NASHVILLE (BP) – As the holiday season approaches, chart-topping bluegrass band “Chosen Road,” hopes touring their new Christmas album “Appalachian Christmas,” will help encourage rural, revitalizing churches.  Hailing from West Virginia, Chosen Road is known for their Appalachian-bluegrass musical style, which they use to “reimagine” classic Christian worship songs.

This Bible study expands upon the Explore the Bible curriculum from Lifeway Christian Resources. This week's study focuses on Hosea 14:1–9.

NASHVILLE (BP) — A commitment to affirming Southern Baptist polity and the Baptist Faith and Message remains central during a discussion over women serving as pastors, say SBC Executive Committee Chairman Jared Wellman and SBC President Bart Barber in a joint statement.

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — On October 18, 2022, members of the community came together for Brewton-Parker College’s first annual President’s Gala. This year’s special guest was Mark Richt, the former head coach for the University of Georgia’s football team. The funds raised during this event will be used to support the students and the college as it continues to grow.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – More than 1,200 messengers have pre-registered for the Georgia Baptist Convention’s annual meeting slated to begin Sunday at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta. The milestone gathering commemorating 200 years of cooperative ministry among Georgia Baptist churches will begin with a send-off for the latest crop of International Mission Board missionaries being deployed overseas, some to places so dangerous they’ll be silhouetted behind screens to hide their identities.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As churchgoers head to the ballot box for midterm elections, most expect the rest of their congregation to be voting the same way they do. Half of U.S. Protestant churchgoers say they’d prefer to attend a church where people share their political views, and 55% believe that to be the case at their congregation already, according to a study from Lifeway Research.

MACON, Ga. – Jean Burton got the idea for her sewing ministry after injuries in a car crash caused her to have to rely on a walker during a lengthy stay in a rehabilitation facility and later an assisted living center. Burton found no easy way to carry personal items while using a standard walker, and she quickly realized she wasn’t the only one dealing with the inconvenience.

This Bible study expands upon the Explore the Bible curriculum from Lifeway Christian Resources. This week's study focuses on Hosea 14:1–9.

Lynell Lovinggood wishes she had written down the date when a woman she didn’t know prayed a heartfelt prayer over her because she remembers hearing her ask for a kidney that was a perfect match.  “And that’s exactly what happened,” Lovinggood related. 

ROME, Ga.  – Shorter University honors three graduates who have made significant impacts across the U.S. in Christian ministry, non-profit work, and in the communications field as winners of its annual Distinguished Alumni Awards.

Americans are open to the supernatural, just maybe not the biblical version. A YouGov poll found that 2 in 3 Americans believe they have experienced at least one of 13 paranormal encounters, like seeing an object or hearing a voice without an explanation. For each individual event, however, most say they don’t have a personal experience.

In the years following the Civil War, many new African American congregations were started by the freedmen. This was followed by the creation of new African American Associations in 1866 and the state-wide Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia organized in 1870.

This Bible study expands upon the Bible Studies for Life curriculum from Lifeway Christian Resources. This week's study focuses on Psalm 1:1–6; Philippians 4:8.

ROGERS, Ark. (LBM) – A tent at a motorcycle rally served as a tabernacle of sorts for 81 new believers who offered themselves as “living sacrifices” in turning their lives over to Christ during the recent “Bikes, Blues and Barbecue Rally” in Rogers, Arkansas.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Long before William Branch became a professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was known as one of the most influential Christian hip-hop artists of all-time, “The Ambassador.” Branch’s music career carries on, as his new EP “The Invitation,” was released last week..

SARASOTA, Fla. – Carpet cleaners helping to remove the mess Hurricane Ian left inside First Baptist Church in Sarasota received a cleansing of their own after an encounter with a Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief team deployed to Florida to help survivors. “It was a divine appointment,” said Chris Fuller, one of the Georgians who served in Florida. “One thing led to another, and they sat down in the sanctuary of the church where the gospel was presented and received by both men.”

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary confirmed with Baptist Press on Thursday that the entity has initiated layoffs a week after announcing steps to rectify a financial environment that could “quickly escalate to a crisis.” 

Rubén Torres, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo (Victory in Christ Baptist Church), is expected to be nominated for vice president of the Georgia Baptist Convention at the annual meeting next month in Augusta. Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo is the Hispanic mission of First Baptist Jonesboro.

For two hundred years the Georgia Baptist Convention has been gathering to debate, deliberate, celebrate, commemorate, vote, fellowship, and worship. To collectively give approval to the ongoing, cooperative work of Georgia Baptists to reach Georgia and the world for Christ. Some more memorable than the others and one in 1837 possibly the most memorable of them all.

DULUTH, Ga. – Southern Baptists across the nation are capitalizing on ACTS2, a streaming service created by the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, to broadcast state-level annual meetings to the masses. “It’s just one more way ACTS2 seeks to be the place where all Southern Baptists are ‘together in one place’ as the Bible says in Acts 2:1,” said programming director Jon Graham.

Genesis tells the magnificent story of creation.  “God called the dry ground ‘land’ and the gathered waters He called ‘seas.’  And God saw that it was good,” (1:10).  And it WAS.  Looking at the ocean this week, “good” is a small word that describes an indescribably wonderful thing.  It all takes my breath.

NEW ORLEANS - When New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary evangelism professor Jeff Farmer discovered he could stay in the homes of other bike enthusiasts during his 16,400-mile “motorcycle sabbatical,” it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Farmer booked his stays through a website where bikers and bike enthusiasts open their homes to traveling bikers.

FORSYTH, Ga. – More than a dozen Hispanic Baptist pastors gathered this past weekend at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s Camp Kaleo for encouragement, instruction and worship. Rolando Ruiz, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Hispanoamericana in Lilburn, Ga., and president of the Georgia Hispanic Baptist Association, organized the event.

This Bible study expands upon the Bible Studies for Life curriculum from Lifeway Christian Resources. This week's study focuses on 2 Timothy 2:14-19, 22-26.

CHILLICOTHE, Mo. – Not many people can say they have ridden a motorcycle for Jesus, let alone performed death-defying stunts in front of thousands and on international television to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, those involved with the Missouri Baptist Convention’s L.I.F.E Outreach initiative can.