Readers of the Baptist Message are introduced to some remarkable people throughout the year. Ranking them in order of importance would be impossible. Still, some linger in the memory and stand as representatives of the witness and work performed by so many Baptists. Below is a random listing of some of the more memorable people from 2002. Readers of the Baptist Message are introduced to some remarkable people throughout the year. Ranking them in order of importance would be impossible. Still, some linger in the memory and stand as representatives of the witness and work performed by so many Baptists. Below is a random listing of some of the more memorable people from 2002.   Alex Aust. During a traffic accident, 10-year-old Alex Aust ministered effectively to victims - to the amazement of his parents and others. "I don’t want to take God’s glory," he said later. "I don’t want to be a hero. I just want people to know that God can work through kids like me. A 4-year-old can say ‘I love you’ and turn someone’s life around."   Mabel Smith. Some go through life moving from city to city, job to job. However, 85-year-old Mabel Smith calls herself a "stay-putter." She retired last year after serving … [Read more...]

Throughout the year, the Baptist Message provides brief statements of inspiration as "food for thought." Below are the statements selected by the Baptist Message staff as the top thoughts of the most-recent year. Throughout the year, the Baptist Message provides brief statements of inspiration as "food for thought." Below are the statements selected by the Baptist Message staff as the top thoughts of the most-recent year.   10. "Serve God, ... even when the circumstances of your life don’t make sense."   - Max Lucado   9. "Here we are at the start of a new century. Everyone is attached to pagers, palmtops and wireless e-mail. ... Yet, with this worldwide communications explosion, has there been any improvement in the quality of our interactions? Have we learned to use our words to bring people close ... and to intensify the joy of life?"   - Unknown   8. "God, grant me a teachable heart."   - Unknown   7. "Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude."   - Martin Luther King Jr.   6. "Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the one who is leading."   - Oswald … [Read more...]

For the week of January 16, 2003 Cooperative Program Gifts through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program in December totaled $12.4 million last month, a decrease of more than $2.1 million (14.8 percent) from the previous December. For the year, gifts total more than $42.3 million, a decrease of about $1 million (2.3 percent) from the same time last year. The total also stands almost $1.9 million (4.3 percent) behind budget three months into the fiscal year. Meanwhile, designated gifts totaled $3.8 million last month, a decrease of more than $1.1 million (23.1 percent) from the previous December. Three months into the giving year, overall gifts total $10.1 million, a decline of $1.9 million (16.1 percent) from the same time last year. Mother Teresa action Acting with unusual speed, Pope John Paul II recently gave final approval to the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The action elevates the deceased nun to the rank just below sainthood a little more than five years after her death. Usually, there is a five-year waiting period after a person dies before the process of granting sainthood even can begin. However, the pope waived that for Mother Teresa four years ago. Now, he has approved her heroic … [Read more...]

Cooperative Program giving from Louisiana Baptist churches to the state convention and, therefore, all other entities supported through the Cooperative Program missed the 2002 budget goal. That is the bad news, and be sure it is bad news for each ministry, Cooperative Program giving from Louisiana Baptist churches to the state convention and, therefore, all other entities supported through the Cooperative Program missed the 2002 budget goal. That is the bad news, and be sure it is bad news for each ministry,   and each person touched by the ministry, supported by those gifts. Each ministry received proportionately less because the total gifts are more than $2 million under budget.   There is good news: gifts during 2002 totaled some one-half million more than the previous year. Still, concern remains.   What was the reason for the slowing of what has been a healthy increase of Cooperative Program gifts, each year over the previous years?   Statisticians and denominational watchers will be opining on that for months.   One of the reasons given - and remember, all reasons given to this point are guesses, some more educated than others - is the poor economy in … [Read more...]

Others may debate the state of the economy and how serious its current slide could be.   Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director Dean Doster has a clear mark for assessment’s sake.   He has just watched state Cooperative Program giving fall significantly short of the goal for 2002. Others may debate the state of the economy and how serious its current slide could be.   Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director Dean Doster has a clear mark for assessment’s sake.   He has just watched state Cooperative Program giving fall significantly short of the goal for 2002.   To be exact - "significantly short" translates to a budget shortfall of $2,076,847.14 (8.7 percent).   It is the largest shortfall ever experienced by the state convention - and sets the stage for a very challenging 2003.   Indeed, while holding to a standstill budget goal, Louisiana Baptists still will have to increase giving at a level never seen in order to reach it.   They also face a greater challenge - educating new generations and Christians on the value of the Cooperative Program and its unified means of funding worldwide missions and … [Read more...]

A Louisiana Baptist minister was found murdered in his Blanchard home Jan. 5 - and his wife is hospitalized with injuries sustained in an attack on the couple.   A man and woman have been charged with the crime. A Louisiana Baptist minister was found murdered in his Blanchard home Jan. 5 - and his wife is hospitalized with injuries sustained in an attack on the couple.   A man and woman have been charged with the crime.   Julian Brandon, 70, apparently died as many as three days prior to his discovery. He was a former Louisiana Baptist pastor and was serving as minister to senior adults at First Baptist Church of Blanchard.   Brandon and his wife, Alice, 69, were found after friends became concerned with their absence from a Sunday night Bible study, said Betty Tyler, secretary at First Baptist Church of Blanchard.   Concern had not been raised before because the couple often were gone to a nearby daughter’s house or guests at another church on weekends, she explained.   News of the attack and Brandon’s death stunned church and community members, Tyler acknowledged. "Things like this just don’t happen in Blanchard," she said.   A man and … [Read more...]

For the week of January 16, 2003 Potpourri • JONESBORO - McDonald Memorial church: Super Sunday; Jan. 19, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Carol Garlington, guest speaker; Terry J. Mims, pastor.   • RUSTON - Calvary church: Gospel Music Extravaganza; Jan. 18, 6-8:30 p.m.; sponsored by Joe Aulds Evangelism Asssociation; David Hastings, pastor.   • EUNICE - First church: "Business by the Book" financial workshop; Jan. 21, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.; $149 per person; Rick Boxx, seminar leader; to register, call (337) 457-2361; Mike DeRosier, pastor.   • BOGALUSA - Westside Emmanuel church: Jeremiah People in concert; Jan. 27, 6:30 p.m.; nursery available; Stephen Teal, pastor.   • LEESVILLE - Cooper church: Jamie Chaney Womack, special guest speaker; Jan. 26, 6 p.m.; Ed Chaney, interim pastor.   • HAYNESVILLE - First church: Bill Tisdale, featured guest speaker for men’s wild game supper; Jan. 25, 6 p.m.; Shelby Cowling, pastor.   • JENA - East Jena church: "God’s Design for Men" men’s conference; Jan. 25, 4-8 p.m.; Keith Dickens and Philip Robertson, guest speakers; Craig James, pastor.   • HODGE - Hodge church: Testify in concert; Jan. 26, 10:45 a.m.; Dwayne M. … [Read more...]

As one who sometimes teaches in a college/university setting, I am embarrassed that trustees at Louisiana College will effectively control by an approval process what materials college faculty may use in the classroom. As one who sometimes teaches in a college/university setting, I am embarrassed that trustees at Louisiana College will effectively control by an approval process what materials college faculty may use in the classroom. Trustee Joe Nesom responds that no other school has an academic freedom policy that gives "absolute power over their materials" and that other schools "would probably be amazed (Louisiana College) had such a policy." Nesom is correct - but not the way he intends.   The trustees should consult with my friends and colleagues at several institutions - secular universities and Baptist seminaries - who are indeed amazed by their foolish and excessive policy. Who do not need to obtain approval for "all materials." Who are still held accountable if they abuse their freedom - by procedures far more reasonable than what these trustees have mandated.   The new policy displays a lack of trust in those the school trusted enough to hire and already have been required to … [Read more...]