"The Baptists' best bounce for their buck is through CP. With the Cooperative Program, everyone can. Your dollar works seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, all around the world, non-stop even when you're snoring asleep, it's still working."

Bobby Welch, in his final sermon as SBC president

"Prayer is not simply a way to bless the strategies and methods of our missionaries. It is the foundation of the strategy. Missionaries go to tell the story and to reap the harvest, but if the doors are to be opened, the barriers are to crumble, if hearts are to be softened, it's our responsibility to pray them into the Kingdom."

Jerry Rankin, IMB President, giving the IMB Report at the SBC

"It occurs to me that church planting as a mindset rather than an exotic specialty is closer to the book of Acts than what I normally see around."

Andrée Seu on observing healthy, missional churches reproducing themselves as part of an authentic New Testament mindset.

Sources: Baptist Press and World Magazine, August 5, 2006

Classic Quote

"Preach abroad… It is the cooping yourselves up in rooms that has dampened the work of God, which never was and never will be carried out to any purpose without going into the highways and hedges and compelling men and women to come in."

Jonathan Edwards

Culture Watch

This fall the U.S. population reached 300 million and is predicted to reach 400 million by 2050. The U.S. population is growing by one person every 11 seconds. A baby born today is more likely to live longer, delay adulthood, and have fewer siblings. He or she is most likely to be named Jacob or Emily and most likely will be raised in the suburbs. Compared to children born 50 years ago, today's children will grow up in a diverse environment. They are more likely to get a college degree, earn more and retire later. They also are more likely to live alone or cohabit before marrying. They are most likely to own their own home, enjoy more creature comforts and live a healthier life.

Source: Fox and Friends, October 18, 2006 and New York Times, October 8, 2006

Top 10 issues facing the family

1. Anti-Christian culture

2. Divorce

3. Busyness

4. Absent father figure

5. Lack of discipline

6. Financial pressures

7. Lack of communication

8. Negative media influences

9. Balance of work and family

10. Materialism  

To find additional information about the survey go to www.lifeway.com/top10.

Source: Facts & Trends, May/June 2006

Missions possible

Despite now having more than 5,000 missionaries in 184 countries, there is still only one missionary for every 1.6 million people. "We will never reach the world through missionaries alone," says Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board (IMB) speaking to Tennessee Baptists as they celebrated 25 years of partnership missions. Rankin added that volunteers are essential for reaching a lost world with the message of Christ. Your church can support international missionaries by giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® this winter.

Source: Baptist Press, October 16, 2006

Miracles by the numbers

73%  Adults who believe in miracles
79%  Women who believe in miracles
66%  Men who believe in miracles

Source: HarrisInteractive.com

Battle for purity

It's no surprise that today's young men and women are bombarded in the battle for purity. Consider that the Internet pornography industry generates $12 billion in annual revenue-larger than the combined annual revenues of the three major television networks. And, Internet Filter Review reports that the largest group of viewers of Internet porn is youth, ages 12-17. But temptation doesn't just lurk online. A report in the August issue of Pediatrics claims that teens who listen to sexually charged lyrics start having sex earlier than those who listen to other types of music.

Source: Tactics by Fred Stoeker (WaterBrook Press, 2006)

this & that

Restricting Roe
65% of those polled said they oppose the idea of overturning Roe v. Wade, but nearly an identical percentage said they would like to see more legal restrictions.

Source: Time, January 30, 2006

Closing the generation gap
76% of parents say they are closer with their kids than they were with their parents at the same age.
71% say they talk to their kids more than their parents spoke to them while they were growing up.

Source: Newsweek, May 22, 2006

Be prepared
Nearly 60% of U.S. homeowners don't have enough insurance to rebuild if their home is destroyed in a hurricane or other natural disaster.

Source: USA Today and The Week June 30, 2006

By the numbers
28% of Americans believe the Bible is literally true, down from 38% in 1976. 19% view the Bible as an "ancient book of fables," up from 13%.

Source: Gallup Poll and Time, June 12, 2006

Bringing home babies
American couples adopted 22,728 orphaned children from abroad last year-triple the number in 1990. Most of the children are from China and Russia, but there's been a recent surge in adoptions from African nations.

Source: The Boston Globe and The Week, June 2, 2006

The Single Life

A single adult living alone is now the most common type of household in the United States, making up 26% of the population. Living alone means missing out on the major emotional, spiritual and even health benefits of community. According to the Institute for American Values "meeting our basic need for connection is essential to health and human flourishing." Unfortunately many people in our culture today view loneliness as an acceptable price to pay for the freedom to live as they please. Remember to reach out to this group during the Christmas season, when the independence of solitude isn't as great as it once seemed.

Source: Prison Fellowship, www.pfm.org

Great giving

Charitable giving neared a record high last year, ?according to the Giving USA Foundation. Americans gave an estimated $260.3 billion in 2005, close to the inflation-adjusted record of $260.5 billion in 2000. Much of the surge in gifts went to victims of the Asian tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake and the Gulf Coast hurricanes. Southern Baptists donated $26.3 million dollars to North American disaster relief in 2005-2006 through NAMB and $22.5 million to international disaster relief through IMB in 2005.

The truth about lying

Although 52% of Americans say lying is never justified, 40% say it's acceptable to exaggerate a story to make it more interesting. 33% say it's okay to lie about your age, and 33% say it's okay to lie about being sick to take a day off of work.

Source: The Week, July 28, 2006

Painting the town

In 2006 1,556 Southern Baptists volunteered through the Paint the Town initiative in New York City. Volunteers painted 13 schools in New York City and New Jersey. Volunteers also participated in evangelistic efforts, distributing 988 Bibles and holding seven block parties with more than 2,000 people in attendance. As a result of these ministries, 117 people accepted Christ.

Source: Baptist Press, September 7, 2006

Photo by Jim Veneman

Gary Shows, executive pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Miss., does some trim work at a New York City school as part of the Paint the Town initiative.

Immigration Dilemma

According to a 2005 Pew Hispanic Center report, there are 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States (including 6 million Mexicans and 1.7 million children under the age of 18). This is an increase of 700,000 from a year earlier. In California alone, there are approximately 2.4 million undocumented immigrants. This influx is creating economic, social and political pressures as well as ministry opportunities and dilemmas for churches near the border as pastors, many of whom are immigrants, are forced to decide where ministry ends and harboring illegals begins.

Source: Christianity Today, March 2006

According to a Pew Poll, 53% of respondents say that people in the country illegally should be sent home, while 40% believe they should be granted some sort of legal status.

Source: Time, April 10, 2006

It's not all bad

Rates of teenage smoking, drinking and sex are declining. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 54% of high school students have smoked cigarettes, down from 70% in 1991; 74% drank, down from 82%; and 47% had sex, down from 54%.

Source: Los Angeles Times and The Week, June 23, 2006