The following articles have been selected because they are informative, instructive, entertaining, or simply interesting. Articles appearing in Your Friday Five do not represent an endorsement.
Deep, abiding peace comes only through Jesus.
The Peace of the Cross, Nicholas Batzig
The cross of Christ provides everything that we need as individuals before God as well as everything we need as creatures living in relationship with other created beings. The cross is God’s great solution to all of the problems of this fallen world—whether it be our sin, the power of the evil one, the opposition of the world, the unrighteousness of the world, or the hostility of men toward one another. There is nothing that cannot be remedied by the work of Jesus on the cross at Calvary.
The SBC continues to slide in evangelistic effectiveness.
Southern Baptists See Biggest Drop in 100 Years, Kate Shellnutt
The loss of 288,000 church members last year brings total SBC membership to 14.5 million, down from its peak of 16.3 million in 2003. Average worship attendance remained relatively stable at 5.2 million.
Total baptisms, a landmark metric for the denomination, fell by 4 percent to 235,748—the lowest number since World War II. Giving was down slightly to $11.6 billion, after two years of increases. SBC churches spent $1.1 billion on missions.
This shouldn’t be overlooked.
Supply Shortages Led to 30,000 Nursing Home Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Washington Post
The figures on basic supplies are similarly dire: More than 250 nursing homes lack any surgical masks and another 800 are within a week of running out. More than 2,000 are a week away from running out of gowns and more than 800 are a week away from depleting hand sanitizer supplies. More than 500 lack any N95 masks used to prevent infection, according to the data.
“We have failed the residents and we have failed the staff as a society,” said Michael Wasserman, president of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine.
George Floyd protests spread.
George Floyd protests go international, ABC News
In Canada, thousands took to the streets in Vancouver and Montreal, echoing the chants heard across the U.S. in mostly peaceful protests Sunday. In the Montreal gathering, crowds were dispersed after projectiles were thrown at the police later in the evening.
And in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, crowds chanting “I Can’t Breathe” were dispersed by police in riot gear outside the state government palace on Sunday as anti-government protests against police brutality in Brazil fed off the global sentiment felt by the killing of Floyd.
A Savannah, GA police detective becomes a leading voice for police reform.
I’m a cop. I won’t fight a ‘war’ on crime the way I fought the war on terror., Patrick Skinner
I approach every person I meet on the streets as my neighbor. Often this is literally true because I live where I work. That was a deliberate choice for me, but I respect whatever others choose; I was just trying to figure out how to be a good cop, and, for me, that meant being a good neighbor. I needed to trust my neighbors if I ever wanted them to trust me. This was the opposite of how our “war on terror” was and is being fought. I finally had home-field advantage, and I was determined not to squander it.