Cardiologist M.L. Godley, chief of staff at the LSU Medical Center in Pineville, made small talk with a camo-clothed lad not yet 3 years old, and to honor the attention, young Devyn Fitt proudly showed the doctor the toy truck he was taking good care of. GLENMORA – Cardiologist M.L. Godley, chief of staff at the LSU Medical Center in Pineville, made small talk with a camo-clothed lad not yet 3 years old, and to honor the attention, young Devyn Fitt proudly showed the doctor the toy truck he was taking good care of. The physician’s body language and gentle touch spoke of his care for the dozen patients he was seeing this dark Thursday night in a 20x40 unmarked wooden building in what seemed to be deep into timber country, even though it was just seven miles off the nearest highway. The time Dr. Godley took with each patient spoke of his concern that they felt their medical needs had been adequately addressed. “I do this as a volunteer, to help people,” Dr. Godley said. “That’s why I became a doctor – to help people.” The prominent cardiologist was volunteering this mid-January Thursday night at the Amiable Medical Clinic, a ministry of Amiable Baptist Church in Rapides Parish, about 30 minutes southwest of … [Read more...]

Giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions topped $58 million for the first time ever in 2006, exceeding last year’s goal by more than $2 million.     TALLADEGA, Ala. (BP) – Giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions topped $58 million for the first time ever in 2006, exceeding last year’s goal by more than $2 million.   Carlos Ferrer, North American Mission Board interim executive vice president for missionary services, shared the news with national and state leaders of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), gathered for their board meeting at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega, Ala.   "Today, we want to express our gratitude to all Southern Baptists who so generously shared their resources with us so even more can go to missions in North America," Ferrer told the group Jan. 15. "In addition, I want to tell our friends at WMU a special thank you for everything you do each year to promote the offering. We know your support is critical to our success."   Ferrer reported that because of the increased offering NAMB will be consulting with state convention partners to put additional missions resources on the field in 2007.   "We want you to … [Read more...]

Rising insurance costs are not news. Insurance refunds are. BATON ROUGE – Rising insurance costs are not news. Insurance refunds are. Last year many individuals and institutions in Louisiana paid a special surcharge on their property insurance. The assessment was to fund the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Program. Churches were not spared the surcharge. This year those individuals and institutions, including most churches, who paid the special surcharges can get them back. The Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is a state-sponsored nonprofit organization that provides property insurance to individuals and institutions who cannot secure property insurance on the open insurance market. These properties are usually “high-risk,” such as those in coastal areas of the state. As a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana Citizens encountered $850 million in charges which created a significant deficit. Louisiana Citizens then levied an assessment on each property insurer doing business in Louisiana as allowed by state law. Most insurance companies then passed on some or all of their assessment to effected individual and commercial policy holders in the form of … [Read more...]

First Baptist here plans to present Last Chance, a multi-media live drama Jan. 28-30, as an evangelical crusade in the community, said pastor Shelby Cowling. HAYNESVILLE – First Baptist here plans to present Last Chance, a multi-media live drama Jan. 28-30, as an evangelical crusade in the community, said pastor Shelby Cowling. The same company that produces Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames – Reality Outreach Ministries;www.realityoutreach.org – now has another drama with which to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last Chance centers on a grandfather’s descendants and their spiritual and eternal values. It is performed with the church congregation as cast members, and includes professional lighting, sound, projectors, screens, visual effects, staging and sets, according to the website. It’s A “PG-13” drama – the website suggests youngsters might be too young for the graphic imagery – that depicts the love of Christ, and the faith and hope of a grandfather in the lives of his family over the course of 20 years. “The audience is challenged over three presentation nights to consider where they will spend eternity, based on the biblical reality of life after death and beyond the grave,” according to the website, which … [Read more...]

A $30 check from a teenager gave Willie Breaux new hope to keep on going. NEW ORLEANS – A $30 check from a teenager gave Willie Breaux new hope to keep on going. Breaux has been pastor of Christian Fellowship Cathedral in East New Orleans since he started it in 1986. Pre-Katrina the church gave out food and clothing in the neighborhood, and had a job training and development program for high school students. But the church God entrusted to him took in 4.5 feet of water after Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught; his home had 10 feet of water and the wind took off all the shingles; his mother’s home had 8.5 feet of water. “Most people go back to deal with one situation; I had to deal with three,” Breaux said. He’d also lost most of his 50-member congregation; those left had overwhelming needs themselves. Toneyell Shropshire was one of his members who relocated; she and her family to Dothan,  Ala. “This is Toneyell sending you a little bit for you and our church,” she wrote him. “I know that it is not much but I just wanted to show you that I believe in you. I know $30 can’t do a lot but I just want to try and help.” That check buoyed him when he needed it, Breaux said. “When the scriptures talk about barren land, … [Read more...]

In December Tim Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Louisiana College appointed two task forces to study the feasibility of adding three new programs – a law school, an allied health center and a master’s degree in nursing – to the 70 majors, minors and pre-professional programs the college already offers. PINEVILLE – In December Tim Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Louisiana College appointed two task forces to study the feasibility of adding three new programs – a law school, an allied health center and a master’s degree in nursing – to the 70 majors, minors and pre-professional programs the college already offers. Johnson is ex-officio on all of the task forces, which he said he expects to be up and running by this March. “We will be relying on private and individual funding” for all of the additional programs, Johnson said. Already, alumni and others have show interest in supporting both the law school and the allied health center, Aguillard said. The task force for the allied health center and the master’s in nursing includes members from LC’s board of trustees, health care professionals, including representatives from St. Frances Cabrini Hospital and Rapides Regional Medical Center, as … [Read more...]

Pastor Ronnie Bray baptizes new believers in a horse trough at the B.C. Haley Tater Barn here.     KILBOURNE — Pastor Ronnie Bray baptizes new believers in a horse trough at the B.C. Haley Tater Barn here.   At 51, Bray has been preaching since he was 16 and was in his first pastorate at 18. Now, pastor of First Baptist Kilbourne and of Cross Trails Cowboy Church, he said he’s had a lot of good times and a lot of good ministry.   "But this is by far the most fun I’ve had in a ministry in my life. It’s changed a lot of people, including me. It’s been a wonderful deal."   Bray, who pastored in Olla, La., before coming to Kilbourne, had felt for a year or more that he needed to start something like a cowboy church, he said. But he never felt the Lord was putting things in place for the idea to become a reality.   Then, after moving to Kilbourne, Bray thought the idea might have seen its end, he said. However, after a couple of weeks of driving around the area and seeing all the cows and horses, he began to talk to people, finding out that many didn’t go to church anywhere.   "I began to feel like that’s what the Lord wanted me to do," Bray said. When he mentioned the idea of a cowboy church to some other men, … [Read more...]

It wasn’t the first time J.L. Franklin had been to an evangelism conference, but last January’s Louisiana Evangelism Conference got his attention, said the pastor of Bethel Metropolitan Church. LAKE CHARLES – It wasn’t the first time J.L. Franklin had been to an evangelism conference, but last January’s Louisiana Evangelism Conference got his attention, said the pastor of Bethel Metropolitan Church. Now, everything is different. “If there’s any one thing that’s important, it’s to have a hunger for what God has, a hunger for lost souls,” Franklin said. “The real priority is the Great Commission, and as a pastor, it starts with me. I need to get the leaders praying for that hunger.” Bethel Metropolitan is across the street from a high school and elementary school;  firefighters and police are housed nearby, on a main thoroughfare. But until the evangelism conference, the evangelistic opportunity inherent in the location hadn’t registered. Franklin recently completed his fourth term as a school board member, but during the five times in those four years that he walked the streets, knocking on doors for school board business, he didn’t think of evangelistic possibilities – until the … [Read more...]

Stan Johnson and his wife Patti had been members of Immanuel Baptist Church in Hammond for 14 years when they felt God calling them to something new. HAMMOND —Stan Johnson and his wife Patti had been members of Immanuel Baptist Church in Hammond for 14 years when they felt God calling them to something new: Crossroads Community Church, a new church plant designed to reach “a community that was in desperate need of a church to communicate an ancient message in contemporary ways,” according to the church’s website. The new church plant is designed to reach a growing younger generation, aged, 18-34 who would likely never darken the doorway of a traditional church, said Stan. Many have labeled this age group “postmodern.” “I don’t know what postmodern is; all I know is I’m not that,” Johnson joked. “The only reason I qualified was that they averaged my chronological age with my mental age.” Johnson will be 60 in March, he said, which makes him the oldest man at Crossroads, though one other person is older, a lady who is 65. But the lightheartedness belies the passion that spills over when Johnson begins talking about the need to reach a generation that he says is slipping through the … [Read more...]

Ministers, and all who live visibly for Christ, spend their days handling spiritual dynamite, carrying about in their words and deeds that which is eternally radioactive. Ministers, and all who live visibly for Christ, spend their days handling spiritual dynamite, carrying about in their words and deeds that which is eternally radioactive. We speak of God in familiar terms and pray as if in conversation with a neighbor. We claim that the One who created and now sustains the vast light years of space is our Confidant. We are personal spokesmen for the One who is Ruler Over All. This is terrifyingly wonderful. Years ago a young pastor called me in a panic. He was driving down a long, empty highway in the western United States when it dawned on him what it meant to stand before people, Bible in hand, and speak something from and about God. He trembled as he spoke with me and then asked, “How can I, knowing what I know about myself, even think about standing to read the sacred Word of God to His beloved children?” He was awakening to the near presence of Jesus, not as a set of truths or a carefully orchestrated set of emotions, but as the living One who was Eternal God present with him. He was, … [Read more...]