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  New Orleans ministers respond after terror attack

  In an eclectic New Orleans ministerial mix, a second line jazz band belted gospel favorites in the footsteps of pastors prayerwalking Bourbon Street hours after the carnage of a New Year’s Day terrorist attack was cleared.

  01/03/2025 - By Diana Chandler / Baptist Press

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  New church plant cultivates vision for missional community

  Since launching a new Texas Baptist church plant in September and holding worship services at a state-of-the-art office and meeting space area, Jamael Graves, lead pastor of Cultivate Church in The Colony, realizes the mission field surrounding his congregation.

  01/03/2025 - By Leann Callaway / Special to the Baptist Standard

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  Obituary: Gene McLain

  EuGene “Gene” Euell McLain of Plainview, Baptist deacon and former trustee of Wayland Baptist University, died Dec. 25, 2024. He was 89.

  01/03/2025 - By Staff / Baptist Standard

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  Texans on Mission serve 80,000 meals in Israel in 2024

  Texans on Mission volunteers served more than 80,000 meals in Israel in 2024.

  01/02/2025 - By Ferrell Foster / Texans on Mission

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  Eleven killed in airstrike on Baptist church in Sudan

  An airstrike on a Baptist church in Sudan less than a week before Christmas killed at least 11 people, including eight children, an organization focused on international religious freedom reported.

  01/02/2025 - By Ken Camp / Managing Editor

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  Biden commutes sentences of 37 on federal death row

  Prior to Christmas, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of all but three people on federal death row, converting their sentences to life in prison.

  01/02/2025 - By Jack Jenkins and Yonat Shimron / Religion News Service

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  Report ranks countries where religion faces hostility

  A report by Pew Research Center on international religious freedom named Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq as the countries where both government restrictions and social hostility most limit the ability of religious minorities to practice their faith.

  01/02/2025 - By Fiona André / Religion News Service

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  Jimmy Carter, beloved Sunday school teacher, ex-president, dead at 100

  Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29, at age 100, will be remembered as the 39th president of the United States and the world’s most famous Sunday school teacher.

  12/30/2024 - By Adelle M. Banks / Religion News Service

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  Report: Texas use of death penalty low but racial bias high

  For the 10th consecutive year, death sentences in Texas remained in single digits, a year-end report noted. However, the report points to continued racial bias and wrongful convictions in the state’s administration of capital punishment.

  12/20/2024 - By Ken Camp / Managing Editor

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  Religious traditions can help with holiday blues, experts say

  For many, the winter holidays are a time of grief, loss or perhaps heightened levels of depression and anxiety, but churches can help.

  12/18/2024 - By Audrey Thibert / Religion News Service

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  Volunteers serve at Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley

  Texans on Mission assembled a “dream team” of volunteers to bring Christmas—and its Christ-focused message—to the Rio Grande Valley Dec. 13-19.

  12/18/2024 - By Russ Dilday / Texans on Mission

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  Questions surround the future of religious freedom in Syria

  Many human rights advocates greeted the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with relief and optimism, but some groups focused on international religious freedom view Syria’s future with more questions than answers.

  12/18/2024 - By Ken Camp / Managing Editor