By Nancy Tower Sept. 16 kicks off the countdown to National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child in Southwest Louisiana. Weekend activities include a shoe box packing party in Sulphur, a countdown event in Lake Charles and an inspirational message in DeRidder. Interested citizens are encouraged to get involved at the activity of their choice beginning at 10 a.m. the morning of the kickoff event with a Community Packing Party hosted by the Sulphur Community Coalition. The activity will take place at 501 E. Burton Street in Sulphur and will include prayer, a presentation and lots of hands on effort. The public is invited and encouraged to bring items to place in the shoe box gifts. Saturday evening from 6-7 p.m. the countdown event will be held at The Dwelling Place at 1800 E. College Street in Lake Charles. The public is invited to attend this free event to learn more about Operation Christmas Child and meet a shoe box recipient with his own story about how a simple gift changed his life. Luis Wells-Gonzales has a special testimony to share about growing up in Panama and praying for school supplies. His experience with Operation Christmas Child will warm your heart as Luis details how the Lord answered his prayer … [Read more...]

By Message Staff The first Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief teams have been activated for a response to Hurricane Harvey. Gibbie McMillan, state disaster relief coordinator for Louisiana Baptists, said that while Rolling Hills Ministry has a feeding team and Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association a chainsaw team positioned in Texas, some of the teams from Louisiana are working towards recovery in their own state. McMillan said more than 800 homes flooded in southwest Louisiana, including 200 in Lake Charles. Command centers are set up at Crossroads Baptist Church in Vinton and another at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles. A laundry unit from Webster-Claiborne Baptist Association is working out of First Baptist Church in Jennings and Eastern Louisiana has a mud out team stationed at Trinity Baptist. Rolling Hills has a shower unit at First United Pentecostal Church in Dequincy and another shower unit at First Baptist Church in Mauriceville. Its feeding unit was traveling Tuesday, Sept. 5 to work in Beaumont, Texas. A warehouse has been established at Boulevard Baptist Church in Lake Charles. Additionally, First Baptist Church in DeRidder is serving as a point of distribution for Louisiana teams. McMillan said … [Read more...]

By Message Staff KINGWOOD, Texas – Fresh off a three-day disaster relief trip to the Houston suburb of Kingwood, Texas, Kirk Jones took away something valuable he said Louisianans can offer to those residents whose homes flooded. “Show up,” said Jones, pastor of Fellowship Church in Prairieville. “It meant the world to those families we helped that we were there. One homeowner we knew told me how worried he was and when he heard we were coming, he said there’s my Louisiana army. He then knew everything was going to be alright.” Jones spent Thursday evening, Aug. 31, through Saturday afternoon, Sept. 2, alongside fellow members of Prairieville Church helping families gut out their homes so they can in turn begin the process of rebuilding the inside of their home. Two families were connected to Fellowship. One a former member and the other a life-long friend of Jones' whose parents helped start Fellowship Church. In addition to helping gut homes, Jones was able to pray with various homeowners. “Sometimes they got emotionally overwhelmed when I was praying with them,” Jones recalled. “It’s a great reminder that people are not just with you but God is with you. It’s one of those places that you can be Jesus with skin on … [Read more...]