By Staff, Baptist Message   NEEDED/GIVING   Carey Baptist Association churches without pastors: Bellview, Bethel Metropolitan, First Cameron, Eastern Heights, First Hackberry, First Iowa, First Lake Arthur. DOM: JP Miles.   Northeast Louisiana Baptist Association churches without pastors: Bethel, Jerusalem, McClendon, Parkview. DOM: Jerry Price.   Morehouse Baptist Association churches without pastors: Antioch, Collinston, Grace, Horseshoe, Oak Hill, Riverside, White Avenue. DOM: Jerry Price.   First Crowville: seeks applications for the position of pastor. Send resumes to: Chairman, Pastor Search Committee, First Baptist Church Crowville, PO Box 38, Crowville LA 71230   Homecomings, Anniversaries, Revivals   College Place Monroe: 67th anniversary celebration 10 a.m. Nov. 6. Speaker: R. Bryant Barnes; Music: Darrell Washam; Pastor Ken Fryer. Dinner on the grounds after service.   First Lake Providence: Homecoming Celebration 10:45 a.m. Nov. 6; dinner to follow service. IMB missionary speaker; Danny Terral, worship leader; Mitch Minson, pastor.   First Converse: Revival. Dinner on the grounds to follow 10:45 a.m. worship Nov. 6; … [Read more...]

By Gary Meyers, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Trustees at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary approved a new student housing project during an Oct. 12 meeting. The board also approved five new certificate-level training sites and reduced the number of required hours in the doctor of educational ministry degree.[img_assist|nid=7691|title=New Housing|desc=The new 8-unit, 2-bedroom apartment complex approved by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees will use the same design and floorplan as the new Florida and Mississippi apartment buildings constructed in 2010.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=424] The board approved the construction of a new $1.7 million apartment building for student families. The new building will have eight two-bedroom apartments. News of the new housing comes on the heels of a strong fall enrollment. Seminary President Chuck Kelley said all current student housing units are occupied. Construction of the new building is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 1, 2012 -- just in time for the 2012 fall semester. The apartments will be built debt-free thanks to a donation from a private family foundation based in Louisiana. Kelley said the foundation sent $500,000 check to the seminary … [Read more...]

By Goldie Francis, Baptist Press   BANGLADESH (BP) – Najia Khatun* knows what her life would be like without the Light of Hope Center in Bangladesh. She knows she would be hungry. She knows she would be uneducated. She knows she would be working long hours at a garment factory.[img_assist|nid=7693|title=Hungry faces|desc=Bangladeshi children play on the mud floor just inside the doorway of their home. Several Light of Hope Center students live in this community. Center staff members visit the girls’ mothers regularly to ask about the families’ needs and pray with their mo|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=480]   Najia knows – and she is grateful.   “Before there were a lot of problems in my family. There was no money for food,” 17-year-old Najia said. “Now I have a job, and I am able to help my family. I am the main breadwinner in my family.”   Najia and her 14-year-old sister, Amila Khatun,* began studying at the Light of Hope Center when it first opened in September 2006. Light of Hope continues in operation today with help from the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund.   Najia and Amila – like the other 12 girls who come to the center – live in a slum of tiny bamboo … [Read more...]