JEFFERSON CITY – During their meeting here, March 4-5, the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) executive board recommended 2025 goals for the Cooperative Program (CP) and other statewide offerings. The board set the 2025 CP goal at $15 million, while setting statewide offering goals as follows: $800,000 for the Missouri Missions Offering (MMO); $4 million for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering; $2.2 million for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering; and $150,000 for the World Hunger … [Read more...]
Missouri House votes to defund Planned Parenthood
Pro-life bill heads to Senate; Mo. Attorney General files suit against Planned Parenthood EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated, March 6, to include comments from Missouri Baptist Convention legislative liaison Timothy Faber. JEFFERSON CITY – In a 104-49 vote, the Missouri House of Representatives chose to defund Planned Parenthood, March 4, less than a week after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit “against Planned Parenthood for trafficking minors out of state to … [Read more...]
Lostness abounds in the United States
Pray for North American missions, March 3-10 Nearly a dozen years ago, I spoke with Southern Baptist missionaries who at that time served in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece – that is, the home of the biblical Thessalonians, one of the first cities the apostle Paul visited on his first missionary journey to the European continent. Before moving to Thessaloniki, these same missionaries had served on mission at the edge of the world – namely, in the Russian city of Petropavlovsk, lying on … [Read more...]
‘One generation will declare Your works to the next’
From within the walls of a bleak Nazi prison cell, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote words of joy and wisdom to his niece and her soon-to-be husband in May 1943. “Marriage is more than your love for each other,” Bonhoeffer wrote at the conclusion of his letter. “It has a higher dignity and power, for it is God’s holy ordinance, through which He wills to perpetuate the human race till the end of time. “In your love you see only your two selves in the world,” he added, “but in … [Read more...]
Friendship is God’s gift, a reflection of Christ’s love
A peace lily sitting near a large window in my family’s living room surprised us this winter by sending up not only one or two, but six new, pure white blooms. It’s a beautiful plant, which we received a couple of years ago after a family member’s funeral and graveside service. This peace lily is quite meaningful for us, a daily reminder of a beloved family member who has gone ahead of us to heaven. But it’s even more meaningful because it was a gift from some friends who – as far as we … [Read more...]
‘Love came down at Christmas’
Crossway Baptist Church in Springfield recently put on a production of “The Gospel According to Scrooge.” Pictures of the production on social media looked amazing, and I only wish I could have made it to Springfield to see the show. After all, Charles Dickens’ classic book, The Christmas Carol, has been one of my favorite books for many years, and I love watching film and theatre productions of the story each year at Christmastime. This year, another story has joined The Christmas Carol … [Read more...]
MBC President Chris Williams: Christ alone can bring healing, restoration
SPRINGFIELD – The gospel offers Christians not only eternal life, but also abundant life and spiritual restoration, Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) President Chris Williams told MBC messengers and guests during their annual meeting here, Oct. 23-24. Williams, pastor of Fellowship Church, Greenwood, preached about the theme of the annual meeting, “The Restored Soul,” which was based on Psalm 19:7, by sharing how Jesus’ Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-11 can foster such restoration. “Jesus came … [Read more...]
Elliff: ‘Break up your fallow ground’
SPRINGFIELD – Missouri Baptists should fear the possibility of letting their hearts become hardened and fallow, making them insensitive to the working of God’s Word and Spirit. This was the warning that longtime minister Tom Elliff, who formerly served as president of the International Mission Board, delivered to Missouri Baptists during their annual meeting at Crossway Baptist Church, Springfield, Oct. 24. “It ought to scare you to death ... to think that you could have a heart like … [Read more...]
MBC Executive Director Wes Fowler: ‘We proclaim Jesus’
SPRINGFIELD – Whatever else Missouri Baptists do in days to come, the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) new executive director Wes Fowler said they must proclaim the name of Jesus. His exhortation closed the MBC annual meeting, Oct. 24, at Crossway Baptist Church in Springfield. Many people, Fowler said, have asked about his plans for the future of the MBC. His current answer? Before making any other plans, his present plan is to listen and to learn about Missouri Baptist churches, … [Read more...]
Pray for Israel, global missions, the persecuted church
A Missouri Baptist church group nearly found themselves in a war zone early last month. The group of 42 people from Heritage Baptist Church in Lebanon, Mo., flew out of Israel on Friday, Oct. 6 – just before Hamas assailants attacked Israel and sparked an ongoing war that has claimed thousands of lives. “The war started while we were in the air coming home,” Pastor Kevin Smith told me earlier this month. “We came home with full hearts, with everything we had seen and experienced,” he … [Read more...]
MBU’s ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to support SEND Relief efforts amid war in Israel
ST. LOUIS – For the second year in a row, Missouri Baptist University (MBU) is melding their theatre program with Southern Baptist efforts to bring a positive gospel influence to a world broken by war. Last spring, through its production of Neil Simon’s play, “Fools,” MBU’s theatre program raised more than $3,000 to support Southern Baptist SEND Relief efforts amid the war in Ukraine. Now, as Israel faces war with Hamas terrorists, MBU’s theatre program will support SEND Relief … [Read more...]
‘Thrill’ of the hunt: Baptist Homes hosts deer hunt for aging adults
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Baptist Homes' hunting initiative has garnered attention from Bass Pro Shops, as well as from wildlife publications and podcasts. Read more by clicking here. IRONTON – When he and his wife moved into The Baptist Homes’ Arcadia Valley campus here last April, John Sanders figured his hunting days were over for good. Sanders spent much of his life hunting, even taking trips to Western states like Wyoming to hunt elk and pronghorn. But when he and his wife moved into … [Read more...]
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