Biblical Recorder

Submitted photo. Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri with daughter Grace Jin Drexel. Last October, Chinese police arrested my father, Pastor Ezra Jin, in coordinated raids across 11 cities. Nearly 30 leaders of Zion Church, the Beijing congregation he founded in 2007, were taken with him. It was the largest, most coordinated crackdown on an independent Chinese church in four decades.

Photo via Unsplash. NASHVILLE — Fewer than 2,000 megachurches exist in the United States, but they draw 10 million worshippers each week. While those congregations with more than 2,000 in attendance each week account for less than 1% of all U.S. Protestant churches, they draw 17% (or 1 in 6) of all churchgoers, according to new analysis of the Faith Communities Today (FACT) study by Warren Bird and Scott Thuma with the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Submitted photo. Allansville Baptist Church Pastor Paul Jorgensen baptizes a new believer. WINCHESTER, Ky. — The “Gospel to Every Home” initiative by the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC), unveiled in 2020, is still reaping kingdom benefits in a rural church near Winchester. Paul Jorgensen, pastor of Allansville Baptist Church, said his church recently completed a three-year endeavor to take the gospel to every one of the 600 homes in the Pinchem precinct.

Submitted photo. Grace Pierre Dowey with her new siblings from left, Henry, Paisley and Brody. CAMDEN, S.C. (BP) — Former orphan Grace Pierre Dowey of Haiti wasted no time in greeting her new siblings, first lifting into her arms her 1½-year-old sister Sadie, hugging her two brothers Henry and Brody, and holding her older sister Paisley’s hand. Finally, the 10 year old was home, having been delayed for months in a Creole orphanage in Port au Prince.

NASHVILLE (BP) — A series of filings issued Sept. 29 in a lawsuit brought by David Sills, a former professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, against various Southern Baptist leaders and entities dismissed several of his claims but allowed others against Guidepost Solutions, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the SBC Executive Committee (EC) and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler to continue.

NC Baptist photo. N.C. Baptists Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Unzicker addresses members of the state convention’s board of directors during a meeting held Sept. 28-29 at Caraway Conference Center. SOPHIA, N.C. — The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s board of directors approved a proposed 2027 Cooperative Program budget, a proposed change in the convention’s relationship with the Biblical Recorder and several proposed changes to the convention’s bylaws during a meeting held Sept.

Submitted photo. Larry Lyon was inaugurated as Truett McConnell's ninth president Sept. 24. By Rebekah Scott/TMU CLEVELAND, Ga. — Truett McConnell University (TMU) formally inaugurated Larry W. Lyon as its ninth president on Thursday, Sept. 24, during a ceremony held at the Benjamin F. Brady Arena on its Cleveland, Ga., campus. Although Lyon officially began his tenure as president on April 1, the inauguration marked the ceremonial celebration of his leadership.

Photo via Unsplash. What would you do to avoid going to church? Years ago, 7-year-old Preston Scarborough was so desperate to bypass the Sunday morning gathering that he stole his family’s white Dodge Intrepid in order to skip town. His actions led to a 40-mph car chase across Plain City, Utah, where the boy ran a stop sign, circled a high school parking lot and nearly hit a motorist. Eventually, he drove home, jumped out of the car and ran inside.

OCALA, Fla. (BP) — Police here have announced the arrest of a former youth leader at a local church on charges of committing sexual acts with a child. Local media reports and the Ocala Police Department noted that Caleb Fisher Ray, 27, was arrested on Sept. 24 on charges of lewd and lascivious molestation. The victim stated he was 9 years old when Ray began a grooming process that lasted six years, building up through suggestive photos sent on Snapchat and a physical relationship.

David Ring NASHVILLE (BP) — David Ring was born dead. He would recover, with a cerebral palsy diagnosis that may have limited him physically but elevated a personal testimony he shared with numerous crowds during an evangelistic ministry spanning more than 50 years. Ring was placed to the side for 18 minutes after he was born on Oct. 28, 1953, in Jonesboro, Ark., the doctor choosing to tend to Ring’s mother as the baby had apparently died during childbirth.