Kay Adkins

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--For 100 years, an estimated 2.5 million boys have voiced the Royal Ambassador pledge:       "As a Royal Ambassador, I will do my best to become a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ ..."

EDEN, N.C. (BP)--Why are kids waking up early on Sunday mornings to nag their parents, "We have to get to church!" And why does a church in a declining small town continue to grow?

EDEN, N.C. (BP)--Pastor Steve Griffith of Osborne Baptist Church vividly remembers prayerwalking around the corporate headquarters of a major textile plant one day in February 1998 when he sensed God telling him, "I'm going to give you this building." "I could take you to the spot," said Griffith, adding that God impressed on him that it wasn't a matter of bricks and mortar but of His passion for people. Nearing the time of his graduation from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1993, Griffith preached in view of a call at the Eden, N.C., church, which was at a crisis point. He was perplexed when the church voted against calling him as pastor. "About three weeks later they called me back saying the church had split and the people who wanted me to come were the ones who stayed," Griffith recounted. He sought counsel from his mentor, the late Mark Corts, then-pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, who frankly warned him to "Run!" But God did not let Griffith and his wife Jenny off the hook so easily. He returned a second time to preach and was called as Osborne's pastor.       "About three weeks later they called me back saying the church had split and the people who wanted me to come were the ones who stayed," Griffith recounted. He sought counsel from his mentor, the late Mark Corts, then-pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, who frankly warned him to "Run!"       But God did not let Griffith and his wife Jenny off the hook so easily. He returned a second time to preach and was called as Osborne's pastor.       "When churches go through a split, nobody wins. The first two years were really weird," Griffith said. "I went to the Lord and asked Him, 'What are You doing? Where do You want us to go?'"

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–At a Wyoming truck stop, Louisiana trucker Charles Worcester was 1,600 miles from home when crisis struck: He had emergency colon cancer surgery. After nearly dying of complications from the surgery, he was transferred to Salt Lake City. Such was the long-distance, three-month ordeal for Worcester and, back in Louisiana, his wife […]

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–When a pastor’s phone rings at midnight, it often signals an emergency or tragedy — and early morning ministry. John Sharp, pastor of North Point Community Church in Columbia, S.C., rolled over to answer his phone around midnight last summer. Bob Hataway — a chaplain for the North American Mission Board who […]

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--What high-profile events like Promise Keepers and wild-game dinners instigate -- namely, a push to mature Christian men -- Men's Fraternity facilitates.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--By personal experience, teaching golf professional Scott Lehman discovered a principle that many church men's ministries are discovering as well: Where there is a common interest in an activity, there is an inroad to a man's heart.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (BP)--"I feel fortunate to pastor people who have caught the vision to be what we're supposed to be as a church," pastor Stephen Davis said of First Baptist Church in , Russellville Ark., a body of believers that determined 10 years ago to do everything they could to give themselves away.

DARDANELLE, Ark. (BP)--Volunteers at the River Valley Christian Clinic often hear Dr. James Carter cite the story of the Good Samaritan to keep them mindful to treat each patient who comes through the clinic with dignity and respect.

DARDANELLE, Ark. (BP)--"If you just give Christian people a structure to express their Christianity, they will jump on it," pastor Stephen Davis said of the flood of believers from a variety of denominations who have volunteered to meet needs and share the love of Christ with people in need at the River Valley Christian Clinic, a free medical, dental and vision clinic that opened on Jan. 11 this year.       So far, the clinic has been able to provide more than $246,000 worth of healthcare services and medication free of charge to people who meet federal poverty guidelines, who are without insurance and who cannot yet qualify for Medicare/Medicaid. More than 70 churches across various denominations in Pope County, Ark., and about 650 volunteers, some medical and some non-medical, have united for the purpose of demonstrating and sharing the Gospel.