I asked Stevie, who turns 7 this week, to name something he would run from.  “A T-Rex, a raptor, and a stegosaurus,” he answered without a pause. “Can you think of something smaller?” I asked. “Oh, ok, a baby T-Rex,” he replied.  I laughed out loud.

CLEVELAND, Ga. — Truett McConnell University has named Danny Hendrix associate vice president for development and church relations. Vice President of Advancement Stacy Hall made that announcement on Wednesday. In the position, Hendrix will cultivate and maintain positive relationships with donors, prospective donors, and churches while implementing comprehensive fundraising strategies that help meet the university’s needs.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Nashville newspaper reported Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has wrapped up a year-and-a-half-long investigation that sought to determine whether Southern Baptist Convention leaders were criminally responsible for mishandling sexual abuse allegations. The Tennessean said federal investigators concluded the probe last week without charging any SBC leaders.

When the Apostle Paul wrote his second letter to the church at Corinth, he declared, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (II Cor. 5:17). When Christ saves an individual, that person does not remain the same. A transformation takes place.

LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas might be the most known, and unknown, place on earth. Most people know it’s a place where slot machines outnumber ATM’s; a place where you can play golf at midnight; and a place where, if you so desire, you can order a $3.99 ribeye at 3 a.m. But very few people know the Las Vegas that Alabama natives Joseph and Kristen Gibbons know.

Eric Patrick’s journey from dispensing medicines to saving souls as a church planter transported his family 40 miles north of downtown Dallas to the burgeoning town of Little Elm, Texas. After seven years as a pharmacy tech and eight as a pharmacist working for two large hospital systems, the Florida native felt God pulling him in a new direction in 2019. He stopped practicing pharmacy and began teaching financial literacy and running a web-based marketing business to support his family.

TIFTON, Ga. — Final arrangements are underway for the latest in a series of Called to Witness evangelism conferences that begins Sunday evening at Northside Baptist Church in Tifton. Hundreds of people are expected to attend the event that will provide inspiration to go tell others about Christ and information on the most effective ways to do it.

I once served a church as transitional pastor that had a basketball gym. Local FBI employees used the gym once a week to play basketball. One day I was alone in the church office and an FBI agent came and asked me a question about facilities. I didn’t know the answer and explained to him that I was new at the church and was only there until the next senior pastor was called. He responded, “That’s okay. I heard the church was under new management.”

Quintell Hill, pastor of Multiply Community Church in Monroe, N.C., and president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, will be joining the International Mission Board  as African American church mobilization strategist starting April 1. Hill shared the news with members of his church on Sunday, during their morning service. The IMB announced the transition via internal communication sent to staff Monday morning. 

Usually, when two or more men meet for the first time, the conversation eventually turns to employment. “So, what do you do?” will be asked of each, and the answers will be disclosed. We tend to search for a level of commonality or interest in how people make a living. Our purpose also gives us a sense of identity.

God provides, God guides, and God directs the steps of those who seek Him. In this passage, God provides guidance in the relationship between Isaac and Rebekah.

KENNESAW, Ga. — A menu of wild boar, venison, and alligator, mixed with an ample serving of the gospel, proved to be an irresistible combination at Kennesaw First Baptist Church’s wild game dinner where 28 people made salvation decisions. “God is alive and well in Kennesaw,” lead pastor Perry Fowler said after the Saturday event. “He is blessing, and His kingdom is being built.”

MACON, GA – In Bibb County ask for directions to Cathedral Coffee and you will find Northway Church, a thriving fellowship in middle Georgia that is also worth a visit. Northway Church in Macon started as a mission of Vineville Baptist Church in 1995 and held its first service in 1998 as Vineville North Baptist Church. For four years Vineville Baptist and Vineville North operated as one church, two locations.

STERLING, Va. — There was no brainstorming, no focus group, no research that went into it. Jefferson Hernández had not given a moment’s thought to what he and his wife Carol would call their new church in Sterling. Not until one day, when he was unexpectedly asked the name of his new church plant, and Jefferson said the first thing that popped into his head.

NEW ORLEANS — A packed house of more than 1200 women gathered for Abide 2024 at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College on Feb. 23-24 to worship and embrace a calling to be “Women of Prayer.” “We chose the theme ‘Women of Prayer’ because prayer is a vital discipline in the life of the believer,” said Tara Dew, wife of president Jamie Dew, adjunct professor and director of the NOBTS ministry wives certificate program, Thrive.

CLAYTON, Ga. – Spreading the gospel requires Christians to go and tell, Hispanic Georgia Baptists were told at a Spanish-language evangelism conference in Clayton on Saturday. Pastor Gerardo Mendoza, who leads Misión Bautista Cristo Vive, hosted the gathering at Clayton Baptist Church.

Spreading the gospel requires Christians to go and tell, Hispanic Georgia Baptists were told at a Spanish-language evangelism conference in Clayton on Saturday. Pastor Gerardo Mendoza, who leads Misión Bautista Cristo Vive, hosted the Georgia Baptist Mission Board event at Clayton Baptist Church. More than 220 participants heard Pastor Martín Vargas of Iglesia Real in Hollywood, Fla., and Ramón Osorio, director of Ethnic-Linguistic Church Planting at the North American Mission Board, speak on the need to share Jesus with others.

CORDOVA, Tenn. —  Bellevue Baptist Church pastor Steve Gaines reported major improvements with his cancer in a video posted Firday. In November 2023, Gaines shared with his congregation that he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, then in December shared that the cancer had spread to his lungs. On Friday, he said the cancer polyps in his lungs and the cancer in his rib were gone, according to his latest PET scan. The cancer in his kidney has also “gone down significantly,” he said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The SBC Executive Committee’s presidential search team is recommending longtime educator Jeff Iorg as the organization’s next leader. The Executive Committee said in a statement Friday that Iorg will be presented for a vote at a meeting March 21.

A Spartanburg-area pastor will be nominated to serve as president of the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastors Conference. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, told The Courier on Thursday, Feb. 29, that he intends to nominate D.J. Horton, senior pastor of Church at The Mill in Moore, during this year’s conference in Indianapolis.

PAMPA, Texas — Late February wildfires ravaging the Texas Panhandle continued to burn from northernmost Hutchinson County across the region, prompting Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott to issue a disaster declaration for 60 counties on Tuesday, Feb. 27, as the fires doubled in a single day. Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief crews immediately responded to the emergency and continue to do so.

MAUI, Hawaii – Yasushi Nemoto pastors Kahului Union Church on Maui on the opposite side of the island from Lahaina. As the fires started burning on August 8, 2023, Nemoto and others in Kahului were not completely aware of what was going on that day. Then, the sheer volume of smoke signaled the severity of the situation. Intense winds from a Pacific hurricane hundreds of miles south of Hawaii combined with a dry summer to generate a rapid fire.

ATLANTA — Senate lawmakers have given a thumbs up to legislation intended to protect religious rights from being infringed upon by state and local governments. Senate Bill 180, which passed 33-19 along party lines, now goes to the House for consideration.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Allen will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the annual meeting in June.

BETHLEHEM, Ga.— Those who drove east on Highway 316 to the University of Georgia football games last fall may not have noticed Georgia Baptists’ largest church in worship attendance. Pastor Jason Britt and his excellent staff have been faithfully serving Christ and doing their work without much notice from those outside the Barrow, Oconee, and Walton County area, yet mobilizing hundreds of people to build one of the fastest-growing churches in America.