Todd Deaton

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (BP) – Texas pastor Michael Criner has been named vice president of the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference, June 8-9, in Dallas.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (BP) -- North Greenville University Professor Nathan Finn will be nominated for a third term as SBC recording secretary by Tony Wolfe, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, at the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Indianapolis on June 10-11.

MOORE, S.C. (BP) -- The 759 registered messengers to the South Carolina Baptist Convention's 199th Annual Meeting made history Nov. 12 by electing a Simpsonville pastor as the first African American to serve as president. Meeting at the Church at the Mill in Moore, under the theme "Engage," South Carolina Baptists were challenged by keynote speakers -- Brentwood, Tenn., pastor Mike Glenn; Chattanooga, Tenn., pastor Micah Fries; Jacksonville, Fla., pastor H.B. Charles Jr.; and Edgar Aponte of Lutz, Fla., -- to actively engage the culture, the lost, the nations and the future.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Messengers to the Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Baptist Convention approved dissociating with congregations that are also part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, broke ties with a university and adopted a $22 million Cooperative Program budget goal. Paul Chitwood, who is expected to be elected president of the International Mission Board on Thursday (Nov. 15), also shared what may have been his last address to Kentucky Baptists as executive director. With the theme "Bring Good News," the KBC annual meeting convened on Nov. 13 at the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center, marking the first time Kentucky Baptists have met in the Appalachian city of Pikeville.

FLORENCE, Ky. (BP) -- A report of increased giving through the Cooperative Program by Kentucky Baptist churches and a denunciation of human trafficking were among the highlights of the Kentucky Baptist Convention annual meeting Nov. 15 in Cincinnati-area Florence, Ky. Meeting at Florence Baptist Church, messengers also elected the pastor of the state's oldest Baptist church as convention president and advocated foster care and adoption.

ST. LOUIS (BP) -- World War II veteran Bill McAnany, one of 2,000 living survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was introduced to the Southern Baptist Convention as messengers honored America and recognized military veterans June 14 at the SBC's annual meeting in St. Louis. Calling it an "awesome privilege," SBC President Ronnie Floyd observed that a memory of WWII disappears from American culture every three minutes as those who fought in the global conflict pass into eternity.

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (BP) -- Messengers to the 178th annual meeting of the Kentucky Baptist Convention elected an African American as convention president, called for an end to federal funding of Planned Parenthood and launched a strategy to boost their voice at the state capitol. Messengers also approved a $21.5 million Cooperative Program budget goal for the coming year, raising the bar by a quarter million dollars. The 2016-2017 budget equally divides Cooperative Program receipts between KBC missions and ministries and Southern Baptist Convention causes, allocating $10,750,000 to each after deducting 7 percent for shared CP resourcing.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Campbellsville University has informed Kentucky Baptist Convention leaders that the school intends to create a self-perpetuating board of trustees and welcome non-Baptist trustees onto the 52-member group.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Dale Suttles, Sunrise Children's Services' eastern region advancement director, has been named interim president by the Baptist child care agency's trustees.

MOUNT WASHINGTON, Ky. (BP) -- After enduring a dozen years of defending lawsuits stemming from the firing of a lesbian worker, the board of directors of Sunrise Children's Services rejected a recommendation Nov. 8 to change the Kentucky Baptist childcare agency's hiring practices.