Lee Warren/contributing writer Kansas City – The Heartland Interstate Strategy (HIS) task force met at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on Feb. 25 for its final meeting involving all of its original members. HIS decided to streamline its team (pairing down to one representative from each convention) after convention executives approved Jeffrey Chavez as its new coordinator. The meeting included HIS task force members Mark Elliott (Nebraska), Kurt Simon (Missouri), Gene Stockton … [Read more...]
April 8 Call to Prayer
Peyton Manning is perhaps the best quarterback at calling audibles. Football fans have watched this guy for years step up to the line of scrimmage, and if he discovers that the play called in the huddle is not going to translate into a successful yardage gain, he calls an audible. The play doesn’t need to be complicated, just something the opposing team doesn’t expect. I need to call an audible. One of the functions of the state convention is to convene the people of God called … [Read more...]
Become agents of spiritual transformation
Lawrence led a man on the street to Jesus as part of Crossover prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. The man immediately asked, “May I go tell my sister?” Lawrence agreed and soon watched as the man brought his sister out of an apartment building. After Lawrence led her to faith in Christ she admitted, “The second floor of that apartment is a brothel, but I’ll go tell them.” Lawrence pointed to the Baptist church, which was just across the street. The … [Read more...]
Fight for what is good and precious, like life
I always thought I would age gracefully. Nope. One glimpse at the first few wrinkles in the mirror and I knew I was going fighting, kicking and screaming all the way. It’s not exactly aging gracefully, is it, when you find yourself going through the mile-long counter of miracle wrinkle creams at the department store and you come home with one of each? Sadly, it’s not been the most successful battle. Several vats of creams later, there are places on this face that don’t care that it was … [Read more...]
Deaf church planter works so Detroit’s unchurched might hear
TOBIN PERRY /Baptist Press MACOMB, Mich. (BP) – Scott Blanchard is familiar with all the public perceptions of Detroit and its surrounding area: It’s dying. No one wants to live there. The church can’t thrive in the Motor City. But the fact is, the Detroit-area native and Southern Baptist church planter just doesn’t buy those perceptions. During the past three years as he has planted Lakepointe Church in Macomb, Mich., just outside Detroit, he has seen a different story take … [Read more...]
Church planters help two Quebec university students encounter gospel
ADAM MILLER/Baptist Press LENNOXVILLE, QC (BP) – Canadians easily dismiss Christianity – especially in Quebec. The history of mistrust is woven deep within the fabric of Québécois culture – a culture that’s decidedly Catholic and, at the same time, increasingly secular. But Lucas Aube in Lennoxville, Quebec, has worked to make rejecting Christ a greater challenge than ever among the thousands of students of Bishops University and Champlain College. The immediate response many give to … [Read more...]
Sochi: Missouri trooper has biblical encounter
William Bagsby/Baptist Press SOCHI, Russia (BP) – In the basement of a church hung a forgotten American flag, and when John Christensen laid eyes on it, he knew it was the flag he’d been praying for to take to the Sochi Olympics. “I have a flag at home, but I just thought, ‘Lord, show me a flag. I want to have a symbol to take.’ And the very first time I walked into that church,” Christensen recalls, “I saw that flag hanging there and I told our pastor, ‘I’m taking this flag to … [Read more...]
Midwestern Seminary announces training network
TIM SWEETMAN/MBTS communications Kansas City – Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary announced on Feb. 14 the launch of the Midwestern Training Network (MTN), a ministry training partnership that includes a St. Louis-area church, The Journey, as the first of more than 30 churches that have already agreed to join in this groundbreaking educational format. The school described the network as a group of individuals and churches that are partnering with Midwestern Seminary to pursue an … [Read more...]
What good is Christian apologetics?
Apologetics simply is a reasonable defense of the Christian faith. The word is derived from the Greek noun apologia and means “a defense.” Apologia and its verb form apologeomai are used nearly 20 times in the New Testament, often in the classic legal sense, but more importantly to describe the call of God to all believers to defend the Christian faith with gentleness and respect (1 Pet. 3:15-16). But how is sound doctrine applied practically? Put another way, what good is Christian … [Read more...]
Missouri’s Annie Armstrong goal $2M
JEFFERSON CITY – Easter is fast approaching, and that means it istime for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering to support the efforts of the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Missouri Baptists have set a goal for the 2014 offering of $2 million. That is up from the $1.75 million goal last year, since Missourians blew by the goal and gave $2,002,727.17. The nationwide goal is $70 million for ministry across the country, including in Missouri. This year’s week of prayer for NAMB … [Read more...]
200,000 Hindi Bibles donated for Asia
Aaron Earls/Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) – LifeWay Christian Stores set a goal last fall of donating 100,000 Hindi language Bibles across South Asia, but customers gave enough for twice that many. “LifeWay has proven once again it is an organization with a heart for the world,” Tom Eliff, president of the International Mission Board (IMB), said. “Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine The Thomas Project would be such an overwhelming success.” Named for the disciple believed to … [Read more...]
God carries Poplar Bluff native through hurdles to plant NYC’s Graffiti 2
SARA SHELTON/Baptist Press NEW YORK (BP) – High school student Shamar Smith has been attending Graffiti 2 Community Ministries’ after-school program for years. Raised in the South Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven, Shamar is no stranger to the lifestyle and perils that mark the lives of many in the neighborhood; his own brother is already serving out a sentence on Rikers Island, New York’s primary jail complex. Had he not found his safe haven at Graffiti 2, Shamar knows his path might … [Read more...]
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