Erdenekhuyag Vandan is the lead planter and pastor of Messenger Mongolian Christian Church in Glenview. His journey to faith and to Chicagoland started more than 30 years ago, with prayer to a God he didn’t know. In 1994 when Eegi (as friends and family call him) was 25-years-old, his elder sister, Chimgee, put her faith […]
Annie Armstrong Easter Offering: Campus awakening just next door
March 1-8 is the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and Week of Prayer for North American Missions. The national goal is $80 million to support church planting and compassion ministries. One of the featured stories in the prayer guide is a couple serving at Purdue University in West LaFayette, Indiana. “I’m seeing things I’ve never seen […]
IMB Olympic outreach sees over 20 professions of faith
The Winter Olympics have come to a close, but Southern Baptist missionaries are just getting started! While athletes competed for the gold, silver and bronze across northern Italy, Southern Baptist volunteers, International Mission Board missionaries and local Italian believers shared the gospel with thousands of spectators and athletes from around the world — planting seeds […]
2025 ACP shows some bumps and a few dips
When King George III takes the stage in Hamilton, he sings a lilting ballad which, oddly, has the music moving in opposite directions from some of the phrases. “Oceans rise,” he sings, and the tune goes down; “empires fall” and the tune goes up. The 2025 summary of Annual Church Profiles sort of feels the […]
At 4 years, ‘pure miracle’ Ukraine still standing
Irpin, Ukraine | For Christians in Ukraine, the battle is existential, a spiritual onus to spread the Gospel where they are planted as darkness tries to snuff their witness. That’s Igor Bandura’s take as the nation enters its fifth year of sustained war against Russia. Bandura is a pastor in Irpin and vice president of […]
EC recommends CP increase to IMB, disability ministry mobilization
Nashville | In a meeting that was at once routine and consequential, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee adopted a realigned CP allocation budget, affirmed the need for ministry to those with disabilities, discontinued fellowship with two churches and dealt with messenger motions referred to it from the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting. Members met Feb. […]
Southern Baptists serve at 2026 Winter Games
More than 3,500 athletes from 93 countries are gathered in Milan, Italy, competing for Olympic gold in sports like skiing, figure skating, and ice hockey. So far, these Winter Olympic Games have seen their share of drama, surprises, and triumph. Organizers anticipate by the end of the Winter Games, more than 2 million spectators […]
Iorg highlights ‘steady’ SBC progress amid ongoing challenges
During the Executive Committee’s winter meeting in Nashville, Jeff Iorg shared his report emphasizing “steady incremental progress” despite ongoing challenges facing the Southern Baptist Convention. Among the highlights, the EC’s president and CEO shared Monday evening (Feb. 16) promising reports related to the Cooperative Program. Iorg began by addressing last year’s $3 million allocation of […]
News Stories
Chicagoland’s Gaiter, Shannon honor civil rights icons and mentors
Chicagoland | Two pastors from IBSA network churches recently honored leaders in the civil rights movement who served as mentors and role models. Pastor Maurice Gaiter of Empowerment Community Church in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood was invited to pray at a remembrance service for Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died Feb. 17 at age 84. “He gave […]
State Department urges Americans to leave 14 Middle Eastern countries
As fighting escalates in the Middle East since U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran began on Feb. 28, so has the number of countries Americans are being advised to leave or avoid. The U.S. Department of State released a list of 14 countries on March 2, urging American citizens to depart them immediately on available commercial transportation. […]
Group of SBC leaders caught amid Iran attacks now headed back to U.S.
Cairo, Egypt | After 17 trips to a bomb shelter over 36 hours and a man named Moses leading them into Egypt, a group of weary pastors and their wives are headed back to the United States. Members of the group led by former Send Relief President Bryant Wright had just finished taking rooftop pictures from […]
SBC leaders touring Israel await airport reopening
Jerusalem | A group of Southern Baptist pastors and their spouses, including former Send Relief President Bryant Wright, sheltered in place in Jerusalem Saturday morning (Feb. 28) as the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. Within hours, Iran responded with strikes on U.S. and Israeli targets across the Middle East. Bryant is […]
BF&M 2000
BF&M Article 18: In the beginning God created… family
At the apex of God’s creative workweek, we find him crafting a man, then a woman, and directing them to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). It might surprise younger Baptists to know that Article 18 wasn’t included in the 1925 BF&M. Or the 1963 version. It was added […]
BF&M Articles 15, 16, 17: Our dual citizenship
Some nations allow dual citizenship. Citizens can enjoy all the rights and privileges of their nation while pledging allegiance to another nation as well, so long as they keep up their obligations (and pay taxes, I suppose). The United States does not prohibit dual citizenship, but if you want to enter the country, you must […]
BF&M Articles 13 & 14: What’s temporary vs. what’s lasting
Those unfamiliar with the biblical use of the word steward may find it helpful to substitute the word manager. The Bible teaches that God owns everything, and that Christians, God’s people, are temporary managers of all that he entrusts into their lives. Managers are not owners. They are caretakers, with delegated responsibility for the treasures […]
BF&M Articles 11 & 12: Let’s talk about Jesus
The first official SBC-sanctioned witnessing training I received was called “Lay Evangelism School.” A leader from the state convention came to our church and taught us how to use a “survey method” to share the gospel on a Saturday morning. Then we went out and did it. We knocked on doors in the neighborhood and […]