Refugees, churches & fear spotlighted in study
by Bob Smietana NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- When it comes to helping refugees, Protestant churches and their pastors are often separated by faith and fear, according to a new survey from LifeWay Research. Most pastors say Christians should lend a hand to refugees and...
What church planters want you to know
by Shane Pruitt GRAPEVINE, Texas -- What is a church planter? A simple definition of a church planter is one who plants (or starts) a new local church. That leads to the question, "What is a good definition for church?" The word "church" originally comes from the...
Revitalizing church through an outward focus
When members are personally evangelistic, churches can be revitalized By Ed Stetzer Church revitalization is a very real and important topic to many today because statistics indicate that the majority of churches are plateaued or declining. So, since the majority of...
EASTER: The cross — far more than jewelry
By Anthony L. Jordan OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- What would you think if people everywhere wore jewelry shaped or imprinted with an electric chair? Think of it -- beautiful and ornate jewelry made of gold or silver and adorned with diamonds or other precious stones. No,...
With all of these changes, is the BCI expanding or contracting?
By Tim Lubinus, BCI Executive Director/Treasurer Actually the Baptist Convention of Iowa (BCI) is moving forward aggressively in adding staff and ministries. I mentioned in an earlier post here that we had solid growth in 2015 and at the same time were able to more...
National CP 7.19% ahead of projection
by Baptist Press Staff NASHVILLE (BP) -- Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist Convention national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 7.19 percent above the year-to-date budgeted projection and 1.46 percent...
Highlights of The 2016 Southern Baptist Convention #SBC16
By Ronnie Floyd Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and is senior pastor of the multi-campus Cross Church in northwest Arkansas. This column first appeared at Ronnie Floyd's website, www.ronniefloyd.com.
Disciples making disciples at the Salt Company – Iowa City
by Shannon Ness, The Salt Company Iowa City Coordinator In February, we had our first leadership meeting for the semester. During the meeting, we specifically focused on challenging students to question the meaning of discipleship. We laughed as students shared...
Salt Company Spring Conference – Iowa City
by Shannon Ness, The Salt Company Iowa City Coordinator In February the Salt Company hosted their Spring Conference. Over 1200 students from across the state gathered to worship Jesus. We were happy to see that 200 students from the University of Iowa attended the...
Baptized Bodyguards and the Providence of God
By Todd Stiles We had climbed five flights of narrow stairs, some in the dark, before we ended up in a small room, perhaps 12 x 12, where gathered was about 20 believers. They were part of this house fellowship in south Asia—a church no less—and present were more than...
