Five state youth speakers spoke on the Louisiana College campus May 5 with words that centered on the importance of relationship with Christ. PINEVILLE – Five state youth speakers spoke on the Louisiana College campus May 5 with words that centered on the importance of relationship with Christ. Three tenth-graders, one eleventh-grader, and one twelfth-grader from across the state competed in the tournament this year, with first place prizes going to one student from each grade. The winners were sophomore David Lukachick, junior Carmen Harrington, and senior Anna Lukachick. David Lukachick, from Gonzales and a member at First Baptist there, spoke about the need to make a difference in the world around us, zeroing in on the Great Commission. “We owe the gospel to this world,” he said. “It isn’t so much am I making a difference, but what difference am I making.” Lukachick also focused on the need for prayer in order to make a difference. “As we pray, we change, circumstances change, and other people change,” he said. “The power of Christ can and will make us different wherever we are.” Lukachick left his audience with the question, “Are we doing nothing or are we changing the world around us for Christ?” Carmen … [Read more...]

About 150,000 people live here, and Southern Baptists have one Anglo church where about 125 people attend worship each Sunday, one Korean church and one recently established Hispanic mission. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – About 150,000 people live here, and Southern Baptists have one Anglo church where about 125 people attend worship each Sunday, one Korean church and one recently established Hispanic mission. Southern Baptist work only exists in seven of the 22 counties in Siouxland Baptist Association, southeast South Dakota. And in Dakota Baptist Convention, which includes the 119 counties of North and South Dakota, there are a total of 85 Southern Baptist congregations. Jackson Baptist Association in north-central Louisiana learned this during a 2005 ‘vision tour’ of Dakota. A vision tour, funded in part by Cooperative Program dollars, brings together people with an interest in a new work state, and people in that state. Jackson Director of Missions Clovis Sturdivant had been invited to participate in the vision tour by Dakota Baptist Convention Director of Missions John Guillott. Guillott, a DeQuincy, La,, native and former pastor of churches in Mittie, La. and Oberlin, La., has been in Dakota since 1999. Sturdivant and … [Read more...]

Competing in the youth Bible drill at Tulip Grove Baptist Church were three seventh-graders, one-eighth grader and a doctoral candidate. OLD HICKORY, Tenn. (BP) – Competing in the youth Bible drill at Tulip Grove Baptist Church were three seventh-graders, one-eighth grader and a doctoral candidate. Tulip Grove’s participants included minister to students Alec Cort, who has been practicing every Sunday since Jan. 7 alongside the seventh- and eighth-graders. Pam Reasonover, who led Bible drill practices on Sunday afternoons at the Old Hickory, Tenn., congregation with Rosie McClurkan, was impressed that Cort accepted the challenge. For 25 years, she has taught the importance of Bible drill and Scripture memorization, but Cort, 34, is the only adult who has stepped up to participate. “I never extended an invitation to Alec. It was his idea to participate,” Reasonover said, adding, “I let him participate in the church drill, but he’s not going on to the associational drill” sponsored by the Nashville Baptist Association. Cort, who plans to graduate with a doctorate in philosophy and education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., in December, was joined in the Bible drill by seventh-graders … [Read more...]

Louisiana College trustees at their spring board meeting okayed tuition and fees increases effective with the Fall 2007 term, and changed a long-standing policy that froze a student’s tuition for four years. PINEVILLE – Louisiana College trustees at their spring board meeting okayed tuition and fees increases effective with the Fall 2007 term, and changed a long-standing policy that froze a student’s tuition for four years. The increases reflected a budget that increased about $1.2 million because of increased costs. Tuition increased from $325 to $340 a semester hour; about a 4 percent hike, which is lower than the 5 to 7 percent national average increase. The matriculation fee grew from $430 to $530 per semester. This fee began in 2000 as a replacement for a former structure in which there were 13 separate fees, such as a technology fee and publications fee. Meal plans were increased by 2.2 percent, even though the food services provider, ARAMARK, increased its fees by 3 percent to the college, a campus spokesman said. The most popular meal plan – 19 meals a week – is to increase from $1,126 to $1,150/semester. The college’s operating budget increased about $1.2 million – to $17,593,744 from … [Read more...]

Retired and semi-retired ministers and their wives as well as widows of deceased ministers are to be honored Thursday, May, 10 at Clara Springs Baptist Encampment here by District Eight Baptist Convention. PLEASANT HILL – Retired and semi-retired ministers and their wives as well as widows of deceased ministers are to be honored Thursday, May, 10 at Clara Springs Baptist Encampment here by District Eight Baptist Convention.  The event is set to begin at 10 a.m. and go through lunch, said Lee Dickson, Director of Missions for the five associations – DeSoto, Natchitoches, North Sabine, Sabine and Red River – that together are known as District Eight.  “Arnold Nelson is the center of this focus,” Dickson said, explaining that Nelson, 96, was the first area missionary for the district – a position then known as ‘field secretary’ and now ‘director of missions.’ Nelson served the people and churches of the district for 15 years before he retired in <>.  A member at First Baptist Mansfield, Nelson continues to fill pulpits and serve as interim pastor even in retirement, said First Mansfield pastor Thumper Miller. “Dr. Nelson has given us incredible leadership in the past and continues to lead by example of integrity … [Read more...]

John Avant, vice president of evangelization at the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, accepted a call April 22 to be pastor of First Baptist Church in West Monroe. WEST MONROE – John Avant, vice president of evangelization at the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, accepted a call April 22 to be pastor of First Baptist Church in West Monroe. More than 3,500 people attended the Sunday morning service in which Avant preached a trial sermon and was voted on “overwhelmingly” by members to be their pastor, said Sue Green, pastor’s secretary for 27 years and a longtime member of the church. “There was lots and lots of excitement in the crowd,” Green said. “We called him; he’s accepted.” Married to Donna Duniven Avant since 1980 and father to two daughters and a son, Avant was licensed to the gospel ministry at First Baptist Hendersonville, N.C. He graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with an MDiv degree in 1986 and a Ph.D. degree in evangelism and missiology in 1990. Avant’s earliest vocational ministry experience was as an associate pastor at First Baptist, Lancaster, Ohio. During seminary years he pastored in Gatesville, Cleburne and Richardson, all … [Read more...]

Evangelist Troy N. Terrell has agreed to allow his name to be placed in nomination as a candidate for the 2007 presidency of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. HAUGHTON – Evangelist Troy N. Terrell has agreed to allow his name to be placed in nomination as a candidate for the 2007 presidency of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Terrell and his wife Amber and daughter Lexie are active members of First Baptist Church in Haughton, Northwest Baptist Association. “I believe Troy would bring to the LBC a fresh and exciting vision for evangelism by exposing unchurched people groups to our LBC churches,” wrote Carl Carrigan of Fill-more, a member of Fillmore Baptist in Princeton, in presenting Terrell to the Baptist Message readers. Terrell was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1993 and has been senior pastor of four Southern Baptist churches, all in Louisiana. He founded and directs Harvest Outreach Ministries) which includes Dynamite Basketball – basketball camps for inner city youth – and HOPE – Harvest Outreach Prison Evangelism. Terrell is an active board member of the Louisiana Prison Chapel Foundation and has for the last ten years, often been camp pastor for youth camps at Dry Creek Baptist Camp. According to the … [Read more...]