[img_assist|nid=6046|title=White Castle First Baptist Pastor Greg Wilton and wife Abby hold a Saints helmet found while gutting houses after Katrina|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=67|height=100] By Paul F. South, NOBTS Communications WHITE CASTLE, La. (BP) – As Super Bowl week dawned in New Orleans, Greg Wilton’s face and a tarnished replica Saints helmet graced the front page of the city’s newspaper, The Times-Picayune. Wilton, 27, tried to quell the buzz from family and friends, but this is no ordinary football helmet. And Wilton, bivocational pastor of First Baptist Church in White Castle, La., a town of 1,946 where bayous and sugarcane stalks likely outnumber people, is more than, as he puts it, “a guy with a helmet.” He’s a guy with a message to share. First, about the helmet, which Wilton hopes someday to return to its owner. Rewind to the spring of 2006, seven months after Hurricane Katrina. Wilton, then a new graduate student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, joined a group of collegians working through the seminary’s MissionLab program during spring break to gut houses in New Orleans’ devastated Upper Ninth Ward, one of the Crescent City’s hardest-hit areas by post-Katrina flooding. As they … [Read more...]

by Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor RUSTON – Members of Cook Baptist Church signed up for back-to-back, two-hour time slots recently, for the opportunity of reading the Bible aloud. Families, Sunday school classes and other small groups, as well as individuals, sat in the foyer of the church a half-mile north of Interstate-20, and read from where the last person left off. It took 79 and one-half hours for 100 people to read from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 in the New King James version. “We wanted to make a statement that America needs to return to hearing God,” said Mike Holloway, pastor since 2005 of Cook Ruston. “We want people across America to Hear God Speak – that’s the name we gave it – hear God speak to their hearts about their morals and lifestyles. “I wanted it in the foyer for a purpose, in front of those big windows,” Holloway said. “It was making a statement for everybody driving by, even at 2 in the morning, to see that we’re going back to hear God speak. It was a direct message to the world that we need to hear God again. We’re just calling America back – to the church first and also to America – to hear God speak.” Holloway said he hopes other churches across Louisiana and across the … [Read more...]

If a motorcycle rider was 100 percent sold out to Jesus, what would he or she look like? Groups of men and women around our nation are attempting to demonstrate this through motorcycle ministries. Motorcycle riders were once considered rebellious and less than reputable individuals. However, today, the rider cruising down Main Street just might be your doctor, accountant, schoolteacher or minister. The number of registered motorcycles continues to rise, with more than 4 million today on the road in the U.S. Here’s another interesting statistic: all 4 million riders need Jesus. Whether someone has tattoos or tab collars, he or she needs a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Some churches are actively seeking to engage this particular culture with the claims of Christ. The apostle Paul said, “I do all [things] because of the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:23). His goal was to engage a segment of culture without compromising the integrity of Christianity. Instead of a “whatever it takes” mindset, his was a “whatever does not compromise the faith” mindset. Just as Paul said, “I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some,” he also followed with these words, “I discipline my body and bring … [Read more...]

By Andy Johnson, Pastor Cross Roads Baptist Church, Farmerville There are many things that come to mind when the word “Evangelism” is mentioned. Some think of a dynamic orator who preaches with fervency. Others focus only on door-to-door witnessing. Evangelism, however, is so much more. [img_assist|nid=6053|title=Andy Johnson, Pastor Cross Roads Baptist Church, Farmerville|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]Evangelism is a lifestyle that begins with a passion to win lost souls to Christ by any means necessary. Being an effective evangelist may require a total life change. It has been said that you can judge a man’s character by the company he keeps. I disagree. Jesus was a man of extraordinary character, yet He spent time with people the religious establishment of His time considered outcasts and sinners. Jesus even had a thief, a denier, a doubter, and those who jockeyed for position in God’s Kingdom as His inner circle of friends. He even had fair weather friends; all but one of His closest friends deserted Him when He was crucified at Calvary. In the end, we see that Christ’s refusal to disband them from His cabinet was the thing that turned the world upside down. It was Jesus’ fickle and flawed … [Read more...]

By H. P. Tarpley, retired pastor Pollock, La. “He that winneth souls is wise,” declares the Bible in Proverbs 11:30. Jesus said that his overriding mission was to “seek and to save that which was lost.” And his greatest teaching to his disciples was “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The aforementioned statements lead me to believe that sharing the gospel should be the top priority for followers of Jesus Christ.  Now that I have reached senior status, I never hesitate to share the gospel. As a result of a God-given courage I have been privileged to see a number of people in their 70s and 80s trust Christ for salvation. The Bible makes it clear the height of divine wisdom is revealed in those who seek to win lost souls to Christ. That truth leads me to ask the question: ‘Why is a person who wins souls considered wise? First, it is because they save a person from hell. In one of Jesus’ most well-known parables, a rich man died and went to hell and Lazarus died and went to heaven. When someone dies we bury bodies, but we do not bury people. They exist somewhere for eternity. A second reason a soul winner is wise is because he or she is doing the will of God. In the Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28, … [Read more...]

By Jason Hiles, Assistant Professor of Christian Studies Louisiana College [img_assist|nid=6011|title=Jason Hiles Professor of Christian Studies Louisiana College|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=78|height=100]The narrative of Daniel begins in the third year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, which is the year that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, captured Jerusalem and carried many of its inhabitants into exile. Among the captives were a number of young men who had no obvious faults, were handsome, and had obtained a measure of wisdom that apparently drew the Babylonians’ attention (Daniel 1:4a). In short, the victorious king took for himself the cream of the crop from among Judah’s youth, robbing an entire generation of its future leaders and wise men. Once chosen, the young men were taken into the king’s palace where they were educated in the literature and language of their captors (Daniel 1:4b). Babylonian literature, as archaeology makes clear, was in no way religiously neutral. The mythology of Babylon was saturated with references to the gods Bel, Nebo, and Marduk, to name a few. The king’s servants even required that the young captives study these writings in the Babylonian tongue so that they would not miss the … [Read more...]

By Archie England, PH.D., NOBTS Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew [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]Question: What love is this? God provided a sacrifice. Read Genesis 15-22 for the Old Testament part of this story. Archie England responds: Abram and Sarai had a son, Ishmael, by her servant Hagar. Abram loved Ishmael, so much so that he sought God’s blessing for him. Later, Abram exhibited serious concern over casting out Hagar and Ishmael. Then came Issac. The long-awaited son of blessing, a son of laughter, had arrived. God had kept His word; Abraham and Sarah had the promised son. Then came the day God required a particular sacrifice at a particular place. The promised son was to be offered as a burnt offering. The blessing of that son so long awaited was soon to become a heart-wrenching burden – great loss. This beloved child, conceived and birthed by a mother beyond her years of childbearing, would now be slaughtered as a sacrifice. Every step of those three days traveling toward the mountain brought Abraham closer to the wretched act that his hands were to complete. “Stay here,” Abraham told the … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=6058|title=Paul Daily of Wild Horse Ministries and Andy Myrick team up at the 10th Annual Ropin for the Redeemer evangelist outreach|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=66] By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor MONROE – Northeast Louisiana Baptist Association mounts evangelistic campaigns throughout the year. Most recently – Feb. 6-7 – it was eighth annual Ropin’ for the Redeemer, a two-day event targeting country folks and wannabes. The day-long event included a space walk and slide for children and miniature horses from the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home. “We’re all here trying to reach the lost person who won’t come to church,” said Andy Myrick, evangelism and a traditional events team leader for the association, and pastor of Loch Arbor Baptist Church in Monroe. “We’re trying to reach out and touch the lives of everybody we can.” That includes cowboy events, 4-wheeling events, fishing events, women’s events and – on a much-smaller basis, and yet with potentially just as much impact, marriage events. Myrick first was named evangelism director in 1978.  He was in Morehouse Baptist Association then; 21 years ago he moved to Northeast Louisiana Baptist Association for the Loch Arbor … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby WEST MONROE and more – Northeast Baptist Association also ministers locally in many ways in addition to its evangelistic thrust, said Jerry Price, director of missions for NELBA and for Morehouse Baptist Association, which stretches upward to the Arkansas border. The Northeast Association focus on ministering through the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home, Baptist Collegiate Ministry at the University of Louisiana–Monroe, Northeast Baptist School in West Monroe, Truckstop Ministries, and the Ray of Hope ministry centers in Monroe and West Monroe. The association’s ethnic work reaches out to Chinese- and Hispanic-speaking people. A seminary extension center “ helps prepare church leaders for Kingdom Ministry,” the DOM added. “Ray of Hope is a food, clothing and household items distribution ministry,” said Price, director of missions since 2002. “They also have GED and seminary extension classes, counseling and other ways to assist people in need.” Mission Service Corps missionaries Michael and Karen Sammons are directors. “Two and a half tons of food are distributed weekly,” Price said. “More than 1,000 families are ministered to on a regular basis by the Ray of Hope centers in Monroe and West … [Read more...]

By Michelle Louviere, Director of Counselilng Celebration Church, Metairie [img_assist|nid=6061|title=Michele Louviere, director of counseling, Celebration Church, Metairie|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=90]Question: Overall, I have a good relationship with my spouse, but we struggle with handling conflict. Having a bad argument can quickly rob us of our feelings of closeness. Can you help us? Michelle Louviere responds: Handling conflict is a challenge for all couples. In a few moments, a couple can go from being intimate to feeling frustrated, isolated and wounded. Unresolved conflict can lead to a couple building walls of protection around their hearts that can eventually result in a broken relationship. Learning how to resolve conflict in healthy ways is a key component for success in a relationship. Dr. Sharon Morris May has written a book called How to Argue So that Your Spouse Listens that provides great insight into healthy conflict resolution. One concept that she addresses in her book is the principle of creating a “safe haven” in your relationship. Your relationship with your spouse should be a safe place, where you are able to address and find solutions for any challenges that you face. … [Read more...]