Author: Grace Thornton

Ministry Wives podcast host offers tips she says she wishes she’d had

ALPHARETTA, Ga.—Christine Hoover said when she embarked on her ministry as a pastor’s wife that she “was so young and didn’t know what I was doing at all.”

“I definitely had examples, but I desired a lot more help — for people who had been there to say, ‘Here’s what I’ve learned along the way, the mistakes I’ve made,’ and offer some tips and tools,” she said.

That’s what Hoover hopes to do with her new North American Mission Board (NAMB) podcast, “Ministry Wives,” which starts Aug. 15.

“In each episode, you’ll hear from incredible guests who voice the issues and questions we all face in ministry, who give insight, tools and hope regarding those issues, and who remind us of the joys of serving the Lord in ministry,” she said.

The inspiration for the podcast comes from Hoover’s own experiences as she has served alongside her husband, Kyle, for the past 20-plus years in parachurch ministry, at a large multi-staff church and in church planting. The couple has raised their three sons at Charlottesville Community Church, the church they planted in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2008.

“I like sharing what I’ve learned and hearing what others have learned in their context,” Hoover said. “We’re dealing with similar issues no matter where we are.”

Just as ministry isn’t new to her, neither is podcasting or encouraging ministry wives. For nearly five years, Hoover hosted a podcast called “By Faith,” the last season of which focused on issues facing pastors’ wives.

She’s also written two books on the topic — “The Church Planting Wife: Help and Hope for Her Heart” and “How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife.”

In the first season, Hoover will sit down with different guests who give insight, advice and personal stories from their ministry experiences. The 16-episode season will run for the rest of 2022 and cover topics such as anxiety, deciding which needs to meet and which to let go, serving different demographics and reaching military communities.

Trevin Wax, vice president of research and resource development for NAMB, said Hoover “has become one of the leading voices speaking truth into the families of church planters and pastors.”

“She brings a depth of experience and a knowledge of God’s Word to the issues of the day and seeks to encourage and equip women for ministry at home and in the church,” he said.

Hoover said her hope is that women serving in different capacities — not just pastors’ wives — will find that the podcast resonates with them.

“This podcast is for any woman serving in ministry,” she said.

To learn more or listen to the podcast, visit MinistryWivesPodcast.com.

Barber names abuse task force members

NASHVILLE (BP)—Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber has announced the members and leaders of those making up the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF).

Messengers to the annual meeting in Anaheim tasked Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, with the responsibility as part of the approved recommendations from the Sexual Abuse Task Force, chaired by North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank. The recommendations were the result of a yearlong study and investigation by Guidepost Solutions into the SBC Executive Committee.

“The purpose of this task force is to assist the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention in our efforts to shut the doors of our churches to those who would act as sexual predators and to wrap our arms around survivors and those who love them,” Barber said.

In addition to the formation of the ARITF, the recommendations included the establishment of a “Ministry Check” website. The ARITF will oversee and report back to the Convention on the feasibility, effectiveness and costs of the website, which will be established and maintained by an independent contractor chosen by the task force.

Marshall Blalock, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C., will serve as ARITF chair and Mike Keahbone, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Okla., will be vice chair. Others making up the task force are:

  • Todd Benkert, pastor and lead elder of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Ind.
  • Melissa Bowen, member of First Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala.
  • Brad Eubank, senior pastor of Petal First Baptist Church in Petal, Miss.
  • Cyndi Lott, member of Catawba Valley Baptist Church in Morganton, N.C.
  • Jon Nelson, lead pastor of Soma Community Church in Jefferson City, Mo.
  • Jarrett Stephens, senior pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas
  • Gregory Wills, member of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as professor of church history and Baptist heritage and dean of the School of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“These task force members will be assisted in their work by a few consultants, whose names will be released later,” said Barber said. He added that the group includes survivors of clergy sexual abuse, pastors, lawyers, educators and one person who was the object of a false accusation of sexual abuse in the past.

“Every member of the task force is an active member of a Southern Baptist church, representing a wide variety of church sizes from several geographic areas within the Convention,” he said. “Some of the members are also providing leadership to task forces serving their various state conventions.

“Between the task force members and the various consultants, the task force discussions will feature the input of top experts in the subject matters of sexual abuse, the law, Southern Baptist history and polity, trauma-informed counseling and most importantly, the Bible.”

Per the recommendations, the ARITF is authorized to operate for one year, with messengers at subsequent annual meetings voting on whether to renew the group “as needed” and deliver a report each year of its existence. Barber will appoint any vacancies at the time as necessary.

Specific charges of the ARITF include:

  • Study Guidepost recommendations for feasibility and report back to the 2023 annual meeting on which reforms could be adopted by the Convention as well as how they should be implemented. Such recommendations include a survivor care fund, memorial, auditing the Caring Well curriculum and possibly creating a permanent committee or entity.
  • Assist SBC entities in studying Guidepost recommendations and advise on implementing reforms relevant to each entity’s ministry assignment.
  • Be a resource in abuse prevention, crisis response and survivor care to “Baptist bodies” who voluntarily seek assistance. This can include providing a list of recommended, independent, qualified firms for training and inquiries and assisting state conventions with recommendations, upon request.
  • Consult with the SBC Credentials Committee for revising the evaluation and submission process to include complaints of noncooperation due to sexual abuse and publish the revisions.
  • Work with the Executive Committee and Credentials Committee to select an independent, qualified firm or firms to assist the Credentials Committee by providing factual findings for complaints of noncooperation due to sexual abuse. The ARITF will report back to the 2023 annual meeting on the selection.

On June 8, Send Relief announced it will be providing $3 million to fund the first year of work related to the SATF recommendations, with another $1 million toward the establishment of a survivor care fund to provide trauma care for survivors and trauma training for pastors.

The $3 million will come from Send Relief undesignated funds and not Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering or Lottie Moon Christmas Offering funds, said Send Relief President Bryant Wright, International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood and North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell in a joint statement.

The $1 million gift will come from Send Relief funds designated for its ongoing mission to protect children and families.

Whatever the ARITF produces, Barber said, will then be placed before Southern Baptists for a response. The ARITF will convene for an initial retreat with the outgoing Sexual Abuse Task Force before beginning its work.

“The authority to adopt the Task Force’s recommendations will rest with the messenger body of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Barber said. “The ability to apply the resources and recommendations that this process produces resides with the various autonomous churches that cooperate through the Southern Baptist Convention.

“We can only be successful as we earn their confidence and supply their needs. I am confident that this task force is well equipped to do just that.”

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

CP giving above budget by $10.4 million through July

NASHVILLE (BP)—Giving through the National Cooperative Program Allocation Budget remains far ahead of its annual goal with the fiscal year total growing to nearly $169 million—more than $10.4 million over the projected giving.

“Southern Baptist have partnered together for 97 years to advance the Gospel to every person on the planet,” SBC Executive Committee interim president Willie McLaurin said in a statement. “These Cooperative Program gifts mark a sacred trust that local churches have placed in each entity and state convention of the SBC. I am thankful for the ongoing trust demonstrated through giving these Cooperative Program dollars to fuel and fund ministries across North America and the World.”

The amount given through the Cooperative Program in July 2022 totaled $15,606,614.95, which was $134,180.43 (0.85 percent) less than the $15,740,795.38 received in July 2021 and just $226,718.39 (1.43 percent) less than the monthly budgeted amount of $15,833,333.34.

As of July 31, gifts received by the EC for distribution through the CP Allocation Budget total $168,760,690.32. This is $6,714,403.20 or 4.14 percent more than last year’s budget contribution of $162,046,287.12. The amount given is ahead of the $158,333,333.40 year-to-date budgeted projection to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America by $10,427,356.92 or 6.59 percent.

Designated gifts received in July amounted to $12,113,669.64. This total was $2,835,517.26, or 30.56 percent, more than gifts of $9,278,152.38 received last July. Also, this year’s designated gifts through the first ten months of the fiscal year amount to $196,238,461.65, which is $14,397,950.72 or 7.92 percent more than the $181,840,510.93 given through same period in the previous fiscal year.

The Cooperative Program is the financial fuel to fund the SBC mission and vision of reaching every person for Jesus Christ in every town, every city, every state, and every nation. Begun in 1925, local churches contribute to the ministries of its state convention and the missions and ministries of the SBC through a unified giving plan to support both sets of ministries. Monies include receipts from individuals, churches and state conventions for distribution according to the 2021-2022 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.

State and regional conventions retain a portion of church contributions to Southern Baptists’ Cooperative Program to support work in their respective areas and forward a percentage to SBC national and international causes. The percentage of distribution is at the discretion of each state or regional convention.

The convention-adopted budget for 2021-2022 is $190 million and includes an initial $200,000 special priority allocation for the SBC Vision 2025 initiative. Cooperative Program funds are then disbursed as follows: 50.41 percent to international missions through the International Mission Board, 22.79 percent to North American missions through the North American Mission Board, 22.16 percent to theological education through the six SBC seminaries and the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget and 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. If national CP gifts exceed the $186.875 million budget projection at the end of the fiscal year, 10% of the overage is to be used to support the SBC Vision 2025 initiative with the balance of the overage distributed according to the percentages approved for budgetary distribution. The SBC Executive Committee distributes all CP and designated gifts it receives on a weekly basis to the SBC ministry entities.

Month-to-month swings reflect a number of factors, including the timing of when the cooperating state Baptist conventions forward the national portion of Cooperative Program contributions to the Executive Committee, the day of the month churches forward their CP contributions to their state conventions, the number of Sundays in a given month, and the percentage of CP contributions forwarded to the SBC by the state conventions after shared ministry expenses are deducted.

Designated contributions include the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, Southern Baptist Global Hunger Relief, Disaster Relief and other special gifts. This total includes only those gifts received and distributed by the Executive Committee and does not reflect designated gifts contributed directly to SBC entities.

CP allocation budget gifts received by the Executive Committee are reported monthly to the executives of the entities of the convention, to the state convention offices, to the state Baptist papers and are posted online at sbc.net/cp.

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

Death toll rises to 35 in eastern Kentucky flooding

FRANKFORT, Ky.—At least 35 people have been confirmed dead due to devastating flooding that has hit the southeast part of the state, and Gov. Andy Beshear says the number will continue to grow in the coming days, as more areas become accessible.

As of 9 a.m. Monday, there are seven confirmed deaths in Breathitt County, two in Clay, 16 in Knott, two in Letcher, and three in Perry County.

The large loss of life has overwhelmed local authorities, according to the governor, forcing the State Medical Examiner’s Office to help in the disaster. “We’ve had to fly the bodies here to Frankfort, to have enough staff to perform the autopsies. We do have a refrigerated truck being used right now, because we don’t have enough morgue capacity.”

Beshear says there are more than 300 Kentucky National Guard members fulfilling a variety of roles to help residents in the disaster area.

“Delivering supplies, search and rescue, augmenting police, traffic, debris removal, they’re really good at it,” he stated. “Our Guard has been amazing.  I got a chance to spend a moment without Guard that has been airlifting people.  They were exhausted, but they were living their mission.  They were ready to go again at a moment’s notice.  We are so proud of them, State Police, Fish and Wildlife, law enforcement, and individual citizens who rescued more people than all those others combined.”

Thirteen counties have been declared major disaster areas by President Joe Biden, which frees up federal aid to local government for recovery efforts, and five of them have also been approved for individual assistance.

“In those five counties,” Beshear said, “in Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties, renters and homeowners can already begin applying for FEMA individual disaster assistance.”

FEMA representatives are on their way, but residents in those affected areas can call 1-800-621-FEMA or go to disasterassistance.gov, to begin the process.

The governor said cell service is now being restored in many areas, which should aid in the search for people who are reported to be missing.

People wishing to make donations to help flood victims can go to the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s page or SendRelief’s page.

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from Kentucky and a number of other states are responding to the emergency.

Other services and information for flood victims can be found at https://governor.ky.gov/disaster-response/flood-resources.

As of 9 a.m. Monday, there were still more than 12,000 people who had no electricity power, according to the Governor, down from close to 30,000 at its peak.  “The counties with over 1,000 customers without power are Perry, Letcher, Pike, Breathitt and Knott, and I know crews are working hard to restore it.”

Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, and those concerned about their loved ones who still don’t have phone service can go to http://kentuckystatepolice.org/post-locations/, and call the post that serves their county.  Troopers say they will try to track them down.

Blalock, Keahbone to head Abuse Response Implementation Task Force

NASHVILLE (BP)—Two Southern Baptist pastors with recent leadership experience in addressing sexual abuse in the SBC will fill similar roles with the Abuse Response Implementation Task Force (ARITF).

Marshall Blalock, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C., will be chair while Mike Keahbone, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Okla., will serve as vice chair, SBC President Bart Barber announced today.

“Both of these pastors are well-respected by Southern Baptists, by survivors of sexual abuse, by state-convention leadership and by their peers,” said Barber. “I’m delighted at their willingness to serve and optimistic about the solutions that they will lead the Implementation Task Force to propose.”

Barber announced on Twitter Sunday, July 31 that the rest of the names making up the ARITF would be released later this week.

Blalock served last year on the Sexual Abuse Task Force, whose report at the SBC annual meeting was widely accepted by messengers. That experience, he told Baptist Press, greatly impacted how he viewed the subject.

“I think that most, if not all, pastors have a heart to want to help and serve people,” he said. “But if you want to lead and pastor well, it’s important to understand how sexual abuse has affected the people in your church.

“I, along with the other pastors on the Task Force, didn’t realize the depth of the trauma that’s involved with someone who is abused. It’s much more traumatic and life-altering than I ever understood or knew.”

Keahbone is a member of the SBC Executive Committee and served on the 2022 Committee on Resolutions that proposed the resolution “On Lament and Repentance for Sexual Abuse.”

“Through those areas of service, Mike is well acquainted with the work that has gone into refining and revising various proposals for how the SBC should respond to clergy sexual abuse,” said Barber. “He is therefore well-equipped to lead us as we continue that process.”

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

GenSend shows students ‘everything you do can be missional’

NASHVILLE—The North American Mission Board’s GenSend program gets college students out of their comfort zones and into hurting, broken communities. Students spend their summer in a major city, where ministry might look like serving the homeless, playing at the park or a having a conversation over coffee.

One member of a GenSend team in Denver discovered the importance of meeting people where they are.

“I went to the park and passed out a water to a guy named Louis, and it was his first night being homeless,” said Kirby Logan, who will be a senior at Carson-Newman University this fall. “We had this conversation about how he didn’t have any friends in Denver and how he just wanted to get out. Denver had really broken him. I gave him my big Bible that I had had all summer and told him that he can read it and hear from God. I started to walk away, and I remembered that [the other GenSenders] had a cookout going a block down the street. I walked back to the bench where I had left him [to invite him to the cookout] and he had already opened the Bible and started reading.”

Jason Tipton, Send Relief’s national ministry center director for the Western U.S., said he built strong bonds with the GenSenders in Denver and saw firsthand how the work changed them.

“What I loved seeing was the ‘whatever it takes’ attitude,” Tipton said. “They were willing to do whatever it took to serve our city. I also love how they were having Gospel conversations and how they made that a priority [by] hearing others’ stories and being able to interject the Gospel into that.

“For me, it’s about investing in the next generation. My ministry is shifting to be more of a catalyst [for] inviting them into the work that God is already doing. Sometimes, we think about teaching as classroom instruction, but providing them [with] opportunities to be with our neighbors [is] where I think learning actually takes place.”

That was true for Logan, who said he learned that “poverty looks different for every person.”

“Poverty is not just not having a house or food,” Logan said. “It can be having no friends or struggling with deep depression or needing a job and not knowing anyone that can help you. We intentionally went and talked to people who looked like they needed a conversation. Whether it was a Gospel conversation or not, it was nice for them to know that they had someone that cared enough to talk to them.”

People in Denver often decline invitations to church, he said, which made their conversations all the more crucial.

“If a person knows you and knows that you have a relationship with Jesus, asking them into a relationship with Jesus is much more powerful than inviting them to church,” he said. “[I learned that] people want to be able to trust you before they trust God.”

Keaton Hubbs, who also will be a senior at Carson-Newman, served alongside Logan in Denver. Hubbs said she was struck by the spiritual lostness in the city.

“Satan is out here trying to steal, kill and destroy anything that is good and holy,” she said. “What I learned was that through true intercession with fellow believers and speaking the name of Jesus over every single situation, Satan has no place and he will flee. I now know so fully that we can trust in the Lord in everything because He cares for us and He is never going to leave us.”

Hubbs said she and the team spent time planting seeds of truth and hope, but added that those seeds take time to bear fruit.

“Restoration isn’t just making a bad thing better,” she said. “We don’t just desire to clean up a person and let him look nice. We desire the full restoration of a person, which can take time.”

Lauren Potter, a third Carson-Newman senior on the Denver team, said many people she met seemed to be dissatisfied with life.

“Most people in Denver are not from Colorado because they come there from other places in search of something,” Potter said. “Pretty much everyone there wants to have something to die for that they’re huge on. There’s a lot of spiritual people but not religious people.

“One of our biggest takeaways as a whole group was that a lot of times, we [tend to] romanticize the more attractive styles of ministry. One thing that we spent a lot of time thinking about was being a faithful presence. We have learned to be content in the mundane.”

That “faithful presence” idea was also a big part of the ministry of a GenSend team in New York City.

Riley Bishop followed God’s lead to the Big Apple before he begins his junior year at Tennessee Tech.

“One thing I learned with the GenSend program is that everything you do can be missional,” Bishop said. “A lot of days we don’t have big goals. [Our goal is to be] missional by visiting coffee shops or playing basketball.

“There’s a big stigma around New York that people don’t want to talk to you, and that’s just not the case. New York is so fast, so busy and so lonely that people want to slow down and get to know who you are. You can live intentionally and missionally anywhere, and you can work through the small things that really matter.”

Tipton said he often encourages students to do something that they wouldn’t normally do.

“Within collegiate experiences, we all have great opportunities to do different things with our summers,” Tipton said. “[I encourage everyone to] leave your contexts that you’re used to and allow God to put you into a different context and see where God is working. My worldview has always been expanded when I allow myself to learn from other situations. When we take a risk for the kingdom, there’s always a reward on the other side.”

Logan agreed.

“Go somewhere that you’ve never been and where you’re going to learn things that you’ve never learned before,” he said. “Don’t let the price of GS scare you – there are people who have been praying for you to come to their city”

Bishop said he had the best summer of his life.

“It was definitely hard in a bunch of ways that I didn’t think would be hard, but it was totally worth it,” he said.

Jason Lovins shares story of being spared from abortion in new music video

NASHVILLE (BP)—Jason Lovins has shared his story of being spared from abortion to audiences across the country for years. But for the first time, the story is being told in video.

The Jason Lovins Band’s new single, “Constant,” features guest vocals from Russ Lee, lead singer of CCM supergroup NewSong.

The music video for the song, released earlier this summer, depicts the story of his mother’s pregnancy journey and the decision she faced, while the song lyrics tell of God’s constant character.

Grandma Mary Jo Lovins, Uncle Greg Lovins and Grandpa Ray Lovins. It was also Jason’s third birthday.

Lovins’ mother conceived him after being sexually assaulted while walking home from the pool when she was 15 years old.

He said his mother doesn’t even remember the incident and has no idea who his father is. The way she found out was after going to the doctor after feeling sick and not knowing what was going on.

After the initial shock wore off, Lovins said his grandmother had a profound response.

“My Grandma told my Mom, ‘We’re going to go to church, and we’re going to pray,’” Lovins said. “If you could have heard her tell the story, she made it sound so simple, yet I know it could not have been easy. My grandmother very much understood how big God is. He is so big that He wasn’t surprised by me. She wasn’t listening to the world, she was listening to the One who created the world.”

Even though many Christians they knew suggested his mother should get an abortion, having the baby and putting it up for adoption was the plan from the beginning.

That is, until she heard Jason’s heartbeat for the first time.

His mother decided she not only wanted to have the baby, but raise the baby herself with the help of her parents and brother.

Lovins said he has fond memories of his unconventional upbringing, and even said his first memory is of his mother’s high school graduation, the same day as his third birthday.

“My family made it very clear to me at a young age that you don’t have an earthly father and we don’t even know who it is, but you have a Heavenly Father who loves you, and they would continue to remind me of that,” Lovins said.

“That’s always been enough for me. I don’t know any other way to say it. I was loved by so many different people. I’m blessed that God chose to put me in the family that He did.”

Despite being content in his circumstances, Lovins said he never really shared his story until his early music career.

One night while performing with his college band at a local church, Lovins said he just felt compelled to share the story with audience. The pastor commended him for doing so, and made him promise to continue sharing it.

Lovins now said he now makes it a point to share his story every time he is in front of a live audience.

“God just showed me clearly, ‘There’s a reason I wrote your story this way, and I’m going to have you share this and give you a platform to do it,’” Lovins said.

He formed his self-titled band just a couple of years after beginning to share his journey at shows. The group has performed at a variety of different venues and SBC-related events as well as at Southern Baptist churches, youth conferences, camps and “Who’s Your One?” events.

“The SBC has been good to me over the years and I’m so thankful,” Lovins said.

Many concertgoers, particularly young women, will come talk to him after a show and tell him how they were impacted by his story.

One early example happened at a Fuge Camp. He shared his story and was later connected with a 16-year-old girl there who had an eight-month-old baby. Her story was very similar to Lovins’ mother’s, and the two were able to sit down and talk.

“All she needed to know was that there was someone in the world who had been through exactly what she was going through and made it,” Lovins said. “That was life-changing for me. It helped me understand why my story was written the way that it was.”

While he has been sharing his story from stage for years, Lovins said he had never found the song that felt right for putting the story to music. That was until three years ago when he came across a video of a friend singing the song lyrics that would later become “Constant.”

“It just hit me like no song had ever hit me before,” he said. “Just the whole idea that God is constant and that He doesn’t change and that He’s great either way. That’s totally how my family lived their life.”

His friend agreed to allow the band to record the song. The band made the musical arrangements, connected with Lee to sing the second verse and eventually filmed the music video. Due to the pandemic, the full process took about three years.

Just as the band was getting ready to release the music video this spring, the topic of abortion came into the national conversation in a new way with rumors of, and eventual fulfilment of, the overturn of the historic Roe v. Wade court decision.

“I honestly just can’t believe God’s timing,” Lovins said. “I don’t necessarily get into all the policy things, but all I’ve done is just share my story and I’m just thankful my family wasn’t listening to the world. I’m just thankful that I had a shot at life.”

Lovins said he hopes his story and song can be a part of the practical ministry to women that will be needed after the historic decision.

“I’ve met a lot of women who have come and told me their stories, and there are so many out there who have really struggled and just felt like they didn’t have anybody to turn to,” Lovins said.

“We need more people like my grandma who are going to be there and take somebody in no matter who they are and tell them God is constant. That’s what’s going to make a difference in this country. I think the church has got to step up and help.”

For more information about the Jason Lovins Band, click here, and to watch the music video, click here.

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

Bible story translators deliver gospel to least-reached peoples

Bir Bahdur is a simple animal herder. Sometimes he works as a day-laborer. He’s quiet and meek. He’s uneducated and soft-spoken. He doesn’t consider himself qualified to share the gospel, let alone teach it. Many of his South Asian countrymen don’t think so either.

But the beauty of the Gospel is that it brings worth to those society considers not worthy.

Bir Bahdur became a believer by hearing Bible stories that were translated into his language by a coalition of International Mission Board workers, Omega Training Partnership translators and another international translation organization. Together, these three organizations form one Bible translation project.

After hearing and believing the truth, he knew he wanted to share it. With the encouragement of fellow participants and the trainers from the project’s workshops, he learned to craft and share Bible stories in his heart language.

He started telling people he encountered each day the Bible stories. And people listened.

“He’s not trained; he’s not professional, but he knows the God that he serves,” said Royce Alyward, an IMB worker who helps lead the translation initiative. “And he knows how to tell these stories. It’s by sharing those stories that God’s Word has gone forth.”

Bir Bahdur reported that several of his friends professed faith in Christ after hearing the stories.

His influence didn’t stop at those friends simply believing, though. He intentionally discipled these believers, and now from Bir Bahdur’s influence, two house churches began in his remote area.

Bir Bahdur’s story doesn’t stand alone. Royce and his wife, Elsbeth, can tell story after story of churches being planted and lives changed because of this translation project.

The idea behind this massive Bible translation project is to engage least-reached places with the Gospel. Getting the Word of God into the heart language of remote people has fostered healthy church planting and multiplication.

Since this coalition started in 2013, the Alywards said the project has seen:

  • The completion of Bible story sets in 23 languages among many of the least-served people groups of South Asia.
  • Multiplying of Gospel-sharing and indigenous church plants across these 23 languages.
  • The initiation and advance of New Testament translation in 16 of these 23 languages, with imminent plans to begin translation in four more.
  • Ongoing discipleship and church enrichment interaction with growing churches in many of South Asia’s least-reached peoples.

The key to seeing a work of this magnitude accomplished has been not only the partnership among the three organizations, but the strategic discipleship and deployment of national believers.

“This task is too big for anybody,” Elsbeth said, “but it is certainly biblical to have this kind of collaboration between like-minded organizations.”

As the groups partnered, they ensured they didn’t duplicate each other’s work.

She continued, “We’re working on seeing every tribe, every language be able to have an understandable and appropriate presentation of the Gospel in their language. This is such a huge need in this area of South Asia where you have so many harder-to-reach languages in harder-to-reach areas.”

Sharing the burden alleviates the burden on cross-cultural workers to learn each of the 100-plus languages spoken in their area.

“As a new worker is onboarding, learning the major language is a huge task,” Royce said. “As we move forward, for a cross-cultural worker, that can be very intimidating.

“One of the things we’re helping them understand is that language acquisition is important. But we, as the expatriates, don’t need to learn every language from the area. We need to learn the main languages (such as Hindi). We work with national partners who are bilingual. Once we can communicate with them in the main language of their area, we share the load with other believers and those who can help guide us in the language even before they come to faith.”

This intentionality in sharing the load, specifically with those who are not yet believers, not only gives the IMB worker some relief, but it sets the translator up to be saturated with the Gospel.

“We can intentionally look into those relationships and see how God is working,” Elsbeth said. “We see how God’s Word is so effective, especially when they hear it in the language that speaks to their heart.”

Some names may have been changed for security reasons.

ERLC president search team continues work

NASHVILLE (BP)—The group tasked with recommending the next president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is currently working through the process with an active candidate, its chairman told Baptist Press July 26. Todd Howard, pastor of Watson Chapel Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, Ark., said the search team will present its report at the ERLC trustee board’s annual meeting in September.

The selection process had narrowed down to three candidates in February. Factors such as the desire for a strong consensus among search team members brought the focus to the current candidate.

The group decided to hold off on discussions this spring in anticipation of the Guidepost Solutions report released in May and the Sexual Abuse Task Force report, which was delivered last month at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. Whenever the search team reaches a strong consensus, they will present that candidate to the ERLC’s board for a vote.

In recent years the ERLC has met with sustained criticism and calls for it to be defunded, though Southern Baptists have voted by substantial margins several times to continue supporting the entity. A task force commissioned by the Executive Committee to study the ERLC’s impact on Cooperative Program giving was released in February 2021. Discussion at that month’s EC meeting resulted in no vote taken on the report.

Baptist Press asked Howard if the criticism had affected the search team’s progress.

“It’s definitely had an impact and made it a little more difficult because some who would otherwise aspire to this position understand the tenuous nature of the commission itself,” he said. “There is probably a bit of hesitancy if they have a more secure job and see we’re voting on [the ERLC’s] viability every June.

“It’s made our job more challenging, for sure. Anyone with common sense can see that.”

If doors close regarding the current candidate, Howard said, the group will consider re-opening the portal for new names to be considered.

Howard asked that Southern Baptists continue to pray for the seven-member search team as they continue the process. “This is something God’s got to do,” he said. “He does the heavy lifting; we’re just trying to follow His will.”

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

Americans divided on who should lead healthy conversations on challenges in America

NASHVILLE—Although Americans need to have productive conversations regarding challenges in our society, there is no consensus on who is in the best position to generate healthy conversations around these issues.

According to a study from Lifeway Research, fewer than 1 in 5 (18 percent) Americans say their elected president is in the best position to generate healthy conversations on challenges facing society. And 14 percent believe local church pastors are.

“A beautiful thing in America is that anyone can seek to lead productive conversations about problems in our society,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Sadly, very few Americans agree anyone is well positioned to do so.”

Fewer than 1 in 10 say elected members of Congress (9 percent), business leaders (8 percent), professors at universities (8 percent) or members of the media (6 percent) are most positively positioned to lead Americans in having healthy conversations about challenges in society.

Even though professional sports players and musicians often receive attention for public statements they make about issues Americans are facing, few Americans view athletes (3 percent) and musicians (3 percent) as thought leaders.

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans (32 percent) say none of the roles considered in this study are best positioned to lead healthy conversations on challenges in America.

Opinions have shifted slightly

Compared to a 2016 study conducted by Lifeway Research in September and October leading up to a major election, fewer Americans today say the president is in the best position to generate healthy conversations on challenges facing society (18 percent v. 23 percent). However, compared to the previous study, more Americans say elected members of Congress (9 percent v. 6 percent), professional sports players (3 percent v. 1 percent) and musicians (3 percent v. <1 percent).

And today, compared to 2016, there are a similar number of Americans who are looking to local church pastors (14 percent v. 11 percent), university professors (8 percent v. 10 percent), members of the media (6 percent v. 8 percent) or business leaders (8 percent v. 7 percent) to lead healthy societal conversations.

“Anticipation of a new president in 2016 likely led to more people hoping the elected president could lead healthy conversations,” McConnell said. “Midway through the next president’s first term, hopes for that office have faded with even less agreement on who could start or moderate needed discourse.”

Americans hold varying opinions

There are several key indicators of who Americans will view as holding the best position to generate healthy conversations on challenges in society. Males are more likely than females (10 percent v. 6 percent) to say business leaders are best positioned to lead these conversations, and those who are high school graduates or less are the least likely to say the same (4 percent).

Older generations are more likely to look to pastors, while younger generations are more likely to look to university professors to generate healthy conversations. Those 50-65 (18 percent) and those older than 65 (18 percent) are more likely to say local church pastors than those 18-34 (9 percent) and 35-49 (11 percent). And those ages 18-34 (10 percent) and 35-49 (10 percent) are more likely to choose university professors than those 50-64 (5 percent).

Those in the South, where America is saturated with churches, are more likely than those in the West to say they look to pastors to lead healthy conversations (16 percent v. 10 percent).

Views from the pews

Even those who identify with a religious group or attend worship services hold varying opinions on where conversations about issues in society should be birthed. Catholics are more likely than Protestants to say healthy conversations should start with our elected president (22 percent v. 16 percent) or business leaders (12 percent v. 7 percent). Meanwhile, Protestants (22 percent) are more likely to say pastors of local churches should lead these conversations when compared to Catholics (9 percent), people of other religions (9 percent) or those who are religiously unaffiliated (3 percent).

Furthermore, those with evangelical beliefs are more likely than those without evangelical beliefs (32 percent v. 9 percent) to say healthy conversations should start with pastors.

Christians who attend worship services at least four times a month (30 percent) are the most likely to look to pastors to generate conversations about challenges in American society.

“Society certainly has its problems, and productive dialogue on these challenges has become increasingly hard to find,” McConnell said. “Many have preferred solutions to society’s ills, but with no one trusted to stimulate or moderate a healthy discussion around them, achieving consensus will be rare.”

For more information, view the complete report and visit LifewayResearch.com.