By Ryan Johnson, special to the Baptist Message EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a pair of articles about how to share the Gospel with people who have experienced trauma. NEW ORLEANS (LBM) -- Obedience to the Great Commission requires churches to be ready for the complex realities of ministry, including the kinds of situations where trauma has fractured trust, distorted identity, and left people wary of both God and others. Preparation for these situations is the focus of a new field known as trauma-informed evangelism, which equips believers with strategies to respond with grace, truth, and intentional relationships, as they invite those who have experienced trauma to find healing in Christ through spiritual formation, conversion, and discipleship. COMMON SCENARIOS It's Wednesday night, and a 9-year-old first-time guest hits another child in line for snacks. You’re told he has “anger issues.” Will you let him return next Wednesday? A new visitor to your women’s group won’t make eye contact during the Bible lesson on forgiveness. Will anyone notice her detachment, or will they dismiss her as being introverted? A teenage boy in the youth group constantly jokes, derails conversations, and never opens up. … [Read more...]
2025 Q2: Send Network La. yields 190 decisions,115 baptisms
By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Send Network Louisiana churches celebrated a Gospel harvest to start the new year, producing 190 decisions for Christ and 115 baptisms by 44 church plants from April to June. Additionally, the Louisiana Baptist church plants reported 6,959 Gospel conversations and an average of 72 in weekly worship attendance, according to a recent second quarter report by Send Network Louisiana. Since January, these newly formed congregations have seen 341 come to Christ and baptized 183 new converts. Send Network Louisiana Director Lane Corley said the work would not be possible without Louisiana Baptist churches who contribute to the Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and Georgia Barnette Louisiana Missions Offering. “Baptisms doubled in church plants this quarter from quarter one,” he said. “Church planting is evangelism that leads to a new congregation. It’s great to see churches starting through healthy evangelistic growth.” GOSPEL VISION The Send Network Louisiana partnership 1 between Louisiana Baptists and the North American Mission Board, which went into effect Aug. 1, 2023, has helped the state further its God-sized vision to … [Read more...]
GBO helps Goodwood Community Church reach young families
By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Casey Williamson was at a spiritual crossroads in early 2023. A former professional baseball player, Williamson had hung up his glove and spikes to serve with Campus Outreach, which hosts student ministries on more than 100 campuses in 10 countries. As the years passed, Williamson and his wife, Jill, saw fruit at Louisiana State University, Southeastern Louisiana and University of Louisiana at Lafayette but had gotten to a point where their passion had grown more to minister to students who had graduated and now had families of their own. Williamson knew he had been called to be a pastor and that God had him there to prepare for this next step. After a season of prayer, Williamson and the other leaders of the sending church, Christ Covenant Church in Baton Rouge, were approached by Trinity Baptist Church in the city with another to donate their facility while its congregation remained in the building for weekly worship. The aging congregation had dwindled in worship attendance (from 60 in 2019 to 20 in 2023) and sought the Lord to use another church to reach the community for Christ. After a series of conversations with the leadership of Trinity, … [Read more...]
LCU announces new faculty, promotions
By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - Louisiana Christian University has welcomed six new faculty members for Fall 2025. These six faculty attended an orientation and workshop on campus and will begin their university teaching careers in Pineville with students in the classrooms beginning in the fall semester. “LCU continues to attract the finest professors for our open positions,” said Henry O. Robertson, vice-president of Academic Affairs. “All of them are strong in their Christian faith, dedicated to our mission, and determined in their resolve to give our students the best education found anywhere in the state or nation. It was a pleasure getting to know them in the hiring process and I look forward to their many years of service to the university and those students fortunate to learn from them.” Ann Ferguson joins the university after obtaining an Master of Science degree in nursing at Wiliam Cary University and undergraduate studies at LCU, Mississippi College and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She has been an ICU nurse at Lafayette General Hospital. Her experience and latest knowledge in the field will be an asset to the LCU Nursing School. Shareka Moore-Roque is a new … [Read more...]
LCU students learning to live off the land, homesteading in Winn Parish
By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - When Elijah and Kaleigh Jones aren’t on the campus of Louisiana Christian University, you will probably find them—if you try hard enough and have a GPS—at home about a mile-down a heavily forested long, red dirt road in Grant Parish. The area is so remote, in fact, Kaleigh said they can choose between three “nearby” towns for the place they live. The nearest grocery store is Walmart, 40 minutes away. And the couple makes a daily hour-long trek to campus for classes. Keeping up with these Joneses wouldn’t be the choice for many in our culture, but this couple has chosen to live a modern homesteading lifestyle. Contemporary homesteading is marked by growing your own food and making other essentials, raising livestock, making homemade products for use and resell, and living a simpler lifestyle close to nature. Their lifestyle isn’t for the faint of heart. But the couple said the struggle has only brought them closer together and closer to the Lord. Elijah, a senior business administration—marketing and management major from Winn Parish, and Kaleigh, a junior public relations major from Shreveport, met in the fall semester of 2023 in Dr. Scott Pickard’s … [Read more...]
Ten biblical habits for every husband and father
By Clint Davis SHREVEPORT, La. (LBM) - Husbands and fathers, learn these ten biblical habits so you can lead and finish well. Own your mornings with God. Rise before the house. Spend time in prayer and Scripture. Move your body and clear your mind. When you start the day with the Lord, you’re not reacting to the world, you’re leading from His strength. “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” —Psalm 5:3 Stop using “tired” as an excuse. Yes, you’re tired. So is every father. But God has called you to perseverance. Do the work anyway. Your family needs your best, even when you feel your worst. “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” —Galatians 6:9 Pursue your wife like you did before marriage. Don’t let romance fade after the vows. Love her sacrificially and intentionally so she feels cherished and valued. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” —Ephesians 5:25 Lead your home with steadiness and strength. Your attitude sets the atmosphere. If you walk in angry and rushed, your family feels it. If you walk in calm, steady, … [Read more...]
Faculty member hikes Tour du Mont Blanc on summer break
By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - Many educators take the summer months to rest, relax and rejuvenate for the upcoming fall semester. Louisiana Christian University’s Natalie Maxey and her family took a hike---a nearly 100-mile, 8,400-foot high one, that is. The Tour du Mont Blanc is a hiking route around the Mont Blanc massif in the Alps and encompasses about 100 miles through France, Italy and Switzerland and includes significant elevation gains and losses through mountains and valleys (around 35,000 feet of losses and gains for the whole trek). Maxey’s parents, Sam and Judy Brimer, of Pollock, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year, she said, and wanted to commemorate it with a big family trip. So they did just that! Maxey and son Grant, 18, her sister Amanda DuBois and her husband Vaylon ( a spring 2022 LCU graduate) and two children, Parker,22, and Grace, 19, along with the Brimers, took on the Tour du Mont Blanc this July. “My mom started planning this last fall,” Maxey said, “and the huts fill up quickly, so all our accommodations were booked by about February. To prepare, we walked as much as possible and carefully curated all the items we would need in our backpacks to try … [Read more...]
FRC, Baptist leaders urge President Trump to stop mail-order abortions
By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor WASHINGTON (LBM) – Forty Baptist leaders representing 22 states joined the Family Research Council to send a letter to the White House asking President Trump to stand firm in defending the unborn and to protect women and girls from the dangers of the abortion pill mifepristone. The letter also was sent to the Department of Justice and the Food and Drug Administration. The plea to President Trump comes on the heels of Southern Baptists adopting a resolution this summer calling for federal and state lawmakers to stop the “manufacture, sale, and distribution of the chemical abortion drugs” and to “enforce the Comstock Act prohibiting the mailing of abortion pills.” Meanwhile, the findings of a large-scale study about mifepristone abortions (865,727 data points from 2017-2023) were just released showing “a serious adverse event rate of 10.93 percent,” about 22 times the life-threatening complications reported by the FDA and drug manufacturers (0.5 percent). The leaders expressed appreciation for the president’s “unwavering defense of the unborn during your first term” and asked him to restore “FDA safety protocols for mifepristone, including an ultrasound requirement”, to … [Read more...]
LCU biology professor publishes studies beneficial to local population
By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - Ever wonder with all the choices of products in the local grocery store, if you are making the best decision for your family’s health? Does buying the more expensive brand equate to better quality? Louisiana Christian University biology professor Ajibade Oyeyemi has had three recent studies published that answer some of those questions for residents of Pineville. Oyeyemi said he was motivated to conduct scientific experiments that would provide the community with valuable knowledge about their daily food choices. He began his research in the university lab, focusing on milk, a product consumed by nearly everyone. "Many people just buy milk and eggs without understanding the health implications," he said. "I wanted to provide them with more information to help them make the right choices for themselves." His article, “A Comparative Study of Lactose and Casein Concentrations in Diverse Milk Matrices – A Case Study in Pineville, Louisiana,” was published in the World Journal of Pharmaceutical Science and Research. It examines how the levels of casein and lactose in milk affect our health and purchasing decisions. Lactose is a disaccharide sugar (glucose and … [Read more...]
LCU adds siren warning system to safety measures on campus
By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - Louisiana Christian University, known for years as one of the safest college campuses in the state, is adding another tool to its safety and security practices—a siren alert warning system. The siren has been installed and is currently in the testing phase. It was made possible through the Department of Homeland Security’s FEMA Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The application and funding are long processes, according to Bryce Sanders, LCU executive director of Information Technology. Each year, FEMA puts out a list of grant opportunities and the equipment eligible for reimbursement. “All of the equipment is security-related, and that list changes every year,” Sanders said. Additional funding for the siren technology was received from the Union Pacific Railroad Foundation, said Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Henry O. Robertson, which has made the siren even more effective. The siren is a mass notification system that can be used to audibly inform faculty, staff, students and visitors to campus of any imminent threat, according to John Dauzat, director of Campus Security and Operations. LCU will begin phasing in the use of the siren for two … [Read more...]
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