By Message Staff ALEXANDRIA - Surrounded by family and Louisiana Baptist state missions services team members, six church planters were commissioned on Jan. 20 during the first-ever service of its kind for church planters in the state. The church planter commissioning service on Wednesday was for those who started a church since October 2015. Since then, 11 churches have been started in the state, including five in January. The goal for 2016 is to plant 30 churches in Louisiana, keeping in step with the goal to plant 300 churches by 2020. To reach that goal, 170 more churches will have to be planted between now and 2020. John Hebert, missions and ministry team leader for Louisiana Baptists, said his team is engaged in partnering with churches, associations and other Southern Baptist entities to plant healthy, culturally relevant, biblically sound, multiplying churches that seek to fulfill the Great Commission. “At the spearhead of this effort is the work of our Church planters,” he said during the commissioning service. “Today these church planters have come before this assembly to receive the blessing and commissioning and commitment of Louisiana Baptists’ support. God has called them to serve in places across our … [Read more...]

By Message Staff In the Dec. 17, 2015 issue of the Baptist Message, we introduced you to a Louisiana Baptist couple in Covington who coordinates and delivers shipping containers to children in the Ukraine at Christmas. Each container has clothes, food, much needed medicine, building material, mattresses and vitamins. The shipping containers are 40-ft-long, 8-ft wide and 9-ft high. Most of the containers are delivered to southern Romania where living conditions are much worse than other parts of the country. Johnny Huffman, who along with his wife Sissie spearheads the project, e-mailed the Message on Jan. 19 with an update on the project. The couple’s ministry is Fairhaven Hope Ministries, located just 10 miles outside of Covington in rural southeast Louisiana. “I sometimes think of the old song ‘I Stand Amazed in His Presence’ for I see Him working His presence in so many ways each day,” he wrote. “Attached you see a few of the pictures that I received from Romania of children receiving some of the Christmas boxes that many of you had a part in. As I was looking at the pictures, I was thinking ‘Only Jesus could have put together all the people it took to accomplish these children having these gifts’. It was His presence … [Read more...]

By Tom Strode, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) - The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has unveiled its new Leadership Council. The 43 Southern Baptist pastors and leaders who were announced Thursday (Jan. 14) will serve as the advisory council for the entity's Leadership Network in 2016. The ERLC launched the network and its advisory council in 2014. Each January, the entity names a new list of council members, most of whom serve for one year. The Leadership Network is open to men and women who seek to identify with the ERLC's Gospel-focused approach to cultural issues in their roles as pastors, leaders or laypeople. Council members - all who are serving or have served in pastoral ministry - will receive equipping from the ERLC staff and give guidance to the network. They also may provide content for the entity's website. ERLC President Russell Moore said he is "thrilled to welcome this group of Gospel-focused, innovative band of pastors and leaders" to the council. "As we come alongside one another, we'll talk about crucial ethical issues confronting churches and how we can engage with a Gospel-focus in the culture and in the public square," Moore said in a written release. "We'll think … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer WOODWORTH – Louisiana Baptist leaders are optimistic the new Georgia Barnette Conference Center will open its door in two months, more than two years after the first dollars were donated for its construction. But for that to happen, favorable weather conditions and additional volunteers are needed. “We are so thankful for all the people who have volunteered so far,” said Julia Parker, volunteer coordinator for Louisiana Baptists. “We still have much work to be done but we need help. We are constantly looking for volunteers. If you could please come and help us, volunteer, we would appreciate it.” Once complete, the 8,400-square-foot center on the grounds of Tall Timbers Conference Center in Woodworth will have six small group rooms and a large auditorium that can be arranged for up to 600 participants. Also included will be a state-of-the-art sound system and lighting. With the exception of professional contractors who poured the concrete slab June 29, work on the project has been comprised entirely of volunteers, including a group comprised of volunteers from the Louisiana Baptist Building, Louisiana Baptist Foundation and Baptist Message who pitched in to help Jan. … [Read more...]

By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter BATON ROUGE - The day after President Barack Obama delivered his last State of the Union speech, evangelist Franklin Graham on Wednesday told an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people packed into the North Boulevard Town Square, “the state of the union is broken.” Graham is preaching in all 50 states in the coming months, calling America back to biblical values, encouraging Christians to stand firm for their faith and to get involved in the political process as part of his “Decision America Tour.” Baton Rouge was third stop on the schedule where, in most places they are holding rallies on the state’s capitol steps. “We’re here today because we see that our nation is in trouble - that’s the state of the union,” Graham declared as the crowd cheered and many waved miniature American flags. “We are in trouble spiritually, racially, economically and we’re in trouble politically. No political party is going to be able to turn this thing around - only God can fix it.” “I have zero hope in the Democratic party,” he said as the crowd cheered, adding, “but before you Republicans start hi-fiving each other - I have zero hope in the Republican party - or any other political parties.“ The crowd cheered … [Read more...]

By Spc. Joshua Barnett, Louisiana National Guard Public Affairs Office NEW ORLEANS – Approximately 300 Louisiana National Guardsmen continue working across the state to build protective barriers against the approaching flood waters and to patrol levees in support of local, parish and state officials at the request of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. The 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team has installed more than 2.3 miles of HESCO barriers and is currently filling them with sand to create a levee on Avoca Island to prevent backwater flooding from reaching Morgan City and other towns in south Louisiana. “We had a hard night, it was very cold, it was muddy, but out Soldiers were motivated,” said Lt. Col. Rich Hanes, executive officer, 256th IBCT. “They stayed up all night with no complaints. I’m very proud of them. They’re hard working, great Soldiers and great Americans.” The levee project is part of a larger effort designed to prevent high water from the Atchafalaya River from travelling through Bayou Chene, over Avoca Island and into the Intracoastal Waterway, where it could flood Morgan City and other towns. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working to seal off the waterway, … [Read more...]

By Sgt. Noshoba Davis, Louisiana National Guard Public Affairs Office PINEVILLE – Louisiana National Guardsmen are working alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the 5th Levee District to conduct 24-hour levee patrols in the parishes of Concordia, East Carroll, Madison and Tensas to inspect for any issues caused by the winter river flooding. These patrols started on Jan. 8. “We have the National Guard out here with us to assist with monitoring the territory on the levees since there is so much ground to cover,” said Steven Evans, a construction controller with the US Army Corps of Engineers. Approximately 200 miles of levees are being checked for leaks, sand boils and seepage around the clock. “The younger Soldiers are getting to see and understand exactly what the Louisiana Guard is here for. They get to see it’s about the community and protecting the people, letting them know that we are here for them,” said Sgt. Aerrial Fredricks, of Monroe, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 528th Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade. The Guardsmen, working with the Corps, are learning how to identify problems that may arise during a flood. They … [Read more...]