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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Encouraging words on a bad Friday

By Steve Horn By now you all know that another school shooting has happened — this time in Santa Fe, Texas. Closer to where I live, in the town of St. Martinville, Louisiana, my wife’s hometown, several students died the same day in a car accident. Fun events for seniors, who were anticipating their last day, were canceled. As I sat down to put some thoughts down, I got a news alert that a plane has crashed in Cuba. Meanwhile, high school graduations in my area were happening all weekend. Keenly aware that these graduating seniors aren’t reading my blog today or any day, if I could address every graduating senior, my words would go something like this. Be thankful. Life is fragile. Life is short. Life is far from perfect. The only way to live life to the fullest is to be thankful. Be thankful because you know you didn’t get to where you are by yourself. Be thankful for parents, teachers, coaches, ministry leaders, the military, police, first responders, doctors, dentists, nurses, and many others. Most of all, give thanks to God. I went to a high school sports awards program the other night put on by our local paper. I was thankful and impressed that most every student gave thanks to God. Alex Haley, author of … [Read more...]

Abraham urges passage of Farm Bill

By Office of Congressman Ralph Abraham WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Ralph Abraham (R-Alto) issued the following statement in response a vote May 18 on the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, commonly known as the farm bill, failed on a 213-198 vote. "Today a small group of Republicans joined Democrats to block the best chance we had to institute work requirements for food stamps so that people can lift themselves out of poverty and enter the workforce,” said Abraham, a member of Alto Baptist Church. “I know that Democrats have vowed to block bills like this that President Trump supports, but Republicans should be working together instead of holding each other hostage over unrelated issues. This was a good Farm Bill that implemented work requirements for SNAP and provided the policies our farmers rely on for planning so that they can keep feeding this country. Those who voted "no" turned their backs on President Trump and the American farmer. They need to get on board so we can pass this bill that is critical to the success of American agriculture.” … [Read more...]

Louisiana’s Johnson applauds passage of Louisiana prayer bill

By Office of Congressman Mike Johnson WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Mike Johnson (LA-04) applauded the Louisiana Legislature on its amended “school prayer bill” (La. Senate Bill 512), which was passed late Friday evening, May 18, in the final moments of the legislature’s 2018 regular session. Earlier this month, Johnson, who previously served as senior legal counsel for America’s largest religious liberty defense organization, joined with many of the nation’s other leading religious liberty attorneys and constitutional law experts to offer suggestions on how to amend the controversial legislation. “We applaud the hard work of the legislature, and especially those principled leaders in the Louisiana House, who stepped forward to correct and pass the revised version of SB 512," Johnson said in a statement. "What began as a very flawed piece of legislation that would have jeopardized the rights to religious expression in public schools was properly amended in the House. The new law will now provide much-needed clarity for students, teachers and coaches throughout Louisiana. “In the complex and widely misunderstood area of the law pertaining to school prayer, legislation is sometimes proposed on a state and local level that … [Read more...]