Your Voice

Stay the course when investing

After stocks finished their worst week since April 2020, investor uneasiness is understandable. The tech-heavy NASDAQ index lost 7.6% (the week ending Jan. 21), and the broader S&P 500 index ended down 5.7% for the week.

While moment-by-moment headlines can be jarring, the best plan for retirement plan investors is to focus on their long-term objectives, not those headlines, GuideStone Financial Resources experts said.

“The market expects the Federal Reserve to begin raising interest rates in the next few months,” Chief Investment Officer David Spika explained. “Higher interest rates generally lead to less money in the overall economy, which the market is reacting to.”

Markets are cyclical, Spika said, noting that the S&P 500 was up 27% in 2021, 16% in 2020 and 29% in 2019. Since 1962, midterm election years tend to be especially volatile, with the S&P 500 falling 19% on average at some point during the year.

“A pullback like this is often very healthy for the market,” Spika said, adding that market declines in midterm election years are normal. However, the S&P 500 has never produced a negative return during the 12 months following a midterm election.

While the run-up in stocks in the last three years might leave investment allocations lopsided, any changes in allocations must be strategic, not a reaction to the news.

“This is all part of the wisdom of regular, consistent contributions to a retirement plan,” said Brandon Pizzurro, director of public investments at GuideStone.

From Guidestone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention

Letters to the editor

On behalf of the congregation of Bethsaida Baptist Church located in Furman, I want to thank you and the staff of The Alabama Baptist for the outstanding coverage of Baptist news in the state of Alabama.

Every member of Bethsaida Baptist Church is provided a subscription to this publication courtesy of the church.

The articles are very timely, and the feedback from subscribers is outstanding.

Thanks again for keeping Alabama Baptists informed through this outstanding publication.

Erskine G. “Don” Donald
Pine Apple, Ala.

I have liked all the issues of Fruitful (the magazine produced annually by TAB Media in conjunction with the Alabama Baptist State Convention), but 2021 was the best so far!

It is so informative, with great content and great layout.

It’s a great printed piece and a good way to help others understand what the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), the entities and colleges provide for Alabama Baptists.

I’m looking forward to the 2022 edition of Fruitful.

Lynn Graham
SBOM ministry assistant

The greatest danger you will ever face is losing the touch of God upon your church.

Terry Long
Director of missions, Choctaw Baptist Association

Coaching is such a stressful job … There have been issues with kids and their families — kids have more issues now than they ever have in my career. I don’t think I could deal with that if I wasn’t a Christian.

Scott Goolsby
Defensive coordinator, Auburn High School football team

“There’s almost a story behind every song, because the Lord inspires me. And sometimes I have woken up during the middle of the night with a song on my heart that I was singing,” said Guenda Vincent, a songwriter and wife of a retired Alabama pastor.

There are promises of God yet to be fulfilled, but we look toward that future day with confidence in our God who has proven faithful time and time again.

Jessica Ingram
The-scroll.com

“Our prayer is that this year, the local churches will penetrate the darkness of their communities with the gospel message,” said Annel Robayna, who leads Hispanic work and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

I believe the foundational truth that we are all created in God’s image. … Many have come to a place of real complacency and acceptance because abortion is a giant in the land, and we don’t feel that there’s anything we can do about it. But that doesn’t lessen our responsibility before the Lord to speak the truth and to speak up for these little ones who cannot speak for themselves. So we have to find very practical ways to really help people, not just rail against the darkness.

Laura Messick
Executive director of Portico, a pregnancy resource center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Any sound, intelligent business will check itself to see how it is doing. The Church is involved in business with eternal consequences and everlasting dividends. What a tragedy for local congregations not to check and see how they are doing.

Morris Murray Jr.
Jasper, Ala.

From the Twitterverse

@AbbyJohnson
Why do we march?

We march for the past.

We march for the present.

We march for the future.

For those born, unborn and who

will never be born.

We march for life.

@jbwester
Ending Roe is about loving (all of) our neighbors.

@pastorjaycbc
True theology brings light to the mind and heat to the heart.

@sPeytonHill
I’m super committed to expository preaching, but preaching the five woes from Habakkuk 2:6–20 … has me rethinking my “never skip a text” policy.

@kswhitfield
Maybe it is time for us all to agree that video clips aren’t the way to assess people’s character or theological positions.

@richardblackaby
Your mind is a muscle that needs stretching. That involves more than merely reading what you already know.

@drtimmcknight
2018–2019 an average of 5,250,230 people attended worship in an SBC church. During that time 330 million people lived in the U.S. That means SBC churches had only 1.6% of the U.S. population in attendance. Sobering! We need to deploy to the field rather than fight in the barracks.

@johnnymhunt
Nothing proves a man’s ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself. —Thomas Watson

@DianeLangberg
You do not need to be extraordinary. You need to be the ordinary inhabited by the extraordinary life of God.

A word, a meal, a cup of cold water, have the capacity to bring the life of God to this world and delight His heart.

@ericjohnthomas
Pastoring is more farming and less fast food.

@shane_pruitt78
The social media account of a “Christian celebrity” should never replace the role of a local church pastor in your life.

@davidjeremiah
Think about whatever is right; do not dwell on the wrong. … Think about whatever is pure, not the sleazy. Think about the lovely, not the disgusting. —D.A. Carson