When Steve Tiebout planted a church in northern California in the late 1990s, he would have relished the help of a worship leader like 23-year-old Curtis Looper. Young, talented, full of energy and with a passionate love of Jesus, Looper already shows the God-given ability to prepare a congregation for corporate worship. And at age 23, he'll likely only get better. "Man, if someone would have sent me a 20-year-old who loved Jesus, could play the guitar and wanted to lead worship, I would … [Read more...]
HIS Heartland vision tours Aug. 26-28
Lee Warren/contributing writer OMAHA, Neb. – The Heartland Interstate Strategy (HIS) task force met online July 22 to finalize plans for its vision tour set for Aug. 26-28 that will help leaders identify which hub cities along the I-29 corridor they want to consider or partner with for future church planting or evangelistic opportunities. The corridor, which runs from Kansas City to Winnipeg, Manitoba, is an 800-mile stretch that is largely lacking in Southern Baptist churches and … [Read more...]
Truett’s religious liberty legacy celebrated
David Roach/Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) – On the 70th anniversary of George W. Truett’s death, present and former pastors of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas – where Truett pastored for 47 years – said his most famous sermon on religious liberty has implications for the advance of secularism, the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision and GuideStone Financial Resources’ legal fight against the Obama administration’s abortion/contraceptive mandate. “I think I have probably read … [Read more...]
Small-town church taps CP’s national/international reach
Karen L. Willoughby/Baptist Press WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (BP) – A short video is shown each week at First Baptist Church in Winnemucca, Nev., illustrating Southern Baptist work either in Nevada, North America or the world. Before the offering is received, worshippers are told that 10 percent of what they give goes through the Cooperative Program (CP) to help fund the work of missionaries such as those in the various videos. Stace Cupples, pastor of the church in the town of less than … [Read more...]
At 275th anniversary, church receives founder’s book
ERIN ROACH/Baptist Press ROCHDALE, Mass. (BP) – At a celebration marking its 275th anniversary, Greenville Baptist Church in Rochdale, Mass., received a rare gift: a book from 1764 containing a handwritten note from the church’s founding pastor. The book, a pharmaceutical manual, was uncovered in 1968 when Ira Greenstein was serving as a summer camp counselor and in his free time visited a used bookstore in Springfield, Mass. He picked up the manual from a box of old books and bought … [Read more...]
SBC leaders lament lack of evangelistic passion
Carol Pipes/LifeWay Christian Resources NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Southern Baptists experienced growth in the number of churches affiliated with the convention in 2013, while other key measures declined, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions. The number of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) grew by 91 to 46,125, a 0.2 percent increase over 2012. SBC churches also reported 4,789 church-type … [Read more...]
KC-area church turning neglected kids into disciples
TOBIN PERRY/North American Mission Board LENEXA, Kan. – Westside Family Church feeds 3,000 kids daily in four countries. Families from the church have adopted more than 100 children in the United States and internationally. The Southern Baptist church helps fill backpacks with food for hungry children and teenagers. It is a regional support and training center for foster care and adoption in the Kansas City area. Yet, according to the Lenexa, Kan., church’s executive pastor Dan Chaverin, … [Read more...]
Fixing the SBC
Considering the complex issues swirling around the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), I’m not sure anyone has a definitive word on how to fix what ails us, especially as we rub against a culture increasingly more hostile to the gospel. There is no silver bullet to fix all that plagues our great convention of churches. Truth is, we are broken people, raised by broken parents, living in a broken world, and our only hope is the transformational power of the Lord Jesus to fix our brokenness. … [Read more...]
Pre-K baptisms on the rise
John Mark Yeats, Contributing Writer Kansas City – The week of May 17 the North American Mission Board (NAMB) released the results from its baptism task force. A key study, the desire was to find out why Baptism rates in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) are plateaued and declining. Over the last few years, accusations and suspicions have flown from different sections of the convention. Some laid the blame at the feet of Calvinists; others at failing discipleship or a lack of … [Read more...]
SBC Annual Report
By Carol Pipes NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Southern Baptists experienced growth in the number of churches affiliated with the convention in 2013, while other key measures declined, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions. The number of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention grew by 91 to 46,125, a 0.2 percent increase over 2012. SBC churches also reported 4,789 church-type missions last year, a decline … [Read more...]
Thinking about Q Nashville: Reflections from a Gen Xer
Hunter Baker, Associate Dean of Arts & Science Union University Jackson, Tenn. The organizers of the Q conferences recently convened an event in Nashville. If you don’t know what Q is, all you really need to do is to think about the TED Talks. Q = Young evangelical version of TED. An organization offered to pay my entry fee ($500), so I took the opportunity to spend a day. Andy Crouch, a solid Christian writer and executive editor of Christianity Today, kicked things off with what I … [Read more...]
Bivocational ministry not a stretch for those called
Scott Barkley/The Christian Index DULUTH, Ga., (BP) – Wesley Thompson would probably contend he’s devoted to ministry. A student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he’s pursuing a degree in church ministries, with an emphasis on students and families, to improve his ability at presenting the gospel. Wesley Thompson also might say he is devoted to being a better educator. A teacher at a small private school about 20 minutes from Southern’s campus in Louisville, Ky., Thompson looks … [Read more...]
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