FLETCHER, N.C. — Throngs of people lined the shore of a mountain lake in western North Carolina on Sunday afternoon as, one by one, hundreds of people waded into the water to be baptized. 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It took only a few short minutes into his first report to the SBC Executive Committee on Monday evening for Willy Rice to address the Convention’s sexual abuse response efforts. Rice, elected SBC president in June, later said the EC’s fall meeting in Nashville was the “right place” to bring up the issue in “a positive way.”

NASHVILLE (BP) – In line with its “limited but essential function,” the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee took steps to reduce its budget and considered messengers’ motions from the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee members approved several budget-related recommendations at their meeting Sept. 21-22, including one addressing rule changes at the Internal Revenue Service.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The 2026 SBC Annual is now available digitally and in print. The annual is the yearbook for the Southern Baptist Convention, capturing ministry reports, financial data, the minutes of the annual meeting, and more.

NATCHITOCHES, La. (LBM) – Westside Baptist Church has embraced a cross-cultural approach to the Gospel and has reaped a spiritual harvest this year as a result.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — At the 1973 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, Owen Cooper, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, stood before the messengers and celebrated the previous year’s record-setting total of 445,725 baptisms. 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (KT) — Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice is calling for an amendment to the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 to address what he described as cultural confusion over gender, sexuality and marriage.

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — The year 1876 brought baseball’s National League, Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone call, Thomas Edison’s patent for autographic printing, and a disputed presidential election that eventually sent Rutherford B. Hayes to the White House. But northwest of Atlanta, something else was beginning. On Sept. 29, 17 believers gathered to constitute a Baptist church that would become Lost Mountain Baptist Church.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee must concentrate on its “limited but essential function” as it refines its workload under a reduced budget, EC President and CEO Jeff Iorg told the body at its fall 2026 meeting.

GREENSBURG, Ky. (KT) — Bobby Henline has survived war, an IED explosion, devastating burns, and dozens of surgeries. On Sunday, the wounded Army veteran began a new chapter when he was baptized in the Green River near Greensburg.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Students attending recent summer camps sponsored by Lifeway Christian Resources — Fuge, Student Life and CentriKid — collected more than $670,000 for missions.

CLEVELAND, Ga. — A Truett McConnell University student was found dead Sunday evening in student housing on the university’s Cleveland campus, according to the Cleveland Police Department.

I have lived too long, seen God’s faithfulness in too many ways, and been too blessed to believe in luck, happenstance, coincidence, or karma. Nothing transpires by accident or out of the eye or realm of God’s sovereignty or power. There is not one square inch in this universe where God is not in control and actively present.

Chapter 5 begins with a summary of Paul’s previous teaching about justification by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone. Justification is a right legal standing with God. It is an assurance of our eternal home in heaven and the blessings of sonship in this life.

NASHVILLE (BP) – A recent church music and worship survey indicates that a leadership need is on the horizon for Southern Baptist churches. One might almost call it a potential crisis.

CLINTON, Miss. – Familiar faces of the Southern Baptist Convention gathered last week on Sept. 15 for the installation of Evan Lenow as president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

ROCKVILLE, Va. — International Mission Board trustees approved 48 fully supported missionaries for appointment during their Sept. 16-17 meeting at the International Learning Center in Rockville, Virginia. The missionaries approved for appointment were recognized during a Sending Celebration on Wednesday evening at The Heights Baptist Church in Chesterfield, Virginia. Three missionaries were appointed in partnership with the Canadian National Baptist Convention.  

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Baptist Communicators Association is announcing the selection of veteran communicator Meredith Flynn as the group’s next executive director.

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — Brewton-Parker Christian University welcomed students, educators, community members, and guests to campus Monday, September 14, for the opening ceremony of Voices and Votes: Democracy in America, a Smithsonian traveling exhibition exploring the history of American democracy and the many ways citizens have participated in shaping the nation.

ROME, Ga. — Nineteen nursing students crossed a threshold Thursday night in Brooks Chapel, trading classroom seats for the white coats that mark the start of their clinical education. The Ben and Ollie Brady School of Nursing's annual White Coat Ceremony has become one of the school's most meaningful traditions, a public commitment from students to the patients they will soon serve.

CUMMING, Ga. — First Redeemer Church will host Prophecy Summit 2026, October 9–11, bringing nationally known Bible prophecy teachers and bestselling authors Jeff Kinley and Todd Hampson to Cumming for a weekend focused on biblical prophecy, the return of Christ, and how believers should live in light of what Scripture teaches about the last days.

Eleanor Hartley Chesser, 91, of Buford, Georgia, passed away on Thursday, September 17, 2026, peacefully surrounded by the love of her family.

SOUTH CHESTERFIELD, Va. — Southern Baptists gathered Sept. 16 at The Heights Baptist Church in South Chesterfield, Virginia, to celebrate 46 International Mission Board missionaries preparing to take the gospel to the nations.

BUFORD, Ga. — Women serving in churches and ministries across Georgia stepped away from their usual responsibilities Sept. 10-12 for a time of rest, encouragement, and connection at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board Pastor Wellness Women in Ministry Retreat.