By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor [img_assist|nid=6015|title=VBS Theme: Saddle Ridge Ranch|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=100]ALEXANDRIA –  A horse ranch in northern Colorado was the location of the four videos taken for LifeWay’s 2010 Vacation Bible School curriculum: Saddle Ridge Ranch. Participants at a recent preview of the curriculum, resources, songs (with motions) and games, which took place at the Baptist Building, said they were looking forward to an exciting VBS that was to include some Louisiana Lagniappe. Kevin Roberts, LBC’s childhood ministry strategist, and Danny Nation, media production strategist on the LBC communications team, are working with Janie Wise, women’s missions and ministry strategist on the LBC missions team, to develop a video about a Louisiana cowboy church that churches can use on the fifth night of VBS, if they’d like, to highlight theGeorgia Barnette Offering for State Missions. Cowboy churches in Louisiana are to be included in the 2010 GBO offering, Wise said. A Louisiana cowboy mission church and cowboy church-type missions will be one of the featured state mission works in the 2010 Week of Prayer for State Missions and Georgia Barnette Offering for State … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor [img_assist|nid=6018|title=John Ed Jelks with Jeff Woodrich at Jelks retirement celebration and Baptist Builders Appreciation Dinner|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]LIVONIA – The John Ed Jelks Fund is to be established this year at the Louisiana Baptist Foundation as a Donor Advisor Fund to provide financial support for Mission Service Corps missionaries serving as construction project coordinators with the Louisiana Baptist Mission Builders. MSC missionaries are self-funded people commissioned by their local church, endorsed by the North American Mission Board and assigned by a local church, association or state convention to a missionary assignment. “Self-funded” means they serve without salary. The income of MSC missionaries comes from family, friends, retirement income or other sources. They are counted among NAMB’s 5,000 missionaries serving across the United States because NAMB provides training and funnels the money given by others so the donor is able to claim a tax deduction, among other non-monetary support. “We’ve been working on this for six months,” said Jeff Woodrich, who serves as the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s Mission Builder Director. “We’re … [Read more...]

By Al Quartemont, Special to the Message [img_assist|nid=6020|title=Illinois student wins 2010 Smith Scholarship at LC|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=79]PINEVILLE – In a room full of highly-talented and qualified high school seniors vying for the opportunity to have their college experience paid for, one of the 50 students in Louisiana College’s Granberry Conference Center Saturday, Jan. 30, stood out for a simple reason: She was the only one not from Louisiana. But a few moments later, after the names of all the participants were read by LC Director of Enrollment Byron McGee, she would stand out again. Kara Parikh, a home-schooled student from Round Lake Beach, Ill., had become the 2010 Clyde and Elizabeth Smith Memorial Scholarship winner. With that, Parikh will begin the next step in what she believes is a call to become a medical missionary – with all tuition, and room and board paid for, for four years at LC. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but praise God,” Parikh said just moments after learning she had won. “My dad is a bi-vocational pastor. So, there’s not a whole lot of money there for school. What I told the panel (of instructors who conducted the scholarship interview) is the sooner I … [Read more...]

Compiled by Joanne Brechtel COMINGS AND GOINGS Jay Avance resigns Bluff Creek Baptist, Clinton as pastor. NEEDED Pastors at Boulevard Baptist, Lake Charles; First Baptist, Cameron; First Baptist, Iowa; New Hope Baptist, DeQuincy; Sale Street Baptist, Lake Charles; Woodlawn Baptist, Iowa. Pastors at Brownville Baptist, West Monroe; College Place Baptist, Monroe; Fairbanks Baptist, Fairbanks. Donated van at Bethel Metropolitan Baptist, Lake Charles; call 337.478.0139 or email jlfran3998@aol.com. Full-time pastor at First Baptist, Folsom; send resumes to Folsom FBC, PO Box 106, Folsom LA 70437; Attn: Pastor Search Committee or email fbcfolsomsearch@bellsouth.net. DEATHS IDA - Betty Norris, wife of Kenneth Norris, pastor of Caddo Prairie Baptist died January 20. DALLAS, Texas – Inez Tatum Webb, age 95, died Jan. 11. She was a native of Mansfield, La. and missionary to Mexico, Guatemala and Venezuela with her late husband Bill Webb. REVIVALS GRAND CANE – Grand Cane Baptist: 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14; 7 p.m. Monday through Tuesday, Feb. 15 – 16; Ken Freeman, evangelist; Shawn Fargerson, worship leader; David Permenter, pastor. HEFLIN – First Friday Camp Meeting: Jack Daniels Ministries 6 p.m. … [Read more...]

MONROE – Alan Miller, pastor of First Baptist, is leading the church to prayerwalk for an hour in downtown Monroe on Saturday, Feb. 6, asking God to bless and prosper the city. “We, in downtown Monroe’s First Baptist Church, want to be a part of the spiritual and economic revival in our city,” Miller said. “We believe that the first step is to pray. We are coming together to walk the sidewalks of downtown Monroe and ask God to bless and prosper our city.” First Monroe’s prayerwalk is to be part of the Monroe/West Monroe transformation process and the Monroe Renaissance movement. “Our church has been the heart of the city for many decades,” Miller said. “We aim to help lead our community in transformation.” First Monroe was founded in 1854 – before the Civil War. The present sanctuary was built in 1912 and remodeled in 2004. “It truly is one of the most beautiful buildings in downtown Monroe and the twin cities,” Miller said. The people will gather at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6 on the front steps of the sanctuary on 201 St. John St. for prayer and instructions. Grand Lake dedicates building GRAND LAKE – Three times previously, Southern Baptists attempted to start a church in this part of Carey Baptist … [Read more...]

By Barbara Denman, Baptist Press [img_assist|nid=6024|title=Southern Baptist missionaries work at the Good Samaritan Clinic in Jimani Dominican Republic to treat Haitian earthquake victims|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=64]HIALEAH, Fla. (BP) – The joint Southern Baptist response to the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake will launch in the coming week with four “strategically-selected” medical teams, leaders of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Network decided Jan. 26 at the Florida Urban Impact Center in Hialeah, Fla. Plans to respond to Haiti’s urgent, intermediate and long-term needs were addressed at the meeting by assessment teams that had just returned from the quake-ravaged nation along with representatives from the Florida Baptist Convention, North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, Baptist Global Response and other Southern Baptist disaster relief representatives. The group wrestled with logistical arrangements and how to send mission teams and respond to needs in a country where transportation and in-country support for teams is extremely difficult. Access to airports and shipping docks remains highly restricted, the teams reported. “At this point, all we can sleep safely in … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=6026|title=North American Mission Board missionary Ronda Corn and village resident, survivors of the recent tsunami, survey damages.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (BP) – Southern Baptist disaster relief work continues on American Samoa, seven weeks after an earthquake – measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale – struck the South Pacific island, triggering a deadly tsunami that killed 31 people, including six Southern Baptists. But disaster relief volunteers onsite say many needs created by the disaster remain unmet. Water purification has emerged as the key disaster relief ministry operation in American Samoa since the Sept. 29 tsunami, according to Bruce Poss, disaster relief coordinator for the SBC’s North American Mission Board. As of mid-November, volunteers had purified more than 4,000 gallons of water in 17 villages throughout the island, which is located about six hours south of Hawaii. Natural water supplies in most locations on the island have been tainted, so authorities have urged Samoans to boil the water, Poss said. But villagers are unwilling to spend their limited money on propane fuel to boil water when they need it to cook food – making water purification … [Read more...]

By Mike Ebert, Baptist Press TALLADEGA, Ala. (BP) – Southern Baptists gave $56.5 million in 2009 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. The amount was 2.7 percent (or $1.5 million) off the previous year’s giving mark and $8.5 million below the stated goal of $65 million. Richard Harris, interim president of the North American Mission Board, shared the total in an address to the Woman’s Missionary Union board of trustees at the Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega, Ala. The $56.5 million received in 2009 is the fourth-largest total in the offering’s history. In a year filled with 10 percent unemployment, a bleak housing market and other distressing economic news, Harris said the amount given to “Annie” was a blessing. “Only God could do that,” Harris told the WMU leaders Jan. 10, “and only through the faithfulness of people like WMU ladies out there lifting up the opportunities and needs.” Harris expressed his appreciation for WMU’s year-round efforts to promote missions and missions giving. “I appreciate the partnership we’ve shared,” Harris said. “We are about the same thing – trying to advance the Kingdom for missions. I thank all of you for what you are doing. … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor [img_assist|nid=6029|title=Andy Johnson Pastor Cross Roads Baptist Church Farmerville|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=70|height=100]FARMERVILLE (BP) – When Cross Roads Baptist Church realized they had more income than budgetary needs last fall, it didn’t take long to decide how to spend it. They upped their giving to missions through the Cooperative Program from 10 percent to 12 percent. [img_assist|nid=6030|title=Cross Roads Baptist Church is a congregation of 100 in Farmerville Louisiana|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=59]“The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 4:2 that stewards are to be found faithful,” said Andy Johnson, pastor of the Farmerville, La. congregation. “Rather than roll those finances over into a CD or put them away in a rainy day or a building fund, we decided that they would be put to better use for the Kingdom’s sake in the Cooperative Program. “The CP missionary force is, in my opinion, one of the most important arsenals that we as Christians have today,” the 30-year-old Johnson said of the national and international outreach supported by 45,000 Southern Baptist churches. The missionaries “are on the front lines ... think of it as a military … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=6032|title=Thompson Road Baptist Church in Slidell observed its Constitution service on Sunday January 17.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=82]Thompson Road Baptist Church in Slidell observed its Constitution service on Sunday, Jan. 17. It was a mission of Calvary Baptist in Slidell for many years. The church met in a double-wide trailer and struggled to survive for awhile. Calvary sent a staff member named Randy Boyette to make one last attempt and it worked. The group grew to 50 in the double-wide and then working with the LBC Missions and Ministry office, Church Site Corp., and Baptist Mission Builders, was able to build a facility in West Slidell. With the constitution service they move from mission church status to full membership in North Shore Baptist Association. … [Read more...]