By Jeff Iorg, President Golden Gate Seminary Sports fan that I am, I have been to my share of stadiums and ballparks. For the uninitiated, football is played in a stadium and baseball in a ballpark. The reasons for this make an interesting essay – but not today! I like to arrive early to tour a new facility, noting the architectural and historical accouterments that make every place unique. I also like to try the interesting food offerings that make each place special. Part of the food experience is connected to the vendors – some of the most interesting characters in any stadium or ballpark. Until recently, my favorite vendor is a guy who works at least at two ballparks in Arizona. This fellow has a booming, melodic voice and a signature call hawking his product. He bellows, “Lemonade, lemonade, like grandma made. You know you want it.” And, the way he says it, you do want it! During the 2012 World Series, however, I met another vendor who was equally memorable. He carried his product into our section, set down his case, and shouted, “Alcohol.” Note he did not say “beer” or “wine” or “have a cold one” or “this Bud’s for you.”  He just said, “Alcohol.” This particular vendor cut out all the folderol and high-sounding … [Read more...]

TO THE EDITOR I just read the article in the Baton Rouge Advocate about Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary admitting a Sunni Muslim to work on a Ph.D. at that institution. He is pursuing a doctorate in archaeology. Dr. Patterson, the president of the seminary, said that he worked as a volunteer on an archaeological site in Israel and there would be no reason why he (Mr. Ghassan Nagagreh) should not be admitted as a student. It seems to me that the camel has his head in the tent. Here is a man entering a school that is supported by every Southern Baptist Church in the convention and his theology is contrary to everything Southern Baptists believe and teaches He believes his Allah has no son, which says that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, he has no relationship with the Holy Spirit, he is not a born-again-believer; he believes in the Koran and the teachings and actions of Mohammad their one and only prophet. The infidels (Christians and Jews) are Islam’s worst enemies and must be wiped out.  Need I say any more. Thomas J. Ayo Retired Southern Baptist Pastor Prairieville … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MONROE – The first night as a resident of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home began with fear but ended with hope for Mary Alice Crowell. Seven years old at the time, Crowell was sad and began crying while lying in the bed located in the cottage she would call home. However, comforting words from her house mother quickly changed her mood. “She said that I may be lonely now but I will be happy,” said Crowell, who entered the Children’s Home in 1941 and remained there until 1954. “She said God has given you a guardian angel who will watch over you and you’ll never be alone. And I never have felt alone since.” Crowell, who accepted Christ as her personal Savior and Lord and met her husband while she was a resident of the Children’s Home, said her time there was the best thing to ever happen to her. “I made lots of friends and still have many of those friends today,” said Crowell, who later served on the board of trustees at the Children’s Home. “They are like sisters to me.” Crowell will be among over 200 attending the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home reunion June 6-7. Held every three years on its Monroe campus, the reunion will begin with registration at 4 pm on Friday, June 6, and … [Read more...]

By Julie Cupples, LBCH Communications Our LBC 2020 Commission recently asked the question, “Who are the people in Louisiana who need to be reached?” The research clearly indicated that reaching the “next generation” must be a priority if we are to reverse the current declining trends and see our children, teens, and young adults truly follow Christ. Your Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home is in its 115th year of reaching and restoring the next generation! Thank you for helping us fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as we provide love, care, and hope in Christ to children and families in need. We are so grateful for your partnership in this life-changing ministry! –Dr. Perry Hancock, President & CEO   MONROE – The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries continually strives to minister to the changing needs of children and families in our state. Currently there are hundreds of families facing crises, which place their children at risk. Crises might include financial problems, unemployment and homelessness. In other cases, children come from families in which the parent needs time to heal physically or emotionally, or is recovering from an alcohol or drug addiction. Other families … [Read more...]

Children’s Home Sunday Annual Offering June 8, 2014 Because We Care Because We Care is this year’s theme, based on…"Casting all your care upon Him, because He cares about you." 1 Peter 5:7 Gifts through the Children’s Home Sunday Offering will help us continue to demonstrate Christ’s compassion and concern for the children who come our way. … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 05/30/2014 - 11:31 “Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans… in their distress…” James 1:27   Churches! Join our CONNECT 1:27 NETWORK and receive a FREE Orphan Care Tool Kit!!   Connect 1:27 is helping families and churches across Louisiana to answer God’s call to minister to orphans through Foster Care, Adoption, and Orphan Care ministries. Over 4,500 children are in Louisiana’s foster care system. More than 300 of these children are lingering in foster care because they have no adoptive family. Many of these precious children are in our own back yards. All of these children are our modern-day orphans. God has given clear commands in His Word for Christians to take care of orphans. Churches joining the Connect 1:27 Network receive a FREE Orphan Care Tool Kit that includes: Orphan Care Ministry Guide, The Theology of Adoption, Orphan Care Sermon, Bible Study & Prayer Guides, Adoption Options, Foster Care & Adoptive Parent Guide, and Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis. In addition, churches will have access to online resources available only to Connect 1:27 Network members and will receive a monthly Connect 1:27 … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 05/30/2014 - 11:34 BALTIMORE (BP) -- Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd, as one of three pastors to be nominated for SBC president in June, responded to six questions Baptist Press posed to each candidate. Floyd's nomination was announced Feb. 20 by R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Floyd has led Cross Church in northwest Arkansas for 27 years, now with campuses in Springdale, Rogers and Fayetteville. Among Floyd's leadership roles in the Southern Baptist Convention, he chaired the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (2009-10) that set forth wide-ranging recommendations for expanding the SBC's missions outreach. Earlier, he served as chairman of the SBC Executive Committee and was a member of the mid-1990s SBC's Program and Structure Task Force that produced The Covenant for a New Century restructuring and refocusing of the SBC's entities. Floyd has been a key organizer of two pastor/leader prayer gatherings that each drew participants from nearly 30 states in recent months -- a Jan. 13-14 meeting in Atlanta attended by 400 pastors and leaders and a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 meeting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area attended by 175-plus … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 05/30/2014 - 11:37 BALTIMORE (BP) -- Kentucky pastor Jared Moore, as one of three pastors to be nominated for SBC president in June, responded to six questions Baptist Press posed to each candidate. Moore's nomination was announced May 7. Bennie Smith, a deacon at New Salem Baptist Church in Hustonville, Ky., where Moore is pastor, will nominate him. Paul Sanchez, pastor of Willow Baptist Church in Brooksville, Ky., was originally announced as the nominator but said he will not be making the nomination. Moore has led New Salem for the past four years, serving previously as a pastor and youth pastor in Tennessee. Moore is the current second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has served as a teaching assistant at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and an online adjunct professor at Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, Ky. Moore is a regular contributor to the SBC Voices website and is the author of "10 Sacred Cows in Christianity that Need to Be Tipped" and "The Harry Potter Bible Study: Enjoying God Through the Final Four Harry Potter Movies." Moore holds a bachelor of arts from Trinity College of the Bible, a master of arts in religion from … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 05/30/2014 - 11:38 BALTIMORE (BP) -- Maryland pastor Dennis Manpoong Kim, one of three people to be nominated for SBC president in June, responded to six questions Baptist Press posed to each candidate. Kim's nomination was announced May 20 by Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. Kim has led Global Mission Church of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, Md., for 23 years. The congregation, which has a predominantly Korean membership, is the largest church in the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. Global Mission Church has produced more than 50 International Mission Board career missionaries and has planted churches in four U.S. states and South Korea. Among Kim's leadership roles in the SBC, he is a member of the Pastors' Task Force on Evangelistic Impact and Declining Baptisms, a national task force convened by the North American Mission Board to address the continued decrease in baptisms among Southern Baptist churches. He also served on the SBC Resolutions Committee in 2012 and 2013 and has taught courses at Southern, New Orleans and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminaries. He is the author of "Pulpit Counseling," "Answer with the Bible!" … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 05/30/2014 - 11:39 NASHVILLE (BP) -- For the past 25 years, Southern Baptists have begun each annual meeting by celebrating hundreds -- sometimes thousands -- of new souls won for Christ. This celebration is the result of Crossover, the evangelistic outreach initiative preceding the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Each year, North American Mission Board partners with state conventions, associations and local churches to saturate the host city of the Convention with evangelistic events. Volunteers from across the country arrive in the city a few days prior to the annual convention to participate alongside local church members. Last year, Crossover Houston marked the 25th year of outreach. In 1983, when messengers approved Las Vegas as the 1989 SBC annual meeting site, they adopted a recommendation to add "a strong evangelistic emphasis in connection with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1989." The week prior to the Convention's annual meeting in Las Vegas, more than two thousand volunteers participated in door-to-door witnessing campaigns and revival services. They visited more than 100,000 homes and led approximately 470 people to Christ. The … [Read more...]