In the Witness this week

NAMB photo by Adam Buchanan

Kevin Madden prays with a member of his congregation at The Potter’s House Community Church in Westbank, British Columbia.

NAMB missionaries at home in Canada ANNIE ARMSTRONG EASTER OFFERING Published March 9, 2006: WESTBANK, British Columbia (NAMB)–For 10 years now, North American missionaries Kevin and Alicia Madden have lived 2,200 miles away from Kevin’s birthplace, Washington, Ga. – an historic little town located about 100 miles east of Atlanta. Today, their home and hearts are firmly rooted in Canada.
Lakeland woman goes ‘home’ to W. Africa Published March 9, 2006: BURKINA FASO, West Africa (IMB)–Southern Baptist missionary Elsie McCall, 69, admits she gets a little “restless” from time to time.
Cooperative Program DVD highlights loving acts of compassion Published March 9, 2006: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–“The Difference” is easy to see.
Supreme Court says no RICO laws for pro-lifers Published March 9, 2006: WASHINGTON (BP)–Pro-life protesters are not extortionists, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, apparently putting an end to a lengthy legal campaign to convince the judicial system otherwise.

Opinion

Editorial

State-sanctioned child abuse in Florida JAMES A SMITH SR. Executive Editor: Skye is a 15-year-old foster child being cared for by a lesbian who wishes to adopt the boy. Skye describes himself as “transgender.”

Point of View

Media cutting corners: First not as important as fair GARY LEDBETTER Southern Baptist TEXAN: We don’t print rumors. It’s happened several times in the SBC. A church or agency faces transition and there is speculation about who or where or why but no one will go on the record because it’s not appropriate. All that’s left is rumor – maybe accurate rumors in the end, but nothing ready for publication.
CP giving and the Kingdom of God: If you are a Southern Baptist what do you need to know about the Cooperative Program? Is it merely a way to support the denomination, or is it a relevant, viable process that makes a difference in people’s lives beginning where you live and extending around the world?
Making evangelism good news again DONNA AVANT Baptist Press: Being married to “Mr. Evangelism” isn’t always easy.
BREAKPOINT: Binding charity: Massachusetts and religious freedom CHARLES COLSON Breakpoint: If I told you that someone’s religious freedom was being violated or they were being persecuted, you would immediately think that I was talking about what’s happening in China or Vietnam. And while these are certainly the most egregious examples, religious freedom is also being trampled in a place that is, for me at least, closer to home: Massachusetts.

Cartoon

Cartoon JOE McKEEVER

Florida

Florida News

Lakeland woman goes ‘home’ to W. Africa: BURKINA FASO, West Africa (IMB)–Southern Baptist missionary Elsie McCall, 69, admits she gets a little “restless” from time to time.
‘Don’t spend another night with the frogs,’ Wolfe says: GRACEVILLE (BCF)–“Satan doesn’t care what you believe as long as you put it off until tomorrow,” Fred Wolfe, pastor emeritus of Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., told Baptist College of Florida (BCF) students at the annual Preaching Conference at the college’s Graceville campus.
NOBTS student publishes comforting devotional after Katrina: LAKELAND (FBW)–Left with a planner emptied of seminary classes and church activities, Rebecca Hughes, the women’s ministry coordinator at Riverside Baptist Church in River Ridge, a suburb of New Orleans, found herself with something few women have – free time.
Former Florida pastor, addressed in ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’ dies at 89: LAKELAND (FBW)–Earl Stallings, 89, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Ocala, died Feb. 23 in Lakeland. As pastor of First Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., 1961-1965, Stallings was one of eight white ministers whom Martin Luther King addressed in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
NAMB appoints missionaries with Fla. Ties: ALPHARETTA, Ga. (NAMB)–Three missionaries with ties to Florida have been appointed by the North American Mission Board.

Florida News Briefs

Mother Daughter Overnight events
Golf to support disaster relief
Overseas volunteers learn TEFL
Blind Fellowship conference

Florida Focus

Florida Focus: A one-time announcement of special events is a free service provided by the Witness to Florida Baptist churches. Please send materials at least three weeks before the date of the event, to Florida Baptist Witness, 1230 Hendricks Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32207, fax 904-346-0696 or submitted using our online form. Items received after deadline may appear in our exclusive on-line version.

National

National News

Supreme Court says no RICO laws for pro-lifers: WASHINGTON (BP)–Pro-life protesters are not extortionists, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, apparently putting an end to a lengthy legal campaign to convince the judicial system otherwise.
North American Mission Board’s Jim Sibley named new director of Jewish studies at Criswell College: DALLAS (BP)–Jim Sibley, who has served 10 years as coordinator of Jewish ministries with the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, was named March 3 as director of Criswell College’s Pasche Institute of Jewish Studies.
Welch: How to ‘rev up a rundown romance with reaching people’ SBC president credits state conventions with baptism push: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Drawing from the example of Samson’s loss of strength in Judges 16, Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch warned against squandering the opportunities God has given the convention.

International News

Gospel reaching India despite push to renounce Christianity: DANGS, India (BP)--A new campaign against the conversion of Hindus to Christianity is “evidence of success” for the spread of the Gospel in India, a Christian worker there says.
Commission finds Iran’s treatment of religious minorities ‘alarming’: WASHINGTON (BP)–The United States should speed up attempts to protect the religious freedom and other human rights of beleaguered minorities in Iran, a federal advisory panel has warned.

National News Briefs

S. Dakota abortion ban might lead to end of Roe v. Wade: PIERRE, S.D. (BP)–In an action that supporters hope will result in the overturning of the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous Roe v. Wade decision, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds March 6 signed a bill into law that bans nearly all abortions in the state.
Yemeni gunman who killed medical workers in 2002 is executed: SAN’A, Yemen (BP)–The Yemeni gunman who killed three Southern Baptist medical workers in 2002 was executed by firing squad Feb. 27, according to wire reports.
Dutch official proposes forced abortions: WASHINGTON (BP)–If you are not going to be loved, you might as well be killed. That seems to be the essence of a proposal by a Dutch politician. Rotterdam Alderman Marianne van den Anker has called for a debate on mandated abortion, as well as coercive birth control, for mothers who rear unloved children who become victims of abuse, according to a Feb. 18 report by the newspaper NRC Handelsblad on the Expatica Web site.
Pre-implanted embryos ‘sacred,’ pope says: VATICAN CITY (BP)–Pope Benedict XVI said Feb. 27 the human embryo is “sacred and inviolable” before it is implanted in his mother’s womb.
Paper reverses decision, agrees to run pro-life ad: JOLIET (BP)–A suburban Chicago newspaper will run a pro-life ad featuring an ultrasound image of an unborn child after all.
Travel, shuttle services for SBC annual meeting: GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)–Options are available for both airline and automotive travel to the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2006 annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C. Air travel for the SBC’s June 13-14 sessions can be arranged either for Greensboro’s Piedmont Triad International Airport, which is served by most major airlines, or the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which is served by Southwest Airlines and other carriers. Most Greensboro-area hotels offer free shuttle service to and from the airport.

Features

Apologetics

Beware of ‘postmodern spirituality’ warns Whitney: LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–Being biblically grounded and church-centered is essential to true Christian spirituality in a postmodern culture, Donald Whitney told students Feb. 4 at the 2006 Collegiate Conference at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
‘Da Vinci Code’ panel explores Christian worldview at 20/20 Collegiate Conference: WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)—A roundtable discussion of The Da Vinci Code highlighted Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s second annual 20/20 Collegiate Conference, Feb. 3-4 in Wake Forest, N.C.
SEBTS’ Russ Bush to lead theology & culture center: WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)–Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Daniel L. Akin announced to the school’s faculty March 1 the creation of the L. Russ Bush Center for Theology and Culture.
‘Give Me An Answer’ draws 1,100 to SBTS annual collegiate conference: LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–As an 18-year-old University of Tennessee-Martin freshman, Brent Moore came to the first “Give Me An Answer” collegiate conference at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2001 hoping to be equipped to better proclaim the Gospel to a culture that is hostile to biblical truth.
Student Discipleship Institute to feature popular apologist: LEESBURG (FBW)–The third annual Student Discipleship Institute is scheduled for July 10-15 at Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center in Leesburg and will feature Josh Hornbaker, a specialist in apologetics from Louisville, Ky.
‘Emerging church’ movement mixes constructive criticism with errors, SBTS professor tells collegians: LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–The emerging church movement has started a helpful conversation about the need for churches to be relevant to postmodern culture but commits fatal errors in the areas of evangelism and the authority of Scripture, says Chuck Lawless, dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Cooperative Program

Cooperative Program DVD highlights loving acts of compassion: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–“The Difference” is easy to see.

Annie Armstrong Offering

NAMB missionaries at home in Canada ANNIE ARMSTRONG EASTER OFFERING: WESTBANK, British Columbia (NAMB)–For 10 years now, North American missionaries Kevin and Alicia Madden have lived 2,200 miles away from Kevin’s birthplace, Washington, Ga. – an historic little town located about 100 miles east of Atlanta. Today, their home and hearts are firmly rooted in Canada.
Kids saved from the streets through inner-city ministry: EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (NAMB)–“... it is not the will of your Father in heaven that even one of these little ones perish.” Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:14 are what drive North American missionary Chet Cantrell 24-7, 365 days a year.

Media Montage

Web site celebrates twilight of Billy Graham’s ministry: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LWCR)–When it comes to influential evangelicals, every list begins with Billy Graham.
Pure Online, LWCR partner to offer sexual addiction recovery program: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LWCR)–LifeWay Christian Resources has joined with Pure Online to offer an Internet–based recovery program for sexual addiction and pornography that provides anonymity along with a call to accountability.
Podcast repository offers free downloads of LifeWay resources: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LWCR)–Hearing your favorite Bible story, nurturing your Christian walk through a well–delivered sermon or just learning more about your church and its mission used to mean restricting yourself to the church building or at least a single location equipped with a television or CD player.
Help for 21st century women on the move: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LWCR)–As an author, speaker, entrepreneur, wife, and mother of two, Cindi Wood is familiar with the stress and strain of daily responsibilities that can send a sane woman into a frenzy.

Obituary

Gospel music pianist Anthony Burger dies
Rudell Martin, wife of late Chattahoochee pastor, John Martin, dies at 91 in Birmingham, Alabama
Creationism’s Henry M. Morris, dead at 87
Billy N. Wolfe, Sr., former chaplain, DOM, dies at 87

Bible Study

Family Bible Study

March 19: Celebrate When People Come to Christ Luke 15:1-7, 11-13, 22-24, 28-32: Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.
March 26: Honor Christ Luke 19:28-32, 35-44: Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

Explore the Bible

March 19: Do You Take God at His Word? Isaiah 7:1–12:6: Troy Bush is the minister of evangelism and missions at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.
March 26: Do You Think You Are Unaccountable? Isaiah 13:1–23:18: Troy Bush is the minister of evangelism and missions at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.