By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Many Bible crit­ics attack the historicity of the exodus by arguing that the royal records of ancient Egypt do not offer an official account about the 10 plagues, the escape of millions of slaves and the crushing loss of pharaoh’s elite chariot corps. However, these naysayers ignore the obvious -- that ancient rulers rarely docu­mented the failures of their leadership. Moreover, these same detractors also brush aside the glaring evidence of other sources that confirm many of the details of God’s deliver­ance of Israel from captivity in Egypt. Indeed, some of the most dramatic examples prove the deniers wrong about their claims that Israel never dwelt in Egypt and did not serve as slaves to build the Egyptian empire. First, the Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446, which is described by historians as “one of the most important surviv­ing administrative documents from Egypt in the Middle Kingdom” (the timeframe just prior to the exodus) lists the names of 95 slaves, including 45 “Asiatics” (how the Hebrew peo­ple were described by Egyp­tians at that time). What researchers concluded from these entries about a trans­action (the sale or transfer of slaves) is that … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) -- Louisiana Bap­tist Convention President Kirk Jones, pastor, Fellow­ship Church, Prairieville, reminded board members that they need to recom­mit themselves to princi­pals, practices and patterns that define the model for biblical cooperation. Drawing from 1 Corin­thians 16 and the example of the collection taken up for the saints in Jerusalem, Jones underscored that “we exist for the prop­agation of the Gospel” both at home and abroad, underlining the need to be intentional and sacrificial in our investment in win­ning souls. Moreover, Jones said the biblical model for co­operation is defined by: -- “accountable coop­eration” (a group of men delivered the offering to see firsthand the need); -- “humble leader­ship” (leaders who make themselves available to what God is doing in His Kingdom, and not create a necessity for their leader­ship); -- “strategic partnership” (planning and com­munication); -- “personal connec­tion” (not just passing through, but getting to­gether); -- “faith-filled availabil­ity” (“when God opens a door … walk through,” and develop a culture that en­courages steps of faith); -- “leadership elevation” … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) -- Executive Board President Tim Williams, pastor, Williams Boulevard Baptist Church, Kenner, reminded board members about the need for laborers for the harvest. Williams drew from his experience as a “mission­ary kid” in Liberia, West Africa, to explain an idiom used in that country, “I hold your foot.” “If you have something I want and you don’t want to share with me, I’m beg­ging you or pleading with you, by saying ‘I hold your foot.’” He added that if some­one needed relief from the chief or a judgment in their favor, they would get on their knees in front of the chief, hold his foot and say, “I beg you. I plead with you. I hold your foot.” Williams also explained that it is an expression of intense gratitude, when someone has done some­thing you didn’t deserve, something above and beyond what you could expect. “You would fall on your face before them, and you would hold their feet!” Sharing from Luke 10, Williams said Louisiana Baptists must fall at the feet of God and cry out. “I sometimes wonder if we throw ‘praying for the lost’ around pretty flip­pantly -- and praying for workers. We do pray but is it a deep desire?” he … [Read more...]