A Baptist Church in Georgia that produced evangelical-themed films like "Fireproof" and "Courageous" received thousands for its annual Independence Day celebration.

Sherwood Baptist Church of Albany, Ga., held its eighth annual "Freedom Fest" on Sunday, July 1 at its Sports Park and had an estimated 5,000 attendees.

"This Southwest Georgia community event takes place during the week of July 4th and is an American celebration of patriotism, freedom, and our national heritage," reads an info sheet on the event. more >>

Visitors at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's exhibition, "Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures" in Forth Worth, Texas, will be able to view the largest privately owned Dead Scroll fragment to ever be placed on public display starting July 12.

"The chance to view portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls usually requires an overseas trip to a Near East nation, such as Israel or Jordan," said Bruce McCoy, the exhibition director.

The elaborate display will include the Genesis 37-38 fragment, which is owned by the Kando family of Bethlehem and is considered to be the largest Dead Sea Scroll segment held by a private collector. Five other major fragments will also be on display, including Genesis 33, 1 Kings 13:22-22, Isaiah 28:23-29, Amos 7:17- 8:1 and Joel 3:9-10. more >>

It was a three-minute video clip that was shared across the evangelical community. In it, Pastor David Platt famously called the "sinner's prayer" "superstitious." A few months later, he still finds himself explaining the heart behind that message.

"I believe we simply need to be as biblical as possible (2 Timothy 2:15). Do I believe it is 'wrong' for someone to pray a 'prayer of salvation'? Certainly not," Platt maintained in a blog post this week.

The 33-year-old pastor, who leads The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., sparked debate earlier this year when he told attendees at the Verge Conference that there is "no such superstitious prayer in the New Testament," referring to the popular "sinner's prayer." more >>

Correction Appended

The Southern Baptist Convention made history last week. The Convention – a denomination formed in 1845, in part, to support slavery, and later, with notable brave exceptions, largely supported Jim Crow segregation into the 1960s – elected its first African-American president, Dr. Fred Luter, Jr.

Dr. Luter's election symbolizes the Southern Baptist Convention having been transformed by the convicting power of God's Holy Spirit from a virtually all-white denomination as late as the mid-sixties to the most multi-ethnic major denomination in the United States today. Approximately 20 percent of Southern Baptists are non-Anglo (African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, and Native-American, etc), and ten percent of Southern Baptist Convention churches are predominately African-American. more >>

How did you become saved? Did you admit you were a sinner, repent of your sins, believe Jesus Christ died for your sins, and call on the Lord and pray to accept Jesus into your life?

The recent decision by delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention to affirm the use of the "sinner's prayer" – known as a prayer of repentance and "inviting Jesus into your heart" – has undermined Calvinism in the denomination and placed a renewed emphasis on traditional Baptist soteriology: if you repent, call on the Lord and believe in Christ for mercy, you are saved.

The resolution, which passed Wednesday by a majority vote of around 80 percent, affirmed the belief that "repentance from sin and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are necessary for salvation." Citing Romans 10:13, it also affirmed that "repentance and faith involve a crying out for mercy and a calling on the Lord," more commonly known as the "sinner's prayer," as a "biblical expression of repentance and faith." more >>

NEW ORLEANS – Conservatives in the Southern Baptist Convention fought what is believed to have been a "bloody" battle some 30 years ago when the authority of the Bible was at stake. Though that battle was won, the threat of theological liberalism remains.

"The debate about ... Scripture is never going to be over," said Dr. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a principal figure in the Conservative Resurgence, to hundreds of young Southern Baptists earlier this week.

"The enemy never sleeps and he will make every appeal in very unique ways. He will come at this issue of whether or not the Bible is really believable." more >>