[img_assist|nid=8067|title=Watson Groundbreaking|desc=Watson Baptist Church celebrated the beginning of their construction project with a cere-monial groundbreaking service on Sunday, April 1. The church, to be located on Cane Market Road in Denham Springs, is 2 1/2 years old and has 125 members, led by Dennis Phelps. For now, they meet in two buildings provided by Angels Unlimited Daycare in Watson. The church worship center and education space is to be built with the oversight of and volunteer labor from the Louisiana Baptist Mission Builders.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=424] … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message [img_assist|nid=8071|title=A Helping Hand|desc=RAs and GAs at Unity Baptist Church in Pineville clean the yard of an elderly church member, Marie Wiggins, a former GA and former longtime GA leader. The youngsters earned a service patch for their work, a meal of Louisiana red beans and rice from Mrs. Wiggins, the fun of working together and a sense of satisfaction from helping someone, their leaders said.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]PINEVILLE – Way back when, little Marie was part of the Girls in Action mission group at her church. In time, she became Marie Wiggins and a GA leader. Recently, about a dozen GA girls and RA boys at Unity Baptist Church in Pineville spent a Saturday getting her sizable yard ready for spring. “They had fun working together and a sense of satisfaction in helping somebody,” said RA Leader Doug Aycock. “It was a successful and fun missions workday,” said GA Leader Iris Rosier. “At our next GA meeting, we discussed the importance of helping others.” The youngsters raked up leaves and pinestraw, picked up pine cones and planted flower bulbs for Wiggins, who is “always out doing good things as she can,” Rosier said. … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor NEW ORLEANS – “We have to go where the unborn babies are,” says Perry Hancock, president of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries.[img_assist|nid=8073|title=Second Mobile Unit|desc=The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home will add a second mobile pregnancy care center this summer, and it will stay in the greater New Orleans area.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=50] Where are unborn babies? In wombs. “You knit me together in my mother’s womb, …” according to Psalm 139:13. “I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.” Protecting the lives of unborn babies is the reason LBCH started its mobile pregnancy care center last April. That’s why it’s adding a second unit this summer – one to stay in the greater New Orleans area. “Fewer than three out of ten women who face a crisis pregnancy actually go to a pro-life pregnancy center,” Hancock said. “The mobile unit takes the ministry to them. “We know there’s a concentration of women in New Orleans who are having unplanned pregnancies,” the LBCH president continued. “The reason we are trying to have the second mobile unit in New Orleans is because we are having so many requests for the first one from our churches … [Read more...]

By Ginger Culpepper, Special to the Message LAKE CHARLES – The Louisiana WMU Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting speakers encouraged women to tell their stories so that they have opportunities to tell the most important story “of Jesus and His love.” Women from around the state, representing 73 churches and four generations, heard stories from local and international missionaries, each reminding them to tell their stories of how Jesus has worked in their lives. “My story cannot be told without the story of WMU,” said Suzanne Reece, Student Ministry Consultant for WMU SBC in Birmingham. “I’m kinda like their poster child.” Suzanne’s story began when she attended Girls in Action with a friend and learned that there were things she could do in her own little way to help missionaries around the world. “I knew then that God would use me,” Suzanne shared. After getting her family involved in church and learning about salvation, she accepted Christ and “went through a transformation like Superman in a phone booth.” God is using Suzanne to encourage others to share their stories and to share what God is doing in their lives and what He can do in others’ lives. “Because He IS, we get through our stuff and have the strength to … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message   STATEWIDE – The Sunday habits of church members have been changing ever since many Sunday Blue Laws were repealed in the 1980s.   “Blue laws” (initially a derisive term meaning “uppity laws,” coined by people who disagreed with their intent) kept many businesses closed on Sunday, as a way of encouraging church attendance.   When businesses were allowed to stay open, sporting events started taking place on Sundays.   A response to attendance options is just one way that churches have changed.   Bruce Raley, director of leadership and evangelism training and events at LifeWay Christian Resources, plans to discuss 15 trends that impact churches’ education ministry, in his upcoming eight-stop tour of Louisiana to talk with ministers of education and others with similar ministry positions, including pastors.   The April 16-19 event is to be in Swartz, Ruston, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Pineville, Lafayette, Covington and Gonzales. See www.lbc.org/MEtour2012 for complete information.   The no-cost event includes lunch, supper or light refreshments, depending on the time of day and location. Pre-registration is needed for proper … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   [img_assist|nid=8077|title=Prayer|desc=Several events related to the 2012 National Day of Prayer are planned at churches and in communities across Louisiana on Thursday, May 3. This year’s theme is “One Nation Under God,” based on Psalm 33:12.|link=none|align=right|width=600|height=640]STATEWIDE – “In prayer we loose the power of God,” says Dick DeBusk, pastor of Alpine Baptist Church in Pineville.   DeBusk is to be one of six men praying at Philadelphia Baptist Church in Deville May 3, which is one of several events related to the National Day of Prayer that are planned at churches and communities across Louisiana.   The 6:30 p.m. hour-long service Thursday, May 3, at Philadelphia Deville is to include specific prayers for 1. Our Nation/Government Leaders; 2. Military/Police/Firemen/First Responders; 3. Schools/Education; 4. Churches; 5. Families/Homes/Marriages/Youth of our Nation; and 6. Missions/Missionaries, reports Ricky Belgard, prayer minister for the last two years at Philadelphia, where he’s been a member about 10 years.   “We’re hoping to make this an annual event for our church,” Belgard said. “At this juncture in our nation there … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8080|title=Louisiana State Capitol Building|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   BATON ROUGE – As of April 26, only one of Louisiana’s 64 parishes has not been prayed over during the Awaken Wave of Prayer.   Since the first week in March, Louisiana Southern Baptists have been gathering at their parish courthouse or another designated site, to pray for the state and nation, for government leaders, and for churches and for God to send a spiritual awakening to Louisiana.   The Awaken Wave of Prayer is to crest at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 29, with an approximately 45-minute-long prayer service on the steps of the state capitol in Baton Rouge.   Governor Bobby Jindal has been invited, as have each of the state representatives and state senators. All elected officials in attendance are to recognized for specific prayer, said Wayne Shepherd, Louisiana Baptist Convention’s executive assistant to Executive Director David Hankins.   Hankins is to bring the main message at the event, which also is to include a 100-voice mass choir, said Tommy Middleton, executive director of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Baptist Message Editor   America is as divided politically and ideologically as perhaps it has ever been. As a result, I think it is time for a refresher course on the First Amendment. To borrow a line from an old Kellogg’s Corn Flakes ad: “The First Amendment: Read it again for the first time.”   If we are to navigate ourselves out of the political and ideological morass we now find ourselves in, it will require more speech, not less. What we desperately need is unfettered expression of ideas and the debate of their consequences.   Religious Americans rally around the First Amendment protection of religious liberty. And well they should. However, closely linked to the idea the government should not impugn religious expression is freedom of speech.   Freedom of speech goes hand-in-hand with religious liberty. If religious faith is to be promulgated, a person must be able to freely express the tenets of his or her belief system. Speaking as a person of faith, I believe freedom of religion and speech should be granted without reservation to every citizen.   America’s founders believed freedom of speech was critical to the success of the republic they were seeking … [Read more...]

By Warren Smith, Vice President World News Group   No Respect.  Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt mourned the death of their spiritual leader, Pope Shenouda III, who died on March 17 at age 88 after serving in that role for more than 40 years.  He was the 117th patriarch of the that church, which traces its history to about 40 A.D., when Jesus’s disciple Mark, the same Mark who authored the Gospel of Mark, brought Christianity to Egypt.   So what did Egyptian Muslims do to commemorate the death?  Leaders of the Islamic Salafist movement thanked Allah for Pope Shenouda’s death, calling him the “head of the infidels.”  According to Compass News Service, the Salafists now make up 20 percent of Egypt’s parliament and are hostile toward Christians.  A Salafi teacher, Sheik Wagdy Ghoneim, said of his death, “We rejoice that he is destroyed. He has perished.”   Ghoneim said on Mar. 18, the day after Pope Shenouda died, “May God have His revenge on him in the fire of hell – he and all who walk his path.” To be fair, not all Muslims feel the same way.  Compass reported, “The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Islamic group in the country, issued a statement expressing his condolences over the … [Read more...]

By Keith Manuel, LBC Evangelism Associate   The Second Great Awakening (1787-1843) still influences churches today. Some elements of revival planning, mission societies and a few denominations have their roots in this Awakening.   There were different aspects of the Awakening that affected America.   The first, according to Alvin Reid, was the revival among students in Eastern colleges. These schools, started for the Lord, had become atheistic.   William and Mary, an Anglican school, was debating whether Christianity had harmed humanity and at Princeton only two students professed Christ.   Revival began at Hampden-Sydney in Virginia through four men who committed themselves to prayer, Bible study and worship.   A near riot broke out when unbelieving students heard about the men meeting in their dorm room for worship. However, this opened the door for study in the President’s home, leading to revivals that spread to nearby colleges.   Yale experienced a time of revival under President Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathan Edwards.   After observing the spiritual state of his students, Dwight preached for six months on “Is the Bible the Word of … [Read more...]