SBC 2025: GUIDESTONE CROSSES $1B MILESTONE WHILE ADDRESSING MINISTER HEALTH
DALLAS—A concern for pastoral well-being and significant growth in retirement programs and insurance coverage were highlighted in GuideStone President Hance Dilbeck’s report to the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas. Speaking June 10 during the morning business session, Dilbeck said one-third of surveyed ministers report struggling with their physical health, which impacts their […]
SBC 2025: MENTORING IS PART OF PASTOR’S CALLING, PANEL SAYS
DALLAS—Jimmy Scroggins said his dad was a high school football coach, and the one thing he prided himself on the most was how many of his assistant coaches became head coaches. “There were more than 50 who became head coaches,” said Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in south Florida. “He felt like that was a […]
SBC 2025: PRESSLEY URGES MESSENGERS TO ‘HOLD FAST’
DALLAS—Recalling his early years playing football, Clint Pressley recalled how there were some players he was friends with and some he “barely knew their name.” But he still recognized they were “all teammates” — and cooperation and teamwork were critical for the success of the team. “Every guy on that team was my teammate, and […]
DEW TELLS PASTORS ‘DON’T QUIT,’ OFFERS FOUR TRUTHS TO ENCOURAGE THEM
DALLAS — Jamie Dew told pastors that he had one simple but honest question for them: “Do you ever want to quit?” “I can think of a million reasons we might feel that way,” said Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, as he spoke to the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference in Dallas on […]
KNOXVILLE PASTOR CALLS FOR ‘GOSPEL COURAGE’ AT PASTORS’ CONFERENCE
DALLAS (BP) – “Worth Following” was the theme around which pastors gathered June 8 for the opening session of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in Dallas. Convening at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Pastors’ Conference attendees heard the first two expositions in a two-day series of sermons through the book of 2 Timothy. Caleb Turner […]
SBC EXPANDS ABUSE PREVENTION TRAINING
Updated curriculum adds safety coordinators and response plans for churches NASHVILLE (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is relaunching its abuse prevention and response website with expanded resources to equip churches to create safe spaces for children and adults to worship God unhindered by abuse. An updated Essentials 2.0 curriculum, blog posts from […]
FORMER SBC PRESIDENTS UNITE TO SAVE ERLC FROM ‘SLEDGEHAMMER’
An open letter released today (May 22) urges messengers planning to attend the upcoming Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas to vote to keep the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission as an entity of the SBC should the anticipated motion to abolish it be proposed. Ten former SBC presidents signed the letter that also […]
SBC LEADERS CELEBRATE “100 YEARS OF COOPERATION”
MEMPHIS — Gathering just a few hundred yards from where it all began, a host of SBC leaders recognized and celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program on Tuesday afternoon. The event, held at the Renasant Convention Center in Memphis, included praise music, an extended time of prayer and a message from Jeff Iorg, […]
MOHLER QUESTIONS ERLC’S ‘UTILITY,’ DRAWS PUSHBACK
NASHVILLE (BP) – An SBC entity president has expressed “grave doubts” about the usefulness of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) in Southern Baptist life. The ERLC and its advocates followed those comments with a flurry of defense for the Convention’s public policy Commission. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said he […]
UPDATE: KIDNAPPED AMERICAN PASTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA RESCUED
JOHANNESBURG (BP) – Josh Sullivan, the pastor who was abducted by armed and masked men last week as he preached, was rescued yesterday (April 15) by police after a shootout with his captors in a nearby township. Officers in a “multi-disciplinary law enforcement operation,” said a police statement, received information that Sullivan was being held in a safe […]