Good News for Today

Episode 603

Evangelicals leaders speak out on aid packages to Israel, Ukraine; Biden Administration changes to Title IX will hurt women’s sports, experts say; Tips on sharing your faith

Evangelical leaders speak with House Speaker Mike Johnson; Title IX changes will harm women’s college sports, experts say; God helps believers share their faith

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

BaptistPress.com

International Mission Board

Transcript

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

Related Episodes

May 17, 2024

Four weeks after they became trapped in Port-au-Prince, two staff members of Louisiana Reach Haiti (LRH) have made it safely to the ministry’s Children’s Village in Cap Haitien. Now that wildfires are under control in the northern panhandle of Texas, what about the cattle? Texas is home to some 11 million head of cattle, more than 85% located in the Panhandle, according to the Texas Department of Agricu...

Episode 601

ERLC hosting webinar on election year issues; Georgia students being mentored by local churches; Missionaries return near home to carry the Gospel

ERLC hosts webinar featuring Brent Leatherwood and Dan Darling; Ga. college students grow as disciples of Jesus; Asian missionaries take the Gospel back to their home region

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

BaptistPress.com

International Mission Board

Transcript

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

Related Episodes

May 17, 2024

Four weeks after they became trapped in Port-au-Prince, two staff members of Louisiana Reach Haiti (LRH) have made it safely to the ministry’s Children’s Village in Cap Haitien. Now that wildfires are under control in the northern panhandle of Texas, what about the cattle? Texas is home to some 11 million head of cattle, more than 85% located in the Panhandle, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. And...

Episode 600

Gen Z Bible reading is up; COVID shutdowns take toll on students, education; SCOTUS rules in Idaho gender transgender case

SendNetwork reaching Hispanic community; Arkansas DR welcomes therapy dog; Most changes churches because of address change

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

BaptistPress.com

International Mission Board

Transcript

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

Related Episodes

May 17, 2024

Four weeks after they became trapped in Port-au-Prince, two staff members of Louisiana Reach Haiti (LRH) have made it safely to the ministry’s Children’s Village in Cap Haitien. Now that wildfires are under control in the northern panhandle of Texas, what about the cattle? Texas is home to some 11 million head of cattle, more than 85% located in the Panhandle, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. And, in our Toolbox, scholar Malcolm Yarnell gives us seven reasons the resurr...

 Episode 588

LifeWise Academy partnering with school to teach Bible classes; Pickleball brings fun on and off the court; Jesus is the church’s one foundation

Public schools partner with LifeWise for off-site Bible classes; Churches using pickleball for fellowship, community; Remembering Jesus is the church’s true foundation

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

BaptistPress.com

International Mission Board

Transcript

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

Related Episodes

May 17, 2024

Four weeks after they became trapped in Port-au-Prince, two staff members of Louisiana Reach Haiti (LRH) have made it safely to the ministry’s Children’s Village in Cap Haitien. Now that wildfires are under control in the northern panhandle of Texas, what about the cattle? Texas is home to some 11 million head of cattle, more than 85% located in the Panhandle, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. And, i...

 Episode 587

Traffickers target large sporting events; Spurgeon Library celebrates new chapter; Tips on kindness, wisdom during election cycle

Sporting events attract traffickers; Spurgeon Library unveils new artifacts; Maintaining Christian witness in an election year

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

BaptistPress.com

International Mission Board

Transcript

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

Related Episodes

May 17, 2024

Four weeks after they became trapped in Port-au-Prince, two staff members of Louisiana Reach Haiti (LRH) have made it safely to the ministry’s Children’s Village in Cap Haitien. Now that wildfires are under control in the northern panhandle of Texas, what about the cattle? Texas is home to some 11 million head of cattle, more than 85% located in the Panhandle, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. And, in our Toolbox, scholar Malcolm Yarnell gives us seven re...

 Episode 585

Churches celebrate Baptism Sunday, Gospel impact in Kenya; Find Jesus in the Scriptures

Churches baptize new believers on a special Sunday; Disciples being made by missionaries in Kenya; Look to the Scriptures to find Jesus

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

BaptistPress.com

International Mission Board

Transcript

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

Related Episodes

May 17, 2024

Four weeks after they became trapped in Port-au-Prince, two staff members of Louisiana Reach Haiti (LRH) have made it safely to the ministry’s Children’s Village in Cap Haitien. Now that wildfires are under control in the northern panhandle of Texas, what about the cattle? Texas is home to some 11 million head of cattle, more than 85% located in the Panhandle, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. And, in our Toolbox, scholar Malcolm Yarnell gives us seven reasons the resurrection brings joy...

 Episode 584

Georgia churches focus on special needs ministry; California university helps Deaf students learn to code, Caring for missionaries

Georgia church cares for people with special needs; CBU helps Deaf students learn to code and develop engineering skills; How to care for missionaries your church sends to the field 

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

Georgia church calls special needs ministry a field ready for Gospel harvest

CBU hosts engineering camp for Deaf students

International Mission Board

Caring for missionaries on the field

Transcript

The Church on Main in Snellville, Ga., will not soon forget Hannah’s baptism. A 15-year-old with cerebral palsy, Hannah was nonverbal and communicated through a device that tracked her eye movements and generated speech for her. Through that device, she told her mother she had committed her life to Christ and wanted to be baptized.
The baptism was tricky. Because Hannah is unable to close off her airways, she could not be submerged in the church’s normal baptistry. So she was placed in a portable baptistry, where the pastor, the executive pastor and two other staff members could handle her with care and brush water over her head rather than holding it under the water.
Hannah is one of more than 50 people with special needs to attend the Church on Main weekly. The special needs ministry, now more than 30 years old, includes Bible studies and activities for children, teenagers and adults with a variety of special needs. The Atlanta-area church (formerly First Baptist, Snellville) is committed to reaching and discipling people with special needs. They hope more congregations will join them in that endeavor.
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In a first-of-its-kind high school computer coding camp for Deaf students, California Baptist University (CBU) partnered with California School for the Deaf, Riverside, (CSDR) to give 10 Deaf high schoolers the coding knowledge to develop their own video game and to demonstrate that pursuing a degree in engineering is a career choice that can be rewarding on multiple levels.
Students sat in awe as Ben Sanders taught coding fundamentals and wrote lines of code on the whiteboard for students to copy. CBU hired American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and had ASL student volunteers help interpret throughout the two-day camp. By the end, students showed off their new coding skills by demonstrating their video game with a storyline similar to Pac-Man. In their version, a green snake gobbled up red dots to grow bigger and stronger.
With only 22 percent of Deaf people in the United States having completed a bachelor’s degree compared to 37.7 percent of hearing people, camps like the one hosted at CBU provide an important opportunity for Deaf high school students to be inspired to continue learning at the university level.

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Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

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“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God,” said missi...

 Episode 583

Churches host eclipse watch events; Groups utilizing religious liberty to fight for abortion access; The power of the unseen God

Churches host eclipse watch events; Groups utilizing religious liberty to fight for abortion access; The power of the unseen God

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

Churches host eclipse watch events

Jewish plaintiffs, others claim religious beliefs to protect abortion access

International Mission Board

The power of the unseen God

Transcript

Churches across the country took time to get in on Monday’s eclipse. Many churches across the nation held block parties and parking lot gatherings to invite sky watchers to find a safe spot to view the eclipse.
The path to totality covered thousands of church buildings from Texas to New England. Some churches even planned to set up portable baptisteries in their parking lot so that new believers could truly see the change that Christ brings in moving His disciples from the darkness to the light.
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The Indiana group Hoosier Jews for Choice can proceed in a class action challenge to Indiana’s abortion ban, claiming it violates their individual rights under the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), an appeals court ruled April 4.

The plaintiffs argue that their religious beliefs either teach that life does not begin at conception or give women autonomy in terminating a pregnancy. As such, the plaintiffs argue, Indiana’s abortion ban violates their religious liberty by forcing them to adhere to a religious belief that life begins at conception.

None of the plaintiffs are known to be pregnant and imminently impacted by the abortion ban.
The lawsuit is one of about 15 filed in eight states in the year after the reversal of Roe v. Wade that claim religious exemptions to abortion bans based on claimed violations of religious liberty.

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Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

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“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God,” said missionary Corrie Ten Boom.
In 2 Chronicles 20, we meet the Israeli King Jehoshaphat who honestly admitted, “we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (v. 12). Kie Bowman writes, “His transparency led to transformation as God stepped into his passionate prayer at the crossroads and turned an impossible situation into a miraculous intervention. In what can only be described as a direct answer to prayer, a Spirit-filled prophet in the prayer meeting stepped forward to remind the anxious king and the worried people that their greatest asset wasn’t their army but their God.”

 Episode 582

Iowa enacts religious liberty bill; ‘Senior adult’ church in Arizona making Gospel impact; The miracle of the resurrection

Iowa legislature passes religious liberty protections; Older Arizona congregation reaching younger generation with the Gospel; Lifeway study calls the resurrection Jesus’ greatest miracle

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

Iowa governor signs Religious Freedom Restoration Act

‘Senior adult’ church ministers to all ages

International Mission Board

God’s miracle-working power

Transcript

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in a ceremony Tuesday night (April 2). The legislation is similar to the federal act signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. More than half of U.S. states have passed their own versions of the law since 1997.

The law states that state action “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.” The only exceptions are cases in which the state can demonstrate “a compelling governmental interest” and the state must use “the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.” 

In comments to Baptist Press, ERLC policy director Hannah Daniel said religious liberty protections are increasingly necessary.

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Green Valley Church in Green Valley, Arizona calls itself a senior adult church. The members are mostly older, but you wouldn’t know if by their level of activity.

Among its many ministries, Green Valley Church – welcomes a mission team to help carryout Vacation Bible School that attracts about 160 area youngsters. They also staff the Shepherd’s Fold Preschool and Daycare, which has about 70 children enrolled.

For the last 13 years the church has had a partnership with the Sahuarita High School Football Boosters Club that includes pre-game meals for the football team, coaches, cheerleaders and others.

Also for the local community, on Veteran’s Day there’s a lunch and program that honors local veterans; full-course dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas; and a drive-through Nativity with lights for two weekends in December, which attracts about 500 people to see the Christmas story.

Green Valley Church is a church showing how the retirement years can lead to green pastures for ministry work.

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Every day, hundreds of thousands of people die without the hope of Jesus. Your faithful prayers will make a difference. That’s why the IMB created a free 18-month calendar, called “Impacting Lostness Through Prayer”. It provides guidance, reminders and encouragement as you pray for individuals and communities who have yet to hear the gospel. Learn more about this free resource at IMB.org/prayercalendar.

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Think you’ve seen a miracle? Lifeway provides this commentary on a miracle. They write, “The signs of a true miracle and act of God is that God is glorified, Jesus is lifted up and many come to believe in Him.

God performed miracles through His people in the times of...

 Episode 581

Texas church enjoying season of renewal; ‘Jesus’ film translated into American Sign Language; Avoid ministry stress

Texas church near Longview seeing renewed growth with a Gospel focus; ‘Jesus’ film translated into sign language for first time; Stephen Rummage offers time to avoid ministry stress

Host

Brandon Porter

Resources

East Texas church growing through Gospel witness in community

‘Jesus’ film in sign language for the first time

International Mission Board

Strategies for managing ministry stress

Transcript

Build and trust your team. Effective ministry always involves working with a team of people, whether church volunteers or ministry staff. Gather trustworthy people around you and delegate wisely. Work to build a committed and high-capacity team and then empower team members through training and dele- gating ministry assignments to them. Resist the opportunity to take tasks you have delegated back into your own hands.
The “85 percent rule” of delegation is helpful: Effective delegation happens when something is done 85 percent the way you would have done it yourself. Trusting your team decreases pressure and stress.
Prioritize rest and downtime. Getting a good night’s sleep consistently is crucial. Take your day off and vacation time. I am never impressed by pastors who tell me they work 24/7 or never take a vacation. Working all the time is a weakness, not a strength. God created us to live in a pattern of work and rest. Violating that pattern becomes detrimental to you, your family, your relationship with God and your ministry.

Mulberry Springs, Texas is about 15 miles northeast of Longview. It doesn’t see a lot of traffic on a typical day.

Yet the rural congregation of Mulberry Springs Church—founded in 1892—is building a new worship space to seat nearly 800 people.

The congregation had dwindled to around 100 a few years ago.

That’s when the church began to make some changes. Their focus turned outward. They began to go to the community rather than waiting for it to come to them.

Now, more than 400 people worship weekly at the church and they are the process of building a new worship space.

The church has created a presence in the community to love and serve their hometown and to find ways to share the Gospel. Folks in Mulberty Springs and other communities are taking notice.

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A new version of the Jesus Film, performed in American Sign Language (ASL) by Deaf actors and crew members, premieres April 4 at the Deaf Missions Conference in Arlington, Texas, its promoters have announced.

A broader release of the film portraying Jesus’ life is in the works, Deaf Missions has said, but details have not been announced.

Already, the Jesus Film has been produced in 2,100 languages since its 1979 English premiere, and holds the Guinness Book of World Records for being translated in more languages than any film. Cru Min...