Mickey Noah

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- With Tropical Storm Isaac continuing to churn toward landfall as a potential hurricane on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning -- somewhere along the Louisiana and Mississippi Coasts -- Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders already are planning where major storm responses will be deployed.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- With Tropical Storm Isaac continuing to churn toward landfall as a potential hurricane on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning -- somewhere along the Louisiana and Mississippi Coasts -- Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders already are planning where major storm responses will be deployed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (BP) – Chuck Erikson of Garden Grove, Calif., an 18-year disaster relief volunteer, received the Robert E. Dixon Lifetime Service Award at the 2012 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Roundtable in Des Moines, Iowa, this month.

DES MOINES, Iowa (BP) – Chuck Erikson of Garden Grove, Calif., an 18-year disaster relief volunteer, received the Robert E. Dixon Lifetime Service Award at the 2012 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Roundtable in Des Moines, Iowa, this month.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (BP) – The Oklahoma state convention needs up to 150 volunteers for “ash-out” work after wildfires charred 110,000 acres and destroyed 380 homes the past week across the state. Sam Porter, disaster relief director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, said Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are needed […]

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (BP) – The Oklahoma state convention needs up to 150 volunteers for “ash-out” work after wildfires charred 110,000 acres and destroyed 380 homes the past week across the state. Sam Porter, disaster relief director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, said Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are needed […]

WOODSTOCK, Ga. (BP) -- More than 2,000 church planters, pastors and other Southern Baptist leaders -- triple the number originally predicted -- attended the North American Mission Board's Send North America Conference at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga. "It's a brand new day for the North American Mission Board," NAMB President Kevin Ezell said as he welcomed the attendees. "Our national strategy is Send North America, which is not only about church planting but also evangelism and church revitalization." A key intent of the conference was to help mobilize churches to the North American mission field so they can have a more personal connection to and involvement with church planters. Those attending included more than 300 pastors and more than 600 church planters. NAMB originally planned for 800 at the July 30-31 event, but registration eventually topped 2,200. The meeting drew attendees from all 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NAMB's Aaron Coe, vice president for mobilization and equipping, told an enthusiastic audience that the conference was about only one thing: Jesus. "This is a historic night as we kick off this conference," Coe said. "It's been in the making for nine months. There are people in this room from many tribes across the Southern Baptist Convention -- denominational representatives, state convention partners, church planters and churches. But this conference isn't really about church planting. It's about Jesus." Coe shared NAMB's goal: the net gain of 5,000 new SBC congregations across North America by 2022, while seeing the church "death" rate -- on average about 890 churches a year -- reduced through aggressive church revitalization. "Send North America is not just a big church strategy, it's an every church strategy," Coe said. Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, kicked off Monday night's program as the conference's first guest speaker. "In the last 10 years, the number of self-proclaiming Christians has declined by 10 percent," Stetzer said. "I don't have to tell you that the world is growing more hostile to the message we bring." Stetzer quoted Christian author Phil Yancey, who claims in principle it's already "Saturday" on planet earth. But Stetzer told the church planters, pastors and others that "we are not sharing Christ and planting churches like we need to do if it is indeed Saturday." Louie Giglio, founding pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, asked attendees, "Has the resurrection worn off in me and you? Are you still flipping out that Christ is alive? Because if you're not, don't plant a church." Workshops throughout Tuesday covered topics such as "Reaching the Nations in North America," "Knowing Your Mission Context," "How to be an Effective Sending Church" and "Rural Church Planting." Other topics covered evangelism, bivocational pastoring and planting. A separate track featured content for minister's wives. In his message during a general session, Johnny Hunt, pastor of the Atlanta-area First Baptist Woodstock, reminded those in attendance that "oftentimes, we don't need more instruction. We just need more encouragement in what we've already learned."

WOODSTOCK, Ga. (BP) -- More than 2,000 church planters, pastors and other Southern Baptist leaders -- triple the number originally predicted -- attended the North American Mission Board's Send North America Conference at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga. "It's a brand new day for the North American Mission Board," NAMB President Kevin Ezell said as he welcomed the attendees. "Our national strategy is Send North America, which is not only about church planting but also evangelism and church revitalization." A key intent of the conference was to help mobilize churches to the North American mission field so they can have a more personal connection to and involvement with church planters. Those attending included more than 300 pastors and more than 600 church planters. NAMB originally planned for 800 at the July 30-31 event, but registration eventually topped 2,200. The meeting drew attendees from all 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NAMB's Aaron Coe, vice president for mobilization and equipping, told an enthusiastic audience that the conference was about only one thing: Jesus. "This is a historic night as we kick off this conference," Coe said. "It's been in the making for nine months. There are people in this room from many tribes across the Southern Baptist Convention -- denominational representatives, state convention partners, church planters and churches. But this conference isn't really about church planting. It's about Jesus." Coe shared NAMB's goal: the net gain of 5,000 new SBC congregations across North America by 2022, while seeing the church "death" rate -- on average about 890 churches a year -- reduced through aggressive church revitalization. "Send North America is not just a big church strategy, it's an every church strategy," Coe said. Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, kicked off Monday night's program as the conference's first guest speaker. "In the last 10 years, the number of self-proclaiming Christians has declined by 10 percent," Stetzer said. "I don't have to tell you that the world is growing more hostile to the message we bring." Stetzer quoted Christian author Phil Yancey, who claims in principle it's already "Saturday" on planet earth. But Stetzer told the church planters, pastors and others that "we are not sharing Christ and planting churches like we need to do if it is indeed Saturday." Louie Giglio, founding pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, asked attendees, "Has the resurrection worn off in me and you? Are you still flipping out that Christ is alive? Because if you're not, don't plant a church." Workshops throughout Tuesday covered topics such as "Reaching the Nations in North America," "Knowing Your Mission Context," "How to be an Effective Sending Church" and "Rural Church Planting." Other topics covered evangelism, bivocational pastoring and planting. A separate track featured content for minister's wives. In his message during a general session, Johnny Hunt, pastor of the Atlanta-area First Baptist Woodstock, reminded those in attendance that "oftentimes, we don't need more instruction. We just need more encouragement in what we've already learned."

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- The North American Mission Board's executive director for chaplaincy, Douglas Carver, is reiterating that Southern Baptist military chaplains endorsed by NAMB on behalf of the convention do not support same-sex civil unions or marriages that might take place on some military installations.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- As monster wildfires rage in Colorado and other Western states while Hurricane Debby leaves massive flooding behind in north Florida, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders are busy mapping responses in both parts of the country.