The man accused of killing two women in a shooting rampage at a Kentucky church after wounding a state trooper had been expected in court for a domestic violence hearing on Monday, a local official said.

Tables are set up in a public area of the large European city where John Everett is serving as a Journeyman for the International Mission Board. He and his friends place Bibles and Christian literature on the tables, as well as coffee and tea, to offer to passersby. Regularly, he has opportunities to use his missionary training and practice.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (KT) – Two women were killed and three others, including a Kentucky State Police trooper, were injured Sunday in a pair of related shootings involving a single suspect at Blue Grass Airport and a Lexington church.

In 1898, Mrs. Virginia Hawes at Epiphany Baptist Church in New York City started a daily Bible school for neighborhood children during the summer. A bronze plaque honoring her efforts adorns the foyer of First Baptist Church in her hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. 127 years later, Vacation Bible Schools in churches across the country are a staple of summer.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Every September, Georgia Baptist churches unite to pray and generously give to a missions offering dedicated to making a gospel difference across the state. This year’s theme for the Georgia Baptist State Missions Offering is Missions in Motion and highlights the gospel-centered impact taking place across Georgia as believers step into their communities to build relationships and meet tangible needs.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — The year was 1986. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in what was then the Soviet Union, exploded, killing 31 people and sending radioactive contamination across Europe. The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. Barry Bonds made his Major League Baseball debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  After a $50 million facelift, Carnegie Hall reopened. IBM released its first laptop computer.

NASHVILLE (BP) – For distributing the Bible and sharing the gospel in the Soviet Union, Aleksei Kharlamov’s great-grandfather was sent to Siberia and never heard from again. His grandfather and father both were persecuted for being Baptist pastors. Growing up in post-Soviet Moscow, Kharlamov was called a cult member for being a Baptist.

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Camp Mystic says it is “grieving the loss” of 27 campers and counselors as the search continued Monday for victims of catastrophic Texas flooding over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

ROME, Ga. — Each summer, students and leaders gather at Shorter University in Rome to make a joyful noise at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s SURGE music camp. For some leaders, their involvement has come full circle. Once students themselves, they now strive to impact the next generation of musicians.

PALMETTO, Ga. — Over the past five years, a dramatic change in spirit has taken place at Palmetto Baptist Church, and it has resulted in historic growth. “It’s a beautiful place to be,” said senior pastor Lee Brewer.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — As the 2025 hurricane season begins, Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief (GBDR) is preparing to respond, not only with chainsaws and cleanup crews but with the gospel. So far this year, GBDR volunteers have performed 1,842 days of work and shared the gospel 201 times, resulting in 13 professions of faith.

CAMAK, Ga. — Nine months after fierce winds from Hurricane Helene toppled a massive 100-year-old pine tree onto the 1930s-style sanctuary of Camak Baptist Church, the congregation has returned to worship in its restored building.

Who led you to faith in Jesus Christ?  Imagine how different your life would be if that person had never taken the time to share the gospel with you. Whether it was a pastor on a Sunday morning, a student ministry volunteer on a Wednesday night, a faithful family member, or a witnessing friend, the person who led you to Jesus had a profound impact on your eternity. Now, consider this: there are 7 million people in Georgia who don’t have an answer to that question.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — What began as a bold prayer turned into a movement of God that forever changed lives at Valdosta State University.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Slade Johnson, Associational Mission Strategist for the Golden Isles Baptist Network, has a rich and fascinating heritage. His great-grandfather was Reuben Archer Torrey (better known as R. A. Torrey), born in 1856 and died on October 26, 1928.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — When you think of the word impact, Central Baptist Church of Lawrenceville comes to mind. For 67 years, they spread the gospel and stayed true to their roots of being missions-minded. Although Central held its final service on May 17, 2025, its steadfast seven-member transition team made sure the church's legacy would remain for years to come in a big way  — $7.5 million big.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (BP) — The waters are always stirring. Since 2015, Cascade Hills Church has seen at least one person baptized daily. No, that doesn’t mean a large number of baptisms in 10 years that average to one a day. It’s daily.

SYCAMORE, Ga. — In a town of just over 700 people, the legacy of one Georgia Baptist family is spreading the gospel far beyond its borders. From the red clay fields of Turner County to mission fields across the globe, the impact of Gene and Myrl Pirkle and their descendants is a testimony to faith, hard work, and generational discipleship.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel ’s effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program.

COLUMBUS, Ga. – Audrey Kittila was crowned the 80th winner of the Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition on Saturday, June 14, 2025, fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams. Her victory also offers a public platform for her to share her Christian faith and serve others in Jesus’ name.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s law banning gender-transition procedures for minors, ruling 6–3 that the statute does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause.

DALLAS (BP) — Georgia ranked fourth this year among states for the number of registered messengers for the Southern Baptist Convention's 2025 Annual Meeting in Dallas.  Unsurprisingly, the host state Texas, which is home to two state conventions comprising thousands of churches, drew more than three times as many messengers as any other, the latest registration statistics show.

DALLAS — Georgia was well represented at the national Royal Ambassador Pinewood Derby held June 9, just before the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas. Among the participants was Mack Kenney, whose family are members at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta.

DALLAS (BP) — The 10,599 messengers who registered for the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting this week in Dallas topped the 9,632 who registered the last time the SBC gathered here in 2018, unofficial counts show.

DALLAS (BP) — Messengers to the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting approved a $190 million 2025-26 Cooperative Program allocation budget Wednesday, giving the Executive Committee a one-time $3 million special allotment for legal costs arising from investigations into its handling of sexual abuse claims.