FBC Kerrville Pastor Joey Tombrella posted a Facebook video on Saturday, July 5 to encourage his church members to come worship the next day and
By David Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists. Members of the 1936 U.S. Olympic Rowing team depicted in the movie “The
The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has dispatched ministers to South Texas to minister to the community and assist with relief in the wake of an elementary school shooting earlier Tuesday.
For the more than 1,500 Baptist churches in Romania, the decision to sacrifice their resources for the safety of neighbors was automatic…
Try to make a judgment on Cleveland Road Baptist Church from its exterior.
Lottie Elizabeth Sandusky charmed everyone she met in her mere 13 months of earthly life…
The congregations at Sligo Baptist and New Bethel Baptist, rural churches with similar footprints, had never heard of each other before the December tornadoes swept through western Kentucky.
Sept. 26 marked the first time the IMB specifically celebrated the achievements and contributions of Hispanic churches and missionaries in taking the Gospel to every nation, tribe, people and language.
Government leaders voted in favor of the settlement in exchange for the church dropping its lawsuit that claimed the county’s measures amounted to discrimination.
Proud, officially announced to the role on Monday (Oct. 11), has been in his current position as director of missions for the Orange County Southern Baptist Association in southern California since August 2011. His first day as Colorado Baptists’ executive director will be Dec. 1.
The GMB has appointed Mark Dooley as interim executive director. Dooley has been an active figure in convention life for decades and has served as the BCM/D’s state director of evangelism and Church Services team leader since 2019. He began serving as the interim executive director Wednesday (Sept. 15).
Twenty years after spending weeks in what could only be called a war zone, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are reflecting on their experience working in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and how it affected their lives.
Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton and North American Mission Board Send Relief President Bryant Wright visited Louisiana Baptist churches, Sept. 6, who are hosting disaster relief teams in areas hit hard by Hurricane Ida.
The Florida Baptist Convention has begun the process of sending more than 1,200 tarps to pastors and churches in the affected area near the large city of Les Cayes, about 150 miles west of capital city of Port-Au-Prince.
Churches in several communities in Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. John the Baptist and Jefferson parishes were damaged, including churches on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain and spanning more than 150 miles inland to Denham Springs. Ida killed at least eight people in the state.
Send Relief is working with the Florida Baptist Convention and local Haitian churches on the ground to meet critical needs in the wake of the earthquake.
As Taliban insurgents take control in Afghanistan, Christians around the world and believers in the beleaguered nation are pleading for prayer.
Leading a declining church through change and revitalization takes a sense of humor and lots of patience says Charles “Buddy” Parrish, pastor of First Baptist Church Sweetwater.
NASHVILLE (BP) – Summertime often negatively impacts church attendance and giving as families travel for vacations. But even as the country experiences more than usual travel this summer and a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, giving through the SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget remains consistent, meeting the expected budget again in July.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) – Evangelist and well-known speaker Wade Morris died Tuesday morning (Aug. 3) at age 51 after a battle with COVID-19 and pneumonia.
TAMPA (BP) – Florida deacon Bobby Falcone was seeking to become the legal guardian of his handicapped sister when he discovered a trail of stolen, black-market babies that led to his biological father who never knew Falcone existed.
NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptists continue to fight against human trafficking worldwide as the issue is acknowledged by the United Nations on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons today, July 30.
In a unanimous decision, the federal court for the 8th Circuit held that administrators at the University of Iowa are violating the First Amendment by removing Christian, Muslim, and Sikh student organizations for choosing student leaders who share the group’s mission and values. The court’s ruling of InterVarsity v. University of Iowa follows a series of recent decisions that uphold the First Amendment’s free exercise clause and specifically rejects skewed applications of anti-discrimination policies based on a leader’s viewpoints.
WASHINGTON (BP)—The congressional effort to continue to prohibit taxpayer funds from paying for abortions suffered multiple setbacks Thursday (July 15).
KADUNA, Nigeria (BP) — In six days of attacks after the kidnapping of more than 125 Baptist school students in Kaduna, Nigeria, terrorists have killed at least 33 area civilians and burned four churches and hundreds of nearby homes, witnesses told Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
LACHISH, Israel (BP) — A written inscription spelling the biblical name “Jerubbaal” or “Yeruba’al,” has been found during an archaeological dig in a Southern District of Israel, according to media reports.
Teaching others English as a second language is personal to Natalie Prim of Ocala. Her father was an immigrant who came to America in the late 1940’s and married her American mother.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) — Before his “eureka moment,” one of Pastor Reginald Hayes’ favorite meals was a McDonald’s fish sandwich. He could buy one, eat it in the car and be tempted to buy another upon reaching the next McDonald’s just around the corner.
WASHINGTON (BP) – The District of Columbia has agreed to pay $220,000 in legal fees in a settlement with Capitol Hill Baptist Church. The settlement comes nine months after a federal court ruled the government could not prohibit the Southern Baptist congregation from meeting outdoors with proper safety measures in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – A squad of gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded his wife in an overnight raid on their home Wednesday, inflicting more chaos on the Caribbean country that was already enduring gang violence, soaring inflation and protests of his increasingly authoritarian rule.
CHICAGO (BP) – Pastors are calling for prayer after the long July Fourth holiday weekend came to a violent end with at least 108 people shot in Chicago, 17 fatally.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Air Force is mostly responsible for a former serviceman killing more than two dozen people at a Texas church in 2017 because it failed to submit his criminal history into a database, which should have prevented him from purchasing firearms.
For the first time since 2019, a Promise Keepers Men’s Conference will convene in Arlington, Texas on July 16 and 17. Lifeway Baptist Church in Little Rock will host a simulcast of the live conference.
A day after the 12-story Chaplain Towers South Condo collapsed on itself, Pines Baptist Church Pastor Luis Acosta was as close to the smoldering rubble as authorities allowed.
Williams Baptist University has released the names of students on the President’s and Dean’s Lists for the 2021 spring semester. The President’s List includes those full-time students who achieved a perfect 4.0-grade point average, while the Dean’s List consists of those with at least a 3.5 GPA.
Messianic Southern Baptists are among Jewish and Gentile Christians issuing a statement decrying anti-Semitism that is rising globally and spiking since the latest fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Religious freedom advocates objected to Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips’ court loss in his latest attempt to defend the freedom to conduct his business according to his Christian convictions.
Presidents of the six Southern Baptist seminaries gave reports to messengers and guests attending the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting Wednesday (June 16). A common theme of the reports was God’s faithfulness during the challenges of 2020. Below are summaries of each report submitted by the seminaries.
The Williams Baptist University athletics department announces the hiring of Tyler Fraley as the new head coach of its wrestling program. Williams Baptist University announces the hiring of Tevin Howard as their new men’s basketball assistant coach.
Jihadists are blamed for killing 160 people in Burkina Faso in a prolonged weekend attack among the latest in violent religious persecution in Africa’s Sahel region.
I have received a copy of the letter from former ERLC president Russell Moore to our current SBC president J.D. Greear.
The financial upturn much of the country has seen as the COVID-19 pandemic winds down is becoming evident though an increase in giving across the Southern Baptist Convention. Both Cooperative Program giving and designated giving reports for May 2021 showed strong year-over-year increases, and CP giving continues to run above budget for the fiscal year.
On Friday, President Biden released his FY 2022 budget proposal. His budget notably removes the Hyde Amendment.
Dr. D. Hance Dilbeck Jr. was unanimously elected GuideStone president-elect during a called meeting of the GuideStone Trustee Board on Thursday (May 20). Dilbeck, executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists since 2018, accepted the call and gave thanks to the Lord, his family and trustees for the opportunity to serve at GuideStone.
MARION, Ala. (BP) – The Judson College faithful fought hard for five months trying to save the school, but in the end it just wasn’t
SOMERVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – A steady stream of teenagers is coming to faith in Christ at Fayette Baptist Church. Madison had been attending the Memphis-area
PEABODY, Mass. (BP) – A grim statistic has created new ministry for New England pastor Antonio Luis Ferreira. With more than 400,000 deaths, Brazil ranks
GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP) – The recent 2020 Census results may have led to headlines nationwide and particularly regarding the state of Texas. But for Doug Hixson the
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. (BP) – Trevor Lawrence isn’t your typical 21-year-old, but he was a fairly normal church kid. In January 2019 Lawrence hit the national
COLMESNEIL, Texas (BP) – Over the last two months, we have seen an amazing manifestation of the Spirit of God in our little community of
AMES, Iowa (BP) – Shane Kelley and his wife Samantha couldn’t have fully prepared themselves for the world of foster care even with the mandated
AUBURN, Ala. (BP) – A year into his pastorate at Lakeview Baptist Church, Al Jackson was approached by three men who said they felt called
TRENTON, Tenn. (BP) – Going to church on Easter Sunday wasn’t an option for the inmates at the Gibson County jail. So, Sheriff Paul Thomas
RIPLEY, W.Va. (BP) – “He was sent our way out of Florida. On suicide watch, he’d lost some buddies in Iraq. He was scarred and
LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (BP) – As a deputy for the Loudon County Sheriff’s department and a bivocational pastor, Kenny Palmer is used to calls for
HOUSTON (BP) – The coalescing factor behind a record missions gift by Houston’s First Baptist church is that it truly was an act of worship
AUSTIN, Texas (BP) — My first pastorate, on a back road through the tobacco fields of Kentucky, had a church building with room for about
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – These days at Long Hollow Baptist Church, interruptions aren’t considered bad. The plan isn’t as crucial as the response. Things flow
RAYADO CREEK, N.M. (BP) – A couple of years ago, Jeff Ogata felt God calling him to plant a church in New Mexico. Today, he
SANFORD, Fla. (BP) – When Arthur Gonçalves first met Adam, he was pushing a cart in downtown Sanford. When offered a meal and prayer, he
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (BP) – When Resurrection Church found its present home in downtown Charleston, members Cleve and Katie Persinger offered to lease the church’s storefront
CARY, N.C. (BP) – Have you ever been tempted to jump into an online comment section and take someone to task? The impulse to argue
MARION, Ala. (BP) – Campus life will continue at the 183-year-old Judson College despite recent fundraising efforts coming up more than $3.7 million short of
MADISON, Tenn. (BP) — Like most every church in Tennessee, Madison Heights Baptist Church in Madison had to learn to adjust to the unique challenges
PENSACOLA, Fla. (BP) – If “you have 30, 60 seconds,” Pastor Jeff Henry is bound to tell you “an amazing story.” There’s the time three
WASHINGTON (BP) – The Kentucky Senate approved a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit abortion a day after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide if
NASHVILLE (BP) — “Someone asked me the other day how I felt about launching a church this weekend,” Derrick DeLain, lead pastor of Proclamation Church
HENRICO, Va. (BP) – In its ninth year, a partnership between the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) and the Ghana Baptist Convention is looking
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (BP) – First Baptist Church here served as the official starting point for the Alaska Baptist Convention at its organizational meeting March 27-28,
EULESS, Texas (BP) – The crowd of approximately 700 Hispanic young people sang and swayed to the Christian singers and musicians at Cross City Español
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (BP) – With the current migrant crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border worsening by the day, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) churches and
DURHAM, N.C (BP) – There is no evidence that Bryan Loritts discouraged anyone from reporting sexual abuse when he was pastor at a Memphis church,
Fannie Heck was born in 1862 in Virginia. She grew up in North Carolina with a mother who was passionate about missions, and from an
DALLAS (BP) – Members of Primera Iglesia Bautista of Dallas and their pastor, Ricardo Brambila, could not have known that Sunday in October 2019 that
NASHVILLE (BP) – COVID-19 wasn’t the only influence on Southern Baptist Disaster Relief preparedness across state conventions last year, but it was a big one.
As we celebrate notable women during Women’s History Month, we are reminded each of these women was once a teenage girl. For many people, the
CALHOUN, Ga. (BP) – Pastor Shane Parrott’s wife Resa wanted to know what possessed him to install a 16-foot wooden cross on the front lawn
MILTON, Ga. (BP) – Elders at Crabapple First Baptist Church condemned both the “extreme and wicked” actions and the purported motives of a church member
LAS VEGAS (BP) – Joseph Gibbons and his wife Kristen had been involved in youth ministry in Alabama for a while when God started tugging
WASHINGTON (BP) – Xavier Becerra narrowly gained U.S. Senate confirmation Thursday (March 18) as secretary of Health and Human Services to the dismay of pro-life
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP) – One was a young church plant, a few years old and outgrowing their meeting space. The other was an older congregation
MILTON, Ga. (BP) – The elders of Crabapple First Baptist Church issued a statement today (March 17) expressing grief after a series of Atlanta-area shootings
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BP) – Despite the hardships of 2020 – and the inevitable continued challenges the pandemic brings – Blue Valley Baptist Church in
ALBANY, Ga. (BP) – Citing a desire not to stay one day too long or leave one day too soon, Michael Catt announced his retirement on
DESOTO, Texas (BP) – As in much of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, churches are easy to find in DeSoto. What is harder to find,
ASHLAND, Ky. (BP) – Ninety-year-old Fred Boggs stepped into the church sanctuary for the first time in almost a year last Wednesday night (Feb. 24).
Eden Benton, a 16-year-old high school student from South Carolina, is proof of the adage, “God can use you no matter your age.” She’ll be
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (BP) – The issues brought by the historic cold front that enveloped Texas last month were many: bitter cold, power outages, frozen
Southern Baptists are helping victims of an unusual and disastrous winter storm in Texas, where nearly half a million residents are still without electricity or
WEST POINT, Miss. (BP) – At 83, Bill Duncan is still the man Mississippi churches are apt to call as an interim when they aren’t
LEXINGTON, Ky. (BP) – Richard Gaines knew the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine. To prove it, he put some skin in the game –
KILLEEN, Texas (BP) – As the overwhelming majority of the country experienced a blast of Arctic air, Southern Baptists joined others in helping weather the
STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. (BP) – Winford Smith remembers when, as chairman of the pastor search team for First Baptist Church, he realized the group needed to
Jim Richards, the executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), has announced his intention to transition from leadership, effective Dec. 31, 2021.
Every number represents a person so valuable to God that he’d be willing to send his only Son to die in their place. That’s value!
The Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program funds the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at LSU, as well as BCM outreaches at more than 20 other Louisiana colleges and universities.
Louisiana received a “gut punch,” Friday, as the second hurricane in six weeks made landfall in the state.
New Mexico pastor Steve Ballew will be nominated as the next executive director of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico (BCNM), the search committee announced at a meeting of the BCNM State Mission Board.
Debbie Reese has met a lot of people over the past 13 years she says she’ll never forget – people who have lost homes, friends, family members and in some cases, everything.
Len Arney has seen ash before, and he offers a little perspective.
Every church has adjusted some aspects of ministry since the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. But even as the effects of COVID-19 continue to press into the modern landscape of the evangelical church, some congregations are already turning from the question of how to shift from the current moment toward changes for the long-term future.
Madisonville rancher Craig Bailey drew from the New Living Bible translation of Romans 8 to encourage the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Board to view the “thorns and thistles” of life from a heavenly perspective.
Coy Webb, longtime director of Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, has been selected to take the helm of Send Relief’s new crisis response arm.
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) — School districts across the nation are striving to continue delivering food to children at risk when school buildings close due to
DAVIS, Okla. (BP) — Anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 students attend a camp at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center in Oklahoma each summer. This year,
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (BP) — Flash flooding rolled through the St. Joseph, Mo., area beginning July 20, displacing families and rendering many homes unsafe. But
[BAPTIST PRESS] EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with additional comments from Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief Director Dwain Carter . DEEP SOUTH TEXAS
WASHINGTON (BP) — Religious freedom advocates and four justices expressed strong disagreement with the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to grant relief to a church seeking
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Churches are gathering again, but services and programs remain drastically different from the beginning of the year. At the start of
JACKSON, Miss. (BP) — Longtime editor and lay preacher William Perkins likens it to standing on a railroad track, sticking your hand out and telling
JACKSON, Miss. (BP) — The Baptist Record will cease printing after 143 years, going fully digital and free of charge on its own website, according
NASHVILLE (BP) — Tennessee enacted a law Monday (July 13) that provides some of the country’s strongest protections for unborn children, but it remained in
FRESNO, Calif. (BP) — Many California Southern Baptist pastors will likely find ways to continue to worship while obeying Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Monday (July 13)
SAN JOSE, Calif. (BP) — Two San Jose churches have filed a federal lawsuit claiming a coronavirus-related ban of indoor worship violates their First Amendment
WASHINGTON (BP) — Defenders of religious freedom inside and outside the federal government praised a court decision to block enforcement of New York orders on
FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP) — More than a century ago, a Baptist church in Kentucky’s state capital city was started by slave owners and had a
CLOVIS, N.M. – Baptist Convention of New Mexico (BCNM) Executive Director Joseph Bunce announced Tuesday, Oct. 22, he will retire from his position effective February
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In his first trustee meeting as president and CEO, Ben Mandrell gave board members an optimistic vision for the future of LifeWay
