Click to Login or Sign Up

Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

New believers brave cool temps to show ‘hearts on fire’ for Christ

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BATON ROUGE – Despite cool fall temperatures, 20 new believers braved the brisk conditions to be part of a special outdoor baptism service Oct. 22 at Istrouma Baptist Church. One by one, each stepped into a brimming horse trough, restated his and her individual faith in Christ, was plunged beneath the water and raised to symbolize being born again in Christ – and was greeted with hugs and cheers from friends and family among the several hundred supporters in attendance. Scheduled as part of its “One Another Sunday,” the baptisms brought together Istrouma Baptist’s Baton Rouge, Prairieville and Hispanic campuses. Indeed, a number of the baptized were among the 105 people who responded to Evangelist Jay Lowder’s message during the morning worship service that day. “It’s like Jay drew the net but the seed had been sown in people’s heart by the love our people show the community throughout the year,” Pastor Jeff Ginn told the Baptist Message. “When push comes to shove, we are called to lead people to Christ, baptize them and make disciples. All of those who are new to Christ tend to bring their friends and that’s what happened here. They came to the baptism service and brought … [Read more...]

Laying aside the earthly. You might want to get ready for this.

By Joe McKeever “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”  (2 Corinthians 5:1) “We do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” ( 2 Corinthians 5:4) My wife gets attached to cars. I do not.  Recently, I gave my 2015 Camry to my oldest granddaughter.  I’ve done that several times before–starting with the ’96 Camry to my son many years back, later the ’05 to a granddaughter, the ’09 to our twin granddaughters, the ’13 Honda C-RV to my son, and now this one.  I’m happy to pass them along, and as one might expect, they enjoy getting them. To me a car is a thing, an instrument we use.  My oldest granddaughter names them.  The ’05 is Sandy and this ’15 is Pearl (names based on their colors).  Like most cowboys in the old west, I don’t name my mounts.  I take good care of them and have them serviced by the dealer on the recommended schedule, and thus have almost no trouble from the car.  But when it’s time to replace it with a newer version, I’m happy to let it go. Think of that as a parable.  We let things go so they can be replaced by something … [Read more...]