Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993 TAG: 9305220168
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board will cut as many as 38 positions at its home office in Richmond because of shortfalls in revenue to the agency.
The board, which oversees the work of 3,900 missionaries in 129 foreign countries.
The cutbacks, announced earlier this month, are expected to save about $1 million a year in expenses. The board has received less money than anticipated both through weekly denomination giving and an annual special offering.
Critics of a rival missionary program run through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship blamed it for drawing money away from the Foreign Mission Board.
The media and religion
A recent study found that 80 percent of ministers and priests surveyed believe "the news media have a greater influence on the way people think and act than religion does."
The study was conducted by the Vanderbilt University Freedom Forum First Amendment Center. It included some 500 clergy and 100 newspaper religion writers and editors.
The reporters believed religion has a greater influence than the media.
One of the study's authors, Los Angeles Times religion editor John Dart, said about 31 percent of the clergy respondents could be classified "conservative Protestant." Those, he said, believed overwhelmingly that news reporting is biased against ministers and organized religion.
Oratoria at First Baptist
A dramatized version of Felix Mendelssohn's oratoria "Elijah" will be presented Sunday at First Baptist Church, 515 Third Street Southwest.
Professional singer David Ford will portray the Hebrew prophet, reprising a role he's performed more than 150 times. Ford has received critical acclaim not only for the Elijah performance, but as a featured soloist with the Robert Shaw Chorale and in numerous musical theater productions.
First Baptist's minister of music, Doyal Spence, will direct the performance, which was dramatized under the direction of Everett Robertson of Nashville.
The work also features several soloists from the First Baptist choir, the string section of the Chancel Orchestra, and the accompaniment by church organist Kaye Young.
The 6:30 p.m. performance in the church's worship center is free.
Bike ride for hunger
Registration is open for bicyclists to participate in a 75-mile World Hunger Bike Ride on July 24. The ride is one of three projects to combat world hunger which have grown out of an annual summer auction at Antioch Church of the Brethren in Franklin County. Cyclists may enter with a $10 fee. The ride will begin at 7 a.m. at Antioch Church and will follow the Blue Ridge Parkway to Camp Bethel in Botetourt County where an evening meal will be served at 6. For registration and advance preparation materials call Bill Walker, 483-0544 or Carl Barnhart, 489-4931.
District council's goals
Improvements to the United Methodist Camp Dickenson at Fries have been established as goals of the Wytheville District's Council of Ministries. These include sufficient use to become self-supporting, employment of a full-time maintenance person, a weekend for families, outpost camps and restoration of a farmhouse.
The council also agreed to emphasize winning of people to Christ and education of adults through the Disciple program of Bible study.
Carter joins moderates
Former President Jimmy Carter cast his lot with the moderate wing of the Southern Baptist Convention last week, saying he and Rosalyn had "found a home" in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
The 2-year-old Fellowship was founded by Southern Baptists who felt alienated from the more conservative leadership of the national denomination. Specifically, the groups are divided over issues of the inerrancy and interpretation of Scripture.
According to Associated Baptist Press, "Carter praised the Fellowship for upholding the Baptist principles he believes in - the autonomy of the local church, total separation of church and state and the priesthood of believers."
Building a seminary
Ground will be broken June 27 for the first building in the relocation of Bethany Theological Seminary from the Chicago area to Richmond, Ind.
The Church of the Brethren's graduate school for clergy is joining with a Quaker seminary, Earlham School of Religion, in the Indiana city. Beginning of construction for the Brethren school will come at the close of the Annual Conference, the denominational business meeting, in Indianapolis.
Vatican art on loan
NEW YORK - A collection of 250 Vatican art treasures, including a precise reproduction of Michelangelo's "Pieta," will arrive in Denver to coincide with Pope John Paul II's visit there this summer.
The exhibit, featuring works by Michelangelo, Rubens and Bernini, will open July 3 at the Colorado History Museum and remain on display through Aug. 31.
The pope is due in Colorado Aug. 12-15 for the World Youth Day conference.
"Vatican Treasures: 2000 Years of Art and Culture in the Vatican and Italy" includes an assortment of mosaics, tapestries, paintings and sculpture from the Vatican and 40 other Italian cities.
The Pieta piece is the only authorized copy of the Michelangelo masterpiece, which was damaged by a hammer-wielding man in 1972. The copy touring with the Vatican exhibit was used to help restore the original.
Singing God's praises
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Country singer Ricky Skaggs likes to talk about God.
"What's hard is not running your mouth about it all the time. That's the challenge for me," he said in a recent interview reported by Baptist Press.
The Grammy Award winning vocalist is scheduled to sing "My Father's Son" at the Southern Baptist Convention June 15 in Houston.
Skaggs said his faith has helped him place his family over his career.
"I believe the family is where God's heart is. You know my family and my home life are the deepest wells in my life besides the spiritual life of the Lord. Sharon and the kids keep a balance in my life like nothing else can do," Skaggs said. "How I relate to my family is how I see my relationship to the Lord."
by CNB