Submitted by philip on Mon, 05/19/2014 - 09:31 The Heart Gallery, a display of photographs of Louisiana children available for adoption out of the state foster care system, attracted attention at the “Wait No More” adoption conference held at Istrouma Baptist Church on May 10, in Baton Rouge. By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter BATON ROUGE – More than 300 children in Louisiana state foster care are waiting for adoption and almost that many people attended a “Wait No More” conference to do something about it. Dewayne and Sharon Smith of Slidell want to foster and/or adopt a little girl while Billy and Tessie Grigg of Gonzales want a baby. Buford and Lisa Quick, also of Gonzales, are praying about an older child or a teenager. The Smiths and Griggs and Quicks were just three of more than 100 families and couples who attended the “Wait No More: Finding Families for Louisiana’s Waiting Kids,” conference, sponsored by the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries, Focus on the Family, the Louisiana Family Forum and the state Department of Children and Family Services and hosted May 10 by Istrouma Baptist Church. Testimonies from two women who grew up in foster care, a man who has adopted several children … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist MessageNEW ORLEANS – The Louisiana Supreme Court denied a writ application to review the decisions of the Ninth Judicial District Court and the Third Circuit of Appeals wherein both courts found in favor of Louisiana College in a suit brought against the school by former professors.   The decision by the Supreme Court, rendered on April 8, to not review the case represents the fourth time a court has decided in favor of LC in a lawsuit originally filed in 2005 by Carlton L. Winbery, Fredrick L. Downing, James R. Heath and Connie R. Douglas. The former LC professors filed suit against LC alleging loss of academic freedom and infliction of emotional distress. In the original ruling rendered on March 28, 2012, Judge Mary Lauve Doggett of the Ninth Judicial Court wrote: “Under the establishment Clause, the consideration is whether the issues which the Court will have to resolve will necessarily turn upon competing interpretations of religion, thus resulting in the Court becoming entangled in an ecclesiastical dispute.” The Judge continued, “The ‘Entanglement Doctrine’ provides that a court must decline jurisdiction over a lawsuit when the dispute is so intertwined with matters of religion that a proper … [Read more...]

Pineville – Beginning with the Fall 2014 semester, Louisiana College is partnering with Northwestern State University’s Army ROTC in order to provide LC students the opportunity to serve our country as commissioned United States Army officers. Lt. Col. “Macky” Underwood, professor of military science, said, “ROTC is one of the best leadership courses in the world at preparing young people for long term success. “Present at over 1300 campuses across the nation, it ensures the officers corps of the Army reflects the diversity that makes America great,” he said. “I am thrilled to be able to offer the students of Louisiana College the opportunity to participate in ROTC.” Army ROTC is a cooperative program that allows the student to continue their education at LC while they take one Army ROTC class and lab per semester at NSU, the host ROTC institution. “This is a tremendous opportunity for Louisiana College students. The Army ROTC program is an exceptional program designed to select, train, and produce the future leadership of the United States Army, Army Reserves, or the Army National Guard,” said Andrew Magee, Coordinator for the Criminal Justice Department at Louisiana College. … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MONROE – The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home has launched a new tool to help families and churches answer the call to minister to orphans through foster care, adoptions and orphan care ministries. Unveiled at a recent adoption and foster care conference at Istrouma Baptist church in Baton Rouge, Connect 1:27 offers individuals and churches a toolkit to be a “helper to the orphan.” The toolkit includes an orphan ministry guide, the theology of adoption, an orphan care sermon, Bible study and prayer guides, adoption options, a foster care and adoption parent guide and “Fields of the Fatherless” by Tom Davis. Churches will have access to online resources available only to Connect 1:27 Network members and will receive a monthly Connect 1:27 e-newsletter. Connect 1:27 is based on God’s command of James 1:27 – Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. A day before the conference took place, Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home President and Chief Executive Officer Perry Hancock told trustees that Connect 1:27 is the next phase of the organization’s foster care and … [Read more...]

By Philip Timothy, Managing Editor ALEXANDRIA – The first products of the Louisiana Baptist Message publishing arm Message Books are finally moving toward publication. Two books will be available by the end of the year, one by Joe McKeever and a second representing contributions by a variety of authors, many from Louisiana, led by Adam Harwood, McFarland Chair of Theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. McKeever, is well known to Louisiana Baptists as a preacher, director of missions and cartoonist. “I am not going to make any excuses but we are not as far along in the process as I would have hoped,” Boggs said. “We had hoped to have both books published by now. But a variety of issues has contributed to the delay.” The Message board unanimously approved the creation of Message Books at its December meeting. “We are lagging a little behind in a few our projections, Boggs said in reference to the financial statement, “but a lot of things can change between now and our next meeting. We want to see what kind of revenue stream these two books produce,” he told the board. “Though costs, such as printing and postage, continue to increase we are committed to navigating the situation before us,” Boggs said. He also … [Read more...]

By David Jeremiah, Pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church Just as a frame of reference for this article, let’s step back from the American cultural forest and identify four distinct varieties of trees that have grown up in post-World War II America: Baby Boomers: born from the mid-1940s to mid-1960s; grew up in a prosperous post-war society; sometimes referred to as the “Me” Generation. Generation X: children of the Baby Boomers, born from the early 1960s to the late 1970s; raised in post-Vietnam, unsettled society; looking to find their way. Generation Y: born from mid-1970s to early 2000s; raised in the early days of the digital-technology revolution; sometimes referred to as the “Millennials.” Generation Z: born from early 1990s to late 2000s; raised with digital tools and toys; live a wholly connected lifestyle that transcends geography; digital information explosion has created awareness of and participation in causes at the local, national and international levels.   … [Read more...]

By Erich Bridges, IMB Global Correspondent I had to sympathize with rock singer Bono when he discovered he was uncool. Uncool? The frontman for supergroup U2, one of the biggest bands in the world? The activist who travels the globe and meets with kings and presidents? The guy so hip he probably wears his trademark designer shades in the shower? Yep. Uncool. He learned the hard truth a few years ago from his teenage daughters. First off, to teenage daughters a dad is uncool by definition, especially if he’s pushing 50 (Bono was 48 at the time). But they were particularly mortified when he droned on and on about global issues while some other celebs were visiting their home. Bono overheard one daughter telling the other, “He’s probably boring their [pants] off talking about Africa.” Actually, he admitted, “I probably was.” The horror. I can relate. In truth, I’ve been uncool so long that I no longer know (or care) what is cool. I haven’t even heard the bands that were topping the charts 10 years ago, much less the ones with the most iTunes downloads now. On the plus side, there’s liberation in being terminally uncool. You don’t have to watch trends anxiously and waste a lot of time and money trying to keep up with fads. … [Read more...]

By Jeff Iorg, President of Golden Gate Seminary Donald Sterling, owner of the National Basketball League’s Los Angeles Clippers, was recently banned from the NBA for making racist comments to his mistress. This action by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been widely applauded in popular media. I work in a pluralistic, multi-ethnic environment (we have been called the most multicultural seminary in the world), so I have followed the whole episode with considerable interest. While Sterling’s racism is offensive and deserves condemnation, the overall public response has intrigued me – particularly with respect to three issues. First, Sterling made his comments to his girlfriend – while he is still married. While his racism was rightly condemned as immoral, I have yet to hear media leaders condemn Sterling for his open, arrogant adultery. One radio commentator, when asked about this issue, opined “all rich men have mistresses so that’s really not an issue.” Apparently, adultery is acceptable – just as long as you are not a racist adulterer. Second, Sterling’s comments resulted in his being banned from owning a business. Sounds good on the surface, but is that really a position you support? During the Civil Rights Movement, … [Read more...]

To The Editor Like most Louisiana Baptists, I have followed the recent events at Louisiana College with much concern and a certain degree of embarrassment. I had not intended to enter the ‘fray,’ but feel compelled to respond to the May 8 issue of The Baptist Message. The priesthood of the believer is basic to Baptist belief and tradition.  If a brother differs on a doctrinal position, we disagree ‘agreeably’ and continue to fellowship and work together. I read with disbelief and sadness that Pastor Jay Adkins listed as one of his reasons in calling for Dr. Hankins’ resignation is the fact that Dr. Hankins holds a different view of Calvinism than does Adkins. I am very concerned that someone would call for a resignation because of a difference in doctrinal position.  This is in direct opposition to Baptist belief and practice. As to the other two points accusing Dr. Hankins of undue influence on the LC Trustees and behind the scenes manipulation, I offer testimony from my own personal experience. I served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home from January 2008 to December 2013.  The last two years I served as Vice-President and President, respectively. To the best of my recollection, … [Read more...]