PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Not many people can spend Spring Break in one of the party hotspots of the world and never wiggle toes in the sand or wade out into the surf, but Denise Banderman did just that. She spent two full weeks as part of LifeWay’s volunteer event staff for Beach Reach, a ministry aimed at partying college students that descend on the beach each year. Banderman, a member of Stonebridge Community Church in Jefferson City, has been working with Beach Reach since 2003. This … [Read more...]
Marriage, Supreme Court deserves fervent prayer
NASHVILLE (BP) – The Supreme Court will soon decide whether states can legally choose to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. It is a watershed moment in our nation’s history. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has filed briefs with the court; argued in public and in private about why marriage, defined as the union of one man and one woman, matters as a social good; and more than there is space to list here. But beyond all this we as Christians and churches … [Read more...]
Hedger to re-nominate Yeats as SBC recording secretary
COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) – Joshua Hedger, a pastor and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary administrator, will nominate John L. Yeats for a 19th term as recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention at the June 16-17 annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. As executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention since 2011, Yeats has demonstrated leadership and invested in pastors' lives, said Hedger, pastor of preaching and vision at Emmaus Church in the Kansas City, Mo., area and … [Read more...]
SBC pastors join in healing efforts in Baltimore
By Mike Ebert BALTIMORE – Joel Kurz watched in disbelief Monday night as the Baltimore neighborhood where he has pastored since 2008 erupted in violence and flames. “The CVS Pharmacy that was looted and set on fire is the place where our sick and elderly people go for their medicines,” Kurz said. “As you walk up and down the street, every strip of stores has broken glass. Many of them have been looted and damaged.” Kurz pastors The Garden Church, a congregation he started shortly … [Read more...]
GuideStone recognized with No. 1 fund award
DALLAS — At a dinner March 31 hosted by The Wall Street Journal and Investment News, GuideStone Funds for the fourth year in a row received a prestigious Lipper Award. This year, for the second consecutive year, the Extended-Duration Bond Fund was recognized as the Best Fund Over 3 Years and the Best Fund Over 5 Years in the Corporate Debt A-Rated Funds Category. This marks the fifth and sixth Lipper trophies for GuideStone Funds in the past four years. In 2012, GuideStone Funds was … [Read more...]
Cuba trip confirms SBC president’s call to prayer
BAYAMO, Cuba (BP) -- Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd believes the church-planting movement sweeping Cuba could happen in the United States if Southern Baptists and other U.S. believers commit themselves to "extraordinary prayer for the next Great Awakening." "There has never been any great movement of God ... that was not first preceded by extraordinary prayer of God's people. And we need a mighty spiritual awakening in our nation," said Floyd, who last year began an … [Read more...]
Is the SBC in a golden era of theological education?
KANSAS CITY (BP) – Since the Southern Baptist Convention’s founding in 1845, the SBC’s primary – and most unifying – effort has been collaborative missionary efforts. That was our raison d’ê·tre in 1845 and it remains so today. Yet, even during the SBC’s earliest years, theological education was an accompanying concern. Early SBC luminaries such as R.B.C. Howell, W.B. Johnson, Basil Manly Sr., Basil Manly Jr. and, most especially, James P. Boyce called for a common theological institution … [Read more...]
National CP shows signs of rebounding
NASHVILLE (BP) – Despite a five-year decline in church membership and a corresponding decrease in per capita giving, the national portion of the Cooperative Program shows signs of rebounding through the first five months of fiscal 2014–2015. Year-to-date contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program Allocation Budget through Jan. 31 totaled $64,702,035.77, the highest amount since the Jan. 31, 2012, report. Though lower than the $67.8 million received through January … [Read more...]
GuideStone trustees receive updates
DALLAS — Drawing from Joshua 6:1–20, which tells of the Israelites’ conquest of Jericho, GuideStone Financial Resources President O.S. Hawkins told trustees, “We are challenging our employees to see 2015 as a ‘Year of Efficiency’ as we look for ways to do what we do efficiently and with excellence.” GuideStone trustees met March 2–3 in Dallas. Trustees also heard reports from Chief Operating Officer John R. Jones and from the executive officers of GuideStone. Investments “We wrapped up … [Read more...]
Keeping the Southern Baptist faith
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Southern Baptist Convention with 15 million members is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., is its oldest and arguably most influential seminary. Albert Mohler has been president at Southern Seminary for more than 20 years, but when he arrived there as a young man still in his 30s, he had a huge task before him. The seminary had taken a hard, left turn in liberalism, and his job was to do no … [Read more...]
Once a fishing guide, now a CP-committed pastor
EDITOR'S NOTE: Cooperative Program Sunday is April 12 in the Southern Baptist Convention. WATER VALLEY, Ky. (BP) – Jimmy Brown trusts the Lord whenever he goes fishing, whether the fishing hole is filled with lake water or the silt of an undredged life. "I had never realized the similarities between fishing, soul-winning and pastoring," said Brown, a former professional fishing guide on Kentucky Lake who has been pastor of Pilot Oak Baptist Church in western Kentucky since … [Read more...]
Race summit urges view of God’s image
NASHVILLE (BP) -- Racial reconciliation in the church calls for a strong view of the image of God in all people, a deep commitment to understanding others and an intentionality in achieving diversity, speakers said on the second day of a Southern Baptist-sponsored leadership summit. Christians must see the image of God in all people without minimizing their differences, African-American speakers said.Black, white, Asian and Iranian pastors and leaders addressed racial disunity Friday … [Read more...]
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