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God Never Wastes Waiting in Pastoral Ministry

During college, I served in several churches. I preached, taught, led discipleship groups, evangelized, and organized events — the kind of responsibilities one has when pastoring a church. After graduation, my wife and I headed to seminary so I... Continue Reading »

Finding Hope and Joy Again

I was sitting in church on Easter morning, my second Easter since my beloved wife of 35 years, Kay, passed away from pancreatic cancer almost two years ago. I was thinking of the hope I continue to find in... Continue Reading »

Four Reasons Your Kids Need to Hear and See You Do Your Devotions

For many years now, I’ve asked students about their quiet time with the Lord. Frankly, many struggle with consistency, especially with prayer. Anecdotally, though, here’s what I’ve learned: The students who struggle least tend to have had parents who... Continue Reading »

How Prayer Fights Back Against Trouble

Editor’s Note: Today is the National Day of Prayer observance: “Pour Out to the God of Hope and Be Filled.” Most Americans pray, and many pray every day; but what do we pray about? Not surprisingly, according to Lifeway... Continue Reading »

God’s Curriculum Instructs Us in Patience While We’re Enrolled in His School of Waiting

I don’t like to wait. No, let’s be completely frank: I despise waiting. There is a certain highway in the city where I lived until recently that is notorious for traffic snarled for hours on both sides of rush... Continue Reading »

National Day of Prayer Set for May 1

The National Day of Prayer will be Thursday, May 1. Christians all over the country will gather in or near courthouses, city squares and other central locations to cry to God for His blessing, forgiveness and leadership in their... Continue Reading »

Churches ‘Fill the Tank’ on Baptism Sunday, But That’s Not the Whole Story

Energy infused the worship center of West Edgecomb Baptist Church in Rocky Mount as the digital timer on the screen at front counted down the minutes. The congregation had reason to celebrate on Sunday, April 27. Five were baptized.... Continue Reading »

Report Shows Medical Missions Trip Yields Surprising Results

Short-term volunteer mission projects can make a long-term impact. The key, according to International Mission Board missionaries Cade and Ginny Wheeler, is for the local church to be fully invested and use volunteers within an already existing strategy. After... Continue Reading »

Coffee Ceremonies and Jewelry-making Bring Women Closer to Christ

The smell of freshly roasted coffee beans lingers as women listen to a Bible story at the end of the third round of the coffee ceremony. Ennat* is one of the women who have gathered as part of a... Continue Reading »

Young Girl’s Salvation Leads to Gospel Reach in Iran

Rarely do we get to see exactly how all of our ministry efforts bear fruit, but on occasion the Lord allows us to see and enjoy the fruits of our labor. These sweet moments of reflection on God’s sovereignty... Continue Reading »

Why You Should Want the Resurrection to Be True (Part Two)

The first part of this piece argued that we should want the resurrection to be true because it means freedom from sin and new life in Christ. (Read Part One here.) What’s the second reason? Reason Two: If it’s... Continue Reading »

Why You Should Want the Resurrection to Be True (Part One)

Is the Easter story true? Since the time of the gospels, every week and especially once a year, Christians gather to sing and worship the death-defeating Jesus of Nazareth. As then, through today, right now, all over the world... Continue Reading »

Jackie Robinson Had the Guts Not to Fight Back

Editors’ note: On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves. In so doing, Robinson became the first black player to appear in a Major League game, and his arrival led... Continue Reading »

Animated ‘King of Kings’ Tells Jesus’ Life at Easter, Inspired by Dickens Tale

A few years after Charles Dickens wrote perhaps his most popular book, A Christmas Carol, he compiled the long-unpublished work, The Life of Our Lord, as a personal gift to his children. Adapted from the Gospel of Luke, The... Continue Reading »

When Children Stray From the Faith

By Jason Blankenship › I listened to the burden of a pastor friend of mine who, through his broken heart, shared the story of a child who has strayed from faith. I have many other friends who tell the... Continue Reading »

Greed Fuels Sports Gambling Industry, S.C. Ethicist Says

Sports gambling feeds on greed and thrives on the exploitation of the vulnerable, Baptist pastor and former college football coach RaShan Frost said. “The problem with sports gambling is that it intensifies covetous and idolatrous desires within our hearts,”... Continue Reading »

Kickstands Up: Pastor Challenges Church with Bike Ride for Annie Armstrong

Kevin Bounds, of Douglas, Ga., is familiar with the concept that every little bit counts. About five years ago, he stepped on a scale, and a number appeared he wasn’t happy about. Then 38 years old, Bounds was a... Continue Reading »

Churches Aim to Welcome Guests by Different Methods

Every church aims to welcome guests in some way. Those efforts may just look different in different churches and may have changed over the last decade. According to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors, more than 99... Continue Reading »

Over 120 Students Make Decisions for Christ at ONE Night Rock Hill

On March 30, more than 1,100 students and leaders gathered at First Baptist Rock Hill for ONE Night, a collaborative evangelism event hosted by South Carolina Baptist churches. The event resulted in over 120 students making decisions to follow... Continue Reading »

New and Noteworthy Books — April 2025

Impact Player: Leaving a Lasting Legacy On and Off the Field (Tyndale, 2012) by Bobby Richardson with David Thomas Former Yankee Bobby Richardson played alongside Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, Joe Pepitone, and Yogi Berra during one of... Continue Reading »

The Gift of Creation: How Its Beauty Can Aid in Our Sanctification

Creation is empty in and of itself. It can’t heal a wounded heart. But in another sense, there’s a fullness that creation points to. Creation is a beautiful gift that can supplement our faith. Here are three ways that... Continue Reading »

Making Melody to the Lord: Using Music to Glorify and Enjoy God

How do you use music? Stop and think about that for a moment. If music is a tool designed to accomplish a task, what tasks are you accomplishing with it? Some people use music as a tool to build... Continue Reading »

‘Arise and Shine!’ The Call of Christian Writers and Every Believer

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines over you,” urges the Prophet Isaiah (60:1–2). “For look, darkness covers the earth, and total darkness the peoples.” We don’t need to be told that... Continue Reading »

Don’t Waste Your Hobbies: Five Reasons

I know he meant well, but he came off sounding a little pompous, more like a professional wrestler on Saturday afternoon TV than an ordained man of God: “The devil doesn’t take a day off. He doesn’t take vacations,... Continue Reading »

Common Grace, How Sweet the Sound

In 1972, Christian music legend Larry Norman recorded a song that resonated with many younger evangelicals, particularly hippies whom God saved out of the Jesus People Movement. One verse in particular frames the question: There’s a good world that... Continue Reading »

State of the Church: More Men Attending than Women, Volunteering Rebounding

Men have outpaced women in church attendance the past three years, reversing a longstanding trend of more women in the pews that narrowed in 2016, Barna said in its 2025 State of the Church release, created in partnership with... Continue Reading »

Teachers, Leverage Your Leadership for God’s Kingdom

Have you ever heard the statement, “He or she is a natural leader”? Typically, the conversation quickly shifts to a description of traits that validate this claim. Natural leaders are often described as self-confident, adept decision-makers, great communicators, trailblazers,... Continue Reading »

Why Biblical Training for Women Around the World Matters

Reaching & Teaching is based on a foundational conviction: that the Church is both the means and the end of the Great Commission. In other words, it is only as churches around the world are strengthened that true disciples... Continue Reading »

Online Betting is Exploding: Collateral Damage Destroying Lives

“There was just something in my brain that kept me going.” Those are the chilling words of Kavita Fisher, a 41-year-old mental health professional who struck it big in online gambling, winning close to $500,000. According to the Wall... Continue Reading »

Baptist Broadcaster Defined by Faith, Not Career

With March Madness kicking off, Furman University broadcaster Dan Scott can’t help but remember that magical moment two years ago when Furman pulled a major upset in the first round of the NCAA men’s tournament. Scott, who has been... Continue Reading »

The Gospel is a Message of Urgency, Even for Our Loved Ones

It was a mildly chilly day in April when we got the call, “I’m taking myself to the hospital.” My grandmother had been in pain for a while, but she finally reached a breaking point. We held our breath... Continue Reading »

One of the Million

I met one of the million at the pickle ball courts. Don was curious about the college pickle ball tournament that was occurring in his neighborhood in Myrtle Beach. It wasn’t normal to see this many young people, laughing... Continue Reading »

Chuck Kelley Details Journey of Grief During Return to NOBTS

Chuck Kelley, president emeritus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College, spoke about his journey of grief after losing his beloved wife, Rhonda, in his first chapel message since his retirement. Kelley’s chapel address on Thursday (March... Continue Reading »

When Wrestling with Faith: Biblical Truths and Practical Helps

Many Christians have encountered seasons — perhaps even extended seasons — of doubt regarding assurance of salvation. These seasons can range from “annoying background distraction” to “all-consuming joy-robber.” Below are considerations regarding gospel-centered truth and beauty that may help... Continue Reading »

Healthy ‘Home Church’ Provides Vital Relationship to Missionaries

The IMB has always required church endorsement for service overseas. Most missionaries were part of a healthy church where discipleship and accountability shaped their call. Churches committed to pray for their missionaries. In the last few years, the International... Continue Reading »

New and Noteworthy Books — March 2025

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Fourth Edition (Crossway, 2021) by Mark Dever This is a revised and updated version of the classic work that God has used to revitalize so many unhealthy churches over the past 34 years.... Continue Reading »

Outfitter Church Leads to Reputation Restoration

Trent Fetherston had a reputation — the kind of reputation a man will get in an everybody-knows-everybody kind of town like Bar Nunn, Wyo., when he spends what seems like thousands of consecutive happy hours with a drink in... Continue Reading »

Circuit Riders Key to Reaching Wyoming’s Tiny Towns

Baggs, Bairoil, Glendo, Granger, Medicine Bow, Meeteetse — race past them at the posted interstate speed limit of 80 miles per hour, and one after another, every tiny town in Wyoming can easily look like the same blink-and-you’ll-miss-it blur... Continue Reading »

Osvaldo and Vanessa Lerma: Coming to America

They didn’t want to do it, but they had no choice. Ecuadorians Eduardo Vera and his wife, Juliana, walked more than 1,900 miles with their family, pushing Juliana’s elderly father almost the whole way on a rusty, discarded tricycle... Continue Reading »

Q&A with Michael Bryant, Dean of NGU’s College of Christian Studies

North Greenville University announced Michael Bryant as the new dean of NGU’s College of Christian Studies on Feb. 20 in a press release. He will replace the founding dean, Walter Johnson, who retired after the spring of 2024. This... Continue Reading »

Church Revitalization Resources Offer Help and Hope

Columbia Metro Baptist Association’s Church Health and Resources Team Leader David Waganer sees similarities between a 2024 news story of United States astronauts unable to return to earth and the pressing dilemmas some modern churches face to effectively share... Continue Reading »

9 Ways to Help Those who are Suffering

In the past month, what have you heard from those you love? Divorce, loneliness, layoffs, cancer, parenting struggles, disappointment, betrayal, conflict? Everyone we love will hurt and suffer. While we feel compassion, we often find ourselves at a loss... Continue Reading »

A Journey Planned in Advance

“You must be out of your mind.” No one said it. But it had to be what most reasonable people were thinking when they heard what Christian and Laura Rowland had decided to do. “When our church in Texas... Continue Reading »

Should I Stay or Should I Go? When to Consider Finding Another Church

It is the conversation with church members every pastor dreads, but inevitably comes to every man who has shepherded a local flock: “Pastor, we need to meet with you and discuss our future at the church. We have been... Continue Reading »

Brittany Brown: Ministry on the Home Front

Brittany Brown will never forget the evening of Nov. 19, 2005. But her memories of that night, the night she gave birth to her second child, are anything but typical. “Being a military wife, you deal with things other... Continue Reading »

Most Americans Skip Lent

Lent may be on the calendar, but it’s not on the radar of most Americans. A traditional 40-day window of fasting before Easter, Lent is observed by around a quarter of U.S. adults, according to a Lifeway Research study.... Continue Reading »

Healthy Church Plants Begin with a Healthy Church Planter

I am grateful for the upsurge in interest in church planting that began in the 1990s. In my own personal journey toward planting a church in 2017, Tim Keller’s article “Why Plant Churches?” had massive impact in whether we... Continue Reading »

Refuse to Be Manipulated

It’s time to take back your joy. Pay attention for a moment — this might just save your sanity. We’re in an intense political season, and I know the emotional toll it’s taking on many people. I’d never want... Continue Reading »

Preach the Word, Preach It Expositionally

I walked into the sanctuary and beside the pulpit sat a Lazy Boy recliner. I thought, “That’s interesting … I wonder what the preacher will do with that today?” About halfway through his message, to make his point, he... Continue Reading »

The Necessity of Regenerate Church Membership

We have all types of memberships in America. You can be a member of Sam’s Club or a rewards member of Chick-fil-A. You know people who are members of a local gym or the Lions Club. Membership is all... Continue Reading »