AUGUSTA, Ga. — Dr. Brad Whitt stood waist-deep in a pool Sunday evening, sending out ripples with each new believer he dipped beneath the water’s mirrored surface. Hundreds of people from Abilene Baptist Church had gathered at Camp Lakeside to see 21 people baptized in the sun-warmed waters.

According to early second-century Christian authors, Mark wrote his Gospel as recounted to him by Peter. Mark, writing as one discipled by Peter, wrote to the church at Rome during the 60s of the first century. Although rarely mentioned in the text, Mark was a companion of Paul and Peter as well as a cousin of Paul’s travel companion Barnabas.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 20th Annual Heritage Classic Golf Tournament ended triumphantly last week as 108 golfers came together at Big Spring Country Club to raise $249,800 for Southern Seminary and Boyce College student tuition. “We could not have had a better kickoff to our new academic year and the fall semester," said Vice President of Institutional Advancement Edward Heinze.

HODGENVILLE, Ky. (KT) – DeWayne Gibson’s everyday life is like a blur. Not only is he in his 18th year of teaching in LaRue County but he’s a chaplain two days a week at Baptist Health in Hardin and teaches classes at Campbellsville University.

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — Brewton-Parker College has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to construct an 8,000 sq/ft state-of-the-art nursing instructional facility on its campus. The facility will provide an opportunity for students to study in a simulated environment, adequately preparing them for the great demand for registered nurses in the area and across the state of Georgia.

SUWANEE, Ga. — Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief has been placed on standby in anticipation of Tropical Storm Idalia, which is expected to become a major hurricane by the time it reaches Florida’s Gulf coast on Tuesday. “Forecasts are not very pretty this morning,” Disaster Relief Director Dwain Carter told his volunteers Monday. “Predictions are not what we would like. Storm Track takes this as a Category 3 at land fall and a Category 1 hurricane from the south center of Georgia all the way up our coastline.”

SUWANEE, Ga. — Georgia Baptists, who give millions of dollars each year to reach the lost around the world, will focus their financial resources on their home state in the coming month. September has been set aside as the Mission Georgia emphasis month, meaning churches will spent the next four weeks encouraging members to get behind an effort to reach the state’s 7 million unchurched residents with the gospel.

DALLAS, Ga. – The Sons of Jubal brought their robust worship and singing to First Baptist Church in Dallas on Thursday. The Sons of Jubal are part of Jubal Ministries, which also includes the Jubalheirs women’s chorus, Jubal Symphony, and the Jubal Brass orchestra. The Sons of Jubal and Jubalheirs, each with more than 200 members plus instrumental accompanists, combine their voices a few times each year to form the Jubal Chorus.

KANSAS CITY, Mo—More than 1,200 students, staff, and community members gathered on Midwestern Seminary’s campus last week for Meet on the Lawn, an annual event featuring family fun, fellowship, food and dessert, and a concert by the Seattle-based band Citizens.

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Lahaina faces an uncertain future following the Aug. 8 wildfire that consumed the town. As survivors continue reckoning with the series of chaotic events that generated one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, local pastors and residents are asking what it will take to persevere through the tragedy. The latest official death count reached 114, but with roughly 850 people unaccounted for, the toll may climb significantly.

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Fort Worth City Council and its Housing Finance Corporation gave final approval Tuesday for an $11 million purchase of the remaining 15 acres of the Carroll Park Apartments, previously used for student housing at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. “I’m grateful for these actions and for the opportunity Southwestern has to partner with the City of Fort Worth to address the housing crisis in our city,” said President David S. Dockery. 

RICHMOND, Va. — International Mission Board staff welcomed 12 representatives of the Korea Foreign Mission Board to their home office in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday. The visit to Richmond was an opportunity for Korean leaders to tour the facility and hear more about current operations and advancements at the International Mission Board. Discussion was built around sharing ideas and learning from each other as the partnership between the two mission boards grows.

ATLANTA, Ga. — Standing-room-only crowds of students have been flocking to Baptist College Ministries on university campuses across Georgia as the new academic year gets underway. One of the largest gatherings involved 450 international students who gathered at Georgia Tech for  worship and a meal provided by First Baptist Church of Woodstock, said Beverly Skinner, collegiate ministry catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

My beloved is a great cook.  He stirs up delicious meals on a regular basis.  In the kitchen, he is a free spirit adding a dash of this and a pinch of that without measuring a thing.  With his Bluetooth speaker connected to his iPhone, he chops, slices, and dices.

I think I have said before that I take my 10-year-old granddaughter to school most mornings. On Tuesday, when she was getting in the car, I noticed three clothespins on her lunch bag. I thought it was a little odd so I asked her what they were there for. She proceeded to explain to me they have “encouragement cards” at school as one of their job assignments. another student. 

CLAYTON, Ga. — In the cool of the morning, Kevin McDade steers a golf cart along the main thoroughfare at the Pinnacle Retreat Center, discussing his first impressions of the Appalachian getaway where he now works. “When you drive through the gate, the anxiety of the world kind of leaves you,” McDade said. “It’s a peaceful feeling that you’re entering a special place, a place of rest. You can leave the stress of the world behind you when you come in.”

MAUI, Hawaii – As the Aug. 8 Maui fires raged out of control in Lahaina, local churches on the island that were outside the burn area immediately began grappling not with whether they would respond but how. Pastor Jay Haynes of Kahului Baptist Church in Kahului preached a pair of messages the last two weeks on grief and lament to help his congregation spiritually and emotionally navigate the trauma, including a message on Psalm 42.

FORT WORTH, Texas — David S. Dockery was officially installed as the tenth president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary during an investiture ceremony that was part of the Aug. 22 convocation service at the Fort Worth institution. 

As the busyness and complexity of life present new challenges to following Jesus, the Church’s mission remains the same: to make disciples who make disciples. This mission requires training, which is why Southeastern partners with local churches through its Equip Network to offer seminary-level courses in the context of the local church. Designed to supplement the local church’s training efforts, the Equip Network empowers local churches and ministry organizations to take an active role in the theological education of their students.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — A study from Lifeway Research has found that 52% of American Protestant churchgoers say their church teaches God will bless them if they give more money to their church and charities. That’s an increase from 38% of churchgoers surveyed in a similar study in 2017.

The former president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists—a critic of Russia’s war against Ukraine—recently fled his homeland when authorities pressed criminal charges against him. Russian officials charged Yuri Sipko, a former vice president of the Baptist World Alliance, with slandering the Russian military and posting “fake news” online about Russian armed forces involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

NEW ORLEANS — Jamie Dew, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary president, addressed students at last week's Convocation, saying that his hope for the seminary family in the new year is that they stay focused on a simple, but urgent goal. “There is one singular thing that ties everything together,” Dew said. “One thing that if we do this one thing, come what may, our Father will be pleased and our lives will be rich. What is that one thing? Love Him.”

ATLANTA — Fortune 500 companies looking for quality business leaders are finding that pastors make topnotch managers, motivators, and multitaskers. That’s according to Todd Linder, founder of Launch Point, an Atlanta-based firm that has carved out a niche in the business world nationally by helping pastors transition from churches to the secular marketplace. A significant increase in the number of pastors leaving ministry opened the door for the new venture.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. — Southeastern Seminary and The College at Southeastern President Danny Akin charged attendees to trust God and carry the gospel to the nations, sharing the story of Yvette Aarons, longtime Deaf missionary. During the fall 2023 convocation, the schools also celebrated three recently elected faculty and recognized dean’s list recipients in The College.

Usually when one refers to a “middleman,” it is with a tinge of frustration. Health insurance companies, contractors and even car salesmen can have us go through extra steps to complete the needed process. We each can relate to making a phone call and being placed on hold for an extended period just to have to talk to someone other than your desired contact. Other times, someone serving as a mediator or intermediary can be a blessing.