Christian groups prepare parents to homeschool as inquiries soar amid COVID-19
PURCEVILLE, Va. (BP)—Parents across the U.S. and in many foreign countries are exploring homeschooling their children for the first time this fall as schools navigate reopening amid COVID-19 dangers and uncertainties. Christian groups and churches are among those preparing parents to meet the challenge and to navigate homeschooling regulations that not only vary among the states, but are changing amid the pandemic. Membership in...
Beirut blast prompts prayer from Messianic believers
BEIRUT (BP)—Southern Baptist Messianic believers expressed heartbreak after unexplained explosions at a Beirut port warehouse Tuesday, Aug. 4, killed at least 100, injured more than 4,000 and devastated much of the city. Leaders of the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship (SBMF), a group of about 350 Jewish believers, said they are praying and looking for a reputable humanitarian aid group to channel help for the injured and...
Report: In China ‘there is no longer a safe place to be a Christian’
SILVER SPRING, Md. (BP)—China persecutes Christians to gain leverage in future diplomatic relations with the U.S., a Christian seeking U.S. asylum claimed in a video released Wednesday, July 22, alongside a new report by International Christian Concern (ICC). Liao Qiang, a member of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, further claimed in the ICC video that the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), “makes you think that they are...
In historic election, SBC Executive Committee elects first African American chair
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee (SBC EC) elected its first African American chair in a special called meeting Tuesday, June 16. Rolland Slade, pastor of El Cajon, Calif., Meridian, was unopposed as EC chair and was unanimously elected by ballot vote. Outgoing chair Mike Stone called for a ballot vote, he said, to mark the historic moment. “I think we all realize by what is going on in...
SBC President Greear addresses diversity, unity, missions, abuse prevention
DURHAM, N.C. (BP)—Promoting diversity, unity, missions and sex abuse prevention are goals the Southern Baptist Convention must continue to pursue in order to put the “Gospel Above All,” SBC President J.D. Greear said in his 2020 presidential address Tuesday, June 9. Speaking from his office at The Summit Church in Durham, N.C., in a virtual format after the 2020 SBC Annual Meeting was canceled because of the COVID-19...
