By Message Staff ALEXANDRIA – It is a milestone worthy of celebrating. Louisiana Baptists will gather at the Louisiana Baptists building ready to celebrate the planting of the 200th church since 2010 July 12. By reaching this mark, it means Louisiana Baptists are two-thirds of the way toward reaching their goal of planting 300 churches by 2020. “When we started this journey, it seemed to be such a formidable task,” said John Hebert, director of the Missions and Ministry Team for Louisiana Baptists. “But through much prayer, hard work, a really good plan and God’s blessing we are not only going to meet our goal but possibly could surpass it. “We are over joyed and grateful to God for helping us to plant this many churches (200) in just seven years’ time,” Hebert continued.  “This is huge … really, really huge.” The goal was part of the President’s 2020 Commission report, affirmed by messengers during the 2013 LBC Annual Meeting in Alexandria. The report included 10 actions steps of which one was to plant 300 churches by the year 2020. “Church Planting Director James Jenkins is a wonderful partner in ministry, he is to be commended for his untiring work on helping us to reach this milestone so soon,” said Hebert. … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Famed New Orleans evangelist Bob Harrington, known by many as "the Chaplain of Bourbon Street," passed away of kidney failure on July 4 in Stigler, Okla., where he had lived the last seven years with family. He was 89. Harrington became a well-known evangelist during the 1960s and 1970s following his conversion to Christianity at age 30 in his hometown of Sweet Water, Ala. He was a popular guest on national television shows including Phil Donahue, Merv Griffin and The Tonight Show due to his one-liners and unconventional religious wit. In the 1970’s, Bob met famed atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair. The two could not be more polar opposite people. “Yes, many may say Madalyn knows the Scriptures better than I do, but I know the author,” said Harrington. The unlikely duo toured 38 cities debating the existence of God. Harrington's eight-day crusades, first held in tents and later high school stadiums and convention centers, produced thousands of converts. In 1960, after only a few years of preaching throughout the South on flatbed trailers and in tents, Harrington moved to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with his wife Joyce, and daughters, Rhonda and Mitzi. During his time in seminary, Harrington … [Read more...]

By Louisiana Right to Life NEW ORLEANS - The number of abortions in Louisiana decreased by 4 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to preliminary figures provided to Louisiana Right to Life recently by the Louisiana Department of Health. It was the second straight year abortion numbers have dropped. There were 8,972 abortions performed in Louisiana in 2016, down from 9,362 abortions reported in 2015 and 10,211 abortions reported in 2014. The number of abortions performed in the state had increased steadily from 2008-2014 as population numbers returned to pre-Katrina levels. Even with numbers down nearly 14 percent since 2014, an average of 25 abortions per day were performed in Louisiana in 2016. Louisiana Right to Life will continue working hard to reduce these numbers until every baby is saved. Benjamin Clapper, Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life, said the following on the publishing of the statistics: "Every day in Louisiana in 2016, a baby who would have been aborted in 2015 was saved. These children will savor the joys of Louisiana because of their mothers' courageous decisions to choose life.  While we are happy that fewer babies were aborted in 2016, we will continue to work until every baby is … [Read more...]

By Louisiana College sports information PINEVILLE – Louisiana College has found its next head softball coach and didn't have to look too far to find him. During a press conference Wednesday, July 5, LC President Rick Brewer and Athletic Director Reni Mason announced the hiring of former pitching and co-hitting coach Bobby Buchanan as the seventh head softball coach in school history. Buchanan most recently served as pitching and co-hitting coach at Southern University in Baton Rouge and has five year of experience as an assistant or volunteer coach at the University of North Dakota, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, and Texas State University. "I am not only thrilled, but honored to be the new head coach of Louisiana College," Buchanan said. "We are in a power house conference  in our division where teams are in a battle nationally on the leader boards, and that means it will be a real challenge. A challenge I can't wait to experience." Primarily serving as a pitching coach, Buchanan has seen all-conference selections at both Southern and North Dakota under his tutelage, including North Dakota's first-ever All-Big Sky First Team honor. Just last season, Southern saw a 3.59 point drop in their team earned run average, … [Read more...]