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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

LCU narrows pool of presidential candidates

By Baptist Message staff PINEVILLE, La. (LBM) - Louisiana Christian University has narrowed down its list of candidates for the next president to five individuals. According to Presidential Search Committee Chairman Tommy Kiker, the committee met Dec. 11 and chose the finalists from a list of nine semi-finalists. “What I am most encouraged by is that I believe we are trying to pull the best fit and follow God’s direction in making this decision among a pool of excellent candidates,” Kiker, also pastor of East Leesville Baptist Church, told the Baptist Message. “Any one of these five men, I’d be proud to introduce as LCU's next candidate. “Pray that God would give us wisdom and make it very clear the choice He has for LCU,” he said. “There is really not a bad selection among this group. We don’t just want a good choice; We want God’s choice.” The committee will conduct in-person interviews with the finalists in January and hope to have a final candidate by the time the board of trustees meet Feb. 25. LCU has conducted a nationwide search for the 10th president of the nearly 120-year-old institution since June. Since then, the search committee has received applications and recommendations from alumni, community … [Read more...]

Haitian congregation reaching New Orleans for Jesus

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – Escalating gang violence in Haiti’s capital city had forced Louisiana Reach Haiti to refocus its ministry on several fronts in 2022, but in New Orleans God was opening a door for Dawest Louis to share Christ’s love with his fellow countrymen, including those forced to move to the U.S. due to the situation in the Caribbean nation. Dawest, who graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary two years earlier, had longed to reach the more than 10,000 Haitians living in New Orleans with the Good News and began the process through the North American Mission Board to plant a church. Without a church building to call home, Louis and 11 others gathered for prayer and sought the Lord for His direction. God answered in April 2022 when Connect Church, Algiers, offered a space in their facility and Eglise Connect International was born. The church continued meeting and has grown to 65 who attend Sunday worship services. Of those, 12 have been baptized since its inception. In addition to holding Sunday worship and Tuesday Bible study and prayer, the church brings water to and shares the Gospel with taxi drivers at Louis Armstrong International Airport. … [Read more...]

Drive-by prayer ministry a soul-winning mission

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer HAMMOND, La. (LBM) – Door-to-door evangelism has been a way of life for Pastor Les Fogle­man for the last 40 years but in 2023 he felt led to use the parking lot of New Beulah Baptist Church in Hammond as a Gospel tool. Since June 2023, Fogle­man has placed signs on grassy areas near the parking lot to alert motor­ists to the opportunity of sharing their prayer needs. Through this ministry that operates on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons, Fogleman has shared the Gospel with more than 350 people and seen 10 of them surrender their lives to Christ and follow through with bap­tism in a portable baptis­tery on the church parking lot. “A lot of people will honk and wave at me as they see me on the park­ing lot,” Fogleman told the Baptist Message. “I never know what problems and difficulties people may share when they come and ask for prayer. I’m thankful the Lord has allowed me the opportunity and honor to be there to pray with someone in need.” The idea to start the parking lot prayer ministry came to Fogleman while he was praying in front of the church. He noticed 15-45 cars at a time would pass through a red light by the church and knew that the community could … [Read more...]

Masters to retire after 33 years of LSU ministry

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message Staff Writer BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – For the past 33 years, Steve Masters has discipled thousands of students on the Louisiana State University campus, led multiple Baptist Collegiate Ministry disaster relief trips and contributed to collegiate ministry on the national level as a consultant as well as a contributor on collegiate ministry committees. Masters, who is set to retire May 31 from his role as LSU’s BCM director, said he is grateful for the opportunity to build relationships with so many students and see them become faithful servants in their secular and ministry roles. Since graduating from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1982, Masters has pursued God’s call to minister to college students. Before coming to LSU, he served as a BCM intern with University of Arkansas, Little Rock, BCM director with Arkansas Tech University, and BCM director with Oklahoma State University. “I thought I would be at Oklahoma State forever, but my name was given to (former Louisiana Baptist State BCM Director) John Moore by Lynn Hawkins, former BCM director at Louisiana Tech,” he said. “I remember getting a phone call and being asked to consider going to LSU. I had to get out a map … [Read more...]

Louisiana Baptists bring gift of Jesus to Belarusians

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MINSK, Belarus (LBM) – Tommy Middleton and two other Louisiana Baptists recently traveled to Belarus to give the gift of Christ to those in the country. Middelton, who has now gone on eight mission trips to Belarus, enjoyed delivering an early Christmas present to the people of that country. “We shared the Gospel and tried to get the Gospel in the hands and the hearts of as many people as we could,” Middleton told the Baptist Message. GIVING Andrew Ryzhkov, founder of the Byelorusian Mission in-country ministry, said that in 2023, 5,200 people turned to Jesus through the ministry’s daycare centers, summer camps, youth conferences and distribution of “Good and Evil Illustrated Bibles” (a graphic novel style of presenting the Word). He expects a similar number to profess Jesus this year. He noted that financial gifts from Louisiana Baptists have helped purchase some of the more than 51,000 “Good and Evil Illustrated Bibles” that have been distributed in the country from January through early November, compared to 49,000 Bibles that were handed out in 2023. His goal is to distribute one million copies of this “graphic novel” presentation of the Word by 2035. Ryzhkov said that four … [Read more...]

Peace on Earth

By Will Hall, Baptist Message Executive Editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Today, a bloody civil war is being waged in Syria; Ukraine and Russia are exchanging long range missiles in competing “tactics of terror” against each other; and Israel and Hezbollah continue to launch retaliatory missile strikes for “violations” of a fragile ceasefire agreement reached Nov. 27. Meanwhile, in Haiti, gangs rule the streets; a two-year war has just ended in Ethiopia (with an estimated death toll of more than 500,000); and the last two years in Myanmar have been marred by wholesale “cleansings” of some ethnic groups, and the displacement of as many as 2.5 million men, women and children. Additionally, in Sudan, intense violence between competing governmental factions (fighting to capture the lion’s share of newly discovered gold fields) has driven nearly 11 million civilians from their homes in this war-torn region of Africa in 2024, alone. Indeed, around the world there are 59 active major conflicts, and according to historians, this is the greatest number of simultaneous wars since the end of World War II, in 1945 (which was fought, ironically, a mere two decades after the end of World War I, the “war to end all wars,” in 1918). The earth … [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 Steve Masters is retiring from the BCM at Louisiana State University on May 31. Blake Grundy to become BCM Director at Louisiana State University after serving as McNeese State University BCM. Walt, wife Gayla, Brown is the new pastor at First Bastrop Baptist Church. He has been serving as interim pastor and also as music minister. Jim Alan Calvert is the new Pastor of Parkview Baptist Church, Metairie, LA. Calvert’s first day in the pulpit was November 3, 2024. Charles Ebarb is the new music minister at South Bossier Baptist Church, Bossier City. Jim Fisher is the new pastor of Gambrell Baptist Church, Starks. POSITION SOUGHT Palestine Baptist Church, Bogalusa: Part-time or bi-vocational minister of music needed for Palestine Baptist Church in … [Read more...]