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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Kennedy urges Edwards to label places of worship as “essential” and rescind capacity cap

By Office of U.S. Sen. John Kennedy MADISONVILLE, La. – U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) wrote Monday, Aug. 17, to Gov. John Bel Edwards, asking that he rescind the capacity cap currently on places of worship and extend the same Phase 2 capacity rules guiding protesters and “essential businesses.” “According to your guidance, “essential businesses” do not have uniform capacity limits and instead are trusted to determine individual safety requirements in coordination with the state. Places of worship, therefore, should also be exempt from mandatory capacity limits and their pastors and leaders entrusted to choose the best course of action for their congregations. . . . I disagree with this uneven application of Phase 2 guidelines, as I find no reason to assume the best of protestors and patrons of “essential businesses” but the worst of worshipers,” wrote Kennedy. On June 4, Edwards signed an executive order to move Louisiana into Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan. “I, therefore, respectfully ask you to treat people of faith by the same standards you have treated protests and “essential businesses” and that you rescind the capacity cap on churches and other places of worship,” Kennedy concluded. Kennedy’s letter is available … [Read more...]

The giants just keep coming

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - In my distress I called to the Lord;     I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice;     my cry came to his ears. -2 Samuel 22:7 My Facebook memory notifications are reminding me that this week marks four years since the historic floods in South Louisiana. Our church at the time had 50 families with water in their homes. In some ways, four years seems like a lifetime ago. So it is with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. So it is with 9-11, now nearly 19 years ago. One day, we will talk about COVID-19 the way we talk about these other life catastrophes. All of those were, and are headline-dominant, history-making, life-altering events – giants, if you will.  And in this COVID-weary season, there often appears to be no shortage of these giants. They simply keep coming. Their shadows cover our attempts to recapture some degree of normalcy in our ministries, our families and our culture. We know about David’s battle with Goliath, but the rapid succession of giants coming against David, as recorded in 2 Samuel 21:15-22, is not as familiar. In the span of eight verses, we learn of four giants coming against Israel. All four were descendants of that great giant, Goliath. All were … [Read more...]