By Steve Horn Lord, we are weary! Especially your people in Louisiana. First, it was COVID-19. We spent weeks leading the nation in cases per capita. We went home. The economic impact of that is still being felt. When people went home, gas prices plummeted. So many of our people who make their living in the oil and gas industry suffered. Some were retired before they planned to retire. Others were not so fortunate. They are just unemployed. We are weary. Then hurricane season arrived. Six times we have been in the “cone of uncertainty.” The “cone of uncertainty” became the “certainty of catastrophe” with Hurricane Laura. We. Are. Weary. We are weary of blue tarps, if there is even something left to tarp. We are weary of FEMA. We are weary of the hum of the generator. And yes, we are tired of our new guest Jim Cantore. We are weary from all that has been lost. We are weary of the debris that is piled up at the road waiting to be removed. Like Elijah of old, some days we want to find a tree to sit under to pray, “Lord, I’ve had enough.” But Lord, and I’m laughing to keep from crying, the tree was blown down by Hurricane Laura. And now, comes Delta. Dear Lord, we’ve run out of names this year and have turned to the … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – It’s a presidential election year, Louisiana has suffered another devastating natural disaster, and as Yogi Berra has said, “It's déjà vu all over again." In 2016, presidential candidate Donald Trump came to Louisiana just days after the August floods (at that time, the worst natural disaster in the nation since Hurricane Sandy hit the United States four years earlier), and he even made a personal donation to the relief effort. However, his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued with her fundraising soirees in the tony Hamptons of New York, sending a social media note, instead, that she was “closely monitoring” the situation. Her campaign promised she would visit the victims “at a time when the presence of a political campaign will not disrupt the response.” But Louisianans are still waiting. Now President Trump, running for reelection, has again prioritized getting help to the state, visiting just two days after Hurricane Laura’s landfall. Meanwhile, his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, has issued a statement saying, “we will come back and we will be there to help you build back better.” Biden had campaigned in … [Read more...]

By Clark Stewart COVINGTON, La. – I have had the privilege over the past two years to be the pastor advisor for the Louisiana Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists. It has been a real blessing for me to get to know these men and women personally. Their love for the Lord and their passion for the unsaved has touched my life. I have used many of these quality evangelists in my church and every time, God has tremendously blessed. In May, we had the president of LACOSBE, Brother Gary Bowlin, preach a Harvest Day Sunday for us. With COVID-19 restrictions still being observed, we had a “drive-in” service where people listen on their vehicle radios. Brother Gary preached with passion in an outside service and extended God’s invitation to come to Christ. At 10:30 that morning, he preached inside our auditorium and had five public professions of faith. Evangelists are a God given gift to His churches (Ephesians 4:11). I would encourage every pastor to use these gifted evangelists in their churches. God desires and delights in the lost being saved. Using these evangelists who are gifted in “drawing the net” will help fulfill God’s desire that “none perish but that all come to repentance.” Clark Stewart is pastor of New … [Read more...]

By Stewart Holloway PINEVILLE, La. - On Aug. 26, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into Louisiana after ripping through Southern Florida a couple of days before. I was a junior in high school more interested about getting a few days out of school than anything else. I had no idea how transformational that week would become for me. My home church agreed to become a hurricane shelter, and people flooded in, primarily from Franklin, LA, many from the same African American church. People found places to sleep everywhere throughout the church from the pews to Sunday School classrooms. One family was even in the pastor’s office because we were without a pastor at the time. Many of our church members worked tirelessly feeding and caring for the evacuees. The transformational moment for me happened the night Andrew made landfall. The evacuees and our church gathered for a time of worship. The Franklin church’s choir filled our choir loft, and their organist sat down at our organ. As the praise and worship began, I experienced a joy and hope like I had seldom seen. In the midst of uncertainty and with a hurricane blasting through their town, those people worshiped. They had faith in God in the midst of the storm. For 28 years now, … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – COVID-19 continues to kill people in our state and across our nation even though government officials know what is causing the complications leading to hospitalizations, ventilations and deaths and why COVID-19 affects a very specific vulnerable population in such dramatic ways. As of this writing, there have been about 4,500 deaths from the coronavirus in our state, with 41 percent of these lost lives being suffered by nursing home residents, according to Louisiana Department of Health data. Indeed, more than 3,000 deaths (67 percent) have stricken those 70 years old or more. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published information showing that half of the 176,000 COVID-19 deaths, so far, have taken the lives of those 78 years old or more. But what these victims share in common is not age. Instead, they have a condition also shared with younger victims of hospitalizations, ventilations and deaths – an increased volume of angiotensin converting enzyme 2, a protein that regulates blood pressure. It is a factor in hypertension, diabetes, cardiac disease, chronic kidney disease and obesity, all of which are comorbid … [Read more...]

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - In my distress I called to the Lord;     I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice;     my cry came to his ears. -2 Samuel 22:7 My Facebook memory notifications are reminding me that this week marks four years since the historic floods in South Louisiana. Our church at the time had 50 families with water in their homes. In some ways, four years seems like a lifetime ago. So it is with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. So it is with 9-11, now nearly 19 years ago. One day, we will talk about COVID-19 the way we talk about these other life catastrophes. All of those were, and are headline-dominant, history-making, life-altering events – giants, if you will.  And in this COVID-weary season, there often appears to be no shortage of these giants. They simply keep coming. Their shadows cover our attempts to recapture some degree of normalcy in our ministries, our families and our culture. We know about David’s battle with Goliath, but the rapid succession of giants coming against David, as recorded in 2 Samuel 21:15-22, is not as familiar. In the span of eight verses, we learn of four giants coming against Israel. All four were descendants of that great giant, Goliath. All were … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey Recently, I saw a tweet on Twitter that asked the question, “What would Jesus do in the midst of a worldwide pandemic?” No answer to the question was given, but the author obviously had an agenda and a suggested answer. The good news is that it led me to really ask, “What would Jesus do?” A man I’ve known about for a long time tried to answer that question biblically and seriously. Wallace Henley said that Jesus would do now what He did then. At that point Henley began to describe what Jesus did then and what the church today should do. In my words, the church needs to come out of this pandemic stronger than when we entered this difficult time. We need to make sure we live biblically and express the hope that we have in Christ. What did Jesus do? 1. He worshiped. Jesus worshiped, and He taught people to worship. He told us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul. He told us to worship God in spirit and in truth. Luke reminded us that Jesus made it His custom to worship the Father. 2. Jesus interceded. One of the great things we can do is intercede for our neighbors. In times like these, people want to pray, and they want us to pray for them. One of my favorite old … [Read more...]