News Articles by Erich Bridges

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Robert L. (Bob) Stanley, missionary and newspaperman, thought the stories of Southern Baptist missions should be reported with compelling detail, accuracy and professionalism. So he set out to make it happen. Stanley, 86, who died Oct. 21 in Fort Smith, Ark., after an extended illness, was a veteran news reporter -- editor for the Dallas Times Herald and journalism professor when he became a ...

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Faithfulness might go uncelebrated by the world, IMB's Erich Bridges writes, but God notices. At a time when every belief, principle or relationship seems negotiable, he writes, "loyalty shines like a star in the darkness, even if few ever see it."

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Missions columnist Erich Bridges shares his perspective on the tough days ahead for the International Mission Board as it looks to reduce the number of its personnel due to years of financial shortfalls.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Missions writer Erich Bridges recounts how friends rallied in love and support when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. "God is bigger than cancer or anything else you're facing," he says. "If you didn't know that, His loving children will remind you."

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Missionary Kyra Karr, though killed in a traffic accident in mid-August, was an inspirational example of using one's days wisely, missions columnist Erich Bridges writes, noting, "The weeks in your earthly life are a prelude to your life in eternity."

Our culture no longer accommodates the Gospel; it despises it, writes IMB global correspondent Erich Bridges. The days when you could fence-sit with a toe in each camp are coming to a close, he notes.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- How can God use one faithful life to change the world? Consider Jim Slack, 77. He retired from the International Mission Board in June after 50 years as a missionary, missiologist, strategist, researcher, ethnographer, teacher -- and passionate advocate for unreached peoples, especially oral learners who need God's Word in forms they can understand.

"Plodders get things done," Erich Bridges writes, "even on the mission field." Bill Koehn, one of three workers killed by a gunman in Yemen in 2002, for example, was "one of the most faithful plodders in Southern Baptist mission history," Bridges writes.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Hope is one of the most powerful forces in the world. The absence of hope is like death. I've written in the past about my friend George. He was sincere, thoughtful, funny -- and deeply depressed. He eventually hanged himself. On the last morning of his life, George lay motionless. According to his father (who later found his body), the only words George managed to force through gritted teeth that day were: "No hope. No hope. No hope."

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- As they plan creative new ways to reach the lost, International Mission Board and Woman's Missionary Union leaders expressed gratitude to Southern Baptists for the generous support churches gave to the 2014 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. Finalized in early June, the 2014 Lottie Moon offering totaled $153,002,394.13 -- the second-highest total in the 126-year history of the offering.