Re: “So, what have been the most influential books of ministry during past 3 years?” in June 23, 2005 issue Re: “So, what have been the most influential books of ministry during past 3 years?” in June 23, 2005 issue I am a pastor of a small church in North Louisiana. I understand the scope of the article. However, it would have seemed appropriate to mention somewhere in the article the most-influential book for pastors was the Word of God. There is no other book than the Word of God that has made more of an impact on man. Revival will not begin from a book written by man. Until we get back to the word of God, there will not be revival in America and in this world. Again, I hope that this goes without saying. But it caught my attention that the Bible was not mentioned anywhere in the article. Thank you, and God bless you. Floyd Smith, Pastor Bryceland Baptist Church Bryceland … [Read more...]

Week of July 11, 2005 Cooperative Program Gifts through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program totaled more than $12.5 million last month, a decrease of $567,434 (4.3 percent) from the previous June. However, nine months into the convention’s fiscal year, overall gifts total $145 million, an increase of almost $2.2 million (1.5 percent) from the same time last year. The total also stands more than $7.6 million (5.5 percent) ahead of budget at this time. Meanwhile, designated gifts totaled $13.5 million last month, a decrease of $5.6 million (29.4 percent) from the previous June. For the year, designated gifts total almost $171 million,  a decrease of $801,395 (0.5 percent) from the same time last year. Court ruling The Georgia Supreme Court has denied Shorter College’s motion for reconsideration of an earlier ruling in a case regarding its break from the Georgia Baptist Convention. In May, the state high court upheld a lower ruling that Shorter College’s 2003 actions to sever ties with the Georgia Baptist Convention should be set aside as outside the bounds of state corporate law. A county judge had allowed Shorter to dissolve and transfer its assets to the newly-formed Shorter College Foundation Inc., thus … [Read more...]

Week of July 11, 2005 Potpourri HOUMA – Coteau church: Testify in concert; July 24, 10:45 a.m.; Dwight Hazelwood, minister of music. WEST MONROE – Cypress church: The Dixie Echoes in concert; July 21, 7 p.m.; love offering accepted; Larry Eubanks, pastor. NEW ORLEANS – Oak Park church: Ben Caston in concert; July 24, 6 p.m.; Paul Brady, pastor. NATCHITOCHES – Coldwater church: “His” in concert; July 16, 7 p.m.; Jerry Ford, pastor. BATON ROUGE – Foster Road church: David’s Song Quartet in concert; July 17, 6 p.m.; Huey Moak, pastor. HAUGHTON – First church: Tim Keith, guest speaker; July 24, 6 p.m. with fellowship to follow; Gevan L. Spinney, pastor. MINDEN – First church: Bridges-Blake in concert and Roy Fish, guest speaker; July 18, 7 p.m.; Junior Hill, evangelist, guest speaker and Summer Grove church choir, musical guest; July 25, 7 p.m.; Wayne DuBose, pastor. ST. FRANCISVILLE – First church: Paul Penton, guest speaker; July 24, 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.; Joe Ratcliff, pastor. HARRISONBURG – First church: Evangelism Rally; July 17, 6 p.m.; Bill Robertson, guest speaker; Darrell Robertson, music; preservice music at 5:30 p.m.; Ralph Webber, pastor. Youth CLARENCE – Clarence church: Presentation … [Read more...]

I said I never had and never would – and I meant it. Everything God created to fly has wings, and those things do not. So, why would anyone want to get on a wingless creation of man and expect it to fly? I said I never had and never would – and I meant it. Everything God created to fly has wings, and those things do not. So, why would anyone want to get on a wingless creation of man and expect it to fly? But the schedule clearly states, “Helicopter from Bar 10 ranch to bottom of Grand Canyon and awaiting raft.” That night, sitting round the ranch, I casually ask the owner, “About that helicopter ride in the morning ...” “Yes, sir.” “Is there another way to get from here to where the rafts will be?” The purpose of the trip is to raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon for three days. To get to this point, we ride a major airline and, then, a commuter plane that flies us over the Grand Canyon and up the canyon to an isolated airstrip on this working ranch of 250,000 acres with some 1,000 ranging head of cattle. The planes have wings. The horses we ride did not have wings, but they never got that far off the ground. “Yes, sir,” the owner replies to my earlier question. “You can ride a … [Read more...]

In most years, messengers to the annual Southern Baptist Convention find themselves drawn to exhibit areas by LifeWay Christian Store bargains, opportunities to spot familiar faces from years gone by and information from Baptist entities and church-related vendors. In most years, messengers to the annual Southern Baptist Convention find themselves drawn to exhibit areas by LifeWay Christian Store bargains, opportunities to spot familiar faces from years gone by and information from Baptist entities and church-related vendors. But the exhibit hall at the 2005 convention in Nashville, Tenn., included yet another kind of “draw” by Southern Baptist artist Joe McKeever who drew numerous caricatures of messengers and their families as part of the Baptist Press exhibit for the SBC Executive Committee. McKeever serves as director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans and draws cartoons regularly featured in Baptist Press, state Baptist newspapers and a variety of other publications. The lines were constant for a chance to sit across from  McKeever as he used broad-tipped black markers to sketch quick portraits in a matter of minutes – one after another. “So (that) I can sit here for … [Read more...]

Holding all her worldly possessions in a half-full garbage bag, Dorothy Ray got off the bus from Nebraska with her 14-year-old daughter. She had lost everything – her home, her car, her pride. But her oldest son was living in Nashville, Tenn., at the time and had invited his mother and siblings to come live with him and his wife and three children – eight people in a three-bedroom apartment. “For 10 months, I slept on the couch at my son’s and tried to figure out what I was going to do,” Ray says. “I was in the deepest depression. I had hit rock bottom, and to cope, I was drinking.” Ray, now 51, had been a single parent since she was 15. The ninth-grade dropout got her first apartment in the projects at age 16. For all those years, everybody had been looking to her for support and help. “I did everything for everybody for so long, I lost sight of Dorothy,” Ray admits. However, Ray slowly started developing a relationship with God while she was at her son’s home alone and reading the Bible. “I had always believed in Jesus,” she says. “One of my earliest memories is my grandmother taking me to church. But I didn’t really have a relationship with him.” Because of the time spent in the Bible and … [Read more...]

Billy Graham once rejected overtures to become president of Louisiana College in Pineville to continue his work as an evangelist. Billy Graham once rejected overtures to become president of Louisiana College in Pineville to continue his work as an evangelist. Graham, now 86, recently conducted what may have been be his final crusade in New York at Flushing Meadows Coronoa Park. Graham spoke at Louisiana College in 1949 and 1951. He was 33 at the time of his second appearance, and he already had established himself as one of the country’s most-powerful Christian evangelists. Edgar Godbold was president of Louisiana College in 1951 and was planning to retire the following year. According to Oscar Hoffmeyer’s book, “Louisiana College, 75 Years: A Pictorial History,” Graham was among those the trustees considered to succeed Godbold. But Graham declined the overtures. “In a telegram read to the trustees May 22, 1951, (Graham) requested that his name ‘not be presented’ to the board because ‘he didn’t have an impression this should be done,’” Hoffmeyer writes. Graham’s stature with Southern Baptists also received a boost from a man who now lives in Pineville. In the 1950s, Leonard Sanderson was director … [Read more...]

As he has for 60 years, Billy Graham ended his three-day New York crusade by offering about 90,000 in the crowd a glimpse of heaven. As he has for 60 years, Billy Graham ended his three-day New York crusade by offering about 90,000 in the crowd a glimpse of heaven. But as in perhaps no other crusade in his long history of evangelism, New York provided heaven’s face. Tucked into a corner of Queens where more than 130 languages are spoken each day, the June 24-26 Greater New York Billy Graham Crusade drew more than 230,000 people from every part of the world – whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, people whose families came to America generations ago and people so fresh they still marvel at this nation and its freedoms and opportunities. The remarkable diversity reflects the host city, home to the sort of integration of God’s people Graham has advocated for all his evangelical career and fitting for what many consider could be his lastsuch gathering. “Every nation on earth is truly represented on the sidewalks of New York City,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in his welcoming message on June 25. “And they are all here tonight.” Tall signs dotted the crusade’s corner of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, … [Read more...]

Church music session The 2005 Louisiana Baptist Church Music Conference has been set for Aug. 5-6 at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria. The two-day session is set to begin with registration on Friday from 10 a.m. to noon. A general worship session follows at noon, and a trio of sessions are set for Friday afternoon. The Saturday schedule includes two sessions, with the conference to conclude with a worship service at 11:30 a.m. The annieMOSES Band is scheduled to perform Friday night at 7 p.m. The concert is open to the public, with tickets available beforehand or at the door for $5 per person. Registration for the full  conference ranges from $35 to $80 depending on what session persons are attending and other factors. To register or for concert tickets, persons may call state convention offices at (800) 622-6549 or (318) 448-3402. Meeting change The location for the Preparing the Church Budget Seminar set for August 2 has been changed. The Louisiana Baptist Convention-sponsored seminar originally was scheduled at First Baptist Church of Carencro. However, it now is set for Aug. 2 at 7-9 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Opelousas. For details, call Louise King at (800) 622-6549 or (318) 448-3402, … [Read more...]

Every morning at eight o’clock, my mother-in-law started hearing a rooster crow. The first morning the rooster turned loose with its sun-raising cry, she thought she might be imagining things. Every morning at eight o’clock, my mother-in-law started hearing a rooster crow. The first morning the rooster turned loose with its sun-raising cry, she thought she might be imagining things. After all, she lives in a retirement complex in the heart of the city. The sounds of a crowing rooster had not been heard previously. The second morning, she thought it might be someone playing a radio or television especially loud. That is not entirely unusual in an apartment complex filled with folks whose hearing is not what it used to be. But my mother-in-law’s hearing is as sharp as a teenager’s. The third morning, my mother-in-law began to explore her surroundings to locate the sound, although adjoining residents had not heard the fowl’s lung exercising. When the rooster crowed, it was actually an extended series of crowings. My mother-in-law even walked out the exit door near her apartment to see if she could get a line on the direction of the origin of the irritating early morning noise. One never knows what … [Read more...]