PRESTON, Ga. — On a spring Saturday that felt more like summer, the Holy Smoke Christian Grilling Competition returned for its 21st year with all the flavor, fellowship, and competition that have made it a fixture of ministry-minded barbecue.

BRANDENBURG, Ky. (KT) — A revival in the Salem Association of Baptists (Meade, Breckinridge and Hardin counties) has not only drawn large, enthusiastic crowds, but has given evidence of a noticeable partnership in the gospel by pastors in that association.

DENHAM SPRINGS, La. (LBM) – A celebration of 1,300 decisions for Christ at the Livingston Parish GO TELL AMERICA Crusade continued for First Baptist Church, Denham Springs, when it baptized 55 individuals on March 30 – the most ever on a single day for the congregation.

Don and Maria Friesen can identify with the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul” by Horatio Gates Spafford, which begins: “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’”

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (KT) – Mercy Hill pastor Nate Young says taking a kayak ride through his flooded church was not on his bucket list. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Young said. “We went into the church, and the baptismal was floating around in the sanctuary. Hopefully, this is the only lifetime experience of doing this.”

One smell of hyacinth moves me. For eons, just a whiff of the beautiful spring flowers brought an immediate smile to my face and stirred my heart with something almost like yearning.

BOWMAN, Ga. — After two decades of ministry leadership, Steve Ferguson will step down as Associational Mission Strategist for the Hebron Baptist Association on April 30. Though he’s leaving his official role, Ferguson says he has no intention of slowing down.

The 1920s were years of stark contrast across America. In larger cities, it was an era of excesses known as the “Roaring 20s.” Fashion, jazz, and speakeasies had pushed the norms of decency well beyond their previous boundaries. It was a decade marked by fraud and corruption in business and one of the worst political scandals in U.S. history—the Teapot Dome Scandal. Even the Southern Baptist Convention didn’t escape the turmoil.

FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Dr. Dennis Rivera is a very busy man these days. He currently commutes 25 minutes from Warner Robins to his office at First Baptist Church Fort Valley to pastor two churches full time. “It’s a lot of preparation,” said Rivera. “It’s a joy to serve the Lord in these two capacities.”

METTER, Ga. — Brewton-Parker College hosted its 8th Annual Southern Classic Golf Tournament, presented by Metter Ford, on Friday, April 4, at Willow Lake Golf Club in Metter. With 100 players in attendance and the generous backing of local businesses, the event raised more than $40,000 in support of BPC students and the college’s mission of academic and spiritual transformation.

RIDGELAND, Miss. — More than 200 people attended the annual Chinese Churches of Mississippi Retreat, March 14–16. For the past 15 years, the retreat has offered brothers and sisters in Christ an opportunity for fellowship and spiritual instruction in both Mandarin and English.

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, Louisiana, offers a weekly respite care session for adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This gives their family caregivers an opportunity to rest or run errands.

SUWANEE, Ga. — Georgia Baptist churches have experienced significant growth in 2024, with baptisms surpassing the 25,000 mark, reflecting an increase of more than 20% over 2023. Additionally, average church attendance has grown by over 6%, and churchgoers have been more generous, with churches reporting a 5.4% increase in undesignated receipts.

Seth Shelton’s life took a dramatic turn years ago when he embarked on a short-term mission trip to Nicaragua. While there, he felt an unmistakable call from the Lord to ministry.

FALMOUTH, Ky. (KT) – Trinity Southern Baptist Church is all about loving their neighbor. Serving others is what they do best.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Redemption Church started what Pastor Bryan Bernard calls a Gospel Initiative last September. Since then, 39 people have made professions of faith in Jesus, and 17 have been baptized.

SCOTT DEPOT, W.Va. — The West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists Executive Board has named Dr. Seth N. Polk as interim executive director-treasurer as the search begins for the convention’s next leader.

While serving as a bivocational pastor in my first church, I was employed full-time at a local funeral home. If you add that opportunity to my pastoral ministry since then, I have attended close to 300 funerals in my lifetime.

New Testament Epistles follow a common outline. The first chapters focus upon doctrine, and the latter chapters deal with issues of living out the gospel in a society puzzled by Christian lifestyle and ethics. We need to share our faith, but we also need to live our faith in the context of a secular culture, whether or not the culture is similar to the debauchery of the first century Roman Empire.

MARIETTA, Ga. — While some churches are experiencing significant growth in America, multiple churches are struggling to overcome the decline that beleaguers many congregations today. The 2023 Annual Church Profile conducted by Lifeway Research that was released on March 11 indicated that 70 percent of Southern Baptist churches have an average Sunday morning worship attendance of less than 100.

Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief Director Ron Crow said widespread flooding not only in Kentucky but also nationally could limit how much Southern Baptist Disaster Relief resources may be able to help.

WINCHESTER, Ky. (KT) – James McDonald’s exposure to a missionary in elementary school took root years later.  When that same missionary – Wilma Wahstedt – decided to retire from her ministry of teaching the Bible to elementary-age children, McDonald was ready to accept the call. Wahstedt’s life of faithfulness had made an impact on him. 

Dr. Rex Horne is beginning the process of transitioning out of the role of Arkansas Baptist State Convention executive director.  During the Operating Committee meeting on Monday, March 31, Horne requested they begin the process of finding his successor as executive director.  Horne was named executive director in October 2023.  

ATLANTA — After years of advocacy from religious leaders and conservative lawmakers, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 36, known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), into law at a ceremony on Friday, April 4, the final day of the 2025 legislative session. Kemp was surrounded by a group of legislators and supporters, including the bill’s author, Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, and W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

The 19 million people already displaced by violence and persecution in Myanmar have been joined by another 8 million internally displaced individuals since a deadly earthquake struck on March 28, Baptist World Aid Director Marsha Scipio said.