https://youtu.be/36Fy-I-YZfQ Floodwaters have topped the levee at Brouillette and parish officials are calling for a mandatory evacuation of residents there while a voluntary evacuation has been ordered for residents in Vick. Farm workers at the Red River Waterway’s Ben Routh Recreation Area in Vick use an excavator to fill large sacks with sand which in turn will be strategically placed in key areas to hold back a rising Red River. The river already is dangerously high and isn’t expected to crest until Wednesday. People are asked to keep the people of Brouillette and Vick in there prayers.   … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer The record flooding in the Monroe-West Monroe area may have postponed the second scheduled Missions Jamboree Conference, also known as M-JAM, but it didn’t stop it from taking place at a later date. Originally scheduled for March 12 at Cedar Crest Baptist Church in West Monroe, M-JAM has been rescheduled for April 30 at the same location. “Jeff Slaughter has agreed to come back and lead worship for us again,” said Jess Archer, children/youth mission education strategist for Louisiana Baptists. “We are also going to have all of our original breakout sessions leaders. M-Jam in West Monroe is an event you won't want to miss.” The deadline to register is April 21 and more information can be found at louisianabaptists.org/mjam. Anyone who previously registered for the March 12 M-JAM and plans on attending the conference on April 30 is asked to email jess.archer@louisianabaptists.org or call 318.448.3402. M-JAMMING IN BATON ROUGE During the first meeting of M-JAM earlier this month, Slaughter said that the biblical hero Samson may have preached 2,000 years ago but his message on how to live out the Christian life still is very much relevant today. Just as Samson was bold … [Read more...]

By Norm Miller, LC news High school students of all grades, as well as transfer students, are welcome to attend Preview Day, an extensive overview of campus and academic life at Louisiana College.  A record number of participants have already registered for the March 19 event. Packed with exciting events, Preview Day is great for prospective students who want to learn as much as they can within a weekend setting. Preview Day participants will: tour LC’s beautiful campus; meet with faculty and students to learn more about academics and student life; gain valuable scholarship and financial aid information; receive a free LC T-shirt; and enjoy lunch in the Hattie B. Strother cafeteria. High school seniors who attend Preview Day with the completed LC application will have the application fee waived. All events are free for students and parents.  For more information, call 1-800-487-1906. Other campus events Preview Day will mark the end of a busy week on campus. Today, the LC College Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is hosting “Science’s Fractured Fairy Tales.” Open to 10th-12th grade high school students, the two-day event that started on Thursday includes challenging games, … [Read more...]

By LC Communications PINEVILLE – Louisiana College has set aside March 23 as a special day of prayer. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day, participants can take part in a self-guided prayer walk through seven reflective stations focusing on the passion week of Jesus, and prayer for the campus, community of Alexandria-Pineville, state and nation. “Please feel free to come and spend a few moments remembering what Christ did for us and to continue to pray for our campus,” said Thomas Worsham, Director of LC’s Baptist Collegiate Ministry. The LC Baptist Collegiate Ministry is sponsoring the prayer walk. … [Read more...]

By Message Staff Spared by God from the flooding which consumed more than 85 percent of the small rural community of Castor, First Baptist Church has been transformed into a “hub of relief” according to Pastor Preston Young. Floodwaters from Kepler Lake and Black Lake Bayou have consumed more than 85 percent of the homes in Castor, a small rural community of just 252 people in Bienville Parish. The majority of the flooding has taken place on the west side of town while 10 homes on the sparsely populated east side have been damaged by flood waters. “Some homes in our area had six to seven feet of water in them,” said Young. “Some homes that have been elevated for 30 to 40 years and never had water get into them were flooded. We share the same campus with Castor High School. The school was flooded and we had flood waters come up to the concrete slab of our church, but didn’t get inside. “God spared us from the flooding because he had a plan for this church,” Young said. Indeed He did. Beginning on that Thursday and throughout Friday when the rain was non-stop, Young saw how quickly the water was rising. Church members did what they could to help people in the community save what they could but their biggest … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer Tuesday night, prayers for revival and for the recent flooding in the state took center stage at a three-hour prayer gathering in Many. Nearly 70 pastors and others in District 8 Baptist Associations assembled at Hope Chapel in Many for the ‘Prayer Summit,’ which began with a focus on the record flooding that has engulfed many parts of the state. Prayer Summit organizer Cyle Clayton said, throughout the gathering, different prayers were offered about the flooding and needs were shared related to those affected by this disaster. He said everyone who attended knew at least one person who has been impacted by the flooding. “Everyone is overwhelmed and recognizing the needs,” said Clayton, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Many, who has been praying with other pastors for six years for revival in the US. “Through prayer, the Lord connects our hearts to those situations like the flooding. When the Lord moves in our hearts, He moves our hands and feet. And many in the room by the end of the night were talking about ways they will become involved in helping out those in need.” Timothy Robertson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Logansport, said the ‘Summit’ helped those … [Read more...]

By Message Staff ALEXANDRIA – Pastor Shane Terrebonne has announced the speakers for the 2nd Annual Gulf Coast Evangelism Conference scheduled for March 20-21 at South Lafourche Baptist Church in Cut Off. On March 20, Titus Terrebonne, associate pastor of South Lefourche, will speak at 10:45 a.m. and Ryan Melson, pastor of West Bank Baptist Church in Marrero, will preach at 6:30 p.m. The following evening, Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans and immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention,  will close out the conference by presenting a message at 6:30 p.m. “I’m excited to see how God will use this event to help us grow evangelistically,” Pastor Terrebonne told the Baptist Message. He invited Louisiana Baptists to be part of this special focus on winning the lost in our state.   … [Read more...]

In a video posted on Facebook, First West Senior Pastor Michael Wood said the church was canceling the First West NELA Egg Drop which had scheduled to take place on Saturday at West Monroe and Sterlington High Schools because of the flooding. Seventy thousand eggs were to be dropped from a hot air balloon at the two campuses. “I want to let you know that at First West we were scheduled to have our First West Egg Drop coming up this Saturday,” Wood said. “We believe we want to steer all our resources and all of our volunteers to continue to meet needs that are right here in around us because of the flood disaster that’s taken place. “We are going to cancel that for this weekend because we want to continue to meet the needs in our neighborhood. We hate we have to do that but we know this is the right thing to do,” Wood said. “This is the moment God has given us a chance to minister to those in our community. “So, I want to encourage you that if you have not gotten plugged in yet to somewhere to be serving, somewhere to be helping someone. The easiest way to do that is go to firstwest.cc/floodrelief,” Wood continued. “If you will go there, there is a place to sign up to volunteer or maybe you still have a need. If there is … [Read more...]

PINEVILLE - Louisiana College has entered into a one-year, dual enrollment with University Academy. The two schools announced the news during a press conference on March 15 at the LC campus in Pineville. The agreement allows qualified high school students from University Academy to enroll at LC. This will be University Academy's second location. University Academy also uses facilities at LSU-Alexandria. https://youtu.be/fDG4sf9PUmQ … [Read more...]

By Philip Timothy, Managing Editor The enormous scope of the damage that flooding has inflicted on Louisianans has left many in the state shaken but yet resolved to overcome. Still, people are going to need a lot of help in order to recover, according to disaster relief experts in the state. Floodwaters have damaged more than 7,000 homes in Louisiana, affecting 28 parishes, but that number likely will rise because many of the state’s biggest rivers have yet to crest. Louisiana Baptists’ disaster relief units, joined by Southern Baptist crews from 10 other states, already are fanning out to minister and help where they can, even as they wait for the waters to recede. “Nobody fully understands how big this thing is yet and it is still going on,” said John Hebert, director of missions and ministry for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. “All of our state assets have been deployed and we are barely scratching the surface. The magnitude of this flooding is just unbelievable as there are very few places in the state that have not been affected by it,” Hebert said.   https://youtu.be/XLsq1qMCVJs David Abernathy, Louisiana Baptists’ northern region disaster relief coordinator, told Hebert, “We need all the … [Read more...]