October 12, 2026
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Vidalia men’s gathering leads to professions of faith, new discipleship efforts

Men pray during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand)
VIDALIA, Ga. — Eight men indicated they had trusted Christ as Savior in connection with a men’s gathering at Tabernacle Baptist Church on Thursday, Oct. 8, while others committed to renewed discipleship and organizers began planning a follow-up revival.
Trending stories
The groundbreaking at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church with, from left, Lucy Winters, Hudson Bruce, JoAnn Birrell, Steve Aslinger, and Pastor Clay Smith.
Johnson Ferry Baptist Church launches major ministry plan that includes a new sanctuary
MARIETTA, Ga. — Johnson Ferry Baptist Church broke ground Oct. 7 on a major campus expansion that includes a new 2,500-seat worship center and is part of an $84.3 million Forward Together Vision aimed at making more room for worship, community, the next generation, and gospel outreach.
Florida Baptist Disaster Relief tents are set up in the parking lot of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.
Disaster Relief volunteers from at least 6 states helping in wake of Isaias
DESTIN, Fla. (BP) — Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are set up in several locations throughout the western Panhandle of Florida and southeast Alabama after Hurricane Isaias brought widespread destruction to the region.
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)
Engage 6 wraps 2026 with focus on evangelistic prayer
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.
Baptist Life

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.

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Terron Gaddis
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Bible highlights a profound moment during the Israelites’ battle against the Amalekites as recorded in the Book of Exodus. Whenever Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed. When his hands fell, Israel faltered. When Moses, with his hands uplifted in a posture of prayer and dependence upon the Lord, felt his arms grow too weary to hold up, Aaron and Hur gave Moses a stone to sit on and held his hands up so Joshua and the Israelites would win the fight.
North American Mission Board trustees visit church planter Jacob Giles during a Boston vision tour held in conjunction with their meeting last week. Giles is completing a church planting residency at Renewal Church Boston and plans to launch a new church soon. (NAMB/Alana Jorgensen)
BOSTON — Trustees of the North American Mission Board met last week to act on business items and celebrate missionaries and new churches in the area.
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Senior pastors at Southern Baptist churches have had to make do with small pay increases and less purchasing power recently.
Messengers vote on an item of business during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 9, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand, File)
AfteNASHVILLE (BP) — After years of requests for higher levels of accountability among Southern Baptist Convention entities, letters from them are included in the current edition of the SBC Annual, available as of Sept. 23, joining already-available audit reports.
Georgia
Kris Williams Carroll, director of the Caretta Research Project, holds three loggerhead hatchlings found during the excavation of a nest on Wassaw Island, Ga., July 18, 2026. (Justin Taylor/The Current GA/CatchLight/Report for America via AP)

Peek inside Georgia’s record-setting sea turtle nesting season

Loggerhead sea turtles laid a record 4,292 nests on Georgia beaches this year, a hard-won rebound from a low of 358 nests in 2004.

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.
No. 2 pencils and a mock SAT test form are arranged for a photo in Phoenix, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)

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.
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.

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Nation
A woman rests from cleaning up the effects of Tropical Storm Rachel along the Alamitos Peninsula, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in Long Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)

Isaias moves north into Appalachians and mid-Atlantic

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — People in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama cleaned up after Hurricane Isaias swept through as the storm's remnants caused flooding in North Carolina on Sunday, while powerful Pacific Ocean waves stirred up by Rachel, a former tropical storm, battered the coast of Southern California.

Julius Windham visits a memorial outside the home where authorities say a gunman killed multiple people, including Windham's daughter, in Erie, Pa., on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

Pennsylvania shooter who killed 8 was family’s patriarch, father of toddler killed says

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A man whose toddler was among eight people killed in a mass shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania, said Sunday that the gunman was a grandfather who never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary.
An American flag flaps in the wind generated by the effects of Isaias on an empty beach on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, in Mon Louis Island, Ala. (AP Photo/Octavio Jones)

Isaias makes landfall along the US Gulf Coast as a dangerous Category 2 hurricane

GULF BREEZE, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Isaias crashed into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Friday as a dangerous Category 2 storm, lashing communities in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle with damaging winds, heavy rain, flooding and life-threatening storm surge.
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.

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World
This image from CCTV video released by Saudi Arabia's Media Ministry shows passengers taking cover as flames and smoke fill part of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during what authorities described as a strike at the airport on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Saudi Media Ministry via AP)

Saudis probe how defense systems failed to stop deadly Houthi attack on Riyadh airport

CAIRO (AP) — Saudi Arabia has launched an investigation to determine how its air defenses failed to intercept a barrage of missiles and drones fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, including an attack on Riyadh airport that killed at least 13 people and wounded over 300, two regional officials said Monday.

A B1 bomber prepares to take off as police officers man a checkpoint near RAF Fairford air base, in Fairford, England, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Security incident at US-run air base almost certainly directed by Iran, UK prime minister says

LONDON (AP) — A suspected terror plot at a U.S.-run military air base in England was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday.
Portraits of Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford are shown on the screen as they are announced as the laureates of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)

2 American economists win Nobel for work on managing economic shocks

STOCKHOLM (AP) — American economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics on Monday for their work on models that have helped governments and central banks manage economic shocks, such as energy crises and inflation.
Tourists take photos of water splashing against the wall as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Hurricane Simon pounds resorts and vulnerable towns along Mexico’s Pacific coast

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Simon pounded Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 3 storm on Sunday, its eye remaining just offshore as its most powerful winds and rain slammed people living between the Sierra Madre and the ocean.

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Perspectives
Todd Gaddis
William Randolf Hearst, a famous newspaper publisher and politician, is known to have invested a fortune collecting valuable art from around the world. On one occasion, hearing of particular items he dearly desired, Hearst sent his agent abroad to find them.
David Chancey
​If you’re an Atlanta Braves fan, you’re probably familiar with the Ray Kerr saga. The Braves acquired Kerr from the San Diego Padres in December 2023. After graduating from high school, he played baseball at a small college in California. ​Eventually, Kerr left California, returned to Reno, and went to work, stocking shelves at a 7-Eleven convenience store and working at a movie theater.
Ralph Fudge
The author of Hebrews says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). C. S. Lewis suggested that we have to train the habit of faith.
Dawn Reed
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.
Adam Dooley
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.

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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.  

The U.S. Department of Agriculture seal is seen on a podium during a news conference in Washington on July 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

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.
A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store, in Schaumburg, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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.
The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone in front of an image generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

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.

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Sports
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. walks off the field after losing to the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Falcons' Michael Penix Jr. sustains rib injury in 4th quarter in OT loss to Ravens

ATLANTA (AP) — Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. sustained a rib injury when he was sacked by Ravens linebacker Tavius Robinson late in the fourth quarter of Atlanta's 30-23 overtime loss to Baltimore on Sunday night and was unable to finish the game.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley (5) runs from Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III (3) during the first half Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)

Huntley leads late TD drive to force OT and then scores on 1-yard run as Ravens beat Falcons 30-23

TLANTA (AP) — With Tyler Huntley filling in at quarterback, the Baltimore Ravens were on Snoop patrol. When “Snoop” Huntley is leading the offense, the Ravens don't feel like a backup is on the field.
Alabama defensive back Bray Hubbard and Georgia wide receiver Sacovie White-Helton (0) fight for a pass in the end zone that was called incomplete during the second half Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Georgia takes over at No. 1 in AP Top 25 with Notre Dame, Miami next; Oregon is out of the poll

Georgia moved up to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday following its win at Alabama, Texas dropped six spots to No. 7 after its loss to rival Oklahoma, and Oregon was unranked for the first time in four years after losing for the second time in the past month.
Georgia linebacker Chris Cole (9) celebrates with the Georgia fans as the final seconds wind off the clock in a win over Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Dwight Phillips Jr. and No. 2 Georgia run past No. 6 Alabama 20-17 in an SEC clash

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — If Georgia lands the No. 1 ranking, it should probably come with an asterisk. The second-ranked Bulldogs benefited from what appeared to be a blown call in a 20-17 victory at No. 2 Alabama on Saturday night.

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