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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Dew unanimous choice as NOBTS president

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – Trustees of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary voted unanimously, June 5, to elect Jamie Dew as the ninth president of the school during a special called meeting on campus. An 11-person search committee recommended Dew, and that trustee panel included several Louisiana Baptists: Waylon Bailey, pastor, First Baptist Church, Covington; John Foster, member, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans; and, Jackie Myers, member, First Baptist Church, Sicily Island. Jack Bell, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Hornbeck also served on the committee but stepped aside for personal reasons in the spring, according to the seminary public relations department. Dew is succeeding Chuck Kelley, who retires July 31. ‘BEST OF EVERYTHING’ During an introductory press conference, Dew said New Orleans offers a unique opportunity for theological education and ministerial preparation. “In this city you have the best of everything - culture, challenge, opportunity for ministry, a religiously plural context that our students could learn in,” he said. “In short, if you can learn to share the Gospel here, if you could learn to minister to the poor, to the broken, to … [Read more...]

David Cranford to be LBC president nominee

By Will Hall, Message Editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – David Cranford, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Ponchatoula, will be nominated for president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention during the 2019 annual meeting. Philip Robertson, pastor of the Philadelphia Baptist Church with campuses in Deville and Alexandria, alerted the Baptist Message June 3 of his intentions to “enthusiastically” make the nomination  because Cranford “knows and loves Louisiana, and he has a heart to see our state reached for Christ.” The LBC annual meeting is scheduled to be held in the Alexandria Riverfront Center, Nov. 11-12. STATEMENT OF SUPPORT Robertson said he has known Cranford for 23 years and served alongside him for 13 years when they were members of the same association. “He has demonstrated his heart to see Louisiana won for Christ by serving on nearly every level of associational and state convention leadership for more than 20 years, as well as several positions in the Southern Baptist Convention,” Robertson said. “His belief that anyone, anywhere, anytime can be saved fuels his passion for evangelism and missions at home and around the world.” “Dr. Cranford believes churches working cooperatively together is the … [Read more...]

Despite our imperfections, Jesus loves us still

By Jeff Ginn Baseball is a game of statistics. Baseball fans love them. They chart everything — batting percentage, home runs, strike outs, and the list goes on. From this mountain of statistics, we learn that certain achievements are rare. For example, it is rare when a team executes a triple play. It is rare when a batter hits for the "cycle" in a game. Those feats are roundly celebrated. But among the rarest of achievements in America’s pastime is when a pitcher throws a “perfect game.” This is when a pitcher is able to get every batter out in a nine-inning game. He faces 27 batters and sits them all down with no hits, no walks, and no errors. Baseball has been played professionally for about 145 seasons. There have been over 217,000 games contested. Of those, only 23 have been “perfect.” If my calculations are correct, that is 0.0001 percent of the time. “Perfection” in baseball is rare. Perfection in life is rarer still. Of the billions of people who’ve lived on earth, only one has been perfect. The amazing thing is that the Perfect One — the Lord Jesus — sees all our errors and loves us still. He is willing to go to the record book and blot out our errors and credit his stats to us. Now that is something to … [Read more...]