Erin Bounds was a 16-year-old at a Lifeway (then Baptist Sunday School Board) Centrifuge camp when she realized she was at a crossroads. “I had accepted Christ when I was a child but was faced with the reality of what that really meant,” Bounds recalled. “Do I want to be who God wants me to […]
For the second straight year, baptisms and giving increased among Southern Baptist congregations. In-person worship service and small group attendance also rebounded, but total membership and the number of congregations slid. The Annual Church Profile compiled by Lifeway Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions paints a complicated picture for the Southern Baptist Convention […]
Preston Nix, professor of evangelism at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, attended the first Crossover evangelism event in Las Vegas in 1989, and he’s been a part of Crossover more often than not throughout its history. This June 2023, the event will be taking place in his backyard as the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting […]
(Updated 5/30/23) As The Courier went to press on May 18, more than 8,800 messengers had pre-registered for the SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans to convene June 13-14 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center — already passing the 7,868 registration mark set at the 2012 annual meeting there. Two South Carolinians are on […]
A U.S. district court agreed with attorneys representing the North American Mission Board on March 3 that a continuance was necessary to complete the discovery process in a case brought against the entity by former state executive Will McRaney. McRaney originally filed the lawsuit in 2017. In it, the former executive director of the Baptist […]
More than 700 leaders from South Carolina Baptist churches and ministries met Feb. 23 at Church at The Mill in Moore for IMPACT 2023. Each session, speaker’s message, and worship song of the one-day event addressed the reality that many of today’s ministry leaders face hurt or are searching for answers to mounting problems and […]
One of the keys to the future of the church is reaching the next generation. Over the last year and a half, Southern Baptists have been intentionally focused on sharing the gospel with students. In 2021, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) announced an infusion of $5 million over four years to support evangelistic efforts […]
“Buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in the newness of life.” These words, and others like them, have been declared by pastors thousands of times across North America in the last few years as people who have placed their faith in Christ for salvation have been baptized. This act of obedience and […]
Cory Singleton, worship and creative pastor at Journey Church in North Charleston for six years, has accepted the position of director of GenSend Los Angeles, a ministry of the North American Mission Board. GenSend gives college-age students an opportunity to spend their summer on mission within one of the North American Mission Board’s Send Cities.
Ken Whitten, recently retired pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., will become national director of pastoral leadership at the North American Mission Board, beginning in March. NAMB president Kevin Ezell shared the news at NAMB’s board of trustees meeting in Miami, Feb. 7. “Ken is humble, intentional, and he loves pastors,” Ezell said […]