The Cooperative Program is among God’s blessings at West Conroe Baptist Church.

Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North served 22 years in the Marine Corps, receiving the Silver Star for combat service during the Vietnam War, along with the Bronze Star for valor and two Purple Hearts for combat wounds. President Ronald Reagan described him as “an American hero.”

The percentage of births to unmarried mothers is increasing worldwide, and nearly four in 10 U.S. births were to unmarried women in 2007, according to a recent report by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 2.74 percent below the same time frame last year and 1.85 percent off budget for 2009, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Morris H. Chapman.

An unclear understanding of spiritual maturity may be an underlying reason why there is so little progress in seeing people develop spiritually in the United States, despite overwhelming access to churches and unlimited products and resources, The Barna Group says.

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees elected a music professor, created a new counseling specialization and approved a certificate training site during a June 9 meeting of the board’s executive committee.

Seventy Southern Baptists from 35 state Baptist conventions have been named to serve on the 2009-10 SBC Committee on Nominations.

Southern Baptists have gained “tremendous victories” in Washington in recent months, Richard Land told messengers at the annual meeting.

With the goal of finding ways Southern Baptists “can work more faithfully and effectively” together in fulfilling the Great Commission, messengers to the convention’s annual meeting June 23-24 gave the green light to a task force to examine the denomination for one year and report back to the 2010 annual meeting in Orlando Fla, which will be held June 15-16.

On the second day of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville June 22, speakers exhorted pastors to lead with “One Love,” “One Spirit” and “One Purpose.”

A bread loaf bank for missions made its debut during the Woman’s Missionary Union report at the annual meeting.

With two-thirds of all Protestant churches having expanded their ministry space or outlets in the past five years, a new study by LifeWay Research shows:

African-Americans are far more open than other ethnic groups to receiving information about local congregations.