Author: Brandon Porter

Faith—not just football—is propelling Super Bowl quarterback to center stage

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—For all the San Francisco 49ers’ historical success, Joshua Pizarro is among those adult fans who have experienced more frustration than anything.

It’s a case of not-quite the right place in not-quite the right time. Joe Montana had led the 49ers to two Super Bowl wins in 1982 and ’85 before Pizarro was born. As a toddler, he wouldn’t remember The Drive that secured a third Super Bowl win in 1989.

As a six-year-old in January 1994, though, he was in front of the TV with his dad the night Steve Young and the Niners polished off the San Diego Chargers for San Francisco’s fifth championship.

“I remember it pretty vividly,” said Pizarro, now executive pastor at Calvary Baptist Church. “But we haven’t won one since (The 49ers made it but lost in 2013 and 2020.).

“Maybe this upcoming Super Bowl will be the chance for us to reset the timeline.”

Key to that chance is 24-year-old quarterback Brock Purdy, whose Christian testimony is getting as much attention as his tendency to win games.

Purdy was a four-year starter out of Iowa State in 2022 when San Francisco took him with the 262nd (and final) pick of the draft, a distinction that comes with the label Mr. Irrelevant because little is expected. Making the practice squad would be impressive. Making the team even more so.

A pre-draft scouting report from an NFL coach published by The Athletic called Purdy less-than-ideal in terms of size with unimpressive athleticism. He was very mature and experienced but was a “limited athlete” with “a maxed-out body.”

Pizarro remembers reading an article on Purdy prior to the 2022 season.

“He was going up to veteran players and saying that if he got his shot on the field, they were going to do something together. He’d make sure they got the ball,” said Pizarro.

It would be difficult to blame those players for thinking this was nothing more than an overconfident, but not cocky, rookie trying to earn his place at the table. Purdy’s shot would come, though.

A season-ending injury to starter Trey Lance in Week 2 placed backup Jimmy Garoppolo under center. Purdy came in for a few snaps in subsequent games but was thrust into full-time action in Week 13 against the Dolphins when Garoppolo injured his foot in the first quarter.

Purdy became the first Mr. Irrelevant to throw a touchdown pass in a regular season game in the 33-17 win. The next week he became the first quarterback in his first career start to beat a Tom Brady-led team as the 49ers throttled the Buccaneers 35-7.

“The way he closed out the Miami game after Jimmy G got hurt, his teammates started taking him seriously,” said Pizarro. “Everything you heard about him as a leader was true.

“People gravitate to him. He commands respect, but does it with a sense of humility.”

Purdy’s Christian faith received a lot of attention leading up to last year’s NFC Championship game against the Eagles.

“My identity is in Jesus,” he told Sports Spectrum’s Jason Romano in an August 2021 interview while at Iowa State. “It’s not, ‘I’m better than you.’ … I’m called to share the Word. I have this knowledge of the Spirit and I want to give it to as many people as I can.”

During last season, Purdy became the first 49ers rookie quarterback to start and win a playoff game. The following week’s win over Dallas made him the first rookie in the league to win his first two playoff games in 53 years.

Against the Eagles, though, Purdy tore his ulnar collateral ligament in the first quarter. He reentered in the third quarter when his backup left due to a concussion, but couldn’t throw any further than 10 yards and with no passing game, San Francisco lost 31-7.

During the offseason head coach Kyle Shanahan told Purdy he would be the 2023 starter … unless the team could talk Brady into playing his final season in San Francisco.

Brady grew up in San Mateo, just south of San Francisco. The prospect was too good for 49ers brass to not pursue. And while Purdy is humble, he’s also a competitor.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s the GOAT. I get it,” Purdy told ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. “But something deep down inside me was sort of like, ‘Dude, I just showed you that I can play well in this system. And we were one game away from the Super Bowl.’ … More than anything I was like, ‘OK, now let’s go.”

That confidence to trust God’s gifts and timing show in comments he made shortly into the current season.

“This is who God’s called me to be and I’ve believed that from Day 1,” he said. “I believe that Jesus Christ did come down and die for my sins and rose again. He’s living and sitting beside God on the throne, so I believe that. It’s not just some story, fairy-tale thing, it’s real.

“It allows me to stay level-headed and real with life and know what my purpose is, so that has allowed me to play my game, allowed me to play football at this level.”

Given the chance to reassess Purdy, the scout told The Athletic, “We undervalued his agility and probably the mental side,” adding that he felt Purdy would be worth a second- or third-round pick.

“I really believe that the gravitas he has shown as a leader reflects his character,” said Pizarro. He’s prepared for whatever God has in store for him, the way he kept believing during those low points like the injuries and being drafted last. He had to experience those for God to be magnified.

“It reflects his walk with Jesus, that he’s going to use this platform to magnify the One who has given him this opportunity.”

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

Brothers row across Atlantic for 37 days to raise money for Send Relief

ALPHARETTA, Ga.—When Timothy Hamilton texted his brothers a link to the World’s Toughest Row endurance race with the suggestion that they should participate together, not all his brothers were easily convinced. But three years later, on Jan. 19, 2024, Hamilton, his brothers Trent and Thomas, and their nephew Ben Clark were the third team to cross the finish line after 37 days of rowing in a 30-foot-long boat across the Atlantic, raising thousands of dollars for Send Relief’s work among Afghan refugees.

After some initial back-and-forth, the four Hamilton brothers—Troy, Trent, Tim and Thomas—committed to undertaking the 3,000-mile journey primarily to strengthen their brotherly bond. Because both Troy and Trent had spent time in Afghanistan, a cause near to the family’s hearts is providing help and hope to Afghan refugees. It did not take them long to identify Send Relief as the nonprofit they wanted to support in this work.

“We believe in the mission of Send Relief, and we love the way that Send Relief empowers local communities to help minister to Afghan refugees in their midst and help do it in an enduring way where they can really become part of the community,” said Troy, the oldest of the brothers.

Knowing that Send Relief operates with a gospel focus was another reason the four Christian brothers wanted to raise awareness and support for Send Relief’s partners working with Afghans.

Since the fall of Afghanistan’s capital to the Taliban in September of 2021, Send Relief partners have met the urgent physical and emotional needs of Afghan families all along the refugee highway. Send Relief continues to provide care and support to Afghan refugees through trauma healing groups; parenting, health, and language classes; children’s programs; food assistance and more.

In one recent Send Relief project, partners organized concerts and events around the holidays to provide community, encouragement and food baskets for refugees.

Troy, who planned on taking the role of team chaplain on board, realized months into training that he could not participate in the trans-Atlantic row due to a back injury, but his nephew, Ben Clark, took his spot on the Foar Brothers rowing team. The two worked together to prepare weekly Scripture passages for the team to meditate on, verse packs for the small cabins where the men rested between rowing shifts and liturgical prayers for the team to read and lift up.

Tim, who is seen by his brothers as “a man of the sea,” led the team as the skipper and chief navigator. Trent functioned as the team’s process manager and onboard engineer, going so far as visiting the factory in England that built the team’s water desalinator to learn how to fix this lifeline item if needed.

Thomas, the youngest of the brothers, was tasked with the responsibility of gathering the team’s extensive food supply and also served as the onboard medic. “I wish I had brought some more variety of candy,” he said, “but other than that I would say we were pretty well prepared.”

Prior to their journey, the brothers drafted a covenant among themselves to commit to seeing the best in each other, writing, “We will purpose to follow our Hero Jesus by each serving one another as greater than ourselves.”

“I knew that the statistics were good in terms of safety,” said Troy, “but it was still more unnerving than I thought it would be watching my brothers roll out in a little rowboat into the Atlantic.”

During their row, the Foar Brothers faced intense weather, 20-foot waves, seasickness and strong winds that threatened to blow them off-course.

“It’s very tough, the hardest thing any of us have ever done in our lives.” said Thomas during his final day at sea. “The first two nights were a challenge. They just seemed endless.”

In between harrowing moments, however, the brothers and their nephew had time for meaningful conversations and moments of worship.

“I would say that we’ve been blessed by God and that’s been encouraging,” Thomas said, “I’ve grown closer with my brothers. I understand them a lot better than I did in the past.”

The Foar Brothers rowing team crossed the finish line in Antigua at 19:12 UTC and were welcomed by their families on shore. Despite entering the World Toughest Row in the “expedition” category, denoting their desire to view the row as an adventure rather than a race, the team finished third among 38 total teams.

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, addresses March for Life rally

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Addressing a crowd he called “a beautiful picture of America,” U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson laid out his philosophy for the American pro-life movement in a speech at a rally just prior to the 51st annual March for Life Jan. 19.

The event, which marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s now-overturned Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, drew thousands of people from around the country, who braved cold temperatures and falling snow to march under the theme “With Every Woman, For Every Child.”

Johnson was the first sitting speaker of the House to attend the event since Paul Ryan addressed marchers in 2018. Johnson was one of several Southern Baptists featured at this year’s rally, including Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford and Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California, who also addressed the crowd.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission also had several representatives among the marchers.

The sanctity of human life is an idea that is embedded in the nation’s founding documents, Johnson told rallygoers.

“It was the great British statesman, G.K. Chesterton, who famously observed that America is the only nation in the world that was founded upon a creed,” Johnson said. “And he said it was listed with theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.”

Calling the Declaration of Independence the nation’s “birth certificate,” Johnson recounted its assurances of people’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as “endowed by their Creator.”

“From the very beginning …, our founders boldly proclaim those self-evident truths that our rights do not come from government. Our rights come from God, our Creator.”

“Every single person has inestimable dignity and value,” he said. “And your value is not related in any way to the color of your skin or what zip code you live in, how good you are in sports, where you went to high school. It’s irrelevant. Your value is inherent because it is given to you by your Creator.

“Our national creed is the essence of who we are in this country. It is the foundational principle that made us the freest, most successful, most powerful, most benevolent nation in the history of the world.”

Johnson then told the crowd that he himself is the result of an unplanned pregnancy.

“In January of 1972, exactly one year before Roe v. Wade, my parents, who were just teenagers at the time, chose life,” he said. “And I’m very profoundly grateful that they did.”

Johnson urged attendees to help build a culture that encourages mothers to choose life the way his mother did.

“This is a critical time to help all moms who are facing unplanned pregnancies,” he said, “to work with foster children and to help families who are adopting, to volunteer and assist our vital pregnancy resource centers and our maternity homes.

“And to reach out a renewed hand of compassion and to speak the truth in love. That’s what we do.”

Government also has a role to play, and Johnson mentioned two pro-life acts passed in Congress this week – the Pregnancy Student’s Rights Act and the Supporting Pregnancy and Parenting Women and Families Act.

He then warned the crowd that the Biden Administration is proposing a regulation that would restrict funds for pregnancy resource centers.

“We know those are the centers that states rely on to as assist expecting moms and dads,” he said. “And that action would undercut that important work.” Johnson said a proposed bill would prevent the new regulation from taking effect.

“We’re passing these bills and we’re marching today because it takes a lot of work to convince people that every single human child, every unborn child, has a value that is too profound and precious to ignore,” he said. “And we have every reason to be optimistic, my friends, that we can change public opinion.

“We find encouragement from the leaders of previous generations. We can learn from the great Americans who changed public opinion throughout our history. Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony, they challenged the prevailing narratives of their day and they succeeded.

“And you know how they did that? … Their success was grounded in our nation’s creed that we just spoke about. And they reminded their fellow Americans about our founding principles. … Let’s be encouraged. Let’s press on in hope and that we can join together and make this great difference. I believe that we can, we can stand with every woman for every child, and we can truly build a culture that cherishes and protects life.”

Texas Rangers standout rookie Carter proclaims ‘Jesus Won’

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (BP)—Jason Holly, the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Elizabethton, remembers when Texas Rangers rookie outfielder Evan Carter was a boy playing in the local Grasscutter football league for 6-8-year-olds. Holly had a tiny Superman logo printed specifically for Carter.

“I stuck it on the back of his helmet, and only his,” Holly said. “And I said, ‘You’re Superman.’ He was just that good.”

Rangers fans are starting to agree with that assessment. Carter, who started the 2023 season in the minor leagues with Texas’ Double-A squad, is finishing it in the World Series. The 21-year-old became the youngest player since Mickey Mantle to bat third in a World Series lineup in Friday’s opening game.

He made an immediate impact for Texas, doubling off the wall in the first inning to drive in the game’s first run. Texas went on to win 6-5 on an 11th inning homer by Adolis Garcia. Carter has reached base safely in all 14 games he’s played in this year’s postseason.

“It’s a dream come true,” Carter told Derek Jeter in a postgame interview about playing in the World Series. “You always want to be ready to go in the minor leagues. To think that I’d have been in the World Series this time, this is unreal.”

Holly coached Carter in youth football and baseball until Carter’s middle school years. He remembers joking with Carter’s dad that the kid would be going a long way in baseball.

“He was just that talented, at a very young age,” Holly recalled. “When he was in little league, I remember throwing the ball to him as hard as I could, and he was about 9, and he just would hit it right back at you. He was a phenomenal athlete.”

Carter’s family is part of Central Community Christian Church, a nondenominational congregation outside of Elizabethton. But he regularly attended programs and events at First Baptist Church during his childhood and teenage years.

“Evan and his family are very grounded people,” Holly said. “They’re very humble. They’re very gracious. Evan has always been this even-keeled kid. With his faith, he’s always stayed steady.”

That’s why Holly wasn’t surprised when, after Carter was called up to the Rangers in September, he took his first batting practice wearing a blue T-shirt with the message “Jesus Won” prominently displayed across his chest.

“I always felt like Evan was grounded on the Lord, and he had his eyes, his ears and his heart the right way,” Holly said.

In an interview in the dugout prior to his Major League debut, Carter wore that “Jesus Won” shirt while speaking to the media about being a part of the Rangers team.

“It’s unbelievable,” Carter said to start the interview. “I’m grateful, and I thank God for the opportunity.”

That shirt has become practically ubiquitous in Elizabethton, as Carter’s performance and profile have continued to skyrocket since his arrival with the Rangers. Fellowship of Christian Athletes sells a Carter edition of the shirt, with “EC” and Carter’s number 32 on the sleeve. Carter and his wife Kaylen shared on social media that they want to use their platform in baseball to give back to their community in Carter County, Tenn.

Proceeds from sales of the shirt benefit Central Cares, a program from their home church that helps provide for children in impoverished situations, and to help provide an environment for young baseball players in their community to succeed.

Holly said that Carter and Kaylen have been together since sixth grade.

“You can just tell how they treat each other that the Lord is front and center for both of them,” he said.

Holly, who also teaches at Elizabethton High School, said the “Jesus Won” shirt has given him the opportunity to engage a lot of students who wear it with the message. That’s just one way he says that Carter has made an impact on his community and how he is a role model to others.

“Evan’s a very humble, quiet person,” Holly said. “The thing he tells a lot of people is, ‘You can be great without being loud, and you can be great without causing problems, and you can be great without being flamboyant.’”

In that sense, Holly said Carter is similar to Elizabethton’s other star athlete, former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.

“Both of those guys kind of have the same character,” Holly said. “They’re quiet, family people. They just show kids that you can be the right person and be awesome.”

Tim Ellsworth is associate vice president for university communications at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

Dockery gives trustees hopeful ‘indicators’ of God’s work in SWBTS enrollment, finances

FORT WORTH—President David S. Dockery gave a positive report of hopeful “indicators of what the Lord has been doing,” including in the areas of enrollment and finances, during the Oct. 18 regularly scheduled fall meeting of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary board of trustees.

Chairman Jonathan Richard told trustees he was “thankful for the unity that has existed in this place the last few days,” and he believed “we are moving forward in a unified way and in a unified direction.”

Richard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Estancia, N.M., said the dinner between the board and faculty showed that morale seemed “higher than this time last year.” He also observed the “hopefulness” that “is resting within our trustee body” for which he offered God praise.

All votes of the board were unanimous.

At the beginning of his report, Dockery noted the 30th anniversary of the inauguration of R. Albert Mohler Jr. as president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“Southwestern Seminary sends heartiest congratulations to President and Mrs. Mohler, and the Southern Seminary community,” he said. “We are grateful for Dr. Mohler’s leadership at Southern Seminary, in the world of theological education and across the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Dockery told trustees that student headcount for the 2022-2023 academic year was 3,574, which reflected an increase of 171 students over the previous year. He also noted that full-time enrollment (FTE) was 2,317 students, which also showed an increase of 94 students.

“FTE is formed and shaped by the number of credit hours that are taught,” Dockery said, noting that credit hours taught in 2022-2023 were 34,835, an increase of 1,582 hours over the previous academic year. He cautioned that while the numbers would have a “positive impact on the SBC FTE” the impact would be “small because the SBC FTE is not a one-year snapshot,” but rather is “built on a three-year rolling average.”

Commending the “wonderful” work of Jack D. Terry, interim vice president for institutional advancement, and O.S. Hawkins, chancellor, Dockery reported that unrestricted giving was “outstanding” as more than $3 million was contributed to Southwestern Seminary during 2022-2023.

Dockery also highlighted the “improved morale across the campus” and the “evidence of collaboration,” which he said has been a “great source of encouragement.” He noted in particular the work and service of the seminary’s leadership team, including W. Madison Grace II, provost and vice president for academic administration and dean of the School of Theology; Travis Trawick, vice president for institutional effectiveness and strategy; Chandler Snyder, vice president for enrollment and student services and dean of students; Adam Dodd, vice president for campus technology; Dale Ford, interim vice president for financial services; and Terry.

Dockery said Southwestern’s leadership has been “encouraged by the fact that our credit hours are again up 488 over last fall” to 15,824 credit hours taught in the fall 2023 semester. He added “even after last year’s improvement that means we continue to take steps forward.”

“We are grateful to God for at least small markers, indicators of positive steps in terms of both enrollment and giving,” Dockery said, adding FTE numbers for the current fall semester increased by 23 students over last fall while total giving in the first two months of the fiscal year was more than $1.6 million, which “is a bit ahead of last year.”

Dockery also observed the “hopeful spirit across the campus,” which has been “manifest in so many ways throughout the fall semester, particularly in prayer gatherings.” He highlighted the weekly times of prayer, the Oct. 14 Day of Prayer, and the Oct. 17 time of prayer during the seminary’s chapel service when students, faculty and staff gathered to pray for the board’s decisions and unity. He added that God has “certainly answered those prayers yesterday and for that we give thanks to Him.”

He asked the trustees to join him in “trusting the Lord to help us be a joyful, prayerful, and thankful community,” reflecting the 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 theme verse for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Dockery also shared facts from the unaudited financial report for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, noting “the cash position has increased from $1.7 million to $2.8,” and total assets increased while total liabilities decreased which has resulted in “a difference of about $2.9 million increase in total net assets.”

“That’s a hallelujah and a wonderful thing for which we say thanks be to God for His kindness to us,” Dockery added. He noted that the Business Administration Committee has been encouraged by financial controls that are “being put in place and that expenses are being monitored carefully as we move into the year.”

Dockery highlighted that during the 2022-2023 academic year, revenue increased while operating expenses measurably decreased, resulting in a significant step forward. While the year-to-year improvement is quite significant, he cautioned that “it does not mean that we have reached what we desire for it to be. We still have a long way to go.”

Dockery said the seminary’s leadership was “looking forward and trusting the Lord” for the impending sale of the Carroll Park property, which he said they hope “will happen in the next 45 days.” He said the first phase of the sale has been completed, with five acres sold to the Presbyterian Night Shelter, and the second phase includes the remaining 15 acres of the property sold to the City of Fort Worth.

Addressing the warning given to the seminary in June by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), Dockery announced the enlistment of two consultants, Ralph Enlow, past president of the Association for Higher Biblical Education, and Carla Sanderson, provost of Chamberlain University in Addison, Ill., to assist in the areas of board governance and accreditation, respectively.

About the warnings, Dockery said “it is important that we seek to address those” adding that “this is not probation, but it is a serious sanction.”

Despite the seminary’s challenges, Dockery said, “I want you to know that the main thing that happens on this campus is still being done well,” noting the “commitment to teaching” and “what takes place in the classroom in terms of student learning.”

He commended the work of the Southwestern faculty as “their efforts toward scholarship are all taking steps forward.” He said he believes “what we’re doing in the classroom,” including on campus, online, and in hybrid situations “continues to get better.”

Dockery highlighted the spring 2023 chapels which were a “unifying factor for the campus as the faculty preached through the book of Philippians.” He added the fall 2023 chapels have been “excellent” with a focus on missions and evangelism, with plans for faculty to preach through 1 and 2 Thessalonians during the spring 2024 chapels.

Dockery announced the appointment of two task teams.

A board task team, chaired by trustee Joshua Allen, lead pastor of Parkway Hills Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, will work on the board policy manual, while the institutional task team for campus utilization, co-chaired by Trawick and trustee Mike Bussey, executive pastor of WALK Church in Las Vegas, will “think about how we use the assets we have for the good of the future of this institution,” Dockery said.

He explained the board task team would report to the board of trustees and will “bring recommendations with the authority of the board” while the institutional task team is comprised of board members and seminary employees and will “bring the recommendation to the administration to bring back to you.”

The board approved three recommendations from its executive committee, including a change in bylaws regarding two committees. The board voted to change the name of the Academic Administration Committee to become the Academic and Technology Committee and to create the Enrollment, Retention, and Student Services Committee.

Additionally, the board approved an executive committee recommendation to amend the seminary’s bylaws to clarify that the seminary’s president cannot be elected as a board member and to remove the president as an ex-officio member of the board. Vice-Chairman Robert Brown noted these changes were made at Dockery’s request.

The board also approved a corporate resolution that the president and officers of the seminary, including Dockery, Ford, Grace and Trawick, are authorized with appropriate signature authority on behalf of the institution.

Additionally, the board approved a $34.5 million revised budget for the academic year and that 50 percent of the remaining proceeds of the Carroll Park sale would go to a board-designated endowment while the remaining 50 percent would go to cash reserves. The board also authorized the administration to make revisions to the 2023-2024 capital needs budget with approval of the Business Administration Committee.

The board approved the appointment of Dean Sieberhagen, interim dean of the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, to the Charles F. Stanley Chair for the Advancement of Global Christianity; Andy Jennings to the rank of assistant professor of philosophy of religion and apologetics; and renewed the presidential appointment of Dietmar Schulze as associate professor of missions.

The recipients of the B.H. Carroll and L.R. Scarborough awards were also approved by the board, as were the candidates for fall 2023 graduation.

The next board meeting is scheduled for April 8-9, 2024.

State of the Bible: Online worshipers lead in Bible reading frequency

PHILADELPHIA (BP)—Bible users who worship God online are most likely to read the Bible at least weekly apart from church service, the American Bible Society (ABS) said in its latest 2023 State of the Bible release.

Among online worshipers, 74% read the Bible at least weekly, whether they worship solely online or online and in person. Of in-person-only worshippers, 32% read the Bible at least weekly, the ABS said.

“This might seem surprising to those who see online church as a lesser experience, used by people who are less committed spiritually,” the ABS said in the report’s seventh chapter, focused on Bible use and technology. “We suspect that these numbers speak to the personal nature of online attendance.”

Online attendance, often done alone or with immediate family, “can be more about hearing about God and from God,” the ABS speculated. “It’s personal, as Bible reading often is.”

The findings are among the results of an 18-minute survey conducted in January among a representative sample of adults 18 and older within the 50 states and D.C. Percentages are based on 2,761 responses.

The release delved into how many people read the Bible at least weekly outside of normal church services and certain descriptive characteristics concerning them.

Among top findings:

  • 25% of American adults use the Bible at least weekly, amounting to about 65 million people.
  • More than half of Evangelicals, 53%, report reading the Bible weekly, compared to 21% of Catholics who do so.
  • Black Americans far surpass others in reading the Bible at least weekly, with 38% reporting so, compared to 23% among all other ethnic groups combined. Nearly one in five Blacks (19%) read the Bible daily, outpacing all other groups combined, which numbered 8 percent.
  • Curiosity about Scripture doesn’t necessarily drive Scripture reading, the ABS found. About 39 million U.S. adults say they are extremely curious about Scripture, but don’t read it at least weekly. More than half of Americans, 52%, wish they read Scripture more, but only 14% increased their Bible reading in the past year.
  • Among the top impediments to reading Scripture more frequently were a lack of time (26%), a lack of excitement (15%), not knowing where to start (17%), and difficulty in relating to the language (15%).

Among other findings:

  • The popularity of digital Scripture sources is about the same as in 2022. Just under 70% of Bible users read a printed Bible at least monthly, 50% read a digital Bible app at least monthly, and 48% read Scripture through internet searches at the same frequency.
  • Elders continue to favor printed Bibles at 87%; while 46% of Boomers are most likely to watch a Bible program on video.
  • Bible apps and podcasts are most popular among Millennials, 42%, and Gen X, 39%; with digital Bibles and online Bible reading plans also most popular among those generations.
  • Gen Z is most likely to access Scripture through internet searches.

The State of the Bible annually looks at the Bible, faith and the church in America. The ABS collaborated with the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC) in designing the study conducted online and via telephone to NORC’s AmeriSpeak Panel.

Southern Baptists in Israel urge prayer for safety, quick, ‘miraculous’ peace in the Middle East

ASHKELON, Israel (BP)—On Friday night, longtime Kentucky Baptist pastor and former Kentucky Baptist Convention staff member Alan Dodson walked on the beach in Ashkelon, Israel, as he met with U.S. ministry leaders planning future trips to the Holy Land.

Just a few hours later, a devastating barrage of 100 Hamas-launched rockets hit the city, beginning what many Middle East experts are calling the most serious conflict in the region since the Yom Kippur War exactly 50 years ago this month.

Dodson now serves as the vice president for North American relations at E.D.I. Travel, an Israeli company specializing in Christian tours to Israel. Dodson and the people he was with are safe and unharmed, he said.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” Dodson told Baptist Press. “Pray that hostilities would end quickly. Many Israelis are lost and need to know the hope of the gospel. The other side is in pervasive darkness. Pray for them as well.”

Dodson is among at least a half dozen groups of Southern Baptists who were in Israel as the Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas, launched a surprise attack on Israel this weekend. In the attack, Hamas sent thousands of rockets and armed forces into Israel. According to USA Today, 700 Israelis and 500 in Gaza have been killed in the conflict so far. More than 2,500 Israelis have been injured, another 100 have been taken captive by militants.

‘We need to be one’

Ric Worshill, the executive director of the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship, noted that the attack came on the last day of Sukkot, one of the holiest of days on the Jewish calendar. Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is an eight-day festival that celebrates the harvest.

“It’s horrible,” Worshill told BP. “It’s just heartbreaking because this year has been the highest in anti-Semitism throughout the world since the Holocaust, and it’s really sad that they would pick the last day of a Jewish holiday to do all this barbaric stuff.”

Worshill asked Southern Baptists to unite in prayer for those involved in this conflict.

“We need to be one,” Worshill said. “We need to be one about everything. We need to be one about the Lord. We need to be one about politics. And we need to be one about being against the attacks of Satan in prayer. That’s the biggest thing I can say. There should be no division in the body of Christ. We, Southern Baptists, need to stick together.”

Tour groups playing it safe

Zach Terry, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fernandina Beach, Fla., arrived in Israel last week to lead a team of 54 people on a tour of Israel. Besides members of his church, he also has members of several other Southern Baptist churches in Florida and Georgia with him on the trip.

So far, Terry said the trip has stayed close to schedule despite the conflict. They’ve been able to see sites in Galilee, along with sites in Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, Masada, and Jerusalem.

“When it first started, we were up near the Lebanon border, north of Galilee, right in the top areas,” Terry said. “We could throw a rock and hit Lebanon from some of the places we were at. Then, when we got word that it started, we started to kind of move away from Lebanon, move toward Jerusalem to see how it would develop and what the danger was.”

Jerusalem, he said, seemed like the safest location because their tour company owned a hotel there where they could stay if the situation worsened. He said Jerusalem has been fairly normal and quiet since they arrived.

Earlier on Monday (Oct. 9), Terry said the group heard one of the rockets got through Israel’s “Iron Dome,” and landed in Jerusalem. The Iron Dome is an Israeli air defense system. The group, he added, can also hear fighting in Gaza and see smoke on the horizon.

Since the fighting has begun, Terry said he has heard from a number of Southern Baptists back in the United States, including Albert Mohler, president of Terry’s alma mater, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Bob Bumgarner, of First Coast Churches, his church’s local Baptist association.

The plan was for the group to return to the states on Thursday, but they’ve been told that’s unlikely right now. They are trying to at least get some of the women back to the United States, but that has proved difficult.

Terry also urged Southern Baptists to pray.

“First, pray for the end of the conflict, that it would end peaceably, and quickly,” Terry said. “As far as our group is concerned, just pray that God uses our time here, that we’re able to be good representatives of the Lord. We’re trying to get out of here, but some of these other brothers aren’t able to. This is home for them. We’re very aware of that. We have a lot of brothers/sisters here in Israel. We’ve got brothers and sisters in Gaza. So, we just need to lift them up. And for everybody that’s involved, we don’t want any loss of life.”

Just hours after Pastor Brent McDougal and his team from First Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tenn., arrived in Israel on Friday evening, they were awoken to sounds of sirens in Tel Aviv. A missile struck a few miles from their hotel.

The team, McDougal said, was on a pilgrimage to Israel to see some of the biblical sites in the country. They plan to leave on Oct. 20, but they currently can’t leave out of the airport in Tel Aviv. They are looking into backup plans for departing if the fighting continues to escalate and they need a quick escape.

“We are so thankful that Southern Baptists are a people of prayer,” McDougal told Baptist Press. “We’re grateful that people can be praying for us, not only for safety, but also for wisdom and making good decisions about continuing or finding the best way home. We would also ask that Southern Baptists would pray for those who are suffering in Israel on both sides. We are deeply saddened by the violence that we have heard about and grief that families are experiencing. It’s been eye-opening to be in the center of this conflict that has been going on for so many thousands of years.”

McDougal asked Southern Baptists, as they watch the events unfold in Israel, to renew their efforts to be peacemakers at home.

“The conflict here has been a great contrast to the ways in which we can be so divided in the United States,” McDougal said. “We believe that God’s people are called to be not only people of truth, but also people of peace. So, we hope that Southern Baptists can be renewed in their fervent prayers, and in their discipleship of the one who was called the Prince of Peace.”

Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., also has a team visiting Israel at this time. Everyone on the trip is safe according to an email from the church.

In addition, First Baptist Church of Loganville, Ga., has a team of 40 people in Israel right now.

Send Relief extends call for prayer, begins working with partners to bring aid in Israel

In the early morning hours of Oct. 7, 2023, militants with the terrorist group Hamas launched a surprise, multi-pronged assault on Israel — beginning with missile strikes near Tel Aviv — with thousands dead and injured from both sides within the first 24 hours.

The assault is the broadest in decades, escalating the long-simmering conflict into all-out war. Israelis along the Gaza border and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are displaced and scrambling to avoid street-to-street battles and intensifying retaliatory strikes.

With the conflict expected to rage for some time, Send Relief is working with partners in the area to quickly respond to needs of the thousands of Jews and Arabs reeling from the effects of war and displacement.

Prayer Points

  • Pray for peace in Israel, Gaza and the surrounding area.
  • Pray for survivors and the thousands injured in the fighting, as well as hostages and prisoners of war.
  • Pray for the families and individuals displaced due to the sudden conflict.
  • Pray for thousands grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Pray for needed resources such as food, water, and medicine to reach those impacted by the conflict.

Financial gifts can be made through SendRelief.org here.

IMB using telemedicine to create gospel access

Sitting in a home office in Ohio, a doctor logs onto her laptop at 3:30 a.m. Across the globe it’s mid-morning. The doctor smiles at a face that pops up on her screen. Consulting with her patient, she asks what brought him in today. Then she listens, in real time, to his heartbeat.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

His heart sounds stable. That’s a good sign. Next, a nurse next to the patient in the clinic holds an otoscope to the man’s ear. A live video of the veiny, flesh-colored ear drum appears on the doctor’s screen in the U.S.

As the doctor does a visual assessment of the patient, she diagnoses him. The infection that has been causing pain in his ear is curable, with the right medicine. She then consults with the nurse, and the team is able to get the patient treatment.

Through telemedicine strategies employed by the International Mission Board, missionaries around the globe are able to provide a reinvented mobile medical clinic. Thousands of miles across the Atlantic, doctors are able to treat people in desperate need of physical and spiritual care. Technology makes this possible, as well as the gifts of Southern Baptists that provide the medical clinics’ kits.

When COVID-19 hit, most of the Western world became acquainted with telemedicine. Just as one would FaceTime their grandma across the country, people now often consult with their doctor via a video screen. Geoff Little, an engineer turned physician who volunteers his time meeting needs across the globe, wondered why this same strategy couldn’t be employed to increase gospel access in hard-to-reach places. To fill a need, he created the kits.

Because of the kits and clinics, Little was able to see Amahle’s eternity changed. Amahle is an 11-year-old daughter of a witch doctor. Everyone around her was convinced she was possessed by a demon.

For as long as her parents could remember, their daughter had suffered violent seizures – three per day. Their area is isolated from most medical care. To protect her, the family chained Amahle to a tree in their compound.

In desperation, the village witch doctor reached out to Christians in a local church. Was there anything they could do? He asked them to pray for his daughter. The church prayed and connected with IMB missionaries several hours away, asking for help.

The desperate dad was right – all the witchcraft in the world couldn’t solve her problems. However, through the clinic, Little diagnosed her correctly and prescribed medicine and a care plan for her seizures.

On any given Sunday now, Amahle can be found in the local church, smile on her face, praising Jesus who she recognizes as Savior. Through the IMB workers, national Christians, and Little, her mother also saw her greatest need – spiritual lostness – met alongside the physical needs of her daughter. While the family still prays for the salvation for Amahle’s father, a new church has been planted in a nearby village.

The kit that saved Amahle’s life was funded through the IMB’s Dr. Rebekah Naylor Preach and Heal Fund. It’s a fully equipped telemedicine kit. It’s about 14 inches wide, and inside, there’s a Microsoft Surface pro tablet, a speaker phone, a webcam, a stethoscope that plugs right into the computer, and a Bluetooth enabled blood pressure cuff and pulse oximeter. Currently, the IMB has two of these kits and has done telemedicine consultations in 10 countries. The hope is to soon have many more kits on the field to connect the least reached to medical providers.

“There are people all over this world that have to go a tremendous journey to see even the most low-level medical provider,” Little said, explaining his heart for this ministry. Now through this ministry, a clinic is taken via a mobile phone right to their villages.

More than 30 providers comprise Little’s team. They are physicians, physician’s assistants and certified registered nurse practitioners in many specialties who have the desire to preach and heal. Little recruits them at events like the IMB’s MedAdvance conference and through other IMB healthcare strategies.

Through the local clinic and national doctors, medication or follow-up care is prescribed, and lives are changed. More than 20 have made professions of faith due to this telemedicine strategy.

As each person enters the clinics, national believers and IMB missionaries greet them and share hope of the gospel as well as the hope that proper medical care provides to improve their quality of life on this side of eternity.

Tom Hicks, the IMB’s new director of Global Health Strategies, expressed his gratitude for the impact of the project. “By partnering with national believers and healthcare providers, we can capitalize on openings for clinics in days rather than months. We can see an opportunity to care for hurting people on Thursday and be doing clinic with national partners by Monday morning.”

Hicks explained that because the clinics work with national partners, the patients can connect with local churches and believers. “Our telemedicine consultants work with the technology and national translators and church planters to see the gospel get to the lost in new and exciting ways,” he said.

Rick Dunbar, an emergency room doctor and chairman of the IMB’s health strategies advisory group, commented, “Geoff (Little) is using his skills and training to create gospel access. Through this strategy, he’s also creating jobs for nationals. And the teams are getting behind closed doors and getting the chance to share the gospel with the unreached while taking care of them medically.”

“Isn’t it amazing?” he asked.

*Some names may have been changed for security purposes.

SBC president Bart Barber shares optimism for future during NAMB visit

ALPHARETTA, Ga.—Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber shared his optimistic outlook for the future as he visited the offices of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) on Sept. 6.

“I’m going to predict that spiritual awakening is coming for America, and that we’re going to have the opportunity to benefit from that and participate in that, and it’s not just wishful thinking,” Barber said in response to a question from NAMB president Kevin Ezell about the future of the SBC. “As a student of our history, the spiritual awakenings that we’ve had before have come in times of profound darkness. Just because that feels like a trend right now doesn’t mean that we’re stuck in that.”

In describing the challenges facing the next generation, Barber described their situation as inheriting a “raw deal.” He referred to statistics that show how 46% of adolescents today are reporting that they consistently deal with feelings of anxiety and depression.

“They’re unhappy with what their culture has handed to them,” Barber said. “There’s going to be a profound opportunity to point them toward answers to the longings and questions that they face, and that’s always [been] there. But, I think it’s going to come in a deeper, more profound way. I think that Southern Baptist churches are going to be one group of churches that are still around actually preaching the Gospel whenever that moment comes. I’m optimistic about where things are headed.”

Before speaking to the future of the SBC, Ezell asked Barber to share more about what the last year and half have been like serving as president, and Barber discussed the joy of meeting Southern Baptists from across the nation. Hundreds of people and churches have sent him messages of encouragement, letting him know that they have been praying for him.

But neither Ezell nor Barber shied away from the ongoing challenges facing the SBC.

“There have been some ways that God has blessed us amazingly over the last couple of years, but there have also been some obvious ways that God’s hand that’s on the SBC to bless the SBC, is also on the SBC to humble the SBC,” Barber said. “Serving in a time like that poses some additional challenges.”

Despite the challenges, however, Barber maintains that the SBC remains the best way for Baptist churches to partner together for the sake of the Great Commission.

“Over the course of time, we have repeatedly found reasons to cooperate instead of reasons to separate,” Barber said of the history of Southern Baptists. “There have always been reasons to separate from the beginning … but even with reasons to separate in front of us all the time, God’s continually led us to reasons to cooperate that have overcome the reasons to separate.”

Barber called the SBC’s Cooperative Program “genius” and went on to use the church he pastors, First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas, as an example of how a congregation in a small town supports missionaries around the world and can travel to serve alongside and learn from those on the mission field.

“Even the things that we do on our own,” said Barber, who pastors FBC Farmersville in North Texas, “are enhanced and made stronger, made wiser and more efficient, by the fact that we’re able to draw from the knowledge, planning, encouragement and training that comes out of this thing we’ve all built together. It’s a beautiful, I believe divinely inspired and planted, thing that’s going on in the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Before closing the meeting, former SBC president and current president of Send Relief, Bryant Wright, prayed over Barber and the days ahead for the Southern Baptist Convention.