NEW ORLEANS – In town to cover a Baptist Collegiate Ministries disaster relief missions event, I decided to worship at Calvary since the phone book said their first service was 8:15 a.m. By Karen L. Willoughby Managing editor NEW ORLEANS – In town  to cover a Baptist Collegiate Ministries disaster relief missions event, I decided to worship at Calvary since the phone book said their first service was 8:15 a.m. Reminder: Nothing in New Orleans is the same as it used to be. Most churches that had multiple services now are glad to be able to have even one! However, Celebration Church, where Dennis Watson is pastor, meets three times on Sundays and on Saturday evening, I found out, when almost by chance, I came across their “Transatlantic campus.” Sounded fairly pretentious to me, but it turns out Transatlantic is the name of the street. I found myself floundering in the foyer;  no one greeted me. That’s part of what happened when 75 percent of the congregation was dispersed, I found out after being “rescued” from the fear of “what do I do in this strange place?” by staff member Cindy Meilleur. High points: Superb worship led by Dwight Fitch Jr.; call to prayer at the altar long before the … [Read more...]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Ten years ago, Emil Turner left a successful pastorate at First Baptist Church of Lake Charles, La., when he accepted a call as executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Ten years ago, Emil Turner left a successful pastorate at First Baptist Church of Lake Charles, La., when he accepted a call as executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. “My wife and I were talking just last night about the great impact Louisiana Baptists have had on our lives,” Turner said on March 2. “This is our opportunity to serve the Lord and return some of the grace we have received.” Turner sent his team leader for missions ministries, Darwin Bacon, to participate March 2 in a Project NOAH rebuilding strategy meeting in New Orleans. It was not the first time Arkansas Baptists had been in Louisiana. “Our disaster relief volunteers were among the very first people into Kenner with feeding units [after Katrina,]” Turner said. “We bought refrigerated trailers in order to truck food to New Orleans.” Arkansas feeding units fed almost 2 million post-Katrina meals in Louisiana, and countless chain saw ministry projects. Arkansas Baptists also gave cash … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS – “I guess I just miss my old life,” said Shirley Dolbear, formerly of East New Orleans. By Karen L. Willoughby Managing editor NEW ORLEANS – “I guess I just miss my old life,” said Shirley Dolbear, formerly of East New Orleans. Her home was destroyed by flooding that left her – at age 86 – clinging for more than two days to the eaves of her house before her son commandeered a boat without motor or oars. That doesn’t matter now, though, she said from the steps of her FEMA trailer, parked beside her sister’s home. What does matter are friends scattered across the nation. There won’t be any more weekly lunches, Dolbear said. Life won’t ever be the same in New Orleans, people are beginning to realize. Two weeks ago they still were in shell-shock. Now they’re beginning to realize the amount of clean-up and rebuilding that will be required, and for what, ask people like Dolbear who lost not only her home and friends, but also her lifestyle. But Southern Baptists bring hope, and before a group of chain saw-toting Baptist Collegiate Ministries students left Dolbear’s sister’s home with a cleaned back yard and a pile of logs and tree branches by the front curb, the elderly woman made a … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS – More than $5 million is designated for Louisiana Southern Baptists to help in the rebuilding of New Orleans, North American Mission Board officials announced this week. By Karen L. Willoughby Managing editor NEW ORLEANS – More than $5 million is designated for Louisiana Southern Baptists to help in the rebuilding of New Orleans, North American Mission Board officials announced this week. NAMB is designating $5.14 million of its Hurricane Katrina funds for the hurricane relief rebuilding effort called Project NOAH (New Orleans Area Hope) in New Orleans and the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, said Jim Burton, NAMB volunteer mobilization director. The money is to be used for the rebuilding of 1,000 homes and 20 churches. “You’ve got to rebuild neighborhoods before you rebuild churches,” Burton said. “One of the principles we’re dealing with is that the more logistics you can do ahead of time, the easier you can make it for the responder and the more responders you’ll have.” Burton was in New Orleans late last week to strategize with about a dozen leaders from the Louisiana Baptist Convention and its churches, affected associations and even the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, … [Read more...]

CHALMETTE – At the request of FEMA, Louisiana Baptists opened a new kitchen Thursday, March 2, at a gutted elementary school here to feed the protective services personnel being displaced from their former temporary housing aboard cruise ships docked on the Mississippi River. By Karen L. Willoughby Managing editor CHALMETTE – At the request of FEMA, Louisiana Baptists opened a new kitchen Thursday, March 2, at a gutted elementary school here to feed the protective services personnel being displaced from their former temporary housing aboard cruise ships docked on the Mississippi River. Emergency supplies such as super-size cans of Dinty Moore Beef Stew were moved Tuesday from Louisiana Baptist Convention’s disaster relief storage and trucked to Rowley Elementary School in St. Bernard Parish, said Cal Jones, interim director of Men’s Ministries for LBC, who was supervising the loading. “FEMA requested our help,” Jones said. “The Food Bank in Alexandria sent people to load; FEMA will truck it to Chalmette, and Southern Baptist volunteers from Louisiana and all over the nation will run the kitchen from now until May – cook, serve and clean up.” The Red Cross will keep the kitchen supplied with food, … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS – In what he called his last sermon, Billy Graham offered a message of thanks and encouragement during last weekend’s Celebration of Hope at the New Orleans Arena. By Brian Blackwell Staff writer NEW ORLEANS – In what he called his last sermon, Billy Graham offered a message of thanks and encouragement during last weekend’s Celebration of Hope at the New Orleans Arena. “This is probably the last evangelistic sermon I’ll ever preach,” the 87-year-old evangelist told an overflow crowd of 17,800 people on Sunday. “But it’s been wonderful to be here. Thank you. “I’d like to thank my friends George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows for all these years we’ve been together,” Graham continued as he sat on his liftchair that raised him to the wooden pulpit’s appropriate height. “I look forward to a big reunion one day in heaven. God bless you all.” His last visit to the city was a six-week crusade 52 years ago. This time, he delivered a 22-minute message of hope to a city desperately in need of encouragement. Graham said he watched in shock as Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans’ levee system, leaving much of the city underwater. But days later, he said, “we saw the great men and women who … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Billy Graham, fielding a reporter’s question about the great lesson that can be learned from Hurricane Katrina, responded, “That there is much more to life than material things.” By Kelly Boggs Editor NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Billy Graham, fielding a reporter’s question about the great lesson that can be learned from Hurricane Katrina, responded, “That there is much more to life than material things.” The 87-year-old evangelist answered the query without hesitation and added, “There is a moral and spiritual strength that is needed not only in New Orleans and the Ninth Ward, but it is needed everywhere. “We are living in a very tumultuous period in history,” he reflected. “With Katrina’s aftereffects and the war in Iraq and all these things going on, if ever the country needs to turn to God it is now.” Graham’s comments came during a March 8 tour of communities in the hurricane-ravaged New Orleans area with his son Franklin. The Grahams were in New Orleans for a two-day “Celebration of Hope” crusade. The elder Graham originally wasn’t scheduled to take part in the March 11-12 outreach but told his son that New Orleans had really been “a burden on my heart” and that he wanted to … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Billy and Franklin Graham were welcomed to the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in New Orleans by a standing ovation from pastors, spouses and special guests March 9 for a time of prayer for the Grahams’ March 11-12 “Celebration of Hope” in the hurricane-ravaged city. By Keith Manuel Regional reporter NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Billy and Franklin Graham were welcomed to the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in New Orleans by a standing ovation from pastors, spouses and special guests March 9 for a time of prayer for the Grahams’ March 11-12 “Celebration of Hope” in the hurricane-ravaged city. The still strong voices of George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows led the group in worship. Barrows pointed out that the three men, Graham, Shea and Barrows, represent 267 years of collective ministry. Franklin Graham stood behind the pulpit where his father preached in 1954 to lead a month-long crusade in New Orleans at the old Pelican Stadium. David Crosby, First Baptist New Orleans pastor, pulled out a pen and invited Franklin to sign the pulpit that his father and the Graham team had signed in 1954. Franklin Graham mentioned the historic nature of the Celebration of Hope. During the planning for … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON (BP) – Efforts to advance the sanctity of human life, human rights and protection for marriage top this year’s legislative agenda of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. WASHINGTON (BP) – Efforts to advance the sanctity of human life, human rights and protection for marriage top this year’s legislative agenda of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. In a statement released March 14, ERLC President Richard Land and Barrett Duke, the commission’s vice president for public policy, said the following measures will be promoted by the entity in the second half of the 109th Congress: • The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, S. 51/H.R. 356, which would require abortion doctors both to inform mothers of the pain an unborn child of 20 weeks or older experiences during an abortion and to offer anesthesia for the baby. • The Child Custody Protection Act, S. 8, which would outlaw the transportation of a minor by a non-parental adult to another state for an abortion when the girl’s home state requires parental notification or consent. • A ban on human cloning for research or reproductive purposes. • The Marriage Protection Amendment, S.J.Res. 1, a … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS – In what he called his last sermon, Billy Graham offered a message of thanks and encouragement during last weekend’s Celebration of Hope at the New Orleans Arena. By Brian Blackwell Staff writer NEW ORLEANS – In what he called his last sermon, Billy Graham offered a message of thanks and encouragement during last weekend’s Celebration of Hope at the New Orleans Arena. “This is probably the last evangelistic sermon I’ll ever preach,” the 87-year-old evangelist told an overflow crowd of 17,800 people on Sunday. “But it’s been wonderful to be here. Thank you. “I’d like to thank my friends George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows for all these years we’ve been together,” Graham continued as he sat on his liftchair that raised him to the wooden pulpit’s appropriate height. “I look forward to a big reunion one day in heaven. God bless you all.” His last visit to the city was a six-week crusade 52 years ago. This time, he delivered a 22-minute message of hope to a city desperately in need of encouragement. Graham said he watched in shock as Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans’ levee system, leaving much of the city underwater. But days later, he said, “we saw the great men and women who … [Read more...]