Good News for Today

A Missouri ballot initiative to enshrine abortion and contraceptive rights into the state constitution would repeal all laws regulating such reproductive technologies as human cloning and in vitro fertilization for stem cell research, the Thomas More Society said in a lawsuit challenging Amendment 3.

Missouri Attorney General John Ashcroft, a pro-life Republican, violated state and constitutional law by not listing with the ballot initiative the laws it would repeal, and by certifying a ballot initiative that covers more than one subject, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Mary Catherine Martin told Baptist Press.

As preborn life is increasingly challenged by state ballot initiatives, Martin said the national law firm is looking at ballot initiatives in other states to check their alignment with state laws. Currently, initiatives are on the ballots in nine other states.

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A new Taliban law restricting the rights of women even further has led to calls for prayer from Arabic church leaders as well as Afghans who have fled in recent years.

“These women are victims,” said Raid Al Safadi, pastor of Arabic Baptist Church of San Antonio, Texas. “Islamic law and Sharia law deal with them as slaves, something that is owned and not as a human being.”

The “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” was adopted last week in Afghanistan. Among other things, it mandates women wear clothing that covers their entire bodies, including their faces. It also bans their voices being heard in public and adds more restrictions to moving about without being accompanied by a male relative. 

Al Safadi encourages believers to pray for the Afghanis and ask God to work despite the Taliban to “establish His kingdom in Afghanistan for His people.”

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Union University professor Ray Van Neste writes, “When our youngest, Timothy, was 4 years old he often eagerly asked to say the blessing. His prayers developed, of course, moving first from unintelligible to intelligible and then adding and substituting topics. At one point a new item began appearing in his prayers. He began, in his list of things for which he gave thanks, saying, “Thank you for tomorrow.”

This simple sentence led the professor to remembers, “For tomorrow is already promised to all those who are in Christ. This tomorrow may occur in this life or the next, but it is sure. And no matter what hardship tomorrow may bring, God is there. To give thanks for what God is yet to do is to act in faith.”

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The world’s greatest problem is lostness. Learn how to share the light at IMB.org.

Telling other people about hope and salvation in Jesus is one the primary things He told His disciples to do. This summer, over 350 short-term missionaries served for six to eight weeks in 26 cities and neighborhoods that need a greater Gospel presence. Together, the students reported having just shy of 4,500 Gospel conversations.

The students served through GenSend hosted by the North American Mission Board.

GenSend Summer affords college students an opportunity to explore the call to the mission field, and the program is designed to encourage participants to consider whether God might be calling them to the field. Overall, more than 35 percent of participants expressed a certain degree of likelihood that they would move back to their place of service after college.

The initiative’s director, Jon Chasteen, says their hopes is to raise up new church planters and church leaders through the experience.

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 It was around 4 p.m. on Sunday when Alan McElroy, pastor of White Cliff Church in Ketchikan, Alaska, had sat down with a cup of coffee at home. Then the power went out.

“I looked at the street and the power pole in front is just bent over and then whipped back like a fishing rod,” he said. 

McElroy stepped outside to see what was happening and learned there had a been a mudslide.

A deadly mudslide had occurred in the town of 8,000 that “critically damaged” four homes and led to the evacuation of approximately 60 other homes, the city of Ketchikan announced on Aug. 26.

The slide killed 42-year-old Ketchikan native Sean Griffin, a husband and father who worked on the city’s public works team. Griffin had been scheduled to be off that day, but heavy rains required additional help in clearing stormwater drains. Three people were injured and hospitalized after the landslide, said public information officer Kacie Paxton.

The church played host and hub for rescue efforts as first responders and local volunteers began searching for people.

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Pat and Charles White teach a kindergarten Sunday School class at First Church in Tyler, Texas. Sounds challenging but what’s the big deal? This school year marks the 50th year the couple has taught the class. They say it’s their love for the children and for them to know God’s love that keeps them going strong.

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More than 2 billion people face food insecurity. Learn how you can help at IMB.org.

The Kendrick brothers’ latest movie “The Forge” had a strong opening weekend at box offices nationwide, bringing in $6.6 million, according to reports. The film came in fifth overall in box office ticket sales between Aug. 23-25.

The Forge features Cameron Arnett from previous Kendrick film “Overcomer” in a leading role as Joshua, a business owner who goes out of his way to disciple into Christian manhood Isaiah, played by Aspen Kennedy. The newcomer portrays the shiftless teenage son of Cynthia, one of two twin sisters portrayed by Priscilla Shirer, adding to her role of Elizabeth from “War Room,” the brothers’ 2015 release.

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When Troy Gause sat in the small, one-person suicide watch cell – with no windows or light from the outside world – at Plaquemines Parish Detention Center, he never could have imagined one day being a pastor of a thriving church.

While the distance between Plaquemines Parish Detention Center and Cross Community Church in suburban New Orleans is only about 60 miles, it can seem like so much more.

For Gause, it took a U-turn to get there. That U-turn didn’t just change his life; it defined the Gospel work that became the hallmark of his ministry as a Louisiana pastor.

During its 2024 Replant Summit, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) recognized his ministry by naming Gause “Replanter of the Year.”

Although Gause wasn’t suicidal when he entered that cell, the extended isolation and harsh conditions eventually wore him down. The trauma from the events leading to his imprisonment for drug possession had left him partially paralyzed, pushing him to his breaking point.

In that cell, Gause began a profound conversation with God that would forever change his life and the lives of lost people throughout greater New Orleans. Though saved as a teenager, he had drifted far from his faith. Now, Gause cried out to the Lord, recounting everything he’d tried for fulfillment only to hear God say, “You haven’t tried me.”

That’s when Gause responded: “God, here you go. Take this broken life.” And in that cell, he promised to never again turn away from Him.

Gause kept that promise. While working on a search and rescue team following Hurricane Katrina, he met a strong believer named Lawrence Jacques, who discipled him. A street evangelist, Jacques took him under his wing and introduced him to sharing Jesus on the streets of the Big Easy, where Gause met person after person who needed the U-turn he had found.

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More than 2.3 billion face food insecurity everyday. Learn how you can help IMB.org.

Darren Casper believes in missions. As the executive director of the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association (often called STL Metro), he leads a staff of eight full and part-time missionaries. Their task is to equip churches to reach out with the gospel to the city of more than 300,000 people and a little more than 2 million people living on the Missouri side of the greater St. Louis metro area. 

Casper led the association to sell its office building in Bridgeton a few years ago. Those funds are being rerouted into ministry, especially efforts to bolster church planting.

The director said when he came on board five years ago, he wasn’t looking for a centralized organization to manage. He preferred to have his staff work remotely from their homes and be mobile and accessible to the churches and leaders in the metro area.

The association’s mission statement says it is all about “Connecting churches to develop leaders and deploy them for mission because lostness is the greatest problem in our city.”

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The last Protestants in an indigenous Mexican community where Catholicism is the only religion allowed were forced from their homes Aug. 6, their lone church set ablaze, CSW reported Aug. 22 ahead of Protestant protests in the street.

Members of the Protestant Interdenominational Christian Church (ICIAR) and their supporters were expected to protest in the main square of Mexico City and in the city of Oaxaca Aug. 22, CSW said, calling out serious religious freedom violations in the community of San Isidro Arenal in San Juan Lalana Municipality, Oaxaca State.

The persecution of Protestants in indigenous Catholic communities stems from a 1993 community accord mandating Roman Catholicism as the only religion permitted in San Isidro Arenal, a system allowed under the Law on Uses and Customs. However, religious freedom is guaranteed in Mexico’s constitution.

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A Lifeway Bible study asks, What will be our jobs in Heaven?

California pastor Greg Laurie says, “God has more for us to do in His heaven. What we do now prepares us for that work. Pointing to Luke 12:44, Laurie explains while we are not sure what kind of work will be waiting for us will be meaningful.

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The world’s great problem is lostness. Learn how you can share the Light at IMB.org.

When God called Rhonda Schrage to leave a traditional career and build a new one based on her art, some thought she was crazy, but she stepped out in obedience and found the Lord walking with her every step of the way.

Schrage, who lives in Jefferson City, Missouri, starts with a Bible passage written on a canvas. Then she begins to sketch out her design as she continues to pray through the passage. As she paints, the passage is usually covered as she completes the work of art – which typically resembles something that has come to mind as she prayed through the passage.

Schrage says she hopes to open a brick-and-mortar art gallery one day but for now, will continue to shine light through her art wherever doors open.

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Not only are churchgoers watching Christian movies, but some find them useful as an evangelistic and discipleship tool.

A recent study by Lifeway Research finds 68 percent of American Protestant churchgoers have watched a Christian movie in the last year. Around 4 in 5 (81 percent) say Christian movies are effective evangelism tools.

“We live in a visual, video-driven generation. Movies can be great tools to reach people where they are and share biblical truth in the context of an emotional and memorable story,” said movie maker Stephen Kendrick.

The Kendrick Brothers latest release – The Forge – opens in box offices nationwide Aug. 23.

The study found more than 1 in 10 churchgoers have invited a non-Christian to watch a Christian movie with them in the last year. Churchgoers aged 18 -49 are most likely to say they’ve offered the invitation to a non-believing friend.

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Wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have destabilized entire regions. Extreme weather conditions have upset crop yields in Africa. Economic instability has raised operational costs for farmers around the world.

These and many other challenges have left tens of millions of people around the world staring down the barrel of food shortages.

Send Relief is leading efforts for Global Hunger Sunday on Aug. 25. It’s an initiative to combat hunger and share the Bread of Life.

Food insecurity affects the world – and that includes the United States – where more than 10 percent of the population deals with it daily according to the Center for Nutritional Impact.

Learn how you can help at IMB.org.

A health care triad – including a hospital, a rural clinic and a nursing college – in East Java, Indonesia is reaching far beyond the island’s, and even the country’s, borders.

The history dates back to 1951, when missionaries first went to the island nation. Medical work wasn’t far behind, and it soon became a key strategy for Gospel access.

Today, the medical facilities are led by Indonesian medical professionals who are committed to the Gospel and the vision to use health care to make the Gospel known to all nations. 

IMB missionary Jacob Stanley says, “More than 60 churches, still in existence today, can trace their roots to the evangelistic work” of the hospital.

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There are different ways Christians can help refugees adjust to America, but they all tend to revolve around the subject of availability.

“We’re needing people willing to do life with refugee families,” said Jason Lee, Mission/Go pastor at Clarkston International Bible Church.

When resettled refugees enter the U.S., various timetables begin, Lee said. They need to be enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL) program within ten days. The same goes for enrolling in employment services. Children are supposed to be enrolled in school within the first 30 days.

Lee also directs the Acts 17 Initiative to help those families settle and begin a new life. Launched in 2017, its goal is to educate, equip, engage and network with churches toward developing partnerships and strategies that assist immigrants and refugees.

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If the sanctity of human life is on your mind as approach November’s election, what should you do? A Baptist Press piece suggests:

First, pray. Ask God to open the eyes of our fellow Americans to recognize the value of human life and to move them to vote accordingly.

Vote. We must get to the polls during this election cycle. If your state has abortion on the ballot, get educated about it and vote accordingly.

Serve. Most likely, there is a pregnancy support center near you. Get involved. Give financially. 

Engage graciously. Look for resources that speak to the value of human life.

Live according to Colossians 4:5-6, “Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.” (CSB)
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If you’re a medical professional, you can use your skills for more than physical healing. Learn how at IMB.org.

Only 2 percent of an estimated 80 million Deaf people alive today have ever been told the Gospel in their sign language, with at least 380 sign languages in use globally, according to ministry leaders.

The International Mission Board (IMB) and Wycliffe Bible Translators are among more than 95 organizations and churches collaborating globally to change the dismal statistic.

Eurasia, IMB and Wycliffe have collaborated with others to begin Bible story translations in more than 75 new sign languages, said Andy Keener, Wycliffe’s senior director of global partnerships.

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Send Relief crisis response experts and volunteers were already in Puerto Rico for a long-scheduled training session when Tropical Storm Ernesto rapidly developed into a storm that has caused widespread damage on the island.

The team’s quick pivot came as strong winds knocked out power for nearly three-quarters of a million people, nearly half of the island, along with 235,000 losing their access to water, according to multiple sources.

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Bitterness will consume you, if you don’t let it go, writes church leader Chuck Lawless.

He says he’s seen it many times over his years of ministry and it is heartbreaking.

What should you know about bitterness?

1. The enemy wants you to stay unforgiving so your prayers are hindered. Jesus’ words were clear here: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing” (Mark 11:25). Satan delights in anything that harms your own walk with God and halts your prayers. 
2. Your bitterness is sin. When you stay angry and unforgiving, you are living in disobedience. That sin has a way of becoming a foothold, and then a stronghold – even while you deceive yourself that your continual anger is just. 
3. Your stronghold of bitterness can quickly become an idol. If you choose to stay bitter when God demands a change of heart, you are choosing to serve your emotions over God’s command. You may not have a carved idol sitting on a shelf in your living room, but you’re just as much an idolater.  

He also says bitterness is hard to escape.

1. You carry the bitterness wherever you go. Even when you separate yourself from the person who’s offended you, the bitterness resides in you—and affects the rest of your life. 
2. Your bitterness affects every other relationship you have. Few of us are so intentional and strong that we can compartmentalize every relationship. Your bitterness affects all your relationships, even if only by others seeing your continual anger. 
3. Even stifled bitterness is still present in you. You may have pressed it down, but all someone needs to do is “push the right button” in you—and all that anger rises to the surface again. It’s still there, slowly eating a hole into your soul. 

He encourages people to turn to God, repent of their bitterness and seek forgiveness.

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If you’re a medical professional, you can use your skills to bring more than physical healing. Learn how at IMB.org.

The Supreme Court rejected an emergency request from the Biden Administration that would have required the enforcement of new Title IX regulations released in April of this year.

The rule expands the definition of “sex” in Title IX’s language to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program or institution that receives federal funds.

Opponents of the new rule, including the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, argued that the rule would remove protections women have previously enjoyed from Title IX by allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports and by prohibiting sex-segregated spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms. 

“To threaten the loss of funding for a school’s refusal to acquiesce to the redefinition of sex and gender is the height of arrogance by the Department of Education,” said the ERLC’s Brent Leatherwood.

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The University of California at Los Angeles blocked Jewish students from portions of campus when protests erupted in response to the Israel-Hamas War, a district judge has ruled, citing their faith as the sole factor.

“Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,” U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi said. 

UCLA didn’t dispute the incident, Scarsi wrote in his injunction, but rather claimed no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of the plaintiffs because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters.

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Student ministry leaders Shane Pruitt has some questions for parents and church leaders as we start a new school year. Here’s one: 

“What would it look like this school year if we were so laser-focused on the Great Commission that we refused to be distracted or discouraged by ineffective busyness and unnecessary drama?”

Read the full piece at Baptist Press.

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Medical providers are needed all over the world. Learn how you can use your skills to bring more than physical healing at IMB.org.

Arizona and Missouri are the latest states to add measures to the November ballot allowing voters to enshrine abortion rights in their respective state constitutions, joining at least six other states with similar measures.

In at least two states, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, ballot initiatives to protect life are pending.

State ballot measures in Arizona and Missiouri would allow abortion to be restricted or banned after fetal viability, except to protect the life or health of the woman.

The initiative would also protect from prosecution providers of abortion.

Both states define fetal viability as the point when a health professional determines the child can survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures.

Arizona, Missouri, Florida, Colorado, South Dakota, New York, Maryland and Nevada also have ballot measures to allow voters to expand or establish abortion rights.

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For more than 1,700 college students and collegiate ministry leaders, last week marked a launching point for a school year full of Gospel conversations and ministry on campuses throughout North America and the world.

Southern Baptist students and their leaders from 23 states and regions in the United States and Canada gathered for training, worship and fellowship during Collegiate Week at Falls Creek Camp in Davis, Oklahoma, Aug. 4-8.

Leadership training went beyond simple skill development to provide a background for the challenges many will face as they head into a new school year and serve as leaders on their college campuses.

Dozens of the student volunteers indicated they felt called to some sort of vocational ministry following college.

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Is there life after death? Will I live on in a state of eternal bliss or in a state of eternal torment?  

An article at Baptist Press articulates how the Bible speaks to death and what happens next for the follower of Jesus and for the person who does not follow Jesus. Find that full piece in the Baptist Press Toolbox.

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More than 2.3 billion people face food insecurity everyday. Learn how you can help at IMB.org.

Bogdan Kipko immigrated to the United States from eastern Europe, arriving in Seattle with his parents in 1992 where a Baptist church provided space for his family and others to worship. Thirty years later, God has used Kipko to launch a church planting movement among Slavs who are dispersed throughout North America.

Kipko planted Forward Church in Irvine, Calif., through Send Network, the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) church planting arm, and began connecting with Slavic pastors and ministry leaders throughout North America to point them to the resources Send Network utilizes to help churches plant churches.

Kipko connected with his local church planting catalysts and began networking with friends and ministry colleagues. He said there are approximately 70 Slavic churches or pastors who have expressed interest in starting new churches.

Kipko has been able to connect with leaders on the East Coast, Florida and the Northwest who have their sights set on church planting through Send Network.

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The site of the deadliest church shooting in the nation no longer stands, as First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs moved forward Aug. 12 with a 2021 decision to demolish its former sanctuary.

In November 2017, a gunman killed 25 and injured 20 others before killing himself.

Since 2019, the congregation has worshiped in a new facility funded by the North American Mission Board and others.

There were mixed emotions about the demolition as some believed the building was an important reminder of the tragedy. However, the church decided that they and the community would be best served by removing the building.

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Ever wonder why you’re struggling with the spiritual disciplines – prayer, Bible Study, confession, things like that? Chuck Lawless says it could be you’ve equated ministry activity with spiritual disciplines.  While serving is good it may not lead to communion with God.

He also says it may be a time management problem. People can be so busy, they just don’t set aside time to be alone with God.

Read the full piece at Baptist Press.

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The world’s greatest problem is lostness. Learn how you can share the light at IMB.org.