ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES   Marvin (wife Mona) Leleux, new as pastor of Alford Heights in Many.   Jeremy (wife Catherine) Asher, new as minister of music of Temple Ruston. Pastor: Rick Byargeon.   J.C. Clement, retired pastor in Bienville and Webster/Claiborne Baptist Associations, died May 18.   Florence Attaway, wife of Lewis Attaway, pastor of Germantown Baptist, died May 28.   Samuel Higgs resigned as pastor of Jamestown Baptist.   Jordy McKaskle, new as onsite pastor of North Monroe at Bastrop.   David Shirley, retiring after 38 years as pastor of Alto Baptist, and 40 years in the ministry. Celebration July 1.   Don Whatley retired as pastor of Mt. Ararat Downsville.   Tony Campanale, new as pastor of Conway Marion.   Keith (wife Kristy) Payne, new as pastor of Bethany Baptist.   John (wife Christine) Frazier, new as minister of music at Mooringsport Baptist.   A.J. Kirk, new as youth minister at Pilgrim Home Benton.   Ally (husband Buddy) Freeman, new as children’s minister at Bellaire Bossier City.   David Womack, evangelist from Mooringsport, died May 12.   Preston … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8218|title=Life Essential Study Bible|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=470|height=640]By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – A new high-tech study Bible is using QR (quick read) codes to connect readers via smart phones to video teaching by noted pastor and Bible professor Gene Getz.   The Life Essentials Study Bible relays 1,500 key principles Getz has drawn from Scripture over the years – principles relevant to Christians young and old as well as every people group throughout the world.   A QR code in the study notes for each of the 1,500 principles in the Life Essentials Study Bible links readers to an expanded video teaching segment by Getz of 15 minutes or less.   “These are applicational principles that tie together the entire redemption story,” Getz said.   The B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources is the publisher for the Life Essentials Study Bible, which is subtitled “Biblical principles to live by: Learn to apply God’s word in your life.” The HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) is the translation used for the biblical text.   Getz has long been a forerunner in media communications. In 1968 he … [Read more...]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)  -- Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are $4,909,539.96, or 3.96 percent, above the year-to-date budgeted goal, and are 1.08 percent behind contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to a SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Frank S. Page.   The total includes receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2011-12 SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.   The Cooperative Program is a channel of giving, begun in 1925, through which a local church is able to contribute to the various ministries of its state convention and to the various missions and ministries of the SBC with a single contribution.   “As always, we trust God to ‘make every grace overflow’ for the ministry needs of the convention ‘according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,’” Page said.   “To that end, we thank Him for every gift,” Page said. “Our mission boards and other SBC ministries continue to fulfill their convention-adopted ministry assignments in spite of the prolonged … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8221|title=Ranked No. 1|desc=GuideStone Funds has been ranked No. 1 among 223 mutual fund families for the quarter ending March 31, according to Fund Family Fiduciary Rankings by fi360, a key evaluator within the finance industry. Guidestone, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, encompasses 450 employees in its Dallas headquarters. This is the first time GuideStone Funds has achieved the top ranking in fi360’s quarterly rankings.|link=none|align=right|width=427|height=640]By Roy Hayhurst, Guidestone Communications   DALLAS (BP) – GuideStone Funds ranked No. 1 among 223 mutual fund families for the quarter ending March 31, according to Fund Family Fiduciary Rankings by fi360, a key evaluator within the finance industry. This is the first time GuideStone Funds has achieved the top ranking in fi360’s quarterly rankings but follows 2011 when the funds consistently finished in the top 10.   The ranking comes on the heels of the March announcement from an industry ranking firm that named GuideStone Funds No. 1 among 182 funds in receiving Lipper’s 2012 Best Overall Small Fund Group award, one of the premier honors in the nation’s financial sector for mutual fund families with up to $40 … [Read more...]

(WORLD NEWS) – Secularist advocacy groups trying to ban prayer at public meetings won a legal victory on May 17.   The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled against the town board of Greece, N.Y., which opens meetings with prayers. The town had invited pastors and lay people from a variety of denominations and religions– even atheists – to say these prayers. Some non-Christian clerics, including a Wiccan priestess, had offered a few prayers in 2008.   Nevertheless, the 2nd Court concluded that “the town’s prayer practice had the effect of affiliating the town with Christianity,” affirming arguments made by plaintiffs’ lawyers from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Christians have uttered most of the prayers, the decision noted, and they have often included Christian terms like “Jesus” or “Your Son.” Citing a Supreme Court precedent in Marsh v. Chambers (1983), the court conceded that prayers at government meetings are not by definition unconstitutional. But it contended that the board needed to go out of its way to make the prayers nonsectarian.   Greece city officials countered that almost all the formal religious organizations in the town are Christian, leaving them … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 02:00 Alejandro, a village leader in a jungle region of Ecuador, reads the Bible in his language with Jason Hiles (right), leader of a volunteer team from Kingsville Baptist Church in Pineville/Ball. By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor PINEVILLE/BALL –  Alejandro, a tribal leader in one of seven related villages in Ecuador, is a Christian today stemming from the synergy of the Cooperative Program and the missions involvement of Kingsville Baptist Church. Two years into his faith, the 60-year-old father of four grown children is leading them and others in the village toward their own professions of faith. As a result, God’s Word is rippling out through the Tsa’chila villages in the jungle west of Quito, Ecuador’s capitol. “The Cooperative Program allows every Southern Baptist church to be directly involved in global and local missions. It can go where we might not be going,” said Bart Walker, Kingsville’s pastor since 2007. “What a glorious privilege to be a part of God’s work of redeeming people from every tongue, tribe and nation!” Kingsville, in central Louisiana, works with the SBC’s International Mission Board as volunteer teams travel to … [Read more...]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – A group of current and former Southern Baptist leaders has signed a statement affirming what they call the “traditional Southern Baptist” understanding of the doctrine of salvation, with the goal of drawing a distinction with the beliefs of “New Calvinism.” The statement was posted May 31 at SBCToday.com and includes a preamble and 10 articles, along with signatures from two entity presidents (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Paige Patterson and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Chuck Kelley), five state executive directors (Georgia’s Bob White, Florida’s John Sullivan, Mississippi’s Jim Futral, Louisiana’s David Hankins, Alaska’s Mike Procter), and in addition to Patterson, five other former SBC presidents (Bailey Smith, Jimmy Draper, Jerry Vines, Morris Chapman and Bobby Welch). The document was titled, “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.” (Read the entire document at the bottom of this article.) “For the most part, Southern Baptists have been glad to relegate disagreements over Calvinism to secondary status along with other important but ‘non-essential’ theological matters,” the document reads in the preamble. “The … [Read more...]