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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Archives for February 2018

Pastors encouraged to participate in biennial church compensation survey

By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources DALLAS, Texas - GuideStone Financial Resources, LifeWay Research and Baptist state conventions have teamed up again in 2018 for the biennial SBC Church Compensation Survey. Pastors and church employees are invited to participate in the survey, a resource used by churches of all sizes to determine fair wages and benefits. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete; it is available on the GuideStone website. Survey respondents can enter to win an iPad. The survey’s results will be made available in the early fall, in time for many churches considering their 2019 budgets. The survey is the largest, free, church compensation study available in the United States. These surveys are a valuable tool for churches to benchmark their own salary and benefits against churches of similar size within Southern Baptist life. Through GuideStone’s compensation planning materials, GuideStone offers materials to help churches structure their compensation to make proper use of tax laws. Individual survey results can be contributed anonymously: Survey results are not reported individually. Once the survey closes May 31, LifeWay Research will work on compiling results. Survey respondents … [Read more...]

On Valentine’s Day, strengthen your marriage

By Waylon Bailey Marriage is good. In fact, it’s very good. This is what I say repeatedly to couples contemplating marriage: “I highly recommend marriage!” I really do recommend it. My marriage to Martha has blessed my life immensely and immeasurably. It would be easy to say, I can’t imagine living without her, but several years ago I had to deal suddenly with that reality. While I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone, it made me think more carefully about the blessing of living with someone for a lifetime and getting to care for one another. Yesterday, I read about Louisiana’s longest married couple (83 years) in a blog post from Louisiana Family Forum. At the same time, I read of a report from Fox News citing the Brookings Institution study of marriage. Marriage is the greatest anti-poverty tool we have. The report showed that we would reduce poverty 25% if we had the same marriage rate as the 1970’s. In 1970, 79% of adults were married while the rate is 52% today. You would never think of marriage being a value for a stable and more prosperous life, but it is. We live in a society that has ridiculed and devalued marriage. That attitude is harming marriage and harming the well-being of children and … [Read more...]