Pastor Thomas Abgemeh from Grace Baptist Church in Pakro, Ghana, baptizes a new believer in the Densu River outside of Nsawam, Ghana. One of the IMB’s key goals is to see gospel belief that results in lives transformed among the nations. Each baptism an IMB missionary is a part of is another example of God’s work in transforming lives through our missionary presence. — IMB Photo

The International Mission Board is rejoicing at God’s work through the generosity of Southern Baptists, who gave $203.7 million to the 2021-22 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This is the largest offering in the 177-year history of the IMB.

Missionaries serving on the field are aware of the significance of this record-breaking total and the impact every dollar has on reaching the lost.

“We want to thank you for giving to the Lottie Moon offering,” said Travis and Beth Burkhalter, serving in Medellín, Colombia. “Without that, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. We’re able to focus on our ministry. We don’t have to worry about raising support, and we’re able to dedicate all of our time to sharing the good news to people who’ve never heard.”

Phil and Becca Bartuska, serving in Vienna, Austria, shared their thankfulness. “Because of your generous giving, we are able to share the light of Christ to the nearly 2 million people who don’t know the good news. So, thank you for giving to the Cooperative Program and to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering ^® so that our family can live here, gather locals to study God’s Word and plant new churches.”  [Read more…]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — National Woman’s Missionary Union is responding with help and the hope of the gospel in the midst of the water crisis in Jackson, Miss. While drinking water has been compromised in the area for years, the recent crisis was precipitated by floods and failing water systems. 

The WMU endowment committee approved emergency grants from its Pure Water, Pure Love ministry to provide three tractor-trailer loads of bottled water and the WMU Foundation executive committee approved a grant of $25,000 from the HEART Fund to help First Baptist Church, Jackson, with providing meals to seniors, food distribution, and other crisis response efforts. [Read more…]

NASHVILLE — In a post to Twitter on Sept. 28, former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Adam W. Greenway announced that he would not be moving to a new position with the International Mission Board.

“Carla and I are grateful for the many expressions of care and concern that have come our way since our transition from service at @SWBTS was first announced,” he wrote.

“While we initially thought our path would take us to the @IMB_SBC, we have not been able to find the Lord’s peace to move forward in that direction. We covet your prayers for ourselves and for our children as we seek the Lord’s direction regarding His next vocational assignment for us.” [Read more…]

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Following a special-called meeting of the Board of Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Chairman Danny Roberts today announced that trustees have invited O.S. Hawkins and David S. Dockery to provide joint leadership to the seminary during the interim period. Dockery will serve as interim president, while Hawkins will serve as senior advisor and ambassador-at-large.

The actions of the board were with no opposition and came five days after the executive committee of the board accepted the resignation of Adam W. Greenway and invited Hawkins to serve as acting president. The board met in executive session on Sept. 27 via video conference. [Read more…]

IMB Building

NASHVILLE — Former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Adam Greenway is joining the International Mission Board in a role that “will be focused on training missionaries to address the greatest problem in the world: spiritual lostness,” according to an entity spokesperson today.

Greenway made his resignation official Sept. 23 after several hours of online speculation overnight. He had been president of Southwestern since February 2019.

IMB President Paul Chitwood, who was executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention when Greenway served as state president from 2011-12, welcomed Greenway aboard.

“Having known Adam for many years, I was confident he would approach his work at the seminary with the Great Commission at the forefront. He has done just that. His years of experience in seminary classrooms, as dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at Southern Seminary and as president of our seminary in Ft. Worth, will be invaluable to the IMB as we are in a season of growing our reach among the nations by deploying and developing Southern Baptists’ missionaries.” [Read more…]

File photo / Baptist Press

FORT WORTH, Texas — Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary announced Sept. 23 that president Adam W. Greenway has resigned from his post effective immediately, citing financial and legal challenges the seminary faces as motivations for his resignation. The announcement follows an all-day meeting of the executive committee of the seminary’s board of trustees and the seminary administration on Sept. 22.

According to a statement released by Greenway, he stated, “Carla and I accepted the call to come back ‘home’ to Southwestern Seminary with an understanding of these challenges, but also with the strong desire to be part of the solution. What we failed to appreciate was the enormity of the reputational, legal, and financial realities that would welcome us to the Dome.”

Danny Roberts, chairman of the board of trustees and executive pastor at North Richland Hills Baptist Church, expressed the board’s “deepest appreciation” for Greenway’s three-plus years of service to his alma mater.

“He came to Southwestern Seminary during a difficult time of transition and has worked tirelessly to lead the institution to serve well the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Roberts said of Greenway. “Among his other accomplishments, President Greenway has assembled an impressive faculty of scholar-ministers who are daily impacting the lives of their students. He also provided steady leadership during the COVID pandemic, which dramatically altered the delivery of theological education.” [Read more…]

Texas pastor Jared Wellman, right, leads his first SBC Executive Committee meeting as chair and confers with Archie Mason, chair of the committee on convention finance and stewardship development, during the Sept. 20 plenary session. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee members addressed 11 motions referred from the annual meeting in June, including adding an abuse awareness emphasis, and dealt with budgetary matters during their Sept. 19–20 meeting in Nashville. EC members also approved the SBC Credentials Committee’s recommendation regarding two congregations — that they “no longer be considered a church in friendly cooperation with the SBC.”

The two churches disfellowshipped are: College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, because of reported “open affirmation, approval and endorsement of homosexual behavior,” and Amazing Grace Community Church in Franklinville, New Jersey, due to the “lack of cooperation demonstrated by the church to resolve concerns regarding alleged discriminatory behavior.”

EC members discussed the Credentials Committee’s recommendations as well as heard legal updates while in executive session.

Along with approving the 2022–2023 EC and SBC operating budget of $8,335,000, EC members also approved up to $500,000 to be made available from the EC investment accounts for transfer to the EC operating budget “for areas impacted by increased costs related to the Department of Justice investigation and potential relocation expenses related to new incoming staff.”  [Read more…]

Willie McLaurin, interim president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, delivers his report to EC trustees Sept. 19 in Nashville. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

A call for unity, a presidential search update and a hefty check presentation highlighted the opening session of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s Sept. 19–20 meeting in Nashville.

Additionally, EC chair Jared Wellman maintained a streamlined and upbeat approach to the evening event attended by 75 of the 84 EC trustees, 26 of which are new. While the trustee board has 86 seats, two seats have been vacated since being appointed in June — one from North Carolina and one from New Mexico.

“Our dream in this new day in the EC is to be safe for the vulnerable and unsafe for the abusers,” Wellman shared in his opening address. “(We are) hunting abusers down and letting them know there is no place for them in a Southern Baptist church. Our Southern Baptist messengers deserve an EC that doesn’t live for itself but for Jesus Christ.”

Pointing to the EC’s decision in the fall of 2021 to waive attorney-client privilege related to the investigation into its previous handling of sexual abuse cases, Wellman said, “An EC that tries to save its own life for its own sake is not truly living. … Sacrifice is God’s design for the Christian life.  [Read more…]

Photo by Jennifer Rash / The Baptist Paper

Bart Barber urged the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, during its Sept. 19 meeting in Nashville, to stay “vigilant against corruption,” while also passionately supporting those who are preaching truth in dark places around the globe. See more Executive Committee coverage here.

During his 20-minute message, the newly-elected SBC president also announced the theme for the Convention’s annual meeting next year in New Orleans: “Serving the Lord, Serving Others,” taken from 2 Cor. 4:5. He noted he believes the theme truly captures who Southern Baptists are.

“If any community has seen what Southern Baptists are like, serving other people in the name of Jesus, it’s been New Orleans,” said Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church Farmersville, Texas.

The people of New Orleans, he added, “are very familiar with the yellow caps and yellow jackets [Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers], where we have gone after hurricanes and flooding, where we have ministered to people who were out of their homes, and sometimes out of hope.” [Read more…]