NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Louisiana pastor Fred Luter sees great opportunity in the Unify Project, a new national grassroots racial unity initiative he’s leading with former Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton and Dallas-area pastor Tony Evans. Luter, Litton and Evans announced the Unify Project at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim with plans to launch the pastor-driven program in the fall, backed by a diverse core steering committee.

DULUTH, Ga. – Abortions continue in Georgia nearly a week after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the procedure 50 years ago. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr filed a brief in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, asking that the state’s law banning abortions after a heartbeat is detected be allowed to take effect immediately. Instead, the 11th Circuit gave lawyers three weeks to file written briefs addressing how the Supreme Court decision impacts the “heartbeat law.”

LITHONIA, Ga.  – Today, Luther Rice College and Seminary launched its newest degree program, a Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Leadership. Luther Rice is now accepting applications …

Medical missionaries gathered in Virginia last week for MedAdvance 2022. The gathering is indended to give students and church leaders opportunities to connect with IMB missionaries and leaders,  discover how God is at work as healthcare missionaries share stories from around the world, and learn how to serve God’s mission at home and overseas using God-given talents, skills and experiences in the healthcare field.

The theme of the 6th Baptist World Alliance, held in Atlantas in 1939, was “Freedom of Religion.” The event was billed as the largest gathering of Baptists in the history of the state, located in “the heart of the Baptist world.”

DULUTH, Ga. – Church leaders in Georgia celebrated Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision siding with a high school football coach who kneeled and prayed on the field after games as a great win for all believers. Justices ruled 6-3 in favor of the Coach Joseph Kennedy of Washington state, saying his prayer was protected by the First Amendment.

MARIETTA, Ga. – Suzanne and Rachel Guy exude kindness. It shines in their eyes. It resonates in their voices. The mother-daughter duo from First Baptist Church in Woodstock have been on the frontlines of the battle over abortion for years, but their approach has been markedly different from the more militant pro-lifers often seen on television news programs in front of abortion clinics waving graphic signs and shouting hateful rhetoric.

ATHENS, Ga. – They’re older now with graying hair and laugh lines, but a group of retired missionaries who spent much of their lives delivering the gospel to Uruguay haven’t lost their passion for serving the Lord. Some 25 of them gathered with hugs and handshakes at Sabor Latino restaurant in Athens on Thursday to enjoy some Uruguayan cuisine while reminiscing about the good old days of preaching and teaching in cities and towns in the South American country of 3.5 million people.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This month marks seven years since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage with its Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Five years later, the 2020 American Community Survey from the United States Census Bureau estimated there were more than 570,000 same-sex married couple households in the United States.

Genesis 6:5-6 reveals the state of the world before the flood: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become … and His heart was filled with pain.”   A few verses later we read of all those living in the whole world there was one righteous man:  Noah.  He was blameless among the people, and he walked with God.  He was the only one. 

DULUTH, Ga. – The fiery preacher who has led the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s state-level evangelism efforts for the past year is moving to the national stage next month. JJ Washington will start a new job as the North American Mission Board’s national director of personal evangelism on July 18.

Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber said Wednesday he intends to appoint members to a task force to implement sexual abuse reforms by the end of July. Barber said a video posted to Twitter that making the appointments will be one of the most important thing he will do this year.

DENTON, Texas (BP) – Lamar Eugene Cooper Sr. spent his career serving Southern Baptist institutions of higher learning as a noted Hebrew and Old Testament scholar. Cooper died peacefully at home on Saturday, June 18. He was 80.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The search team looking for Ronnie Floyd’s replacement as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee issued a call for nominees on Tuesday. Recommendations can be submitted through a portal at sbc.net/ecsearch. Submissions through mail can be sent to the SBC Executive Committee, 901 Commerce St., Nashville, TN 37203.

ATLANTA – Abortion rights activists have ramped up attacks on pro-life organizations and individuals as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to release a ruling that could overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Some pro-life organizations have had their buildings fire-bombed. Others have been vandalized and had messages spray-painted on their walls.

PALMETTO, GA – Someone has stated, “Retirement is when you stop living at work and begin to work at living.” Cecil and Ann Clegg have found a wonderful place to spend their retirement years and seem to be as happy as clams at high tide. They have chosen one of Georgia Baptists’ retirement communities to live out their golden years.

Impact Camp is a strategic discipleship camp for students designed to catalyze intense spiritual growth through intentional small groups. As students worship, grow, discuss, play, and eat with …

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – In an exhibit hall crowded with booths and banners and flags and foam-core signs, two things stood out at Anaheim Convention Center where more than 10,000 Southern Baptists met this week. Hugs and handshakes.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) — Leaders at Southern Seminary didn’t have to look far to find the school’s new provost. Seminary President Albert Mohler announced on Wednesday at the school’s annual luncheon at the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, that Graham School Dean Paul Akin has been named Southern’s provost and senior vice president for academic administration.

First Samuel 17 tells a gigantic true story of a young man who fully trusted God. While every other soldier was shaking in his sandals, David knew he could defeat the giant Goliath who was over 9 feet tall.  He believed in God.  He trusted God.  And he remembered what God had already helped him through. 

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Southern Baptists around the world were able to tune into this year’s annual meeting via ACTS2 TV, a creation of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. Some 5,000 people have signed up for the streaming service, and over the two days of the annual meeting, an average of 2,000 of them were watching the proceeding at any one time.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – An organization created to speak on behalf of Southern Baptists about moral and ethical issues in Washington has survived a vote to abolish it.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Sexual predators have used the Southern Baptist Convention’s decentralized polity “to try to turn our churches into a hunting ground.” So says newly elected SBC President Bart Barber.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – A proposal to kick a California megachurch out of the Southern Baptist Convention for ordaining women pastors stirred debate among messengers at an annual meeting in Anaheim but ultimately fizzled.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Southern Baptists have chosen a Texan to lead them out of a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday, the first day of a two-day annual meeting being held at the Anaheim Convention Center.