The 3 - February 24, 2019

This week on The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance to the Christian community, within the past few weeks major evangelistic crusades have occurred in various parts of the world, including events led by the son and grandson of the late Billy Graham.  Also, another pro-life victory from the Trump Administration has been finalized.  And, there are more developments in the aftermath of the published reports about sexual abuse in churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

3 - Evangelists lead large-scale campaigns around the world

As a number of people reflected on the one-year anniversary of the death of the great evangelist Billy Graham this past Thursday, February 21, we can also celebrate how God has been working recently through evangelists who were inspired by him, including his son and grandson.

His son, Franklin Graham, spent 16 days in Australia recently, preaching the gospel in six different cities.  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website noted:

Sixteen days of criss-crossing Australia. Time well spent changing the spiritual landscape of this wild and rugged continent and its warmhearted people.

Sunday night in Sydney, Franklin Graham issued yet another invitation on the last night of the Graham Tour. He urged Aussies to confess their sins and surrender their hearts to Christ.

“Let’s get this straight tonight. Do it. Come on,” he said.

Many of those who heard the Gospel these past two-plus weeks did. Thousands of the more than 59,000 people who attended the tour received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Meanwhile, his son, Will, held nine events in eight days in various locations in the Manila area of the Philippines. The Association's website stated:

The Greater Pangasinan-Metro Manila Celebration with Will Graham was held Feb. 9-17, and included a two-day outreach at the Narciso Ramos Sports Complex in Lingayen, Pangasinan, followed by three special events for teens, government/military leaders and marketplace leaders, and culminated with a three-day, four-event series at the Quirino Grandstand at Manila’s historic Rizal Park.

All told, 149,656 people attended the Greater Pangasinan-Metro Manila Celebration with Will Graham.

Over 19,000 people made a decision to follow Christ. The website notes that this series of events "marked the first time that all three generations of Graham evangelists have preached from the same venue in the same city. Will’s grandfather, Billy Graham, preached a Crusade at Rizal Park in 1977 and Will’s father, Franklin Graham, held an evangelistic Festival in 2006 in the same location."

Meanwhile, the Luis Palau Association held a crusade in Ivory Coast, or Cote d'Ivoire, in West Africa recently. A Christian Newswire report said that, "More than 50,000 people in West Africa gathered ...in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire for a 3-day evangelistic festival with evangelist Andrew Palau. Led by the Luis Palau Association, the week-long campaign was the culmination of more than three years of work in Cote d'Ivoire, including massive citywide festivals in other influential cities such as Yamoussoukro and San Pedro."

There were reportedly over 2,200 local churches involved, with a report of more than 19,000 public professions of faith in Christ.

Each country had its unique events and possesses its own spiritual climate.  The three crusade events just within the past month are great illustrations of how God is at work in varying parts of the world.

2 - Trump administration releases new regulation to prevent certain taxpayer dollars from funding abortion

The Trump Administration has taken another step to reduce the number of abortions in our nation.  Even though Congress has been unable to pass very much pro-life legislation in recent years because of an abundance of members who oppose restriction of abortion under the false narrative of a so-called "woman's right to choose," there are actions from the executive branch that can be and have been taken.  By the way, this week, the Senate votes on a bill that would protect infant survivors of abortion.

The Susan B. Anthony List website reports that the Administration "finalized the Protect Life Rule to redirect Title X family planning program funds away from the abortion industry. The rule advances President Trump’s promise to stop taxpayer funding of abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood, who will no longer receive Title X funding if they choose not to comply." The website states that the rule "directs tax dollars to Title X centers that do not promote or perform abortions, such as the growing number of community and rural health centers that far outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities."

This development adds to a list of pro-life accomplishments in the more than two years of the Trump Administration.  The SBA List website lists "President Trump's Pro-Life Wins, including:

• Appointed Pro-Life Judges
• Permitted States to Defund Planned Parenthood of Title X Funds
• Stopped Tax Dollars Funding Abortion Overseas
• Defunded the Pro-Abortion UNFPA
• Required Health Insurance Companies to Disclose if Plans Cover Abortion
• Settlements & New Rule Regarding HHS Mandate
• Strong Pro-Life Appointments to Key Positions
• New Office for Conscience Protection at HHS
• Allowed States to Defund Planned Parenthood of Medicaid Funds.

The Susan B. Anthony List is in partnership with Life Issues Institute, which presents the one-minute radio feature, Life Issues, with Brad Mattes, heard throughout the day on Faith Radio.

1 - SBC attempts to deal with sexual abuse issue

In a response set off by the recent series on sexual abuse within Southern Baptist Convention churches, the SBC President, J.D. Greear, made a presentation to the Convention's Executive Committee.  In it, he made a number of recommendations, according to The Christian Index, which is published by the Georgia Baptist Convention.  He referred to a study group that had been established last summer regarding the issue, and the names of group members were made public in Monday's presentation.  The Index said: "Greear called on Southern Baptists to respond to some initial recommendations of the study group, beginning for repentance or decades of inaction."

The group had put together training materials that have been made available to churches. Also, according to the article, Greear announced that all six SBC seminaries, officers of the SBC Associational Leaders, and all state conventions have agreed to three Statements of Principles on Abuse documents.  He also called for new "policies and prodecures," a well as reassessing the process of ordaining ministers.

Plus, part of the presentation called for an examination of 10 churches that had received media attention regarding incidences in the area of abuse. Greear is quoted as saying that the churches are not being singled out "for disfellowshipping … at this point but these churches must be called upon to give assurance to the SBC that they have taken the necessary steps to correct their policies and procedures with regards to abuse and care for survivors."

The Houston Chronicle contacted the 10 churches mentioned, most of them in Texas.  For example, one, the large Second Baptist Church in Houston, responded with this statement:

“Second Baptist Church wants to assure the Southern Baptist Convention and our community that we have long adhered to strict policies and guidelines dealing with sexual conduct and abuse,” the church said. “First and foremost, we grieve with each and every child, individual, their families and everyone affected by sexual abuse. Period.”

Arapaho Road Baptist in Garland, TX, according to the article, "issued a statement saying it welcomed a conversation with Greear about how it handled past incidents of abuse and what it learned from them."

Then, there's Eastside Baptist in Marietta, GA - its pastor would have welcomed a conversation prior to it being announced as a church under scrutiny. Pastor John Hull "...invited the SBC’s leadership, based in Nashville, to visit Eastside to learn what the church has done to prevent sexual abuse and protect children." He said, "While this may be new for our friends in Nashville, we’ve been down the road on this."

Hull was interviewed in another Christian Index article.  When he arrived, the church in Marietta had just endured the report of a janitor who had inappropriately touched a young girl.  The story relates:

“I am completely mystified,” he said Thursday. In particular, the pastor doesn’t understand why Greear nor anyone from the SBC Executive Committee failed to contact Eastside to ask what had been done in the past two-and-a-half years prior to the list being made public.

Hull agrees with Greear’s emphasis on protecting children. However, he believes the SBC president missed an opportunity to show the example of a church that has committed itself to that task in a way few others have, traveling a road none would want to take.

The Chairman of the Executive Committee, fellow Georgia pastor Mike Stone, said:

“I share his deep concern,” Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, told The Index. “President Greear was speaking as an individual, knowing that he does not possess the authority to place any congregation under investigation. And while the specific language of the president’s address did not claim that authority, the way in which it was communicated gave the unfortunate and unintended impression that this was an action of the Executive Committee of the SBC.”

This past week, according to Baptist Press, the by-laws workgroup of the SBC Executive Committee spent time crafting a statement "responding to SBC President J.D. Greear's report earlier this week on sexual abuse." The statement addresses the 10 churches.  Relative to the introduction of an amendment at the SBC Convention in Birmingham in June, it says in part:

We utterly and completely condemn the abominable horror of child sexual abuse. We must also be careful that our righteous anger does not prevent a deliberate and thoughtful response. Although the overwhelming majority of sexual abuse cases remains tragically unreported, in virtually all reported cases, the abuse and cover-up of abuse were criminal acts undertaken by a few individuals within a church. The church body rarely knew about these actions and even more rarely took any action to endorse or affirm the wrongful acts or the actors themselves. The Convention, through its Executive Committee, should not disrupt the ministries of its churches by launching an inquiry until it has received credible information that the church has knowingly acted wrongfully in one of the four ways described in the proposed amendment:

(a) employing a convicted sex offender,

(b) allowing a convicted sex offender to work as a volunteer in contact with minors,

(c) continuing to employ a person who unlawfully concealed from law enforcement information regarding the sexual abuse of any person by an employee or volunteer of the church, or

(d) willfully disregarding compliance with mandatory child abuse reporting laws.

The day after Greear's presentation, the Bylaws Workgroup requested evidence from Greear "containing the information upon which he based his naming of the churches."  The group has determined that out of the 10 churches, only 3 require "further inquiry."  One of the 10 isn't even a Southern Baptist church.  "Further inquiry is warranted" of Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville; the Sovereign Grace consortium of churches has been under a cloud of sexual abuse allegations for many years now.  Two other churches, including one in Houston that is led by a "registered sex offender."  All others, including Second Baptist, Arapaho Road, and Eastside do not warrant further inquiry.  The report contained these pointed words:

While victims of sexual abuse should always be encouraged to report the crimes against them, we urge all members of the Executive Committee and messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention to avoid publicly calling the names of churches without having documentation of criminal convictions and giving prior notice to the church. No individual possesses the authority to declare a church to be under a Convention inquiry of any kind.