OMAHA – The town of Omaha is up in the country – really up in the country. Situated at the top of Missouri on Highway 149, there are two residents in the tiny burg. There is only one occupied house. But every Sunday about a hundred people gather in the Baptist church just west of the old gas station and general store. And for the past six years, on a Sunday afternoon, the third weekend of December, the congregation swells close to 150 as the Omaha Baptist Church puts on a fictional radio … [Read more...]
No injuries as fire interrupts Corticelli nativity
RUSSELVILLE – When Coticelli Baptist Church hosted a drive-thru nativity Dec. 21-23, they hoped for a lot of community support, but they didn’t plan on the fire department making a visit. Rick Seaton, pastor of Corticelli, said the fire began a little after 5 p.m. Dec. 23, about half an hour before the children manning the nativity and animals would have been in their places. A definite cause is not yet known, but he suspects a short or a burst bulb sparked a hay bale. It took 20 … [Read more...]
Down syndrome does not exclude from serving God
MARSHFIELD – As TJ Slocum took his place behind the microphone that Sunday morning, he looked out at the congregation of Timber Ridge Baptist Church. Every church member looked up at him expectantly; each with a warm smile on his or her face. TJ’s song selection that morning was “Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)” by Chris Tomlin. He loves to sing Chris Tomlin songs. “He’ll get up there and sing his heart out and the beauty of it is he’s not doing it to hear himself sing; he’s doing … [Read more...]
640 nativity sets distributed among mourners
HANNIBAL – Beverly Sileven was known as a giving person who loved Christmas and patriotism. This Christmas, she gave away the bulk of her huge nativity set collection – posthumously. Actually, her family opted to give away Mrs. Sileven’s sets just before she died of brain cancer, Nov. 15, at age 76. “Her love language was giving money and gifts. She liked to make and give away crafty things,” said daughter Larinee Dennis, a Hannibal-LaGrange University employee. “She always spent time at … [Read more...]
Evangelism at center of Christmas season
NEW LONDON – Convicted by statistics shared at the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting, Brian and Leslie Ninedorf decided to involve their church this advent season in remembering by action those who are without Christ. First Baptist, New Londo, where Brian pastors has passed out white “one-for-one” bracelets to remind the congregation to pray for one minute every day for one specific person’s soul until Christmas. “The genesis of it was in (MBC Executive Director) Dr. John Yeats … [Read more...]
Missouri Disaster Relief blesses Oklahoma in wake of ice storms
YUKON, Okla. – Three inches of ice and downed trees and powerlines are a pain for everyone, but for David and Natasha, it was insult to injury. “We were finishing up a job and a guy pulled up and wanted to know if we were a tree service,” said Danny Middleton, one of eight Disaster Relief volunteers from Missouri to respond to Thanksgiving ice storms in central Oklahoma. “I said, ‘No, but we’re from Southern Baptists in Missouri and we do clean up after tornadoes, hurricanes and ice … [Read more...]
Bright Futures partners churches, schools nation-wide
JOPLIN – Church and public schools don’t mix? Don’t tell that to Joplin Public Schools. Churches have been partnering with students and schools with dramatic results since 2010. The program is called Bright Futures and its simple mission is to connect the community to its schools. Local churches of all faiths are just one aspect of Bright Futures, which also invites businesses, parents, and social services to benefit the local schools. “It’s been a very positive inroad for churches to get … [Read more...]
FBC Macon pays off 116-year-old debt to NAMB
MACON – The First Baptist Church here takes seriously Paul’s call in Romans 13:8 to leave no debt remaining, except the debt to love one another. During their 150th anniversary earlier this fall, the church paid off a 116-year-old debt to the North American Mission Board. After a fire burned down the church’s building in 1899, the North American Mission Board – then called the Home Mission Society – gave the church a loan of $3,017.25. After the church paid off $1,000, the mission board … [Read more...]
Adoption ‘a picture of the gospel,’ Jasper Rains says
ST. LOUIS – One thought filled Jasper Rains’ prayers during his daily, one-hour drive to and from work in early 2007 – the thought of a baby boy who had been abandoned by his birth mother at the hospital. The previous summer, after Jasper and his wife Kendra received Missouri state foster care licenses, the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH) contacted them about this baby boy. “The Children’s Home told us … that this may be our child,” Jasper, who now serves as minister of … [Read more...]
FBC St. Charles gives Christmas gifts to kids worldwide
ST. CHARLES – FBC St. Charles is one of more than 4,000 Operation Christmas Child (OCC) drop-off locations across the US scheduled to be open Nov. 16-23. Recently, Janet Howard, St. Charles Area Team coordinator for OCC, shared with the Wednesday evening congregation about her recent trip to Zambia to distribute shoeboxes to the children. “I got involved with Operation Christmas Child because of mission trips to Honduras,” Howard said. “When I saw the great need, God impressed me that I … [Read more...]
‘I’ll die with a witness on my lips’
LINCOLN – Excruciating pain overwhelmed her motionless body with every breath she took. Nineteen-year-old Linzie Green knew that each time she took a breath, it might be her last. “Do you know Jesus?” she asked one of the emergency medical technicians who arrived on the scene of the accident. Later while strapped to a gurney, she asked the same thing to a paramedic in the helicopter, “Do you know Jesus? He saved me.” “I honestly thought I was dying so every time I woke up and realized I … [Read more...]
SBC’s Page talks missions with First O’Fallon
O’FALLON – Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Frank Page said in a recent missions conference that problems in SBC mission efforts is due to churches placing priorities on activity rather than close relationships with Christ. Page made the comment at First O’Fallon on October 24 in concluding remarks to the church’s annual missions conference. He cautioned that churches should not be so busy with religious activities that they leave … [Read more...]
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