Baptist Press Archive

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

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  • Stymied by Harvey no longer, mission returns to life
    by Bonnie Pritchett, posted Tuesday, September 12, 2017 (4 years ago)

    Photo by Nathan Lino
    HOUSTON (BP) -- Liz Neal kept talking to a woman driving a white F-150 pickup crawling forward in a food distribution line at Houston's Farrington Mission. Two weeks after Hurricane Harvey devastated the region, hundreds of drivers -- in a line that wrapped around the block and down the feeder road -- came for basic food and household supplies.

    And volunteers like Neal made sure they left with so much more.

    For two unbearably long weeks, beginning Aug. 27, the Farrington Mission had been closed. Unprecedented rainfall overflowed Halls Bayou and filled the mission and neighboring homes with water. Read More

  • Churches, ministry groups serve refugees fleeing Irma

    by Brandon Elrod, posted Tuesday, September 12, 2017 (4 years ago)

    Photo by Kristen Lowry
    CLARKSTON, Ga. (BP) -- Following more than 24 hours of travel from West Palm Beach, Fla., a group of Syrian refugees finally made it to the Send Relief hub at Clarkston International Bible Church (CIBC) in Clarkston, Ga. The eight families had fled from the civil war in Syria. Now, they were on the run from Hurricane Irma.

    After scrambling to leave in the early-morning hours of Sept. 7, the families did not arrive until after 4:30 a.m. the next day. Read More

  • Study: Pastors' spouses experience mixed blessings

    by Bob Smietana, posted Tuesday, September 12, 2017 (4 years ago)

    Image: iStock/license purchase required.
    NASHVILLE (BP) -- Being married to a pastor means a life filled with joy, purpose and a lot of headaches, according to a new study released today (Sept. 12).

    Most pastors' spouses feel a call to ministry and enjoy their roles inside and outside their church, notes the LifeWay Research study about the lives of Protestant pastors' spouses. But many also have few friends, think they yell at their kids too much, and worry about money. Read More

  • After Irma, Baptists already issuing food in Caribbean
    by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, September 12, 2017 (4 years ago)

    Baptist Global Response photo
    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) -- Food and water shortages in the Caribbean are being relieved by Southern Baptist partners and disaster relief workers nearly a week after Hurricane Irma trampled islands and killed at least 38 people.

    Baptist Global Response (BGR) is already distributing food in Cuba, where Irma hit 13 of the 15 provinces. The Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) to transport a feeding unit to Puerto Rico, BGR CEO Jeff Palmer told Baptist Press today (Sept. 12). Read More

  • Irma Facebook page reaches 600,000 with Gospel truth
    by David Roach & Brandon Elrod, posted Tuesday, September 12, 2017 (4 years ago)

    Submitted photo
    VERO BEACH, Fla. (BP) -- As Hurricane Irma bore down on Florida, Vero Beach associate pastor Kyle Bailey "had a sense of peace," he said, and "felt like God had something special in store."

    But little did he know God would soon use him and pastor Roger Ball, both of Vero Beach's Freedom Church, to share prayer, encouragement, weather updates and the Gospel with more than 600,000 people through a "Hurricane Irma Safety Check-In" group they created on Facebook. Read More

  • Muslim Fulani herdsmen massacre 20 Christians
    by Morning Star News/Nigeria Correspondent, posted Tuesday, September 12, 2017 (4 years ago)

    Morning Star News/Courtesy of family
    ANCHA, Nigeria (BP) -- Muslim Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria's Plateau state massacred 20 Christians, including children, as they slept in the hours after midnight on Sept. 8 in an apparent reprisal attack that mystified villagers, sources said.

    Police reportedly said the attack was an act of vengeance after the discovery last week of a slain and beheaded Fulani boy who was a resident of Ancha village, Miango District in the Bassa Local Government Area. But a village Christian told Morning Star News that the area's terrified residents were at a loss to explain why they were targeted, as the murder of the Fulani took place at another village.

    "The village where they claim one of them was killed over a year ago is not part of our village, and we have never had any misunderstanding with them in the past," said John Bulus, church secretary of Salama Baptist Church-Ancha, which lost 19 members in the massacre. Read More