EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been edited and updated, having run previously in the Oct. 8, 2013, edition of The Pathway. NORWOOD – Pastor Stephen Fugitt believes that churches have the right to arm themselves for the day when a gunman enters their buildings to do harm. Yet no one had time to open fire against a gunman who aimed his .357 magnum revolver at Fugitt as he preached to his congregation at the First Baptist Church, Norwood, July 21, 2013. Instead, one church member grabbed … [Read more...]
Southern Baptist chaplains respond to hurting church, community
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (BP) – "It's a pretty somber place," Scottie Stice said of the community left behind after Sunday's horrific mass shooting at First Baptist Church here. Stice, disaster relief director for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), reported teams of Southern Baptist chaplains and other DR volunteers are ministering however they can among those devastated by the "senseless" tragedy. It's only been about a month since Southern Baptist Disaster Relief … [Read more...]
32 new missionaries obey their Savior to share the gospel among the nations
RICHMOND, Va. – As a preschooler in the children’s group called Mission Friends, new Southern Baptist missionary Amy Jones learned about God's desire to gather people from every nation, tribe, people group and language by His grace and for His is glory. “It became real when my mother returned from England with stories and a tea set,” Jones recalled during a Sending Celebration Nov. 16 that marked the appointment of 32 new International Mission Board personnel. “Europeans are fascinating … [Read more...]
Does the Bible support self-defense?
The mass shooting earlier this month at Sutherland Springs Baptist Church in Texas left 26 people dead, made a hero of a civilian who confronted and shot the murderer, and raised lots of security-related questions for Christians: Should I buy a gun? Does my church have a security plan? Is it ok to defend myself, or my church family, when threatened? How do I reconcile Jesus’ instructions to buy swords with His rebuke of Peter for using one? What would Jesus have done in … [Read more...]
Worship resumes with call to overcome, NAMB offers to cover all funeral costs
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (BP) – Pastor Frank Pomeroy’s first message to the surviving members of First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, was that they must overcome darkness with the light of Christ. Seven days after a gunman killed 26 worship attendees, Pomeroy – who was out of town during the Nov. 5 attack – delivered his message at a tent worship service blocks away from the church property. More than 500 people attended the Nov. 12 service, according to media estimates. … [Read more...]
Slain pastor’s daughter sees God amid pain
HANNIBAL – A few years ago, while serving as a summer missionary in Chicago, Cassidy Winters saw for the first time how God was “putting together the broken pieces” of her life for His glory. That summer, Cassidy worked as a camp counselor, and the experience was far from the Bible-belt variety Vacation Bible School she at first expected. Her students – 7-year-old boys transplanted from inner city Chicago to a campground in wide-open spaces – yelled, played and created havoc as she … [Read more...]
Darkness & light at Sutherland Springs
GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP) – John’s prologue in the Gospels is my favorite Christmas passage, showing us in theological outline what happened in Bethlehem’s stable. We know that Jesus is “the Word,” the light that shines in the darkness. With somber joy we read that “the darkness did not overcome it.” I thought of that passage as I’ve considered the darkness manifested at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs Nov. 5. As I write this, hours after the event, pundits are talking in the … [Read more...]
Grieving, praying for Sutherland Springs
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas – Missouri and Southern Baptist leaders expressed broken hearts and prayerful pleas as they reacted to the news of a Nov. 5 shooting that killed 26 and injured 20 at First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, Texas. “Our words fail to express the sorrow we feel for this church family and their pastor,” said John Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. “Their depth of grief is unimaginable. Such slaughter compels us to keep our focus on the … [Read more...]
America dangerously downplaying sin
Given recent events in Las Vegas, New York and now Sutherland Springs, Texas, we ought to ask ourselves if we are ignoring the seriousness – and inevitable consequences – of sin. It seems the instances of sin preached from America’s pulpits are too few, particularly among mainline churches. The prosperity gospel reigns. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” a sermon that triggered a national revival, is relegated to antiquity while human relational adjustment dynamics is all the rage. … [Read more...]
TX shooting: NAMB offers to cover funeral costs, SBC leaders to visit grieving pastor, church
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (BP) -- Southern Baptists ministering in the wake of what some have called the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history say they've witnessed "God at work" despite the 26 dead and some 20 others wounded at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Local pastors and field personnel with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) began providing grief counseling within hours of the shooting at First Baptist's morning worship service Nov. 5. … [Read more...]
Tragedy in TX: 26 killed in So. Bapt. church shooting
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (BP) --- The 14-year-old daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor was reportedly among 26 people killed when an armed man opened fire during Sunday morning (Nov. 5) worship services at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a congregation about 35 miles southeast of San Antonio. The pastor, Frank Pomeroy, and his wife were both out of town when the attack occurred, said Mitch Kolenovsky, a field ministry strategist with the Southern Baptists of Texas … [Read more...]
Near-death experience intensifies Kentucky pastor’s gospel witness
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (BP) – After surviving a fiery explosion that nearly killed him, Kentucky megachurch pastor Steve Ayers said he's a changed man, having come out of the ordeal laser-focused on Jesus and telling others about the Gospel before it's too late. "I was committed to evangelism before the accident," said Ayers, senior pastor of the 16,000-member Hillvue Heights Church in Bowling Green, which routinely baptizes more than 500 new believers a year. "I'm completely committed to … [Read more...]
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