arlington to talk about launching another school for Texas Baptists.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• CBF clarifies what it means to be a partner_71403

  Posted 7/03/03

  CBF clarifies what it means to be a partner

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–What does it mean to be a “partner” ministry with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and how much financial dependency should go with that title?

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  ANOTHER VIEW: Parents must take steps to help children combat obesity _polk_71403

  Posted: 7/11/03

  ANOTHER VIEW:
  Parents must take steps to help children combat obesity

  By Branda Polk

  According to a report from the Journal of the American Medical Association, 15.5 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity is rising at a rate that parallels the adult population. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 60 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.

  Childhood obesity is causing a myriad of health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and joint pain that once were experienced only by adults. If we don't address this issue with our children now, statistically, they will become obese or overweight adults.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  DOWN HOME: Eye in sky tracks wayward animals_71403

  Posted: 7/11/03

  DOWN HOME:
  Eye in sky tracks wayward animals

  You may remember that we “lost” our dog, Betsy, a few weeks ago.

  Actually, she lost us. Normally a stay-close-to-home dog, she ran out through a broken slat in our backyard fence late Friday night and stayed gone the better part of a weekend.

  We think she must've spotted a rabbit out near the drainage ditch behind our house, chased the critter until she got lost and wandered around, looking for home. Joanna, Lindsay, Molly and I spent a heart-breaking weekend looking for our aging pooch, and by Sunday afternoon, we had pretty much given up on ever seeing her again.

  MARV KNOX Editor

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  EDITORIAL: Each Baptist should support at least 1 missions cause_71403

  Posted: 7/11/03

  EDITORIAL:
  Each Baptist should support at least 1 missions cause

  No matter what Baptist brand you wear, you've heard a discouraging word lately.

  Due to a shortage of funds, the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board has reduced by 100 the number of missionaries it will appoint in 2003 and 2004. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's Global Missions program wouldn't be able to appoint any new missionaries this year and next if not for two anonymous gifts totalling $9 million. And the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Church Starting Center already has distributed all its funds for the year.

  Several factors account for this missions malaise.

  If all Baptist under-givers would begin to support missions only nominally, we could finance all the missionaries who want to go as well as start churches as fast as we can find property and call pastors.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Campbell: Patterson’s pick shows BGCT study was right_71403

  Posted: 7/11/03

  Campbell: Patterson's pick
  shows BGCT study was right

  HOUSTON–Paige Patterson's election as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary proves the validity of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Seminary Study Committee, according to the chairman of that committee.

  Bob Campbell, who chaired that committee in 1999 and 2000, currently serves as president of the BGCT. He is pastor of Westbury Baptist Church in Houston.

  The BGCT committee studied all six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and concluded all, to one degree or another, had moved away from the basic theological tenets and church polity practiced by a majority of Texas Baptists.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• CBF: Governments are the Babylons of Revelation, Campolo warns at BJC luncheon_71403

  Posted: 7/11/03

  CBF: Governments are the Babylons
  of Revelation, Campolo warns at BJC luncheon

  By Robert Marus

  ABP Washington Bureau

  CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP)–Human governments are the Babylons referred to in the Book of Revelation, and America's Babylon is the temptation for religious charities to accept government money, Baptist sociologist Tony Campolo said in a May 27 speech.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Court says Mormon Church can’t regulate speech on public access_71403

  Posted: 7/11/03

  Court says Mormon Church can't
  regulate speech on public access

  WASHINGTON (ABP)–The Supreme Court has let stand a lower court's ruling that the Mormon Church may not regulate speech on a Salt Lake City park it owns because of the park's past as a public street.

  On June 23, the justices declined, without comment, to hear an appeal from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In October, a three-judge panel of that court ruled city officials violated the First Amendment by selling a section of a downtown street to the LDS Church for use as a religious park.

  Terms of the sale said the area would remain accessible to the public but allowed church officials to regulate speech, such as barring distribution of “anti-Mormon” literature and disallowing sunbathing or other forms of clothing church officials deemed immodest.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Polls find agreement with court but not with gay unions_71403

  Posted: 7/11/03

  Polls find agreement with
  court but not with gay unions

  WASHINGTON (RNS)–A majority of Americans oppose same-sex marriages, but six in 10 believe consensual gay sex should not be illegal.

  The data on same-sex marriages came from a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll.

  The poll found opposition to gay marriage, while significant, is eroding. Fifty-five percent of Americans oppose gay marriage–down from 68 percent in 1996. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they favored the right of gay men and lesbians to marry.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge