When Scott and Katie Groves stumbled upon a Facebook advertisement for Pillar Church of Jacksonville, North Carolina, they never thought God would call them to church planting at Pillar Church just six years later. As a military family new to the faith, the Groves needed a solid church to disciple and walk with them through life’s ups and downs. Scott’s career with the Marines had led his family to live in five places in just 13 years, making it vital for them to find a church where they could get plugged in quickly.

CLEVELAND, Ga. — Truett McConnell University President Emir Caner recently announced the appointment of Dr. Stacy Hall to the position of vice president of advancement for the university. In this capacity, Hall will oversee alumni relations, fundraising, and marketing initiatives for the university and serve as one of four vice presidents on the university cabinet.

The “grandparent test” — sharing photos and videos of their grandchildren’s antics — was on full display at the International Mission Board’s National Parent Retreat at Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia. One couple from Florida scrolled through their phone to find a video of their grandson eating a scorpion. Another showed blonde-headed grandkids and their friends running barefoot up a dirt path lined with thatch homes. 

When our pastor preached a sermon about “Thanksliving” instead of “Thanksgiving” decades ago, I teased him mercilessly.  We were dear friends; it’s what friends do.  It was “Happy Thanksliving” this and “Happy Thanksliving” that.  (I wasn’t nearly as mature as I am now.)  I worked the word “Thanksliving” into every conversation. 

This photo essay captures scenes from the final day of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s three-day 201st annual meeting at Church on Main in Snellville, Ga. At the Tuesday session, participants heard messages from GBC leaders, elected new officers and voted on resolutions.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Fayetteville pastor Josh Saefkow will serve a second one-year term as president of the Georgia Baptist Convention, the state’s largest religious group with some 1.4 million members. Saefkow, with his winsome personality and unwavering work ethic that had him crisscrossing the state for preaching engagements and meetings throughout his first term, had no opposition and was elected by acclamation.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. – Georgia Baptists are projected to give more than $60 million through the Cooperative Program and a series of special offerings to cover the cost of sharing the gospel throughout the state, across the nation and around the world. That total represents a projected 4.2% increase in the Cooperative Program budget, a needed shot in the arm for what been described as the greatest evangelistic initiative of the modern church age.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Messengers attending the Georgia Baptist Convention’s annual meeting gave provisional approval to updates to 200-year-old governing documents on Tuesday in a move that is intended to provide greater legal protections to churches and the state Mission Board. Tim Oliver, chairman of the Georgia Baptist Administration Committee, said messengers “owe a great debt of gratitude” to the faithful church leaders who penned the original governing documents but that they had become dated over the years.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Georgia Baptists have voiced their support for Israel as well as their condemnation of Hamas for what they described in a resolution approved on Tuesday as an “abhorrent” attack that “defies human dignity.” “We call upon our state and national leaders to remain steadfast in their support for Israel, which for 75 years has been one of our nation’s closest allies,” the state’s largest religious group, the Georgia Baptist Convention, said in the resolution.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia Baptist Convention, the state’s largest religious organization with 1.4 million members, grew even bigger and more ethnically diverse on Tuesday when 17 additional congregations, a mission, and six new church campuses joined its ranks. Of the new churches presented at the Georgia Baptist Convention's annual meeting, three are Hispanic; three are African American; two are Korean; one is Vietnamese; and one is Russian. The remainder were identified as Anglo congregations.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — The Georgia Baptist Mission Board will send an additional $300,000 to the North American Mission Board next year for planting new churches in the state. Thomas Hammond, executive director the state Mission Board, said that’s being done to help meet the demand for additional churches in a state that has had 300,000 people move into it between 2019 and 2022.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — For two years now, almost every church in America has been holding in-person worship services, but not every pre-pandemic worshiper has returned. The final Lifeway Research tracking data for U.S. Protestant churches’ COVID-19 recovery finds 100% (rounded to the nearest whole number) met in person in August 2023, capping off a rebound since the early months of the pandemic.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Georgia Baptists have given an additional $1.7 million to the International Mission Board to support missionaries serving around the world. Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director W. Thomas Hammond, accompanied by Finance Committee Chairman Steve Browning, Executive Committee Vice Chairman Stephen Fountain, Administration Committee Chairman Tim Oliver presented the check to IMB President Paul Chitwood at the Church on Main in Snellville.

This photo essay captures scenes from the second day of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s three-day annual meeting at Church on Main in Snellville, Ga. At the Monday sessions, among other events, participants gathered for a preaching conference, an Executive Committee meeting, and the first session of the GBC's annual meeting.

A church in our community hit a rough stretch several years ago. The staff, already ministering to members after a series of tragedies in the church family, suddenly faced the pastor losing his wife and infant during childbirth.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Christians have a sacred responsibility not only to get the gospel to people all over the world but also be people of godly character back home. Those were among the takeaways from challenging sermons preached by Jason Dees, pastor of Christ Covenant in Atlanta, and Chuck Chambers, senior pastor of Woolsey Baptist Church in Fayette County on the opening night of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s annual meeting.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Georgia Baptist pastors were reminded Monday that they’re engaged in spiritual warfare with souls on the line and that they must be unrelenting in preaching the gospel. That was an overarching theme in the Georgia Baptist Preaching Conference held at the Church on Main in Snellville on Monday afternoon.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. – Organizations that receive funding from the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation have reported 1,585 salvation decisions so far this year, the leader of the philanthropic group reported Monday. Executive Director Larry Wynn told the Georgia Baptist Executive Committee that the foundation’s grant recipients have introduced 21,421 people to Christ since it was created from the sale of the state’s Baptist hospitals in 2005.

This photo essay captures scenes from the first day of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s three-day annual meeting at Church on Main in Snellville, Ga. Some 1,200 Georgia Baptist church leaders had preregistered as messengers for the meeting that runs through Tuesday.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. – Johnson Ferry Baptist Church pastor Clay Smith challenged “young, old, and everyone in between” at the opening session of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s annual meeting to listen for God’s call on their lives to take the gospel to the nations. “There is a specific role for some of you to go — to go to another culture, to go to another nation, to go to another land,” Smith told a crowd of nearly 1,000 people gathered at the Church on Main in Snellville.

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — More than 1,100 messengers have preregistered for the Georgia Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, which kicks off Sunday at the Church on Main in Snellville. President Josh Saefkow, who will be seeking re-election to a second term, said the emphasis of the three-day gathering will be on Calling Out the Called, the title of a broader initiative aimed at identifying the next generation of church leaders and helping them navigate pathways to ministry.

Olga was pregnant when she and her husband, Arcadi, and their children had to leave their Russian-occupied hometown and flee to another area of Ukraine. The couple sought refuge at a ministry center for internally displaced people launched by local pastor Anton Burmistrov. Since they arrived in Lviv, they have not only welcomed the new life of their son, but they’ve found eternal life through the gospel.

I didn’t want to share my pie.  That sounds terrible, but it was blackberry — my very favorite.  While Mr. and Mrs. Walker had given it to my beloved for Pastor Appreciation Day, I knew it was actually for me, because they know it’s my very favorite.  My beloved doesn’t like the seeds, so it was all mine.  It’s one of those treasures from heaven I only get a few times of year.  I planned to enjoy every single morsel.

"Give me a break!"  I am sure you have heard this phrase or even said it a time or two. Honestly, I feel like I have said it so many times the last year or so – not necessarily in a …

SUWANEE, Ga. — Five years ago, Thomas Hammond was recommended to become executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board because of his heart for pastors and their churches and his passion for reaching wayward souls with the gospel. Now, he’s being applauded for his accomplishments in the role. The Georgia Baptist Administration Committee recognized Hammond on his fifth anniversary and thanked him for the strides the Mission Board has made in helping churches and their pastors navigate through uncertain times that included a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.