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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Louisiana Governor’s prayer breakfast draws more than 20 to Christ

By Baptist Message staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) - More than 20 people made decisions to follow Christ at the conclusion of the 61st annual Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, April 16. Held inside the Crowne Plaza Executive Center in Baton Rouge, the breakfast featured a Gospel-centered message by keynote speaker Will Graham, evangelist Billy Graham's grandson and executive vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. After the event concluded, a spontaneous time of prayer broke out and some attendees remained for up to an hour to pray with Jay Johnston, chairman of the task force which organizes the annual event, as well as with other prayer intercessors Johnston had enlisted. Johnston, also the pastor of First Baptist Church, Melville, told the Baptist Message that the event was bathed in prayer for 10 months leading up to the event. “I pray with expectancy and believed God would do a work in this,” he said. “As the chair of the Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, I along with our task force, am dedicated to guiding people through the work of the Holy Spirit to fulfill 1 Timothy 2:1-4 for God’s glory. “We are thankful that God inspired and empowered individuals to leave the breakfast with … [Read more...]

ERLC hosts Spinney, other pastors for advocacy trip

By staff WASHINGTON (LBM, BP) – Gevan Spinney, senior pastor with First Baptist Church, Haughton, was among 16 pastors who recently gathered in Washington, D.C., to champion pro-life causes and advocate for other positive policy changes. Hosted by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the trip that took place March 25-26 included meetings with three Southern Baptist congressional leaders – House Speaker Mike Johnson, a member of Cypress Baptist Church, Benton, and Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and James Lankford (R-OK). While there the pastors hand delivered, to Lankford and the office of Sen. Majority Leader John Thume (R-SC), letters containing 10,000 signatures for the ERLC's campaign that asks Congress to defund Planned Parenthood The pastors from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas also met with Timothy Goeglein, vice president of external and government relations with Focus on the Family, Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) and the White House Faith Office. They ended their trip with a visit to the Museum of the Bible. Spinney, in comments to Baptist Press, said he left with a strong burden to pray for those fellow believers in the fight. “I wish that every Southern Baptist … [Read more...]