By Michael Foust, Christian Examiner RIO DE JANEIRO (Christian Examiner) – A trio of American sprinters swept the 110-meter hurdles final Wednesday night during the Olympics, but it was the post-race interview that many TV viewers will remember. Brianna Rollins won the gold medal with a time of 12.48 seconds, while teammates Nia Ali (12.59) and Kristi Castlin (12.61) captured the silver and bronze, respectively. It was the first Olympics since 1972 that a country had swept the event. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2016
NOBTS readies for flood relief in Louisiana
By Gary D. Myers, NOBTS Public Relations NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana has been no stranger to disaster during the past decade. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill ravished the state in recent years. Once again the state is in the epicenter of a historic disaster. During the past week, unprecedented flooding near Baton Rouge has displaced thousands of residents and ruined more than 40,000 homes. While the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary main campus is well outside the affected area, many seminary students and their families are among the victims of this tragedy. The needs are overwhelming and NOBTS is readying for a response as the event moves from crisis to recovery. “The flooding rains and rising rivers that hit South Louisiana during the last several days have created a monumental catastrophe causing severe damages in homes, churches and businesses far too numerous to list. It will affect our area for a long time to come,” said New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley. “Thousands need food, clothing, and shelter. There will be an enormous need for workers to help rebuild entire communities.” Kelley said that those who wish to help seminary students affected by … [Read more...]
Louisiana College brings Jesus and basketball to Jena
B By Craig Franklin JENA, - For Louisiana College Head Men's Basketball Coach Reni Mason, basketball is nothing more than a platform to build the kingdom of God. Mason and his assistant coach, Jonathan Brooks, and two other student-athletes -- Raheem Regis and Travis Schutlz -- represented Louisiana College and Jesus Christ August 11 and 12 when they conducted a free basketball clinic at First Baptist Church Jena for aspiring players from kindergarten through 12th grade. "We teach the fundamentals of basketball, but the most important reason we conduct these camps is to share the Gospel," Mason said. "We start each day with a devotion, get into our drills, and end with a devotion. Everything we do starts and ends with God." "I'd like to thank Pastor Dominick DiCarlo and the Jena First Baptist Church family for allowing us to come and conduct this clinic," Mason said. Louisiana College sponsors basketball camps for three weeks each summer, but this year expanded with free clinics to areas outside of the campus after. "This year we conducted two of these clinics, the first was at Alpine Baptist Church in Tioga and the second was here at First Baptist in Jena," Mason said. "We've averaged about 65 youths between … [Read more...]
LC brings Jesus and basketball to Jena
By Craig Franklin, Jena/Olla Times JENA -- For Louisiana College men's basketball coach Reni Mason, basketball is nothing more than a platform to build the kingdom of God. He and his assistant coach, along with two LC players, brought that platform to Jena last week as they conducted a free basketball clinic at First Baptist Church for aspiring players from kindergarten through 12th grade. "We basically teach the fundamentals of basketball but the most important reason we conduct these camps is to share the Gospel," Mason said. "We start each day with a devotion, get into our drills, and end with a devotion. Everything we do starts and ends with God. "I'd like to thank Pastor Dominick DiCarlo and the Jena First Baptist Church family for allowing us to come and conduct this clinic," he said. "I have never been to Jena so all I knew was what I had heard. Well, I can tell you after being here, Jena is nothing like the image some tried to make it out to be several years ago." Louisiana college, which is located in Pineville, sponsors basketball camps for three weeks each summer but this year began branching out and conducting free clinics to other areas outside of their campus after the camps at LC have … [Read more...]
Flooding makes Denham Springs unrecognizable to Louisiana native, Mississippi College senior
Hannah Wallace, Mississippi College Public Relations DENHAM SPRINGS -- Mary Beth Hughes doesn’t recognize Denham Springs after her hometown was devastated by historic flooding. “Ninety percent of our town was under water,” said the 21-year-old Mississippi College senior. But the amazing thing is her home wasn’t damaged, and never lost electricity. “God had his hand on our house,” Mary Beth said Wednesday after returning to the Baptist-affiliated university in Clinton. “It’s a miracle.” Describing the impact of monsoon rains that brought havoc to Bayou State residents made Hughes tear up at times. “Truly this is the greatest place in the world and the people are the greatest you will ever meet,” she said. “We will need prayers. Denham Springs is torn up. But we will recover.” The storm dumped more than 20 inches of rain on southwest Mississippi, coastal Louisiana, and led to massive flooding in cities like Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana. It left seven people dead and sparked rescues of more than 20,000 people. The Amite River was among several rivers and creeks pouring over their banks. Motorists were stranded. People climbed trees to get away from rushing waters. Louisiana’s recovery team dubbed the Cajun … [Read more...]
Your pirogue is our pirogue
My Martha Bailey, First Baptist Covington Although I had planned another post for today, my heart won’t let me write about anything except the punch in the gut that our neighbors to the west all the way to Lafayette received last weekend. Caught completely off guard, residents in that area received anywhere from 15-28 inches of rain in a 48-hour period. With such an extreme amount of water falling in such a short window of time, the rivers and tributaries could not accommodate the runoff. The flooding resulted in the deaths of eleven people, 20,000 people having to be rescued from homes and vehicles, and 11,000 victims seeking refuge in shelters. Unfortunately, many of those people hadn’t even gotten over the flood that hit this area only five months ago. Some of them had just completed the restoration of their homes after the March flood. Others were still in the process. How discouraging that must be. Twenty Southeast Louisiana parishes have been declared as disaster areas. It is being referred to as a “historic flood event”. Meteorologists are comparing it to the devastation caused by a hurricane that hit this area in 1940, over 75 years ago. But even though what has happened in our state has been categorized as … [Read more...]
UPDATE: Disaster relief training sessions scheduled around the state
UPDATE (3:23 p.m.): Additional mud-out training opportunities have been scheduled through Aug. 23 in the Baton Rouge and Lafayette areas. The following churches are hosting sessions: Aug. 17: Istrouma Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, 6 p.m. First Baptist Church, Lafayette, 6 p.m. Aug. 18: The Grove, Prairieville, 6 p.m. Highland Baptist Church, New Iberia, 6 p.m. Aug. 20: Istrouma Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, 8 a.m. (Hispanic) Aug. 23: First Baptist Church, Jennings, 6:30 p.m. An assessment training session is also scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 19 at Ascension Baptist Church in Gonzales. ORIGINAL STORY: BATON ROUGE – The Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge has announced two mud-out training sessions for this Saturday. Hosted at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, one session will take place from 8 to 11 a.m., led by Charles Watson. The other session is for college students from 7 to 9 a.m. and will be led by Steve Masters, campus director of the LSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry. The cost is $25, which covers the cost of a hat and t-shirt. Each class will be deployed immediately after the training. Participants are asked to bring work clothes, such as long pants, long … [Read more...]
Historic Louisiana flooding
By Waylon Bailey, Pastor, First Baptist Covington It’s not that we aren’t used to water. We have water everywhere. It’s that we’ve simply never (at least in 100 years) seen this much water before. How much water have we had? Most of the affected area (roughly between Hammond to Lafayette or from Interstate 55 to Interstate 49) had over 2 feet of rainfall in a short period of time. Some areas had 30 inches of rain. The flood waters rose so rapidly that people had to actually flee their homes. Two rivers crested at historic levels and Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas both rose over 6″ in water level. These are both large lakes. People are hurting, especially those who flooded just last March and were about ready to move back into their homes. Many of the affected people do not have flood insurance because either they are not in a flood zone or neither they nor their neighbors have ever been close to flooding before. Some houses received a few feet of water while others were flooded to the roof. Just in our church, which is not in the center of the affected area, we know of members who slept in their attic as the waters rose and one of our pastors and several of our members were stranded on Interstate 12 for 30 … [Read more...]
GuideStone announces results of internal reviews, restructuring
By Timothy E. Head, GuideStone Financial Resources communications DALLAS — GuideStone’s theme for 2015 was the “Year of Efficiency,” whereby GuideStone sought out new efficiencies in people, processes and policies. Scores of efficiencies were identified and implemented throughout the organization, including streamlining employee training and onboarding, renegotiating energy contracts and bulk mailing services, and lowered medical group sizes to help assist more churches. Coming out of that effort GuideStone has announced a realignment of certain job responsibilities and the promotion of three new executive officers from within the ranks of the organization. The restructuring dovetails with GuideStone’s update to its long-range plan, GuideStone 100, to carry the ministry to its centennial in 2018, and beyond to 2020. Many positions were combined or redeployed and a small number were eliminated. Eligible personnel were offered an early voluntary retirement package, while many other employees were reassigned to open positions. A total of nine people who were unable to be accommodated in open positions were offered severance packages. “These steps we have taken will enable us to further enhance our ministry as we prepare to … [Read more...]
Crossgate, Woodland begin the long road to recovery
By Message Staff In the 25 years Louis Husser has served as pastor of Crossgate Baptist Church, he said the situation has never been this bad. The church’s worship center and gymnasium both took in one foot of water from flash flooding over the weekend. While some of his members have come to help with clean-up efforts, he said many are unable do much because their own homes are flooded. Many in his congregation had recently finished repairing their homes from flooding in March. Husser, who had water come within an inch of coming into his own home, estimates work to clean up both structures could take at least three months and welcomes any volunteer labor help. “Pray for us,” Husser said. “We need folks to be aware. Any help we can get would be awesome.” Flooded roadways are preventing Pastor Josh Powell from reaching Woodland Baptist Church in Springfield but he knows there was significant damage. The youth building took in four feet of water, the education building and worship center each had a foot or more and the parsonage about 10 inches. Donations can be dropped off at First Baptist Springfield. His church will need one of the LBC’s shower trailer and mud-out teams, as well as cleaning supplies and … [Read more...]
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