Spiritual Life
6A
Thursday, June 24, 2021
SPIRITUAL LIFE HIGHLIGHTS
Stories of Jesus’ healing of
others reveal his authority
LA GRANDE — Faith
Lutheran Church will hold ser-
vices at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 27,
in La Grande and 2 p.m. in Enter-
prise. The sermon will expound
upon the healings that Jesus per-
formed for a 12-year-old girl and
for a woman who had been ill for
12 years, as told in Mark 5:21-
43. Jesus revealed that he has
authority over our temporal ail-
ments. These works are a fore-
shadowing of his authority over
our eternal peace.
The church’s annual yard sale
in La Grande will be held from
SUBMISSIONS
Churches and faith-based groups are encouraged to submit Highlights for the Spiritual Life
page by 4 p.m. Tuesday for publication Thursday. Submit by email to news@lagrandeob-
server.com (with Highlights in the subject line).
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June
26, at 104 S. 12th St. Proceeds
from the sale will benefit SHINE
Preschool.
St. Peter’s holds Morning
Prayer service
June 27, for a service of Morning
Prayer. COVID-19 precautions
will be in place, including the
requirement of masks and social
distancing.
Zion Lutheran Church
service streamed live
LA GRANDE — St. Peter’s
Episcopal Church of La Grande
has resumed in-person worship
and will meet at 11 a.m. Sunday,
LA GRANDE —The Sunday,
June 27, service at Zion Lutheran
Church of La Grande begins at
9 a.m. COVID-19 precautions will
be in place, including masks and
social distancing. The service will
also be livestreamed to YouTube,
and the link for that stream will
be posted June 26 to Zion’s Face-
book page and website.
LDS ward conferences
planned June 27
LA GRANDE — The La
Grande Stake of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
will hold ward conferences in
the La Grande third, fourth and
Union wards Sunday, June 27.
High Council members will speak
in the other wards about Sister Joy
D. Jones’ April 2021 talk titled
“Essential Conversations.”
The “Come, Follow Me” lesson
for the week of June 28 is based
on Doctrine and Covenants sec-
tions 71-75, which were revela-
tions given through the Prophet
Joseph Smith as he sought the
Lord’s help in dealing with critics
of the new church, providing
instructions on how it should be
organized and shared with others.
A stake activity is set for July
17 at the Union County Fair-
grounds from 6-8 p.m. The event
will be a celebration of pioneer
heritage, and those who attend are
asked to bring a pie to share.
— The Observer
Southern Baptists pick president who worked for racial unity
By TRAVIS LOLLER
and PETER SMITH
The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Ten-
nessee — The Southern
Baptist Convention tamped
down a push from the right
at its largest meeting in
decades on Tuesday, June
15, electing a new president
who has worked to bridge
racial divides in the church
and defeating an effort to
make an issue of critical
race theory.
Ed Litton, a pastor from
Alabama, won 52% of the
vote in a runoff against
Mike Stone, a Georgia
pastor backed by a new
group called the Conser-
vative Baptist Network
that has sought to move
the already-conservative
denomination further right.
Litton, who is white, was
nominated by Fred Luter,
the only Black pastor to
serve as president of the
United States’ largest Pro-
test denomination. Luter
praised Litton’s commit-
ment to racial reconcilia-
tion and said he has dealt
compassionately with the
issue of sexual abuse within
SBC churches, another hot-
button subject at the gath-
ering of more than 15,000
church representatives.
Stone had campaigned
aggressively, including
speaking at churches across
the country and even
appearing on Fox & Friends
on Tuesday before the vote.
And the Conservative Bap-
tist Network had encour-
aged supporters to come
to the meeting as voting
delegates.
But in the end, the mes-
sage that seemed to reso-
nate with voters was that
Stone — who supported a
motion to repudiate critical
race theory, an academic
construct for framing sys-
temic racism that has been a
target of religious and polit-
ical conservatives — was a
divisive choice.
“We’re a family, and
at times it seems like an
incredibly dysfunctional
family,” Litton said after
the results were announced.
“But we love each other.”
Delegates rejected a
proposal that would have
Mark Humphrey/The Associated Press
Pastor Ed Litton, of Saraland, Alabama, answers questions after be-
ing elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention Tuesday,
June 15, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee.
explicitly denounced crit-
ical race theory. Instead
they approved a consensus
measure that does not men-
tion it by name but rejects
any view that sees racism
as rooted in “anything other
than sin.”
The measure also
affirmed a 1995 resolution
apologizing for the history
of racism in a denomina-
tion that was founded in
1845 in support of slavery
and for “condoning and/
or perpetuating individual
and systemic racism in our
lifetime.”
One white delegate
urged the convention to
denounce critical race
theory by name, saying it
held him “guilty because
of the melanin content
of my skin.” But another
argued that the convention
shouldn’t be swayed by a
political movement that has
already seen some state leg-
islatures ban teaching of the
theory.
“If some people in this
room were as passionate
about the gospel as they are
about critical race theory,
we would win this world to
Christ,” said James Merritt,
chairman of the resolutions
committee and a former
convention president.
Several Black pastors
have voiced frustration over
critical race theory debates
playing out in the SBC
instead of the denomina-
tion confronting systemic
racism itself.
In an enthusiastically
applauded address, out-
going president J.D. Greear,
himself a target of criticism,
lamented “the slander, the
distortion, the character
assassination and base-
less accusations” some
SBC leaders have endured.
While denouncing lib-
eralism, he also criti-
cized what he saw as pow-
er-seeking and divisiveness
over secondary issues.
The SBC cannot be a
“cultural affinity group” or
“voting bloc,” Greear said,
but must focus on its spiri-
tual mission.
On critical race theory,
he said it arises from “a
worldview at odds with
the gospel,” but he heeded
“leaders of color who tell
us that our denunciations of
justice movements fall on
Mark Humphrey/The Associated Press
People take part in a worship service during the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting Tuesday,
June 15, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee.
deaf ears when we remain
silent on the suffering of our
neighbors.”
Pastor Bryan Kent of
Compass Church in Mason,
Michigan, commended
Greear’s remarks, saying
that if critical race theory
“has an echo of truth
among our brothers and sis-
ters of color … we should
not be in such a rush to
condemn.”
Several Black pastors
have already departed the
SBC over what they said
was racial insensitivity
from overwhelmingly white
leadership.
Dwight McKissic, a
prominent Black pastor
from Texas who had
planned to join that exodus
if Stone won, tweeted in
response to Litton’s elec-
tion: “God has a plan for
the SBC & I want to be a
part of it. Truly, racism was
rejected 2day!”
Delegates also approved
a strategic plan seeking to
increase churches, mission-
aries, giving and teen min-
istry, the latest in a series
of efforts to reverse steady
declines in membership and
baptisms over the past 15
years. Membership is now
14 million.
It was standing room
only in the 18,000-seat
hall where, with Nash-
ville’s COVID-19 precau-
tions lifted, attendees were
packed closely without
face masks. One small sec-
tion was reserved for those
wearing masks.
Last year’s annual
meeting was canceled due
to the pandemic.
EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Voting for ‘People’s Choice’
NOW OPEN
Vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01 am Monday,
June 21 through 11:59 pm Wednesday, June 30.
The winners will appear in the July 8th edition of Go Magazine;
the top 25 will appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice will be awarded for fi rst, second and third place.
All photos online at:
lagrandeobserver.com/photocontest
Northeast Oregon Directory of Churches
Cove United
Methodist Church
1708 Jasper St., Cove, OR
North Powder
United
Methodist Church
390 E. St., North Powder, OR
JOIN US... Catch the Spirit!
First Christian
Church
(Disciples of Christ)
901 Penn Avenue 963-2623
lgdisciples@gmail.com
Worship
10:00 a.m.
Worship: 9:00 a.m. Cove
Worship: 10:00 a.m. N. Powder
~Join us at The Lord’s Table~
SUMMERVILLE
BAPTIST CHURCH
LA GRANDE UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
Sunday Services:
Sunday School & Adult Bible Classes
9:45AM
Children’s Church & Worship Service
11:00AM
Family Worship Service
6:00PM
Wednesday:
Prayer Mtg, Children’s Bible Club, Youth
Group 7:00PM
A church for your whole family
Visit us at summervillebaptistchurch.org
“OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS”
1612 4th Street – 963-2498
Pastor Taylor Gould
For service information go to
www.lagrandeumc.org
GRACE COMMUNITY
LUTHERAN CHURCH
The Place
62848 Philynda Loop in Island City
“We are called to Serve”
Sunday School for all ages - 9:00 am
Sunday Worship 10:00 am
Phone: 541-568-4230
grace.lutherancove@gmail.com
Zion Lutheran
Church
(an ELCA church)
902 Fourth Street,
La Grande, OR
(541) 963-5998
9:00 am - Worship
10:00 am - Fellowship & Refreshments
10:30 am - Classes
Pastor: Roberta Smythe
www.zionlagrande.org
Imbler
Christian
Church
440 Ruckman, Imbler 534-2201
www.imblercc@gmail.com
Sunday Services
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
Sunday School
Worship Service
Services
This
Week
La Grande Seventh-day
FIRST LANDMARK
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
CHURCH
Adventist Church
A Place where hope is found in Jesus
Join us in Fellowship & Worship
Saturday all age classes 9:30 am
Saturday Worship 11:00 am
1812 1st St. La Grande
Pastor Dave Tierce • 541-605-0215
2702 Adams Avenue, La Grande
963-4018
lagrandeor.adventistchurch.org
Learning for Today and Eternity
Little Friends
Christian Preschool/Childcare 963-6390
La Grande Adventist Christian School
K-8th Grade 963-6203
We use the King James Version Bible
109 18th Street • 963-3402
Sunday School 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
Sunday School - 10:00 am
Worship 11:00 am
Sunday Evening Bible Study - 3:00 pm (Effective June 10)
Wednesday Evening - 6:30 pm
“Where you can find TRUTH according to the scriptures”
www.flmbclagrande.com