First Baptist here plans to present Last Chance, a multi-media live drama Jan. 28-30, as an evangelical crusade in the community, said pastor Shelby Cowling. HAYNESVILLE – First Baptist here plans to present Last Chance, a multi-media live drama Jan. 28-30, as an evangelical crusade in the community, said pastor Shelby Cowling. The same company that produces Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames – Reality Outreach Ministries;www.realityoutreach.org – now has another drama with which to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last Chance centers on a grandfather’s descendants and their spiritual and eternal values. It is performed with the church congregation as cast members, and includes professional lighting, sound, projectors, screens, visual effects, staging and sets, according to the website. It’s A “PG-13” drama – the website suggests youngsters might be too young for the graphic imagery – that depicts the love of Christ, and the faith and hope of a grandfather in the lives of his family over the course of 20 years. “The audience is challenged over three presentation nights to consider where they will spend eternity, based on the biblical reality of life after death and beyond the grave,” according to the website, which … [Read more...]

A $30 check from a teenager gave Willie Breaux new hope to keep on going. NEW ORLEANS – A $30 check from a teenager gave Willie Breaux new hope to keep on going. Breaux has been pastor of Christian Fellowship Cathedral in East New Orleans since he started it in 1986. Pre-Katrina the church gave out food and clothing in the neighborhood, and had a job training and development program for high school students. But the church God entrusted to him took in 4.5 feet of water after Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught; his home had 10 feet of water and the wind took off all the shingles; his mother’s home had 8.5 feet of water. “Most people go back to deal with one situation; I had to deal with three,” Breaux said. He’d also lost most of his 50-member congregation; those left had overwhelming needs themselves. Toneyell Shropshire was one of his members who relocated; she and her family to Dothan,  Ala. “This is Toneyell sending you a little bit for you and our church,” she wrote him. “I know that it is not much but I just wanted to show you that I believe in you. I know $30 can’t do a lot but I just want to try and help.” That check buoyed him when he needed it, Breaux said. “When the scriptures talk about barren land, … [Read more...]

In December Tim Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Louisiana College appointed two task forces to study the feasibility of adding three new programs – a law school, an allied health center and a master’s degree in nursing – to the 70 majors, minors and pre-professional programs the college already offers. PINEVILLE – In December Tim Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Louisiana College appointed two task forces to study the feasibility of adding three new programs – a law school, an allied health center and a master’s degree in nursing – to the 70 majors, minors and pre-professional programs the college already offers. Johnson is ex-officio on all of the task forces, which he said he expects to be up and running by this March. “We will be relying on private and individual funding” for all of the additional programs, Johnson said. Already, alumni and others have show interest in supporting both the law school and the allied health center, Aguillard said. The task force for the allied health center and the master’s in nursing includes members from LC’s board of trustees, health care professionals, including representatives from St. Frances Cabrini Hospital and Rapides Regional Medical Center, as … [Read more...]

Pastor Ronnie Bray baptizes new believers in a horse trough at the B.C. Haley Tater Barn here.     KILBOURNE — Pastor Ronnie Bray baptizes new believers in a horse trough at the B.C. Haley Tater Barn here.   At 51, Bray has been preaching since he was 16 and was in his first pastorate at 18. Now, pastor of First Baptist Kilbourne and of Cross Trails Cowboy Church, he said he’s had a lot of good times and a lot of good ministry.   "But this is by far the most fun I’ve had in a ministry in my life. It’s changed a lot of people, including me. It’s been a wonderful deal."   Bray, who pastored in Olla, La., before coming to Kilbourne, had felt for a year or more that he needed to start something like a cowboy church, he said. But he never felt the Lord was putting things in place for the idea to become a reality.   Then, after moving to Kilbourne, Bray thought the idea might have seen its end, he said. However, after a couple of weeks of driving around the area and seeing all the cows and horses, he began to talk to people, finding out that many didn’t go to church anywhere.   "I began to feel like that’s what the Lord wanted me to do," Bray said. When he mentioned the idea of a cowboy church to some other men, … [Read more...]

It wasn’t the first time J.L. Franklin had been to an evangelism conference, but last January’s Louisiana Evangelism Conference got his attention, said the pastor of Bethel Metropolitan Church. LAKE CHARLES – It wasn’t the first time J.L. Franklin had been to an evangelism conference, but last January’s Louisiana Evangelism Conference got his attention, said the pastor of Bethel Metropolitan Church. Now, everything is different. “If there’s any one thing that’s important, it’s to have a hunger for what God has, a hunger for lost souls,” Franklin said. “The real priority is the Great Commission, and as a pastor, it starts with me. I need to get the leaders praying for that hunger.” Bethel Metropolitan is across the street from a high school and elementary school;  firefighters and police are housed nearby, on a main thoroughfare. But until the evangelism conference, the evangelistic opportunity inherent in the location hadn’t registered. Franklin recently completed his fourth term as a school board member, but during the five times in those four years that he walked the streets, knocking on doors for school board business, he didn’t think of evangelistic possibilities – until the … [Read more...]

Stan Johnson and his wife Patti had been members of Immanuel Baptist Church in Hammond for 14 years when they felt God calling them to something new. HAMMOND —Stan Johnson and his wife Patti had been members of Immanuel Baptist Church in Hammond for 14 years when they felt God calling them to something new: Crossroads Community Church, a new church plant designed to reach “a community that was in desperate need of a church to communicate an ancient message in contemporary ways,” according to the church’s website. The new church plant is designed to reach a growing younger generation, aged, 18-34 who would likely never darken the doorway of a traditional church, said Stan. Many have labeled this age group “postmodern.” “I don’t know what postmodern is; all I know is I’m not that,” Johnson joked. “The only reason I qualified was that they averaged my chronological age with my mental age.” Johnson will be 60 in March, he said, which makes him the oldest man at Crossroads, though one other person is older, a lady who is 65. But the lightheartedness belies the passion that spills over when Johnson begins talking about the need to reach a generation that he says is slipping through the … [Read more...]

Ministers, and all who live visibly for Christ, spend their days handling spiritual dynamite, carrying about in their words and deeds that which is eternally radioactive. Ministers, and all who live visibly for Christ, spend their days handling spiritual dynamite, carrying about in their words and deeds that which is eternally radioactive. We speak of God in familiar terms and pray as if in conversation with a neighbor. We claim that the One who created and now sustains the vast light years of space is our Confidant. We are personal spokesmen for the One who is Ruler Over All. This is terrifyingly wonderful. Years ago a young pastor called me in a panic. He was driving down a long, empty highway in the western United States when it dawned on him what it meant to stand before people, Bible in hand, and speak something from and about God. He trembled as he spoke with me and then asked, “How can I, knowing what I know about myself, even think about standing to read the sacred Word of God to His beloved children?” He was awakening to the near presence of Jesus, not as a set of truths or a carefully orchestrated set of emotions, but as the living One who was Eternal God present with him. He was, … [Read more...]

In his first letter Peter commands his readers to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15). Christian apologists rightfully see this statement as a mandate to defend the faith. It is certainly this – and more. In his first letter Peter commands his readers to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).  Christian apologists rightfully see this statement as a mandate to defend the faith. It is certainly this – and more. This passage is first and foremost a call to devotion.  “Christ as Lord” is central, making a defense for the hope that we have is certainly important but it follows from sanctifying Jesus as the center of our lives, not vice versa. What does it mean for Christ to be Lord?  In short, it means that he is master of every arena of our lives, our private thoughts and desires, our relationships, our vocations—every area. This includes how we relate to our culture. Christ as … [Read more...]

According to a recent U.S. Census report, 54 percent of mothers with advanced degrees do not work full time. Additionally, Census Bureau statistics reveal that over the past 10 years there has been a 15 percent increase in the number of stay-at-home moms. These figures reflect a trend that more and more women are choosing to focus on their families rather than their careers. According to a recent U.S. Census report, 54 percent of mothers with advanced degrees do not work full time. Additionally, Census Bureau statistics reveal that over the past 10 years there has been a 15 percent increase in the number of stay-at-home moms. These figures reflect a trend that more and more women are choosing to focus on their families rather than their careers. This exodus of women from the workplace has at least one feminist up in arms. Linda R. Hirshman, who recently retired as the Allen/Berenson Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brandeis University, has written a book and numerous columns assailing the trend of women choosing home over office. In an article titled “Homeward Bound” that appeared in The American Prospect magazine, Hirshman pulled no punches when she indicated that educated women who choose to … [Read more...]

The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” has proven to be true in the battle over abortion. The picture, painted by the decade-plus-long battle to ban the heinous procedure known as partial-birth abortion, has changed the debate. The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” has proven to be true in the battle over abortion. The picture, painted by the decade-plus-long battle to ban the heinous procedure known as partial-birth abortion, has changed the debate. Americans are polling increasingly pro-life partly because we’ve had a gruesome demonstration of the baby who – under current law – can legally be murdered as long as his or her foot remains in the birth canal. The Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the federal ban on partial-birth abortion will be announced next year, and hopefully that will put an end to these murders. But in the quest to end all abortions, it is necessary to continue painting pictures. Before ending the 109th Congress, members of the House of Representatives got out their art supplies once again. The December vote on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act was taken under an expedited calendar, which allowed only 20 minutes of debate and … [Read more...]