By St. George Leader, Special to the Message BATON ROUGE, La. (SGL) -- It’s quite a story! Anna Richerson led Parkview Baptist School to two state championships and was named most valuable player in both games. But these honors are just the tip of the iceberg in the storied high school career of this amazing senior. Her stats include 2,300 career points, 430 assists, 850 rebounds, 400 steals! Plus, she was selected to all-state and all-tournament teams. On top of that, she is a member of Parkview’s state championship track and cross-country teams. Amazingly, she does not attend Parkview. Instead, she is a homeschooler who has been permitted under LHSAA rules to compete for the Lady Eagles. She is the daughter of Lewis Richerson, pastor, Woodlawn Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, and his wife, Erica, and sister to four siblings. HEAVENLY HIGHLIGHTS Richerson has been homeschooled her entire life and completed her junior and senior years as a dual enrollment student with Northwestern State University. She developed a passion for both basketball and serving Christ at a young age, she said, noting that her love for basketball began through Woodlawn’s Upward Basketball program, which taught her the game. Today she … [Read more...]
Apologetics 101 (Part 4): Proof of the Tower of Babel
By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – In the beginning, God commanded that Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; …” (Genesis 1:28), and He repeated this charge to Noah and his family after their deliverance from the watery death that the rest of the world experienced (Genesis 9:1). But a mere 100 to 350 years after the global calamity caused by the Great Flood, and while mankind was only starting to repopulate the earth, men and women convinced themselves to stop their expansion across the globe and to settle down in one place to “build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens,” choosing to “make a name” for themselves rather than continue to “be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). However, this biblical account about the history of mankind has largely been disputed by scholars and archaeologists, especially during the better part of the 19th and 20th centuries. But today critics will concede at least some nuanced agreement with some elements of this historical account because of the discovery of many tower-like structures, stepped-pyramids called ziggurats, beginning with excavations in Ur (southern Iraq) … [Read more...]
Louisiana Notables
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Baptist Message provides churches an opportunity to share with other Louisiana Baptists an upcoming revival, homecoming, new pastor, new staff member, a community outreach, or a concert in Louisiana Notables. To place your event in the paper, send your information (who, what, where, when, time) to philip@baptistmessage.com or call 318.449.4345. Please submit your information four weeks prior to the event to insure placement in the Message. ON THE MOVE Matt, wife Whitney, Cate, discipleship pastor with Istrouma Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, is the new Louisiana Baptist Sunday school/discipleship strategist. He began on April 20. Gene Gibson is the new pastor at Beech Springs Baptist Church, Minden. Mickey Christy is the pastor at Gardiner Baptist Church, Gardner. Mike Schultz is the new senior pastor at Woodland Park Baptist Church, Hammond. Chuck Foy is the new pastor at Aimwell Baptist Church, Aimwell. Clayton, wife Gracie, Bryan is the new pastor at Cheniere Baptist Church, West Monroe. Britney Allen is new minister to children and families at First Baptist, Ponchatoula. HOMECOMING Centerville Baptist Church, St. Landry: 100th Anniversary Celebration, July 26, Sunday School, 9:30 a.m., … [Read more...]
Cate excited to help churches make disciples
By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Matt Cate, discipleship pastor with Istrouma Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, has been tasked with a new mission: to champion discipleship on a state-wide level. Cate, whose first day as Louisiana Baptist Sunday school/discipleship strategist was April 20, said he is excited to work with churches toward the goal of helping others become disciples and then in turn make disciples. “My philosophy of discipleship is pretty much Matthew 5 to 10, where Jesus reached large groups with the Sermon on the Mount, and then also smaller groups with His disciples,” Cate told the Baptist Message. “One of the parts we often look over in discipleship is that Jesus eventually sends them out. And I am going to help Louisiana Baptists accomplish that.” The son of an Air Force master sergeant, Cate moved with his family around the country as a youngster. During a youth Bible study taught by his parents, Ed and Linda Cate, at Cannon Air Force Base chapel in Clovis, New Mexico, Cate trusted in Christ at age 10. He sensed a call to ministry nine years later while at a discipleship group at First Baptist Church, Bossier City. Six other young men in that group, too, … [Read more...]
LCU recognizes outstanding students at Honors Convocation
By LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - Louisiana Christian University held its 65th annual Honors Convocation, April 21, and recognized the outstanding accomplishments of students in academics and athletics. “I am so thankful for the dedicated faculty and the talented students who put in so many hours and hours of work in order to win their awards,” said Henry Robertson, vice president for Academic Affairs. “This academic year has been an extraordinary one for student success. LCU has realized tangible results in every school and department. The awards given at our ceremony this morning represent a harvest of bounty planted by the classes and experiences delivered this year in the educational process.” Student awards and recipients are listed below by department, including hometowns. Art Central Louisiana Ad Club Scholarship Award - Kyle LeJeune of Leesville Grady Harper Scholarship Award - Skyler Maples of New Iberia Thilo Steinschulte Scholarship Award - Victoria Gaspard of Many Athletics NAIA Student Athletes of the Year - Jessica Smith of Houston, Texas and Braden McLin of Livingston Business ACBSP Student Leadership Award - Chase Terrebonne of Kentwood Outstanding Graduating Senior in … [Read more...]
LCU receives grant from The Rapides Foundation
Louisiana Christian University has been awarded a grant from The Rapides Foundation for $25,700 for the Beyond Graduation Program, a project designed to close the gap between high school seniors who graduate and apply to postsecondary institutions and those who enroll and complete a postsecondary certificate or degree. Beyond Graduation is a partnership between Career Compass of Louisiana, school districts in nine central Louisiana parishes, and six post-secondary institutions. Beyond Graduation is funded by a grant from The Rapides Foundation. To be eligible for the program at LCU, students must be from one of the following parishes: Allen, Avoyelles, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, Vernon, and Winn. Students must also meet one of the following criteria: be first-generation college students, have economic hardship, have a qualifying academic record and related factors, or have a referral from an administrator, teacher, counselor, or Career Compass coach. For more information about the services available through this program at LCU, contact Beyond Graduation coach Emily Couvillion at emily.couvillion@lcuniversity.edu. … [Read more...]
NWLBA Mission Strategist urges prayers after Shreveport mass shooting
By Baptist Message staff SHREVEPORT, La. (LBM) – Lane Moore, Northwest Louisiana Baptist Association Mission Strategist, asked for prayers after an individual killed eight children in a domestic violence incident in Shreveport early April 19. “This is tragic evidence of the complete breakdown of the nuclear family in our society, coupled with the inability to resolve disagreements without resorting to violence,” Moore told the Baptist Message. “The answer is not passing another law, but the Church, the true Body of Christ, presenting a model for what a godly home should look like and raise Christ-like men to be the protectors and providers of the home, not a threat to the home. But today, church leaders will pray and give counsel to the hurting as the community pulls together as everyone tells their children and grandchildren how much they love them.” According to the Shreveport Police Department’s Facebook page, the children ranging from ages one to 14 were killed inside a home in the 300 block of West 79th St. in Shreveport on Sunday morning. Additionally, two adult females were treated at a local hospital for serious injuries. A teenage victim also sustained injuries during the incident, but police indicated those … [Read more...]
West CENLA GO TELL Crusade yields 527 spiritual decisions
By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer LEESVILLE, La. (LBM) – A small town crusade yielded big time results for Christ during the West CENLA GO TELL AMERICA Crusade, April 12-15. By the end of the four-day spiritual encounter, 527 persons had made decisions for Christ, including 279 individuals stepping forward to accept Christ, 151 seeking restoration with the Lord, 35 seeking God’s will and two expressing a call to ministry, according to Chris Palmer, GO TELL director of ministry outreach. Other commitments were made away from the four-night services but were part of the GO TELL strategy. They included: -13 at a pre-crusade rally at Family Training Christian Academy, Leesville, March 28; -10 during morning services at First Baptist Church, Anacoco, and five at Good Hope Baptist Church, Anacoco, April 12; -100 at men’s and women’s detention centers in Vernon Parish, April 13-14; and -50 at Family Training Christian Academy, April 14. “The fruit that we witnessed is the result of the strong leadership and the preparation of all the hundreds of volunteers,” Evangelist Rick Gage, founder of GO TELL Ministries in Duluth, Georgia, told the Baptist Message. “It was a work of God. We had been praying and … [Read more...]
Edmonds leads state Senate recognition of prayer warrior group
By Baptist Message staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) -- Sen. Rick Edmonds (retired LBC pastor; current pastor, FBC McComb, Miss.) was joined by fellow Louisiana Baptist Sen. Stewart Cathey (FBC West Monroe) and three other Christian lawmakers Sen. Heather Cloud (One Life Church, Alexandria), Sen. Valarie Hodges (LionGate Church, Baton Rouge) and Sen. Gregory Miller (St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Destrehan) to celebrate Senate Resolution 52, that commends “the Intercessors for America for their Spiritual Heritage Project and to acknowledge Almighty God as the Author of liberty on the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the founding of these United States of America,” authored by Edmonds. … [Read more...]
LBC president opens LA Senate session with prayer
By Baptist Message staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Opening the Louisiana Senate with prayer, Kirk Jones, president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention and pastor with Fellowship Church, Prairieville, asked God to give wisdom, strength and safety to these state leaders. “Father God, we thank you for this day,” he prayed. “I thank you for these who serve the people of Louisiana. Lord God, your Word tells us that if anyone lacks wisdom, that we can ask you for it and you will give it to us graciously. So, Lord, I know that they need wisdom and guidance and insight into the things that they’re deciding. So Lord, I pray that you would provide that for them. “Give them the strength and stamina to do the job,” Jones continued. “Lord God, I pray that you would watch over them and keep them. I pray that they would be able to hear your voice in the midst of all the things that they’re working on and doing. “Lord, I know there’s a lot of voices,” he said. “Father, I pray that they would know the voice of the Shepherd, and the voice of a stranger they would not follow. Lord God, I pray that you would keep watch over their families while many of them are away serving here. Lord, we thank you for the sacrifices they make in that. … [Read more...]
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