Some churches shatter Annie Offering goals
BRANFORD, Fla. (BP) -- When Pastor Brett Patterson set a $2,000 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO) goal for Hatch Bend Baptist Church earlier this year, it seemed like a bit of a stretch. That was double the church’s goal from recent years.
Church leaders in Kenya give qualified support for plan to close orphanages
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) – Amid a growing push among child welfare organizations to reunite families rather than keep children in institutional homes, Kenyan authorities are set to adopt a new national program that will phase out traditional orphanages over the next decade.
‘Kumbaya’: ‘Come over to Haiti and help us, Oh Lord,’ as crisis enters third month
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (BP) – “Kumbaya,” the Negro spiritual pleading with the Lord to come and bless the oppressed, filled the sanctuary of Parkridge Baptist Church at a prayer service for Haiti, its capital paralyzed by gang violence.
Disaster Relief in assessment stage after deadly Midwest tornadoes
SULPHUR, Okla. (BP) — Southern Baptist Disaster Relief personnel are focusing on communicating with authorities to assess recovery and cleanup efforts after tornadoes on Friday (April 26) that left at least five dead.
SBC DIGEST: ‘She Reads Truth Bible’ sells 1 million; Geraldine Ragan dies
CSB ‘She Reads Truth Bible’ hits 1 million copies; Christian ventriloquist Geraldine Ragan dies at 76.
Kentucky pastor Wesley Russell to be nominated for SBC second vice president
CINCINNATI (BP) — Michael Clary, pastor of Christ the King Church in Cincinnati, announced today (April 29) his intention to nominate Wesley Russell, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Pikeville, Ky., for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the annual meeting in June.
NEWS DIGEST: Georgia youth pastor arrested; Florida pastor back in custody; Texas church, SBC named in suit
Georgia youth pastor charged with felony; Fugitive former pastor back behind bars; Texas church, SBC named in abuse-related lawsuit.
FIRST-PERSON: My testimony in ink
BELTSVILLE, Md. (BP) -- I cringe with every remembrance of an occasion when I was the new pastor at First Baptist Church of Beltsville. David Lee, then the BCM/D executive director, invited convention pastors, along with their families, to a getaway weekend at a beautiful retreat center in Pennsylvania.
United Methodists vote to restructure worldwide church
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (RNS) — The top legislative body of the United Methodist Church passed a series of measures Thursday (April 25) to restructure the worldwide denomination to give each region greater leeway in tailoring church life to its own customs and traditions.
SBC President Bart Barber names Committee on Committees, appoints Virginia pastor Adam Blosser as chair
FARMERSVILLE, Texas (BP) – SBC President Bart Barber has announced his appointments to the 2024 Committee on Committees. Adam Blosser, pastor of Goshen Baptist Church in Spotsylvania, Va., will lead the committee as chair, and Elizabeth Graham from First Baptist Church, Concord, Tenn., will serve as vice chair.