The article, "NOBTS trustees address ‘sole membership’ issue" (Louisiana Baptist Message, April 29, 2004) brought back many memories with these words and phrases The article, "NOBTS trustees address ‘sole membership’ issue" (Louisiana Baptist Message, April 29, 2004) brought back many memories with these words and phrases - "lamentation, frustration, broken assurances, picked up a lot of heat, spoken to very plainly, no real openness to listen to the other side, expose the seminary to further attack, violation of convention bylaws, adversarial, confrontational, misinformation campaign, negative spin, situation will not be friendly."   Many readers of the Baptist Message have been there before. I have some advice for Dr. Kelley and the trustees. You hold the moral high ground. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee cannot force you to abdicate your responsibilities as caretakers of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. You are in control of the situation, as is your rightful responsibility. Some people do not negotiate; they only win. If you cannot be as confrontational and adversarial as they, you will lose.   Do not, under any circumstances, let your case be taken to the … [Read more...]

Churches, conventions and Christians are in deep financial trouble and facing a bleak future if church leaders do not actively engage cultural shifts and the perils of consumerism, speakers at a national conference recently warned. Churches, conventions and Christians are in deep financial trouble and facing a bleak future if church leaders do not actively engage cultural shifts and the perils of consumerism, speakers at a national conference recently warned.   "We are in bad trouble in the churches - (and) we won’t be out of it in your lifetime or mine," cautioned Loren Mead, founder of the Alban Institute and author of "Financial Meltdown in the Mainline."   Churches increasingly are dependent on a donor base that is getting both older and smaller, while younger adults are racking up more personal debt and giving less to the church, Mead explained during a recent conference sponsored by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.   Funding efforts tend to be erratic and short term, focused on survival or breaking even, Mead said.   "A lot of churches don’t know how to do anything else, and when the church is focused on survival, there is less energy for mission," he … [Read more...]

When pastors decide on a Bible to use, what translation are they most likely to choose? A new survey indicates they are most likely to opt for either the New International Version or the King James Version. When pastors decide on a Bible to use, what translation are they most likely to choose?   A new survey indicates they are most likely to opt for either the New International Version or the King James Version.   At the same time, among different denominations, there is little consensus.   Southern Baptist pastors are split evenly between the New International Version, King James Version, New King James Version and the New American Standard Bible.   Methodists prefer the New International and New Revised Standard versions.   A plurality of Lutheran ministers choose the New Revised Standard Version.   And close to half of Pentecostal pastors favor the King James Version.   The study of 700 pastors was conducted by Ellison Research for Facts & Trends, a publication of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.   "The (New International), King James, New King James, New American Standard and New Revised … [Read more...]

The lamp must be something special; it costs a hundred bucks plus shipping and handling. You likely have seen them advertised in various magazines. The lamp has a rather tall rod coming from a heavy base that sits on the floor. The lamp must be something special; it costs a hundred bucks plus shipping and handling. You likely have seen them advertised in various magazines. The lamp has a rather tall rod coming from a heavy base that sits on the floor. From the top of the rod protrudes a flexible section that holds a hood sort of thing. The hood holds some little tube lights that are touted as producing a wonderful color of light that is just like being outside. That’s what you get for a hundred bucks plus shipping and handling.   The instructions that come with the lamp say the lightbulbs will last 5,000 hours. That is good to know. It means you can turn the lamp on and leave it and enjoy 208 days and some 33 minutes of continuous light.   Or, you can enjoy the light for ten hours on 500 different days. That’s ten hours a day for one year and 135 days. Or, for five hours a day for two years and 270 days or about nine months, whichever way turns you on. Or, you could turn it on 40 hours a week … [Read more...]

For the week of May 27, 2004 New Orleans news   Louisiana Baptist Pastor Joe McKeever has accepted a position as director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. McKeever, 64, previously served as pastor at First Baptist Church of Kenner in the New Orleans area. He resigned that post in April and began work this month as director of missions for the area association. "The committee has asked me to stay with the position for five years," McKeever reported. "I suppose I should be complimented that at the age of 69 they think I’ll still have something to contribute. So, I’m starting a new career just when most of my friends are winding theirs down - learning a new job, trying to grow new wood." McKeever came to his Kenner church in 1990. He is the first associational director of missions to be elected under a new structure that goes in effect statewide in 2005. Under the plan, local associations will choose and fund their own directors of missions. Previously, they were funded by the state convention.   Response to terror   Spanish evangelicals are feeling an increased urgency for evangelism in the aftermath of terror attacks that killed almost 200 people on … [Read more...]

Any Baptist has the right, if electedas a messenger by his or her church, to present a resolution or motion to the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Any Baptist has the right, if electedas a messenger by his or her church, to present a resolution or motion to the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. And, hopefully, the Southern Baptist Convention Resolutions Committee this year will exercise its right by rejecting a possible resolution by T.C. Pinckney,   if he does, in fact, present a resolution urging all parents to withdraw their children from public schools, as news reports indicate he will. Word is that he will be joined in presenting this resolution by Bruce Shortt of Texas.   The resolution reportedly calls public schools "a dark and decaying" system that is "godless" and "anti-Christian." It also says that the public school system is "run by the enemies of God."   Such broad, sweeping condemnations make this editor’s blood boil. Some of the finest Christian people serving God in Louisiana Baptist churches work in the Louisiana public school systems. Committed Christians work at every level of public school service from board members to … [Read more...]

Ike Reighard is on a mission to help people exchange ordinary living for an extraordinary life through Jesus Christ. Ike Reighard is on a mission to help people exchange ordinary living for an extraordinary life through Jesus Christ.   It is a message fit for a pulpit, but the Southern Baptist pastor has found it equally powerful in corporate America.   More than a year ago, Reighard, 53, did some exchanging of his own - leaving the traditional pulpit to take his God-inspired message into the marketplace as Chief People Officer and executive vice president of Atlanta-based HomeBanc Mortgage Corp.   In doing so, Reighard left NorthStar Church in Kennesaw, Ga., which he had founded in 1997. Suddenly, he found himself on the threshold of a new ministry in which evangelism has no boundaries.   "We as ministers have bought into a great fallacy that the only way you’re going to be in fulltime ministry is if it is absolutely church-related vocationally," Reighard says.   "I know that at my core of cores, I’m called to be a pastor. (But) I can serve God equally well in whatever door of opportunity that he’s opened for me."   Still, walking through the door of … [Read more...]

"I remember the day when the love of God landed in our town. He took all the silent and broken hearts, fixed them up and gave them a sound. "I remember the day when the love of God landed in our town. He took all the silent and broken hearts, fixed them up and gave them a sound. You had almost every different kind of kid from every different kind of social background. Taking all the cool they had and praising God, as he spun them around. When God came to town."   Tose words by Gabriel Wilson are not just the lyrics to another song by his Christian band called the "Rock ‘N’ Roll Worship Circus."   They also recount a very real time when the Holy Spirit swept into the lives of teenagers in Wilson’s hometown of Longview, Wash.   The song was birthed as Wilson began talking out loud to his band members during a sound check one night. Although written in a matter of minutes, "Gift of Cool" had been "brewing in me for awhile," he says.   Justin Rossetti remembers the time Wilson cites. He was a high school teenager at the time.   "I was brought up Catholic, but when I turned 16 years old, I wanted to be extreme," Rossetti notes.   He began using hardcore … [Read more...]

It is all but settled - Louisiana citizens will decide whether to add a ban on same-sex marriages to their state constitution or not this fall. It is all but settled - Louisiana citizens will decide whether to add a ban on same-sex marriages to their state constitution or not this fall.   On the same day last week, the Louisiana House and Senate both voted to put a proposed amendment on a fall ballot. The House voted 87-11 for the same-sex ban, while the Senate voted 31-4.   Both vote totals were more than the two-thirds margin needed for the measure.   House members debated the issue for 75 minutes before voting. Supporters of the amendment cheered passage of the amendment proposal from the gallery.   Thirty minutes later, they cheered again as state senators followed suit.   Meanwhile, supporters predicted overwhelming approval of the proposed amendment by voters. While same-sex marriages already are banned by Louisiana law, they say the constitutional amendment is needed to guarantee that state courts do not step in and reinterpret or strike down those existing statutes.   The proposed amendment also would prohibit Louisiana from recognizing … [Read more...]

With Massachusetts now the only state to recognize same-sex marriages, the movement to legalize it nationally begins. With Massachusetts now the only state to recognize same-sex marriages, the movement to legalize it nationally begins. While other areas have made moves to recognize same-sex marriages, Massachusetts began issuing legal marriage licenses to same-sex couples earlier this month. With that action in mind, following is a list of common questions regarding the issue - with answers. • How does the Massachusetts decision impact the rest of the country? Same-sex couples married in Massachusetts now have stronger legal grounds to sue in federal court and ask that their marriage licenses be recognized elsewhere. In addition, a lawsuit could take place in a state court where justices may be inclined to issue a favorable ruling - for instance, in New Jersey, which is known to have one of the nation’s more liberal high courts. Either way, same-sex "marriage" could spread far beyond Massachusetts. • Could this lead to same-sex marriages in all 50 states? Many experts believe it could. In order for same-sex "marriage" to spread nationally, a 1996 law known as the Defense of Marriage Act must be … [Read more...]