Week of September 26, 2005
Due to Hurricane Rita, the Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Board
meeting set for Sept. 26-27 at Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center
has been rescheduled for Oct. 17-18. The meeting is set for the same
location.
Louisiana College has scheduled its annual Founder’s Day activities for
Oct. 6. A special chapel service is set for that day at 10:50 a.m. on
the Pineville campus. At the service, the 2005 Trustees’
Distinguished Service Award recipients will be recognized and will have
the opportunity to address the student body. The Trustees’
Distinguished Service Award is given for exceptional service to the
church, outstanding achievement in the arts and exemplary service to
philanthropy toward Louisiana College. This year’s recipients are
businessman Jimmy Creel, Louisiana College alumnus and former school
administrator Carlton Vance, Louisiana College alumnus Carl Vogel and
longtime Louisiana Baptist minister Connie Ward. For more information
on the event, persons may call (318) 487-7401.
Louisiana College officials responded to the approach of Hurricane Rita
last weekend by cancelling one event and rescheduling two others. LC
President Joe Aguillard noted that even if the school is unaffected by
the hurricane, it would be hosting more evacuees from the storm. “We
feel that the most important thing for us right now is to protect the
campus community as we can and to make our people available to assist
others in need,” he said. To that end, the school cancelled the
Louisiana College Wildcat football game against Mary-Hardin Baylor. It
also rescheduled a campus prayerwalk set for last weekend to October 29
at 2 p.m., The prayerwalk now will be part of the school’s homecoming
activities. The school’s annual mom’s weekend also was rescheduled from
last weekend to Nov. 1-2.
Assistance to GuideStone Financial Resources participants and eligible
churches in areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina has been announced by
the Southern Baptist Convention entity. Continuation of retirement plan
protection benefits will be made available by GuideStone. In addition,
the agency will assist eligible life and health plan participants who
are unable to make their monthly payments for coverage. Up to three
months of premiums may be waived for churches that are not receiving
regular offerings or are unable to provide compensation for their
pastor and staff. Current life and health plan participants should
contact their state Baptist convention to request assistance with life
and health premiums. Eligible churches that lose life and health
coverage with another carrier as a result of the disaster also will
receive an expedited application process with GuideStone. Participants
who need to leave a GuideStone medical plan during the 12 months after
Hurricane Katrina will be able to reapply to GuideStone plans without
underwriting, provided they apply no later than Sept. 1, 2007.
GuideStone also has been working with vendors to aid Katrina victims.
Persons may call (800) 262-0511 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily for
information on assistance.
The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board has announced it will
provide low-interest loans up to $100,000 to Southern Baptist churches
damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The agency is designating a total of $10
million to the disaster loan effort. Disaster relief loans are
available to Southern Baptist churches for repair of church facilities,
replacement of equipment or materials or to cover expenses while a
church is displaced, a spokesperson said. He added that the application
process will be simple and can be made by contacting one of the mission
board’s church finance consultants prior to Dec. 1. No fees will be
assessed by the board, while churches are expected to pay closing
costs. No interest will be charged during the first year of the loan.
To qualify for a disaster relief loan, a church must own the damaged
facility, be a cooperating Southern Baptist church as verified by the
local association and/or state convention, have demonstrated history of
supporting the Cooperative Program and other Southern Baptist mission
causes and be a valid legal corporation able to provide evidence
concerning who is authorized to borrow money on the church’s behalf.
For details, call (800) 759-5901 or visit www.churchfinanceministry.com.
A study conducted after Hurricane Floyd in 1999 showed an increase in
child abuse and neglect in areas severely impacted by the storm. As a
result, Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana is offering a presentation for
children in shelters to help prevent abuse. In addition, the agency has
made itself available to train shelter personnel on signs of child
abuse and maltreatment. For information on the services, persons may
contact the agency at (800) 244-5373 or visit the Web site at
www.pcal.org. Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana is a statewide, nonprofit
organization committed to preventing child abuse and neglect in the
state.
Mobile resident Tony Sarradet had a lot on his mind the Thursday after
Hurricane Katrina struck. The stress of his job as a flood insurance
adjuster was compounded by a yard full of debris and a tree blocking
his driveway. But a “divine intervention” changed all that. “I was out
here in the street looking at the oak tree, kind of in shock, trying to
figure out what I was going to do because I had to go to work,”
Sarradet said. “Then, two people from your convention pulled up and
said, ‘How would you like us to take care of that for you?’ It was like
it was meant to be, that they were sent to me.” A chainsaw/cleanup and
recovery team from Alabama’s Autauga Baptist Association was assigned
to tackle Sarradet’s yard. While the cleanup crew was hard at work,
volunteer Bill Morgan struck up a conversation and shared the plan of
salvation. “I had turned my back on God and was mad at him,” Sarradet
said. “It’s taken me five years to ask forgiveness for being mad at
him. Bill told me about the Lord and how to ask for forgiveness.”
Sarradet subsequently accepted Christ as his Lord and savior. “Now, I’m
a witness for Jesus Christ, and I’ll be more than happy to let everyone
know that he’s there with you,” he said.
As Southern Baptists are making a first-class effort to help hurricane
victims recover from devastating loss, they must not allow anyone to be
left out of the opportunity to receive Christ, Southern Baptist
Convention President Bobby Welch of Daytona Beach, Fla., said recently.
“When you go and you give the cup of cold water, you be sure you give a
witness of Jesus Christ,” he urged. “Don’t just smile and say, ‘I go to
church.’ You give a witness of Jesus Christ to those people because the
water, the beanie weenies and the food will run out, but whoever drinks
of this water will never thirst again. It will not run out.”
Intentional evangelism across the nation and the world must emerge from
the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Welch said. “I believe
this will be our finest hour, Southern Baptists,” he said. “If it is
not our finest hour, then likely, we’ll be headed toward our final
hour, because if we do not rise to this occasion, we have lost the
ability to rise to any occasion worthwhile.” Welch challenged Southern
Baptists to keep the main thing the main thing when circumstances are
overwhelming. “You’ve been placed here now to be faithful to your
call,” he said. “Give them Jesus. Give them Jesus. Give them Jesus! You
may run out of water, you may run out of beans, you may run out of
chow, but you won’t run out of Jesus! Give them Jesus!”
In re-treading old ground, a federal judge recently ruled that
requiring public school students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance
containing the words “under God” is unconstitutional. In 2002,
self-proclaimed atheist Michael Newdow of Sacramento, Calif., had filed
suit and gotten the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal to rule that the
pledge was unconstitutional. But once the suit reached the Supreme
Court in 2004, justices ruled Newdow lacked legal standing to file the
case because he did not have full custody of his daughter, on whose
behalf he had sued. The high court ruling left open the door for Newdow
to round up other parents who said their children were offended by the
daily reciting of the pledge. In January, Newdow filed a similar
federal suit on behalf of three unnamed parents. Earlier this month,
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento upheld the challenge
of the pledge, saying its reference to “one nation under God” violates
children’s right to be “free from a coercive requirement to affirm
God.” Karlton’s ruling is limited to four Sacramento school districts.
Those involved in the case indicated the ruling would be appealed all
the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
Persons wishing to contact the Louisiana Baptist Convention about
disaster relief needs and assistance may call (877) 487-4658 or visit
www.lbc.org.