TUCKER, Ga. — Two months ago, Randy Kennedy was diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma and died surrounded by his family when he passed away on July 13, 2024.

INDIANAPOLIS — During the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting, NOBTS President Jamie Dew led a panel on the CP Stage discussing what the Cooperative Program means for seminary education.  Dew compared the impact the CP has on the six Southern Baptist seminaries with the impact it has on the convention’s missionaries.  

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — Brewton-Parker College celebrates with Dr. Sampyo Hong, professor of Physical Sciences, who secured a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to provide students with the opportunity to work alongside experienced scientists doing cutting-edge research.

Praying for God’s will is the best thing.  The wisest thing.  The hardest thing.  One of the most difficult lessons of my life.  It happened on July 20, 1994-30 years ago, this week.  It was a Wednesday.

I love being around water. I love everything about it. I especially love the beach! I love the sound of the ocean, the smell of the ocean, the wind and the waves. The crazy thing is I don’t like to get “in” the ocean. I am just an observer.

Teams of Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers headed west to Iowa last week to assist residents dealing with damage caused by record flooding. Severe storms in late June dropped torrential rains on Iowa, causing major flooding as dams failed and rivers overflowed their banks. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds estimates that more than 5,000 homes were damaged by the storms, including at least 2,000 that are likely irreparable.

Fewer Americans see religion as an important aspect of their lives, and it shows in their beliefs and actions. A Gallup survey finds U.S. adults are less likely to identify with a religion, say religion is very important to them, belong to a congregation, or attend worship services.

The trio struggled up the stairs of city hall in an Armenian village. The mother heard a medical team from the United States was seeing patients for free. She would do anything to have these doctors look at her 20-year-old son with cerebral palsy — like carrying him, with help from a neighbor, almost a mile from her home.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — The Southern Baptist Convention’s expanding diversity became a passion for Minh Ha Nguyen, leading to his work in establishing and updating a cutting edge portal and resource that has greatly influenced the SBC’s work to share the Gospel among its ethnically diverse community.

“Camp is back!” declared Chris Trent, NextGen catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. “Superwow and Impact have an amazing legacy here in Georgia. It was amazing this summer to see those camps continue to point teenagers to Jesus in such a powerful way.”

It started with three kids peeking through the fence. Then, a few more joined them and found a way to get around the fence to the other side. By the end, more than 20 Afghan refugee children from the neighborhood behind the fence had joined Connection Church’s youth activity, and church planter Jonathan Lee couldn’t believe his eyes.

When IMB missionary Mick Stockwell spoke with the president of the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary about globalization and missions, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine had yet to puncture the health and safety of the world. Both men desired to send Ukrainian missionaries to the nations, and they brainstormed ways to make this a reality. 

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — The large majority of Southern Baptist pastors believe the Cooperative Program supports the ministries and missions their church values and allows their church to support more missions endeavors than they could on their own.

BEDFORD, Ky. (KT) — “It’s been a great day in the Lord’s house.” That Facebook post by Pastor Mark Payton at Bedford Baptist Church came after the church baptized six people Sunday — all from the same family.

While we as Baptists may celebrate larger churches, larger churches are not free of problems. The Jerusalem church was “increasing in number,” but a divisive issue arose that threatened to divide them. The Greek text utilizes a term that suggests that the issue was dire.

There have been 49 vice presidents in the history of our nation. From memory, how many can you name? Some, like Lyndon Johnson and Dick Cheney, were known for the power they wielded. Others, such as Garret Hobart and Schuyler Colfax, are forgotten.

BUTLER, Pa. (BP) – It happened for Bob Hurd and others at a wedding reception on the evening of Saturday, July 13. Phones began chiming with alerts and texts. Donald Trump had been shot.

PARIS (BP) – Olympic wrestler Aaron Brooks holds nothing back. You don’t have to encounter Brooks long to know the top priority in his life. His Instagram posts regularly reference Scripture verses. In his media interviews, he frequently and repeatedly talks about his commitment to Christ, sometimes while wearing a headband with the phrase “100% Jesus.”

Peggy Meeks said Cross Walk to Life, the Christian Women’s Job Corps site she leads in Las Cruces, New Mexico, has one common need — English classes.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — First Baptist Church Montgomery’s golf carts caught fire Sunday morning, July 14, during the 11 a.m. worship service, causing a blaze in the church courtyard. According to a Facebook post by Pastor Mark Bethea, the fire was “contained quickly by our wonderful Montgomery firefighters.” The cause of the fire wasn’t mentioned.

FRANKLIN , Tn. — Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis and Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, were quick to respond in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The auditorium in the Southern Baptist Convention Building in Nashville has been turned into a makeshift shipping center this week as former members of the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force box up thousands of copies of a curriculum they produced and ship them to state Baptist conventions around the country.

SOMERSET, Ky. (KT) — A baptismal service in a creek is not unusual these days. But a baptism requiring six people to make it happen is far from ordinary. Why did it require so many? The man who had made a profession of faith and wanted to immediately follow in baptism had a unique situation — he had an ankle bracelet that his probation officer said must not get wet.

Randy Adams, the Northwest Baptist Convention’s executive director-treasurer since May 2013, has asked the convention’s executive board to begin an executive transition plan to find his successor and allow him in the next year to move toward retirement.

Summer is here, and in many churches across Georgia, that means it is time for Vacation Bible School. VBS has been a mainstay of children’s ministry programs for decades, if not longer.