By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer PINEVILLE – Louisiana College received an early Christmas gift Dec. 8 and LC President Rick Brewer wanted to share it with everyone. After 18 months, probationary status was removed from the school’s accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Since June 2014, LC maintained its accreditation but remained on probation most recently because the SACSCOC Board of Trustees surmised from materials submitted by the previous administration that the school’s governing documents had holes relating to administrative procedures for identifying and addressing incidents of undue external influence from political, religious, or other external bodies. Surrounded by students, faculty, alumni and community leaders, a smiling Brewer expressed gratitude for his administrative team and the board of trustees for their work in formalizing controls that ensure the school complies with every accreditation standard. He learned of SACSCOC’s decision that morning and returned in the afternoon from SACS’ annual meeting in Houston, Texas to report the good news. Brewer said he was grateful to his senior administrative team for responding with a fix for the … [Read more...]

By Marilyn Stewart, Regional reporter NEW ORLEANS -- Race is an issue that continues to divide, said New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson during a book signing at the LifeWay campus store at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The solution is "changed hearts" in Christ, Watson said. The event fell on Nov. 24, the one-year anniversary of the ruling in the racially charged Ferguson, Mo., case of the shooting death of Michael Brown. Watson's book, "Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race -- and Getting Free from the Fear and Frustrations that Divide Us," expands on his lengthy Facebook post that resonated with readers the day after the news broke that officer Darren Wilson would not face criminal charges for the shooting death of Brown. "[Race] is something that keeps on coming up," Watson said. "It's something we're always talking about and it's not seeming to be going anywhere." Calling his book "part manifesto, part memoir," Watson told the line of fans that snaked past shelves and out LifeWay's door that he put his thoughts to paper after seeing a public reaction to the verdict that seemed to split along racial lines. "I was conflicted because so much was tied into it. I wanted to work out my … [Read more...]

By Norm Miller, LC Communications PINEVILLE (LCNews) – Louisiana College is set to confer 135 degrees at its 159th commencement ceremony on Saturday. The ticketed event begins at 10 a.m. in Guinn Auditorium. The keynote speaker is Rev. David Edwards, president of David Edwards Publications. Edwards - an ordained and licensed preacher - is a professional speaker and author, who travels full-time speaking in schools and churches. He holds a BA in Religion with a minor in Mass Communications and Art from Oklahoma City University. He has completed additional graduate work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. An approved speaker for many school boards in 16 states, Edwards has spoken at seminars and chapel services at colleges and universities. He has spoken at Pride World Drug Conferences, Youth Evangelism Conferences (Y.E.C.), and Xtreme Winter Youth Conferences. Edwards has served as a mission minister in Brazil, Switzerland, Belgium, Amsterdam, Jamaica, and South Korea. Having written 23 books, Edwards formed David Edwards Publications in 2005 with a mission statement of “Meeting people where they are in life and bringing them one step closer in the process of knowing Jesus … [Read more...]