Do we love one another? Do we love our pastors? Do we genuinely care one for another? Do we care for the lost? Obviously, the list could go on and on, but the question remains, “do we love and care for one another?” Do we love one another? Do we love our pastors? Do we genuinely care one for another? Do we care for the lost? Obviously, the list could go on and on, but the question remains, “do we love and care for one another?” I have been greatly burdened in recent days. Our lost world, our lost continent, hurting churches and hurting pastors are crying out. A few days ago I had the opportunity to share Christ with a young man on an airplane. At that very moment, I had to decide whether to continue writing this article or talk to this young man. Obviously, I put the writing material down and spoke with this young man who is in desperate need of Christ. He, like our world, is looking for authenticity and for love. I point this out because I believe we often are making the wrong choice. Our witness is being diluted and energies expended on other activities, especially on internecine conflict. Church conflict is rampant. Seldom does a day go by that I do not receive a call for help from either a church, a pastor or … [Read more...]

It is a shame that it takes a disaster to bring a community together. It is a shame that it takes a disaster to bring a community together. Through my 42 years of living in hurricane-prone areas – including here in Louisiana – I have found that crisis causes strangers to become friends. People want to tell someone their story. A woman told me about how a group of disaster relief workers, mainly senior adults, came to her home, cleaned it and removed the debris after a hurricane. Suddenly, her neighbors, who had not helped anyone on their block, came out of their houses and started helping one another. She told me these older men and women brought hope from the Lord to her community. God uses committed followers of His to reach out to hurting people. People want and need to share what they are feeling when they go through a natural disaster or any kind of abnormal event. A chaplain once told me, “That which is mentionable, is manageable.” I was able to use the lessons I learned during the crisis of Hurricane Katrina when a tornado struck a nearby community. As I was taking photos and working on an article about the disaster, my heart became heavy for the people picking up the pieces of their lives. I … [Read more...]

Several hundred people each July attend Sunday School Week at Ridgecrest (N.C.) or Glorieta (N.M.) conference centers. STATEWIDE – Several hundred people each July attend Sunday School Week at Ridgecrest (N.C.) or Glorieta (N.M.) conference centers. Attendees at the conference centers owned by the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources include potential teachers, first-year teachers, long-time teachers, department directors, Sunday school directors, ministers of education and single-staff pastors. All have different needs related to small group Bible study, which are met in a wide variety of training sessions. “We want to help your Sunday school become more inviting,” says LifeWay’s website,www.lifeway.com/ridgecrest/events. “You will learn how to invigorate your learning environment, incorporate ideas to increase visitor “traffic,” intercede more effectively, invest in people, invite them to come, then involve them in fellowship, ministry and Bible study.” Many people, however, are unable to get away for this week of specialized training, so in August, the training comes to them. Some state conventions have one large training event. Louisiana has six, strategically scattered across the … [Read more...]

Vacation Bible School isn’t the only thing Southern Baptists do in the summer in Louisiana, but it’s the one thing that most churches do. Hebron Baptist did four of them! One at their church, one at Burning Bush in Walker, a congregation they’re helping rebuild, plus two out of state. STATEWIDE – Vacation Bible School isn’t the only thing Southern Baptists do in the summer in Louisiana, but it’s the one thing that most churches do. Hebron Baptist did four of them! One at their church, one at Burning Bush in Walker, a congregation they’re helping rebuild, plus two out of state. The alphabetical VBS report on this page and the next are incomplete, but with 161 churches reporting, out of about 1,600 across the state, a solid picture emerges of the value this summertime evangelistic event is to God’s Kingdom work. In all, 975 people made professions of faith at VBS this summer, in the reporting churches. This was not just children. Reports came in of adult workers and parents reached during Family Night. The largest VBS of the reporting churches was Trinity Lake Charles with an enrollment of 1,426, which included workers. Not far behind Trinity Lake Charles was Calvary Alexandria, with 1,404. Third largest was First … [Read more...]

COMINGS AND GOINGS Travis Turner, interim pastor at North Eunice Baptist, Eunice. Susan Emerson, principal of First Baptist Christian school, Lafayette. NEEDED Highland Park Monroe has an opening for a bivocational youth leader and a pianist. Call Larry Linson at 318.366.9449. Lake St. John Community Baptist Ferriday has a paid pianist position available. Contact Karl Wilson, pastor, at 318.757.0947 for information. CONCERTS AND RELATED EVENTS RAYNE – First Baptist is to host The Isaacs in concert at 6 p.m. Sunday Sept. 9. Love offering. Ben Pierce is pastor. LAFAYETTE – First Baptist is to host Michael W. Smith, Grammy and Dove award winner, in concert – a part of The Stand tour – at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6. Dennis Clark is minister of media andSteve Horn is pastor. SHREVEPORT – Pinecroft Baptist is to present the musical group Heaven Bound of Carthage, Texas, at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, followed by fellowship and watermelon. Marty J. Wright is pastor. ANNIVERSARIES AND CELEBRATIONS METAIRIE – Parkview Baptist has set its 50th anniversary celebration for Sept. 28 through Sept. 30. Former members are encouraged to attend. For information call 504.888.1153 or email50anniversary@parkviewbc.com. … [Read more...]

Milldale Baptist Church’s 16 acres of flatland will become site of a camp meeting Friday through Monday, Aug. 31 – Sept. 3. ZACHARY – Milldale Baptist Church’s 16 acres of flatland will become site of a camp meeting Friday through Monday, Aug. 31 – Sept. 3. It’s Milldale’s 44th annual Labor Day camp meeting. Some of the better-known evangelists across the nation will be speaking: Bill Britt, Jerry Chaddick, Malcolm Ellis, Sonny Holland, Danny Lovett, Joe Murray, Jeff Laborg, Luther Price, Philip Robertson, Sonny Simpson Jerry Spencer, Ken Fryer, Roger Haney and Jeremy Pruitt. “We believe we’ll have a visitation from God, that the blessings of God, the presence of God will be here,” says Jimmy Robertson, pastor emeritus of Milldale. The pastors and laypeople who participate in the camp meeting don’t have to even cook meals, Robertson added. They’re all provided, free of charge, and served cafeteria-style in an air-conditioned building. “We can house and feed 400 people on the grounds,” said Danny Greig, Milldale pastor and co-camp meeting director with Robertson. “We have a cook – Ed Robertson, Jimmy Robertson’s younger brother – who’s been with us for many years. He is, I think, the best cook in the world for … [Read more...]

Victoria Shephard was a journalism major living in the San Francisco Bay area. Even though she was interested in religious things, she wasn’t committed to any religion in particular. Editor’s note: www.gostudent.com is a website sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board. Victoria Shephard was a journalism major living in the San Francisco Bay area. Even though she was interested in religious things, she wasn’t committed to any religion in particular. “In January of 1996, I was praying for a friend of mine,” she remembers. “I decided to pray to his god, not mine. At the end of the prayer I asked God to reveal Himself to me.” The true God did choose to reveal Himself – online. One day Victoria came across a Christian newsgroup. After hanging around there for awhile, she asked the following question: “Just an informal question for y’all. In 100 words or less, why are you a Christian instead of something else? Why do you believe?” Of the many responses she got, one caught her eye. It was a succinct reply from Charles Scott, a guy living in British Columbia. And at the end of his reply he wrote, “Out of curiosity, why are you a pagan?” As they began to e-mail back and forth, she … [Read more...]

Bill Tober shares the gospel with thousands of people each year, including Muslims, Hindus, and atheists – without ever leaving his home. ADAMS, Tenn. – Bill Tober shares the gospel with thousands of people each year, including Muslims, Hindus, and atheists – without ever leaving his home. Tober is an “Internet chaplain,” fully endorsed by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, based in Alpharetta, Ga. The offerings and gifts you give your church help support missions through the Cooperative Program across North America through NAMB, and throughout the rest of the world through the International Mission Board. The Internet is the “new frontier in missions,” the cyber-chaplain says. While many senior adults shy away from the computer, Tober, who will be 75 in September, embraces the computer and the ministry opportunities it presents. Following retirement from the naval chaplaincy in 1992, Tober and his wife, Sally, moved to her homeplace in Adams, Tenn. While doing supply preaching in area churches, Tober began exploring the Internet, and quite frankly, he says, did not like what he was seeing, even in the early days. “I began going into chatrooms and saw them for what they were,” Tober related. … [Read more...]

Sunlight and shade paint tree-lined Seminary Place, the main artery through New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Faculty members tend to their yards. Down the road, the children of students slide and swing on the playground. Red brick and green grass make it seem as though nothing was ever out of place. NEW ORLEANS -- Sunlight and shade paint tree-lined Seminary Place, the main artery through New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Faculty members tend to their yards. Down the road, the children of students slide and swing on the playground. Red brick and green grass make it seem as though nothing was ever out of place. Members of the seminary family like doctoral student Billy Puckett know better. Puckett, 32, of Or-ange, Texas, returned to campus after Hurricane Katrina hit to find a lifeless campus of downed trees, mud, muck and mold. “It was as if you were in a black-and-white world,” Puckett said. “It was colorless. “There was gray mud and dirt all over campus. We didn’t see life anywhere.” And now? “There’s life. There’s color. You hear children laughing on the playground. There’s life here. I can walk out on my balcony and see it every day.” That long road to recovery, which seminary … [Read more...]