Sturgis volunteers move into ‘devil’s playground’August 18, 2014 by Karen L. Willoughby, Baptist Press | |
The Dakota Baptist Convention-led outreach gave 120 volunteers opportunities to share three-minute testimonies, leading to professions of faith by 513 people. READ MORE |
The Bibles are back in Navy lodgesAugust 18, 2014 by Cathy Lynn Grossman, Religion News Service | |
In June, the U.S. Navy ordered housekeepers at thousands of Navy-owned guest lodges to remove Bibles and other “religious materials” from their rooms, but on Aug. 15 the decision was reversed. READ MORE |
Ferguson cleaned up by church plantersAugust 18, 2014 by Tobin Perry, NAMB/Baptist Press | |
A church planter and his colleagues mobilized 100-200 people to clean up embattled Ferguson before participating in a prayer service at First Baptist Church of Ferguson. READ MORE |
N. Korea detainee's family pleads for releaseAugust 19, 2014 by Rachel Lynn Aldrich, WNS/Baptist Press | |
The family of an American man detained in North Korea for “anti-state” crimes has apologized to the country and pleaded with officials to show mercy and release him. |
OTHER BR NEWS |
Islamic militias continue spread beyond Middle East
91-year-old longs for next mission trip
LifeWay explores sale of 14.5-acre propertyIn missions, ‘Don’t despise small beginnings’
Michael G. McEwen BR Content Editor | Donning a different kind of armor The editor is taking a few days off and asked me to share a few thoughts in today’s column. The news this week has been largely focused on blood, violence, war and persecution. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues to terrorize and kill religious minorities in Iraq. Since ISIS’s siege of Mosul in early June, media sources have noted the slow restraint of these extremists. On Aug. 18, Kurdish fighters aided by American air support recaptured Mosul Dam, a crucial source for electricity in Mosul. Read about another Islamist group in Libya here. Ferguson, Mo., has also been a place of violence. Looting and vandalism has risen from protesters since the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old shot by police officer Darren Wilson. Southern Baptist church planters in metro St. Louis mobilized 100-200 people to clean up embattled Ferguson before participating in a prayer service at First Baptist Church of Ferguson. Read the story here. Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has been a stereotypical scene known for the week’s lewd activities. Yet from Aug. 4-10, the "devil’s playground" witnessed 513 professions of faith, tripling those recorded in 2013. In the midst of persecution, chaotic riots and rough-and-tough lifestyles, timely words are to be heard from Paul: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Our first response may be to hate the ISIS extremists coercing the Iraqi people; we may also express our disgust of the violent events in Ferguson; and we may even withdraw from “those people” who need Jesus most. Stay informed! Read the Biblical Recorder and visit BRnow.org. Thank you for reading the BRweekly. People need to know! |