News Articles by Caroline Anderson

CAMBODIA (BP) -- Chamroeun Siet's* road to full dependence on Jesus was a gradual one, and it wasn't without painful bumps -- electrocution, skin grafts and alcoholism recovery -- but it's a story of God's physical and spiritual healing. Before committing his life to Christ and partnering with IMB workers in Southeast Asia, Siet was an alcoholic, spending all of his family's money on alcohol. One night, after throwing plates across the room and breaking things around his house in a drunken rage, he saw his mother crying in the corner and realized he needed help.

JAPAN (BP) -- The Walkers' family history was intertwined with Japan long before they landed there. Cornelia's father was an Army Air Force pilot who flew bombing missions in Japan during World War II. Carlton Walker's father was in the infantry and served in Japan after the war officially ended. He was tasked with checking homes and public places for weapons. Carlton remembers his father's compassionate heart for the Japanese people.

SOUTHEAST ASIA (BP) -- The scent of pine trees and roasting coffee beans permeates the Southeast Asian air. International Mission Board worker Katelyn Summers* keeps careful track of the roasting time. Outside on the terraced hill, high school students, who have traveled from their home in Singapore, lug bags of freshly picked coffee cherries to be processed and dried. The students came to this Southeast Asian nation to serve as part of their church's partnership with Summers to help introduce the Gospel to the people group among whom she is working.

TOKYO (BP) -- The world will converge on Tokyo, Japan, twice in the span of a year for two international sporting events -- the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics. Southern Baptists and their local church partners in Tokyo will be there to share the Gospel with the players, coaches and fans. Between the Rugby World Cup matches this month, rugby fans supporting the 20 qualifying countries are joining the crowds in Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing. Southern Baptist volunteers from across the United States are partnering with International Mission Board missionaries and Japanese Christians to share the Gospel in the city that hosts the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world.

BOHOL, Philippines (BP) -- The International Mission Board has signed a covenant with One Sending Body, the sending entity of five Baptist conventions in the Philippines. The agreement forges an official partnership between the two missionary-sending organizations and facilitates teaming between Filipino and IMB missionaries to advance the Gospel.

SOUTH ASIA (BP) -- International Mission Board missionary Bethany meets regularly with a group of four Deaf friends from South Asia. These friends are Hindus and are eager to know more about the one true God. Bethany (name changed for security) teaches the group Bible stories in sign language. Each night, Bethany and the group discuss a different story, and she has presented the Gospel multiple times. They've talked about baptism and discussed the story in Acts 2 where 3,000 people were baptized after they heard Peter's address.

SOUTHEAST ASIA (BP) -- They love hearing about baptisms of people they don't know. News of strangers being baptized means there has been generational growth of Christians in their area, say William and Nancy Potter,* International Mission Board workers who serve in Southeast Asia. The "generational growth" -- people who lead people, who then lead other people, to Christ -- first began 18 years ago when they met Ary Keo* and her husband Chann.* As the Potters discipled them and cast a vision for church planting, the Lord gave Ary and Chann a heart to take the Gospel to an area eight hours away.

NEPAL (BP) -- Pavan* grew up feeling unsettled in his destiny. As the firstborn son in his family, he thought he would have to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Buddhist monk. But music intervened into this cultural tradition that should have dictated his future. Pavan, now a Christian pastor, recounted his past and the persistent fear that once plagued him: He had been afraid of dying.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (BP) -- "I'll retire when the devil retires." Gary Harthcock faithfully lived out his famous words on four continents and in multiple avenues of service. Friends recalled Harthcock's watchword upon his death Jan. 5 at age 97 of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. "That quote was taped to his desk, and he told me he read it every day. He has truly lived that out," Kathryn Monroe said. "Retirement was not in his vocabulary." She and her husband Philip were friends of Harthcock.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (BP) -- The April 2015 earthquake in Nepal was a galvanizing moment for Rajaan Chhetri,* a church planter, pastor and mentor. Prior to the earthquake, the Lord gave Chhetri and Christian worker Reece Dehn* the vision to open a water bottling plant in Nepal to create jobs for Christians as well as meet a need for clean drinking water. Though Nepal is the second water-richest country in the world, ...