Good News for Today

Residents of Florida, Georgia and Alabama need your prayers today as they deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The storm quickly intensified before coming ashore in the Florida panhandle on Thursday afternoon before zipping north into Georgia and Alabama overnight. Disaster relief crews are on standby as first responders do their work and assessors move into the area.  Despite the tragedy,...

Millions of elementary through college students gathered at flag poles on their campuses yesterday file in the U.S. and 63 other countries to pray in the student-led “See You at the Pole” initiative in its 33rd year. The early sunrise, clouds and rains variously served as the backdrop for social media photos attesting to student participation. The event is designed to spark a continual prayer move...

Words are important. Southwestern Seminary professor Malcolm Yarnell says, “Christians ought to have a leavening influence on their society.” “But when we forget our primary allegiance to Jesus Christ [in favor of] political parties, movements or leaders, we begin to run into trouble.” An average of Gallup polls in 2023 found that 68 percent of Americans identified with the Christian religion. How...

In north Georgia close to 50 football players on the team at Shorter University made decisions for Christ this year before the season started, and 17 followed through with believer’s baptism. Zach Morrison, in his seventh year as head coach, described what happened after players arrived at the school in early August for preseason training and conditioning camp. “We took them to a couple of local c...

In 2022, opioid abuse resulted in 82,000 Americans’ deaths, the most ever recorded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2021, an estimated 2.5 million adults in the U.S. dealt with opioid use disorder, while more than 10 million people misused prescription opioids in 2019, according to the CDC. Many churches felt the impact. Lifeway Research found around 2 in 3 pa...

A group of local and national church leaders are working to help the situation in Springfied, Ohio where a relatively small town has become the focus of the national immigration discussion. Tensions rose in the city after the Republican presidential ticket spread claims on social media and during the presidential debate that immigrants in Springfield were eating people’s pets. Bomb threats forced...

Each summer thousands of elementary, middle and high school students flock to Lifeway summer camps. In addition to games and ice cream machines, those kids love missions.   This week, Lifeway President Ben Mandrell presented $678,283.32 to the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board. That’s right students across America gave more than $678-thousand to missions.   Lifeway c...

The financial appropriations decision making process is working its way through Congress. Some of the priorities highlighted by the ERLC in the letter include pro-life issues, religious liberty concerns and opposing taxpayer funding for harmful “gender transition” surgeries. “As a nation, our values and priorities are most clearly displayed through the allocation of our resources,” ERLC President...

While the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is in the rearview mirror and may be the only time the presidential candidates take to the debate stage, Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley says believers should recognize the “transcendent policy issues of our time,” which he lists as the sanctity of life and marriage, gender issues and religious liberty. “Cling tenaciously...

Thousands of residents in New Orleans are finally receiving power after Hurricane Francine made landfall across the Gulf Coast late last week. Disaster Relief workers from at least Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas are working in Louisiana. Feeding teams, chainsaw teams and chaplains are work. Thousands of meals are being served as people pick up from the heavy winds and rains. You...

What was once a major port for enslaved people is now a harbor for diaspora groups, and Southern Baptists are playing a key role. Diaspora refers to “the movement, migration, settlement or scattering of people away from one’s indigenous homeland.” In North America, diaspora people comprise immigrants, refugees and international students. Christians’ outreach to internationals in Charleston is a gr...

Residents of the Gulf Coast are reeling from the effects of Hurricane Francine after it made landfall on Wednesday. Heavy rains and strong storms ripped across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.    Disaster Relief workers huddled in areas hours away from the gulf to see how they could help one the storm came ashore. When first responders give them the greenlight, they’ll work quickly to help thos...

Sept. 11 is a day many Americans can never forget and a day younger Americans should never forget. It’s a day when terrorists killed innocent Americans who were going to about their daily routine on a typical weekday. Thousands of families were affected forever as loved ones left for a work day and never returned home. Millions of Americans were impacted that Tuesday as our normal hustle and bustl...

Reports showing sustained increases in food and home prices alongside a cooling labor market highlight a continuing challenge for churches.   That information impacts everything from attaining goods for ministries like food pantries to hiring new staff. Inflation sits in the middle of it all and while it remains high, the rate is decreasing.   In addition, wage increases can also impact a church’s...

The Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Seminary has established a partnership with Reformation Heritage Books to republish Charles Spurgeon’s 63 volumes of sermons. The partnership will produce five sets of volumes containing sermons preached by Charles Spurgeon in his church and originally published from 1855 to 1917. The first set was released in August 2024. Seminary President Jason Allen says he’s...

Area churches responded quickly to a school shooting in Winder, Georgia Wednesday. Four people were killed by the 14 year old gunman. Bethlehem Church sits three miles from the shooting and has numerous members connected to Apalachee High including students, teachers and coaches. Pastor Jason Britt confirmed with Baptist Press that there were members harmed in the shooting but could not provide an...

Bill Denman in Independence, Missouri retired from construction work in his early 60s. He had used heavy equipment machinery to build water and sewer lines most of his adult life. First, he was an operator and then a foreman. He worked hard. Retirement was good. He picked up a hobby as he bought a classic car and began entering it in car show competitions. It was a 1938 Ford Coupe, and Denman kept...

Send Relief continues to aid Sudan, as half the nation faces acute hunger and famine chases refugees and internally displaced persons. Cholera and heavy rains exacerbate the humanitarian crisis, according to international governmental agencies. Jason Cox, Send Relief’s vice president of international ministry, said the war is not getting enough attention in the U.S., even as Send Relief continues...

Alabama meteorologist James Spann has found his passion in life. The longtime TV weatherman in Birmingham says that since he was a young boy he wanted to do what he’s had the opportunity to do for decades. Spann can be seen every weekday in the Birmingham area and heard on radio across the United States. Though he’s thankful he’s able to work a job he loves, he says he’s had to learn that one’s ca...

Today is Labor Day. The Museum of the Bible writes, “Labor activists first put forward the concept of a federal holiday to celebrate “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” in the late 1800s. Although times had changed and agriculture was giving way to a more industrial economy, there was still an imbalance of power. At the height of the Industrial Revolution in the...

A Missouri ballot initiative to enshrine abortion and contraceptive rights into the state constitution would repeal all laws regulating such reproductive technologies as human cloning and in vitro fertilization for stem cell research, the Thomas More Society said in a lawsuit challenging Amendment 3. Missouri Attorney General John Ashcroft, a pro-life Republican, violated state and constitutional...

Telling other people about hope and salvation in Jesus is one the primary things He told His disciples to do. This summer, over 350 short-term missionaries served for six to eight weeks in 26 cities and neighborhoods that need a greater Gospel presence. Together, the students reported having just shy of 4,500 Gospel conversations. The students served through GenSend hosted by the North American Mi...

The Kendrick brothers’ latest movie “The Forge” had a strong opening weekend at box offices nationwide, bringing in $6.6 million, according to reports . The film came in fifth overall in box office ticket sales between Aug. 23-25. The Forge features Cameron Arnett from previous Kendrick film “Overcomer” in a leading role as Joshua, a business owner who goes out of his way to disciple into Christia...

Darren Casper believes in missions. As the executive director of the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association (often called STL Metro), he leads a staff of eight full and part-time missionaries. Their task is to equip churches to reach out with the gospel to the city of more than 300,000 people and a little more than 2 million people living on the Missouri side of the greater St. Louis metro area.  Cas...

When God called Rhonda Schrage to leave a traditional career and build a new one based on her art, some thought she was crazy, but she stepped out in obedience and found the Lord walking with her every step of the way. Schrage, who lives in Jefferson City, Missouri, starts with a Bible passage written on a canvas. Then she begins to sketch out her design as she continues to pray through the passag...