By Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank S. Page has personally signed letters to more than 4,400 Southern Baptist churches that have met or exceeded the 1% Cooperative Program Challenge. Recognized for their contributions are 3,846 congregations that met the challenge for the first time during the 2013-14 fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Sept. 30) and 576 that met the challenge for two consecutive years,

By Baptist Press SALT LAKE CITY (BP) — Trustees of the North American Mission Board have approved the establishment of Send Relief — a new compassion ministry to offer Southern Baptists opportunities to meet physical needs and serve underprivileged communities. Also during their Oct. 7 meeting, NAMB’s trustees approved a $4 million budget reduction so the entity can send funds to assist International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries. NAMB President Kevin

Compiled by B&R NASHVILLE — “How did this happen?” Wanda S. Lee asked herself. “Beyond what words can say … we’re grieving,” the executive director of the Woman’s Missionary Union, the Southern Baptist Convention’s missions education auxiliary, said of the imminent downsizing of 600-800 missionaries and staff members in a multi-million-dollar shortfall confronting the International Mission Board. Lee, who was among Baptist leaders addressing the SBC Executive Committee during its

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector RICHMOND, Va. — In the first phase of the International Mission Board’s plan to address revenue shortfalls, leadership announced details of a voluntary retirement incentive (VRI) during town hall meetings with personnel Thursday, Sept. 10. The goal of the plan, IMB leaders shared, is to offer as generous a voluntary retirement incentive as possible, while honoring the years of service of those eligible

By LifeWay Research Most Americans believe they are seeing an epidemic in the United States of people taking their own lives. But most Americans don’t view suicide as a selfish choice, and they don’t believe it sends people to hell, LifeWay Research finds. “Americans are responding with compassion to a tragedy that touches many families,” said Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research vice president. “For example, as researchers learn more about the

By LifeWay Research NASHVILLE—Americans evangelicals remain among the strongest supporters of the nation of Israel.   Most believe God has plans for that nation, both now and in the future. And many of America’s preachers say Christians need to support Israel. Those are among the findings of a study of American attitudes toward Israel and the Bible from Nashville-based LifeWay Research. As part of the study, researchers conducted two separate