NASHVILLE (BP) — A rewritten Business and Financial Plan to be presented at the June Annual Meeting is designed to strengthen transparency and oversight for trustees who are approved to those positions by messengers, says Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg. 

DURHAM, N.C. — The Summit Church has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a North Carolina county of denying a zoning request to build a church facility because of religious discrimination.

KRIVYI RIH, Ukraine — Krivyi Rih’s skyline has barely changed in 30 years, with only three new buildings constructed in recent decades. Andriy can describe the architecture of his city in three words: depressing, Soviet, and large.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — This fall, Send Network One Day events are coming to cities across North America to catalyze a movement around the Great Commission. These events are for anyone who has a heart for seeing God’s kingdom expand—Jesus followers, volunteers, church planters and teams, and pastors.

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — In a significant milestone for the institution, Brewton-Parker College is set to elevate its status with the upcoming transition to Brewton-Parker Christian University, effective July 1, 2025.

WOODSTOCK, GA. — Daniel Henderson has a vision of seeing churches transformed and renewed, and it starts with helping individuals change the way they pray. “If you change the way you pray, you change the way you live,” said Henderson, president and founder of Strategic Renewal.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. — “We’re an inquisitive people who almost always want to know more, especially if it seems like we’re missing something,” opened Chuck Lawless at the first chapel of Global Missions Week, an annual celebration of the Great Commission at Southeastern Seminary.

The long-running ‘Bible Talk’ podcast, produced by 9Marks, is now an official partner with Southern Seminary. The new collaboration will bring video episodes, in addition to audio, to better serve the church

ONTARIO, Calif. — Gateway Seminary is launching a new master’s degree program built for California Baptist University’s School of Christian Ministries’ graduates.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — “If you met Jesus today, what would you say to Him?” This is the question 12-year-old Knox Chambers uses to open gospel conversations with classmates.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (KT) — Amid the pain of having house and church damaged by severe flooding in eastern Kentucky, Wesley Russell’s faith in the providence of God has never wavered. Russell, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, saw first-hand the rapid rise in water that has disrupted the lives of a multitude of people in his community.

DALLAS — Texas Baptists’ Executive Board adopted a new agreement with the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board regarding church-starting in Texas and approved the initial reserve investment, officers, and board for the Texas Baptist Insurance Program.

The word storm is used 42 times in the NIV Bible, 19 in the New King James, 17 in the King James. No matter how many times the word is written, we know storms are a part of our everyday lives.

LANHAM, Md. — Despite an expected snowstorm, more than 100 attended the third annual George Liele Missionary Breakfast at Sharon Bible Fellowship Church on Feb. 8. The breakfast, sponsored by the African American Fellowship (AAF) of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCM/D), is designed to introduce people to George Liele, a freed slave in the 1700s who became the first ordained African American Baptist pastor.

Ask anyone who knows me well and they will confirm that I am a crier. I can cry at a movie, a commercial, an accomplishment, and just about anything else. I also have the "gift" of sensitivity and get my feelings hurt easily. I am very aware of this about myself, and it becomes an issue that I have to process through quite often.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The SBC Executive Committee’s approval Feb. 18 of a 2.9 percent increase in the salary structure for the EC staff does not guarantee a pay increase for EC staff. EC Chairman Philip Robertson presented the recommendation from the officers, “That the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention authorize an adjustment of 2.9 percent increase, consistent with historical practices of the Executive Committee using Consumer Price Index information, in the staff salary structure of the SBC Executive Committee, effective October 1, 2025.”

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (KT) — In the midst of great trouble, sounds of praise were heard in Eastern Kentucky on Monday. When the Kentucky Army National Guard was called upon to rescue people trapped by flood waters, a group of about 15 people were loaded onto a helicopter and flown to a safe area.

He stood in front of a group of children sharing a Bible lesson during Holiday Club. Churches in Australia have Holiday Clubs instead of Vacation Bible Schools, and this was one of the activities Danylo “Daniel” Ibrahimov led as a summer missionary with the International Mission Board at a church in Albany, Western Australia.

FORT WORTH, Texas — On college campuses across the nation, students can find Baptist Student Ministries. While it may go by a different name in different parts of the country, the organization, established as the Baptist Student Union over 100 years ago in 1919, has branches on over 700 campuses across the United States.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Southern Seminary recently welcomed noted theologian Scott Swain to campus for the esteemed Julius B. Gay Lecture Series. Swain, President and Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, delivered a compelling series of lectures on the central theme that God himself is the proper subject matter of theology.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary introduced faculty member Michael Copeland as the new dean of students during the annual Town Hall student meeting on Feb. 10.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The SBC Executive Committee took major steps to tackle issues that have been brewing in the Convention for several years, including addressing the financial fallout from the SBC’s response to sexual abuse, introducing a new director for abuse response within the Convention and responding to the call for additional financial information from entities.

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. — Nearly 200 kids ministry leaders, Georgia Baptist Mission Board staff, and vendors,  came together for a ‘summit’ on Feb. 6 and 7 at the Jekyll Island Resort. Those leaders represented 99 Georgia Baptist churches from across the state.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — As pastors speak and pray with their congregations, they say they’re also keeping persecuted Christians around the world in mind.

TUCSON, Ariz. — At the Imagine One Day Conference in January, church leaders were challenged to think differently about discipleship, city engagement, and church planting. Organized by Brian Hook, senior pastor of Aspire Church in Tucson, the conference presented successful church planting principles that Hook has seen work since the mid-2000s.