Baptist

ATLANTA — “Just get in the way…get in good trouble.” That was the message of civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis on September 19 to a diverse group of Baptists in Atlanta.

Baptist groups are preparing to mobilize to help victims of Hurricane Irma, even as efforts to assist folks recovering from Hurricane Harvey continue.

Since 1994, Sports Crusaders has served more than 47,000 campers, distributed more than 50,000 Bibles and seen more than 5,600 professions of faith in U.S. camps at more than 400 churches. Additionally, they have held camps in more than a dozen other countries. 

On Aug. 18, Stephen Mathis, interim president of the Missouri Baptist Foundation, announced he would retire from MBF on Sept. 30 after nearly 31 years working at the institution. Mathis, who is also executive vice president, has been interim president since June 2015 and previously served as interim president during two other transitions.

At the end of 2017, Neville Callam will retire after more than 10 years as the general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. Originally from Jamaica, he is the first general secretary not from the U.S. or Europe. At the close of the BWA’s 2017 annual gathering in Bangkok, Thailand, in July, Callam sat down for an interview with Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor. 

Baptist groups are working to assess needs and to formulate relief plans as Hurricane Harvey continues to pour water into an already-flooded southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (USA Today) — Last year, an elementary school classmate came out as a transgender boy to Dean Inserra’s fourth-grade son. So, the Southern Baptist pastor turned it into a teachable moment.

TULSA, Okla. (BP) -- A church that started with no home now offers a home and hope to people of all backgrounds, economic statuses and life situations.

Earl Krumsiek, pastor of Hope Church, states, "We always say here at Hope, we love people where they are, we don't leave them where they are."

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Distribution of nearly 7,000 Gospel tracts by a Wyoming church, an outdoor baptism service in Kentucky and a watch party on the roof of the Southern Baptist Convention Building in Nashville were among the ways Southern Baptists celebrated the first total solar eclipse in the continental U.S. since 1979.

DALLAS (RNS) — Anyone who knows the Bible shouldn’t take issue with the idea that God has given President Trump authority to take out North Korea’s dictator, said Pastor Robert Jeffress, the Dallas megachurch leader who drew sharp rebukes for stating just that.