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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

EVANGELISM 101 (Part 5): What now?

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Salvation is not the end of the Great Commission, but the be­ginning, because it is not enough that a person has a redeemed soul, they also need to live a redeemed life. Importantly, Matthew 28:18-20 expressly states that Christ expects inten­tionality in what happens next for a new believer. To be precise, we are in­structed to evangelize the lost to become believers, mentor new believers to take that next step of obe­dience, baptism, and then grow them into mature followers by teaching them “all” that Christ taught His disciples. CONNECT There are some immedi­ate connections that need to be made for the new believer. Provide her or him with an easy Bible reading assignment to complete in the first week. Billy Graham had his counsel­ors hand out a four-lesson study on the Gospel of John (“Living in Christ” is the one used in the “My Hope” mass evangelistic outreaches). This resource offers the basics in “Know­ing Christ,” “Growing in Christ,” Obeying Christ,” and “Witnessing for Christ,” while also teach­ing Bible memorization. It is a good way to start the person in the steps to spiritual health and growth (prayer, Bible study, worship, … [Read more...]

2025 Q1: Send Network Louisiana yields 141 decisions, 68 baptisms

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Send Network Louisiana churches cele­brated a Gospel harvest to start the new year, pro­ducing 141 decisions for Christ and 68 baptisms by 44 church plants during the first three months of 2025. Additionally, the church plants reported 1,234 Gospel conversations and an aver­age of 64 in weekly worship attendance, according to a recent first quarter report by Send Network Louisi­ana. Send Network Louisi­ana Director Lane Corley said the partnership with the North American Mis­sion Board, which went into effect Aug. 1, 2023, has helped the state further its God-sized vision to see His Kingdom expanded in Lou­isiana by one percent over the next decade. “The Gospel continues to advance to new people in Louisiana through church planting,” Corley told the Baptist Message. “We also continue to engage every people group with new Hispanic, Asian, Arabic and multiethnic works. Replanting continues to be a major priority with dozens of churches in need of radical revitalization. We need planters, re-planters and partner churches for opportunities all across Louisiana.” Researchers estimate that 62 percent of approxi­mately 4.6 million Louisian­ans are … [Read more...]