As the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force prepares to give its report and recommendations to messengers at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in June, members met with state leaders to preview that report and to strengthen the partnership among Southern Baptists for preventing and dealing with sexual abuse in churches. The group met in Dallas April 9 for a day that included presentations, roundtable discussions and Q&A times. “I’m really grateful for the positive spirit of collaboration and mutual commitment to abuse reform in the room during our meeting today,” ARITF Chairman Josh Wes ..read more

Following a year-and-a-half-long investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice has concluded its inquiry into the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse without any charges being filed against EC’s leadership, The Tennessean reported March 6. “On February 29, 2024, counsel for the SBC Executive Committee was informed that the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York concluded its investigation into the EC (Executive Committee) with no further action to be taken,” SBC Executive Committee interim president/CEO Jonathan Howe said in a statement. “While we are gr ..read more

On April 28-May 2, starting at 3 p.m., the South Carolina Bible Reading Marathon will take place on the south steps of the South Carolina State Capitol building in Columbia. For 90 hours, the Bible will be read out loud for state representatives and the public to hear and participate in reading. And His Word will not return to Him empty (Isaiah 55:11). The Capital Bible Reading Marathon was founded by John Hash, who had a vision for God’s Word to be publicly read out loud without commentary and politics. Hash had participated in a Bible reading marathon in 1989 on the Mount of Olives in Jerusa ..read more

Quintell Hill, pastor of Multiply Community Church in Monroe and president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, will be joining the International Mission Board as African American church mobilization strategist starting April 1. “I’m excited and humbled just to be able to serve the Lord in this way,” Hill said. “It’s humbling to be used by God to have an impact on the world’s greatest problem — lostness. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be able to do that in this context that God is calling me to serve Him in.” In 2022, Hill made North Carolina Baptist history by becomin ..read more

Representatives from 21 states came together for an intensive training on cross-cultural missions taught by International Mission Board missionaries April 2-5. The annual Missions College hosted near Richmond brought IMB missionaries from all over the world together with pastors, church members and missions leaders. WMU Executive Director-Treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin, far right, acts out an orality and storying exercise at IMB’s Missions College. She learned the art of Bible storytelling at IMB’s Missions College. (IMB photo) The goal of the conference is to give Southern Baptists access ..read more

When Eli Buckley was ordained into the gospel ministry on March 17 at Philadelphia Baptist Church in Pauline, he also was extending a family legacy of ministry. A graduate of North Greenville University with a degree in health sciences, who earned a master’s in kinesiology from the University of Alabama, Eli served as a youth minister last summer at the Spartanburg County church, where he began to sense God tugging at his heart. “I always saw myself serving and helping others through physical therapy,” Eli said. “However, God stirred my heart in the time I was interning at Philadelphia that I ..read more

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention has hired Nathan A. Finn to serve as a senior fellow with an emphasis on matters related to religious liberty. Nathan Finn Finn is a professor of faith and culture at North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C., where he also serves as executive director of the Institute for Transformational Leadership. In addition to his roles at North Greenville, Finn is the bivocational teaching pastor at Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C. Finn is a church historian and theologian whose research interests ..read more

RaShan Frost, lead pastor of The Bridge Church in Charleston, S.C., will be a voice for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in the area of human dignity. RaShan Frost “Dr. Frost is one of the finest examples of a scholar-practitioner in Southern Baptist life, and I am excited for him to join our research team as one of our senior fellows,” said ERLC President Brent Leatherwood. Frost holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn University, where he played football. He also holds a master’s degree from Liberty University and a Ph.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Semina ..read more

A Spartanburg-area pastor will be nominated to serve as president of the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastors Conference. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, told The Courier Feb. 29 that he intends to nominate D.J. Horton, senior pastor of Church at The Mill in Moore, during this year’s conference in Indianapolis. Luter said he is nominating Horton, who spoke at last year’s conference, because “he has proven through his church, through his preaching, through outreach, that he’s a pastor that other pastors can learn from. He’s a pastor that believes in p ..read more

Eleven speakers, including an Anderson pastor, will join worship leader Charles Billingsley on stage for the 2024 Pastors Conference June 9-10 preceding the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. Stephen Rummage, senior pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City and conference president, announced last August that the theme would be “Faithful: Pursuing Your Mission” and based on Revelation 17:14. James Noble Pastors speaking at the event are: Adam Dooley, Englewood Baptist Church, Jackson, Tenn.; Steve Gaines, Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis; Jack Graham, Prestonwood Bapt ..read more