EDITOR’S NOTE: This article includes additional reporting by Pathway staff. ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – Southern Baptist messengers elected a new slate of officers during their annual meeting here, June 14-15. The new slate of officers includes Missouri Baptist minister Don Currence, who was elected once again to serve as the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) registration secretary (Read more below). It also included, for the first time in 25 years, a new recording secretary. During … [Read more...]
Barber elected SBC president after runoff
ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – Texas pastor Bart Barber won a run-off election for president of the Southern Baptist Convention Tuesday (June 14) evening at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Out of 5,587 votes cast, Barber received 3,401 (60.87 percent) and Florida pastor Tom Ascol received 2,172 votes (38.88 percent). Fourteen ballots were disallowed. A run-off election is required when a candidate does not garner 50 percent of the vote. In the first election, Barber received … [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...]
Home for Christmas: Siblings in foster care find ‘forever family’
SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (BP) – Sam and Stephanie Patterson’s long and emotional quest to become parents was finally realized last December when they adopted four young siblings through foster care. “It feels like the greatest Christmas present we could have ever received,” Stephanie said of her and her husband’s journey. Dec. 18 marks the first anniversary of the adoption of Carrie, now 12, Carissa, 8, Austin, 4, and 3-year-old Kali. The children lived in the Pattersons’ home for more than a … [Read more...]