Meredith Queen’s favorite dress is splattered with red and pink splotches, but she doesn’t mind. SENEGAL, West Africa (BP) – Meredith Queen’s favorite dress is splattered with red and pink splotches, but she doesn’t mind. That doesn’t keep the lively 8-year-old from wearing the dress again as she and her parents visit a village to share Jesus with Sereer-Palor people. Sitting on a mat in the shade of a tree, Meredith bites her tongue and crinkles her nose in great concentration. She pumps the brush into the polish bottle and dabs a bit of color onto the toenails of a young girl with dark, dusty feet. “We girls just like to be pretty,” Meredith said, explaining her toenail-painting ministry in her thick Carolina accent. “The village girls never had anything like that done to them before. God made them, and they need to feel loved and needed.” There is a crowd of girls waiting, each eager to choose their perfect shade from a whole sack of options: Pink Lady. Sheer Moon Berry. Shimmering Lilac Frost. They each get painted, and when Meredith accidentally smears a bit on her dress, they share a giggle with the only fair-haired playmate they’ve probably ever had. While they gather for the primping treat, the girls … [Read more...]

Traditional religion and ancestral practices are barriers for the Sereers in accepting the gospel Quick Facts About The Sereer Location: Senegal, The Gambia Status: Engaged by IMB Population: 1,423,500 Primary Religion: Folk Islam Number of Christians: unknown •     Strong elements of traditional religion are included in most Sereer people’s concept of Islam. •     Ancestral practices are very strong in the culture and turning from them is a great barrier in full acceptance to the gospel. •     The Sereer do not believe that they can have direct access to God. •     The Sereer also believe in jinns, or spirits, which are most often evil and desire bad things for man. Pray that God would continue to open the hearts of the Sereer; that He would speak through dreams and visions to Sereer “men of Peace”; and that He would send more servants into fields that are ripe for harvest. Luke 10:2 - Jesus told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” More about the Sereer Many people argue that the story of the Sereer begins in Egypt. The ancestors of the Sereer, Wolof and Lebou peoples migrated from … [Read more...]

Sam (wife Myra) Gentry new June 25 as pastor at First Baptist Belle Chasse. Available Part-time minister of music or pianist available in Central Louisiana. Call Ken Hayes at 337-392-8253. L.H. “Bro. Mac” McCollough available for supply preaching. Pastor at First Bastrop for 20+ years, he’s currently in New Orleans, helping as he can in rebuilding that city. Call him at 318.556.4603 or connect with him through First Bastrop: 318.281.6885. A pulpit and foyer table are available froom Choupique Baptist in Carey Baptist Association. Call Sue at 337.583.7465. Needed Pastorless churches in Carey Baptist Association: Boulevard, First Cameron, First DeQuincy, Eastern Heights, First Hayes, Johnson Bayou, Sale Street, Temple and Woodlawn. J.P. Miles is director of missions. Part-time Music leader needed at McDonald Memorial Baptist Church in Jonesboro. Please send resumes to Music Minister Search Committee, 1676 Hwy 4, Jonesboro LA 71251. Call 318.259.4508 for more information. Full-time pastor sought by First Baptist Patterson. Send resumes to Pastor Search Committee, 1621 Main, Patterson LA 70392. Call 985.395.3681 for more information. Concerts and related events Jimmy Needham performs in concert at 7 … [Read more...]

The 15-person VBS coordinating team at Calvary Baptist starts work in January. Maybe that’s why they weren’t overwhelmed by the 1,400 youngsters and leaders who showed up June 4-8 for vacation Bible school. ALEXANDRIA – The 15-person VBS coordinating team at Calvary Baptist starts work in January. Maybe that’s why they weren’t overwhelmed by the 1,400 youngsters and leaders who showed up June 4-8 for vacation Bible school.  This might be the largest VBS in Louisiana, though Trinity Lake Charles anticipated at least 1,200 for its June 18-22 VBS.  It was one of the largest attendances for the church, acknowledged Gene Ortis, Calvary’s minister of education for the last 25 years. But numbers just reflect youngsters who for 15 hours in one week heard and saw the Bible lived out.  “For some of these kids, that’s more Bible study than they’ll get all year,” Ortis said. “I want every one of them to be in heaven one day.”  This year the Calvary worship center became HERO Stadium for VBS week, complete with cheerleaders and scoreboard. It was boys against girls all week, in what is an annual competition. Who could bring in more pennies for missions?  For 22 of the last 26 years, Ortis told the energized … [Read more...]

The Great Revival in Korea 100 years ago doubled church membership, and 40 years ago Louisiana Southern Baptists helped Southern Baptists in Korea increase from about 40 to 600 churches. PINEVILLE –  The Great Revival in Korea 100 years ago doubled church membership, and 40 years ago Louisiana Southern Baptists helped Southern Baptists in Korea increase from about 40 to 600 churches. That’s according to Louisiana/South Korea: A Baptist Partnership by Oscar Hoffmeyer, Jr.. “They have visions of [growing like that] again,” said Charles Lowry, a member at First Pineville and a longtime member of the Cenla/South Korea Partnership. The American contingent of the partnership has been asked to send 10 teams of five people — including four lay witnesses and one pastor/preacher/evangelist — to conduct eight-day revivals in several locations reminiscent of those conducted in the 1970s and ‘80s, when the number of churches ballooned, Lowry said. The fall 2007 event is in celebration of the centennial of the Great Revival, and the 40-year anniversary of the partnership. “We really need 50 people to go,” Lowry said. Already a dozen people have signed up for the Oct. 22 to Nov. 7 missions trip. The $2,200 cost  … [Read more...]

Cornerstone West Slidell Baptist Church has seen its way made straight in a manner only God could orchestrate, in His own time. SLIDELL – Cornerstone West Slidell Baptist Church has seen its way made straight in a manner only God could orchestrate, in His own time.  Four years in the making, this church plant is soon to become Thompson Road Baptist  Church, says St. Tammany Baptist Association Director of Missions Lonnie Wascom.  “The devil has done all he can to prevent this work from coming about, but God’s people and their cooperative spirit have kept it alive … It’s a God thing!” wrote Wascom in a recent email.  Indeed, the church has four signs on the highway in front of the nearly completed building declaring the same thing, one word at a time, to drivers who pass by, said Cornerstone’s planter and pastor, Randy Boyett.  When the association probed the area in the late 1990s and discovered that there was no church between Slidell and Lacombe, the next town west of Slidell, Calvary Baptist, where Charles Starnes is pastor, agreed to sponsor a plant in the area, Boyett said.  “Brother Starnes has a heart for missions,” Boyett said. “He’s one of the most mission-minded pastors that I know.” … [Read more...]

Have you ever stood under a night sky and felt small before the expanse of creation? According to a recent New York Times article, cosmologists today would say you don’t know the half of it. Have you ever stood under a night sky and felt small before the expanse of creation? According to a recent New York Times article, cosmologists today would say you don’t know the half of it. One, Lawrence M. Krauss of Case Western Reserve, says, “We’re just a bit of pollution. If you got rid of us, and all the stars and all the galaxies and all the planets and all the aliens and everybody, then the universe would be largely the same. We’re completely irrelevant.” Feel better? The revolutionary insight that prompts Krauss and others to say things like this is the existence of “dark matter” and “dark energy.” I confess I don’t know much about these two things. What disturbs the sleep of astrophysicists today is that they don’t either.  According to the theory, 96 percent of everything in existence is made up of these “dark” things. They are not dark because they are unlighted but because they are inscrutable. In fact, physicists cannot even relate dark matter and dark energy to other types of energy and matter. They … [Read more...]

They were from a small church in another state. The pastor had contacted Rudy French about coming down to First Baptist Norco [New Orleans area] to help them and to stay in their mission center. “We have nine in our team,” he said. Rudy replied, “Come on. We’ll be glad to have you.”  They were from a small church in another state. The pastor had contacted Rudy French about coming down to First Baptist Norco [New Orleans area] to help them and to stay in their mission center. “We have nine in our team,” he said. Rudy replied, “Come on. We’ll be glad to have you.” Rudy shared with our Wednesday pastors group what had happened. “They worked hard all week,” he said, “on our playground. I mean they put in 15 hours a day, and it looks beautiful. Toward the end of the week, I told the pastor we want them to have a better experience than just working on our facility. I told him, ‘We’re about evangelism.’” The pastor asked what Rudy had in mind. “We will buy some plastic laundry baskets,” Rudy said, “for a dollar each. And we’ll fill them with detergents and toiletries and cookies, and go door to door down in St. Bernard Parish and tell people about Jesus.” The pastor said, “We have 300 dollars. How far will that … [Read more...]

My family attended the recent grand opening of the Answers in Genesis and I saw what I expected to see: closed minded propagandists who don’t want any challenge to their narrow view of origins. But they weren’t in the Museum. My family attended the recent grand opening of the Answers in Genesis and I saw what I expected to see: closed minded propagandists who don’t want any challenge to their narrow view of origins. But they weren’t in the Museum. So we drove past the protesters and into a museum whose exhibits constantly reference both sides of the creation/evolution debate. While my boys ran around on a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark and pretended to sword-fight a T-Rex, their mother and I read the displays on ice ages, species development, and differing understandings of radiometric dating. The planetarium inspired awe at the vastness of the universe, bringing to mind the Psalmist’s question “What is man that you are mindful of him?” while answering it as the New Testament does: with the Incarnation and atonement of the Redeemer-Ruler of the cosmos. I was pleasantly surprised that the planetarium exhibit acknowledges problems caused for any biblical historical timeline by the time it … [Read more...]

Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video recently joined to honor what would have been John Wayne’s 100th birthday. Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video recently joined to honor what would have been John Wayne’s 100th birthday. The man who became the embodiment of the great American western hero was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, on May 26, 1907. Years later, when the young actor got his first big break in 1930s  The Big Trail, the head of Fox Studios rechristened him John Wayne. His legendary career went on to span five decades, boasting several classic performances, including the Oscar-winning Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. As a kid, I read True Grit by Charles Portis. Even then, I knew no one could play Marshal Rooster J. Cogburn, but John Wayne. And for years I have excitedly awaited the arrival of a “making-of” documentary. At last, it’s here. True Grit: Special Collector’s Edition includes an audio commentary and several fun featurettes. Now, I suspect an endorsement of John Wayne as my screen hero may not sit well with some. After all, he often ended conflict with guns or fisticuffs. But, as a kid, my views on character were reinforced by watching the … [Read more...]