Top stories

Truett McConnell president's vision is to fill proposed dorm with students 'sold out for Jesus'

Dr. Emir Caner, president of Truett McConnell University, shares his dream of a residential complex on campus that would accommodate 400 students.
CLEVELAND, Ga. — Truett McConnell University President Emir Caner has a dream, a vision, a goal of having resident housing for 1,000 students on campus who can be trained to be warriors for Christ. A proposed dormitory would provide housing for an additional 400 students for the growing university.
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a view of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that was struck by a container ship in Baltimore, Md., on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (Maxaar Technologies via AP)
Police had about 90 seconds to stop traffic before Baltimore bridge fell; 6 workers are feared dead
BALTIMORE (AP) — It was the middle of the night when a dispatcher’s warning crackled over the radio: A massive cargo ship had lost its steering capabilities and was heading toward the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Within about 90 seconds, police officers responded that they had managed to stop vehicle traffic over the Baltimore bridge in both directions. One said he was about to drive onto the bridge to alert a construction crew.
Wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on a container ship Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Pasadena, Md. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Baltimore bridge collapses after powerless cargo ship rams into support column; 6 presumed dead
BALTIMORE (AP) — A cargo ship lost power and rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, destroying the span in a matter of seconds and plunging it into the river in a terrifying collapse that could disrupt a vital shipping port for months. Six people were missing and presumed dead.
SBC Executive Committee trustees surround Jeff Iorg to pray following a vote to call him as the next president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. (The Baptist Paper/Jane Rodgers)
Jeff Iorg elected next SBC Executive Committee president and CEO
Jeff Iorg, retiring president of Gateway Seminary, was elected as the next Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee president/CEO during a special-called trustee meeting in Dallas, Thursday, March 21. Iorg transitions to the new role after 20 years at Gateway. He enters the position at a crucial moment in SBC life, as the EC copes with financial and legal challenges amid the denomination’s reckoning with sexual abuse and declining baptisms, among other concerns.
Adam Greenway preaches in a chapel service at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in this file photo. He has filed a lawsuit  claiming defamation. (Photo/Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary)
Greenway offers explanation for expenditures in lawsuit against Southwestern seminary
Adam Greenway, who was forced out as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in September 2022, filed a personal injury lawsuit against the seminary and the past chair of its trustee board. The lawsuit, filed March 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, asserts the seminary administration and the then chairman of the trustee board, “began a defamatory campaign against Dr. Greenway that included both specific false statements, along with publication of a narrative that created a substantially false and defamatory impression.”
Residents in Machakos County, Kenya, construct a sand dam on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
From the mission field: To make water last year-round, Kenyans in dry regions are building sand dams on seasonal rivers
MAKUENI, Kenya (AP) — On a dry riverbed one recent sunny morning, residents of Kasengela village toiled away mixing cement and sand to make concrete. The sound of their shovels resonated through the valley while other residents, working in pairs, carried rocks to the site in wooden frames.
Baptist Life

Danny Cochran retires after a long and fruitful ministry

Holly Creek Baptist Church Pastor Danny Cochran holds a plaque from the GBMB on the occasion of the church’s 175th anniversary.
CHATSWORTH, Ga. — After 45 years of a pastoral, teaching, and mentoring ministry and almost a quarter of a century as pastor of Holly Creek Baptist Church in Chatsworth, Dr. Danny Cochran has retired from full-time ministry. His fervent prayer is that he will be able to continue to encourage pastors and help churches as God grants him the opportunity to do so.
Growing up in church during the 1970s, we didn’t listen to many popular tunes.  Music back then was thought to lead to dancing and all other debauchery. (In truth, my dance moves weren’t that great.) But I knew all the church songs and could even play #203 and #204 in the hymnal on the piano. 
I am an inquisitive person, which basically just means I ask a lot of questions. If you happen to talk to my husband he would tell you that I wake up asking questions and I go to bed asking questions. Sometimes I even ask questions if I wake up in the middle of the night.
WAKE FOREST, N.C. — Earlier this spring, Southeastern hosted its first Asian Strategic Partnership Summit to discuss mission partnerships and opportunities for theological education among Asian communities in the U.S. and in East and Southeast Asian countries. During the event, Southeastern shared its vision for global theological education and invited dialogue on how best to equip and partner with East and Southeast Asian churches.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — Impactful life lessons can come from unsuspecting people in unsuspecting places — even from four lepers. That was the focus of a message by Paul Chitwood, president of the International Mission Board, at Tuesday’s chapel service at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Georgia
The sun sets behind the gold dome of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Aug. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

On last day of Georgia legislative session, bills must pass or die

ATLANTA (AP) — The end of Georgia's two-year legislative session arrives Thursday, the last day for bills to pass both the House and Senate or die as this term ends. Lawmakers will decide questions including whether to legalize sports betting and tighten rules on law enforcement cooperation with immigration officials.

Georgia Power makes deal for more electrical generation, pledging reduced rates

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Power Co. announced a deal with regulatory staff to build and buy more electrical generation ahead of schedule on Wednesday, pledging that the deal will reduce rates for existing customers. “We expect the revenues associated with energy sales to incremental large load customers will put downward pressure on rates for all customers," Aaron Abramovitz, Georgia Power's chief financial officer, testified Wednesday before the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Fishing rights bill wins final passage in General Assembly

ATLANTA – Legislation guaranteeing Georgians the right to hunt and fish in the state’s navigable rivers and streams is on its way to Gov. Brian Kemp. The state Senate gave final passage to House Bill 1172 Tuesday night 34-18, with a sizable contingent of opponents arguing it doesn’t go far enough to protect public access.

General Assembly OKs coin-operated amusement machines reform bill

ATLANTA – Legislation aimed at reforming Georgia’s coin-operated amusement machines industry is headed to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk after squeaking through the state Senate. Senators passed House Bill 353 Tuesday night 29-24, the minimum number of votes needed to pass legislation in the 56-member chamber. The House followed suit later by a much larger margin of 148-18.
Nation
Alex Impion, 12, shines a flashlight on a model moon held by Necmeddin Aljabri, 8, at Riverside Elementary School in Cleveland on March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson)

Schools in the path of April's total solar eclipse prepare for a natural teaching moment

CLEVELAND (AP) — Seventh-grade student Henry Cohen bounced side to side in time to the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” playing in teacher Nancy Morris’ classroom, swinging his arms open and closed across the planets pictured on his T-shirt.

Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before it collided with Baltimore bridge, officials say

BALTIMORE (AP) — The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent “routine engine maintenance” in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday, as divers recovered the bodies of two of six workers who plunged into the water when it collapsed. The others were presumed dead, and officials said search efforts had been exhausted.

4 people killed and 7 wounded in stabbings in northern Illinois, with a suspect in custody

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — Four people were killed and seven were hurt when a man went on a stabbing rampage Wednesday across multiple locations in a northern Illinois community, authorities said. A 22-year-old man is in police custody and was being questioned, according to Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd. She said one of the people who was wounded remained in critical condition.

Obituary: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP pick in 2000, dead at 82

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in the disputed 2000 election and who almost became Republican John McCain's running mate eight years later, has died, according to a statement issued by his family.
World
This satellite photo captured by Planet Labs PBC shows the construction of an airstrip on Abd al-Kuri Island, Yemen, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

An airstrip is being built on a Yemeni island during the ongoing war, with 'I LOVE UAE' next to it

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to target ships in a Mideast waterway, satellite pictures analyzed by The Associated Press show what appears to be a new airstrip being built at an entrance to that crucial maritime route.

US journalist marks a year in a Russian prison as courts keep extending his time behind bars

For Evan Gershkovich, the dozen appearances in Moscow's courts over the past year have fallen into a pattern. Guards take the American journalist from the notorious Lefortovo Prison in a van for the short drive to the courthouse. He’s led in handcuffs to a defendants’ cage in front of a judge for yet another hearing about his pretrial detention on espionage charges.

A faster spinning Earth may cause timekeepers to subtract a second from world clocks

Earth’s changing spin is threatening to toy with our sense of time, clocks and computerized society in an unprecedented way — but only for a second. For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a tad faster than it used to. Clocks may have to skip a second — called a “negative leap second” — around 2029, a study in the journal Nature said Wednesday.

UK court says Assange can't be extradited on espionage charges until US rules out death penalty

LONDON (AP) — A British court ruled Tuesday that Julian Assange can’t be extradited to the United States on espionage charges unless U.S. authorities guarantee he won't get the death penalty, giving the WikiLeaks founder a partial victory in his long legal battle over the site's publication of classified American documents.
Perspectives
Miners always filled the bottom of the lunch bucket with water so that if they were trapped underneath the ground, they would have water to live on for a couple days. And every night before my dad got on the elevator to ascend 200 feet to the top, he would throw out the water in his lunch bucket and fill it up with miner dollars, or pyrite disks. He wasn’t stealing. This was allowed by the coal mine.
Georgia Baptists have been monitoring up to 54 bills since this legislative cycle began in 2023. Now that we have made it past crossover day (the 28th day of the session) we are focusing on at least 19 bills. Our primary focus has been pro-life, religious liberty, gambling, child protection and alcohol bills.
What happens to missionaries once they leave our churches? We should all be asking this question when we launch missionaries from our congregations. However, for too many churches, the old adage “out of sight, out of mind” rules the day. We still care about those we send. We probably pray for them, and, if their parents are in our churches, we get periodic updates. But eventually, the busyness of life and the pressing needs of our local community push out all thoughts of missionaries.
Serving as editor of The Christian Index has been a great privilege and a labor of love. Giving that up isn’t easy. I took the job three years ago with hopes of pumping new life into the nation’s oldest religious newspaper, now 202 years old. With that mission accomplished, it’s time for a new challenge. So, I’ll be leaving the Index at the end of March.
 In June of last year, physicians in Ecuador declared Bella Montoya dead, but as family members gathered for her wake, she suddenly showed signs of life as she rested in her coffin. Four months earlier, workers at a Long Island nursing home pronounced an 82-year-old woman dead, but three hours later, funeral home staff discovered she was still alive and breathing.
Business
Niaz Mardan wraps a luxury handmade Belgian chocolate rabbit at Sandrine a chocolate shop in southwest London, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

It's a bittersweet Easter for chocolate lovers and African cocoa farmers but big brands see profits

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Shoppers may get a bitter surprise in their Easter baskets this year, as chocolate eggs and bunnies are more expensive than ever. About three-quarters of the world’s cocoa — the main ingredient in chocolate — are produced on cacao trees in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. But dusty seasonal winds from the Sahara were severe in recent months, blocking out the sunlight needed for bean pods to grow. The season prior, heavy rainfall spread a rotting disease.

Home Depot buying supplier to professional contractors in a deal valued at about $18.25B

Home Depot will buy SRS Distribution, a materials provider for professionals, in a deal valued at approximately $18.25 billion. It is Home Depot's largest acquisition in its history and with it, it steps more aggressively into the fast growing professional builder and contactor business.

Ships carrying cars and heavy equipment need to find a new harbor following Baltimore bridge collapse

Manufacturers and shippers are scrambling to figure out where they can load or unload cargo while the main operations of the Port of Baltimore remain shut down due to Tuesday's deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Supply chain experts say other ports up and down the East Coast, including some in Georgia, are likely to absorb much of Baltimore's traffic, avoiding a crisis. But not without some longer shipping times and upheaval.

Visa, Mastercard settle long-running antitrust suit over swipe fees with merchants

NEW YORK (AP) — Visa and MasterCard announced a settlement with U.S. merchants related to swipe fees, a development that could potentially save consumers tens of billions of dollars. Swipe fees are paid to Visa, Mastercard and other credit card companies in exchange for enabling transactions. Merchants ultimately pass on those fees to consumers who use credit or debit cards.

Bird flu and inflation conspire to keep egg prices near historic highs for Easter

Egg prices are at near-historic highs in many parts of the world as the spring holidays approach, reflecting a market scrambled by disease, high demand and growing costs for farmers. It’s the second year in a row consumers have faced sticker shock ahead of Easter and Passover, both occasions in which eggs play prominent roles.
Sports
Atlanta Hawks guard Dylan Windler (20) drives between Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe (17) and Ashton Hagans during the first half Wednesday, March 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Dejounte Murray scores 30 points, Hawks hand Trail Blazers 8th straight loss with 120-106 victory

ATLANTA (AP) — Dejounte Murray had 30 points and seven assists and the Atlanta Hawks won their third in a row and handed Portland its eighth straight loss, beating the Trail Blazers 120-106 on Wednesday night. Garrison Mathews hit five 3-points and scored a season-high 21 points to help the Hawks remain 10th in the Eastern Conference and avenge a 106-102 loss in Portland on March 13. Matthews led the Atlanta backups to 41 points.

Hawks star Trae Young enters next step in rehab from finger surgery with no timetable for return

ATLANTA (AP) — All-Star guard Trae Young will enter the next step in his rehabilitation from finger surgery, the Atlanta Hawks said Tuesday, but it's still not known when he can rejoin the lineup. Young had a one-month follow-up examination to his Feb. 27 operation to repair a torn ligament in his left pinkie finger.

Hawks rally from 30 points down to stun NBA-leading Celtics 120-118

ATLANTA (AP) — De'Andre Hunter scored 24 points, including a clinching 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds remaining, and the patched-together Atlanta Hawks rallied from a 30-point deficit Monday night for a stunning 120-118 victory over the NBA-leading Boston Celtics.

Braves sign pitcher Jesse Chavez to minor league deal, giving veteran chance for 5th stint with team

NORTH PORT, Fla. (AP) — The Atlanta Braves signed veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez to a minor league contract on Monday, providing the opportunity for the reliever's fifth stint with the team. Chavez, 40, was released by the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. His deal with Atlanta includes an invitation to spring training, giving the Braves 29 players in camp.