Articulos en Español by K. Faith Morgan

MORIARTY, N.M. (BP) -- For most school-age children, weekends are a highly anticipated time of fun and freedom. But for others, there's another expectation -- hunger. These kids live in a survival cycle, taking multiple trips through the cafeteria line at school -- stocking up at lunch on Friday and catching up at breakfast on Monday -- to compensate for the food that is in short supply (or even unavailable) on the days in between.

LAS VEGAS (BP) -- Pastor Vance Pitman plans to utilize his church planting experience as he begins working with the North American Mission Board to engage and mobilize pastors to plant more churches. Fifteen years ago, Pitman and his family were sent out by First Baptist Woodstock in Georgia as church planting missionaries with NAMB. They moved to Las Vegas, and they never left. In his new role as NAMB's national mobilizer, Pitman will continue to pastor the church he planted a decade and a half ago -- Hope Church.

A church in New Mexico helps to meet a need in its community with the help of Global Hunger Relief funds.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- Parsons Avenue divides the extensive Southside neighborhood in Columbus into the haves and have-nots. Stowe Mission of Central Ohio is a place of hope situated right on the line. "From our parking lot, you can see a house that is valued at $330,000 on the west side, and you turn around and see a house that sold for $5,000," said Austin Hill, Stowe's associate director. "In this ZIP code we have houses that sell for $2 million, but then we also had a week where 12 kids under the age of 18 were shot in this area."

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) -- Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting attendee Joel Helms -- a veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry Special Forces -- remembers the mid-1960s as years when he was afraid to wear his uniform in public. "There was a time when people would spit on you when you wore your uniform. It was very depressing," he said. Helms was one of the many Vietnam veterans honored in Tuesday's (June 16) opening session of the SBC.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- People-group ministry is often viewed as an international concern, but the executive leadership at the North American Mission Board is seeking to highlight this ministry's importance and develop the scope of Southern Baptist people-group efforts in North America. "The ethnic population is growing faster than the Anglo population in the United States," said NAMB senior assistant to the president, Kim Robinson. About 58 percent of the new churches added to the Southern Baptist Convention in 2013 and 2014 are reported to be minority congregations, he noted.

DAYTON, Ohio (BP) -- When Randy Chestnut and his wife of 35 years, Denise, sensed God calling them to establish a church and ministry in Old North Dayton, it was a homecoming with a then-and-now feeling. Raised in the area, the Chestnuts had deep roots in the community. But while Old North Dayton is home, the region has seen many changes since their youth.