By Brandon Rogers, First West communications WEST MONROE  – First West has hired Mark Cole to be its next generation pastor. Cole will give leadership to preschool, children, and student age divisions and will build relationships with families to integrate them into the work and ministry of the church. “Words cannot express how excited we are to be joining the team at First West. I believe amazing things are in our future as we continue to lock arms with the West Monroe/NELA community in the days ahead,” says Cole. “My joy in life is to be invested in the daily lives of the next generation, helping them in their journey to and with Christ!” Cole has served as the Next Generation Pastor at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the past four years. His primary ministry responsibilities included setting vision and structure for ages birth through 12th grade and their parents. Before serving as Next Generation Pastor, he served as student pastor at Istrouma for five years. “I have known Mark for several years,” says Michael Wood, Lead Pastor of First West. “He values family and has the heart for family ministry. He is a man of integrity and is a great addition to our staff.” Before serving at … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer LAFAYETTE – As the child of two deaf parents, essentially serving as their interpreter to the hearing world, Ed Newton spent his middle school years searching for something to satisfy his soul – from premarital sex to attempted grand theft auto. TRANSFORMED Then in in high school, he encountered Christ. “My life has been changed forever,” Newton told more than 5,700 students at Louisiana Baptists’ annual Youth Evangelism Celebration. “I would not be here if it were not for the divine intervention of Jesus interrupting my life’s story.” He challenged students not to waste the time they have to make a difference now. “You are the church right here, right now,” Newton said. “You are current leaders and it’s time to rise up and step up and change the world. But that only happens when you allow God to be a part of your story.” The 40-year-old pastor of the 27,000-member Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas, Newton has served as a youth pastor, faculty member at Student Leadership University in Orlando, Fla., and executive director of the LIFT TOUR, an extension of Student Leadership University in partnership with LifeWay Students. The largest gathering of Louisiana … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Message Editor ALEXANDRIA – During a unified annual meeting highlighting a statewide soul-winning emphasis for 2017-2018, Louisiana Baptists overwhelmingly approved a motion for the Executive Board to consider conducting a study of “recent actions” by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and in like manner defeated a motion for a 2018 move toward a 50/50 Cooperative Program split with the Southern Baptist Convention. Approximately 600 messengers registered for the Nov. 14-15 event which was held at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria. CP DEBATE Kyle Sullivan, associate pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, introduced the proposed CP measure Monday evening during the opening session of the annual meeting, and the debate on the motion was conducted during the morning session, Tuesday. The motion called for a “50/50 split of the Cooperative Program giving” in the 2018 budget, citing the “vast lostness of the nations” compared to the lostness in Louisiana, and claiming the “primacy” of making disciples of “the nations” supersedes the needs of reaching the lost in the state. The motion also listed the SBC’s multiple affirmations of the “idea” of a … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell & Will Hall, Baptist Message ALEXANDRIA – Messengers conducted important business during the Louisiana Baptist Convention 2016 Annual Meeting, hosted this year by Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria, Nov. 14-15. But they also took time for spiritual enrichment and inspiration before and after the several organizational actions they were asked to complete. DENNIS PHELPS Dennis Phelps, professor of preaching and director of alumni relations and church-minister relations at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, began all three sessions with a Bible study, each with a focus from the book of Jonah and the theme of “When God Moves.” Phelps developed the character of Jonah, describing him as an unlikely person to an unlikely place for an unlikely mission, and related that believers today should expect God to call out the most unlikely person to carry out His plan. “When God moves, He can use anyone to accomplish His purpose,” Phelps said, “even me and even you.” Phelps also nurtured the notion that despite Jonah’s desire to give up on the people of Nineveh, God refused to give up on Jonah. He said God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah in order to deliver him to the very threshold of the … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – Holding a pair of work gloves like the hundreds that were distributed during his presentation, Keith Manuel invited messengers to the Louisiana Baptist Convention 2016 Annual Meeting to commit to a God-sized vision – evangelize the entire state of Louisiana during 2017-2018. Reaching 4.7 million people with the Gospel in a two-year period may seem daunting, said Manuel, LBC evangelism associate, but it is within the realm of possibility through the Harvest initiative, a statewide campaign to engage 700 Louisiana Baptist churches to “pray for every home and share Christ with every person” in Louisiana. “This task is hard,” Manuel said during the opening session, Monday, Nov. 14, at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria. “It will take work. “Let these gloves serve as a reminder, to lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they are white unto harvest. “Let’s go to work and envision a Louisiana where every home receives prayer and every person receives a Gospel witness and if the Lord is willing, may we see the greatest harvest of souls, who grow into the greatest group of reproducing disciples Louisiana has ever seen.” Manuel also gave an overview of what he said … [Read more...]