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PRINCEVILLE, N.C. (RNS) — When it comes to disaster relief, few outfits across the South have been as organized, efficient or cheerful as the Baptist and Methodist recovery networks.

Imagine Delores J. Porter’s surprise, then, when she gingerly stepped onto the exposed floor joists of her torn-out home to find a troop of young Muslim volunteers in blue “Islamic Relief USA” T-shirts installing support beams in the 90-degree heat.

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.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Christian agencies and churches are stepping up and coordinating their efforts to respond to the South Sudanese refugee crisis, as the number of people fleeing across the border into northern Uganda reaches 1 million.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (BP) -- It's not every day that a rendition of "Rocky Top" rings out from an orchestra in a church.

But the University of Tennessee's signature song is how the evening began at Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga where an energetic crowd -- including a large number of football players and coaches from the local area -- came together for "A Night of Orange and White."

(RNS) — After this week’s astonishing total solar eclipse, an image showing the sun’s rays forming a cross in the darkened sky made the rounds on social media.

Pope Francis addressed again the "lamentable situation" of migrants and refugees, calling global Christians to commit to concrete action "at every stage of the migratory experience."

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.

(RNS) Throughout history, eclipses have been viewed as bad omens or harbingers of doom, according to John Dvorak, a trained lunar scientist and author of “Mask of the Sun: The Science, History and Forgotten Lore of Eclipses.” But they also have been understood as powerful manifestations of God’s greatness.

(RNS) — It’s a scene familiar from movies and even some modern translations of the Bible: As Jesus Christ hangs on the cross, an eclipse blots out the sun.

But did a total solar eclipse actually darken the skies during the Crucifixion?