Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
In today's edition:
- Christian Leaders Urge NAE not to Fixate on Global Warming
- Hammond Gets Unanimous Trustee Vote as New NAMB President
- Women Reach Out with 50,000 Tracts
- Pope's Goal is Reclaiming Christian Identity, Vatican Official Says
Christian Leaders Urge NAE not to Fixate on Global Warming
A group of prominent conservative Christian leaders says the issue of global warming is "dividing and demoralizing" the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and its leaders, OneNewsNow.com reports. Gary Bauer says the NAE would be better served fighting abortion and same-sex "marriage." Bauer, James Dobson, and other conservatives recently sent a letter to the NAE's board of directors, concerned that some of their evangelical brethren are "using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time." Bauer is the president of American Values. He says NAE Vice President Richard Cizik and the NAE need to better prioritize issues in accordance with Scripture.
Hammond Gets Unanimous Trustee Vote as New NAMB President
In a unanimous vote, trustees of the North American Mission Board elected church planting missionary Geoff Hammond as president of the North American Mission Board March 21, Baptist Press reports. The vote came after trustees met in executive session Tuesday, March 20, to review Hammond’s nomination and interact with the candidate and his wife Debbie. Hammond, the son and grandson of missionaries, currently serves as a NAMB church planting missionary with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia convention. He also serves in the capacity of senior associate director of the SBCV. Hammond was recommended March 1 by NAMB’s president search committee after a nine-month search.
Women Reach Out with 50,000 Tracts
Despite opposition and threats of beatings, a team of seven women who are part of Gospel for Asia Women’s Fellowship gave out 50,000 tracts at the Kumbh Mela festival earlier this year. Coming to the Ganges River in Uttar Pradesh, India, to dip in its “holy” waters, 60 million people attended the Kumbh Mela over six weeks in January and February. Eager to bring these pilgrims the truth of the Gospel, the seven women, along with two GFA staff members, traveled three hours to the festival site. They began passing out tracts along busy roads to everyone they saw — even the “holy men.” About an hour later some extremists approached one of the staff members and told him to stop giving out tracts. The same man then threatened Alita, one of the women, with beatings if she didn’t leave. The women did not give up, and that day they passed out 50,000 tracts.
Pope's Goal is Reclaiming Christian Identity, Vatican Official Says
According to Catholic News Service, the first two years of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate have been focused on strengthening Christian values in a world disoriented by indifference, relativism and increasing secularism. Vaatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said Pope Benedict's overall goal is to reclaim the authentic Christian identity. At the same time, Cardinal Bertone said, Pope Benedict recognizes that faith needs to be explained in a way that appeals to human intelligence, so he has brought experts in the fields of science, philosophy and theology in for dialogue. Renewing identity also means trying to change the indifference of wealthy nations toward Third World nations suffering from poverty.
