The United States locks up more people in prison — in raw numbers and in percentage of the population — than any other nation in the world. More than 2 million people are incarcerated in federal, state and county jails,…
Roma children get shot at literacy, income with help of CBF field personnel
By Blake Tommey Imagine illiterate first-grade students excited about learning to read. Then picture them learning, on the first day of school, that their teachers and fellow students are speaking and writing in a different language altogether. It doesn’t take…
Baptists aid Syrians who escaped war only to freeze in refugee camps
By Leah Reynolds The terror and violence became unbearable. At 4 a.m. some two years ago, Yusuf and Fatima Assad gathered their nine children and abandoned their home, possessions and comfort to search for a better life, away from bombings…
Missional focus will assuage congregations’ fears, ministers say
By Jeff Brumley Declining memberships and contributions, shuttered sanctuaries and surging megachurches have generated a lot of fear in U.S. congregations. The problem is that fear is a turnoff to those that struggling churches hope to serve, M. Craig Barnes,…
Missional focus will assuage congregations’ fears, ministers say
Declining memberships and closing churches have led some congregations to react with fear, which in turn is a turnoff for potential members, a Christian leader says. Declining memberships and contributions, shuttered sanctuaries and surging megachurches have generated a lot of…
CBF missions doubles down on long-term presence
By Bob Allen While other missionary-sending bodies scale back or focus just on short-term assignments, a proposed restructuring of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship global missions recommits to keeping personnel on the field long enough to build the kinds of relationships they…
IMB layoffs hit home office
By Bob Allen A number of jobs at the headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board in Richmond, Va., will be eliminated in a restructuring of stateside operations announced Jan. 14. According to multiple sources, changes include outsourcing…
Baptists team up to combat domestic human trafficking
Brian Kaylor Although sometimes portrayed as a problem found in other nations, human trafficking also occurs in large numbers in the United States. The FBI includes St. Louis as one of the top 20 trafficking cities in the U.S., and…
Making our list, checking it twice
By Barry Howard At our house we make a lot of lists, especially in December — the grocery list, the Christmas card list, the gift list, the guest list, the holiday event list and the end-of-year giving list. During this…