The 2005 Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention convenes next week in the facilities of First Baptist Church, West Monroe. The convention will be unique in several ways.

One of the significant challenges Hurricanes Katrina and Rita present to Louisiana Baptists is maintaining – and even strengthening – support of the Cooperative Program.

Mayor Nagin of New Orleans has the right goal, but his thinking about how to get there is terrible. It appears he thinks three negatives will make a positive.

Another piece about the destruction and terrible impact of sister hurricanes Katrina and Rita hardly seems necessary, but saying “thank you” certainly does.

Things cannot get worse for Louisiana,” many said just after Hurricane Katrina made her unwelcome visit to the southeastern part of the state. But they did: Hurricane Rita.

"Things cannot get much worse.” That rather trite statement was a frequent, feeble attempt to encourage people – after Katrina.

For many years, the editor of The Wall Street Journal was a Tarheel by the name of Vermont C. Royster. That “C” in his name stood for “Connecticut.” And yes, all his siblings likewise were named for states.

A sage once appropriately said that life is a marathon, not a dash. But what Louisiana faces in the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is both a dash and a marathon.

If God’s Word does not have something significant and true to say in New Orleans today, it is not true in the rest of Louisiana tomorrow.

Do you want a better pastor and/or staff member? Many churches not only want more effective ministers, they demand it. If a minister does not meet the increasingly demanding expectations of their congregations, they had better update their resumes.

The Page One story looked wonderful, until you read the other story on Page A5.

A word about faith from outside our religious bailiwick can be sobering. Take, for instance, these statements from Bob Jeffrey, chair and CEO of Worldwide JWT. These challenging statements are from an address the advertising guru gave in China. He was speaking about the influence of China and India – countries with the world’s two most massive populations – on the West, including the United States:

Bobby Welch is the first person elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention since Jimmy Allen (1978-79) who came to the office with a specific agenda beyond the controversy of the last 25 years.

Why are not Southern Baptist churches, as a general rule, growing?

Does your church have unrealistic expectations of its minister(s)? Most surveys indicate it does.