Karen L. Willoughby

OAK HARBOR, Wash. (BP) – Why would a 19-year-old sailor be at church nearly every day of the week?

In New Cumberland, Pa., Red Land Baptist Church youngsters in the first through sixth grades made cards, wrote notes and prayed for the homeless people in Philadelphia who would be receiving the cards.  

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (BP) – An emphasis on missional living has grown and strengthened Oakhill Baptist Church, where Alan Scott has been pastor for 17 years, and where more than 500 people of different generations participate in Sunday morning worship.

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – At this year’s August retreat, Brazilian pastors and other leaders voted unanimously to start the Fellowship of Brazilian Baptist Churches in North America.

POWAY, Calif. – When Manuel “Don” Biadog Jr., looks back on his 30-year ministry as a Navy chaplain and then five more years since as a civilian, many highlights come to mind: accompanying a Marine on his final trip home after he was killed in Afghanistan; sharing his cell phone number with some of the 2,100 Americans rescued by the military after a tsunami in Japan; giving a teddy bear to a 6-year-old boy and encouragement to his family who lost everything during the East Coast’s Hurricane Sandy.

DENVER – “Everything rises and falls with relationships.” These words by Michael Proud Jr., common parlance among Southern Baptist leaders at the local church, associational, state and national levels, take on vivid clarity when applied to what’s taking place in the Colorado Baptist General Convention.

BELLEVUE, Neb. – “We’re just an ordinary church that wasn’t going to let COVID kill us,” Pastor Steve Holdaway says about LifeSpring Church in Metro Omaha. “COVID set me free from numbers.”

STATESBORO, Ga. – Emotions ran high for the 150 Cambodians present June 28 to July 1 for the 39th annual gathering of the Cambodian Southern Baptist Fellowship.

ARLINGTON, Va. (BP) – The growth of the Vietnamese Southern Baptist Union of North America was reflected in decisions made during its 38th annual meeting June 29 through July 2 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott hotel in Arlington.

RENO, Nevada (BP) – Mark Morton was a sergeant with the Reno Police Department when he was called in 2005 out of the congregation to be the pastor of Granite Hills Baptist Church.