A state Baptist convention that has not been able to pay its retirees’ promised medical supplements for two years made a $2 million extra gift to the Southern Baptist Convention’s two missions agencies Nov. 14. That extra giving — $1.7…
Pioneering missionary journalist Craig Bird dies in Texas
Baptist journalist and educator Craig Bird died Dec. 12 at age 73 due to complications from a fall he experienced the week before, according to his family. Bird, who was born in Arkansas on Oct. 4, 1949, to Clyde and C.W….
2021 was a very good year for growth in assets for SBC’s largest agencies
The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board nearly tripled its investment income in 2021 compared to 2020, according to the latest financial reports published in the SBC Annual 2022. NAMB booked $44.93 million in investment income for 2021, compared…
Baptist pastor Wade Burleson running for Congress from Oklahoma
A well-known Oklahoma Baptist pastor announced Feb. 1 that he will challenge a 28-year incumbent to represent the state’s Third Congressional District. If elected, Wade Burleson would be the second Oklahoma Baptist pastor currently serving in Congress; Oklahoma Sen. James…
9/11 at 20: The ongoing choice between fear and love
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was flying into Cairo with my photographer partner to do a magazine coverage on that vast, ancient city. Gazing at the Giza pyramids from the air on approach, we had no clue about the horror…
How one Vietnamese convert sparked a church-planting movement that defied the odds
The afternoon Bible study in what was then called Saigon began as most others, with a group of curious Vietnamese nationals walking into a small, nondescript home. They attended for a variety of reasons, but primarily to learn English and…
For missionaries, coronavirus creates ‘an interesting moment in plagues and pestilence’
Missions agencies are scrambling to respond to worldwide concerns about the coronavirus. Organizations such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, American Baptist Churches USA and the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board, among others, have kicked into high gear forming contingency…
The expansion of Google Maps is changing the way missionaries operate
Services such as providing church planters with the religious makeup of specific communities were once the monopoly of denominations and other large groups. Now they are also available from third-party providers.