David Platt was elected president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board Aug. 27 by board trustees, meeting at the IMB’s International Learning Center in Rockville, Va. Platt, 36, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, a Southern Baptist congregation in Birmingham, Ala., will take office effective immediately as president of the 169-year-old organization, the […]
The scene unfolded in the seventh-floor courtroom of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia — dark-paneled, solemn and a little intimidating. But the mood was anything but solemn on a beautiful spring day as 72 immigrants crowded into the chamber to take the oath of U.S. citizenship, accompanied by throngs of family members, […]
Jessica Wolfe’s life changed forever on her first international missions trip nearly a decade ago. “I had the opportunity to share Jesus with a college student in Asia who asked me, ‘Who is Jesus?’” Wolfe recalled. “After being asked that question, the Lord began to tug on my heart to reach out to those in […]
She wants desperately to return to the hurting people she loves. Laura Miles* is a missionary on hold. At least, she sometimes feels that way. Miles spent two terms overseas with her husband, in places where the people she served are experiencing hard times and the threat of worse. It tears her up inside to […]
Work gets intense for emergency room doctor Chris Andershock — so intense that he occasionally thinks about making a break for it to escape the pressure. Andershock, 46, who lives and works in Memphis, Tenn., said “emergency medicine can be extremely raw and very emotional.” “Dealing with life-and-death issues all the time, seeing the best […]
Here’s a handy back-to-school tip: Make friends with that pimple-faced kid sitting alone in the back of the classroom. You know the one. Nobody wants to be around him because he’s weird. He doesn’t belong to a group, except for maybe the losers. He smells funny. All the cool people make fun of him. The […]
You’ve recently finished college — or maybe you’re a mid-career professional — and you sense an urgent call to follow Christ into long-term mission service. You have the practical skills to make an impact. You have the motivation. You’re ready to respond to the Lord’s call in obedience — right now, as the Apostle Paul […]
Southern Baptists gave $149.3 million to the 2012 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. The 2012 Lottie Moon Offering, finalized June 5, totaled $149,276,303.72. It surpassed last year’s offering of $146.8 million by more than $2.4 million and marked the third-highest amount given in the offering’s 124-year history. Speaking on behalf of missionaries across […]
It's a familiar prayer. Too familiar, some say, to mean much. ?Lord, bless the missionaries.? For church folks of a certain age, these words are as comfortable and automatic as ?Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies? or ?Bless the gift and the giver.? Mission leaders who?ve heard this prayer uttered countless times sometimes criticize it as perfunctory, meaningless or ritualistic. Which missionaries? Where? Bless them how? And what about the people the missionaries are trying to reach with the gospel? Don't they need prayer, too?
Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Regret is a painful thing. We look back on the foolish things we have done and the good things we have left undone. We lament wasted years, wrong attitudes, hurts inflicted on others, missed opportunities.