Archive for the 'Southern Baptist Convention' Category
Fayetteville, Arkansas: America’s Current Religious Liberty Battleground
Tuesday, December 9, 2014, is not just a big day for Fayetteville, Arkansas, but also for America. We believe it is America’s current religious liberty battleground.
A Brief History
Just over three months ago, the Fayetteville City Council passed what is called a civil rights ordinance, now known as Chapter 119. This ordinance granted special rights to individuals because of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. These are commonly referred to as Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) ordinances.
A national group called the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is trying to use local city councils to advance their agenda, and they are actively working in cities across America to pass these laws. Recently, cities like Houston and San Antonio had SOGI laws passed, but those laws were not even as bad as the Fayetteville ordinance.
This Ordinance is so bad, the Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Arkansas Editorial Board are Standing Against it
In the Sunday, December 7, 2014 edition of the Northwest Arkansas Times, there was a full-page advertisement entitled, “Vote to Repeal Ordinance 5703 Chapter 119.” This article offered seven reasons why the voters of Fayetteville should repeal Ordinance 119. Just one of the reasons they listed: “119 places Fayetteville businesses at a distinct disadvantage and has the potential to bring economic development in Fayetteville to a screeching halt.” In other words, this is bad for businesses and for the future economic development of Fayetteville.
On November 29, the Northwest Arkansas Times Editorial Board also encouraged the citizens of Fayetteville to repeal the ordinance. Their reason is summed up, “It’s a bad ordinance, no matter how well-intended it is.”
Thank you, members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Arkansas Times Editorial Board, for encouraging voters to repeal Ordinance 119.
We Believe This Ordinance Attacks the Very Foundation of Our Religious Liberties
Yes, we do believe Fayetteville, Arkansas, is America’s current religious liberty battleground. Let me give you a few brief examples of what may happen if this ordinance is not repealed:
(1) Christian small-business owners could be fined or even face jail time if they refuse services to one of this new protected ‘class’. Just like the recent episode with a baker in Colorado, if someone refused to bake a cake for a same sex wedding because it violated the business owner’s conscious or religious view, they would now be violating the law.
(2) Small business owners are faced with more regulation and less religious freedoms in the hiring and firing process than any other place in the country.
(3) Churches must allow a biological man, who identifies himself as a woman, to use the women’s restroom, and it would be an illegal act for the church to stop this use.
(4) Churches now must hire a person who is not of the same belief as the church for any job except a pastor, such as a secretary or custodian.
(5) Pastors face fines and potential jail time if they refuse to marry a gay couple. These fines could reach $8,500 in the first 30 days, and if not paid, they could be put in jail.
This is why I am urging the residents of Fayetteville to vote For Repeal 119 on December 9.
Fayetteville, Arkansas IS America’s Current Religious Liberty Battleground and it is Coming to Your Region Soon
This is the nation’s current battleground on which to stand for religious freedom. Fayetteville, please rise up and send a clear and compelling message to all those propagating this agenda – that the people of Fayetteville will stand up and protect our religious freedoms. Fayetteville is the first city to get this issue on a public ballot, and the first city with a chance to repeal this ordinance. This is the chance for Fayetteville to make a national impact by becoming the first city to reject this offensive SOGI law.
Two Final Notes of Clarity
I would like to close making two final remarks of clarity for everyone.
1. Our stance against this ordinance is not a stance against people, but against this ordinance.
2. Regardless of whether this ordinance is repealed or not, our hope is in the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus came to die for each of us, regardless of our backgrounds or present practices. We are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory. This is why Jesus died for each of us – so we could be forgiven, have purpose for life today, and spend eternity in heaven with Him one day soon.
So when the sun rises on December 10, 2014, Jesus will still be Lord over all. Our hope is only in Jesus and in His eternal Kingdom.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
President, Southern Baptist Convention
*******
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.7 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Focus One Sunday Morning in 2015 on Prayer in Your Church
God’s Word is clear: “…For My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7) Jesus declared it this way: “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21:13)
Announcements and promotions within the church sometimes gain a higher priority in planning and follow through than prayer. This is why the church of America sleeps. Spiritual lukewarmness is plaguing the church, resulting in infrequency of church attendance, declining churches, lagging evangelism, sagging giving, and generational disconnectedness.
Is your church a house of prayer or something else?
When is the last time you turned an entire Sunday morning worship service or services into an entire service of prayer? Has this ever occurred? Has prayer received more than a small focus in any worship service you have attended recently?
If not, why not? If we are not filling God’s churches with passionate prayers that are focused with purpose, what are we filling our church worship services with? Could it be that we are not filling God’s churches with prayer because we are not seeing that our greatest need is the power of God to intervene into our life, church, and nation? Could it be because we do not connect the deep need for prayer with the greatest need – to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the nations?
Turn One Sunday Morning Into a Morning of Prayer
In my recently released 16-page e-book, “Pleading With Southern Baptists”, I humbly called our 46,000 plus churches to five actions. You can read about the first two actions here and here.
The third action is to focus an entire Sunday morning worship service (or services) between January and May 2015 on extraordinary prayer for personal and church revival, the next Great Awakening in America, and for the world to be reached for Christ. Several months ago, I wrote about leading your church in a Sunday morning prayer meeting. Let this encourage you. We also have a resource section in our e-book and on pray4awakening.com/southernbaptists. Under the heading Prayer Gatherings, you will find examples from several churches on how they have experienced Sunday morning services focused on prayer.
Four Characteristics of Prayer Services
There are four characteristics I will mention briefly that can help you plan and lead a prayer service effectively:
1. Biblically-based: Each prayer time needs to be based on a teaching time from God’s Word. We stand on His Word, not on our words or passions.
2. Prayer-focused: Focus each prayer time on principles like repentance, revival, surrender to the Lordship of Christ and the filling of the Spirit, spiritual awakening, and reaching the world for Christ beginning in your own community.
3. Spirit-led: While prepared and ready to lead, you will need to navigate the worship and prayer moments as God’s Spirit leads you.
4. Worship-expressed: Hymns and worship songs are given to us to express our worship of Jesus Christ as our Lord. These can be powerful expressions as transition moments, moving from one prayer time to the other.
Just Imagine
Just imagine what may happen in your church if an entire Sunday morning service is turned into a prayer service. You could experience God move in ways unlike you have seen in a while or may have never seen before. People could come to Christ. Personal repentance could result in a releasing of the Spirit upon your church, unleashing the church to worship and ministry.
Just imagine if 100 churches, 500 churches, or several thousand Southern Baptist Churches would turn a Sunday morning into insuring that Jesus’ House would be a genuine house of prayer for all the nations. Just imagine what could happen if, from this point forward, you could spend 10 focused minutes each Sunday morning in extraordinary prayer on two major needs locally, in your church, in America, or across the world.
Here is what I do know: If we do not plan to pray, we will not pray!
It is past time for us to prioritize prayer personally and in the church. For far too long, we have seen what we can do; it is time for us to see what God can do. This can only happen when we pray.
You may say, “Ronnie, do you really believe that?” Absolutely, and I believe it upon the authority of His Word.
Acts 4:31 says, “When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness.”
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church President, Southern Baptist Convention*******
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.7 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.