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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

‘Crescent City Worship’ releases live worship album

By Timothy Cockes, NOBTS News NEW ORLEANS (NOBTS) - “Crescent City Worship”, a newly-named collection of students, staff and friends of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) and Leavell College, has released their first ever album featuring Dove award-winning vocalist Meredith Andrews. The seven-track album, recorded live at the 2024 Abide Women’s Conference this past February, was released June 7 and is available now on all major music streaming platforms. The Abide Women's Conference, held Feb. 23-24 at NOBTS and Leavell College, challenged more than 1200 women to embrace a calling to be “Women of Prayer.” “Upon accepting my position here, Dr. Dew asked if I would work on an album project as soon as I got here,” said Nate Jernigan, associate professor of music and worship for NOBTS and Leavell College. “A year and a half in, this is the culmination of that first attempt.” Jernigan explained this collection of students, staff and friends of NOBTS has been leading worship in various settings at the school and around the country without any formal designation up to this point.  This collection of around 20 or so musicians will now be known as Crescent City Worship, named after the nickname of the city of … [Read more...]

Conversations with 2024 SBC presidential candidates

Leading up to the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, Paul Watts interviewed the six individuals have been announced as intended nominees for SBC president. Watts is pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Ruston. David Allen           ------------------- Bruce Frank             ------------------- Mike Keahbone             ------------------- Jared Moore           ------------------- Clint Pressley           ------------------- Dan Spencer … [Read more...]

SBC 2024: Law Amendment biggest issue in ‘24

By Will Hall, Baptist Message Executive Editor INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (LBM) -- One of the biggest issues Southern Baptists will address in 2024 is a constitutional change known as the Law Amendment. A two-thirds vote in Indianapolis would add a sixth element to Article III (which lists the qualifications for a church to send messengers to participate in the yearly business meeting) to further define that “only men” may serve “as any kind of pastor or elder” in a congregation that affiliates with the Southern Baptist Convention. This constitutional initiative was launched in 2022 by Mike Law, who is the pastor of Arlington Baptist Church, Arlington, Virginia. He said he was moved to act after the SBC Credentials Committee delayed a decision about disfellowshipping Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, for having ordained three female staff members as pastors in 2021. The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 states, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” However, the committee said it could not act in 2022 “until clarity is provided regarding the use of the title ‘pastor’ for staff positions with different … [Read more...]

SBC 2024: President

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (LBM) - Six individuals have been announced as intended nominees for Southern Baptist Convention president. The following Annual Church Profile information is presented to allow readers to assess the evangelistic effectiveness of the individual’s home church (per capita baptisms) as well as the congregation’s financial commitment to the cooperative missions and ministries of Southern Baptists (Cooperative Program percentage of undesignated receipts). Finally, some personal information is provided about the candidate. For comparison, the average baptism to worship attendance ratio for the entire SBC is 1:18 (226,919 baptisms, 4,050,668 average worship attendance, 2024 ACP). Also, the Convention average CP percentage is 4.59 percent ($457,417,314 total Cooperative Program gifts for state and national causes, $9,962,910,482 combined undesignated receipts for all congregations, 2023 SBC Annual). SBC Bylaws, Article X “Election of Officers and Voting” provides a process for runoff elections: “If an officer does not receive a majority of votes cast on the first ballot, subsequent ballots shall carry the names of those who are included in the top 50 percent … [Read more...]