ROLLA — Learning to lead a small group is an essential skill needed to start a new ministry or enhance a current one. Recently 38 individuals from various churches excitedly discussed what they had learned at a recent Bible study and Sunday school training provided by the Dent and Phelps County Baptist Associations and held at the Macedonia Baptist Church in Rolla. Mark Donnell, former Sunday School Specialist at Missouri Baptist Convention and currently pastor of First Baptist Church in … [Read more...]
Gatlinburg fire suspects elicit churches’ sympathy
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (BP) -- The arrests of two teenagers in connection with deadly wildfires in and around Gatlinburg, Tenn., have provoked expressions of sadness from three local Southern Baptist congregations that lost buildings in the blaze. The three Gatlinburg churches -- Roaring Fork Baptist Church, First Baptist Church and Banner Baptist Church -- also report God's continued work in their midst, including at least four first-time professions of faith in Christ over the past two … [Read more...]
Corticelli’s nativity rises from last year’s ashes
RUSSELLVILLE – The little town of Bethlehem is back and bigger than ever. Considering how the drive-through nativity at Corticelli Baptist church ended last Christmas, that’s saying something. A fire sparked by a light that blew into a hay bale took 20 firefighters two hours to douse, but the charred and soaked ground did not dampen the church’s resolve to tell the true story of Luke 2 to its community. The sets and props themselves – and the actors and livestock – were all miraculolusly … [Read more...]
The Greitens’ robbery and clueless media
There was an attention-grabbing admission by the executive editor of The New York Times the other day where he publicly admitted that his newspaper – and others – do not adequately understand religion and people of faith. “We don’t get religion. We don’t get the role of religion in people’s lives,” Dean Baquet confessed. I realize this admission comes as no surprise, but it reminds us how out-of-touch the media can be on matters of faith. Take, for example, the recent coverage of the armed … [Read more...]
SBU’s Caddy shares hope in newly released book
BOLIVAR – Kurt Caddy’s new book, Keep Hope Alive, is hot off the press and already bringing hope to many. Keep Hope Alive is a fully-illustrated children’s book designed to reach Native American youth, particularly those of the Lakota tribe in South Dakota. Caddy, director of university ministries at Southwest Baptist University, wrote the book using a storyline that is common to many Native American tribes, but with biblical themes woven throughout. The story traces a young mouse who … [Read more...]
‘The truth behind the birth of Christ’
Keller, Timothy. Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ. Viking: New York, 2016. 148 pp. $20.00. Just about all people, Christian or not, think they are familiar with the Christmas story. Even in our increasingly secular culture, Christmas continues to be a time when the truth of Christianity is seen and sung. Every December you can still see nativity scenes with Baby Jesus resting in a manger. You can still turn on the radio and hear songs proclaiming, “Joy … [Read more...]
When is it okay to brag?
Catchy title. We have all had the experience of being around that relative or coworker who seems to be telling about his/her accomplishments with such exuberance (exaggerated excitement) that you question whether all of their story is true. An article by Elizabeth Bernstein with the same title, “When is it okay to brag?”, appeared in the Wall Street Journal Dec. 6, 2016. Her article addressed both the appropriate times to boast and those awkward, inappropriate times when people … [Read more...]
Opposing hate with the gospel
KANSAS CITY – It’s an annual event our house - the celebration of the day our children became part of our family forever. “Gotcha Day” or “Adoption Day” features ice cream, pictures, favorite meals, and a recounting of their unique adoption story. Like most families, we share these moments online. But this year, our celebration angered individuals in the recently emboldened alt-right movement. The alt-right or “white nationalists” as some call them, are a grouping of far-right individuals … [Read more...]
Journey to pastorate included jail time for Fla. pastor
MIDDLEBURG, Fla. (BP) -- It's not the conventional road to the pastorate. "I wouldn't wish [my] story on anyone, but I wouldn't change anything about it, either," said Adam Wiggins, campus pastor of The Creek, a new campus of First Baptist Church of Orange Park, Fla., which is just outside of Jacksonville. Wiggins' path to the pulpit has been complicated, but it has ultimately landed him on staff with FBC Orange Park leading the church's newest effort to minister to an unreached … [Read more...]
Tennessee man celebrates baptism, birthday, possible record-breaking buck in same week
NASHVILLE (BP) – As his pastor said at Stephen Tucker’s baptism, it had been a good week. First he bagged a 47-point buck that may break the world record for largest antlers ever measured, then it was his birthday and then he followed the Lord in believer’s baptism. Tucker, of Gallatin, Tenn., was baptized Nov. 13 at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., where pastor Bruce Chesser explained Tucker had been a believer for years but had not demonstrated his faith through baptism. … [Read more...]
Jesus’ purported tomb unearthed for study
JERUSALEM (BP) – Archaeologists’ discovery of what may be the original burial bed on which Jesus’ body was laid have been deemed “hugely significant” by a Southern Baptist archaeologist. The burial bed – which has not been studied by archaeologists previously – was unearthed Oct. 28 inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, a site regarded by some as the burial place of Jesus, National Geographic reported. Two days earlier, researchers from the National Technical University of … [Read more...]
The best foundation
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” – Deuteronomy 6:7 What better thing can we do to prepare our children for the future than to teach them Scripture? When Scripture becomes engrained in a person, it becomes the basis for decision-making. It gives comfort as well as guidance, yet in many instances our children are not being taught enough verses from the … [Read more...]
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