NASHVILLE, Tenn. — While Jeff Iorg’s initial plans for retirement won’t happen as expected, the former president of Gateway Seminary noted he and his wife, Ann, are at peace because “God called, and here we are.”

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Eli Akin is all about serving others. He has developed an outreach ministry, M25 Barbecue, that is personal, selfless, effective, and Christ-honoring. His ministry combines compassion, service, evangelism, and, yes - barbecue – a winning recipe for any church or community.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump was the target of what the FBI said “appears to be an attempted assassination” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life. The former president said he was safe and well, and authorities held a man in custody.

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — With a long agenda for consideration, the Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention met for its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Sept. 10, at Central Baptist Church in Warner Robins.

WINDER, Ga. — As the residents of Barrow County, and especially the students at Apalachee High School, deal with the aftermath of last week’s school shooting, Georgia Baptist churches are working together to provide support. Mark Marshall, ​senior lead strategist of Church Strengthening for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, told a meeting of the state executive committee in Warner Robins on Tuesday that Georgia Baptists “were on the front lines” of the response effort.

CLAXTON, Ga. — Worship, praise and prayer rang out as usual on a recent Sunday at Eastside Baptist Church in Claxton, but with a big difference. The nearly 40 people in attendance in the church sanctuary lifted their voices in their native language – Creole.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. —  The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 10, that Amendment 3, which would codify expansive abortion rights within the Missouri Constitution, must be placed on the state ballot on Nov. 5.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — After a difficult economic stretch for many churches and pastors, Southern Baptist pastors may feel more comfortable compared to two years ago.

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — Many students in Georgia's Barrow County headed back to class Tuesday, six days after a student killed two teachers and two students at the school district's Apalachee High School northeast of Atlanta.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  — A circuit judge in Springfield has ruled against the Illinois Baptist State Association in a suit to protect IBSA from requirements to provide employees with insurance benefits that cover abortion. The ruling came more than four years after IBSA filed suit, saying the Illinois Reproductive Health Act did not violate IBSA’s religious freedom.

NEW YORK (AP) — A poignant phrase echoes when 9/11 victims' relatives gather each year to remember the loved ones they lost in the terror attacks. “I never got to meet you.”

ATLANTA (AP) — The mother of a student in class with the boy accused of killing four people in a Georgia high school shooting says information that school officials were warned that the boy was having a crisis shows the shooting could have been prevented.

ATLANTA (AP) — Grief, pain, hope and faith permeated church services Sunday as an Atlanta area community’s efforts to cope with a deadly school shooting included prayer, hymns and a first-person account of the tragedy from a teacher who was there.

WINDER, Ga. (BP) – Area churches have canceled or altered normal Wednesday activities after a shooting at Apalachee High School left four dead and nine others taken to area hospitals with injuries. In a press conference this afternoon, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey confirmed that the deceased were two students and two teachers.

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A 14-year-old student opened fire at a Georgia high school and killed four people on Wednesday, authorities said, sending students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe.

McDONOUGH, Ga. — With four of this year’s six regional SPARK church-strengthening conferences in the books, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s discipleship team is shattering attendance numbers. So far in 2024, more than 2200 participants from over 130 churches have taken advantage of the gatherings to learn strategies and ideas for improving all aspects of their church’s ministry.

McDONOUGH, Ga. — A record number of participants registered for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s SPARK conference at Glen Haven Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga., Sunday, Aug. 25.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The pilot of a plane that crashed in northeast Wyoming in July, killing seven people, declared an emergency and loss of the autopilot shortly before the incident that claimed the lives of three members of the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame quartet The Nelons.

DULUTH, Ga. (BP) – Afghanistan. Benin. Brazil. Bulgaria. Cameroon. China. Colombia. Cuba. Dominican Republic. Ecuador … The 2024 Paris Games opening procession of athletes? Were the contestants vying for 2024 Miss Universe taking their place on stage? No, and no.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — From the moments the lights went down for the opening worship set to the final prayer that wrapped up the event, the Send Network Gathering in Long Beach, Monday and Tuesday, August 26-27 drove attendees toward the conference theme: “Multiplication for Movement.”

MAYSVILLE, Ga. — Maysville Baptist Church is a thriving fellowship of believers with two morning worship services that are characterized by many contagiously joyful Christians who believe in going into the highways and hedges with the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

BUFORD, Ga. — A very special ceremony took place on Friday, Aug. 16, at Phillips State Prison in Buford. Faculty from Truett McConnell University gathered with prison staff, family, and friends to celebrate 24 offenders who received their bachelor’s degrees in Christian studies.

TALMO, Ga. — The Transitional Interim Pastor’s (TIP) Fellowship may well be the only ministry of its kind across the Southern Baptist Convention. It serves a significant role in the ministries of transitional interims in Northeast Georgia. Organized by several associational mission strategists in 2016, it is designed to build on the training provided for transitional pastors by helping them keep their skillsets sharp during and between ministry opportunities.

LAKE PARK, Ga. —  Eldridge Lyons, 86, is in his 46th year as pastor of Francis Lake Baptist Church in Lake Park. Throughout his ministry at Francis Lake, Lyons has been able to utilize the gifts and expertise of his membership to make the church a strong, united fellowship. Several months ago, Colby Davis, one of the children, prayed such a meaningful prayer that Lyons started calling him “the pastor’s assistant.”

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – The 2025 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas will feature a 100th anniversary celebration of the Cooperative Program and President Clint Pressley presiding over his first annual meeting. Dozens of key leaders met at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on Thursday, Aug. 22, for a kickoff to begin preparations for the June meeting.