Missouri

The Assemblies of God, the nation's largest Pentecostal group, has an all new media campaign to bring thousands to Christ over the next two years.

Launched Tuesday, the campaign plasters "Nothing's too hard for God" all over local communities, in the streets, and on airwaves. It's a practical yet relevant tool to help Assemblies of God churches across the country become more visible and effective in sharing the message of Jesus Christ.

"This media plan is so much more than advertising," says project director Rick Griepp, according to Assemblies of God News Service. "[I]t's a platform for the local church to share the gospel and get their message out. more >>

Dare 2 Share Ministries founder Greg Stier returned to St. Louis, Mo., last week with a new buzz cut, meeting a crowd of 9,000 teenagers.

The Game Day Student Conference Tour hit St. Louis' Scottrade Center over the weekend and left with 1,500 teens renewed in their decisions for Christ and 415 churches equipped with the "Go Wide" outreach strategy – an evangelism effort to make disciples of all nations.

The average church in America, Dare 2 Share cites, sees only two people come to Christ per year. More than 50 percent of evangelical churches in America recorded no one coming to Christ in the past year, according to Evangelism Explosion President John Sorensen. And churches are losing the young people with youth leaders saying more than half are dropping out of their faith during college years. more >>

"It always hits the papers when a female teacher has sex with 14- or 13-year-old boys, but when a pastor sexually abuses … young boys, it's kept quiet," said Greenwood, Mo., detective Robert Leslie.

It's Missouri's biggest clergy sex-abuse case to date, Leslie said, according to the Associated Baptist Press, but accounts of a youth minister's sexual misconduct were low-key for years until he was convicted last week of 25 counts of abuse.

Shawn Davies, 33, was hired at First Baptist Church of Greenwood in 2003, serving as the music and youth minister. He had attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., with the senior pastor, Mike Roy. more >>

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The walls that divide Christians felt their foundations shake when students at one of the largest missions conferences joined their voices with hopes to declare unity.

“People tell us Christians can’t meet across denominational boundaries and [racial divisions], but this conference proves them wrong,” exclaimed Urbana 2006 host Greg Jao to thousands of students as he opened the general session Saturday.

The Urbana convention, which marked its twenty-first triennial gathering in St. Louis, Mo., garnered over 20,000 students this past week, and some 220,000 students over the course of its sixty-year history. According to Jao, Urbana has witnessed more than 60,000 churches commit to this generation of students and recent graduates. more >>

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Today's generation of students is more open to global awareness than any other generation before, according to a sought-after speaker and pastor.

Multiculturalism is not an unfamiliar subject among college students today nor is it an uncomfortable issue to address. Students at Urbana 2006 represent 144 countries but act as any other homogenous church would.

Ethnic diversity in the Christian context is not as easy for their parents' generation. more >>

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The global shift in Christianity to the southern hemisphere began decades ago, but the next generation of western missionaries was largely unaware of it.

More than 22,000 college and university students joined Urbana's second day of events to discover the missions calling to their next stage in life. The pastor of a flourishing church in Africa, however, challenged the traditional western approach to evangelizing the world outside North America, warning students not to be "cowboys."

"The world has changed," Oscar Muriu, senior pastor of Nairobi Chapel in Kenya, told the thousands of seated students Thursday night. "Our definition of what it means to be Christian is going to be increasingly defined by the 2/3 world and our paradigm of missions must of necessity, therefore, change." more >>