By PHILIP TIMOTHY, Message Staff Writer
WOODWORTH – The Louisiana Baptist Convention and its entities will have to do more with less this coming year.
The Executive Board of the LBC approved the business and finance committee’s recommendation, as presented by Chairman Scott Teutsch, pastor of Eastwood Baptist Church of Haughton, for a 5.58 percent reduction in the 2011 Cooperative Program Budget at its regularly-scheduled fall meeting Sept. 28 at Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center.
The recommended budget for the coming year is $21,284,217 – or $1,258,940 less than it was in 2010.
“It is a pretty significant reduction,” said Dale Lingenfelter, the LBC’s Business and Information Services Director.
The LBC Executive Board also heard reports from its administrative, business and finance, missions support, and properties committees, as well as from the Moral and Civic Foundation and heads of each of the LBC’s entities – the Louisiana Baptist Message, Louisiana College, Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and the Louisiana Baptist Foundation.
Louisiana Baptist Message Editor Kelly Boggs told the Board he is even more committed to having the paper “sound the clarion call that the Cooperative Program is not broken, and it is alive and well in Louisiana, the nation and the world.”
Boggs said while all the leaders in the state receive a copy of the Message, he would like to see the “folks in the pews” receive one as well. And he wanted to encourage pastors, if they weren’t already, to “put it in their [members’] hands.”
“Too many people are not educated to the importance of the Cooperative Program,” Boggs said. “When I went to McMinnville, Ore., as a pastor, the people of my church were not getting the Northwest Baptist Witness. That quickly changed as I made sure each and every one of them received a copy. When Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana, they understood it was their CP dollars that were fueling the disaster relief efforts.
“I don’t know what people will do if they get the paper,” Boggs said. “Some may line their bird cages, but if they have it in their hands, they may read it. And if enough read it, we can educate folks about how important the CP is and show them the great things that God is doing in your churches.”
Joe Aguillard, president of Louisiana College, had a great deal to report to the Board – the college was preparing its 10-year reaffirmation report to SACS, enrollment was at an all-time high (1,870), and the hiring of Michael Johnson as the founding Dean of the Louisiana College Judge Paul Pressler School of Law, which will be located in Shreveport.
Aguillard introduced Johnson to the Board, who spoke briefly about the school’s plans and the generosity of several donors.
“There is a deep need for a Christian law school in Shreveport,” Johnson said. “A whole generation of lawyers has grown up biblically and constitutionally illiterate, and this school can help to reverse that trend.
“Besides, there is no other law school within a 200-mile radius of Shreveport,” Johnson said. “Our plans right now are to welcome the first class in August 2012, but there is a lot of work and moving parts to sort out before this happens.”
Aguillard also reported the school was pushing ahead with its plans for the establishment of the medical school.
“Huey P. Long will eventually be vacated and it will be the birthplace of our medical school,” the LC president said.
He also touched on the school’s involvement in ACTS Alliance and Vision 20/20.
Aguillard told the board Louisiana College is seeking a $500,000 grant, or seed money, from the Baptist Ministries Foundation to help bring the college’s teaching program to New Orleans.
Aguillard also reported the college hosted its first twilight prayer walk with students, faculty and members of the community participating, and said there are plans to make it an annual event.
Perry Hancock, Executive Director of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home, offered his sincere thanks for a “very successful Fall Food Roundup.”
“A lot of you have called me and said to bring a big truck,” Hancock said. “That really is a praise report.”
Another praise report was the fact the Children’s Home has ministered to more than 100 children in the last 12 months.
“It is the first time in over 10 years, we have been able to minister to this many,” Hancock said. “Why, just in the last two weeks, we have accepted 15 new children. Seven children and a mother went to our Homeplace Ministry. Four new children went into our Foster Care Program; two into our off-campus foster home, and two into our residential program.
“Two years ago, we could have only ministered to two out of the 15,” Hancock said.
The Board also heard about the Home’s success with the Louisiana Baptist Foster and Adoption Ministry, the Sellers Maternity Ministry, and Granbury Counseling Center, which ministers to 1,000 people a year.
Wayne Taylor, Executive Director of the Louisiana Baptist Foundation, reported the Foundation has been able to “weather the storms of the last couple of years, but the storms are not over just yet.”
“We are still not out of the woods and going forward is not going to be very smooth because so much is still unsettled,” Taylor warned. “Like many we have had a reduction in our budget, but we are not unique. Nov. 2 [Election Day] is going to be a big day because we need a fundamental change to take place. I encourage you to relay the importance of that day to people.”