U.S. Funding Bill, Waco Youth Revivals & Fruit That Did Not Last

The latest Congressional spending package allows federally funded gender transitions and essentially bypasses current restrictions on government-funded abortions, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) told Baptist Press.

Protections for pre-born life, religious liberty and biblical gender are among ERLC’s prime concerns in the bill that offers certain protections while overlooking other concerns.

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill, which President Biden signed into law March 23, is an umbrella for six appropriations bills including Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Relations Programs; Financial Services and General Government; Defense, Homeland Security and Legislative.

Enabling abortions, the bill maintains for certain federal personnel funding for abortion-related travel, paid leave to obtain an abortion, and family planning funding for institutions that also fund abortions.
===

In 1945, a group of Baylor students began leading a series of worship gatherings that came to be known as the Waco Youth Revivals. The meetings sparked a nationwide Youth Revival Movement that is registered as one of the largest student-led revivals in American history.

Today, FM72 leaders believe God can “do it again.” FM72 is a group of Christian studends at Baylor University in Waco.

FM72 began in 2018 as a 72-hour worship and prayer gathering on Fountain Mall — the heart of Baylor’s campus. Beyond nightly worship gatherings at 8 p.m. from Sunday to Wednesday, the defining symbol of the meeting is a large prayer tent, which is open for 72 consecutive hours to anyone who wants a space to pray.

The organization traces its spiritual origins back to the Waco Youth Revivals of the 1940s and 1950s. Humphrey calls it a “proof of concept” for FM72. From prayers that God would “do it again” to FM72’s rallying cry (“I’d Rather Have Jesus”), much of today’s language is built on yesterday’s revivals.
===

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.
===

Maybe you have a friend who started out as a Christian but isn’t producing fruit in their faith journey. In the BP Toolbox, Todd Gray offers three tips for reaching them.

What do you do when the fruit does not last? Here are some suggestions:

1. Lean into the relationship: We must approach those we love about their spiritual condition. It is possible we are dealing with someone who was never truly converted, or it could be that a genuine brother or sister in Christ is drifting and needs to be challenged to return to Jesus. Either way we need to lean into it.

2. Pray for them and ask others to pray: Whether we are praying for a believer to repent or a lost person to be regenerated, we must pray. We must pray that those who are truly saved will be restored to a vital walk with God and those who are not yet saved will be converted. Your prayers make a difference.

3. Know that the whole story has not been written: We are all a work in process. When Peter denied Christ three times, (John 18) it would have appeared that Peter was truly lost. Jesus, however, went to Peter and restored him.