ERLC Leadership Summit 2015
The 2015 ERLC Leadership Summit will address "The Gospel and Racial Reconciliation" to equip Christians to apply the gospel on these issues with convictional kindness in their communities, their families, and their churches. Recent events in Ferguson and with Eric...
Pastor Paul Dykstra retires from Grace Church, Des Moines
By Pastor Phil Winfield, Senior Pastor Grace Church Des Moines On Sunday January 4, with both sadness and conviction, Pastor Paul Dykstra read his resignation and retirement letter from his position of Administrative Pastor at Grace Church. The primary factor in his...
Nine Observations about Announcements in Worship Services
By Thom S. Rainer To have or not to have announcements in the worship services? That is the question many church leaders ask today. And indeed there are several tendencies or trends related to announcements, and they are often related to the size of the church. I...
Church’s journey to embrace begins with prayer
By Paige Turner SOUTHEAST ASIA – When Mark Harrison began praying about embracing an unreached, unengaged people group with the Gospel, he had no idea where to start. “I was desperate,” he said. “What do you do? Throw a dart at the map?” Harrison, missions pastor at...
New student leaders and mission teams – The Salt Company Iowa City
As the semester came to an end, the Salt Company interviewed students for leadership positions and finalized the mission trip teams. Jenny Calsyn, Salt Company coordinator says, "It has been exciting to see students apply for leadership and have a desire to be...
Survey: Cooperative Program draws pastors’ confidence
by Roger S. Oldham NASHVILLE (BP) -- Southern Baptist pastors are strongly supportive of the Cooperative Program, according to a study commissioned by the SBC Executive Committee and published in its Winter 2014/2015 edition of SBC LIFE. The survey shows a continuing...
Fifteen Trends for Churches in 2015
By Thom S. Rainer Trend prediction is both an art and a science. It is a science in the sense that I utilize the good objective research of credible research organizations like LifeWay Research and others. It is an art in that I depend on observations, anecdotal...
Small, rural church gives 30% through CP
by Karen L. Willoughby ALMYRA, Ark. (BP) -- Some might say trusting God comes easily for the farming families who make up the majority of the members of Almyra First Baptist Church. They watch rice emerge from flooded fields, soybeans grow in carefully weeded rows,...
Four considerations for every Southern Baptist church in 2015
By Ronnie Floyd, SBC President As we near the coming of the Lord, we should be more focused than ever before. As our 50,000 plus churches and congregations partner together in gospel causes, the time is now for us to rise up like never before. I want to ask you to...
MISSIONS: Why we go
by Kennedy Mathis SOUTH ASIA (BP) -- Six years ago, I ventured to India. This fall I returned. Nearly four years had passed. A lot had changed. A lot had stayed the same. The city where I served two years had grown. New malls replaced old abandoned ones. The streets...
