Twin trees guard the entrance to Camp Bethany, and beyond them, acres and acres of meadow. BETHANY – Twin trees guard the entrance to Camp Bethany, and beyond them, acres and acres of meadow. Camp Bethany offers space – space for running, jumping, laughing and playing, and space to take a deep, relaxing breath. “We have a good, safe place,” says Robert Cole, director of the camp that was established in 1980. “People just feel a peace once they come past those two big trees. They love to sit on these rocking chairs and just rock.” Camp Bethany, one of 10 Baptist camps in the state, is owned by the Northwest Louisiana Baptist Association, which stretches through rural areas north to Arkansas and west to Texas but which is anchored by one of the state’s largest metropolitan areas. Camp Bethany’s spaciousness and serenity is an apt counterpoint to the hustle of Shreveport/Bossier City. “We’re 15 miles from Pines Road, and 30 from Youree Drive,” Cole said. “That’s become the main hub of Shreveport.” The proximity to the urban area is both a hindrance and a help, the camp director said. Events at the camp get good attendance, but many people choose to go home at night; that cuts down on overnight revenues. “And … [Read more...]

“I’m the person I used to make fun of, religiously,” says Steve Jurik. BETHANY – “I’m the person I used to make fun of, religiously,” says Steve Jurik. On his own at 15, he’d grown up without friends, without a sense of belonging. He joined the Army and his bunkmate convinced him he was an athiest. “I started telling myself there wasn’t a god. There was nothing out there for me to believe in.” That was Jurik’s life for several years, but then Hurricane Rita set her eye on Buna, Texas. Inexplicably, Jurik had married a week before, a woman pregnant with his child. He already had twins, their mother long gone. Jurik stuffed his family and important papers – such as his new marriage license to Crystal – into a 2001 Dodge Stratus, and drove north.  It had been a long day in an overstuffed vehicle when an “evacuee shelter” sign at Mansfield Road Baptist Church caught his attention. “That was the first place we started to experience this love,” Jurik said. “They invited us in to eat.” Mansfield sent him on to Providence Road Baptist for longer-term lodging. “I started seeing things out here that I’d never seen before,” said Jurik, who cooked at the shelter. “Terrell Whetstone. Every day I came to work, he … [Read more...]

Pinstripes and solids abounded when New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary students picked up their new suits May 10-11, thanks to Jim Tatum’s “Suits for Servants” ministry. NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Pinstripes and solids abounded when New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary students picked up their new suits May 10-11, thanks to Jim Tatum’s “Suits for Servants” ministry. Tatum, a clothier from Jacksonville, Fla., traveled to New Orleans in April to fit students for new suits and to share how God led him to start the unique ministry. During Tatum’s three days at New Orleans Seminary, 285 students ordered 520 suits at a cost of only $50 each. Those suits arrived in 38 heavy duty boxes that each weighed in at just over 53 pounds. For students who qualified, the cost was even lower than that. New Orleans Seminary trustees, who held their spring meeting the week Tatum was on campus, collected money that provided suits free of charge to students in particular need. Still others heard about Suits for Servants and gave their own money as well. Shane Baker, the seminary’s financial aid director and overseer of the suit distribution, said the affordability of the suits was what most impressed students. For many, the $50 price … [Read more...]

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley said the seminary’s 89th graduating class should always remember one lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina: “In Christ alone I have all I need.” NEW ORLEANS (BP) – New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley said the seminary’s 89th graduating class should always remember one lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina: “In Christ alone I have all I need.” Addressing the 368 graduates during the May 18 and May 19 commencement services, Kelley reminded the students just how special their achievement is in light of their struggles and trials over the past two years. “You are a part of the ‘Katrina Class’ of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary who, as a part of your experience in preparing for ministry, went through the worst disaster in the history of the United States,” Kelley said. “My, what an unforgettable time that was. It’s marked all of us for the rest of our lives.” Kelley encouraged the graduates to use all the things they learned in the classroom and from professors and apply it to their ministry. But he emphasized the importance of what they learned about the sufficiency of Christ. Reading the words of Philippians 4:13, … [Read more...]

Most – but not all – Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana are using the "Game Day Central" VBS Curriculum produced by the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources. LifeWay this summer also offers Jungle Jaunt for churches that want a choice. June 3-8 Pineville Park Pineville June 4-8 Calvary Alexandria Mulberry Houma Donahue Family Pineville Sale Street Lake Charles First Delhi First St. Francisville First Ferriday First Swartz Philadelphia Deville Parkview Alexandria Woodlawn Baton Rouge First Zwolle Northside Lafayette First Baton Rouge First Jonesville Highland West Monroe First Baker June 10-13 CrossPoint Baton Rouge June 11-15 McClendon West Monroe First Winnfield Riverside Denham Springs Fair Park West Monroe Elm Grove Bossier City First Minden Start Baptist, Start First Haughton First Jackson Koran Haughton First Jena First Kentwood First Bastrop North Monroe Baptist June 18-22 First Ponchatoula Judson Walker Calvary Ruston Westside Natchitoches First Many First Vidalia Christ Baptist Houma Grace Memorial Slidell Dunn Baptist, Delhi First Oakdale Highland New Iberia Fair Park West Monroe New Llano, Leesville June 24-29 Superior Avenue … [Read more...]

GREENWOOD – First Baptist is to bestow the honorary title of Pastor Emeritus on Joe Bob Alexander during the June 10 morning worship service. “Dr. Alexander served 10 churches in Texs and Louisiana during his years of full-time ministry,” wrote Dick Day of the church. Alexander was pastor of First Greenwood from 1988 until he retired in 1995, and three times since, as interim. “Bro. Joe Bob and wife Barbara are beloved members and call First Baptist Church Greenwood home even in the midst of a busy interim preaching schedule,” Day wrote. Ken Fryer is pastor. COVINGTON – Pilgrim Rest is “a small country church with a budget to match,” writes MaxAnne Noel-Ragusa of the church. “We have been in need of a new building to replace one that has simply deteriorated beyond further repair. Our congregation has prayed long and hard about this, and God has answered our prayers even beyond our imagination.” Carpenters for Christ, a group of volunteers from Alabama, pay $150 each to give a week of their time to one project each year. This year they chose Pilgrim Rest. They are to start June 6. This is a 10,000-square-foot Louisiana Mission Builders project. Charlie and Russell are the church-appointed project coordinators, … [Read more...]

Comings and Goings Ken (wife Selena Michelle Spicer) Courville, new as pastor June 17 at Goodwood Baptist, Baton Rouge. They’re getting married June 1 at the church. New Chapel Hill Baptist in West Monroe seeks a full-time youth minister. Send resumes to: New Chapel Hill Baptist Church, Attn: Ben Bridges, 61 New Chapel Hill Road, West Monroe LA 71291. Charles Dupree Jr. is pastor. Cory Veuleman is new as student minister at New Hope Baptist in DeQuincy. Rob Sumrall is pastor. Zack (wife Betty) Young is retiring after 10 years as minister of music at Highland New Iberia. David Denton is pastor. East Central Baptist Association is accepting resumes for director of missions until June 8. Mail to Dan Glenn, moderator, 100 N. Hickory, Vidalia LA 71373. First Lafayette Spanish Mission seeks a pastor. Send resumes to First Lafayette PastorSteve.horn@fbclaf.org or call 337-233-1412 for more information. Interim part-time youth minister and interim part-time music minister are needed at First Oakdale. Send resumes to Pastor Stephen Laughlin, FBC Oakdale, 117 S. 12th St., Oakdale LA 71463. East Jena Baptist seeks a full-time minister of students. Send resumes to East Jena Baptist Church, Attn: Minister of Students … [Read more...]

After his family’s house sold, Greg, a newly appointed missionary, spotted his children’s handprints in the concrete on their front porch. LIBERTY, Mo. (BP) – After his family’s house sold, Greg, a newly appointed missionary, spotted his children’s handprints in the concrete on their front porch. Greg and his wife were preparing to serve as missionaries among an unreached people group, but he began having second thoughts. “I asked, ‘God, how can I leave those handprints behind?’ “And then God said, ‘You’re leaving the handprints, but you’re taking those hands to make My mark on My world.’” Greg and his wife (last name not used for security reasons), along with 33 others, were appointed to the mission field May 9 at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Liberty, Mo. Before a crowd of approximately 1,000 people, they will join nearly 5,200 International Mission Board missionaries around the globe. The 35 missionaries shared stories of how God led them to this point in their lives – all reflecting some previous overseas experience. For Larry Lewis, it was a mission trip to Rome that helped stir him and his wife to go to the Czech Republic. Lewis still remembers the emptiness of the “big, beautiful churches covered … [Read more...]

Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Arkansas, has withdrawn from the New Baptist Covenant Celebration planned for next January in Atlanta to protest former president Jimmy Carter’s “unprecedented personal attack” on President George W. Bush and his administration’s foreign policy as “the worst in history.” JACKSONVILLE (FBW) – Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Arkansas, has withdrawn from the New Baptist Covenant Celebration planned for next January in Atlanta to protest former president Jimmy Carter’s “unprecedented personal attack” on President George W. Bush and his administration’s foreign policy as “the worst in history.” Huckabee, who told the Florida Baptist Witness of his decision to drop out of the Baptist gathering in an exclusive telephone interview May 21, also said the roster of speakers “does seem to tilt left,” which gave him concern about participating. The New Baptist Covenant Celebration is being organized by Carter and Mercer University president Bill Underwood under the umbrella of the North American Baptist Fellowship – a division of the Baptist World Alliance – to bring Baptists together to work on social concerns and improve … [Read more...]

Two Southern Baptist Hispanic leaders see evidence of a spiritual hunger and high receptivity to the Gospel among Hispanics in a recent study by the Pew Research Center. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Two Southern Baptist Hispanic leaders see evidence of a spiritual hunger and high receptivity to the Gospel among Hispanics in a recent study by the Pew Research Center. Bob Sena, director of the field services team in the North American Mission Board’s church planting group, told Baptist Press the fact that 23 percent of the Hispanic population now identifies with either evangelical or Protestant churches “indicates that Hispanics are now more receptive to the Gospel message than ever before in the history of this country.” “The Hispanic field is white unto the harvest,” Sena said. “My prayer is that the Lord will give us a passion to lead untold numbers of Hispanics to Christ and to start churches in the hundreds of communities across North America where Hispanics now live.” Southern Baptists planted 1,592 Hispanic churches during the past five years, Sena reported, which averages 318 per year. Daniel Sanchez, professor of missions and director of the Scarborough Institute for Church Planting and Growth at Southwestern … [Read more...]