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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

CRAIG BEEMAN: Helplessness is not hopeless

By Craig Beeman “It’s tough.” “It’s not fair.” “It makes me angry.” All of these are feelings and emotions we experience from time to time. At those times when we experience these emotions we really do not want to hear the quote from Chuck Swindoll that states, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” No, at the time we are hurting, we are hurting. The pain we experience in a situation is raw, painful and very real. At the moment of the impact of horrible news what we experience is a sense of helplessness. Each one of us has a built-in desire to be in control of our lives at some level. Each one of us, when faced with an issue we cannot fix or control, experiences a sense of helplessness. Helplessness is defined as being “marked by an inability to act or react.” It is that true feeling and reality that there is nothing we can do to help in a given situation. Loss of the ability to help is truly a horrible feeling to experience. My opinion, if it matters or helps, is that this sense of helplessness is helpful to us. WHAT? I know. I know. None of us like feeling that way. None of us desire to feel as if we are not in control of our own lives. Helplessness is one of those feelings no one likes to have. … [Read more...]

Fred Luter to headline 2017 Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast

BATON ROUGE – New Orleans Pastor Fred Luter will headline next month’s Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. Scheduled for April 11 at the Raising Cane’s River Center, 275 River Road S. in Baton Rouge, the prayer breakfast will feature Luter, who will share how prayer has impacted his life as pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, according to a news release from the office of the Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. Luter, the first African-American to become president of the Southern Baptist Convention, grew Franklin Avenue Baptist Church from 65 members in 1986 to more than 5,600 today. Since 2009, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church has baptized at least 120 people, including 121 in 2016. Luter’s strategy for congregational growth can be traced to a concept he calls FRANgelism. His congregation is encouraged to invited one of the following groups from among the acronym FRAN to attend church – friends, relatives, associates and neighbors. Also featured on the program is Rick Skaggs, a 14-time Grammy Award winner from Hendersonville, Tenn. Skaggs will perform a variety of Christian and patriotic songs. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will address elected officials and others in attendance at the … [Read more...]