by Lisa Misner/Illinois Baptist State Association SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (BP) – The Illinois General Assembly continues to find new ways to further enshrine abortion into law. Within the last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed one bill requiring insurance companies to provide full coverage for abortions and another making abortions a protected human rights issue. The actions came just ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where the party emphasized its commitment to … [Read more...]
Anthem Church, Columbia, fosters church planting in Mankato, Minn.
MANKATO, Minn./COLUMBIA, Mo. – Columbia’s Anthem Church is a fairly young Missouri Baptist church that’s putting an emphasis on missions, missions training, and church planting. Though it was a church plant itself just seven years ago, it’s already starting to grow other churches and recently sent members to Mankato, Minn., to aid a new work in the hometown of Minnesota State University. A member of the Heart of Missouri Baptist Association, Anthem is also a Salt Network church. The … [Read more...]
First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, tears down sanctuary site of 2017 mass murder
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (BP) – The site of the deadliest church shooting in the nation no longer stands, as First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, moved forward Aug. 12 with a 2021 decision to demolish its former sanctuary. Church members voted 69-35 in August 2021 to demolish the sanctuary after a gunman killed 25 there in November 2017, including a pregnant woman, and injured 20 others before killing himself. While a lawsuit challenged the decision, it was not filed … [Read more...]
Young Oklahoma prayer warrior meets St. Louis church planter
ST. LOUIS – You never know who might be praying for you. Just ask Michael Byrd, the pastor of Faith Community Bible Church in north St. Louis. Or you could ask Bethany Chapin, an 11-year-old from Oklahoma City. Byrd, his wife, Traci, and Faith Community were featured last summer as part of LifeWay’s Vacation Bible School curriculum, highlighting North American missions. Byrd said it was humbling to know people were praying for them from all over the nation. “During the time we received … [Read more...]
Park Street Baptist Church in Butte, Mont., is living out Acts 8:4
EDITOR’S NOTE: The pastor’s name has been changed for security reasons. BUTTE, Mont. (BP) – Park Street Baptist Church and the BSU (Baptist Student Union) at Montana Tech University co-mingle to encourage the congregation to tell others about Jesus as they disperse around town, around the country, and around the world. Judson frequently crosses borders into security-sensitive areas, modeling Acts 8:4, “Those who have been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” He does so … [Read more...]
Throat cancer fails to loosen his grip on God’s sovereignty
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (BP) – “Don’t feel sorry for me,” Ernest Easley writes in a new book. A feeding tube is how he gets nourishment. He struggles to speak. Diagnosed with malignant throat cancer in 1998, severe side effects from 44 radiation treatments still afflict the longtime pastor. Even so: “I feel sorry for you if you haven’t learned the peace that comes from resting in God’s sovereignty,” Easley writes in “Resting in God’s Sovereignty: A 30-day Devotional on God’s Plan for His … [Read more...]
Historic pulpit survives fire at First Baptist Church, Dallas
DALLAS (BP) – A pulpit used by Southern Baptist notables like George Truett and W.A. Criswell emerged intact after surviving a fire that gutted the historic sanctuary at First Baptist Church here over the weekend. “So indescribably grateful for this miracle,” another former FBC pastor, O.S. Hawkins, shared. “In the midst of the total destruction of the church in the fire this 130 year old pulpit of Truett and Criswell and the others of us somehow someway miraculously survived. Thank you … [Read more...]
FBC Dallas meets in convention center after fire destroys church’s historic sanctuary
by Jonathan Howe DALLAS (BP) – Two days after a four-alarm fire ripped through the historic sanctuary at First Baptist Church, Dallas, the church gathered for worship in the nearby Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Sunday morning, June 21. “It’s not the building, it’s what that building represents: it represented the bedrock foundation of God’s Word that never changes… We are going to rebuild and recreate that sanctuary as a standing symbol of truth,” pastor Robert Jeffress told … [Read more...]
Pastors pray for ‘God’s peace to break through’ after assassination attempt
BUTLER, Pa. (BP) – It happened for Bob Hurd and others at a wedding reception on the evening of Saturday, July 13. Phones began chiming with alerts and texts. Donald Trump had been shot. Hurd, pastor of Whitestown Road Baptist Church, had conducted the wedding ceremony. His church is 1.5 miles from the Butler Farm Showgrounds, where Trump was minutes into a campaign speech when a bullet tore through the former president’s right ear. Less than 950 feet separates Hurd’s backyard and the … [Read more...]
Lifeway study: Southern Baptists supportive of the Cooperative Program
EDITOR'S NOTE: The SBC’s Cooperation Group initiated a survey of all Southern Baptist congregations to collect data that would provide insight on churches’ understanding of and partnership through the Cooperative Program, as well as thoughts, feelings and perceptions about the Cooperative Program and stewardship. The study was administered by Lifeway Research and was sent to up to one email address on file for Southern Baptist congregations. BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (Lifeway Research) – The … [Read more...]
Midwestern Seminary receives $1.25M grant from Lilly Endowment to establish Institute for Preaching and Preachers
KANSAS CITY, Mo (MBTS) – Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Midwestern Institute for Preaching and Preachers. The effort is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to foster and support preaching that better inspires, encourages, and guides people to come to know and love God and to live out their Christian faith more fully. The … [Read more...]
Independence Day a special reminder of freedom for minister, battlefield actor
CHESNEE, S.C. (BP) — The Battle of Cowpens is considered a hinge moment in the American Revolution. A string of British victories at Savannah, Charleston and Camden had swung momentum. Continue the winning streak, the thinking went, and more Loyalists would join the cause. A Redcoat wave would proceed northward and ultimately snuff out the rebellion. But things changed on a bitterly-cold South Carolina field about 500 yards long and just as wide on January 12, 1781. “Cowpens” referred … [Read more...]
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