By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   [img_assist|nid=7356|title=Chainsaw Crews|desc=While Louisiana’s Disaster Relief Teams have not had to deal with the projected castrophic flooding forecasted, they were prepared for the worst. Even though, they did not have to turn out in force here, they have responded to the needs of Mississippi and Alabama hit hard by deadly tornadoes and spring storms, as well as needs in Louisiana.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=491]MISSISSIPPI RIVERBANKS – As an event, it didn’t happen.   But Louisiana’s 4,300-plus trained Disaster Relief volunteers and its 74 DR units – feeding, shower/laundry, chain saw, mud-out, child care trailers – were ready, just in case Mississippi River floodwaters overtopped or breached levees anywhere from Lake Providence to the Gulf of Mexico.   “It’s frustrating sometimes, but that’s the nature of the beast,” said Gibbie McMillan, director of Disaster Relief and men’s ministries for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. “All the preparatory work we did – but it was a blessing we didn’t need them.   “However, if we had had a need for them, they would have been there,” McMillan continued. “It’s a good time to be a Southern … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Press NEW ORLEANS, La. (BP)--Grant Ethridge, senior pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Hampton, Va., will be nominated as president of the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference at its June 12-13 meeting in Phoenix, Louisiana pastor Fred Luter Jr. has announced. [img_assist|nid=7358|title=Grant Ethridge|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=67|height=100]"Dr. Ethridge has been a pastor for over 27 years, serving churches in Georgia, Arkansas and Virginia," Luter, senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, said in a statement to Baptist Press May 20. Ethridge is a former president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. "Under his leadership, Liberty has grown to five worship services each Sunday," Luter said of the 6,000-plus-member church Ethridge has led the past five years. "In order to accommodate the crowds on Easter weekend 2011 the church had nine services." Liberty has received designations as one of the top 100 fastest-growing churches in the U.S., Luter stated, and has been a leading church in the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia convention in Cooperative Program giving, in giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and in baptisms. "With the … [Read more...]

By Rayna Pittman, Special to the Message   [img_assist|nid=7361|title=Spreading the Word|desc=Pastor Gonzalo Rodriguez, shown delivering his sermon, has seen the congregation of Good Shepherd Baptist Church grow to 600 strong. It is projected to jump to 1,000 by year’s end.|link=none|align=left|width=91|height=100]METAIRIE – “Dios le bendiga” fills the air as members of Good Shepherd Baptist Hispanic Church head to their unofficially assigned pews on Sunday mornings.   As they bless one another in the name of God and prepare their hearts for worship, the outside world takes a back seat. But in a Hispanic congregation such as this one, certain issues preoccupy the minds of worshippers and even make their way into the corporate prayer time. As Pastor Gonzalo Rodriguez delivers the sermon, he is mindful that someone in his audience may be an undocumented resident who lives with the fear of deportation.   “We all are welcome here before God’s throne,” Rodriguez said. “He loves us all equally.”   While the Senate works to reintroduce the DREAM Act, which would give undocumented young people who plan to attend college or join the military a path to legal status, buried beneath the political … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor   The theological system known as Calvinism has long been a catalyst for controversy. The debate, though not new, seems to have gained new vigor in the Southern Baptist Convention in recent years.   “This is an old discussion,” Paige Patterson said during a discussion on Calvinism at the 2006 SBC Annual Meeting in Greensboro, N.C. “It’s a discussion that predates Calvin. It is a discussion that predates Augustine. …,” Baptist Press reported Patterson as saying.   The president of Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, continued, “God’s people have always struggled to try to figure out what is it that God has done on one hand and what is it for which we are responsible on the other.”   The theological system developed by John Calvin in the early 1500s is best known for its five points that are summed up in the acronym TULIP. Each of the letters in the word represents a key doctrine of Calvin’s theology.   The ‘T’ represents “Total depravity.” This doctrine teaches that as a consequence of the fall of man into sin, every person born into the world is enslaved to sin.   The ‘U’ stands for “Unconditional election.” This teaching … [Read more...]

By Jim Law, Pastor First Baptist Gonzales   According to research by LifeWay, the chances are much higher today than they were 25 years ago that your future pastor will be a Calvinist. Quite frankly, this has a lot of Baptists scrambling and nervous.   With the surge in Calvinistic conviction, it wouldn’t surprise me if some pastor search committees begin to ask prospective pastoral candidates, “Are you a Calvinist?” before they query about conversion and call to ministry.   The conversation has become so acrimonious in some places that there has been more heat than light.  I have heard some speak of the resurgence of reformed thought much like the way one would describe a melanoma, and many see Calvinistic doctrine as a cancer in the body of Christ called Southern Baptists.   For this reason, I don’t want to be known by the term “Calvinist” at the cost of being called and known by infinitely greater names “Christian” and “Brother in Christ.”   However, in full disclosure, I am decidedly in the Reformed, Calvinistic, Doctrines of Grace camp. If labels and camps are inevitable, I am convinced from Scripture that what is commonly called the five points of Calvinism (with nuance) … [Read more...]

By Bill Warren, Professor of New Testament and Greek at NOBTS   Question: Why is the trinity so important for Christians to affirm?  Can’t we just believe in God? And isn’t the trinity like having three Gods?   Bill Warren responds: Let’s start thinking about this question with some background. The first Christians, being Jewish, were totally monotheistic, believing as the Shema from Deuteronomy. 6:4 notes: “The Lord our God is one.”   This was their starting point as they wrestled to understand their experience of God’s presence in Jesus. The struggle was not with being monotheistic and believing in the Holy Spirit since the Spirit was mentioned many times in the Old Testament and understood as the powerful presence of God working in this world.  Of course, they become even more “Spirit” conscious with their powerful experience at Pentecost and beyond.   But how did Jesus fit into this picture of God?   The trinity is the answer to that question and expresses something at the core of our Christian faith: When we follow Jesus, we have an encounter with God himself, for to walk with Jesus is to walk with God!   The height of explaining what the disciples experienced … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message   [img_assist|nid=7367|title=Duane McDaniel|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=68|height=100]NEW ORLEANS – Duane McDaniel, Executive Director of the New Orleans Baptist Association, died May 30 after suffering a massive stroke on May 21. He was 54 years old.   McDaniel is survived by his wife, Kathleen; four children, Mallory, 15; Matthew, 14; Keanu, 8; and Abby, 7; his mother, Margie McDaniel of McComb, Miss.; three brothers and numerous cousins, aunts and uncles. McDaniel was the son of the Percy Carl McDaniel, who predeceased him by 20 years.   During his not-quite-two-years at the helm of the urban Baptist association this is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, McDaniel set in place what he called “a holistic missional strategy for glorifying God by proclaiming the gospel in word and deed,” said Jack Hunter of the associational staff.   It was a three-pronged strategy involving compassions ministries, church planting and church health. Gospel-centered compassion ministries included Christian community health centers, volunteer urban mission projects, home repair projects, ministries to the homeless and more.   “Compassion … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message   PINEVILLE – Andrew Wilks, Kimberly Landry and Deborah Rogers were chosen to represent Louisiana at the National Youth and High School Bible Drill Competition at Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., folliwing the LBC’s Youth and High School Bible Drill, Xtreme Bible Challenge and Speakers’ tournament.   The four events were held May 6-7.   Wilks, a ninth grader at Trinity Baptist Church in Pineville, beat eight others in a drill off at the competition.   Joining Wilks will be Landry of Riverside in Denham Springs, and Rogers of Highland in Bogalusa.   Youth Bible Drill   7th Grade –There were 4 people recognized as winners in four 7th grade groups.  They were: Rachel Copeland-FBC, Gonzales; Robert Belmont-FBC, Covington; Carrie Ikerd-Trinity, Oak Grove; Mark Jones-Grace Memorial, Slidell.   8th Grade –There were 6 people recognized as winners in three 8th grade groups. They were: Thomas Gamble-FBC, Gonzales; Austin Meng-Temple, Ruston; Sadye Dudley-FBC, Lafayette; Abbi Wilson-FBC, Lafayette; Paige Nevels-FBC, Oak Grove; Lexie Barkley-Dunn,Dunn.   9th Grade – The first & second place winners of each of … [Read more...]

By Staff, NOBTS Communications   NEW ORLEANS – At least 13 students with Louisiana ties graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) this May. In total, the seminary graduated approximately 126 doctoral and graduate level students May, 14.   An additional 100 students graduated from NOBTS’ Leavell College, May13.   This year’s double ceremony marks the first time since Hurricane Katrina that the seminary had a graduation class too large to be accommodated in a single service.   Of those graduating in May, the following call Louisiana home:   Doctoral Degrees   Dwight Walter Munn, education pastor at First Baptist Church, West Monroe, doctor of ministry; Andrew Arthur, Leesville, received the doctor of philosophy; Mike Miller, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kenner, doctor of philosophy.   Graduate Degrees   Bob Lansing Jr., Baton Rouge,master of arts in Christian education degree; Stefanie M. Schneider, West Monroe,master of arts in Christian education; James Robert Barham, Oak Ridge, master of arts in marriage and family counseling; Sherrie Hutson, Prairieville, master of arts in marriage and family counseling; Keith Lavon … [Read more...]

By Erich Bridges, IMB Communications   DALLAS (BP) – IMB President Tom Elliff vows at the SBC annual meeting June 14-15 in Phoenix to challenge Southern Baptists to engage all of the estimated 3,800 people groups worldwide that still have not been touched by the Gospel.   “I intend to introduce at the 2011 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention a very simple plan by which each one of these 3,800 unengaged people groups can be embraced by a Southern Baptist congregation,” Elliff said.   “I believe we can accomplish this in one year. Just think about that for a moment. Should Jesus grant us the days, by the 2012 Southern Baptist Convention meeting, we would be able to say that to our knowledge, every people group on this globe has some church committed to take specific steps to strategize, to pray over, to learn about and discover some way that the Gospel witness can be shared with those people.”   [img_assist|nid=7371|title=Tom Elliff|desc=Missionaries are “your boots on the ground,” new IMB President Tom Elliff, says. But fulfilling the Great Commission is “going to require local churches … becoming burdened for the unengaged and the unreached of this world, signing on, … [Read more...]