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Bumpy flight rules

March 29, 2024 By Meredith Flynn

Meredith Flynn

Our city’s small airport recently added direct flights to two vacation hotspots in Florida. It’s a big deal here in Springfield, being able to fly straight to Orlando or Tampa in a couple of hours. How perfect, I thought as I booked the flight that would take me to a work conference. What I hadn’t […]

Signs of our times

January 11, 2024 By Meredith Flynn

Meredith Flynn

It took a harshly worded bumper sticker to remind me that my children can read now. Four years ago, during the last contentious election cycle, we could blissfully drive by all the stickers and campaign signs without giving them a second thought. Now, though, signs calling out one candidate in favor of another raise questions—difficult […]

War and Christmas

December 13, 2023 By Meredith Flynn

Meredith Flynn

A few years ago on Christmas Eve, I heard the song “This is War” by Dustin Kensrue. The lyrics highlight Jesus as warrior, come to earth to do battle with sin and death. No moonlit manger scene here, just the cosmic war for the souls of men and women. I get it, I thought when […]

Rosalynn Carter, former first lady, dies at 96

November 20, 2023 By Meredith Flynn

Rosalynn Carter

Rosalynn Carter, the first lady who prioritized humanitarian causes in the U.S. and abroad, died Nov. 19 at the age of 96. According to a release from the Carter Center, she died peacefully, with family by her side. Her husband, Jimmy Carter, served as President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Much of the […]

A prayer of thanks

November 20, 2023 By Meredith Flynn

A prayer of thanks

(Editor’s note: For decades, Chicago Tribune columnist Joan Beck memorialized each year with a poetic column of thanksgiving. The verses below are our attempt to follow her example and remember the blessings of 2023.) As we gather together to count the Lord’s blessings, 403 years after the first Thanksgiving Day, we wonder at the beauty […]

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Featured Columns

Carmen Halsey-Menghini

What if leadership isn’t the main issue?

Carmen Halsey-Menghini

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on something Henry Blackaby said: “The church doesn’t have a leadership problem; it has a discipleship problem.” I’ve found myself thinking about that, especially when talking with pastors of smaller churches who are discouraged because they don’t see enough people stepping into leadership roles. What if the question isn’t “Why aren’t […]

5 things bivocational pastors wish you knew

Will Dole

If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be a bivocational pastor today, it’s doubtful I would’ve believed you. At the time, I was working—bivocationally—with a small parachurch ministry and desperately hoping to be fully funded so I could focus on ministry. It was around that point that a friend asked me: […]

25 years after 9/11: A lot has changed. And not much.

Eric Reed

By the time you read this, many people will be talking about where they were when the Twin Towers fell 25 years ago. Bells will toll. Long lists of names will be read. We will remember, and never forget. The realization that its anniversary is upon us raises the question— Has anything really changed since […]

More Columns

GuideStone, ERLC applaud Senate’s passage of Clergy Act

Roy Hayhurst

Dallas | The U.S. Senate passed the Clergy Act Wednesday (Sept. 30), which sends the legislation to President Donald Trump for consideration. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the act in April. GuideStone Financial Resources applauded passage of the bipartisan bill that would provide eligible ministers who previously opted out of Social Security with a […]

News

Gen One

Moms reconnect at Super Summer—because their kids are attending

Kayla Houchin

Greenville | Marie Swegle and Stephanie Simmons have been serving alongside each other at Super Summer for several years. They didn’t recognize each other at first. “You get older, people change,” Swegle said. “I had no idea who she was when we first started serving.” After Simmons found a picture of her and Swegle during […]

Prayer tours the Mother Road

Sexual abuse, doctrinal fidelity, transparency, highlight Rice’s first EC address

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Mission

World Cup scores for digital witness

Illinois Baptist Staff

As the 2026 FIFA World Cup roared to a close and Spain left holding the trophy, Southern Baptist churches and missionaries around the world prayed for impact that outlasts the hardware. Southern Baptists mission boards joined churches and associations in digital and in-person outreach, as North America hosted the World Cup for the first time […]

IMB trustees appoint new missionaries, elect first woman chair

Metro East church plant hosts multiplication meeting

More Mission Stories

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