By Philip Timothy, Message Managing Editor MANDEVILLE – Kenneth (Ken) Schroeder will be nominated for first vice president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention by Randy Harper, senior pastor of Bellaire Baptist Church, during this year’s LBC Annual Meeting according to a press release from his office. Schroeder is the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Mandeville where he has served for the past 21 years. “Ken is a godly man…a man of prayer who loves Jesus and Louisiana Baptists,” said Harper. “I have had the pleasure of serving with him on the Louisiana College board of trustees and different committees where he has exhibited grace, patience and a keen understanding of the tasks asked of members.” “He has served on numerous boards and committees in both his association and in the state convention,” continued Harper. “He is faithful to this convention and to whatever committee he has been asked to serve.” “Ken may be a little quiet; but when he speaks, people listen because what he has to say is thoughtful and to the point.” Under Schroeder’s leadership, First Mandeville has undergone significant capital improvements projects, including a15,000-square-foot educational building, a 10,000-square-foot student … [Read more...]
LC inaugurates Brewer as its ninth president
By Brian Blackwell Message Staff Writer PINEVILLE – On the stage at Guinn Auditorium, Don Wilton turned and pointed at Louisiana College President Rick Brewer and offered him a charge. He told him to carry on a trait of famed evangelist Billy Graham, a member of Wilton’s church. “What he says he does and what he does he means,” said Wilton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, SC, and a friend of Brewer for more than 20 years. “Are you ready to do the same with Louisiana College?” Wilton, who gave the message during Brewer’s inauguration as the school’s ninth president on Sept. 18, said Louisiana College is needed in today’s culture. “You have to lead us,” Wilton said. “We need you. America really needs you. Louisiana really needs a Christian college.” He then challenged Brewer to provide a distinct Christian education at the school through five ways. Wilton encouraged Brewer to continue to pray, teach so others will “get on fire,” demonstrate by keeping on “living it out,” commit to not stopping despite obstacles that may come and expect results to happen. “God has sure smiled on Louisiana College by calling you to be its president,” said Wilton to his friend. Wilton was among a number of … [Read more...]
Cooperative Program nurtured, climbs in fiscal year
By Art Toalston, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) - It's been an uplifting year for the Cooperative Program. The church led by SBC President Ronnie Floyd reached the $1-million mark during its 2014-15 budget year in giving to Southern Baptists' cornerstone channel for supporting missions and ministries -- state by state, nationally and internationally. "Increasing your church's support through the Cooperative Program is the greatest way you can forward the work of reaching the world for Christ," Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, wrote in a Sept. 21 column. Floyd's column preceded the annual Cooperative Program Emphasis Month in the SBC each October. For online CP resources, click here. Noting the Cooperative Program's comprehensiveness in advancing the Gospel during its 90-year history, Floyd wrote: "Not one of us can adequately support any one cause, but all of us together can pray, plan, give, cooperate and support every cause." For the 2014-15 fiscal year, Cooperative Program gifts by Southern Baptist churches -- $189,160,231.41 -- reached 100.62 of the convention's Cooperative Program Allocation Budget to support the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, the SBC's … [Read more...]
High school senior sent home for wanting to take same-sex date to homecoming
By Kelly Ledbetter, Christian Examiner MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Christian Examiner) – Christian Brothers High School senior Lance Sanderson was sent home earlier this week from school, allegedly for wanting to bring a male date to homecoming. Sanderson says he just wants to be treated like all his classmates, but he is: the CBHS policy against males from other schools attending school events was implemented to prevent fights. Because CBHS administration is enforcing its policy, Sanderson claims it is behaving with discrimination. Sanderson has been openly gay since his freshman year. He says an administrator who is now no longer at the school gave him verbal permission last year to bring a male date to homecoming and prom. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
Syrian pastor won’t abandon his church, despite ISIS brutality
By Kelly Ledbetter, Christian Examiner SWEIDA, Syria (Christian Examiner) – After a car bomb went off in his city last month, a pastor is faced again with the choice to flee the encroaching reach of ISIS in Syria, but he doesn't want to leave his new church. In a report from Christian Aid Mission, the pastor, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, speaks out about his precarious situation, his fears for his family and church, and why he won't leave. "As ISIS pushes westward inside Syria, Christians are in the crosshairs," said the Middle East director of Christian Aid Mission. "They're running out of places where they can safely flee." To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
Netanyahu demonstrates ‘deafening silence’ of world on Iran
By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood in front of the United Nations 70th General Assembly Oct. 1 and excoriated world leaders for their acceptance of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the United States and other western powers. The deal, which will grant Iran the right to eventually resume the enrichment of uranium and develop its ballistic missile program after a period of seven years, is now a matter of record at the world body. It is in the United States, as well, as Republicans failed to muster the votes necessary to kill it in the Senate where, according to the Constitution, it should have been handled as a treaty. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
Oregon pastor’s prediction of persecution comes true after shooter executes Christians at community college
By Tobin Perry, Christian Examiner ROSEBURG, Ore. (Christian Examiner) -- Just last Sunday Pastor Jerry Smart warned his church—increased persecution is coming. The Winston, Oregon, pastor had no idea just how close to fruition his prediction was. "I told our church, 'We're going to see more and more persecution in this world,'" said Smart, pastor of Foursquare Gospel Center in Winston. "I said, 'How many of you believe that?' Most of the people raised their hands. I said, 'I think it's coming.' Of course, I was thinking of Christians in the Middle East. I didn't think it would come to our back door the next Thursday." But of course, it did. On Thursday, a 26-year-old shooter entered Umpqua Community College in nearby Roseburg and killed nine people and injured nine more. A variety of media reports confirm the gunman asked his victims whether they were Christians or not. To read more of this article, click here. … [Read more...]
1% CP Challenge met by 4,422 churches
By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press EDITOR'S NOTE: October is Cooperative Program Emphasis Month in the Southern Baptist Convention. NASHVILLE (BP) - Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank S. Page has personally signed letters to more than 4,400 Southern Baptist churches that have met or exceeded the 1% Cooperative Program Challenge. Recognized for their contributions are 3,846 congregations that met the challenge for the first time during the 2013-14 fiscal year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30) and 576 that met the challenge for two consecutive years, said Ashley Clayton, SBC Executive Committee vice president for Cooperative Program and stewardship development. The 1% CP Challenge calls on churches to increase their Cooperative Program giving by at least 1 percentage point of their budgets from undesignated gifts by their members and visitors. CP gifts undergird both the work of the state Baptist conventions and the SBC's national and international missions and ministries. In the letters in advance of October's Cooperative Program Emphasis Month on the SBC calendar, Page reminded pastors that every Cooperative Program dollar given is an investment in Baptist outreach. The letters seek to express the … [Read more...]
Farrakhan to pastors: Young blacks will leave Christian churches and ‘turn on you’ — to follow him
By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner CHICAGO (Christian Examiner) – Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has issued a second forceful warning for black ministers in Christian churches who refuse to support his "Justice, or Else!" movement after he called for exercising the Quran's law of retaliation against whites and the government during an address at a Miami church in July. In a series of interview videos posted to his Facebook page, after which he solicits donations and support for his upcoming gathering on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10, Farrakhan says the ministers who have closed their doors to him are failing their communities and him. "I have to say this. All of you know what you have done to me," Farrakhan says with his voice raised in the video. To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
Brave new world: Obama says gay rights trump religious liberty
By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Should gay rights come into conflict with religious belief, religious liberty will lose, President Barack Obama told an audience of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender activists at the Democrat National Committees annual LGBT Gala in New York Sept. 27. "We affirm that we cherish our religious freedom and are profoundly respectful of religious traditions," Obama said. "But we also have to say clearly that our religious freedom doesn't grant us the freedom to deny our fellow Americans their constitutional rights." Obama said government will be respectful and accommodate the "genuine concerns and interests of religious institutions," but that American should "reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as a way to scare up votes." To read the rest of the article, click here. … [Read more...]
