In the Witness this week

Florida Baptist missionary says he’s ‘God-made’ to serve in South Florida Published March 12, 2009: MIAMI (NAMB)—There’s an unglitzy side to Miami you’ll never see depicted on “CSI Miami.” Sure, there’s the flaunted wealth, the big beach-front homes, the flashy cars, the fast boats, and glamorous life-in-the-fast-lane for the celebrities and superstar athletes who live here.

Courtesy photo

ADOPTION Bob and Gwyn Picerne, founders of Embraced by Grace, Volusia County’s only non-profit adoption agency, pose for a family picture at Ormond Beach.

Ormond Beach family lives its adoption beliefs Published March 12, 2009: ORMOND BEACH (FBW)—Gwyn and Bob Picerne of Ormond Beach not only believe every Christian family should be involved in adoption, they live it—and have six adoptive children, literally from around the world, to prove it.
Bills may jeopardize sales tax exemptions for churches, Bibles Governor calls for ‘quick approval’ of Seminole compact Published March 12, 2009: TALLAHASSEE (FBW)—Sweeping legislation possibly jeopardizing sales tax exemptions enjoyed by churches, religious organizations, religious schools, parochial schools and other charities has been introduced in both houses of the Florida Legislature, which began its 60-day legislative session March 3.

Opinion

Editorial

President Obama’s ‘common ground’ facade JAMES A. SMITH SR. Executive Editor: President Barack Obama ran and was elected on the promise of a new tone in Washington—rejecting the old, partisan ways and ushering in a new post-partisan era where “common ground” would be sought among long-warring factions of the body politic.

Point of View

Theological education claims our future while enhancing the Gospel JOHN SULLIVAN Executive Director-Treasurer, Florida Baptist Convention: Many Florida Baptists know I have a deep commitment to providing theological education to train God-called church leaders in our state. As a result, over the past 20 years, the Florida Baptist Convention has developed a strategy for our ministry.
BF&M commentary 14: Baptism MARK RATHEL: EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of an occasional series of commentaries examining and explaining the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention’s confession of faith.
Dave Says DAVE RAMSEY
Chilling free speech: Mapping political persecution CHARLES COLSON BreakPoint: Dotting the streets on a certain online map are hundreds of red teardrops. Click on a teardrop at a particular address, and come up with the words, “Patricia Greenwood. Insurance agent. $100.”

Florida

Florida News

Ormond Beach family lives its adoption beliefs: ORMOND BEACH (FBW)—Gwyn and Bob Picerne of Ormond Beach not only believe every Christian family should be involved in adoption, they live it—and have six adoptive children, literally from around the world, to prove it.
Missions education focus of Sonshine Conference in April: JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—A woman in Mozambique hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time because half a world away Florida Baptists are praying for her.
2009 VBS Associational Clinics planned for Boomerang Express & Truth Trek: JACKSONVILLE (FBC)-Each year, associational Vacation Bible School clinics provide training for about 5,000 Florida VBS workers. Florida Baptist churches will enroll thousands of children in Vacation Bible School this summer, an opportunity that represents the most extensive outreach, evangelism and prospect-discovering event available to Florida Baptist churches. The following is a list of associational training clinics for the summer VBS curriculum. For more information contact your association office or the Florida Baptist Convention Sunday School Department at 800-226-8584, ext. 3079. Dates provided for information purposes only.
UGA football chaplain to ‘finish the drill’ at BCF: Graceville (FBW)—Taking to heart the University of Georgia football team motto, chaplain Kevin “Chappy” Hynes will soon “Finish the Drill” of his own college education. He anticipates receiving his bachelor’s degree in theology at Baptist College of Florida May 15—more than 10 years after he first enrolled on the Graceville campus.
Tallahassee Eagle Scout builds volleyball court for his church: TALLAHASSEE (FBW)—Justin Stephens, adopted from Romania as a mere infant, has reached the pinnacle in his scouting career, and distinguished himself among peers at Thomasville Road Baptist Church for his ministry and community project—building a sand volleyball court.
Arrest made in Miami botched abortion case: MIAMI (BP)—A Florida woman was arrested March 3 for her role in a shocking botched abortion case that has garnered national attention, although she was not charged with murder as some were wanting.
$1.6 million grant undergirds medical center’s care of Miami’s uninsured: MIAMI (FBW)—Miami Baptist Association’s Good News Care Center has received a three year grant totaling $1.6 million from Baptist Health South Florida.
Churches vulnerable to lawsuits, legal experts contend at Summit: ORLANDO (FBC)—A Jacksonville congregation embroiled in seven active lawsuits over the actions of a former pastor three decades before has been sued more than a dozen times in the current pastor’s 16-year tenure. All but one of the church’s five entities have been named in separate lawsuits—the only exception, the church’s cemetery.
ACLU files suit against Nassau schools over ‘gay’ club Pastor urges prayer after judge’s comments: JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—A Nassau County pastor attending a hearing in federal court March 4 about a “Gay-Straight Alliance” (GSA) at Yulee High School said he believes it’s a matter of prayer.
Gay’ no longer in Okeechobee GSA club name Schools’ insurance pays for litigation: JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—Students at Okeechobee High School have changed the name of its Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) to “ADAPT,” an acronym for “accepting diversity and promoting tolerance, according to assistant superintendent Ken Kenworthy.
Convention’s redesigned website has new look and more flexibility: JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—The Florida Baptist Convention’s website www.flbaptist.org has been refreshed, renewed and redesigned to help Florida Baptists more easily navigate its hundreds of pages.
Tough times bring family ministry opportunities: JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—A week prior to the presidential election, a Florida Baptist church member looked at her neighborhood and said, “It’s a sign of the times: yard signs indicating the preferred presidential candidate interspersed with foreclosure signs.”

Legislature Watch

Bills may jeopardize sales tax exemptions for churches, Bibles Governor calls for ‘quick approval’ of Seminole compact: TALLAHASSEE (FBW)—Sweeping legislation possibly jeopardizing sales tax exemptions enjoyed by churches, religious organizations, religious schools, parochial schools and other charities has been introduced in both houses of the Florida Legislature, which began its 60-day legislative session March 3.

Florida News Briefs

VBS clinic in South Florida region
Sunday School training in Big Bend area
South Florida Sunday School helps
March 21 rally in Pace for prayer in schools
‘Fireproof My Marriage’ seminar March 27-28

Florida Focus

Florida Focus: A one-time announcement of special events is a free service provided by the Witness to Florida Baptist churches. Please send materials at least three weeks before the date of the event, to Florida Baptist Witness, 1230 Hendricks Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32207, fax 904-346-0696 or submitted using our online form. Items received after deadline may appear in our exclusive on-line version.

National

National News

Finding Jesus in an orphanage: LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)—When my wife Maria and I at long last received the call that the legal process was over, and we returned to Russia to pick up our new sons, we found that their transition from orphanage to family was more difficult than we had supposed. We dressed the boys in outfits our parents had bought for them. We nodded our thanks to the orphanage personnel and walked out into the sunlight, to the terror of the two boys.
Adoption: Infertility journey was worth it: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—My 11-month-old son Graham is saying “da-da” now.
NOBTS, New Orleans partner to fight crime News from six seminaries: NEW ORLEANS (BP)—Leon Cannizzaro Jr., district attorney for Orleans Parish, noted the power of prayer during his first community outreach prayer breakfast, held at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Lawsuit seeks federal recognition of ‘gay marriages’: BOSTON (BP)—The federal government would be forced to recognize “gay marriage” and to provide benefits to such same-sex couples if a lawsuit filed March 3 in federal court against the Defense of Marriage Act is successful.
Stem cell breakthrough could make ethical debate moot: WASHINGTON (BP)—A bill that would drastically expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research has been re-introduced in the Senate, but British and Canadian researchers announced a scientific breakthrough March 2 that could change the course of stem cell research and eventually make the ethical debate moot.
Supreme Court gives win to Ten Commandments monument supporters: WASHINGTON (BP)—In what some are calling a landmark decision that could impact religious monuments across the country, the U.S. Supreme Court Feb. 25 unanimously ruled that a Utah city can keep a Ten Commandments monument in a public park without being required to erect a monument for an unorthodox religious sect.
SBC pastor killed in church shooting: MARYVILLE, Ill. (BP)—A Southern Baptist pastor was killed during a morning worship service March 8 by a gunman who reportedly suffered from mental illness caused by Lyme disease.

400 Years of Baptists

America’s first Baptist association: Philadelphia 1707: The Philadelphia Baptist Association was the first Baptist association formed in America. The association was organized on July 27, 1707, and was composed of five small Baptist churches. In 2007, there were 28 million Baptists in the United States numbering 95,000 congregations. In 2007, there were 3,141 counties in the United States and 3,036 of those counties had at least one Baptist church. Baptist churches need each other. Regardless of size, organization or goals, most Baptist churches soon realized that they could do what they are called to do better in cooperation with others.

BF&M Commentary

Point of View BF&M commentary 14: Baptism: EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of an occasional series of commentaries examining and explaining the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention’s confession of faith.

Missions News

NAMB commissions largest group ever: RINCON, Ga. (BP)—The North American Mission Board conducted the largest commissioning service in its history when 144 missionaries and chaplains were sent forth Feb. 22 at First Baptist Church in Rincon, Ga., about 20 miles north of Savannah.

Features

Sports News

Golfer Fred Funk’s fire ‘still burning bright’: PONTE VEDRA BEACH (FBW)—For Fred Funk, a 1985 trip to Hattiesburg, Miss., for a stop on the old Tournament Players Series was just one more to a distant outpost on a professional golfer’s lonely frontier.

Annie Armstrong Offering

Florida Baptist missionary says he’s ‘God-made’ to serve in South Florida: MIAMI (NAMB)—There’s an unglitzy side to Miami you’ll never see depicted on “CSI Miami.” Sure, there’s the flaunted wealth, the big beach-front homes, the flashy cars, the fast boats, and glamorous life-in-the-fast-lane for the celebrities and superstar athletes who live here.
Lamar Duke’s goal: ‘Make it hard to go to hell from Pittsburgh’: PITTSBURGH, Pa. (NAMB)—In North American Mission Board missionary Lamar Duke’s native Alabama, there’s one Southern Baptist church for every 1,452 people.
In frigid Alaska, native Texan says Alaska ministry has ‘stolen her heart’: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (NAMB)—She was a Caldwell, Texas, tomboy who could play tennis or volleyball with the best of the local boys. She was the product of a solid, blue-collar family, with a dad she thought hung the Texas moon.

Media Montage

FLAME produces Gospel via rap: LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)—What do English Puritan John Owen, pastor John Piper and theologian Wayne Grudem have in common with rap music?
After surgery, FOX reporter gains perspective: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—Todd Starnes, a reporter and anchor for Fox News Radio and a former assistant editor of Baptist Press, has journeyed from open heart surgery and extreme weight loss to running the New York City Marathon.

Bible Study

Bible Studies for Life

March 29: Hang in there Nehemiah 6:1-16: Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.
April 5: Jesus, Delusional Dreamer or God’s messiah? Luke 23:35-49: Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.
March 15: Don’t despair Nehemiah 2:19-20; 4:1-14: Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.
March 22: Clear the air Nehemiah 5:1-16: Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

Explore the Bible

March 29: Stay spiritually alert Isaiah 38-39: Mark Rathel is professor of theology at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.
April 5: The sacrifice is sufficient Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12: Mark Rathel is professor of theology at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.
March 15: Act on revealed truth Isaiah 7:1-14, 16: Mark Rathel is professor of theology at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.
March 22: Follow the Lord’s will Isaiah 29:13-16; 30:1-3, 15-18: Mark Rathel is professor of theology at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.