Several hundred people each July attend Sunday School Week at Ridgecrest (N.C.) or Glorieta (N.M.) conference centers. STATEWIDE – Several hundred people each July attend Sunday School Week at Ridgecrest (N.C.) or Glorieta (N.M.) conference centers. Attendees at the conference centers owned by the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources include potential teachers, first-year teachers, long-time teachers, department directors, Sunday school directors, ministers of education and single-staff pastors. All have different needs related to small group Bible study, which are met in a wide variety of training sessions. “We want to help your Sunday school become more inviting,” says LifeWay’s website,www.lifeway.com/ridgecrest/events. “You will learn how to invigorate your learning environment, incorporate ideas to increase visitor “traffic,” intercede more effectively, invest in people, invite them to come, then involve them in fellowship, ministry and Bible study.” Many people, however, are unable to get away for this week of specialized training, so in August, the training comes to them. Some state conventions have one large training event. Louisiana has six, strategically scattered across the … [Read more...]

Vacation Bible School isn’t the only thing Southern Baptists do in the summer in Louisiana, but it’s the one thing that most churches do. Hebron Baptist did four of them! One at their church, one at Burning Bush in Walker, a congregation they’re helping rebuild, plus two out of state. STATEWIDE – Vacation Bible School isn’t the only thing Southern Baptists do in the summer in Louisiana, but it’s the one thing that most churches do. Hebron Baptist did four of them! One at their church, one at Burning Bush in Walker, a congregation they’re helping rebuild, plus two out of state. The alphabetical VBS report on this page and the next are incomplete, but with 161 churches reporting, out of about 1,600 across the state, a solid picture emerges of the value this summertime evangelistic event is to God’s Kingdom work. In all, 975 people made professions of faith at VBS this summer, in the reporting churches. This was not just children. Reports came in of adult workers and parents reached during Family Night. The largest VBS of the reporting churches was Trinity Lake Charles with an enrollment of 1,426, which included workers. Not far behind Trinity Lake Charles was Calvary Alexandria, with 1,404. Third largest was First … [Read more...]

COMINGS AND GOINGS Travis Turner, interim pastor at North Eunice Baptist, Eunice. Susan Emerson, principal of First Baptist Christian school, Lafayette. NEEDED Highland Park Monroe has an opening for a bivocational youth leader and a pianist. Call Larry Linson at 318.366.9449. Lake St. John Community Baptist Ferriday has a paid pianist position available. Contact Karl Wilson, pastor, at 318.757.0947 for information. CONCERTS AND RELATED EVENTS RAYNE – First Baptist is to host The Isaacs in concert at 6 p.m. Sunday Sept. 9. Love offering. Ben Pierce is pastor. LAFAYETTE – First Baptist is to host Michael W. Smith, Grammy and Dove award winner, in concert – a part of The Stand tour – at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6. Dennis Clark is minister of media andSteve Horn is pastor. SHREVEPORT – Pinecroft Baptist is to present the musical group Heaven Bound of Carthage, Texas, at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, followed by fellowship and watermelon. Marty J. Wright is pastor. ANNIVERSARIES AND CELEBRATIONS METAIRIE – Parkview Baptist has set its 50th anniversary celebration for Sept. 28 through Sept. 30. Former members are encouraged to attend. For information call 504.888.1153 or email50anniversary@parkviewbc.com. … [Read more...]

Milldale Baptist Church’s 16 acres of flatland will become site of a camp meeting Friday through Monday, Aug. 31 – Sept. 3. ZACHARY – Milldale Baptist Church’s 16 acres of flatland will become site of a camp meeting Friday through Monday, Aug. 31 – Sept. 3. It’s Milldale’s 44th annual Labor Day camp meeting. Some of the better-known evangelists across the nation will be speaking: Bill Britt, Jerry Chaddick, Malcolm Ellis, Sonny Holland, Danny Lovett, Joe Murray, Jeff Laborg, Luther Price, Philip Robertson, Sonny Simpson Jerry Spencer, Ken Fryer, Roger Haney and Jeremy Pruitt. “We believe we’ll have a visitation from God, that the blessings of God, the presence of God will be here,” says Jimmy Robertson, pastor emeritus of Milldale. The pastors and laypeople who participate in the camp meeting don’t have to even cook meals, Robertson added. They’re all provided, free of charge, and served cafeteria-style in an air-conditioned building. “We can house and feed 400 people on the grounds,” said Danny Greig, Milldale pastor and co-camp meeting director with Robertson. “We have a cook – Ed Robertson, Jimmy Robertson’s younger brother – who’s been with us for many years. He is, I think, the best cook in the world for … [Read more...]

Victoria Shephard was a journalism major living in the San Francisco Bay area. Even though she was interested in religious things, she wasn’t committed to any religion in particular. Editor’s note: www.gostudent.com is a website sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board. Victoria Shephard was a journalism major living in the San Francisco Bay area. Even though she was interested in religious things, she wasn’t committed to any religion in particular. “In January of 1996, I was praying for a friend of mine,” she remembers. “I decided to pray to his god, not mine. At the end of the prayer I asked God to reveal Himself to me.” The true God did choose to reveal Himself – online. One day Victoria came across a Christian newsgroup. After hanging around there for awhile, she asked the following question: “Just an informal question for y’all. In 100 words or less, why are you a Christian instead of something else? Why do you believe?” Of the many responses she got, one caught her eye. It was a succinct reply from Charles Scott, a guy living in British Columbia. And at the end of his reply he wrote, “Out of curiosity, why are you a pagan?” As they began to e-mail back and forth, she … [Read more...]

Bill Tober shares the gospel with thousands of people each year, including Muslims, Hindus, and atheists – without ever leaving his home. ADAMS, Tenn. – Bill Tober shares the gospel with thousands of people each year, including Muslims, Hindus, and atheists – without ever leaving his home. Tober is an “Internet chaplain,” fully endorsed by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, based in Alpharetta, Ga. The offerings and gifts you give your church help support missions through the Cooperative Program across North America through NAMB, and throughout the rest of the world through the International Mission Board. The Internet is the “new frontier in missions,” the cyber-chaplain says. While many senior adults shy away from the computer, Tober, who will be 75 in September, embraces the computer and the ministry opportunities it presents. Following retirement from the naval chaplaincy in 1992, Tober and his wife, Sally, moved to her homeplace in Adams, Tenn. While doing supply preaching in area churches, Tober began exploring the Internet, and quite frankly, he says, did not like what he was seeing, even in the early days. “I began going into chatrooms and saw them for what they were,” Tober related. … [Read more...]

Sunlight and shade paint tree-lined Seminary Place, the main artery through New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Faculty members tend to their yards. Down the road, the children of students slide and swing on the playground. Red brick and green grass make it seem as though nothing was ever out of place. NEW ORLEANS -- Sunlight and shade paint tree-lined Seminary Place, the main artery through New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Faculty members tend to their yards. Down the road, the children of students slide and swing on the playground. Red brick and green grass make it seem as though nothing was ever out of place. Members of the seminary family like doctoral student Billy Puckett know better. Puckett, 32, of Or-ange, Texas, returned to campus after Hurricane Katrina hit to find a lifeless campus of downed trees, mud, muck and mold. “It was as if you were in a black-and-white world,” Puckett said. “It was colorless. “There was gray mud and dirt all over campus. We didn’t see life anywhere.” And now? “There’s life. There’s color. You hear children laughing on the playground. There’s life here. I can walk out on my balcony and see it every day.” That long road to recovery, which seminary … [Read more...]

The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) approved an initiative by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to allow a modified residency requirement for the Christian education major of the doctor of philosophy degree. NEW ORLEANS -- The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) approved an initiative by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to allow a modified residency requirement for the Christian education major of the doctor of philosophy degree. The one-of-a-kind pilot project for a new delivery system in the seminary’s doctor of philosophy program opens the program to students who live farther away from campus. For now, the “modified presence” pilot will only be available in the Christian education major. In the past, students were required to meet on the main campus each week for their courses. The weekly class time limited the program to those students living on campus or within a reasonable commuting distance of New Orleans. Instead of weekly on-campus meetings, the new pilot project allows students to meet on weekends periodically spaced through the semester. This change will allow students serving in full-time ministries … [Read more...]

With buildings battered and congregations scattered, pastors in post-Katrina New Orleans were worn out. NEW ORLEANS -- With buildings battered and congregations scattered, pastors in post-Katrina New Orleans were worn out. “There were pastors living in trailers, half their congregation gone, devastated, discouraged.” said Bill Taylor, former director of Network Partnerships of LifeWay Church Resources, who serves as a consultant to the North American Mission Board. “They had problems with insurance. They couldn’t handle it. They needed somebody to help all the time.” From the heartbreak of Katrina came the spark of an idea. Initially, the plan was to bring in Christian educators to help on a short-term basis, Taylor said. But the problems were just too large. And the beleaguered churches were in no position to pay staffers. The formula was simple: Seminary students, plus sponsoring churches or associations, plus churches in need. The end result? Practical experience for students, and bruised churches revitalized; better known as the Unlimited Partnerships – New Orleans. The project is a joint effort of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), the Louisiana Baptist Convention, the Baptist Association of … [Read more...]