It didn't seem like much -- just $32.20 -- but it was all this 11-year-old had. The small stash represented six months of household chores and errands, not to mention the self-discipline needed to save instead of spending it on treats. She counted it out and asked her parents to give it to the IMB. It might make a dent in the $4 million shortfall for international missions.

Months of unrest and protests have transformed Hong Kong from a hub of global finance to an unpredictable place of upheaval. Butch Tanner, pastor of Kowloon International Baptist Church (KIBC), sees the wear and tear from the last six months in the faces of his congregation ...

The Kansas youth wiped away tears and looked out over the church congregation. Men wrapped in red blankets leaned forward on the roughly hewn boards that served as pews, listening intently to the teenager. Women adorned with bright jewelry nodded their heads and encouraged them to continue talking. It wasn't the "normal" kind of church service that the rising college freshmen were used to attending back in Kansas. This church was more than 8,000 miles from home in the bush of Tanzania. The service lasted four hours and included a lot of joyful dancing. This mission trip was anything but normal for the young Americans and Tanzanians alike.

Laughter and squeals abound as water balloons fly through the air. Boys run after girls, trying to drench them. Older teens slink off to the corner, feigning that they're too cool until a counselor is in range and they let the water fly. The traditional water balloon fight of summer camp comes to an end with a not-so-traditional announcement: "Time to muck out the stalls and feed the horses."

The setting was simple -- a barn, some bales of hay and a few animals -- much like the story that hundreds in rural Kansas gathered to hear: Jesus was born to be your Savior. Steve Taylor opened his Bible and read the story of Jesus' birth. 

There's a shortage of full-time pastors in Kansas-Nebraska. Don Mayberry thinks the solution is bivocational pastors. He works two jobs - factory and church - and the cowboy church is thriving.

At First Baptist Church in Liberal, Kansas, language and culture are not a barrier to worship. The church is a reflection of the community. Located a few blocks from downtown, it sits on the edge of "little Somalia" ... A few blocks away, the Vietnamese live next to the largest ethnic population, Latino, in this town of 20,000.

If someone had told Nancy Potter* years ago that churches in Southeast Asia would start as a result of pregnant women learning to be healthy, she might have scoffed. 

One week after 7.8-magnitude earthquake, church picks up service right where they left off.

Most missionaries are NOT preachers. For instance, I’m a journalist. If you think that's “outside the box,” then you should see what today’s IMB missionaries do.

It's been a rough year. Nduri Isandap and her six children fended for themselves during one of the worst droughts in Kenya's history. 

The father-daughter duo stumbled into the camp after a walk through the dried-up African bush. They hoped to find relief from the worst famine to hit the Horn of Africa in 60 years.

Rajeevan's crime was fleeing a country during a brutal civil war and seeking asylum in Thailand, a country where he is considered illegal. Thai officials threw his entire family in detention. 

Mission-minded people are different. That’s it. Somehow they see the world from another perspective. The things they do are different from what other people usually do.

For days, the villagers took turns sitting by the road trying to get help. Hope died -- until two vehicles backed down a rocky path and unloaded more than 40 bags of rice.

Screams echo as people were pulled from their homes and savagely beaten. In chaos like this, it's difficult to differentiate one scream from another -- but I heard one and followed it. 

Shukuko Sasaki survived Japan's tsunami but her husband and the majority of the fishing village did not. One year later, she's looking for comfort from the nightmares. 

"Father, our country is in trouble. We pray for peace to come," an 11-year-old boy prays. "Protect us, Father. Teach people to love one another and not to fight anymore."

Miriam awoke from her Saturday nap on April 25 with a start. Since she was up, the elderly woman decided to start her daily noon prayer time 15 minutes early.

The contrast between youth and the elderly is drastic in this country. An entire middle generation is missing, creating the huge gap. HIV/AIDS wreaks its havoc in South Africa.