Good News for Today

A health care triad – including a hospital, a rural clinic and a nursing college – in East Java, Indonesia is reaching far beyond the island’s, and even the country’s, borders. The history dates back to 1951, when missionaries first went to the island nation. Medical work wasn’t far behind, and it soon became a key strategy for Gospel access. Today, the medical facilities are led by Indonesian med...

Only 2 percent of an estimated 80 million Deaf people alive today have ever been told the Gospel in their sign language, with at least 380 sign languages in use globally, according to ministry leaders.   The International Mission Board (IMB) and Wycliffe Bible Translators are among more than 95 organizations and churches collaborating globally to change the dismal statistic. Eurasia, IMB and Wycli...

The Supreme Court rejected an emergency request from the Biden Administration that would have required the enforcement of new Title IX regulations released in April of this year.   The rule expands the definition of “sex” in Title IX’s language to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program or institut...

Arizona and Missouri are the latest states to add measures to the November ballot allowing voters to enshrine abortion rights in their respective state constitutions, joining at least six other states with similar measures. In at least two states, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, ballot initiatives to protect life are pending. State ballot measures in Arizona and Missiouri would allow abortion to be res...

Bogdan Kipko immigrated to the United States from eastern Europe, arriving in Seattle with his parents in 1992 where a Baptist church provided space for his family and others to worship. Thirty years later, God has used Kipko to launch a church planting movement among Slavs who are dispersed throughout North America. Kipko planted Forward Church in Irvine, Calif., through Send Network, the North A...

It happens with a couch or mattress. It happens with two chairs facing each other across a table. While refugees’ initial days and months in America can be complex and filled with paperwork and immigration meetings, churches have learned that there are direct, simple ways to meet needs. Not long after it began six years ago, Living Hope Church in Columbus was helping deliver donated furniture on b...

As a French pastor was setting up for a community outreach event during the Olympics, he recalled a conversation he had overheard years before and had never been able to forget. A mother and child were walking along the street in front of his church. “What is this place, this building?” the child asked. “It’s a museum,” his mother responded. The pastor was inspired to set up an art show inside the...

Chris Holcomb looks up most days…he’s a meteorologist at an Atlanta TV station…but he says these last few days have been even better days to look up at the Persied meteor showers have passed over the U.S.   Holcomb says looking up reminds him of the majesty of God and how God is in control.   “It’s good to look at the sky and just be amazed,” he said. “When that debris from the comet hits the atmo...

As rainfall totals passed 12 inches, saturated ground led to fallen trees, dams giving way and more than 100 damaged roads in Bulloch County, Georgia, from Tropical Storm Debby last week. Pastor Todd Wiggins of Southbridge Community Church was among those affected, as floodwaters crept into his home.  “We were blessed, because there were people who lost their whole home,” he said. “Others had dama...

Springfield Church in Hays, North Carolina had been planning their afternoon of service for months. Weeks of preparation had gone into delivering care packages to residents near the church’s property in mountainous region of Wilkes County. They had planned to hit the streets after the morning worship service. But as they finished the Sunday School hour before the service, they heard an elderly wom...

Help is on the way to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas as the remnants of Hurricane Debby continuing churning up the east coast.   Rivers and lakes stand above flood stage from west Florida up into northeast Georgia and predictions of flooding continue through the Carolinas as what was Hurricane Debby makes its way north. At least six deaths are being blamed on the storm.   The storm is slowly c...

Two members of Providence Church in Pasadena, Texas haven’t been there for weeks. But that hasn’t stopped the church from praying for them. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Tracy Dyson are astronauts who are currently working aboard the International Space Station. Dyson’s tenure on the ISS runs through September. Wilmore is waiting to catch a ride home the Boeing module currently undergoing tests while...

Disaster Relief workers in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are on alert as the remnant of Hurricane Debby sweeps across the southeast.   Damage will be assessed after its passage for a more comprehensive response, Disaster Relief leaders announced today.   Flood watches remain in effect through Tuesday across much of the southeast.   The National Weather Service says “potentially historic rain...

They may not be able to control the results, but a group of believers are being faithful to the task about the millions of people gathered in Paris for the Summer Olympics. Jason Harris is leading a team of more than 300 short-term volunteers to hit the streets of Paris sharing the gospel. He says they are united around a common vision to make Christ known among Europeans and a long-term goal to p...

Most Americans, even most Christians, remain supportive of IVF. Around 4 in 5 U.S. adults (82%) say IVF is morally acceptable, according to Gallup . One in 10 believe it is wrong. The more someone attends religious services, the more likely they are to see IVF as morally wrong. But even among those who attend weekly, 63% say the practice is morally acceptable while 25% believe it’s wrong. A 2022 L...

The state of Nevada is a state of contrasts. The state features the lights of Las Vegas, mountain ranges and a vast desert. In some places, you could travel miles and miles without encountering another person. But, there are people who call the state home. In fact, more than 3.1 million people live in Nevada and they need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, grow in the faith and be loved in a comm...

In Paris for the Olympics, visitors may stumble upon a unique freebie: water bottles with QR codes. Scanning the code leads to an immersive virtual reality experience designed by the International Mission Board (IMB). This innovative VR journey, available via the VRChat app, takes users through a series of emotionally charged scenes, from Olympic athletes’ highs and lows to personal moments of joy...

His Instagram account proclaims “GOD FIRST!” and U.S. Olympic swimmer Hunter Armstrong tries to be faithful to that description whether he’s winning gold medals or not. “That’s the first thing I want people to see and know about me,” Armstrong told Baptist Press. “As we grow, we have to make sure we have our priorities in line. I keep God as a priority. I can’t really live without him. I can live...

The arrival of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics offers an unparalleled opportunity. More than 10,500 athletes are gathering from nearly every nation on Earth…many who do not have access to the Gospel. The Olympic games also shift the mindset of locals, whose hearts may be open to different ideas they hear from visitors. Protestants account for less than 2% of the French population, and evan...

In one sub-Saharan African nation, terrorist attacks have led to a refugee crisis across four countries. With their husbands unable to farm after having been displaced from their land, women became the primary breadwinners. In these makeshift camps, women lack opportunities for education or trade skills to support their families. A Send Relief partner surveyed the camps and found many women intere...

Lawyers for the Union Gospel Mission in Yakima, Washington, recently challenged a state anti-discrimination law in federal appeals court. The law requires the mission to hire LGBTQ + people and others who don’t share its religious beliefs, including those on sexuality and marriage. The Mission, assisted by the Alliance Defending Freedom, argues the law infringes on its religious freedom to hire on...

Erika Meza prayed for nine years for her husband Luis to come to faith in Jesus. Initially resistant, Luis felt a change after a personal invitation from Hiram Ramos, leader of First Church of Odessa, TX, Hispanic ministry. Luis became a regular attender and after guidance from Pastor Ramos, accepted Jesus during a Good Friday service in 2023. He was the first person baptized at First Odessa en Es...

Two days after a four-alarm fire devastated the historic sanctuary at First Dallas, the church held its Sunday worship service at the nearby Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.   Addressing over 3,000 attendees, Pastor Robert Jeffress, said, “It’s not the building, it’s what that building represents: it represented the bedrock foundation of God’s Word that never changes… He went on to say, “We...

Most Americans still identify with a religion, and Christianity is by far the largest faith group in the United States. But the percentage of Christians has fallen to a historic low. In 2023, 68 percent of U.S. adults said they were a Christian, the lowest percentage since Gallup began asking in the 1940s. Specifically, 33 percent of Americans identify as Protestant, 22 percent Catholic, and 13 pe...

Texans on Mission chainsaw units continue working across Texas. Ten teams are working, including ones from Mississippi and Tennessee. “The damage from Hurricane Beryl is severe and widespread,” said David Wells, disaster relief director for Texans on Mission. “This relief effort is a powerful picture of what it looks like when the body of Christ works together. We are delivering help, hope and hea...