The Southern Baptist Convention presented two awards for Americans standing up for their faith in Christ in life and business.

The SBC gave their “Richard Land Distinguished Service Award” to Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been risking his life daily while wrongfully imprisoned by Iran’s Islamic government.  Abedini’s wife Naghmeh was on hand to accept the award on his behalf.

Russell Moore, president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commision, said that Pastor Abedini is a “joyful Cross-bearer who has stirred the Church to stand up and speak out and will leave a legacy for generations to come.”

The SBC’s “John Leland Religious Liberty Award” was given to the owners of Hobby Lobby who are engaged in a battle with the Obama administration over parts of the health care law that require them to pay for abortion drugs.

“It would be really easy,” Moore said, “for the Green family to say, ‘lets just submit to that,’ but because of their strong faith in Jesus Christ, and because of their courage, the Greens have refused to comply with the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate under the Affordable Care Act that they provide employees with insurance coverage for what they believe to be abortion inducing drugs. Because they believe that God is the author of human life and that every human life from the moment of conception is sacred and they believe that the government is not the lord of their consciences.”