The LSU BCM offers a variety of ways to engage students in Christ-centered fellowship as well as spiritual growth and leadership training activities. Missions endeavors also are a major component of the work led for the last 11 years by Steve Masters, an out-doorsman who regularly takes students with him on camping, hunting and fishing expeditions. BATON ROUGE – The LSU BCM offers a variety of ways to engage students in Christ-centered fellowship as well as spiritual growth and leadership training activities. Missions endeavors also are a major component of the work led for the last 11 years by Steve Masters, an out-doorsman who regularly takes students with him on camping, hunting and fishing expeditions.       LSU BCM ministries:   Leadership training: More than 60 students serve on the BCM leadership team. They plan, coordinate and implement the various BCM ministries.   Each fall the BCM mails newsletters about the BCM to the more than 4,000 students who indicate a Baptist preference on their application, and sends emails to them throughout the year, informing them of BCM meetings and events. BCM also regularly sponsors get-acquainted outreach tables in Free Speech … [Read more...]

John Yeats, communications director for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, was elected at the 2007 SBC annual meeting in San Antonio to serve for the tenth year as the Southern Baptist Convention’s recording secretary. ALEXANDRIA – John Yeats, communications director for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, was elected at the 2007 SBC annual meeting in San Antonio to serve for the tenth year as the Southern Baptist Convention’s recording secretary. The position of recording secretary carries with it significant responsibilities throughout the year, Yeats said. Besides being responsible for the accurate record of the convention proceedings and the training of volunteer pages, the recording secretary also performs the final edit on the SBC Book of Reports and the SBC Annual, and serves ex officio on the SBC Executive Committee. “Yeats designed the process for the flow of information from the convention floor to the convention platform and distribution to the Order of Business Committee, a process that has enhanced the accuracy of the official record,” reported Baptist Press in an article announcing Yeats’ nomination for another term in the position. “[My wife] Sharon is next to me 90 percent of the time [at … [Read more...]

I told the children, “People think of missionaries as unusual people who go to strange lands and do amazing things. But the facts are far different. Missionaries are normal people who go anywhere – perhaps to your own town – and they do simple things. From his blog: www.joemckeever.com. Read it weekly to keep up with New Orleans and how healthy churches grow. PINEVILLE – I told the children, “People think of missionaries as unusual people who go to strange lands and do amazing things. But the facts are far different. Missionaries are normal people who go anywhere – perhaps to your own town – and they do simple things.   “Basically, what they do,” I said, “are four things: 1) they talk to people; 2) they build relationships with people; 3) they ask questions; and 4) they look for ways to help people.”   From 600 to 800 children and their adult church workers gathered recently for the annual Mission Jamboree (M-Jam) conducted by the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s Women’s Ministry Division of which Janie Wise is the leader.   We met at Louisiana College in Pineville. Jim Chester – Baptist preacher, funny-funny man, and magician/illusionist – formed the parenthesis for the day’s conferences by … [Read more...]

With only the promise of the personal satisfaction of helping others and honoring God, fifteen students from the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home (LBCH) began preparing months ago for their recent work with Operation NOAH (New Orleans Area Homes) Rebuild. NEW ORLEANS – With only the promise of the personal satisfaction of helping others and honoring God, fifteen students from the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home (LBCH) began preparing months ago for their recent work with Operation NOAH (New Orleans Area Homes) Rebuild. “We believe in learning by doing,” said Tommy Frost, director of cottage life at LBCH.  “And working with NOAH puts into practice what it means to be a servant.” Operation NOAH Rebuild is the partnership of Louisiana Baptists and the North American Mission Board to impact New Orleans with the gospel while rebuilding flood-damaged homes. In preparation for one of NOAH’s toughest job assignments – gutting a flooded home – students washed cars, mowed lawns and cleared gardens as service projects in the Monroe area. Frost said the projects emphasized teamwork, safety and service. With a philosophy that sees work and worship as going hand-in-hand, Frost said that he wanted the NOAH project to … [Read more...]

Members of Highland Baptist Church of New Iberia gathered in the Louis Armstrong International Airport around 4:30 p.m., June 12 waiting for a flight of precious cargo from Belarus. NEW ORLEANS – Members of Highland Baptist Church of New Iberia gathered in the Louis Armstrong International Airport around 4:30 p.m., June 12 waiting for a flight of precious cargo from Belarus.    Ten children from Belarus, a country in Eastern Europe that received about 60 percent of the radiation fall-out from the Chernobyl accident in 1986, were set to arrive at 5:00 p.m. for a six-week stay in New Iberia as part of the American Belarussian Relief Organization’s (ABRO) effort to help children in that country who are exposed to the radiation.   “They missed their plane,” announced Michelle Davidson, who was awaiting Tamara  Klepcha’s arrival. Tamara (pronounced Toma) is new to the program, though her sister Hanna (pronounced Anya) came last year.   The Highland members settled in for a four-hour wait in Louis Armstrong’s D Concourse as the Belarus children waited in Houston for another connecting flight.   Bill Bangham, director of photography and media relations for the International Mission Board … [Read more...]

Ten-year-old Rachael Mosley smiled as she walked out of the newly opened Creation Museum, equipped with the answers about the Bible, evolution and science she had been seeking. PETERSBURG, Ky. (BP)--Ten-year-old Rachael Mosley smiled as she walked out of the newly opened Creation Museum, equipped with the answers about the Bible, evolution and science she had been seeking. Her parents had brought her and her two siblings to the museum located just outside of Cincinnati on opening week. On this particular day, the Mosleys, from Bloomington, Ind., were part of the 1,000-plus people who passed through the gates of the museum that sets forth a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account. It opened Memorial Day with more than 4,000 visitors and cars from more than 30 states in the parking lot and is the largest museum of its kind in the world. “We thought it was fantastic,” her mother, Chere, said. “[Rachael’s] going into the sixth grade and there’s a lot of talk about evolution. … She gets mad when she watches the videos and they say ‘millions of years ago.’ She wanted to have more facts.” It’s that type of reaction museum officials are wanting. The $27 million, 60,000-square-foot museum -- … [Read more...]

Genady Krechin preaches with quiet earnestness to the 20 worshippers crowded into his cramped third-floor apartment. MOSCOW (BP) – Genady Krechin preaches with quiet earnestness to the 20 worshippers crowded into his cramped third-floor apartment. His voice fills the room with God’s Word. His eyes flash with intensity and soften with warmth as he appeals to his listeners to follow Christ. Why would a hard-charging businessman in his prime trade wealth, influence and ownership of several companies for this humble pulpit? “I wanted to buy happiness, but true joy is only received as a gift from God,” says Krechin, 48, hugging his young children after the service. Besides, now he has a greater calling than making money: God has led him to spread the Gospel among the 85,000 people of the Golovinski area in Moscow’s Northern Administrative District. Krechin started out as an ambitious, idealistic young man. He never completely lost his ideals, but the free-for-all capitalism that flooded Russia as communism collapsed in the early 1990s led him astray. “As the Bible would say, I decided that I would serve mammon as the ruler of my life,” he recalls. “I would be rich.” Thus began a rise to power – and a … [Read more...]

After committing his life to missions in Mozambique, Brian Harrell learned that his grandparents also had a heart for the African country. RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – After committing his life to missions in Mozambique, Brian Harrell learned that his grandparents also had a heart for the African country. In 1941, however, a German warship sank his grandparents’ plans to serve there as missionaries. Harrell, a third-generation missionary, was appointed with his wife Becky through the International Mission Board to Mozambique in 2004. Before leaving for the field, he discovered that his grandparents, Irl and Florence “Flo” McAllister, had planned to serve there with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM). German forces and bad timing, though, kept that from happening. His grandmother told him, “You will go for us,” Harrell remembers. “It was just a confirmation for us that our grandparents had tried to get in, [and] two generations later God is sending her grandson.” It was just before the United States entered World War II, and the McAllisters were aboard a ship with more than 200 passengers –- many of whom, like them, were missionaries -– headed for Africa. However, a German raider (auxiliary cruiser … [Read more...]

When the phone rang in the director’s office of the Winn Association back in October, the message was not good. DODSON – When the phone rang in the director’s office of the Winn Association back in October, the message was not good. Dodson Baptist Church which has been an active house of God, providing services to its members and the community since its start in 1894, was going through difficult times.  “The basic message was that unless they got some help, they’d have to close their doors,” said Dr. Clovis Sturdivant.  “They just didn’t have the people to keep it open.” Times had changed over those 117 years for the congregation and the town they call home. After the turn of the century when the timber boom was at its peak, Dodson enjoyed the benefits of timber mills.  They had a thriving business community with a bank, a newspaper and a population that rivaled Winnfield, the parish seat. (In fact, in those days of prosperity, Dodson made a bid to become Winn’s parish seat but that effort failed to gain legislative support at the time). As was the case of mill towns across the South, once all the timber had been cut that could be hauled efficiently to the local mills, those mills closed down, taking with them … [Read more...]

“Giving birth,” observed Carol Burnett, “is like taking your lower lip and trying to force it over your head.” My wife assures me the famed comedian’s description is quite accurate. “Giving birth,” observed Carol Burnett, “is like taking your lower lip and trying to force it over your head.” My wife assures me the famed comedian’s description is quite accurate. I have only been a witness to the birthing process. What I have observed is a process that is painful, exhausting and messy. But the end result is a new life full of wonderful potential. And the vast majority of moms would agree that the product, a precious child, is well worth the effort.  Wednesday, July 4, we will celebrate the 231st birthday of our nation. And similar to the biological process that produces new life, the United States experienced a period of gestation and labor before it was birthed as an independent and free country. Years of unjust treatment at the hands of King George III caused colonist leaders to conceive the idea of independence. Over time the embryo of liberty matured. Events such as the Boston Massacre and the subsequent Boston Tea Party served to cultivate the concept of independence. Labor pains began in earnest the spring of … [Read more...]