By Staff, LBC Communications   [img_assist|nid=7497|title=Benjamin Harlan|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=80|height=100]ALEXANDRIA – Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director David Hankins on Aug. 1 welcomed Benjamin Harlan as the new LBC music strategist. Harlan’s new post includes serving as the LBC music strategist and associate professor/artist in residence at Louisiana College.   “We are excited to welcome Dr. Harlan. He is a world class professional musician with a passion to serve the Lord through equipping church leaders,” Hankins said. “Also, his coming demonstrates how our LBC family is constantly looking for synergistic solutions to serve Louisiana Baptists. Serving both the state convention and a Baptist institution is a new paradigm.”   The bulk of Harlan’s work with the LBC is the coordination of the various music consultants who serve the churches of the convention.   “Dr. Harlan is one of the most talented, gifted and godly musicians anywhere,” said Bill Robertson, Pastoral Leadership Team leader. “God has blessed us by allowing him to join our Pastoral Leadership Team.”   Fred Guilbert, chair of Louisiana College’s Division of Fine Arts and Media, … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   [img_assist|nid=7500|title=Camp leaders|desc=Camp USA leaders, such as Min-Joo Kim (in stripes) safeguarded the campers’ “pocket money” and doled it out as needed.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=480]PINEVILLE/PONTCHATOULA – A Korea-born woman recently traveled from her Chicago home to meet the grandchild she had never seen.   That grandchild was one of 53 Camp USA participants this year.   It’s the first such “reverse” connection for Camp USA, which is a three-week American culture immersion excursion for middle school-age students from South Korea. Camp USA is part of an informal partnership between Louisiana Southern Baptists and the Korea Baptist Convention’s Church Development Board (equivalent to the SBC’s LifeWay Christian Resources.)   “They [Korean and American children] make friends right away; I witness this,” said Sang Dae Lee, retired in 2008 from his 20-year position as president of the Korea Baptist Church Development Board; he’s the equivalent of LifeWay’s President Thom Rainer.   Though he had heard reports about Camp USA every year, this was his first year to participate, Lee said. “Even if language barrier, … [Read more...]

By Andy Johnson, Pastor Crossroads Baptist Church Farmerville   Young adults – ages 18-35, are missing from our church attendance rolls. They seem to be a riddle wrapped up in a mystery tucked away inside an enigma.   There is no “chapter and verse” proven procedure or program to get a young adult interested in church. Young adult attendance is an anomaly.   Many churches work and toil and labor to the point of hopelessness to get young adults active within the Body of Christ. We would do well to take a moment and look at what has replaced church in a young adult’s life. And the more you look, the more bizarre the reasons get.   In an article published on a Protestant website, a study done in March of this year linked church attendance to obesity.   Researchers at Northwestern University followed more than 2,400 people ages 20 to 32 for a period of 18 years and found middle-aged congregants who attended religious services on a consistent basis were twice as likely to become obese.   Okay, so maybe young adults abstain from church because they don’t want to gain weight? Sounds a bit shaky to me.   A 2007 Pew poll reported that eighteen out of one hundred … [Read more...]

By Lonnie Wascom, Director of Missions Northshore Baptist Association   When the Louisiana Baptist Convention hosts its annual meeting in Covington this Nov. 14-15, it will be the first time in the Convention’s history that the meeting has been held in the Florida Parishes.   The host church, First Baptist Church, Covington, is situated in the center of the Northshore Baptist Association (NSBA), a fellowship of more than 90 churches, mission churches, and church plants. The NSBA is planning a Crossover Northshore prior to this year’s convention and wishes to invite our sister churches from all across the state to participate with us. The Crossover dates are Nov. 12-13.   Among the many evangelistic goals for the weekend is one that NSBA leaders pray will be a pacesetter for future Crossover emphases: To launch a new, high impact church plant in St. Tammany Parish. Like the Macedonian in Acts 16:9, we in the Northshore are imploring our Baptist brothers and sisters to “come over into [the Northshore], and help us” launch this new church.   Other events are being planned as well. In fact, events can be tailored to fit the strengths of churches that are willing to send teams to work … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor   These days when negative news seems to dominate the headlines, I am always on the lookout for inspirational stories that accentuate the positive. I discovered one recently that deserves to be not only read but also contemplated.   On July 22, Rachelle Friedman wed Chris Chapman in Pittsboro, N.C. Of the perhaps thousands of weddings that will take place in America over the next few days, what makes this couple’s nuptials newsworthy is that the bride’s father pushed her down the aisle in a wheelchair.   Friedman and Chapman were scheduled to marry about a year ago. However, just a few weeks prior to the wedding Friedman was injured in a freak accident, which resulted in her being paralyzed from the neck down.   It seems Friedman and some of her girlfriends were celebrating her approaching wedding with a backyard swimming pool party when a friend playfully pushed her into pool. Friedman’s head hit the bottom of the shallow end, and she was instantly paralyzed.   The wedding plans were placed on hold as Friedman’s recuperation took precedence. However, the idea of canceling the wedding was never entertained by Friedman or … [Read more...]

By Mike Edens, Professor of Theology and Islamic Studies at NOBTS   Are the Christian minorities at greater risk as a result of the uprisings in the Middle East?”   This is another key question that has been posed in a theology class I have been teaching in a Southern Baptist church recently. It’s a question that requires us to think outside our American cultural expectations.   None of us can fully understand the formative forces on ourselves or on friends who live in other cultural and societal settings, but failing to struggle toward this end detracts from abundantly living our faith. We need to understand as best we can the status of our Christian brothers and sisters living under governments that express Islamic values.   It is true that member states of the United Nations, including the Middle Eastern countries, have officially affirmed “The Universal Charter of Human Rights.” In Article 18, that document affirms, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, … [Read more...]