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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Salvations, not S’mores, highlight LBC camps

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BASTROP (LBM) – A total of 767 salvation deci-sions have been reported by Louisiana Baptist camps as the 2019 summer season closed. All the data has not been received, yet, but the Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center saw salvation decisions jump from 168 in 2018 to 206 this year (a 22.6 percent increase), coinciding with a 22.1 percent increase in attendance, from 2,428 to 2,965 campers. CHANGED CAMPERS Luke Hallman’s repentance for salvation in early July at “Clear Camp” on the campus of the Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center was a long- awaited answer to prayer for members of the Bonita Road Baptist Church in Bastrop -- who have been fervent for several years in asking the Holy Spirit to draw Hallman into a relationship with Jesus. Those prayers proved to be the spiritual soil for a harvest in Hallman’s life that was sown during a conversation at a worship session with Julie Woodrum, ministry assistant to the Louisiana Baptist youth ministry strategist, Brandon Lewis. “She broke down the questions I had asked very well, such as ‘How will I know I’m saved?’ and ‘How to mean the prayer I prayed?’” Hallman told the Baptist Message. “It’s great to know that when I … [Read more...]

God changes lives

By Waylon Bailey While the Epistle to Philemon is one of the shortest books in Scripture, it is one of the most powerful. We would miss so much without Paul’s letter to the slave owner about the slave. This book shows the power of God to cause people to change and move out of their comfort zone. Notice also that this story would be incomplete without the obedience of at least three people. We often forget how integral Paul was in this saga of repentance, forgiveness, and obedience. Paul put himself on the line for both Philemon and Onesimus. He also put the gospel itself on the line. Is the gospel real? Does it work? Paul put his own standing before others on the line as well. Was he asking an impossible request by asking Philemon to receive the fugitive slave and thief as a brother? What about Onesimus? By agreeing to return, he put his own life at risk. In the slavery of that day, masters had the right of life and death over slaves. On a whim, the master could have the slave beaten unmercifully and then left to die or to have the slave executed. Would Philemon be willing to take him back? What about Philemon? Was he a fool for trusting again? Could he really open his home and his arms to someone who had … [Read more...]