NAMB AMS Replant Lab spurs hope, renewal for dying churches

By / Mar 4

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Members of Bethany Baptist Church in North Little Rock, Ark., stared down the barrel of a problem facing hundreds of churches in the United States. The community around them had changed. Their church had not, and now, they were on the precipice of seeing their church fold.

“They were down to just a handful of people who hadn’t met in their auditorium in probably 10 or 12 years,” said Greg Varndell, associational mission strategist (AMS) for the North Pulaski Baptist Association.

Mark Clifton, executive director of Replant for the North American Mission Board (NAMB), addresses attendees of the 2026 AMS Replant Lab that took place in Alpharetta February 24-26 at NAMB. More than 250 from around the United States attended the event. NAMB Replant photo

Over the years, Varndell walked the small congregation through a replant, leveraging their legacy to pass the baton to a new congregation, Unity Bible Baptist Church, that could continue the mission of the church.

“It was a community that had changed from predominantly Anglo to African American,” Varndell said. “So, we were able to plant an African American congregation, and they’re now running over a hundred on Sunday mornings. They’re reaching the community again. There are folks who live within walking distance who are bringing their families, bringing their grandkids.”

Demographic change and the decline of established churches spur the need for new churches and the resuscitation of dying ones.

The North American Mission Board (NAMB) zeroed in on both strategies in recent years with Mark Clifton and the Replant team taking the lead in working with associations and state conventions to renew dying congregations.

The prayer is to see a renewal movement take place, said JimBo Stewart, associate director of Replant, during last week’s annual AMS Replant Lab at NAMB, Feb. 24-26. Through the consistent work of hundreds of associational leaders, the pace at which churches are closing their doors has been slowing.

“The 2024 numbers came out, and it was 713,” said Stewart. “That’s still 713 too many, but it’s less than the thousand that it was some years before that or the 1,200 it was a few years before that. So, we are seeing a movement, and you’re getting to be a small piece of that movement.”

More than 250 people attended the AMS Replant Lab and represented a diverse set of ministry contexts, ranging from rural, to suburban, to urban leaders.

John Vernon, AMS of the Cape Girardeau Baptist Association, has seen several churches replant and revitalize in a Missouri city that has a small-town feel. The resources the Replant team has created or collated into the Replant Hub have helped Vernon show churches in need what a roadmap to renewal looks like.

“In the first meeting we have with a church, we share the process with them, so they can see the big picture of what it looks like,” Vernon said. The renewal process is not a quick fix but often requires significant changes in the church to bring it back to health.

One of the ways Replant serves associational leaders and pastors, as well, is the make-up of the team, said Vernon. They are practitioners.

“They themselves are engaged in the renewal work, in maybe their own church or in a group of churches. That’s significant,” said Vernon. “That’s one of the reasons associational leaders and pastors love to come to the lab. They are hearing from people who are doing it, who are in those trenches with them.”

Clifton, executive director of Replant, shared a bit of the story about how he came (back) to NAMB shortly after NAMB’s current president, Kevin Ezell, stepped into his role.

“It was 14 years ago, Kevin called me out of the blue. … I’d never met him, he never met me,” Clifton said. Speaking to the associational leaders, he continued, “You are part of a tsunami of change in the last decade where we no longer run from dying churches. We run to dying churches. We’ll look back on the last 10 to 15 years and [be amazed] at what God has done.”

Due to his passion for dying churches and his persistence in seeing them renewed, Clifton assembled a team that has become a nationwide network of pastors and associational leaders doing the work of replanting and revitalizing dying churches.

“The [Replant] process itself is time-tested and has proven to be useful for me personally, in the state of Missouri, and obviously throughout the nation,” said Gary Mathes, AMS for the Clay-Platte Baptist Association in the Kansas City area. Mathes has been involved in Southern Baptist renewal work for several years as a pastor, state convention leader, and now through leading his association.

In the final session of the AMS Replant Lab, Stewart said work of renewal requires patience but that associations and churches have begun to see momentum. He asked the leaders in the room to imagine what could be in store if they persevered.

“Think about what this country could look like if every association represented here, over the next five years, saw a slow but faithful movement of church renewal happen,” Stewart said. “Think about what the impact of that would be to our communities, to our country, to our denomination. That’s what we’re on the same team to do together.”

To learn more about replanting, visit namb.net/church-replanting.



Group caught amid Iran attacks now headed back to U.S.

By / Mar 2

CAIRO, Egypt (BP) – After 17 trips to a bomb shelter over 36 hours and a man named Moses leading them into Egypt, a group of weary pastors and their wives are headed back to the United States.

Members of the group led by former Send Relief President Bryant Wright had just finished taking rooftop pictures from the Old City in Jerusalem when U.S. and Israeli missiles killed many Iranian senior leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian responses forced the group to remain at their hotel, with numerous mandatory trips to a bomb shelter on the premises through Sunday.

“I know the pastors were disappointed, because so many of them and their wives had not been to Israel,” Wright told Baptist Press. “But at the same time, we needed to be in that shelter many times. We shared in prayer, Scripture reading and worship. It ended up being an unbelievable experience.”

Josh Powell and his wife, Allison, pose for a photo with the Old City of Jerusalem in the background on Saturday, Feb. 28, just prior to U.S. and Israeli missiles striking Iran. Photo provided by Josh Powell

Wright, known for his brief “Right from the Heart” messages, produced two during that time. One focused on Jesus’ return bringing the end of war. The other brought an update to the group’s upcoming departure for the border city of Eliat, located on the Red Sea where Israel, Jordan and Egypt meet.

The group was eating lunch at their Jerusalem hotel when the first alert came over everyone’s cell phones. Josh Powell, pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in South Carolina, estimates that each stay in the bunker was 45 minutes to an hour in duration.

The experience gave him insight into living in such conditions.

“It’s not like anything I’ve ever experienced,” said Powell, whose comments on overseas experiences shouldn’t be taken lightly. “You’re constantly living in light of the fact that the alert could come through any moment, at which time you have 90 seconds to get downstairs to the shelter. It’s hard to explain the intensity. You’re sleeping, but you’re not sleeping because if the alarm goes off, you can’t miss it.”

One final alert met the group as they were preparing to leave, so it was back to the shelter. About 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, they re-boarded. The bus made its way through streets that would normally be busy, but were empty due to the constant threat of missile attack. They made their way east, then turned south along the Dead Sea. About three hours later, they pulled into Eliat.

The next day brought the trip to Egypt. Their driver was named Moshe, the Hebrew name for Moses. After some tense moments getting across the border, the group began a three-hour trip along the Red Sea to the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheik for a flight to Cairo.

As one would imagine, there were a lot of discussions relating to Scripture.

“We went across a lot of wilderness,” said Wright. “We agreed that we need to be a little more sympathetic toward the Israelites and how they grumbled after living there for 40 years and eating manna.”

Four U.S. service members have been reported killed in the conflict, while Iranian media said U.S. and Israeli missile strikes have claimed at least 555 lives.

“I can’t tell you how many sermon illustrations I’ve gotten from this,” Powell said. “To be in a place with constant concern and rumors of war makes us recognize the freedom and comfort we have in America.

“The Lord is so good to us. He will care for his people. As bombs were going off around us (he estimates one landed about a half-mile away from the hotel), we recognized that God is faithful and watching over us.”

The group will take off among two flights, one will leave during the dark hours of Wednesday morning (March 4), with another taking off after dawn. The routes go to Istanbul before another departure and landing in Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon and evening.

“We’re so thankful for the prayers of Southern Baptists,” said Wright. “We’re not home yet, and this is one tired group.”



Calls for prayer as U.S. and Israel strike Iran, face retaliation

By / Feb 28

JERUSALEM (BP) – A group of Southern Baptist pastors and their spouses, including former Send Relief President Bryant Wright, sheltered in place in Jerusalem Saturday morning (Feb. 28) as the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. Within hours, Iran responded with strikes on U.S. and Israeli targets across the Middle East.

Bryant is leading the group of around 27 pastors and their wives, South Carolina pastor Josh Powell told Baptist Press via text.

“Early this morning loud sirens began to go off across the city of Jerusalem,” Powell wrote. “Those sirens were an alert to seek shelter immediately. The hotel has a bomb shelter several levels below ground where the entire group gathered.”

Powell said Wright regularly mentors the group of pastors and the trip to the Holy Land had been planned for encouragement and education.

In the early hours of Feb. 28, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. and Israel had launched a joint surprise attack against Iran based on that nation’s refusal to eliminate its nuclear weapons program. 

Government leaders said the operation would be more than just an initial barrage of strikes and could last for days or weeks.

In an early morning tweet Feb. 28, International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood said, “I’m grateful to God that we can confirm our missionary families are currently unharmed.”

He asked for Christians to remember fellow believers across the affected region.

“As you pray for America’s soldiers in harm’s way, I urge you to also pray for our Southern Baptist missionaries, for national believers, and for the lost who so desperately need the Lord,” he said.

In a message on Facebook, Wright said the group did not know how long they would be in Israel as they await airspace to clear so commercial flights can resume.

Even as Wright asked for prayers for the group, Powell said they have been leaning on Scripture and one another in the moments of sheltering in place.

“It was very tense, and at first there were many tears. But soon, as we gathered ourselves we quickly turned to the Word and just began to read Scriptures,” he said. “Each person giving a passage that is comforting to them and to the group. Mine was Psalm 130:5.”

Powell said the group has been in the country for a week, but the situation changed rapidly Friday.

“We sang together and prayed together in a bunker below Jerusalem, two blocks from the temple site, knowing that our hope is the Lord who has opened that veil for us,” Powell said.

“That’s where our help and strength come from.”



WEEK OF PRAYER: Collegiate church planters see God do ‘more than we could’ve ever imagined’

By / Feb 27

Editor’s note: This year’s Week of Prayer for North American Missions is March 1-March 8 and is focused on the theme: More Than a Gift and the theme verse of Ephesians 3:20-21. The emphasis spotlights the spiritual needs and ministry taking place on the North American mission field leading up to the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO) for North American Missions. All gifts given to the offering support missionaries and resources on the mission field. The AAEO provides half of the annual funding for the North American Mission Board. Gifts to the Annie offering can be given through local Southern Baptist churches or online at give.anniearmstrong.com. This year’s goal is $80 million.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – In August, Erin and Ellie were strangers. By October, they were best friends. That's what can happen when two never-met-before college freshmen get assigned one small 250-square-foot dorm room in which to live.

"We met the first day of college," Ellie says, "and I guess it was inevitable – we got really close, really fast."

If Ellie Dunlevy (left) and Erin Chapmond (right) learned anything their freshman year at Purdue University, it’s this: there’s often nothing “random” about being a “random roommate.” When Ellie, a missionary kid, invited her suite mate Erin to a new church plant, Erin heard the gospel for the first time in a way that made sense. “It completely reinvented how I view myself,” she says. “Now, I’m a child of God.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins

Erin Chapmond and Ellie Dunlevy are two of the more than 50,000 students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., where the birth and growth of almost-instantaneous friendships is an everyday event. That makes West Lafayette, according to North American missionary Jordan Adams, the perfect place to plant a church.

"Students here live this incredibly interconnected way of life," Jordan says. "They eat together, live together and go to class together. So, when you introduce one of them to Jesus, multiple students hear about it, and the Gospel spreads like crazy."

For Jordan and Jessamy Adams, Purdue University is the latest stop on a decade-long collegiate church planting journey.

"We both kind of caught the bug when we were students at Iowa State," Jordan says. "We became part of a local church's college ministry called The Salt Company, and when we saw students there worshiping and sharing the Gospel and being sent out, we really latched on to their dream of 'What if this could happen everywhere?'"

In 2016, after the Adams' church in Iowa launched The Salt Network with the goal of planting a church on every major college campus in the U.S., Jordan and Jessamy moved to Minneapolis to help plant a Salt Network church and a Salt Company collegiate ministry at the University of Minnesota.

"That whole experience of moving to a far-off place and starting something new was kind of scary," Jessamy says. "It was a lot of change, and change is hard. But it was so sweet to see how God was faithful. He provided everything we needed, and helping plant that church was one of the best experiences of our lives."

It was in Minneapolis where Jordan and Jessamy discovered why college campuses are such fertile ground not just for starting a church but a movement.

"I think there's a perception that college students are closed off to the Gospel, but we found that wasn't true at all," Jordan says. "They're at a really unique stage of life because they've been removed from the environment where they've been told what to think, and now they're forced to ask themselves, 'What do I really believe?'

“Moving to a far-off place and starting something new was kind of scary,” says Jessamy Adams. But it was so sweet to see how God was faithful. He provided everything we needed.” Several years ago, Jordan and Jessamy Adams, along with their children Graham and Joy, moved to West Lafayette, Indiana, to plant a church that's now reaching students at Purdue University. NAMB photo by Ben Rollins

"That's how we ended up with a church full of excited, new believers saying, 'Where are other places that need church plants? When I graduate, I want to go there.'"

In 2023, Jordan, Jessamy and a team of almost 50 people moved to West Lafayette to plant another church – The Chapel – and another Salt Company collegiate ministry.

"We brought a church to plant a church," Jordan says. "We had recent college grads. We had retirees. We had all kinds of people move here to help us plant. They met their neighbors; they found jobs, and when people asked them, 'Why'd you move here?' they got to share the Gospel."

The Gospel is not something Chapmond would've described herself as interested in when she first arrived at Purdue.

"I just kind of figured it was great if other people found something that worked for them," she says. "But for me, I was never into religion or church. Not until I met Ellie."

Dunlevy, Erin's randomly assigned roommate, grew up as a missionary kid in Argentina, and, unlike Chapmond, she was "very much into church." Shortly after Dunlevy started attending The Chapel a few weeks into her and Chapmond’s freshman year, Dunlevy did what any newly minted best friend would do.

"We'd spent so much time together, and I was curious," Dunlevy says. "I was like, 'Do you want me to go to church with you?' And she was like, 'Yeah, that'd be fun.'"

Friendships form quickly on college campuses. North American Mission Board church planting missionary Jordan Adams says that makes towns like West Lafayette, Indiana, home to Purdue University, the perfect place to start a church. “Students here live this incredibly interconnected way of life,” he says. “So, when you introduce one of them to Jesus, the gospel spreads like crazy.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins

Chapmond’s first time at The Chapel turned out to be more than she expected.

"That Sunday, when Jordan started speaking, I felt like he was talking directly to me," she says. "I learned that Jesus was an actual person who loves me for who I am, even though everything was broken about me. It completely reinvented how I view myself.

"Now, I'm a child of God."

Erin is one of 81 people The Chapel baptized in their first year.

"We had pretty big dreams of what God would do when we came here," Jordan says. "But seeing what He's done with students like Erin and Ellie, seeing auditoriums overflow and all these students getting baptized – this has been way more than we could've ever imagined."

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® provides half of NAMB’s annual budget, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the mission field in North America. The offering is used for training, support and care for missionaries, like Jordan and Jessamy Adams, and for evangelism resources.

Jordan Adams, a North American Mission Board church planting missionary in West Lafayette, Indiana, home of Purdue University, says college students are more open to hearing the gospel than some people might think. “I've found that they want to talk about Jesus, read the Bible, and are radically open to anything that will give them a purpose for their life.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins
Every Sunday, an overflow crowd of Purdue University students shows up to Jordan Adams’ church plant in West Lafayette, Indiana. “It's blown my mind how hungry students here are for the gospel,” he says. “When we first came, I didn't imagine auditoriums filled to capacity, I didn't imagine all the baptisms we’ve had, and how rapidly things would grow. God has done so much more than we ever thought possible.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins
Purdue University and Jordan Adams were made for each other. Several years ago, Jordan planted a church in West Lafayette, Indiana, to share the gospel with young people looking for purpose and truth. “College students are at a unique stage of life where they've been forced to ask themselves, ‘What do I really believe?’” he says, “and so I feel like God invited me here so I could show them the Jesus I've found.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins
To Jordan Adams, unheard of things like 38 baptisms in one worship service have become “heard of” for his congregation. Several years ago, Jordan planted a church in West Lafayette, Indiana, to reach students at Purdue University. “Now,” he says, “we're seeing a movement of the gospel that I’m convinced will change our world through college students.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LoLZTCNe40&list=PLWNDPRZmSm9Hus7mcY_0c_bjR8WjxCgKX&index=2


Forces for Good Summit aims to equip churches for sexual abuse prevention, response

By / Feb 26

FORT WORTH – A desire to eliminate sexual abuse in the local church and to be prepared to care for survivors permeated the Forces for Good Summit Feb. 24-25 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The event, organized by the SBC Executive Committee, brought together field experts and leaders from every level of Southern Baptist life.

“We want churches to be the safest place where kids can hear the Gospel,” said Jeff Dalrymple, Executive Committee abuse and prevention director.

SBC Executive Committee Abuse Prevention and Response Director Jeff Dalrymple gives an overview of the Forces for Good Summit at Southwestern Seminary Feb. 25. Photo by Brandon Porter

“And when, God forbid, abuse takes place, we want to equip churches to respond in a legal, biblical and Christ honoring way,” he said.

Southern Baptists voted at the SBC Annual Meeting in June 2024 for the EC to be the home of abuse prevention and response in the SBC. Dalrymple began his work in February 2025. His hire was one of the first priorities for EC President Jeff Iorg, who assumed leadership in May 2024.

The summit was the first major event under Dalrymple’s leadership.

In addition to the conference, Dalrymple has helped to update the Essentials curriculum, first released by the SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) in 2024 and to coordinate upcoming local training events across the country.

“This is critical for abuse prevention and response because we're equipping convention and associational leaders to be experts where they're at and to be able to then serve churches on the front lines,” Dalrymple said.

He considers “experts” to be leaders who can assist churches by helping guide them through prevention and response processes and point them to available resources. That may be someone inside a church or a volunteer or staff member at a local association or state convention.

“This is a full circle moment,” Mississippi pastor Brad Eubank told the group of more than 100 gathered Feb. 25 on a warm Texas morning. Eubank was a member of the ARITF and told conference participants that the group’ s first meetings were held at Southwestern.

Megan Moss listens to a speaker during the Forces for Good Summit Feb. 25 at Southwestern Seminary. Photo by Brandon Porter

“I believe we are making progress but have a long way to go,” he told Baptist Press. Eubank, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Petal, Miss., and an abuse survivor, believes helping churches face this issue will require a “generational change.”

Baptist associations are close to the front lines as associational mission strategists (AMS) and directors of missions work to resource, train and encourage pastors and local churches.

A pre-summit dinner was hosted by the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders (SBCAL) and featured speaker Ken Sande, author of “Peacemaker” and the director of Relational Wisdom 360, a ministry aimed at equipping people with relational and conflict resolution skills.

“Sin needs to be dealt with openly and appropriately,” Sande told the group.

He called on church leaders to prepare to face conflict but to do so through the lens of the Gospel.

“The Gospel call us to take sin seriously but to see sin through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ,” Sande said.

SBCAL director Ray Gentry, Dallas Baptist Association leader Ryan Jespersen and Louisville (Ky.) Regional Baptist Association AMS Todd Robertson joined Sande for a discussion during the opening session.

Dallas Baptist Association Associational Mission Ryan Jespersen, Louisville Regional Strategist Baptist Associational Mission Strategist Todd Robertson and Ray Gentry (far right), Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders president, like to author Ken Sande talk about peacemaking at the Forces for Good Summit Feb. 24 at Southwestern Seminary. Photo by Brandon Porter

Robertson said helping churches create a culture of abuse prevention and response would be a powerful ministry for any local association.

“It would be incredible for us to have a team trained in this way and to be able to say to the churches on a regular basis, ‘We are here, we want to help you.’”, he said.

The group spent time brainstorming what that structure might look like in local associations as Sande sprinkled years of stories helping churches navigate through conflict, including engaging with local law enforcement when sexual abuse occurred.

“We can’t make believe situations like these aren’t happening,” Robertson said, “because they are.”

Jespersen agreed and said it aligned with a primary effort he’s been pursuing in recent months which is “building intentional kingdom relationships.”

He said the relationships are focused on helping a church develop a vision and plan for internal cultural change.

One of the experts Dalrymple pointed to was Emily Smith, abuse prevention and response consultant for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

Mississippi pastor Brad Eubank encourages pastors and church leaders at the Forces for Good Summit Feb. 25 at Southwestern Seminary. Photo by Brandon Porter

Smith spent years in local church children’s ministry before moving to denominational work, first at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and now in Arkansas.

She says helping churches realize they can take steps to minimize the risk of sexual abuse is an area where she invests much of her time.

“If we can prevent this from happening to one child, to me that's success,” she said.

Smith points to churches working through resources like the Essentials curriculum as a way they can develop a strategy and awareness of blind spots a potential abuser might exploit.

She helps churches ask and answer, “What can we do to help shift the culture of our church?”

The purpose of the summit, Dalrymple said, was to help churches create a “goodness culture” where they aim to prevent abuse and respond appropriately to all affected if it occurs.

A trailblazer in this area is attorney Richard Hammar. It was Hammar, according to Dalrymple, who first brought sexual abuse out of the shadows in the local church.

“He pulled that fire alarm,” Dalrymple said pointing to two articles written by Hammar in the early 1980s in the early days of his church tax and law newsletter. They garnered a huge response.

That response led Hammar to write Reducing the Risk, the book Dalrymple said launched the modern era of abuse prevention and response.

Hammar was given the Force for Good award at the summit.

In addition to Sande, the conference featured plenary sessions from Iorg, Brad Hill, president of the Gloo media network and Katie McCoy, strategy director for cultural engagement philanthropy at Vista One Group and scholar in residence at the Impact 360 Institute.

SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg speaks from Galatians 6 at the Forces for Good Summit Feb. 26 at Southwestern Seminary. Photo by Brandon Porter

Breakout sessions were presented by Sally Wagenmaker, partner in the Chicago-based law firm of Wagenmaker & Oberly, addressing “Good and Godly Governance;” Eubank addressing “The Greatest Good a Church Can Do: Care Well for Survivors;” John Murphy, a seasoned leader in faith-based and service-focused nonprofit risk management, presenting “Prepared for Every Good Work: Risk Management That Strengthens Ministry;” and Robert Showers, “Ministry Enders – What you don’t know about law will hurt you!”

Thomas Jordan and Brian Hobbs presented a session on “What to Do When A Crisis Hits;” Lilly Park on “Caring for the Soul: Knowing God’s Peace;” Chuck Coker, “Multiplying Light: How Coaching and Discipling Your Team Creates a Culture of Kingdom Impact;” Mindy Caliguire, “The Soul of the Leader: How Inner Health Fuels a Culture of Goodness;” Caliguire and Jake Lapp, “The Soul of the Leader: Leader Care is Ministry Care;” and Theresa Sidebotham, “Good Fruit on the People Side: Management and Employment Law Issues.”

The sessions will be available soon at sbcabuseprevention.com.

Southwestern Seminary student Rylee Riggins takes notes during a session of the Forces for Good Summit Feb. 24 at the seminary. Photo by Brandon Porter

In a short sermon based out of Galatians 6, SBC Executive President Jeff Iorg told the group, “Being a force for good means … we care for each other. The Bible says we do good when we care for each other.”

He spoke about the line churches must walk between preventative care and reactive care saying there is nothing soft about caring.

On one hand, he said, “We take sinful actions and their consequences seriously. We believe in consequences for those actions. But because we do all of this gently, we also eliminate revenge or retribution from the situation.”

Restoration is part of caring, he said, as he talked about the healing of the one who had been hurt and repentance and rebuilding of the one who has been committed the sin.

“Prevention and response mean that we restore people broken by sin while simultaneously carrying their burden with them,” he told the group.

Recalling past pastoral experiences, he recalled the “messiness of relationships” in the local church as the pastor and church members are called in Scripture to reach out to the victim and the wrongdoer.

Eubank drew from similar pastoral perspective as he spoke to the group, “Sexual abuse will always be with us until Jesus returns because we live in a fallen world.”

“Our job is to make it as hard as possible for it to happen in our church and be ready to take care of survivors if it does,” he said.



Trump talks faith, gender transitions, IVF in State of the Union

By / Feb 25

WASHINGTON (BP) – The contemporary revival of American society includes revivals of faith and traditional morality, President Donald Trump said Feb. 24 in his State of the Union address.

The nearly two-hour speech, the longest State of the Union in 60 years, argued Americans should stick with Republican control of Congress in this year’s midterm elections. In the process, Trump touched on a variety of issues traditionally of interest to Southern Baptists and other evangelicals, including transgender transitions for minors, in vitro fertilization (IVF), immigration and professions of faith sparked by the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“Our nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before,” Trump told a joint session of Congress. America is “the most incredible and exceptional nation ever to exist on the face on the earth, and you’ve seen nothing yet.”

Trump sparred with Democrats throughout the speech. They yelled responses at times, and Al Green of Texas was escorted from the House chamber after he held up a sign protesting a social media post by Trump that included a racist image. For his part, Trump chided Democrats for not standing and applauding during his speech, and he blamed them for a variety of American problems.

The president introduced numerous guests during the speech, including military heroes, a recently released Venezuelan political prisoner, and the U.S. men’s hockey team fresh off a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

Another guest, Sage Blair, highlighted Trump’s opposition to gender transitions for minors. At age 14, “school officials in Virginia sought to socially transition her to a new gender, treating her as a boy and hiding her from her parents,” Trump said. After she ran away from home, a Maryland judge refused to return her to her parents and placed her in a state facility for boys. Today, Blair is embracing her identity as a woman and has a scholarship to attend Liberty University.

“Surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will,” Trump said. “We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.”

Trump claimed a revival of religion in America, citing Kirk’s assassination in September as a catalyst. Kirk’s widow Erika attended the speech.

“There has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity and belief in God,” he said. “This is especially true among young people, and a big part of that had to do with my great friend Charlie Kirk.” Americans should “reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind.”

In a moment that may not have resonated as strongly with some evangelicals, Trump touted the decreasing cost of IVF drugs under agreements his administration negotiated with pharmaceutical companies. He recognized, Catherine Rayner, a woman undergoing IVF treatments and said, “We are all praying for you, and you are going to be a great mom.”

The SBC adopted a 2024 resolution on reproductive technologies affirming the value of every human life and calling on Southern Baptists “to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation especially in the number of embryos generated in the IVF process.”

Immigration was a recurring theme in the speech, with Trump stating he has secured the nation’s border. He noted violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and called Congress to restore full funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which Democrats are blocking over demands for reforms of immigration enforcement practices.

The president asked Congress to pass stronger anti-corruption measures precluding senators and House members from engaging in insider trading in the stock market. He also referenced alleged fraud in Minnesota, claiming billions of dollars have been stolen through fraudulent use of state-run social service programs. “This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation,” Trump said, announcing that Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the “war on fraud.”

Turning to international affairs, Trump noted ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and suppression by the nation’s Islamic regime of anti-government protests. The Iranian government has killed more than 32,000 protestors, he said.

“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” Trump said. “But one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump said he has helped halt eight wars in his second term, including the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Citing progress in Latin America, he noted the death this week of Mexican drug cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and the January arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

America’s accomplishments for the past 250 years, Trump said, have been guided by God’s providence.

“Our destiny is written by the hand of providence,” he said, “and these first 250 years were just the beginning.”



At 4 years, ‘pure miracle’ Ukraine still standing against Putin’s war

By / Feb 24

IRPIN, Ukraine (BP) – For Christians in Ukraine, the battle is existential, a spiritual onus to spread the Gospel where they are planted as darkness tries to snuff their witness. 

That’s Igor Bandura’s take as the nation enters its fifth year of sustained war against Russia. Bandura is a pastor in Irpin and vice president of international affairs for the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christian-Baptists (Ukrainian Baptist Union).

“We do not have choice. If we would stop (fighting), we will stop to exist. We believe it is God's will for us to be born on this land and to preach the Gospel in this land. We don't want to become refugees and spread all around the world,” Bandura told Baptist Press fresh from a visit to Washington for Ukrainian Week, coinciding with the International Summit on Religious Freedom. “We believe we should remain there and do what God wants us to do as Christians in Ukraine.”

Prayer is crucial as the war rages, Ukrainian evangelical leaders told Baptist Press. Mission Eurasia photo

Bandura is not alone. Christian advocates supporting Ukraine see God’s hand in sustaining the smaller nation against Russia’s behemoth military increasingly targeting Ukraine’s power grid, water supply and faith.

“We have no choice. We will never live under Putin's regime,” Kyiv resident Anna Shvetsova, chief operating officer of Ukraine Freedom Project, told Baptist Press. “When you talk to soldiers, I didn't meet a soldier who said let's stop this war and let's give up on territories or let's start negotiations under conditions that are not beneficial for Ukraine. People are ready to fight because we've seen this before. We've seen Putin's regime before. We don’t want back.”

At least 67 clergy members had been killed in Russia’s war on Ukraine through Dec. 1, 2025, according to well-respected Mission Eurasia statistics. The Tennessee-based outreach that has provided spiritual and humanitarian aid onsite in Ukraine for three decades, has tracked Russia’s regional aggression from its beginning. In addition to the deaths of 15,000 or more Ukrainian civilians are injuries and displacements, including an estimated 3.7 million internally displaced individuals and 7.8 million refugees, as calculated by the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Through January, military casualties include perhaps 325,000 killed in Russia, in addition to more than 800,000 wounded and missing Russian soldiers; and 100,000 to 140,000 deaths among Ukrainian soldiers, with 360,000 to 460,000 wounded and missing, the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported.

Today (Feb. 24) is National Day of Prayer in Ukraine, marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s current onslaught in an aggression that began in 2014 in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Russia has illegally annexed and aggressively seeks to retain the region in southeastern Ukraine.

Ukrainians are surviving the cold winter despite Russia's attacks on power grids and water supplies. Mission Eurasia photo

“But this war is not just territorial. This is very little about territory there,” Mission Eurasia President Sergey Rakhuba told Baptist Press. “This is more civilizational and spiritual war, and that's what's happening now. Ukraine is not just suffering for its territory. Ukraine is suffering for its existence. Ukraine is suffering for its freedom, for freedom of faith, for worship.

“I consider that that's a pure miracle,” he said of Ukraine’s “backbone” and resilience. “It's all hope in God. They're openly, openly praying to God, as a nation.”

Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary, led by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary alumnus Yaroslav “Slavik” Pyzh, has lost one student in active duty in the war, Pyzh said, while dozens more have been wounded. At least five students enrolled are veterans, he said, including amputees who are studying Christian counseling.

Ukrainians, including students, church members and other civilians, are thriving on faith and a sense of purpose, leaders said.

As UBTS students work with volunteers at 26 humanitarian We Care Centers across the nation – supported by the U.S.-based Ukraine Partnership Foundation (UPF) – churches are mobilized in daily prayer meetings at churches during rolling blackouts in a winter that is colder than Ukraine has seen in years.

“I think the only thing that gives you meaning is getting involved with people,” Pyzh told Baptist Press. “And you lose your meaning when you seclude yourself from people. The closer you are to people, the more engaged with people you are, the more meaning you have in your life.”

Civilians are weaving cloths onto large rectangular wire frames, creating miles of camouflage netting for soldiers to use on the frontlines, and creating lanterns that provide both warmth and light for soldiers in cold, dark trenches.

Mission Eurasia, the Ukrainian Baptist Union and the Ukraine Freedom Project are among outreaches not only serving those in need in Ukraine, but also advocating in Washington for administration support for Ukraine. Saving Ukraine means saving the Gospel witness in Europe, advocates maintain.

Mission Eurasia feeds residents of Irpin after Russia destroyed its headquarters there. Mission Eurasia photo

“Ukraine is not only the breadbasket of Europe, but it is also a Gospel basket for Russia, for all former Soviet Union republics and for Europe,” Bandura said. “Ukraine was the forepost for spreading Christianity, spreading the Gospel, and we would like to remain this Gospel for that part of the world. And in fact, Ukraine, with some other East European countries, is Bible Belt of Europe.

“Our victory would guarantee the success of the Gospel in that part of the world,” Bandura said. “Because you know, Europe is strong financially and economically, but it is very weak spiritually.”

During Ukrainian Week, Mission Eurasia shared with Congressional members updated reports of Russia’s persecution of Christians during the war in Ukraine, documented in the updated “Continued War Against Faith: Religious Genocide in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine, 2022–2025,” and Russia’s persecution of Christians on Russian soil, detailed in Mission Eurasia’s latest report “Faith in the Crossfire: Religious Freedom Under the Kremlin Regime in Russia.

The Ukraine Freedom Project recruited Congressional members to view its frequently updated documentaries on Russian persecution, torture and murder of Christian leaders, including its four-part documentary series “A Faith Under Siege,” now streaming on Angel.com.

Ukraine Freedom Project founder Steven Moore, an American citizen who launched the outreach in the first year of Putin’s full-scale attack, said many Ukrainians want peace, but not on Putin’s terms.

“Polling says that 60-some percent of Ukrainians want peace. That's absolutely true. They think it's time to negotiate. But then if you ask them, should we give up territories in Donbass, 70 percent of them say no,” Moore said. “Putin wants to drop the size of the Ukrainian military down to 600,000. Nobody wants to do that. So there's all these absurd things that Putin's demanding. And nobody wants to do that. Everybody wants peace. Everybody wants to negotiate. But no one wants to give in to Putin's absurd demands.”

Critical after four years, advocates urge, is the need for the international Christian community including Southern Baptists to persevere in praying for and tangibly supporting Ukraine. Donations can be given through several outreaches including those sponsored by individual churches, Southern Baptist Send Relief and the UPF.

While the U.S. works to negotiate peace talks that have stalled, advocates express appreciation of and pleas for the continued support of Christians in the U.S.

Ukrainians see no impending end to the war.

“We pray and we expect,” Bandura said. “But because we are people of reality, (we) face reality as it is. We understand unless Russia will be either economically exhausted or military defeated, they will not stop. Doesn't matter. The rest is just this game they play.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated to state at least 67 clergy were killed in Ukraine from February 2022 through December 2025.



Supreme Court declines McRaney case, ending lawsuit against NAMB

By / Feb 23

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined today to hear a years-long case brought by former Baptist state convention executive director Will McRaney against the North American Mission Board, upholding an appeals court’s decision to dismiss and essentially closing out the case.

Two judges in a three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous dismissal in September. That majority decision pointed out that “church autonomy doctrine bars all of McRaney’s claims against NAMB” and resolving his claims “would require secular courts to opine on ‘matters of faith and doctrine.’”

“The Supreme Court’s decision not to review the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision brings closure to a long and difficult legal dispute filed against our ministry nearly nine years ago,” NAMB said in a statement. “The outcome in this matter – the opinion of the Fifth Circuit — now stands as a landmark protection of religious liberty for all Southern Baptists and other people of faith.

“The Fifth Circuit recognized and respected doctrinal autonomy and voluntary cooperation among Baptist churches and ministries, while also carefully applying longstanding First Amendment principles that protect religious organizations from having internal ministry matters scrutinized by civil courts. We are grateful.”

In a statement, McRaney said he and his wife, Sandy, were grateful for the support and prayers they had received during the legal process.

“While we are disappointed the Supreme Court did not choose to grant cert in this particular case, we trust that in time justice will be done and the rights of Baptist people and partners restored,” McRaney said. “This decision will have an impact on millions of Baptists and other religious groups.

“The SBC and all of its entities won Pyrrhic victories today and in the September 2025 5th Circuit's 2-1 ruling. Today after 9 years in the courts, NAMB won and secured their right to do what God forbids, to defame and interfere with Baptist ministers, partners and financial supporters.”

In time, he continued, today’s SCOTUS decision will be viewed “as a historic loss in multiple ways.”

“NAMB has made clear in their statement that anyone who supports the mission efforts of the SBC can be defamed and their employment can be interfered with by SBC leaders without Baptist partners having the right to defend themselves in court,” McRaney’s statement said. 

NAMB objected to assertions that the decision would upend Baptist polity and religious liberty protection, citing the Fifth Circuit Court’s decision that “Baptist ecclesiology is non-hierarchical, and each Baptist church is autonomous. Nevertheless, Baptist churches have long voluntarily cooperated in fellowship with one another and pooled resources for missions, evangelism, and church planting.”

McRaney, on the other hand, asserted that the decision will have profound legal ramifications.

“As in other faith traditions like Catholics, now Baptist leaders, ministers and partners will know for certain that they have given up their personal legal rights with their voluntary partnering or contributing to the SBC. Sadly, this can already be seen in the Garner vs SBC court case before the TN Supreme Court where SBC leaders also lied to the TN Supreme Court justices.  

“We pray the silence by those who tolerated the lies and deceptions to the courts will be broken and wrongdoings exposed. We pray there will be forthcoming repentance by SBC entity leaders, trustees, and other Baptist leaders resulting in a surge of renewed commitment to righteousness and truth telling above all as an act of obedience to God’s Word,” McRaney said, adding that he would release a fuller statement in the coming days.

NAMB concluded its statement by saying: “The [judicial] outcome both respects Baptist distinctives and reaffirms that Baptists and other non-hierarchical faith groups are no less entitled to the First Amendment’s protections against secular intrusion into ministry affairs.”

McRaney sued NAMB in April 2017, claiming libel against the entity for actions that led to his firing as the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware executive director. That lawsuit was dismissed two years later, but the dismissal was reversed in July 2020 and sent back to a district court.

NAMB actually appealed to the Supreme Court to review the case, but that appeal was rejected in June 2021. The case continued to work through the courts until the Fifth Circuit heard from both sides in April 2024.

In addition to its full statement, NAMB posted a thread on X that included an FAQ on the matter. Those questions addressed how the decision affects church autonomy, lawsuits filed against religious organizations and how the ruling does not affect NAMB’s protocols for working with churches and other ministry partners.



Oldest Baptist church in Texas had 2 enslaved Africans among founding 9 members

By / Feb 20

Editor's note: Sunday, Feb. 22, is Racial Reconciliation Sunday in the Southern Baptist Convention.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (BP) – When Old North Church organized as the first Baptist church in Texas in May of 1838, among the nine founding members were Anthony and Chaney, enslaved Blacks.

Recorded minutes preserved from the day, when the congregation was known as Union Baptist Church, note Anthony as the property of B.F. Whitaker and Chaney, a female, the property of Elizabeth Whitaker. More enslaved people, the property of other members uniting with Old North, joined the church as the membership grew to 40 or so within months.

Some died. Others left. But it would be 31 years before a group of Black members asked for letters of dismissal to form their own church, four years after they learned on June 19, 1865, that slaves had been freed in January 1863. Some Black members remained at Old North, but the records of when they left are not preserved. The historical facts of membership are known because the church entrusted to Jesse Summers Sr. the minutes recorded from 1838-1872 for preservation. Summers, a white man, was the longest serving church clerk, having served 1877-1885 and 1889-1890, and noted for legibly transcribing minutes.

Old North Baptist Church is now Southern Baptist, affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and is noted as the oldest Baptist church in the oldest town in Texas. In 1845, Texas became the 28th state in the U.S., some seven years after Old North was founded.

“A number of the colored members having applied to the church for letters of dismission in order that they may constitute a church. Their request was granted and the following Brethen and Sisters were granted letters,” the minutes note of a meeting in November 1869, when B.F. Whitaker served as moderator pro tem. “Henry Walton, Charlotte Walton, Jack Whitaker, Mary Whitaker, Julia Whitaker, Eunice Rusk, Tempy Starr, Ellen and Rose Walker, Tony and Anoca Anderson, Tol Fitts, Nicholas and Sarah Johnson and Erasmus Johnson.”

Historically, freedmen would sometimes take the last name of their previous captors. Hence, freed Blacks with the surname of Whitaker were among those who requested letters of dismissal.

“Every Black family in this part of the country would bear the name of people that came from slave owners,” said Clarence Yarbrough, longtime pastor of the church the Black members founded, Johnson Chapel Baptist Church in Nacogdoches. “The Yarbrough name – all of the Yarbroughs, they literally call me cousin, openly.

“There’s no one in this area, that’s from this area,” Yarbrough surmised to Baptist Press, “whatever name they bear, their ancestors were the slave owners.”

Jesse H. Summers Sr.

Johnson Chapel sits on land donated by Erasmus Johnson, who also donated acreage for two cemeteries, North Redmond and Erasmus.

Summers, who died in 1933, had received the book of minutes in 1890. Some 135 years later, Summers’ fourth generation descendant, Hollis “Holly” Middlebrook – a wife, mother and Methodist – will honor the wishes of her father, the late historian, archeologist and psychiatrist Tom Anderson Middlebrook, and donate the book of church minutes to one of his alma maters, Stephen F. Austin State University, for permanent preservation.

But on Feb. 20, on behalf of her family, Holly will ceremoniously take the original book to the church for viewing before donating it to Austin State. The minutes have not been in the hands of Old North Church since the 1890s, Holly said. Summers is Holly’s great-great-grandfather.

“We have a great heritage of Baptist believers that goes back to when Texas was a Republic,” Holly said. “A lot of people can’t say that. So I just think of that as a great Christian heritage that we were blessed with.”

When she takes the minutes to Old North, Holly will meet with Dana Woods, an Old North deacon currently performing pastoral duties after Pastor Arlis Hibbard resigned. Hibbard now resides in a nursing home, and the congregation of 32 active members – according to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Church Profile – has not called a new pastor.

Tom Middlebrook, the last keeper of the minutes of Old North Church before asking his daughter to donate them for preservation, in front of the church in 2013.

Woods and Yarbrough, both in their 70s, are friends, having played in a band together decades ago. That was before Woods joined Old North and became a deacon, and before Yarbrough became a pastor. Prior to pastoring Johnson Chapel, Yarbrough pastored Macedonia Baptist Church, noted as the oldest Black Baptist church in the area.

“I've known him for 40 years since I was in college,” Woods said of Yarbrough. "A good man, great singer. He was in law enforcement. He's been a constable up until recently. He’s a dynamic, go-get-‘em individual.”

Up until COVID, Old North and Johnson Chapel would fellowship together on each other’s church anniversary. But the fellowships have not resumed since COVID.

“I do know we'd like to get that started again,” Woods said.

Both Primitive and Missionary Baptists who migrated from the United States in the early 1800s formed Old North Baptist. As for the church minutes, the only instruction the church gave Summers in 1890 was to keep the minutes safe from the hands of the Primitive Baptists, Holly said. From Summers Sr., the book was passed to Jesse Summers Jr., who lived 1883-1960; to Sallie T. Summers, 1888-1984, to Holly’s father.

“The Summers family was really involved in that church,” Holly said. “They helped build it in 1851.”

The Summers’ heart print on Old North Church dates to Mary Anne Meals Summers McCuistion, who lived from 1804-1892, and upon her death was known as “the oldest member of the oldest church in the oldest town in Texas.”

And why couldn’t the Primitive Baptists have the book?

As the story goes, in 1882 there was a heated disagreement over whether it would be prideful to paint the exterior of the church. The Primitive Baptists thought so, but the Missionary Baptists disagreed.

The church was painted. The Primitive left and formed Bethel Baptist Church. And Old North continued in ministry, still meeting today in that painted building.

Holly’s father thought it important to return the record book to the community, she said, choosing his alma mater which operates the East Texas Research Center.

“He always chose preservation over possession,” Holly said of her father. “I think that's really honorable, especially with something like this that's been in the family so long, that he chose to give it to the future as opposed to keeping it in the family.

“And I think that's a really special thing that needs to be kind of honored and recognized.”



Pitman moves to national mobilizer role with NAMB’s Send Network

By / Feb 19

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – Vance Pitman has moved from serving as president of the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send Network to a new role as National Mobilizer, NAMB trustees learned during their Feb. 3 meeting in San Diego.

Pitman and NAMB President Kevin Ezell addressed trustees together, outlining the next season of Pitman’s service within the church planting network.

“I’m a builder,” Pitman told trustees. “I’m an entrepreneur. It’s the way I’m wired.”

After months of prayer and reflection, Pitman said he sensed God leading him into a different season of leadership. In his new contracted role as national mobilizer, he will continue encouraging and influencing pastors, planters and ministry partners across North America while representing and advancing the vision of Send Network. This change allows Pitman to launch a preaching, coaching and consulting ministry.

“We have a phenomenal team in place, and we have put in some great plays,” Pitman said. “The plan is to run those plays.”

Ezell expressed gratitude for Pitman’s leadership and affirmed the strength of Send Network’s team moving forward. In a Feb. 18 email to church planting missionaries, Ezell thanked Pitman for his service.

“We’re deeply grateful for Vance and his many contributions to Send Network,” Ezell wrote. “He has led with passion, conviction and vision – and Send Network is stronger and more aligned because of it. The impact of his leadership will be felt for a very long time.”

Ezell also assured missionaries of continued stability and support.

“You can be confident this work is supported by many capable leaders across Send Network and NAMB who are deeply committed to our mission and to serving you,” he said.

To ensure steady leadership during this time, Ezell outlined an interim leadership team for Send Network which includes Executive Vice President Travis Ogle, who will lead in close collaboration with Executive Director Noah Oldham, Tony Merida, who oversees planter development, Jose Abella, who leads Send Network’s Hispanic work, and Dean Fulks, who serves as a Send Network regional director.

“Our efforts to reach people with the Gospel in North America will continue to be strengthened by our missionary care and support systems, our planter pathway, and the leadership teams in place to serve you and thousands of other missionaries,” Ezell said.

On Feb. 10, Ezell shared Pitman’s new role with Baptist state convention leaders at their annual winter meeting.

Pitman has already begun serving as National Mobilizer and will continue speaking and representing Send Network throughout North America, including at the upcoming Send Network church planter orientation March 3-5.