SPRINGFIELD – Casa de Oracion (House of Prayer), a 12-year-old Hispanic church here, saw 12 people accept Christ when they opened their doors as part of the city’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in September. They hosted events with different Latin America dance groups, a mariachi band from Mexico and concert by Chilean Christian singer Roberto Orellana, and of course various foods. In addition to the dozen that accepted Christ, the church personally invited more than 200 people and … [Read more...]
Persecution: Violence against Christians
Somali militants murder 36 Christians Somali Islamic militants recently massacred 36 Kenyan miners who professed to be Christians, according to The New York Times. “The Somali militants methodically separated the Christian workers from the Muslims and took the Christians to the side of a hill, near a gravel pit,” The Times reported. “ Then they ordered the disbelievers to lie face down. According to the Kenyan authorities, the militants killed 36 people, most of them young men. Many were … [Read more...]
Arkansas church impacts African city
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (BP) – Dinner was a far cry from an Arkansas Baptist church supper. On this night, six members of Arkansas’ Valley Baptist Church in Searcy squeezed into a modest Muslim home in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and dipped their spoons into African groundnut stew and fish sauce served over attiéké, the staple Ivorian food made from cassava. They were eating with a local family who was breaking their Ramadan fast. “Man, you couldna told me 10 years ago I’d be over here eatin’ with … [Read more...]
Missouri answers Bucket Challenge
JEFFERSON CITY – Baptist Global Response (BGR) – the international disaster relief arm of Southern Baptists – is asking Missouri Baptists to help provide “buckets of hope” to sub-Saharan Africa, an area ravaged by HIV/AIDS. More than 23 million people there are living with HIV/AIDS, with more than a million dying each year. The “hospice kits” packed into a five-gallon bucket by Missouri Baptists is one way BGR has been able to open doors to share the gospel, said Missouri coordinators and … [Read more...]
Persecution: Wrong to ask to be spared?
ST. LOUIS – As Americans, we are unfamiliar with most kinds of persecution, especially religious persecution. One of the driving motivations in the founding of our nation was the flight from religious persecution in the Old World. And the fact that Americans took possession of an “uninhabited” continent (conveniently ignoring the American Indians already here) meant that any time a group ran into religious persecution they could always pack up and move into the wilderness where they could … [Read more...]
Mo. couples heads to epicenter of slavery
Editor’s note: * denotes name changed. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Having sold most of their belongings, a Missouri Baptist couple will venture next year to the epicenter of 21st-century slavery. “There’s not much going – an eight-by-12 foot container, and we probably have a lot of spare room,” said Pete Livingston, who finishes his tenure as executive pastor of Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City, this December. But Pete and his wife, Debbie, have no regrets. “I thought it would be harder … [Read more...]
Human trafficking targeted by WMU ministry
BIRMINGHAM (BP) – The Woman’s Missionary Union’s WorldCrafts ministry has launched the Support Freedom campaign to help deliver women from human trafficking and sexual exploitation, and has partnered with seven new people groups to expand its craft items for sale. Each year, by force, fraud, or coercion, millions of people find themselves trapped in bonded labor and sexual exploitation. WorldCrafts artisan groups are working to end these evils by providing a sustainable income to people in … [Read more...]
Springfield cyclist uses talents for Jesus
Lee Warren/contributing writer SPRINGFIELD – Eric Hertzler’s aha moment came on the mission field in Nicaragua in 2012 after he restored the brakes on a boy’s bicycle, making him so happy that he pedaled thirty feet and did a power slide, showing Hertzler a giant smile. “Right then, I was like, ‘This is what I need to do,’” Hertzler said. Hertzler, who attends Ridgecrest Baptist Church and went on that mission trip with Real Encounter (an action sports ministry) and a couple of BMX … [Read more...]
Obama’s actions unwise, counterproductive according to Russell Moore
WASHINGTON (BP) – President Obama’s new executive actions to change immigration policy imperil the growing, widespread agreement on reform, said the Southern Baptist Convention’s lead ethicist. Obama announced in prime time Thursday (Nov. 20) his orders, which include most controversially a plan to protect an estimated five million undocumented immigrants from deportation. The president’s actions came after years of his own contentions that he did not have the legal authority to make or … [Read more...]
Mo. missionaries brew a method to reach Indonesia
Editor’s note: Names have been changed for security. INDONESIA – When God pricked the hearts of Missouri missionaries Jim and Marcia to minister in Indonesia, they didn’t expect to be in the coffee business. “Indonesia is a country of creative access,” Jim said. “Visas are not granted for missionaries. It is illegal for active evangelism or proselytizing. So, we spent our first year in southern Sumatra learning how to live in the country and to get a foreign visa.” Coffee proved to be … [Read more...]
A year after typhoon, Filipino island thriving
GIBITNGIL, the Philippines – What a difference a year – and a lot of Baptist sweat – make. Twelve months ago, nearly 100 kids scampered from a collapsing classroom as Typhoon Haiyan (called Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines) tore their school apart. They rode out the storm for hours crammed into in an unfinished concrete bathroom as winds topped 200 mph and 50-foot waves battered the rocky beach below. One year later, however, the island’s school classrooms are rebuilt and instead of … [Read more...]
Missions strategy arbitrary, risky according to MTBS professor
KANSAS CITY – As evangelicals fervently promote missions work among the world’s nearly 6,500 “unreached” people groups, one professor from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary urges them to remember also the billions of lost men and women who live among the world’s other people groups. Midwestern Seminary Missions Professor Robin Hadaway called for a “course correction” in the strategy adopted by most modern evangelical mission agencies, including the Southern Baptist Convention’s … [Read more...]
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