After months of urging from other Baptists around the country, the Rev. Fred Luter told his African-American congregation that he will seek to become the first black man to lead the predominantly white Southern Baptist Convention.

Several Baptist leaders said Luter becomes the prohibitive favorite for the post, to be filled in a potentially historic election at the Southern Baptists’ annual meeting here in June.

SBC Today, a Baptist-focused news website, carried the announcement on Wednesday (Feb. 1). Youth pastor Fred “Chip” Luter III separately confirmed Luter’s announcement to his church on Sunday.

Luter appears to be the first candidate to declare for the post, which will become vacant this summer when the Rev. Bryant Wright of Marietta, Ga., finishes his second one-year term.

Many began openly promoting Luter for the top job last summer, moments after he was elected the convention’s first African-American first vice president.

“If he runs, he’ll get elected overwhelmingly. He may be unopposed,” said Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

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A group of theologically conservative American Christian leaders is joining with animal rights defenders to advocate against cockfighting, calling the practice of watching and betting on roosters who fight to the death antithetical to biblical values.

“Christians should stand up and speak out against this barbaric practice which horrendously abuses God’s creatures,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, in a January 24 statement.

Concern about cockfighting is focused on the state of South Carolina, where critics of the practice are trying to strengthen the state’s laws against it. Though cockfighting is illegal in all 50 U.S. states, it remains a misdemeanor in 11 of them, including South Carolina.

The Humane Society of the United States describes cockfighting as “a lucrative crime, with gambling winnings offsetting even the maximum misdemeanor fines,” and is working with such groups as the South Carolina-based Palmetto Family Council, a Christian advocacy group with ties to national pro-family Christian organizations, to toughen legislation against what some describe as a “blood-sport.”

Oran Smith, the Palmetto Family Council’s executive director, said that South Carolina is increasingly attracting people interested in watching cockfighting and betting on the outcome.

“As a matter of state pride, we must strengthen our laws now,” he said. Smith’s organization has produced a video that has drawn praise from the Humane Society for its strong stance against cockfighting.

The video argues that cockfighting is antithetical to biblical principles, citing Genesis 9:9-10, in which God speaks of establishing a covenant with both humans and animals. “Wonton cruelty toward animals is frankly unbiblical and unChristian,” Smith says in the video, which can be seen at www.youtube.com/palmettofamily.

In the video, Land says humans are called to “respect every living thing…Cockfighting is a pornography of violence. People who watch it are going to be brutalized by it.”

“Religious leaders had a founding role in the humane movement in the 19th century. Today in the 21st century, they remind us of our solemn responsibilities to other creatures,” said Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society, praising the work of Christian leaders for working against cockfighting.

“Their voices can help guide the nation toward better decision-making and behavior when it comes to our treatment of animals.”

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If there’s one thing the fractious Republican field agrees on, it’s that personal religious devotion is central to their campaign message.

Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and even Ron Paul stress their faith on the stump; Romney plays up his religion, though he downplays his Mormonism because of lingering evangelical suspicion toward his church.

But a new survey indicates that such a liberal use of “God talk” may actually be more likely to hurt rather than help a candidate’s chances with voters.

According to an online poll conducted last September by the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, only 1 in 6 Americans (16 percent) said they are more likely to vote for a candidate who regularly shares their religious beliefs.

The poll by LifeWay Research showed that 30 percent of respondents indicated they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who prominently touts their religious beliefs and practices; 28 percent said it would have no impact, and 21 percent said it would depend on the candidate’s religion.

“Different people get a different picture in their mind when a political candidate shares or shows their religious convictions,” said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research. “While some Americans warm up to this, many don’t see it as a positive.”

The poll reinforces the conflicted feelings Americans have toward their politicians: A survey last year conducted by Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service found majorities of every religious group say it is important that a presidential candidate have strong religious beliefs.

At the same time, respondents — including evangelical Christians — had a hard time identifying the religious affiliation of either President Obama or Romney.

Taken together, the two polls seem to suggest Americans want their politicians to be pious but not preachy.

Not surprisingly, the LifeWay poll found that Americans who consider themselves to be “born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist” Christians are much more likely than nonreligious voters to support a candidate who deploys a very public piety on the stump, by a 28 percent to 11 percent margin.

Similarly, these conservative Christians are more likely to say their support also “depends on the religion” of the candidate.

That may matter more in the GOP primaries than the general election given evangelicals’ outsized role in determining the outcome of the primaries, as was shown in the results of Saturday’s (Jan. 21) South Carolina contest.

The fact that those same evangelicals also say the religion of the candidate matters may be further cause for concern for Romney, who not only lost the South Carolina primary to Gingrich, but also the evangelical vote.

In the survey, respondents were asked: “When a candidate running for office regularly expresses religious conviction or activity, how does that impact your vote?”

The online survey of 2,144 Americans was conducted in September 2011 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

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Two evangelical Christian thinkers from opposite ends of the political spectrum come together for a thought-provoking dialogue on polarizing issues in a live forum at Riverside Church in New York City on

Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m. Lisa Sharon Harper, director of mobilizing at Sojourners, and D.C. Innes, associate professor politics at The King’s College, will discuss their new book Left, Right & Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics (Russell Media), in a conversation moderated by Kirsten Powers of FoxNews and The Daily Beast. Afterwards, a panel discussion with Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Jim Wallis, president of the Christian social justice ministry Sojourners, will offer additional perspectives from the right and left, respectively.

As they do in Left, Right & Christ, Harper and Innes will explore how their Christian faith shapes their participation in the political process. They will present their divergent positions on poverty, health care, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion, terrorism, and the environment in what is sure to be a robust give-and-take.

“Both of us are Christians. And so what we have in common is greater than all our differences,” the authors write. “Yet differences there are, and in this book we elaborate on our political differences, in particular. How can two people who share the same fundamental life-transforming Christian principles think so differently when it comes to politics?”

The event will be held on Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m. in the James Chapel at Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway at 121st Street, New York, New York 10027 It is free and open to the public. Copies of Left, Right & Christ will be available for purchase, and the authors will be available to sign books.

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The Southern Baptist Convention chose Fred Luter to serve as first vice president last Tuesday during its annual convention held in Phoenix.

Luter, 54, had previously served, since 1986, as the head pastor of an SBC church in New Orleans.

With his current post, it is hoped by some SBC leaders that this will eventually lead to Luter’s becoming president in the 2012 convention, which will be held in New Orleans.

Decline in membership

The SBC has been experiencing a decline in membership and church attendance that has been ongoing in the past four years. In the Phoenix convention, delegates are expected to address this issue and come up with a plan to diversify the majority-white church membership.

One way of addressing the decline in baptism rates and membership will be to boost the election of minorities to leadership positions in the nomination.

Plans are also afoot to invite more church members of minority ethnicity to address the SBC’s annual meeting, and to recruit more minorities as members of staff to its mission boards and seminaries.

Frank Page, president of the Executive Committee said the SBC needs to accumulate “measurable information” to better evaluate its progress in forwarding ethnic relations.

Page told the audience of 4,000 at the Phoenix Convention Center, “I believe we are living in a day and time where there will be increased ethnic involvement and increased sensitivity to ethnic diversity within our convention.”

Danger of being exclusive

Russell Begaye of the SBC Home Mission Board echoed Page’s sentiment in a report he presented to the Hispanic Southern Baptist Fellowship ConferenceJune 8 in New Orleans.

In his report, The Ethnic Millenium, Begaye said the SBC faces the danger of becoming “more white” and “more exclusive” if it doesn’t change its present course.

Begaye cited 1990 U.S. Census records that show that one out of every four Americans is a minority, whether Hispanic, Asian, African or Native American in ancestry.

Begaye noted that the new immigrants do not fit stereotypes of being unruly, welfare dependent and uneducated. Instead, they are “more diverse and educated,” and cumulatively pay taxes annually of $100 billion, BP reported.

Despite these, the SBC remains predominantly white, and is encumbered further by a five percent downward rate in baptisms in 2010, and a 0.15 percent membership drop for the fourth year in a row.

In the last 10 years, despite the overall decline, half of the new churches started were either predominantly ethnic or African-American.

Furthermore, the number of churches with primarily minority membership has been raised from 13 percent in 1998 to 18.5 percent in 2008.

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The 2010 Annual Church Profile report, submitted by LifeWay Research, indicated that while the number of Southern Baptist churches has increased, there has been a plunge in overall membership, attendance at worship services and participation in church activities,.

The report was released in preparation for the forthcoming annual Southern Baptist Convention which will be held in Phoenix on June 14-15.

Ed Stetzer, LifeWay president told The Tennessean, “This is not a blip. This is a trend. And, the trend is one of decline.”

The report showed that while there was a 1.59 percent increase in the number of churches in 2010 totaling 45,727, the number of baptisms has continued its pattern of decline.

The report noted that 332,321 baptisms were performed in 2010, a decline from the previous year by 17,416. The number of baptisms has continued to fall in the last 10 years, and is the lowest since the 1950.

Membership has also continued to fall in the last four years and is presently tagged at 16,136,044, The Tennessean said.

Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources told ABP that he is hoping that the upward trend of church planting, however, can help to stall the decline.

Reasons for decline

Two reasons were cited for the decline by Stetzer. First, Southern Baptists are aging, resulting in fewer children who are growing up in the church. Second, the church is not working hard enough on evangelizing, The Tennessean said.

Stetzer told The Tennessean, “Baptists love to talk about evangelism as long as someone else is doing it.”

Frank Page, president of SBC’s Executive Committee, told Baptist Press, “I am saddened to see this report which seems to indicate a lack of passion for winning our world to the Lord. That will turn around when we repent of our sins and seek the power of our Lord in our evangelistic efforts.”

Page told BP, “I am convinced that we are doing many good things but will see this situation change only when the churches and people of the SBC return evangelism to the top priority of our Kingdom activities.”

Last year, Southern Baptists engaged in an internal restructuring and launched the Great Commission Resurgence program, which essentially channels more money into evangelizing efforts.

Rainer told The Tennessean that it will take time before the efforts of The Great Commission Resurgence can be determined. He noted however that in the 1950s, when evangelism was a priority, the ratio of baptisms was one for every 20 Southern Baptists. “Now, it takes 40 of our members to baptize one person.”

Page told The Tennessean that denominational leaders also provide insufficient teaching on how to effectively evangelize.

“You can talk about having a vision all day long, but you have to show people how to put that vision into action,” he said.

There is also a need for SBC to engage more efforts in attracting minorities. To date, only 19 percent of SBC churches are minority parishes.

Rainer told The Tennessean, “We’ve got a long way to go for more ethnic diversity. We are still a very white denomination.”

The report also noted a decline in donations for missionary work, The Tennessean reported. The SBC International Mission Board announced that only $145.6 million was raised for the yearly Lottie Moon missionary offering, far short of the targeted $175 million.

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Churches are playing a key role in sending aid and relief to Alabama after a series of deadly tornadoes that hit the south last month.

Julie Wright, who is charged with operations for Birmingham’s Salvation Army, told The Birmingham news that various church groups have lent much-needed aid and relief in coordination with them.

Wright told The Birmingham News that among the church groups that have lent assistance are Gardendale First Baptist, Bethel Baptist, Cottage Hill Baptist Church and Garywood Assembly of God, to name a few.

Wright said to The Birmingham News, “We just encourage anyone who wants to volunteer to go on our website. We’ve had people come down every day to volunteer. It’s been a tremendous response.”

Wright said they have also received aid from the Islamic Relief Agency and The Church of Latter Day Saints, The Birmingham News reported. Brian Wallace, spokesman of Salvation Army said, “They’re doing it completely selflessly.”

While the Salvation Army is the largest evangelical church-run disaster relief program worldwide, many of the largest religious relief agencies in the world have lent assistance to Alabama, including the Catholic Relief Services and the Southern Baptist Convention, The Birmingham News said.

Baptist volunteers have also traveled in crews to Alabama to sleep on the floors of Sunday Schools and stay for a week on their own expense, The Birmingham News said. Tasks they do include cleaning up debris, cutting and removing trees.

Mel Johnson, strategist of the Alabama Convention’s relief work told The Birmingham News, “It’s hot, hard work, but people do it because it’s an opportunity to bring hope.” Johnson adds that they work alongside different faith volunteers including Mormons, Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists among others.

Johnson told The Birmingham News, “[T]hey all bring certain things to the table. The community of faith is usually the first to respond. They have compassion; that’s where they live.”

Hot meals

Some 7,742 trained emergency volunteers from the Southern Baptists have also been preparing tens of thousands of hot meals daily in collaboration with the Red Cross, according to The Birmingham.

Mel Johnson, strategist of the Alabama Baptist Convention’s relief work told The Birmingham News, “We work hand in hand with the Red Cross.” They have, to date, cooked over 177,000 meals and counseled up to 5,000 people.

Baptist feeding units have been deployed to Tuscaloosa, Birmingham Fire Department’s Drills and Training West Field, and Capshaw Baptist Church in Limestone County, The Alabama Baptist reported.

Charlotte Jeffreys, who heads the 17-member group in Capshaw, told TAB that her team has served breakfast, lunch and dinner directly to 1,200 people including disaster relief chain saw teams, utility workers and the local community.

Jeffreys told TAB a lot of the food they prepare comes from the community. “The community has been so wonderful. Many businesses and schools have donated their frozen foods to [the feeding unit] before they go bad (since the community does not have electricity).”

Two weeks after the tornados hit on April 27, some 65,000 businesses and homes were still without electricity, making hot meals a near impossibility were it not for the work of volunteers.

The survivors of the storms have fortunately had access to various meals with the work of the volunteers, including chicken fajitas, dumplings, ham, cooked chicken, peas, corn, pears and desserts such as cookies, strawberry shortcake and thirst quenching tea, among others, TAB reported.

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Recent studies reveal that house or organic churches are gaining popularity in the U.S.

A Barna Group study suggests some six million to 12 million Americans now go to house churches. Barna is a firm that specializes in collecting data about religion and society.

The findings parallel that of a Pew Forum survey last year which showed that nine percent of U.S. Protestants go to home churches, the AP said.

A house church usually consists of 12 to 15 people who meet every week to share what is happening in their lives, and who refer to the bible for guidance. Gatherings are conducted in a largely spontaneous way with reliance on the Holy Spirit for guidance, the AP said.

Some house churches access websites for teaching materials such as House2House which caters to organic churches and supplies articles, downloads, locations of house churches, blogs, discussion boards, books, DVDs and social networking among others, according to their website.

House2House says that buildings and a professional clergy with set programs are not the fundamentals of a church. Rather, they say the divine truth of loving Jesus, nurturing relationships among members, and an apostolic mission is more important, their website says.

They compare house churches to churches in the New Testament which revolved around the needs of the members and a desire to spread God’s word more than on constructing a church building and following a church structure, their website says.

Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research of the Southern Baptist Convention says, “I think part of the appeal for some in the house church movement is the desire to return to a simpler expression of church. For many, church has become too much (like a) business while they just want to live like the Bible,” the AP says.

In a house church there is no formal religious leadership. Each member plays a part in teaching, praying or singing. There is more opportunity for closeness and fellowship than what one could expect from a large church, the AP says.

House churches have normally been linked to countries where Christianity is a minority religion. In the U.S., however, they are beginning to become an option of choice. House churches evolve their own individualistic character and each one is different, the AP said.

There may be praise and worship singing, a time for the Eucharist and a potluck meal. There could be a spiritual lesson. There may be a regular offering, or maybe not. One house church for example only has a collection when a church member may be in financial need, the AP said.

House churches are usually found either by the internet or by word of mouth. Sometimes the members take turns hosting the service in their homes. When they are too large, they may separate into two smaller groups until membership builds up in each group again. On some occasions a house church may diminish and die out, the AP said.

Many who embrace house churches have gone through a period of feeling disillusioned with traditional churches and take to the passion and intimacy of house churches. Others like the closeness and camaraderie, the AP said.

House2House sees this development as a movement of the Holy Spirit for today’s generation. They take God’s guidance seriously, and annually hold a National House Church Conference to ascertain what house churches are doing, dwell upon God’s agenda, and to discern how they can cooperate with God’s plan, their website says.

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The U.S. House of Representatives approved recently a proposal to repeal a law that will allow gays to serve in the military so long as they don’t disclose their sexual orientation.

In a vote of 234-194, the House approved a repeal under which military leaders will not investigate a service member’s orientation, as long as the person does not say that he or she is gay or is in a same-sex relationship, which are grounds for dismissal.

The repeal had been opposed by chaplaincy organizations, many of which supply men for the chaplaincy corps and give official endorsement so they can serve as military chaplains, according to Advancing Religious Liberty (ARL).

The chaplaincy organizations that oppose the repeal include the North American Mission Board (which is the endorsing organization for the Southern Baptist Convention), the Evangelical Free Church of America, Grace Church International, and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, the ARL said.

A statement from the Alliance Defense Fund said, “If chaplains with beliefs that contradict the proposed policy are removed from roles that generate conflict, then they, the faith groups they represent, and the service members whose religious beliefs they serve will all be marginalized. The armed forces would effectively establish preferred religions or religious beliefs.”

Republicans voted overwhelmingly against the repeal, citing statements by some military service chiefs that Congress should not act before the Pentagon completes a study on the impact of the repeal, the Huffington Post said.

However, Democratic supporters said the amendment would only go into effect after the Pentagon publishes in December the results of a survey on how service members and their families view the change, and after the president, the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the repeal will not affect the military’s ability to fight, according to the Huffington Post.

“This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops that has weakened our national security,” Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights organization, said after the Senate panel’s vote.

The drive to repeal the ban still faces a tough road ahead in the full Senate, where Republicans are likely to filibuster it.  “I think it’s really going to be very harmful to the morale and effectiveness of our military,” said Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee and a leading opponent of the repeal, according to the Huffington Post.

The Senate probably will take up the bill next month.

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As children across the country head back to school, San Diego-based Outreach Inc. and churches across the nation are gearing up for the “Back to Church Sunday” campaign.

The campaign, which will kick off Sept. 13, aims to reach the un-churched, those who have never attended church, and the de-churched, people who used to go to church but no longer attend.

LifeWay Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, found in a recent survey that 82 percent of un-churched people would visit a church, if a friend or family member invited them.

President of LifeWay Research, Thom Rainer, said few active church members invite their friends and neighbors to church.

"Only two percent of church members invite an un-churched person to church," he said.

Since many of the de-churched stop attending church because of changes in life circumstances or habit, Mark Batterson of the National Community Church in Washington, D.C. said that the de-churched are in the same boat as the un-churched as far as invitations go.

"Many de-churched people are a simple re-invitation away," said Batterson.

To help those who will join the quest to get the un-churched and de-churched back into the pews, Outreach Inc. has created a campaign planning guide and a social networking page on Facebook.

The planning guide offers advice on everything from sermon planning to instructions for greeters.

"When people come to church for the first time, or come back after a long absence, they notice
everything," said Nelson Searcy, lead pastor of The Journey in New York City.

"In fact, most of them form innate judgments about the environment within seven seconds of walking through the door."

In addition, the organization has created a "Rethink Church" booklet, which addresses the 10 top reasons people leave the church, along with videos, articles and other resources.

For more information: www.backtochurch.com

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