Caring Well Sunday, Sept. 24, is on the SBC Calendar this year for the first time, giving churches an opportunity to acknowledge the emotional toll of sexual abuse and commit to ensuring congregations are safe places. “We may never even know who they are in our congregations, but I can guarantee there’s not a single […]
2023 SBC: Motion to amend BF&M passes, two task forces approved
Messengers voted to amend the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, the statement of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention, to clarify the role of pastor at the SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The convention also approved the appointment of a task force to study the impact of the Great Commission Resurgence recommendations adopted in […]
Lament, repentance for sexual abuse underscore SBC resolutions
Southern Baptists publicly lamented the harm their “actions and inactions have caused to survivors of sexual abuse” in a resolution adopted by messengers to the 2022 SBC annual meeting. Messengers agreed sexual abuse is an abomination before God, which grieves Christ, abandons the demands of Scripture, violates the image of God and “causes harm to […]
Colossians yields guidance as Pastors Conference text
Longtime pastor Al Jackson closed out the 2022 SBC Pastors Conference study of the Book of Colossians by examining the list of faithful servants named at the end of the Apostle Paul’s letter, reminding pastors that even little-known saints are significant saints to God. “These are not insignificant followers of Christ,” Jackson, pastor emeritus of […]
Rural ministry more rewarding than expected, pastor says
Rural ministry was not what pastor Matt Henslee envisioned for himself when he was growing up in the DFW Metroplex, but it’s where God led him, and now he loves it. He’s urging other pastors to consider that God does some of His best work in rural settings. As pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church in […]
SBC supports survivors, embraces diversity
Southern Baptists acted in support of sexual abuse survivors, embraced ethnic and gender diversity and rallied around the Great Commission at their annual meeting June 11-12 in Birmingham, Ala. Messengers strengthened their stance against sexual abuse and racism by overwhelmingly approving two amendments to the SBC Constitution specifically stating that sexual abuse and discrimination based […]
If Alaska is on your mind to serve as a pastor …
Alaska is “in dire need of committed pastors to serve Christ,” said Rob Scott, who never lived outside North Carolina before attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Scott, who has been in a remote area of Alaska since 2009 as pastor of Dillingham Bible Fellowship, moved to the state because “it’s a place that […]
Unknown entrepreneur from South Carolina coast was missions pioneer
The modern missions movement owes much to an unknown entrepreneur, Hephzibah Jenkins Townsend, who overcame social constrictions in the antebellum South to rally women toward missions giving. Her journey unfolds in the form of a novel, “Her Way: The Remarkable Story of Hephzibah Jenkins Townsend” by Rosalie Hall Hunt of Guntersville, Ala., who also has […]
Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines recounts presidential decision
Steve Gaines, elected president by acclamation at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, recounted in a press conference afterward how God led the candidates to that “special moment” of unity. After a runoff didn’t produce a majority winner between Gaines, pastor of the Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., […]
Fanny Crosby’s lost lyrics now expanding her legacy
Fanny Crosby’s hymns have impacted lives for Christ worldwide for generations, but until recently 2,700 of them were overlooked in an archive, unsung and unpublished. Now on the album “Blessed Assurance: The New Hymns of Fanny Crosby,” some of those forgotten lyrics have come to life through today’s worship writers and singers, introducing a new […]