By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
PINEVILLE – On the final night of Vacation Bible School at Lakeside Baptist Church, Pineville, Pastor Lloyd Bye “watered” what had been spiritually planted, baptizing three young boys in a horse trough, May 31.
“Each year we have made announcements on Family Night about how many accepted Christ, but some parents do not get to witness a baptism because they are not active in church,” Bye told the Baptist Message. “This time parents got to see the harvest we reaped from the seeds that were planted, and it made it special for the boys that their parents were witnesses.”
Pastor Lloyd Bye (third from left) baptized these three young boys on the final night of Vacation Bible School at Lakeside Baptist Church in Pineville. Brian Blackwell photo
Daniel Edwards actually was “harvested” during a recent VBS by a sister Louisiana Baptist congregation.
“I accepted Christ at Faith Baptist Church in Tioga,” Edwards said. “But my Granny asked if I wanted to get baptized here since I have spent so many summers at Lakeside.”
He added that it was “special” because both churches are part of his spiritual life.
The Family Night worship service capped a fruitful week for Lakeside Baptist. Eleven children out of 46 who attended had repented for salvation by the end of VBS.
VBS AND MORE
VBS is one of several evangelistic outreaches for the congregation, which averages 30 in Sunday morning worship service and another 25 in children’s church.
Operation Christmas Child is another.
Throughout the year, members collect items — hygiene products, small toys and school supplies — that are packed in shoeboxes and shipped overseas to give to children. The church’s VBS offering of $300 was used to purchase supplies for this year’s Operation Christmas Child Collection. In 2018, the church packed 250 shoeboxes for the annual gift drive by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian international relief organization.
Members also volunteer with Helping Hands Ministry, a Christian non-profit organization in Tioga.
They sort through items at a distribution center, work in the ministry’s store and hand out bags filled with toiletries to neighborhood residents, 175 every three months.
Other ministry efforts include financially supporting Main Street Mission in Pineville and many members participated as volunteers with the Hope4U2018 Crusade at the Rapides Parish Coliseum in Alexandria.
“Through the years the Word of God has been proclaimed here at Lakeside Baptist,” Bye said. “Within the inner city domain that is highly transient this is still needed today. Remembering the ABCs for children of all ages in this community, we will plant, water and reap in the ongoing harvest. To God be the glory!”
