For the week of August 21, 2003 LBCH correction   In the August 14 issue of the Baptist Message, it was reported that Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home trustees had hired the wife of Executive Director Perry Hancock as a speaker for the home. That is incorrect. Trustees simply approved Tonya Hancock as a speaker for the home. Like other approved speakers for the Louisiana Baptist agency, she simply will be reimbursed for travel and no other expenses. Change of plans   The "On your Knees" prayer conference set for Sept. 18-20 at Broadmoor Baptist Church in Shreveport has been combined with the conference scheduled for Oct. 2-4 at Ridgecrest (N.C.) Conference Center. The conference schedule features several keynote speakers and a host of small-group sessions on aspects of prayer. Conference costs range from $75 to $99 per person, depending on the number of individuals registering from one church. Lodging and meals are additional. Registration deadline for the Oct. 2-4 conference is Sept. 25. For details, call LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention at (800) 254-2022 or visit www.lifeway.com/events. Protecting marriage   A constitutional amendment likely is … [Read more...]

No question, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board is short of money. Over the last few months the mission sending agency has announced that the shortage of money has kept it from No question, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board is short of money. Over the last few months the mission sending agency has announced that the shortage of money has kept it from   being able to appoint all the people who have volunteered to serve as career missionaries and successfully gone through the screening processes. That is a negative landmark Southern Baptists had just as soon not experience.   To help keep as much money as possible going to the field, the IMB cut a significant number of positions in its Richmond office. Even those cuts did not prevent the inability to appoint all the missionaries it could have appointed, if funds had been available.   The apparent reasons for the shortage of mission funds are low or no returns on invested reserves and endowments, the failure of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions to reach its goal and a slowing of giving to the Cooperative Program.   A group of missionary kids (MKs) issued a challenge for every … [Read more...]

It is not unusual for tithe checks to be mailed to Moss Bluff First Baptist Church in Lake Charles.   Some members do it when they are out of town. Others do it as a convenience.   However, a pair of recent checks caught the attention of church leaders. It is not unusual for tithe checks to be mailed to Moss Bluff First Baptist Church in Lake Charles.   Some members do it when they are out of town. Others do it as a convenience.   However, a pair of recent checks caught the attention of church leaders.   The checks were drawn from what can only be characterized as an unusual financial source - the Centralized Inmate Bank of the Louisiana Department of Corrections.   They arrived from Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola - more specifically, from death row at the prison.   They were from an inmate.   "He considers Moss Bluff First Baptist Church to be his home church because of the ministry of our men’s team to him and the other men in the prison," explains Shawn Thomas, pastor of the Louisiana church.   That such a ministry exists is remarkable in itself - Lake Charles and Angola are not anywhere near each … [Read more...]

United States Army Maj. Tyler Fitzgerald did what any good soldier does when faced with an aggressive enemy. He took the offensive.   Fitzgerald was about to finish his tour of duty as military liaison in Guyana, a small Caribbean country. However, as a Christian, he says he could not shake the feeling of desperation he had for the physical and spiritual condition of Guyana’s people. United States Army Maj. Tyler Fitzgerald did what any good soldier does when faced with an aggressive enemy. He took the offensive.   Fitzgerald was about to finish his tour of duty as military liaison in Guyana, a small Caribbean country. However, as a Christian, he says he could not shake the feeling of desperation he had for the physical and spiritual condition of Guyana’s people.   Guyana’s HIV/AIDS crisis is second to that of Haiti’s in the Western Hemisphere. However, the government’s attempt to combat the situation decidedly excluded any abstinence programs.   Fitzgerald found that conclusion unacceptable. In March, he turned to the Internet. His search landed at True Love Waits, the faith-based abstinence program produced by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern … [Read more...]

Trustees of the Louisiana Baptist Retirement Center in Arcadia have entered into an agreement to sell the 43-year-old facility.   The agreement to sell was approved unanimously by trustees. However, it still must be approved by the Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Board and by messengers to the annual state meeting in November to become final. Trustees of the Louisiana Baptist Retirement Center in Arcadia have entered into an agreement to sell the 43-year-old facility.   The agreement to sell was approved unanimously by trustees. However, it still must be approved by the Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Board and by messengers to the annual state meeting in November to become final.   If approved, it will mark a transition in the convention’s ministry to retired ministers and the elderly.   However, trustee leaders insist the ministry will not end but simply enter a new — and perhaps even expanded — phase.   Retirement center trustees met for more than five hours last week to address an ongoing financial and administrative crisis at the center. After a closed session of more than three hours to discuss the future of the facility, they issued the … [Read more...]

For the week of August 21, 2003 Potpourri   • BATON ROUGE - Stevendale church: Car show; Aug 23, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Carolina Boys in concert; Aug. 24, 6:30 p.m.; Michael J. LoBrutto, pastor.   • WINNFIELD - First church: Fifth Sunday Singing Concert; Aug. 31, 6 p.m.; John Holland, minister of music; Lindsey Burns, pastor.   • MANY - First church: Toledo Bend Resort Ministries Volunteer Appreciation Banquet; Aug. 23, 6:30 p.m.; Bill Black, guest speaker; Shekinah Praise Team from Southside church in Mansfield, music; call (318) 645-6601 for reservations; Steven Kelly, pastor.   • BASTROP - First church: Just Friends, blue grass gospel group, in concert during annual church wide fellowship; Aug. 31, 5-8 p.m.; Jim Ingram, pastor.   Youth   • OAKDALE - First church: Mt. Olive Associational Youth Rally; Aug. 30, 6 p.m.; Paul Vic, guest speaker; Broken Vessels, music; Stephen Laughlin, pastor.   Revivals   • SLAUGHTER - First church: Aug. 31, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Sept. 1-3, 6:30 p.m.; Paul Taylor, evangelist; Ramond Taylor, music; Basil Wicker, pastor.   • LAKE CHARLES - Boulevard church: Aug. 24, 10:45 a.m. and 5 p.m.; Aug. 25-27, 6 … [Read more...]

Any great move of God must begin among his people, Ken Hemphill emphasized in his first major address as national strategist for Southern Baptists’ Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative. However, those people must embrace God in repentance and humble obedience, he added. There is no other way. Any great move of God must begin among his people, Ken Hemphill emphasized in his first major address as national strategist for Southern Baptists’ Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative. However, those people must embrace God in repentance and humble obedience, he added. There is no other way. "What God is looking for is a people that will manifest his name through radical obedience to his Word and a lifestyle that reflects his character," Hemphill said. That is the focus of the Empowering Kingdom Growth idea, he noted. "If you were thinking this Empowering Kingdom Growth is about some program that will give new juice to your Sunday School, you’re going to be disappointed," Hemphill said. "This is about radical lifestyle commitment to our father’s kingdom, for our father’s reward. And none of us may receive much glory for this here on earth. "It’s about transformation of a people called Southern Baptists so that their … [Read more...]

Clara Mae Van Brink has a simple challenge for Southern Baptists to consider - "If our families don’t look any different than other families in the world, then, why would I want to be a Christian and why would I want to come to your church?" Clara Mae Van Brink has a simple challenge for Southern Baptists to consider - "If our families don’t look any different than other families in the world, then, why would I want to be a Christian and why would I want to come to your church?"   How Southern Baptists answer the challenge could make all the difference, said Van Brink, director of preschool ministries at Peachtree Corner Baptist Church in Norcross, Ga.   Unfortunately, in Van Brink’s view, affluence and constant activity have turned the American dream into a nightmare, making it difficult for Christian families to spend time focusing on God.   "We are raising our children on activity theology - and it is killing the family," she said.   Parents must be given the skills to fashion kingdom-focused families, and it is the church’s responsibility to help, Van Brink said during a recent Southern Baptist conference.   A kingdom-focused family is one in which parents … [Read more...]

We did not intend it, but we were a food servers worst nightmare.   Thirteen hungry Baptist men ringed the long table made up of four regular size tables. It was early morning and they were ready to eat, get home to pick up their families and head to the church. Certainly none of them wanted to miss a second of Bible study. We did not intend it, but we were a food servers worst nightmare.   Thirteen hungry Baptist men ringed the long table made up of four regular size tables. It was early morning and they were ready to eat, get home to pick up their families and head to the church. Certainly none of them wanted to miss a second of Bible study.   The first man said to the server, "This will be on separate tickets."   No problem. There were only four men and two tables at the time.   The men began arriving and the sweet server tried to take their orders as they arrived. They came by twos and threes and the order taking was a challenge to say the least.   Amazingly, the nice young lady seemed to get everything straight.   Then came the challenge. We had given our orders from all sides of the table and before sitting at the table. One side was … [Read more...]

All congregations (regardless of the size or location) are relevant if people are being saved and led to walk with Jesus. I have no problem with videotapes or nationally-known preachers.. , All congregations (regardless of the size or location) are relevant if people are being saved and led to walk with Jesus. I have no problem with videotapes or nationally-known preachers, but I have a big problem when Schaller or any other refers to congregations as "struggling for relevancy." I suspect if his grandchild had recently been saved through the ministry of a congregation of 25, he would see the relevancy of the congregation.   Schaller says that churches who use a "video-based preacher" are able to gain the leadership and staff of a large church while maintaining their present facilities and people. I would like to introduce Mr. Schaller to what Southern Baptists call the "association." As a pastor for the past 27 years, I have been privileged to serve under the leadership of some gifted directors of missions, i.e. Wallace Primeaux, John Gilbert, Lawrence Clegg, Bruce Parrish and, now, Eddie DeHondt. These men of God have always been willing and able to direct me to resourceful church leaders who were more … [Read more...]