Scott Barkley

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Annual meeting parking lot encounter brings food, clothes, payday to migrant

The man asked Daren Belardo for some cash. He received much more than that. A member of Lifepointe Church in Sedalia, Mo., supply pastor and Missouri state trooper, Belardo was attending his first SBC Annual Meeting at the invitation... Continue Reading »

Independence Day a special reminder of freedom for minister, battlefield actor

The Battle of Cowpens is considered a hinge moment in the American Revolution. A string of British victories at Savannah, Charleston and Camden had swung momentum. Continue the winning streak, the thinking went, and more Loyalists would join the... Continue Reading »

Law Amendment falls short in Indy

Southern Baptist messengers voted down the required second two-thirds approval for what has become known as the Law Amendment on Wednesday morning. With 8,298 messengers voting, the 5,099 ballots to pass the amendment reflected 61.45 percent approval, falling short... Continue Reading »

GCR Evaluation Task Force recommendations approved

Messengers adopted the six recommendations proposed by the Great Commission Resurgence Evaluation Task Force with one slight amendment during the SBC Annual Meeting’s Tuesday evening session June 11. Recommendation 2, which called for simplifying the Annual Church Profile, added... Continue Reading »

SBC’s Cooperation Group Releases Four Recommendations

Group was tasked to study what makes a church “in friendly cooperation of faith and practice” in the SBC By Scott Barkley Four recommendations released today are designed to “prioritize and emphasize the authority of messengers in defining the... Continue Reading »

GCR Evaluation Task Force recommendations include shelving of ‘Great Commission Giving,’ simplified ACP

Final recommendations brought by the Great Commission Resurgence Evaluation Task Force address areas of statistical reporting to and from Southern Baptist churches as well as calls to fulfill a financial pledge to the International Mission Board. Furthermore, the group... Continue Reading »

GCR Did Not Achieve Goal, Evaluation Task Force Concludes

Did the Great Commission Resurgence accomplish its goal of reversing the decline of baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention? According to the final report from a task force commissioned to answer that question, “the answer is a clear and... Continue Reading »

Disaster Relief on site following deadly Memorial Day weekend

Disaster Relief personnel from several states are responding to weekend storms and tornadoes that left at least 22 dead. Eight fatalities were reported in Arkansas, primarily in areas around Rogers and Bentonville, state Disaster Relief director Randy Garrett told... Continue Reading »

No longer an ‘alternative,’ Trail Life gets more looks with latest Scouting announcement

Every time the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts makes the news, Mark Hancock knows he’s going to get some phone calls. Those calls began in the summer of 2013 when Hancock and others announced the formation of... Continue Reading »

SBC’s Cooperation Group releases recommendations

Four recommendations released May 1 are designed to “prioritize and emphasize the authority of messengers in defining the boundaries of our cooperation while clarifying and refining our structure,” said a statement from the SBC’s Cooperation Group. The group was... Continue Reading »

SBC presidential candidates share positions in online discussion

The four men who have announced their willingness to be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention president in June addressed issues such as sexual abuse reforms in the SBC, a constitutional amendment calling for only males to serve as pastors... Continue Reading »

Ferguson to chair Committee on Resolutions through new process

SBC President Bart Barber has named Kristen Ferguson, associate dean of educational effectiveness and director of online education at Gateway Seminary, to serve as chair of the 2024 Committee on Resolutions. It will be Ferguson’s third year to serve... Continue Reading »