ST. LOUIS – Nearly 20 years ago, Missouri Baptists here missed an opportunity to reach the nations, but the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association is preparing for a second chance at gospel impact. Beginning in the mid-1990s, thousands of Bosnians—many of them Muslims—fled for refuge to St. Louis after the collapse of former Yugoslavia. Today, tens of thousands of Bosnians live in the area, making St. Louis the home for the most Bosnians worldwide, outside of their native homeland. Today, … [Read more...]
Missouri native recruits interims for U.K. churches
KENNETT – Growing up on a cotton farm deep in Missouri’s Boot Heel, pastoring churches was the furthest thing from Chuck McComb’s mind. But an engineering degree from the University of Missouri and a 35-year career with Monsanto somehow put McComb in the perfect position to help find and match interim pastors with churches. In England. In 1974, Monsanto sent McComb and his family across the Atlantic to help establish a chemical plant in England. While there, they worshipped at a Baptist … [Read more...]
‘Weakened witness’ stayed on mission to the very end
EDITOR’S NOTE: Paul Koonce, who is featured in this story, is the father of Pathway Assistant Editor Brian Koonce. CHIFUNGA, Malawi – Paul Koonce was weak and exhausted. Barely able to stand, it took two assistants to get him from the truck and into Avant Baptist Church at Chifunga in Malawi, Africa. Though unable to get in and out of the rickety chair on his own, he still sat up straighter and grew stronger as he began to preach to the people gathering on the dirt floor. Through Charles, … [Read more...]
FBC Ferguson sees the impact of a Christmas gift in a shoebox
“That box let me be a little boy,” Alex Nsengimana of Rwanda, Operation Christmas Child (OCC) national spokesperson, explained to those attending the community event at First Baptist Church of Ferguson. “OCC distributed 250 shoeboxes to the children at my orphanage and it was the first gift that we had ever been given.” The children were in the orphanage after the genocide that occurred during the days between April 7, 1994 and mid July 1994. In about 100 days, one million Rwandans were … [Read more...]
Four Missouri churches minister in Haiti
PIGNON, Haiti – Even after being home from her mission trip to Haiti for more than a week, Casey Funk is still experiencing a bit of culture shock. A member of Fellowship Baptist Church in Neosho, Funk went from the hustle and bustle of a busy life at home to the quiet and slower pace of a Haiti. But though the noise and distractions were gone, the urgency of the gospel was stark. Funk was part of a team of 27 Missourians from Fellowship, Sweetwater Baptist, Diggins Baptist and Living … [Read more...]
Yamout: ‘God is able to save Muslims’
Muslims are being reached in the Middle East, in part by the work of a Baptist and former Muslim, Mohammad Yamout. Yamout is unabashed in his faith in Jesus Christ, which he found in a Beirut Sunday School class. Lately, he is reaching Muslims with the gospel. “God put a fire in my heart for the Muslim world. I didn’t want to do it. I was content being a businessman, but Big Daddy always wins,” Yamout told a gathering from Mt. Salem-Wyaconda Southern Baptist Association Churches May … [Read more...]
Cubans make disciples in Ecuador
MONTALVO, Ecuador (BP) – The first Cuban Baptist international missionary couple under the Western Cuba Baptist Convention’s Cubans to the Nations initiative has started an evangelical Bible study in an area where there had been none. The missions theme of the convention, “Christ’s disciples making disciples,” has taken root in South America. About two years ago, International Mission Board missionary Johnny Maust began arranging for partnering mission teams from the U.S. to have lunch at … [Read more...]
Lebanese family finds home at HLGU
HANNIBAL – From Tyre, Lebanon, Laya, Selina and Lynn Yamout have found their second home halfway across the world at Hannibal-LaGrange University. The Yamouts found out about HLGU through an alum who went on a mission trip to Lebanon. Laya had graduated high school but hadn’t decided on a college yet so she applied to HLGU. One of her deciding factors in attending school here was the scholarship she received. The other was that HLGU is a Christian institution. “Schools in Lebanon are … [Read more...]
‘Insanity of God’ film shows faith amid despair
ST. LOUIS (BP) – Nik Ripken almost abandoned hope when he first arrived in Somalia 25 years ago. Ripken, then a young International Mission Board (IMB) missionary, had caught a ride with the Red Cross in a small plane carrying relief supplies across the border between Kenya and its war-ravaged neighbor. What he saw shook him to the core. He met parents who asked for burial cloths for the children they'd lost rather than food and water for themselves and saw soldiers passing out narcotics … [Read more...]
‘Check your faith at the church door’
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a set of anti-terrorism laws, July 7, that included severe restrictions on evangelism. These measures, set to go into effect, July 20, will compel Russian believers to check their faith at the church door. According to the new law, people cannot evangelize beyond the four walls of registered churches. Evangelism in public areas, in homes, and online are prohibited. Foreigners who violate the law could be deported, and Russian citizens … [Read more...]
IMB, NAMB report to messengers
ST. LOUIS – International Mission Board President David Platt and North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell reported to messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, June 15. International Mission Board For more than 170 years, God has blessed the International Mission Board for the spread of the Gospel among the nations – and by God’s grace, 170 years later, the IMB is “standing strong,” IMB’s Platt reported to messengers. “I am confident that not every one of … [Read more...]
Missions effectiveness examined by SBC leaders
ST. LOUIS (BP) – Entity leaders discussed ways to be more effective in global missions during one of 18 Cooperative Program panel discussions held June 13-15 in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in St. Louis. The videotaped discussion took place at one side of the America Center’s exhibit hall with Jon Akin, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church near Nashville moderating. Responding to his questions were Frank S. Page, president of the SBC’s Executive … [Read more...]
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