Ridgecrest Baptist Church Delta Baptist Association RIDGECREST – Ruby Holder, wife to Ridgecrest Baptist Church’s Pastor, Preston Holder, said things are happening at Ridgecrest. “We are real thrilled,” Ruby Holder said. “We have several things going on.” For the upcoming Christmas season, the children of the church will put on a Christmas Musical. They will perform the musical twice, once at Wednesday night AWANAS, and once during Sunday morning worship. The adults won’t be outdone though. They too will put on a Christmas Musical for the congregation during December. Ridgecrest members will also give out food baskets during December to people in the community. Ministry at Ridgecrest Baptist Church doesn’t just deal with Christmas. “We have a Children’s Church that’s really moving,” Holder said. “We usually run between 50 and 75 kids (each Sunday morning).” And teenagers are being touched by God too. “We have at least 50 youth coming,” she said. During the Sunday evening service on November 23rd, Pastor Holder baptized six people, three adults and three teenagers. Mrs. Holder also is the director of the Delta Baptist Store Front Mission. “We give out food [or] whatever the need might be,” … [Read more...]

Jesus knew what was important to build the Kingdom of God. Jesus knew what was important to build the Kingdom of God. He consistently demonstrated the importance of prayer, the scriptures  and what in the not-too-distant-past was known as “soul-winning.”  That’s a concise synopsis of Robert Coleman’s chapter on  “Demonstration” in The Master Plan of Evangelism. For previous articles in this series, please see www.baptistmessage.com and search for “evangelism.” To paraphrase Coleman’s words, Jesus recognized it wasn’t enough just  to get people – starting with His disciples – into church. They  needed to acquire spiritual discipline; they needed to learn to live  like Christians. Jesus demonstrated to His disciples His communication with His  Father. “They could see the strength which it [prayer] gave to His life, and  though they could not understand fully what it was all about, they  must have realized that this was part of his secret of life,” Coleman  wrote. He called it an “indispensable part of the training.” “One thing is certain:” Coleman wrote. “Unless they grasped the  meaning of prayer, and learned how to practice it with consistency,  not much would ever come from their lives.” Jesus used the Old … [Read more...]

While celebrating record growth and the largest number of missionaries under appointment in recent years, trustees of the International Mission Board also heard some cautionary notes during their Nov. 10-11 board meeting in Houston. HOUSTON (BP)  – While celebrating record growth and the largest number of missionaries under appointment in recent years, trustees of the International Mission Board also heard some cautionary notes during their Nov. 10-11 board meeting in Houston. The potential effects of investment losses, a weakened dollar and flattened giving to the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering could have a significant impact on the board’s work next year. These economic pressures forced board members to approve a budget for 2009 that includes no room to exceed the total number of missionaries currently under appointment. Attrition in the missionary force (completions, retirements, resignations and deaths) creates the need to appoint new missionaries each year, but IMB President Jerry Rankin said the ability to expand the missionary force beyond current levels rests in the hands of Southern Baptists. “God has always proved His faithfulness through the giving of His people that His mission might … [Read more...]

As if one wouldn’t be enough, Louisiana College added a second Christmas spectacular this year. PINEVILLE – As if one wouldn’t be enough, Louisiana College added a second Christmas spectacular this year. Follow the Star, an eight-vignette tableau, was staged Friday and Sunday nights. Christmas Letters from War was a Saturday-only production. Both were written and directed by Debrah “Pete” Richardson, chair of the LC drama department. “Both of these were Dr. Aguillard’s ideas,” Richardson said, referring to Joe Aguillard, LC president. “The rest of us just fleshed them out.” Follow the Star, which made its debut last year, was tweaked for the 2009 showing of eight scenes detailing the story of Christmas, augmented by the performances of several children’s choirs from area Southern Baptist churches, the best hot chocolate in town (courtesy: Aramark, the campus food provider) and thousands and thousands of twinkling white Christmas lights. This year the Mary-and-Elizabeth scene was changed into the Joseph-and-Angel scene, and the prayer-and-evangelism area became the Tale-of-Two-Trees, which compared a multi-colored Christmas tree with a white-lit cross. One tree referred to gifts people give each other; one tree … [Read more...]

How did London become a mixing bowl of nations? EDITOR’S NOTE:  This is part two of London. Please see wwww.baptistmessage.com for part 1. How did London become a mixing bowl of nations? Large groups of south Asians and West Indians arrived from England’s former colonies after World War II to rebuild the city and provide labor for its new industries. Friendly immigration policies and generous social services have attracted many more groups from far-flung places. Countless “asylum seekers” have come seeking safety, sanctuary or economic opportunities. More recently, the European Union’s open-border policies have encouraged hordes of job-seeking citizens from EU member states. “Over the years there’s been a fairly relaxed view of immigration,” a British Baptist pastor says. “When people are in trouble, England has been ready to receive them, so there has been a large refugee population. We have stood very much by human rights.” Some Anglo Londoners love the exploding cultural diversity and see it as an exciting rebirth for the ancient city. Some are indifferent. Others worry about the increases in crime and poverty that have come with massive immigration. They resent the pressure on England’s social services – … [Read more...]

From its northernmost point in Newellton to just south of Vidalia, the Delta Baptist Association stretches for nearly 40 miles along the Mississippi River delta. DELTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION – From its northernmost point in Newellton to just south of Vidalia, the Delta Baptist Association stretches for nearly 40 miles along the Mississippi River delta. In the rich and fertile soil of Concordia and Tensas parishes, corn, soybeans, rice and cotton are grown, giving the Mississippi River-silt region the reputation of having some of the finest farmland in the world. Recently retired pastor John Williams serves as moderator of the Delta Association. He said he believes that even though it is located in an almost exclusively rural area of Louisiana, the people in the association still have a big heart for the work of the Lord. The Delta Association once was part of the East Central Baptist Association, but in 2007 the association split into three: the Delta, Ouachita and LaSalle Baptist Associations. The Delta Association has 15 churches and a food bank ministry center, Williams said. Westside Baptist Church in Ferriday is the youngest church in the association. It was started in the early 1990s and recently constituted … [Read more...]

In a time when many churches and organizations around the SBC are cutting budgets and staff, there’s at least one evangelist who thinks recent hard financial times provide a great opportunity for the church. DEVILLE (BP) – In a time when many churches and organizations around the SBC are cutting budgets and staff, there’s at least one evangelist who thinks recent hard financial times provide a great opportunity for the church. “I think what this will do, it will bring us to desperation, and desperation is the point at which God sends revival,” says longtime evangelist Bill Stafford, referring to the current economic turmoil. “God is going to teach us a principle of trust and faith and show us a dimension of His sufficiency, where people will hunger to come to church. Not to hear about the doom and gloom, but to hear about the living Christ who is in me and all of His sufficiency is my sufficiency.” Stafford has been preaching for almost 57 years, most of those in full-time evangelism. He quit a career in combustion engineering when he was called to preach at 19. Since then, he’s preached all over the country and even earned the nickname “Wild Bill” in the Southern Baptist Convention for his straightforward preaching … [Read more...]

He’ll be knee-deep in weeds at the Interstate 10 underpass at Franklin Avenue in New Orleans or setting sod at a neighborhood home, but one thing is certain: Robert Claverie, 64, won’t be in one place for long. NEW ORLEANS (BP) – He’ll be knee-deep in weeds at the Interstate 10 underpass at Franklin Avenue in New Orleans or setting sod at a neighborhood home, but one thing is certain: Robert Claverie, 64, won’t be in one place for long. Claverie, who is retired, feeds the homeless at 7 a.m. and directs teams of volunteers in neighborhood clean-up the rest of the day, all financed from personal funds. One of the first to return to his flood-ravaged neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina, Claverie tapped into his insurance money to feed relief workers and start the clean-up process. Staff employees of MissionLab, a ministry of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary that links church mission teams to ministries in New Orleans, spotted him clearing debris from a neighborhood street three months after the storm. “They asked me if I wanted help,” Claverie said. “I said, ‘Sure, if you’re in it for the long run. But it’s hard work and there’s a lot to do.’” MissionLab connects church groups of all ages to mentors like … [Read more...]

Mary Mercer brings new meaning to the word “hardbody.” WINNFIELD/ALEXANDRIA – Mary Mercer brings new meaning to the word “hardbody.” Fourteen teenagers were in First Baptist Winnfield’s bus driven by Mercer, and on their way to the Monday evening session of the Youth Evangelism Conference when a bullet smashed through the glass door and glanced off Mercer’s right side. “I was driving along and I heard something and felt something and at first I thought one of the kids had popped a balloon,” Mercer said in her recall of the Nov. 24 scare. “I looked over and there was a bullet hole in the door, and the glass was shattered from top to bottom. “When I realized it was a shot, and I knew I had felt something, I thought, ‘Am I bleeding? Am I going to live long enough to get these kids to safety?’” She pulled over when she felt she was far enough from the shooter for the teens – including her daughter Kaitlyn – to be safe. The 15-passenger bus she was driving was the first in a caravan of four vehicles on its way from the Hampton Inn north of Pineville to the Alexandria Coliseum. The shot rang out as she passed two houses and a trailer no more than two minutes from the hotel, Mercer said. When she pulled over, so did the … [Read more...]

‘Tis the season… ‘Tis the season… Much of the talk heard on television, radio, at the mall, in the elevator, most anywhere this time of year centers on giving.  More specifically, Christmas giving.   Commercials, billboards, store banners and signs all tout the “perfect gift for that special someone.” Giving is a wonderful thing.  The long- standing tradition of our culture is to give gifts to our friends and loved ones in honor of Jesus’ birth. There are many illustrations shown to us through scripture that exhibit the pure spirit of giving. There is the familiar story of the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10 where the man of Samaria gave his first aid kit, his ride (a donkey) and his financial resources to help a stranger who had been attacked and left for dead.  In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul writes of Macedonian Christians giving from their poverty to help other believers.  And, of course, there are the gifts brought to Jesus by the wise men. But the greatest gift of all is the reason we celebrate Christmas: God’s gift of His Son, Jesus, to be the Savior of all.  As we celebrate the birth of the Messiah, the Promised One, let’s remember to give from a heart of grace so that His name can be made known to all … [Read more...]