Your Voice

How you can help the hurting in Lee County

By Bill King
AMS, Tuskegee Lee Baptist Association

More than two months have passed since horrific EF-4 tornadoes ripped through Lee County on March 3. Twenty-three people in Beauregard lost their lives that Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of residents in Beauregard and Smiths Station lost their homes. Grieving families and friends have laid their loved ones to rest. The injured are on the road to recovery. The property cleanup is still in process and the rebuilding has begun. Life for many has not been the same but prayerfully and with much help they are making progress.  

The outpouring of love and help has been staggering as well as heart-warming. Volunteers, phone calls, prayers and donations have come from across the nation. 

I have been reminded many times that God comes through even when people sometimes don’t. For example an out-of-state missions team had volunteered to come help us tear down a storm-damaged house but had to cancel. I dreaded telling the homeowners the sad news. 

However the very next day I received a message from Cal McIntyre, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, Talladega, saying they wanted to come help us rebuild. When I asked if they would be willing to help tear down, he said, “Absolutely. Our team has a couple of guys who made their living tearing down houses.”  

How about you? Would you like to help? Rebuilding will be going on for quite some time. With funding from MEND, an initiative of East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC), the Fuller Center for Housing has already built and dedicated three new houses here. Volunteers are needed when they return to build 10 more the week of Sept. 30–Oct. 4. You or your team can sponsor the building of a house or volunteer to work. Register online at fullercenter.org. You may also contact my office at tuskegeelee@aol.com or EAMC (334-528-MEND) with questions. We need your help and we certainly appreciate it!

EDITOR’S NOTE — Bill King is associational mission strategist for Tuskegee Lee Baptist Association. The Alabama Baptist will host a benefit event for Lee County tornado relief Aug. 2, 2019, at 6 p.m. at Providence Baptist Church, Opelika, which served as a main hub of disaster relief work.

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Lottery bill is dead

On May 21 the House of Representatives failed to pass the budget isolation resolution on Senate Bill 220 proposing a statewide lottery. Without the votes to support the bill, the lottery is dead for this session.

Bills to allow Greene and Macon counties to have electronic bingo machines (aka “slot machines”) at existing racetracks remained active in the Legislature at press time. 

The bills could still come up before the end of the 2019 regular session, which may come as early as May 31. We hope to see these bills meet the same end as the lottery bill.

House Bill (HB) 361 which would legalize daily fantasy sports (DFS) in Alabama, was still under consideration by the Senate at press time. 

This bill is not about friends and family playing season-long league games but is about online gambling. Proponents argue that it is not gambling because it involves skill. However, bad calls and injuries mean that a great deal of chance is involved. 

Many people have lost thousands of dollars playing DFS and it must be pointed out that for someone to win others must lose — that is definitely gambling!

—Joe Godfrey

EDITOR’S NOTE — Joe Godfrey serves as executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program.

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Letters to the Editor

The Alabama Baptist is great and I read it cover to cover. When I was in the service (long ago) my church sent me the paper each week and it was like being home. I could read all the local news and keep up with the Bible study. 

Let me also comment on the new format — it was great before and is now even better. The Alabama Baptist just gets better each week. 

Frank Britt
Leeds, Ala.

Since Roe v. Wade, abortion has stolen lifetimes worth of experiences from over 60 million Americans. This issue deserves our attention, our passion and our resolve. We have work to do.

As people who identify as pro-life, we must address the circumstances that drive many to think abortion is the only option. 

This means giving cheerfully and generously to the relief of the poor and to the support of adoption agencies. 

It also means reaching out in love and compassion, not self-righteousness and judgment, to those who have had abortions or are in the midst of considering them. 

Forgiveness, we would do well to remember, does not discriminate.

Parker Snider
Director of Policy Analysis Alabama Policy Institute

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Though there was tragedy, God brings roses out of the ashes. He brings glory through those who are called according to His purpose even when we don’t understand everything that is happening.

Pastor Frank Pomeroy
First Baptist Church Sutherland Springs, Texas

We go to the hard places, we attempt the difficult things, not to be impressive, but for the glory of God and the work of His Kingdom and the salvation of the lost.

President Chuck Kelley
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

As a pastor, I realize I only have bandwidth to be known for a few things. And I want that bandwidth to be taken up by the gospel.

J.D. Greear
Author of “Above All: The Gospel Is the Source of the Church’s Renewal”

People today are hurting physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Jesus’ power can change anyone, and you are the conduit through which it flows.

President Jeff Iorg
Gateway Seminary

Evangelism is a work of the Holy Spirit.

Rick Gage
Evangelist, Go Tell Ministries

I very much appreciate the long hours and hard work the Alabama Legislature has put into helping address the complex, multi-faceted issues facing our prison system. … I believe everyone — the Legislature, the Department of Justice, the courts and, most especially, the people of Alabama — realizes there is no single solution and there are no easy answers. …  I truly believe that together, we will finally take the necessary steps to move our corrections system toward a more stable, safer future.

Kay Ivey
Governor of Alabama

If your church facility is extremely underused, consider partnering with a church plant or like-minded ministry. Many of them need space, and some churches have a great amount of unused space. Be creative in how and who uses your church facility during the week. Use your facility to minister to the community when possible.

Thom Rainer
thomrainer.com

Every human being ought to be treated with dignity, but placing sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in this kind of legislation (the Equality Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 17) would have harmful consequences. 

Russell Moore
President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC)

Catholicism’s definition of marriage is one man, one woman. Nothing else is marriage. We will respect the law, but it’s not our religion.

Chen Ke
Catholic priest in Vietnam speaking against the country’s legalization of gay “marriage”

If you had told me at Samford (University), “you are going to go to a church, you are going to stay there 42 years, you’re going to be working with children and still doing your magic,” I would have gone “you got the wrong crystal ball, buddy. Because that’s not me.”

David Garrard
Magician and retired children’s minister

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From the Twitterverse

@Slsellers7170

Hurting people will never know you really care until [you] put the love of Christ into action. Sharing the love of Christ and then not showing the love of Christ will never meet the need of those in pain. We must do both.

@micahfries

The problem is, I fear that too many Christians view their Jesus through a Republican or Democrat lens. Until we can shed our political identities in favor of a Jesus-centered identity, the cause of life will never be best served.

@jcalvinward

“Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). When I was in my early 30s I was just beginning my recording career. Did Jesus have this perspective, in part, because he knew his life would be short? Probably a whole book about this.

@BruceAshford

[Jamie Dew] is one of my best friends in the world. Smart, humble, kind, strong leader, faithful. Congrats to him and to NOBTS!

@JohnAShepherd

I am incredibly proud to serve two families who have taken on this beautiful and difficult task of being a #FosterCare home. They are heroes of #life and #hope.

@bellevuepastor

It’s hard to strut and be cocky when you follow Someone who washed other people’s feet.

@NAMB_SBC

Every detail of the new worship center for First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs is designed with a purpose: to honor lives lost and look forward to the future.

@timkellernyc

I am going to judge my circumstances by Jesus’ love, not Jesus’ love by my circumstances.

@BillyGraham

 “Sin has tarnished every area of life, and Christ wants to erase its stain everywhere.” #BillyGraham

@Rgallaty

“The prayer offered to God in the morning during your quiet time is the key that unlocks the door of the day. Any athlete knows that it is the start that ensures a good finish.” –Adrian Rogers