Clergy, laity see windfall differently

Posted: 7/21/06

Clergy, laity see windfall differently

By Preetom Bhattacharya

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A survey of Protestant ministers and churchgoers shows significant differences in the ways the groups would spend an unexpected surge in income in their churches.

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

Another generation grows in faith under Womack’s care

Posted: 7/21/06

Another generation grows
in faith under Womack’s care

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

HOUSTON—Six-year-old Zoe couldn’t contain herself. She had made what she believed to be the most important decision of her life and had to tell someone.

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

Storylist for 7/24/06 issue

Storylist for week of 7/24/06 TAKE ME TO: Top Story |  Texas |  Opinion |  Baptists |  Faith in Action |  Faith & Culture |  Book Reviews |  Classifieds  |  Departments  |  Bible Study • Missionaries reported…

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

Cybercolumn By John Duncan: Dreams

Posted: 7/21/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Dreams

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, pondering the dog days of summer. Recently, I heard of man who had a dog named Dreams. Family members uttered with a wry smile the dog’s name and how much the man loved his dog. After all, a dog is a man’s best friend, so it goes.

The whole thought of dreams left me wondering, was the man’s dog named for dreams, you know, “dreams,” the hopes, plans, visions and future wishes that with hard work or dumb luck or shear charisma might come true? Or was the man thinking of bleary-eyed video reels in the brain that awaken you in your sleep then cause you to smile or create restless, heart-pounding nights by scaring you out of your pajamas?

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

Missionaries reported safe in Lebanon, as national Baptists take in refugees

Posted: 7/21/06

Missionaries reported safe in Lebanon,
as national Baptists take in refugees

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

BEIRUT (ABP)—As United States Marines began evacuating Americans in earnest from a besieged Beirut late this week and U.S. Baptist groups reported their missionaries in the region safe, a Lebanese Baptist leader said his people’s suffering would seem “quite saddening and depressing” if he weren’t upheld by the power of prayer.

Nabil Costa, executive director of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, said Baptist communities in Beirut were relying on prayer to sustain them.

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

House passes bill to protect San Diego cross monument

Posted: 7/21/06

House passes bill to protect
San Diego cross monument

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—The House of Representatives has passed a little-noticed bill attempting to make it easier for a controversial cross to remain on public land in San Diego.

On a vote of 349-74, the chamber approved a bill designed to transfer the land the Mount Soledad cross stands on from the city to the federal government.

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

Ban on same-sex marriage fails in House

Posted: 7/21/06

Ban on same-sex marriage fails in House

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—As expected, the House of Representatives July 18 defeated a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage—for the second time in as many election years and after the Senate had defeated the same proposal.

The proposal, H.J.Res. 88, died after a vote of 236-187 in its favor. Although a simple majority voted for it, the measure failed to muster the two-thirds majority a proposed constitutional amendment needs to pass each house of Congress.

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

‘Pledge Protection Bill’ passes House

Posted: 7/21/06

'Pledge Protection Bill' passes House

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Angering civil libertarians and supporters of church-state separation, the House of Representatives voted July 19 to strip the federal courts of the ability to decide cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

The so-called “Pledge Protection Act” passed on a vote of 260-167. It echoed a similar bill the House passed by a similar margin in 2004—the last national election year.

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

Bush vetoes bill to expand emryonic stem-cell research

Posted: 7/21/06

Bush vetoes bill to expand
embryonic stem-cell research

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Simultaneously pleasing his socially conservative base and overruling large majorities in Congress and the public, President Bush used the first veto of his political career July 19 to kill a bill that would have expanded embryonic stem-cell research.

Bush returned H.R. 810, the “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005,” to Congress without his signature just a day after the Senate voted 63-37 to approve it. In a statement explaining the veto, Bush said: “If this bill were to become law, American taxpayers for the first time in our history would be compelled to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos. Crossing this line would be a grave mistake and would needlessly encourage a conflict between science and ethics that can only do damage to both and harm our nation as a whole.”

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

In crisis, churches unprepared for dealing with media

Posted: 7/21/06

In crisis, churches unprepared
for dealing with media

By Angela Best

Communication Intern

Dealing with difficult situations can be trying enough for a church. Handling pressure from media can make it even harder.

As First Baptist Church in Forney has focused on getting 10 members of a church mission team trapped in Lebanon back home, the congregation also has been faced with voluminous media requests from television stations, newspapers and national news networks.

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

Right or Wrong? Hospitality to Strangers

Posted: 7/21/06

Right or Wrong?
Hospitality to Strangers

The Old Testament speaks of extending hospitality to "aliens and sojourners." Does that scriptural mandate have any application to the current debate over immigration?

07/21/2006 - By John Rutledge

BaptistWay Bible Series for July 30: Paul provides Timothy with direction for living

Posted: 7/19/06

BaptistWay Bible Series for July 30

Paul provides Timothy with direction for living

• 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 10-17

By Joseph Matos

07/19/2006 - By John Rutledge