More than 700 Baptist Collegiate Ministry leaders from across the United States and Canada recently gathered for the 2024 Collegiate Summit held near Memphis, Tennessee.
Mike Palmer recognized the dearth of pastors and other church leaders at least 15 years ago, not quite halfway into his now 27-year pastorate at Salmon Valley Baptist Church Salmon, Idaho.
Churchgoers are more interested than involved in prison ministry, but most say they’d be fine sharing a street or a pew with someone who has been incarcerated, a recent study shows.
“I’ve been consistently surprised by the stories God is writing in the world,” Drew van Esselstyn said. “I’ve been humbly reminded time and again that God is the best storyteller.”
It was an honest question from an unbeliever I’d known for years. Our recent discussion about following Christ turned to more pragmatic matters born out of his general observations about Christianity in general.
Without question, God is still calling individuals to offer their lives in ministry service to Him today. What is less frequent, though, are the regular appeals that used to be commonplace in the church.
I recently reflected on what God taught me during some difficult years, and maybe these thoughts will be encouraging to you if you’ve been praying for someone for a long time.
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