NASHVILLE (BP) – According to a study released Aug. 15, two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) say they are sinners. And most people apparently aren't too happy about it – only 5 percent say they have no desire to mend their ways. Diverse responses to sin A third (34 percent) of Americans say they are sinners and are working on being less sinful, while a quarter (28 percent) say they are sinners and rely on Jesus to overcome their sin. One in 10 say sin doesn't exist (10 percent) or … [Read more...]
The Cooperative Program and the ‘Missouri Plan’
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third of several articles commemorating the Baptist history in Missouri, written by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Historical Commission. Many Missouri Baptists do not realize how influential our state association was in establishing the current model for the Cooperative Program. In 1845, when the Southern Baptist Convention was formed by withdrawing fellowship from the Baptist Triennial Convention, many states like Missouri had to decide which … [Read more...]
SBC’s oldest seminary extension in Trenton: 2017 marks 51-year anniversary
TRENTON – Pastors and lay leaders in northern Missouri have an opportunity to study the Bible together in a seminary extension site and they have been able to do that in Trenton for over 50 years. The Seminary Extension center of North Grand River Baptist Association has been notified that they are the longest continuous operating Seminary Extension center in the U.S. Seminary Extension centers are credentialed by the Seminary Extension Center in Nashville, which is operated by the … [Read more...]
Amid Charlottesville turmoil, Baptists active in outreach
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (BP) – As alternative-right white supremacists and others flooded Charlottesville, Va., to protest the removal of a Confederate statue, Southern Baptists were already actively promoting racial harmony in the small community where former mayor Alvin Edwards has pastored 36 years. Edwards, pastor of Mount Zion First African Baptist Church and a member of the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV), had already organized the multidenominational Charlottesville … [Read more...]
Africa missionaries embrace children’s home ministry
THOMASVILLE, N.C. (BP) – Kim and Jay Smith spent 26 years sharing the Gospel as missionaries in West Africa. Today, they continue to share Christ's love as cottage parents with the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina where they care for as many as 12 girls at BCH's Mills Home in Thomasville. "It's still a mission field but a different mission field," Kim says. Her husband agrees. "We love these girls with the love of God just as we loved the people in West Africa." Before … [Read more...]
N.M. village’s Baptists see CP as missions priority
CUBA, N.M. (BP) – The multicultural mix of 750 people in the small, arid village of Cuba, N.M., is one of the qualities that drew Stephen Reynolds to pastor First Baptist Church there. The village off busy U.S. 550 draws the Navajo and Jicarilla Apache Native Americans and others from 30 square miles of high desert lands. "The minority culture is white," Reynolds told Baptist Press. "There's Hispanic from Spanish [descent] and Navajo culture." The native Mississippian and his wife … [Read more...]
Do Christians’ good deeds go unseen?
NASHVILLE (BP) – Jesus warned his followers to keep their good deeds secret, warning them not to seek attention when doing the right thing. And American Christians seem to be following that advice. According to a new study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, few Americans are aware of many efforts by local Christians or churches to serve their neighbors. LifeWay Research’s survey of 1,000 Americans looked at 13 service programs often run by churches—from tutoring kids to teaching … [Read more...]
Archaeologists’ discovery supports Bible
TEL GEZER, Israel (BP) – A discovery of ancient human remains by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary archaeologists has helped confirm Scripture’s portrayal of the city of Gezer in southern Israel. The discovery, unearthed this summer by Southwestern’s Tandy Institute of Archaeology, included remains of two adults and a child inside a building that appeared to have been violently destroyed by Egyptians in the 13th century B.C., according to media reports. Because the Egyptians in … [Read more...]
The Pathway flourishes, others face challenges
Circulation and readership is growing at a remarkable pace for The Pathway, bucking a trend that many other state convention newspapers are experiencing. While The Pathway flourishes, Missouri Baptists should be aware that is not the case for many other state convention newspapers throughout the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It is an issue deserving of much-needed discussion by Southern Baptists. The SBC’s viability may turn on how this issue is treated. Secular printed newspapers … [Read more...]
Pastor compensation studied by financial planner
GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP) – It happens often in Southern Baptist life: A church offers a prospective pastor a salary it thinks is reasonable, and the pastor – not wanting to appear greedy – begrudgingly accepts. But down the road, when tax season arrives or when retirement approaches, the pastor realizes he should have spoken up. It is a financial disconnect that Christian Messemer, a certified financial planner and a Ph.D. candidate at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, hopes to … [Read more...]
Poll: Americans have mixed feelings about sexual liberty, religious liberty
NASHVILLE (LifeWay) —Americans love to fight about sex and religion. From shacking up and same-sex marriage to birth control and bathrooms, Americans disagree about what is right and wrong with sex—often based on faith. Those disputes can end up in court, in highly divisive and controversial cases. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. When faith and sexuality clash, which side should … [Read more...]
Gospel conversation critical, Ezell tells NAMB trustees
PHOENIX (BP) – North American Mission Board president Kevin Ezell told the entity’s trustees that in order to see the kind of turnaround in baptisms that Southern Baptists desire, it will take millions of Southern Baptists having tens of millions of gospel conversations. Without decreasing NAMB’s emphasis on church planting through its Send Network or compassion ministry through Send Relief, Ezell said NAMB will “put every ounce of energy we possibly can to help our convention see the … [Read more...]
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