Cooperating for the Gospel

DAVEO CITY, Philippines – Chris Cook, pastor of Parkade Baptist in Columbia, Mo., didn’t know what to think when Pastor Mayinto Ganzon reached out to him on Facebook in November of 2023.

Members of the 1936 U.S. Olympic Rowing team depicted in the movie “The Boys in the Boat” were able to accomplish far more than anyone expected because they discovered what can happen when you work together in perfect unity. There is something that happens when rowers are in perfect rhythm and sync with one another. It is called “swing.”

AUSTIN, Texas -- More than three dozen people from Acts Fellowship Church in Austin have gone to seminary, including 20 who have trained at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary—a testament to the vitality of a Cooperative Program partnership.

DANVILLE, Ky. (BP) — Signs emerge when a church is in trouble. Memberships and baptisms dip. The sounds of youth and children barely, if ever, echo through the halls. Building maintenance is deferred for longer periods of time.

KIBERA, Kenya (BP) – Matt Beasley, lead pastor of Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Ky., conducted global missions the two years he and his wife Valerie were International Mission Board church planters in Prague.

This fall I was able to travel to several state convention annual meetings. I was continually moved by the sacrificial generosity that was shared and celebrated on many fronts.

RUSSELL SPRINGS, Ky. — When Christian Naylor told his church that he was prepared to lead a class to train men about preaching, little did he realize how soon that class would pay kingdom dividends.

JACKSON, Miss. (BP) -- The 2024 Mississippi State Fair has drawn to a close, and with it, Mississippi Baptist fair evangelism. With the help of newcomers and veteran churches, groups and individuals, the engagement exceeded years past. This year, 195 volunteers had 2,824 Gospel conversations, resulting in 373 decisions for Christ.

PALATKA, Fla. (BP) — Southern Baptists are better together. That’s not just a slogan for the churches in the St. John’s River Baptist Association (SJRBA) in the St. Augustine and Palatka area of Florida – it’s a reality that’s fueled their shared mission of spreading the Good News about Jesus.

TUPELO, Miss. (BP) – “They had never seen anything like that,” Pastor Matt Powell said of the members of First Baptist Church of Tupelo who attended the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.