More than 200 volunteers from 12 states surrounded the piers and floor structure at 1800 Bartholomew Street in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward June 11 to witness the wall raising of the 41st home to be built as part of the Baptist Crossroads Project. NEW ORLEANS (BP – More than 200 volunteers from 12 states surrounded the piers and floor structure at 1800 Bartholomew Street in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward June 11 to witness the wall raising of the 41st home to be built as part of the Baptist Crossroads Project. Construction on the new home marks the beginning of a new chapter in the partnership between New Orleans’ Habitat for Humanity and the Baptist Crossroads Foundation. Initially, plans for the Baptist Crossroads Project included 40 homes in the Upper Ninth Ward. The initiative was the vision of David Crosby, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in New Orleans. In 2004, long before Hurricane Katrina, Crosby heard New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin say that home ownership is the most effective way of lifting a family out of poverty. Crosby prayed for guidance, and soon, he and his church began making plans to build 40 homes. The Baptist Crossroads Project was the result. In August 2006, just before the first anniversary of … [Read more...]

Drawing the last blue butterfly on a get well card, she looks around at her other inmates also making cards for WorldCrafts, a nonprofit and fair-trade ministry of Women’s Missionary Union, and remembers that dreadful day at the airport. BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  – Drawing the last blue butterfly on a get well card, she looks around at her other inmates also making cards for WorldCrafts, a nonprofit and fair-trade ministry of Women’s Missionary Union, and remembers that dreadful day at the airport. With the metal from the handcuffs digging into her skin, she begged the Ecuadorian police to believe her innocence, but they ignored her pleas. After pulverizing her luggage with an ice pick and finding a black rubber pouch, the police labeled her “guilty” and disregarded the mention of her boyfriend, the man who gave her the luggage. Fear enveloped her, hopelessness gripped her and anger permeated her. Several days prior to this incident, Tamara Johnston* was excited about this romantic vacation in Quito, Ecuador, with her boyfriend because they hadn’t seen each other in nine months. Although he lived in California for six years, he moved back to his birthplace in Columbia. Living in different countries made the relationship … [Read more...]

Girls in Action and Children in Action offer education and involvement opportunities for children in grades one through six.   Missions education and involvement for girls and children: Instills godly characteristics in children as leaders mentor and minister to them each week. Demonstrates to children how God is at work in the world through stories from the missions field. Encourages children to learn and apply the Bible to their lives. Exposes children to the power of prayer as they are taught how to pray for needs around them, missionaries, people groups, and missions in general. Cultivates a healthy curiosity as children learn about different cultures and religions and realize that all people need to know Jesus. Develops a biblical worldview with a global perspective—children learn how they should treat and respond to others locally and globally. Provides opportunities for children to be personally involved in missions—their lives are changed as they see the impact of ministering to others through missions. Helps children realize the importance of giving financially to support missions as they learn about the impact that giving makes through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®, Annie … [Read more...]

The first ever National Children’s Ministry Day promises to deliver active compassion as children are involved in missions projects across the country. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The first ever National Children’s Ministry Day promises to deliver active compassion as children are involved in missions projects across the country. On Saturday, February 16, 2008, all children’s groups in churches are encouraged to join with members of GA and Children in Action to actively serve in their communities for a one-day, concerted effort to minister and witness together. According to Mitzi Eaker, children’s ministry consultant for national WMU, children involved in GA and Children in Action actively learn about and do missions throughout the year, but the focus on children doing missions across the country on a designated, special day will “be exciting to see.” Hope for the Hungry is the theme for the 2008 day of ministry as children are encouraged to serve those who are in need of food and nourishment. Eaker said a focus on hunger was chosen because it is tangible need and is part of WMU’s focus on poverty through its Project HELP ministry. The focus Scripture verse is Isaiah 58:10a (NIrV): Work hard to feed hungry … [Read more...]

The Bangladeshi village of Dhaka was not on the volunteers’ itinerary. DHAKA, Bangladesh (BP) – Bright green rice fields surrounded the village. A barefoot man spread harvested rice on a plastic sheet to dry it in the sun. A woman tended to two infant goats born the previous day, while other women hand-embroidered shirts for their children. The Bangladeshi village was not on the volunteers’ itinerary. They had only stopped to take photos of some colorfully dyed fabric drying on lines strung along the railroad tracks. When South Carolina volunteer Nina Sexton went across the street to take pictures, the sound of the weaving looms drew her down a dirt path, across the tracks and into a small factory to take a few more photos. Making the most of the time, South Carolina pastors Lynn Peters and James Rodgers, together with two Bangladeshi Christians, gave out copies of the Gospel of Luke in the Bengali language to curious Muslims who gathered alongside the road. Peters then began asking a sharecropper about the yield of his rice harvests. Before long, Peters, Rodgers, Sexton and their two Bangladeshi friends were honored guests in the village. A table of fruit and caramelized rice was set before them. A boy shimmied up … [Read more...]

Barbara Dickson knows the ins and outs of being a director of missions in Louisiana probably as much or more than any other woman in the state. NATCHITOCHES – Barbara Dickson knows the ins and outs of being a director of missions in Louisiana probably as much or more than any other woman in the state. She’s actually done the job herself when her husband, Lee, director of missions for District Eight, a five-association area in West Central Louisiana, was called up to active duty military service, first in 1990 for Desert Storm, and then again in 2003 for the war with Iraq, she said. “Since I’d been working alongside Lee all those years, I was prepared,” she said. “I knew all the churches, pastors, and congregations.”  Dickson became DOM in 1978 when Barbara was working at the Frazier Medical Center in Many as a RN, she said. Their children, John and Linda, were both toddlers at the time, she recalled. “We asked the Lord to give us a house that would have two front entrances, so I could stay home with the kids and work as his secretary,” she said. The couple did the mission work out of their home until recently. The district office was opened in July 2006. Though Barbara had planned for her career to be in nursing, … [Read more...]

Fortunately for Ann Clark, children’s minister at Cook Baptist Church, the girls in vacation Bible school won. RUSTON – Fortunately for Ann Clark, children’s minister at Cook Baptist Church, the girls in vacation Bible school won. If the boys won, Clark says she would have lived up to her promise to kiss a goat, but since the girls won, it was  Pastor Mike Holloway who had the dubious honor of getting closer than nose-to-nose with a Nubian goat. “It wasn’t that bad,” Holloway said, grinning at the same time he was involuntarily wiping his mouth at the memory. “It helped that 200 kids and more than 100 adults were shouting, “Kiss The Goat!” In a contest to see whether boys or girls could bring in more money toward the goal of $1,500 for a mission project on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico, $1,756 was raised – over half by girls. “The other good news is that the church saw 45 children pray to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during VBS,” Holloway said. “If it takes kissing a goat to excite the kids about raising money for missions and for 45 children to get saved, then bring another goat next year!” In all, 225 youngsters from age 4 to grade 6 enrolled in Cook’s VBS. “One thing that helped … [Read more...]

It’s doubtful that many Christians remember the name “Nebo-Sarsekim” from reading the Old Testament, but thanks to an archaeological discovery at the British Museum, they may in the future. LONDON (BP) – It’s doubtful that many Christians remember the name “Nebo-Sarsekim” from reading the Old Testament, but thanks to an archaeological discovery at the British Museum, they may in the future. British Museum officials announced recently the discovery of a two-inch-wide, 2,500-year-old cuneiform tablet that contains details of a financial transaction by a “Nabu-sharrussu-ukin,” who is called in the tablet the “chief eunuch” of Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar. That’s the same person mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3 – although spelled differently in different translations –  as the chief officer of Nebuchadnezzar who was in Jerusalem when the Babylonians overtook the city around 587 B.C. Conservative biblical scholars say it’s another affirmation that the Bible is true – even in the smallest of details, such as names. Babylonian names notoriously are difficult to translate. The Holman Christian Standard and the New King James Version call him “Sarsechim.” The New International Version calls him “Nebo-Sarsekim” The small tablet … [Read more...]

A young couple – he with Louisiana roots – were among the 84 missionaries appointed in mid-July to serve with the other 5,100 missionaries representing the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. RICHMOND, VA. – A young couple – he with Louisiana roots – were among the 84 missionaries appointed in mid-July to serve with the other 5,100 missionaries representing the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. Crystal Anne and Jeremy William Nelson are to serve in South America. She will be involved in community outreach through their home; he will be involved in community outreach, development and ministry. Jeremy Nelson was born in Hammond, La. … [Read more...]

In his classic work 1984, George Orwell saw a day when government eventually would morph into a ubiquitous, all-seeing, all-controlling Big Brother. In his classic work 1984, George Orwell saw a day when government eventually would morph into a ubiquitous, all-seeing, all-controlling Big Brother. While the British author’s prognostication might have been off a few decades, his fictitious view of the future is slowly, but surely, becoming reality. Conservatives, liberals and libertarians don’t agree on much. However, there is one subject that most of them see eye-to-eye on, and that is our world is becoming more monitored and more regulated with each passing day. And while government isn’t always the culprit, we nonetheless are being watched. Surveillance cameras abound. Most of our movements can be traced by surveillance cameras strategically positioned in parking lots, stores and ATMs. If while going through airport security you are randomly selected or happen to have the tiniest bit of metal on you, you are going to be subjected to scrutiny just short of a strip search. And, depending on the circumstance, you might be asked to do that as well. Have you noticed the packaging on most items today? It takes special … [Read more...]