Your Voice

Each gift to Lottie Moon, big or small, carries the gospel across the world

Dear Alabama Baptist pastors and church leaders, 

One of the great privileges of my life is representing you as an Alabama trustee of the International Mission Board (IMB). 

As we move into the month of December, Southern Baptists join with believers around the world in celebrating the coming of Christ. 

We also come together to observe the season for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. 

‘Greatest investment’

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering provides about half of the total support Baptists send to missionaries who share the gospel around the world. 

It enables our missionaries to plant churches, share Christ, minister to needs and carry the gospel to those who have never heard about the Savior’s love and saving grace. 

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is one of the greatest investments any church can make in fulfilling the Great Commission.  

Some people incorrectly think a lot of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is used to keep the organization going, but IMB President Paul Chitwood and IMB leadership have made calling and equipping missionaries their highest priority for the future. 

In fact the Lord has given Chitwood a vision of 1,000 additional missionaries on the field in the next five years.

Achieving that goal will take all of us diving in with both feet. 

Last year half of our Southern Baptist churches did not participate in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Imagine what could happen if everybody chose to make a sacrificial gift. 

What an incredible thing it would be to see 100% of Alabama Baptist churches take up a Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. 

I am aware that some can give more than others, but every church can make a sacrificial gift that will carry the gospel of Jesus to lost people around the world.

Thank you for considering your gift to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year.

Pastor Jim Cooley
First Baptist Church, Birmingham

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Diversity in the SBC

Southern Baptists have proven and affirmed upon several occasions our commitment to stand on the word of God — that the Bible is truth without any mixture of error. 

We stand on this truth as stated in the Baptist Faith & Message and its call to take the gospel to every person in every town, every city, every state and every nation. 

We as leaders should be committed to this.

One key to a healthier culture in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is to empower all churches, all generations, all ethnicities and all languages for gospel service. Strengthening our commitment to becoming a multiethnic, multilingual denomination begins in the local churches and should be carried all the way through our presidential appointment process and trustee appointment process.

It’s my prayer that Southern Baptists remain a people of The Book while also realizing we have no choice but to become as diverse as possible — both in our churches and our leadership. This is imperative if we are going to reach the people of America and the peoples across the globe. Now is the time to lead. 

(Adapted from an article originally posted on bpnews.net)

—Ronnie Floyd

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ronnie Floyd is president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.

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Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.

C.S. Lewis
Author and lay theologian

Pastors are often seen as those who do not need help. Yet behind that curtain are pastors who are struggling and don’t know where  to turn.

Ed Stetzer
Author and speaker

Life is tough, so much so that it can be near impossible to find any joy in it. When we set our eyes on our every day nonsense, we are not setting our eyes where God told us to put them. 

Slow down and take time to notice the gifts that God has given us every day. Look outside and see His creation. Fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year, and God created that especially for you to enjoy and to make you smile. 

“God saw all that He had made and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). Enjoy the beauty every day, embrace love and joy every day and soon it will become your life

Amy Hacker
TAB staff member

It is when we trust God and obey His will, even against our own better judgment, that we are able to see His glory and find the joy that comes from serving Him.

Jeffery M. Leonard
Samford University

During the holidays, some students might be a bit more on edge than usual. It’s possible that they’ll be more quickly angered or annoyed. They might snap back at someone when they normally wouldn’t. They might not fulfill their responsibilities in your group as well as they normally would. Chances are they’re trying their best to juggle school, family, friends and responsibilities at church, and they desperately want to do that well.

When they’re late for praise band practice or they forget that they’re supposed to lead the Bible study on Thursday night, cut them a little slack. Show some grace, and remind them that they don’t have to be perfect. Remind them that their value comes from Christ and not from their accomplishments.

Lauren Cumbie
YMLink.org

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From the Twitterverse

@PriscillaShirer

… Every knee will bow … You can do it now voluntarily. Or you can do it later mandatorily. But make no mistake, every knee will bow at THE NAME. 

@Slsellers7170

This I know out of suffering. The Master Conductor is writing a beautiful symphony that He, the Lord, will be [gloriously] exalted! When it’s played through your life, it’s a beautiful song of grace.

@macbrunson

Eph. 4:32: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted … Every leader and pastor of the (Southern Baptist Convention) needs to seriously read and pray over this before they engage on social media. Seriously, what are we teaching our people and what are we saying to the watching world?

@MichaelCatt

Until the church learns to function in the power of the Spirit, we will be a dysfunctional family arguing over preferences, straining at gnats and by default unable to share a viable witness with the lost world.

@danwhitejr

No one teaches you in seminary how to forgive congregants for the wounds inflicted that they’ll never apologize for.

@tobymac

As we enter this week of Thanksgiving we have something we’d like to share. Such overwhelming love has surrounded us this last month. We still don’t quite know which end is up but we do know we are loved. As we mourn our firstborn son, God has poured out His love on us through people. He has loved us through you … your kind acts and words and prayers and thoughts and songs and poems and teachings and gifts and meals and time and expertise and travel have made death bearable. You have been God’s light to us in our darkest days. …

@LifeWay

“We all walk through seasons of suffering. We don’t have to do the winning. Let’s fight to be thankful that He’s already won.” — @ScarletEH

@scottdawson

So thankful for the body of Christ. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for all of us working together. 

We may have differences and even different agendas but wrap us all up and you get an incredible display of God’s greatness.

Thank you, Father, for your body!