Lee Warren/contributing writer Kansas City – The Heartland Interstate Strategy (HIS) task force met at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on Feb. 25 for its final meeting involving all of its original members. HIS decided to streamline its team (pairing down to one representative from each convention) after convention executives approved Jeffrey Chavez as its new coordinator. The meeting included HIS task force members Mark Elliott (Nebraska), Kurt Simon (Missouri), Gene Stockton … [Read more...]
April 8 Call to Prayer
Peyton Manning is perhaps the best quarterback at calling audibles. Football fans have watched this guy for years step up to the line of scrimmage, and if he discovers that the play called in the huddle is not going to translate into a successful yardage gain, he calls an audible. The play doesn’t need to be complicated, just something the opposing team doesn’t expect. I need to call an audible. One of the functions of the state convention is to convene the people of God called … [Read more...]
Lawsuit against Nixon Explained
In the state of Missouri, the voters defined marriage as one man and one woman and legally placed it in the Missouri Constitution. In 2004 a million voters went to the polls and approved a Missouri Constitutional Amendment, by a whopping 71% to 29%, placing in the Constitution the definition of marriage as being one man to one woman. But in 2014, the Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri defied both these realities by his executive order. He announced that couples of the same-sex who were … [Read more...]
Midwestern Seminary announces training network
TIM SWEETMAN/MBTS communications Kansas City – Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary announced on Feb. 14 the launch of the Midwestern Training Network (MTN), a ministry training partnership that includes a St. Louis-area church, The Journey, as the first of more than 30 churches that have already agreed to join in this groundbreaking educational format. The school described the network as a group of individuals and churches that are partnering with Midwestern Seminary to pursue an … [Read more...]
Strategos brings security to the Bootheel
SIKESTON – Pastors and other church leaders from around the state gathered in the bootheel for the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) first 2014 church security and intruder awareness training here at Miner Baptist Church, Feb. 15. During the first decade of the millennium, instances of church violence in the United States increased tenfold, according to one report. And violence can strike anywhere. For this reason, Tim Kile and Erik Baileygaines of Strategos International equipped 61 … [Read more...]
ACLU attacks marriage in Missouri
KANSAS CITY – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Feb. 11 asking a state court judge to force Missouri to recognize same sex marriages of Missouri residents who were wed in states where it was lawful. While the lawsuit does not explicitly ask the court to nullify the Missouri Marriage Amendment, the legal argument used by the ACLU will inevitably lead to that result if the courts accept it, said attorney Mike Whitehead. “The eventual goal of this lawsuit is to … [Read more...]
Missouri’s Annie Armstrong goal $2M
JEFFERSON CITY – Easter is fast approaching, and that means it istime for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering to support the efforts of the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Missouri Baptists have set a goal for the 2014 offering of $2 million. That is up from the $1.75 million goal last year, since Missourians blew by the goal and gave $2,002,727.17. The nationwide goal is $70 million for ministry across the country, including in Missouri. This year’s week of prayer for NAMB … [Read more...]
God carries Poplar Bluff native through hurdles to plant NYC’s Graffiti 2
SARA SHELTON/Baptist Press NEW YORK (BP) – High school student Shamar Smith has been attending Graffiti 2 Community Ministries’ after-school program for years. Raised in the South Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven, Shamar is no stranger to the lifestyle and perils that mark the lives of many in the neighborhood; his own brother is already serving out a sentence on Rikers Island, New York’s primary jail complex. Had he not found his safe haven at Graffiti 2, Shamar knows his path might … [Read more...]
Church goes wild
OAKVILLE – Members and visitors to the First Baptist Church (FBC) of Oakville went wild for the menu at the church’s fifth annual Pioneer Harvest Dinner and Exhibit, Jan. 24. During the dinner, the church served guests with wild appetizers, such as duck rolls and bacon-wrapped venison, as well as entrees of wild turkey, venison stew and chili, pheasant, dove, duck, goose, fish and bison. As they ate, guests could look at wild game exhibits of deer, coyote, turkey and fish. Guests were … [Read more...]
Trusteeship – a sacred trust
Just this week I returned from serving on the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. Our February meeting was full of important decisions impacting the cooperative work of churches that identify themselves as Southern Baptist congregations. My fellow trustees listened to amazing reports about our international missionaries and new church planting in North America. We were challenged to hear how our six Southern Baptist seminaries are adapting their work of equipping tomorrow’s … [Read more...]
Bumpers: Reach the world “whatever it takes”
SPRINGFIELD – Pastor Eddie Bumpers of Crossway Baptist Church challenged Missouri Baptists at the “Sowing in Tears” conference to do “whatever it takes” to reach the lost. Preaching from Matt. 9:1-8, Bumpers recounted how four faithful friends dug a hole in someone’s roof to get their lame friend to Jesus for the restoration he needed. Bumpers shared four characteristics that believers should imitate as they reach the lost. First, like these four friends, believers should love the … [Read more...]
Sow in tears to change lives, Williams says
SPRINGFIELD – People ought to be changed when Jesus Christ intersects their lives. During the “Sowing in Tears” conference, Jan. 27-28, Pastor K. Marshall Williams of the Nazarene Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Penn., shared how Christ changed his life and urged Missouri Baptists to proclaim the life-changing gospel to others. “Was it really me proclaiming and exclaiming the Word of God?” Williams remembered asking after he entered the ministry. “All of us were naughty before we became … [Read more...]
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