By Brian Grout, Associate Director of Missions Every December, I feel the tension you probably feel too—the beauty of Christmas mixed with the busyness of ministry. The calendar fills, expectations rise, services multiply. Add family to the mix and suddenly the season that promises “peace” can feel anything but peaceful. But in the midst of [...]
By Gregg Boll, Director of Missions In part 1 of this article, I will take an honest look at the health and troubling trends of membership and giving in the SBC and among our churches. In part 2, I will further describe some of the societal and spiritual reasons for the decline of our faith [...]
By Brian Grout, Associate Director of Missions Every church goes through different seasons. Some seasons bring growth, energy, and fresh vision; others bring challenges such as plateau, decline, or fatigue in ministry. In those times, church leaders often ask: How do we renew our congregation’s health and vitality? We recently relaunched our Pastor’s Huddles, and [...]
By Gregg Boll, Executive Director of Missions Early in my ministry, I attended the annual Missouri Baptist Evangelism Conference. One of the featured speakers was a pastor from South County, St. Louis named Phillip Hunter. Phillip’s church had experienced more than 200 baptisms in the prior year, and the majority of those baptisms were new [...]
By Gregg Boll, Director of Missions Rather than focus on one event or subject and ask you to read a lengthy article, I’m doing something differently this month. I’m going to share several newsworthy items, and you can inquire with us further if they have value to you and your church's mission. The Worship Target [...]
By Gregg Boll, Director of Missions We would like to have your church join us in prayer for our city and the entire metro area. The Scriptures admonish us to pray for our nation, our city, and our governing leaders. (II Chronicles 7:13-14, Jeremiah 29:7, I Timothy 2:1-3; See the bottom of the article for [...]
By Brian Grout, Associate Director of Missions We recently hosted Colin Pugh, Pastor of Clinton Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Colin has led the church through revitalization in the inner city. The principles communicated apply to every pastor and church whether inner city, suburban, or rural, and here’s the reason [...]
By Brianna Boes, Reprinted with permission by The Pathway Dying churches are loved churches. For 25 years, John Still and his family poured into Spring Valley Baptist Church. It was their home, a congregation dedicated to the truth of the gospel. Still was faithful in the roles God gave him within Spring Valley, even as [...]
I want to begin by thanking Gregg Boll, BR-KC Director of Missions, for the opportunity to share an introduction with you. My name is Lane Harrison, and I serve as the Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to coming on staff at Midwestern, I served as a Trustee for the [...]
By Brian Koonce, reprinted with permission by The Pathway Ministry involved glitz and glamor for one night, on Jan. 25, as ReHope hosted its 11th annual fundraising gala to support its services to survivors of human trafficking. ReHope, a faith-based ministry formerly known as Restoration House, was originally an effort of Blue River-Kansas City Baptist [...]
