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STATEWIDE – Nearly all the state’s 1,597 churches that affiliate with the Louisiana Baptist Convention hosted a Vacation Bible School this summer, and there was something special about each one.

By KAREN L. WILLOUGHBY, Managing Editor

 NEW ORLEANS/LAFAYETTE – Training is vital for a vibrant Sunday School, says Sean Keith of the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s Evangelism/Church Growth team.

“Sunday School is the largest lay-led organization in our churches, and if they are to be effective, the leaders need to understand their roles and responsibilities,” said Keith, the LBC’s Sunday School/Discipleship strategist. “Our role [as teachers and class leaders] is to make disciples; that’s from beginning to end. We have to think holistically.

By Kelly Boggs, Editor

SHREVEPORT – More than one hundred pastors and laymen traveled to Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport Aug. 9 for the specific purpose of learning how to pray more effectively for the lost.

The gathering featured Evangelist Lee Thomas teaching the principles presented in his book Praying Effectively for the Lost.

By Jerry Love, Louisiana Baptist Foundation Planned Giving Director

ALEXANDRIA – The Louisiana Baptist Foundation held its quarterly Board of Trustees meeting on July 27 to review the operations and investment returns for the second quarter of the year.

After an opening prayer by Travis Morehart, a trustee from Shreveport, Investment Committee Chairman Brent Cating of Lake Charles turned the meeting over to the Foundation’s investment consultant.  Lee Morris, Managing Director of Graystone Consulting, addressed the Investment Committee via video conference from North Carolina.  

By Quinn Lavespere, Message Summer Staff Writer

BOSSIER CITY – Jerome Stockert learned a long time ago that coffee could be used for other purposes than just quenching the thirst of others.

Called by God to start a new coffee and tea shop, Stockert has used Ethnos Coffee and Tea in The Villaggio, a new, upscale, 64-acre community reminiscent of an Italian town square, to provide customers who enter its doors with relaxation and pleasure while teaching them about Jesus by accommodating customers in a godly manner.

LBC Evangelism Growth Director Wayne Jenkins receives NAMB Find It Here Participation AwardThomas Hammond (left), interim

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor

WOODWORTH – The seven FAITH Riders chapters in Louisiana mounted their motorcycles July 24 for their first-ever statewide ministry.

In all, 49 riders on 36 motorcycles roared around the recreation area at Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center during the last day of the High Pursuit youth camp. The bikers revved their bikes as they rode nearly fender to fender almost menacingly around the 220 seventh- through twelfth-graders, who minutes before had been lounging on the grass.

Instinctively the teens began drawing closer to each other for protection, eyes widened in heightened awareness, and still the motorcycles roared.

ALEXANDRIA – Paul Allbritton was named manager of the Baptist Employees of Louisiana (BEL) Credit Union at a specially called board of trustees meeting July 27.

“We were drawn to him primarily because we felt he was the right person for the job,” said Arnold Norsworthy, chairman of the search committee. “Through education and work experience, he’s well-suited to credit union work.”

By Philip Timothy, Message Staff Writer

SHREVEPORT – Through the years, pastors have come together to pray for a variety of national, state, and convention-related issues. Now, Louisiana Baptist Convention President Rod Masteller is asking them to join him at Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport to pray for the single, most important concern today: the lost.

By Joanne Brechtel, Administrative Editor

ALEXANDRIA - A serene setting at the OakWing Golf Club became the Baptist Golf Fellowship’s Spring Tournament background.

NEW ORLEANS – A standing-room-only crowd packed Leavell Chapel to celebrate New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s largest graduating class since Hurricane Katrina battered both the campus and the city in August 2005.

Some 315 graduation candidates participated in the May 15 ceremony.

NOBTS President Chuck Kelley briefly reflected on the years since America’s worst natural disaster.

By Al Quartemont, Special to the Message

PINEVILLE – Across America the first Thursday of May, men, women and children gathered in churches and public squares to lift up the United States and its leaders.

And in Pineville, at Louisiana College, that burden was reflected as well, as LC hosted its own National Day of Prayer event, with “For Such a Time as This” as the theme.

Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor

By Joanne Brechtel, Administrative Editor