ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Two pastors who have seen massive growth in their churches in Florida and Georgia will be featured speakers at the SPARK total church conference’s regional training events on Saturday. Jimmy Scroggins, lead pastor at Family Church in South Florida, will be at First Baptist Church in Alpharetta, and Ken Adams, pastor at Crossroads Church in Newnan, will be at Byne Memorial Baptist in Albany.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Under the leadership of pastor Frank Cox, North Metro First Baptist Church will move to a new location for the second time. Most pastors would not have the grit or grace to even contemplate such a monumental endeavor, but Cox has been the pastor for 42 years and has rightfully won the favor and support of his congregation.

Here in Georgia, we are unchanging in our resolve to keep the gospel as our main focus. Resourcing and equipping churches to reach the 8 million lost people in our state is the mission we act upon every single day. That's what's on your heart, and that's what's on our heart, because that's what's on God's heart. This mission is why Georgia Baptists acted quickly to address critical issues over the past few years.

The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated a probe of the Southern Baptist Convention that includes multiple national entities, denominational leaders said. “Individually and collectively each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation,” SBC leaders said in a joint statement released late Friday.

JONESBORO, Ga. – A 10-year-old American Indian boy who came to faith in Christ last week in Montana has inspired a mission team from Jonesboro’s First Baptist Church with his enthusiasm for reaching others with the gospel. The boy they knew as Billy was one of 33 people who the Jonesboro mission team led to Christ last week at the Fort Belknap reservation. Delaney Gosart dabbed tears during a church gathering Wednesday as she talked about Billy’s contagious enthusiasm for serving “Creator Sets Free,” his tribe’s translation for Jesus.

TIFTON, Ga. – TJ Mauldin is one of those rare individuals who can sing like he belongs on a record label and preach so vividly that Bible passages come to life. That’s how people describe the 37-year-old who has been called as the new lead pastor at First Baptist Church in Tifton. Mauldin arrived at the southern Georgia church 11 years ago as a 26-year-old, part-time contemporary worship leader strumming an acoustic guitar, but Pastor Wayne Roe and others quickly recognized that he was an incredibly gifted preacher, too.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – This year’s Georgia Baptist Convention annual meeting is being moved from Augusta’s Marriott Convention Center to nearby Warren Baptist Church, a move that will provide significant cost savings. “We’re grateful for the hospitality of the people at Warren Baptist,” said Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director W. Thomas Hammond Jr. “They have everything we’re looking for in an annual meeting venue – a spacious sanctuary, plenty of meeting rooms and ample parking.”

FLEMING-NEON, Ky. – In the aftermath of flash flooding that killed 37 people in the Kentucky mountains, residents here are turning to Christ. Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Director Dwain Carter said it’s not unusual for people to seek God amid tragic circumstances. That why, he said, teams of Disaster Relief volunteers realize their role isn’t simply to help with the clean up, but to offer spiritual guidance to survivors.

DOUGLAS, Ga. – For retired Associational Missionary Ray Coleman, attending church has always been central in his life, but, since having a debilitating stroke two years ago, he had been unable to go. Until now. Churches in the Smyrna Baptist Association, where he served for two decades, joined together to purchase Coleman a wheelchair-accessible van that has allowed him to be on the road again.

FLEMING-NEON, Ky. – It was a neighbor’s phone call that alerted Thelma Hall to the flash flood ravaging Fleming-Neon, a tiny community near the Kentucky-Virginia border. Cars were bobbing in the street just outside her front door in floodwater that killed at least 37 people throughout eastern Kentucky.

JENKINS, Ky. – Yards in this tiniest of Kentucky towns are piled high with soggy mattresses, sofas and other furnishings ruined by last week’s deadly flashfloods. Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief crews are in Jenkins and nearby Fleming-Neon helping victims with cleanup in the aftermath of the flooding that killed at least 37 people.

DULUTH, Ga. – Bart Millard, lead singer of MercyMe, will welcome thousands of participants to the digital premiere of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s SPARK conference. The popular contemporary Christian band will also perform three songs during the conference, which is billed as “a total church conference,” meaning it provides training on all aspects of ministry.

Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief crews have been assigned to an area of eastern Kentucky hit hard by last week’s flash flooding that killed at least 30 people and left hundreds unaccounted for.

HAZARD, Ky. (BP) – Tim Reynolds, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Hazard, said the flood waters barely lapped up onto his parking lot. “It didn’t get in here,” he …

DULUTH, Ga. – Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief crews are awaiting the nod to head to the Kentucky mountains to assist residents with what’s being described as some of the worst flooding the region has ever experienced. Heavy rains triggered flash flooding that inundated homes, sweeping some from the foundations, as first responders rescued people stranded on rooftops.

DULUTH, Ga. – Former Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter Jr. will be one of the featured speakers at this year’s SPARK church strengthening conference. The fiery pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Luter was the first African American elected SBC president and, a decade later, remains a sought-after preacher at church conferences across the nation.

NASHVILLE — In 28 years with the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, Lynn Richmond has had several job titles, but she has never changed positions.  During those 28 years, Richmond worked behind the scenes in planning and making sure the SBC annual meetings took place without a hitch.

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – Folks in Shane Dixon’s life group at First Baptist Church in Peachtree City knew something was wrong because he and his wife, Jenny, weren’t showing up for their weekly get-togethers. Turned out their nearly 20-year-old car had broken down again, and his government disability check just wasn’t enough to purchase a new one.

CLAYTON, Ga. – June and July in Georgia mean hot days, cold sweet tea, and summer camps. Georgia Baptists saw the largest number of students in three years at their camps this year, resulting in more than 50 salvation decisions and nearly 70 teens called to ministry.

ATLANTA  – Pro-life advocates celebrated a federal appeals court decision Wednesday that allows a Georgia law to take effect banning nearly all abortions in the state. “This is an exciting day, a day when Georgians in the womb are finally going to enjoy the same right to life as Georgians outside the womb,” said Suzanne Guy, a member of Woodstock’s First Baptist Church and one of the state’s most ardent abortion opponents.

DULUTH, Ga. – Squeezed by high inflation and declining Cooperative Program receipts, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board has been forced to make mid-year budget adjustments that include staff reductions. Economic trends, coupled with discontent among some churches because of the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse complaints and other hot-button issues, have led to a significant decline in financial receipts this year.

SWAINSBORO, Ga. – Churches in largely rural Emanuel County are making sure no children go hungry this summer. Billy Brinson, mission strategist in the Emanuel Baptist Association, said churches have donated more than $27,000 to buy enough food to keep children fed until August, when the local school district restarts its lunch program. “God is doing so much through the churches of Emanuel County,” Brinson said. “I feel wonderful about this.”

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. – The Georgia Baptist Mission Board has expanded the SPARK discipleship conference to include in-person training at five regional locations across the state next month. The initial one will be on Aug. 6 at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins where Woodstock First Baptist Church lead pastor Jeremy Morton will be the keynote speaker.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – For some 40 years, Georgians have been listening to the preaching of Tony Evans on the radio. In November, they’ll be able to hear him in person. Evans, the familiar voice on the Urban Alternative radio program that’s carried on more than 1,400 stations, will be among the speakers at the Georgia Baptist Convention’s annual meeting November 13-15 at the Marriott Convention Center in Augusta.

DULUTH, Ga. – The writer who turned the Rocky Mountains into a metaphor that is helping a generation of church leaders rethink ministry will be one of the speakers at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s SPARK Conference next month. Tod Bolsinger, a former California pastor now serving as vice president of Fuller Theological Seminary, has provided hope to pastors facing seemingly impossible barriers with his book Canoeing the Mountains.