Baptist Life

In James 3:18, God makes a marvelous promise: “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” This “sow to reap” metaphor reminds us that the more diligently we teach and nurture God’s relational principles, especially the gospel itself, the more we will see a harvest of peace, unity and godly relationships in our families, churches, ministries, schools, and businesses.

DALLAS — GuideStone has released its most popular annual publication, the 2024 Ministers’ Tax Guide for 2023 Returns prepared by Richard Hammar, available now for GuideStone members at GuideStone.org/TaxGuide. The tax guide includes tax highlights for 2023 along with step-by-step filing instructions for ministers’ personal taxes and comprehensive examples and sample forms.

LAWTON, Okla. — Mike Keahbone, senior pastor of Lawton, First will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, Ind. Victor Chayasirisobhon, senior pastor of Anaheim, Calif., First, announced he plans to make the nomination when Southern Baptists gather for the annual meeting June 11-12.

BELFRY, Ky. (KT) — It was a baptism service Sunday unlike any other that Belfry First Baptist Church Pastor Mike McCartney has ever been involved in. McCartney baptized three people — 85-year-old Bruce Collins, his son, B.J., and his grandson, Bo. All three came to faith on the same day earlier this month.

SWAINSBORO, Ga. — A wild game dinner where 55 men committed their lives to Christ is one of the early indications that Georgia’s post-pandemic spiritual movement is continuing into 2024. Billy Brinson, missions strategist in the Emanuel Missionary Baptist Association, said 1,100 men gathered in Swainsboro for the wild game dinner,  some 200 of them standing along walls because all the seats were filled.

ATLANTA — Georgia’s largest religious organization is taking aim at the latest proposal to legalize sports betting in the state. The 1.4 million-member Georgia Baptist Convention, which has long opposed any expansion of gambling, is mobilizing its forces to urge lawmakers to defeat the legislation. The measure cleared the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee on an 8-2 vote Tuesday morning and now goes to the Senate Rules Committee, which will decide whether to call it for a floor vote.

NEWARK, Del. — Over 200 Disaster Relief leaders and volunteers from across the nation arrived at Ogletown Baptist Church for the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Roundtable last week. The annual training conference/business session was planned this year by the four Northeast state conventions, with Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware Disaster Relief director Ellen Udovich and volunteers hosting.

With the release of the 2023 “Jesus Revolution” movie, many senior adult believers relived the period. I preached and then went to the theater to watch the movie. I mistakenly thought that many younger believers would be attracted to the movie, but I felt young again as the youngest person in the theater.

GLENWOOD, Ga. — On weekdays, Robert Rogers is a pharmacist, dispensing prescriptions to southeast Georgia residents, but, on Sundays, he is pastor at Stuckey Baptist Church, delivering sermons to many of those same people. Rogers is one of a much-in-demand band of bivocational pastors who feel a calling to Georgia’s small rural congregations. Most of the roughly 300 Georgia churches that are without permanent pastors right now are in rural communities that simply don’t have the resources to support full-time clergymen, which makes bivocational pastors especially hot commodities.

Next Sunday morning before you attend the worship services at the church of your choice, ask yourself this question: “Am I predicting or expecting?” Far too many times believers arrive on Sunday mornings with predetermined expectations. It is usually a safe assumption that a few songs will be sung, a sermon will be delivered and even some baptisms or new members choosing to join the church will complete the time together with your church family.

Rob Stockman always assumed a relationship with Jesus was not worth the trouble. And given his first experience with church, who could blame him? A first impression shouldn’t have this kind of a hold on a man. After all, it was just one Sunday. And it was a very long time ago. But ask this man to simply introduce himself and he’ll first tell you who he is—“My name is Rob Stockman”—and then without hesitation or prompting, he’ll tell you the story of his first first impression.

SUWANEE, Ga. — Georgia Baptist churches reported a 22% increase in baptisms last year an an 80% jump since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was gripping the state. “This is such encouraging news,” said W. Thomas Hammond Jr., executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. “I am truly grateful for the commitment of our pastors and churches to make sure all Georgians have the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. I pray we are building on a trend that will go on for decades.”

ONTARIO, Calif. — Gateway Seminary has announced a new educational partnership with the Boston School of Ministry in Boston, Mass.  “This partnership will create new opportunities for ministry leadership training in the Boston area.  We are grateful this local initiative wants their training connected to a seminary program,” said Gateway Seminary President Jeff Iorg.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Church leaders from the central states engaged in 12,000 hours of training, teaching, and worship at the three-day Midwest Leadership Summit meeting in Springfield this week. In multiple plenary sessions led by national SBC speakers and church planting practitioners, and in 80 breakout sessions, almost 1,000 leaders shared and received equipping for ministry in their unique Midwest settings.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. — With a vision for Great Commission partnerships, Southeastern Seminary announces its new Southeastern Church Fellowship to promote cooperation among churches and between churches and the seminary. The Church Fellowship will provide a common space for collaboration, learning, and networking through quarterly meetings and trainings designed to resource leaders, invite dialogue, and fuel Great Commission initiatives.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Lifeway Christian Resources is kicking off the new year preparing churches to host Vacation Bible School. Churches across the country are setting aside time during the first months of the year to plan for VBS this summer. And Lifeway is training, equipping and encouraging leaders along the way, because VBS makes a difference for kids, families, communities, churches and the world.

A devastating cyclone in South Asia in December opened a door for a Southern Baptist Convention Send Relief team to minister to survivors both physically and spiritually. In the wake of the cyclone, Send Relief workers worked tirelessly to address  immediate needs.

KANSAS CITY, Mo—In the Spring Convocation service at Midwestern Seminary on Tuesday, President Jason Allen announced the installation of two faculty members to endowed chairs and preached a sermon titled, “Too Busy Not to Pray.” Beginning the service, Allen reflected on the importance of Convocation, stating, “At the beginning of each semester, we come together to set ourselves apart and renew our commitment to the task of training men and women for the cause of Christ and for the Church.”

In Isaiah 43:19, the Lord said, “See, I am doing a new thing…”  But I don’t always love new things, new ways.  At times, when things change, I’m dragging my Crocs on the way.   These days I find myself praying often for the Lord to help me be flexible.  Not bendy, but easier to adapt.  I know not all change is bad.

In our kitchen, we have a round table with chairs for four people. The two youngest granddaughters, Liza and Lottie, always want to sit beside Wayne when they are eating, but there is usually a problem. It seems they both want to sit in the same chair. Now mind you both of the chairs on either side of Wayne would qualify as “sitting beside Buddy,” but they want the same specific chair. This becomes a problem, and usually a problem that involves tears.

When Timothy Hamilton texted his brothers a link to the World’s Toughest Row endurance race with the suggestion that they should participate together, not all his brothers were easily convinced. But three years later, on January 19, 2024, Hamilton, his brothers Trent and Thomas, and their nephew Ben Clark were the third team to cross the finish line after 37 days of rowing in a 30-foot-long boat across the Atlantic, raising thousands of dollars for Send Relief’s work among Afghan refugees.

ONTARIO, Calif. — Gateway Seminary President Jeff Iorg called back to his first convocation message, delivered in August 2004, by encouraging students to maintain a passion for ministry during the school’s opening chapel services this spring semester. He began his 40th convocation sermon Monday with a line from the introduction of his original message.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Explaining the history of confessional statements and how the core value of “confessionally guided” shapes the classroom and community of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, president David S. Dockery encouraged students, faculty, and staff to understand the “hermeneutical lens” of the institution’s fourth core value during Wednesday's convocation service to begin the academic semester.

Mildred Skipper Heyser, 95 years old, passed away into heaven peacefully Sunday, January 21st in her Birmingham home. She took her last breath while in the arms of her daughter.

SUWANEE, Ga. — Georgia Baptist churches gave nearly $36 million last year to support state, national and international missions through the Cooperative Program, a Southern Baptist initiative that’s been described as the greatest evangelistic initiative of the modern church age. David Melber, chief operating officer for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said financial contributions from the state’s 3,400 churches exceeded budget projections by some $2.5 million in 2023.

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