https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bILONfKJ7nk By Message Staff Last month’s flooding in Louisiana flooded more than 14,000 thousands structures, including 14 Southern Baptist churches. In response, many churches have taken up special ‘love’ offerings to help the affected congregations clean up and rebuild as well as to help their sister churches with their efforts to restore or rebuild their facilities. “That’s what I love about Southern Baptists,” McMillan said. “When there’s a need and Baptists know about it, they’ll pray and they’ll give and many will go in response so they can help make a difference.” … [Read more...]

By Deanna Wallace, Louisiana Right to Life BATON ROUGE -  The Louisiana House of Representatives has passed two important pieces of pro-life legislation, HB 386, the Women's Enhanced Reflection Act, and HB 488, the Board Certification Requirement for Abortion Providers Act. The bills now move to the Senate. HB 386, authored by Rep. Frank Hoffmann (R-West Monroe) and approved by a vote of 89-5 on Wednesday, would increase the current time for reflection between pre-abortion counseling and the actual abortion procedure from 24 hours to 72 hours. Louisiana Right to Life Legislative Director Deanna Wallace said, "We are thrilled that the Women's Enhanced Reflection Act passed the House floor in a strong bipartisan manner.  This important bill empowers women considering abortion with additional reflection time before an abortion so women can can consider their options more effectively. Not only would this protect women from future emotional and psychological harm, but it would give victims of coercion and violence more time to reach out for help before being forced into an abortion they do not want." HB 488, authored by Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) and unanimously approved on Wednesday, would require that abortion … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bZaiQnnEUA By Message Staff COVINGTON – Waylon Bailey has a message for all those affected personally by the recent flooding in Louisiana – the key on the road to recovery is to lean on one another and God for encouragement. Bailey speaks from first-hand experience. He also knows just how beneficial Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams can be to people trying to recover from a natural disaster. In late 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of southeast Louisiana, disaster relief teams from Louisiana and throughout the US showed up in force. For several months, teams worked out of the parking lot at First Baptist Church in Covington, where Bailey serves as pastor. Throughout that time, teams not only helped rebuild homes but offered a spiritual uplifting to many who were hurting. Ten years later, disaster relief teams have come to the state once again to give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name. “Based on Hurricane Katrina, remember the same God who is always been with you in the past is going to be with you,” Bailey said. “There are people who are going to show up and they are going to continue to show up and help and encourage. “We all need church,” he said. “We … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhHC_8bRsCg HAMMOND – The need for more volunteers to respond to clean-up efforts in the state is great said Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief Southeast Regional Coordinator Tom Long. “Get involved,” Long said. “We can get people involved who haven’t been trained. We have a program set up where we can sign them up to send them out with our regular teams.” For more information on donating or volunteering with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts, go to louisianabaptists.org/DisasterRelief. … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET5KdvRt-Bs By Message Staff Without the Cooperative Program and the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering, current efforts, such as responding to last month’s historic flooding would be difficult, said Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief state director Gibbie McMillan. That’s why McMillan is so thankful for Southern Baptists, including many individuals and churches in Louisiana, who continue to see the need to give to the Cooperative Program as well as the state’s missions offering. The money given provides funding to purchase tools, mold-fighting chemicals like Shockwave, train new volunteers and cook meals for those affected by a disaster. “If it had not been for the Georgia Barnette State Mission Offering, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing right now in dealing with this flooding and clean up,” McMillan said. … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2TsZ5hc3uE HAMMOND – Four weeks and counting – that’s how long Freddie Arnold, Tom Long and Pat Hayen have been manning the southeast regional incident command center at Woodland Park Baptist Church. A normal rotation is between 7 and 9 days but because of the scope of the recent flooding in the region, Arnold is working longer than usual. After opening not long after heavy rainfall caused flooding in mid-March, the incident command center could close on Friday or Saturday. Since opening, teams have completed 60-70 jobs. “Our goal is to finish our remaining jobs by Friday,” said Tom Long, southeast regional disaster relief coordinator. … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbkXKb-dVcI By Message Staff COVINGTON – Waylon Bailey has a message for all those affected personally by the recent flooding in Louisiana – the key on the road to recovery is to lean on one another and God for encouragement. Bailey speaks from first-hand experience. He also knows just how beneficial Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams can be to people trying to recover from a natural disaster. In late 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of southeast Louisiana, disaster relief teams from Louisiana and throughout the US showed up in force. For several months, teams worked out of the parking lot at First Baptist Church in Covington, where Bailey serves as pastor. Throughout that time, teams not only helped rebuild homes but offered a spiritual uplifting to many who were hurting. Ten years later, disaster relief teams have come to the state once again to give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name. “Based on Hurricane Katrina, remember the same God who is always been with you in the past is going to be with you,” Bailey said. “There are people who are going to show up and they are going to continue to show up and help and encourage. “We all need church,” he said. “We … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message Numbers will fade, but the lives touched will always be remembered. Currently Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has served over 46,000 meals, provided 1,800 showers, washed 1,130 loads of laundry and completed 930 jobs with over 5,000 volunteer hours. These numbers are only what have been recorded. With the water receding very slowly in many areas, particularly in north Louisiana, SBDR is still planning and responding to needs across Louisiana. Called the ‘yellow-shirt’ Cavalry by former Louisiana Baptist Convention President and First Baptist Covington Pastor Waylon Bailey, everywhere teams have served they are being greeted warmly by Louisianans. Disasters have a way of changing lives by bringing people together and we are seeing this happen across Louisiana.   … [Read more...]