BELVIDERE , Tenn. — It started with one boy’s simple wish: to be baptized like Jesus in natural water. That desire eventually led to a day of faith that brought 22 people to the banks of Boiling Fork Creek.

WADESBORO, N.C. — The breeze was still blowing at midnight across a quiet country pond when Pastor Mark Perko realized he had drifted across to the far bank. Alone in a johnboat with a straight-backed chair, a cooler, a couple of flashlights, and a thick layer of bug spray, Perko pulled out a paddle and began rowing back toward shore.

CEDARTOWN, Ga. — In September 2024, Chad Morgan resigned as pastor of New Harmony Baptist Church in Heflin, Ala., and became the pastor of New Harmony in Cedartown. He brought to Georgia his desire to make an impact on the lives of those who need to know of the saving, abundant life Jesus offers to those who will trust him.

GRAY, Ga. (BP) – John Albrycht isn’t a mechanic by trade, but he’s aware of how gears work together to put things in motion. He sees value in things that have been discarded. He knows the time spent during the work is just as important – maybe even more so – than the finished product.

International Mission Board missionary Tammy Richardson knelt beside the river with her phone.  Her husband, Clay, and their local pastor stood in the river, preparing to baptize Leana – the first Zoque believer to make a public confession of faith in more than a decade of ministry in southern Mexico. 

NASHVILLE (BP) – Growing up in New Mexico, Jeremy Blaschke had never even heard of the Scopes Monkey Trial that took place in Dayton, Tennessee, in July 1925. But as a home schooled teenager and evangelical Christian, he loved science and knew he wanted to study animals to know God better.

More than 1,600 students took part in Georgia Baptist Mission Board-sponsored summer camps this year. Sixty-four made professions of faith in Christ, and nearly 150 sensed a call to ministry.

DAYTON , Tenn. — Austin Peay profoundly misjudged the moment when he, with the swoop of a pen and the authority vested in him as Tennessee’s governor, signed the Butler Act into law on March 21, 1925.

HUNT, Texas — John Vlasek stands in the middle of his home, stripped bare of furnishings, walls, ceilings and flooring. Even his rock fireplace is gone. It’s testimony to the height and depth of the floodwaters that destroyed the house on July 4. The waterline of debris can still be seen just below the ceiling of his Hunt home.

It’s Vacation Bible School time. Throughout the summer, all across the nation, churches decorate, prep, study, and pray for high energy days of Bible stories, crafts, recreation, and snacks. All pointing to the reason for the season: Jesus.

When you hear the phrase "behind closed doors," what do you think? I always seem to assume that it is something secretive, and the knowledge imparted or the business shared is just for certain people. It always makes me wonder when I hear about a closed-door meeting.

LONDON — London, the sprawling modern city straddling the banks of the Thames, has a rich spiritual heritage. It was home to English reformers martyred in the 1550s near the infamous Newgate prison. John Bunyan, who wrote the classic The Pilgrim's Progress while imprisoned for his faith, was no stranger to the city.

FORT WORTH, Texas — The newly elected leaders of the Baptist Hispanic Consortium for Theological Education share more in common than their faith and Hispanic heritage—each is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

KERRVILLE, Texas — When volunteer Matt Enriquez called his 89-year old grandfather, Dr. Ramiro Peña, to tell him he was deploying to Kerrville with the Texans on Mission flood response there, he ended the call with a surprise proposition: “Why don’t you deploy with me?”

DALLAS (BP) – SBC Worship, a new collaboration between The Worship Initiative and a broad swath of the Southern Baptist family, has attracted thousands of churches in its first month of operation at sbcworship.com, Robbie Seay told Baptist Press.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. (KT) – A new ministry is seeking to change how foster care begins in southwestern Kentucky. Isaiah 117 House will provide a comfortable, dignified waiting location for children who are removed from their homes and placed in state custody in Logan, Simpson and Butler counties—reducing trauma for children awaiting placement, lightening the load borne by social workers and easing the transition for foster families.

SUN VALLEY, Calif. (BP) – Longtime pastor, author and teacher John F. MacArthur died July 14 after a short battle with pneumonia. MacArthur, 86, pastored Grace Community Church in the Los Angeles area for 56 years.

Rev. William “Bill” Williamson, 93, of Roswell, GA died peacefully at his home on Sunday, July 13, 2025.

ATHENS, Ga. — Having a conversation about God can often be intimidating, but Beech Haven Church in Athens is taking on that challenge in a big way by setting a goal of initiating 10,000 gospel conversations over the next five years.

In 1898, Mrs. Virginia Hawes at Epiphany Baptist Church in New York City started a daily Bible school for neighborhood children during the summer. A bronze plaque honoring her efforts adorns the foyer of First Baptist Church in her hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. 127 years later, Vacation Bible Schools in churches across the country are a staple of summer.

CLEVELAND, Ga. — At Truett McConnell University, student success is a shared goal, and no one is more invested in that success than parents and families. To better support this partnership, TMU has launched the TMU Parent Portal, a new online platform powered by CampusESP. 

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Lifeway Christian Resources trustees named an interim CEO and began the initial steps to search for a successor to President and CEO Ben Mandrell during a special-called meeting Tuesday, July 15.

KERRVILLE, Texas — The Wheat brothers are well-known as ministers in the Texas Hill Country. Robert serves as director of missions for Hill Country Baptist Association, while his brother, John, pastors Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville.

John MacArthur, the popular and influential pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., died Monday at 86 following a battle with pneumonia.

Most people are given to at least one bad habit that grips them. It could be overeating, tobacco or alcohol abuse, chewing their fingernails, or any number of things that people seek to exercise their willpower in overcoming.