[1]NASHVILLE (BP) — Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, is among the featured participants in Focus on the Family’s small group experience, “The Family Project,” a companion series to the documentary film “Irreplaceable” scheduled to release in movie theaters across America today (May 6).
According to its website, Focus on the Family says The Family Project aims to equip Christians to:
— Understand the significance of God’s plan for humanity through families.
— Live with purpose and an eternal perspective.
— Model God’s redemptive design for family to their neighbors, peers, co-workers and, ultimately, their culture.
“These important resources explain why the institution of the family is a signpost pointing us directly to God Himself,” Moore says in a video about The Family Project, “and why this truth has profound implications both for the church and for society.”
[2]In the video, Moore encourages viewers to consider starting or joining 12-week Family Project small group. “These will be encouraging, uplifting and instructive resources for the church for years to come,” Moore said.
Focus on the Family describes Irreplaceable is the first in a series of feature-length documentaries to recover, renew and reclaim the cultural conversation about the family.
For more information about the film “Irreplaceable,” visit www.irreplaceablethemovie.com; for The Family Project, visit www.familyproject.com.
LifeWay adds security systems to group purchasing
NASHVILLE (BP) — LifeWay Christian Resources has added security system provider Honeywell to its OneSource group purchasing program. The new relationship with Honeywell allows LifeWay’s church customers access to a range of security equipment such as intrusion alarms, video surveillance and fire alarm systems.
Honeywell technology includes Total Connect Remote Services which allow users to remotely control security systems, HVAC, lighting, locks and more using Web-enabled devices such as a smartphones, mobile tablets, PCs and laptops.
OneSource is a group purchasing program with LifeWay-endorsed product and service providers to harness the collective buying power of SBC entities. Approved suppliers of envelopes, buses, signs, church furnishings, copiers, office supplies and background checks are available.
Churches can call 1-800-464-2799 or go to LifeWay.com/OneSource for more information or to schedule a security assessment.
Glen Stassen, Baptist ethicist, dies
Glen Stassen, a Baptist ethicist who taught for 20 years at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, died April 26 in Pasadena, Calif., months after being diagnosed with cancer. He was 78.
Stassen was noted for his involvement in the civil rights and anti-nuclear movements. At Southern he was influenced by Henlee Barnette, a longtime advocate of racial justice and leader of the anti-war movement. At Southern he also met Clarence Jordan, author of the “Cotton Patch Gospels” and founder of the interracial Koinonia Farm in Georgia.
Stassen’s 1992 book “Just Peacemaking” called for replacing just war theory — an ethical theory used to ensure that a war effort is morally justifiable — with “transforming initiatives” to reduce conflict before it escalates to war. He was instrumental in forming the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America in 1984.
After leaving Southern in 1993, Stassen had taught at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., since 1997. Last year he received the Baptist World Alliance’s Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award.
Among Stassen’s books are “Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context,” coauthored with David Gushee and recipient of Christianity Today’s best theology/ethics book award for 2004, and “A Thicker Jesus: Incarnational Discipleship in a Secular Age.”
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Compiled by Baptist Press editor Art Toalston and chief national correspondent David Roach.