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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

NOBTS team sows & reaps in Birmingham

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (LBM) – New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary students recorded 19 professions of faith during a week-long evangelism “boot camp” and outreach blitz in Birmingham, Alabama, prior to Southern Baptists’ annual business meeting. The students participated in evangelism training, visited 1,100 homes and shared the Gospel with 255 people in neighborhoods throughout the city June 3-7, NOBTS officials reported. They also joined 400 Southern Baptist teams, June 8, and collectively shared the Gospel with 10,409 homes during Crossover, Southern Baptists’ evangelistic outreach in the host city for the annual meeting. Combined, the teams engaged in 1,817 Gospel conversations and 364 of these individuals they encountered declared Christ as Lord, Crossover organizers reported. Another 2,251 persons sought prayer. Teams also provided free medical and dental care through a Send Relief mobile clinic set up at Birmingham’s Sixth Avenue Baptist Church. GOSPEL ENGAGEMENT The first recorded salvation took place on the students’ first day in the city. Tony Thibodeaux, pastor of Barataria Baptist Church in Lafitte, and two other students led Hannah, 7, to faith in Christ … [Read more...]

Kelley says farewell, passes baton

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...]

Gulf Coast Baptist feeds physical, spiritual hunger in Lafourche

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...]

Building the Kingdom in Avoyelles

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MOUREAUVILLE – The oppressive summertime humidity was no match for a group of Kingdom Builders who, in early June, helped the first Louisiana Baptist church in Moreauville build a new multi-purpose facility to help expand the Gospel in the community. A team of 57 people from 31 Louisiana Baptist churches, June 3-7, installed framing, sheetrock, wiring and plumbing inside the 2,880-square-foot Moreauville Community Church facility that will house a worship center and food pantry. Once Kingdom Builders (mostly Baptists but who minister to all denominations) is done, Baptist Builders (Louisiana Baptist sponsored and Baptist focused), will finish any remaining work. “We worked at a snail’s pace the first day and went through a week’s worth of Gatorade and water in the first day,” Kingdom Builders President Randy Ray told the Baptist Message. “It’s hot out here but we are all staying hydrated as we carry on this important task. “To me this is a picture of what a New Testament church is,” he said. “It’s a picture of cooperation when we have all these people from all these churches together to accomplish this kingdom purpose.” Moreauville Community Church joins three other church … [Read more...]