By Mike Evans, Pastor Elwood Baptist Church, Forest Hill BOSSIER CITY – Across our Convention there are spiritual warning signs found in less giving by some, fewer baptisms by many and a very real feel some churches are dying. And this should be concerning to every Louisiana Baptist. I firmly believe in the Cooperative Program and find it astounding so many independent and autonomous SBC/LBC congregations can come together to do so many vitally important things to fulfill our Lord's Great Commission while others do not find it imperative. Perhaps some of us have forgotten the CP is truly a bona fide miracle. It could be we have also forgotten or de-emphasized some of the things we used to do when the Cooperative Program first began almost a century ago. Today, we have Christian media and more technology to use than we can keep up with. So what is different today and what is lacking? For one thing, I don't see the tears that used to be a part of most every service in our churches only a few decades ago. People used to plead for the Lord to not only save their families from their enemies but also hell. Could it be the prosperity we now enjoy has made us spend more time feathering our nest, as if we will live … [Read more...]
Pro-Life banners line portion of St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans
By Staff, Louisiana Right to Life NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans and Louisiana Right to Life have partnered together to have 16 streetlight banner signs installed along historic St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans between St. Joseph Street and State Street. The signs went up Dec. 10. The two-sided pink banners, intended to raise awareness regarding the humanity of the unborn, display a 19-week-old baby in utero and state: "Give Her Life a Chance! First Heartbeat 22 Days after Conception!" Benjamin Clapper, Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life, said, "Under Louisiana state law babies may be aborted up to 20 weeks fetal age for any reason. We hope the banners help educate the public by highlighting the humanity of the unborn child so often overlooked in our society." Shanon Snyder, Projects Director for New Orleans Right to Life, worked with the city of New Orleans and its contractors to get the banners installed. The project came about after Robert Winn, president of New Orleans Right to Life, heard about similar signs put up by Students for Life at the University of Southern California. Winn saw this as an effective way to bring the pro-life debate to the minds of New Orleans residents, Snyder said. "Abortion … [Read more...]
Christian colleges to Supreme Court: government can’t mandate abortion pill coverage
By Alliance Defending Freedom staff WASHINGTON – Several religious non-profit organizations filed an opening brief Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court in consolidated lawsuits against the Obama administration’s abortion-pill mandate and its religious non-profit options, all of which force the groups to violate their faith. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent a Christian college and four Christian universities that asked the high court to review appeals court decisions that upheld the mandate in Geneva College v. Burwell and Southern Nazarene University v. Burwell, two of seven cases that the Supreme Court agreed in November of last year to take up. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception through their health plans under threat of heavy penalties. Geneva College in Pennsylvania and the four universities in Oklahoma – Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Mid-America Christian University – specifically object to providing abortifacients. “The government has no legitimate basis for forcing faith-based … [Read more...]
Franklin Graham’s Decision America Tour coming to Baton Rouge Jan. 13
By Staff, Baptist Message BATON ROUGE -- America is in trouble, and it’s getting worse every day. Starting today, Jan. 5, — on the steps of the state Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa—Franklin Graham began the Decision America Tour, a series of noon prayer rallies in each state throughout 2016. As those gather to intercede for America, Graham will preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, calling the nation to repentance and encourage believers to engage the civil process by voting for godly leaders while prayerfully consider running for local office. The Decision America Tour, which begins in the state of the first caucus for the 2016 presidential election, will continue through early fall. On January 13, Graham will arrive in Baton Rouge, the third stop on his tour. He is encouraging everyone to join him for this special event which will take place within a short walk of Louisiana’s old State Capitol building. The rally will take place at noon on North Boulevard Town Square at the corner of North Boulevard and 3rd Street in Baton Rouge. He asks the question, “Will you join me for this important event?” “I encourage you to bring your friends, your family, and your church. Let’s stand together in prayer for our country … [Read more...]
Free to Believe conference scheduled for Jan. 16 at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church
By Message Staff GREENWELL SPRINGS – The Greenwell Springs Culture Impact Team has issued an invitation for anyone interested in starting a Culture Impact Team at their church to join them for the Free to Believe conference on Jan. 16. Held at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, the conference will be part of a national simulcast. The Family Research Council will broadcast the event. “This will be a goal-minded simulcast with a post-event strategy,” according to a news release from Walter “Hank” Hankins. “Our mission is to turn the country and culture back to God and to provide the answer to the question, What can I do to turn this country around?” An RSVP is requested to attend the event by emailing CIT@gsbcla.com. … [Read more...]
Louisianans among the fall graduates of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
NEW ORLEANS - The state's only Southern Baptist seminary held its fall commencement on Dec. 19, with 224 graduating. The following is a list of some of the graduates from Louisiana. Others with Louisiana ties are not released publicly, for reasons such as for security due to leaving to serve overseas. Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry Daniel Guagliardo Tickfaw Master of Theological Studies Nicholas Taylor Shreveport Stephen Partain Shreveport Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling Skylar Artigue Collinston Master of Arts (Theology) Michael Steinmetz Shreveport Master of Music in Church Music Michael (Benjamin) DeCou, Sr. Houma David LeCompte Houma Master of Divinity Larry Johnson Kenner John Lary Sibley Tyler Moore Shreveport Master of Divinity with Specialization in Apologetics Daniel Currie New Orleans Master of Divinity with Specialization in Expository Preaching Keith Goodson Denham Springs Russell Zwerner Walker Master of Theology Karla McGehee New Orleans Doctor of Educational Ministry Billy Williams Winnfield Doctor of Ministry Tim Moffett Eunice … [Read more...]
Craig Strickland’s wife speaks out after his body is recovered
By Kelly Ledbetter, Christian Examiner KAY COUNTY, Okla. (Christian Examiner) – Helen Strickland, the wife of 29-year-old vocalist Craig Strickland, tweeted Monday afternoon that his body had been found. "#CraigStrickland was found today. He is safe with his Father in Heaven. Thank you Lord for leading us to him today. I will praise you, Amen," she wrote in her Tweet on social media. Last week he was feared dead in a northwestern Oklahoma lake, as his wife asked for prayers for a miracle and her husband's safe return. "While we hurt and experience the worst pain of our lives, we sometimes believe that God might not be there with us listening when we cry out to Him. But then, when we least expect it, He speaks and comforts us in such beautiful ways," Helen Strickland had tweeted. Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Cross Church in Springfield, Arkansas, tweeted New Year's Eve: "Heavy hearts and continued prayers from the @crosschurch family for @HelenWisner (Strickland) as the search continues for @BackroadCRAIG." The lead singer, a part of the six-member country and rock band Backroad Anthem, which formed in Arkansas in 2012, was duck hunting with his friend on Kaw Lake when … [Read more...]
Justice Scalia: Government was never meant to be neutral on religion
By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner METAIRIE (Christian Examiner) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, known as the conservative firebrand on the nation's high court, said during an address to Catholic high school students in Louisiana Jan. 2 that the U.S. Constitution does not require the government to be neutral with respect to religion. In fact, Scalia told the audience at Archbishop Rummel High School as part of an early celebration of Religious Freedom Day (Jan. 16), the government would do well to keep God in the mix and allow times for spiritual reflection because "God has been very good to us." Religious Freedom Day is celebrated annually by presidential proclamation and commemorates the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Liberty in 1786, widely regarded as the precursor to the First Amendment. Scalia said the modern perception that government was meant to be neutral to religion is not the groundwork for the Constitution, as evidence by the fact that so many presidents and other American leaders invoked the name of God and asked Americans to pray to him in times of national crises. "To tell you the truth there is no place for that in our constitutional tradition. Where did that come … [Read more...]
Humanist group appeals federal court ruling declaring World War 1 Veterans Memorial constitutional
By Liberty Institute staff Bladensburg, Md. – On November 30 the United States District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial, built in the shape of a cross, is constitutional. Today, the American Humanist Association appealed the District Court’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The group alleges that the cross-shaped memorial violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The group demands that the monument be demolished, altered or removed. Law firms Jones Day and Liberty Institute represent The American Legion, the largest veterans service organization in the country, which erected the monument 90 years ago in honor of 49 men of Prince George’s County, Md. who gave their lives during the First World War. The Legion is committed to defending the honor of the nation’s military veterans and the memorials that honor their service. Noel Francisco, lead counsel for The American Legion and chair of Jones Day’s Government Regulation Practice, says, “This veterans memorial has stood in honor of the fallen for almost 100 years and should be allowed to stand for 100 years more. We stand ready to defend the memorial and the men it honors … [Read more...]
Pharmacists ask US Supreme Court to weigh in on Washington state law that Planned Parenthood wrote
By Alliance Defending Freedom Staff WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a pharmacy and two pharmacists are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on Washington state rules that force pharmacy owners and pharmacists to stock and dispense drugs contrary to their religious beliefs instead of allowing them to refer customers to other pharmacies and pharmacists as they are allowed to do in all 49 other states. The state allows referrals for a variety of reasons but singles out religiously motivated referrals as prohibited. In July of last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed a district court’s decision against the rules, which Planned Parenthood drafted at the behest of former Gov. Christine Gregoire. Gregoire publicly campaigned for the rules and replaced members of the state’s Pharmacy Commission after it initially voted unanimously in favor of such referrals. The American Pharmacists Association and the Washington Pharmacy Association also oppose the rules. “No one should be forced to choose between their religious convictions and their family businesses and livelihoods, particularly when the state allows referrals for just about any other reason,” said ADF Senior Vice … [Read more...]
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