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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Hot Louisiana summer outreach ideas

By Lane Corley Along with Vacation Bible School, summer offers us some great opportunities for outreach and seed planting in our communities. Here’s a few that I’ve tried or learned from other Louisiana churches: Water bottles for front yard lawn mowers Fill a few ice chests full of ice cold water or Gatorade, then head out on Saturday morning and watch for people working in their front yard. Interrupt them by giving them a bottle and a small connection card to your church. I promise they won’t mind. Face painting or balloon animals at local festivals Every Louisiana community has a festival, car show, farmers market or something. Add to the gathering by offering something fun for kids. Face painting is easy for almost anyone. Poll your team for other talents that might be unique and entertaining. Don’t forget to have invite cards to your church or Bible study. Fun for kids at multi-housing complexes If you haven’t already, you should get to know the managers at local multi-housing complexes. They’re often required by upper management to provide events for the park and in my experience they are stressed about that! Offer to help by extending a VBS activity or showing up with a snow cone machine or bounce house a few … [Read more...]

Children’s Home dedicates newest cottage for homeless children and their mothers

The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home celebrated the completion of its newest HomePlace Cottage for homeless children and their mothers with a ribbon cutting May 21 at its campus in Monroe. Among those celebrating the ribbon cutting were (left to right) Perry Hancock, Gene Howard, Irma Howard, Maggie Martin and Jonathan Martin. Gene Howard is the cousin of Jonathan Martin, chairman of the Louisiana-based RoyOMartin Lumber Company. The Howards have given generously toward this project, along with proceeds from the Brenda Hall Abney Children’s Golf Classic hosted annually by Roy O. Martin. Irma’s Place, named after Irma Howard, will house homeless women and children for up to 12 months at no cost to the residents. While there, the women may work toward their high school equivalency and receive life and employment skills training through the Christian Women Job Corps, a ministry of the Children’s Home. Residents living in this cottage will experience an array of amenities to offer a true home environment for the women and their children in this transitional setting as they prepare for independent living. This is the second new HomePlace Cottage to open since 2016. … [Read more...]