News
Mark Snowden, evangelism/discipleship strategist for the Missouri Baptist Convention, relays pointers for the care of new believers. "We keep praying for the Lord to send workers into His harvest field. What if the new believers are the answer to our prayer?" Snowden asks. "Will you be ready?"
With the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina fresh on his mind, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley offered a testimony of God's grace and mercy during his report to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. Kelley also addressed the reported suicide of faculty member John Gibson.
Scholars from around the world gathered at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., to discuss the history of Christian persecution at the 9th annual conference for the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies Sept. 15-16.
SBC President Ronnie Floyd notes that each church's ministry budget is key to Southern Baptists' Cooperative Program missions and ministries in fulfilling the Great Commission. The Cooperative Program, he notes, "is something every church can support financially regardless of the size of their membership."
SBC President Ronnie Floyd urges prayer, fasting and action to seek God's breakthrough for today's crises globally, nationally and in the Southern Baptist Convention. "We must move into seasons of fasting and prayer more than ever before," Floyd writes. "We must call our churches to go places with God they have never gone before."
There are an estimated 10,000 Southern Baptist pastors who are part-time or bivocational, according to the Caskey Center for Church Excellence at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Known for their work ethic and resourceful scheduling, such ministers comprise 23 percent of all Southern Baptist pastors and participate in a Baptist tradition dating back to the 17th century.
October brings pastor appreciation opportunities for churches, the North American Mission Board notes. "It's the greatest privilege in the world to pastor a congregation," NAMB President Kevin Ezell said, "But it is also very demanding and we need to take steps to protect, strengthen and express appreciation for our pastors."
Missionary Kyra Karr, though killed in a traffic accident in mid-August, was an inspirational example of using one's days wisely, missions columnist Erich Bridges writes, noting, "The weeks in your earthly life are a prelude to your life in eternity."
A county clerk in Kentucky defied a federal judge's order to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Thursday (Aug. 13), turning away two men who arrived at her office as soon as it opened.
Crowdfunding pioneer Jessica Jackley discusses the redemptive, poverty-fighting work of microfinance.
