MEHLVILLE – St. Louis area pastor David Pitts placed first for the 400-meter race during the Masters National Championships last month. As a result, within his age bracket, he now holds the number 1 ranking worldwide for the 400-meter race. Pitts is the founding pastor of ROC Ministries, a Missouri Baptist church in Mehlville. He ran track during high school and college and has coached at Mehlville High School during the past 7 seasons. But he hadn’t competed for 35 years – that is, until … [Read more...]
Pakistani voices his faith to fellow migrant workers
GREECE (BP) – Waseem* could never be accused of lacking passion. Having grown up in a Christian family in Pakistan, Waseem often defended his faith in heated religious debates with Muslims on the streets of Lahore. He brought his fervor with him to southern Europe where he sought work -- and more arguments about the Gospel with fellow Pakistani migrants. Over time, God used the counsel of other Christians, and even a stint in jail, to redirect Waseem's energies toward a biblical model for … [Read more...]
Singermans see cooperative gospel effort in Sub-Saharan Africa
BENIN, West Africa – In the country that birthed voodoo, Beninese Baptists are working collectively to pray for and support the spread of the gospel. It’s a story IMB missionary Barbara Singerman can’t share without tearing up. “They are investing in missions,” she said. “They are expressing a love and appreciation and oneness —participation in the work. We are completely overwhelmed.” She and her husband, Jeff, lived in the West African country of Benin for 24 years. When they moved to … [Read more...]
A family reunited: MBC church planter meets long-lost brother
KANSAS CITY – Four-year-old Man Jalarue looked on as a huddle of armed Liberian rebels debated whether he should die. A week earlier, the insurgents flooded into the boy’s village, Zuajah, in the interior of Liberia. The year was 1992, and Liberia had already experienced three years of violence in a civil war that would ultimately take the lives of some 250,000 people. Now the conflict came to Man’s own home. When it did, the boy’s family fled one way, but he fled another. Into the bush … [Read more...]
Looking for work, Venezuelan refugee finds hope in God’s Word
VENEZUELA – Fernando* felt like a failure. For a month-and-a-half he had been looking for work in Colombia, where he didn’t know anyone. He longed to hold his wife and daughter again, but he couldn’t return to Venezuela without a solution. He and his wife had agreed: if they wanted a better future for their daughter, he needed to go. Although Fernando had maintained a good job in Venezuela, the country’s growing instability — poor schooling, a lack of basic medicine and food, and a … [Read more...]
IMB data breach prompts ‘comprehensive response’
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – A data breach occurred at the International Mission Board that may have exposed personal information of current and former employees, volunteers and applicants. The Southern Baptist entity began a "comprehensive response" immediately upon discovering the cyber security incident and promptly notified law enforcement officials, according to a statement released to Baptist Press July 16, parallel to one released to North Carolina Baptists' newsjournal, the Biblical … [Read more...]
Ministry continues in Haiti: Mission teams evacuate Haiti amid violence, now safe in Missouri
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Missouri Baptist mission teams have made it home safely from Haiti following political upheaval and riots that were ignited in the nation’s capital earlier this month. Nonetheless, Missouri Baptist ministry efforts continue because of the faithful service of long-term missionaries in the region. More than 200 Southern Baptists from around the nation, according to Baptist Press, were trapped in Haiti, July 6, when the nation’s citizens rose up violently, protesting a … [Read more...]
Counting the cost in short-term missions
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Since 2008, Scott Brawner has been active in ministry and security efforts in Haiti. He is the president and co-founder of Concilium, a Kansas City-based organization that provides training for missionary efforts across the world. Brawner is also executive director of Fusion, a missions training program for young men and women on the campus of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to this, he served as director of risk management with the International … [Read more...]
Missouri Baptists urged to pray for Haiti, mission teams
JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Baptist Convention is calling churches to pray for Haiti and for missionaries in the country amid riots and political unrest that broke out in the country over the weekend. In a July 9th email, MBC Executive Director John Yeats directed an “urgent call to prayer” to Missouri Baptists: “By now, you've likely seen the news reports out of Haiti, where the U.S. Embassy has warned American citizens in that country to "shelter in place" – or stay inside – amid … [Read more...]
Missouri trustees talk IMB transition
DALLAS – Southern Baptist’s missionary-sending arm – the International Mission Board (IMB) is in a time of transition, but two Missouri trustees see reason to be optimistic about its future. David Platt, who has been the IMB president since 2014, notified trustees this February he planned to transition out of the leadership role, but committed to serve as long as it took to find his replacement. His tenure was marked by a painful financial restructuring that saw the retirement of many … [Read more...]
Guatemala mission teams safe after Fuego’s eruption
ESCUINTLA CITY, Guatemala – Southern Baptist mission groups from the United States ministering in Guatemala are safe after a volcano erupted on June 3. One mission group from Union Hill Baptist Church in Holts Summit was working in an orphanage about 70 miles northwest of the eruption when it occurred, according to KRCG 13. Associate Pastor Jason Glenn told KRCG that the group was unaware of the disaster until they saw the ash and residue in the sky. When he learned it was from a … [Read more...]
John Yeats: Missional isolation among international missionaries
I really like the way we do Southern Baptist missions. A recent return from the mission field with our MBC partnership nation of Italy was a fresh reminder of “why” we do cooperative missions. Every believer is commissioned to live on mission. Every local church is to be engaged in missions cooperatively and directly. Biblically and practically, working together is a no brainer. On more than one occasion, our team met and interviewed U.S. missionaries who are diligently working to make … [Read more...]
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