LVIV, Ukraine (BP) – While others have fled to safety, 80 percent of the 1,300 students at Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary (UBTS) have chosen to stay in the country to serve those in need. In cities as close as 15 miles to warzones, students have fed, clothed, housed and sheltered refugees.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) – This past Sunday, Heritage Baptist Church made a historic step toward reaching their neighbors – they called Frederick L. Harris Sr. to be their minister of one …

ULVADE, Texas (BP) – As the local community in Uvalde, Texas, continues to grieve this Tuesday’s (May 24) tragic school shooting, Luis Lopez, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s executive director for Hispanic relations and mobilization, has been ministering to the community by listening and reminding of God’s love.

Military chaplain and pastor Marc Unger remembers the last time he saw his son. Before deploying to Kuwait with his National Guard unit, Daniel Unger told his dad, "I’m right with Jesus."

NASHVILLE (BP) – A previously undisclosed list of alleged and convicted sexual abusers, compiled over several years by an employee of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee board, is now publicly accessible online at https://www.sbc.net/satf/.

Christa Brown, the retired attorney and grandmother, has told her story of sexual abuse and survival for decades, in news interviews, blogposts, articles and books. But when she approached the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee in 2006 to share her traumatic story of being raped as a 16-year-old more than 30 times by her Southern Baptist youth minister, many in power didn’t listen.

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) – Southern Baptist leaders commended the enactment of Oklahoma’s latest ban on abortion. “Oklahoma thankfully has been a national leader in the efforts to save unborn lives and to end legalized abortion,” said Todd Fisher, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Most Christians say they’re ready, willing and praying to have conversations about their faith with others, but many admit they haven’t gotten around to actually having those conversations recently. An Evangelism Explosion study conducted by Lifeway Research found Christians express a willingness and desire to talk to others about their faith, yet few have shared with someone how to become a Christian in the past six months.

ATLANTA – Martha Day was moved to action when she realized huge numbers of impoverished mothers-to-be in the U.S. are going without prenatal vitamins. “For women who are struggling to put food on the table, buying vitamins just isn’t always an option,” said Day, co-founder of The Vitamin Bridge, a nonprofit organization that’s supplying prenatal supplements to 28 organizations that minister to expectant mothers.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – North American Mission Board (NAMB) president Kevin Ezell and NAMB Board of Trustees chairman Eric Thomas issued a joint statement Wednesday outlining steps NAMB will be taking to identify, investigate and address issues of sex abuse.

They come from all walks of life, but they share the same passion: to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Missionary candidates describe their experience with the International Mission Board procedure for vetting and preparing those who would serve throughout the world.

Tuesday night, I went to sleep praying for the families in Uvalde, Texas.  They had experienced their worst nightmare, losing their innocent little children in an unimaginable act of violence.  My head hurt as I pondered their emotions. 

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Guidepost Solutions report released Sunday regarding allegations of mishandling sexual abuse claims by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee included a detailed audit of “procedures and actions taken by the Credentials Committee.”

Members of the Baptist General Convention of Texas family are responding following a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen students and two adults were killed by a gunman on Tuesday.

UVALDE, Texas (BP) – Ten minutes. Maybe 12. That’s the time from when Neftali Barboza and his wife, Hilda, left Robb Elementary School yesterday until The Call. Their son, Levi, still had his All A’s Honor Roll certificate and was in the truck with them. The caller was relieved to hear it, because a shooter had just entered the school.

Sugar Hill Church and Pastors’ Hope Network are excited to announce a new partnership to provide resources to ministers in transition in Georgia. Pastors’ Hope Network is a Christian …

UVALDE, Tx. (BP) — The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has dispatched ministers to South Texas to minister to the community and assist with relief in the wake of an elementary school shooting earlier Tuesday. At the time of this report, the Associated Press is reporting that 18 school children and three adults were killed at Robb Elementary School. Uvalde is a town of roughly 16,000 residents located about 85 miles west of San Antonio.

NASHVILLE (BP) – A hotline has been established to allow those affected by sexual abuse within Southern Baptist churches. The number is 202-864-5578. According to the joint statement from the SBC Executive Committee, Guidepost Solutions and the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force, “Since the release of the Guidepost report on Sunday, the SBC Executive Committee, Guidepost Solutions, and members of the Sexual Abuse Task Force have been fielding calls from survivors regarding allegations of sexual abuse.”

State executives in the Southern Baptist Convention have expressed strong emotions, including grief  and heartbreak, in the wake of an independent investigation that found the denomination’s Executive Committee tried to cover up instances of sexual abuse. Here are responses from some of them:

ONTARIO, Calif. – During spring commencement services on May 20, Gateway Seminary President Jeff Iorg bid graduates to obey the Great Commission regardless of hindrances.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (BP) – As Buffalo mourns the murder of 10 African Americans in a racially motivated supermarket massacre, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Interim President and CEO Willie McLaurin is conducting a ministry of presence.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee rebuked a 2006 statement by a former staff member discrediting the worth of communication between the EC and sexual abuse survivors, pledging to release a previously undisclosed list of alleged and convicted abusers.

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Morning Center has awarded Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director Thomas Hammond the Champion of Life Award. Daphne Nicely, executive director of the crisis pregnancy center, presented the award at the Mission Board's offices in Duluth on Tuesday for Hammond's support for its ministry to women in need.

CARNESVILLE, Ga. – Anyone living within a 7-mile radius of New Bethel Baptist Church has either already had a personal visit from the congregation or soon will. Pastor Joey Gilbert is convinced knocking on doors remains the best way to reach people, especially in the rural South where hospitality almost always assures a warm welcome and an invitation to sit a spell. Gilbert and his congregation are about three-fourths of the way through an initiative to visit every home in their sparsely populated section of northeast Georgia.

Believers at Legacy Baptist Church in Dallas, Ga., celebrated four baptisms on Sunday, May 22, 2022. Pastor Ryan Vargas baptized two young believers and a married couple, bringing to six the number …