ERLC trustees OK senior staff additions, award recipients, FIRST-PERSON: Plan now for Baptism Sunday 2023

The trustees of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission awarded the O.S. and Susie Hawkins to receive the Richard Land Distinguished Service Award.

O.S. Hawkins, president emeritus of GuideStone Financial Resources, led that Southern Baptist entity for 25 years. Susie Hawkins’ ministry includes serving on the board of the Lifesavers Foundation, a pro-life organization in Dallas.

O.S. Hawkins was GuideStone’s president from 1997 to 2022 after serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and three other Southern Baptist churches during the previous 25 years. The proceeds and royalties of his more than 40 books go to Mission: Dignity, a GuideStone ministry to help support Southern Baptist pastors and their widows in their retirement.

Susie Hawkins serves on the board of The Lifesavers Foundation which assists families in crisis with free mobile health care. In addition to being an author, she helped found the Widow’s Might ministry that prays for the SBC’s entities. 

The IMB says one of Seville’s biggest celebrations of the year happens next week: Easter Holy Week (Semana Santa). Various cathedrals will host parades that march through the city, carrying a statue of Jesus and a statue of Mary. They emphasize the night of the crucifixion when all the parades march overnight to the main cathedral. On Resurrection Sunday, there is only one parade.

Religious fervor takes over Seville during Holy Week. But many Spaniards attend these celebrations with a devotion that they do not show the rest of the year. Join us in praying for opportunities to talk with Spaniards about having a real, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Pray for them to seek God through Jesus instead of through rituals and rites. Pray for them to understand that the resurrection means that we have hope of one day being resurrected with Christ!

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Good News for Today is made possible through our friends at The Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit organization that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Founded in 1967 by Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM is dedicated to inspiring believers to deepen their commitment to Christ and to fulfill His Great Commission — no matter the cost. Find out more and sign up for their free monthly magazine at vom.org/goodnews.

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Baptism Sunday will be celebrated by many churches on the Sunday following Easter.

As Tim Dowdy writes, “Baptism Sunday is a good reminder for all of us to keep the main thing the main thing. There are so many distractions in our world and so many demands that require our attention that it is easy for us to become busy with good things while neglecting the very thing we are called to live out every day. We all know well the words of the Great Commission found at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, but it would be good for us to read them again.

“As Christians, we are to be faithful to proclaim the salvation found only in Jesus Christ. We need to pray for believers to be faithful to share the Gospel everywhere with everyone and for the lost to be saved. And we need to be faithful to the command of the Lord and baptize those who are saved “in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”