Twenty-four people walked across the platform of Warren Baptist Church recently on the eve of the 200th Anniversary of the GBC in Augusta. Each briefly shared their testimony and call to International Missions. Included in the Missionary Commissioning Service was a family who would serve as medical missionaries. They were probably unaware that Southern Baptist International Medical Missions was sealed in a prayer meeting held in the same city nearly 125 years earlier.

DULUTH, Ga. – Rhon Carter knows the benefit of music and worship leaders getting together to discuss their successes and failures. Carter, the worship and music catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, spent the past year leading a network of 18- to 28-year-old worship leaders from across the state who have gotten to know each other through monthly online get-togethers and one in-person gathering.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – John Howard is principal of the Logos Classical Academy, which meets in Warren Baptist Church in Augusta. John was the minister to students at Colonial Heights Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss. when I was the pastor there in the 1980s. Since then, he has served the Lord in Austria and in more recent years has given his life to the Christian education of children and youth.

 Betty Rooks Parr, age 87 of Hoschton, GA, passed away on Saturday, December 10, 2022. A Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, December 16, 2022 in the Lawrenceville Chapel of Tim Stewart Funeral Home with Dr. Steve Parr officiating. Interment will follow at Gwinnett Memorial Park.

Jared Mitcham believes that most people have the wrong impression of missionaries. Rather than seeing missionaries as regular people following God’s call on their lives, he says many have a different impression. “A lot of people view missionaries as ‘super Christians’… I want to dispel that myth and help others understand that we are just normal people who are following God’s call,” Mitcham noted.

The person standing at the street corner holding a sign that says, “The end is near,” may find more people would agree than they expect. Close to 2 in 5 Americans agree “we are living in the end times,” according to Pew Research. The study further divides the end-times believers into two groups: those who believe Jesus will return to Earth someday and the world situation will worsen until then (14% of Americans) and everyone else who believes these are the end times (25%).

GAINESVILLE, GA – There is nothing quite as remarkable and wonderful as the birth of a child, but the pain a woman may have to endure in childbirth is often excruciating. In Galatians 4:19 the Apostle Paul speaks of the emotional and physical experience of suffering which typically precedes the celebration of the birth of a child.

DALLAS, Ga. – For the first time since 2019, Legacy Baptist Church is once again preparing to bring to life the village of Bethlehem. Guests to the Legacy of Bethlehem event during the weekend of Dec. 9-11 will encounter villagers, Roman guards, live animals and ultimately, the Savior.

WASHINGTON  — Democratic lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation protecting same-sex marriages, a move that was adamantly opposed by evangelical Christians across the country.

Liza is my 9-year old granddaughter.  Liza has some sensory issues and sometimes struggles with different situations.  She is usually shy and it takes her a bit to warm up to new people and situations. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) – GracePointe Pastor Mark Bishop, who plunged 30 feet from his roof and preached two days later, says it was prayer that sustained him. Thousands of Kentucky Baptist friends and others were praying for the popular pastor after his wife alerted everyone to the accident on social media. “No one falls 30 feet and usually even lives from it,” he said. “I believe it was the prayers of God’s people.”

That day, it was only a poor, teenaged girl and the angel of the Lord (Luke 1:26-38). There was a lot to take in.  An angel.  Good news.  A baby on the way.  The Son of God. Mary listened.  Then she had a fair question: “How can this be?”

GLEN ALLEN, Va. – Paul Chitwood felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude when he stepped into the baptismal waters with his 10-year-old daughter Lilly, the youngest and last of his four children to accept Jesus as Savior. “My prayer has always been that God would allow me to see each of my children come to Christ,” said Chitwood, president of the International Mission Board.

SMYRNA, GA – Churches across America and around the world decorate their facilities for Christmas. Some decorations are modest, and others are extravagant, but all are beautiful, because of the intent of those who decorate and the meaning of the decorations.

Georgia is a lost state. According to recent studies by Pew Research, about one out of every three adults in Georgia has no connection with religion. This is much better than the bleak picture of New England’s Christian presence, but only about twenty percent of Georgia’s population is connected to Baptists of any stripe. When asked specific survey questions, Georgians responded with only 42% regular church attendance, 31% practicing corporate prayer with other Christians, and only 38% believing there are absolute standards for morality.

ROME, Ga. – Baseball-superstar-turned-evangelist Darryl Strawberry told student-athletes at Shorter University last week that Christ is all that matters. The eight-time MLB All-Star and four-time World Series Champion was the guest speaker at Shorter’s President’s Gala at the school last Thursday. Shorter President Dr. Don Dowless described Strawberry as “somebody who has gone through the darkest part of life only to find redemption in Christ.“

BUFORD, Ga. – Randy Kennedy, current interim/transitional pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Snellville, is one of the most winsome individuals you will ever meet. He is also versatile – very versatile. The affable minister is not only an excellent preacher, but he has had an effective ministry to many professional athletes through the years. He is an exceptional golfer himself. He knows how to use a very big pencil to challenge and motivate people, and he is a percussionist.

DULUTH, Ga. – Christmas season has officially begun, and ACTS2 is in step with four family-friendly Christmas films and several Christmas musical presentations from churches, colleges and other SBC-related entities. And the TV network is looking for more.

COLUMBUS, Ga. – Tashonda Stephens had enrolled in an education program at the Columbus Baptist Association to earn her GED. In the process, she found G-O-D. Stephens, a single mom of three boys, surrendered her life to Christ through the Christian Women’s Job Corps of Greater Columbus, a Southern Baptist ministry that’s intended to lift women out of poverty.

DULUTH, Ga. – In a move that will provide “an opportunity for more Cooperative Program funds to go to ministry and missions,” the Georgia Baptist Mission Board is moving out of its five-story executive office building into a smaller and more efficient space. The Mission Board has secured a letter of intent from a corporation that wants to lease the building at 6405 Sugarloaf Parkway beginning in the next two months.

Myra Edna Callaway Folsom of Villa Rica, Georgia, passed away Wednesday, November 30, 2022, at her home after a four month battle with cancer at 86 years of age. 

NASHVILLE (BP) – This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, Lifeway publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups. This week’s Bible study is adapted from The Gospel Project curriculum.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon  is a new documentary telling the story of how the legendary musician known as the Man in Black found the light of Jesus Christ.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tim Clark took a deep breath and dove underwater. He came up, took a breath, and swam – faster than he ever had in his life. The cheers of 1,500 people echoed off the brick walls of the Gladstone Community Center pool, but Tim couldn’t hear them. The water rushed by his ears, and the blue and white lane markers turned into a blur. He reached the far end of the pool, touched the wall, and swam back. He reached the end and resurfaced to the cheers of the crowd.

HINESVILLE, Ga. – Pastor Luis Trejo of Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana of Hinesville, Ga., has reached a ministerial milestone – 50 years of service. Trejo’s half-century in the pulpit was celebrated last month at the church where he serves as full-time senior pastor. “The greatest thing in my career,” he says, “has been to know Christ. Everything else flows from there.”