Elizabeth Luter lost everything in Katrina except her trust in God. Despite the dispersion of her spiritual family, the destruction of her home and car, and the devastation of the church where she and her husband had ministered for years, she has nothing but praise for God.     PINE – Elizabeth Luter lost everything in Katrina except her trust in God. Despite the dispersion of her spiritual family, the destruction of her home and car, and the devastation of the church where she and her husband had ministered for years, she has nothing but praise for God.   "God has not allowed me to cry or mourn over Katrina," she told a group of women gathered at Pine First Baptist Church to hear her speak on the Highway to Holiness at the 6th Annual Women’s Conference.   She said that God has met their every need, even as they have been vagabonds, sleeping on her daughter’s futon and traveling from place to place, ministering to their displaced congregation.   Luter said preparation for this conference was a growing experience for her. God stretched her understanding of the spiritual path that leads to holiness and helped her to understand that we all have to travel that path alone. Ultimately it is our personal relationship … [Read more...]

Is atheism facing its demise? Oxford theologian Alister McGrath thinks so. NEW ORLEANS – Is atheism facing its demise? Oxford theologian Alister McGrath thinks so. The 2007 Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) to be held February 23-24 on the seminary campus, will address the question of "The Future of Atheism." At the forum, McGrath, Oxford University professor of historical theology, prolific evangelical Christian apologist and author of The Twilight of Atheism, will present his case in dialogue with Daniel C. Dennett, university professor and Austin B. Fletcher professor of philosophy of Tufts University, who will defend an atheistic position. The Greer-Heard Forum provides a venue in which an academically recognized evangelical scholar can engage a non-evangelical scholar on current issues in faith and culture. McGrath holds Oxford University doctorates in both molecular biophysics and Christian theology and has published numerous works on Christian theology and its relationship to the natural sciences. His three-volume work, A Scientific Theology, explores the contributions of science and theology to each other. As a former atheist, McGrath has a passion for … [Read more...]

John Sheehan wears a razor-wire halo with grace.     ANGIE – John Sheehan wears a razor-wire halo with grace.   He ministers inside the chainlink city that is Rayburn Correctional Center. He also lives in RCC, and unlike others in prison ministry, the recipients of his ministry scrutinize his Christian walk every waking hour.   "When you’re living with a group of men, you see more of the character flaws and issues they are dealing with in their lives," Sheehan said. "The reverse is also true. I’m not a perfect person and they see the mistakes I make."   As an inmate chaplain’s orderly, Sheehan is in the full-time ministry. He felt the call of God on his life shortly after accepting Christ as his Savior in a Southern Baptist church in Florida. He was actively involved in lay ministry while seeking to define that call when he was arrested and charged with the death of his wife. She died after his gun discharged while he was cleaning it, he said. What was first treated as an accident eventually resulted in a life sentence.   The new-found hope Sheehan experienced as a child of God was severely tested when he was sentenced to Angola. Despite his circumstances, he refused to descend into the black pit of depression … [Read more...]

February 2007 2-3 – Collegiate Evangelism Conference, First Pineville. Cost: $35. LBC contact: Julia Brouillette. 3 – Area Keyboard Festivals at First DeRidder, NOBTS New Orleans, and First Mansfield. LBC contact: Teresa Thomason. 8 – Paul Timothy Conference, Baptist Building, Alexandria. LBC contacts: Jo Lynn Chesser, Alan Miller. 8 – Singing Ministers and Singing Women Concert at Williams Boulevard, Kenner. LBC Contact: Randy Turner. 8 – CANCELLED: Sunday School Growth Seminar, Alexandria. LBC contact: Lisa Smith. 11-18 – WMU Focus Week. LBC contact: Janie Wise. 15 – CANCELLED: Sunday School Growth Seminar, Hammond. LBC contact: Lisa Smith. 15-16 – Louisiana Preschool/Children’s Ministers Association Retreat, Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center, Woodworth. LBC Contact: Carolle Green. 16 – Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home Board of Trustees meeting; awards banquet; Monroe. 22 – CANCELLED: Sunday School Growth Seminar, Minden. LBC contact: Lisa Smith. 23-25 Louisiana Renewal Reunion, Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center; LBC contact: Ivan Harliss. 27 – Developing a Biblical Process of Discipleship, Temple Ruston. LBC contact: Lisa … [Read more...]

BATON ROUGE – First Baptist plans a Car Clinic ministry from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 3. On Sunday, Feb. 4, the church’s children and students holding soup pots will be stationed at worship center exits to take up a $1/person offering for Souper Bowl of Caring. The offering is designated this year for the Christian Outreach Center. Jan. 14 attendance: 324. Burn Page is pastor. WEST MONROE – The Reaching Across Drama Ministry at Fair Park Baptist is to present "Don’t Touch That Dial!" At 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16-17 in the Reception Hall. Tickets: $10/person. Child care for babies and preschoolers. Special program for children 5th grade and under for $5/child, including meal. Jan. 14 attendance: 291.   LAKE CHARLES – Despite being without a pastor, 365 people attended Sale Street Baptist on Jan. 7.   JENA – First Baptist is involved in a study of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. A special event – Bald Barker and Nanna White – is set for Wednesday evening, Feb. 14 in the church’s family life center. Seven games of Upward Basketball are played at the church each week, three Thursday evenings and four Saturday days. Dominick DiCarlo Jr. is pastor.   OAKDALE – First Baptist has adopted North … [Read more...]

Seeking staff Full-time social worker for Sellers Maternity Home. A master’s degree is required; five years’ experience is desired. Call LBCH’s Perry Hancock at 318-343-2244. Relief cottage couple for Sellers Maternity Home for about 10 days/nights a month. Couples must be able to drive a 15-passenger van and meet other ministry requirements. Call LBCH’s Perry Hancock at 318-343-2244. Revivals and related events Warren Morris is to be guest speaker Tuesday, Feb. 13 at First Baptist Oakdale, where Stephen Laughlin is pastor. A pizza blowout for students in grades 7-13 is to follow the service. Port Hudson Baptist is to meet for revival services Feb. 4-7. Joe Aulds is speaker and Price Harris is to lead music/worship. Joe Thibeau, pastor. Goldonna Baptist is to meet Feb. 11-16 for revival services, with Richard Pickupas evangelist and Fred Gilbert Jr., music. Doyle McGrew is pastor. Concerts, conferences and related events Staci Beauchamp is to be guest speaker at a Ladies Prayer Breakfast Saturday, Feb. 3, at First Baptist St. Francisville, where Joe Ratcliff is pastor. Anniversaries Guest evangelist Nick Holden is to speak Sunday, Feb. 4, at North Shreve Baptist, Founded Feb. 3, 1963. Roy Davis is … [Read more...]

More children these days are performing at grade level in school, eating breakfast with at least one parent and abiding by imposed television rules, according to a Census Bureau report titled "A Child’s Day." NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – More children these days are performing at grade level in school, eating breakfast with at least one parent and abiding by imposed television rules, according to a Census Bureau report titled "A Child’s Day."   The report surveyed parents to analyze benchmarks of well-being for 73 million children from a 2003 review of income, The New York Times said Jan. 11, and the results were compared with similar surveys in 1994 and 2000. "We hadn’t noted anything where children were doing worse," Tallese Johnson, a co-author of the report, toldThe Times.   Among the findings, the number of children considered "on track" academically increased to 75 percent from 69 percent in 1994.   With the escalation of inappropriate material on television, parents more often are making certain programs off-limits for their children and are regulating viewing time, the report found. In 1994, 54 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds were given such rules, but the number grew to 67 percent in 2003. Among 6- to … [Read more...]

An accident on a construction site blinded Shane. For three years he remained mad at God, wondering if blindness was his punishment for a self-described wild lifestyle.     DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (BP) – An accident on a construction site blinded Shane. For three years he remained mad at God, wondering if blindness was his punishment for a self-described wild lifestyle. Mark Larson knew none of that as he and two others approached Shane’s apartment door to which they were "drawn by God," Larson says.   Larson, a member of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., where the Sunday School-based FAITH evangelism strategy originated, told the rest of the story to hundreds attending a FAITH training clinic on Jan. 24.   Shane explained that just two nights prior to the visit he’d had a dream in which he saw people from a church come to his door and tell him about Jesus. Two nights later they did, and Shane prayed a prayer of repentance and faith, committing his life to Jesus Christ.   "‘I no longer feel as if God is against me,’" said Larson, recounting Shane’s comments. "‘But I feel like He is with me now.’"   Shane’s story and Larson’s testimony are among the many thousands of similar ones that highlight 25 years and 50 … [Read more...]

People of faith are at least somewhat complicit in the massacre of millions of unborn babies by abortion, Richard Land said Jan. 21 at a pro-life rally, noting an estimated one out of three babies conceived since 1973 have been aborted.     NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – People of faith are at least somewhat complicit in the massacre of millions of unborn babies by abortion, Richard Land said Jan. 21 at a pro-life rally, noting an estimated one out of three babies conceived since 1973 have been aborted.   "That could never have happened without at least the acquiescence of people in our churches – Protestant and Catholic alike," said Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.   "We bear some responsibility for allowing this to continue and not insisting it should stop. It is time that we demand it stop and stop now."   Land urged those at the pro-life march in Nashville to call on God to "deliver us from our abortion captivity." He addressed the Rally for Life, an annual event held by Tennessee Right to Life to mark the infamous Roe v. Wade case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.   "We are here today to mark one of the darkest days in the history of our nation, when … [Read more...]

a woman who had held a tenure-track position was denied tenure at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2004, according to a Jan. 19 Dallas Morning News story. FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) – A woman who had held a tenure-track position was denied tenure at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2004, according to a Jan. 19 Dallas Morning News story. The professor, Sheri Klouda, was given a tenure-track position to teach Hebrew in Southwestern’s school of theology when she received her Ph.D. at the Fort Worth, Texas, campus in 2002, according to the newspaper report. Klouda, who also is a Criswell College graduate, now teaches at Taylor University in Indiana. Van McClain, chairman of Southwestern’s board of trustees, told the Dallas Morning News that the seminary has returned to its "traditional, confessional and biblical position" that a woman should not instruct men in theology courses or in biblical languages. McClain said the seminary was gracious to Klouda as she looked for a teaching position at another school. "The administration ... allowed her to teach a full two years after she was told that she would not have tenure," McClain told the newspaper, "... and the seminary even agreed to continue her support … [Read more...]