Florida
More than 400 college students and their leaders gathered Feb. 4–5 at First Baptist Church Daytona Beach for worship, teaching and to pack meals for children, according to the Florida Baptist Witness. Cam Triggs, pastor of Grace Alive in Orlando, was the keynote speaker for the event, which was sponsored by the Florida Baptist Convention’s Next Generation Ministries. Triggs urged students to place prayer as their first response and not as a last resort. “Prayer is not a vehicle to revival; it is revival itself.”
The students packed 3,000 meals for children who attend Title I schools in Daytona Beach to help Florida Baptist Children’s Homes’ “One More Child” effort.
Georgia
Georgia Baptist missionary Jason Cobb is awed by the Lord’s power to change lives, even among the most hardened criminals he ministers to in the prisons of Argentina, reports the Christian Index.
Jason and his wife, Natalia, have been called to international missions out of First Baptist Church Fayetteville. They have been working in the prison ministry, called The Puerta del Ciel (Heaven’s Door), in Argentina’s most violent city, Rosario, for the past six years. “It’s the most fruitful ministry I’ve ever done,” Jason Cobb said. Many of the prisoners have been dealing and addicted to drugs since they were teenagers. One prisoner the Cobbs worked with was a young cocaine addict who ended up in prison for theft.
“Going to prison was the best thing that ever happened to him,” Cobb said of the young man. “He got sober. He was able to hear the gospel message. He got saved. He got baptized. It was a total change in his life. As a result of his salvation, his entire family has become Christians now. It was a transformation not only for him but for his entire family.” Click here to read more of this story.
Mississippi
The Lauderdale Baptist Association recently hosted the East Mississippi Church Revitalization Conference at Highland Baptist Church in Meridian, according to The Baptist Paper.
The conference offered something to all churches, the association’s mission strategist John Maxey noted. This included churches that are urban in a changing neighborhood, rural with a dwindling congregation, those dealing with conflict or trying to reach their community well after two years of facing a pandemic.
“We want to equip and strengthen the church,” Maxey said of the Jan. 28–29 event.
Two Alabama Baptist pastors were part of the conference: Josh Cook, church revitalization specialist for Birmingham Metro Association and author of “Foundational Revitalization,” and Dewayne Rembert, church planting strategist for Montgomery Baptist Association and lead pastor of Flatline Church at Chisholm in Montgomery. Click here to read more of this story.
North Carolina
Biltmore Church, a Southern Baptist church with seven locations in western North Carolina, launched the Big Give initiative in December, reported The Baptist Paper. An annual giving opportunity, this year’s primary focus is on helping those left homeless by the Cruso flood, which occurred about 25 minutes from Biltmore’s central campus in Arden last August. The church was able to help three families have a new home.
“This is the most contagious generosity I’ve ever been a part of — ever seen, ever — within a circle of believers,” Biltmore’s minister of missions Curt McClure said.
Through Big Give and also through partnering with local officials, residents and nonprofits, the church has provided food and other essentials to flood victims. The church has helped with cleanup, including flood recovery (mudouts) and debris removal, and also sends out teams to pray with those impacted by the raging flood. Click here to read more of this story.
Tennessee
Luke Love and Mary Rachel Gean are serving this semester as campus missionaries with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at the University of Tennessee at Martin. The two recently led a team of BCM students from the school to help residents of Waverly continue cleanup efforts following a flood last summer, according to the Baptist and Reflector.
Tennessee BCMs have seen an advancement in the campus missionary program across the state through the leadership of Steve Roper, retired BCM director at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“He has been able to pull together the different approaches across the state BCMs to build consistency and cohesiveness for the future,” said Morgan Owen, BCM director at UT-Martin. Click here to read more of this story.
Louisiana
Miranda Underwood walked into a pregnancy center as a single mother in Alexandria scared and in denial that she was pregnant. But she walked out with hope and a life-giving mindset, reported the Louisiana Baptist Message.
“The first day I found out I was pregnant, abortion crossed my mind, but I knew it was never the right thing to do,” Underwood told the Baptist Message. “When I walked into the CENLA Pregnancy Center, I was at the darkest moment in my life.”
CENLA Pregnancy Center has served 1,064 women through coaching by trained advocates, free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds, information about pregnancy options and other services.
More than 200 churches from various denominations worked together to establish the pregnancy resource center, a nonprofit, pro-life organization to provide compassionate support to women and men faced with difficult decisions.
First Baptist Church Pollock began praying in January 2014 about setting up a pregnancy center in central Louisiana. By December 2016, a nine-person board of trustees had been formed, with members, then, from Big Creek, Central Louisiana and North Rapides Baptist associations. Then a $1 annual lease was signed in 2017, a $72,000 annual benefit provided by the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Click here to read more of this story.
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