By Phil Boatwright, Baptist Press   KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP) – I love movies. They combine the essence of all the other art forms, enabling storytellers to express joy and sadness, nobility and fear, love and hate, passion and romance, and hope and faith, sometimes all in the same film.   But while they are modern man’s medium for relating parables to the masses, these parables are being treated with an ever-increasing dose of secularism. Movies over the decades have reflected changes in the society, but they have also influenced those changes, often proving the adage “Not all change is progress.”   Let’s take a look at the history of what I call the “seven deadly movie sins.”   – Acceptance of profanity.   We begin with the film that managed to break social and media taboos in the areas of sexuality, marriage and verbal irreverence toward God. Never before had there been a more searing portrait of an unhappy marriage than “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” This 1966 dramatic vehicle for husband and wife Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor brought marital upheaval into the open. The language barrier also went down, with Burton and Taylor profaning God’s name nearly as often as … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   CARSON CITY, Nev. (BP) – Home mortgages are underwater by $60,000 or more for many members, but giving to North American missions at First Baptist Church in Carson City, Nev., is on solid footing.   The church, which runs about 85 in worship each Sunday, gave $59.85 per person in 2010 through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering – and a total of $5,087.06.   Per-person giving to Annie across the Southern Baptist Convention is $14.78, according to the North American Mission Board.   “We give to Annie to support family and friends who are like family,” pastor Thomas Chandler said. “It’s purely by the grace of God that people have responded so well in an area that’s been so hard-hit by the economy.   “We give to Annie Armstrong to impact people eternally,” Chandler continued. Referencing 1 John 1:3-4, he added, “The greatest joy we know is seeing others find the same joy. It’s a joy made complete in seeing others come to find the joy in Jesus we have found.”   First Baptist’s story shows the interconnectedness of Southern Baptists, and how Southern Baptist missions commitment strengthens individuals, churches, state conventions, … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor LORANGER/HAMMOND – For more than a month now, donated round bales of hay have been making their way via donated transportation and donated dollars for fuel from Southeast Louisiana to drought-stricken Texas.[img_assist|nid=7522|title=Hale Bales headed out|desc=About 17 round bales of hay weighing about 800 pounds each, fit on a gooseneck trailer, bound from Loranger, La., to Texas, for drought relief.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=480] It’s a mission project started by a member of Woodland Park Baptist Church in Hammond. He’s retired from his job with the Louisiana Department of Transportation, but not from the small spread he farms near Loranger, on which graze about 20 head of beef cattle. “I was at home, watching the news, and you could see how bad it [the drought] was out there [in Texas,]” the mission project catalyst said. “I love missions and wanted to help. Then I left my house and as I was driving I saw left-over hay from last year in a barn. That’s when it hit me: Why don’t I find out how many barns have left-over hay they’d donate?” Most everybody did, he found out. “From there it just took off. I started calling Baptist churches in Texas to see who had … [Read more...]

By Quinn Lavespere, Message Staff Writer   SHREVEPORT – A successful church merger isn’t easy to pull off, but Kingston Road Baptist Church seems to be close to accomplishing that goal.[img_assist|nid=7524|title=Successful Merger|desc=Pastors Trey Lewis and Woody Janise of Kingston Road Baptist Church and Southern Hills stand in front of Kingston Baptist Church. The two Shreveport churches are completing a successful merger.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]   Under the leadership of Pastor Morris “Trey” Lewis III and Associate Pastor Woody Janise, Kingston Road has used its merger with Southern Hills Baptist Church to bring about greater opportunities to lead people to Christ.   “It’s not just this area that we want to focus on,” Lewis said. “We want to use and equip this ministry to spread the gospel to other parts of the world.”   As he was being interviewed, the Kingston Road’s pastor showed a great burden and passion for his church and others. He recounted why and how his church merged with Southern Hills.   “We had already experienced a successful merger with Ingleside Church,” Lewis said. “Over the last five years we have welcomed congregants from several of … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor   The “27 Club” is not an en vogue New York City venue where the rich and famous gather to party. Rather, it is a designation given to a collection of music artists, primarily those of the rock ‘n’ roll genre, who all have died at the age of 27.   The most recent inductee into the inauspicious club took place on July 23 when British singing sensation Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment. While the cause of death for the multiple Grammy Award winner is yet unknown, her untimely demise came as no surprise to family, friends or fans.   Winehouse’s lifestyle had for some time been out of control. Dominated by alcohol, drugs and eating disorders, she had been in and out of rehab. So destructive was Winehouse’s lifestyle a website appeared in 2007 asking people to predict when she would die.   No doubt Winehouse’s untimely death is tragic, especially to her family. However, it is intriguing to note that she died, as have so many other rock performers, at the young age of 27.   In fact, so prominent is the number of singers and musicians that have died at the age of 27 a book was published in 2009 exploring the subject. Written by Eric … [Read more...]

By Charles Quarles, Dean of Louisiana College Caskey School of Divinity   Southern Baptists are a scrappy bunch. We have never been ones to walk away from a good fight.   The problem with being scrappy is that we are sometimes a little too eager to jump into the fray. I fear that Southern Baptists are about to step into a battle without properly calculating whether the conflict is wise.   The looming conflict to which I refer is the battle over Calvinism. Like any battle this conflict could potentially escalate into an all-out war. Even as I write, battle lines are being contemplated.   Many fear that this battle has the potential to divide our national convention, fragment state conventions, and split local churches. While war has not yet been declared, the distinct sound of sabers rattling can be heard.   Before Baptists enter this conflict, I want to urge caution. Battles are not to be entered lightly.   In the 5th and 6th century BC, the Chinese military strategist and philosopher, Sun Tzu, wrote The Art of War. The book explained military strategies that still guide the American military today.   Sun Tzu’s is perhaps best known for this wise advice: … [Read more...]

By Jason Hiles, Chair of Christian Studies at Louisiana College   Baptist churches sometimes dedicate large quantities of resources and energy to building projects that facilitate corporate gatherings, discipleship classes, and other church functions.   Goals are carefully considered, plans are prayerfully drawn up, and resources are marshaled for the sake of raising a building that will enable God’s people to carry out the ministries of the church.   But as every good Baptist knows, no physical building that is raised up through the efforts of architects and contractors actually is the church.   Physical buildings simply house the church, which in reality is the assembly of believers redeemed by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.   While constructing physical buildings is sometimes necessary, the New Testament teaches that building up the body of believers is always necessary.   Thus it comes as no surprise that Paul uses a building metaphor in 1 Timothy 3 to teach Timothy how Christians ought to behave within God’s household.   What does come as something of a surprise, however, is just how closely the apostle connects the health of the church that … [Read more...]

By Archie England, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew   Question: What does this verse mean, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22)?   Archie England responds: Moses here identifies sexual intimacy between men as an abomination to God, constituting homosexuality, also known as sodomy. While this is undoubtedly the most direct statement in the Old Testament against it, Leviticus 20:13 moves beyond the mere labeling of homosexual behavior as wrong (detestable); it calls for judgment against such practices.   God’s people were to expose, judge, and execute the participants, informing such violators that the sacrificial system would not atone for this behavior. Sadly, these holy words are no longer acceptable to many today – but they should be.   These truths apply directly to those who follow God – not those who don’t. Yes, one day, every person will be accountable for what God has said; but, until then only those who claim covenant relationship with Him must obey His statutes.   God’s word does not point out only the wrongs of homosexual behavior; it also pinpoints the wrongs of heterosexual behavior. Though natural … [Read more...]

By Al Quartemont, Special to the Message   WALKER – For people who live or pass through suburban Walker, a stop at the local coffee house might lead them to more than just an Espresso or Muffaletta. It may lead them to Christ.[img_assist|nid=7530|title=Coffee Ministry|desc=Wholly Ground Coffee Shop, an extension of Walker Community Ministries, would not have happened without God’s blessing and support from Louisiana Baptists through the Georgia Barnette State Missions offering.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]   That’s because that coffee house, Wholly Ground, is actually an extension of Walker Community Ministries, a fellowship of believers under the direction of co-pastors Robert Miller and Richard White.   Miller, his wife Kristi, and daughters Miranda and Madelyn were sent to the small, southeast Louisiana community from Florida Boulevard Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, where Robert had spent seven years as missions minister. He took with him experiences learned in East Asia – specifically house groups – and began to implement that same approach in Walker.   Today, Walker Community Ministries includes five house groups that meet individually throughout the week and then … [Read more...]

By Marc Eichelberger, LBCH Communications NEW ORLEANS – Your Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries continues to move forward with its mission. A Mobile Pregnancy Care Center (MPCC) is the latest addition to a multi-faceted strategy for meeting needs and changing lives.[img_assist|nid=7532|title=Life-saver|desc=The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries Mobile Pregnancy Care Center on July 20 provided free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. The MPCC partnered with the Baptist Friendship House in an effort to reach out just north of the French Quarter to a New Orleans inner-city community.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=360] Kay Bennett, director of the Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans, said she is grateful for this new Children’s Home ministry. On July 20, the MPCC partnered with the Baptist Friendship House in an effort to reach out to Bennett’s inner city community just north of the French Quarter. Baptist Friendship House staff and mission volunteers distributed food through a Feed the Children project. MPCC registered nurse Cindy Kouf provided free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, while her husband Ron and crisis pregnancy volunteers shared pro-life literature and a positive … [Read more...]