June 22, 2025
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President Trump announces US has struck three Iranian nuclear sites

A B-2 stealth bomber. President Trump announced on Saturday that B-2 stealth bombers were used in strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel ’s effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program.
Trending stories
Audrey Kittila sings as a part of the worship team at First Baptist Church Alpharetta. (Photo/provided by Hayley Echols)
Audrey Kittila desires to glorify God as Miss Georgia
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Audrey Kittila was crowned the 80th winner of the Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition on Saturday, June 14, 2025, fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams. Her victory also offers a public platform for her to share her Christian faith and serve others in Jesus’ name.
The Supreme Court is seen at sunset in Washington, Nov. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
High court backs state authority to restrict gender-transition procedures for minors
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s law banning gender-transition procedures for minors, ruling 6–3 that the statute does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
(Baptist Press/Lindsey Stumpf)
Georgia churches registered 625 messengers for SBC annual meeting
DALLAS (BP) — Georgia ranked fourth this year among states for the number of registered messengers for the Southern Baptist Convention's 2025 Annual Meeting in Dallas.  Unsurprisingly, the host state Texas, which is home to two state conventions comprising thousands of churches, drew more than three times as many messengers as any other, the latest registration statistics show.
Mack Kenney poses with his car at the Royal Ambassador Pinewood Derby held June 9, just before the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas. (Index/Greg Teffertiller)
Georgia student competes in national RA Pinewood Derby
DALLAS — Georgia was well represented at the national Royal Ambassador Pinewood Derby held June 9, just before the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas. Among the participants was Mack Kenney, whose family are members at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta.
Chloe Taylor, a member of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Lake Dallas, Texas, waves a flag to call the next person in line at SBC registration in Dallas. (Baptist Press/Josselyn Guillen)
2025 Dallas messenger registration of 10,599 tops 2018 SBC meeting here
DALLAS (BP) — The 10,599 messengers who registered for the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting this week in Dallas topped the 9,632 who registered the last time the SBC gathered here in 2018, unofficial counts show.
Baptist Life

Messengers approve $190 million CP allocation budget, business and financial plan, other items

Adam Wyatt, chair of the SBC Executive Committee’s Committee on Convention Finances and Stewardship Development, speaks as messengers approve the 2025-26 Cooperative Program allocation budget and additional business items during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas. (Baptist Press/Sonya Singh)
DALLAS (BP) — Messengers to the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting approved a $190 million 2025-26 Cooperative Program allocation budget Wednesday, giving the Executive Committee a one-time $3 million special allotment for legal costs arising from investigations into its handling of sexual abuse claims.

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Truett McConnell University. (Index/Henry Durand, File)
CLEVELAND, Ga. — Truett McConnell University is moving forward while an independent investigation is being conducted concerning recent allegations of abuse and cover-up.
The blaze consumed the sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, and foyer of the historic building whose congregation has served the community for over 130 years. (Photo/via Baptist and Reflector)
DYERSBURG, Tenn. — A devastating fire on Friday, June 13, destroyed most of Zion Hill Baptist Church in the Friendship Community near Dyersburg. The blaze consumed the sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, and foyer of the historic building whose congregation has served the community for over 130 years.
SBC EC vice presidents Brandon Porter and Jonathan Howe provide a three-minute video recapping some of the highlights of the SBC annual meeting. (Photo/Baptist Press)
NASHVILLE (BP) – Messengers to the SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas have returned home with stories and news from the 167th annual meeting. Baptist Press and the SBC Executive Committee have created a pack of slides and a video to help share the highlights with the local church.
FoNAC Executive Director Gary Hawkins addresses the group's annual meeting on June 9 in Dallas. (Baptist Press/Madison Sardana)
DALLAS – A podcast for and about Native Americans that premiered this spring was announced at the recent annual meeting of the Fellowship of Native American Christians.
Georgia
The Georgia Capitol dome in Atlanta. (Index/Henry Durand, File)

Georgia Senate Republicans vote on new leadership amid big shuffle

ATLANTA — A major shakeup is underway in the leadership of the Georgia Senate, after the Republican caucus elected a new majority leader and tentatively named a new president pro tempore. The two positions rank just below the lieutenant governor, who is elected by voters statewide.

This undated photo provided by Bonnie Echols shows Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols, a Republican. (Bonnie Echols via AP)

Echols easily wins Republican PSC primary, Democrats Waites, Hubbard in runoff

ATLANTA – Republican Tim Echols cruised to his party’s nomination for another term on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities in the Peach State.
Emory University Hospital Midtown is seen on May 15, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, file)

Baby delivered from brain-dead woman on life support in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — The baby of a woman in Georgia who was declared brain dead and has been on life support since February was delivered early Friday morning, her mother said.
Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., speaks during a committee hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Georgia man charged with leaving threatening messages for 2 Republican senators

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia man accused of leaving threatening voicemails for two Republican U.S. senators appeared in federal court to face charges Monday. Robert Davis Forney, 25, of Duluth, Georgia, was arraigned in Atlanta on two federal counts of communicating threats in interstate commerce, according to court records. A grand jury indicted him last week.

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Nation
A sign marks the entrance to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, on Oct. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Deadly listeria outbreak linked to chicken alfredo fettuccine sold at Kroger and Walmart

A listeria food poisoning outbreak that has killed three people and led to one pregnancy loss is linked to newly recalled heat-and-eat chicken fettuccine alfredo products sold at Kroger and Walmart stores, federal health officials said.

A couple walks past boarded up businesses along 1st St. in Little Tokyo Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)

Los Angeles lifts curfew as businesses struggle to rebound from riots

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Downtown Los Angeles businesses hoped customers would return quickly on Tuesday after Mayor Karen Bass lifted a curfew she had imposed last week in the wake of vandalism and break-ins during riots against Federal immigration enforcement.
The Supreme Court building is seen, June 28, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal from New Jersey faith-based pregnancy center

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider an appeal from First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, which wants to block a 2023 subpoena from Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin seeking information about the crisis pregnancy center's donors, advertisements, and medical personnel. It has not yet been enforced.
The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Supreme Court instructs New York to uphold religious liberty

WASHINGTON (BP) – The Supreme Court has ordered New York courts to reconsider some of their previous decisions in light of the High Court’s ruling in the Wisconsin Catholic Charities case earlier this month.

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World
Smokes rises from a building of the Soroka hospital complex after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran in Beersheba, Israel, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Trump says he'll decide whether US will directly attack Iran within 2 weeks

BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide within two weeks whether the U.S. military will get directly involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran given the “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, as the two sides attacked one another for a seventh day.

The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Iran's leader rejects call to surrender, saying US intervention would cause 'irreparable damage'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday rejected U.S. calls for surrender in the face of blistering Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage” to them.
Searchers sift through the wreckage at the site of a Tuesday's deadly Russian missile attack that ruined a multistory residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Kyiv rescuers find more bodies as death toll from latest Russian aerial attack climbs to 28

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Emergency workers pulled more bodies Wednesday from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian missile, raising the death toll from the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital to 28.
A man walks past a damaged house following an attack by gunmen in Yelewata community north-central Nigeria, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo)

From the mission field: Death toll from an attack by gunmen in north-central Nigeria reaches 150, survivors say

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The death toll from an attack by gunmen over the weekend in north-central Nigeria has climbed to 150, survivors said Monday as the villagers were still digging through burned homes, counting their dead and looking for dozens of people still missing.

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Perspectives
Ralph Fudge
Before being called to pastor a church, I was privileged to preach in nearly every church in our county and some churches in adjoining counties. It was a great and joyful privilege, but one thing concerned me in each church I visited: empty seats and often whole empty pews.
Adam Dooley
No one lives in a vacuum. Despite our occasional efforts to deny it, the people around us influence nearly every part of our lives for good or bad. Either you benefit from the nurture, example, and encouragement of those who speak into your life, or you suffer, stumble, and lament due to the absence of these things.
Todd Gray
Every pastor, elder, and ministry leader who has been at their post for any reasonable period has felt like giving up.  
Tuesday, June 24, will mark the 3rd anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and I think it's important that we be reminded of God's view of human life, especially as we move forward in a post-Roe era. Just the mere Biblical facts on life can inspire, motivate, and activate our churches to help make abortion unthinkable.
Members of a small group meet at a home in Newfoundland. (North American Mission Board, File)
Let’s be honest — leading a small group can feel a lot like baptizing a squirrel. It is messy, a lot of moving parts, and not much being accomplished! Between prayer requests about Aunt Bobbie Sue’s bunions and that one guy who always shows up 20 minutes late with tacos, it’s easy to forget what really matters.

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Business
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.
Trucks loaded with containers move through a container terminal port in Shanghai, China, Monday, June 9, 2025. (Chinatopix Via AP)

China says its exports to the US fell 35% in May, as trade talks are due to start in London

China's exports to the United States fell 35% in May from a year earlier, new customs data show, adding to pressure on the world's second-largest economy as a new round of trade talks with Washington was due to start later Monday in London.
Shoppers pass large-screen televisions on display in a Costco warehouse in Colorado Springs, Colo., Dec. 19, 2024 (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

US consumer confidence rebounds after five straight months of declines

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans’ views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 12.3 points in May to 98, up from April’s 85.7, its lowest reading since May 2020.

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Sports
Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale (51) works against the New York Mets in the ninth inning Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Chris Sale dominates as Braves hand Mets 5th-straight loss 5-0

ATLANTA (AP) — Chris Sale went 8 2/3 innings just missing his first shutout since 2019, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson hit home runs, and the Atlanta Braves handed the New York Mets their season-high fifth straight loss, 5-0 on Wednesday night.

Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson (28) hits an RBI single in the third inning against the New York Mets, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Riley's sacrifice fly in 10th inning caps Braves' comeback for 5-4 win over Mets

ATLANTA (AP) — Austin Riley hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to deep center field in the 10th inning, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 comeback win over the New York Mets on Tuesday night. Marcell Ozuna tied the score with a three-run double in the eighth, and the Braves rebounded from a 10-1 loss at home Sunday to lowly Colorado. Atlanta has won four of five.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Grant Holmes, left, speaks with catcher Sean Murphy in the sixth inning against the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Holmes' 'special' game with 15 strikeouts is wasted in loss as Braves shift focus to visit from Mets

ATLANTA (AP) — Grant Holmes believed he was on the verge of a game to remember when the Atlanta right-hander reached 10 strikeouts for the first time in his career — and it was only the fifth inning.
Colorado Rockies' Ryan Ritter bunts against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

McMahon hits go-ahead homer in 7th as Rockies beat Holmes and Braves 10-1

ATLANTA (AP) — Ryan McMahon hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh and the Colorado Rockies overcame Grant Holmes' 15-strikeout performance to beat the Atlanta Braves 10-1 on Sunday and avoid a series sweep.

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