By Staff DALLAS – Tennessee Evangelist and Pastor Jerry Drace will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas, during the denomination’s June 12-13 annual meeting, Ernest Easley announced May 16. "I believe it’s important to elect a vocational evangelist to serve as one of the officers of the SBC to help keep a focus on evangelism,” Easley, professor of evangelism at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, told the Baptist Message. “It will only strengthen Southern Baptists, having an evangelist in the room and at the table when discussing subjects that impact our Convention.” Drace has served as a vocational evangelist for more than 40 years, having preached in approximately 1,000 Southern Baptist churches and conducted 300 of his signature Hope of the Home conferences in the U.S. and Great Britain, according to his official bio. For the past eight years, he has served as bi-vocational pastor at Friendship Baptist Church, the west Tennessee congregation his father once pastored and where he came to faith in Christ, Drace told the Baptist Message. Drace is a former president of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists. He shared how a discussion with Ken … [Read more...]

By Aaron Wilson, LifeWay Christian Resources NASHVILLE, Tenn.—This summer, thousands of Bibles will ring up for free at the registers of LifeWay Christian Stores. It’s an effort by LifeWay to help local churches take the Word of God into their communities through an initiative called “Share the Word. Together.” Churches of any denomination within 15 miles of a LifeWay store can sign up for a designated week in which each member of the church can visit the local LifeWay to pick up a free CSB personal gift Bible. Church members will then give the Bibles away in their communities. “The goal for this free Bible giveaway is to start gospel conversations and spark invitations to weekend worship services or Bible study,” said LifeWay President and CEO Thom S. Rainer. Rainer shared on his blog last week that he was inspired to create this initiative when his church gave away loaves of bread to members and asked them to share the bread with people in their communities. He says many who received the bread came to church the next Sunday. “I began to think, ‘Could I leverage my position at LifeWay to help thousands of churches do the same?’” Rainer said. “The answer came back as a resounding ‘yes’! We will be giving away the … [Read more...]