MACON, Ga. — Friends and colleagues at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board mourned the loss of William “Bill” Russell Eastwood on Thursday, as news spread of his passing. Eastwood, 73, of Macon, peacefully passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. He was a longtime staffer with the Georgia Baptist Health Foundation and the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

DALLAS — GuideStone has released its most popular annual publication, the 2025 Ministers’ Tax Guide for 2024 Returns prepared by Richard Hammar, available now for GuideStone members. The tax guide includes tax highlights for 2024 — such as annual contribution limits and standard business mileage rates — along with step-by-step filing instructions for ministers’ personal taxes and comprehensive examples and sample forms.

BARNESVILLE, Ga. — About 100 mission-minded students from across Georgia gathered last weekend at First Baptist Barnesville for Discovery Weekend 2025. The event is a chance for those students to narrow down where they are called to go during Send Me Now summer mission opportunities.

Boys in first grade can be a part of Royal Ambassadors and now continue their RA journey in missions discipleship through their senior year of high school.

ROGERSVILLE, Mo. — The First Baptist Church in Rogersville sustained damage on Saturday, Jan. 25, when a car accelerated into the front of their worship center. The accident happened around 5:30 PM.

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary has kicked off the spring semester after experiencing a record-setting winter storm that covered the campus in snow and postponed the start of classes.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley encouraged Southwestern Seminary students to never stop learning or growing in Christ during chapel on Tuesday, Jan. 28, using believers Paul mentions in Colossians as examples believers can learn from and then imitate or avoid.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. — On Tuesday morning, Jan. 28, Southeastern Seminary and Judson College celebrated the start of a new semester at spring convocation. In his chapel message to the Southeastern community, President Danny Akin exhorted listeners towards a life of authentic Christian faith, characterized by hope, holiness, and reverent fear of the Lord.

SOPHIA, N.C. — Although Hurricane Helene significantly impacted missions giving in 2024, N.C. Baptist officials have seen an outpouring of financial donations and support for the ongoing storm-related response efforts in western North Carolina.

Steve has been going through chemo. Again. He was at church last week. “How are you doing?” I asked, knowing it had been a long road. With a half laugh he answered, “Well, I’m dying.” Down the hall, Skeeter (not his birth name) heard what Steve had said. “We’re all dying!” he called out. I was thinking the same thing.

JESSUP, Md. — Jessup Baptist Church  pperates a monthly baby and toddler pantry, supplying hundreds of families with free diapers, wipes, formula, clothing, and other necessities. In addition, partnering with a YoungLives group, they also have a quarterly pantry for teen moms.

ATLANTA — Georgia Baptists will once again recognize their “Legislators of the Year” at the 11th Annual Georgia Baptist Pastors Day at the State Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 6. Each year, Georgia Baptists, through the Public Affairs Committee, recognize a Senate and House member with an award, thanking them for their extraordinary service to Georgia and God’s Kingdom on earth.

Have you heard the phrase, ”timing is everything?” I use that quite often, probably sometimes more often than my family would like.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — In their first meeting in 2025, Lifeway Christian Resources trustees heard a financial update and how the organization is partnering with state conventions and meeting some of the most pressing needs of local churches.

BOSTON — Some people are “kid whisperers.” Every church, it seems, has at least one or two. They’re the ones who can step into the middle of any vaguely violent scrum of preschoolers and immediately, magically call every little person in the room to an enthralled, hanging-on-every-word state of rapt attention.

OMAHA, Neb. — Like so many others over the last 2,000 years, Tanner Devereaux couldn’t get over the words of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Sitting in a Missouri prison cell and reviewing a gospel tract given to him by a friend, Devereaux felt like Paul was writing directly to him.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — Challenges as well as opportunities exist in not only reaching the Gen Z population, but in mobilizing that demographic for the cause of Christ. Both facets were involved in a REFOCUS event Tuesday, Jan. 28, that will be repeated at several Kentucky Baptist locations later this week.

JONESBORO, Ga. — Close to 400 students and volunteers from 60 churches gathered at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24-25, for REELfest. The Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s weekend event provides an opportunity for students from 6th grade through college to come together to learn and perform using their musical gifts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Spurgeon College, the undergraduate arm of Midwestern Seminary, welcomed more than 1,000 youth and youth ministry leaders to campus on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24–25, to be equipped in their faith at the 2025 Ready Conference.

International Mission Board missionaries commissioned a new facility, Lead Global Training Center, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday, Jan. 26, to prepare Africans to reach the nations. IMB missionaries, along with senior leaders from Richmond, gathered to pray for healthy African churches to send African missionaries and to praise God for the work He is already doing across the continent.  

HINESVILLE, Ga. — Pastor Luis Antonio Trejo passed away on Friday, Jan.  24, 2025. Trejo was pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana of Hinesville, Ga., and served the Hispanic Mission under FBC Brunswick for 14 years.

If you have ever attended a large concert, you know part of the excitement is the anticipation accompanying the show’s start. Sometimes, you must sit through an opening act or two to finally enjoy the artist you paid to see.

We often refer to church as “the house of God,” a term the Bible uses to refer to the tabernacle and the church (1 Tim. 3:15, Heb. 10:21, 1 Pet. 4:17). After the construction of the tabernacle, God inhabited it.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BP) — A Republican-led bill looks to seize on the momentum for legislation designed to protect parents’ rights in the upbringing of their children.

LOUISVILLE, Ky, (KT) - Professional Doctoral students arrived on Southern Seminary’s campus for a week of in-person classes Jan. 14–18. A highlight of the week included a chapel service with Abraham Kuruvilla, a Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching, delivering a sermon.