By Baptist Press and B&R

NASHVILLE — With many in the U.S. expected to give more money to charities this Christmas season, financial experts are advising a biblically based, focused and well-educated approach to charitable giving.

Christians should be careful to give their gifts to charities that have proven to be responsible stewards of God’s resources, said William Townes, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee vice president for convention finance. [Read more…]

423 Tennessee Baptists among 5,294 SBC messengers conducting business in Baltimore

BALTIMORE — Arkansas pastor and longtime Southern Baptist Convention leader Ronnie Floyd was elected as the denomination’s new president during the June 10-11 meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Floyd was elected over two other candidates — Dennis Manpoong Kim, pastor of Global Mission Church of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, Md., and Jared Moore, pastor of New Salem Baptist Church in Hustonville, Ky.

Floyd received 1,834 or 51.62 percent of the votes cast. Kim received 1,446 votes (40.70 percent) while Moore garnered 210 votes (5.91 percent). [Read more…]

By Carol Pipes
LifeWay Writer

NASHVILLE — Southern Baptists experienced growth in the number of churches affiliated with the convention in 2013, while other key measures declined, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions.

The number of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention grew by 91 to 46,125, a 0.2 percent increase over 2012. SBC churches also reported 4,789 church-type missions last year, a decline of 203 from 2012. However, some state conventions no longer use the designation of church-type mission, which may have impacted the total. [Read more…]