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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

HomePlace offers women hope of heavenly abode

MONROE – Sarah Pierce spent nearly 15 years seeking freedom from alcoholism, but just a few months into 2017 she found deliverance in Christ when she entered HomePlace, the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries program for homeless children and their mothers. Through HomePlace, Pierce received spiritual support from fellow mothers in the program and LBCHFM staff members, who encouraged her to share her testimony of salvation publicly, through baptism. On August 18 she took that step of obedience with another HomePlace resident as they were baptized during a worship service at the North Monroe Baptist Church in Monroe. The women are two of five HomePlace residents (out of 13 women currently in the program) baptized this year, and among numerous others in the program who have been plunged beneath baptistery waters since HomePlace began in 2010. Susan Clark, LBCHFM director of family care ministries, said she has been blessed to witness the life change in Pierce and many other women, who participate in daily personal devotional times, weekly small group Bible studies and monthly large group gatherings, featuring a speaker and testimonies, at the ministry’s Monroe campus. “We give them Jesus, every … [Read more...]

ReGroup renews Sunday school passions

By Message Staff HAUGHTON, La. (LBM)--Johnny Hunt encouraged participants at one of two simultaneously held  ReGroup training conferences for Sunday school leaders to become better disciple makers and students of the Bible. “When you get further down the road you would like to look back and know you have not been wasting your time,” Hunt said. “You really want to see life change. “If we really believe what we are teaching it’s not only going to change us; it’s going to change the people,” he emphasized. “But we not only must exhort this truth to our people. We must emulate this truth in our life. If I’m going to help build someone for Kingdom life, it will take Bible engagement and reflection on the Scripture.” Hunt, the newly installed senior vice president of evangelism and leadership at the North American Mission Board, was the keynote speaker for the ReGroup North Conference at the First Baptist Church in Haughton, and Ken Weathersby, vice president for convention advancement with the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, was the main speaker for the ReGroup South Conference at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles. The two locations drew 972 people, combined, on August … [Read more...]

Students see ‘M-azing’ growth at M-fuge

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer PINEVILLE – Many students entered the recent Ministry Fuge camp at Louisiana College looking for an opportunity to serve others and left having had an encounter with Christ. Six campers repented for salvation, eight repented to restore fellowship with the Lord, three indicated a Holy Spirit call to ministry and eight made some other spiritual decision, according to Carol Pipes, media representative for LifeWay Christian Resources. Throughout the week of July 15-19, the 115 middle and high school students from churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas enjoyed a time of worship and Bible study at the Pineville campus each morning and then dispersed into smaller teams to minister throughout the community. Students held Backyard Bible clubs in Pineville at the Wardville campus of the Gathering Place, and in Alexandria packed boxes at the Food Bank of Central Louisiana and spruced up the grounds and facilities at the Hope House for battered women. “We are pleased to continue hosting Lifeway’s M-Fuge summer camps on our campus,” Louisiana College President Rick Brewer told the Baptist Message. “Plans include an expansion of M-Fuge camp offerings at the College in future years … [Read more...]

Ralph Abraham disputes Edwards’ transgender stance

BATON ROUGE – U.S. Congressman Ralph Abraham has released a campaign ad titled, “The Truth,” in which he rejects Gov. John Bel Edwards’s efforts to establish special rights for people who claim a transgender or a gender fluid sexual identity. “As a doctor, I can assure you there are only two genders,” Abraham said. The reference is to Edwards’s executive order that mandated state government contractors must accommodate employees who identify as something other than their actual biological sex. Transgenderism and gender fluidity are not recognized by federal law as protected classes, and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry filed a lawsuit to prevent enforcement of Edwards’s edict. Ultimately, the state Supreme Court ruled Edwards’s mandate as unconstitutional. … [Read more...]

Goliath’s giant hometown discovered

TELL ES-SAFI, Israel – After digging at a site in southern Israel for more than two decades, archeologists have discovered unusually large stone fortifications and walls twice as thick as other cities in the area, proving that Gath was a major regional power consistent with the biblical account. Gath is the birthplace of Goliath, the Philistine giant who terrorized the army of Israel but was killed by the slingshot of a young David. While the massive gate and the monumental structures of the city are impressive in size, convincing visitors the city must have been built by giants, the lead archeologist disagrees. Prof. Aren Maeir of Barllan University, who has been digging in the area for 23 years, previously uncovered the 10th century B.C. ruins of Gath before finding the new site, dated to the 11th century B.C., just a meter deeper. He told the Jerusalem Post that people are prone to conclude “this must have been done by giants of the past.” But he dismissed the suggestion that giants existed, saying “There are no skeletons of people who are taller than NBA centers.” Meanwhile, BreakingIsraelNews.com reported Maier previously discovered, 2006, a Philistine inscription with two names. One, written with Semitic … [Read more...]

GALLUP: 40 percent of Americans believe in creationism

By Will Hall, Message Executive Editor WASHINGTON – Gallup reported this summer that 40 percent of U.S. adults professed to hold a creationist view of human origins, remaining within the range of 38-47 percent that has benchmarked this response during the 37year history of the poll. Participants were asked specifically if they believed “God created human beings pretty much in their present form within the last 10,000 years or so.” Meanwhile another 33 percent of respondents said they believed humans developed “over millions of years … but God guided this process.” Only 22 percent of Americans shared a view that “God had no part in” the development of humans. However, this is the highest number to make this response in the history of the poll. Gallup related this increase to the rise in the country of the number of religiously unaffiliated persons which also amounts to about 22 percent of the population. … [Read more...]

Planned Parenthood chooses abortion over women’s health

By Will Hall, Message Executive Editor WASHINGTON – Planned Parenthood announced it would forego as much as $60 million by not participating in the Title X program, which provides funding for such things as cancer screenings, because of a Trump adminstration rule that the grants cannot be used by a clinic that offers abortions or makes referrals for abortions even if it provides other women’s health care services. In essence, Planned Parenthood had to choose between the $60 million in federal grants for women’s healthcare or the more lucrative abortion business it conducts. The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parent hood’s research arm, reported that an abortion, whether surgical or chemical, cost about $500 last year in Planned Parenthood clinics across the United States. That means Planned Parenthood, which performed nearly 333,000 abortions last year, made in the neighborhood of $166 million from abortions, or $106 million more than it would receive this year in women’s healthcare funding under the federal government’s Title X program. Planned Parenthood also receives Medicaid funds, which last year totaled an estimated $500 million for the group. In total, the nation’s largest abortion provider had revenues from all … [Read more...]