News

As Jim Hill announces his retirement as pastor of administration from First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Mo., he reflects back on 47 years of ministry. His journey has included the roles of pastor, church planter, language missions director, executive director and advocacy leader.  

WACO, Texas (RNS) —On the Sunday (Nov. 18) before Thanksgiving, poor people riding bicycles and pushing old grocery carts lined up — as they do every week — to eat and worship God underneath Interstate 35 as tractor-trailer rigs roared overhead.

For now, a patch of gravel between Baylor University and businesses such as CVS Pharmacy and In-N-Out Burger serves as the meeting place for Church Under the Bridge, which began with a handful of homeless people studying the Bible with pastor Jimmy Dorrell in 1992.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Linda Johnson says that about a year ago when her friend Linda Jacobson asked her if she was ready to see God do big things, she said yes. She was excited.

"But I've thought a thousand times since then that I never could've imagined what was coming," Johnson said.

(RNS) — As many Americans gather with their loves ones for Thanksgiving, a timely new survey from Pew Research confirms what miles of traffic jams and airport lines suggest: Family is the No. 1 source to which Americans look for meaning, fulfillment and satisfaction in their lives.

ASHKELON, Israel (RNS) — The moment Judy Spanglet heard the words “Color Red" come over Israel’s incoming-rocket alert system, she rushed into her apartment’s concrete-reinforced “safe room" and bolted the heavy door.

Moments later her building shuddered as a Grad rocket landed in a park across the street.

PARADISE, Calif. (BP) -- Members of Paradise Ridge Southern Baptist Church have asked pastor Bob Sorensen if they will continue to have a church but not because their building is gone. They ask because the Camp Fire destroyed much of their community.

(RNS) — “And a lean, silent figure slowly fades into the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come — great responsibility!”

Those words, written by Stan Lee, appear in the momentous final panel of the first story to feature the Amazing Spider-Man, published in 1962’s "Amazing Fantasy #15."

ROCKVILLE, Va. (BP) -- International Mission Board trustees elected Chitwood unanimously as the entity's 13th president during a 20-minute executive session at the IMB's International Learning Center near Richmond, Va. They also elected IMB interim president Clyde Meador as interim executive vice president.

NASHVILLE, N.C. (RNS) — Inside a squat cinderblock building on the grounds of Nash Correctional Institution, 24 inmates are hunched over white plastic tables listening to Professor James Dew explain how God is omnipotent and omniscient.

But Dew is not preaching  to his audience as he paces the room posing questions about whether God can sin (No) or know people’s emotions (there’s disagreement, but most Christians say yes). He is teaching theology to prospective ministers.

(RNS) — Anyra Cano Valencia was having dinner with her husband, Carlos, and their family when an urgent knock came at their door.

The Valencias, pastors at Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo in Fort Worth, Texas, opened the door to a desperate, overwhelmed congregant.