• Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • About
  • Home

Pathway

Missouri Baptist Convention's Official News Journal

  • Missouri
    • MBC
    • Churches
    • Institutions & Agencies
    • Policy
    • Disaster Relief
  • National
    • SBC Annual Meeting
    • NAMB
    • SBC
    • Churches
    • Policy
    • Society & Culture
  • Global
    • Missions
    • Multicultural
  • Columnists
    • Wes Fowler
    • Ben Hawkins
    • Pat Lamb
    • Rhonda Rhea
    • Rob Phillips
  • Ethics
    • Life
    • Liberty
    • Family
  • Faith
    • Apologetics
    • Religions
    • Evangelism
    • Missions
    • Bible Study & Devotion
  • E-Edition

More results...

The Cooperative Program: A Brief History

February 10, 2025 By Gary Ledbetter

JEFFERSON CITY – Southern Baptists have been missionary minded since their first day and their first action. When 293 delegates gathered in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, for the inaugural meeting of the convention, their first resolution expressed the desire to “organize a convention for the propagation of the gospel.” Before leaving Augusta, they had formed foreign and domestic mission boards, and appointed presidents to lead these efforts. These entities were the new Southern Baptist … [Read more...]

New book invites families to ‘dive deep’ into doctrine

September 20, 2023 By Gary Ledbetter

JEFFERSON CITY – High Street Press has just released Deep Dive Devotions for Families. The book is designed for parents and their children to read together and includes study questions and memory verses for each chapter. The devotions are intended to introduce the foundational teachings of Christianity, including the Trinity, the meaning of faith, prayer, justification, and forgiveness for sin. Deep Dive is authored by Daniel Carr, lead pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in St. Louis; … [Read more...]

A Missouri Baptist treasure

June 21, 2022 By Gary Ledbetter

EDITOR’S NOTE: Gary Ledbetter served for 21 years as editor of The Southern Baptist TEXAN, the official newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. He currently serves as senior editor of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s High Street Press. The Missouri Baptist Pathway is like the paper I edited for 21 years, The Southern Baptist TEXAN, in that both papers were born out of the SBC Conservative Resurgence. And both our papers were necessitated by regrettable controversy. The … [Read more...]

‘How Do I Retire?’ a ‘must read’ for those who would finish well

June 20, 2022 By Gary Ledbetter

JEFFERSON CITY – High Street Press, the publishing arm of the Missouri Baptist Convention, has announced the release of How Do I Retire? by wealth advisor Richard Baker. Baker is an accredited and experienced financial expert who has worked with many clients in preparing for retirement. “How Do I Retire? is exactly what I say to a person who comes to me and asks what they need to do to begin the retirement process,” Baker says of the book. The book provides counsel and resources … [Read more...]

SBTC’s Richards announces plans to step down in 2021

November 12, 2020 By Gary Ledbetter

AUSTIN, Texas (BP) – 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. Richards, who informed the SBTC executive board of his intention during its meeting Wednesday (Nov. 11), is the founding executive director of the 22-year-old state convention, which has grown from 120 affiliated churches when he was elected in November 1998, to nearly 2,700 churches today. … [Read more...]

Three down, two to go

May 22, 2019 By Gary Ledbetter

The election of Ronnie Floyd to lead the SBC Executive Committee marks the third chief executive hire of a pretty remarkable era of transition for the SBC. Only Lifeway and New Orleans Seminary are still looking for presidents. In some ways, the men elected to lead the International Mission Board, Southwestern Seminary and the Executive Committee don’t fit some of the predictions I’ve seen among those who follow our business closely. Here are things that surprise me a little. This is not … [Read more...]

Darkness & light at Sutherland Springs

November 8, 2017 By Gary Ledbetter

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...]

Resolutions: Heart of Southern Baptists in brief

July 2, 2017 By Gary Ledbetter

I first attended the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in 1982, early in the days of the Conservative Resurgence. The next few years saw some of our best-attended and most contentious meetings. In those days, news media from everywhere descended on our meeting sites, trying to figure out who we are and what we’re doing. They mostly failed; we are notoriously hard to understand. Then and now, the aspect of convention business most comprehensible to non-Baptist observers is the … [Read more...]

One man, one woman for life, same as it ever was

July 14, 2015 By Gary Ledbetter

Across town, the annual Gay Pride parade was setting attendance records. The usual assortment of flamboyant costumes swirled around revelers celebrating the previous day’s victory over an ancient institution they’d found confining. One straight couple said they brought their toddlers, Fox and Bear (no kidding), so they could understand both freedom and homosexuality. About five miles down the road, in the little church my mother attends, the Ledbetter clan was gathered with other great … [Read more...]

Featured Videos

Lick Creek Fellowship - A Story of Cooperation

A declining rural church faced closure after years of dwindling attendance and aging members. But after the doors closed, a small group stepped in to build something fresh from its legacy. Watch this video to hear this story of cooperation and new life.

Find More Videos

Trending

  • The blessing of staying

  • Hooked on serving: One trip was all it took to seek out MODR training

  • Students accept call to faith, ministry during a peak year at Super Summer

  • Bellevue Baptist Church search committee announces Lifeway’s Mandrell as pastor candidate

  • First-person: The Cooperative Program fostered my passion for church planting

  • MBU sports team focuses on more than athletics

Ethics

Churches, religious broadcasters prevail in lawsuit challenging Johnson Amendment

Diana Chandler

The Johnson Amendment, as it formerly restricted political comments from the pulpit, is null and void, according to a July 7th binding consent judgment.

FIRST-PERSON: Liberty for all – a Baptist distinctive

Baptist Press

More Ethics Stories

Copyright © 2025 · The Pathway