By Gary D. Meyers, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary announced a multi-ethnic initiative designed to diversify the seminary community and a tuition cap plan during its spring trustee meeting on April 12. Trustees approved a $23.4 million dollar budget, four new master of arts in missiology specializations, new undergraduate training sites and faculty promotions. In addition, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore was named visiting professor of theology and ethics, and Liberty University apologist Gary Habermas was named as visiting professor of apologetics. NOBTS President Chuck Kelley introduced the multi-ethnic initiative, which he calls "Different Voices," during the presidential report. The goal of the initiative is the increase in minority representation in every layer of the seminary community -- students, staff and faculty. Initial plans include workshops for minority students seeking a ministry in Southern Baptist Convention academics and a doctoral fellowship for minority students. As the plan was developed, Kelley met with minority students to share ideas and receive feedback. Kelley said the group wholeheartedly endorsed the name of the … [Read more...]
LC’s Preview Day features Lowery and Jenkins
By Norm Miller PINEVILLE (LCNews) – Louisiana College’s Preview Day featured Fred Lowery and Wayne Jenkins as keynoters for prospective students interested in a Missions & Ministries degree, and for students already in that track of studies. “Love God and love people.” That was the advice from Lowery, after whom the Fred Lowery Missions & Ministries Scholarship is named. “Do that and God’s favor will be on you.” Lowery, now retired from full-time church ministry, shared several vignettes of evangelism and their results from his career that included a 30-year stint as pastor of First Baptist Church, Bossier City. “God plus nothing is all you need,” Lowery said, adding that “trusting God alone allowed me to do things for God beyond my wildest dreams.” Christians “can get involved in so many things that we can forget the main thing, and that is telling others about Jesus,” Lowery added. “Do what God tells you to do and let God do the rest.” Jenkins said he owes “a huge debt to what Louisiana College taught me about evangelism and missions. LC shaped me and molded me, and I thank God for the missions heart planted in me there.” Now retired from the Louisiana Baptist Convention as Director of … [Read more...]
Louisiana College’s Preview Day breaks all attendance records
By Victor Villavieja PINEVILLE (LBM) — Louisiana College’s Preview Day attendance has increased 59 percent since last year, continuing the solid growth tendency of the last three years. Over 140 high school students were part of the March 24 event, which suggests that the student enrollment for the coming school year will rise again. The students and their families congregated at the Martin Performing Arts Center around 1 in the afternoon. It was a standing-room-only occasion. Rick Brewer, president of Louisiana College, welcomed the attendees and explained how the school is attempting to equip the students with the means to succeed in the 21st century. “We are preparing graduates to implement a change,” Brewer said. “The students receive an education that enables them to develop critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and problem-solving skills, while growing in their relationship with God. We have grown 24 percent in our student enrollment in two years, and the good word is getting out.” In the fall of 2017, Louisiana College registered a total of 474 new students, including first-time freshmen and transfers. Among them, there were 17 new international students from countries as diverse as Spain, Sweden, … [Read more...]
Richard Blackaby: “Sermons alone will not transform a broken nation into a blessed one”
By Victor G. Villavieja Larraz PINEVILLE (LBM) — Richard Blackaby, president of Blackaby Ministries International, led Louisiana College’s chapel March 20, calling the students to become the mighty warriors they can be in God. Son of Henry Blackaby - author of “Experiencing God” – Richard travels the world speaking on various aspects of Christian life, ministering Christian CEOs as well as church and family leaders. Blackaby opened his sermon at the Martin Performing Arts Center by manifesting how necessary it is for Christians to integrate their faith and their occupation to implement change in God’s name. “Sermons alone will not transform a broken nation into a blessed one,” Blackaby said. “God is always calling professionals, business people, men and women who aren’t preachers. Many times, when God gets something done it’s not because someone preaches from a pulpit, but because someone puts his life in God’s hands and lets Him drive.” To illustrate his message, Blackaby read Judges 6:11-13 from his Bible, recalling the story of Gideon. “Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth of Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide … [Read more...]
Youth movement stirs growth at Northside
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MONTGOMERY – Micheal Young once spent his free time enjoying the ways of the world, but a visit to a youth meeting at Northside Baptist Church in Montgomery transformed the high schooler into a Christ-follower on fire for the Lord. “I went for a girl at first, but when I got to the church the Lord spoke to me,” said Young, who was baptized the Sunday after his conversion in October. “Before I started going to church, I would get into mischief every weekend and bully people. Now, the Lord has touched me and I have a testimony of a person who has given up the bad ways of his past life to live a reborn life.” The change in Young’s life even inspired his brothers, Aaron and Jacob, and his cousin, Jeremiah, to repent of their sins and turn their lives over to Christ in the ensuing months. “My family and I talked and shed a bunch of tears,” Young said. “It feels great knowing I am able to help someone get out of a bad situation by offering them real hope found in Jesus.” Baptisms of students like Young have not been the exception but the norm recently at Northside Baptist Church. Since 2016, 78 new converts – many who are youth – have stirred the baptistery waters there. The … [Read more...]
Baptism service ignites revival at New Hope
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MONROE – The front lawn of New Hope Baptist Church in Monroe was the scene for a special baptism service last August that served as a visible witness for friends and family, and also for motorists who passed by. One by one, each of the nine new believers stepped into a horse trough filled with cold water on a hot summer Sunday afternoon, to publicly restate his or her individual faith in Christ by being baptized. “Everyone was gathered together, singing praises to the Lord for all the things He did that day,” said Gray, winner of the 2017 Exemplary Bi-vocational Pastor of the Year for the North region. “It was really cool for people to pass by and see what was going on -- to see entire generations baptized together, from age 10 to 65, was something I never will forget.” The baptism service signifies a personal revival New Hope Baptist has experienced since Gray’s arrival in April 2017. When Gray became pastor of New Hope Baptist, the Sunday morning worship service attendance averaged 30 and baptisms were a rarity, according to church records. Eleven months later, attendance for worship services has more than tripled, and 16 new converts have participated in … [Read more...]
Symposium at Highland Baptist first step in addressing mental illness
By Staff, Baptist Message NEW IBERIA – Pastor David Denton believes it is time to remove the stigma from mental illness and believes the church is a good place to start. Pastor at Highland Baptist Church in New Iberia, Denton felt God’s prompting after the Jeremiah Johnston study – “Unanswered: Lasting Answers to Trending Questions” – to address the issue of Christians and mental illness. This study was timely as several of his church members had been impacted by traumatic events associated with mental illness. “I did some research and it shows 25 percent of our population has or will be diagnosed with some form of mental illness,” he said. “That affects a lot of people. There is no instantaneous fix but the issue needs to be addressed in a Christian worldview.” In order to do so, Highland Baptist will host a one-day, interactive event on mental health April 22. The event’s theme, “Hope for Mental Health,” will begin Sunday morning as Kevin Richard, staff counselor at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, will be casting some biblical light on the subject of mental illness at the 8 and 10:30 a.m. worship services. The afternoon schedule begins at 4 p.m. in the church’s fellowship hall with a light meal and … [Read more...]
LBC pastors help defeat alcohol permit for local movie theater
By Staff, Baptist Message ALEXANDRIA (LBM) – Philip Robertson and Clay Fuqua, senior pastor and campus pastor for Philadelphia Baptist Church in Deville and Alexandria, respectively, led a host of local pastors and community leaders in testifying before the City of Alexandria Alcohol, Beverage and Drug Abuse Commission to oppose an alcohol beverage permit to the Grand Theatre of Alexandria – and won. The movie theater had applied to serve low and high alcohol content drinks at its 14 screen facility as a means to improve profits and avoid closing in light of changing movie-going habits of the public. Its representatives also argued that it operated other movie theaters in the state that served alcohol and did so “without a single incident.” But its representatives admitted, when asked, that it was operating profitably now with ticket and concession sales. Likewise, they revealed that there have been some problems at the Alexandria location, which is dry, with underage youth sneaking in alcohol. Interestingly, the Grand Theatre representatives also offered that most of its best attended features are family-friendly films that allow adults to bring their children with them to enjoy a night of … [Read more...]
Cyclists’ ‘1,000 Miles for a Mission’ a ride of a lifetime
By John Marcase, Special to the Message PINEVILLE -- What was supposed to be a 1,000 mile cycling trip for a growing ministry in Bossier City did not launch exactly as planned April 4. Still, it did not prevent the group, consisting of men from Men of Courage Louisiana and the Christ Fit Gym in Bossier City, from seizing upon a ministry opportunity when it presented itself. The “1,000 Miles for a Mission” trip had barely started when Christ Fit Gym owner Billy Weatherall suffered a malfunction with his bike. “We were 20 miles out of Bossier and I had a blowout,” Weatherall said. Later that night at First Baptist Church in Pineville he shared his testimony and the cycling group took part in a worship service. “It was the only one we experienced” that day. But, it just so happened the blowout occurred near some railroad tracks where maintenance was being performed. “There was a railroad worker who I knew and hadn’t seen in years,” said Weatherall. “He came over and said he had been going through a rough time and needed prayers. “God has been using us like this all along the way.” Officially, the 1,000 Miles for a Mission ride is to raise funds for both Men of Courage and Christ Fit Gym. Both organizations … [Read more...]
LBCH’s Hancock: WMU WorldCrafts initiative to make significant impact
By Robin McCall, WMU Communications BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – WorldCrafts, the fair trade division of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), has expanded an initiative that supports Southern Baptists’ work for children and families through a partnership with Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries in Monroe. The initiative, which was first launched with Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries and Arizona Baptist Children’s Services & Family Ministries in January, supports the work of the Baptist Coalition for Children and Families. Through this initiative, churches or individuals partner with WorldCrafts to support at-risk children and to provide life-sustaining work for global artisans and their families. “The new WMU WorldCrafts initiative for Baptist Children’s Homes will make a significant impact on the lives of our children here in Louisiana,” said Perry Hancock, President and CEO of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries. “LBCH is one of the few children’s homes across America that receives no government funding for the care of foster children. The new WMU project will help us expand our support of foster children both on campus in Monroe and across the state,” he … [Read more...]
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