What's New

Resources, new Bibles promote stewardship, debt reduction

NASHVILLE, Tenn., 9/26/08 -- LifeWay Christian Resources and the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention are hoping that a New Testament might help families reduce their debt. If that happens, churches will benefit.

The Executive Committee worked with LifeWay's Holman Bible Outreach International to develop a New Testament that includes 30 daily devotions written by Crown Financial Ministries to be used by churches with the "It's a New Day" curriculum series.

The "It's a New Day" curriculum includes a 10-week Bible study that leads individuals through the biblical principles of money management. Churches that implement a four-week emphasis on financial freedom may also use sermons provided on a DVD that teach foundational principles for handling money God's way.
Phill Burgess, executive director of HBOI, said of LifeWay's contribution, "This is more than simply a New Testament. This edition contains 30 daily devotions that were developed for every member of a church to use while going through a church-wide, four-week series about giving God complete lordship in our lives, even over our finances."

Ashley Clayton, associate vice president for stewardship with the Executive Committee, said, "We are a debt-driven culture. We define ourselves by the stuff we have. People in the pews are just as much in debt as people outside of the church. Even pastors and church leaders are not immune.

It's a New Day NT"We believe Southern Baptists want to give," said Clayton, "but they just can't. Our goal is to bring liberty and freedom to believers. We may never know what an impact we can have on the Kingdom if believers are free to give. When individuals begin exercising good financial discipline personally, it will carry over to good financial discipline in the church," he added.

While financial freedom is a personal issue, Clayton believes much progress can be made when a church addresses stewardship corporately.

"Debt used to be a stigma," said Clayton. "Now we are a culture in trouble financially. Let's own up to it and face it together."

Burgess believes the New Day New Testaments encourage community for those learning about biblical principles of money management.

"With the entire congregation going through the series together, a sense of 'oneness' within the church can be created, like we are 'all in this together,'" said Burgess. "Using the New Day New Testaments during the series is like a tender walk through God's Word that can lead an entire congregation into a life-changing commitment that will bring peace in their lives."

In support of the "It's a New Day" initiative, LifeWay Christian Stores has "It's a New Day" offering envelopes available through its offering envelope service, said Ben Stroup, coordinator of LifeWay Christian Stores' offering envelope service.

With so many struggling financially outside of the church, Stroup said he believes the New Day program can also work as an outreach, as well. To support evangelistic efforts, LifeWay Christian Stores also developed New Day business cards that churches may personalize to distribute to those outside of the church who may struggle financially.

The New Day New Testaments are available by bulk order through LifeWay Christian Stores or through the HBOI Website at www.holmanbibleoutreach.com.

For more information on New Day offering envelopes, business cards and notepads, visit www.lifewaystores.com/envelopeservice.

Holman Bible Outreach donates Bibles, Christian books to troops serving in overseas

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Holman Bible Outreach International (HBOI), a ministry of LifeWay Christian Resources, has donated Bibles and a variety of new Christian books to the U.S. Navy for libraries that serve troops in Kuwait and on one of the Navy’s newest ships.

Packages of resources were donated to a general library of Christian books for two medical facilities: the Warrior Recovery Unit (WRU) in Camp Arifjan and the Contingency Aero-medical Staging Facility (CASF) in Camp Ali Al-Salem.

The WRU is a convalescence center that gives service members a location to recuperate from mild to moderate injuries or from minor surgery. The CASF is a location where injured service members are staged as they arrive for medical care or to await to fly out of Kuwait on a medivac flight.

“The population has a high turnover rate, and troops come from all services,” said Chaplain Ben Mathis, LT, USN, who made the initial request for resources through the North American Mission Board. “There is a lot of down time here for them as they heal.”

The third location is the USS Mesa Verde, one of the newest ships in the Navy. The Mesa Verde’s chaplain, Darren Stennet, LT, has been with the ship from the beginning and was seeking to put together a ship library for the sailors.

Holman Bible Outreach, also known as the Baptist Bible Society, provided identical orders for the requests. Each location received 50 books that were a combination of general and academic Christian resources for men and women, as well as a case of 282 Holman Christian Standard Bibles.

“For me it is great to see LifeWay jump on a project so quickly and help us offer our men and women more to do then just lie around watching old movies or reading bad books,” Mathis commented. “Most of the service members I meet are spiritual and are looking for answers. Now, there are two good locations for our injured and recuperating men and women to redeem their down time by having some quality time with God.”

As for the new library on the USS Mesa Verde, “The Bibles are going like hotcakes...Wow, what a blessing,” Stennet wrote in an e-mail to HBOI.

Mathis and Stennet both made the connections to HBOI through the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and Scott Reed, manager of the LifeWay Christian Store in Conyers, Ga.

Reed, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, met Phill Burgess, executive director of HBOI, last year at a Memorial Day Weekend event to honor troops and their families. About 3,000 copies of the paperback Holman CSB Military Bible were given away to veterans and their relatives by HBOI over a three-day period.

Reed spoke with Burgess about the possibility of a creating a military-themed devotional and other ways of ministering to veterans. A few months later, Burgess invited him to a brainstorming meeting with Keith Travis, the chaplain evangelism team leader for NAMB, and Dave Mullis, who oversees all SBC military chaplains.

Travis and Reed kept in touch, passing ideas back and forth by e-mail. In June, Travis contacted Reed to see if he could help with Mathis’ request for Christian resources for the Kuwait medical facilities. Stennet’s request followed shortly thereafter. Reed turned to Burgess for help, and soon packages of books and a case of Bibles were on their way to each place.

“We are delighted to help meet the spiritual needs of our armed forces by providing biblical solutions to our American military chaplains, soldiers, sailors and airmen,” Burgess said. “What a blessing to have an opportunity to serve those who are serving us in far away parts of the world.”

Burgess noted that in addition to facilitating the translation, production and distribution of Bibles and Scripture portions for evangelism and discipleship, HBOI offers a supporting role for SBC entities on the front lines of evangelism and discipleship, and seeks innovative ways to come along side their work so that each organization’s strengths are maximized.

“This is an excellent example of how Southern Baptist ministries can work together to meet urgent needs,” Travis commented. “Not only was this a great way to support our military chaplains and minister to service men and women, but it also helps churches see tangible ways they can meet military needs around the globe.”

“It's been my experience that the daily realities our soldiers face, and the dangers that confront them, lead soldiers to seek answers to spiritual things,” Reed added. “The majority of soldiers come from secular, un-churched backgrounds. Faced with the possibility of suddenly being thrust into eternity, they are very open to the gospel.

Reed said he hears of needs “almost weekly” from NAMB about Southern Baptist military chaplains serving overseas looking for Christian resources so that they can be made available to the troops. He noted that divorce, spouse abuse, suicide and drug and alcohol abuse statistics are all disproportionately higher among those in the military.

As an example of the special needs many returning soldiers have as they assimilate back into American society, Reed cited a military veteran who had lost a leg in Iraq and recently was in a LifeWay store looking for a book about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from a Christian perspective. When offered the book Two Wars, he said it was biographical and that he didn't want to read about somebody else's traumatic experiences in war.

“He had seen enough and just wanted help, as do many other returning vets,” Reed said, adding, “The NAMB office offered to send the man a complimentary copy of the book The Combat Trauma Healing Manual and also referred him to a pastor who can give him sound biblical counsel.”

“Our troops today are experiencing unfathomable trauma and stress,” Reed noted. “They need good biblical counsel and the word of God.”

Free Bibles available at Olympics

August 13, 2008 | by BP Staff

BEIJING (BP)--Bibles and Christian evangelistic materials are being made available free of charge to athletes and visitors at the Olympic Games in China.

Holman Bible Outreach International has provided copies of the Gospel of John from their new Mandarin Chinese Standard Bible to several organizations that will present them as gifts at the games. The Mandarin-language New Testament was completed in June, according to HBOI, an arm of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Chinese scholars worked cooperatively with Holman's translation team to produce a readable contemporary Chinese Mandarin Bible that also is theologically accurate. Work on the Old Testament is underway.

"The Chinese Standard Bible is the most accurate translation of God's Word in everyday language and will be a true source of encouragement for those who have struggled to understand outdated Chinese translations," said Phill Burgess, executive director of Holman Bible Outreach (holmanbibleoutreach.org). "We are delighted to offer the Mandarin translation of the Gospel of John, which was developed for Chinese people, by Chinese people, for free during the Olympics."

In another Bible distribution project, a special bilingual Bible produced by Amity Press, the publishing arm of the government-registered China Christian Council, is being made available at no charge in the Olympic Village where the Olympic athletes and media are housed, according to the China Daily newspaper. The English Standard Version and Chinese Union Version texts appear side by side in the edition.

In addition to the 10,000 bilingual CUV-ESV Bibles, 30,000 New Testaments and 100,000 bilingual editions of the four Gospels also will be available during the games.

"It is a great joy for all of us at Crossway Bibles to have a small part in providing God's Word to the church in China through the publication of the CUV-ESV bilingual Bible," said Lane Dennis, president of Crossway Books (crossway.org), which published the ESV translation. "We pray this is just the beginning of building partnerships with the church in China for the publication of Bible resources that will help meet the needs of the Chinese people."

A third publication, a book co-written by American evangelist Luis Palau and Chinese scholar Zhao Qizheng, also is being distributed to athletes and the media during the games.

"A Friendly Dialogue between An Atheist and A Christian" is the result of conversations between the two that began in May 2005 when Palau visited China as part of a delegation of American business, cultural and spiritual leaders, according to a statement released by the Luis Palau Association. The joint book effort seeks to build bridges of understanding through the discussion of widely varying topics, including philosophy, history, religion, science, the Bible, politics, ethics and Christianity.

Chinese publisher New World Press is making thousands of copies of the book's English version available at the Olympic press center, the Olympic Exhibition Hall, the Beijing International Media Center, at newsstands in the Olympic Village, designated Olympic Games hotels and the Beijing International Airport.

"The true spirit of the Olympics -- mutual respect and friendship -- was at the heart of 'A Friendly Dialogue' from the beginning," Palau said in the statement. "That we can share those conversations, which include a straightforward proclamation of the Gospel, at the Olympic Games is an incredible blessing and honor."

Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Mark Kelly.

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