By Message Staff LARTO (LBM) -- Larto Baptist Church has opened its front lawn as a sanctu-ary for residents wanting to protect their vehicles and personal belongings from rising floodwaters in the community. Since early May, water levels have risen four feet in the community located 24 miles south of Jonesville. Nearly 40 cars are parked on the church lawn which rises seven feet higher than the surrounding area, Pastor Kenny Smith told the Baptist Message. “Our church yard looks like a used car lot,” Smith said. “We are showing our support for our neighbors, many who have water near their homes and with the only way to get out by boat. Any-one who needs help, we do it because Christ commands it of us.” Smith said only four people attended worship services Sunday, May 19, because most of the residents were unable to travel to the campus. According to the Annual Church Profile database, Larto Baptist averages 35 worshipers for Sunday morning service. All activities likely will be cancelled for the coming weeks, Smith said. Meanwhile, Smith asked Louisiana Baptists to pray for his congregation and community. “Pray that people that are behind the backwater are able to get supplies,” Smith said, “and for their … [Read more...]

By Message Staff BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Chuck Kelley, in his final New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary report to messengers, thanked Southern Baptists for their investment in the institution he served during his 23-year tenure as president. He also voiced gratitude for Southern Baptists’ support through the Cooperative Program, the primary funding channel for SBC cooperative missions and ministries, noting that $172,751,343 has been given to the seminary via this funding mainstay during his time there. “We want to thank you for that and say, ‘Please keep on sacrificing, keep on sending, keep on supporting the preparation of your next generation of ministers,’” Kelley said. “All of us want to see our students graduate without student debt and you can make that possible.” Kelley said the seminary has seen a small increase in enrollment this year, and that $2 million has been given to the seminary’s student scholarship endowment since January. He referenced two scholarship programs that have helped students further the Gospel: the Fred Luter Scholarship has provided, since 2011, more than $1 million in scholarships to African-American students in Atlanta and New Orleans; and, the Caskey Center has awarded annual … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer GOLDEN MEAOW – Gulf Coast Baptist Church recently distributed one ton of pork while also planting Gospel seeds with the residents of Lafourche Parish. Seven members and their children handed out boxes filled with frozen pork loin, a Bible and Gospel tract to more than 100 people at the Gulf Coast campus, May 10. The effort was the first scheduled activity for the church’s newest ministry, “Feeding Lafourche.” Hannah Terrebonne, a GCBC member, said the volunteers followed Jesus’ example in Matthew 14:15-21: “Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ But Jesus said, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They said to him, ‘We have only five loaves here and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.” According to the Second Harvest Food Bank of New Orleans, one in five … [Read more...]