At our annual meeting in Branson, I encouraged Missouri Baptists to baptize 8,000 in 2026. Each year, there are many worthy goals we can, and should, strive towards. We can set goals for new church plants, worship attendance, Sunday School, Cooperative Program giving, Missouri Missions Offering, Annie, and Lottie – these are all good, healthy, and impactful aspects of faithful ministry. The most critical metric, though, is baptisms. How many people are making professions of faith in Jesus … [Read more...]
‘I can plod, I can persevere’: Pursue God’s call in 2026 with enthusiasm, courage
As a young boy, I dabbled for a few years in Scouting activities in the western Oklahoma town where I grew up. I remember, from one of my early years in the program, that my fellow Scouts and I had to dress up in do-it-yourself costumes of George Washington and re-enact scenes from his life during our troop meeting. Most memorable to me was when we crossed the Delaware River. I fear we didn’t do justice to the magnitude of that moment—250 years ago this coming December. It was a momentous … [Read more...]
Opportunities & choices: The parable of the talents
Every day and many times throughout each day we are presented with choices that determine outcomes for us and others. I am thankful for MBCH staff that help parents and children make better choices and seize upon better opportunities. For some families, they did not know or understand they had a better life set before them through a pattern of different decisions. Jesus gives us a parable about opportunities in Matthew 25. God has blessed all of us differently. God, according to the … [Read more...]
Christmas carol recounts tragedy, encourages us to protect the innocents
EDITOR’S NOTE: John Francis is the minister of worship at Parkway Baptist Church, St. Louis, and an adjunct professor of music and worship at Missouri Baptist University. He also produces a weekly podcast, titled “The Monday Morning Worship Leader.” “Coventry Carol” is an odd little carol. Written by Robert Croo in the sixteenth century, it is found in less than twenty hymnals published within the last 100 years. In fact, to use a pun, it is almost as it were “sent to Coventry” as it … [Read more...]
Underestimating Ordinary
Luke 2:8-14 reminds us of a well-known and incredibly interesting story used throughout the Christmas season. Take a moment and re-read the verses below: “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the … [Read more...]
This Christmas, remember hell’s horror, heaven’s glory
Actor Kirk Cameron stirred up debate earlier this month, arguing on his podcast that he no longer believes in hell as a place of “eternal conscious torment.” “Jesus died so that we could have eternal life,” said Cameron, who is known for his role in Christian films like Left Behind and Fireproof. “But do the wicked have eternal life in hell?” He answered “No,” apparently affirming some form of “annihilationism”—according to which unbelievers ultimately cease to exist, rather than spending … [Read more...]
First Person: IMB missionary shares how cancer challenged beliefs, strengthened trust in God
by Jenna Morehart/IMB missionary My family and I went to serve with the International Mission Board in Portugal in 2017. Like many of my friends on the mission field, I felt the IMB knew me better than I did following a slew of medical exams, tests, labs and needed vaccinations. I landed on the field as a healthy mother of three small children and immediately got to work studying language. However, just three months in, the daily grind and overwhelming pollution that encompassed … [Read more...]
From wobbly to worthwhile: Finishing your estate plan
As we wrap up the year and our “Time To Hit Update” series, we have walked through the “why”, the biblical foundation, and the practical steps of integrating your faith into your final giving strategy. If you have ever felt like estate planning is a confusing maze of legal jargon and emotional decisions, you are not alone. Recently, our basement toilet started wobbling. Two plumbers came out, spent four hours shimming and resetting it. Ten days later, it leaked again. Round two involved … [Read more...]
God will provide
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jason Myers serves as vice president with the MBCH Children and Family Ministries. In Genesis 22, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah. As they journeyed, Isaac noticed there was no lamb for the offering. Abraham responded with faith: “The Lord will provide.” And He did. At the last moment, an angel stopped Abraham, and God provided a ram caught in a thicket. Someday in heaven, I’d love to hear the ram’s side of the story. Maybe … [Read more...]
Why we gather
Each year, our affiliated Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) churches gather for an annual meeting, and this year we had well over 1,700 registered messengers and guests! It literally takes hundreds of hours of preparation, costs thousands of dollars, and for many, it requires hours of driving to attend and participate. Once we all arrive, we spend countless hours in a room listening to reports, conducting business, raising ballots, listening to preaching, and enjoying worship. For the past … [Read more...]
Offering God’s Word to all people, in every language
As they walk into the entry hall of the chapel at Hertford College in Oxford, England, visitors can spot a stained-glass window dedicated to one of the college’s prolific graduates: the English Bible translator and martyr William Tyndale (circa A.D. 1491-Oct. 6, 1536; see related story here). In the early 1500s, Tyndale studied in Magdalen Hall, Oxford, which was later renamed Hertford College. The “Tyndale Window,” made in 1911, originally adorned the British and Foreign Bible Society’s … [Read more...]
The impact of a brief life
“The majority of mortals complain bitterly of the spitefulness of Nature, because we are born for a brief span of life, because even this space that has been granted to us rushes by so speedily and so swiftly that all save a very few find life at an end just when they are getting ready to live . . . It is not that we have a short span of time, but that we waste much of it.” – Seneca the Younger A few Sundays ago, we sang the beautiful hymn, “My Jesus, I Love Thee” by a practically unknown … [Read more...]
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