ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — When Ron Binkney and Lucky found a pretty seashell near a lone cedar tree while walking the beaches of St. Simons Island, the spirit of Christmas was still a distant …

DOUGLAS, Ga. – A down-and-out mother of five young children who had lost her job, her car and her home was looking at a very bleak Christmas.

ACWORTH, Ga. – Dallas White was fortunate to have one of Georgia’s most successful pastors, Johnny Hunt, to invest in him when he was new to ministry.

LEESBURG, Ga. – In a busy grocery store parking lot, Tim Williams struck up a conversation with a bagboy on Saturday, talking not about sports, nor grocery prices, nor weather, nor politics.

MOREHEAD, Ky. (KT) – Kentucky continues to care for its own in the aftermath of devastating tornadoes in western Kentucky on Dec. 10.

Berlin, OH (AP) — Captive missionaries in Haiti found freedom last week by making a daring overnight escape, eluding their kidnappers and walking for miles over difficult, moonlit terrain with an infant and other children in tow, according to the agency they work for, officials said Monday.

HOUSTON (BP) – In the darkness, a light appeared. Then another, and another. Quickly they grew in tandem with the applause throughout the auditorium of Champion Forest Baptist Church.

WINSTON – During this Christmas season many of us will watch the soul-stirring movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” simply because it has become a holiday tradition. In the 1946 Hollywood classic, George Bailey played by Jimmy Stewart, is overwhelmed by family obligations, community responsibilities, a burdensome job, and a life he never wanted to live.

All the former hostages from a U.S.-based missionary group kidnapped in Haiti have been flown out of the country after a two-month ordeal, the leader of their Ohio-based missions organization said Friday, as he also extended an offer of forgiveness to their captors.

DULUTH, Ga. – The Georgia Baptist Mission Board has announced a series of strategic personnel moves aimed at expanding the reach of Baptist Collegiate Ministry in the state.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (BP) – Southern Baptist leaders prayed with pastors and residents Thursday as they continue recovering from the deadly line of storms that stretched across the Midwest and South leaving more than 75 fatalities. According to the National Weather Service, at least 41 tornadoes with winds of up to 190mph cut a 200-mile path across Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee on Dec. 10 and 11.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful typhoon that battered the central Philippines left at least 12 people dead in massive floods that trapped residents on roofs and damaged buildings including a hotel and an airport, officials said.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The remaining members of a U.S. missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago in Haiti have been freed, Haitian police and the church group said Thursday.

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — After riding out the violent tornado that devastated their town in a tunnel under their church, the Rev. Wes Fowler and his family emerged to devastation stretching for blocks: …

MAYFIELD, Ky. – Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Director Ricky Thrasher has heard the question many times: Where do you begin to help victims of an outbreak of tornadoes so violent that they wiped entire communities off the map?

MACON, Ga. – The Georgia Baptist Executive Committee has voted to create a task force to review the distribution of Cooperative Program funding.

MACON, Ga. – A Fayetteville pastor who serves in several key roles within the Georgia Baptist Convention has been elected chairman of the Executive Committee.

DULUTH, Ga. – Churches gave more than $1.25 million over the past year through the Mission Georgia offering, which provides funding specifically for sharing the gospel in Georgia where more than 9 million residents don’t go to church.

MACON, Ga. – Georgia Baptists have been offering a hand up to help Afghan refugees streaming into the state to begin new lives after their home country fell to the Taliban.

MACON, Ga. – A broad cross section of Georgia church leaders have been appointed to serve on the Special Committee on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse, a select committee that will “make recommendations for developing programs, best practices, and policy guidelines for preventing sexual abuse.”

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Judy Burton’s hands shivered as she gazed up at what had been her third-floor apartment. She could see her clothes still hanging in the closet, through the building's shredded walls.

BOWMAN, Ga. – The mile-wide path of destruction left behind after an EF-4 tornado rumbled across Coweta County in March was nearly beyond imagination.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Christmas is a celebration of a real event, according to most Americans. Just don’t expect them to know exactly why Jesus was born and came to earth.

SMITHFIELD, Va. (BP) – Joy Stamey, an 86-year-old member of Liberty Live Church in Hampton, Va., described finally being baptized as “the best thing I have ever done.”

ATLANTA, Ga. – Georgia Baptists turn heads when they walk the halls of the Capitol. Even the governor takes notice.