Louisiana Baptists are invited to submit names of nominees for service on state convention boards and committees and to submit resolutions for possible consideration for the 2010 Louisiana Baptist Convention. The Louisiana Baptist Committee on Committees is beginning work to nominate persons to serve on various state convention committees.  Currently, 19 nominees are needed for service on committees on Credentials, Louisiana Baptist History, Moral and Social Concerns, Nominations, Order of Business and Resolutions. Committee on Committees Chair is Richard Blue. In addition, the Louisiana Baptist Committee on Nominations is beginning work to fill vacancies on state boards. At this point, 13 nominees are needed to serve on the Convention Executive Board and as trustees of Louisiana College, the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries, the Baptist Message, and the Louisiana Baptist Foundation. The Committee on Nominations Chair is Carl Gulde. As in previous years, persons should submit names of nominees and the committee or board for which they are being nominated. Submissions should include information on the nominee’s church membership and current employment. Nominations should be submitted no later than … [Read more...]

By Philip Timothy, Message Staff Writer SHREVEPORT – Through the years, pastors have come together to pray for a variety of national, state, and convention-related issues. Now, Louisiana Baptist Convention President Rod Masteller is asking them to join him at Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport to pray for the single, most important concern today: the lost. [img_assist|nid=6139|title=Dr. Rod Masteller|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=61|height=100] On Aug. 9, all Louisiana pastors are invited to join Masteller and Bill Robertson, director of the Pastoral Leadership Team, at Summer Grove for an LBC-sponsored prayer meeting. The meeting will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. and the LBC will provide lunch. Lee Thomas, author of Effectively Praying for the Lost, will be the featured speaker. Masteller saw the need for the gathering of pastors after conducting seven statewide listening meetings and reading Thomas’ book. “I have never met Lee Thomas face to face, but I have talked with him many times,” Masteller said. “His book really spoke to my heart. I asked Bill [Robertson] and David [LBC Executive Director David Hankins] if they had ever read his book, and both said they had. They also agreed it was powerful. “I … [Read more...]

By Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor Springdale, Ark. For a few months, God has really been working in my life about what actions I need to take and our church needs to take to get the Gospel to the nations in a more effective manner. Serving as the Chairman of Southern Baptist’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has truly changed my life and ministry perspective. [img_assist|nid=6483|title=Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor First Baptist Springdale, Ark.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=67|height=100]I have been on national television for about 20 years. In fact, upon Richard Jackson’s retirement from the North Phoenix Church, I became the Invitation to Life preacher for the Southern Baptist Convention’s former Radio and Television Commission. Through the years, we have been on the former ACTS network, WGN in Chicago, and for the past several years, only on the DayStar Television Network, which is a growing national and international Christian Network out of Dallas, Texas. I announced to our congregation that for a season of time – two or three years or perhaps even longer – we are suspending our national and international television ministry in order to allocate more money to seeing the nations come to Christ through the … [Read more...]

By David Jeremiah, Senior Pastor Shadow Mountain El Cajon, Calif. [img_assist|nid=6109|title=David Jeremiah, Pastor Shadow Mountain El Cajon, California|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=83|height=100]God doesn’t take the majority of His workers from the ranks of the wise, mighty or noble. First Corinthians 1:26 says, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” Continuing in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen.” Paul says to get His job done, God uses things which are foolish, things which are weak, things which are base, things which are despised. THE FOOLISH God is able to work through the non-intellectual things in this world. D. L. Moody was an uneducated and uncultured man. With no educational advantages, he established the Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute, the Moody radio stations, and the list goes on. He’s an excellent example of how God’s power is not resident in our … [Read more...]

By Steve Lemke, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Provost [img_assist|nid=6339|title=Steve Lemke, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Provost|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]In this series of articles about the biblical reasons supporting the security of the believer, we have already seen four reasons that we cannot lose our salvation: 1 because salvation is not ours to lose since God provides it, not we ourselves, 2 – because it is based upon a life-changing salvation experience with God, 3 – because eternal salvation is a Scriptural promise, and 4 – because eternal salvation is a logical necessity. This week we look at a fifth reason from Ephesians 1 and other Scriptures that we can have confidence we cannot lose our salvation – because it is based on an unchanging status of relationship. One of the most fundamental confusions about the security of the believer is that it is earned by good works. Some teach that if we keep persevering with good works that we will eventually be saved. Yes, if we are truly saved, we will demonstrate it: bear fruit consistent with repentance (Matthew 3:8, HCSB; see also Acts 26:20).  But we are not saved by our continuing in good works.  We continue in … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=6013|title=Archie England PH D NOBTS Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=73|height=100]Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, many similarly ask, “How is this relevant for us today?” Too often a question I field about the Old Testament. If it is so relevant (and it is) why then do believers intentionally avoid so much of the Old Testament? Since all the Bible is the authoritative, inspired Word of God, all should be studied. Otherwise, biblical literacy will wane, becoming dwarfed by a radical, passionate praxis based upon a ever-dwindling knowledge of God’s word. To answer this question, I use four major periods of the Old Testament to show how it genuinely prepares a person to understand the message and meaning of the New Testament. This organization focuses upon periods, people, and major ideas/themes. The first period begins with Abraham and ends with Moses. During this time (ca. 1900-1400 BC) God establishes the covenant (Genesis 15) with one person. Moses functionally closes the period with the giving of the Law. But law here is best understood as covenant instruction (which Israelites call Torah). This law of the covenant becomes foundational, in … [Read more...]

By Karen Willoughby, Managing Editor SICILY ISLAND, CROWLEY, MONROE/WEST MONROE, CALHOUN – In his famous “I have a dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. articulated his hope that one day character would matter more than ethnicity. Some have been content to simply wait for the Civil Rights leader’s vision to materialize. There are pastors in Louisiana, however, who have decided to do something to make Kings’s dream a reality. “This area has been controversial between races over the years,” said James Gass, pastor for the last three years at First Baptist Church of Sicily Island, in Ouachita Baptist Association. “My hope was that if nothing else, this crusade would bring us together on common ground, and I believe it did.” This spring, churches and groups of churches across Louisiana worked together to bring racial and community reconciliation. This article looks at four of those events. SICILY ISLAND About 500 people – 55 percent black – live in the village of Sicily Island. Perhaps 98 percent of the people who live in the 100 or more homes nearby – around the recreational Lake Louis – remain unchurched, Gass said. He has worked hard over the last three years to become part of the community, because that’s … [Read more...]

By Quinn Lavespere, Message Summer Staff Writer [img_assist|nid=6490|title=Established in 1835, First Baptist Church of Jackson recently celebrated its 175th anniversary|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]JACKSON – In the heart of the Felicianas nestles a church that recently celebrated with dinner on the grounds its Sunday morning worship, annual homecoming, the 149th anniversary of its sanctuary, and the 175th anniversary of the founding of the church in 1835. Joe Nesom has been pastor for the last 27 years. [img_assist|nid=6491|title=Joe Nesom has been pastor of First Baptist Jackson for the last 27 years.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]“First Baptist Jackson continues to have the same purpose as the church did in 1835,” Nesom said. “We are seeking the ‘glory of God and the good of souls,’ as the first covenant of the church stated.” About 200 people participated in the June 27 celebration. In addition to worship and recognition of guests from near and far, note was made of the church’s history. “Through the years First Baptist has supported the work of God’s Kingdom by prayer and by support of missions through agencies such as the Triennial Convention and through the Southern Baptist … [Read more...]

By Diana Chandler, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS – Emily McIlwain won’t share many details of her baptism. Instead, the eight-year-old smiles and shyly seeks cover behind her mother as she relates how Calvary Baptist Senior Pastor Michael Carney placed her in the water two years ago. What made Emily’s experience so different from other Southern Baptist baptisms is that her parents Tammy and Allen McIlwain were in the pool with Emily. In fact, they baptized her themselves. [img_assist|nid=6492|title=Calvary Baptist Senior Pastor Michael Carney involves baptized family members in baptisms of new converts|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=100]    “I was probably the first mom to be in there,” McIlwain said. “It just gave me comfort to be able to be in the water with her and make her feel comfortable. “As we baptized her it was awesome. We might have been the first ones in the church to do that, just since Pastor Michael has come on.” Involving baptized family members in the baptisms of new converts is one of the ways Carney develops a family atmosphere at the growing church. “We want it to be a church family process,” Carney said of baptisms. “I am there in the pool as pastor. I counsel with the parents … [Read more...]