VOICES
Encourage: Pray for 3,000 professions of faith at Falls Creek Hance Dilbeck Oklahoma Baptists’ Executive Director-Treasurer @Hance_Dilbeck
Oklahoma Baptists, let’s ask God for 3,000 students to be saved at Falls Creek this summer. The Bible consistently challenges us to ask. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7). Asking expresses our humility and our faith in God. Asking also clarifies the desires of our hearts. What do we want the Lord to do for us? Let’s ask Him. Todd Sanders is the program director for the eight weeks of youth summer camp at Falls Creek. He recently wrote, “Nothing eternally good or worthwhile happens in life, and certainly not through the ministry of Falls Creek Youth Camp, without the moving of the Holy Spirit.” We need to hit our knees this spring and ask for an extraordinary move of the Holy Spirit at Falls Creek in the summer of 2021. Father, give us 3,000 professions of faith!
It was heartbreaking—gut wrenching— to see the summer of 2020 pass without Falls Creek Youth Camps. The Lord’s work in those eight weeks of camp impacts the lives of students in ways that bears fruit around the world and strengthens our churches for a generation. Would our Father give us now an extraordinarily fruitful summer to follow the “drought” of 2020? Southern Baptists are striving to turn a corner when it comes to baptizing teenagers. Across our nation, we have seen a disappointing decline in the number of 12 to 17 year olds coming to faith in Jesus Christ. More than half of our churches go year after year without baptizing a single student. Would God begin a fresh new student revival this summer at Falls Creek? Our Falls Creek Summer Youth Camps could lead the way in the turnaround of this decline. Let’s ask God for 3,000 life-changing encounters with Christ at Falls Creek this summer! On Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, in private devotions and public worship, in prayer rooms, at church altars and on the way to work—let’s ask Him. Let’s keep on asking. I believe our Heavenly Father will delight to give us this good gift.
Oklahoma Baptists, let’s ask God for 3,000 students to be saved at Falls Creek this summer. Father, we ask you to exalt the Name of Jesus as Your Holy Spirit moves with power to draw 3,000 students to profess their faith in Jesus this summer at Falls Creek. Bless the preaching of Your Word, bring a clear strong Gospel invitation night after night, move with power in each cabin and conversation. Use the preachers, youth pastors, sponsors, cooks, staff and even students to bring lost teenagers to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Let the angels in heaven rejoice and Big Bertha, the bell at Falls Creek, ring 3,000 times this summer. O Father, give us 3,000 souls this summer at Falls Creek.
Sword & trowel: Equality Act & religious liberty Brian Hobbs Editor of the Baptist Messenger @BrianGHobbs
If you have followed national news of late, you may have heard about the “Equality Act.” What is it? And why are many Southern Baptists and others calling it a serious threat to religious liberty? According to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), “the essence of the ‘Equality Act’ is its addition of ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ as protected classes to already existing federal nondiscrimination laws. This would prohibit employers, preschools, and even religious schools and organizations from making choices based on basic biology, bodily privacy, and their beliefs about the nature of marriage. It would apply to every single recipient of federal financial assistance (including every public school and almost all colleges and universities).”
ADF then said, “Though ‘nondiscrimination’ sounds good in the abstract, that is not what this bill is truly about. The bill actually poses a devastating and unprecedented threat to free speech, religious freedom and the progress that women have made toward true equal treatment in law and culture.” The ADF went on to say that the “Equality Act” is “a deliberate attempt to force people of faith— good people who serve everyone—to promote messages and celebrate events that conflict with their sincere beliefs. The ‘Equality Act’ would also threaten the equal treatment of women and upend the bedrock understanding of male and female in our law and culture.” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, who is not prone to hyperbole, called the “Equality Act” the “greatest threat to religious liberty in American public life in decades.” In a recent interview with the Baptist Messenger, U.S. Senator James Lankford explained his opposition to the Equality Act. While the act already has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, and while President Joe Biden has promised he would sign it into law, the bill has not been voted upon in the
U.S. Senate. To hear the interview with Sen. Lankford, visit baptistmessenger.com/religious-liberty-watch. What is perhaps most shocking about the “Equality Act” is there are no religious liberty protections offered for organizations. That means any institution or organization that will not get on board with the emerging and ever-changing definitions of gender and sexuality face a threat to their mission and even very existence. What should we do? Whenever a proposed policy comes along that threatens religious liberty, Christians must do our part to speak against it. Moreover, churches must make sure we are prepared for challenges ahead, with help from groups like ADF. Finally, we must redouble our prayer efforts, asking God to give wisdom and favor to those in leadership seeking to do the right thing. In the end, “the ‘Equality Act’ gives people of faith an ultimatum: Change your faith-based practices or face government punishment,” as the ADF has stated. While Christians can and should be ready to take a stand for the Faith and face the consequences, we can and will oppose such efforts to wipe away religious liberty with one Congressional Act.
Voices | May 13, 2021 | The Baptist Messenger | www.baptistmessenger.com
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