July 17, 2025
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Georgia students plant gospel seeds among London’s international students

Send Me Now missionaries Karsyn Bush, left, and Sarah Stephens pose with Saint Paul's Cathedral in the background. (Index/Charles Jones)
LONDON — London, the sprawling modern city straddling the banks of the Thames, has a rich spiritual heritage. It was home to English reformers martyred in the 1550s near the infamous Newgate prison. John Bunyan, who wrote the classic The Pilgrim's Progress while imprisoned for his faith, was no stranger to the city.
Trending stories
A young man places a pin on a map of Athens, representing a gospel conversation, at Beech Haven Church. (Photo/Beech Haven Church)
Beech Haven launches 5-year evangelism push with 10,000-conversation goal
ATHENS, Ga. — Having a conversation about God can often be intimidating, but Beech Haven Church in Athens is taking on that challenge in a big way by setting a goal of initiating 10,000 gospel conversations over the next five years.
Joe Walker. (Photo/Lifeway)
Lifeway trustees begin search for new president, name interim CEO
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Lifeway Christian Resources trustees named an interim CEO and began the initial steps to search for a successor to President and CEO Ben Mandrell during a special-called meeting Tuesday, July 15.
(Photo/Grace Community Church)
Influential pastor John MacArthur dies at 86 after health battle
John MacArthur, the popular and influential pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., died Monday at 86 following a battle with pneumonia.
Law enforcement members respond to a shooting near Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP)
Suspected Kentucky church shooter had a domestic violence hearing the next day
The man accused of killing two women in a shooting rampage at a Kentucky church after wounding a state trooper had been expected in court for a domestic violence hearing on Monday, a local official said.
John Everett sets up tables in a popular area of a large European city to offer free coffee and tea and hand out Bibles and Christian literature to people walking by, hoping for opportunities to share the gospel. (Photo/IMB)
International Mission Board missionary preparation and training key to long-term service
Tables are set up in a public area of the large European city where John Everett is serving as a Journeyman for the International Mission Board. He and his friends place Bibles and Christian literature on the tables, as well as coffee and tea, to offer to passersby. Regularly, he has opportunities to use his missionary training and practice.
Baptist Life

Mother and daughter killed at Kentucky church, trooper shot near airport

Law enforcement members respond to a shooting near Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (KT) – Two women were killed and three others, including a Kentucky State Police trooper, were injured Sunday in a pair of related shootings involving a single suspect at Blue Grass Airport and a Lexington church.

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Texans on Mission volunteers visit with John Vlasek in his home. (Photox/Texans on Mission)
HUNT, Texas — John Vlasek stands in the middle of his home, stripped bare of furnishings, walls, ceilings and flooring. Even his rock fireplace is gone. It’s testimony to the height and depth of the floodwaters that destroyed the house on July 4. The waterline of debris can still be seen just below the ceiling of his Hunt home.
Dawn Reed
It’s Vacation Bible School time. Throughout the summer, all across the nation, churches decorate, prep, study, and pray for high energy days of Bible stories, crafts, recreation, and snacks. All pointing to the reason for the season: Jesus.
Jill Johnson
When you hear the phrase "behind closed doors," what do you think? I always seem to assume that it is something secretive, and the knowledge imparted or the business shared is just for certain people. It always makes me wonder when I hear about a closed-door meeting.
(Photo/SWBTS)
FORT WORTH, Texas — The newly elected leaders of the Baptist Hispanic Consortium for Theological Education share more in common than their faith and Hispanic heritage—each is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Georgia
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at an event for pastors at the Capitol in Atlanta on Feb. 6, 2024. (Index/Henry Durand, File)

Kemp orders state spending freeze amid uncertain federal funding

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp is ordering state agencies to freeze spending at current levels during this fiscal year and fiscal 2027 to protect the state from federal funding cuts in the budget bill Congress passed this month.

Atlanta man gets more than 150 years in prison for starving daughter and abusing other children

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta man accused of killing his 4-year-old daughter by denying her food and water has been sentenced to more than 150 years in prison after being convicted of murder, kidnapping, and other charges, prosecutors said.

Folkston immigrant detention center to become nation's largest

ATLANTA - South Georgia soon will become home to the largest illegal immigrant detention center in the country.

Cold storage project coming to McIntosh County

ATLANTA - Two cold storage companies have broken ground on a $60 million cold storage facility being built in Darien, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday. PermaCold Logistics is being undertaken by cold storage builder and developer Ti Cold and Karis Cold, a private investment and development company with expertise in the cold storage industry. The first phase of the project is expected to create 50 jobs upon completion.

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Nation
U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announcing charges against current and former police officers at a news conference in Lafayette, La., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (KATC via AP)

Feds charge 3 current or former Louisiana police chiefs in an alleged visa fraud scheme

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Federal authorities said Wednesday that they charged three current or former Louisiana police chiefs with taking hundreds of bribes in exchange for filing false police reports that would allow noncitizens to seek a visa that allows certain crime victims to stay in the U.S.

William Jennings Bryan (seated, left) is questioned by defense attorney Clarence Darrow during the 1925 Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tenn. The trial was moved outdoors due to extreme heat. (Photo/Wikimedia Commons)

1925 Scopes Trial a defining moment in U.S. history

DAYTON, Tenn. (BP) – The setting for the “Trial of the Century” was the small county-seat town of Dayton, 40 miles north of Chattanooga. Better known as the “Scopes Monkey Trial,” it took place July 10-21, 1925.
Flood-damaged cars litter a street in North Plainfield, N.J., Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

2 dead in New Jersey after flood waters carry away vehicle during heavy rains that hit Northeast

NEW YORK (AP) — Two people in New Jersey were killed after their vehicle was swept up in flood waters during a storm that moved across the U.S. Northeast overnight, authorities said Tuesday. Gov. Phil Murphy noted the deaths occurred in the northern New Jersey city of Plainfield, where there were two storm-related deaths on July 3. A third person was killed in North Plainfield during that previous storm.
Donna Murphy, a resident at the Gabriel House assisted living facility, in Fall River, Mass., speaks with members of the media outside a temporary shelter, Monday, July 14, 2025, in Fall River, Mass., following a fire at the Gabriel House that started late Sunday and resulted in multiple fatalities. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Flames tear through assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, killing 9 and trapping residents

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Flames roared through an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, killing nine people and trapping residents inside, including some who leaned out of windows and screamed for help, authorities said Monday. At least 30 people were hurt.

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World
The Department of Homeland Security logo is seen during a news conference in Washington, Feb. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

US sends third-country deportees to the small African kingdom of Eswatini

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The United States sent five men it describes as “barbaric” criminals to the small African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration's third-country deportation program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.

A local resident walks along the street under an anti-drone net in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

At least 15 injured in Russian attack targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded four Ukrainian cities overnight into Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure, officials said.
Syrian citizens ride in front of a shop that was burned during clashes between Syrian government forces and Druze militias on the outskirts of Sweida city, southern Syria, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Israel strikes Syrian Defense Ministry as clashes between government and Druze minority rage on

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Israeli military launched a rare airstrike in the heart of Damascus in Wednesday, hitting the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters as clashes in the southern Syrian city of Sweida continued to flare.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron delivers a speech to British and US troops during a visit to Camp Bastion, outside Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province in south Afghanistan, July 4, 2011. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, Pool, File)

Thousands of Afghans have been brought to Britain in secrecy after a data leak

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of Afghans, including many who worked with British forces, have been secretly resettled in the U.K. after a leak of data on their identities raised fears that the Taliban could target them, the British government revealed Tuesday.

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Perspectives
Syrian refugees cross the border from Syria to Jordan to escape the war. (Photo/IMB)
Every day, people from around the world are forcibly displaced from their homes due to war, persecution, and violence. No matter where your church is located, you have the opportunity to care for these hurting people. Here are six ways your church can care for refugees.
(The Alabama Baptist/Marc Hooks)
The recent tragedy in central Texas has weighed heavy on my heart. Viewing the barrage of photographs that depicted joyful, beautiful young girls who were lost in the flood relentlessly drove the sinking weight of despair deeper into the pit of my stomach. It’s a weight that is hard to shake.
Adam Dooley
Her words stopped me in my tracks. “I need to verify your insurance information, Mr. Dooley, but you will never receive a bill from the hospital,” she stated casually. I should have known; after all, I see the same commercials that you see from time to time. Yet, I am embarrassed to admit that previously I failed to pay attention.
David Johnson. (Photo/AMNSB)
The recent reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment by the IRS has been hailed as good news for churches, especially with regard to the freedom of speech.
Todd Gaddis
Even if you’re fortunate enough not to struggle with depression, there’s a good chance you know someone who does. It has been estimated that 40 million Americans battle this ailment. In fact, research has shown that those born since 1945 are ten times more likely to suffer from depression than those born before. 

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Business
President and CEO of Nvidia Corporation Jensen Huang delivers a speech during the Computex 2025 exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)

After meeting with Trump, Nvidia CEO says the sale of AI chip is back on in China

BANGKOK (AP) — Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang says the technology giant has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced H20 computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.

A shopper looks at plants at a Home Depot store in Hiram, Ga., July 15, 2022. (Index/Henry Durand, File)

Home Depot heads deeper into the building supply business with $5 billion acquisition of GMS

Home Depot is buying specialty building products distributor GMS for $4.3 billion, the second notable acquisition in a little over a year that emphasizes a deliberate push by the home improvement chain into building and materials supply.
Pills spill from an Oxycodone prescription bottle. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Purdue Pharma’s $7B opioid settlement could advance after states back it

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s latest plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids could soon move forward after every U.S. state involved agreed to it. A judge on Wednesday is being asked to clear the way for local governments and individual victims to vote on it next.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving on Air Force One, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump announces new China trade deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will get magnets and rare earth minerals from China under a new trade deal and that tariffs on Chinese goods will rise to 55%.
Sales staffs work at an Apple shop in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh, File)

U.S. inflation remained mostly tame last month

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation remained mostly tame last month, though still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

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Sports
Amanda Hunt

Amanda Hunt set to lead Truett McConnell cycling program

CLEVELAND, Ga. — The Truett McConnell University Athletic Department is excited to announce Amanda Hunt as the new head cycling coach. Hunt brings with her over a decade of experience in mountain biking and athlete development, along with a deep passion for discipleship and community-building through sport.

Cody Johansen

Brewton-Parker welcomes new esports director Cody Johansen

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — Brewton-Parker Christian University is thrilled to announce the appointment of Cody Johansen as the new Director of Esports. This move, taking effect from July 1, 2025, marks a significant development in the collegiate esports landscape.
Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. looks up as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning against the Athletics, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sergio Estrada)

Acuña hits 2 homers as Braves end 13-game losing streak in California with win over A's

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit two home runs, including a towering blast to lead off Wednesday night's game against the Athletics, and the Atlanta Braves hit a season-high five homers in a 9-2 victory.
Athletics' Nick Kurtz celebrates with teammates after hitting a grand slam against the Atlanta Braves during the second inning Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Kurtz hits a grand slam, Butler adds 2 HRs as Athletics dominate Braves 10-1

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Nick Kurtz hit a grand slam, Lawrence Butler homered twice and the Athletics beat the Atlanta Braves 10-1 on Tuesday night.

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