Submitted by philip on Wed, 10/09/2013 - 19:08 Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter reads from Ezekiel 37 in delivering his sermon “How to Revive Dry Bones,” during the Sept. 16 plenary session of the SBC Executive Committee meeting. “Many of us are like dead men walking,” he told the crowd, encouraging the preaching of Scripture as an antidote to dry bones, and a pathway to revival. By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) -- Preaching the Scripture, not politics or even “Duck Dynasty,” will bring revival to the Southern Baptist Convention and the nation, SBC President Fred Luter said in his address to the SBC Executive Committee at its Sept. 16-17 meeting in Nashville. Revival birthed through the SBC and its entities is still his heart’s desire, Luter said, drawing comparisons to what he termed the “sad story” of the prophet’s vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-10. “My ultimate goal is, prayerfully, that we can pray that God will send revival across America and particularly among our SBC churches,” he said, “because it’s so easy to get sidetracked. It’s so easy to get comfortable where we are. It’s so easy to rest on our laurels and all of the past things that we’ve done. “However, I am … [Read more...]

By Frank McCormack, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, was honored for 30 years on the faculty during the seminary's fall convocation service. Kelley, who also serves as an evangelism professor at the seminary, was recognized Sept. 3 along with Gerald Stevens, professor of New Testament and Greek, who marks 25 years at the seminary, and several others. Tom Harrison, chairman of the NOBTS board of trustees and executive pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church in Shreveport, offered a special word for Kelley and other faculty members celebrating anniversaries. "As part of the trustees, it's a great pleasure to recognize these men and women who have served here so faithfully," Harrison said. "These men and women have sought to do that in each of our lives so that we can go out and be a greater part of the Kingdom of God." During his tenure at NOBTS, Kelley has served as professor of evangelism, chair of the division of pastoral ministries, director of the Leavell Center for Evangelism and Church Health and now president. He challenged those present to remain faithful to God's call, even when that call is different than expected. Kelley shared his personal road … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 10/21/2013 - 14:00 Jeff White (center), a cardiologist who chairs a Louisiana health system’s medical ethics committee, listens as Catholic priest Jose Lavastida (right), representing the Archdiocese of New Orleans, responds to one of the case studies at a panel discussion on medical ethics at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. By Frank M. McCormack, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS (BP) – With major portions of the Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare, now being implemented, issues of medical ethics and care continue to be debated across the United States. Recognizing the ongoing national debate, New Orleans Baptist Seminary’s Institute for Faith and the Public Square and NOBTS’ Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry hosted a panel discussion on end-of-life health care issues in conjunction with the Louisiana Right to Life Federation. Panelists, speaking on “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides,” included Steve Lemke, NOBTS provost and ethics professor who also has served as a chaplain in a hospital setting and on bioethics committees for hospitals; Marie Wirfs, nursing education professor at Southern University; Catholic priest Jose Lavastida of Blessed Francis Xavier … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 10/21/2013 - 14:04 Members of Good Shepherd Hispanic Baptist Church in Metairie recently participated in training to host Matthew Parties as part of the My Hope evangelistic outreach event. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer METAIRIE – The much anticipated My Hope with Billy Graham event will take place in homes, businesses and churches throughout the United States in early November and among those Louisiana Baptist congregations participating are members from at least eight Hispanic churches. Good Shepherd Hispanic Baptist Church in Metairie has organized 80 Matthew Parties, where the gospel will be presented to their friends, neighbors, co-workers and family using a message by Graham along with music and testimonies. “God has manifested himself in a powerful way in the Good Shepherd Baptist Church, as he has awakened the congregation to engage in the My Hope America campaign,” said Gonzalo Rodriguez, pastor of the church. “We have a total of 80 Matthews willing to proclaim the good news of salvation. We are super excited about the harvest of souls that is drawing near. Blessed be God.” Carlos Schmidt, Hispanic catalytic church planter strategist for the Louisiana Baptist … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 10/21/2013 - 14:07 Louisiana sent two disaster relief teams to assist with the cleanup in Boulder. The first team, which was led by Tom Higginbotham, consisted for 19 members while the second Louisiana Baptist team had 18. A third team of 21 arrived the following week. All in all, the three teams did mud out work, cut down trees and shared the gospel with families. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BOULDER, Colo. – It was early July when Tom Higginbotham was cutting down trees and sharing the gospel with families whose homes were burned due to massive wildfires in the Black Forest area. Higginbotham never imagined he would make a return trip three months later to the state, this time about 90 miles north to assist those whose homes were severely damaged by the mid-September flooding in Boulder. “I never even thought about being back here again,” said Higginbotham. “We ran into a lot of people who had no hope. “Out of the 10 homes we worked on, maybe one of those families was going to church,” he said. “The thing we kept hearing is y’all would come so far to help us and we thank you for that.” Higginbotham was a blue hat – team leader – of a Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief team … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 10/21/2013 - 14:09 By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer For several years Katelyn King included her photo and address in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox she mailed off, but never expected to receive a response. However, to King’s surprise, she received not one but two separate responses, one in 2008 and the other in 2010 from children in India. The 12-year-old girl – who was the same age as King – wrote that she shared the toiletry items with her immediate family and kept the school supplies for herself. The 15-year-old boy she received a response from indicated he did the same as the girl, though he shared his school supplies with his siblings. Both told King that the shoeboxes were indeed a blessing. “In both of their letters they talked about how their family does believe in God and that so many people in India do not get a chance to hear about God and that what we do is awesome,” said King, a volunteer with the collection center at Fair Park Baptist Church in West Monroe. “It was very exciting to receive letters back. They both sent me pictures of themselves and their addresses so I could write them back.” King’s story is not a rarity. In fact, since Operation Christmas … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor A recently released book cast doubts on one of the homosexual rights movement’s most venerated icons. It seems likely the story promoted about Matthew Shepard’s murder 15 years ago is primarily a myth. Matthew Shepard died on Oct. 12, 1998, at the Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo. Five days earlier the University of Wyoming student had been violently beaten, tortured and tied to a fence near Laramie, Wyo. In the hours following the assault on Shepard, two of his friends speculated to investigators that he had been targeted because he was homosexual. Homosexual activists quickly alerted the media and representatives from both descended on Laramie. Even before any real facts had been established, homosexual activists promulgated the narrative that Shepard was the victim of a brutal hate crime. The media swallowed the story and, in short order, Shepard was deemed a martyr in the cause for homosexual rights. It was just a dark twist of fate, many insisted, that caused Shepard to encounter the homophobes who took his life. Many similar beatings would occur, activists insisted, unless hate crimes laws were enacted to protect homosexuals. Since his death, Shepard has been venerated by … [Read more...]

By Jeff Iorg, President Golden Gate Seminary Brian Holloway owns a home in New York and one in Florida. While he was in Florida, a mob of about 300 teenagers and young adults broke into his home and threw a party. The teens did significant damage – initial estimates of about $20,000 – including broken furniture, shattered windows, and graffiti painted inside the house. The party was discovered when the revelers posted the party’s play-by-play on various social media. The police are now using that information to round up the participants. When Mr. Holloway was contacted he took an unusual step. Rather than demand justice, he offered mercy. He offered to forego prosecution of anyone who would come forward, pay for part of the damage, and help with the clean up. Holloway’s offer, along with examples of the damage and some of the social media documenting the participants, is posted at www.helpmesave300.com. So far, only four partiers have accepted his offer. Instead, some of the parents of these hooligans are threatening legal action against Mr. Holloway for posting images of their children and messages written by them on the web. News flash – it’s called “social media” and it was broadcast by your children! So stop your … [Read more...]

By Rob Phillips, Director of Communications Missouri Baptist Convention In 1 Samuel 15:3 God commands King Saul: “Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.” Bible stories like this are fodder for atheists like Richard Dawkins, who writes in “The God Delusion,” “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Though less strident than Dawkins, other cynics struggle to see God as loving and merciful in light of such Scriptures. So we must ask, “Is God a genocidal maniac?” Hardly. God’s love and wrath are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are complementary qualities of His divine nature and His plan to rescue humanity. God orders the destruction of the Amalekites and certain other groups for two primary reasons: to punish their accumulated sins, and to prevent their wicked influence from … [Read more...]

TO THE EDITOR   I do not believe there is “Baptist Theology”! We as Baptist should believe and hold to BIBLE doctrine. If St. Augustine, Martin Luther, or John Calvin have revealed truth concerning Bible doctrine I will hold with them. Where any stray from such truth, I will part their company. Those who call people who hold to the truths, of Total Depravity, Unmerited Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace and Perseverance of the Saints, “Calvinist,” are referring not only to myself but to “Baptist” men of God such as Charles Haddon Spurgeon, as well as our first President of the Southern Baptist Convention, William Bullein Johnson, P. H. Mell, James P. Boyce, Ernest C Reisinger, Basil Manly Sr. and Basil Manly, Jr. I for one am proud to stand with such company. Southern Baptist Seminaries have held to and taught these doctrines from the beginning, though we certainly have strayed from those foundations over the past one hundred years. Saying that our Seminaries were not founded by men who held to these doctrines, is either ignorant or blatantly dishonest! By a simple reading of the Abstract of Principles, adopted in 1858, which currently serves along with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as our doctrinal … [Read more...]