The National Woman’s Missionary Union executive board set the next missions offering goals and heard a challenge from executive director Sandy Wisdom-Martin on Sunday during the second day of the group’s three-day January Board Meeting. The 2023 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions goal was approved for $200 million, up from $196 million in 2022. The 2024 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions will be $75 million, up from the current $70 million for 2023.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Nearly 200 people from across the nation — and a few from around the globe — made their way to the National Woman’s Missionary Union office in Birmingham for the annual January Board Meeting this weekend. Activities kicked off Friday afternoon with a variety of breakout sessions, affinity group meetings and preliminary business meetings of the national WMU board, which is made up of state-level WMU presidents and executive directors.

SANDERSVILLE, Ga. – The director of Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief said chainsaw crews have completed a deployment to Sandersville where a tornado touched down earlier in the week. Dwain Carter said more than 20 volunteers have been on the scene since Wednesday. “I look for Disaster Relief volunteers to be there for a couple more days,”  he said. A line of storms brought at least four tornados and heavy rain to much of Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday.

KUTTAWA, Ky. (KT) — A tornado that destroyed the home of a western Kentucky man is also the instrument God used to change the 74-year-old man’s eternal destiny. A year and a day after a tornado ripped through western Kentucky on Dec. 10, 2021, Barry Stewart made a profession of faith at Macedonia Baptist Church, then was baptized this past Sunday. His salvation story testifies to the truth of Romans 8:28 — that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.

DULUTH, Ga. – Registration has opened for the Georgia Baptist Evangelism Conference, one of the state Mission Board’s most popular events, having drawn more than 1,500 participants last year. Levi Skipper, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board strategist who oversees the evangelism conference, said two locations were chosen for this year's event in late February and early March to make it easier for people to attend from all areas of the state.

During the much-anticipated faceoff between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night, in a regular play, after a regular tackle, Damar Hamlin, a 24-year-old football player, stood, staggered, then fell to the ground.  The unthinkable had happened:  He suffered cardiac arrest.  His heart had stopped.  Coaches, players, refs, and medical professionals rushed to assist.  CPR was administered for almost 10 minutes.  Finally, Damar was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Have you ever seen those so-called “noise-reducing” walls that line the expressway?  I see them along the highway every day on my drive to work from Jefferson down I-85. My grandkids have noise-reducing headphones they use mostly to block out the sound of thunder. Personally, I think I’m the one that needs the noise-reducing headphones but that’s a different story. So they are well aware of what the “wall” is for.  However, they are quite mystified by the doors that are strategically placed along the wall.

SANDERSVILLE, Ga. – Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief workers are in Sandersville where a suspected tornado caused localized property damage. “We have experienced, to this point, one tornado,” Dwain Carter, director of Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief, said Wednesday morning. “I have people on the ground currently and will deploy a recovery team there first thing in the morning.”

WASHINGTON — News that the Food and Drug Administration has finalized a rule change that makes abortion pills more widely available in pharmacies and via mail order has pro-life advocates alarmed. Mike Griffin, public affairs representative for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, called the FDA's action "terrible."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Most Protestant churchgoers spend time alone with God at least daily, but there’s a range in what they do in that time and what resources they use. According to a study by Lifeway Research, nearly 2 in 3 Protestant churchgoers intentionally spend time alone with God at least daily, with more than 4 in 10 saying they do so daily and more than 1 in 5 saying they do so more than once a day.

Bobbye Simmons Rankin, wife of former Southern Baptist International Mission Board President Jerry A. Rankin, died Jan. 2 in her home state of Mississippi.  She was 78. Bobbye served with her husband more than 20 years as a missionary to Asia before he was named IMB president in 1993.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. -- The College at Southeastern celebrated its first commencement at its Wake County Extension Center in 2022, recognizing the achievements of five incarcerated women who graduated with an associate's degree. That's one of the many ways Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and its affiliated college is helping to fulfill the Great Commission.

VALDOSTA, Ga. – Exhilaration is a certainty at the Wild Adventures amusement park in Valdosta. But salvation? That was the case for 20 students who attended the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s MOVE Conference, a two-day Christian experience for middle and high school students at a venue billed as 170 acres of rides, slides and exotic animals. Another 73 said they felt called to become either ministers or missionaries.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Having spent over a decade of time behind bars, coupled with a long history of drug abuse, Keanon Hurst is perhaps one of the last people you would expect to find on Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s campus, let alone behind a pulpit. A native of eastern Nebraska, Keanon describes himself in childhood as “the outcast who would do and say things to just get attention.” “It was obvious from a young age I was headed down the wrong path,” he said.

JACKSON, Tenn. — Adrian Knipper loves the Lord, and he loves people. As a pastor for almost 30 years, Knipper has visited, counseled and prayed with many people.  In 2017, Knipper retired as pastor of Porter’s Creek Baptist Church in Middleton after an extended illness left him homebound and confined to a wheelchair. At the time, he had no idea that his prayer ministry was about to multiply exponentially.  

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide some five decades ago. The ruling in June opened the way for Georgia to put an end to nearly all abortions. "God has heard and answered our prayers on behalf of the most helpless of human beings," said Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

I can hardly believe we are so close to the end of another year. I have been doing a good bit of reflecting lately. I am going to be honest and say this past year has been a hard one for me, not so much physically but emotionally.  There have been changes at work that resulted in friends retiring, there have been strained relationships that I never thought could be strained, there have been financial issues, there have been sicknesses and surgeries, just a good many things.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In 2022, Lifeway Christian Resources celebrated the impact of new and legacy ministry experiences while looking toward the future and fresh opportunities for growth. “This past year was a year of great gains for our organization, and I’m so proud of what our team has accomplished,” said Lifeway President and CEO Ben Mandrell. “I could point to any number of fruitful new resources and events we launched this year or the many national recognitions Lifeway received, but our greatest measure of success is always how we’re helping fuel ministry through the local church."

DULUTH, Ga. – Some congregations have missed the initial deadline for completing what’s known as the Annual Church Report, a census of sorts for the Georgia Baptist Convention. But it’s not too late to complete the fill-in-the-blank report that can be completed in a matter of minutes.

Georgia Baptists were busy in 2022 sharing the gospel in communities throughout Georgia, across the country and around the world. Here is a look back at the year through images published in The Christian Index.

Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers were busy in 2022 responding to disasters around the state,  nation and world. From  Georgia to Kentucky, Florida to Colorado, and overseas to Poland,  they offered help, hope and healing to people impacted by catastrophes.

SWAINSBORO, Ga. – Revival arrived in Swainsboro in June when more than 50 people responded to an invitation to receive Christ during a four-night crusade in the city’s auditorium. “There was just an atmosphere that was ripe for salvation,” Joe Bedgood, the evangelism director in the Emanuel Missionary Baptist Association, said at the time. Similar instances of revival were reported across Georgia throughout 2022, netting thousands of salvation decisions in some of the state’s smallest communities and largest cities.

MARIETTA, GA – In A Charlie Brown Christmas Movie, Charlie said, “Rats. Nobody sent me a Christmas card today. I almost wish there weren’t a holiday season. I know nobody likes me. Why do we have a holiday season to emphasize it?” Unlike Charlie Brown there are millions of Christians who find themselves enmeshed in the spirit of Christmas, joined with their loved ones sharing centuries-old traditions and rejoicing in the amazing glory of the incarnation. For many families Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.

“And there were shepherds …” (Luke 2:8-20).  How fitting.  Moses had been one for many years and then became a shepherd to the people of Israel in the desert.  David had been a shepherd as a boy.  He penned our most favored Psalm.  Often seen on cards or shared at funerals, Psalm 23 shares David’s heart about his relationship with his Heavenly Father:  The “LORD is my shepherd.”  He leads, He restores, He guides, He protects, He comforts.  All characteristics of a Good Shepherd.

The week of Christmas. So much to do. Presents to wrap. Food to cook. Shopping to do. And so much more.  I was up early this morning purposefully because I had so much to do.  I was enjoying my coffee and quiet time and the Lord spoke to me and reminded me of the gift of written words, gifts from the heart, gifts that last.  You see, I am a writer of notes and cards and in turn I love receiving them. I’m pretty sure words of affirmation is my love language.