By Message Staff DOYLINE – Making a commitment to its future, First Baptist Church of Doyline dedicated a new children’s building Sept. 13. The congregation broke ground in March, two years after focusing on a week of prayer about the possibility of a new children’s building. The church set goals they met along the way and by the time of the dedication and ribbon cutting, the building was finished debt-free. Long-range planning committee chairman Larry Dean said. “We felt like the children are the future of the church,” Dean said. “If we don’t provide a place for the kids, we won’t have a church.” The new 40 ft by 100 ft building was constructed at a cost of $400,000. It includes a foyer, nursery, classroom space, an assembly room, bathrooms and kitchenette. Of the 80 who attend church services on Sunday morning, 20 are children. Dean is optimistic about what the future holds. “We want to give God all the glory,” Dean said. “We couldn’t have done it without God.” … [Read more...]
Louisiana College to inaugurate Dr. Brewer as 9th president
By Norm Miller, Louisiana College communications PINEVILLE - The inauguration ceremony of Dr. Rick Brewer is the highlight event of a two-day celebration at Louisiana College, Sept. 17-18. Scheduled for Sept. 18 in Guinn Auditorium, the inaugural service begins at 2 p.m. The celebration begins officially with a Sept. 17 student chapel service in Guinn that will feature Michael Joe Harvell, pastor of Grace Place Ministries in Greer, South Carolina. Harvell also will keynote a special inaugural worship service at 7 p.m., Sept. 17. Keynoting the inauguration ceremony will be Dr. Don Wilton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina. No stranger to Louisiana and CenLa as well, Wilton is a graduate and former professor of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. During the early 1980s, Wilton had an Alexandria-based evangelistic ministry. The Sept. 18 ceremony also will feature several members of the LC family, as well as Dr. David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and Pineville’s Mayor Clarence Fields. “These are exciting and invigorating days for Louisiana College,” Brewer said. “Cathy and I are humbled that God has allowed the opportunity to serve at … [Read more...]
Louisiana College officials remain optimistic despite declining enrollment
By Norm Miller, Louisiana College communications PINEVILLE - The sense of confidence that buoyed Louisiana College’s employees and stakeholders when Dr. Rick Brewer arrived as president in March of this year remains intact and even thrives with the prospects of recent accomplishment and future goals. “We have hope again,” said Byron McGee, who recently became vice president for institutional advancement. “What we are hearing from pastors, business leaders and alumni in CenLa and beyond is that Louisiana College’s future looks bright with Dr. Brewer as president. We all have been waiting for a leader who is not only a visionary, but is one who seizes the dream and makes it a reality,” McGee said. Having arrived only a few months ago, Brewer said he brings “decades of experience and success in growing an academic institution as evidenced by the double-digit and even exponential categorical successes God granted.” “We are grateful for the 1,109 students now enrolled at Louisiana College,” Brewer continued. “And though our enrollment has trended downward during the last 5 years, we need to remember that an institution the size of Louisiana College can hardly reverse a trend of several years in only a few … [Read more...]
9/11 Survivor: ‘Ground Zero is now my community’
By Kelly Ledbetter, Christian Examiner NEW YORK CITY (Christian Examiner) – When Sujo John went to work on the 81st floor of Tower 1 that Tuesday, he could never have imagined his life would be spared from an inconceivable tragedy—and that telling his story would take him into international ministry. He and his wife Mary, pregnant at the time, had lived in New York less than a year when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Centers. "When we looked back toward the towers," John said, "we saw only a pile of smoking ash and rubble. God, in his mercy, had spared our lives." To this day, John doesn't know why he and Mary lived when others died, but he knows he is called to share the gospel because this life is fragile but eternity is real. To read more, go to the Christian Examiner website. … [Read more...]
Out of 9/11 ashes came Billy Graham Rapid Response Teams to mobilize volunteers to offer comfort, hope
By Kelly Ledbetter, Christian Examiner CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Christian Examiner) – Chad Hammond, a director at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), had only recently become an employee when he was deployed to Ground Zero just a few days after Sept. 11 to minister to those affected by the national tragedy. When he reached the ruined towers, the destruction was more extensive than he imagined, and people's bodies were still being recovered. "It was very humbling," Hammond said. "I remember not wanting to disturb or touch anything. You treated that place as a kind of holy site." In what would form the foundation of the BGEA's Rapid Response Team, Hammond worked with local churches to help pastors, to establish a crisis phone center, to offer grief counseling for walk-ins, and mobilize volunteers to come and serve in the area. "As Christians, we felt that we had a mission to bring the hope of Christ to the people of New York City," Hammond said in a BGEA article on the ministry's history. To read more, go to the Christian Examiner website. … [Read more...]
IMB announces voluntary retirement incentive details
By Anne Harman, International Mission Board RICHMOND, Va. — In the first phase of the International Mission Board’s plan to address revenue shortfalls, leadership announced details of a voluntary retirement incentive (VRI) during town hall meetings with personnel Sept. 10. The goal of the plan, IMB leaders shared, is to offer as generous a voluntary retirement incentive as possible, while honoring the years of service of those eligible and providing a smooth transition from personnel’s current role. IMB will offer the voluntary retirement incentive to all eligible staff and active, career missionaries age 50 and older with five or more years of service (as of Dec. 31, 2015). For a missionary couple to be eligible for the VRI, only one spouse is required to meet the qualifications. “Our desire in all of this is to be as generous as possible to as many people as possible,” IMB President David Platt said. “Since we are asking everyone in the organization to pray and discern if the Lord is leading them to a new place of involvement in mission, we know that 50-year-olds, for example, are going to be doing exactly that. And if the Lord leads them to make a transition, we want to provide for them as generously as … [Read more...]
Twitter tantrum: Iran’s supreme leader says Israel has 25 years to exist
By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued another dire warning for Israel – the clock is winding down on the Jewish state. The religious leader said via his Twitter feed Sept. 9 that Israel "will not see the next 25 years," even after nuclear negotiations with the world powers are supposed to have curtailed Iran's ambition for nuclear weapons. "God willing, there will be no such thing as a Zionist regime in 25 years," Khamenei wrote on the social media site. According to Khamenei, until Iran is able to complete its goal of the complete annihilation of Israel, "the struggling, heroic and jihadi morale will leave no moment of security for Zionists." The quote, according to the Times of Israel, was taken from a speech the Ayatollah had given earlier in the day. The speech was also reported in Iranian media. In the speech, Khamenei blasted the United States, which he said had been "hypocritical" in its approach toward Iran as U.S. negotiators smiled while Congress sought to derail the plan. He also claimed the U.S. – still "the Great Satan" – was using the negotiations as a means to influence and "infiltrate" Iran. To read more, visit the Christian … [Read more...]
September 11: Al Qaeda makes overture to black community in America, stokes racial strife
NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Al Qaeda's newest edition of Inspire, a jihadist magazine aimed at recruiting terrorists from among the English-speaking world, encourages black Americans to rise up against their own government, the Middle East Media Research Institute has reported. In the Inspire article titled, "The Blacks in America," a writer calling himself Abu Abdiliah Al-Moravid claims the recent killings of blacks such as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Md., and nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., are unlike anything found in Islam. Islam, Al-Moravid writes, "does not allow even the smallest kind of injustice, be it by words or having contempt for a particular race. We the Mujahedeen are a portion of the Muslim Ummah (nation), we do not accept any type of oppression against our Muslim brothers among the Afro-Americans, or even the non-Muslims. And the opposite of oppression is Justice, and this was we have been commanded by our religion." Al-Moravid also claims the American media is helping white power structures in the country conceal the truth of what happened to Brown, Gray and others. In particular, he targets FOX News, the tool of the "Anglo-Saxon … [Read more...]
Two Planned Parenthood protests planned Thursday
By Staff, Louisiana Right to Life Two protests against Planned Parenthood will be held in Louisiana tomorrow in conjunction with Women Betrayed: The Real Stories Rally and Lobby Day at noon in Washington, D.C. Locals will gather in Baton Rouge from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside Planned Parenthood Baton Rouge (3955 Government St., Suite 2) and from 5-6:30 p.m. at the new Planned Parenthood construction site at 4636 S. Claiborne Ave. in New Orleans. Protests are being held around the country Thursday in conjunction with the Washington, D.C. rally as citizens show their opposition to Planned Parenthood's abortion and baby-parts selling business. Pro-lifers will be urging Congress to defund the abortion business in this year's budget as they stand in solidarity for the unborn. There are no official programs at the local events, but Louisiana Right to Life officials, as well as leaders of Louisiana Students for Life, will be present and available for interviews. … [Read more...]
Pioneer missionary doctor Wana Ann Fort dies at 91
By Staff, Baptist Press RICHMOND, Va. (BP) –Missionary doctor Wana Ann Gibson Fort, 91, died Aug. 31 in Baton Rouge. Fort and her husband, the late Milton “Giles” Fort Jr., served with the then-called Foreign Mission Board as pioneer missionary doctors at Sanyati Baptist Hospital in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). At this hospital, Fort and her husband helped launch a spiritual awakening through medical missions. The Forts, appointed as missionaries in 1952, led countless patients to Christ. “We were committed to being God’s hands of mercy and healing to souls and bodies,” she once said. She and her husband raised five sons in Zimbabwe. Three have served or continue to serve as missionaries with the International Mission Board. Two of the Forts’ sons are medical doctors. “Mom lived out the reality of her faith,” said Gordon Fort, one of Wana Ann’s sons and IMB senior ambassador. “As wife, momma, teacher, doctor, women’s worker, and serving missions support functions, she demonstrated what it means to live a life of obedience to the Master. It has been our incredible privilege to have been a part of her life’s journey.” During the Forts’ missionary service in Africa, the Shona people named Fort “Mai … [Read more...]
