FERGUSON – As snowflakes swirled outside and rumors of potential grand jury actions swirled across town, a hundred Missouri Baptists gathered for a prayer summit at First Baptist here to pray for the community, the state and the nation. The prayer time was led by North American Mission Board’s Gary Frost and Arkansas pastor Bill Elliff. They led the crowd in a time of repentance, worship and intercession for themselves, and revival in their churches, their communities and beyond. They also … [Read more...]
Rhea: Sing Psalm 103 in your life
OSAGE BEACH – Sometimes before you can talk to God and others, you need to talk to yourself. That was the gist behind the Convention Sermon at the 2014 Missouri Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, preached by Richie Rhea. Rhea, pastor of First Baptist Church, Troy, preached the sermon based on Psalm 103, which begins, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” “The Lord created us for conversation,” Rhea said. “He wants us to have conversations as we share … [Read more...]
Lincoln campus ministry ponders becoming a church
JEFFERSON CITY – It’s not unheard of for a college campus to have a close-knit community with a Greek name, but Soma – the Greek word for body – is trying for something new on the Lincoln University’s campus here. Soma is a new ministry targeting the students at the historically black college in the state capital. Leading it is Jon Nelson, until recently the pastoral intern at Concord Baptist Church here. During his two years at the church, he began making connections at Lincoln, including … [Read more...]
Council brings controversial gay ordinance to Springfield
SPRINGFIELD – The latest front in the fight to force Christians to accept homosexuality without question or conscience is the Springfield city council. There the city council voted 6 to 3, Oct. 13, to approve an “equal rights” ordinance that extends nondiscrimination protection in housing, employment and public accommodations to include sexual orientation and gender identity. It goes into effect immediately. Council members Doug Burlison, Mike Carroll, Craig Hosmer, Jan Fisk, Cindy … [Read more...]
Prayers for Abedini, persecuted church
JEFFERSON CITY – A small crowd of about 50 on the Missouri Capitol front lawn joined Christians across the U.S. and 32 foreign countries Sept. 26 in praying for and remembering American citizen and pastor Saeed Abedini and the persecuted church. It was the two-year anniversary of Abedini’s imprisonment in Iran on charges of threatening national security by planting house churches there years earlier. While in prison, he has received inadequate medical care and faced beatings and death … [Read more...]
Hammond reflects on two years as MBC president
PARIS – No stranger to Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) life when he was elected president of the convention in 2012, Wesley Hammond, pastor of First Baptist, Paris, said there were still some surprises waiting for him. “Probably the biggest thing is just how diverse Missouri Baptists really are while still working together for the Kingdom,” he said. “There’s a like-mindedness that most people don’t get to see because we’re only around people like us. Whether it’s a small church with a … [Read more...]
FBC Troy’s Rhea to deliver convention sermon
TROY – The convention sermon will direct messengers’ hearts inward at the Missouri Baptist Convention Annual Meeting Oct. 27-29 at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach. Richie Rhea, lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Troy, will bring the sermon pulling from various passages including Psalm 42. “Unless the Lord changes my mind, I’m going to focus on things we need to preach to ourselves before we preach to others,” Rhea said. “I’m going to take two or three of those principles there and … [Read more...]
72-hour abortion wait becomes law despite veto
JEFFERSON CITY – It took until the final hours of the veto session late on Sept. 10, but the Missouri legislature has overridden Gov. Jay Nixon’s vetoes and made Missouri home of the longest waiting period before an abortion in the country: 72 hours. In what pro-life leaders are calling a major victory, women must now wait three days after an initial consultation with a doctor when seeking an abortion. Missouri’s previous waiting period was 24 hours. The vote tally was 117-44 in the … [Read more...]
DOM leans on God through depression, anxiety
MOBERLY – Churches in America have made great strides when it comes to minister to the broken and hurting, the confused, abused and angry. But there is still one taboo that Rick Hall, the director of missions for Crossroads Baptist Association says the church still does address, and it’s one he’s intimately aware of for all his adult life: mental health. “It’s almost like modern-day leprosy,” Hall said. “If you have cancer, or a tumor or a heart attack, people understand and help you. … [Read more...]
Pathway releases iPhone app
Missouri Baptists no longer have to watch their mailbox or check web for news, features and opinion about Kingdom work in the state; with a new iPhone app, The Pathway is now in their pocket. “There are very few Christian news apps in the App store right now,” said Kenny McCune, The Pathway’s webmaster and developer of the app. “We have a real chance to take control of that market.” The app offers everything the newsjournal’s website offers, just optimized for the iPhone with easy … [Read more...]
Laclede Association partners with NAMB in East St. Louis
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – It’s easy to forget about the “other” St. Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, but the churches of Laclede Baptist Association have seen Kingdom results in East St. Louis as part of the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send initiative. Seventeen volunteers from seven churches in the association partnered with Light of Christ Church in East St. Louis in late July. The weeklong ministry project focused on Vacation Bible School, electrical repairs … [Read more...]
Crossroads youth live out Acts 1:8 over summer
MOBERLY – Summer is supposed to be teenagers’ time off, but for a group of students from Crossroads Baptist Association it has been go go go. Bonnie Carter has been leading the association’s student summer missions team for nine years, and this summer has led ten students from around the area on mission locally, in Branson, Omaha, Neb. and Winnipeg, Canada. Nine are high school students, and one is a collegiate summer missionary through the Missouri Baptist Convention. “I absolutely … [Read more...]
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