___ IMB administrator to retire. Sam James, vice president for leadership development with the International Mission Board, will retire in March. A North Carolina native, James and his wife, Rachel, have served Southern Baptists since their 1962 appointment as missionaries to South Vietnam. In recent years, he has developed and directed the IMB's missionary training program and served as a regional director for East Asia and vice president for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He was elected to his current position in 1994.
___ CBF seeks New York volunteers. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, working in conjunction with the Salvation Army, has an immediate need for volunteers in New York City disaster relief projects. Volunteers are needed to work in language translation, helping people with paperwork and applications for assistance, data entry, feeding units and other areas of victim assistance. Call the CBF Resource Center at (877) 856-9288, or e-mail volunteer@cbfonline.org.
___ Bible-distribution volunteers needed. Additional volunteers are needed to help with a program to distribute Bibles and Christian literature to mainland Chinese residents vacationing in Southeast Asia. One-fifth of the world's population, about 1.3 billion people, live in China, where Bibles and other Christian materials are in short supply and hard to obtain because of government restrictions. For information on volunteering for the project, contact ripetoharvest@pobox.com.
___ Women's event comes to Fort Worth. Author and teacher Beth Moore will speak during two National Christian Women's Conventions next year, including one set for April 18-20 in Fort Worth. "Seek Me, Know Me, Return to Me" is the theme of the conventions sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources. Christian entertainer Babbie Mason will perform in Fort Worth, and other speakers include Mary Kassian, a teacher and author of "In My Father's House: Women Relating to God as Father"; Margaret Becker, a Christian artist and speaker; Gary and Karolyn Chapman, who will talk about marriage and relationships; and Iris Blue, a former inmate of the Texas Department of Corrections and current Mission Service Corps volunteer. For more information or to register, call (800) 254-2022 or visit www.lifeway.com.
___ Falwell offers hope for bin Laden. Jerry Falwell told the Florida Baptist Pastors' Conference Nov. 11 he believes Osama bin Laden's soul could be saved if he converted to Christianity. But bin Laden still would deserve the death penalty, Falwell said. "We know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed. ... We visit prisoners on death row, and some of them are saved, but we believe their sentences should be carried out because they have a debt to society."
___ Graham calls Islam "wicked." Evangelist Franklin Graham is not backing away from his statements aired on a national news program that Islam is "wicked, violent and not of the same god" as Christianity. Graham initially made the remarks in an interview at the October dedication of a chapel in Wilkesboro, N.C.; the remarks were broadcast by NBC News Nov. 16. "I don't believe this is a wonderful, peaceful religion," Graham said. "When you read the Koran and you read the verses from the Koran, it instructs the killing of the infidel, for those that are non-Muslim." Asked by NBC News to clarify his statement, Graham stood his ground. "It wasn't Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn't Lutherans," Graham told NBC. "It was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith."
The Baptist Standard
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
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