AILEY, Ga. – The Christmas season is merry indeed for Curtis Rowe, the southeast Georgia man who was given a life-saving gift from a longtime high school football coach.

NASHVILLE (BP) – There had been existing policies at Megan Nauman’s church to prevent sexual abuse, but the Caring Well Challenge helped identify a predator in their midst, she said.

DAMON, Texas (BP) – The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Darrin George preached on Psalm 100:4 at Hilltop Fellowship Church, emphasizing gratitude.

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. – Brewton-Parker College is adding a new degree in sport and exercise science that’s intended to help students prepare for careers in physical therapy, athletic training, health, human performance and coaching.

The Georgia Baptist Convention is comprised of 3,491 churches and missions that worship in 27 languages every Lord’s Day. These churches touch the lives of people from five continents: North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Some of these special ethnic and language groups have their own unique Christmas celebrations.

When Larry and Melissa Lewis and their family moved to Czechia in 2009 as IMB church planters, they knew they had a tough job ahead. Only 29 percent of the population acknowledges the existence of a god and less than 1 percent choose to follow Jesus. In fact, Czechia is well known for being the most irreligious country in Europe.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (BP) – Robin Covington remembers the day she was no longer an outsider. “It was in a little village where everyone knew everyone,” she said. “We loved living there. It also had a little museum where we would take visitors.”

MARIETTA, Ga. – Replacing a legendary pastor in one of Georgia’s premier churches is no easy task.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The fate of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion throughout the United States and its 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed Roe, probably won’t be known until late June.

DULUTH, Ga. – Fans of The Chosen are making their way into cinemas to watch a much-heralded Christmas project that has begun a 10-day run in theaters.

PHILADELPHIA (BP) – American Bible Society research shows practicing Christians are more generous than others.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – Victor Chayasirisobhon, newly elected president of the California Southern Baptist Convention, believes he can leverage his background to help unify the diverse convention.

ATLANTA, Ga. – Decking the halls in Georgia’s state Capitol involves lots of garlands, bows, Poinsettias and an enormous evergreen sparkling with thousands of lights.

WASHINGTON – As a showdown over abortion played out in the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director W. Thomas Hammond Jr. issued a call to prayer.

LONDON (AP) — The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in more European countries on Saturday, just days after being identified in South Africa, leaving governments around the world scrambling to stop the spread.

LAS VEGAS (BP) – Churches within the Southern Baptist Convention have become prolific reproducers of new congregations, Outreach Magazine reported in its September/October issue.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world raced Friday to contain a new coronavirus variant potentially more dangerous than the one that has fueled relentless waves of infection on nearly every continent.

NEWNAN, Ga. -- The student choir at  First Baptist Church in Newnan  is playing a key role building community within the congregation, providing a sense of genuine belonging, offering new opportunities for learning, encouraging student engagement, building character, enhancing worship and glorifying God.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Caring for orphans and vulnerable children in the United States and around the world calls for multi-faceted ministry by followers of Jesus and helpful public policies amid the dramatic decline in adoptions by Americans, says a leading child-welfare advocate.

DALLAS (AP) — Determined to reclaim Thanksgiving traditions that were put on pause last year by the pandemic, millions of Americans will be loading up their cars or piling onto planes to gather again with friends and family.

DULUTH, Ga. (BP) – As the nation’s oldest continuously publishing religious newspaper, The Christian Index has provided news for and about Georgia Baptists since 1822. But it’s always been exclusively in English until now.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (BP) – A Southern Baptist pastor recently joined other area clergy representing “the rich diversity in our community” and calling for peace in a video as the trial over the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery approaches a verdict.

DALLAS (BP) – With food supplies falling as low as 11 percent below last year, church-based feeding programs are finding it more difficult to provide traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners this holiday season.

PALMETTO, Ga. – Tears escape from Sharalene Roper’s eyes and cascade down her cheeks. They’re tears of joy, and they come naturally for a woman who is fulfilling God’s calling on her life to care for elderly residents at the Baptist Retirement Communities of Georgia.

Shorter University’s School of Education earned top marks in the state according to Program Effectiveness Measures released this week by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission.