By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor BOGALUSA – Washington Parish, which borders the state of Mississippi on the north and the east, was mostly a dense forest of longleaf yellow pine when Washington broke off from its southern border, St. Tammany Parish, in 1819. But Andrew Jackson had slashed a road for his military troops from Nashville, Tenn., to New Orleans before the 1814 Battle of New Orleans, and settlers followed – enough, by 1855, for far-flung neighbors – who hunted, trapped, fished, and sold the extras to New Orleans, some 70 miles downriver, as they scraped together a living – to start Union Church for Baptists and Methodists. Ten years later, the year the Civil War ended, eight members of the congregation broke off to start Lee’s Creek Baptist Church on a tributary of the Pearl River. There was much work to be done, starting with the construction of a church house. It burned. So did a second. So did a third. But 70 years ago, in 1936, a building was constructed that has not burned, and in 1989 an educational building was annexed for the church that was officially chartered in 1871. “However, in the last few years the 70-year-old sanctuary, exhibiting structural problems, compounded by damage inflicted … [Read more...]

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Heavy rain may be the next disaster for Haiti. One example: a windy 20-minute downpour left a half-foot of water inside makeshift tents on the sloping golf course of the Petionville Club, now a tarp-and-tent neighborhood of about 45,000 people, according to an Associated Press report. SLIDELL – The start of the rainy season is a reason for a major push of housebuilding, said Larry McEwen, pastor of Northshore Baptist Church in Slidell. McEwen has a 20-year relationship with Haiti, and Northshore is leading in an effort to build houses for Haitian families. A friend of the pastor’s, Stefan Vervloet, “is retooling his factory to build pre-fab houses for the people of Haiti,” McEwen wrote on a recent blog. “At this time it looks like a complete two-room, 200 square foot home, wood framed, and on a slab, will be available for $2,000. However, the Dutch government, where Vervloet is from, is involved in this new effort and for now, we can get two for the price of one! So that makes these houses only a thousand dollars each. “The other exciting thing about this is that once the slab has been poured, it will only take a few tools, like a hammer, crow bar, and ratchets, to put these prefabbed homes … [Read more...]

By Gary D. Meyers, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS – Avery Willis, retired senior vice president of the International Mission Board and creator of the MasterLife discipleship series, is beating leukemia. After only one month of treatment, his cancer is in remission. [img_assist|nid=6248|title=Avery Willis, retired senior vice president of IMB to launch DNA at NOBTS in April|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=71|height=100]The 75-year-old was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease on Jan. 7. Willis surprised his doctors and family members with a quicker-than-expected remission in February. With his health improving, Willis is turning his attention to the illness facing the church –  a lack of discipleship. He sees many parallels between the church’s problem and leukemia. “Leukemia is exactly what the church has,” Willis said. Normally, bone marrow in the human body produces red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, he explained. Red cells carry oxygen while white cells fight viruses and bacteria. The platelets help the blood to coagulate. “What happens in leukemia is an abnormal development in the DNA so that the body produces large numbers of immature cells that do not do their function,” Willis … [Read more...]

By Jerry Love, Director of Planned Giving Louisiana Baptist Foundation [img_assist|nid=6266|title=Jerry Love, Director of Planned Giving Louisiana Baptist Foundation|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]Imagine for a minute that it is early on the morning of Christmas Eve.  Your spouse has a fever. Your infant son is also ill and in need of medical care. You’re in an unfamiliar country and you don’t speak the language. This is where Elizabeth Keene found herself some 14 years ago. She and her husband, Randy, had traveled to Paraguay to finalize the adoption of their son John. With Randy running a fever and John’s lungs rattling, she set out to find medical care for her new 1-year-old son. During her journey she met an angry cab driver who spoke no English, an American Embassy Marine guard who directed them to a hospital, and finally a crowded, noisy emergency room. At the point where Elizabeth despaired that adequate care was not available for John, she was approached by a tall, fair skinned gentleman who simply asked, “May I help you?” in perfect English.  He introduced himself as Dr. Tom Kent, a medical missionary from Louisiana and Director of Emergency. At this time Dr. Kent and his wife, Judi, had … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=6251|title=Baptist encampments offer plenty of summertime fun like sliding in the mud on a hot day.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]     [img_assist|nid=6252|title=Learning how and playing a game of softball|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=76]       Harris Baptist Assembly Mike Latham, Director 2800 Harris Road Minden, LA 71055 318.927.3706 mail@harrisbaptist.com www.harrisbaptist.com Camp Bethany[img_assist|nid=6254|title=Learning how to work with others on the ropes course|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=82] Robert Cole, Director 9766 Hwy. 679 PO Box 250 Bethany, LA 71007 318.938.1221 www.campbethany.com campbethany@aol.com Friendship Baptist Camp[img_assist|nid=6253|title=Holding a retreat for your church or for your church staff in special cabins|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67] 16507 Highway 4 Beinville, LA 71008 318.259.9369   Clara Springs Baptist Encampment Jack Mills, Director 4420 Hwy 177 Pelican, LA 71063 clarasprings@cp-tel.net www.clarasprings.com Tall Timbers Conference Center Sam White, Director 10218 Hwy 165 South Forest Hill, LA … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor FERRIDAY – It was more a “no-brainer” than it was a “clever idea,” says Chase Weeks, family minister at First Baptist and founding director of REAL Ministries. “Teenagers text; that’s what they do,” Weeks said after a late-winter Youth Blast that drew perhaps 250 area youth and 50 leaders to the church for a concert by the Alexandria-based, Christian heavy-metal band Altar’d, and preaching by Weeks. In addition to the deafening sound of the band, t-shirts being thrown out like nerf balls and a variety of other high-energy hi-jinks designed to appeal to the under-18 crowd, the teens were given the opportunity to win an I-pod. All they had to do was to come to the front of the worship center and correctly – without any punctuation or letter error – key into their cell phones the scripture displayed on an overhead screen. About 12 teens at a time could text from the platform, but dozens were doing the same from the pews they were sitting in, and nearly everyone was reading the words displayed on the screen. The competition was a bit like a formalized, twenty-first century Bible drill, which as a bonus included time for contemplation by the congregation of several texts straight … [Read more...]

By Mickey Noah and Karen L. Willoughby STATEWIDE – Baptists stepped forward to forego their normal Saturdays in March in order to blanket their communities with the Gospel and with an invitation to be in church Easter Sunday. [img_assist|nid=6257|title=A young boy places a Find It Here packet on a front door as part of Southern Baptists God s Plan for Sharing campaign|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=73|height=100]Wayne DuBose, director of missions for the Northwest Baptist Association in Shreveport, was at the Southern Baptist Convention in 2008 when NAMB announced GPS. “I was excited then and I’m excited and proud now that we have some folks who are really fired up about GPS,” Dubose said. The Louisiana Baptist Convention tweaked the GPS name to includethe state’s theme of “Sharing the Peace of Jesus.” The Northwest association, which covers Caddo and Bossier parishes, includes 120 churches and missions and is the largest association in Louisiana. While Dubose ordered 6,000 door-hangers for the association, many local pastors ordered their own materials. Louisiana churches – large or small – customized the GPS program for their particular church’s use. Lighthouse Church in Shreveport, pastored by Tommy Allen, may … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor SLIDELL – The Louisiana Baptist Mission Builders recently turned half of an old grocery store into a new church house for Northshore Baptist, where Larry McEwen is pastor. The congregation met in it for the first time for worship on Palm Sunday. “This is the third building we’ve built up,” McEwen said. “And, it’s the third time it has worked out that we’re ready to go in it on Palm Sunday. That’s amazing!” [img_assist|nid=6259|title=Congregation of Northshore Baptist Church in Slidell moved to its third building in nine years all three on Palm Sunday|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75] Northshore’s building history is as interesting as is its missions involvement. The church started in 2001 as a core group of 17 members meeting for weekly Bible studies in the pastor’s home. Its first official home was an old gymnastics building in Old Town Slidell that members renovated and moved into on Palm Sunday 2002. “We grew to about 230 in that building, in two services,” McEwen said. “Outgrew that and moved into 16,000 square feet of the old Factory Outlet Mall. The week before Hurricane Katrina, we had 393 in worship, in two services.” The storm left more than five … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor JONESBORO – A new major event for teens across the state is erupting in Jonesboro. It’s Youth Explosion 2010, set for the evenings of Aug. 8-11 at Jonesboro-Hodge High School. Accompanying the event, will be a Youth Ministers Fellowship – with lunch provided – set for Aug. 9 in the Family Life Center at First Baptist Jonesboro. Please RSVP by Monday, August 2. Clay Smith, minister of youth and education at First Baptist Jonesboro, and a team from Jackson, Shady Grove and Winn Baptist Associations, invited “big names” in summer camp ministry for the back-to-school event. “There are a lot of churches that can’t afford to go to youth camp – or that do mission projects instead of going to youth camp,” Smith said. “The guys who will be here, they’re the guys you’d see at a big youth camp. We were very blessed to get all of them at the same time.” Youth Explosion 2010 will be a free event, Smith added. Love offerings will be taken each night to offset expenses. Evangelistic t-shirts, artist CDs and other promotional material will be available for purchase. The Aaron Ivey Band, Speaker Wade Morris and Illusionist Drew Worsham are set to headline the three-day event, and to … [Read more...]

By James B. Law, Senior Pastor First Baptist Gonzales A friend described a wedding he recently attended. A pastor conducted the ceremony that lasted about ten minutes. [img_assist|nid=5978|title=Jim Law, Senior Pastor First Baptist Church Gonzales|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=94|height=100]No Scripture was read and no prayer was offered. The vows were so vague he scarcely could tell whether or not it was a Christian gathering. The ceremony seemed totally disconnected from any biblical foundation. Could it be that pastors and churches have contributed to the marital malaise of our generation because of a lack of diligence in upholding biblical standards for marriage and weddings?  Sadly, many weddings – like the one described above –  have become nothing more than perfunctory ceremonies devoid of preparation, reverence or significance. Of all human commitments – second only to following Jesus Christ – if any deserves the taking off of our shoes because we are on holy ground, it is the occasion when a man and a woman unite before God in the covenant of marriage. Tragically, however, marriage is esteemed lightly even in the church. Pastoral responses to weddings have been all too accommodating in a culture that is … [Read more...]