[img_assist|nid=8047|title=Memorable Gift|desc=Louisiana College’s Randall Hargis, Vice President for Business Affairs, and Luana Cunningham, Director of Alumni and Foundation Relations, hold a $2.5 million check from the Carl and Helen Vogel Trust. It is the largest financial gift in LC history. Photo by Al Quartemont.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=427]By Kelly Boggs, Baptist Message Editor   PINEVILLE – Louisiana College announced April 5 at a news conference held on its campus that it has received the largest single gift in the history of the school.   The Carl and Helen Vogel Trust totals approximately $2.5 million and has been donated to LC as an unrestricted endowment.   Carl Vogel, a 1931 graduate of LC, was a postman who, along with his wife, for years bought savings bonds. The couple had no children and left all they had to LC.   Joe Aguillard, president of LC, shared how Carl Vogel telephoned him seven years ago, shortly after Aguillard had been named president.   “After about 90 minutes of answering questions about the state of the college and our endowments, he [Vogel] turned the conversation to the great days he experienced at Louisiana College,” Aguillard … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Baptist Message Editor   The “non-religious” from across America gathered in Washington D.C. for what was dubbed as the “Reason Rally.” Self-identified atheists, agnostics, secular humanists came to a meeting that had been promoted for months as “the largest secular event in world history.”   While the event was touted as emphasizing reason, it seemed that some participating in the rally believed ridicule and bullying were the preferred ways for combating religious belief and spreading the joys of atheism.   One lady attending the rally held a sign that read: “So many Christians, so few lions,” according to the Washington Post. The sign was an obvious reference to Christian persecution by the Roman Empire.   Another sign read, “Obama isn’t trying to destroy religion – I AM!” A photo of a woman holding this sign appeared in USA Today.   It is plain to see where those brandishing the aforementioned signs stand on the issue of reason and open debate.   Richard Dawkins, one of the rally’s best known speakers, advocated for an aggressive in-the-face-of-faith approach to attacking religious belief, particularly Christianity.   Dawkins, the … [Read more...]

By Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor Cross Church in Arkansas Imagine what your life would look like if you only committed 2.56 percent of yourself to the things you do. How healthy would your marriage be if you told your spouse, “I love you with 2.56 percent of my heart”? Where would your career be if you performed at only 2.56 percent of your capability? We wouldn’t dream of doing such things. Yet, this is exactly the attitude the average Christian has when it comes to financing the work of the church. The average church member only gives an estimated 2.56 percent of his or her income to any church or charity. We can’t accomplish the massive goals of telling every person in the world about Jesus and making disciples of all nations with such miniscule giving. While it is true that much of the problem is the sin of greediness in the lives of average church members, it also could be the case that our lack of sacrificial giving is the result of disorganization. That’s why there is a great need for Christians to begin to evaluate their financial lives. Here are four steps each of us can take to begin meeting the financial aspect of fulfilling the Great Commission. 1. Give at least the first tenth of your income to your local … [Read more...]

By Russell Moore, Dean at SBTS   A respected pro-family organization has announced a boycott of Starbucks coffee. The group, which supports legal protection for traditional marriage, launched the “Dump Starbucks” campaign after a national board meeting in which the Seattle-based coffee company mentioned support for same-sex marriage as a core value of the company.   Some Christians are wondering whether we ought to join in the boycott. I say no.   It’s not that I’m saying a boycott in and of itself is always evil or wrong. It’s just that, in this case (and in many like it) a boycott exposes us to all of our worst tendencies. Christians are tempted, again and again, to fight like the devil to please the Lord.   A boycott is a display of power, particularly of economic power. The boycott shows a corporation (or government or service provider) that the aggrieved party can hurt the company, by depriving it of revenue.   The boycott, if it’s successful, eventually causes the powers-that-be to yield, conceding that they need the money of the boycott participants more than they need whatever cause they were supporting. It is a contest of who has more buying power, and thus is of more … [Read more...]

By Craig Beeman, Pastor First Baptist Winnsboro   As we participate in the Annie Armstrong Mission Offering, one of our three major missions offerings in which we participate as Louisiana Baptists, many thoughts come to mind. “How much will we raise?” “Will we give sacrificially this year?” “It sure is nice we can sit in a padded pew and reach out to the rest of the world through someone else who is called as a full-time missionary.” Ouch.   I’m afraid that that has been one of our problems as Southern Baptists. We sometime seem content to just fund the largest mission sending agency in the United States. There is nothing wrong with being part of the funding, but what are we, as individuals and churches, doing to share the gospel?   Sending missionaries should not be all we do. We are Baptist Christians who have “a story to tell to the nations.” We hold in our hearts the message which gives people hope, the love of God and freedom from the eternal effects of sin. This message changes lives, or does it?   If the gospel changes lives, then it ought to be visible to others. What God has done inside of you ought to come out of you when others encounter you.   When I served in the … [Read more...]

By Jason Hiles, Associate Dean of Caskey School of Divinity   As spring gives way to summer, folks in many of Louisiana’s churches will embark on short term mission trips in the United States and overseas. In carrying the gospel to those who do not yet know Jesus as Savior, they will participate in a work commissioned by Christ and carried out initially by his apostles.   For generations now believers have responded to this Great Commission with concern for the glory of Jesus’ name and diligence for the sake of those who live apart from Christ and under the wrath of a holy God.   Unfortunately the enemy resists at virtually every point where the Kingdom of God advances.   Satan is a formidable opponent with an arsenal of weapons that has proven effective at times, though we are not unaware of his schemes. Sometimes he fosters apathy or incites greed and self-centeredness.   Other times the enemy attempts to divide Christians over fine points of doctrine or tempts us to be so self-absorbed and focused on personal ambitions that we become inattentive to those who desperately need the life-giving message of salvation in Christ alone.   In recent years the enemy has … [Read more...]

By Archie England, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at NOBTS   Question: How can I live confident that my life is pleasing to God?   Archie England responds: To answer this, let’s investigate Proverbs 3, which concludes with two possible outcomes: blessing or cursing. Those living wisely will be rewarded with blessings, honor, and grace; those who don’t, will be cursed, mocked, and shamed (as fools).   First, Proverbs 3 presents several principles, along with corresponding benefits, in verses 1-12 (bound by “my son” statements). Six commands (three prohibitions and three exhortations) comprise this section: (1) Keep, 3:1; (2) Don’t let go, 3:3; (3) Trust, 3:5; (4) Don’t be wise, 3:7; (5) Honor, 3:9; and (6) Don’t reject, 3:11. Likewise, each command attaches a corresponding guarantee – 1) long life and peace; (2) favor and reputation; (3) straight paths; (4) health; (5) abundance; and (6) delightful, parental relationship. All six reflect what pleases God, that is, a life based upon the word of God. His Law is indeed the truth that prepares a “faithful child” for life.   But truth must be valued to make a difference. This is what the second section addresses (Prov 3:13-20). How well … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8056|title=Spreading the Gospel|desc=IMB conference at Istrouma story, photo by mark h. hunter, Rev. Michael Cloer, senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church of Rocky Mount, N.C., explains how a local church, that wants to conduct its own oversees missions to an unengaged or unreached people group, should connect with the expertise offered by IMB's staff of Missional Church Strategists, during a presentation at the Impact Your World Conference held at Istrouma Baptist in Baton Rouge on March 22-23.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=411]By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter   BATON ROUGE – More than 75 representatives from 25 area Baptist churches spent two days learning how to spread the gospel “from South Louisiana to the ends of the earth.”   The Impact Your World Conference, which took place at Istrouma Baptist Church on March 22-23, was hosted by the Louisiana Baptist Convention and five area Baptist Associations. The event featured a dozen speakers from LBC and the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Missions Board, who explained in detail how to fulfill the Great Commission to more than 3,800 unengaged and/or unreached people groups.   Also available: the … [Read more...]

By Holly Jo Linzay, Special to the Message   [img_assist|nid=8058|title=A Young heart|desc=Sulphur’s Addie Young, shown holding two Haitian babies, went to Haiti last month with her identical twin, Allie, her father, Steven Young, and her younger sister, Jamie, 13, on their first mission trip.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]SULPHUR  – A wellspring of compassion flooded Addie Young’s heart after hearing her youth pastor tell about how thousands of children worldwide die each year due to drinking tainted water.   “I knew then I wanted to make a change, a difference in the world. I did some research on the internet, and decided I wanted to raise money to drill wells for clean water in Haiti,” 15-year-old Addie recalled.   Her concern about Haiti’s need for clean water was the spark that compelled Addie to start fundraisers with her church family at Houston River Baptist Church that garnered more than $15,000.   “We just mailed a check this week for the fifth water well,” Addie enthused over the amount raised, which was quadruple the amount needed for the initial goal of funding one water well.   Last month, Addie, her identical twin, Allie, her father, Steven Young, … [Read more...]

By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter   CENTRAL – When Dennis Terry was asked if he felt like he was in the middle of a tornado, the senior pastor of Greenwell Springs Baptist Church laughed and said, “bunches of them!”[img_assist|nid=8061|title=Rev. Terry|desc=Dennis Terry, senior pastor at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, preached a sermon on Sunday evening, March 18, about how Christians should be involved in the political process before introducing presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R., Pa., (seated left) and Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, who for nearly two hours interviewed Santorum on his views.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=438]   What started out as a patriotic Sunday evening service last month turned into a media frenzy after heavily-edited video clips of Terry’s sermon went viral across the internet and network talk shows.   Dozens of liberal web sites accused him of bigotry and hate, and he is being called all sorts of names by politically left and atheist critics. Many sites compare him to Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s former pastor who was exposed during the last election in videos cursing America.   Terry … [Read more...]