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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...]

Georgia Barnette provides vital resources for urgent Gospel need

ALEXANDRIA (LBC) – “Did God really say …?” Genesis 3:1. “Truth has been under assault since the beginning of creation,” according to Steve Horn, newly elected executive director for Louisiana Baptists. “When Satan first uttered these words to Eve in the garden, he opened an attack on truth that has only intensified with time. “In fact, some researchers have labeled this period in history as ‘Post Truth,’” Horn continued. “A Barna survey in 2018 indicated just over one-third of Americans, 35 percent, believe in absolute truth.” It is against this backdrop that Louisiana Baptists have launched their 2019 Georgia Barnette State Mission Offering emphasis, “Im-part. Truth. Today,” taken from Psalms 78:4, 6, “… we will tell the next generation … even the chil-dren not yet born …” (NLT). “As we read, listen and scroll through the news, we’re reminded daily that our world is in need of a Savior,” said Cameron Mullins, a member of First Lafayette and cur-rent president of the state WMU Council. “Having served on the State Missions Offering committee for several years, I have personally seen the impact the offering has made on our state.” Reaching out to the audiences identified by the 2013 President’s 2020 Commission (“every … [Read more...]

NOBTS prioritizes Leavell College, enrollment

By Gary Myers NEW ORLEANS (BP) - The executive committee of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's board of trustees approved a plan to renovate the former location of the campus LifeWay Store for use as offices for both Leavell College and enrollment as well as a campus welcome area. On Aug. 1, the executive committee unanimously approved a preliminary design for the space and a budget of $100,000 to complete the renovations. Seminary leaders hope to have the space renovated by January 2020. "The plans are ultimately about advancing the Kingdom of God, seeing people redeemed and restored; it's about people finding the same hope that you had when you came to Christ," NOBTS President Jamie Dew said. "In NOBTS and Leavell College, I see an institution that has so much potential to train people in unique ways. We have something to offer, not just Southern Baptists, and ultimately to the world. But to do that, we need to be healthy." To be healthy and able to train up the next generation of ministers, Dew said, the school must increase enrollment and the number of credit hours taken. It is this belief that led to the urgency to relocate these two strategic offices, he noted. Following his election as president … [Read more...]

Patterson: Practice evangelism, anticipate revival

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer POLLOCK – The Big Creek Baptist Association of churches could spark a nationwide revival if they would develop a love for sharing the Gospel with others, Paige Patterson, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said during the association’s Evangelism Night at the First Baptist Church in Pollock, August 4. “A revival would break out in this association and the first thing you know that revival would spread to other churches in local parishes around you and then it would spread and it would spread and it would spread,” Patterson said. “And the first thing you know the very thing that everybody considers to be impossible would happen and we would have a rebirth of the Word on God in America. It's that easy folks. We don't have to be destroyed. God is not through with us. And if we would begin to witness, it would make all the difference in the world.” Patterson, who referenced 2 Kings 7:1-9, said four lepers discovered an abandoned Syrian camp fully stocked with food, water and valuables, and after eating and drinking their fill began hiding their loot. Bu they had a change of heart and felt compelled to share the good … [Read more...]