By Baptist Message staff BAKER, La. – Joseph Backholm, a senior research fellow for biblical worldview and strategic engagement at the Family Research Council, will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Louisiana Family Forum Leadership Academy. Scheduled June 6-8 at Timothy Retreat Center in Baker, the intensive training program will equip young adults, ages 16-22, with leadership skills, life-purpose strategies, advanced communication techniques, public speaking skills, counter-culture methods, and a biblically based perspective on government. By the end of the weekend, attendees will be able to answer, “What is my life’s purpose?” An early registration cost of $250 is available through May 1. Afterward, the cost will increase to $300. Scholarships are available for those with financial hardships. For more information on attending, or to donate funding for scholarships, visit lafamilyforum.org/2021academy/. … [Read more...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you have a Revival, Homecoming, a new pastor, a community outreach or a concert? The Baptist Message would love to share your church news with the rest of the state. It is very easy to do, just send in your information (who, what, where and when) to philip@baptistmessage.com or call 318.449.4345. To get your event in the paper, please submit your information three weeks prior to the event. ON THE MOVE Katy Baumgardner is the new youth ministry associate at Summer Grove Baptist Church, Shreveport. Tim Patrick will conclude duties as Director of Missions for Beauregard Parish in April. Byron Comish is the interim pastor at First Baptist Church, Springfield. Nick (wife Kara) Watts is the new student minister at First Baptist Church, Lafayette Trey Miller is the interim director at Bethany Camp & Conference Center. Chris Young is the new associate pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, Shreveport. Danny (wife JoDee) Taylor is the new pastor at Ida Baptist Church, Ida. Chris Young resigned as pastor at South Bossier Baptist Church, Bossier City. Daniel Martin has been called to Midway Baptist Church, Livingston as pastor. Carl Sullivan is the new interim pastor at Satsuma Baptist … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer PINEVILLE, La. (LBM) –For several months Jeremiah Williams had used a makeshift goal to train for Upward basketball games at First Baptist Church in Pineville, but a passerby who drove by the young man’s home in mid-February decided he needed a real hoop to call his own. Devin Hinkston first met Williams, 9, on Feb. 13 as he was driving around Alexandria and noticed the youngster was shooting the ball into a trash can. After a brief conversation with Williams, Hinkston purchased a basketball goal at a nearby store and surprised him with the gift. “Ma’am, I saw your little boy shooting the ball in the trash can earlier and so I bought him a basketball goal,” Hinkston, a member of New Scott Olly Baptist Church in Alexandria, told the boy’s grandmother, Patricia Williams. The gesture prompted Williams to share the news on her Facebook page, which since Feb. 13 has generated 13,000 likes and 20,000 shares and prompted stories by numerous local and national media outlets. The Kelly Clarkson Show is scheduled to air the story, March 30, and Hinkston and Jeremiah Williams are scheduled to fly to New York City to appear on Good Morning America later this summer. “I got … [Read more...]

By Baptist Message staff PINEVILLE, La. (LBM) - Christ’s hope, peace and power can carry believers through difficult circumstances, keynote speaker Andrea Lennon said during the 2021 Embrace women’s conference, March 20. “God loves you and God has a plan for your life,” Lennon told just under 100 women at First Baptist Church, Pineville, and others tuning in online. “We can walk in faith and hope and confidence, even in the unknown situations and circumstances of life.” Lennon, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based, writer and speaker, said in her message, focused on Romans 15:13, that Christ’s followers can remain hopeful because Jesus overcame the grave; the Holy Spirit lives inside them; God’s Word tells them how to live; they are members of God’s family; and He has a plan for each person. “We serve the God of hope,” Lennon said. “It positions us to see all of the ways He is present, active and providing.” Lennon stressed that when trouble comes, believers can remain confident because God will walk beside them. “Joy and peace are not the absence of problems, but rather the assurance that God is with us,” she said. “Embrace” was an event for women of all cultures and generations to realize their God-given value and … [Read more...]

By Kylei Cornelison, Wildcats Media EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part 1 in a series about Louisiana College’s Smith Scholars. PINEVILLE, La. (LCNews) - At Louisiana College, an annual competition is held to determine the winner of the Smith Scholarship, a full ride to LC for four years—the only full ride scholarship offered by the College. One student is chosen from an interview, essay and resume-based competition. Anna Matherne, now a senior at LC, was the 2017 recipient of the Smith Scholarship. She grew up in Baton Rouge, after being adopted from an orphanage in Fuzhou, China, when she was 10 months old. She was raised as an only child by a single, widowed mother, and because of this dynamic, she has a very close relationship with her mom, Patti Matherne. “She is my best friend,” Anna says referring to her mom. Anna and her mom retell how her adoption process was a miracle and a direct reflection of God’s hand over her life. Anna says there were instances during the process that were almost supernatural, and the only explanation is God. “Before God sent me to China to adopt a little girl, He spent a lot of time making sure that I was ready,” Patti said. Patti recalls becoming “instant friends” with Anna after … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor DEVILLE, La. (LBM) — ”The president of our Convention is an important job. The way to affect significant change in the Southern Baptist Convention starts by electing the president,” said Philip Robertson, March 16. Robertson, pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church, Deville, with a campus in Alexandria, made the statements as part of his promotion of the Conservative Baptist Network, of which he leads the Louisiana chapter, and in presenting Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, who is a candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Stone was at PBC, Deville, as speaker for a luncheon that was open to area pastors and church members. It was one of three regional events he headlined in the state, March 15-16. He is the immediate past chairman of the SBC Executive Committee and chaired a task force for them that found Russell Moore and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission had negatively impacted the Cooperative Program (last year, in 15 state conventions that responded to a survey, a loss of $1.5 million to the International Mission Board and a drop of $4 million to state work). The 10,000-member CBN seeks to halt a leftward … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – CENLA Pregnancy Center supporters are celebrating a successful start to the annual baby bottle fundraiser, buoyed by the news of a record pace in giving. Since January, 19 churches and groups have raised $38,000 through donations collected in baby bottles, surpassing last year’s total of $25,000. Another 11 churches and groups indicated they, too, will participate this year, causing CPC Director Claire Lemoine to suggest that donations could exceed the all-time high of $50,000 that was collected in 2018, the first year CENLA Pregnancy Center was fully operational. Lemoine told the Baptist Message she briefly considered opting out of the baby bottle fundraiser this year because so many people are struggling financially due to the pandemic’s economic impact. Instead, she said, she was moved to proceed, and since her staff began reaching out in December, the response by churches has been overwhelming. “The Lord showed me late last year that people were ready to do something because so much has been absent from their lives that they knew before the COVID protocols set in,” Lemoine said. “Once the donations started coming in, God was affirming that we … [Read more...]

By Elizabeth Christian, LCNews PINEVILLE, La. (LCNews)– Best-selling author Jay Richards will address “Money, greed and God: the Christian case for free enterprise” during Louisiana College’s annual God in the Workplace series March 22. Richards, an assistant research professor in The Busch School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., is the 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award winner who has written numerous books including “God & Evolution,” “The Privileged Planet,” and “The Human Advantage.” “Louisiana College’s 5th Annual God in the Workplace Lecture Series brings to the forefront the significance of the intersection of Faith and Work,” LC President Rick Brewer said in a news release. “As God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) we understand the role of the Christ follower in the marketplace is to be a wise and faithful steward of people, projects, time and resources. Jay Richards will effectively challenge and encourage participants to better understand the need to be equipped with an apologetic which ‘contends for the Faith’ (Jude 3) in the midst of a turbulent time.” Richards noted that “free enterprise and business are often blamed for all manner of social ills. Like all … [Read more...]

By Elizabeth Christian, LCNews PINEVILLE, La. (LCNews) – Adam W. Greenway, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, signed an articulation agreement on March 4 with Louisiana College President Rick Brewer that will allow students to apply college credits to a seminary degree. “This is a win-win-win for Louisiana College and Southwestern Seminary—and it’s a win for students,” Greenway said during LC’s chapel service. “In light of the shared commitment between our two institutions to prepare men and women for gospel ministry, this agreement helps students get quality theological education and expand opportunities for greater gospel effectiveness. We look forward to how this partnership will benefit students and the kingdom.” The memorandum of understanding between the two Southern Baptist institutions will allow LC graduates to earn their seminary degrees more quickly to pursue God’s calling on their lives. “Students who successfully complete select senior-level courses in LC’s Missions and Ministries program may receive at least 15 credit hours toward the Master of Divinity Degree Program at SWBTS,” Brewer said at the signing. “This will save students time and money.” Brewer said this … [Read more...]