INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley, elected SBC president from a field of six nominees, begins his term with two newly-elected officers and two officers reelected during the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS — In a highly anticipated vote on the final day of this year’s Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, messengers narrowly defeated the proposed Law Amendment which specified that only men can serve “as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Southern Baptist messengers approved recommendations presented by the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force on Tuesday, June 11.

It’s likely a Fayette County first: A county marshal ordered a church pastor to appear before a judge to answer for a publicly advertised car show held during daylight hours entirely within the church property.

INDIANANPOLIS — Newly appointed missionaries looked around the Indiana Convention Center’s hall at the urging of Paul Chitwood, International Mission Board president. He gestured from the stage to more than 13,000 messengers and guests sent by local churches to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. 

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – The SBC voted June 11 to discontinue its cooperative relationship with a Virginia church that has a female associate pastor. The church has ordained at least three women as pastors over more than four decades and told the SBC Credentials Committee it would consider a female as senior pastor.

INDIANAPOLIS — They told stories about a young mother living in gang-controlled slums in a crowded city; Sudanese refugees who fled their homes with nothing and found a safe place in Uganda; Chuck, a third-generation Korean Japanese man living in Japan who was initially resistant to the gospel. 

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – In his first address as SBC Executive Committee president and CEO to trustees Monday, Jeff Iorg presented a mandate to address issues that have been roiling Southern Baptists in recent years.

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – Increasing financial transparency, combatting sexual abuse and electing a new slate of officers were among highlights of the SBC Executive Committee’s meeting Monday in Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS – Preceding this year’s Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Send Network, the North American Mission Board’s church planting arm, hosted a kickoff event on Sunday evening designed to set the focus for the busy days ahead.

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) — Hundreds prayed Sunday evening in the main meeting hall for God’s direction, the next generation, pastors and all others arriving for the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in the coming days. 

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – The Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force has launched the curriculum it hopes churches will use to train volunteers in preventing sexual abuse and responding to those who have experienced it.

CARMEL, Indiana —When Jared Barham brought students from his Indianapolis church to the first-ever Crossover Student Rally at Harvest Church in Carmel, Indiana, he had big hopes. The associate pastor of youth at Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis hoped they’d hear the gospel from a different voice and learn about how to share it with their friends.

INDIANAPOLIS – About 51 percent of Hoosiers, inhabitants of Indiana, say they seldom or never attend church or religious services, according to a recent report by Axios Indianapolis. One local pastor is praying that Crossover will help to turn those numbers around.

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — The Deaf Ministry at First Baptist Church Peachtree City hosted a special event on Sunday, June 2, to share the love of Jesus with Deaf and hard of hearing people. Visitors came from Dorsett Shoals Baptist Church in Douglasville and from East Thomaston Baptist Church in Thomaston.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (BP) – When Joseph Josselyn of “Jesus: A Deaf Missions Film” lost his hearing as a toddler, life became “a little painful at times” as he grew, accepted Jesus and worshipped God in the hearing world.

NASHVILLE (BP) – On Tuesday (June 4) Southern Baptists’ Abuse Reform and Implementation Task Force released its final report and recommendations ahead of the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. The report highlights the release of a new curriculum designed to help local churches of all sizes “establish or evaluate their abuse prevention and response plan.”

ATLANTA, Ga.  — Nonprofit health care clinics in Atlanta are experiencing the weight of demand triggered in part by the late 2022 closure of Atlanta Medical Center. Several clinics inside the city limits are using Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation grants to provide hands-on health care to those in need.

PALMER, Alaska — Georgia native Bruce Rowell said in 1999, after he had been pastoring in Palmer, Alaska, for two years, that, "When I’m old and gray I’m sure I will sit my grandchildren on my lap and say, ‘Let me tell you about the stupidest thing I ever did in my life’ or ‘Let me tell you about the greatest adventure of my life.’” 

MARTINEZ, Ga. — Georgia Baptist pastor Dr. Brad Whitt will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastors’ Conference at the annual meeting June 9-10 in Indianapolis.  Dean Inserra, pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, will nominate Whitt, who he said is not only his fellow pastor but also his friend.

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) – The resolutions to be presented at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting are available in a preliminary form. This marks the earliest release date in recent history.

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.

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.

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.”

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.