By Art Toalston and Bonnie Pritchett, Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) - Houston Baptist University and East Texas Baptist University are appealing to the Supreme Court in challenging the Obamacare mandate to provide insurance coverage encompassing abortion-inducing drugs. HBU and ETBU in conjunction with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty along with Westminster Theological Seminary filed a petition July 8 with the high court in response to a June 22 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that the mandate did not and, likely, would not "substantially burden their religious exercise." In all, 56 cases involving 140 nonprofit plaintiffs have been filed against the mandate, according to the Becket Fund. Among various cases in the news is a last-minute temporary injunction granted to Little Sisters of the Poor from facing enforcement of the mandate in January 2014. Two other Baptist entities -- GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention and Truett-McConnell College in Georgia -- are involved in a separate challenge (GuideStone v. Sebelius), joined by Reaching Souls International, an Oklahoma-based missions organization. A federal district judge's injunction blocking … [Read more...]
LC and Rapides Parish School Board strike dual enrollment agreement
By Norm Miller, LC Communications PINEVILLE - The Rapides Parish School Board voted July 7 to partner with Louisiana College to allow qualified high school students to enroll at the college in up to six hours of college courses per semester. “We are pleased almost beyond words with this development,” said Dr. Rick Brewer, president of Louisiana College. “We are grateful for the cooperation of board president Keith Breazeale and all the board members, and for their unified vision of advancing the educational quality and content for local residents. Louisiana College is elated to be a part of that equation.” Dual enrollment permits qualified high school juniors and seniors to enroll in college courses that, when successfully completed will apply to the students’ high school and college credit hours simultaneously. Limited enrollment for high school sophomores may be available, but will require the high school principal’s recommendation. Dual enrollment will be available to homeschooled students whose curricula meet Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education requirements. “The academic and economic benefits of our agreement are remarkable,” Brewer said. “Those benefitting the most from this include … [Read more...]
First West hires new executive pastor
First West hires new executive pastor WEST MONROE – First West has a former Tennessee executive pastor to the same position. Formerly at First Baptist Church in Collierville, Tenn., Tim Spencer was hired as the new executive pastor of First West, the church announced on July 5. As executive pastor, Spencer will oversee the daily operations of First West, as well as provide leadership to its staff and various ministries. Spencer, who has been married to his wife Suzy for 21 years, said his family is excited about the future at the Northeast Louisiana Baptist Association church. “What a blessing to join the incredible work and ministry God is doing at First West,” Spencer said in a news release. “Suzy and I are excited about working with Lead Pastor Michael Wood and entire leadership team to share God’s love in Northeast Louisiana, New Orleans and the world. We are praying for great things. Things that only God can do. We have the faithful expectation that First West will be energized for Christ-centered worship, community and service.” Spencer has served at First Baptist Collierville since June 2000. In addition to executive pastor, Spencer has served as associate pastor of worship as well as leading key … [Read more...]
Hineston woman starts Facebook page to get Christians voice heard again
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer HINESTON – A Hineston woman has started a Facebook page to get Christian voices heard again. Tiffany Busby Dunn, a member of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Hineston, started the Facebook page “The Christian Flag Movement” around 2:15 am today. By 4 pm, the page had received 394 likes. Dunn said that her heart was burdened over the attacks Christians in the United States have faced over the past several years. After talking with a friend who planned to display the flag in her home, Dunn felt led to take a stand and start the Facebook page. “We have been discouraged from public prayer, and told that the Bible is no longer welcome in most schools,” she said. “We have been criticized for our morals and fundamental belief system, all the while being told we should be more open minded to the beliefs of others. “The symbol of the Cross has been attacked on many occasions by different groups because it is ‘offensive to them’ while Christians are expected to suffer in silence and not say anything when something offends us,” she continued. “If we do speak up we are labeled judgmental or prejudice.” Dunn hopes all Christian denominations will take up the challenge to display the … [Read more...]
Philadelphia Baptist holds welcome-home celebration for students, chaperones involved in bus accident
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer DEVILLE – Twenty-four living miracles returned back to Philadelphia Baptist Church late Saturday, nearly 30 hours after surviving a serious bus accident in Florida on the way to a church camp. Those students and adult chaperons, along with nearly 40 other students and adults, walked into the church welcome center to a roar of applause, welcome home signs, balloons and plenty of hugs with their loved ones. “Today is a good day because we all were able to come home and to be able to come home alive and basically in really good shape,” Pastor Philip Robertson told the crowd of nearly 200. “There’s no way from a human standpoint that everybody should have walked away from that accident alive. “It shouldn’t’ have happened,” he continued. “There should have been some fatalities, but there weren’t. Death knocked on the door and God said not today. They will live.” The crash was reported at 3:10 pm on Friday, just west of State Road 331 near DeFuniak Springs, Fla., according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The 30-passenger bus carrying youth and chaperons from the church left the roadway and hit a tree. Twenty-five were taken to four different area hospitals for treatment, though … [Read more...]
Mission:Dignity buoys retired pastors, widows
By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources EDITOR'S NOTE: June 28 is Mission:Dignity Sunday in the Southern Baptist Convention. DALLAS (BP) - Virginia Pangle summed up what Mission:Dignity means to a pastor's widow like herself. "I don't have to worry about being cold, hungry or going without my medicine," she said. Mission:Dignity, a ministry of GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, ensures that Pangle along with nearly 2,000 other retired Southern Baptist pastors, their spouses or widows are able to have a sense of financial dignity in retirement. The ministry, fully supported by gifts from individuals, Sunday School classes and churches, provides monthly grants to retired Southern Baptist workers in critical financial need. The neediest couples can receive up to $600 each month in assistance. Mission:Dignity Sunday, held the fourth Sunday of every June on the Southern Baptist Convention's calendar, is set aside for churches to make a special offering for support of the ministry. Sixty percent of Mission:Dignity recipients are widows; one out of every four recipients is a pastor's widow age 85 or older. Mission:Dignity receives no Cooperative Program funding. "GuideStone … [Read more...]
Gibbie McMillan named to IMB board
By Baptist Press staff COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) - Gibbie McMillan, a pastor and Louisiana Baptist men's ministry and volunteer strategist as well as state director of disaster relief, was among 11 late nominees the Southern Baptist Convention entity trustees elected June 16 at the SBC annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Also at the annual meeting, messengers asked questions of two SBC entity heads. The 11 additional proposed trustees were nominated by a seven-member subcommittee of the Committee on Nominations appointed at the committee's March meeting in Nashville. The need for late nominations arose for a variety of reasons such as initial nominees' opting not to serve, trustee resignations and trustee deaths. The Committee on Nominations' entire slate of nominees to the SBC Executive Committee, the four convention boards, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the six seminaries and the Committee on Order of Business was elected after messengers rejected Virginia messenger Brent Hobbs' motion to replace International Mission Board nominee Tom Polvogt of First Baptist Church in Katy, Texas, with Johnson Ellis of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. The 11 late nominees were: -- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: … [Read more...]
More Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers trained at two Monday night sessions
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer Two Monday night training sessions resulted in 31 more members of Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief mud-out team members. Twenty-two people attended a training session at Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport while nine were present at Alford Heights Baptist Church in Many. They join other disaster relief volunteers who are serving in areas impacted by the recent flooding of the Red River. Ricky Woodard is among those who already have benefited from the ministry of disaster relief volunteers. Woodard, whose Shreveport property is less than 100 yards from the Red River, estimates work done by the mudout team from Zoar Baptist Church saved him nearly a month’s worth of clean-up. “They’re like a bunch of ants coming together and getting things done almost instantly,” Woodard said, with his two grandchildren standing nearby. “I’m so appreciative.” The team worked all day, removing mud and debris inside homes in the neighborhood heavily damaged by the river’s recent floodwaters. Loren Warren, a member of the team from Zoar Baptist Church, said that despite the temperatures that reached the upper 90s, the humidity was a small inconvenience compared to the blessings the … [Read more...]
Resources for men’s ministry
By Baptist Press Staff NASHVILLE (BP) -- The following are men's ministry resources recommended by Stephen Rummage of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla.; Fred Luter of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans; and Richard King of First Baptist Church in Las Cruces, N.M. Henry and Tom Blackaby, "The Man God Uses" (Nashville: B&H, 1999). This seven-week study helps men understand how God is working in their lives and how to surrender completely to Him. Topics covered include a godly man's relationship to family, work, church and community. Al and Lorraine Broom, "One to One Discipling" (Multiplication Ministries). This nine-lesson study is designed for one person to teach another the basic doctrines of Christianity. Edwin Louis Cole. "Maximized Manhood" (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker, 1982). This book teaches men to realize their full potential in Christ, addressing such issues as pornography, adultery, television addiction and immaturity. Tony Dungy, "Uncommon Manhood" (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2012). This book encourages men to focus on character, integrity and courage rather than status. Tony Evans, "Kingdom Man" (Carrol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2012). This book explains how men can be godly in their … [Read more...]
Fred and Chip Luter share insight about servant leadership at home
By David Roach, Baptist Press EDITOR'S NOTE: Father's Day is Sunday. NASHVILLE (BP) -- When Fred Luter had a son, he wanted to give him a biblical name. So he decided on "Chip." As in, "chip off the old block" -- a reference to the oft neglected biblical principle that children's lives are shaped by the spiritual, intellectual and emotional leadership of their fathers. "When I started living for God and then I got married and God blessed me with a son, one of my prayers to God was, 'Let me be the spiritual man in my son's life that I didn't have in my home growing up,'" said Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. "And God honored that." Today Fred "Chip" Luter III is campus pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church's Sulpher Springs campus in Tampa, Fla. Fred Luter Jr., a former Southern Baptist Convention president, is among the Baptist leaders seeking to teach men practically what it means to be the leaders of their homes. "Men are supposed to be, according to Scripture, the provider, the protector and the priest of their family," the elder Luter told Baptist Press. As providers, men are responsible to meet their families' needs financially "no matter how much their wife makes," Luter said. … [Read more...]
