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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

LCU’s Chou says experience enhances teaching immeasurably

By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - Textbook knowledge is one thing, but immersion is a whole different pallet of paint. Louisiana Christian University Art Professor Wangling Chou has been teaching art history and other foundational art courses, in addition to her specialty, ceramics, since 2008. Teaching students about some of the most important artists and periods in art history always is interesting, she said, but it was only informed through mass communication methods. Chou spent 17 days over the winter holiday break immersing herself in the works of the masters in Italy and France. ‘The experience has reinvigorated my passion for teaching the subject, reaffirming the importance of art history and art education,” Chou said. “Technology today allows us to see so many of these great works, but travel allows you to experience them, to feel the space, and that you can’t substitute.” While an international professor, hailing from Taiwan, Chou had only traveled extensively in Asia prior to this trip. “I’ve taught art history for many years, but to see the real thing, the real works, it made me understand so much more why so many are so important,” she said. “It fills so much of my knowledge … [Read more...]

Discipleship to be focus of LCU’s first C3 of 2024

By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) - Robert Freeman will speak at Louisiana Christian University’s first Christ Church Culture (C3) event of the semester, Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. Freeman, the founder of Robert Freeman Ministries, an Urbana, Illinois-based ministry that is a Christian voice in the national conversation about race, will discuss racial reconciliation and diversity from a biblical perspective. He also will share how discipleship brings true reconciliation. Freeman, who will speak the following day at LCU's chapel service at 11 a.m., has been actively involved in community work. He has held numerous leadership positions in diverse areas such as community development, economic growth, Habitat for Humanity, hospital patient care and hospital ethics. He also has served on the Governor’s Task Force on racism and has been invited to meet with several U.S. presidents. Additionally, Freeman has been a featured speaker in religious events around the country and has also participated in mission work in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Freeman received a Bachelor of Science from Delaware State University and a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School near Chicago. He also earned a … [Read more...]

NCAA mocks female athletes with trans policies

As a senior in college where I just completed my final season as an NCAA athlete, my unique experiences culminated last week in a face-to-face interaction with the chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, Linda Livingstone. … [Read more...]

Kelly: Pastors must deal with personal pain

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer RUSTON, La. (LBM) - Pastors must deal with personal pain so they will not move to the point of disconnection, Northeast and Morehouse Baptist Associational Missions Strategist Steven Kelly said during a time of tes­timony for the 2024 Loui­siana Baptist Evangelism Conference, Jan. 23. Kelly shared about how God helped him through the pain of deal­ing with the Aug. 21, 2018, death of his new­born grandson, Elijah Kelly. Elijah weighed four pounds, 13 ounces when he was born, June 6, 2018. Two days later, the doctors diagnosed him with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare condition that left the newborn with only three of four chambers of his heart working properly. In the ensuing months, the baby en­dured open-heart sur­gery, brain bleeding, kidney dialysis and countless injections at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. On the day Elijah died, Kelly was attending a conference. He received a call that he needed to come to the hospital and arrived in time to spend four hours with family members in Elijah’s room before he passed. Kelly said he did not become angry with God, but that he did have to deal with great pain -- a pain that he has minis­tered to many times … [Read more...]

Billingsley talks medical battles, safeguarding his Christian character

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer RUSTON, La. (LBM) – Charles Billingsley has faced several medical battles, but with each trial he remained focused on praising God who eventu­ally gave him victory, he shared with the Baptist Message in an exclusive interview, Jan. 23. In 2007, Billingsley nearly lost his voice after a blood vessel burst on his vocal cords, leaving him with a polyp and unable to sing for several months. Then, in 2020, he spent Easter quarantined with COVID. Through those times, Billingsley said he rediscovered God’s gift of worship. “I remember I went up into the Blue Ridge Mountains (in 2007) and sat at a picnic table when I was reading a book by my friend David Jeremiah called ‘A Bend in the Road,’ and I couldn’t make any noise,” he said while at the 2024 Louisiana Baptist Evangelism Conference. “But it’s crazy because in the midst of all that reading I was just crying out to God asking Him to heal my voice that I would be able to sing again. And in the middle of reading -- while I was out in the middle of the woods -- this big old huge maple leaf just came and landed right smack dab in the middle of my Bible, right as I was crying out to the Lord. And I just felt like the Lord was … [Read more...]

SBC CP down, designated giving up for month, year

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – The South­ern Baptist Convention Executive Committee released the December 2023 financial summary on Jan. 9, 2024, report­ing that monthly gifts to SBC causes through the Cooperative Program were down 2.52 percent, while designated gifts were up 5.38 percent, when com­pared to December 2022. Year-to-date giving through both funding channels showed similar trends: — From Oct. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023, to­tal SBC CP contributions were 1.41 percent lower compared to the same quarter for the previous fiscal year. — Meanwhile, com­bined designated giving was 4.16 percent higher for the same months, with the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering up 1.82 percent, and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offer­ing 10.83 percent higher, respectively. LBC Giving The national report showed monthly giving by Louisiana Baptists to SBC causes in December was down 16.20 percent through CP and up 19.58 percent for special offer­ings. Cumulatively for the quarter, Louisiana Baptists’ Fiscal Year 2024 contribu­tions were lower by 11.80 percent through the CP and off 0.59 percent via designated giving. … [Read more...]

Advisory panel urges churches to submit their insurance profiles

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – The first meeting of the Church Insurance Advisory Committee, Jan. 11, resulted in an agreement to develop a communication plan to urge congregations to participate in the data collection phase of the effort to establish a church self-insurance program in Louisiana. “Pastors need to know that submitting the information is as easy as calling their insurance agents and asking them to send a copy of their present policy and a five-year history of claims,” said Kyle Acklin, Monroe-area presi­dent with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an insurance, risk manage­ment and consulting firm. The documents may be mailed directly to: Louisiana Churches Self-Insurance Trust 2003 Tower Drive Monroe, LA 71201 Alternatively, the forms may be sent via FAX, (318) 322-3172. The participants in the inau­gural meeting included pastors, attorneys and others with a wide perspective on the insurance crisis that has plagued churches after the state was pummeled in 2020-2021 by Hurricanes Laura, Delta, Zeta and Ida. BACKGROUND In 2023 congregations began to receive nonrenewal notices or to see exorbitant premium hikes from the three largest insurers of … [Read more...]