By staff reports ALEXANDRIA, La. - Ben H. Yang, a former Louisiana College music professor, died Sunday, Oct. 11. He was 73. A native of Daegu, South Korea, Yang came to the United States in 1970 to pursue an advanced degree in music, receiving his master’s degree and Ph.D. in music composition and theory from the University of North Texas. Afterwards, he joined the Louisiana College music department in 1989 and taught music composition, musical theory and piano for nearly three decades before retiring in 2019. Yang was devoted to his students and would often spend long hours composing recommendation letters. He was a piano accompanist for many years at First Presbyterian Church in Alexandria and enjoyed volunteering to play the piano for residents at local nursing homes and assisted living facilities. He was an avid golfer and gardener and had a deep fondness for cats, particularly the family cats, Frisky and Tiger, who would only sleep by Yang's side at night. Yang is survived by his wife of 39 years, Amy Yang, and their daughter, Stephanie Yang, of Boston, Massachusetts. A memorial service will be held in Guinn Auditorium at Louisiana College at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. To send flowers to the family or … [Read more...]
Final day to register online for Nov. 3 election is today
By Baptist Message staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Today is the final day for online registration to vote in the Nov. 3 election. According to a news release from Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, Louisiana residents can register to vote and make changes to their registration at GeauxVote.com. A Louisiana driver’s license or special ID must be used upon submission online. Early voting is scheduled for Oct. 16 to Oct. 27 (excluding Sundays), from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Polls on Nov. 3 will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition to casting their vote for president and congress, Louisianans will have the opportunity to approve a number of amendments, including one that could protect state pro-life laws in the state. Known as the Love Life Amendment (also known as Amendment #1), this change to the state constitution is needed because of developments in 12 other states. In each case, a state court ruled that it had found in that particular state constitution a right to abortion – but the rulings were based on creative interpretations of a general phrase or vague wording and not on anything that specifically stated such rights. … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Kennedy presents remarks at Senate confirmation hearing for Louisiana native Judge Amy Coney Barrett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDTeKhzf0uo … [Read more...]
Gov. Edwards extends Louisiana’s Phase 3 restrictions until Nov. 6
By Baptist Message staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Louisiana will remain in Phase 3 of reopening the state’s economy until at least Nov. 6. Gov. John Bel Edwards, during a news conference Oct. 8, said a mask mandate and other restrictions remain in place when the state initially entered Phase 3 on Sept. 11. Businesses and churches will be allowed to continue to operate at 75 percent capacity, indoor social gatherings like weddings and birthday parties can accommodate guests at 50 percent capacity, up to 250 people, and sporting event venues can have up 25 percent capacity. Edwards asked Louisianans to continue wearing masks and observing proper social distancing measures. “All of the data shows improvement in Louisiana’s COVID situation because of the strong mitigation measures we have in place and because of the hard work of the people of Louisiana,” Edwards said. “These measures, which are supported by science, are allowing us to keep our case count and hospitalizations down, even as most of Louisiana’s businesses have expanded their operations and more people are moving about.” … [Read more...]
Delta adds ‘gut punch’ six weeks after Hurricane Laura
By Baptist Message staff ALEXANDRIA, La, (LBM) — Louisiana received a "gut punch," Friday, as the second hurricane in six weeks made landfall in the state. The eye of Hurricane Delta crashed ashore at 5 p.m., Oct. 9. as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph in Creole, nearly 13 miles east of Cameron, where Laura made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane (150 mph winds) on Aug. 27. According to the National Weather Service, Delta had weakened to barely a tropical storm (35 mph sustained winds) as it exited into Mississippi at 7 a.m., Saturday, having followed a nearly identical path as Laura. More than 565,000 businesses and homes in the state were without power as of 10:15 a.m., Oct. 10. Delta also dumped heavy rain on parts of the state, which resulted in numerous road closures. AccuWeather reported late Friday that approximately 17.02 inches of rain fell in Iowa, just east of Lake Charles. Meanwhile, Bell City, about 7 miles south of Iowa, received 16.31 inches of rain and Lake Charles, 15.68 inches. While reported damage was still unknown, Baptist Message learned Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center in Woodworth received water damage in the Indian Creek Lodge, as well as the activities … [Read more...]
Carlos Meza, soul winner and LBC leader, goes on to Heaven
By Baptist Message staff BOSSIER CITY, La. (LBM) – Carlos Meza, a venerable Louisiana Baptist leader, died Tuesday, Sept. 29. He was 84. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Meza accepted Christ when he was 43, after he met his wife Lupe, who introduced him to Jesus and shortly afterward married him. He was ordained as a pastor in 2007 at Calvary Baptist Church in Shreveport and served the next 13 years as pastor of that congregation’s Hispanic mission church, Iglesia Bautista del Calvario. He also planted two Hispanic churches (with First Baptist Church, Haughton, and New Zion Baptist Church, Bossier City). Meza participated in 17 mission trips to Brazil, as well as to Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua. He was well-known for being innovative in reaching the lost with the Gospel – leading a South American college student to the Lord using a mannequin and successfully sharing the Good News with a Brazilian businessman (whom no local pastor had been able to reach) by using an onion patch in the man’s backyard. He was active in the LBC: making history in 2017 as the first Hispanic elected to office in the Louisiana Baptist Convention, serving as 2nd vice president; and, at the time of his death he was serving on the … [Read more...]
Credentials Committee: Messengers must register for annual meeting
By Baptist Message staff PINEVILLE, La. (LBM)—In order for a church to be represented during the business portions of the Louisiana Baptist Convention to be held Nov. 10 in the Guinn Auditorium on the campus of Louisiana College in Pineville, it will need to elect messenger(s), who then must register and be certified by the Committee on Credentials. Chairman Todd Free noted to the Baptist Message that there are five ways for messengers to register and be approved: — The first and simplest way is for messengers to pre-register using www.LaOne.org and printout the registration card to bring to the annual meeting. This way allows messengers to be certified within a matter of minutes, Free said. — Second, a messenger may bring a note on official letterhead signed by the pastor or church clerk, stating that the individual was elected by the congregation. — Third, a church officer can phone in the names of elected messengers. — Fourth, a person can be vouchsafed as a duly elected messenger by a fellow registered church member. — Finally, when there is no other means by which to validate a person, a meeting of the Committee on Credentials may be called to make a determination. Free emphasized that pastors are not automatically … [Read more...]
Hurricane Laura photo gallery by LC convergence media students
NC DR team gives storm victims victory
By Will Hall, Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Alexandria, Louisiana, is 130 miles north of the shoreline where Hurricane Laura made landfall with 150 mph winds. Still, a number of residents in this crossroads city were not spared catastrophe from the fierceness of the storm and yet some received blessings despite tragic damage to their homes. NEEDS ASSESSED The North Carolina Baptist Men disaster relief teams were some of the first out-of-state responders to arrive in Alexandria to offer aid in the form of tarps, bottled water and food, and to deploy chainsaw crews to remove trees that had fallen on homes or that threatened private houses. Tony Hodge and Bill McCumbee, members of East Belmont Baptist Church in Belmont, North Carolina, were dispatched Sept. 16 to Dartmouth Street and later, Sept. 18, to 15th Street to perform needs assessment and also to prioritize work in these neighborhoods. “We were writing up what it would take to help the people get back in their homes,” McCumbee recalled. “They had such a story that touched Tony and me such that Tony decided to hold back the reports” (to personally oversee completion of the work orders instead of submitting them through normal … [Read more...]
LBC Annual meeting changed to Louisiana College, format cut
By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer WOODWORTH, La. (LBM) –The site for the Louisiana Baptist Convention annual meeting in 2020 has been changed to Guinn Auditorium on the campus of Louisiana College in Pineville, the LBC Executive Board announced during its Sept. 29 business meeting. The meeting at will be held Nov. 10 from 12:45 to 5 p.m. and will not include exhibits or auxiliary meetings such as seminary luncheons. The Pastors’ Conference also will not take place. Originally, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans was named the host, but on June 30 the decision was made to change the venue due possible attendance restrictions in the city relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The reason that we are recommending this is because this allows our messengers from most any point in the state to drive to Pineville in the morning, attend the meeting, and return home that evening if they would choose to do so,” Louisiana Baptist Executive Director Steve Horn told board members at Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center in Woodworth. “The annual meeting at Louisiana College at Guinn Auditorium also allows for us to have maximum social distancing guidelines that are important for us to maintain during this … [Read more...]
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