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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

God’s “Little One’s” in Hillary’s America

By Ron F. Hale If the Obama administration flexed its legal muscle toward the Little Sisters of the Poor, it is not far-fetched to believe a Hillary Clinton administration would launch angrier attacks on America’s first freedom of religious liberty! With a history of serving the poor since 1839, one must ask: What kind of mind considers forcing a group of nuns to provide abortifacient drugs against their will, conscience, and religion? Seriously? The late 60s and early 70s in America saw the convergence of several cultural realities creating a tidal wave of social angst. The sexual revolution was happening just as America’s largest population group, the Baby Boomers, was coming of age. Coupled with that, a nightmarish vision of a worldwide “population bomb” setting off food shortages and global famine fed the idea of population control. As the women’s rights movement demanded abortion rights, some thought it was an idea come of age. During this social upheaval, even many Christians lost the biblical perspective that human life is sacred because we are His special creation. In dealing with America’s moral conundrum concerning abortion many continue to believe our Supreme Court committed judicial activism. The late … [Read more...]

Ministry prepares to share the gift of God’s Word at Christmas

By Will Hall, Message Editor ALEXANDRIA – Andy Byon is convinced the best gift anyone can give for Christmas is God’s Word because it is essential to sharing the Gospel and for receiving salvation, and, he is enlisting supporters and volunteers to join him for the Natchitoches Christmas Festival as a participant in an evangelistic outreach to the 100,000 people who are expected to attend this year. “Many in these crowds are unsaved,” said Byon, chairman of See The Light, a Bible distribution ministry. He is a member of Philadelphia Baptist Church, Horseshoe Drive, in Alexandria. “It is our hope that by placing a free New Testament in the hands of them, many will receive Christ as Savior and Lord, or at least have seeds planted which ultimately lead to their salvation.” Byon is pushing to sign up volunteers to help hand out Bibles, December 3, and to convince supporters to help buy boxes of the Word. “We see the potential to reach thousands,” Byon told the Baptist Message. “In fact, God blessed us to give out about 9,100 Bibles last year – and we witnessed a number of confessions of faith in Jesus. “We believe the Lord has prepared a great harvest this year, as well,” he added. Byon pointed out the Bibles only … [Read more...]

Convention Committee Resolutions

Jason Walsworth, Chairman pro tem RESOLUTION 1: ON EXPRESSION OF APPRECIATION WHEREAS, Many individuals and groups have had a part in planning, preparing and conducting the 169th annual meeting of our Louisiana Baptist Convention; and WHEREAS, The messengers of this convention desire to warmly recognize and express appreciation to the following: Dr. David Brooks and the staff of Calvary Baptist Church, Alexandria, for their assistance with details and for providing the use of the facilities for this annual meeting; and Dr. Gevan Spinney, Convention President, for his warm, gracious spirit in leading, speaking and listening to Louisiana Baptists during the year, and his gentle firmness in moderating this annual meeting; and Jeremy Christ, Music Director for this annual meeting, for planning and coordinating the music and the musicians for their dedicated service at the instruments; and Jason Lovins Band, Special Music Leaders for this annual meeting, for guiding us into meaningful worship and celebration and providing spiritual refreshing; and Robert Lawrence and members of the Order of Business Committee for planning this informative and inspirational annual meeting; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That … [Read more...]

Two former SBC presidents highlight Pastor’s Conference speaker lineup

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BALL – Two former Southern Baptist Convention presidents will headline Louisiana Baptists 2016 Pastors’ Conference, scheduled for Nov. 13-14 at Kingsville Baptist Church in Ball, with a focus passage of Romans 13:11. “Urgency is the theme of this year’s pastor’s conference because pastors should have a sense of urgency in the pulpit for people to have it in the pew,” said Nathan Davis, president of the Pastor’s Conference and pastor of First Baptist Church in Coushatta. “Our prayer and hope is that this conference will encourage and challenge pastors, staff members, and lay leaders to realize now is time to be urgent about preaching the Gospel, evangelizing the lost, and encouraging the brethren.” DAY ONE The conference will begin at 6 p.m. Sunday with music by Todd Dubose, minister of music at First Baptist Church, Minden, along with participation by area choirs. David Allen, dean of the School of Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, will preach the first sermon. James Merritt, pastor of Cross Pointe Church, Duluth, Ga., will close out the opening session. Merritt served as SBC President from 2000-2001. Monday, the conference will … [Read more...]

Guidelines for the Making of Motions at the Annual meeting

It is important to remember that motions may only deal with one topic at a time. When making a motion, you should be as brief as possible and always begin with the phrase “I move that...” If you are making a subsidiary motion (one that deals with a motion already on the floor), it must be relevant to the motion currently under consideration and not be a motion that is the same or substantially similar to one already dealt with by this convention. If your motion is a privileged motion, it must not be dilatory (unnecessary or made only to delay the conduct of business). If your motion seeks to amend the Louisiana Baptist Convention Articles of Incorporation or Louisiana Baptist Convention Bylaws, please review these documents in advance for special rules regarding the process of amendment prior to offering your motion. A copy of the LBC Articles of Incorporation and LBC Bylaws are found in your Book of Reports. Important Steps in wording your motion: A motion should direct that the Convention take some sort of action or refrain from taking some action. Include only the action you want to see taken in your motion. Do not include supporting reasons for adopting your motion in the motion itself. This is done during debate … [Read more...]

Unveiling of Harvest evangelistic effort set for 2016 Annual Meeting

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – Louisiana Baptists have a unique opportunity to be part of one of the largest joint efforts for evangelism ever undertaken in the state – an initiative that figures to be a major catalyst for spiritual awakening. During the Louisiana Baptist Convention 2016 Annual Meeting, Nov. 14-15, messengers will have the chance to learn more about how they can say yes to the Harvest – a two-year effort to involve at least 700 Louisiana Baptist churches to “pray for every home and share Christ with every person” in Louisiana, according to Wayne Jenkins, Louisiana Baptists director of evangelism. “The plan is simple,” he explained. “Dates and the kind of events are set by the churches in the association and the state mission services team serves as a resource to train and implement.” Jenkins will share more about the Harvest initiative during the Monday evening session of the annual meeting, which will be held at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria. After spending 2016 to plan and enlist leaders and churches and using 2017 to conduct statewide evangelism training and pilot different methods, Louisiana Baptists will join together across the state in 2018 in prayer events … [Read more...]