Pathway

Missouri Baptist Convention's Official News Journal

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When Christians killed & why Muslim violence continues

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David Roach/Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) – Rising death tolls in Iraq and Syria, where Muslim extremists are killing in the name of their faith, represent a stark contrast to the relative lack of religiously motivated killing among modern Christians – a contrast that seminary professors say is attributable to the principle of religious liberty. Religious violence declines wherever religious liberty “has been preached and practiced,” Rick Durst, professor of historical theology at … [Read more...]

MBC expands international ministry in Kansas City

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KANSAS CITY – The Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) Multiethnic Church Planting Center expanded its ministry to internationals within the state of Missouri during an MBC assessment of potential ministers here, June 27. The assessment forms part of Missouri Baptist efforts to make disciples of the nearly 250,000 men and women who have come to Missouri from around the world. The MBC’s church planting team assesses every potential Missouri Baptist church planter to help them find their … [Read more...]

Goodbye not easy for parents of SBC missionaries

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Tess Rivers/International Mission Board RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – “Over my dead body!” Those were Connie Beckler’s exact words more than seven years ago when she got the phone call that her daughter and son-in-law had committed to international missions. “I prayed for everything to go wrong,” Beckler, who is a member of Maywood Baptist Church, Independence, said. “I didn’t want them to go because they talked about India. They talked about Africa, and I thought, ‘Oh my. ... No!’” Then … [Read more...]

Iraq conflict causes refugee crisis

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Ava Thomas/Baptist Press MOSUL, Iraq (BP) – Sudden intense fighting in Iraq has prompted a “double crisis” in the region, with Iraqi refugees compounding the already heavy burden of the Syrian refugee crisis, said Don Alan,* a Christian leader in the region. Half a million Iraqis left Mosul last week when the city fell under attacks by extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), fleeing with their families into Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq and neighboring countries. … [Read more...]

Students share Christ in Brazil amid World Cup frenzy

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Alan Brant/Baptist Press RIO DE JANEIRO (BP) – There were no flashbulbs or television cameras, only teammates – mostly children half his size and barefoot – who celebrated and mobbed Dane Van Ryckeghem after he assisted in a goal during the game. The frenzy of World Cup soccer had nothing on the jubilant Brazilian neighborhood kids playing with visitors from the United States on a soggy field on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Van Ryckeghem, a student at the University of Alabama in … [Read more...]

Ridgecrest Baptist team builds the kingdom

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  OZARK – The Kingdom Builders mission team from Ridgecrest Baptist Church (RBC) in Springfield erected the frame for a new 1600 square-foot training facility at School to the Nations here during the first week of June. Established and directed by Ridgecrest Baptist members Randy and Maureen Copeland, School to the Nations equips and mobilizes believers to proclaim the gospel around the world. Currently, School to the Nations sends groups to work among 13 unreached – as well as … [Read more...]

Page: CP advancing, not retreating

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ERIN ROACH/Baptist Press BALTIMORE (BP) – Southern Baptists are advancing, not retreating, as they rally to give more through the Cooperative Program to fuel the Great Commission task, Executive Committee President Frank Page told messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Baltimore June 10. “We thank God that two years ago the Cooperative Program stopped its declination at 5.41 percent and last year rose for the first time in two decades to 5.50 percent,” Page … [Read more...]

Lottie Moon hits record $154 million

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Erich Bridges/International Mission Board RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – Southern Baptists gave an unprecedented $154 million to the 2013 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, breaking the record for the largest total in the offering’s 125-year history. The 2013 offering, finalized June 5, reached $154,057,852.36. The total represents an increase of nearly $4.8 million over 2012, or 3.2 percent. It tops the previous record, $150.4 million in 2007, by more than $3.6 million, and … [Read more...]

Blunt Pleads for Ibrahim, Abedini

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Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) on the Senate floor Wednesday urged the U.S. to protect the rights of religious minorities throughout the world. Blunt specifically called for the release of Meriam Ibrahim and Pastor Saeed Abedini, who are both jailed for their religious beliefs. Speaking about Ibrahim, Blunt stated, “I think asylum in the United States for her U.S. citizen husband, children, and her would be an appropriate thing. And the danger they feel they face by someone who’s willing to … [Read more...]

Huckabee in Israel, visits family of kidnapped girls

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has traveled to Israel and his first stop was to visit with the family of one of the three Israeli teenagers abducted nearly two weeks ago by Hamas terrorists. The teens, one an American citizen, were kidnapped as they walked home from their religious high school on Israel’s West Bank. Huckabee, a former president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention and now a Fox News Channel personality, is pondering a run for president in 2016 and is known for his strong … [Read more...]

IMB’s Elliff unveils ‘One Sacred Effort’ theme

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Don Graham/IMB senior writer BALTIMORE, Md. – In his report to the convention, International Mission Board (IMB) Tom Elliff unveiled IMB’s theme for 2014, “One Sacred Effort,” encouraging every Southern Baptist to “find your place in God’s story.” For more information on IMB’s theme and how to get involved go to one.imbresources.org. Elliff’s report detailed the activities of Southern Baptist missionaries in 2013. But rather than highlight the total numbers of new believers and baptisms … [Read more...]

IMB, NAMB, WMU commission 100 missionaries

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Shannon Baker/Baptist Press BALTIMORE, Md. (BP) – The International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board commissioned approximately 100 during a rare joint commissioning service sponsored by the Woman’s Missionary Union, June 8, at the Baltimore Convention Center. In an emotional service marked by prayer and praise, many were commissioned to serve as church planters, evangelism catalysts, collegiate ministers, refugee workers, chaplains and ministers to people groups in … [Read more...]