60 years later memories still strong by Nancy Lyons Thomas Nancy Lyons Thomas served in the first Journeyman class from 1965-1967. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Journeyman program. When I started my third year of teaching history at Poynor Junior High in Florence, South Carolina, following graduation from Furman University in 1962, I could not have imagined that I would start the 1965 school year at Newton Memorial School in Osogbo, Nigeria. Newton existed as a boarding … [Read more...]
Eight resolutions proposed for 2025 SBC Annual Meeting
DALLAS (BP) – Resolutions to be presented to messengers to the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting include calls to ban sports betting and pornography and strong statements on the natural family and religious liberty. The SBC Committee on Resolutions released its proposed resolutions on May 30. “Resolutions are not binding, but they are clarifying. In a time of moral confusion and cultural drift, these resolutions help Southern Baptists say, with one voice, what we believe and why it matters,” said … [Read more...]
BSAAM Conference to be held at Baptist building in Jefferson City, Sept. 15-16
JEFFERSON CITY – Baptist Secretaries and Administrative Assistants of Missouri (BSAAM) is set to hold its annual conference on Sept. 15-16, 2025, at the Baptist Building in Jefferson City. This year’s theme: Our Cups Runneth Over. “And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8 CSB) This two-day conference includes a time of worship and provides personal, spiritual, and … [Read more...]
Missouri DR teams bring relief after record number of tornadoes hit state
JEFFERSON CITY (MODR) – Missouri has certainly experienced its share of violent weather this spring, keeping Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief (MODR) volunteers on their toes. News sources report a record number of tornadoes striking the state in 2025. According to one meteorologist, there had been close to 90 tornadoes of various sizes just through May 20. Those include tornadoes in Arnold, Delta, Des Arc, Doniphan, Monett, Piedmont, Poplar Bluff, Rolla, Sikeston, Springfield, Villa … [Read more...]
What is truth?
“What is truth?” I’ll never forget the first time I was asked that question. I was at a Christian University’s Welcome Weekend hosting a church booth and had a sign that said, “We’re serious about truth.” After the students and noise died down and I started packing my things, a janitor timidly meandered over to my table and asked me an unforgettable question—“What is truth?” How would you answer this epistemological question? To a certain degree, everything in life depends on our … [Read more...]
Pew: A fourth of Christians eye astrology, tarot cards, fortune tellers – most for fun
NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Greg Mathias, who teaches global missions at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), told Baptist Press that while in Jackson Square this past weekend, he likely walked past five fortune tellers and tarot card readers, common sights there. But according to Pew Research, many Christians in the U.S. are not just passing by such phenomena. More than a quarter of Christians engage with such psychic phenomena, most often astrology in the form of printed … [Read more...]
IMB trustees appoint new missionaries, elect first woman chair
RICHMOND, Va. (IMB) – International Mission Board trustees approved 65 fully funded missionaries for appointment during their May 21-22 meeting near Richmond, Virginia. The missionaries approved for appointment will be recognized during a Sending Celebration on Tuesday, June 10, at 10:08 a.m. CDT in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas. The event will be livestreamed on sbcannualmeeting.net. Nate Bishop, first vice chair from Kentucky, called … [Read more...]
Twin Rivers Association, FBC Troy donate RV trailers to families affected by Hurricane Helene
EAST ALARKA, NC – People are living in tents in the mountains of western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Following floods and landslides as a result of Hurricane Helene last fall and then wildfires sweeping across the mountains this spring, a lot of people are homeless. Sometimes even the land where their homes once stood was washed away or slid downhill into the deep ravines of a mountain river. So the First Baptist Church of Troy, Mo., decided to raise funds and buy a used RV … [Read more...]
BF&M 100: The overlooked legacy of a fallen soldier
"His going cast the shadow over my life which will never be lifted ..." – Sanford M. Brown, Sr. KANSAS CITY – Sanford Miller Brown Jr. was a Baptist preacher’s son from Kansas City and a recent graduate of Missouri State University. He was beginning a career in business. Undoubtedly like other PKs of their day, as a boy he and his brother walked to church each week wearing their best knickers. They attended Sunday School and worship and, in all likelihood, sat on the pew on either side of … [Read more...]
Missouri Baptist University celebrates 53rd commencement
ST. LOUIS (MBU) – More than 700 degrees were conferred to the class of 2025 at Missouri Baptist University’s 53rd commencement ceremony on May 6 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri. The degrees conferred included 363 undergraduate degrees, 243 graduate degrees and 20 doctoral degrees, including degrees that will be completed in summer 2025. As the University honored its newest graduates, MBU also celebrated its sixtieth anniversary of preparing students to shine on after … [Read more...]
Tornado strikes St. Louis, Missouri Baptists quick to respond
ST. LOUIS – The May 16th storm that produced an EF-3 tornado here began in Clayton, the seat of St. Louis County, and ripped a path of destruction a mile wide and eight miles long through north St. Louis city before crossing the Mississippi River. Cara Spencer, the new mayor of St. Louis, described the damage in a press conference. “We have five deaths and more than thirty-six injuries from the storm," she said. "Thousands of people are without power, more than 5,000 buildings have … [Read more...]
State of the Bible shows U.S. outlier in biblical reverence in ‘secular west’
PHILADELPHIA (BP) – From a global vantage point unique to its study of the Bible’s impact on U.S. adults, the American Bible Society (ABS) said Americans revere Scripture, faith and church more than others in a geographical cluster described as the “secular west.” Including the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand in the cluster, the ABS said only 37 percent of secular west residents say the Bible is personally relevant, save the U.S., an outlier with 51 percent of … [Read more...]