Articulos en Español by Mark Kelly

NAN, Thailand (BP) -- Pao Ly's mission trip to Thailand brought his ministry, in a sense, full circle. It also symbolized a coming of age for Southern Baptists whose ethnic heritage traces back to the hill country of Southeast Asia. Ly, who is pastor of First Hmong Baptist Church in Morganton, N.C., was making his first overseas trip to work among his own people group. He had not been among Hmong people in Southeast Asia since his family left the region in 1976.

SAN DIEGO (BP) -- While everyone else at New Song Parkside Church stood to sing -- including Rick Hynes' wife Antoinette, -- Rick stayed in his seat with his arms crossed. Later, when pastor Jim Britts was able to spend some time with Hynes, the veteran of nine Marine deployments told him, "There's no way God could forgive me for some of the things I've done overseas." When Britts asked Hynes how he dealt with the guilt, Hynes replied, "Well, I play video games and try not to lash out at my kids."

McKINNEY, Texas (BP) -- Pastor Louis Rosenthal sits at his desk, praying through a list of one hundred names from his neighborhood in McKinney, Texas. He had printed the list from Pray4EveryHome.com, a tool his congregation uses to pray specifically -- by name -- for all their neighbors. Afterward, Pastor Louis makes a lunchtime run to the store. As he stands in the checkout line, he notices a woman nearby is crying softly. Pastor Louis asks if he can help.

Pray4EveryHome’s technology allows church members to better understand their community and even pray by name for neighbors they have yet to meet.

FLINT, Michigan (BP) -- Southern Baptists are bringing clean water and a ray of hope to residents of Flint, Mich., as that city scrambles to solve its potable water crisis. Trained disaster relief volunteers from the Kentucky Baptist Convention are working in Flint seven days a week at the invitation of Michigan emergency management officials. Five three-member teams are going door to door, delivering water filters, bottled water and water test kits. They also are passing along information related to the water crisis and listening as residents tell their stories about being caught up in the dilemma.

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. (BP) -- On the evening before she and her family had planned to return overseas, Kyra Lynn Karr, a Southern Baptist missionary to Italy, was killed in a traffic accident, Aug. 13. News reports indicate a tractor-trailer driver exited his vehicle to conduct a safety inspection but the safety brake was not engaged and the truck began to roll. The vehicle hit the pickup in which Karr was traveling, crushing it against the highway guardrail on U.S. 41 in Bartow County, Ga. Karr, 30, died at the scene.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (BP) -- Southern Baptists lost a powerful force in their global missions effort when Mike Barnett died suddenly of an unexpected health-related issue Aug. 10, friends and colleagues said. Barnett, 62, served the past 11 years at Columbia (S.C.) International University, where he was professor of intercultural and historical studies. His missions impact, however, stretched around the world and into the lives of both fellow missionaries and people groups with no access to the good news of God's love in Christ Jesus.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Christians in health care ministries are living out their faith by "word and deed" throughout the world, and people are responding. Among those making decisions to follow Jesus are people in places where the message of God's love is only just now arriving.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (BP) -- Nepal earthquake survivors have begun receiving relief supplies provided by Southern Baptists. A Baptist Global Response assessment team, meanwhile, has made it to the quake's epicenter and found an architect to help assess homes and buildings so survivors can know whether they are safe.

KURDISTAN (BP) -- When ISIS began shelling this family's northern Iraq neighborhood, they had to flee into the night like everyone else. But with four children with disabilities, their escape was more difficult than most. A daughter who is blind, another with epilepsy and two sons with muscular dystrophy distinguished the family from others.