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Georgia Kids Ministry leaders ‘replenished’ at Jekyll Island event

Joy Stevens leads worship at the 2025 Kids Ministry Summit on Jekyll Island. (Photo/GBMB)
JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. — Nearly 200 kids ministry leaders, Georgia Baptist Mission Board staff, and vendors,  came together for a ‘summit’ on Feb. 6 and 7 at the Jekyll Island Resort. Those leaders represented 99 Georgia Baptist churches from across the state.
Andrew Ryzhkov, left, prepares to distribute Bibles in Jerusalem. (Photo/courtesy Andrew Ryzhkov)
From Belarus to Israel and beyond, Georgia pastor Andrew Ryzhkov is reaching the world for Christ
CUMMING, Ga — One only must talk to pastor Andrew Ryzhkov for one minute to discover that he is excited about his Savior and the work God has called him to do. Ryzhkov is the pastor of Calvary Russian Baptist Church, a growing congregation of believers in the Alpharetta/Cumming area north of Atlanta. However, his ministry extends far beyond his local church and reaches into Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Cindy Tyus plays piano at FBC Moultrie. (Photo/FBC Moultrie)
FBC Moultrie pianist Cindy Tyus has been ministering through music for 40 years
MOULTRIE, Ga. — For First Baptist Church of Moultrie pianist Cindy Tyus playing a piano is more than just notes on a page, it’s a way to serve the Lord and lead people to Jesus. And, she has been doing so for 40 years.
Joe Worley and Galaxie, his service dog provided by America’s VetDogs.
After serving his country, severely wounded Iraq War vet now serves his Savior
VILLA RICA, Ga. — Joe Dan Worley recently spoke to a Sunday School class of senior adults and explained how his faith in Jesus Christ sustained him in a fierce battle in Iraq during the War on Terror.
Tiny homes in Pleasant Grove Baptist Church's Neighborhood of Hope in Bowman, Ga. (Photo/Pleasant Grove Baptist Church)
Pleasant Grove's Neighborhood of Hope ministers to those that have lost everything
BOWMAN, Ga. — Across the street from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Bowman stand five tiny houses filled with stories of heartache and tragedy. Pleasant Grove hopes to use the buildings to turn them into stories of hope and recovery.
Clint Pressley, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., delivers his message at the Georgia Baptist 2024 Preaching Conference in Statesboro, Ga., in Nov. 2024. (Index/Henry Durand, File)
Pressley talks about building up, moving forward in BP interview
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP) – It’s 6:45 a.m., and Clint Pressley is already getting loud in the shed. The correct nomenclature is, actually, The Shed. It’s a modest structure behind his home wall-to-wall with barbells, weights, and racks collected over years, anywhere from garage sales to Facebook Marketplace.
Baptist Life

FBC Statesboro cares for its members' physical well-being as well as their spiritual health

Jordan Mathis takes a patient's blood pressure. (Photo/courtesy Jordan Mathis)
STATESBORO, Ga. — This summer, First Baptist Church Statesboro will celebrate 40 years of caring for members through its church nursing ministry. Initially staffed by a part-time nurse in July 1985 supported by love offerings, it became a full-time budgeted ministry in 1997.
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (KT) — In the midst of great trouble, sounds of praise were heard in Eastern Kentucky on Monday. When the Kentucky Army National Guard was called upon to rescue people trapped by flood waters, a group of about 15 people were loaded onto a helicopter and flown to a safe area.
He stood in front of a group of children sharing a Bible lesson during Holiday Club. Churches in Australia have Holiday Clubs instead of Vacation Bible Schools, and this was one of the activities Danylo “Daniel” Ibrahimov led as a summer missionary with the International Mission Board at a church in Albany, Western Australia.
FORT WORTH, Texas — On college campuses across the nation, students can find Baptist Student Ministries. While it may go by a different name in different parts of the country, the organization, established as the Baptist Student Union over 100 years ago in 1919, has branches on over 700 campuses across the United States.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Southern Seminary recently welcomed noted theologian Scott Swain to campus for the esteemed Julius B. Gay Lecture Series. Swain, President and Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, delivered a compelling series of lectures on the central theme that God himself is the proper subject matter of theology.
Georgia

Man gets decade in prison for firing modified machine gun at trooper

ATLANTA – A man who shot at a Georgia trooper with a Glock handgun modified for automatic fire will spend a decade in prison, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Georgia House may extend deadline for property tax relief offer

ATLANTA – Georgia cities, counties, and school districts are scrambling to meet a March 1 deadline for deciding whether to opt out of offering a property tax break the state’s voters approved last fall in a constitutional amendment. But legislation pending in the Georgia House of Representatives would extend that deadline by four years.

Georgia poll worker pleads guilty to making a bomb threat at election office

ATLANTA – A former Macon area poll worker pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to mailing a bomb threat to a local elections office and admitted lying about it to the FBI.

Brunswick now nation’s top port for Roll-on/Roll-off cargo

ATLANTA – The Port of Brunswick has supplanted Baltimore as the nation’s busiest port for autos and heavy equipment.
Nation
A vehicle carrying Leonard Peltier, front, leaves the Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, in Sumterville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Leonard Peltier leaves prison after Biden commuted his sentence in the killing of two FBI agents

SUMTERVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Native American activist Leonard Peltier was released from a Florida prison on Tuesday, weeks after then-President Joe Biden angered law enforcement officials by commuting his life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.

Republicans consider cuts and work requirements for Medicaid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are weighing billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid. Millions more Americans signed up for taxpayer-funded health care coverage like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act's marketplace during the Biden administration.

Death toll in Kentucky rises to 12 from weekend flooding

FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – The death toll continues to rise from the weekend flooding, and while recovery efforts continue statewide, emergency management personnel are also concerned about potentially six more inches of snowfall forecast this week, along with bitterly cold conditions.

Delta jet flips upside down on a snowy Toronto runway and all 80 aboard survive

TORONTO (AP) — A Delta Air Lines jet flipped on its roof while landing Monday at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, but all 80 people on board survived and those hurt had relatively minor injuries, the airport’s chief executive said.
World
Scores of trucks carrying mobile homes line up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in preparation for entering Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mayar Mokhtar)

Hamas says it will free 6 living hostages and hand over four bodies, accelerating Gaza releases

CAIRO (AP) — A top Hamas leader says the terrorist group will release six living Israeli hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four others on Thursday, a surprise increase that apparently comes in return for Israel allowing mobile homes and construction equipment into the devastated Gaza Strip.

Israel says its forces will remain in 5 Lebanon locations after Tuesday's withdrawal deadline

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military says its forces will remain in five strategic locations in southern Lebanon after Tuesday's deadline for their withdrawal under a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist group, as Lebanon’s government expressed frustration over another delay.

Top Russian and American officials will hold talks on ending the Ukraine war

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Senior American and Russian officials, including the countries’ top diplomats, will hold talks on improving their ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, officials said Monday, in what would be the most significant meeting between the sides since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbor nearly three years ago.

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy travels to United Arab Emirates as momentum grows for war peace talks

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the United Arab Emirates late Sunday as momentum grows for potential peace talks ending Moscow's war on the country.
Perspectives
I’ve never accepted a ministry position that — in the first six months — I didn’t want to go back to what I was doing before.  In fact, if your new ministry position doesn’t require you to grow into it, then I wonder whether the Lord called you to that role.  
The man sitting across from me at a restaurant was picking at his chicken pot pie, talking more than eating. He had a story to tell. He was born on Aug. 20, 1944, in a hospital in Fayetteville, N.C. His mother packed up her things and left him there
ATLANTA, Ga. —  Georgia Baptists are once again looking forward to participating in The March for Life at the State Capitol. This event will be held in coordination with National March for Life, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. The rally will take place at 11 am at the Liberty Plaza, across from the Georgia Capitol building. The march in Atlanta will start at noon.
​I love this time of year! Spring is on the way, bringing warmer temperatures, baseball season, greening lawns, pretty flowers and the celebration of Easter. Easter is a big moment for pastors! We love to see a full house and preach on the resurrection of Jesus.
Whenever I’m preaching and I need to make a point about the beauty of the church in action, I often refer to the image of God’s people with arms outstretched running toward places of deepest pain and suffering — being first on the scene after a disaster, bringing hope and healing through physical and tangible expressions of love in times of darkness.
Business
A sale sign is displayed on a rack of clothes at a store in Chicago, June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

US inflation worsens slightly as the cost of groceries and gasoline increase

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation increased slightly last month as the cost of groceries, gas, and used cars rose, a disappointment for families and businesses struggling with higher costs and likely underscoring the Federal Reserve's resolve to delay any further interest rate cuts.

Coca-Cola reverses sales volume slide, sending revenue up 6% in the fourth quarter

Coca-Cola said Tuesday it's confident it can mitigate the Trump administration's tariffs on aluminum by shifting its suppliers, relying more heavily on plastic bottles and other tools.

US employers added just 143,000 jobs last month, jobless rate slips to 4%

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added just 143,000 jobs last month, but the jobless rate slipped to 4% to start 2025 and the government revised November and December payrolls higher.

US Postal Service flip-flops on Hong Kong-China packages, lifting a ban imposed a day earlier

HONG KONG (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is reversing course a day after placing a ban on all inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong. The post office announced Tuesday that it would no longer accept parcels from China and Hong Kong after the U.S. imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods and ended a customs exception that allowed small value parcels to enter the U.S. without paying tax.

Waffle House adds surcharge to eggs as massive bird flu outbreak leads to soaring prices

NEW YORK (AP) — The Waffle House restaurant chain is putting a 50 cent per egg surcharge in place temporarily due to the biggest bird flu outbreak in a decade. The Georgia company said that the resulting egg shortage has led to a dramatic increase in its costs.
Sports
William Byron celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Daytona 500, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

William Byron avoids late wrecks to win 2nd straight Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (AP) — William Byron raced to his second straight Daytona 500 win, dodging a string of late-race wrecks that knocked out a chunk of contenders and sent the Hendrick Motorsports driver into victory lane Sunday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Robinson has 15 as No. 21 Missouri uses decisive 15-0 run in 2nd half to beat slumping Georgia 87-74

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Anthony Robinson II scored 15 points, including seven in a decisive 15-0 run in the second half, leading No. 21 Missouri past Georgia 87-74 on Saturday.

MVP Ronald Acuña and 20-game winner Spencer Strider both making progress for return with Braves

NORTH PORT, Fla. (AP) — Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. took batting practice at spring training Thursday, and right-hander Spencer Strider has already thrown a side session this week at their Florida camp.

Baseball welcomes another season, with most pitchers and catchers reporting Wednesday

There's a new No. 2 in the New York Yankees' rotation behind Gerrit Cole. A familiar face is getting a fresh start leading the Cincinnati Reds. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani and Co. already have their title defense underway.