By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief teams are responding to an area in Oklahoma devastated by a tornado in Oklahoma and a suburb of Houston, Texas, that saw historic rainfall in late May. Two mudout teams are in Missouri City, Texas, a town located about 18 miles southwest of Houston. East Fork Baptist Church in Kentwood and Coteau Baptist Church in Houma arrived in the area on Tuesday and will remain there until today. Nearly 1,800 homes were underwater in the community, according to Gibbie McMillan, Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief state director. McMillan said the response there could take up to a year. Meanwhile, two chainsaw teams are ministering in Poteau, Okla., where a tornado destroyed six homes and damaged another 50 structures, according to LeFlore County’s emergency management. The teams from Sabine Baptist Association left on Thursday and will return the following week. McMillan said Louisiana Baptists wanting to help can do so in three ways – pray, give and go. “In a magnitude of this disaster and with this many people affected, you do what you have to do,” McMillan said. “We will stay until the job is finished.” Scottie Stice, director of Disaster Relief Ministries for … [Read more...]
Louisiana Notables
ON THE MOVE • Michael Devillier resigned as pastor at Downsville Baptist Church • Josh Cagle new as pastor at Red River Baptist Church, Benton. • Harold Ashcraft new as music minister at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Shreveport. • Ed Baswell resigned as pastor at Clarion Baptist Church, Elm Grove. • Elijah Teh-Teh resigned as pastor at New Zion Baptist Church, Bossier City. • R. C. (wife Lilly) Flournoy new as associate pastor at Cornerstone Baptist Church, Shreveport. • Daniel Faulkner new as minister of students at Brookwood Baptist Church, Shreveport. HOMECOMING • Holloway Baptist Church, Deville: Homecoming Celebration, June 7, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. with dinner on the grounds to follow. Speaker: Frank Shields (former pastor). Music: Melody Slocum. Pastor: Jack West. • First Baptist Church, Vidalia: Celebration Sunday, June 7, 10:30 p.m. Speaker: Dan Glenn. There will be a potluck meal after the service. Pastor: Bill McCullin. • Salem Baptist Church, Plain Dealing: Homecoming Celebration, June 12, Speaker: Don McCormick. Dinner on the grounds following services. The Palmer Family in concert at 1:30 p.m. Pastor: Eddy Taylor. LAGNIAPPE • Susan Sanson, 67, a member of Metairie Baptist Church and an International Mission Board … [Read more...]
LBCH trustees updated on foster care ministry, construction projects
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MONROE – Just four years ago, two children were in the care of foster care families associated with the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home. While the Children’s Home is grateful for the impact those families made on the lives of the children in their care, Children’s Home staff wanted to do more – much more – to expand their reach of foster care homes for Christ. The goal, according to President and CEO Perry Hancock, was to one day greatly increase that number to surpass that of the children in residence at its main campus in Monroe. Today, after much prayer and increased efforts to bring awareness to that ministry, more than 100 children are receiving care from foster families associated with the Children’s Home. Hancock calls that nothing short of a miracle. “We are so excited about the response from our churches and families,” Hancock told trustees during their recent meeting. “Many are now answering the call to foster and adoption ministry.” At the heart of its increase in foster care awareness is Connect 1:27, a network that assists churches with the development of foster and adoption ministries and works with Christian families interested in serving as foster and adoptive … [Read more...]
Hebron celebrates storied past in new surroundings
By Mark H Hunter, Regional Reporter DENHAM SPRINGS – The oldest church in Livingston Parish just moved into a modern, spacious sanctuary that re-combined Hebron Baptist’s two-service congregations. The church, located just south of Denham Springs on Hwy. 16, also celebrated its 178th year with a May 3 homecoming service and, of course, dinner on the grounds – actually in the gym. “I feel like we have one congregation again,” said Joe Alain, senior pastor for the past nine years. “I kinda felt like I was pastoring two different churches. Now everything is together – which is a very positive experience.” For the past several years, due mainly to space constraints, they had been holding two services, one traditional at 8 a.m., and a contemporary service at 10:30 a.m. Now they hold one service at 10 a.m. and they have “blended” the formats as well, Alain said. “Our desire was to have the wisdom of our senior saints with the passion of our younger people,” Alain said. “Wisdom and passion together is a pretty good combination.” Founded in 1837, the congregation has met in a log cabin, a larger log-frame building, and several brick buildings until their new, $3 million, 25,000-square-foot sanctuary building was dedicated on March … [Read more...]
Moral conviction and not popular opinion essential in democracy
By Jeff Iorg, President, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, California A very successful political consultant in the Bay Area, who has helped elect a number of local officials, was recently arrested and charged with multiple counts of child pornography. At his arraignment, the evidence presented reportedly included some particularly heinous depictions of sexual acts involving children. The political fallout has been dramatic and immediate. Former clients, particularly those now in office, have rushed to outdo themselves with denials of any and all relationship with their confidant. He is radioactive – political death to anyone associated with him. While his purported actions are deplorable, watching politicians scramble to find the moral high ground on this issue has been frustrating at best, comical at worst. They are applying a double standard to his behavior which reveals the convoluted reasoning prevalent in making and enforcing laws these days. In light of current reasoning, what legal defense should this alleged pedophile mount? How about these familiar arguments: “My sexual orientation makes me a protected class citizen; therefore, expressing it is my civil right. My sexual orientation is an inborn trait; … [Read more...]
Is any problem too big for God?
By David Jeremiah, Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church, El Cajon, Calif. EL CAJON, Calif. (BP) – “Houston, we have a problem.” When NASA flight directors heard those words from Apollo 13, it was like an invitation: “You are hereby invited to solve a life-or-death problem” – and they did. Flight director Gene Kranz sprang into action: “Okay … stay cool. Work the problem, people.... Failure is not an option!” (Excerpt from the movie, “Apollo 13.”) Work the problem! With no heat, no light and little communication with the ground, the astronauts drifted back toward earth in darkness – helpless. Work the problem! Ground engineers had to conserve enough power to fire the engines and direct them safely into the earth’s atmosphere. And they did! Lost in space Ever felt lost in space, drifting along, helpless, wondering if even God is stumped by your situation? We know God can solve problems, but in your darkest moments you wonder if He is even working on it. Friend, He is! Look at the Apollo 13 situation in a split-screen format: three astronauts on the left screen huddled in their freezing spacecraft, speaking little to conserve energy, fighting to stay awake, with only a flashlight – dark, cold, silent. On the right … [Read more...]
What’s on my heart for SBC
By Ronnie Floyd, Southern Baptist Convention president COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) – For 11 months, I have had one of the greatest privileges ever given to me by the Lord. Serving as president of the Southern Baptist Convention is one of the most humbling and overwhelming experiences in life and leadership. With each day, while my burden deepens, my hope exceedingly rises. What an incredible moment God has given to each of us to live at this time in human history. In light of that, I want to share a few things on my heart about our upcoming SBC annual meeting. Coming together Yes, coming together is on my heart. I pray we will come together in Columbus, Ohio, on June 16-17. I pray we will come together in unity. While our uniqueness and various perspectives express themselves at times, we do need to resolve: We will come together, stay together, and leave together as followers of our Lord in our Southern Baptist family. I pray we will come together in Columbus with great expectation. This expectation does not need to be in men or programs, but in the Lord Himself. He is doing some mighty things among us and I pray when we are together, He will do some mighty things in us. Come expecting God to meet with us powerfully and send us out … [Read more...]
Horn: ‘Humbled and blown away’ by positive response to ‘ The Pledge’
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – Enthusiastic. Burdened. Inspired. Confident. That was the mood inside a room of more than 20 pastors from Louisiana Baptist congregations of all sizes and locations during a recent meeting in which they sought to reignite a passion for the Cooperative Program and cooperative missions through an initiative called “The Pledge.” “I need to be challenged,” said First Lafayette Pastor and current LBC President Steve Horn. “I need to be challenged in every area of my life. If not challenged to give, we always fall back to status quo.” “We believe we can do more together than we can do by ourselves,” Horn told the May 14 meeting of 20 pastors. “And we believe in the methodology of our cooperative endeavors and our Cooperative program. It has served us well and will serve us well in the future. First announced during the Louisiana Baptist Executive Board meeting on May 5, The Pledge is a plan to challenge churches giving less than 3 percent to the Cooperative Program to move to 5 percent; churches giving between 3 and 8 percent are encouraged to increase by 2 percent; and churches giving between 8 and 9.9 percent to go to 10 percent. Churches who already give 10 percent in their … [Read more...]
Training students to make a difference for Christ
They are two Southern Baptist institutions of higher learning in Louisiana, with a different type of student they educate, their location and the enrollment numbers. But despite their differences, Louisiana College and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary have one end result – training students to make a difference for Christ in a culture that is increasingly hostile to the gospel. Originally named Baptist Bible Institute, NOBTS was founded in 1917. An act of the SBC Annual Meeting created the seminary as a way to evangelize the city of New Orleans. The school now has extensions in Shreveport, Monroe, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Angola Prison and Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women. Enrollment stands at 3,800 this year, and the school is a training school for ministers. Louisiana College, meanwhile, started in 1906. The liberal arts college trains mainly undergraduate college students in more than 80 majors, minors and pre-professional programs of study that includes nursing, teacher education, Christian studies, business, social work, chemistry and convergence media. Its enrollment is 1,080. Why does a student pick a Christian-based school over a university that is secular in nature? Steve Lemke, provost at NOBTS, … [Read more...]
Corley shares Bridge Church’s successful matrix with WMU attendees
BOSSIER CITY – Two words from Christ more than 2,000 years ago still are very much alive today and continue to impact one’s own community, state, nation and world. Follow Jesus. “A call to be like Jesus – to see the world with His heart, through His eyes, to see the possibilities and act boldly in His power,” said Lane Corley, Louisiana Baptists’ church planting strategist and pastor of the Bridge Church in Madisonville. “That’s our challenge and it’s the one our community is waiting for.” In fact, following Jesus may require much sacrifice but yet could be found as close as a believer’s front yard, college campus or office building. But before following Jesus, a Christian must start with getting his or her heart right with God. A heart is one of four symbols the Bridge Church uses for a simple tool to find ways to follow Jesus in its community. And the same matrix can be adopted by any other church, Corley emphasized. In addition to the heart, the other symbols are an eye, lightbulb and finally an arrow. After getting one’s heart right with God, a believer must have his or her eyes open to needs of the world, then have an imagination for the heart and eyes to dream of ways to reach people and lastly an action for a … [Read more...]
