… [Read more...]

By Baptist Message staff MCLEAN, Va. (LBM) – J. Bennett Johnston, a U.S. senator who represented Louisiana for 24 years and a longtime member of First Baptist Church, Shreveport, died at a hospital in McLean, Virginia, March 25, from complications related to COVID-19. He was 92. Johnston served as a state representative and senator for eight years combined and U.S. senator for another 24 years. According to his obituary, Johnston was a “conservative Democrat known for working across the aisle, sometimes voting with Republicans when he thought it would serve his state. Johnston helped drive the creation of Interstate 49, brought money into the state to help protect wetlands (including helping establish two national parks and seven wildlife refuges), and in 1990, made national headlines when he defeated Ku Klux Klansman David Duke in that year's Senate race.” According to Lauren Ostendorff, a church secretary and long-time member of FBCS, Johnston joined the church in 1943 and was still a non-resident member when he died. He remained active in the church while practicing law in Shreveport and preparing to enter his first term as a U.S. senator. He served the congregation as a member of the board of directors, as did his … [Read more...]

During its recent meeting, the Louisiana Conference Of Southern Baptist Evangelists elected 2025 officers: Sam Moore, president; Bill Blackmon, vice president; and Nancy Blackmon, secretary/treasurer. … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer LAPLACE, La. (LBM) – Guoybing Tang first came to faith as a member of a Chinese underground church in 2023 but only recently did he publicly celebrate his new life in Christ, having been bap­tized by the First Baptist Church, LaPlace. Tang, who stirred the baptistry waters Feb. 9, was greeted with thunder­ous applause from friends gathered for the service. “It was my happiest day ever,” Tang told the Baptist Message. “Baptism is very important to me, and it represents I’m a true Chris­tian with faith in God. “Everything in my life has now put me in the right direction with God,” he continued. “I have no pressure or no anxiety. Now I have joy.” Tang arrived in the United States seven months after he accepted Christ on April 16, 2023, during a Bible study with an underground church (the location is undisclosed for security purposes). After passing by FBC La­Place in December 2023, he decided to return the next Sunday for a worship ser­vice and has been faithfully attending ever since. During the first “En­glish as a Second Lan­guage” class he attended, Tang met church member Nick James and expressed his desire to be baptized. James and Pastor Shane Newton helped … [Read more...]