By Baptist Message staff BAKER, La. – Joseph Backholm, a senior research fellow for biblical worldview and strategic engagement at the Family Research Council, will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Louisiana Family Forum Leadership Academy. Scheduled June 6-8 at Timothy Retreat Center in Baker, the intensive training program will equip young adults, ages 16-22, with leadership skills, life-purpose strategies, advanced communication techniques, public speaking skills, counter-culture methods, and a biblically based perspective on government. By the end of the weekend, attendees will be able to answer, “What is my life’s purpose?” An early registration cost of $250 is available through May 1. Afterward, the cost will increase to $300. Scholarships are available for those with financial hardships. For more information on attending, or to donate funding for scholarships, visit lafamilyforum.org/2021academy/. … [Read more...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you have a Revival, Homecoming, a new pastor, a community outreach or a concert? The Baptist Message would love to share your church news with the rest of the state. It is very easy to do, just send in your information (who, what, where and when) to philip@baptistmessage.com or call 318.449.4345. To get your event in the paper, please submit your information three weeks prior to the event. ON THE MOVE Katy Baumgardner is the new youth ministry associate at Summer Grove Baptist Church, Shreveport. Tim Patrick will conclude duties as Director of Missions for Beauregard Parish in April. Byron Comish is the interim pastor at First Baptist Church, Springfield. Nick (wife Kara) Watts is the new student minister at First Baptist Church, Lafayette Trey Miller is the interim director at Bethany Camp & Conference Center. Chris Young is the new associate pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, Shreveport. Danny (wife JoDee) Taylor is the new pastor at Ida Baptist Church, Ida. Chris Young resigned as pastor at South Bossier Baptist Church, Bossier City. Daniel Martin has been called to Midway Baptist Church, Livingston as pastor. Carl Sullivan is the new interim pastor at Satsuma Baptist … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer PINEVILLE, La. (LBM) –For several months Jeremiah Williams had used a makeshift goal to train for Upward basketball games at First Baptist Church in Pineville, but a passerby who drove by the young man’s home in mid-February decided he needed a real hoop to call his own. Devin Hinkston first met Williams, 9, on Feb. 13 as he was driving around Alexandria and noticed the youngster was shooting the ball into a trash can. After a brief conversation with Williams, Hinkston purchased a basketball goal at a nearby store and surprised him with the gift. “Ma’am, I saw your little boy shooting the ball in the trash can earlier and so I bought him a basketball goal,” Hinkston, a member of New Scott Olly Baptist Church in Alexandria, told the boy’s grandmother, Patricia Williams. The gesture prompted Williams to share the news on her Facebook page, which since Feb. 13 has generated 13,000 likes and 20,000 shares and prompted stories by numerous local and national media outlets. The Kelly Clarkson Show is scheduled to air the story, March 30, and Hinkston and Jeremiah Williams are scheduled to fly to New York City to appear on Good Morning America later this summer. “I got … [Read more...]

By Baptist Message staff PINEVILLE, La. (LBM) - Christ’s hope, peace and power can carry believers through difficult circumstances, keynote speaker Andrea Lennon said during the 2021 Embrace women’s conference, March 20. “God loves you and God has a plan for your life,” Lennon told just under 100 women at First Baptist Church, Pineville, and others tuning in online. “We can walk in faith and hope and confidence, even in the unknown situations and circumstances of life.” Lennon, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based, writer and speaker, said in her message, focused on Romans 15:13, that Christ’s followers can remain hopeful because Jesus overcame the grave; the Holy Spirit lives inside them; God’s Word tells them how to live; they are members of God’s family; and He has a plan for each person. “We serve the God of hope,” Lennon said. “It positions us to see all of the ways He is present, active and providing.” Lennon stressed that when trouble comes, believers can remain confident because God will walk beside them. “Joy and peace are not the absence of problems, but rather the assurance that God is with us,” she said. “Embrace” was an event for women of all cultures and generations to realize their God-given value and … [Read more...]