By Philip Timothy, Staff Writer RAYNE – From all over the country they came for the annual Campers on Mission National Rally. RVs, motorcoaches, and campers sporting license plates from North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Florida – 18 states in all – filled Gossen Memorial Park where the city of Rayne annually holds its Frog Festival. There was the usual national business matters that had to be handled, but there was also a time for fellowship, Bible study, worship, the exchange of ideas, and, of course, good food. “Certainly we come together to do national business,” said Mona Brockman of Prairieville, La., and event coordinator. “But we’ve also put together an awesome program with plenty of fun things to do, as well as instruction on some of the things we do best in this state.” Bill Austin, president of Louisiana’s COM, said, “This year is a little bit different than in the past because of what is going on with NAMB. “To be honest we have pretty much gone our separate ways,” said Austin. “We as a national organization have dealt with it and we are going on without them. It really hasn’t phased us, because financially we didn’t get any money from them to operate.” NAMB, though, used to … [Read more...]

  By Robert Lemoine, Special to the Message LAKE PROVIDENCE – Lives are changing in this poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta town. Mission teams from across the United States working with First Baptist Church of Lake Providence are making a difference with ministries such as construction, medical clinics, Bible clubs, and personal visits with senior citizens. “We’ve seen racial tensions soften and living conditions improve in the past weeks,” said Mitch Minson, pastor of First Lake Providence since September 2008. “With God’s help, we will touch the lives of at least 1,000 people this summer in a community of only 4,000. That’s 25 percent!” With the financial help of a local charitable foundation, and Mission Serve, which pairs churches seeking missions opportunities with areas looking for help, these volunteers will put new roofs on ten houses, paint eight houses, and build a handicap entrance for another by the end of this summer. Mission Serve, headquartered in Cumming, Ga., is an organization founded in 2003 at the request of the Georgia Baptist Convention by Andy Morris, who had been director of World Changers, which was started in 1990 by the SBC’s Brotherhood Commission. “All of this is the work of God; we don’t … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 08/01/2012 - 01:00 Bike Rack: Welder J.B. Owens (above) of First Baptist Haynesville, built this bike rack for the Baptist Collegiate Ministries’ new building at LA Tech, at the request of Pastor Shelby Cowling.   By Staff, Baptist Message RUSTON – At a recent board of directors meeting for the Baptist Collegiate Ministry for Louisiana Technical University, a need for a bike rack was expressed. Kevin Inman is BCM director at what’s known as “LA Tech.” “Students were parking their bicycles any place they could find in which to chain it,” wrote Pastor Shelby Cowling in a recent article in the Wireless, newsletter for First Baptist Church of Haynesville. Cowling is a member of the BCM board of directors. “I left thinking that providing a bike rack was something that FBC Haynesville could do,” Cowling wrote. “After searching for one unsuccessfully, I asked Mr. J.B. Owens  if he could build one. He readily agreed.” When Cowling arrived with the bike rack, “some young men were ready to unload it,” the pastor wrote. “[Inman] said it was just in time because classes for the summer semester started the next day and he was expecting students to start coming to the BCM.” The … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 08/01/2012 - 01:00 World Changers: John Davis, 14, of Vail, Colorado, wearing his "yes we can" shirt, said "it is great to see people of different races all working together" on the Covington homes.   By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter COVINGTON –  Margaret Payne, 88, couldn’t get out of her house without help because she couldn’t negotiate three cinder-block steps from her front porch to the ground in her wheelchair. Now she can, thanks to the “Hand Saws,” a crew of teenagers from World Changers who built her a ramp and put a new roof on her well-worn house. “It feel real good,” Payne said over a cacophony of hammering, sawing and teenaged laughter. Payne’s home was just one of 17 homes improved by 300 teens from 14 churches from Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi and Colorado. The group invaded the “West 30’s” neighborhood of Covington on July 9 and left a trail of smiles when they departed July 14. Headquartered at First Baptist, they camped in the Sunday School classrooms and worshipped in the sanctuary and youth building. “We’re glad to have them,” said FBC’s Associate Pastor Jay Johnston. Lane Corley, Bridge Church pastor and Northshore Association’s … [Read more...]

  By Staff, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) has released the upcoming Fall 2012 class schedules for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees at the seminary’s Louisiana extension centers. NORTH LOUISIANA North Louisiana extension New Orleans Seminary’s North Louisiana center, located at Broadmoor Baptist Church, 4110 Youree Drive in Shreveport, will offer the following undergraduate courses this fall. Classes meet Thursdays.   • Personal Spiritual Disciplines, 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., one credit hour • New Testament Interpretation: Johannine Literature: 1-3 John and Revelation, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., three credit hours • Introduction to Ministry, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., three credit hours • Christian Doctrine, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., three credit hours The following graduate courses will be offered this fall at the seminary’s North Louisiana extension. Classes meet Mondays.  • Supervised Ministry 1, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., two credit hours • Counseling in Ministry, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., two credit hours • Encountering the Biblical World, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., two credit hours • Proclaiming the Bible, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., three credit hours • Spiritual Formation 1, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., one … [Read more...]

  By Staff, Baptist Press WASHINGTON, D.C. (BP) -- U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D.-La., has introduced a congressional resolution congratulating the Southern Baptist Convention for electing as president Fred Luter Jr., the first African American to hold the post. Landrieu notes the historical significance of Luter's election and honors the SBC's commitment to ethnic inclusion. Luter is pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. "Whereas the election of Reverend Luter brings great pride and honor to the membership of the Southern Baptist Convention," the resolution reads in part, "be it resolved that the Senate congratulates the Southern Baptist Convention for electing Reverend Fred Luter, Jr., as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention; acknowledges Reverend Luter's unique role as the first African-American leader of the Southern Baptist Convention; and honors the commitment of the Southern Baptist Convention to an inclusive faith-based community and society." Landrieu notes the SBC's 1978 resolution against racism and its 1995 resolution apologizing for slavery as well as Luter's role in resurrecting Franklin Avenue Baptist Church from the destruction of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The June 29 … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 08/01/2012 - 01:00 Meals for Multitudes: Forty youth at Eastwood Baptist Church in Haughton, with the help of 30 adults, packed 10,000 Meals for Multitudes, destined for people living in Ethiopia. By Staff, Baptist Message HAUGHTON – After a 30-minute educational talk on world hunger on a recent Sunday afternoon, 40 youth and 30 adults at Eastwood Baptist Church got busy. For the next two hours, they poured ingredients into 10,000 plastic bags and sealed them with a note that said, “This food is given freely in the name of Christ.” The activity took place on “Embrace the Community” Sunday at Eastwood  Haughton. “We didn’t have our normal Sunday night service and instead asked our small groups to find an area of the community in which they could share the love of Christ,” said Jeremy Palmer, minister of adult and student missions. The youth chose Meals for Multitudes. The $3,000 cost (provided by youth and childrens offerings, and Eastwood’s Mercy fund, included the food mix, packaging materials, transportation to Ethiopia and distribution there, and a trainer who showed the team how to pack. “It was an impacting time for our youth as they learned about the conditions in the … [Read more...]

  By Staff, Baptist Message ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES n Wayne (wife Karen) Sistrunk, new as pastor of Evergreen Baptist in Bernice. n Jason (wife Cheryl) Perault, new as music minister at Pineville Park Baptist in Pineville.  Pastor Steve McAlister. n Mike Edens, new as interim pastor at Hebron Baptist in Bush. n Casey Williams, resigns as minister of youth and recreation at Temple Ruston. n Jeremy Albright, resigns as minister of youth at First Winnfield. n Tim Searcy, formerly a vice president at LC and a provost at NOBTS, is vice president of academic services at Brewton-Parker College in Georgia. n Aaron (wife Jenna) Watson, new as family pastor at Springs of Grace in Shreveport, from Texas. n Antonio (wife Shameka) Dixon, new as pastor of Steeple Chase Shreveport. n Joe Bob Alexander, new as interim pastor of Providence Road Shreveport. n Frank Eppinette, new as interim pastor of First Greenwood. n Don Vaughn, resigns as music minister at First Benton. n Waymon Beshea, new as associate pastor of North Keithville, from Mansfield Road. n Adam Beach, pastor of Willow Point, resigns to move to Slidell as a church planter. n Claude Crocker, resigns as youth pastor of Gray Baptist. n Chad Glover, new as youth … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 08/01/2012 - 01:00   By Staff, Baptist Message NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – New Mexico Baptists have decided to not accept the purchase of Glorieta Baptist Conference Center from LifeWay Christian Resources. The BCNM’s Glorieta Task Force has notified LifeWay that it is not feasible for the state convention to assume ownership of Glorieta, even for the $1 price LifeWay had set forth for the 2,100-acre site near Santa Fe. “The BCNM Glorieta Task Force believed any prudent business plan would include an environmental study and indemnification by LifeWay for any environmental problems that might be discovered,” said BCNM executive board chairman Lamar Morin, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bloomfield. “Based on its inspection of the property, the task force determined that a viable business plan needed to include deferred maintenance of $10 million to $20 million,” Morin said, adding that when LifeWay advised the BCNM it “could not indemnify the state convention as requested, the task force could not proceed any further.” Morin acknowledged the “deep love and devotion New Mexico Baptists” have for Glorieta but said the task force “recognized, despite multiple suggestions, … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 08/01/2012 - 01:00   By Emily Belz, World News Service (WNS) – Regarded by some as the most prominent evangelical college in the country, Wheaton College joined a chorus of Catholic and Protestant institutions suing the federal government over the contraceptive mandate. The college filed a lawsuit July 24 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the Department of Health and Human Services had violated its religious freedom and free speech. “This insurance mandate is against our conscience and our Christian conviction,” said Philip Ryken, president of the school located in Wheaton, Ill. “We had no recourse but to file this suit.” The mandate “runs roughshod over Wheaton’s religious beliefs, and the beliefs of millions of other Americans, by forcing it to provide health insurance coverage for abortifacient drugs and related education and counseling,” the lawsuit reads. Wheaton, which was founded in 1860 and is one of the oldest evangelical schools in the country, is neither a church nor a seminary so it would not qualify for the contraceptive mandate’s narrow religious exemption. The college would have to provide full insurance coverage for all Food and … [Read more...]