By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer LAFAYETTE – Wayne Jenkins and Charles Billingsley shared moving testimonies of thankfulness with those attending Louisiana Baptists 2016 Evangelism Conference, their stories epitomizing the messages of God’s power and grace presented throughout the program. The impromptu testimonies by both men highlighted how God used a dark hour in each man’s life to bring glory to Christ. Jenkins is evangelism and church growth director for Louisiana Baptists while Billingsley is a vocalist from Lynchburg, Va., who led worship during the conference, held at First Baptist Church in Lafayette Jan. 25-26. During the afternoon session, colleagues and others surrounded Jenkins as the whole crowd prayed for him. A teary-eyed Jenkins praised God for sustaining him throughout his battle with cancer. "God is so good, really good,” Jenkins said. “This summer I was close to going home. ... He chose to leave me here. And I’m glad. I think I’ve got a lot to do. Thank you for all the prayers." https://youtu.be/yL3KCNLtxnw Billingsley offered how his music career nearly ended in 2009 when he severely injured his voice during a concert in Florida. Addressing the audience for the evening session … [Read more...]

By Deanna Wallace, Louisiana Right to Life BATON ROUGE – A federal judge struck down the 2014 Louisiana law requiring abortion clinic doctors to have admitting privileges to a hospital with obstetrical and gynecological services with 30  miles of the clinic where the abortion is performed on Jan. 26. U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, who presided over a June trial of a lawsuit challenging the admitting privilege requirement, said the requirement in Act 620 violates the constitutional right of Louisiana women seeking abortions. In his ruling, deGravelles wrote the admitting privileges requirement would place an undue burden on Louisiana women seeking an abortion, and issued a preliminary injunction preventing the law from being enforced against the abortion clinics involved in the challenge -- Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Bossier City Medical Suite in Bossier City, and Causeway Medical Clinic in Metairie. Upon reviewing the court's opinion, Benjamin Clapper, Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life, stated the following, "Louisiana Right to Life firmly believes the admitting privileges requirement in HB 388 / Act 620 would increase the health and safety of women seeking an abortion in the state … [Read more...]

By Julie Cupples, Louisiana Baptist Children's Home and Family Ministries communications MONROE - Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries was presented the Faith in Families Award from the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. The award was given for LBCH’s efforts and commitment to promoting adoption awareness and community support for children in need of permanent families. The Children’s Home Connect 1:27 Foster Care and Adoption ministry seeks to recruit and certify Christian foster and adoptive families and works with churches to establish support ministries for foster care and adoption. If you or your church would like to learn more about helping children in need contact Beth Green at 318.243.2244. … [Read more...]

NATCHITOTCHES - Christmas has come and gone, but the impact some Louisiana Baptists made in the city is eternal. A group gathers one Saturday each year during the annual Festival of Lights in Natchitoches to distribute Bibles to those attending the event. Below is a video recap of the 2015 See the Light Bible distribution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-7AbBcAbdg … [Read more...]

The Message is preparing to launch a special feature on its website to celebrate every baptism of Louisiana Baptists by publishing a picture or brief video clip of each one on www.BaptistMessage.com as a kind of yearbook of evangelism within the Louisiana Baptist Convention. “Our aim in celebrating each walk of faith into the baptismal waters is that it will inspire Louisiana Baptists to be even bolder in proclaiming the Gospel and lead to even greater harvests of souls,” said Will Hall, editor of the Baptist Message. March 1 is the target start date for the initiative and The Message is asking churches as well as individual Louisiana Baptists to email a 10-15 second video clip or a high resolution photo file to brian@baptistmessage.com and include the baptized person’s name, pastor’s name, church name and date of baptism.​ … [Read more...]

By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS (BP) - The need for Christian apologetics -- the clearing of obstacles to faith -- has never been greater, attendees were told throughout the annual Defend the Faith conference, Jan. 4-8, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary "Every age presents unique challenges to the Christian faith," said Defend the Faith director Rhyne Putman, NOBTS assistant professor of theology and culture. "We face moral shifts in our culture, religious pluralism, other competing worldviews and assaults on religious liberty." Sponsored by the seminary's Institute for Christian Apologetics, the event was attended by more than 200 people, one-third of whom were college students from various states. Plenary sessions were streamed via the Internet for the event and its messages to have an even wider reach. One current missionary in East Asia who watched the live-streamed sessions emailed one speaker to thank him for his candid portrayal of the difficulties facing those who engage a non-Christian culture. Featured among more than two-dozen speakers were Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary; teaching fellow Jana Harmon with the C.S. Lewis Institute; resurrection … [Read more...]

By Message Staff ALEXANDRIA - Surrounded by family and Louisiana Baptist state missions services team members, six church planters were commissioned on Jan. 20 during the first-ever service of its kind for church planters in the state. The church planter commissioning service on Wednesday was for those who started a church since October 2015. Since then, 11 churches have been started in the state, including five in January. The goal for 2016 is to plant 30 churches in Louisiana, keeping in step with the goal to plant 300 churches by 2020. To reach that goal, 170 more churches will have to be planted between now and 2020. John Hebert, missions and ministry team leader for Louisiana Baptists, said his team is engaged in partnering with churches, associations and other Southern Baptist entities to plant healthy, culturally relevant, biblically sound, multiplying churches that seek to fulfill the Great Commission. “At the spearhead of this effort is the work of our Church planters,” he said during the commissioning service. “Today these church planters have come before this assembly to receive the blessing and commissioning and commitment of Louisiana Baptists’ support. God has called them to serve in places across our … [Read more...]