It was the first time we had been to the jail since COVID.  Two long years.  Though we had prayed for them often, seeing the women face to face was what we had longed for. As we prepped for our first Bible study in 24 months, on Easter, it was easy to overthink it.  Because of visitation, we had to meet at seven in the morning.  Would they even come out that early?  Would it be chaotic?  Tamping down distracting thoughts, we pressed on.  This was the open door we had prayed for.  We would surely march through it.

“Ministry is the toughest job you will ever love,” W. Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said a chapel message at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary last week.

DULUTH, Ga. – The Georgia Baptist Mission Board is launching an initiative to help congregations during those stressful first weeks after pastors resign or retire. “The first six weeks can be difficult,” said Mark Marshall, assistant executive director at the state Mission Board. “The first few weeks without a pastor can be difficult for a church. There are a number of questions of what to do next.”

NASHVILLE (BP) – The cost of the investigation into alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has reached $1.7 million since being commissioned last fall, according to invoice summaries provided to Baptist Press. The budget provided by Guidepost Solutions, the firm contracted to conduct the investigation, originally projected the investigation to cost between $1.3 million and $1.6 million.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Chairman Rolland Slade announced Monday (April 18) that the SBC Executive Committee will hold a special called meeting Thursday, April 28. The meeting is being called primarily to discuss the relocation of the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting currently slated to be held June 13-14, 2023, in Charlotte, N.C.

LEXINGTON, Ga. – Easter brought the largest crowds in at least two years to Georgia Baptist churches, a clear indication that people have put the COVID-19 pandemic behind them and have returned to in-person worship. “The hand of God was on our churches this year for Easter in a special way,” said Scott Smith, director of communications for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) – The board of trustees at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College approved a $12 million plan to make critical campus renovations including updates to student housing, the cafeteria and the student center during its spring meeting April 12-13.

ROCK SPRING, Ga. – With signs of revival sweeping across a post-COVID Georgia, Peavine Baptist Church in the northern region of the state recorded 111 professions of faith over the Easter weekend. The Rock Springs congregation, with 3,771 people in attendance, also baptized 29 people.

MILLEN, Ga. – More than 40 people made professions of faith in the small Georgia town of Millen last week as spiritual revival continued to sweep across the state. “I’ve never seen a move of the Lord like this,” said Millen Baptist Church Pastor Brad Asbury, one of the preachers who led revival services in the town’s Pal Theater. “What we’re seeing is a real hunger for God’s word.”

The letters LGI are boldly displayed on the copula of the city of Locust Grove municipal building. A nearby marker explains the building once housed the Locust Grove Institute (1894-1929. It was one of more than 40 private Baptist high schools scattered across Georgia and one of hundreds across the South.

MONROE, Ga. – The Walnut Grove cluster of schools is heaping praise on Pastor Tommy Fountain Sr., his wife, Dianne, and 1025 Church for their ministry to children.

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – Kenneth S. Hemphill, seventh president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has been appointed distinguished fellow of the Hemphill Center for Church Revitalization and senior professor of church revitalization in the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, President Adam W. Greenway announced Thursday.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – The submission portal for 2022 SBC resolutions will open on Friday. In accordance with SBC Bylaw 20, proposed resolutions may be submitted as early as April 15 but no later than 15 days prior to the SBC Annual Meeting, giving the Resolutions Committee a two-week period in which to consider submissions.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton has announced his appointments to the 2022 Committee on Committees. Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Ala., announced the chair and vice chair for the committee last fall, naming Jeremy Freeman, pastor of First Baptist Church, Newcastle, Okla., as chair, and Amanda Stanton, member of Calvary Church, Clearwater, Fla., as vice chair.

MESQUITE, Texas (BP) – A Texas youth pastor is being held on a $2.5 million bond after being arrested on three counts of sexual abuse related to a minor. Conner Jesse Penny, 32, was arrested April 5 and charged with one count of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child, one count of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child, and one count of Indecency with a Child.

Here we have a gripping and gruesome tale in which God’s chosen deliverer assassinated the Moabite king and then led a successful fight for freedom which established peace in Israel for eighty years.  The emphasis on Eglon’s extreme size and how the dagger/sword disappeared into his abundant abdomen conjures up an image of Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.   In the face of the such a striking story many a reader asks:  Did God send Ehud to assassinate King Eglon and did Ehud lie when he said he had a message from God, but then stabbed the king to death?

THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The number of new Christians in Georgia grew by another 19 in revival services over the past four days at Pineland Baptist Church in Thomasville in the state’s southwest region. The new converts join hundreds of other Georgians who have made professions of faith in recent weeks in what denominational leaders hope is the beginning of a widespread spiritual awakening.

As Easter approaches, I’ve been thinking about Mary. When she and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to present Him to the Lord (Luke 2:22), was the stable delivery still fresh in their minds? 

MOUNT VERNON, Ga. — Brewton-Parker College has completed its 5th Annual Southern Classic Golf Tournament presented by Metter Ford at the Willow Lake Golf Club in Metter, Georgia.

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – Too many among us fail to give appropriate attention to our past because they find history irrelevant to the present. This unfortunate preoccupation with only the present day, however, robs us of important knowledge and context that can greatly benefit us when we consider current challenges. This framework is especially true for Baptist history as it pertains to how the Southern Baptist Convention was organized and changed over time resulting in our present structure and method of denominational cooperation.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – WMU will host a two-day excursion on coach buses on June 12–13, providing the opportunity to engage with 20-plus ministry leaders prior to the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California.

DULUTH, Ga. – The complexity of the sale of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s office building is delaying closing on a deal that would provide millions of dollars for a new endowment fund to strengthen ministry in the state.

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Braves will be helping to bring attention to the work Georgia Baptists are doing to provide medical and dentalcare to the working poor, to rescue victims of human trafficking, to get refugees from war-torn countries into homes and jobs in the Peach State, and more.

More than 110 pastors and ministry leaders gathered in Oklahoma City for the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) Spring Board Meeting and Lifeway sponsored “Big Results” Sunday School Retreat, March 24-26. Oklahoma Baptists hosted both of the national meetings at the Baptist Building.

The College at Southeastern announces its new Bachelor of Business Administration program with the goal of training students for Great Commission service in the business sector and equipping church and missions workers to be strategic stewards in a variety of contexts.