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Baptist2Baptist goes online to address Baptist concerns


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Baptist2Baptist.net, an Internet site offering an array of resources about Baptist concerns, went online Oct. 2.

Launched by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, the site contains information helpful to churches and their members in supporting international and national missions and ministries through the Cooperative Program.

Much of Baptist2Baptist’s initial content addresses initiatives by Texas Baptist leaders to cut more than $5 million in CP gifts from Texas churches to SBC causes.

Articles from a recent publication, “The Truth about the SBC & Texas” can be downloaded and printed from Baptist2Baptist.net, and up to 50 copies can be requested for mailing from the website.

Baptist2Baptist.net contains articles, reports, sermons and audio clips from various Baptist meetings. One of its eight sections focuses on the Baptist Faith and Message adopted at the SBC’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., last June.

Content in Baptist2Baptist’s various sections encompasses:

— Baptist Faith and Message section: The full text of the BFM, along with a comparison of the 2000 edition with its 1963 and 1925 predecessors, and the full audio of the nearly two-hour floor debate of the BFM during the SBC’s June 14 session. The audio includes a Texas pastor’s comments which included the much-quoted phrase, “the Bible is still just a book,” and the response from BFM study committee member R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

— Addresses & Forums section: Questions and answers in easily accessible audio segments from Texas associational directors of missions to SBC agency leaders during a Sept. 21 session at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. The audio includes, for example, the complete questions and answers in the much-reported comments on Calvinism by Mohler; Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and former SBC president; and Richard Land, president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

— Reports & Papers section: The full text of study committees at First Baptist Church, Dallas, and Prestonwood Baptist Church, suburban Dallas, raising concerns over the theological direction of the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ leadership. Another key feature, only available on the Internet at Baptist2Baptist.net, is the full text of the SBC Peace Committee adopted during the 1987 annual meeting in St. Louis.

— Baptist Press Articles section: Recent headlines include “Vestal laments lack of aggressive evangelism efforts in CBF ranks,” a story quoting comments by CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal during a panel discussion in Kansas City, Kan., and “Baptist Standard editor’s endorsement evidences CBF leader’s sway in Texas,” focusing on the influence of David Currie, leader of Texas Baptist Committed, a key anti-SBC organization in Texas and various other states, who drew praise in an editorial by Texas Baptist Standard editor Marv Knox. The section also includes Baptist Press reports from the CBF General Assembly in Orlando in late June.

— Cooperative Program section: A history of the Cooperative Program, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year with a “Partners in the Harvest” theme, and an overview of how the SBC missions support channel functions are included.

D. August Boto, vice president for convention policy with the SBC Executive Committee, highlighted Baptists2Baptists’ ability “to offer users the opportunity to ‘attend’ (by listening to audio files) such gatherings as the recent meeting between Texas associational DOMs and the SBC entity presidents. When users hear the answers given to some of the tough questions posed, they’ll realize that the entities of our convention are in capable, God-honoring and trustworthy hands. They’ll gain not only a sense of the good-natured and cooperative spirit of the meeting, but also realize that many current fears are simply unfounded.

“The papers found on the site have the same effect. We expect these resources to be well-used by those formerly finding it difficult to ‘get to the heart of the matter,'” Boto said.

The inauguration of Baptist2Baptist.net was announced by Executive Committee President Morris H. Chapman during the committee’s Sept. 18-19 meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
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