Passion for Kingdom moments
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (BP)--Building a log cabin is something I've dreamed about since I was a boy. One day last summer, I thought my dream had arrived when the company I'd ordered the logs from finally called to say the shipment would arrive on an upcoming Monday.
Seemingly ‘throw-away churches’ can win souls, pastor says
CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP)--Northbridge Baptist Church bore all the attributes of a church in decline and on the verge of failure when is current pastor, Louis Venable, arrived in 2003.
8-year-old’s passion emerges
on the African mission field
SENEGAL, West Africa (BP)--Meredith Queen’s favorite dress is splattered with red and pink splotches, but she doesn’t mind.
That doesn’t keep the lively 8-year-old from wearing the dress again as she and her parents visit a village to share Jesus with Sereer-Palor people.
Sitting on a mat in the shade of a tree, Meredith bites her tongue and crinkles her nose in great concentration. She pumps the brush into the polish bottle and dabs a bit of color onto the toenails of a young girl with dark, dusty feet.
“We girls just like to be pretty,” Meredith said, explaining her toenail-painting ministry in her thick Carolina accent. “The village girls never had anything like that done to them before. God made them, and they need to feel loved and needed.”
Man, 70, gets God’s passion for community
JONESBORO, Ark., (BP)--In a day when many church planters are young and denim-clad, with a touch of mousse in their hair, Roy Cooper, also a church planter, doesn’t spend a lot of time combing his 73-year-old head.
Retired from the construction business, Cooper still works for God’s Kingdom. He’s served for decades at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ark., in a variety of roles: deacon, member of various committees and 29 years as Sunday School director.
Passion: Setting apart her Sundays for worship spared her from WTC disaster
NEW YORK (BP)--Walking down Houston Street in Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Gloria Burgos thought she heard thunder.
From drugs & despair, he found deliverance & discipleship
 |
| There was a time when then-drug-addict Steve Cobb dared not enter a church. Now he stands in front of the newly constructed facilities of Temple Baptist Church in New Bern. N.C., where he is the pastor. Photo by Norm Miller |
Upon reflection, Cobb counts it a miracle that he was lucid enough to drive. That night was the beginning of the end of nearly a decade of drug and alcohol abuse that began when he was 14.
Cobb’s high school had a designated area for cigarette smokers, and that’s where he came under marijuana’s sway. An older teen confronted Cobb to make good on his bragging about smoking dope. Finding a secluded place, the two teens got high.
1,900 professions of faith flow from one woman’s witness
 |
| Nell Kerley, who has led nearly 1,900 people to Christ, visits with SBC President Bobby Welch in her home church, Beulah Baptist in Statesville, N.C. Welch, in his “Everyone Can” initiative, has urged Southern Baptists to baptize 1 million people during the current church year. Photo by Norm Miller |
“Wait a minute. I want to talk to the daughter,” said Kerley, who had been observing the 15-year-old girl.
“You’ve heard everything that was said tonight, haven’t you, Danielle?” Kerley asked.
Danielle nodded.
“And would you like to give your life to the Lord?”
The young teen nodded again and then prayed a prayer of repentance from her sins and of commitment to Jesus Christ.
Multitude of laypeople testify to revival’s lasting impact
EASLEY, S.C. (BP)--For layman Terry Ballenger, a gratifying result of the revival that broke out in Easley, S.C., in the early 1970s is hearing the preaching of those who were called into the ministry and how their spiritual gifts have developed over the years.
Revival at a coffeehouse still fuels their ministry
WESTLAKE, La. (BP)--The revival that drew Larry Thompson to Christ as a 17-year-old continues to influence his ministry long after he left South Carolina for pastorates in four other states.
Outbreak of revival still stirs their souls 30-plus years later
EASLEY, S.C. (BP)--Although 30 years have passed since its peak, those who were involved in a revival that spread across a wide region are still celebrating its impact.
