Billboards with a Message, The Apostle Luke & Speaking in a Whisper

It’s not Don Adam’s nature to address political issues from the pulpit of Mid-Cities Baptist Church. But when his governor attempted to use Scripture to justify the killing of unborn children, Adam knew he couldn’t keep silent.

“I sincerely pray for Gavin Newsom to hear the Gospel from someone he’ll listen to and be saved,” Adam told Baptist Press.

On Sept. 15 Newsom announced the launch of billboards in seven states that outlawed abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court decision of Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The billboards varied in messages, but those in Mississippi and Oklahoma contained a section of Mark 12:31, which reads “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”

John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, issued an open letter to Newsom. In it he criticized the governor’s leadership as instrumental toward driving the state into “epidemics of crime, homelessness, sexual perversions (like homosexuality and transgenderism) and other malignant expressions of human misery.”
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Lawrence Smith, recruited to lead communications for the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC), finds inspiration in the apostle Luke.

“I’ve always tried to point to the first four verses of the Gospel of Luke,” Smith told Baptist Press. “I consider Luke to be a great journalist. He’s known as a physician of course, but I think he’s a great journalist.”

Luke 1:1-4 tells of Luke’s desire to write for Theophilus a truthful and orderly account of what eyewitness said of Jesus, accounts that Luke himself investigated.

“I take that to heart,” Smith said. “That is kind of my mission, is to do what Luke did, to write orderly accounts of Who Jesus is and what He’s doing. That’s what motivates me to do what I do.”

Smith, a two-time Emmy winner who has worked in journalism and Southern Baptist lift for decades, didn’t realize he would be the first African American to direct communications for a Southern Baptist state convention when he began at the KBC in January.
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A Lifeway Bible study says, “One way to bring calm to a group of preschoolers is encouraging everyone to use our “inside voice.” It helps if we use our inside voice as well when we encourage them to do the same.

Granted, we may need to do some other things first to get their attention, but once we have their attention, our inside voice may be more effective than continuing to be the loudest person in the room.

In 1 Kings 19, we find God instructing Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence. Prior to Elijah’s leaving the cave, God passed by. Then Elijah experienced a mighty wind, an earthquake and a fire. These might be the ways we would expect God to speak, in ways that revealed His power and authority. He had used fire to confirm His presence and power at Mount Carmel. Referring to God’s coming judgment on a rebellious Jerusalem, Isaiah later proclaimed God would use these elements to exact His punishment (Isaiah 29:6).

For Elijah, though, God was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. Instead, God spoke in a soft whisper. God speaking in a whisper demonstrates His power.”

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