Author: Baptist Press

Associations key to SBC revitalization, presidential candidates say

NASHVILLE (BP) – Local Baptist associations are vital catalysts for unity in the SBC and the rebound of Cooperative Program giving, according to the three candidates for convention president who participated in a forum Sunday (June 13) hosted by the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders (SBCAL).

Northwest Baptist Convention executive director Randy Adams, Alabama pastor Ed Litton and Georgia pastor Mike Stone each recounted their experience with associations as well as their encouragement for associational leaders. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr., the fourth announced presidential candidate, did not attend the SBCAL Presidential Candidates Forum because of other obligations in advance of the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, which begins Tuesday (June 15).

The forum was part of SBCAL’s annual conference, which began Sunday and continues Monday at the Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel. Moderated by Josh Ellis, executive director of Houston’s Union Baptist Association, the 30-minute conversation focused on whether associations remain relevant in the modern SBC.

Adams said he considers associational mission strategists “the key cooperative family in Southern Baptist life.” An associational leader is the only denominational worker most pastors know, he said, adding that any state convention or SBC initiative will have broader participation among churches if associations are included as ministry partners.

Adams said the “worst strategic mistake” Southern Baptists made in recent years was diverting CP money away from state conventions after the Great Commission Task Force recommended in 2010 that more funds be channeled to SBC-level ministries, Adams said. State conventions in turn cut their funding of associations, and associations had to scale back their efforts at connecting churches to the denomination.

CP giving from churches will rebound from its decade-long decline if more congregations connect with their local associations, Adams said. If Southern Baptist revitalization doesn’t occur at the associational level, “it’s not going to happen nationally or regionally.”

Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Ala., said if he’s elected SBC president, he will ask associations to lead churches in a season of fasting and prayer “for each of our associations, our state conventions and our national convention.”

When the SBC is fractured, “I believe the association is the place to solve those problems,” Litton said. Associations can “bring together pastors and other leaders in your churches” to share their experiences “so that we can once again begin to unify.”

The hard work of loving one another begins on the associational level, Litton said, noting that when “we come to the national convention, we love everybody,” but on a local level “it’s easy to see each other as competition.”

Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga., said his commitment to Baptist associations has been reflected in his leadership at the local church and state convention levels. The staff at Emmanuel has “become almost an extension of the ministry of the association,” providing training for smaller congregations on behalf of the association.

When Stone served as chairman of the Georgia Baptist Convention Executive Committee, he helped craft a policy that limited to three years the period a church could cooperate with the state convention without also cooperating with an association. When churches are disconnected from their association, Stone said, cooperation at all levels of Southern Baptist life begins to break down.

“Everything flows from the local church,” Stone said. “So the first layer that we have of our cooperation in the Southern Baptist Convention is the local association.”

The forum closed with prayer led by Ellis for all the presidential candidates.

Greear reflects on SBC’s past, present and future in BP interview

NASHVILLE (BP) – Twenty years from now, historians are going to call the upcoming annual meeting a defining moment for the Southern Baptist Convention. It will determine if the SBC chooses to let the Great Commission and the Gospel define its mission or if it will be seen as a geographical, cultural and political voting bloc. It will determine the basis for SBC unity.

At least that’s the position of James David Greear as he finishes his third year as SBC president. Greear’s association with the SBC presidency began in 2016 when he withdrew his candidacy after neither he nor Memphis pastor Steve Gaines broke the 50 percent threshold despite being the only two candidates. Add in an unexpected third year as president due to the cancellation of the 2020 annual meeting amid COVID-19, and Greear – better known as J.D. – has been a leading figure in Southern Baptist life for half a decade.

“We need to leave St. Louis united,” Greear told messengers five years ago before making the motion to elect Gaines by acclamation. Despite the current day’s divisions in the SBC, unity is a hope he not only holds on to, but sees tremendous evidence of.

“I’ve spoken at most state conventions across the country, and I see Southern Baptists who just want to be about the Great Commission and reaching our neighbors who aren’t like us,” Greear said. “Yes, we all have our political opinions and hold them differently. But our differences on secondary matters ought not be the defining reality of the church.”

That observation has come from his time with “rank and file Southern Baptists across America, whether in big cities or small, rural towns.” The focus, he observed, is on evangelism and missions and not “tertiary and secondary questions.”

“They want the main thing to be the main thing,” he said. “They recognize that our society is changing and diversifying. If we’re going to reach our society, our leadership is going to have to change with it.”

Greear cited the North American Mission Board’s report that 63 percent of its church plants are led by people of color. Fifty-one percent of the appointments he made to SBC committees are also people of color.

“When you see people stepping forward to lead, that’s a demonstration of God doing something,” he said. “He is pursuing a unity of diversity and unity of cause in the SBC that’s preparing to take us in the future of reaching all of our country with the Gospel, not just people in one ethnicity and geographical area.”

According to Greear, the volume level of criticism during his presidency does not match his experience in actual number of critics. But it did lead to unexpected attention in other areas.

“You have a loud and vitriolic small minority that want our Convention to be about preserving the status quo or being divisive over secondary issues,” he said. “I joke that it’s like when Toto pulls back the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. This big, booming voice actually belongs to this one tiny man. That experience has actually been a pleasant surprise and given me hope.

“However, I wasn’t prepared for some of the cheap shots that came against me, particularly my church. People at The Summit couldn’t understand why everything we do is suddenly controversial. We’ve had others take out Facebook ads targeting church members and trying to sully my reputation.”

The SBC’s biggest challenges moving forward are going to begin with the basics, Greear said. That starts with how Southern Baptists see themselves and their mission.

“It’s going to depend on whether or not we’re a Great Commission people, if we’re basing our unity on that or if we’re going to be preservers of a geographical or cultural heritage,” he said. “I’m not talking about compromising on things like the sanctity of marriage, religious liberty or the sanctity of life. Those things are political, and we will always be clear on those things.

“God has not called the SBC, first and foremost, to save America politically. He’s called us to testify the Gospel to all peoples. The rules of engagement are different as to your primary purpose, and that’s going to be a challenge going forward. Are we going to rally around the Great Commission? Are we going to reach those in all parts of the country, not just the red or blue parts?”

The focus, Greear said, should be on presenting and living out the Gospel for a younger generation. Greear pointed to NAMB’s projection that by 2030, more than a third of Southern Baptist churches will be no more than 20 years old.

“I talk to younger pastors, Black pastors, Hispanic pastors all the time who are wondering why they should be a part of this Convention when there’s so much slander and distortion and exaggeration,” Greear said. “That’s going to be a challenge. If we’re going to posture ourselves in a spirit of the Pharisees that treats the traditions of men like they’re the commands of God and be preservers of the status quo, then at that point Jesus said you’re like a whitewashed tomb. The exterior is pretty but you’re filled with bones.

“If we don’t say we’re a Great Commission Gospel people, we’re not only going to lose our [pastors of color], but the next generation of Southern Baptists.”

It is “absolutely” possible to address issues such as racial reconciliation and sexual abuse without placing the Gospel in a secondary position, he said.

“Racial reconciliation is one of the fruits of Gospel transformation,” Greear said. “We always say that vertical reconciliation leads to horizontal transformation. It’s also evangelistic for us. Are we just going to be a church for southern Republicans? Or are we going to be a Convention that reaches everybody? Churches that are seeking to fulfill the Great Commission should reflect the diversity of their communities and proclaim the diversity of the kingdom.

“Sexual abuse is the same thing. What kind of Gospel are we preaching that doesn’t lead to us protecting the most vulnerable in our congregation?”

He added that it is always possible to place a fruit of the Gospel above preaching the Gospel, and is something that must be guarded against. But “in this day and age we’ve got to focus on areas where the Gospel is transforming us. That means how we relate to people around us who aren’t like us as well as to how we protect the most vulnerable.”

Greear said that type of witness in no way includes a compromise on biblical fidelity, but the opportunity to provide a living example of it. An SBC that “loves Baptist doctrine, God’s Word and the Great Commission” doesn’t bend on pro-life positions, religious liberty or issues related to the sanctity of marriage or God’s design for gender, Greear said.

He further confirmed that “without caveat” The Summit Church, all SBC entity heads, state convention executives, SBC officers and other leaders affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the exclusivity of Christ and the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture. Those standards and following the example of Christ are crucial for how the SBC will progress.

“Jesus taught us this when He went to the cross, though in the form of God He considered himself a servant,” Greear said. “That is the mission.”

SBC Executive Committee will undergo independent review

NASHVILLE (BP) – SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Ronnie Floyd announced Friday (June 11) that the Executive Committee has secured Guidepost Solutions for an independent review of its handling of sexual abuse issues.

The move came just days before Southern Baptists gather in Nashville for the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, and amid controversy over allegations made by former Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore that various Southern Baptist leaders “stonewall[ed]” calls to address sexual abuse in the SBC.

According to a news release, Floyd worked with Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade, who had earlier called for an independent investigation, on “details of this outside review and selection of a firm.”

“Guidepost is one of the most reputable companies in the nation for uncovering facts and providing guidance for the future,” Floyd said in a statement to Baptist Press. “Our staff commits to transparency and cooperation. Caring for abuse survivors and protecting the vulnerable in our churches must remain a priority for Southern Baptists, and we want to communicate that clearly before a watching world.”

Slade, who has been vocal about the church’s responsibility to address sexual abuse, said the issue is a “personal” priority of his tenure as Executive Committee chairman.

“The church should be the safest place for survivors of sexual abuse,” Slade told Baptist Press. “They deserve to be treated with the utmost respect. For me, it’s personal because my wife is a survivor. It’s important that we do everything we can and then some.”

Slade said he has heard questions about whether the Executive Committee could be trusted to investigate itself.

“I know there are folks who will not agree with the actions we’re taking,” he said. “I want to ask them to be patient with us and join us in getting this right.”

Guidepost Solutions has been engaged for independent reviews recently by organizations including The Summit Church of Raleigh, N.C. – where SBC President J.D. Greear is senior pastor – and the ministry formerly known as Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. The news release from the Executive Committee touted Guidepost’s “deep experience providing advice and counsel to faith communities” in “monitoring, compliance, sensitive investigations and risk management solutions.

According to the news release, the Executive Committee “commits to providing full support and transparency to Guidepost Solutions including making individuals available for interviews and providing relevant documents.” Guidepost Solutions will:

“Review these recent allegations against the SBC Executive Committee of mishandling sexual abuse cases and mistreating sexual abuse victims; the allegations of a pattern of intimidation; and

“Review and enhance training provided to SBC Executive Committee staff and its board of trustees related to these matters, as well as its communications to cooperating churches and congregants in cooperating churches.”

Slade cited Guidepost’s “varied expertise” and reputation for work in the faith community. He said the firm could “not only help us with and in this situation, but I’m hopeful we can have an ongoing relationship and they can help us develop expertise from top to bottom to better than we’ve done in the past, which is really just being faithful to the charge Southern Baptists have given us.”

Moore’s allegations came in two letters leaked recently to news media. In a letter addressed to Greear and dated May 31, 2021 – the final day of Moore’s eight-year tenure at the ERLC – Moore wrote of two meetings in 2019 among Southern Baptist leaders, describing opposition to efforts to address sexual abuse in the SBC. Floyd participated in both meetings; then-Executive Committee Chairman Mike Stone participated in one.

Stone is among four candidates for SBC president at the 2021 Annual Meeting. In a video posted Saturday (June 5) to the YouTube account of his church, Emmanuel Baptist of Blackshear, Ga., Stone called Moore’s allegations “ungodly” and “absolutely slanderous.”

In a statement Saturday (June 5), Floyd said while he took the allegations in the letter seriously, he did “not have the same recollection of occurrences as stated.”

On Wednesday (June 9), Slade, pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon, Calif., told Religion News Service he would call for such a review at the Executive Committee’s meeting Monday (June 14) in Nashville, saying: “It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing.”

The controversy grew Thursday (June 10), when Phillip Bethancourt, a Texas pastor who was at the time the ERLC’s executive vice president, released audio clips from the 2019 meetings which appeared to buttress the charges made in Moore’s letters. In a statement released later Thursday, Floyd joined Slade in calling for the independent, third-party review. He said the EC staff leadership had been working since last weekend toward “securing a highly credible outside firm” to conduct a review.

Floyd described the meetings, which were held in May 2019 and October 2019, as “leaders engaging in a scriptural process of coming together with others who have differing opinions on complicated issues and … discussing those differences honestly with a goal of how to best move forward.” He also apologized “for any offense that may have resulted” from remarks he’d made in the meetings, while saying Bethancourt’s release of the audio recordings was “an attempt to mischaracterize” the meetings “as an effort to avoid addressing the reality of sex abuse.”

Guidepost Solutions was engaged earlier this year by The Summit Church to review handling by staff member Bryan Loritts of sexual misconduct allegations against his then-brother-in-law at a Memphis church Loritts pastored.

Guidepost Solutions was also recently hired by the organization formerly known as Ravi Zacharias International Ministries to conduct an independent review of the organization. Guidepost was engaged after another independent review found Zacharias, its founder, had engaged in numerous instances of sexual misconduct.

According to the Executive Committee’s news release, Guidepost “will assist the SBC Executive Committee in its commitment to Christlike behavior and develop policies and systems to better equip the Executive Committee staff and Board of Trustees to serve the best interests of Southern Baptists with integrity and excellence.”

Slade told Baptist Press: “We should have done this two years ago, before Dr. Floyd came [as Executive Committee president and CEO]. We should have just gone through and cleared the deck, cleaned everything up that needed to be cleaned up, so that when he came in, we were moving forward fresh and squared up, rather than finding out these things were happening behind the scenes before he came.”

Featured NAMB Annie missionaries share stories of encouragement

Hand-drawn hearts painstakingly colored and mailed with messages that say, “We love you pastor, and we love your family,” or “Thank you for sharing the Gospel in many ways,” or “I hope you are safe and have food and shelter,” have been received this spring by missionaries featured in this year’s Annie Armstrong Easter Offering Week of Prayer emphasis.

Shahid Kamal, pastor of South Asian Community Church in Surrey, British Columbia, read each of the above statements in a telephone interview. He had affixed the cards and letters he’d received to the wall of the space he calls his “office,” he said.

Each year, the North American Mission Board features a small group of missionaries to promote the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions. The featured missionaries, such as Anders Snyder who planted Calvary Church in Nampa, Idaho, receive an outpouring of encouragement and prayer from Southern Baptists. Photo submitted by Anders Snyder

“It’s overwhelming for us that people are taking time to write,” Kamal said, including not only his family but his entire church. He took a picture of the wall of notes and now his congregation – still separated because of the COVID-19 pandemic – say they can’t wait to read and touch each of them in person, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) missionary said.

Each year, NAMB features a small group of missionaries to promote the annual offering. The stories demonstrate how offering funds are used to spread the Gospel. Without exception, the featured missionaries also receive an outpouring of love, encouragement and prayers from Southern Baptists as well.

“Many people (among our congregation) have been blessed and have shared stories, that they were struggling in their life until this Week of Prayer,” Kamal said. “It was a good experience to see many people praying for us and encouraging us.”

He said the response he received – about 100 letters, 50 emails, invitations to speak and even Zoom calls with churches that then shared the calls with their congregations – reminded him, “We are not alone. Many are praying for us. We are very much happy.”

The other six recipients of a focus on their ministry during the Week of Prayer echoed Kamal’s words as they spoke of the encouragement they received from the cards, letters, calls and other contacts they received.

Jacob Zailian ministers among the homeless, addicted and unreached through Set Free Sanger, in Sanger, Calif. “It’s been crazy,” he said in early May. “I’m still getting stuff. Just Saturday I received another. To see the little innocent prayers from the kids has been awesome.

“What’s funny is that they’re from all over,” Zailian said. “It’s amazing to see how people see that short little video and then feel compelled to write us about it. It all goes back to the type of ministry we do. They write stuff like, ‘It’s awesome to see what you’re doing because we don’t know what to do. It’s good to see someone is addressing the problem.’”

Ryan McCammack, pastor of the multi-ethnic Gospel Hope Church on the east side of Atlanta, said the most meaningful thing to him about the nearly 100 responses he received was the recurring phrase, “We’re praying for you.”

“What stood out too, was that some of these churches are out in rural communities and not really connected to the big cities, yet they were praying for us as well,” McCammack said. “That was just very encouraging to me.

“The week we were featured, we moved into a new facility,” he said. “It was a huge blessing to have people praying for us at that time.”

Josh Valdez, pastor of Higher Ground Church in Farmington, N.M., said the one letter out of the nearly 100 letters and emails he received that stands out in his mind was a child’s very attractive drawing of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“I love theology and theology is so important in our church,” Valdez said. “That’s one that stood out for sure. They all stood out, though. Knowing all these Southern Baptist churches across the country, from various sizes, are praying for us, that’s really encouraging.”

Each year, the North American Mission Board features a small group of missionaries to promote the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions. The featured missionaries, such as Bobby Williams who planted Next Level Church in Slidell, La., receive an outpouring of encouragement and prayer from Southern Baptists. Photo submitted by Bobby Williams

The NAMB missionary has had a few Zoom calls with churches and received some donations. Some came in just when the church’s sound system went out. “That was providential,” he said. “We were given money to buy a van. That was huge!”

The van is being used to bring unchurched young people from across the high desert community that borders a Navajo reservation to Higher Ground Church.

“It’s definitely encouraging to go to the mailbox pretty much on a daily basis the last two months and have a letter in it that encourages us ‘to keep up the good work,’” said Bobby Williams, church planting pastor of Next Level Church in Slidell, La., near New Orleans.

“Twenty minutes ago, I got a call from a church in Mississippi,” Williams said. “They saw the video and said they want to see how they can serve us. We’ve had a lot of calls from churches wanting to partner with us.”

One of the letters he received was from a girl whose penmanship indicated she was about 5 or 6, the NAMB missionary said. “She wrote, ‘I’m grateful for you and your family, and the work that you do. I will be praying for you.’ That really touched me,” Williams said.

Victor Moura, a church-planting missionary in Boston, said he and his family received more than 100 letters that encouraged them in their ministry.

“We received a few letters from kids with some drawings,” Moura said. “These letters were really special because we have a toddler.”

The fact that churches were teaching even the youngest in their churches about the importance of planting new churches in hard-to-reach areas was an inspiration.

Twice, church-planting missionary Anders Snyder of Calvary Church in Nampa, Idaho, has been asked to participate in a Zoom video.

“We’ve had the joy of getting to interact with some people. One was a WMU group and the other, a localized podcast,” Snyder said. “They asked, ‘Would you Zoom, brag on Jesus and celebrate what He’s doing?’ That was fun.

“At the end of the day, with all this Week of Prayer attention, I say, ‘Hey, we’re not alone!’ It’s about the fact people are praying for this ministry to be successful in God’s kingdom work.

“The people of God and the family of God care about people. It was pretty fun to share that with our body and say we’re not alone in the body of Christ.”

Texas-based ministry partners with IMB to virtually mobilize workers for Japan

Connect 2020 vision trip to Tokyo, Japan. Prayerwalking Olympic venues.

In June and July, International Mission Board missionaries in Japan are partnering with Mobilize Japan in a virtual mission trip involving participants from across the U.S.

Mobilize Japan was founded by four Asian American graduates of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Brit Redfield, Ariel Lee, Ines Chien and Vanessa Lim. The alumni planned a virtual mission trip to allow Christians to serve among the Japanese despite the COVID-19 travel restrictions surrounding the summer Olympics.

The virtual mission trip began on June 1 and continues through the end of July. It includes three events each week – Training Tuesday, Mission Prayer Friday and Outreach Saturday. It’s not too late to sign up.

During Training Tuesdays, missionary speakers will prepare participants to effectively interact within a Japanese cultural context and teach them how to contextualize the gospel. Redfield gives the example of the Japanese word ‘tsumi,’ which means ‘sin,’ but is used to describe criminals or criminal activity. This word doesn’t resonate with the Japanese, Redfield explained, because the majority have not done anything illegal.

IMB missionary Pierce Hite will lead one of the Training Tuesdays. He will focus on equipping Christians to reach Japanese international students. Japanese are generally more open to the gospel while traveling internationally, so this provides Christians in the U.S. and other countries with a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel.

Southern Baptist volunteers talk with a Japanese woman at an outdoor food court in Tokyo, Japan. IMB missionaries planned to use volunteers as part of their ministry strategy for the 2020 Olympics. International spectators will not be able to attend the Olympics, and missionaries have had to amend their ministry plans.

Mission Prayer Fridays will provide attendees with specific ways to pray for Japan and ministries in the country and among Japanese internationally.

Carlton Walker, an IMB missionary in Tokyo, will be leading a Missions Prayer Friday and will share about church partnerships  and how they are church planting in and around a university campus.

Walker said their team focuses on church planting and catalytic work. Mission trip participants will learn about the strategic population segments Walker and IMB missionaries serve, which include the homeless, businessmen, senior adults, young adults and students. Attendees will also pray for Olympic outreach and the urgent need for more missionaries in Japan.

While international travelers are not allowed to travel to Japan during the Olympics, the Mobilize Japan team wanted to provide an outreach element for the virtual mission trip. Outreach Saturdays will include a variety of creative ways participants can directly minister virtually to people in Japan.

IMB missionary Kacie Kubosumi said they plan to host a ‘Virtual Summer Kickoff’ on July 24, the day after the opening ceremony for the Olympics. The event will be Olympic-themed and include games and breakout chat rooms to make connections and build friendships with local students.

“We want to use the ‘Olympic spirit’ as a bridge to share, as well as testimonies of some Christian athletes,” Kubosumi said. “Our biggest hope is to have this online event be a step toward reconnecting again in person and building a community from there, so we are also currently planning a follow-up, in-person event.”

IMB missionaries Daniel and Tara Rice gather with Southern Baptist volunteers for a time of prayer in front of an Olympic venue in Tokyo, Japan.

Kubosumi said they are asking Mobilize Japan participants to invite their Japanese friends to the outreach event.

“We are praying God would use the event to stir up a heart for the lost in Japan,” Kubosumi said. “We are praying they would walk away zealous, compassionate and equipped to pray for and live toward Japanese even now in their current contexts. We are also praying for seeds to be planted in Japanese participants’ hearts, and for connections to be made so we, IMB personnel in Tokyo, can follow up in person.”

Lim, one of the Mobilize Japan founders said, “We pray every day that God will save all of the Japanese we interact with this summer and that God uses the event to bless the ministries of our partners.”

Redfield expressed her appreciation for the support of IMB missionaries.

“We’re so thankful for our ministry partners, especially the IMB because they were in it from the beginning and have been supporting us and praying with us ever since,” she said.

Apply now.

Caroline Anderson writes for the IMB from Southeast Asia.

The post Ministry partners with IMB to virtually mobilize workers for Japan appeared first on IMB.

Altered for pandemic, Crossover will precede Nashville SBC Annual Meeting

NASHVILLE – For more than 30 years, Southern Baptists have focused on working together to serve and reach those in the host city of the SBC annual meeting through an evangelism emphasis called Crossover.

This year’s approach in Nashville will differ from previous years, but Southern Baptists are cooperating to help churches in Middle Tennessee minister to their communities.

“Crossover will continue its legacy of pushing back spiritual darkness in the SBC host city, which is, this year, the great city of Nashville,” said Randy Davis, executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB). “Crossover will be two days when local Middle Tennessee churches will intentionally engage their communities in various ways, actually putting the ‘Gospel above all.’”

A group goes door to door as part of Crossover in Birmingham in 2019. Baptist Press file photo

In a typical year for Crossover, mission teams and churches from across the nation are encouraged to participate in a wide variety of outreach efforts, but concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic led the TBMB and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) to focus primarily on aiding churches in and around Nashville to reach out to their communities.

Nashville-area churches are encouraged to conduct a special outreach event on Saturday, June 12, to invite neighbors to church, and then follow it up the next day, Sunday, June 13, with a Who’s Your One emphasis where churches across Middle Tennessee present the Gospel clearly and invite people to respond during their Sunday services.

“We are working diligently to see that Crossover will be a success even in the midst of a pandemic,” said Roc Collins, director of evangelism at the TBMB. “We recently offered training events for more than 50 churches in the Greater Nashville area.”

Those training events were conducted in cooperation with members of NAMB’s evangelism team as well as associational leaders as NAMB, the TBMB and the local associations have been encouraging churches to work together.

“I’m very appreciate of our southern Baptist convention partnerships, between the state convention, NAMB and the local association all working together on Crossover,” said Rusty Sumrall, executive director of the Nashville Baptist Association. “We have five different associations here in Middle Tennessee working with the state convention and NAMB, and that’s pretty exciting to see all those folks working together for one purpose in Crossover and to see God do something positive during that weekend.”

As with every Crossover event, all six Southern Baptist seminaries are invited to send seminary students for a week-long evangelism intensive where they will spend their mornings in the classroom before going out to serve local churches in the Nashville area in going door to door in their communities. Tom Johnston, senior professor of evangelism at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said that 100 students will participate in this year’s annual Crossover Seminary Evangelism Class (CSEC).

“It is a fun-filled time, a spiritually-taxing time, as well as a true spiritual high – all mixed together,” Johnston said. “Please be in prayer for this year’s students, faculty, local churches and the people with whom we will share the Gospel.”

Send Relief’s mobile clinics will be a feature of the 2021 Crossover evangelism event in Nashville. NAMB photo by Alexandra Toy

The students see the cooperation that defines Southern Baptists first-hand, Johnston said, as NAMB, the state convention, the local association and the seminaries each serve the local church by training and sending out evangelists during the week leading up to the SBC Annual Meeting.

“The CSEC is truly a Book of Acts experience for those involved,” Johnston said. “The entire effort is underwritten by the generosity of Southern Baptists giving to NAMB through the Cooperative Program.”

NAMB’s Send Relief medical and dental units will be in Nashville as well to serve those in need who could use the free medical and dental check-ups offered by professionals who will volunteer their time. The location where the units will set up has yet to be determined.

“I am praying that God will move through the churches in and around Nashville and that we will see a number of people give their lives to Christ,” said Johnny Hunt, NAMB’s senior vice president for evangelism and leadership. “Everyone has been working hard to serve the churches and empower them to share the hope of the Gospel with their neighbors.”

Churches in the Nashville area can register to participate in Crossover at namb.net/crossover.

How to deal with our pandemic grief

The pandemic has been difficult, to say the least, and even with reopenings and a sense of normalcy, there is still a fog that hasn’t lifted. These moments can be quite disorienting and discouraging as we try to recognize the reality of our lives without slipping out of hope’s grasp.

I think a major contribution to this fog is that the grief of the last year goes unrecognized or even minimized. Sometimes this occurs when we compare our grief to another’s or ignore it because it feels too overwhelming to face while still trying to navigate the current life season.

Grief is capable of shocking subtleties. And the reality is that we are actually trapped in grief if we can’t recognize what is worth lamenting. We get stuck when we can’t make sense of what has happened, why, or how it affects and changes our lives.

Grief in our current climate

I recently counseled a couple who worked overseas but had to return to the states for purposes related to COVID-19 restrictions, the death of their unborn child, and the repercussions that a medical threat posed to the wife. Under those circumstances, the marital relationship was quite strained, and it was easy for previous annoyances that had been covered up for years within the marriage to be pointed out. The sudden return to the states also meant a lack of closure with friends and co-workers.

That is a lot to grieve and to begin unpacking and processing. Unfortunately, grief was not a priority to the couple. Instead, one spouse focused on the marital frustrations of family interactions, while the other spouse focused on appeasing the other. Both tried moving around the “annoyances” of grief so they could look into returning to their work. This is avoidance, and it is an unhealthy attempt to deal with reality.

Symptoms of grief

Grief is the sense of loss in one’s life, and it comes in many shapes. We may experience the loss of graduations, celebrations or family gatherings, hugs and kisses with grandkids, a job, a break up, a death, not being able to comfort or communicate with those in the hospital, and being unable to even attend funerals. Although these are all varying degrees of difficult circumstances, the impact is the same: a need to process a sensed loss (i.e., grief). We’ve all experienced losses throughout the pandemic, and many of them often go unnoticed. Our lives of normalcy and predictability have halted, and the byproduct of broken dreams and plans gets mislabeled as unimportant in comparison to the medical tragedies.

Grief can symptomize in many ways, and so can our unhealthy attempts to soothe the pain. There may be a lack of energy or an abundance of activity. We might mask pain through overt use of humor, withdrawing from close friends, or with overcommitted schedules. Perhaps there are angry outbursts that blame loved ones instead of having to deal with the painful emotions within. We may even feel isolated from others or experience guilt.

Honoring what we value through grief

It’s unfortunate that we overlook the necessity to care well for each other and ourselves in the midst of all that we negatively experience in life. Grief doesn’t go away simply by avoiding or being unwilling to admit its existence. It doesn’t even go away by acknowledging there is sorrow. We must come to terms with the new reality. It takes courage to recognize loss because nobody wants grief to be a true experience in life. But the truth is we honor what we value when we can also grieve its loss. Until we can do that, it is just a stuck emotion that is like a lodged cracker in the back of the throat.

The good news is that you’re not the only one who struggles, and it isn’t a sign that you’re going crazy. The psalms show us it’s actually quite normal to experience the human emotions given to us by God. These emotions are necessary for healthy living. You can take ownership of your grief and understand what has happened and how you have been affected. I encourage you to reach out to others whom you trust and know will care for you. As a Christian, you have a compassionate resource built into the local church community. And of course, take your grief to Jesus. He knows your sorrows and cares for you (Rom. 8:16; 1 Pet. 5:7).

Of course, you may need to process your specific issues with a professional counselor. I have benefitted from this and from talking with good friends and my wife. My encouragement to you is to be courageous and curious enough to deal with the grief that may be stuck and overlooked after the challenges of this pandemic season.

160 dead in Burkina Faso in escalating religious terrorism

YAGHA, Burkina Faso (BP) – Jihadists are blamed for killing 160 people in Burkina Faso in a prolonged weekend attack among the latest in violent religious persecution in Africa’s Sahel region.

Government and nongovernmental leaders there blame the Islamic State regional affiliate, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), for the attack, although no one has claimed responsibility. The attack is the deadliest in Burkina Faso’s history and spurred calls for increased international counterterrorism efforts in West Africa.

Such attacks in the predominantly Muslim Sahel region, on the southern shore of the Sahara, are religiously motivated and target both Christians and moderate Muslims, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

“As violent Islamist groups gain ground in central Sahel, they are committing religious freedom violations in their areas of operation,” USCIRF said in a May factsheet. “Across parts of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, ISGS and Katiba Macina have imposed strict interpretations of Sharia law, restricted religious practice and executed individuals because of their beliefs.

“These trends have inflamed religious tensions and increased persecution across West Africa,” USCIRF said, “a religiously diverse region home both to an inspiring history of interfaith tolerance and also pockets of sectarian violence and poor religious freedom conditions.”

USCIRF identified ISGS and Katiba Macina among several terrorist groups growing in the region.

In the weekend attack on remote Solhan village in Yagha province in northern Burkina Faso, jihadists shot civilians, torched homes and a market, and threw explosives into goldmining holes where some civilians hid during the onslaught.

Solhan officials recovered 160 bodies Sunday (June 6) in three mass graves that held victims of the attack, Agence France-Presse reported. The death toll was previously reported as 132 and might yet rise, according to reports.

Amed, a goldminer who managed to survive in a mining hole, told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) he was awakened by the sounds of AK-47-style rifles early Saturday (June 5).

“I found the bodies of four of my friends and we buried them in a mass grave,” the WSJ quoted Amed. “When our army says it’s safe, I don’t know what they mean.”

Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore announced a three-day national mourning period ending today (June 8).

The Solhan deaths are in addition to 14 people killed Friday in an attack on Tadaryat village about 100 miles north of Solhan, BBC reported. In May, 30 people were killed in an attack in east Burkina Faso.

Nearly a third of Burkinabé identify as Christian, comprising the largest group of Christians in any of the targeted Sahel nations, including Mali and Niger, which are 94 percent and 99 percent Muslim, respectively. Most are Sunni.

Katiba Macina, founded in 2015 by a Fulani Muslim, has aligned with other Salafi jihadists in central Mali to establish Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which USCIRF describes as a “coalition of loosely affiliated militant Islamist groups.” The group is “almost exclusively responsible” for the sharp rise in attacks in fatalities in the Sahel annually since 2016, USCRIF said.

Terrorists operating in the region also fight against one another based on religious beliefs.

“ISGS violence against members of rival jihadist groups in the region may also amount to targeting individuals based on their beliefs,” USCIRF wrote in its factsheet. “Following an extended period when ISGS and al-Qaeda affiliated groups in the region tolerated each other’s presence, relations between these groups deteriorated in 2020.”

The latest killings in Burkina Faso add to the estimated 8,000 such killings in the Sahel in 2020, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. More than 1.7 million people have been displaced in the region, including 170,000 refugees and 1.5 million internally displaced persons, according to Africa Center statistics.

Regional counterterrorism initiatives include the G5 Sahel Joint Force, an ad hoc military intelligence coalition comprising Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack, having previously designated ISGS and JNIM as entities of particular concern for severe religious freedom violations in areas under the entities’ control.

Business & Financial Plan’s goal is to increase transparency and accountability, says EC leader

NASHVILLE (BP) – While the rewritten Business & Financial Plan up for vote at the SBC annual meeting next week has generated a lot of discussion, its overarching goal is to generate more transparency and accountability among SBC entities.

That’s the assessment of Robyn Hari, chair of the Committee on Convention Finance and Stewardship Development with the SBC Executive Committee. Hari’s daily role as director and managing partner of the Nashville office for Diversified Trust lends to her understanding of the issues outlined in the Business & Financial Plan.

The motion by former SBC EC President and CEO Morris Chapman, then as a messenger to the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting, for “greater transparency” in the Business & Financial Plan was the first of its kind in at least 30 years, said Hari. She noted that the updated version covers several key areas.

Among those is the preamble, which Hari said “outlines the intent of the Business & Financial Plan, the spirit and cooperative nature behind it.” In short, it outlines what the document does and does not speak to as well as serves as an outline to the structure and organization of the SBC.

That provides messengers with a basic view of how the SBC functions and polity, according to Hari.

“It states the expectation we have of cooperating together – Executive Committee, entities and the entire SBC family,” she said. “It also addresses the legal authority within our entity boards and expresses the goal of the Business & Financial Plan, which is to give Southern Baptists confidence that business is being conducted properly and we’re being good financial stewards.”

Other changes included updated language and “all of the current and highest standards of accounting” as well as the annual entity confirmation.

While the responsibility of the Business & Financial Plan was placed upon the Executive Committee, Hari called it “a group effort.” That began with the Committee on Convention Finance and Stewardship Development, which formed an ad hoc group of six members to focus directly on the assignment. In particular, the group was assigned with enhancing transparency and creating more accountability of entities, all the while understanding the autonomy of those entities and recognizing the responsibility of their respective boards. Honoring SBC messengers and churches in the process was paramount.

EC staff and leadership played key roles in keeping the project on time and on task, she pointed out. SBC legal counsel and leadership from all 11 entities, as well as others with expertise or knowledge for specific areas, also brought input. The perspectives of those entities and others provides “great guidance and best practices” in helping form the Business & Financial Plan.

Hari addressed Article VI.C. and concerns that it can prohibit messengers from nominating and electing trustees from the floor during the annual meeting, saying that was “not at all” the case.

“Keep in mind that serving on one of our boards as a fiduciary for that entity is a huge responsibility,” Hari said. “The Business & Financial Plan provides for the training of trustees prior to their nomination to … help them understand their responsibility and confirm their willingness to serve.”

It is the right of messengers to be able to nominate and elect a trustee from the floor, if an uncommon one, Hari added. But any who are would complete the assignments outlined in the Article prior to their first meeting with the entity board.

Article XIII.A. also has created discussion as to transparency. In actuality, Hari said it would lead to more transparency by creating a clear path for access of financial information.

“Remember, we as SBC messengers are the ones who elect the trustees to our various entities,” she said. “The boards are responsible for establishing those approved policies in order to respond to questions about finances. These board members we’ve elected allow a direct path to them rather than us going through entity staff.”

Hari said another area of discussion, the annual entity confirmation, also provides greater transparency.

“First, it provides a summary and synopsis of key elements of the Financial Plan,” she said. “It lays out the expectations of the entities and requires affirmations not just from the entity CEO/CFO but also the board chair. It also defines any consequences for noncompliance.

“The goal is to give members of Southern Baptist churches confidence that the things outlined in the Business & Financial Plan are being followed and there truly is cooperation among the entities and Executive Committee.”

SBC DIGEST: NAMB, SBCV partnership; Allen named SWBTS director of news and information

NAMB, SBCV announce Send Network Virginia partnership

By Brandon Elrod/NAMB

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – The North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia (SBCV) have formed a cooperative effort to create Send Network Virginia to bolster church planting efforts in the state.

“As a former church planter, I can testify first-hand that the SBC of Virginia and NAMB have been giving much needed and strategic support for churches planting churches,” said Brian Autry, executive director of the SBCV. “However, I believe this new partnership, Send Network Virginia, can take it to another level.”

In the Southern Baptist Convention, churches plant churches, but entities and state conventions, like NAMB and the SBCV, seek to provide support as likeminded Southern Baptist congregations come together to cooperate in planting new churches where a Gospel witness is most needed.

“I am so grateful for Brian and his vision for supporting Southern Baptist churches in the state of Virginia,” NAMB president Kevin Ezell said. “He has not only led the SBC of Virginia to do great work in their state, but they have also made a great impact in North America and around the world for the sake of the Gospel.”

Autry described how the demographics in the state have shifted in recent years as cities like Richmond and the Washington, D.C., metro area have grown. As the population continues to increase, there are more than a hundred different people groups represented in the state.

“More Ethiopians live in Virginia than anywhere else except for Ethiopia,” Autry said. “We are seeing a great movement among Hispanic churches. We have growing college campuses, military communities, beautiful countryside communities as well as growing towns and cities.”

Josh Weatherspoon, church-planting missionary of The Way Church near Richmond, Va., launched out of Salem Baptist Church in Manakin-Sabot, Va., where Weatherspoon had been associate pastor. After sensing the call to plant, they recognized that there were serious needs in their own state.

Read the full story.

Alumna, women’s ministry leader Ashley Allen named SWBTS director of news and information

By Katie Coleman/SWBTS

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary alumna and Baptist women’s ministry leader Ashley Allen has been named director of news and information, the school’s administration announced today.

Ashley Allen

“I am delighted to welcome back home to the Dome Ashley Allen, an alumna with a unique combination of ministry, academic and professional experience that makes her an exceptionally qualified person to fill this leadership position in our Office of Communications,” SWBTS President Adam W. Greenway said. “Her addition to our administrative staff underscores our resolve to elevate God-called women to all places of service consistent with our high view of Scripture and the Baptist Faith and Message.”

In her role, Allen will lead the news department, supervising news writers and serving as managing editor of Southwestern News, the seminary’s flagship publication, and as managing editor of Seminary Hill Press, the publishing arm of Southwestern Seminary.

“God’s provision of Ashley Allen to Southwestern Seminary is yet another sign of His blessings to this institution,” said James A. Smith Sr., associate vice president for communications. “As a key member of the communications team, she will provide leadership to our efforts to tell the story of God’s work on Seminary Hill. I’m thrilled to have this gifted Southwesterner on our staff.”

Allen said she is “deeply honored and humbled to serve the Lord by telling the story of God’s hand at work on the Southwestern campus and through alumni who are faithfully and obediently serving all over the world to make the gospel known. To share the testimonies of what God is doing is a privilege and not one I take lightly.”

Allen is a two-time graduate of Southwestern Seminary, having earned the Master of Arts in Christian Education in 2003 and Ph.D. in 2009. She also earned a journalism degree in 2000 from the University of Texas at Austin.

Read the full story.