Missions & ministry: Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief serves Connecticut after late-May tornadoes
CONNECTICUT—Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief (DR) teams travelled to Connecticut recently after late-May tornadoes and a microburst hit an area of six or seven communities near New Haven. Don Williams, state director of Oklahoma Baptist DR, said, “It is a heavily-wooded area. Trees there are 100 feet tall with a diameter of about 40 feet, but their roots are only about three feet deep so they are uprooted easily.” Meteorologists...
Conventional Thinking: 2018 elections & F-A-I-R play
With the 2018 elections drawing near, the political temperature is heating up. In some ways, with today’s social-media-saturated, partisan climate, the political temperature stays hot year round. At some level, though, people’s elevated passions for politics is understandable. Not only do elections determine our government leaders, they determine the course of action on key issues. And from the state to federal level, the 2018...
SBC 2018 in Dallas, empowered to ‘testify’: Annual Meeting draws nearly 10,000 messengers
DALLAS—Approximately 9,700 messengers met in Dallas’ Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, June 12-13, for the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Annual Meeting. Oklahoma Baptists were well represented as 525 messengers from the state attended the meeting that had as its theme “Testify: Go. Stand. Speak.” From elections to sermons to key business to a guest appearance by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, the 2018 annual meeting...
SBC resolutions affirm women, denounce abuse
DALLAS (BP) — Messengers to the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention affirmed the dignity and worth of women, denounced all forms of abuse and called for sexual purity among Christian leaders in adopting 16 resolutions Tuesday (June 12). Passage of the resolutions on women, abuse and pastoral purity by nearly unanimous votes late in the afternoon session came after months of disclosures of sexual abuse and misconduct by male leaders...
SBC Pastors’ Conf. sounds call to ‘Fulfill Your Ministry’
DALLAS (BP) – A diverse slate of speakers exhorted fellow pastors and church leaders to be faithful to their calling during the first two sessions of 2018 Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference June 10-11 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. Centered on the theme “Fulfill Your Ministry” drawn from 2 Timothy 4:5, attendees were challenged to finish strong in their calling to local church ministry....
J.D. Greear elected SBC president
DALLAS (BP) — North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear was elected Southern Baptist Convention president June 12 during the 2018 annual meeting in Dallas, two years after conceding a closely contested election to lead the denomination. The newly elected president succeeds Memphis-area pastor Steven Gaines who served two one-year presidential terms from 2016-18. During the 16 years Greear has led The Summit Church, worship attendance...
