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Engage 6 wraps 2026 with focus on evangelistic prayer

Ken Bevel, connections and local missions pastor at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, teaches on evangelistic prayer at an Engage 6 session in Tifton, Ga., on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand)
TIFTON, Ga. — The final round of 2026 Engage 6 gatherings concluded this week, closing a year in which 1,641 pastors and church leaders attended 36 evangelism training sessions across six regions of Georgia.
Georgia Baptist Mission Board staff pray over Adam Mallette, incoming executive director/treasurer of the Nevada Baptist Convention, and his wife Heather during a monthly chapel service Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Alpharetta. (Index/Henry Durand)
Incoming Nevada Baptist leader tells GBMB staff, ‘We are your missionaries to the West’
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Adam Mallette, incoming executive director/treasurer of the Nevada Baptist Convention, thanked Georgia Baptist Mission Board employees Wednesday for their partnership in gospel work in the West and challenged them to remain faithful to God’s Word and their calling. “We don’t do what we do without the work of Georgia Baptists,” Mallette told employees gathered for the Mission Board’s monthly chapel service. “We just don’t do it.”
(Photo/Screenshot from Fox News)
SBC President Rice urges pastors to engage political issues rooted in theology, morality
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice is calling on pastors to engage in the political process when public policy questions intersect with biblical and moral convictions.
Stacy Dyer returns to local-church ministry after six years with Morganton Mountaintown
BLUE RIDGE, Ga. — After six years serving churches and pastors across Fannin and Gilmer counties, Stacy Dyer is returning to local-church ministry.
Authorities, below to the right, investigate the scene of a shooting where at least two people died and 35 were injured Sunday morning, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Vienna, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
No arrests announced in shootings that killed 2, left dozens injured at Georgia block party
VIENNA, Ga. (AP) — Authorities in rural southern Georgia were still searching Monday for suspects in weekend shootings that killed two people and left nearly three dozen others injured when gunfire erupted during a sprawling block party to celebrate a homecoming football victory. No arrests have been announced in Dooly County, where the sheriff says more than 50 shots were fired early Sunday in the small city of Vienna as more than 1,000 people were still outside celebrating long after midnight.
(GBMB/Krista Roe)
First Fervent girls’ conference draws nearly 300, emphasizes abiding in Christ
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Nearly 300 attendees gathered for the first Fervent girls’ conference Saturday, Sept. 26, where students were challenged to consider how a relationship with Christ shapes their identity, relationships, and everyday lives.
Baptist Life

SPARK closes 2026 season in Valdosta with challenge to sow for the future

Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, delivers the keynote message at the SPARK conference at Crossroads Baptist Church in Valdosta, Ga., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand)
VALDOSTA, Ga. — The SPARK season drew to a close Sunday, Sept. 27, at Crossroads Baptist Church in Valdosta. More than 560 people registered for the final conference, bringing the total for all six 2026 regional training events to 3,833.
NASHVILLE (BP) – A letter released to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Oct. 1, and since signed by more than 130 members of Congress, requests an investigation into Planned Parenthood and its affiliates for failure to comply with regulations on receiving federal funds.
NEW ORLEANS — Leavell College at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is announcing a new degree pathway that includes a brand-new Bachelor of Science degree and a new major within the Bachelor of Arts degree.  
NEW ORLEANS — The board of trustees for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College approved a new degree pathway, observed the official opening of the seminary's new Center for Worship Studies, heard other positive updates, and conducted business during their fall meeting, Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 6-7.
James Howard said he’d been praying for a buddy of his for years. But he didn’t expect it to be the lights from the football field that got him. “He lives right behind the school,” Howard said. “So he called me … he said, ‘What’s going on at the football field? The lights are all going on, the music’s going on,’ and I told him, ‘We’re having church.’”
Georgia
Toi Cliatt, left, and Trina Martin stand outside the home, which in 2017 the FBI mistakenly raided, on April 25, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Sudhin Thanawala, File)

Appeals court says Atlanta family cannot take the government to trial for a mistaken FBI raid

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta family cannot take the federal government to trial for a mistaken FBI raid on their home in 2017, but they can seek to hold the agent who led the SWAT team liable, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Georgia’s public school class of 2026 scored higher on SAT

ATLANTA — Georgia’s public school class of 2026 did better in math and a little worse in reading and writing on their SAT tests than students who graduated the year before.

2 shot dead and dozens injured at neighborhood block party shooting in southern Georgia

VIENNA, Georgia (AP) — Two people were shot to death in a hail of gunfire, and nearly three dozen others were injured at a homecoming weekend block party early Sunday morning in southern Georgia, according to state law enforcement officials.

Georgia voters will see pen and paper at polls

ATLANTA — Attentive Georgia voters will notice something different when they go to their polling places on Election Day: pen and paper.
Nation
Luke Churchill, left, stands with his wife Mary and their children, Katie, Liam, and Raighan, as they wait in the rain outside an open Waffle House restaurant in Wilmington, N.C., after Hurricane Florence traveled through the area on Sept. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

The Waffle House Index helps Southerners — and FEMA — gauge a storm's severity

Golden hash browns, gravy-smothered biscuits and crispy waffles with a hearty helping of syrup are among the classic Southern comfort foods. But when hurricanes tear through Southeastern towns, the hot meals and bold yellow signs of the local Waffle House provide another kind of comfort.

Isaias strengthens into Category 2 hurricane on collision course with the US Gulf Coast

MIAMI (AP) — Isaias strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it barreled toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday, prompting orders for tourists to abandon beaches for safer spots inland, sending locals scurrying for gas and groceries and leading fishing crews to secure their boats before the potentially destructive storm’s arrival.

Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed, the Pentagon said Thursday, a stunning revelation about plans for the first military execution in more than 65 years after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had described it as being “public.”

Four astronauts return to Earth after eight months in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Thursday after hurrying there eight months ago to replace an ailing colleague and his crew.
World
Raz Zarfati, whose brother Ron Zarfati was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attack on Israel, attends a memorial marking the third anniversary of the attack at the Nova music festival site near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israelis mark three years since Oct. 7 attack with mourning, remembrance

REIM, Israel (AP) — On a field where music festival revelers were gunned down by Hamas-led terrorists three years ago, Israelis on Wednesday embraced and wept for those lost in an attack that plunged the Middle East into war.

Nepal ends search for thousands of flood victims leaving some angry and others relieved

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The families of thousands of people who remain missing in Nepal weeks after catastrophic floods devastated the country have expressed mixed feelings after the government said this week that it is stopping the search for victims.

Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities kill at least 21 in a major attack that Kyiv saw coming

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles and drones pounded Kyiv and a dozen other Ukrainian regions overnight into Wednesday, killing at least 21 civilians, including four children, and wounding around 60 in Moscow's latest devastating barrage, Ukrainian officials said.

Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Kagan and Soai for research solving 'mirror image' mystery

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their efforts to resolve mysterious mirror images in chemical molecules, a discovery that transformed modern medicine.
Perspectives
My car smells incredibly delicious. Yesterday, I went to pick up lunch for my coworkers at a local barbecue place. The yummy smells of pulled pork, chicken wings, and loaded fries teased my nose all the way back to the office.
Last week, Tennessee attempted to execute convicted killer Christa Pike, who lured her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, into a wooded Knoxville area to torture and murder her in 1995. After being on death row for more than 30 years, authorities finally attempted to carry out her sentence on September 30. By now you have heard that things did not go as planned.
I love the beach. I am not necessarily fond of getting in the ocean, but I love everything else about it.
Short-timer’s syndrome, according to one online definition, is “a psychological and behavioral state where a person loses motivation, focus, or emotional investment in their current role as their departure date approaches.” 
REMINDER: Early voting for the November 3rd Election opens this Tuesday, October 13th, and runs through October 30th. You can check on your voter registration, polling location, and more at the Secretary of State's My Voter Page (https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/).
Business
(Photo/NOBTS)

New Orleans Seminary partners with The Worship Initiative and SBC Worship for night of worship celebrating Center for Worship Studies

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary hosted a worship night Oct. 6 in partnership with The Worship Initiative and SBC Worship. The event was held in celebration of the ribbon-cutting for the seminary's new Center for Worship Studies, which took place earlier in the day.  

More than 160,000 pounds of meat bearing false USDA inspection labels recalled

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 83 tons of meat are being recalled across the U.S. because the products were not properly inspected by federal authorities and were shipped out with falsified inspection stickers, the Department of Agriculture said.

Claims for unemployment benefits drop to 197,000, the lowest since mid-July as layoffs remain rare

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, as U.S. jobless claims remain at historically low levels and most Americans enjoy job security.

Major tire company to expand in northwest Georgia

ATLANTA — A global leader in tire production will invest $1.2 billion to expand in Georgia, bringing 1,000 jobs by 2033, according to Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.

OpenAI flags concerning new AI behavior and vows to track it more closely

OpenAI has disclosed six reports of “unexpected or concerning” behavior in artificial-intelligence models as the debate on AI safety becomes increasingly heated.
Sports
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) passes against the New Orleans Saints during the first half in New Orleans, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

With confident Penix at QB, Falcons will look to continue turnaround against Ravens

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons will be looking to build upon their dramatic turnaround since Michael Penix Jr. took over at quarterback when they play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night.

Georgia and Alabama meet again with SEC stakes high and severe weather looming

The latest edition of the Bulldogs-Crimson Tide rivalry is Saturday night — if the weather holds up.

An October treat as No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Alabama renew their great rivalry

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — It should be no surprise that Georgia and Alabama are among the last unbeatens in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference. It's been that way for years — decades, really.

Tropical storm threat churns planning for Georgia-Alabama game with Trump set to attend

Tropical Storm Isaias could make landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast as a hurricane this weekend, hours before No. 2 Georgia plays at No. 6 Alabama in a major college football game on Saturday night that President Donald Trump is planning to attend.