NASHVILLE (BP) – If SBC messengers ask a question following this year’s GuideStone Financial Resources report in Indianapolis, health insurance is likely to be the topic. Since 2019, messengers to the SBC Annual Meeting have twice asked GuideStone chief executives questions. Both times the inquiries focused on the rising costs of health insurance.
Last week, we were visiting my sister and her family in Bowling Green. On Sunday morning, we joined them at Hillvue Church. The pre-service music was playing. People greeted and mingled. The five-minute timer was ticking down. My heart began to stir in anticipation.
School is out! This means that my granddaughters' main goal each day is to find a pool to go to. I wish we had a subdivision pool but unfortunately that was not on our list when we moved to Jefferson.
SUWANEE, Ga. – Six prospects currently stand as candidates to fill the role of SBC President soon to be vacated by Bill Barber as he completes his second term.
In front of an Olympic venue, her phone camera hovers over the Olympic pin. The link appears and she selects her language, scans the landing page, and then decides she’d like to chat live with someone. Hesitatingly, she types “Hello” and waits.
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief assessors are fanning out across the state in the wake of the weekend's severe storms and tornadoes. Assessors are positioned from east to west to determine how KYDR can bring hope, help and healing to devastated communities.
NAPLES, Florida (BP) – When Pastor Chris Butler took the helm at North Naples Baptist Church in 2016, he inherited a congregation on the brink of closure, dwindled to just 40 members. Just two weeks into his pastoral tenure, multiple outside ministries came to him and asked whether the church was selling its building.
MINNEAPOLIS — Atypical is what it was. Door hangers and block parties and mass mailers and email blasts and Facebook ads and radio spots — these are the typical mass marketing tools of the church planter’s trade. However, a few years back, when Sam Choi and his friends started All Peoples Church in Minneapolis, Minn., they discovered that their simplest, cheapest and most effective publicity tool was word of mouth.
Ask Rick Gage about Go Tell Ministries, and the conversation turns quickly to evangelism and seeing people’s lives transformed through the power of God’s Word. Gage’s enthusiasm seems contagious as he shares God’s stories of individuals who are now Christ-followers because they attended a camp or a crusade.
CLEVELAND, Ga. — Truett McConnell University announced that renowned surgeon and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson, will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Gala celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Martha Rielin and Elizabeth Salmen School of Nursing.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Send Relief consistently demonstrates compassion as it works to strengthen vulnerable communities. A new initiative of the Memphis Ministry Center, Door of Hope, tackles chronic homelessness by providing household baskets and supportive services to individuals who have newly secured living spaces through the Door of Hope agency.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On Monday, May 13, five women students from both The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College were recognized for receiving the Mary K. Mohler Scholarship at a special luncheon ceremony.
Who loves tomatoes? If you are like me, you know we are on the doorstep of fresh produce from the garden. How do you like your tomatoes? You can eat them as they come or use them to make salsa or spaghetti sauce.
The resurrection of Jesus implies that our Savior had completed His earthly personal ministry. The ascended Jesus, however, continued His earthly ministry through the proclamation and ministry of His followers.
I love being a pastor. Those are not words I would have expected to have written as a teenager or even during my early college years.
DECATUR, Ga. — Standing 6 feet 5 inches tall, Mark Riggins stands out in a crowd and the choir loft of Briarlake Church, in Decatur. So, it may not be out of the ordinary when someone walks up and says, “We’ve met before.”
When I was younger, Memorial Day was the holiday that truly marked the beginning of summer. I was oblivious to those who decorated graves, never wondering how the cemeteries were suddenly covered with brightly colored flowers. Decades passed. Now I understand the import of the holiday.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Twenty Georgia Baptist Collegiate Ministry campus ministers (full-time, part-time, and volunteer) joined more than 700 other BCM leaders from across the United States and Canada in early May for the 2024 Collegiate Summit held near Memphis, Tenn. This was the largest showing for the equipping event that is held every three years and is organized by the Baptist Collegiate Network.
What if? How many times have you lived in the “what if” world? I find myself there quite often. "What if" is a question that we ask ourselves where we imagine what “might” happen or what “might have” happened.
DULUTH, Ga. — Cross Pointe Church in Duluth was the site of the first commencement for Georgia’s New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Church Training Institute. The ceremony was complete with all the dignity one might expect at such an auspicious event.
MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — Brewton-Parker College is pleased to announce the appointment of Brandon Braddy as the new vice president of Advancement and Alumni Relations. With a wealth of experience from his previous roles in public service and the banking industry, Braddy is well-equipped to lead the college’s advancement efforts, focusing on community engagement, donor relations, and strategic growth.
The average church size is shrinking. Lifeway Research reported that in 2000, 45% of churches had fewer than 100 in weekly attendance but by 2021, that number had climbed to 65%. Is it time to panic? Should a shrinking church sound the alarm?
Brad Graves, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ada, Okla,, will be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention first vice president at the upcoming SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Brad Whitt, pastor of Abilene Baptist Church in Augusta, announced plans to nominate Graves for the role.
WESTFIELD, Ind. — On February 18, 1966, under the heading, “Navy Seeks Ministers as Chaplains,” Baptist Press posted the following: “The Southern Baptist Chaplains Commission has put out a call for Baptist ministers ready for immediate commission and active duty in the United States Navy. The demand was brought on by a Navy adjustment of the number of Baptist chaplains and by the stepped-up manpower needs resulting from the war in Vietnam.”
It was an honest question from an unbeliever I’d known for years. Our recent discussion about following Christ turned to more pragmatic matters born out of his general observations about Christianity in general. “Why would I give up my one day off in order to gather with a bunch of people I don’t know?” was his follow-up.