By Andy Johnson, Pastor Cross Roads Baptist Church Farmerville   There is a postmodern movement in the churches of America that is commonly known as “the Emerging Church.” The “movement” began to develop in the late nineties, and gained momentum early in the new century.   One of its most prominent leaders is a man by the name of Brian Mclaren, pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church near Baltimore, Md.   In a 2005 Baptist Press interview, Mclaren defines the “movement”: “… there’s got to be a lot more humility and a lot more gentleness and [we feel] that the Gospel is made credible not by how we argue and make truth claims. But it’s made credible by the love and the good deeds that flow from our lives and our community.”   One of the more bizarre assumptions by Mclaren is that the message of the Gospel is not about who is going to heaven or hell, but that the primary reason for Jesus coming to earth was to fix the culture with a social Gospel; to eradicate poverty and repair the grimness of the situation in the social world.   A result of this type of liberal doctrine is the watering down of the sacredness of the Scriptures and the dismissal of any absolutes regarding Bible … [Read more...]

By Philip A. Pinckard, Director of Global Missions Center NOBTS   The Bible tells us how important it is for people to hear the gospel and people to go to take the gospel to others. We read in Romans 10:14-15 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!”   Application for Our Lives   1.The first application for our lives from this text is we should be faithful to share the gospel. The apostle Paul asked how can people call on the Him in whom they have not heard and how can they believe in whom they have not heard. He asks how they can believe in the Lord if they have not heard.   Robert Morrison was the first modern Protestant missionary to China. He began his work in Macau in 1807 where he was only able to stay briefly. He labored and shared the gospel faithfully for seven years before baptizing the first convert.   Many from that part of the world have come to Christ through the faithful witness of … [Read more...]

By Bill Warren, Professor of New Testament and Greek NOBTS   Question: What does the New Testament say about the role of parents?   Bill Warren responds: Jesus has a great example for parents in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15). The father (clearly representative of our heavenly Father) is portrayed as one who is more concerned about getting his son back than in defending his own honor.   Unlike the cultural norms, the father runs to the son, welcomes him back into the full role of a son by giving him a ring, a robe, and sandals, and then has a feast in celebration of his return.   Since we are made to reflect God’s image and likeness, by implication parents should be like this father, more concerned with the welfare of their child than in defending their personal honor – something often done at the expense of the well-being and future of the child.   Also, Jesus’ teachings about the value of children in Mark 10:13-16 carries the implication that children should be treated with dignity and as ones worthy of our attention.  Matthew 10:21 shows how betrayal within a family is so horrible that such a case can be used to depict a highly negative situation with no further … [Read more...]

By Mark H. Hunter, Special to the Message   BATON ROUGE – Dave Dravecky was at the top of his game and at the top of Major League Baseball when his world crashed on August 10, 1989.   [img_assist|nid=7305|title=Dave Dravecky|desc=Former Major League Baseball pitcher Dave Dravecky lost his arm to cancer at the height of his career. He told his story April 27 to several thousand attending the 47th annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Baton Rouge.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=71]“There was an incredible explosion in my left ear releasing that fast ball when my left arm snapped in half,” Dravecky said in a video introduction before his live speech April 27 at the 47th annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast.   Wearing a white shirt that sagged like an empty pillowcase where his left shoulder and arm used to be, Dravecky enthralled several thousand officials, business-people and Gov. Bobby Jindal with his story of success, sorrow and faith.   Dravecky said he lived every boy’s sports dream by becoming an all-star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. That dream shattered when doctors discovered cancer in his left arm. He underwent major surgery and 10 months of chemotherapy and radiation … [Read more...]

By Mark H. Hunter, Special to the Message   BATON ROUGE – More than 200 pastors and members of the Louisiana Family Forum got their spirits revved by evangelist James Robison and several other noted pastors at the Forum’s annual Pastor’s Briefing on April 27.   The briefing followed the 47th annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, which took place at the Baton Rouge Crowne Palace Hotel, where several thousand pastors, elected officials and business-people prayed for the current legislative session and Gov. Bobby Jindal.   Gene Mills, executive director of the Family Forum, opened the Pastor’s Briefing by quoting Psalms 11:3: If the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do?   [img_assist|nid=7307|title=Governor's Prayer Breakfast|desc=Ray Wallace, retired Southern Baptist pastor, prays for elected officials at the 47th annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, which took place April 27 at the Crowne Plaza in Baton Rouge. Next to Wallace is event chair Stephen Wallace and Gov. Bobby Jindal. At his right, Dave Dravecky.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=60]“That begs the question; what were the righteous doing while the foundation was being destroyed?” Mills asked. America is … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   MISSISSIPPI DELTA – Crews of able-bodied Southern Baptist volunteers at the request of First Baptist Vidalia the first two weeks of May are taking the prized possessions of the elderly and infirm among Vidalia residents across the Mississippi River to storage in Natchez, Miss.   Just in case.   “I see no problems with our levee system functioning as it’s supposed to,” said Reynold Minsky, president of the Fifth District Levee Board and a deacon at First Baptist Church of Lake Providence. “We’re going to have a three-foot clearance” between floodwater levels that haven’t been seen since the 1930s – or maybe ever – and the top of the levees.   [img_assist|nid=7309|title=Rising Mississippi|desc=The Mississippi River is edging ever closer to Vidalia’s Riverfront Center, which is between the river and the levee that rises in the lower right of this photo. The Riverfront Center will be flooded, city officials agree. Work continues on protecting each building as an island.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]Rumors of impending devastation were flowing faster the first week of May than were the river waters coursing down from where the Ohio River … [Read more...]

By Staff, Louisiana Baptist   WOODWORTH – Baptisms are up for the third year in a row. Cooperative Program giving is up more than 5 percent over last year. Close fellowship abounds across the state.   Members of the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s 91-member Executive Board heard these reports and others at their spring meeting, which took place May 3 at Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center.   “We have found God’s favor,” said LBC Executive Director David Hankins. “We need to have grateful hearts.”   The spring meeting opened with a stirring message from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk by Steve Horn, Board president, followed by reports from Hankins, Board committees, and each of the LBC agencies – college, children’s home, foundation and newspaper.   Habakkuk raised two questions that people are asking today, said Horn, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lafayette: “God, how long?” and “Why are you silent?”   God’s answers, Horn preached: “I am doing more than you think,” and “I am keeping an account.”   Our response should be worship, the Board president continued from Habakkuk 2. The righteous shall live by faith. … The Lord is in his holy … [Read more...]

By Staff, Louisiana Baptist Message   MONROE/WEST MONROE –  At least 900 families, most in a lower income part of this two-city area, were affected by high winds and flooding April 26.   Mark Parrish, volunteer community transformation pastor at First Baptist Church in West Monroe, led in the response. He’s an auxiliary officer with the  West Monroe Police Department, and heads Operation Compassion, a community-wide group of churches that formed in 2008.   “We had seven inches of rain in two to three hours,” Parrish said. “Many people had no insurance, no family to help them, no resources of any kind, and they lost everything.   “We’ve done this in other smaller disasters, like a fire,” Parrish continued. “We hand the family off to a church or Sunday School class, and they case-manage that family, helping them with their needs.”   In the first 10 days after the storm that the following day hit Tuscaloosa, Ala. with deadly consequences, about 900 families called for help. One was a woman who had already killed two king snakes that came in with flood waters, and she had been seeing others.   “She was frantic,” Parrish said. “She had no one. We handed her off to a … [Read more...]

By Staff, Louisiana Baptist Message   PINEVILLE – Forty-three youngsters between the ages of 8 and 14 from South Korea are expected to arrive July 15 at Alexandria International Airport with eight chaperones, for the first leg of their three-week immersion into American culture.   [img_assist|nid=7313|title=Camp USA|desc=Camp USA participants last year traveled from the Inchon International Airport, near Seoul, South Korea, to Alexandria.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67] A total of 26 host homes is needed for July 15-24, said Susan Duke, Camp USA Coordinator, and a member of Tioga First Baptist Church.   “This is a tremendous opportunity for us to have foreign missions work right here in Central Louisiana,” Duke said. “I personally have hosted Camp USA children in my home. I love learning more about their culture and seeing the joy they have in learning ours.”   Host homes are needed that can provide beds for two students of the same sex, breakfast and dinner, transportation to daily activities and a caring Christian enviornonment.   “Over the last six years of Camp USA, more than 100  youngsters have come to know Jesus Christ as their savior,” Duke said. “Camp USA is … [Read more...]

By Staff, Louisiana Baptist Children's Home   [img_assist|nid=7315|title=Easter at LBCH|desc=The Kiwanis Club of Monroe helps provide a great Easter egg hunt for the children at the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]Tabytha was only twelve years old and caring for her three younger siblings when she came to the Children’s Home. You are giving Tabytha the opportunity to be a child herself and providing a safe, stable Christian environment in which her two sisters and brother can grow up.   After five years at LBCH, Claire boldly proclaims her faith in Christ and has the assurance that God loves her unconditionally. “I know He will never leave me nor forsake me,” she shares from her heart.   From a challenging home environment, sixteen-year-old Lucas has learned to play the guitar at LBCH and to share with others in need. He believes God is calling him to serve in youth and music ministry.   Nine-year-old Jade really likes her cottage parents, Tom and Reba O’Neal, and knows they love her. The O’Neals have been serving Christ and children at LBCH for twenty-seven years.   Calob, who is thirteen, expresses his gratitude for the love and … [Read more...]