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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Countdown to September’s state missions offering

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Louisiana Baptists are passionate about missions in North America and around the world, but this fall they will be encouraged to look closer to home for ways to advance the Gospel, according to state leaders. Taken from Mark 1:38, which records Jesus reminding his followers, “We must go to the nearby towns, so that I can tell the good news to those people,” this year’s giving theme is “Nearby – the needs next door.” Louisiana Baptist Executive Director Steve Horn noted this is an important focus. “One of the commitments I made to Louisiana Baptists when I accepted this position was that Louisiana will be evangelized,” Horn said. “Our participation in the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering plays a critical role in seeing this become a reality.” Some of the missions and ministries dependent upon the Georgia Barnette Offering are church planting; compassion ministries; prison outreach; ministry to victims of sex trafficking; Disaster Relief efforts; Louisiana Baptists’ multi-media outreach strategy, “Here for You”; and Woman’s Missionary Union Scholarships to Louisiana College. “It can be easy to overlook local issues like homelessness … [Read more...]

Louisiana College launches Center for Calling and Career

By Elizabeth Clarke, LC News PINEVILLE, La. (LC News) – Louisiana College has launched the Center for Calling and Career, a one-stop shop for students seeking internships, career advice and information about jobs available in their majors, according to Wildcats press release. The CCC, located on the third floor of the Hixson Student Center, will help students gain an understanding of how their values and spiritual gifts should be assessed to fully know what God is calling them to do in their lives and careers, school officials said. “Students can go online and compare their values to jobs that would be a best fit for them,” Center for Calling and Career Executive Director Meredith Rennier said. “Students enrolled in CC 100 will get to utilize this through our website. CC 100 is a required course of all entering freshmen.” The CCC will host events throughout the academic year to teach resume writing and interview skills and will hold career fairs. Services will be provided to alumni, as well, she said. This year’s theme is ‘I am called,’ which Rennier said will coincide with the Quality Enhancement Plan of service learning that kicks off in the fall. QEP Chair Vanessa Graves, who is an associate professor of social work, said … [Read more...]

State judge dismisses pro-abortion group’s suit, upholds Louisiana’s pro-life law

By LRTL staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LRTL) – Judge Timothy Kelley of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge dismissed, Aug. 5, the case, Lift Louisiana vs. The State of Louisiana. Lift Louisiana, a pro-abortion advocacy group, challenged the constitutionality of Act 492, passed recently by the Louisiana Legislature. This law limits the jurisdiction to authorize a minor's abortion without parental consent to courts within the minor's parish of residence (with some exceptions). Previously, the judicial bypass could be obtained in the parish where the abortion facility operates or in the minor's parish of residence. "Once again, the abortion industry ran to the shelter of a court to cling to its mission of abortion-on-demand, this time seeking to defend abortion for minors without any barriers or parental involvement. Judge Kelley rightly dismissed this ridiculous lawsuit and told the abortion businesses they can return to court once they actually have a real plaintiff," said Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life. "We congratulate Attorney General Jeff Landry and his office on this expeditious victory for the parents and children of Louisiana. His office expertly defeated this challenge, … [Read more...]

Wildcats expected to welcome largest class in LC history Aug. 12

By Elizabeth Clarke, LC News PINEVILLE, La. (LC News) - More Wildcats than ever will be arriving on campus starting Aug. 12 as Louisiana College is expected to welcome its largest class in the institution’s 115-year history, 350 freshmen, according to the school's president, Rick Brewer. “I am so grateful for the favor of the Lord on Louisiana College,” Brewer said. “All our faculty, staff and I are ready to get on campus and meet our new Wildcats and welcome back our returning ones. It’s going to be a blessed year.” Brewer noted in particular that Gage Dowling, the new director of residence life and student engagement  "is roaring to go!" “This will be one of the largest classes in LC’s history; that means it will be more fun than ever,” Dowling said. “Students are very excited and can’t wait to arrive on campus.” Dowling, who began in his position this summer; has worked in residence life for other institutions for six years, and he “can’t wait to serve the Lord here.” His wife, Casey Dowling, is the college’s first director of international student affairs and expects to welcome more than 40 international students this fall - up from eight last year. Incoming freshman Julia Thompson, the youngest of three from … [Read more...]

September 30 is coming!

By Clark Palmer TIOGA, La. (LBM) – For Louisiana Baptist churches, Sept. 30 is “Numbers Day” – that’s the end of the fiscal year and a calendar reminder for our congregations to submit their individual reports to the Annual Church Profile. And these numbers matter. When I became moderator of my local association, I considered setting some goals for increasing attendance and baptisms. My first step was to look at “the data” to create a baseline, and I discovered the numbers were “off.” What I mean is there were no discernible trends. One year we were up, the next down. Even the numbers from a decade ago seemed suspect because of this undulation. As I dug deeper, what I realized is that several churches were not reporting their numbers every year. And it only took a couple to throw off the numbers for the entire association. I’ve since discovered that 15-20 percent of our churches statewide don’t fill out and return the ACP. Importantly, this is a problem for making decisions about cooperative ministries such as where to plant a church and what congregations might need revitalization assistance. Then I began to wonder if this could also account for at least some of the reported overall declines for the SBC in … [Read more...]