By Baptist Message staff ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) - The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office has issued a warning for CENLA churches, cautioning them to be mindful of a new scam targeting them. According to the RPSO Facebook page, they were notified of the scam, June 27. “Apparently there is someone out there going through the trouble of identifying the members of the board of directors of churches and then sending emails to the church office, in hopes of acquiring the entire church membership directory,” RPSO posted. “For clarity, they did not hack the board member's email account or steal their identity.  Rather they obtained the email address from open source and sent an email with the request. “We want to warn our followers to always check the email address when information is being requested from you. If you have not heard from this person requesting this information, give them a call to make sure it is them. “In our busy times, we sometimes answer emails without really paying attention to the email address. Most of the time the scammers invent an email address that looks very similar to the legitimate email address of the requestor. “Always delete emails that look suspicious.” … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – The Louisiana Baptist Foundation board of trustees has announced that Jared G. Price has been elected the 10th executive director of the entity, a ministry of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. “I am grateful for the trust the board has placed in me and honored to continue serving Louisiana Baptists in this new role,” Price told the Baptist Message. “I remain fully committed to our current strategic plan, the LBF Vision200, which aims to advance the Kingdom with $200 million or more in 20 years or less. Five years in, I’m encouraged to share that we have already seen a cumulative impact of over $76.9 million. As we look ahead, my prayer is that we continue to be good and faithful stewards of the resources entrusted to us and a trustworthy partner for Louisiana Baptists.” The announcement followed a unanimous vote by the board of trustees on June 24 after careful consideration of Price’s nomination by a search committee comprised of board members and chaired by Wendell Whetstone. Price, who assumes his new role on July 1, succeeds Jeffrey Steed, who retired as the Foundation’s executive director on May 31. Whetstone said Price’s qualifications … [Read more...]