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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Teachers who shaped my life

By Chuck Kelley In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Day, I remember some of the teachers who shaped my life: Thank you, Mrs. Hill, for helping an energetic boy fall in love with reading. I read every day of my life without exception. Thank you, Mrs. Newton, for helping me fall in love with history. I read some history book every week to this day. Thank you, Mr. Reeves, for teaching me how to research a topic and how to write a paper. Numerous papers, articles, essays, and books later, I am still at it, and will be researching and writing all afternoon today. Thank you, Mrs. Holloway, for giving me my first failing grade ever in the first six weeks of typing class. After finding out no one in my family had ever received a failing grade in anything, you made teaching me to type your personal project for the rest of the year, earning me the award for Most Improved Student in a class on awards day that year. Since the purchase of my first computer in 1983, I have done some form of touch typing nearly every day of my life since. Thank you, Mr. Reid, for making your lectures on Western Civilization at Baylor so mesmerizing, I never missed a class. I took few notes. But I remembered everything. I studied for finals by … [Read more...]

Letlow shares story of hope during LCU Commencement

By Brian Blackwell, Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – U.S. Congresswoman Julia Letlow told the Louisiana Christian University Class of 2022 graduates to remain hopeful when difficult days come. Speaking during the college’s 167th Commencement May 7 at the Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria, Letlow shared how her faith in Christ sustained her after her husband, Luke, died from COVID-19 complications, Dec. 29, 2020. He was just five days from taking office after he had won the election the month before to succeed Ralph Abraham, who retired from Congress. She later won the seat in a special election in March 2021. “The Holy Spirit stepped in to sustain me in the hard days that followed after Luke's death, to take my next breath, to put one foot in front of the other, to care for my children, and to eventually run for the same seat held by my husband, in order to continue a dream that the Lord put in both our hearts: to serve this community,” she said. “It was during this immensely difficult time in my life that the Lord showed me that two things can be true at once. “A person can be full of grief and still choose hope for the future,” she continued. “And it is that message of hope put into action that I want to impart … [Read more...]