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ARLINGTON, Texas (BP)--Several Southern Baptist organizations are among those making plans to bring the message of Jesus Christ to those who flock to the Dallas area for the week of Super Bowl XLV. Arguably the world's greatest single-game sports event, the Super Bowl's 45th contest, to be played Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, is expected to draw nearly 150,000 visitors to Dallas-Fort Worth. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, along with the North American Mission Board, Baptist General Convention of Texas, Tarrant Baptist Association and Dallas Baptist Association are joining forces in "Reach 45: The Big Game Evangelism...

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--David Johnson occasionally wonders, if he had it to do all over again, whether he would have allowed his 21-year-old son Jeremiah to go to Mozambique to share the Gospel among the Moniga people. "I always said my whole pastoral life and parenting life the one thing I don't think I could ever handle is losing a child," said Johnson, director of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary's Arizona campus. That fear became a reality for Johnson and his wife Diana on April 12 of last year when the student missionary lost his life in a motorcycle accident on...

Two thousand years of history have shown the Jewish people that Christians are their worst enemies, a Messianic rabbi pointed out. “Jews were told you must convert or be killed. If we ignore the history, we’ll never really understand why it’s so difficult to reach the Jewish people with the Gospel,” Jeff Friedman emphasized. Friedman himself grew up hating Christians. While attending an Orthodox Jewish synagogue regularly in Brooklyn, N.Y., he said he had some brief encounters with Christians and found them offensive, according to Pentecostal Evangel, a publication of the Assemblies of God. It wasn’t until he was in...

“That must be Mamat* now,” Helen said when she heard a faint knock on the door of the apartment. Moments later a 20-something man with grey pants and a brown cargo jacket was standing in the Open Doors office, twisting his Uygur (pronounced WEE-ger) cap in his hands. Helen led him to a seat and offered him some tea. “Green Tea or Berryblossom White?” “Oh, may I try the berry tea?” he asked very politely, still twisting the cap in his hands. He knew that if he was discovered sitting in the apartment of foreign Christians, the consequences could be...

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (BP)--Derrick Mason likely will be on the receiving end of a few passes Saturday when the Baltimore Ravens take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The veteran wide receiver hopes others, from a faith standpoint, will be on the receiving end in a relationship to God. "Give your life over to Christ as quickly as possible," Mason says in a video testimony at BeyondTheUltimate.org, a website for Christian athletes and coaches. "It would be the best thing you have ever done in your life. You might not see the change instantly, but I think as you start to grow in...

Although a committed Christian I've never appreciated whipped up revival meetings complete with dancing, falling backwards or crippled people being yanked out of wheelchairs. After three decades of voyeuristic research, I possess a heightened ability to spot a snake oil salesman a mile away. Oftentimes, under bouffant hairstyles, oversized pinky rings and weepy confessions one finds self-absorbed individuals who exploit the Gospel for gain while living contrary to the message they preach. Yet, year-after-year gullible sheeples continue to support ministries, submit to fleecing, and attend events where flesh and blood is exalted and the credulous place unquestioning faith in fraud....

Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll spoke Wednesday to over 50,000 people during an outside church service commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. The event, which took place outside the collapsed capitol building in Port-au-Prince, was hosted by Churches Helping Churches, a global church partnership co-founded by Driscoll to help rebuild churches devastated in the wake of a natural disaster. Addressing a sea of Haitians that crowded the five-way intersection to attend the rally, the Seattle-based pastor shared the Gospel based on Galatians 4:4-7 on the difference between a son and a slave. He taught that although Haiti...

Nepal's capital city of Kathmandu is an urban melting pot of people, cultures, entertainment attractions and commerce, surrounded by the majestic Himalaya Mountains. Several Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries serve as pastors in and around the Kathmandu area, and it is their desire to share the love of Jesus with as many people in the city as possible. Knowing that only a small percentage of the city's residents will ever visit their churches, these pastors plan periodic outings to different parts of the city to share the love of Jesus with the people. Their most recent outing was in the summer...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (BP)--Dental students in the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center have embraced two seemingly unrelated terms: mouthguards and ministry. For the past two years, the UTHSC/BCM dental students in Memphis have made custom mouthguards for inner-city high school football teams. This year the students chose Booker T. Washington High School in south Memphis. Poverty has taken its toll on the neighborhoods in that area, with many on the high school squad unable to afford proper mouth protection. UTHSC student Matt Teale noticed the need two years ago at another Memphis school, Overton High...

A megachurch in Florida is using house churches to expand its network, showing that reaching out on a smaller scale doesn't mean retreating in the multisite movement. Northland, A Church Distributed, based in Longwood, Fla., currently has 15 to 20 house churches in several states that virtually participate in the worship services held at the main campus every Sunday. "House churches are the next extension of the multisite movement," said Dr. Dan Lacich, pastor of Distributed Services at Northland, to The Christian Post. "They participate very much like a multisite does, only meeting at a smaller venue, usually in a...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--The Haitian witch doctor stepped into the hot, open air of his yard, his arms filled with the paraphernalia of his dark practice. That caught the attention of his neighbors, who were still living among earthquake-ravaged ruins of their homes in Port-au-Prince. The man dropped his voodoo tools and fetishes on the ground, dug a hole and pushed his things into it. Then, to his neighbors' astonishment, he poured kerosene into the hole and set it on fire. "That was my way of saying, 'Down with Satan and up with the cross,'" said the former witch doctor, who...

Some cities influence an entire country or an entire area of the world. Others impact the whole globe and permeate seemingly all cultures. Athens is such a city; it is almost impossible to exaggerate its impact on the history of civilization. Athens is the most important city of Attica; it derived its name from the goddess Athena. It is a city of beauty — a city with history and fascination. On three occasions it has been my privilege to visit Athens, to walk its streets and marvel at its temples. Yes, this city has indeed influenced the world. Athens’ dominance...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—In a post-game interview following Texas Christian University’s 21-19 victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, TCU quarterback Andy Dalton turned the conversation toward God’s blessings rather than personal achievement. ESPN reporter Erin Andrew asked Dalton, the offensive player of the game, if TCU, as a nonautomatic qualifier for the Rose Bowl, played “for the little guys out there.” “That’s what we were doing,” Dalton said. “We weren’t just playing for TCU. We were playing for all the non-AQ schools out there. It’s an attitude that we have. There’s a verse in the Bible, in 1 Peter 5:6,...

With the one-year mark of the massive earthquake approaching, Graham asked those in the crowd how many have lost family or loved ones in the earthquake. He comforted them, saying that God understands the grief of losing a son. "God understands your grief. His son died for your sins. That's how much God loves you," he said. The evangelist went on to preach a message of hope that is found in Christ alone, based on the beloved text of John 3:16. "That God so loved Haiti that He gave his begotten son and that if Haiti believes in Him, Haiti...

Two Gospel for Asia-supported film teams have faced serious opposition recently. One team was physically attacked by a group that also destroyed their film equipment. The second team was caught in the crossfire of rebel fighting. The first incident occurred October 30 when a film team was working with Gospel for Asia-supported missionary, Bikram Jouli, in a village where he serves as a pastor. About 60 people had gathered to watch the film near the church. After the show was over, the team, along with Pastor Bikram, was packing up the equipment when a group of 15 men from a...

Almost a year has passed since the devastating earthquake hit close to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, leaving over a million people homeless. Since the disaster that struck the highly populated area on January 12, 2010, survivors continue to struggle to rebuild their lives in the poorest country of the west. It is in this desperate time that a Festival of Hope will be held with Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). He is set to lead the event in response to an invitation from 75 Haitian pastors eager to deliver the message...

Disruptions commonly occur when missionaries attempt to show movies about Jesus. That's why Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Jaison Patel and his film team were not surprised when someone tried to disrupt the show. Since the local GFA-supported pastor received permission from the village leader to show the movie, Jaison and the film-team missionaries proceeded with their plan. They started the movie at approximately nine o'clock in the evening at a villager's house. About a half an hour later, an interruption shattered the peaceful gathering. A drunk man with a knife arrived. He damaged the screen and broke some light bulbs...

ATLANTA – The 22,000 students that attended the Passion 2011 conference were the most generous in the history of the event. University-age students, known for regularly joking about being broke, collectively donated $1.1 million, far exceeding the $500,000 goal as well as the $668,000 total for Passion 2010. Students donated specifically to nine global aid projects through Passion's Do Something Now campaign, which seeks to teach young adults to exchange self-centered lives for God-centered ones that focus on the needy. Instead of 15 wells, students provided enough money to build 24 wells in India. To help the mostly American students...

It was the end of rainy season, so it was warm and sticky outside. Kumari decided to go visit the local street vendor for a cool treat of kulfi, similar to ice cream. While she enjoyed her kulfi, Kumari started talking with Gulam, the vendor. She took the chance and started to share the Gospel with him, and he quickly became very interested. "Can Jesus heal my wife, Aditi?" Gulam asked first thing. Without even knowing what her ailment was, Kumari assured Gulam that Jesus was powerful enough to heal Aditi. Gulam went on to explain their story. Five years...

Smith doesn’t know what the future holds, but he wants to take advantage of the spotlight he’s been given. He has spoken many times at churches and schools and hopes to again “whenever possible.” “God’s given me a platform for a reason,” he said, “and I want to use it.” Just don’t ask him for many specifics about his fledgling NFL career. “It’s like that country song says: If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your life plans,” Smith said. “He’s the one who’s got plans laid out for me and my wife. Whenever a door opens...