Submitted by philip on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 13:58 Nearly 700 students worshipped during the main sessions of the Collegiate Evangelism Conference. By Brian Blackwell. Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – Robby Gallaty presented students with a challenge – close their eyes and wonder about a life without sight. “Imagine if you were born into this world blind, do you know what that would be like?” Gallaty said to 675 students during the Collegiate Evangelism Conference. “That’s the world Bartimaeus came into.” Citing Mark 10:46-52, Gallaty challenged the students to do as Blind Bartimaeus did to receive eyesight – walk by faith and not by sight. To do this, Gallaty said students can do three things found in this passage. They are we should not be discouraged by the crowd, we should discard the cloaks in our life and we must surrender everything to Christ. Though Gallaty has never succumb to literal blindness, he told the students of the first 26 years of his life when he was spiritually without sight. A regular attender of church as a child and teenager, Gallaty said he was very religious but did not have a relationship with the Lord. Once he was on his own as a student at William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Miss., … [Read more...]

By Jerry Love, Director of Planned Giving ALEXANDRIA – The Louisiana Baptist Foundation Board of Trustees met for its regular quarterly Trustees meeting on Feb. 3. This is the first of four meetings for the Board for this year. The majority of board members are returning, continuing in the first term commitment or finishing a second 3 year term.  The Trustees welcomed its only new member for this year, Terry Shirley of DeRidder. Shirley has served the Foundation board in the past from 2002 through 2007. During the morning Investment Committee meeting, the various portfolios of the Foundation were reviewed in respect to performance and potential adjustments to asset allocation. Barbara Bell led a review of the financial assets under management.  As of December 31, 2014 the total assets managed by the LBF are $169,367,256.31 held in 2099 accounts on behalf of Baptist churches and ministries. Over the past ten years the assets held by the foundation have increased by 63.5% from $103,575,660 at the end of 2004. Lee Morris of Graystone Consulting, the LBF’s investment consultant, was present for the meeting and delivered his performance summary as well as general expectations for the coming year. Morris began his comments by … [Read more...]

By Baptist Press HOUSTON (BP) – In a Feb. 13 verdict that left both sides claiming victory, a Houston jury handed down a decision in a lawsuit against the city and administrators for their dismissal of a petition by a coalition of pastors and civic leaders opposed to the city’s Equal Rights Ordinance. Though the jury – in a 10-2 verdict – found nearly 2,500 forgeries among the 54,000 voter signatures, they dismissed the city’s allegations of fraud. With no definitive winner revealed by the verdict, the decision will not be finalized until 152nd District Court Judge Robert Schaffer issues his judgment. Schaffer was out of town and did not preside over the reading of the verdict. Following the verdict lead defense attorney Geoffrey Harrison claimed the verdict as a win for the defense and Mayor Annise Parker, who championed the ordinance as a “personal” issue. Defendants in the lawsuit are Parker, former Houston City Attorney David Feldman, City Secretary Anna Russell and the City of Houston. “If the court’s ruling follows the jury’s verdict this will be a complete and total vindication for the city,” Harrison told reporters following the verdict. “And the petition, which we declared failed back in August, will indeed be … [Read more...]

ON THE MOVE Emily Carpenter new as children’s director at First Baptist Church, Jonesboro. Everett Geis, Sr. new as transitional pastor at Ringgold First Baptist Church. Seth Ott has resigned at Youth Minister at Watson Baptist Church, Denham Springs. HOMECOMING Fair Park Baptist Church, West Monroe: 66th Anniversary, March 8, Pastor: Waymond Warren. REVIVAL Palestine Baptist Church, Bogalusa: Harvest Day, March 1, 10:45 a.m. Evangelist: Joe Aulds. Pastor: Fred Brumfield. First Baptist Church of Head of Island: Revival, March 1-4, 10:45 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sunday; 6:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. Evangelist: Marvin Wilson. Worship: The Wilsons. Pastor: Rocky Brown. New Covenant Church, Denham Springs: Messages on repentance, holiness and biblical revial, March 1-4, 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., Sunday; 6:30 p.m., Monday through Wednesday. Speaker: Richard Owen Roberts. Pastor: Keith Zachary. Faith Baptist Church, Bastrop: Revival, March 8-11, 10:30 a.m. March 8; 7 p.m. nightly March 9-11, Evangelist: Joe Aulds. Pastor: Bodie Spicer. Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, Covington: Revive This Nation, March 8-11, 6:30 p.m. nightly. For more information, call 985.892.1242. Speaker: Jonathon Beames. Pastor: Lonnie Thompson. Crockett Point … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 14:15 The LBC's Church Planting Director James Jenkins listens intently to Lee Wesley, pastor of Community Bible Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, during the recent meeting of the Every People Group Task Force on how Louisiana Baptists can reach various ethnicities around the state. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – The Every People Group Task Force met recently, continuing charting a plan on how Louisiana Baptists can reach those of various ethnicities in the state. James Jenkins, church planting director for Louisiana Baptists, said the charge of the task force is three-fold: ● Evaluate the ethnic diversity in Louisiana and its implications for Louisiana Baptists, ● Create avenues for input and involvement in LBC life by non-Anglo leaders and congregations, ● Lead Louisiana Baptists in effective engagement with ministry among all people groups in the state. The task force was appointed as a result of the President’s 2020 Commission, which was affirmed by messengers during the 2013 LBC Annual Meeting in Alexandria. The President’s 2020 Commission report was crafted collaboratively by 400 Louisiana Baptist pastors, leaders, staff members and laypeople working in 20 … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 14:20 According to a survey, younger Southern Baptists appear to not be abandoning the American church. By Tom Strode, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptists appear to be defying the prevalent notion that young adults are abandoning the American church – at least by one measurement. Attendance by younger generations reached a 10-year high at the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2014 meeting in Baltimore, according to an annual survey of attendees. The survey, conducted by the SBC Executive Committee, showed nearly one-fourth (24.68 percent) of attendees were younger than age 40. That surpassed by more than 4 percentage points the previous best for the age group, recorded in 2013. The 2014 survey also showed 10-year highs for SBC attendees who are under 45 (33.44 percent, a gain of more than 3 percent over the previous high in 2013) and under 35 (15.93 percent, again an increase of more than 3 percent over the earlier high, which came in 2012). Though not a scientific sampling, the dramatic upswing in younger-generation participation at the SBC annual meeting since 2005 – especially during the last three years – reinforces what he has “noticed anecdotally,” said … [Read more...]