Week of May 9, 2005
Three persons with Louisiana ties have been nominated to positions of
service on Southern Baptist boards or committees. The nominees still
must be elected by messengers to the 2005 Southern Baptist Convention
in June. The Louisianians nominated include:
• Randy Harper. Harper is nominated to a first term of service on the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary board, He is senior pastor at
Bellaire Baptist Church in Bossier City.
• Richard Landry. Landry is nominated to a first term of service on the
Southern Baptist International Mission Board. He is a member at Trinity
Baptist Church in Lake Charles.
• Patrick Williams. Williams is nominated to a first term of service on
the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary board. He is a member at
First Baptist Church of West Monroe.
A pair of Louisiana Baptists have been named to the Southern Baptist
Committee on Committee. Two persons from each state convention are
named to the committee each year by the Southern Baptist Convention
president. That committee then is responsible for nominating persons to
serve on the SBC Committee on Nominations. The Louisianians serving on
the 2005 Committee on Committees are Janie Bono and Stephen Trammell.
Bono is a member at Parkview Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. Trammell is
pastor at Florida Boulevard Baptist Church in Baton Rouge.
One-sixth of the world’s population lives in India – 1,109 distinct
people groups who are 79.8 percent Hindu and 12.5 percent Muslim. That
is why the Southern Baptist International Mission Board is asking
persons to set aside a meal or an entire day of meals May 15 to
intercede on behalf of the 1,065,070,607 people of India. A video with
a variety of short features and spots on India is available free. Other
planning ideas, information and resources also are available at
http://ime.imb.org/dayofprayer.
Scott Belmore has been elected to serve as Baptist Collegiate Ministry
director at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. Belmore is a
graduate of the school and of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
He previously served as minister to students and collegians at Highlawn
Baptist Church in Huntington, W.Va. and Calvary Baptist Church in New
Orleans. He also served in ministerial positions in several other
Louisiana Baptist churches. Belmore joins a team of 13 Baptist
Collegiate Ministry directors around the state. John Moore serves as
state director of Baptist Collegiate Ministries.
The Louisiana Baptist Convention has reached an agreement with the
state for additional compensation related to the acquisition of land
from the Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center in Woodworth. The
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development took possession
of the land in 2002 in order to widen Hwy. 165, then compensated the
Louisiana Baptist Convention for the property as required by the
eminent domain law. That law allows the government to appropriate
private property without the owner’s consent, usually for completion of
a public project such as a highway. However, Louisiana law also
stipulates that the owner must be compensated for the appropriated
property. In the case of the Tall Timbers property, the Louisiana
Baptist Convention disagreed with the amount provided by the state and
went to court, arguing that additional compensation should be
forthcoming. The Ninth Judicial district Court recently agreed,
awarding the state convention an additional $868,542 in compensation
and another $217,135.50 in attorney fees. The judgment also awarded the
state convention interest on the additional amount of compensation.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill designed to
limit abortions performed on minors. The Child Interstate Abortion
Notification Act passed the chamber on a 270-157 vote. It makes it
illegal for adults to transport a minor across state lines for an
abortion without informing the girl’s parents if the law in the girl’s
home state requires parental notification. Currently, 30 states require
such notification. It also would force abortion providers to notify
parents even in the other 20 states that do not currently require it.
The legislation has been labeled the “Teen Endangerment Act.” It is the
first bill addressing abortion to gain passage in either chamber in the
109th Congress. The bill requires parents of minors to be notified 24
hours ahead of time before any abortion. It imposes fines,
incarceration or both on the adults who transport the children and the
abortion providers who perform the procedures if the required
notification is not given. The bill contains an exception for
situations in which carrying the child to term may endanger the
mother’s life but no similar exception for the mother’s health.
Versions of the bill previously have passed the House, but it has never
come up for a vote in the Senate. The House version of the bill is H.R.
748. The Senate version is S. 8.
This year, the United States government is allocating some $12 billion
for various anti-drug programs. Meanwhile, the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is set to receive only about $442 million.