PINEVILLE – Kingsville Baptist, sponsoring Upwards Soccer, still has openings for coaches. Experience not necessary; just love for the Lord and kids. One practice per week and one game on Saturdays for the season. Next training for coaches is March 18. This is a community ministry, not just a Kingsville one. Contact Kathy Doolittle for applications: 318-449-4231. WALKER – At Walker Baptist Church, the 11th annual Women’s Conference March 16-17, with Cyndi Graceas guest speaker. $20 cost ($15/advance) includes Friday supper, Saturday pastries and luncheon. Child care provided. To register or for information, call 225-6654-8368. Richard Blue, pastor. LEESVILLE – Gil Arthur, pastor of East Leesville Baptist, writes in a recent issue of the East Leesville Encourager about giving offerings for a new student facility. Groundbreaking for it had been the previous week. "We are not just paying off a building, we are giving to honor God and bring Him the glory," Arthur wrote. "To not give or to give for other reaons opposes the purposes of God.. I for one, don’t want to do that." The Encourager also notes an upcoming meeting for a Mexico mission trip, Upwards Awards Program at 3 p.m. March 10, VBS teachers/workers meeting at 4 p.m. … [Read more...]

Staff changes Roger Johnson from First Farmerville to Woodlawn Rayville. Jeff Hurst, from Beulah Baptist to Grace Baptist in Bastrop. Leon Cole resigned as music minister at Downsville Baptist. Randy Cole is to serve as interim music minister. Seeking staff Music and/or youth minister resumes sought by Clarence Baptist. Send to Search Committee, PO Box 7, Clarence LA 71414. Harry Bamburg is pastor. Full-time pastor needed: Send resume to First Baptist Church, Attn: Pastor Search Committee, PO Box 205, Castor LA 71016. Minister of Music sought by by Fellowship Baptist, Dubach. Send resumes to Minister of Music Search Committee, 6476 Hwy 151, Dubach LA 71235. Youth minister sought by Mt. Ararat Baptist. Call Adam Riser at 318-982-2937. Churches without pastors in Concord Union Baptist Association: Bethel, Lilllie; Conway; Downsville; First Farmerville; Pleasant Hill, Ruston. Revivals and related events First Baptist Ball, revival at 7 p.m. March 11-14 with Bill Calloway as evangelist and Steve Allenmusic. Youth service Tuesday, March 13. Southern Plainsmen at 10:45 a.m. Sunday, March 11. First Baptist Greenwood, revival March 25-28 with Bill Britt as evangelist. 10:40 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sunday; 6:30 p.m. … [Read more...]

Southern Baptists are in danger of losing the Gospel itself if they continue the infighting that has characterized the convention in recent years, Union University President David S. Dockery said Feb. 16.         Editor’s note: First in a series of four articles JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) – Southern Baptists are in danger of losing the Gospel itself if they continue the infighting that has characterized the convention in recent years, Union University President David S. Dockery said Feb. 16.   "It is time to move from controversy and confusion to a new consensus and renewed commitment to cooperation," Dockery said. "We need to take a step back not just to commit ourselves afresh to missions and evangelism, as important as that is.   "We need to commit ourselves foremost to the Gospel, the message of missions and evangelism, the message that is found only in Jesus Christ and His atoning death for sinners."   In his address at the Feb. 15-17 Baptist Identity Conference at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., Dockery traced the history of Southern Baptists to show that they have never been a doctrinally uniform group but rather one committed to the authority of Scripture and cooperation in reaching the … [Read more...]

The New Orleans city map in Travis Scruggs’ office at First Baptist Church in New Orleans tells a story of love, hope and hard work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.         NEW ORLEANS (BP) – The New Orleans city map in Travis Scruggs’ office at FirstBaptistChurch in New Orleans tells a story of love, hope and hard work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.       Hundreds of brightly colored push pins cover the map. When First Baptist started its home recovery ministry in November 2005, Scruggs, affectionately known as the “disaster pastor,” would place a pin on the map each time volunteers finished gutting a home. As the months passed he had to stop as neighborhoods on the map literally filled up with pins.       With the help of 13,000 volunteers pouring into the area from 48 states and Canada, the church has gutted 1,007 homes. This labor of love saves homeowners thousands of dollars and in the process, the volunteers provide a living illustration and verbal witness of the Gospel.       While not all relief workers fully understand the pain of losing their home, Scruggs does. A master’s degree student at … [Read more...]

Southern Baptist missionaries Carl and Kay Garvin are in stable condition after two robbers attacked them Feb. 23 in Tanzania. NAIROBI, Kenya (BP)--Southern Baptist missionaries Carl and Kay Garvin are in stable condition after two robbers attacked them Feb. 23 in Tanzania.   The two Arkansas natives were airlifted to Nairobi, Kenya, where Carl, 60, underwent surgery for a broken arm and lacerations. He also will have surgery to repair ligament damage to his knee. Kay, 56, was shot in the chest. The bullet entered close to her heart, missing the aorta by half an inch. It went through the lung and nestled against the skin on her back. The surgeon will make an incision to remove the bullet.   "She’s a walking, talking miracle," Carl said from his hospital bed. Despite being shot in the chest, Kay had no damage to her heart or lung.   "We are both living miracles," Kay said, squeezing Carl’s hand. "God was with us throughout the entire ordeal."   A nurse for 30 years, Carl immediately applied pressure to the chest wound and treated Kay, an action that medical consultants say probably saved her life.   He also wrapped his arm and applied pressure to stop his own bleeding.   … [Read more...]

Multiple states are considering proposals to privatize their lotteries, which proves that education benefits have yielded to concerns over how much money they can produce for government, a leading anti-gambling activist says.         SPOKANE, Wash. (BP) – Multiple states are considering proposals to privatize their lotteries, which proves that education benefits have yielded to concerns over how much money they can produce for government, a leading anti-gambling activist says.   Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, sees an immediate threat of expanded gambling as companies that spend billions of dollars acquiring lotteries seek to recoup that investment.   Two of the leading gaming companies, he noted, are based in Greece and Italy.   "Obviously the evolving practice of this is it no longer has anything to do with the future of children," said Grey, referring to various pro-education statements that were used to advance the creation of lotteries in many of the 42 states that have them. "It has to do with state control of gambling being rented to foreign companies."   Grey said Illinois, Indiana and Texas are the "hot spots" for such proposals, … [Read more...]

This surge in giving through the Cooperative Program can be seen as nothing less than God’s extended blessing upon the work of Southern Baptists to extend the Gospel to the world," said SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Morris H. Chapman. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – With year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program now 6.05 percent ahead of the same time frame in 2006, SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Morris H. Chapman noted, "This surge in giving through the Cooperative Program can be seen as nothing less than God’s extended blessing upon the work of Southern Baptists to extend the Gospel to the world.   "I think what we are seeing from Southern Baptists is a resurgence of attention to cooperation among us," Chapman said. "It is too early to tell, and the Cooperative Program is just one indicator of the health of our convention, but an important one.   "We need to see continued focus on cooperation if the convention is to grow spiritually, and I believe that revival among Southern Baptists is essential if we are to see revival in America," Chapman said.   As of Feb. 28, the year-to-date total of $87,085,551.85 for Cooperative … [Read more...]

LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center is offering a two-week Wilderness Adventure this summer for youth 15-18 years old. SANTA FE, N.M. – LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center is offering a two-week Wilderness Adventure this summer for youth 15-18 years old.   The program will include expedition backpacking, rock climbing, challenge course elements, horseback trail riding, paintball, and whitewater rafting in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.   "This is an opportunity to make life-long memories filled with lessons of leadership, growth and character," said Jim Strickland, program manager for Glorieta Conference Centers.   "Wilderness Adventure is a relationship-packed adventure of travel, fun, breath-taking views, spiritual discipleship and personal challenges," Strickland said.   Interwoven throughout the activities will be lessons that pertain to today’s students, focused on leadership, communication, relationships and good health. Godly encouragement and a spiritual emphasis will accompany every aspect of the program.   Wilderness Adventure will accept 20 males and females for each program. The students will be supervised, Strickland said, by well-trained, experienced and thoroughly screened staff members following the same … [Read more...]

Like many churches on the economically-depressed Western Slope of Colorado, Trinity Baptist struggled to make ends meet.       GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (BP) – Like many churches on the economically-depressed Western Slope of Colorado, Trinity Baptist struggled to make ends meet.   Located on Orchard Mesa, the high, desert end of town that despite its name does not have the groves of regionally famous peach trees dappling the rest of Grand Valley, Trinity ministers in an area of blue-collar and often transient workers.   But the church’s finances changed when its longtime pastor, Larry Mallett, was elected in 2001 to a position on the Colorado Baptist Convention’s executive board.   "We’ve always given to the Cooperative Program – it’s the best program out there – but we haven’t always given 10 percent," Mallett said. "When I went on the executive board and saw all that we were doing with that money just in our state alone, I thought we needed to be giving 10 percent.   "In the past, we had problems paying our bills, but since we started giving 10 percent to the Cooperative Program – we’ve not had that problem."   The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists’ chosen way of combining the efforts and resources of local … [Read more...]

Despite the Lou Gehrig’s disease that attacked her last summer, Marilyn McClaskey’s voice still resonates with her commitment to Southern Baptists and the Cooperative Program. GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Despite the Lou Gehrig’s disease that attacked her last summer, Marilyn McClaskey’s voice still resonates with her commitment to Southern Baptists and the Cooperative Program.   Only now it’s a keyboard’s voice. No longer able to control the muscles in her voicebox, McClaskey uses an electronic voicebox to talk about God and the denomination she and her husband, Darrell, have been serving on the Western Slope for the last 40 years.   "They’re soldiers of the cross," said their pastor at Trinity Baptist, Larry Mallett. "Darrell, I just love that brother. They’ve been through [a lot] but have been faithful to the Lord and hung in there."   As church strengtheners the McClaskeys have served multiple roles in multiple churches – keeping churches alive between pastors, birthing churches with seasoned and unseasoned pastors, building churches struggling to be healthy.   "The reason Southern Baptists have been blessed is because of the missions emphasis through the Cooperative Program," Marilyn says. "I hear from [non-SBC] … [Read more...]