Submitted by Brian Blackwell on Mon, 11/05/2012 - 16:26 Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers pray Saturday morning, November 3rd, before leaving to minister in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Those units consisted of the Louisiana Baptist Convention feeding unit, Mount Olive Baptist Association shower unit and Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association chainsaw unit. Some of the volunteers of the feeding unit have now transferred to cleaning and sanitizing flood homes in Staten Island, NY while nine members returned to Louisiana today. According to LBC Disaster Relief team members, the feeding unit volunteers who returned to Louisiana were not needed because power was restored in the location where they had planned on ministering. The chainsaw and shower units are still providing support there. Select rating Give it 1/5 Give it 2/5 Give it 3/5 Give it 4/5 Give it 5/5 … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 11/07/2012 - 11:02 The Painted Posse is a group of Christian students who paint their bodies with LSU school colors and small crosses for home games. LSU officials sent out this photo of the students in an email about the LSU game against South Carolina on Oct. 13. The crosses on their upper left torso, however, had been digitally removed. By Mark H Hunter, Regional Reporter BATON ROUGE – When someone in LSU's Sports Department airbrushed hand-painted crosses off the bare chests of the "Painted Posse" in a widely distributed photo following the LSU-South Carolina game, it sparked a controversy over political correctness and censorship of university students' religious views. The Posse, a group of Christian students who proclaim their faith by wearing the crosses, had a meeting and asked themselves, "What would Jesus do?" They publicly forgave the university for the incident and are urging everyone to put the incident behind them. That is, until the LSU-Alabama game on Nov. 3. Thousands of fans, clad in LSU purple and gold and Alabama red and white, filled Tiger Stadium -- with some from both sides also wearing crosses to support the Posse and their testimony of faith in … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Wed, 11/07/2012 - 11:16 By Staff, Baptist Message   WEST MONROE – Louisiana Baptists will celebrate 200 years of ministry as they gather for their annual meeting, Nov. 12-13 at First Baptist Church in West Monroe. Former SBC President Johnny Hunt, pastor of Woodstock (Ga.) Baptist,  will serve as one of the keynote speakers. Hunt, described as a “passionate and powerful speaker” by LBC Communications Director John Kyle, joins two other noted communicators from Louisiana. Waylon Bailey, pastor of First Baptist in Covington as well as LBC president, and Chuck Pourciau pastor of Broadmoor Baptist in Shreveport, also will address messengers – on Monday evening and Tuesday morning respectively. ‘We have much to celebrate and much to communicate,” LBC Executive Director David Hankins said. “Our desire is for people to walk away grateful for what God has done over the last 200 years, and help them understand they are the key to what God wants to do moving forward.” Highlights on Monday evening include music from LC Voices, a drama with a 200th anniversary focus, a feature spotlighting the ministry of Joseph Willis, challenges from Hankins and Bailey, and a video … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Editor When college football standout Tyrann Mathieu entered drug rehabili­tation after being kicked off the Loui­siana State University football team in August for violating the school’s substance abuse policy, I wrote positively about the young athlete. Reports from his family indicated that Mathieu, also known as the Honey Bad­ger, would enter drug rehab in Houston on Aug. 17 and would not return to LSU or any other college for the fall semester. My assumption was that Mathieu would spend the entire semester – at least 16 weeks – seeking to overcome his substance abuse. With that assump­tion in mind, I stated in a column that Mathieu’s decision to leave LSU in or­der to overcome his problem exhibited character that would serve him well in life. Sadly, it turns out I was wrong. Shortly after I wrote the column about Mathieu it was announced he was returning to LSU as student for the fall semester. He enrolled for classes on Sept. 4, just 17 days after he had checked into a substance abuse pro­gram in Houston. In my mind, the good decisions that had been previously announced had somehow morphed into poor decisions that would come back to haunt the Honey Badger. It seems that is exactly what … [Read more...]

By Tom Elliff, President IMB One billion is a big number. It would take you 37 years to count to one billion at one number a second. Seven billion is an even larger and more significant number. That is the number of people currently inhabiting the globe. In 1804 the world reached its first billion in population. Now we are adding about one billion to our population every 12 years. This is the harvest Jesus wants us to lift up our eyes and see: 7 billion people, 330 million in the U.S. and 6.67 billion outside our borders. Yet over half the world’s population has only a slight chance to hear the Gospel. In fact, 1.7 billion people are likely to die without hearing the name of Jesus! And they are dying! Two people die each second. The equivalent of a city of 150,600 people disappears into eternity every 24 hours. Without Christ they will enter Hell, forever lost. This is why Jesus said the fields are white unto harvest. The simple facts above are why I am so deeply concerned about our Southern Baptist giving through the Cooperative Program and our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) for world missions. Last year’s LMCO was the fourth highest in history, yet the decline in CP giving eclipsed that gain, … [Read more...]

By John Yeats, Executive Director Missouri Baptist Convention JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP) -- Baptist state conventions are not the church. State conventions are nowhere in Scripture. Only the local church was given by Christ to fulfill the purpose of His Kingdom. Local Southern Baptist churches, though, autonomously have decided to cooperate, and one of the best ways of achieving such cooperation is by affiliating with a state convention. Consequently, state conventions can play a vital role in assisting churches and associations as they fulfill ministries under the direction of Christ. So what are the unique things that state conventions do to help churches and associations carry out their assignments for the Kingdom of God? Here are seven: 1. Sound the trumpet. In Old Testament times, leaders in a particular jurisdiction were given the privilege, the permission and the power to convene the people -- to sound a trumpet and assemble the people for a common purpose. Old Testament prophets were called on to assemble the people. Joel 2:15-16 says, "Blow the trumpet in Zion; set apart a fast, a day of restraint and humility; call a solemn assembly. Gather the people...." In the Book of Acts there are examples of leaders who … [Read more...]

By Penna Dexter, columnist/radio commentator California teenagers who experience same-sex attractions and wish to seek professional help in trying to overcome them can no longer do so. The reason: California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a disturbing bill that prohibits licensed mental health professionals from using what’s come to be called “reparative” therapy in counseling teenage homosexuals who have expressed a desire to change their sexual orientation or behavior. These therapies are intended for those who experience same-sex attraction but want help to change. The bill, known as SB 1172, states that mental health providers who render these services to clients under 18 would be engaging in unprofessional conduct, subject to discipline by their respective licensing boards – meaning, they’ll lose their licenses to practice. California is often on the cutting edge of radical policies. We can hope this one doesn’t spread further. But two New Jersey lawmakers are drafting similar legislation. And members of the group that helped get the law passed in California are helping counterparts in other states with talking points and “expert” witnesses. As he signed the bill, Gov. Brown called reparative … [Read more...]

By Rex Butler, Associate Professor New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary In 1660, a thousand-page tome was published in the Netherlands with a long title: The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians – “Who Baptized Only Upon Confession of Faith, and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus, Their Saviour, From the Time of Christ to the Year A.D. 1660.” The author, Thieleman van Braght, compiled this book to cast a bright reflection on Christian martyrs, not only those from the beginning of the church, but especially the Anabaptists. Who were the Anabaptists? As suggested by the complete title of the Martyrs Mirror, they were Christians who believed, based upon their study of the New Testament, that baptism was intended, not for infants, but for believers who confessed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. The first Anabaptists began baptizing believers in 1525, with persecution by both Catholics and Protestants rapidly falling on them. According to historian Justo Gonzalez, there were more Anabaptists martyred at the hands of other Christians in the sixteenth century than Christians martyred by Roman pagans during the first three centuries of the church (The Story of Christianity, vol. … [Read more...]