My mailbox is stuffed with junk mail. It is Christmas time, and ministries and organizations are in an all-out blitz to acquire those final gifts before year-end. The leaders at your local church, your state convention and our SBC International Mission Board are hoping that the Lord will stir many hearts toward generosity. How do you weed through all the requests? To offer an answer to that question, I’ve chosen to ask Dr. Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary … [Read more...]
MBC’s Hess retiring at end of year: Missouri to Africa to Missouri and beyond
JEFFERSON CITY – It’s been a long, curvy road from Missouri to Kenya and back, and the next intersection is retirement for Ben Hess, who has served the Missouri Baptist Convention since 2003, most recently as the church planting team leader. “It has been a great adventure seeing how Jesus has sought out so many to become His disciples in Missouri through church planting,” he said. “I especially remember the different tribes of people or people groups Jesus has reached through church … [Read more...]
Pulliam to retire from MBC
JEFFERSON CITY – You won’t find the spiritual gift of hospitality listed in any of gift inventories in Paul’s letters, but if anyone possesses it, it’s Betty Benz Pulliam. Pulliam came to the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Board staff in 1983 and has worked in nearly every ministry area. She started out helping the different departments in the Baptist Building as they began implementing their first computers into their work. She served as secretary, bookkeeper and event … [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 schools act to protect bathroom privacy
MARIONVILLE – Several school districts in southwest Missouri have acted to adopt policies to protect the personal privacy of students enrolled in their public schools. The policies ensure that students using restrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities are not exposed to individuals of the opposite sex. The policies have been established to address the issue of gender-confused students who seek access to facilities used by the opposite biological sex. So-called “transgender” students … [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...]
‘Peace on Earth’ for Syrian refugees?
JEFFERSON CITY – As the debate heats up in the halls of government and social media, religious leaders come down on all sides of the question of what to do with thousands of Syrian refugees. Rob Phillips, the team leader for communications for the Missouri Baptist Convention, said the MBC does not take a position on refugee policy, but called on all sides in the debate to pray for the best possible outcome. “For peace in Syria and other war-torn countries, we should pray for wisdom for … [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...]
DR project a gospel light… two years later
JOHNSONVILLE, S.C. – The Hadlers – Sharon and Arlin – and others from the Cape Girardeau Baptist Association Disaster Relief crews were exhausted, wet, and ready for a break. They had joined disaster relief volunteers from churches across the country in the aftermath of record rain that left South Carolina standing in water. Once the waters receded, it was time for hours, days and weeks of mud-out and recovery. Seven Missourians were hauling out wet insulation from beneath a modular home … [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...]
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