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Newsjournal of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan | January 2025 | Volume 69, Number 1


Why your church needs to be planning VBS now
BRENTWOOD, TN – For many churches, dates for Vacation Bible School (VBS) are among the first placed on the church calendar each year....
Vicki Hulsey
Feb 1, 20245 min read


Doodle-bugger
PLYMOUTH – It has been said of my homeland that, “this is where God sat down and made the rest of the world.” One glimpse of the West...
Tim Patterson
Feb 1, 20244 min read


Good changes
PLYMOUTH – I am in my ninth year working for the Send Network as the Send Network Director in Michigan. Three years ago, I invited Matt...
Tony Lynn
Feb 1, 20244 min read


Search for identity
WINDSOR, ONTARIO – In a recent sermon I disclosed something that made people wince. “For the first five years of my pastoral ministry in...
Garth Leno
Feb 1, 20244 min read


First-Person: Midwest Leadership Summit
ADRIAN – It can be difficult to leave the joys of family and the obligations of ministry for three days. It is possible that you might...
Chris Peoples
Feb 1, 20242 min read


A better new year!
SOUTHGATE – I was talking with a young man from our church regarding how 2023 had gone, and what his goal was for 2024. At some point, he...
Billy Walker
Feb 1, 20243 min read


Secondhand Faith
SHELBY TOWNSHIP – With all the media we have access to in our lives now, we are able to gain knowledge and have access to so much more...
Karen Blanchard
Feb 1, 20244 min read


What does love look like?
WOODHAVEN – Fifty-three years ago, Pastor Jones sent people to plant a church in Woodhaven. The church developed a motto that we still...
Rick Sparks
Feb 1, 20243 min read


Blood drive
OSCODA – In early January, I received a call from a blood drive center requesting the use of a room at the church for a Community Blood...
Jason Livvix
Feb 1, 20243 min read


Delighted in the Lord
GRAYLING – Twenty-one years ago, I gave my life to the Lord. God had been working on my heart for six months since the first time I had...
Jennifer Longstaff
Feb 1, 20243 min read


The Word is a weapon
PORT AUSTIN – A few years ago, the ladies in our church did an incredible study on the armor of God from Ephesians. It was one of those...
Shannon Goforth
Feb 1, 20243 min read


Small in number, but mighty in the Lord
YPSILANTI – I was 5 years old as I watched Godly men work on the building of North Prospect Baptist Church block by block. This church...
Doyle Parks
Feb 1, 20242 min read


Most evangelicals chose Christ during childhood, new study finds
EXPORT, PA (BP) – Most adult evangelicals were saved in childhood with several factors influencing their decisions, according to newly...
Diana Chandler
Feb 1, 20243 min read


Dislike of organized religion, maltreatment cited by many ‘Nones,’ Pew finds
WASHINGTON (BP) – More than half of religiously unaffiliated Americans, identified as ‘Nones,” say they don’t like organized religion or...
Diana Chandler
Feb 1, 20243 min read


‘DR Family’ gathers for annual SBDR Roundtable
NEWARK, DE (BP) – More than 200 Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) leaders and volunteers from across North America arrived at...
Sharon Mager
Feb 1, 20244 min read


Religious donors keep giving to houses of worship and beyond amid inflation
(RNS) — Religious Americans are continuing to give to their houses of worship — and to other causes — with money and in-kind donations...
Adelle M. Banks
Feb 1, 20244 min read


German church plant thriving through intergenerational relationships
Alina came to faith at age 17, and her life was radically changed. When Steve and Julia Dunn, International Mission Board church planters...
Myriah Snyder
Feb 1, 20243 min read


First-Person: A message of hope
Mental health and wholeness are important topics to me. God has helped me so much and used people in my life to lift me from anxiety and...
Danny Forshee
Feb 1, 20242 min read


Held captive by the Past
SHELBY TOWNSHIP – As we begin a new year, we often like to look back and reflect on all that God has done in our lives. I think we should...
Karen Blanchard
Jan 2, 20243 min read


You’re going to need a bigger God in 2024.
WARREN – There’s a scene in the movie Jaws where the main character is hunched over toward the back of the boat, throwing chum out into...
Clayton Knight
Jan 2, 20244 min read
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