By Jeff Brumley The television news stories present a stark before-and-after image of Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church in Morgan, Ark. First there is the pain Pastor James Hayes and his congregation felt when their century-old church building was flattened by…
Missions boost holiday gratitude
By Jeff Brumley A handful of Cooperative Baptist churches are proving that short-term mission trips aren’t just for spring break, anymore. First Baptist in Gainesville, Ga. and Calvary Baptist in Lexington, Ky., sent mixed youth and adult groups to Haiti…
Alternative gifts counter Black Friday
By Jeff Brumley When it began nearly a decade ago, the Alternative Christmas Gift Fair at Boulevard Baptist attracted barely 100 church members and generated a few thousand dollars for participating nonprofits and mission groups. But it has since generated…
Baptists respond to Congo crisis
By Bob Allen Baptists in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo appealed to the global Baptist community for help in responding to a humanitarian catastrophe caused by fighting between government and rebel forces in the…
Sandy overshadows Isaac response
By Jeff Brumley Knoxvillian Kendall McCosh spent the better part of last week providing disaster relief — not in the Sandy-plagued Northeast but in Louisiana, rehabbing homes ravaged by winds and flooding from Hurricane Isaac on Aug. 29. McCosh, a former…
Nigerian Baptists respond to floods
By Bob Allen The Baptist World Alliance has dispatched $10,000 for flood relief in Nigeria, where heavy rains have killed 363 people since July. More than two million Nigerians have been forced from their homes by this year’s floods, the…
NJ churches damaged in storm
By Bob Allen Baptist leaders in New Jersey estimate between 20 percent and 30 percent of the state’s 280 American Baptist churches sustained damage from Hurricane Sandy. Lee Spitzer, regional pastor for the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, described…
BWA assessing hurricane damage
By Eron Henry Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance, has granted an initial sum of $20,000 for relief to the Caribbean following the passage of Hurricane Sandy through the northern Caribbean and the…
Sandy delays Passport camp booking
By Bob Allen A youth ministry aligned with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has postponed the normal Nov. 1 registration for its popular Passport camps by one week in light of anticipated power outages in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast caused by…