2018 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas

DALLAS(BP) -- Jen Wilkin encouraged women to be fearless in their advocacy on behalf of others and to fear the Lord above all else during this year's Women's Leadership Breakfast June 13 in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting. Teaching from Exodus 1:15-22, the author and Bible teacher encouraged women to fear the Lord and to stand up for their sisters in Christ who need advocacy. More than 200 women attended the event. "I pray that this will be a room full of women who will speak on behalf of your sisters with fearlessness," she said.

DALLAS (BP) -- Southwestern Theological Seminary hosted its fourth annual Tea at 3 on June 11 for women within the Southern Baptist Convention. Several hundred women of all ages were served hot tea, scones and chocolate pastries along with a set of free books. Terri Stovall, Southwestern's dean of women's programs, led the event with guest speakers Melissa Meredith, Kelley King, Rhonda Kelley, Ginny Whitten, Ann Iorg, Sandy Wisdom-Martin and Katie McCoy.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- LifeWay Films hosted a screening of two films during the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Dallas. SBC messengers and guests had the opportunity to view "Unbroken: Path to Redemption," the sequel to the 2014 feature film Unbroken, and "Indivisible," a film based on the true story of Army Chaplain Darren Turner and his wife Heather. Bill Craig, director of publishing at LifeWay, introduced Unbroken: Path to Redemption to a packed house of attendees on June 11. He spoke about how Will Graham, grandson of the late evangelist Billy Graham, portrayed his grandfather in the movie. They were set to see an early screening of the movie with Graham the week the elder Graham died.

DALLAS (BP) -- Dalia Gonzales, wife of Michael Gonzales, director of Hispanic ministries for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, was honored with the 2018 Willie Turner Dawson Award during the Ministers' Wives Luncheon at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Dallas. Gonzales, of Hurst, Texas, is the first Hispanic minister's wife to receive the award, which recognizes a minister's wife for making a distinct denominational contribution beyond the local church and for her Christian character and service to others. Kathy Litton, director of planter spouse care for the North American Mission Board, in presenting the annual award, called Gonzales "a true multiplier in the Kingdom of God" who has contributed greatly to Hispanic Southern Baptist women across Texas and beyond.

DALLAS (BP) -- This year's Southern Baptist Convention marked the 100th anniversary of the naming of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, International Mission Board President David Platt told more than 1,100 Southern Baptists at the IMB dinner June 11 at the SBC annual meeting in Dallas. Lottie Moon was a single female missionary who served with the Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) in China from 1873 until her death on Dec. 24, 1912, aboard a ship in the harbor of Kobe, Japan. She is among Southern Baptists' most well-known missionaries, thanks to the passionate letters she wrote to people back home advocating for more workers and more financial resources.

DALLAS (BP) -- More than 200 Southern Baptists raised beyond $6,000 to feed the hungry by participating in the Global Hunger Relief (GHR) Run June 13 during the 2018 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through the registration fees paid by the runners, the second GHR Run -- which began at 6:30 a.m. on the second day of the SBC meeting in Dallas -- raised about $1,000 more than last year's inaugural run in Phoenix.

DALLAS (BP) -- Is our denomination dying? That was the question posed at the LifeWay Christian Resources breakfast attended by 1,100 registered guests during the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas. Attendees may have been surprised to hear LifeWay President Thom S. Rainer say yes, the Southern Baptist Convention is dying. But they also heard him lay out hope for the future of the SBC as well as for local churches that also may be in decline.

DALLAS (BP) -- Women's roles in the workplace was the subject of the panel "Women & Work: Stepping into Kingdom Productivity," June 12 in Dallas in conjunction with the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. Courtney L. Moore, a Southern Baptist pastor's wife, contract writer, and mother of three, moderated the panel sponsored by Women & Work, a nonprofit organization she founded in April to help women flourish in their God-called positions. "We want to see you flourish," Moore, whose husband Brent is an adult group's pastor for Pinelake Church in Brandon, Miss., told attendees. "We want to see you honor God in the workplace."

DALLAS (BP) -- Even when his life was falling apart, Job clung tenaciously to the truth that God is good, Lisa Harper told a sold-out crowd of 1,200 ministers' wives at the 2018 Ministers' Wives Luncheon on June 12. The theme of joy, in fact, is all through the Old Testament book, but "you have to get to the pit to get there," said Harper, a popular speaker and author of "Job: An Unlikely Story of Joy" and "The Sacrament of Happy." Harper, who spoke at the gathering in Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, also is mom to Melissa (Missy) Price Harper, whom she adopted from Haiti in 2014.

DALLAS (BP) -- Personal belongings are confiscated, and a participant is stripped of his or her individuality. They become a number. Government workers with stern faces instruct them to face forward. No talking. They're ushered through a curtain and instructed to write down the names of four loved ones. These are the people they may take with them. No further instruction is given. During this refugee camp simulation, participants are to grab three items from buckets. They haven't been told why. No one tells them where they're going. Harshly, they're ushered from station to station. A guard with a military uniform and a bat is speaking a foreign language. One participant starts to ask questions. She's taken away from the group. At the medical station, they're checked for lice. At the food station they're informed they must eat. They may not have another chance to for days.