Bible verse of the day

Ethics Daily

Anniversary of Bailey Smith's Harmful Moment in Baptist-Jewish Relations
Bailey Smith, then president of the Southern Baptist Convention, claimed 30 years ago that God "does not hear the prayer of a Jew." Today, other Southern Baptist leaders have rhetorically followed his lead.

A 'Transformative Moment' in SBC Political Activity
Ronald Reagan, then the GOP nominee for president, joined a who's who of conservative Christians on a Dallas stage 30 years ago, convincing many Southern Baptists and other evangelicals to join the Republican cause.

Muslim Documentary Accepted at Festival
"Different Books, Common Word: Baptists and Muslims," the most recent documentary from EthicsDaily.com, has been officially selected as part of the International Black Film Festival of Nashville.

British Churches Focus on 2012 Olympics in London
The London 2012 Olympics are less than two years away, and churches in Great Britain are beginning to develop plans for outreach, hospitality and service during the event.

Ken Starr Joins Baptist Church – Without Attending
Ken Starr, the new president of Baylor University, promised to join a Baptist church once he was on the job in Waco. He kept that promise, joining a church without even being present for the service.

As most readers of the E-Message undoubtedly know by now, the BGCM is actively engaged in an ongoing strategic planning process that will prayerfully result in a new and challenging five-year strategic plan to guide the convention's direction in the future. The task force working on this plan is a diverse and talented group that brings a lot of insights and creativity to bear on the challenge. In addition to on-line surveys and congregational listening sessions that were used in the past and are being employed again this time to gather information, several key leaders of innovative and cutting-edge ministries were identified and task force members were requested to seek an interview with them to seek their answers to ten probing questions that together explore the keys to their success, current challenges they perceive, ways they effectively communicate their vision to their constituents, etc.

It was my privilege as a part of this process to interview Dr. Tony Campolo. Many of you know of him through his writings or having heard him in conference, perhaps most recently at the Baptist Border Crossing event in Kansas City this year. While his organization is heavily focused on holistic ministry to the poor and oppressed both in the U.S. and in at least four different third-world nations, he exudes a passion for communicating the gospel message of salvation in Christ that would do credit to a full-time evangelist of old. One of the most insightful and revealing comments he made to me in the course of our phone conversation was that he perceives the greatest threat to his organization to be the temptation or tendency toward secularization. While many of the religious right would and indeed have accused Dr. Campolo of being purely interested and focused on the "social gospel," his heart clearly beats with the desire to see the lost find redemption and wholeness through Jesus as Savior.

I've long been an admirer of Dr. Campolo, having heard him speak the first time many years ago when he was the featured speaker for our annual seminary conferences in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On that occasion, we had the opportunity to host him for breakfast in our home and I found him to be just as challenging and interesting in an informal setting as he is when he thunders forth a prophetic message challenging the church to fulfill its role as a transforming force for Kingdom advancement. A good introduction to his philosophy of ministry if you've never read any of his works is Red Letter Christians: A Citizen's Guide to Faith and Politics. I know you will find his words to be challenging.