The unprecedented pace of developing vaccines for COVID-19 has not jeopardized their effectiveness or safety for Americans, the director of the National Institutes of Health said in a December webinar hosted by the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Francis Collins, NIH’s director since 2009, answered questions from ERLC President Russell Moore about vaccines […]
IMB missionaries and staff pledged $802,700 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering through an internal campaign that began Sept. 23 and ended Nov. 30. “Our IMB missionaries around the world, and our stateside support staff, wanted to lead by example as we asked Southern Baptists to give more generously than ever before to get the […]
As days stretched into weeks stretched into months, COVID-19 seemed to spread everywhere — and into almost everything. Here’s a look at the top SBC stories of 2020 as selected by Baptist Press: COVID-19: A global pandemic arrives 2020 was the year of COVID-19, with virtually nothing in life left untouched — and much of […]
Lori Spikes, executive director of Baptist Nursing Fellowship, a ministry of national Woman’s Missionary Union, died Nov. 21 after being hospitalized with COVID-19. A graduate of Samford University, Spikes was a registered nurse for more than 40 years. She served as an International Mission Board Journeyman in Honduras from 1980 to 1982. She and her husband, […]
Every day is appropriate to say “thank you” to Southern Baptists who give generously so that the gospel spreads to all nations. This year, missionaries, like everyone else, have met unique challenges caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic. In March 2020, IMB missionary Reid Karr’s church was unable to meet as the Italian government had […]
Written by: Stephen Douglas Wilson Baptists of the South and the faith community of Southern Baptists after 1845 originally did not attach much significance to Christmas. The holiday is not recognized as a special day of worship in any of the historic Baptist confessions, allusions to it are rare in Baptist history volumes before the […]
Mississippi Baptist Convention Board leader Shawn Parker is applauding adoption of a new state flag that honors God and notably lacks the Confederate battle emblem. Nearly 72 percent of Mississippi voters approved the new flag design, according to unofficial results with 93 percent of precincts reporting. Voters approved a red, white, blue and gold design […]
Louisiana’s new constitutional amendment restricting abortion is especially close to Louisiana Baptist Executive Director Steve Horn’s heart. His adopted 10-year-old son Dru was born after the birth mother sought help at a pro-life pregnancy center. “It’s hard to get my head wrapped around what could have been,” Horn said after the passage of Louisiana Amendment […]
Twelve national Woman’s Missionary Union staff members opted to accept the voluntary retirement offer announced by the organization in early August, and WMU board members approved a 2020-21 budget that is down approximately $1 million from the 2019-20 budget, which was $5.8 million. Both of these developments came as a result of a decline in […]
The vast majority of U.S. Protestant churches say they are holding in-person services, but churchgoers have yet to attend in the numbers they did before the coronavirus pandemic struck, and many pastors say the 2020 economy is hurting their congregation. According to a recent survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, 87 percent of Protestant pastors in […]