SIOUX CITY, Iowa (BP) – While pastors appreciate the marriage getaways and financial gifts that sometimes come their way during Pastor Appreciation Month, Dave Miller suggests there may be something even more important to consider. “I think the best thing you can do if you really want to honor your pastor is to write him a letter,” said Miller, who is president of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference and pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Sioux City, Iowa. “Tell him how his … [Read more...]
Making the Bronx ‘a better city’
THE BRONX, New York City (BP) – You’ve seen the pictures: burned-out buildings, junk cars littering vacant lots, drug dealers loitering on street corners. You’ve seen the news: In a single sweep recently, police arrested dozens of gang members accused of multiple murders, including the slaying of a 92-year-old woman. But the police can’t fix the Bronx. Social workers can’t heal the New York City borough, located north of Manhattan. Politicians? Israel Kelly has a better idea: the ABC … [Read more...]
Flood rescue transcended race, age, disability
EAST BATON ROUGE, La. (BP) – Mary Cupit, 81, awoke to banging on her bedroom window during the early hours as Chad Tyrone, a new neighbor, knocked frantically to warn of encroaching floodwater. By the time Mary roused her caregiver – her deaf brother Donald Cupit, 73 – he only had time to throw on some clothes and grab his wallet and keys before helping his sister into a waiting car filled with neighbors they barely knew in East Baton Rouge. The drive to safety took them to Tyrone’s … [Read more...]
9/11 called catalyst for missions to Muslims
NEW YORK (BP) – When radical Islamic terrorists brought down the World Trade Center's Twin Towers 15 years ago, they didn't realize their actions would also help bring down walls to reaching Muslims with the Gospel. But that's exactly what happened. In the years since Sept. 11, 2001, the number of Unengaged, Muslim Unreached People Groups (UMUPGs) in the world has decreased by nearly 20 percent, from 1,333 in 2001 to 1,077 today, according to statistics provided by Vision 5:9, a … [Read more...]
Thousand Hills Baptist Association sends missionaries to help Alaska church plant
WASILLA, Alaska – The north Missouri mission team stepped out of the Anchorage, Alaska airport into much cooler weather and spectacular scenery as they prepared to ride in church vans 45 minutes north to the town of Wasilla. They were preparing to work for a week with the Cottonwood Creek Cowboy Church, a mission of Fairview Loop Baptist Church in late June. The group constructed a horse corral for the cowboy church to use to hold horse expos and they blazed some trails through some … [Read more...]
Financial struggle segues to church planting
AUSTIN, Texas (BP) – High Pointe Baptist Church was struggling financially when Juan Sanchez arrived as pastor just over 10 years ago. Sanchez and High Pointe members decided that if God allowed the church to grow “we would no longer build auditorium space, but instead we would plant churches.” The Austin church committed to reaching beyond its walls to ensure they were not keeping all the money for themselves and were modeling by faith sacrificial giving, Sanchez told the Southern … [Read more...]
Much ventured, gained by Ariz. church planter
KINGMAN, Ariz. (BP) – The idea of starting over is ominous: driving off, developing new friends and breaking the barriers of the unknown, all with risk. Meet Tommy Thomas, North American Mission Board church planting catalyst in northern Arizona. He has turned starting over into an art form. Thomas repeatedly risks everything: reputation, safety, finances and the future. In remote rural life, there’s another risk – a stint in irrelevance if he fails. In a nation where urban ministry … [Read more...]
Hot app Pokémon Go delivers evangelistic opportunities
SCOTT BARKLEY & TOBIN PERRY/Baptist Press DULUTH, Ga. (BP) – Kevin Smith and others noticed visitors in the parking lot of the Georgia Baptist Missions and Ministry Center. While none made it to the front door, it wasn’t for lack of hospitality from Georgia Baptist Mission Board staff. The visitors may have arrived for Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle or some other resident of the Pokémon universe. The Pokémon Go mobile game, released earlier this month, has introduced the tiny … [Read more...]
CP 5.22% above projection
NASHVILLE (BP) – Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist Convention national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 5.22 percent above the year-to-date SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget projection, and are 2.88 percent above contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Frank S. Page. The year-to-date total represents money received by the … [Read more...]
‘SBC and the 21st Century’
Allen, Jason K., ed. The SBC and the 21st Century: Reflection, Renewal, Recommitment. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2016. 269 pages. $29.99. What does the future look like for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)? The SBC is one of the largest denominations in the world, with over 15 million members and over 40,000 churches in the United States alone, but both membership and baptism numbers have been slowly declining for several years. For Southern Baptists, this decline raises … [Read more...]
Heritage Baptist displays CP’s eternal impact
MONROE, Mich. (BP) – Churches, such as Heritage Baptist Church, talk frequently about the eternal difference the Cooperative Program makes in the lives of individuals worldwide. CP fuels a national pastor in Uganda – who first heard of God’s love from an International Mission Board missionary – as he travels from village to village, spreading God’s story. CP fuels the North American Mission Board church planter in Massachusetts who tells a 12-year-old boy who has never heard the name Jesus … [Read more...]
MBC church plants in Iowa threatened by civil rights law
DES MOINES, Iowa – An Iowa law could threaten Missouri Baptist work in the state through the Heartland Interstate Strategy (HIS), an initiative to multiply churches along the I-29 corridor from Kansas City, through the western edge of Iowa, and up to the Canadian city of Winnipeg. If the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s interpretation of state civil rights laws is upheld, the state could force churches to open restrooms to people of the opposite sex and prohibit preachers from proclaiming … [Read more...]
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