LOS ANGELES (BP) -- The MercyMe faith biopic "I Can Only Imagine" continues to draw strong audiences nearly a month after its debut, grossing $68.5 million and gaining 1,200 more theater screens. Featuring the story behind MercyMe's crossover megahit of the same name, I Can Only Imagine placed sixth at the box office in its fourth weekend April 6-8, earning nearly $8 million and showing in 246 more theaters over the previous weekend, Box Office Mojo reported. Roadside Attractions' … [Read more...]
EC exec. VP Augie Boto named interim president
NASHVILLE (BP) -- D. August (Augie) Boto has been named interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. Meeting in Nashville April 4, the EC officers acted according to EC Bylaw 6 in tapping Boto for leadership following the March 27 retirement of former EC President Frank S. Page, who cited a "personal failing" in announcing his immediate departure. The EC's five officers also granted Boto "the option to appoint an interim EC presidential ambassador during … [Read more...]
Jimmy Draper named Executive Committee ambassador
NASHVILLE (BP) -- Jimmy Draper, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and president emeritus of LifeWay Christian Resources, has been named "EC Ambassador" by D. August Boto, interim president of the SBC Executive Committee. Draper, who has maintained an active speaking schedule since retiring from LifeWay in 2006, is "someone for whom no introduction or explanation need be given," Boto said in an April 9 announcement. "He is someone whom involved Southern Baptists all … [Read more...]
Missouri Baptists remember, strive to live the ‘dream’
KANSAS CITY – On April 9, 1968, nearly a week after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and on the day of his burial, riots broke out across Kansas City. At the time, Gary Jones was only 12 years old. But he recalls standing on the corner of 12th and Woodland, watching protesters march up the street. Suddenly, a shot was fired and a woman standing nearby threw Jones to the ground to save him. “It was such a frightening moment in my life,” Jones, now a Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) … [Read more...]
No end in sight for battle over religious freedom
Conflict over religious freedom will continue for future generations of Missourians. Many observers feel the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015 that legalized same-sex “marriage,” repeated the mistake it made with Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion. Rather than let the people sort through the issue, the high court – like a blunt instrument – cutoff public debate, triggering yet another decades-long struggle – this time over religious freedom. In the last decade … [Read more...]
Abstinence ed could benefit from HHS tweaks
WASHINGTON (BP) -- Tweaks to a federal grant program that allots $260 million to family planning, mostly for lower-income Americans, have drawn praise from advocates of abstinence-based sex education and criticism from Planned Parenthood. Among the tweaks at issue, this year's grant announcement for Title X Family Planning Services Grants encourages applicants to consider informing teens of the "benefits of delaying sex." Another change this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human … [Read more...]
‘Shorty’ the church bus: An unlikely evangelism tool
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (BP) -- Many churches now operate a bus ministry which usually involves transportation of members and visitors from the church to their home and vice versa. However, Timothy Baptist Church in Muskogee, Okla., has an interesting bus ministry that takes the church into the community. "Shorty is a small, old school bus that I kind of had the idea for and shared it with some people in the church," said Kelly Payne, the church's pastor. "The idea was to find a bus that we … [Read more...]
Social-media coaching available from LifeWay
NASHVILLE (BP) – LifeWay Christian Resources recently launched an online coaching service to help Christians manage social media and other digital platforms from a biblical perspective. This subscription-based service, known as LifeWay Social, is designed for churches, nonprofits and individuals who want to discover more effective ways of using social media to grow God’s kingdom. Chris Martin, author development specialist for LifeWay, sees social media as more than just a means to … [Read more...]
Parents, churches called to ‘connect’ in digital age
JEFFERSON CITY – Mobile phones and social media bring many advantages, but they’ve also unleashed dangers on the young. That’s what “Connect,” the latest documentary film by Christian actor Kirk Cameron, claims. And, with the support of churches, parents must take up the challenge to reconnect with their children, according to Southern Baptist youth ministers and experts across Missouri and around the nation. “We’re the first generation to parent these ‘digital natives,’” Kathy Koch, the … [Read more...]
Congress passes online, anti-trafficking bill
WASHINGTON (BP) – Congress has given overwhelming approval to legislation designed to thwart sex trafficking by holding accountable online sites that facilitate the crime. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo. The Senate adopted the bill in a 97-2 vote March 21, barely three weeks after the House of Representatives had passed it Feb. 27 in a 388-25 roll call. The bill will go to President Trump, who is expected to sign it. Wagner thanked the Senate for its vote, tweeting, … [Read more...]
Collegians in NYC witness ‘the sadness, the lostness’
NEW YORK CITY (BP) -- Reagan Grisham said she's visited nine countries in her lifetime and left a piece of her heart in each one. But when she landed in New York City for Passport New York, she said God did something unexpected -- He gathered all of those pieces up. "I thought it would be just another short-term trip," said Grisham, a senior at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas. "But it turned out to be life-changing. There are people here from all of those countries that I … [Read more...]
Mississippi adopts earliest protection for unborn
JACKSON, Miss. (BP) – Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant on March 19 signed into law the earliest protection in the nation for unborn babies. The bill bans abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation, rolling back the state’s current 20-week limit. It passed through the state legislature by wide margins earlier this month. The Center for Reproductive Rights has promised to challenge the law’s constitutionality in court, calling it “the latest in the state’s string of cruel and unnecessary assaults … [Read more...]
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