LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Dr. Mark Dance has been selected as the next executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC).  The ABSC Executive Board unanimously approved the recommendation of the Operating Committee, which served as the search team, during a meeting held Tuesday, Aug. 19. The decision makes Dance the 36th executive director in the 177-year history of the Convention that began in 1848.    

IRVINE, Ky. (KT) – A recent shooting at a church in Lexington, Ky., underscored the importance of training for the improbable for Calvary Baptist Church Pastor Tim Roberts.

CLEVELAND, Ga. — Truett McConnell University is proud to announce the official launch of its first doctoral program, the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Actionable Leadership and Innovation, housed within the Hans Hut School of Business.

DULUTH, Ga. — Some Georgia Baptist Churches are partnering with Good News Clubs to evangelize boys and girls with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, disciple them in the Word of God, and establish them in a local church for Christian living.

PENSACOLA, Fla. — “We have an incredible staff who is not afraid of getting their hands dirty, and we could not have pulled this off without their servant leadership,” said Wade Rials, senior pastor, East Brent Baptist Church in Pensacola.

MEXIA, Texas — Earlier this year, there was dirt in the baptistery at FBC Mexia. That’s how long it had been since it had been used. The church had lost about 100 people per decade since the 1990s, and they were down to about 115 when Robert Blackmon arrived to pastor the church last fall. All the ministerial staff had left, as well as the audio/visual team and the praise team. 

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention’s Office for Abuse Prevention and Response has launched a revamped helpline for those needing assistance with matters related to sexual abuse.

I want to share a story about my youngest daughter. When she was much younger, there was a place that she and I would often visit for lunch. Close to the cash register was a bowl filled with peppermints. Let me be clear. I always instructed her to take no more than two pieces of candy each time.

Psalm 5 is a beautiful psalm of a believer praying to God. In a search for the title given to this psalm by different scholars, I found their descriptive titles for Psalm 5 interesting: “The God Who Hears Prayers,” “A God-Saturated Life,” “Prayer for Guidance,” “Deliverance from Dangerous Deception,” “Plea for Deliverance,” “Overthrow of the Ungodly,” “Prayer for Deliverance,” “Responding to Life-Threatening Falsehood,” “Cloudy Dawn” and “How to Begin Each Day in a Good Way.”

Pregnant and 17. Olive was depressed and scared. Being a teenage mom wasn’t what she had envisioned for her life. But maybe being a teenage mother didn’t have to be the trajectory of her life. It could all be over with a trip to a clinic, and no one would know. Except her sister and family knew. And they wanted her to keep the baby. 

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — SPARK 2025, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board's church-strengthening conferences, is set for six locations across Georgia this fall, will feature a premier slate of keynote speakers, and an expansive offering of more than 50 breakout sessions designed to equip churches for gospel-centered ministry.

FORT WORTH, Texas — More than 300 students and their families were served at Supply Day, held Wednesday, Aug. 13, on the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary campus. The annual event provides items for seminary and Texas Baptist College students to help them settle into their new “home away from home” on the Fort Worth campus.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This summer, Midwestern Seminary faculty members John Meade and Peter Gurry traveled to the Netherlands to serve pastors and ministry leaders from around the globe by teaching on the authority of Scripture. The two were invited to speak at the fifth annual Preachers and Leaders Conference hosted by Tyndale Theological Seminary in Amsterdam, as well as to co-teach an intensive course titled The History of the Bible.

NEW ORLEANS — Adam Hughes, an experienced ministry leader and associate professor of expository preaching, has been named director of the Doctor of Ministry program at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. 

TIFTON, Ga. — A college student decided to become an assistant baseball coach at a local school just to strategically engage his skills in a place where he could share the gospel. A few girls influenced their entire sorority to get up early on Sundays to go to church and sit under the Word. Two college students have started an accountability group of ten on their campus, with evangelism and multiplication as the goal.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Coleen Pethel was a 19-year-old bride when she and her husband, Jack, joined Central Baptist Church in Gainesville in 1948. Central Baptist soon became a central part of the life of their family.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — Three years ago, during a regular meeting at Stevens Street Baptist Church in Cookeville, pastor Scott Parkinson tapped Jesse Haywood on the shoulder and asked, “Hey, do you want to plant a church?”

Christ-following college students and young adults have a passion to serve, said Easton Vinson, who serves as minister to young adults at First Baptist Church of Lafayette, Louisiana.

CLAYTON, Ga. — In her first year as camp director, Allison Harvey led Camp Pinnacle through a summer of life-changing decisions for Christ. Eighteen campers made professions of faith, nine sensed a call to missions, and three expressed a desire to return in the future as cabin leaders.

FORSYTH, Ga. — For 13-year-old Bryleigh Freston, who is hearing-impaired, her first Christian camp was more than just a week outdoors. At Camp Kaleo in Forsyth this July, she found new friends, thrilling wilderness adventures, and a welcoming place to grow in her faith.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A search committee has been elected to lead the effort in calling the next president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — When a church steps out of the ordinary and decides to do something unconventional or unusual, if bathed in prayer, effectively planned, and carefully implemented, it can lead to a grand and glorious success.

The story of Jesus leaving the 99 to rescue the one sheep who wandered off resonated with Martina, a shepherdess. Other Bible stories shared by International Mission Board missionaries Phil and Laura Metcalf seemed hard for her to understand. 

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Cal Hampton was 60 years old and thought he might be losing his mind. The longtime pastor, firmly rooted in a beloved ministry in Wayne County, felt God calling him to leave, relocate, and plant a church.

School is starting in these parts. The beginning of school brings out many emotions in educators and educatees. Excitement tags along with nervousness as young and old get back in the groove of daily learning.