Wives’ luncheon draws sellout crowd
SAN ANTONIO (BP)–Author and radio personality Nancy Leigh DeMoss addressed a sellout crowd of 1,500 at the June 12 Ministers’ Wives’ Luncheon during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in San Antonio. Comedian Dennis Swanberg, also known as the “Minister of Encouragement, and biblical counselor June Hunt joined DeMoss on the program at the fiesta-style […]
WMU fosters mission connection in Tijuana
SAN ANTONIO (BP)–Dwight Simpson described the value of partnership during the Woman’s Missionary Union Annual Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting’s closing session June 11. “God broke our hearts, telling us we couldn’t be so selfish to just reach the people on our side of the border, Simpson, director of missions for the San Diego Baptist […]
Impact Teams nurture university’s passion
GREENVILLE, S.C. (BP)–Since the 1980s the Baptist Student Union at North Greenville University has been sending out students in “Impact Teams” to make an impact for Christ in their community, their state and beyond. When Mayson Easterling, NGU’s vice president of denominational relations, began directing the BSU in 1984 he became convinced that “many of […]
Collegian’s passion tops cerebral palsy
GREENVILLE, S.C. (BP)--Kim Chapman has always believed in God because she has always been told she is a miracle from Him.
Pastor’s passion, transparency undergird Brand New Church
BERGMAN, Ark. (BP)--Shannon O’Dell believed God’s call to shepherd a new church modeled after the pastor-led Acts 2 church where the community of faith was the hub for all of life. But he was surprised that God’s plan was to do it in rural Arkansas.
There’s a Brand New Church with passion in rural America
 |
| Shannon O’Dell, pastor of Brand New Church in rural northern Arkansas, baptizes a new believer at the church that, indeed, is named purposely Brand New ChurchPhoto by Kay Adkins |
Pastor Shannon O’Dell and teams of volunteers arrive at the school’s gymnasium about 9 a.m. each Sunday to set up stage lights, sound equipment, platforms, curtains, chairs, refreshments and the Brand New Church information center and store with lots of BNC logo items available.
‘Points of Challenge’ speakers urge SBC toward greater faith
 |
| Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, gives an emotional account of the challenges his congregation has faced since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.Photo by Jonathan Blair |
The challenges underscored SBC President Bobby Welch’s “Everyone Can” campaign to baptize 1 million souls in a year.
David Cox, co-pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., first challenged Southern Baptists to win the world to Christ through clearly demonstrated Christian love.
“You know if there is one thing that we are missing in our Southern Baptist Convention, something that we need to grasp more of, it is the whole concept of Christian love and loving one another and loving sinners,” Cox said.
 |
| “If we are going to be fishers of men we have to put our hooks in the water,” says James L. Walker, pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church, Arden, N.C., during a June 13 session of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C. Photo by Matt Miller |
Preaching from Mark 9:12-13, Cox exhorted messengers to remember that it is not the healthy who need a physician but the sick and that Jesus desires our compassion over sacrifice.
“If you’re trying to get a handle like I am on what’s this all about, and what God is calling me to do and what He is calling us to do as a convention, I believe with all my heart it is to love a lost and dying world and to show them the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “I’m not sure they know that we love them. I’m not sure at all.”
Hurting people must not be ‘second-class citizens’
GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)--Evangelist Ted Stone implored Southern Baptists to stop regarding broken and hurting people as “second-class citizens in the family of God” in a message at the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Directors of Missions June 11.
Prof helps EKG unfold in former Soviet lands
GERMANTOWN, Tenn. (BP)--Jere Phillips of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary continues to marvel at how God is using Empowering Kingdom Growth in Russia and is grateful for the part God has allowed him to play in it.
Hemphill leads Empowering Kingdom Growth study at Mid-America Seminary
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (BP)--In a first-of-its-kind gathering, Ken Hemphill shared his Empowering Kingdom Growth “passion” with faculty and students at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, kicking off their seminary-wide study of “A 40 Day Experience: EKG, The Heartbeat of God.”
Mid-America is the first seminary to use EKG as retreat material for staff and students and the first to offer an EKG class for credit, with 33 MABTS students currently enrolled.
