Trustees at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary elected four professors to the faculty at their spring meeting April 11. NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Trustees at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary elected four professors to the faculty at their spring meeting April 11. The board elected Mark Tolbert to serve as associate professor of evangelism and pastoral ministry, Dennis Phelps as professor of preaching, Rex Butler as associate professor of church history and patristics (early church fathers), and Tony Merida as assistant professor of preaching.\ Mark Tolbert Tolbert, who also was appointed as director of the doctor of ministry program, has served in ministry for 33 years. During 24 years as a pastor, he led churches in Decatur, Ala., Pine Bluff, Wynne, Little Rock and Pocahontas, Ark., and Santo, Texas. Tolbert also has served as a minister of evangelism and a collegiate minister. Tolbert holds a master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a bachelor of science degree from Georgia State University. Tolbert has served as a trustee for GuideStone Financial Resources and on the SBC Tellers Committee. In 2000, Tolbert taught as … [Read more...]

In a foreign land a Southern Baptist missionary enters a territory which is known to be hostile to the Gospel. Upon entering a mountainous village, he is able to speak to some of the villagers about eternal matters. In a foreign land a Southern Baptist missionary enters a territory which is known to be hostile to the Gospel. Upon entering a mountainous village, he is able to speak to some of the villagers about eternal matters. They are uninhibited about their faith, although reticent to accept any other opinion. This missionary quickly gains a cursory understanding of their god. He is an all-powerful being who blesses both the just and the unjust. He reveals himself through miracles. Additionally, these villagers believe that there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. In fact, these villagers believe that their god has a son and that this son was once dead and now has come to life! Can this missionary assume that the god the villagers are describing is the same God the Scripture reveals? If your answer is yes, you have fallen prey to a choice tactic of the devil. He plays upon the attributes of God and places them upon another, even himself. Ironically, the situation above is not foreign to … [Read more...]

Spring is a celebration of new life. I’ve been pruning old dead branches in order to get ready for the new life that is coming. Spring is a celebration of new life. I’ve been pruning old dead branches in order to get ready for the new life that is coming. Lately, I’ve been inspecting my plants trying to decide if I should pour my resources and time into them in an attempt to revive them. I am not sure if  I should give up on the old plants and simply go with new ones. Some of my old plants have roots that are so tangled, hard and lifeless that I probably just need to remove them, pour in fresh soil, and plant something new. Wow! I think I may have just figured out some of Jesus’ parables about the Kingdom and the Church. Perhaps we are pouring a lot of time, effort, and resources into some old programs, classes, and activities that will never be productive. We may need to honestly consider starting something new and fresh so that growth has an opportunity to occur. At a recent Director of Missions meeting, we were considering the fact that possibly as high as 80% of our churches in our state are plateaued, declining, or dying. Within a decade or so, if there is not a major turn around, we as Southern Baptists … [Read more...]

My heart was broken as I read the April 17 report about the decline of baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention. Many of the other statistics we track looked healthy, which caused me to wonder about the issue of priorities. My heart was broken as I read the April 17 report about the decline of baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention. Many of the other statistics we track looked healthy, which caused me to wonder about the issue of priorities. Since the number of church plants are up, does this mean that we are planting churches without evangelism in their DNA? Are we increasing in size and decreasing in concern? Do we care that our lost friends and neighbors will die and go to hell? Does it embarrass us to talk about hell? But this report challenged me at a more fundamental level. Am I looking daily for evangelistic opportunities? Do I seize these divine appointments? I am afraid that I must confess that I am often very lax when it comes to sharing the greatest news that has ever been told. Why? What am I lacking and what are we lacking? I think Roy Fish, in his comments, certainly went to the core of our problem as he talked about the need for spiritual awakening. We need revival and a sweeping move of the Holy … [Read more...]

China’s economy expands, bringing new jobs to your town -– or taking them away. The Japanese yen soars in value, sending world financial markets into a tailspin overnight -– along with your 401k. China’s economy expands, bringing new jobs to your town -– or taking them away. The Japanese yen soars in value, sending world financial markets into a tailspin overnight -– along with your 401k. At home, your kids are playing computer games online with teens living on the other side of the planet -– the same teens they’ll be competing with for careers in the global economy. Globalization is no longer a grand theory. It’s a daily reality. We can either deal with it or deny it, but it isn’t going away. The new global reality is exciting and frightening. Societies, cultures and economies have always mingled or clashed, but never so instantaneously. History is accelerating in ways humanity has never experienced, and we don’t know where it will take us. But God does and He bends history to His purposes. One of His purposes is the globalization of the church. We are seeing it become a reality in our day. “The map of global Christianity that our grandparents knew has been turned upside down,” reported Christopher J.H. Wright in … [Read more...]

This association, covering the parishes of Vermillion, Lafayette, St. Martin, and a portion of Iberia, ministers to a population of nearly 368,000, according to recent U.S. census statistics. EVANGELINE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION – This association, covering the parishes of Vermillion, Lafayette, St. Martin, and a portion of Iberia, ministers to a population of nearly 368,000, according to recent U.S. census statistics.  The 48 churches spread across the heart of this Cajun country serve a mixture of people, said Director of Missions Bert Langley, including educators, professionals, farmers, crawfishers, commercial fishermen and more.  “You name it, we got it here,” he continued. “We’ve got some of the best people in the state of Louisiana in this area – and the best food in the  United States!”  The largest metropolitan area is  Lafayette, home to more than 100,000 people, and surrounded by many smaller communities. The area is rich in festivals, Langley said.  “We’ve got festivals for everything,” he explained, including hogs, frogs, boudin, rice, and, of course, Mardi Gras. “If there’s a festival out there we have a name for it. It’s kind of the atmosphere of the area: ‘Let the good times roll.’”  Tourists come for … [Read more...]

The Lafayette Spanish Mission here refuses to allow a lack of walls, or ill weather for that matter, to hinder its work in Honduras. LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Spanish Mission here refuses to allow a lack of walls, or ill weather for that matter, to hinder its work in  Honduras.  Last year the mission, as yet without its own building, bought land in  Honduras in order to build a radio station as a way of providing leadership to new church plants and reaching lost souls in remote mountain villages, said Carolyn Adkisson, member at the mission where Sunday morning attendance is about 60. “Sometimes small churches think they can’t do anything, but that’s not true,” said Director of Missions Bert Langley of the work in Honduras. “They can do a lot. A small church can do something, if they’re just sensitive to what God wants them to do.” The mission was begun seven years ago as a Wednesday night Bible study. Two years later Armando Murillo was called as pastor, said Adkisson, who often serves as the church’s communicator. The mission was able to support its new pastor completely, she continued. Now, as Murillo has moved on to continue missionary work in his home country of  Honduras, the mission, again without a pastor, … [Read more...]

Mandisa Hundley, one of last year’s “American Idol” finalists, doesn’t want any regrets. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – Mandisa Hundley, one of last year’s “American Idol” finalists, doesn’t want any regrets. And that includes missions. Mandisa (who uses her first name) marvels at how missionaries “work day after day ... that the body of Christ can be built up.” So, she’s ready to do “anything that I can do” for missions -– which is why she readily agreed to host the most recent volume of “Missionary Moments Video Vignettes.” The video missions segments, now in their sixth year, highlight the work of six international and six North American missionaries supported by prayers and Southern Baptists’ gifts through the Cooperative Program. Suggested uses of Missionary Moments Video Vignettes -– each hosted by Mandisa and less than three minutes in length –- include highlighting the Cooperative Program in morning, evening or midweek worship services; during offering times or as sermon illustrations; in Sunday School departments or classes; and for church missions emphases. “I have been hearing about (missions) for years,” ever since going to work at LifeWay Christian Resources after graduating from Fisk University in … [Read more...]

Bert Langley, Director of Missions for the Evangeline Baptist Association, isn’t one to let fear stand in the way of the sacrament of baptism. LAFAYETTE — Bert Langley, Director of Missions for the Evangeline Baptist Association, isn’t one to let fear stand in the way of the sacrament of baptism.    At the time new to pastoring and baptizing, Langley once got all but the head of a new convert under water when she started fighting the water, he said. After bringing her back up, he began debating with himself the theological question of whether she was actually baptized.  “I decided right then in the baptistery that she was not baptized,” so he dunked her again, this time getting all but her nose under the water. “So, there may be a nose-less person in heaven,” he said, chuckling. “You’ll know that’s that teenager.”  Thankful that God has allowed him to pastor four churches and then serve as DOM to both Evangeline and  Gulf Coast associations, Langley counts Evangeline’s new endeavor to build cross-associational mission teams one of his most worthwhile efforts in the ministry, he said.  Evangeline has sent two mission teams to the Ukraine to work in children’s camps and is planning another team trip to Alaska this … [Read more...]

"I’m just a person who believes God didn’t put us here just to occupy space,” says 90-year-old Hazel Amerson of Sisters Baptist Church in Sandersville, Ga. “He put us here to help other people. NATIONAL SNAPSHOTS – "I’m just a person who believes God didn’t put us  here just to occupy space,” says 90-year-old Hazel Amerson of Sisters Baptist Church in  Sandersville, Ga. “He put us here to help other people. “[W]hen I see somebody in need, I feel like we should meet it, and the Cooperative Program helps meet those needs,” Amerson added. “We wouldn’t keep giving to it if it didn’t.” The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists’ method of supporting missions and ministries of state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention. “I think there’s such a   great need; so many people need to know the Lord,”  Amerson said. “We do what we can; the Cooperative Program takes it from there.” HARRISBURG, Penn.–  For each of the last 15 years, the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey   has increased its giving through  the Cooperative Program. “Part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus is to give yourself away,” Executive Director David Waltz says. “We give to the Cooperative Program because it is the … [Read more...]