GuideStone trustees heard various reports from staff related to executing the enterprise’s Reach strategic plan, received the audit committee report and heard a strong report from Mission:Dignity.

ORANGE, Va. (AP) — On the wall of the maternity home is the motto: “Saving Babies, One Mom at a Time.” For founders Randy and Evelyn James, the home started with one baby — their own.

In India and China, torrential rains have killed more than 250 people in the past week. Three others died in Pakistan. Widespread flooding has been reported in North Korea near the border with China with no word on whether anyone died.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — New details emerged Friday on the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, with the Kremlin acknowledging for the first time that some of the Russians held in the West belonged to its security services. Families of freed dissidents, meanwhile, expressed their joy at the surprise release of their loved ones.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Half a dozen masked assailants ransacked the headquarters of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Friday in an escalation of violence against President Nicolás Maduro's opponents after the disputed presidential election.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Attorneys for a man accused of killing a nursing student whose body was found on the University of Georgia campus have asked a judge to move the case to another county. The killing immediately became a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration because Ibarra, who is from Venezuela, entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.

Most Americans have doubts about the Secret Service's ability to keep presidential candidates safe after last month's attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds.

CHICO, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire of the year are preparing for treacherous conditions entering the weekend when expected thunderstorms may unleash fire-starting lightning and erratic winds that could erode progress made over the past week. Dry, hot conditions posed similar threats across the fire-stricken West.

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least nine people were killed by security forces as protesters clashed with police during mass demonstrations over the country's economic crisis, a rights group said Friday, while authorities said a police officer was killed and several others injured.

PARIS (AP) — Simone Biles huddled with Sunisa Lee. She looked to her husband Jonathan Owens in the stands. Lost in the moment. And maybe a touch frantic. The American gymnastics star knew she was trailing Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and Algeria's Kaylia Nemour through two rotations during the Olympic all-around final Thursday.

ATLANTA (AP) — Austin Riley and Matt Olson hit first-inning home runs, Orlando Arcia added a shot in the third and the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 4-2 on Thursday night. The Braves have won five of their last six games.

NANTERRE, France (AP) — It wasn't the medal Katie Ledecky would've preferred. Still, it was good enough for the record books.

VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — Imane Khelif and Angela Carini exchanged a few brisk punches in their 46 seconds of competition in the Paris ring. They were enough to persuade Carini that her Olympic debut was finished.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The stakes grew higher for Venezuela's electoral authority to show proof backing its decision to declare President Nicolás Maduro the winner of the country's presidential election after the United States on Thursday recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the victor, discrediting the official results of the highly anticipated vote.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Six hundred backpacks, filled with school supplies. That was the goal that Pastor Al Mead set for the congregation at New Hope’s North Campus in Fayetteville and South Campus in Senoia. 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Students at at North Fayette Elementary School were treated to free backpacks filled with school supplies and a "Back to School Bash" on Saturday, courtesy of New Hope Baptist Church.

DULUTH, Ga. — The Georgia Baptist Foundation honors Vice President of Development Sam Warner during the August Board meeting as he transitions to serve as President of the Tennessee Baptist Foundation (TBF) in August. Exiting TBF President Bill Gruenewald announced his upcoming retirement in February and Warner’s election as president in early July.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A deadly Osprey aircraft crash last November off Japan was caused by cracks in a metal gear and the pilot’s decision to keep flying, instead of heeding multiple warnings that he should land, according to an Air Force investigation released Thursday.

ATLANTA (AP) — The teenage brother of a U.S. Air Force airman who was shot and killed in his home by a Florida sheriff's deputy in May has been killed in a shooting in the Atlanta area, police said. Andre Fortson, Senior Airman Roger Fortson's 16-year-old brother, was killed this week in DeKalb County, near Atlanta's east side, DeKalb County police said in an update on the slaying.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As the police car headed out of an apartment complex and toward Main Street of a small Tennessee town, Pastor Michael Koontz looked out the window at the Halloween decorations in a small house on the corner. As a law enforcement chaplain, Koontz had grown accustomed to surprises while he rode along with men in blue. But not much had prepared him for what would happen next on this day.

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — What is the secret to a spiritual awakening taking place among students in central Florida? It’s really no secret at all. First Baptist Church in Winter Garden and Foundation Academy, a private Christian school in Winter Garden, have partnered together to integrate the gospel into every aspect of students’ educational life, resulting in a campus-wide spiritual revival.

WAYANAD, India (AP) — Hopes of finding more than 180 missing people alive waned as rescue workers searched through mud and debris for a third day Thursday after landslides set off by torrential rains killed at least 194 people in southern India.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood's video game performers are heading to the Warner Bros. Studios lot Thursday to picket against what they call an unwillingness from top gaming companies to protect voice actors and motion capture workers equally against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Thursday that it has confirmed that the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July. The announcement came a day after an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital killed Hamas’ top political leader.